Legacy of Fire SoP/PoW/SoM V: For Vendetta!

[bcool999]

Rowan
AC 26 (17 touch)
HP 56/79
35% Miss Chance


"Ah-Ha!" Rowan crows as he manages to deal damage to one of the constructs, minor as it may have been, "Knew I could crack their shells!"

With that, Rowan takes a step back and lines up another shot at the Construct that Riq and Akaash flank.

Spoiler: OOC

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5ft step west out of reach.

Full Round Action: Gather Energy Admixture Searing Stone Blast (Admixture pool 3/5)

Ranged Touch Attack: (1d20+12)[28]
Damage: (16d8+24)[88] 1/2 Physical, 1/2 Fire. Overcomes spell immunity, Fire immunity is reduced to resistance 17.

[pfm1995]

Hearing Rowan cry, Alssariq darts north as well to intervene between the mage and the constructs. When he gets there, robe flailing behind him, he drives his long knife into the crease in the thing's articulated knees.

Spoiler: Actions

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Tension: 0 (+1 from Rising Tension, +1 from Desperate Tension, +1 for taking damage, -3 for targeted punishment)
I'm going to assume the Scout roll succeeded from before.
Reflex Save 1: (1d20+16)[18]
Reflex Save 2: (1d20+16)[36]
Standard: Attack.
Attack - (1d20+18)[34]Damage - (1d6+21)[22] (includes flanking)
Note that Alssariq has +3 AC against this thing

[SwordChucks]

Goma keeps up his assault, hoping to do more than just keep the brass man's attention this time.

Spoiler: Combat

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AC: 29, HP: 151, DR 8/-

Free action: Berserking

Full-round action: Full attack the Brass man.

AOOs: 5 for Active Defense (with Smashing Counter), 5 for AOOs.

Shield 1: (1d20+20)[30], (2d6+12)[16]
Shield 2: (1d20+15)[23], (2d6+12)[19]
Bite: (1d20+13)[21], (1d6+6)[8]
Trip: (1d20+20)[38]

[digiman619]

The final two brass men fell in quick measure, with the blasters teaming to take out the north one, while the rest took out the eastern one. Now you have a chance to look about the room, you see that the above each of the fiery 'doorways' is a glyph, that those of you that can read Ignan see that they are numbers, from 1 to 4. On the ceiling, you see an inscription that reads "Half or Triple plus One"

If you want a hint, make a K:Arcana check. However, since it is a riddle, I don't want to bypass it with a large check giving it away.

[lostsole31]

Malak interprets the inscriptions above the door, as needed. "I need to take a 3-minute break before we leave this chamber," he says. "I have a sense of where we are broadly, but not specifically, and I need to harvest the background energy of this plane to refresh myself after that fight."

Seeking insight from Shahrazad to keep him on the straight and and narrow, Malak tries to figure out the puzzle

Spoiler: Ruminations

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Shahrazad automatically aids Malak as the lowest she could get on Aid Another is +10. With that, Malak gets (1d20+18)[28].

However, prior to a roll, it doesn't seem like there is an "answer" to the riddle, so much as an "anti-answer." Like, not what to choose so much as what not to choose. I will explain.

Given: "Half or Triple Plus One"
Given: 4 different inscriptions ... 1, 2, 3, 4
Assumption: unless this is Harry Potterland and we walk into an adjoining, ignore any result that is not a whole number.

1 halved is .5.
2 halved is 1.
3 halved is 1.5.
4 halved is 2.
So, on this first set, only 2 and 4 are viable whole numbers.

1 x 3 = 3+1 = 4. 1 is the base, 4 the result, so 1 and 4 are valid as the start or end.
All other variations exceed 4 for product, and therefore are invalid both as start or end.

So, 1, 2, 4 have some credible aspect in either statement, but the only one that cannot be represented by the above is number 3.

My guess is that this means that *any* number of 1, 2, or 4 is good .... and 3 is bad.

[SwordChucks]

While the others deliberate, Goma sniffs around the doors for unusual odors. In less than a minute, his wounds from the battle are healed.

[lostsole31]

"In the meantime," says Malak, nodding to Goma's caution, "I need to know who is hurt, and how badly."

[stack]

"A few bruises, nothing serious." (70/82)

Akaash wanders the room warily, impatient to find the source of this attack.

[bcool999]

Rowan
HP 59/79 + (1d8+11)[15]

Rowan casts a healing spell on himself and says, "I should be fine after that. Now as for this riddle. I would believe path 2 or path 4 given the information we have. I suppose 1 would be fine as well being half of 2. 3 is conspicuously impossible as either a half of the given numbers or a product of triple plus one. Now we have the quandary of having 3 right answers and one very wrong one, or 1 right answer and 3 red herrings."

[lostsole31]

Malak nods, "I concur." He then goes into a "show your work" full breakdown (see my previous spoiler).

"I believe that paths 1, 2, or 4 are somehow 'safe,' but '3' is somehow detrimental. There may yet be further meaning for each of 1, 2, and 4, but we will only know empirically. In the meantime, let's search the scrap and the room for any other clues or items of use. Akaash, let me take a quick look at that. You say you're fine, so I will only use one charge from my wand."

He is about to say something to Goma, but it seems the wereleopard is doing just fine with his super-healing.

Spoiler: Malak Crunch

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Use *wand of cure light wounds* on Akaash. UMD (1d20+10)[12], heal (1d8+1)[7]
EDIT: Fail.

Again, Malak will give the ancient runes of "F" and "U" to anyone wanting to run out of the room for impatience ... even letting them run on their own ... as there is no reason they can't spend 3 minutes total to regather strength and heal.

EDIT: Having failed with that attempt, Malak hands his wand to Rowan to plink Akaash (once) before taking the wand back.

[bcool999]

Rowan

Accepting Malak's wand, Rowan casts a charge from it on Akaash before handing it back.

Rowan then focuses his attention on the most sacred of Adventuring rituals. Looting the room!

Spoiler: OOC

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So according to Spheres of power rules, having the Life sphere should be sufficient to activate wands of cure spells. So Akaash should heal: (1d8+1)[8] from the wand charge.

Perception check to search the room! (1d20+12)[13]

[pfm1995]

Alssariq, still singed from the multiple blasts of magma, also raises a hand when healing is offered. "Never was much good with riddles, but seems like door two is our best bet to me. Fits things very nicely. But... maybe chuck a rock down first?"

[stack]

"Door two is my thought as well."

He moves to open the door and examine whatever is on the other side before proceeding.

[digiman619]

There is indeed some treasure in the room. In small piles here and there, there is 76 silver pieces, 24 gold pieces, and a handful of small gemstones that are worth around 200 gp total. You get the impression that this room used to be a lot fuller, but it's since been emptied for the most part. You also see the map of Kakishon, but it's been burned beyond recognition; whatever remained there is lost to you forever.

The 'door' is an archway, seemingly covered by a roiling fire, though it produces no heat. A rock thrown through it reveals nothing, as it disappears into the fire. You do hear it landing on the other side, but it's impossible to tell the condition it's in over there.

Do you go through?

[SwordChucks]

Goma sighs at the ruined map before he speaks. "I can test it out. We heard the rock land at least, so you should be able to tell if I'm screaming in agony on the other side."

If no one talks him out of it, he'll do just that.

[lostsole31]

Having been refreshed of his energyies, Malak has Oddity in front of him and 'Zad behind and they go through the archway.

[bcool999]

Rowan

"Hmm... Oh! We're going? Wait for me everyone!" Rowan says as he drags himself away from searching a pile of rubbish to enter the Portal after Malak and his clique.

[stack]

Akaash goes as well, hovering over the ground.

[pfm1995]

"After you then." Alssariq says, gesturing for Goma to go ahead while drawing his sword. "But first I might ask one of our resident magic users to cast that same heat shield as we used in the volcano on you. It might save you some screaming."

[digiman619]

After a moment, 'Zad realigned her magicks to grant the party some fire resistance and they stepped through the archway. You felt no fire or indeed resistance by doing so, though whether it's an illusion or only activates if you do it 'wrong', you can't say. Once past, however, you find yourselves in a room much like the one you left, though clearly not the same room, as there is both more scattered riches, as well as a pedestal in the center. Resting on the pedestal is what looks like a brass oil lamp, though the hole for the flame is soldered shut and the top is stoppered with a large ruby. It doesn't seem to be magical, however.

Looking up above the archways, you see the same inscriptions as before, though now they are arranged counterclockwise (you moved east through arch 2). Assuming that Malak's suggestion of 3 is to be avoided, that leaves you with arches to the east, west, and south.

What do you do?

[stack]

Akaash eyes the lamp, "Doesn't appear to be actively restraining anything."

[SwordChucks]

Goma continues sniffing around. "How about the pedestal? Even if it's your favorite lamp, it's a bit odd to just have it displayed like this."

[lostsole31]

Akaash tries to appraise the lamp. Regardless, "It is in a place of honor, not discarded. Let's assume it is important to someone and take it with us."

[stack]

"Fair enough. Door 4 next?" Akaash looks around, as if expecting enemies to start pouring in as the lamp is lifted.

[digiman619]

With the lamp now in your collective inventory, you look over the archways to the numbers ther.

1 leads to... well, judging from the Ignan script, you think is south, but that's practically impossible to determine for sure.

You do know where 2 leads, however; it leads back to the room you started in. What cardinal it is is another story, though if you're correct about 1 going south, it would be to the west.

3 is directly opposite of 1, but if Malak's theory is correct, you don't want to pass that way.

And 4, 'west', stands opposite 2. Where it leads is impossible to determine from this side.

Where to now?

[bcool999]

Rowan

"Ah a maze!" Rowan says observing the similar characteristics of the room to the previous, "Or would this be a labyrinth? The nuance of the difference always eluded me. Either way, I feel much better about there being potentially 3 correct answers to the riddle now as it should be a means to navigate through these chambers."

[lostsole31]

Malak looks to Rowan. "You sound excited. Rowan, you strike me as being our best 'navigator' ... you and/ or 'Akaash.' Would you like to take lead on putting clues together as we go from room to room? I have a feeling that we are not dealing with a 'properly spatialized' setup, but rather the numbers will in time give us a clue to movement."

Spoiler: GM

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Not as a push-button automatic, but over time do you think we can get our two stoutest Smart Bois to figure things out with Knowledge (geography) or the like? Without real visual clues, we cannot be expected to solve things like our PCs would, but it also requires time and some empirical data.

I suggested Rowan and Akaash, because I suspect they have the highest Knowledge (geography ... or maybe engineering for a maze?), but Shahrazad isn't terrible, and neither is Malak, but they are more "Yeah, I know a little something-something" than being field experts.

[bcool999]

Rowan

”Not excited so much as relieved. Our previous assumption was more guesswork than I would like. But now that we know this to be a maze...” Rowan responds before trailing off in thought. He looks to the number above the doorway they passed through and says, ”Perhaps the clue doesn’t merely tell us the safe doorways, but also the order in which we should traverse them. Before we had no starting point having been dropped into a room. Which had the consequence of dropping foes upon us. Now we have a starting number of 2 from the door we passed through. If we follow the riddle with 2 as our starting point we can triple it and add one, which is outside our range of options, or we can halve it to 1.”

At this point Rowan looks to the archway with 1 above it before continuing, “From there we can repeat the riddle with each start point to derive the next doorway to traverse leaving us with an order, starting from this room, of 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2... so on and so forth. It is logically self consistent with the information we have at least. What does everyone else think?”

[lostsole31]

"Seems reasonable," says Malak.

[SwordChucks]

Goma shrugs. "I'll keep taking point as we pass through the doorways. And we can do this-" he uses a shield spike to scratch an X into the floor just in front of the path the group came from and again in front of the door they're about to pass through. "That way we know where we've been."