Return [To Madness]: Act 1, Scene 2

[TristenC]

[Ooc] It is still technically present, but the power of the 'continual light' stone has overcome it at the moment. So as long as Allikhain or Jack have their continual light objects out it is basically ineffective. The silence spell has ended, I should have erased that part at least. [/ooc]

[Lord Torath]

Stephen directs his thoughts to Ke'Sha. <Pardon the interruption, but do you have a way to question the dead? Could we get some information out of "William", "Tom", and "Bert" about the passage through this region? We have not yet seen anything that looks like troll living quarters, which means they should have some knowledge of the labyrinth that could prove useful. We could also learn how many of these snake people we will need to deal with.>

[BishGada]

"I do have a way to communicate with the dead. But we did pass through the trolls barracks, and well, animated, they no longer possess their previous life knowledge. Next body we meet, and me fully rested and meditated, I'll interogate it."

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(OOC: I assume speak with dead works on dead creatures and not undead, right? Also, as Mourkul is incorporate he can go through the wall, so being half body in this room and the other half through the wall he can find passages, right?
Ke'Sha spells need to be updated and so does Thallena's HP. He used Dark Fire of Beshasa and healed the Wight 11 HP.)

[TristenC]

[Ooc] It is correct that speak with dead would not work on the undead. Also, the troll zombies were essentislly 'created' from merely the fingers of some of the previous trolls, not the body as a whole, so I would say they wouldn't have such knowledge anyway.

That said, the party has not checked the troll quarters recently. There may be some there to kill and question. They were just outside of that room before coming down to this room, but didn't look. From the map in the "Mad like a Fox" thread, the troll living quarters was area A3. That reminds me, I should update those maps.[/ooc]

[Nocturno]

I forgot how glorious Jag's hair is in that picture.
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Jack and Jag exchange glances after not finding anything.

"I guess we move down the wall. But it seems mighty far away from the door." Jag quietly speaks to Jack.
"Are you injured otherwise, or just drained?"

"Let's search, the faster we search the faster we can leave this damned place." Jack clams up, and starts searching.

[Styrius]

"Perhaps we should remove the rest of the mirrors. I see nothing close by the suggests a triggering mechanism for the secret door." Axid remarks. Remembering the other statue they previously encountered, he moves to check the one in this room thinking perhaps there is something more than just fancy lifter to it.

[Lord Torath]

Stephen gives the tall statue a speculative look “It occurs to me that if the hands and the "blood bubble" are the way down, there must similarly be a way up. What do you want to bet this statue has a snake head?”

[TristenC]

Jack and Jag continue to search the walls, farther and farther from the hidden door, but find nothing. At the suggestion to remove the rest of the mirrors, Landro nods and moves to the West wall. Similar to the North, he pries the edge of the large mirror out enough to get his fingers behind. With prodigious strength he wrenches the polished silver panel from the masonry, settling it on the floor nearby. On the wall is another sigil of dim green crystal...

Axid moves to examine the lower portion of the statue as well, and finds an odd seam at the back of the statue's right knee as if a part of the statue had been rotated out of place like a knob...

Stephen considers the statue, which seems mostly like an abstract humanoid; though the head is vaguely shaped like a serpent.

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The image for the module doesn't reflect the statue's appearance really well, but the indication from the text implies it would have a serpent head, similar to the image carved on the giant iron door

sigil C1.jpg (2.28 KiB) Viewed 235 times

[Nocturno]

Hearing about another sigil, Jag will go compare it to the scroll of he was given.

Jack heads over to the statue.
"What do we have here..."

[Styrius]

“The work on this statue seems rather odd.” Axid will attempt to move the seam or knob that is out of place.

[BishGada]

Ke'Sha notices the dwarf and says, "Maybe you want Jack to check for traps before you touch it."

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(OOC: You know that in escape rooms the operator need to prepare the room after a party finishes it? To reset the triggers and everything. Think of the one that needs to do it here after he discovers all the mirrors were pried out of the walls and some banged really hard. )

[Lord Torath]

“Probably not a bad idea.” Stephen says aloud.

<There shouldn't be any traps, or my amulet would have alerted me. Still not a bad idea to make the appearance of checking. I can usually tell if someone's observing me surreptitiously, but it's not a sure thing, and I'd just as soon not clue them in that I can detect traps.> he sends to Jack.

[TristenC]

Jag compares the new symbol to the list they have and finds it is the 3rd sigil.

Jack examines the new discovery on the statue, and after a few minutes he also determines it is free of traps as Stephens' amulet indicated.

Axid turns the segment of the statue, rotating it further out of place. A low grinding sound issues from the wall as the secret door opens to reveal a 10x20' space and a sturdy wooden door on the East wall bound in a strange bluish metal with a hefty metal lock of the same odd metal...

[Styrius]

“I don’t know how I missed that when I was viewing the room from outside.” Axid remarks. He notices that another sigil has been revealed. He waits to see if the mark will transfer to Jag.

[Nocturno]

Jag shrugs his shoulders and grimaces, then touches the sigil.

Jack wonders about the statue.
"What other wonders are you hiding?" He will start looking around it more.