Seeking the Dark Magician

(Poke 1, 7, and 8, see if THEY have any response to being pushed again. Then try the top triangle again.)

Crossing his arms, Maelkur calmly watched the Chaos Mage fiddle with the apparatus. As with all of his endeavors aside from situations that directly threatened his life, the vampire saw no reason to explore the depths of his intelligence or power in direct view of anyone whom he might be able to consider a threat.

[Welcome back Maelkur. If you figure it out give Seros a hand will ya?]

As Seros pushed the circles they stayed firmly in place.


(Maelkur- Perception check. Bs*2 +D100 DC 75)
80+20=100 Pass

Maelkur's finely tuned elven senses spotted small lettering above the door that Seros didn't notice with his obsession with the door. It was a language he could barely read. The letters were based off of an ancient form of elvish but when he whispered the phase out loud it phonetically sounded like a broken human dialect.

"The Dark Leviathan rewards teamwork as well as guile and power."

"Teamwork, you say? You are welcome to join me in tampering with this delightful contraption, if you please."

(Did the top triangle get pushed again? It should. In fact, both triangles at once would be interesting. Let's do that too.)

Seros pushed both the triangles at the same time. They both slid into the wall with a click. The bottom triangle did as it had done before. Small blue light filled the grooves going to circles 1,2, and 3. The top triangle did nothing. After a brief pause they slid back into place and once again the blue light vanished.

The Tomb King Zaket VII, now made whole, noticed his allies working at the door. Upon closer inspection did he look both at the makings of the door and the quality of the lock.

<Spot check>

*Sorry posted this yesterday but during the site maintenance looks like it didn't work.*

Zaket looked intently at the door and arcane symbols before him.

Realizing that there was nothing more that his allies missed visually he began to think.

[Intelligence/Hint check DC 75 - Wp*2+d100]
68+6=74<75 Failed.

It was more difficult than he thought it would be even for one of his mighty intellect. However he could shake the feeling he was forgetting something small.

Absentmindedly as he waited for Seros to figure things out on his own, Maelkur casually flicked the coin that he had been given across the top of his fingers. He assumed that since the boatman had referred to the coin as a "map" that the coin was the solution or a clue to solving the riddle-lock that they were faced with but as his lips came together, just barely parted, and he began to whistle a soft tune as he waited, the vampire wondered with a fanged smirk how long it might take the Chaos Mage to check the coin for a clue. Deciding at last that perhaps he should intervene at the advice of the words on the wall, Maelkur inspected his coin a bit more closely in order to give Seros a hand...

Inspect ze coin for details regarding the lock.

Seros glanced back to see the vampire playing with his coin, and the obvious answer registered with him. "Oh. So that's why he wanted to make sure we had three." Producing his own coin, he casually shoved it into the indentation in the bottom left circle. "Silly of me, not to have seen this... Missing the slave market for the slaves, as they say." He paused momentarily and looked back at the silent Zaket, who may or may not have even been listening. "Do they say that?" Predictably, there was no response, but Seros did not seem to expect one. "They should, at any rate." Now enthusiastically humming a song known in the Empire as "The Graverobber's Dirge", Seros pushed the bottom triangle again.


(coin in slot 1, bottom triangle)

@Forte - As Maelkur turned the coin over in his hand. The dark serpent image on the coin was glowing dully.

@Ferret - There was a small click as the coin slid into place. As Seros pushed the button the lights ran along the edges as they had done previously. When the light reached the coin in slot 1 there was a hum as the coin itself began to glow blue. More light extended along the groves leading through circles 2,3,4 and 7. After a short pause there was another click as the light faded and the bottom triangle slid back into place.

"I believe we will require our other keys, gentlemen. If you would be so kind?"

(Stick one in 7...)

Maelkur passed his coin to Seros who slid it into slot 7 and pressed the button again. The blue light glowed once again from the triangle and ran up the grooves into slots 1,2, and 3. It reached the coin in slot 1 and the coin began to glow brilliantly. Light emanated out from the coin running both up and to the right. The light running to the right faded quickly as it reached the end of the circles. The light that went up hit the second coin and glowed strongly as it did with the first coin. Light crept to the right through circles 8 and 9. After a short pause there was the usual click as the bottom triangle moved back into place and all the light faded.

"And the third, great King?"

(Coin, slot 8 )

Zaket handed Seros the coin who promptly slid it into the 8th slot. Pressing the bottom triangle Seros was rewarded once again with the pretty blue light. It touched the first coin in slot 1 and glowed brightly. The light then ran along the side reaching the coin in the 7th slot. The light continued to slot 8. As expected the coin glowed and the light ran along reaching the top triangle. Seros pressed the top triangle. There was a loud click as the entire circle glowed with blue light.

Slowly the circle slid into the floor revealing a large opening forward into darkness. A loud voice echoed through the room.

"Welcome... seekers of my power."

Seros stepped forward into the darkness, faint orange flames still struggling to light his immediate surroundings. "Greetings, dark magician. Show yourself, that we may speak more easily."

Seros stepped into the darkness dimly lit by his flames. "Greetings, dark magician. Show yourself, that we may speak more easily."

There was the distinctive crack of a gunshot and sparks shot from the ground before Seros's foot.

"Dark Magician? Hah, you wish you were so lucky. All your find here stranger is your death." The speaker had a distinctly Tilean accent. As if on cue torches came to life on the walls revealing a long corridor sloping upwards. Three men stood at the end behind large shields. Two had crossbows loaded and pointing at the adventurers. The first one had a rifle slung over his shoulder the barrel still smoking from the shot. He was a tall man with a handlebar mustache and a gaudy purple shirt and yellow pants.

One of the crossbowmen whispered something to the rifler. The man shook his head. "Nah this one ain't nothing like the man we're lookin for. Keep your weapons ready."

The lead man stood up totally straight stroking his mustache with his left hand. "One more step stranger and you're dead."

Tileans? Seros was almost embarrassed for them.

"I am intrigued, gentlemen. Tell me, who is it that you seek?"

One of the crossbowmen shouted down the hallway. "None ya business. Now you got one chance to git, before I put dis bolt between yer eyes."

The man in front who spoke earlier leveled his gun at the adventurers. "'Fraid that's the way its gotta be. Ya see we ain't so trustin of you chaos folk. Funny dat. After hundreds of years of y'all pillaging our land and killing our folk we don't really trust ya."

"Now ya get one last chance to go home quietly. I suggest you take it."

"Tragic. Ashes to ashes, then."

(Can I have attack them now and have a surprise round? I totally should)

(You mean you're going to cast a spell faster than the dudes with weapons pointed towards your head can pull a trigger. Negative. We do this in initiative order)

Initiative
Gunner 50 + 25 + 18 = 103
Crossbowmen 1 44 + 25 + 59 = 128
Crossbowmen 2 44 + 25 +44 = 113
Seros 20 +26 = 46
Zaket 20 +42 = 62
Maelkur 40 + 50 + 60 = 150 (* Maelkur - I reduced the initiative bonus skill to 2 ranks as we discussed earlier. You have a free point to invest elsewhere. PM me or post with your selection. Also note that the DR skill has been changed. You now have DR 5 instead of DR 2)

Turn Order
Maelkur
Xbow 1
Xbow 2
Gunner
Zaket
Seros

Maelkur you're up.