Shieldmeet - Flamerule 32nd

Althalus looks to the left and to the right at his compatriots, checks the door for traps and opens it. "Don't worry, I got it."

Magical white light suddenly illuminates a wide room that’s divided into four distinct areas. Each area is roughly octagonal and roughly the same size. The ceiling in each of these areas is vaulted and about 20 feet high at the apex. A stylized symbol of an eye adorns the center of the tiled floor in the central section of the room.

The numbered boxes on the map appear to be tiles with different pictures depicted on them, but you can’t tell from where you are.

Kregnok will let out a little chuckle, mutter something under his breath about "daft pimps" and "floggin' riddles" and move to the right chamber to investigate the tiles, taking care to not touch them at this point.

In the right chamber here are what the tiles look like:

H – Sleeping Man
I – Man with Arms Raised
J – Bleeding Man

These tiles seemed to be engraved into the floor and look like they cannot be moved.

Mutters something under his breath about the riddles having nothing to do with opening the door at all.

Kregnok will move to the additional sections of the room, noting the tiles, and ignoring the muttering ranger.

Here are all the tiles:

A - Bent-over man
B - Sprawled man
C - Men shaking hands
D - Rigid man
E - Running man
F - Levitating man
G - Disappearing man struck by ray
H - Sleeping man
I - Man with arms raised
J - Bleeding man

"Magic dies, fast men slow the passage you seek is not below." Well which tiles does this rule out?

I'll repost the picture so you don't have to go back a page to see it.

The monk scratches his head. Hmmm, I think I hate this map, he thinks. " I say the bent over man, the levitating man, the man running, the sleeping man are all wrong choices as far I can tell from the riddle. That leaves sprawled man, rigid man, men shaking hands, bleeding man, man with arms raised and man being struck by lightning. I failed this part of dungeoneering class my friends, any other ideas?"

Enemy friend, painful wound. I'm thinking it's one of those two, assuming it's a single tile, and assuming things are that simple. Perhaps it's more of a key? A sequence of tiles, rather than just one?

Tatyl takes a look at the tiles, being very careful not to touch any of them.

"I would say that only tiles C (Men Shaking Hands), D (Rigid Man), E (Running Man), F (Levitating Man), are moveable. The others appear to be engraved into the floor. Someone the tiles coorespond to the door engraving and verse. It would seem that it is just a matter of shifting the moveable ones around."

Althalus raises his hands and slowly backs away from the tiles. "Hey, I opened the door."

Well. I wonder if the four moveable tiles relate to four of the verses. For instance, "Magic dies, fast men slow" could refer to the running man tile. "Eye of death, eye of stone" could refer to the rigid man tile. "Fear and mind..." could refer to the levitating man tile... and I suppose the men shaking hands tile could refer somehow to "Friends are shy."

Ye don't suppose yer supposed to move them in an order, eh?

Kregnok will take a closer look at the four moveable tiles, mutter something about needing Lozigee for once... and will attempt to discern if they move up/down or side to side.

You take a good look at the tiles and determine that they simply lift up and out. You would surmise that you would need to lift two of them up to switch them by setting them back in their spots.

Tatyl walks back to the door. “Have you noticed that the layout of the tiles on the floor resemble the eyestalks on the picture of the beholder? The tile that depicts the disappearing man shot by a ray (Tile G) in actually the fifth from the left, yet almost appears as the sixth from the left as it is laid out. It must just be a matter of switching those four moveable tiles (C, D, E, F) around to the correct places to solve the puzzle.”

Kregnok will switch tile D (rigid man) for tile C (shaking hands). He will then move tile C (shaking hands) to tile F (levitating), tile F (levitating) to tile E (running), and tile E (running) back to the now open space where tile D started.

‘bout time someone did something…

Kregnok picks up tile D and dies.

Just kidding.

Kregnok picks up the tiles and shuffles them around while everyone watches in nervous anticipation. As the dwarf set the final tile down you hear a stone-on-stone grinding noise from one of the chambers. Moving over to the north chamber you see the “disappearing man struck by ray” tiles slide to the side revealing a ladder that descends into the darkness.

Kregnok smiles with a grin from ear to ear, “Ah, dwarven ingenuity!”

"Good job Dwarf." Umberto looks at the darkness. Looks at everyone else. Looks at the darkness. "Well, I guess I will start on down the ladder."

The ladder leads to a wide landing, maybe 10 feet wide. Nearby, a narrow and shallow staircase descends to another landing that is narrower than the one you’re on. It looks like the stairs might continue beyond that.

I’ll need an order for going down the ladder, starting with Umberto.




Mini Map for First level

i'll go next... checkin da stonework and what not

Somebody go ahead and do the marching order for everybody.

Kelser, Vadania, Umberto, Dwarf guy, the mage, then Althalus

As you reach the bottom of the second staircase (very steep), the narrow passage opens into a wide landing. Two piles of bones lie near an opening to the west, where another stairway descends. As you watch, the bones shift and stir. You hear what sounds like a wolf howl, but the call seems as if it comes from far away. Two doglike skeletons rise and face you.

Initiative!

18 – Kelser
16 – Althalus, Kregnok
15 – Wolf Skeletons
10 – Vadania
4 – Umberto, Tatyl

Kelser slides to his left, allowing Vadania room to enter the fray. He raises his greatclub and smashing it on the head of Wolf Skeleton B, staggering it.

G13 and F13 are very steep stairs, rushing down them would require Balance checks.

Althalus and Kregnok are up.

Done guard till space opens

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Althalus asks from behind 2 corners from the action. (Done, guard)