Trial by Fire - IC Thread

[jaydude]

"Can't say I'm not used to opulence. I grew up on the Blessed Isle, after all." Kuaidao remarked after giving a nod of agreement to Spider's suggestion on where to go next.

 

[Sherwood]

Heading back out of the room and over to the one pit with the door in it, you are able to open it up and reveal another chamber. This is a pentagonal chamber, with three elaborate faces carved out of what appears to be orichalcum on the far wall, two of the faces are attached to doors. One face is frowning, a second one is smiling and the third one has a neutral expression. As you step forward, the face with the neutral expression in the middle speaks in Old Realm.

"One face tells the truth, one face always lies, but they only speak 'yes' or 'no'. One question you may ask, to find the fortunate path."

 

[Psychie]

Spider looks at the face that is speaking and sighs. "Anyone know what gibberish it is saying? I don't understand it at all."

No sooner than she has said this, a flash of memory hits her like a bolt of lightning. Images fill her mind of past lives that would speak Old Realm, bringing the knowledge of the complex language forward into the present day.

Looking surprised, she then says, "Ouch, that was . . . different. I think I know what the face said. How weird is that?"

 

[Psychie]

Looking over her shoulder at the others, Spider then says, "The face in the middle is talking some kind of riddle. One face tells the truth, one lies, but they only speak either 'yes' or 'no'. We get one question to find the fortunate path."

 

[Sherwood]

So, which door do you ask, and what do you ask of it?

 

[jaydude]

Kuaidao scratched his chin, and then snapped his fingers as the answer came to him. "I saw this exact same riddle in a play on the Blessed Isle years ago." he said. "Back then it was a pair of guards rather than a pair of doors though. Anyway, in the play, the heroine asked one of the guards if he would claim that the path behind him led to safety. She explained that if the guard was truthful, he'd simply say yes or no depending on whether or not he was guarding the safe path. But if he was lying, he would have to lie about how he would tell a lie. That is, answer with a double negative."

 

[Sherwood]

So what do you ask of the two doors?

 

[Psychie]

Spider thinks, then says to Kuaidao, "I think I know how to get past this. I ask the question of one of the faces, 'Would the other door say that this is the correct one to go through?'. Depending on the door, if it is lying, it will say the opposite of the door that I'm looking at. So, if it is the correct path, the lying door will say 'no' because the other door would say 'yes'. If it is the wrong door, the answer will be opposite, but it will still tell us which door to choose. Make sense?"

 

[jaydude]

"Yes, that should work." admitted Kuaidao, before the Dawn rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I guess I didn't explain my solution clearly enough, huh?"

 

[Psychie]

Spider gives him a grin. "Well, just so long as it works, right?" She turns to the faces, and in Old Realm asks, "What would that door say to the question of which one is the correct door?"

 

[jaydude]

Spider gives him a grin. "Well, just so long as it works, right?"

"True enough." he replied, before waiting to see what happened.

 

[Sherwood]

Answering your question, the door on the left indicates that the one on the right would say 'no' to the question of if it is the correct one, so by your logic it would be the door to the left is the correct one to open.

What do you do?

 

[Psychie]

Spider thinks for a moment, then says, "I think that the correct door is the left one. The only thing to do now is to open it. Everyone ready?" She waits for an acknowledgement from everyone before going over to the door and bracing herself for any potential trap, then she grasps the door handle firmly and tries to open it up.

 

[jaydude]

"Ready when you are." said Kuaidao, resting a hand on his daiklave's hilt and readying himself to react to whatever came out of the door.

 

[Sherwood]

As Spider pulls on the handle, the eyes of the three faces on the walls light up and begin to shoot bolts of lighting out all across the room!

Everyone, please give me Dexterity + Dodge rolls to try and evade the bolts, difficulty 4.

Random Word Psychie jaydude D. Rex

 

[jaydude]

Kuaidao tensed up when he saw the bolts of lightning coming out of the doors, and quickly threw himself to the side, hoping to get out of the way.

[Assuming one point stunt. 3 successes on roll.]

 

[Psychie]

Spider lets out a string of profanities as she tries to dive to the side.

Six successes.

 

[Sherwood]

jaydude do you want to try and pull off a stunt to boost your dice pool? At the moment, you are going to get hit unless you can score one more success.

 

[Sherwood]

Kuaidao's effort to move out of the way is not successful, and one of the many bolts of lightning strikes you in the chest. Your hair stands up on end and you shake and twitch a bit, but overall, there is no real damage done from the hit.

Spider's paranoia is enough to be able to evade the attacks.

Holding on D. Rex and Random Word to post.

 

[jaydude]

The Dawn Caste let out a loud yell when the bolt struck him, and he would feel the electricity coursing throughout his entire body as he lay quivering on the floor. Soon though, he came to the conclusion that the worst of the effects would be a burning sensation across his entire nervous system.

Getting up, and after seeing that Spider was alright, Kuaidao looked wildly around for Bard and Spider, wanting to see if either of them had been hit, or if Maja was freaking out over seeing him hurt.

 

[D. Rex]

Dodge roll! 5 sux

 

[Random Word]

The solution to the puzzle goes over Maja's head and though it sounds very clever she largely tunes it out in favour of examining one of the beautifully crafted golden faces on the wall. She feels her hairs stand on end as the air electrifies and hears the soft hum moments before lightning arcs out from its mouth. In that instant instinct grips her as she grips a large ceremonial brass urn on the floor beside her and throws it at the mouth. She's surprised to note the moment she picks it up a duplicate of shadow and smoke coalesces out of nothing in her opposite hand, and even more surprised to see she's already interposed it between herself and another bolt of lightning. When the lightning strikes the real brass urn shatters with a thunderous crack while he shadow-urn disperses into a billowing inky cloud that quickly fades. She bats aside the flying shards of bronze with her forearms before turning to take stock of the room.

Seeing Kuaidao twitching on the floor she cries out in alarm and slides across the floor on her knees to grasp his hand. Seeing he's well she relaxes visibly and helps him get up. "I'm not sure my heart can take it If you insist on testing if every trap is lethal the hard way."

Spoiler: Mechanics

Well, if I can parry that's:
Stamina 5 + Brawl 3 + 4m Stamina Excellency + Stunt 2 = 14; 4 hits - that was close

 

[jaydude]

"I figured as much." Kuaidao replied gingerly, giving her an apologetic smile. "Ugh...can't believe we got the wrong door...good thing I've got this armour though..."

 

[Psychie]

Spider stands up and brushes herself off, looking irritated. "Damn, I thought I had that right. Well, one thing for sure is that these old Solars liked to play for keeps. Dare we try the other door?"

 

[jaydude]

Kuaidao shrugged. "May as well. I'd like to think I didn't take that lightning bolt for nothing."