Trespassers V2: Tales of the Masks [IC]

[Strider]

"It's alright Gozer, we'll just do a couple fly across trips, if there's nothing on the other side." Edmond said consolingly, before getting ready to fly across.

 

"I'll go across first, and make sure it's all safe. Can you all keep an eye out for anything that looks like a trap activating? I'll do the same, but if any of your magics detect something like that, it'd be immensely useful." With that, Edmond propelled himself up into the air, before beginning to cross the chasm. Slowly, slowly, always oriented in a way that he could get all his thrusters behind him at a moments notice to blast back across the chasm towards the group if there was a trap.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

Cicivexa lacked the equipment to detect aether, and was not trained with use in it regardless, but as the most capable magic user in the party (or so he'd see himself), he had to give it a shot. He probably couldn't detect any but the most dangerously high concentrations unaided, but perhaps his new form in this world changed that. He attempted to attune to the Lifestream or whatever this world's equivalent was (OoC: the electromagnetic field?) to detect magic in the surrounding area. Failing that, he trusted his eyes to catch something. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by Unlurking Sentinel
Clarified Cicivexa's limitations, after reading more lore

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki squirmed uncomfortably in place, then cursed herself mentally for doing so. It was no big deal, really, so why did she have to be embarrassed about it? Though, she could at least take solace in that she was taking the idea of being physically tossed or carried over the gap a bit more gracefully than Cicivexa, who was one of the few people she encountered that was actually shorter than she was. "I, um, I guess you should carry, um, me across." There, she said it. 

[StormLord]

Cell sat off to the side for a moment, painstakingly trying to carve a simple rune into the dusty ground.  Eventually he seems to have gotten it because he quickly stands up and watches and the rune sort of peels itself off the ground and floats upward.  Energy gathers around it before a final crack of lightning drags it forward into Cell's "eye". 

 

As soon as he recovers Cell walks over to the wall and slams he hand down before looking at it curiously for a moment.  He slowly pulls his hand back to reveal some kind of sticky substance having formed on the palm side.  He shakes his head and hand and gives a silent sigh, not right at all.

[Stalkerkain]

"Being ferried across this chasm is much more preferable than being thrown. Forgive me for doubting your sense of aim, but I shudder to consider the event in which you miss and one of us ends up in the abyss," Soryn said with concern. "It is precisely times like this where I regret being unable to create myself wings and fly, but I will settle for being carried."

 

"Just out of curiosity, I wonder how deep this opening spans," Soryn said. Raising his arm, Soryn prepared to fire a bolt of electricity to light up the darkness, and to see if anything would react to the stimulus.

[StormLord]

Cell thinks for a minute while Soryn blasts the hole with lightning, he eventually seem to come to a conclusion and turns to leave the entry way of the ruin.  Once outside he uses the new sticky substance on his hands to assist in climbing the outside of the building.  Assuming he makes it to the top he'll then try to walk along the stone wall to the other side of the hole.

 

Relevant bonuses:

Gecko Rune: +3 to climbing/grip checks while active.

8 Str

12 Dex

[DragonRage]

Edmond is able to fly over the hole without any problems.  No traps are triggered by him doing so.

 

Soryn drops a lightning bolt into the hole, and it strikes the bottom.  He isn't sure exactly how deep the pit is, but it's around 30 meters.

 

Cell is able to scale the side of the ruin, and walk to about where he thinks is the other side of the hole.  Of course, he can't see inside from where he is, so if he's wrong about that...

[StormLord]

Cell walks a little further on, no need to be risky with this, then he stands atop the roof a jumps several times while invoking his Belier's Rune.  With any luck the repeated impacts will serve to break a hole through the ruin roof that the others can follow.

 

Spoiler

Belier’s Rune(trick): La Brute.

Allows the user to dive downwards and create a shockwave when they land, negates fall damage and may destroy weak floors, the size and damage of the shockwave is based on the distance fallen and up to GM fiat.

 

[Strider]

"Alright, looks like we're good!" Edmond called out, crossing back over. He landed in front of Hiroki, and held out his arms awkwardly. "You said you'd go first?" If that seemed to still be her intention, Edmond would ferry her across, and then the others as best as he can, one at a time.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki simply nodded and held her arms out toward Edmond, equally awkwardly grabbing ahold of him to make it easier for her to be moved. She did her best to avoid picturing how ridiculous and embarrassing this was in her head, simultaneously glad to have the group to work with (as she hadn't been keen on jumping the gap herself) and wishing it was only her and someone like Blink here instead. 

[DragonRage]

As Edmond starts flying across, the ceiling begins to shake alarmingly, dust and bits of rock falling from the roof.  He gets Hiroki over the pit safely, at which point just a bit further down the hall the ceiling caves in, sending Cell tumbling down to join them amidst a pile of rubble.  Sunlight now streams into the ruin through the hole in the ceiling.  

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki couldn't help a startled squeak as the one who'd removed his own head earlier abruptly fell from a hole in the ceiling. If that had happened just a few moments earlier. . . She found herself skittering forward into the hallway beyond a bit faster than she'd strictly intended, distancing herself from both her embarrassment and the flash of fear. 

[StormLord]

Cell gives a possibly over excited for the situation thumbs up and nod indicating he's alright, before gesturing to the others in a way that vaguely indicated they should climb up and walk along the roof to the hole he made.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

Cicivexa's shocked expression was noticeable even with his face concealed by both mask and shadow. "Are you trying to ki-" escaped his mouth before he noticed the light beaming down from the hole, and the silver abberation's attempts at communication. He tried to recall the geography of the entrance, if he saw a way to get to the hole from outside. 

[Strider]

"Well. That's useful, thank you. Probably best to go around and in thriugh the ceiling then. Carrying is all fine, but. . .this is safer and easier, I think."

 

The girl seemed to be putting a fair amount of distance between them, so supposing it might have been a rather uncomfortable ordeal, Edmond thought offering the others the option to avoid it was probably best.

[DragonRage]

Using Cell's unconventional pathing, the group is able to bypass the Death Pit in relative safety.  With the pit behind you, it's a simple matter to progress onward, though it occurs to you that the ceiling hole doesn't give you a safe way out.  You may want to secure that before continuing.

 

Should you choose to move forward, a few minutes walking will take you to a long stretch of hallway covered in black and white tiles forming a mysterious symbol.

 

Spoiler

 

"The symbol of the Three Virtues!" Halhi identifies the design, "The bottom dot represents unity, the top duty, and the larger one in the middle destiny.  Interpretations abound what the larger symbols around them mean, but the most likely answer is that they represent the Great Spirit Mata Nui, and his dark brother The Makuta."

 

"Nah, they represent the sky and ocean, surrounding and supporting the matoran and the land," Nuparu disagrees, "But the theology isn't as important right now as this:  What's the symbol doing here?  And is it safe to go across?"

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki took a moment to backtrack and look for anything resembling a button or lever near the pit, on their side (i.e. opposite the entrance to the place.) It was possible that the builders assumed that whoever could cross the pit wouldn't have an issue getting back, but it could also be a simple matter of only wanting to test once. Plus, there had to be a way out for whoever built the place. 

 

That taken care of, she returned to the hall, trying not to look slightly out of breath with her hurrying. "It might, um, be a puzzle. Maybe we're supposed to do something, um, as a team? Show unity in doing our duty, um, to reach our destiny, or something." She peered at the tile for a moment. It might be some kind of trap, too; this place didn't seem too invested in not killing potential challengers. After a short deliberation, she summoned her mech about herself, then stepped out onto the tile. If nothing happened, then she would try stepping on the "duty" tile.

[Strider]

"I suppose I could try to lift people out if there's no way to get back across the pit. Going up through there seems decidedly safer than risking the crossing."

 

Heading back after determining their path out--whether Hiroki found one or not--Edmond made certain to inspect the walls of the hall going forward, trying to see if any openings were visible that might indicate traps. If any are present, call Hiroki back/warn her.

[DragonRage]

Edmond sees a lot of rather noticeable slits in the walls.  He calls out to Hiroki as she walks out; the first few tiles seem to be fine, but the third she steps on triggers a pressure plate, launching a disk at her chest from one of the wall slits!  Thanks to Edmond's warning, she's able to dive back the way she came, letting the disk slam against the far wall, where it leaves a thin patch of ice on impact.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki took a step backward, then fiddled with a few HUD settings to adjust for the light. Then, she studied the tiles. Was there a difference between the first couple tiles and the one that had activated the trap? Would the trap activate again if she put weight on it?

[DragonRage]

When Hiroki steps on the trapped tile, there's a clicking noise and a faint 'twang' as something tries to launch a thing.  However, as the disc launcher trap is no longer loaded, it does not fire a second disc.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

Cicivexa ran the matorans' description through his head again and again. "This is an untested theory, but perhaps the firing mechanism won't activate if multiple people cross the tiles. Our Duty is to cross these tiles, and our Destiny rests on if we are United in our duty or not." Cicivexa cast Manaward for safety, and carefully traversed to a tile that hadn't been stepped on, but was adjacent to the one Hiroki was on. He was ready to step back if he triggered a trap. 

[Hal Henderics]

"We have little time for this.  All of you retreat to a safe distance.  I will simply exhaust the traps."

 

With that, Gozer slides forward, prepared to go down the floor and simply trigger every single trap in his way, blocking the attacks with Royal Guard.

[DragonRage]

Gozer walks through a storm of disc fire, and emerges unscathed, each projectile neatly deflected by his defensive prowess!  No tile fires multiple times, even ones the party knows are trapped.  It seems the disc launchers are unable to reload themselves.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki followed Gozer across, unwilling to dismiss her outer layer of armor until she crossed the trap nonetheless. "I feel like that was supposed to be harder. . ." she mused quietly, before looking back at Gozer. "That was, um, a good job, though."