[Game Thread] Chapter 1: Arbiter Shandra's domain

[Lukarnis]

Adira studies the carvings for a moment.

"This is Boccob, the god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance, foresight...Obad-Hai, the god of nature...Meriadar, the god of patience and tolerance. The last is a lesser god, not well-known...certainly not one Curatio is likely to worship. Typically only Mongrelfolk recognize it.

Ordokan has defeated all of these, with the sword and with the word. Ignorance is in opposition to Obedience, but the two are linked in the minds of the religion, being on the same book. Ordokan has defeated patience and tolerance through demanding Obedience, has defeated nature (and freedom) through the sword...has defeated magic by enslaving it and stamping it out otherwise." Adira's voice trembles slightly at this last, suggesting that it is more personal somehow than the other three.

"If I had to guess, I would say that the carving of Ordokan himself is the best choice; failing that, the page of Obedience. What does the church ask of us at all times, above all else? Not faith, you cannot ask someone to believe. Not the sword, you CERTAINLY cannot control the weapon you place in another's hands.
...but Ignorance...the church is a contradiction. They force the public to be ignorant while telling them how enlightened and wise they are to obey, to worship this bastard god. It is part of their structure, but it is a part that cannot be maintained forever, or else people will forget why they worship in the first place...
...except out of fear."
Adira sounds sad, as if rather than reasoning her words, she has shifted to simply seeing them. "Perhaps it is not what they will ask, or what they are asking, but what they have asked. We see the results of Ignorance all around us even now.

In any case, that is what I know. All I can offer."

[goplayer7]

OOC: The image of Ordokan is not depressable, only the others, correct? This post makes that assumption.

"Mmmmm," Dougal mutters to himself, "Much of the church's strength does come from the ignorance of many. Pressing at the book would be a safe choice to see what can happen. However," Dougal takes out a dagger and takes a step back. He holds it by the blade carefully between his thumb and pointer, "it is always best to take precautions." He aims carefully, holding the dagger in such a way so the thicker bottom part would hit the book rather than the thin blade. After a few seconds, he throws the dagger, hoping that it would have the force to press on the image of the book book.

OOC From "SRD > Exploration > Breaking and Entering": "An object’s Armor Class is equal to 10 + its size modifier + its Dexterity modifier. An inanimate object has not only a Dexterity of 0 (-5 penalty to AC), but also an additional -2 penalty to its AC. Furthermore, if you take a full-round action to line up a shot, you get an automatic hit with a melee weapon and a +5 bonus on attack rolls with a ranged weapon." So this basically means that: 10[AC]+Size[diminutive/fine?]-5[DEX]-2[Inanimate] <= [ROLL] + 5[Aiming] +2[Tab] to succed size[diminutive/fine?] - 4 <= [ROLL] to succeed by maths I'm guessing that declaring that I take 10 is more than enough to say that I hit it, so here is a damage roll in case if you want something to indicate impact force. The way I throw it is partly for show and partly to stop you from saying 'a blade wouldn't press hard enough by its thin nature' Dice Damage: d4+1 (2)+1 Total = 3

[darthcharon]

The hilt hits the center of the book, causing both sides to become depressed. An audible click can be heard, and both buttons remain depressed for a few seconds before a second click is hear and the buttons return to their default position

[goplayer7]

"I was hoping more would happen." Norril says sadly. He goes up and picks up the dagger, "I guess no news is good news... I can see which ones do something wrong." He takes the dagger and repeats the process for the sword and the three deities one at a time, taking out new daggers as needed.

If the first deities cause something overtly bad to happen, he doesn't try it for the third. He has no preference about which ones he does and does them randomly.

[darthcharon]

The first dagger strikes the sword, and nothing seems to happen. However, just as Norril is preparing to throw a second dagger, he notices something interesting: the sword remained depressed rather than sinking inwards like the book pages did.

[goplayer7]

He takes a look behind in the crack of the door before continuing, mainly to see if the rods have moved at all. If nothing had changed then he continues with what he was going to do, only this time aiming for all three deities no mater what.

[darthcharon]

Norril's dagger strikes the image of Meriadar, and once again the button remains depressed, but this time there is an audible grinding of gears. Looking back, Norril notices that one of the rods, the one reaching into the room beyond, has retracted.

[goplayer7]

OOC: So to verify nothing had changed when the dagger stayed depressed and that is after throwing the dagger at all of the deities, not just the one that you said.

[darthcharon]

OOC: I secretly rolled a dice to see which one you struck first, and by pure chance you struck the correct diety on the first try. I assumed you stopped when you heard the grinding of gears, and so you have not yet tried the other dieties.

[goplayer7]

OOC: I was just thinking that there might have been another rod on the right wall that I might not have seen, as you specified one being on the left wall. If if I am certain that there wasn't one then do the following, if there is any uncertainty do the rest of them, then do below.

"Well, that looks like we might have done it. Looks like we got lucky guessing. Do you have any magic that might test us moving the door without touching it?" If not, and under the assumption that Adira declines moving the door herself, pushes at the door.

[darthcharon]

OOC: There are actually two rods, one extending into the room, which has since retracted, and one extending into the wall on your left, which has not. I'm going to assume you then try the next two dieties (also, of note, both the sword and the image of Meriadar are still depressed.

Two more daggers are thrown at the last two dieties. While the first remains depressed, the second one immediately pops back out, causing all the others to pop out as well. A second set of grinding gears can be heard, and a quick look confirms the rod has returned.

[goplayer7]

"Opps," Dougal says, "at least we know what they all do now." He walks up and is about to touch the sword but stops and look at the deity that remained but apparently did nothing. "Still, always good to remain as safe as possible. Either the sword or the 2nd deity might have done something that couldn't be seen." He throws the dagger at the sword and the two deities, then proceeds to try and open the door.

[darthcharon]

Throwing the dagger at the sword causes the sword to once again become depressed, and his second strikes the image of Meriadar. As expected, both remain depressed while the sound of grinding gears confirms the rod has once again retracted.

[goplayer7]

Finishing the job as thinking about it, Dougal throws the last dagger at 6 Obad-Hai. Then he walks up to the door, careful to open it and ready to jump back should something happen.

[darthcharon]

The dagger strikes the image of Obad-Hai, which remains depressed. Approaching the door, he cautiously attempts to push the door, prepared for the worst. The door starts to open, but the remaining extended rod seems to strike something, and then even he can't move swiftly enough to evade the

Dice Electrical damage:

1d6

2

electricity that shoots up his arms. The door then shuts close what little bit of it had been opened, and the whirling of gears can be heard as the rod resets and the buttons revert to their default position.