One Does Not Simply Walk Into More Doors:Part 3

Log Info

• Title: One Does Not Simply Walk Into More Doors:Part 3
• Emitter: Whirlpool
• Characters: Gaerth, Jinks, Lysos, Lyme, Skielstregar, Vaera
• Place: Forests of Dragonier, Endless Door Corridor
• Time: September 22, 2021
• Summary:

... its great, long tongue pulls Vaera into its mouth and then it promptly disgorges her.

"Ew, ew! Gross," says the door. "Any more tastes like that and I'll come unhinged!"

Oh no, its the most ominous door yet.

It's a door that puns.

"If feeling stuck and that's what's troubling you could always try opening up for us. Maybe a new lease on life and giving up on being a door? Be ajar, instead." Jinks suggests from the back, slowly taking his hands away from the bow when Vaera is released.

Gaerth had prepared for Something Nasty to be behind the door. He hadn't expected it to *be* the door. Fortunately, this leads to a delay in his reaction. So, The armored paladin doesn't go charging into Vaera to block her outof the way... He just looks on with a slight expression of disgust. "What in Daeus' name...?"

Vaera grunts as she rolls onto her back, and sits up. "Well, if you are capable of talking, you could have told you that, instead of the revelation being unpleasant like that."

"Is there some reason you did not ask before doeing so?"

Lysos is simply amazed. Out of all the futures she could have guessed, the one where she wasn't the one who got eaten by a door was not one of htem. The amazement does delay her concern for Vaera for a second.. only a second though! But by then the sith has been given back to them, so her cry is strangled before it starts. Which causes her to choke a little bit at the pun trade. When she gets her voice back, she offers, "Fire?"

Skielstregar gasps as Vaera is taken away, fear flooding him before she is spat back out. He scrambles over to her, a taloned hand outstretched. "By the Dragonfather indeed, are you okay..?"

He glances over to Lysos, a scaly brow raised. "Fire? Thisss one thinksss that isss unwissse. Perhapsss a sssnack of some kind that isss not usss? Food mayhaps?"

"I wasn't expecting visitors. It's been a while and the old instincts got the better of me! Say, you wouldn't mind if I ate you, would you? You look delicious." That is to Lysos.

"You're here to see the master, right? You're going to need to come back another time, he's not really interested in visitors. One might even say that door on that has closed."

"I am alright. Not the first time, though thankfully this time required no fighting." Vaera notes as she takes the hand to pull herself up. She looks to Lysos, and shakes her head.

"It would be greatly appreciated if you do not eat any of us. In fact, I would say it is not to be negotiated."

"That would, indeed, be non-negotiable," Gaerrth confrims.

Skielstregar sighs. "If your massster hasss closssed that door, then what isss the point of there even being a door in the firssst place?" he queries after ensure Vaera was fine.

The door's mouth -- and it now has one, might as well be described as looking shocked when Skiel raises ethis point.

It is thinking this over.

"We were led to believe your master might be interested in meeting one of our number." Jinks chimes in again, stepping and craning his neck to look through the press of bodies at the hungry door (probably hollow-core). He reaches up to his collar and adjusts the Animus-symbol pin, looking at Lysos and canting his head towards the animate portal. "Something about their circumstance of Fate and his area of study."

"Fire is not an unreasonable response when something eats one of your allies," mutters Lysos, looking at the talking door rather darkly. Then she sighs, speaking up when Jinks highlights her presence. "I feel like your master would adore the chance to speak with us. We have a problem only he can get a handle on.. one might say his knowledge is the key. We might be able to swing by again later, but I'm not sure what our chances of coming by to knock again later are. Also, I'm terribly unlucky."

"He does have a point, it is true." Vaera nods as she takes a step back, and brushes off her coat, opening it to make sure everything was in place. That was an awful lot of pouches, and some may not be pleasant to be imbibed unknowingly. "And if it has been some time, perhaps your master needs checking on? I cannot imagine it can be easy to tell if their views have changed if they have not passed by here."

"Exactly. So stop being a knob." Jinks back up Lysos.

Alexandria City is in dire need of your master's wisdom and assistace," Gaerth cimes in. "The request has come from Grieva. We are her emmasaries/"

GAME: Vaera rolls diplomacy: (10)+1: 11

GAME: Skielstregar rolls diplomacy: (12)+2: 14

GAME: Lysos rolls diplomacy: (4)+9: 13

GAME: Gaerth rolls diplomacy: (19)+10: 29

GAME: Jinks rolls Diplomacy: (20)+11: 31

The door pauses for a long moment.

"Well," it begins, "you're all very entertaining so far, it's true, even if you're not tasty." Sorry, Vaera! "I guess I can let you through, especially if you 've got somethieng important for him. And you're definitely unlucky. You're here, after all." Eyes open on the door and look at Lysos for a long moment.

The door opens on its own aft er a moment. "Be careful. You have a few more doors to get througyh, and they're not all as nice as I am."

"Hopefully there are no steel doors; they're sure to be ill-tempered." Jinks mutters, pressing on through the portal near the tail end of the party.

"Alloy your suspicions," replies the door to Jinks.

Skielstregar just puts a hand on his snout and sighs languidly, following through the threshold with the others.

"Creepy," Lysos silently mouths, staring back at the door's eyes and not breaking eye contact until she's well and truly passed it by.

"I will accept the apology for now, although I may still consider that an insult." Vaera chuffs before she steps back into the group, near the back and keeping an eye on the door, just in case.

Gaerth rubs his temples at the puns. "They were made for each other, he mutters. He gets back into the front with a "Right. Movng on now..." and heads off down the ahll with the lage Sith.

GAME: Skielstregar rolls perception: (4)+6: 10

GAME: Vaera rolls perception: (14)+8: 22

GAME: Jinks rolls Perception: (10)+7: 17

GAME: Lyme rolls perception: (9)+4: 13

GAME: Gaerth rolls perception: (16)+2: 18

GAME: Lysos rolls perception: (9)+6: 15

The tunnel is, of course, still exactly that. A tunnel.

And then you reach the next door. This door is ... twice as large as the last one, and what's worse, it's a *double* door. There are no traps as best you can tell, but it IS locked.

Unlike the last few, anyway.

It does also have the same carvings in it, but more pronounced and obvious now.

Lyme looks more annoyed than interested at this point. "You'd think the guy would have spent more onhaving one artist get a door exactly right rather than just iterating adnd iterating."

Gaaerth just reacts to the door with his semingly inexhustible patience. "And that is why these doors are an effective deterrent, my friend," he says to Lyme. "Those who would seek the mage out but not have patience would give up and leave him be."

"Can we just kick this one down?" asks Lysos, as if proving Gaerth's point. Patience seems to be wearing thin. "

Lyme looks at Lysos, and nods. "Well, if we don't have a key..."

"Look, the last door did attempt to eat me. Now is not the time to start being careless." Vaera advises as people seem to be getting frustrated. "They have become increasingly intricate as we have gone on, and the last one had some manner of intelligence. So we should not take this lightly."

"Maybe Twinsday took up carpentry as a hobby to occupy his idle hours when his patron was slain and all of his neighbors turned into the ambulatory dead. And we're seeing his gradual mastery of the craft as we travel down these halls." Jinks turns, pointing back the way they came and then sweeping one hand forward. "Or maybe, as a diviner, he had a hazy vision that he's been gradually able to interpret more clearly and commissioned a new door each time." The gnome scritches at his goatee, trying to decide which supposition he enjoys more.

"I'm not sure I'd count that last one as intelligent," Lysos says, muttering again. She wasn't the one eaten, but the door did threaten her after all... and she didn't care for the way it looked at her. More loudly, "Well, if we don't have a key, and this one's not talking to us, I'm not sure that there are many other options."

Skielstregar, seeing the back and forth between everyone, just sighs and shakes his head. He steps forward, long talons curling back on themselves as he gives a firm, solid three raps against the door. If there was anyone a door should eat, it would be him. And he's half dead, so he'd taste horrid.

The door is knocked on. There are three knocks back.

Interesting.

"Maybe there's a password. Like 'Animus is great' or 'Mulria undercooks chicken.'" Jinks muses. He frowns when the door knocks back, thinking. "You should put this on," he offers, turning sideways and reaching between people to offer Lysos the Animus pin he's taken off his coat. "In the name of first impressions."

Skielstregar tilts his head one way. Then other way. Long talons feel along the door, looking for where a key would go. He reaches a bit higher, grabs the air in front of the door, and twists. If there was a latch on the other side, it would be there. And if his thinking was correct... something was mirroring his movements.

Lyme just folds his arms across his chest, frowning. "Or, maybe the door is fucking with us."

Gaerth gives a small smile to Jinks. "Or perhaps we can wait fot th learned amung us to decode that the writings say." He takes a deep breath. "Patience,my friend. We are sill making progress. erhaps not as fasts as we would like, but progress, nonetheless."

Lysos looks slightly askance at the pin, for some reason not eager to take it.. but she relents, nodding, as if accepting the gnome's wisdom. After turning the pin around in her hand a few times, she then affixes it just below the neckline of her dress. "Fire's still an option, just saying," she then offers up, though does take to looking the door over a little closer. Then, after another moment passes, she raises a hand and makes a motion like wiping moisture off of a window. "Revello."

GAME: Lysos casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 7 DC: 16

Jinks quirks an eyebrow at Gaerth, then looks back to the door. 'The writing is meaningless. Just someone trying to make their door look impressive.' He waggles a beringed gnomish finger at the perimeter of the door. 'It's like those noble girls who get fae tattoos on their arms that they think mean 'First-World Energy' but it really says "Satyr's Feet."' <sylvan>

"It seems there is more to this door than appears at first glance." Vaera chuffs as she steps off to the side upon hearing the sound of knocking. "All else fails, we can break the lock, but it is best not to resort to that too quickly. This wizard must be in excellent shape though, if they go through this every time they seek to return home."

Gaerth give an 'I told you so' look at Jinks, before looking at Vaera. "Then how do we bypass it without tampering with the lock?"

A bit dismayed, Skielstregar saddles back up against the wall so others can poke at the door. Looks like his idea was in vain. "It doesss knock back. Perhapsss there isss sssomething to think about there...?" he suggests.

"Maybe knock out the beat of a song? Or maybe there's some sort of language of tapping?" Lysos is trying to be helpful. "Or maybe we could just break the lock, instead of the whole door?" Another pause. "You know, breaking down the door could lend some weight to the seriousness of our quest."

Lyme nods slowly. "Is anyone an engineer? Or do we just need to do this the old-fashioned way?"

Skielstregar coughs. "Doesss anyone know the... hand language? Perhapsss you need to sssay 'open' in that...?"

"By tapping it on the door..?" he adds.

Lyme shakes his head. "Where's Aryia when you need them?"

"I knew a mercenary drummer in Clockwork Point," Jinks comments to Lysos, moving forward and rubbing his hands together. "Good rates; only charged per cussion." He'll rap on the door once, pause, then twice, and pause, and four times, then pause. He'll try Handspeech for 'open' and 'come in' and then the same in Draconic, Gnomish, Goblin-Tal, Khazdul, Kulthian, and Sylvan. Just to be thurough.

"Tapping on it? I know the alphabet in sildanyari script, tradespeak and draconic runes, so I could give it a try." Vaera suggests at the question. She walks up to the door where it was knocked on, and brings up a hand to rap sharply on the wizard's chamber door.

Each set of raps gets a distinct response of an equivalent number of taps. It's mimicking you now even if the last door was the mimic.

Lyme pauses. "Hey, would you please open up?" He just asks. Sometimes that works. But not usually.

GAME: Lysos rolls knowledge/engineering: (16)+4: 20

GAME: Jinks casts Gallant Inspiration. Caster Level: 5 DC: 17

GAME: Jinks rolls 2d4: (5): 5

Vaera chuffs and shakes her head as the others look at it. They glance to Jinks. "It seems to be knocking back. Perhaps it is expecting one of those jokes?" They suggest, not expecting much as they return to investigating the door.

Jinks knocks thrice more, turns the handle as well as he can and pushes, hoping the action is mirrored he'll step back from it. "Frankly, I think Lotch is watching all of this from some interior reflecting pool laughing so hard he's ruined his trousers."

Lysos squeezes past bodies to take her turn at the door, putting her hand against it but not pushing.. rather sliding it along as she looks up, to the sides. Jinks's magic helps lend insight.. though how useful that insight ends up being isn't clear. She pushes at it, prods.. sticks her eye up against where the double doors join. Moves to the sides to feel along where the doors join to the walls. Then she steps back. "I still say we try to break it down. I mean, we're technically welcome, right? That other door could have just said no. It looks like it swings inside.. maybe a bar or something on the other side." A pause. "Or we could burn it."

Gaerth watches all this, thinking about the connundrum. "You say that the words make no sesne...what if you read them aoud in reverse order? Or spoke them in an order that made linguistic sense?"

GAME: Lysos rolls perception: (4)+6: 10

"Lysos, while I do not mind the fire, and can hold my breath for some time, we are still in an enclosed hallway, and the smoke would be dangerous for everyone else present." Vaera says simply. "Perhaps breaking it down is the option, as only the wizard knows how to open it up."

Lysos puts her hand against the door once again, frowning... maybe she doesn't like that Vaera's logic is sound. "It felt like something is on the other side. Maybe actually doing the knocking." She puts her mouth right up against the door, then, and yells through it. "HEY!"

Lyme pauses. "Alright, fine. Let's start cracking." And so, he looks at his morning star and falchion, and asks: "Anybody got an axe?"

Lysos voice immediately echoes back.

"HEY!"

Gaerth doesn't seem concerned that the party is having to resort to hacking down the door. He just calmly unsheathes his greatsword from his backand sets his shield to the side. "Not quite an axe, I'll admit...

Skielstregar blnks as Lysos's voice doubles back, scaled brows knitting together. He looks to Lyme and nods, but holds up a long, taloned finger. If things were being reflected back. Then.. if they did things backwards, maybe...?

"Dragonfather pleassse ssspare thisss one's embarrassment," he quietly prays before walking up to the door. Turning around. And walking backwards into it.

There's a shuffling sound from the other side of the door when Skielstrgar backs into it. It doesn't *open*, but it something definitely moved.

Skielstregar blinks. "... thisss one thinksss there are mirror copiesss of usss beyond the door."

"Wait!" Gaerth suddenly exclaims. If the door reflects the knock and wht we say...might it also be enchanted to reflect our blows?"

Lyme nods slowly. "Okay. So." He walks up to it, and pushes on the door to see if it pushes back.

After Lyme attempts to push through, Vaera steps forward to the handles. Pushing them to an opening position, and attempting to pull back hard, letting go and stepping back quickly.

Whirlpoolooc So now you know a bit more and can try again!

There's a clanking soudn when Vaera grabs the handles. She tries to turn it, but it's like something is turning it the opposite way from her. Still, more progress in underestanding is being made. Not only is there somethuing4 on tyhe other side of the door, but it's mirroring your motions somehow.

Gaerthnod at the result. Progress. He returns his greatsword to the sheathe on hid back and returns to standing watch while the smart folks work the puzzle out.

Skielstregar scratches the scales on his head, him putting a firm hand on the door. He listens carefully as he hears movement, tries to find a spot near where a lock should be, and listens for metal being shifted before grabbing the air and twisting again. Maybe with the knowledge of what's going on, it'd work this time

Lyme loks over at Vaera. "What if you try in the other direction?" He exhales. "This hurts my brain too."

Skielstregar sighs and just leans back against the door again.

He also makes a motion of swooping up from the middle of the door skywards against it. Certainly it'd knock a bar out of the way if one was there on the other side.

As Skiel leans back against the door again, something backs away. As they pantomime opening the door this way, there is no longer anything to block the door from opening -- which it does.

Seems it's definitely mirorring you -- perhaps even the door itself.

When it opens, and you can move down the tunnel, you can see the written series of enchantmnets on the other side of it. It looks complicated and full of ... runes. Lots of runes. Jinks, at leaset, will be able to discern that it's a lot of conjuration, illusion and divination, the last one not beving terribly surprising.

There's a phantasmal looking being standing in the middle of the hallway. It's 'head' is a simple, swirling pool of aether.

Lysos watches the more burly members of the expedition go through a series of trial and error... and her eyes even widen briefly when the mimery of lifint a bar is attempted. When the door does finally open, she lifts her hand as if to claw at one of the swinging doors. Maybe imagining the face of the resident wizard as she does so.

"Your embarassment is forgiven it seems, Skielstregar." Vaera chuckles as she stops to take a look at the door. "I did not consider that what was reacting on the other side was what was keeping it closed."

"Well, I hope that was the last of the doors, yet, I feel like that should not be expected."

Skielstregar rubs his neck and nods after getting his balance from the door opening. Though, he does stop, him pointing at the phantasmal being standing in the middle of the hallway. "Uhhh.... greetingsss...?" he raises a hand.

"Uhhh .... greetingsss...?" It raises its hand, mirroring Skielstrgar.

Lyme looks down, then up, nods politely to the phantasm, then breaks on through to the other side (man).

Vaera offers a nod to the phantasm, and a pat on the shoulder to the slightly confused makari. "Let us continue on, before one of us makes a movement closing the door, and locks the others out." She says, already walking forward, trying to get out of range of the mimicry, just in case.

Easy enough to bypass the phantasm. It doesn't move from its spot now that the door is in fact open.

You're able to move down the hallway to ... a DOOR.

Unsurprisingly.

Perhaps this is the last one? You can hear sounds on the other side of this one, someone mumbling and muttering. The smell of smoke is filtering out from under it. Acrid and foul smoke, actually.

"..no! Blast it all. I had a .. now where did I leave that..."

Lyme determinedly knocks on the door forthwith.

Skielstregar shifts on his feet, him a bit off to the side and watching the smoking door. They must be getting close.

This definitely seems close.

The door is knocked upon and there's a pause. "...was .. was someone knocking on the back door? Who's there?!"

"So that was the back door. Did we take the wrong path, or were we given the wrong map?" Vaera asks quietly, leaning off to a side, and letting the others make their introduction.

Lyme hangs back, too. Nobody really wants the giant orc to talk, do they? He whispers, "That explains much -- you remember the wizard's name? I was late to the briefing."

Skielstregar whispers just as quietly. "Thisss one thinksss we were given the right map." Seeing as none wanted to speak up, he sighs heavily and talks louder. "Hello! We come ssseeking an audience, and your door friend with the mouth sssaid we were very entertaining, like us entertaining an open door polisssy?"