Isle of Coldridge 2023 - Phantasmagoria - A Sigil Room

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Zaria says: As the troupe of valiant explorers (like you had a choice) enters the room, one of the sigils on the wall lights up. It flickers yellow for a moment, and then slowly fades away again. The three-by-three grid of sigils can be interpreted as animals, from left to right and top to bottom: A dragon, An Armadillo, A Bird, A Fish, A Dog, A Frog, A Monkey, A Spider, and A Snake.

Sinclair winces as he hobbles into the next room, the heat from the prior one making him sweat all over. His legs are messed up from his encounter with the magma itself, but he pushes on when everyone seems to have made it across. The room with all of the sigils gives him pause. If he touches one, will it be a trap? Is touching the sigils or anything around him going to get him into trouble? He has a moment where he gently leans against a wall, trying to catch his breath and ease his suffering. His legs hurt immensely, but he doesn't have time to nurse his wounds. "It looks like the magma is headed this way, guys. It's creeping in after us. Whatever is going on in this room, we need to figure it out fast."

Ruairi stirs as they enter the new room, coming to on Thaeloc's back. "Wh-what on earth," he groans as he groggily takes in his surroundings and current positioning. He blinks several times looking around at the group before scrambling a bit to try and release himself from his baby-styled carrier. Hearing Sinclair's voice, he stares a moment, "Magma?"

Naessa limps into the sort of safe room, suppressing the urge to let out growls of pain while looking at the sigils which have lit up. While there's visible alarm at the mention of the molten liquid creeping toward them even now, it's the markings that have the Haunt focusing. To Sinclair, "Do you have any ideas?" is asked, while padding over to the images. They're then studied more intently, an attempt to determine a pattern made as well.

Asher limps in soon after Sinclair, keeping close to the demon while clutching his injured back - not to mention other places that ache on his body. He holds Sinclair's hand and sidles in close to him, careful of the other man's injuries. He answers to Naessa's words, "They are animals, that much is clear. Different color variations. Perhaps a pattern order? A secret code. There must be a way past this room. I do refuse to believe this is where it ends." The professor frowns deeply, though turns his attention to Ruairi. "Hello, Count. How are you feeling? You've missed quite the adventure. I am surprised you didn't stir around the magma."

Thaeloc like everyone else is having some feet issues from the last room. Upon feeling movement on his back he figures that the count is most likely awaken. Pulling the straps off his shoulders he carefully lowers the shield onto the ground and starts untying him. "Go to you back with us." Looking at the glowing sigils he has no clue.

Sinclair is thankful the count has woken up, as it was difficult getting him this far. He approaches him briefly. "Welcome back," he says kindly, looking at the professor fleetingly. The professor holding his hand emboldens him a little, and he steps away from the wall completely. When Naessa speaks, the demon frowns a little, considering the question. "Well...I'm going to just...touch one and see what happens." He moves away from the professor at record speed, not wanting to be stopped. When he approaches the sigils, one hand moves up and touches the space directly in the middle - the dog - to see what happens next.

The Dog sigil lights up in a brilliant green. The room shakes. More sand and a smattering of gravel fall from the ceiling. Near the doorway, the floor stones begin to crack, and magma can be seen bubbling up. The sigil goes out.

Ruairi winces slightly from the pressure being release off his shoulder injury but once on the ground he looks around at the group, "Thanks...I don't think I want to even know what's happened." He watches Sinclair's movements and shrinks back slightly as the gravel and sand comes from the ceiling. "Before we go pressing anymore buttons, can we look for an engraving or something that might give us an idea of what we're supposed to do here?" He begins examining the walls for anything that may be a clue.

Naessa is alarmed by the unexpected damage that's been caused by the dog relief being touched, prior to the light fading away. Musing more to herself, the Haunt now says, "So it can't be a diagonal or the middle row or column," while going through the similarities the animal designs possessed. With Ruairi's suggestion, there is now a nod before she now starts looking around, while offering, "So far the only other idea I have is trying the dragon, snake, and frog, since they're all cold blooded," without any certainty that would turn out well.

Asher moves to capture Sinclair, though he is too late and his fingers slip through the fabric of the Bard's clothing. "Sinclair!" He calls, but the damage is done and he has pressed a sigil. "We don't need to just be pressing things all willy-nilly." The Professor says, chasing Sinclair up the stairs. "We should definitely look for clues." However, he unfortunately trips up the stairs chasing after the demon, one hand falling to capture himself - unfortunately, his hand lands on the frog sigil. The Triton gasps and tries to right himself with a grunt of pain. "Bother..."

The frog sigil lights up a vivid yellow-green. There's a grinding sound that lasts for but a moment before it and the light fade away.

Thaeloc moves over to the table blowing the sand and dust off of it looking to see if there are any clues on it. "Hey i thought we were in agreement not to be touching these till we had some idea what it is they will do. We don't want to roof caving in or more magma flowing into here."

Sinclair makes a sheepish face when the professor trips, helping him back up with that face turning into a frown slowly. "Stop chasing after me, Professor. I'm sure you're aware, I'm very impulsive." He looks down at his bard costume then. The tassels catch his attention for a moment, and he forgets what he is doing. Can these be utilized in some way? Is there something precious about them that he can use in this room to move forward? He's completely lost in his thoughts as the space around him does its own thing, absorbed with the details of his costume suddenly. It even has tights!

Ruairi half steps to catch Asher as he falls, but stops to wait for the result of the Frog symbol being activated. "Grinding? That's not magma, so positive." He offers a shrug. "Wait, they're not the same color. Maybe there's a color order they have to be pressed in. The dog was green, and the frog, slightly lighter towards a yellow, maybe." He moves up beside the other but scrutinizes the slab once again, looking for any possible markings or hints of usage on the symbols.

Naessa does not like the noise which accompanied the frog being touched by accident, not even a little bit. The blending shades of them both had been observed, but there was still no connecting thread yet. Curiosity has her loping toward the wall as well, ready to press an image too. Which one is yet undecided, though.

Asher smiles sheepishly to everyone, rubbing the back of his neck when Sinclair helps him up. "I'm sorry, I was a little clumsy. This costume is a bit bulky at times." He frowns to Sinclair, "You are impulsive and I need to keep after you for it." He allows the demon to help him to his feet, turning his head just enough to spot a carving next to the panel, "Look! This might be a clue on how to connect everything." That said, he moves in closer for a proper look.

Thaeloc hears Asher say that he might have found a clue. Moving over next to him and tries to look and see if he can figure out what it all means but not that likely as this kind of thing isn't up his alley but help is help.

Sinclair looks thoughtful, his brow furrowed as he considers things. "There's a connection between those sigils over there, right? This is the sixth room we've been in. Do you think that has anything to do with this? Just, six rooms in a straight line. It could all be connected, you know?" He walks over to where the the carving on the wall is, studying it for a moment as the pain in his legs eats at his anxiety. His face says it all - he's in pain. "There's what, nine sigils? Do you think only six of them are needed? If so, which ones?"

Ruairi listens carefully to the others, "Could the symbols correspond to the rooms? Like Spider and Drider?" He shakes his head, as if clearing the thought, "No, nevermind, there's no way we could connect the others that way." He frowns deeply and steps away from the symbols, fingers running through his hair in frustration. "I'm at a loss, I'm half tempted to press the Dragon just to see what color it becomes damn the consequences," he growls.

Naessa looks at the carving of six segments connected together by a path, then back to the wall murals as though that'll reveal some hidden clue. After no revelation is bestowed, she makes sure to move out of the way for Ruairi and Sinclair, so that she's underneath the snake. As the Count considers pressing the Dragon sigil, the Haunt stretches up so one of her forepaws can touch the serpent, since there was a fifty percent chance it was one of the correct ones.

Asher stands back away from the sigils, not wanting to be clumsy and press another thing that he wasn't supposed to. Although, he does watch the clue grid and look to the sigils as he listens. "Six rooms, six sigils, things that could correspond to rooms...I think you could definitely be on to something." He says this to affirm things, though puzzles in his head on what more to do.

When Naessa-puppy hits the Snake sigil, it shimmers to life as a hot pink hue. Funnily enough, other carving reacts as well. The third from the top also lights up violently pink. The grinding sound strains out again, and then everything fades away once more.

Thaeloc is going to stand back encase he needs to attack something.

Sinclair watches carefully and kind of slinks around Asher while the professor is distracted. "Maybe you're onto something, Count," he says, pressing the spider sigil before anyone can stop him. "But we have to press them in order? Following the drider room, we were in a tunnel with spikes. What could correspond with the animals in some way? Fangs, like snake?" He pauses, chewing on his bottom lip as his pain nags him. His mind isn't all there and it's clear. He waits to see what will happen following touching the spider sigil, taking a few uncomfortable steps backwards just in case.

Once Sinclair touches the spider, it lights up a bright yellow. The bottom square of the "trail" lights up as well. THis time, the grinding sound keys up....and stays. As do the lights.

Ruairi watches with earnest as Naessa presses the snake symbol and the dimming lights, nothing its location as Sinclair presses the spider, "I don't think it would be next considering where it lit up in the path. But what if it's describing something in the room? We had to leap over the spikes." He pauses, "I'm going to press the frog one more time." He reaches for the frog symbol and presses down.

The frog lights up, and as it does so, the second from the top along the chain of squares lights up. The grinding sound redoubles, and then fades. All of the lights go out.

Naessa takes heed of the snake lighting up, the spider glowing as well, then the lights going out as the frog is touched again. Instead of trying a different image yet, the placement of each so far is repeated, before going over the rooms thus far as well. Even with this, there is no further attempt made to just touch the images all randomly, not if they wanted to get out before the magma finally becomes a proper threat.

Asher frowns when the lights go out once more, Ruairi's attempt to touch the frog is not a correct one. The Professor leans forward and presses the spider again to hopefully light it up, "There was a time we had to roll to avoid injury," he says, then stretches to press the Armadillo sigil. "Armadillos roll..." Could it hurt? He really wanted to get them out of this room before the magma caught up to them.

The spider sigil lights up, and it's corresponding square does as well. The Armadillo glistens to life, a lively red...and it's corresponding square right above the yellow one along the path does as well. The grinding sound grows louder, and all four lights stay on.

Sinclair watches as the sigils stay put after the professor touches them, his theory about the second sigil confirmed, though he remains silent. He considers the room after that and cringes - the treasure room with the mimic where his temporary greed caused the group a load of trouble. Then it occurs to him...what protects gold? Was the treasure a hoard? He gazes thoughtfully at the dragon sigil, chewing his bottom lip again. "Treasure room was after that. Maybe..." The demon trails off for a moment before approaching the board. "Maybe the treasure chest was like a dragon hoarding gold? I'm going to try it." That said, he reaches up and touches the dragon sigil, anxiety in his gut like a writhing mass of cold.

Ruairi steps away from the symbols after his failed attempt, but encourages the others, "I was useless after the spike tunnel, what was next? It seems like we're on the right track so far." He studies the images and order thinking back on their strange trip so far.

Naessa has a look over at the carving that's gotten steadily brighter with each subsequent correct image touched. While the choice of colors for each animal is curious to her, the Haunt doesn't dwell on it yet, opting to press the snake for the second time. This is all she does though for actions, before offering, "What do you think the image for this room is going to be, and as important, what's next? I did jumping in this form and there was some flying as well, so either could be options," just as a hypothetical.

The snake lights up, and is added to the cadre of colors and lights. As the snake is pressed, there is a buffet of cold air, and the shape of a door - not yet accessible - forms on the left hand wall of the raised plinth.

Asher continues to study the sigils as they light up and remain, each animal representing what they did or the general theme of the room. With Naessa's correct response, he leans in and looks over the markings and colors again. "The frog did light up when I touched it by accident, but didn't remain. So maybe..." A chance is taken and he presses the frog for hopping barrels. But what could this room be?

The frog lights up and the path is nearly complete. As if the room itself were breathing a sigh of relief, a crack splits the door shape, indicating a somewhat fanciful double-door style of exit. Another cool puff of air streams through the new crack.

Sinclair is exasperated. He has no idea what to press next, and he doesn't want to screw the group up. He looks at all of the sigils and notes the details: the bird has an olive branch in it's feet, the fish has bubbles, the dog has a bone, and the monkey has a crown. The pain in his legs is very distracting at this point, but he feels like he's melting due to the heat of the nearby magma. The swear pours off of him, running down the sides of his neck, gluing his hair to his head, and off the tip of his nose. "Birds symbolize freedom, right?" He whispers under his breath, maybe not even loud enough for anyone else to hear. Tentatively, he reaches up, takes a deep breath in, and presses the bird sigil, hoping in his heart that it won't mean lost progress.

There's the sudden and very loud sound of a deep thud, then screeching as the stone doors come into full relief and swing open. Dust is ushered in with the wind as the bird joins the trail of lights, allowing the adventurers to escape.

As the puzzles are completed, the hatch leading up slowly creaks open, sand pouring in as well as a view of a fiery red sky. Stones stairs glide from ancient positions. The only way to go is up.

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Last modified on December 5, 2023, 15:25:02