soulping | EPONA & ALECTRYON

[You exit the parlor through a doorway in your team's color and find yourself in some kind of entry hall. Aside from the one behind you, there are four doors - one on each of the side walls, and two opposite the entrance - each with an image carved into it. They're a bit hard to make out, however, since only one torch on the far wall is lit, lending the place a gloomy atmosphere. What you can see is that the room, once richly decorated, is now a mess; the walls are covered in peeling, royal purple wallpaper, and great swaths of the ceiling are coated with sticky cobwebs. The floor is covered with large marble tiles, inlaid with some kind of swirling design in glittering gold - but sadly, it too is out of shape. The tiles seem to shift a bit under your weight, and some of them are even missing altogether.

If you try the doors you'll find that all of them are locked, and no amount of manhandling can get them to budge.]

[OOC: This game is a treasure hunt/dungeon crawl! Your characters will be exploring the rooms they pass through and facing different challenges in each one. Some rooms will be exploratory, others will have specific rules! The goal is just to reach the end. Teams will be scored on things like teamwork, cleverness, creativity, etc.

Skills are ON, but there will be penalties if you mess up Knut's castle. He lives here, you know!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[there are a number of torches on the other walls, but they won't catch. you'll have to carry the one around.]

[I GUESS THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING NOW]

[bringing the torch light to the doors to check out the images on them]

[in the light you can now make out the fairly simple pictures; from the left to right door, there is a book, a winding road, a foreboding cave, and a sword.]

[trying the handle of the door with the book! that looks pleasant enough.]

[it's just as locked as the rest, sorry!]

Flame! The tiles move!

Move? [looking over—oh]

. . . the doors are locked. . . we should try rearranging the tiles. Maybe there's a trapdoor—?

I bet it's a puzzle! We have to push blocks around until we get the right pattern.

Mm! It looks like there's a start here. . . [waving the torch over to the tiles eveningstar moved :|a]

Okay, let's try that out.

[go go moving tiles!!]

Looks like we've got to be puzzlebusters! [lala moving]

[this is hell jus so you know]

[when most of the puzzle is done! or ... at least enough they can read it:]

"Four paths before you lay
One of each brawn and brain
Between those two you will find
Two paths of more vexing design.
The left route's end can be quite far,
But once within, its tests aren't hard.
If it's a challenge you desire,
Take the shortcut right,
with risks more dire."

[As the final tile slides into place, all the unlit torches lining the walls burst into life, flooding the room with light. You can now clearly see everything, from the pictures on the doors to the poem written on the tiles in flowing gold script:

"Four paths before you lay
One of each brawn and brain
Between those two you will find
Two paths more of vexing design
The left route's end can be quite far
But once within, its tests aren't hard
If it's a challenge you desire
Take the shortcut right, with risks more dire"

With a loud click, the doors all unlock!]