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Post by kooshster on Dec 10, 2013 16:28:20 GMT
Psychlis mutters darkly to himself. "I really need to get out of my Ivory Tower more," still feeling a bit sheepish over the attempted Hypnotism spell. "I wonder if there's anything we can tell about this soldier. Where'd he come from? I think I can place this armor...[knowledge - arcana]
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Post by Admin on Dec 10, 2013 18:32:15 GMT
[Perception roll=9]
Hans notices thin strands of copper attached to the top of the door, and running into the door itself. Similar copper threads are near the hinges of the door, before vanishing into the nearby wall. He heards a humming sound, sees a spark jumping across the door.
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The armor is a breastplate (for humans and similar medium stature creatures), lined with leather and various insulating materials. Perhaps it would give the wearer resistance to electric attacks. The skull appears to have been killed by blunt force trauma, judging by the cracks in it. In the armor itself are bands of Greek letters and mathematical equations, perhaps Ionian in origin.
[Knowledge arcana roll=12]
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Post by jon on Dec 10, 2013 19:05:04 GMT
Hans steps back as he watches the door suspiciously. "I dont like the sound of that humming... any idea what it is?" Hans indicates the wires.
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Post by henwen88 on Dec 10, 2013 20:28:27 GMT
"There is lightning in those metal threads," Leath says, pointing to them from a distance. "I have seen druids plant high metal poles to protect certain sacred forests from lightning storms; somehow metal summons lightning to it. If I had some mistletoe, I might be able to shield us from the lightning around this door."
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Post by kooshster on Dec 11, 2013 0:28:42 GMT
Psychlis points to the leather padding inside the armor. "Whoever this poor soul was, he seemed focused on evading the same lightning through these wires. Could we make use of that too?"
The wizard bends down to more closely inspect the Greek (Ionian?) language written into the armor. Hopefully it includes some sort of warning or aid.
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Post by Admin on Dec 11, 2013 5:36:08 GMT
The breastplate is covered in equations, some utilizing Greek and Latin characters. One in particular has phi set as equal to Q over epsilon with a "0" subscript. He also notices what seems to be a musty journal. Picking it up carefully, he notes much of the pages are dirty, but he can make out a few references. "Find the right controls, force way, or short the circuit." are the only legible parts of the last page.
[The breastplate gives DR 3/lightning.]
"What's it say?" Jiao asks. "I've got another idea."
He loads a special charge into his blunderbuss. "I've got this new alchemical bullet I've designed," he explains. "It can breach locked doors, but it'll make lots of noise and probably draw a lot of constructs, or worse, down here."
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Post by jon on Dec 11, 2013 6:50:52 GMT
Hans leans over the journal. "Looks a bit dusty, let me help you there." Hans begins to talk backwards in the direction of journal while making a sweeping motion with his hand. [prestidigitation to clean the pages]
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Post by Admin on Dec 11, 2013 21:04:40 GMT
Various diagrams are visible, lines with stylized lightning bolts running down them. One that catches Hans' and Psychlis' eyes is a diagram that shows a wave image (which Psychlis notes labeled in Greek as water) being applied to one such system. Afterwards, he notes the lightning has been removed from the system.
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Post by henwen88 on Dec 12, 2013 21:22:44 GMT
"Okay, there's the lightning," Leath says, looking over their shoulders at the text. "What's that wavy thing supposed to be?" he asks. "Maybe if we can figure this out, we won't have to blow up the door and have more of these metal creatures interfering with us."
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Post by tengen on Dec 13, 2013 16:19:29 GMT
"Yes not blowing up the door would be preferable." She says while casually examining the door more closely.
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Post by Admin on Dec 13, 2013 17:19:11 GMT
Psychlis recalls that water and lightning do not always mix well. He recalls a demonstration by a visiting archmage from Venice, where a simple spark cantrip was used to explode a pot of naptha across a small puddle. He also recalls brass and copper seemed to carry lightning far better than the materials in the breastplate.
--
Alicia notices the door seems to be made of solid bronze, but there is a small portion of the door frame that was worn away with age. There's a bundle of copper threads and filaments there, which connect to a particular hinge on the door.
[Perception roll=10]
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Post by tengen on Dec 13, 2013 18:20:40 GMT
"hmmmm" she says examining the threads seeing if they connect to anything else. Once she expends that curiosity to its fullest the control panel seems to be the next obvious thing to inspect.
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Post by henwen88 on Dec 13, 2013 22:51:16 GMT
Getting no response from the group, Leath attempts to figure out the diagram with the wave himself. [Int. check]
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Post by Admin on Dec 14, 2013 19:32:01 GMT
"This might help everyone," Jiao casts "Comprehend Languages."
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The druid realizes some of the lines correspond to brass threads and wires near the door. There is a component he cannot immediately determine, a jagged line in parallel with a straight one, labelled "R=10." At the far left of the diagram is what appears to be a small lightning icon in a box. "V=10," it is labelled. It appears to be a diagram of how the artificial lightning flows through the system, much like water flowing downhill through channels and ditches. Ironically, though, water (or perhaps a lightning or spark spell) might ruin the machine by means of overloading it or fooling it with the wrong signal.
[Int roll=20.]
--- ---
Alicia notes the brass threads terminate into the wall, but emerge again near the control panel. She blows the dust off, and notices a few buttons and a massive lever. There are dwarven characters, with Greek symbols written over them crudely. The letters and characters rearrange themselves into a form she can read. There is a switch with both ends labelled 'on' and 'off' and it's currently set to the 'off' position. There is a larger lever next to it, with both ends labelled between "0" and "1" at increments of one tenth. The switch is currently set at "0.1." There's a small note etched nearby, reading "V must equal I times R. Switch controls I."
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Post by henwen88 on Dec 14, 2013 23:56:51 GMT
"It looks like water might ruin this thing? And maybe then we can get through?" Leath says, puzzling out the diagram. "I can cast a water spell on it."
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