The stars above and the earth below....

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Sun Sep 07, 2003 4:40 pm

"Alright, but any combination of books may trigger something, so be prepared," Viola said causiously looking about the room. She walked to the shelves and pulled the books Bumbol thought out of place.

The Sun and it's Shimmering Heat
Monkeys of Incredible Intellect
Trolls and Their Eating Habits
Underwater Life in the Coral Reef

Upon pulling the last book out slightly, she stepped back, hoping to hear the slight sound of the door unlatching.

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Sun Sep 07, 2003 10:56 pm

A slight tremor rumbles within the walls like the sound of gears, followed by three clicking sounds. The pulled out books return to their original position, and then nothing more happens as the rumbling stops.

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Sun Sep 07, 2003 11:46 pm

"Viola counts the clicks. One. Two. Three. It seems we missed one. " Viola bites her lips and scans the titles again. "Any ideas boys?"

Brendan Mason · Post by **Brendan Mason** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 12:17 am

"I think they're all right except for the animal bookshelf..."

[/i]

Bumbol Woodstock · Post by **Bumbol Woodstock** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 12:29 am

Bumbol looks at the shelves and picks "Sea Serpents and Their Prey".

"I think it is this book, because all the other animals have legs... No that can't be it can it? There must be something else...."

Bumbol Woodstock · Post by **Bumbol Woodstock** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 12:36 am

Bumbol puts the Sea Serpent book back and says, "I think I have it! It is the Charm of the Fire Bird. All the other books are about the animals, this is about an object... I think.."

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 6:19 pm

"Oh, like the Ice Bird amulent?" Vivi nods her head. "Let's try." Viola proceeds to pull out the following books.

Charm of the Fire Bird
Monkeys of Incredible Intellect
Trolls and Their Eating Habits
Underwater Life in the Coral Reef

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:54 pm

A slight tremor rumbles within the walls like the sound of gears, followed by three clicking sounds. The pulled out books return to their original position, and then nothing more happens as the rumbling stops.

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 2:57 am

Viola shakes her head, looking dumbfounded. After a moment, she realizes her mistake and tries again.

The Sun and it'sShimmering hea
Monkeys Incredible Intellect
The Charm of the Fire Bird
Underwater Life in the Coral Reef

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:51 am

A slight tremor rumbles within the walls like the sound of gears, followed by four clicking sounds. Another short rumble ensues, following by the sounds of the iron gates unlatching and spreading apart, allowing access to the next room.

Bumbol Woodstock · Post by **Bumbol Woodstock** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 5:07 am

Bumbol jumps up and down in the air in joy, his proudness of himself had never been better. And even more so, he looked smart infront of Viola.

"Come on fellows! Onto the next room!" He skips into the next room and finds...

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:51 pm

Vivi smiles broadly and pats Bumbol on the back. "Good job," she says as the three make their way into the next room. "And you said this place was spooky," she teased.

As they entered the next room, the three companions looked around taking in the details.

Brendan Mason · Post by **Brendan Mason** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:33 pm

Stood beside the door was a pedastal, shimmering in the torchglow of the room. Perched atop it, was a scroll with guilten edge.

It read:

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:51 am

In the center of the room are 9 switches on the floor, each marked with a number from 1 to 9. Each switch is also marked with two positions: Red and Blue. All of the nine swtiches are in the Red position right now.

1 more switch marked only in a Yellow position lies in the coner of the room.

The scroll on top of the table, with the box under it, reads:

To open the door to the next room, all 9 of the switches must be flipped to the Blue position. You can only flip one switch at a time. However, every time you flip any switch, it will also trigger certain other swtiches to flip into a different color position than it's current position.

If you flip swtich 1, it will also flip switches 2 and 4.
If you flip switch 2, it will also flip switches 1,3, and 5.
If you flip switch 3, it will also flip switches 2 and 6.
If you flip switch 4, it will also flip switches 1,5, and 7.
If you flip switch 5, it will also flip switches 2,4,6, and 8.
If you flip switch 6, it will also flip switches 3,5, and 9.
If you flip switch 7, it will also flip switches 4 and 8.
If you flip switch 8, it will also flip switches 5,7, and 9.
If you flip switch 9, it will also flip switches 6 and 8.

If you get stuck and want to start over, flip the yellow switch in the corner to restore all switches back to the Red position.

Bumbol Woodstock · Post by **Bumbol Woodstock** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 3:47 am

Bumbol walks to the switches. He looks at them all for a few moments and smiles smugly. He begins flipping switches in the following order:

Switch 1
Switch 9
Switch 5
Switch 7
Switch 3

"Done" he says and looks over to the others with a smile and waits to see what happens...

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 11:21 am

A slight tremor rumbles within the walls like the sound of gears, followed by the sounds of the iron gates unlatching and spreading apart, allowing access to the next room.

The next room is similar to the two rooms before it, in terms of the table and box and the iron doors at the back. On the walls of the room are several tiles with inscriptions on them. They are divided into several columns:

naeco
ekal
revir
maerts

flehs
riahc
elbat
loots

elgnairt
erauqs
erehps
nogatnep

dnah
gel
mra
teef

neerg
wolley
nworb
elprup

neves
nevele
thgie
evlewt

The scroll on the table, with the box under it, reads:

To open the door to the next room, one specific tile on the wall must be pressed. The tiles have been divided into coulmns, with the inscription of all four tiles in each column having something in common. The tile that must be pressed is the one with the inscription that does not fit with all the other inscription of the other tiles in its column. You have two chances to press the right tile. If you should choose wrong twice.....

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 1:18 pm

Viola studies the words for a moment biting her lower lip. "I see two that may not belong." She walks up to the wall of tiles and points to "erehps" and "teef".

"Each word is written backwards, you see. This column," she shows her companions, "contain shapes. Sphere is the only solid shape; the rest are flat shapes." Viola twists her face in concentration.

"And this column," she continues with a different set of tiles, "has body parts. "Feet" is the only word that has a plural meaning."

Viola stared at the columns a bit longer. "As lovely as hobbit feet are, I think I shall choose 'sphere'." Vivi stretched her arm and depressed the 'erehps' tile. She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped for the familar clicking sound of a door opening.

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 4:55 am

A slight tremor rumbles within the walls like the sound of gears, followed by the sounds of the iron gates unlatching and spreading apart, allowing access to the next room.

Inside the next room are several stone statues of many creatues, including a scorpion, zombie, skeleton, ogre, beholder, spider, demon, rotowrm, human, elf, dwarf, halfling, orc, and lizardman.

The scroll on the table with the box under it reads:

From the mightiest kings to the lowliest beggars,
Neverending melodies urge the heart to dance.
Soothing ballads and racing beats,
Carried along by stories of the trial-worn winds.
Resounding from strings and echoes,
The perfect note is where true beauty lies.
Bringing the strength to march forward,
And the recollection of memories.
Truly a small taste of paradise.

Brendan Mason · Post by **Brendan Mason** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 1:32 pm

Looking up at the great big statues, Brendan furrows his brow.

"Perhaps, considering that this is the final room, maybe we should use the box underneath the table?"

Brendan awaits his team mates response.

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 5:09 pm

Viola nods slowly to Brendan as she raps on the statue of the scorpion with her chubby fist. "I think we better Brendan. Just promise me these things will stay stone," Viola looks from the beholder to the demon with an uncertain look.

She crosses the floor to Brendan and Bumbol to watch the opening of the box.

Brendan Mason · Post by **Brendan Mason** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 5:19 pm

Brendan gently lifts the lid of the box up. Inside lies another scroll, quite similar to the one resting atop the table. He carefully takes it out and reads the words slowly to himself.

"Hmmm...that at least has cleared some things up..."

Brendan tells the others what the scroll reads:

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 2:54 am

What you need, is a synonym.
Where you find it, is subjective.

Brendan Mason · Post by **Brendan Mason** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 1:25 pm

"Well...a synonym is a word with the same meaning as another...and when a person is being subjective about something...they are acting on their own opinion."

Perhaps...if we pair off some of the statues...something might happen..Brendan thinks to himself.

"I am well and truly beguiled by this...perhaps we're defeated..."

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 11:19 pm

Viola repeated the verses over and over until she memorized them.

Mumbling she continued to walk around the statues, "synonym, subjective."

"In the verses, what is subjective?" Viola hurriedly repeated them, her eyes widening as she spoke the word, "beauty".

"The perfect note is where true beauty lies."

"So, where does beauty lie?" Viola grinned as she remembered a tale of an orge and princess that fell in love. "True beauty lies in the eye of the beholder."

She looked up to her friends, awaiting their move.

Bumbol Woodstock · Post by **Bumbol Woodstock** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 6:39 am

Bumbol crepts silently to the statue of the Beholder and looks inside its eye hoping to find some sort of music sheet. Maybe he could use his lute to get the monsters to dance...

Brendan Mason · Post by **Brendan Mason** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 4:55 pm

Brendan awaits to see what is found in the eye of the beholder...

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 5:31 pm

Viola leans over Bumbol to watch. She looses her balance, falling on the halfling and causing his finger to poke the beholder's eye.

Dyluck · Post by **Dyluck** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 7:31 am

As in turns out, the eye of the beholder was a kind of mechanism that triggered the iron doors to open. The three halflings soon realized that the synomym that the clue referred to was the word "key" for "note", hence the key was in the eye of the beholder. A slight tremor rumbles within the walls like the sound of gears, followed by the sounds of the iron gates unlatching....

The next room was identical to the ones before, except that there was no scroll on the table and the iron doors lay wide open...

The three halfilngs sat on a long couch next to the fireplace that still smelled of overnight coals as the morning sun shone through the windows from the other side. It was early morning by the time the halflings made it out of the Hall of Trials. A servant with a tray came and put down a few plates of lightly toasted bread rolls, some with butter spread across them. Dyluck sat across them on the other side of the table in a single armchair.

"Bring some more tea for our guests," he said to the servant.

The servant nodded and went on his way. Dyluck picked up his cup from the table and took a small sip.

"So then, what brings you three all the way up to the Magic Academy? Oh and I don't believe we've met," says Dyluck, looking at Viola.

Brendan Mason · Post by **Brendan Mason** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 2:39 pm

Brendan, taking up one of the lightly buttered rolls, sniffs the butter and wrinkles his nose in disgust.

"Not enough butter, methinks," Brendan ponders to himself...

Grabbing another roll, he scrapes the butter off onto his own with his index finger.

Taking one fell bite of the roll, it crumbles like biscuit.
"Mmmm...lovely Dyluck, absolutely lovely. What we're here for? Oh, that's a simple answer-a friend of ours...an elf, presumeably came up here, looking for you...but he never returned-we'd like to know...if he even arrived?"

Finishing off his roll, he looks into Dyluck's eyes and sees something stirring behind them...

Viola Thistle · Post by **Viola Thistle** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 2:40 am

Not having gone so long without a bite in years, Viola, as lady-like as possible, stuffed the whole roll in her mouth. After savoring the breakfast bread with its dried fruit and nuts, she smiled meekly over to Dyluck.

"I am Viola Thistle. These two are Bumbol and Brendan. And we do seek an elf I helped a few days ago. He would have walked with a limp."