Felix of Vale

"Huh." Varric peers around with some interest. "Well, it's cleaner than Darktown, I'll give it that. Let me see what I can find. I've got something of a knack for finding things people don't really want found."

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Kate blinks a few times to adjust to the new light, and takes a good look around the room.

"What're we plannin' t'find behind this door again?"

She runs her fingers along the stone wall, walking slowly as she hunts for seams or switches.

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Felix shrugs. "I'm not exactly sure," he admits. "There should be something that can stop the vortexes from draining my world's magic, but I don't know what it looks like or how it would be protected, apart from the Dullahan. That is a powerful, shadowy guardian spirit that looks like a headless suit of armor."

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"This Dullahan sounds like a golem gone wrong," says Varric. "Or some of the stories you hear about rock wraiths." He begins examining the wall opposite Kate; if he had a copper piece for every time he's found some pressure plate or concealed dart pipe before Hawke or Bartrand could get to it, he'd be well set at the Hanged Man, and he wants to see if he can establish a track record like that here.

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"Wonderful," she mutters, taking mental stock of her weaponry. Her Colt is heavy against her thigh, and the pressure of the six she tucked under her belt at the small of her back suddenly seems more a comfort than it was before. She can feel the calming slither of precious metal under her boot.

"We only have one word for spirits like that in my world."

She's coming up on the statue against the far wall, her sharp eyes poring over every fold and feature.

"Demon."

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"Oh, we've got those too," Varric says. "They just don't bother animating objects. Possessing careless mages, maybe taking the reins of a corpse, sure. But not something like armor."

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Felix, in the middle of his own searching, shrugs again, not that he expects it to be seen. "You could be right," he says. "What we call golems now are lumps of rock that barely look humanoid, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Ancients made them considerably more sophisticated."

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"Whatever it — or they are, I jus' hope bullets'll take care of 'em."

She's beginning to wish she'd asked Weyland for another one of his charms. Not that she's particularly afraid, but she came to be a help, not a hindrance.

First things first, they've got to find this door.

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"They should," offers Felix. "I've never fought anything on my world that a sword or mace couldn't hurt. I would expect bullets to work just as well." After a moment, another thought occurs to him, and he adds, "They might not have vital points where you would expect, though."

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"Generally, if a sword or a mace isn't doing the trick, someone winds up tacking on a rune or three to give it extra kick," Varric says. "In Kirkwall, I mean. I- oh, hello...."

He's just found a concealed switch tucked into the wall behind the arm of one of the statues.

"I do believe we've got what we were looking for."

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Might not have vital points where you'd expect?

"Well, bein' headless I reckon that'd rule that out."

She peers around the other side of the statue.

"Found it?"

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Felix heads over to take a look. "So it appears. Good job."

He reaches around to press the switch, and the statue sinks down into the floor, taking a section of wall with it. The new doorway reveals a stairway leading down.

Felix puts a hand on the hilt of his sword before he starts toward the stairway. "Stay alert," he warns. "I don't know exactly what is down there."

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"I always do," says Varric. "A habit built by spending my life dealing with the Dwarven Merchants' Guild."

He raises the crossbow to eye level and sweeps the stairway in front of him just in case.

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Kate flicks a sideways glance at Varric, and smirks.

"Try gettin' shot at like a rabbit in a garden patch, even when you're in neutral territory. Your hackles don't ever go down."

Her hand is comfortable on the butt of her gun; the fingers of her other hand twitch, near her Bowie knife. She nods at Felix, and follows down the stairs.

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The stairs themselves are clear of any visible threat, as is the room below. Beyond that, though, there is little reassuring about it. There's a door at the other end of the room, but it's closed, and lacks any visible handle or hinges - or, indeed, any seam, grain, or other feature, apart from being indented from the wall around it. Between the group and this door are several greenish pyramidal structures, about shoulder-high. These look awkward to climb, but easy enough to walk around.

A double line of similar pyramids runs along the middle of the room, with both exits on one side of it. The other side is also sprinkled with pyramids, and adds pits to the mix. Three large buttons are embedded in the floor on the far side of the room, along the same wall as the closed door.

Once someone steps into the room, they will notice something else beyond the line of pyramids: three large stone blocks, each painted with a crude stick figure. Each of these blocks mirrors one party member's movements - moving forward or back as they do, and toward or away from the center line.

Felix sighs as he takes it in.

[OOC: the room is a more complicated version of this, to give you a better idea.]

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It's unlike anything Kate's ever seen before. Despite the lack of animate threat, her guard doesn't lower an inch.

"What are these things?" she asks quietly, pacing around one of the green pyramids.

It takes her a moment to spot the stone blocks.

Well. That's the most unsettling thing she's ever seen.

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Varric ignores the blocks and the pyramids. His attention is on those buttons in the floor. They've got all kinds of floor-based traps back home and he'd just as soon know if he's facing one before the avalanche gets triggered, thanks.

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Felix sighs again before he answers.

"If this is like the other rooms I've been in that look like it, the door won't open until the blocks are on those buttons. We probably need all three at the same time, though I haven't dealt with more than one so I don't know for sure."

Well. Sort of answers. Meanwhile, he's looking back and forth between the two sides of the room, trying to figure out a route that will get his block to a button without dropping it into a pit.

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'Sort of' isn't strictly comforting.

"So, this is normal?"

She moves ahead, carefully approaching 'her' block.

"They're supposed t'move like that?"

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"Interesting. Back home the mages don't go overboard with this kind of design. They just hire somebody to set things up so the slightest wrong move burns off your eyebrows." Varric shakes his head. "How much of a chance do we have of winding up scorched if this goes wrong?"

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Felix shrugs. "Normal might not be the word I'd choose, but yes, that's how they work."

Varric's question takes him by surprise. Scanning the walls and ceiling, and finding nothing that looks like a dragon head, or even a spout, he hesitantly responds, "Probably we won't. But I suppose one or two of the buttons could be decoys." He pauses, then continues, "I can heal anyone who does get hurt."

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Kate goes stalk still the moment 'burn' leaves Varric's mouth.

She turns over her shoulder, lack of amusement running wild across her features. Somehow, Felix's promise of healing is less than comforting in the wake of 'probably' and 'I suppose.'

"Right."

She digs a pair of worn leather gloves out of an inside pocket, and starts yanking them on. She agreed to help, and these blocks aren't going to move themselves.

"Let's get to it, then."

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"I can live with that," says Varric, who's gotten a little more familiar than he'd like with the idea of waiting for a mage to come up with a cold spell before his coat scorches irreparably. "I'm claiming this block, here...."

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Technically, they will move themselves, and it would be quite hard to get over or between the pyramids to where they are. But they won't move themselves without the people in the room also moving.

Felix is proceeding slowly, making use of the fact that the pyramids are arranged differently on the two sides, and that they block the blocks from moving, in order to steer his block around pits and other pyramids. He does have to backtrack a few times, but he's definitely making progress.

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