Felix of Vale

"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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It's a little trickier than she expected. She's vaguely reminded of parlor tricks she's seen using magnets — move one this way, something else goes that-a-way; get too close, and you either attract or repel the opposite piece.

She nearly loses her block in a pit, at which point she stops and re-evaluates things.

"Will they continue t'move against us after we've got our hands on 'em? Or do y'think we can control how they move then?"

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"Couldn't even begin to tell you," says Varric, who's trying to concentrate on his own block. "This is clearly the work of someone who had far too much time on his hands in the first place."

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"I don't think we're supposed to get our hands on them. If this is like the others I've been in, they will just reflect our movement until we get them onto the buttons."

Felix is a bit distracted at the moment, having maneuvered himself into a tricky dead end. He's kind of glad he can just watch the block, rather than worrying about stepping into his own pit.

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The proverbial light bulb comes on.

"Your world's interestin'. That's for damn sure."

She smirks at the fellas, and then sets her jaw. Move the blocks without touching them, right. That certainly changes things.

She figures out how to get her block away from the pit, and then starts moving. Slow and steady wins the race, right? She takes her time, careful not to get in anyone else's way, and eventually has her block near one of the buttons.

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It's taking a little longer for Varric- he keeps expecting a concealed beartrap to snap on his foot if he steps anywhere even slightly unusual- but he gets the hang of it eventually. Really, though, he's just glad the mages in Kirkwall don't seem to have ever thought like this.

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As soon as all three buttons are pressed, the blocks stop moving and the door opens. The room beyond is almost completely dark, lit only by the light spilling through the doorway, but the way it echoes suggests that it's long and narrow.

Felix narrows his eyes and draws his sword, without a word.

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Kate's sixshooter is already in hand. She doesn't look nervous, but there's the telltale sound of leather gloves skidding over rosewood and metal, in a grip that's just a shade too tight. She doesn't like going anywhere her vision is compromised.

"All right. Who goes first, gentlemen?"

Assuming they can't walk three abreast.

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"Bianca's got a pretty wide cone of fire," says Varric, readying the crossbow. "I can cut a good swathe through anything that tries to surprise us if I have to."

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