The Brink [of Madness] Act 1, Scene 1

[Styrius]

Axid *works* on the *lock* with his picks; probing, twisting, and listening as years of building and dismantling locks have given him an idea of what's is needed to open them. He is a tad curious as Binky describes the picks going into stone which is a tad strange. Not quite as strange as some of the things he has encounter in the realm of the mind but still quite odd nonetheless. With a satisfying click, the *lock* turns and the door can be opened.

[BishGada]

"Good work." Ke'Sha says while considering the next steps. "So, Jack go in and verify you can take the next step in and then hold the door open for Binky to try to enter without the sigil." Then he flashes a look at the company and quickly adds, "Errr... Please? it is my Suggestion"

[TristenC]

Landro draws his sword and moves to the door. Without knowing what is beyond, perhaps I should go first. Let's not let our experiments outpace our caution, hmm? Landro offers. Unless stopped, he opens the door once everyone is prepared.

The door opens easily and reveals a square room beyond, 30 feet to a side. In the middle of the room a gaping circular hole in the floor beckons all forward into unknown depths. On either side of the 10ft diameter hole a huge, clawed hand covered in scales of reddish metal jut up from the floor; palms facing each other...

Binky floats up to the space just in front of the door and stops. His tiny shadowy hand presses against what appears to be thin air, unable to pass through. Woah, bizzarro stuff... How are you doing that? It looks like you're just walking through the wall...

[BishGada]

"You just need to fly in with full speed. This is how you get to the other side. Be confident." Ke'Sha explains, and asks Gur to demonstrate how it is done.

[Styrius]

"Binky, it would seem that you need the mark to pass through. It has to be a kind of magic, some illusion of sorts. It must be quite remarkable if you can't get through it." Axid will stand at the door way should Binky decide to try to get the mark.

[Nocturno]

"Fascinating. We truly are in for a ride."

[TristenC]

Yeah! Just get a good flyin' start! Gur snickers evilly. C'mon! I'll race ya! he cackles.

Nothin' doin', Seabiscuit. Binky calls. Hmmm... I wonder... The shadowy imp picks up a small stone and throws it towards the doorway where it bounces back as if hitting some unseen barrier! Gur promptly scoops up the stone and hurls it through the doorway with ease, and it clatters accross the floor into the newly revealed room.

Intriguing. Allikhain muses. Binky, take my hand please. I want to test something, The svelte necromancer says, walking casually towards the door. I dunno, toots...
Come now, I'll be gentle. She teases. The dark shape places it's tiny claw in her hand as the human woman proceeds through the door. The place where their hands join halts abruptly at the same point in space. Can't... get through... I can only see part of your hand now, like you're using magic to move through solid stone... Allikhain returns through the door to rejoin the others.

I see... It might be some sort of Phasing magic, though an extremely powerful instance. To put it simply: for Binky here, the space may as well not exist. The best I can liken it to is harmonic vibration. We are in harmony with the doorway and the room beyond, and so are able to see, hear and interact with it freely. Binky here is not, and so to him it would be like walking through stone. Though somehow we are not so far out of phase we cannot interact with each other... Binky dear, I think you must also receive the sigil before we can continue. And Ke'Sha I do wonder what this may mean for your 'projects.'

[Styrius]

As the others discuss Binky, Axid looks over at the hands sticking up. “Oh this must be some kind of bad giant joke.”

[BishGada]

"If these are harmonies interactions I wonder if each sigil just gradually adds to the harmonies or any combination of different sigils may have it's own frequency which will results in thousands of thousands of parallel dimensions we will have to explore. I'm getting tired only from thinking of it.
About the projects, well I did wonder if the trolls we fought had these marks as well, but we hadn't had the chance to check before we burn them. I think if the subject of the project will be met at some dimension, so at least in that dimension it would easily exist and it could get the sigil if otherwise required.
Another thing to notice is that with the sigil, both the "new" dimension or frequency (he incline his head towards Allakhain), is open while also the previous one is still accessible, opposed to the possibility to move to another dimension where the previous access be omitted." Ke'Sha happily dives into discussing physical theories.

[TristenC]

It certainly piques my curiosity. We shall need more examples to discern further interactions. But as this is the only available way forward we have yet discerned, shall we proceed? Binky, do be a dear and go collect the mark for yourself.

The shadow shrugs, Might as well see what all the fuss is about. He agrees, turning sideways and vanishing from sight. A few minutes later his disembodied voice returns. Huh. Door.... Neat.

Landro chuckles and moves into the room with the giant hands. No obvious threats... except possibly these giant scaled hands... and maybe gravity. He adds, looking down at the pit in the middle of the floor

[BishGada]

Ke'Sha joins in to search the room, using Gur' innate magic detection and his own danger sense to help with the investigation. If nothing draws his attention in the room besides the pit and the hands he will get closer to investigate them.

[Styrius]

Since Binky has returned Axid will venture in to the room and attempt to look for any abnormal rock cutting, irregularities, and the like.

[TristenC]

Ke'Sha, Gur and Axid join Landro in the new room, searching the area for any hidden features or threats. The stonework itself seems basic human construction, nothing fancy, and Axid finds no indications of hidden features of any kind.

Looks like that pit has a magic cover... some kinna Evocation mumbo-jumbo. Those bigazz scaly hands are magic too, but I dunno what kind, it's weird...

Landro taps a small pebble with his foot. The stone skitters across the floor and slides to a stop over the pit, obviously prevented from falling by something.

Those who get closer to the 8 ft tall hands can see that the palms are covered in scars, as if they had been cut repeatedly over time.

[Styrius]

"Great, maybe this is some out of phase dead giant that was into some odd kink. Ke$ha, step out where the pebble is and she if will hold you."

[BishGada]

Anger flashes in Ke'Sha's eyes, but only momentarily. He doesn't like to be told what to do. But he breaths deeply and says, "Nice thought dwarf. I'm all for taking one for the team." He asks Jack to hand him a pole and gets closer to the pit. He peeks down over the edge, and then he carefully stretches his hands, the pole above the pit, it's front end at ground level, then he eases his grip a little to understand if the force holds the pole completely or partially, if at all. All the while he makes sure the other end of the pole waves annoyingly close to Axid's face, but makes sure not to actually hit him.
"Don't forget the scratches on the giant hands. They might move and bang things standing at the mouth of the pit down. Maybe you can check for moving parts in them while I try to figure the force that works here?"