Aria rubbed her lips thoughtfully while looking at the various doors. She agreed with Kass's guess that the pair midway along the 'inner' wall (thinking of the place as a circle they had so far traversed an arc of) of the armory and sparring chamber did seem like it might lead to the same chamber as the two 'inward' facing double doors in the last room. The further pair of doors did appear to continue leading along the circumference of this compound, if it were circular like the theater house it seemed to be a dark mirror image of. She recalled that the theater had had dressing and prop-storage rooms that way...would the Sharrans responsible keep a statue in a storage-type room, or display it more centrally, like some prize to impress their fellows? She could see either...<br/><br/>"The middle doors," she gestured with the wand she used to wash away Kass's exhaustion, then looted the bodies, "I agree with you that the chamber beyond likely shares the inward-facing doors of the first room, or at least leads back that way - so I figure we're less likely to get into a situation where our escape is cut off by foes between us and the magic doors which led here." In addition to the magic items on the bodies, each had a key like the three the doormen and flamboyant stagemaster had, probably more to the magic doors between the theater house and this shadowy world.<br/><br/>As softly as she could, the tiefling opened one of the middle doors, immediately glancing left past it and along the other side of the curving wall - and indeed, spotting, barely in her darkvision range, a set of double doors to the left which matched in position and style those which had faced the magic door from the theater.<br/><br/>She realized she could barely see them, and all seeemed dim and dark even by the standarrds of this place. The room was shrouded gloomily in a way which reminded her of the devil-heritage darkness-magic she rarely called up; it was probably the darkest place she had even seen; dark even to so-called darkvision.<br/><br/>And religious iconography was there to remind her why: Shar's-emblem banners hung from a ceiling which soon curved up out of sight in a hemispherical dome; probably black and purple in coloration although of course there was none here. A carpet ran inward from the double doors, pointing towards the center of the circle traced by the curvature of the wall. Flanking it were low backless pews; this was clearly a temple-sanctuary chamber of some sort, though any altar or edifice was out of sight.<br/><br/>She<em>could</em>see a few figures, female humans each: only a few paces ahead on the carpet stood a dark-haired woman with strong thighs exposed by slits in a dark tabard drawn close about her slender waist by a several-pouched belt, which carried a magic aura (as did a ring, amulet, and circlet of the woman, and a narrow quiver-like thing strapped to a hip). Mercifully she faced away and didn't seem to've heard the door open, watching the source of a whip-cracking noise beyond the edge of Aria's vision.<br/><br/>The tiefling<em>could</em>see another, younger female, standing with a similar tabard peeled down to her waist. She stood bare-breasted and topless save for a Sharran dark-moon-disk necklace pendant nestled in her cleavage, and her eyes wrapped tight with a blindfold (with none of the magic aura of the shadowdancing sirines' and the male martial artists').<br/><br/>A whip flew into Aria's darkvision range; the blindfolded girl began to dodge at the sound but was barely caught on one shoulderblade, and gritted her teeth. Just beyond Aria's darkvision, a woman's voice droned, "...darken feeling, darmpen fear, dash out all but instinct and reflex; how will you find victory in darkness if you cannot fight in it? Learn well from my words yet ignore my voice! Heed only the shift and scrape of my heels, rustle of fabric, rush of air...and of course, crack of whip!" It cracked again, probably at someone else outside range of Aria's vision; the nearby and fully-dressed woman seemed able to see that far though, eyes leading the sound, while she licked her lips lustily. Aria cupped her hands over Kass's ear to whisper what she saw.<br/><br/><br/><br/>used 2 lesser restoration charges to 'cure' Kass's exhaustion from Snowflake Wardance<br/><br/>It's fine! Sometimes there's not much to say or do - in this case it's basically just the choice of door you addressed.<br/><br/>Satyrs:<br/>magic:<br/>2x chain shirt<br/>2x shortbow<br/>2x efficient quiver<br/>2x stone<br/>nonmagic: 2x shortsword, 120 arrows<br/><br/>Sparring man:<br/>magic (identical-looking to doormens'):<br/>belt<br/>bracers<br/>amulet<br/>blindfold<br/>nonmagic:<br/>50 shuriken,<br/>2 kamas,<br/>2 sai<br/><br/>Robed man:<br/>magic:<br/>headband (almost identical design to Rana's impostor)<br/>amulet<br/>ring<br/>2 wands<br/>nonmagic: four daggers, arcane spell components<br/><br/>Also 1 key each<br/><br/>Indeed, the slippers can be used while two-handing a one-handed weapon; great thinking. Snowflake Wardance does require using it one-handed (I think I PMEd the full text once and have it still if you are curious...."you add your Charisma modifier to your attack rolls with any slashing melee weapon you wield in one hand"). Of course, there may be cases where you think you'll hit except on a natural 1 (like if you can reverse engineer its AC from previous hits) and/or don't want to use Snowflake Wardance b/c of the bardic music usage and the 10 minutes of exhaustion after it ends (although when needed, the Lesser Restoration wand can reduce exhaustion to fatigue, and fatigue to nothing with a second charge).<br/><br/>SLIPPERS OF BATTLEDANCING<br/>These slippers imbue the wearer with a shocking grace<br/>and a deadly fl uidity in battle.<br/>Description: These soft, open-toed slippers are made<br/>of supple leather and look very comfortable.<br/>Activation: This item is continuously active while<br/>worn, provided that the wearer’s armor is no heavier than<br/>light. No action on the wearer’s part is required to gain<br/>the effect.<br/>Effect: While these slippers are on the wearer’s feet,<br/>he moves with unnatural grace and alacrity, gaining<br/>an enhancement bonus of +10 feet to his land speed.<br/>The slippers also grant him a +5 competence bonus on<br/>Tumble checks.<br/>A wearer who has at least 5 ranks in Perform (dance)<br/>accesses the true benefi t of the slippers of battledancing. As<br/>long as he uses his base land speed to move (a fl y, swim,<br/>burrowing, or climb speed), he gains a +2 insight bonus<br/>on initiative checks. If he moves at least 10 feet as part of<br/>a move action, he can use his Charisma modifi er instead<br/>of his Strength or Dexterity modifi er for attack rolls and<br/>damage rolls with one-handed or light weapons (both<br/>melee and ranged).<br/>Aura/Caster Level: Moderate transmutation; CL 7th.<br/>Construction: Craft Wondrous Item, 5 ranks in Perform<br/>(dance), longstrider, cat’s grace, eagle’s splendor, 16,875<br/>gp, 1,350 XP, 33 days.<br/>Weight: 1 lb.<br/>Price: 33,750 gp.<br/><br/>SNOWFLAKE WARDANCE [GENERAL]<br/>You have mastered the snowfl ake wardance, a mystical style<br/>of fi ghting with slashing weapons that allows you to leap<br/>and almost seem to fl oat haphazardly across the battlefi eld<br/>like a whirling, razor-edged snowfl ake.<br/>Prerequisite: Bardic music ability, Perform (dance) 6 ranks.<br/>Benefi t: By expending one of your daily uses of bardic<br/>music, you may perform a deadly style of combat known as<br/>the snowfl ake wardance. Activating a snowfl ake wardance<br/>is a free action, and once activated, you add your Charisma<br/>modifi er to your attack rolls with any slashing melee<br/>weapon you wield in one hand. This bonus to hit stacks<br/>with any bonuses you get from a high Strength score (or<br/>Dexterity score, if you are using Weapon Finesse).<br/>You cannot use this feat if you are carrying a shield, wearing<br/>medium or heavy armor, or carrying a medium or heavy load.<br/>A snowfl ake wardance lasts for a number of rounds equal<br/>to your ranks in Perform (dance). Performing a snowfl ake<br/>wardance is physically tiresome—when the snowfl ake wardance<br/>ends, you become fatigued for the next 10 minutes.<br/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;"><br/><br/>                                                 . . . . . . . . .|<br/>                                             . . . . . . . . . . .|<br/>                                           p . . . . . . . . . . .|<br/>                                         . . . . . . . . . . . . .|<br/>                                         . . . . . . . . . . . . .| <br/>                                       . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|___|_ _|___ <br/>                                       . . . . . . P . . . . . . ./. . . . . .|<br/>                                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . ./. . . . . . .|<br/>                                     . . . . . . . . . . . . ./. . . . . . . .|<br/>                                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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