I believe you were concentrating, so yes. It definitely disoriented you to the point where you could no longer maintain concentration.
She agrees to stay in the hallway.
Some had sounds, others did not. Some were nothing but sounds, scents, or sensations. When the vision didn't include an auditory element, you could still hear the sounds of the real world.
Rather sufficient, with a 22. The circles are all low-level Creo Imaginem spells with a huge penetration level. Doubtless, some small circles were warding circles designed to force mundane intruders to continue blundering in circles inside a maze of overlapping illusions. These spells were designed as a countermeasure against mundane intruders and a potent message against hermetic intruders: they clearly demonstrate the caster's power and ability to think outside the box.
The bedroom is a feint, a trap to keep the unwary out, that he probably never slept in. By contrast, this painting studio shows all the hallmarks of frequent usage for its demonstrated purpose. Although, the mock lab clearly served a dual purpose -- by making the intruder believe the lab was in the next room, and then revealing it to be a ploy, the circles on the ceiling work as a second tier threat -- there's more to come. But is there? If he was living in this area, what are the real chances that any of them are actually active?
In the first room, they were on all four walls. In the second room, they are only on the ceiling.
"Viscaria, in the event I appear to stop moving, get a grog to throw a rope around me and have him pull me back. The bedrom I walked through is fake, with a powerful Imaginem magics that blew past my Parma as if it weren't there. For a moment, I thought it was gone, so you may have noticed me doing the ritual. In any event, I'm this far along, and I'm willing to risk going further, I'm just concerned that I may get frozen in place based on the pattern of the studio I'm at the threshold of."
Knowing what he's already experienced, Ra'am will fix his course to the door ahead and then close his eyes and walk to it.
The door is slightly ajar. Ra'am notices that there is an ornate and ostentatiously visible carving around the door handle, forming the distinct impression of an Ominously Enchanted Doorknob. Expert that Ra'am is, he knows that his is yet another bluff, and that those runes are meaningless.
On the other hand, the largest amount of wear on the wood seems to be from a spot just around Ra'am's knee, as if the door was most frequently opened by prodding it open with your foot.
Through the partially opened door, Ra'am can see a laboratory that is covered in empty wine bottles. Many of them have fallen to the floor and broken. The singing is now recognizable as a dirgeful version of In Taberna, though he still cannot see the singer without opening the door further.
As Ra'am gathers observations, he sees the tail of a long piece of rope flung caresslessly upward, towards the rafters. It reaches about 7 feet into the air at its crest, before landing with a soft thud. The unseen figure then gathers the rope back, presumably to try again.
Ra'am will stand outside the door, not opening it further. He'll call in and say, "Excuse me, but if you'd like to talk I'm willing to listen. If you wish me to leave, I certainly will, however, I don't think you're getting anything from your present course of action."
The rope lands within view again, this time in a much more wobbly manner, and there is a crash, followed by some apathetic cursing.
After a few seconds, the rope begins moving once again, as the unseen figure gathers it up again, now quoting one of Catullus's more self-pitying poems.
From behind, an anxious and left-behind Viscaria whines, "What's going on? Are you alright? I can't see you?"
"I'm fine, he calls back to Viscaria. I have a hunch. I made it through the other room fine. Do you have some rope, by the way? I'm going onto the next."
Ra'am contemplates carefully. Touching the door in either way is risky. Instead, he decides to create a breeze strong enough to push the door open the rest of the way.
Base 1, +3 sight +1 Concentration, 1st magnitude spell. (Te 15 + Fo 11 +Sta 2 +Aura 5)/5=6.6 Ra'am gathers his power together and only the hairs on his arms stands on end, the buzzing sound is faintly heard, only loud enough for him to hear.
"What? No, I'll go get you some!" Viscaria runs off in search of rope.
Ra'am casts his spell, and the door blows gently open on some very well oiled hinges.
Inside, a massive porcupine is holding a bottle of wine in one paw, while trying to stack boxes on top of each other. He is wearing an ineptly-tied noose around his neck, made from a very long rope. He's still singing.
He? She? It sounds like a girl's voice, and Ra'am knows very little about talking porcupines.
Azura gives Cygna's hand a little squeeze. "Let's return to the rest of the group, shall we?" She leads them back to the place where they left the others.
As the porcupine moves about, and is in a position where it points its quills away from him, Ra'am coughs, trying to be loud enough to go over the song the porcupine is singing."Ahh, Master Porcupine?" he asks, also loud enough to go over the song, with a definite question on the end of his sentence. "Excuse me. Can I help you? You seem to be indsiposed. I'll be happy to chat, although, I won't help you with your task."
At the least little indication that it's going to shoot quills, Ra'am will fast cast Circling Winds of Protection (mastered for fast casting).
"Go 'way!"cries the porcupine in an sniffling, high-pitched Latin. "Go 'way and leave, just like Master did! Everybody leaves, in the end. They grow old or go off to war, or they get eaten by ants, they all leave Gerald in the end, one way or another! Go 'way! I don't want no friends no more!"
"Are you Master Tyrion's familiar?" I'm rolling an MT roll, figure it's a good guess, so I'll roll itroll of 0+10+3=13 Here's the check for botch: 2, no botch. 13 should get a hard ease factor.
Ra'am considers, if he is Tyrion's familiar, putting it out of its misery might be best, though he hates to kill any intelligent being, even if he wants it.
Oh, smooth move, Ex-Lax. On hearing this simple question, the porcupine begins quivering, first in his legs, then throughout his entire body, until finally he falls (a very short distance) to the floor and begins wailing and sobbing.
"Please, I'm Jewish. I know all about guilt and loss. Your drama is a bit over the top. Sophocles you are not. Look, I'm here to talk, if you want to talk, talk. If you really want to kill yourself, you'd stop drinking and have it done with, already. If you want sympathy for your loss, you have it. However you'll get no sympathy for the sorry state you've put yourself in, after that loss." Still wary about the quills...
"Hey! Ra'am shouts out getting the porcupine's attention. "If you want help with the rope, I'll help!"
Once he has the porcupine's attention, "Everything I know about familiars suggests you shouldn't still be alive. So either you are extremely remarkable, or you're not his familiar and are something else, that needs to be dealt with differently." Ra'am should know that most familiars die within weeks of their magus passing. If a roll for that is necessary, I'll do it. I'm basing this about the ArM5 MRB.
"I'll help you out as best I can. If you truly wish to end your life, no one can stop you, but that you're still alive, and that's something I think is very important, and shouldn't be ignored."
"It won't do any good," comments a surly ghost with a half-burnt face and a nasal voice. "The depression is a byproduct of the severed bonds. In A Travel with Trolls, Lockhart theorizes that a familiar who survives the death of her magus will yearn for death, but be unable to achieve it, due to Vilano's fourth law of the conversation of mystic forces."
