BujiTraps/Laser
Setting: Almost anywhere could work, it all depends upon your flavor.
North: set into an ice palace or cavern.
The light from the day fills the cave bouncing from the sheer ice walls, it maintains almost an eeire glow from the light. Behind the ice you will see columns of a light blue crystal buried deep within the walls, but obviously placed to support the cavern walls. As the light from the walls dims the further you enter the cavern, the brighter you notice the glow of the columns. It is as you are staring at the crystals that you notice a strange fracture running through the wall.
Stepping back you see that the fracture actually is an ornate pattern carved through the walls. It runs the length of the hall all the way to the other end of the corridor. As you puzzle the meaning behind the carvings you hear a small crackle from beneath your foot. A large slab of crystal slams to the earth obviously sealing you in the hall. As you feel the crystalline slab to gauge its thickness you hear a strange crackling from behind you. As you turn you see the crystal columns glowing much brighter than before almost reaching a burning white glow. A large flash fills the hall and you are momentarily blinded.
You hear the crackling much louder now and as your eyes adjust you see a thin, bright white beam of energy across the hall. It is moving towards you moving in up and down patterns. Then a second and a third activate all moving in different patterns.
East: set in a pertified forest.
A chill runs through you as you enter the forest, the trees here are not natural ... well, as natural as you have come to know. Reaching out to touch a nearby tree you pull your hand back as it is hot to the touch. The bark was hardened, almost rock-like. As you move further into the trees you see where a few have been struck open, no doubt by scavengers looking for what lies inside. Filling the trees are some of the most awe-inspiring gems you have ever seen. It is almost as if the trees themselves were growing them. Each tree holds a different gem, all beautifully sparkling in the light of the Sun. The chill you felt earlier leaves as you find this place to be tranquil and serene. Few animials can live in such a place without resources so the forest that was once deafeningly quite is not a peaceful retreat from the chaotic world you know.
Further into the forest yet yields even more wonders. Carved runes are embedded into the trunks of the trees. You are not sure in what language they are written in, possibly some native barbarian tongue from time long past. But they are simply captivating, the removed bark exposes the crystalline matrix of the gems causing a glow of the sigils that are showing. Moving around the tree you see a small clearing with rows of trees on either side creating almost a walkway. At the end of the tree path you see a small statue on a rock. You walk towards the rock wondering now what treasure you could have found. As you move forward past the trees you hear a low-pitch humming coming from all around you.
Quickly you take a defensive stance and spin around to see what could be making the noise. Then it dawns on you, its the trees. Before you can move out from the grove a flash of purple light fills the forest and you are halted in your tracks. The trees themselves are glowinga deep shade of reddish-purple from the gems. Bright red beams of light are interwoven between the trees creating a barrier of light. You see some small puffs of smoke coming up from the ground periodically. Testing your theory you kick a small branch at the light. It vanishes in a fliker of flame and the ashes falls to the ground, that is apparently not an option.
You look around and see that the statue is still there in plain sight, though your curiousity is no longer as eager as it once was to find out what it is. Looking around you see no way out between the beams, but you can go over the trees! Looking up you see tree branches interwoven across the top ... but you can squeeze through if you could grab onto the branches. Placing you weapon back in its sheath you prepare yourself for the leap. Crouched and ready to leap to safety you see the branches slowly filling with color, this is not good. The sound of burning earth erupts from the end near the statue. A larger beam of light is coming from the tree branch above and burning the ground below it. You watch the light come from the branch, moving from trunk to tip in its pattern. As you watch you see more and more of the branches begin emitting light creating a deadly pattern that is slowly heading towards you.
South: set in an abandoned dwelling.
How wonderous the craftsmanship of the building is, you keep telling yourself. The halls are refined and poished stone set into place to provide ample support from the elements and its own weight upon the desert sands. Strange glyphs are carved throughout the stone telling stories of former kings and rulers, possibly even of Solars and thier reign. It is hard to tell from such crude drawings. It seemed that whatever this place once was, it was very important. No expense was spared in its creation, from the very entrance a thin vein of turquoise ran up from the ground and lined the halls almost directing you on where to go. As the vein reached ceratin pictures it would change elements, you have come across garnet, carnelian, bloodstone and golden beryl to this point. Yet, what truly separates this place from any other ramshackle in the region is what you just found.
Orichalcum runs through the veins in these halls. Branching out to creating an elaborate lace pattern running down the halls. The warm touch of the metal makes you feel that much closer to the Unconquered Sun. This must have been a temple erected in his name, the glyphs on the walls leading to this had mighy Solar rulers and the glorious stories of thier deeds. You proceed down the hall tracing the pattern praising the Sun and his greatness then you notice the warm touch of the metal actually burns. You reflexively pull your hand back and stare at your fingers. Before you can even finish your next thought you feel a huge surge of heat come from down the hall. A fiery beam of energy shoots across the hall, the heat from ripples causing the hall to waver. Turning to run out the sound of grinding stone is all too apparent. The hall itself has closed. Slamming into the wall you curse the craftsmanship of this place. You turn to see now that there are in fact maybe a half dozen beam of energy moving towards you along the lace pattern in the walls. Maybe you should have saved your praise and worked on a prayer.
West: set in an underwater cavern or somewhere near a body of water.
Rising up from the water your lungs happily greet the air trapped in this cave in the coastal shelf. Slowly climbing from the water the full weight of being water logged hits you. Sitting in a cormer you look around the room. The first thing that grabs your attention is the large body of water the is the ceiling. The rock walls reach up and enclose the room but the ceiling appears to remain open. Swaying side to side you realize its not an open ceiling but a clear quartz cap, probably used to observe sea life without disturbing it. The walls themselves are rough and unshaped, the floor is uneven and eroded from the changing of tides. Small stalagtites have formed around the quartz mixing the rouch texture of the walls with the clear quartz, probably from the fusing of the two types of rock.
Once your eyes have adjusted to the light in the tunnel, you see what you believe to be a doorway. The shadows from the moving current makes it hard to focus. The light seems to dance and flicker about the room from the choppy waves breaking the sunlight above. Picking yourself up you squish as you move towards what you believe is a doorway. Stepping into the lighted area in the room you feel oddly recharged. The water doesn't allow a steady stream of the Unconquered Sun's light to hit you, but amplifies what does hit you almost like a burst of his light. Shaking some of the excess water from your person you feel the light more intense now, you must be getting used ot it.
Looking up from your belongings you see a ray of light shining directly down upon you. Leaning to the side you peer up at the light and see that the ceiling of quartz has somehow shifted. Strange patterns move across it almost like the waves above it. The quartz shifts before your eyes, causing the ray of light to vanish and be redirected to the rough quartz stalagtites. The light charges up the quartz for a brief second as a rainbow of colors spreads through the room in a fantastic display of colors and intersecting beams.
A single red beam shines down towards what you believed to be a doorway revealing it to be a quartz disc. A smaller version of the ceiling it would appear. Hopefully it will answer some questions instead of creating more. Moving forawrd you pass near a violet beam of light and feel an immense heat, in fact steam rises up off of your clothes as a result. That's when you realize this is not an observation deck from sea life. Well, it'll be tricky but you should be able to manage around the beams without getting burnt. The steam though will create a problem for seeing the beams, however.
Moving around the beams in your path, the steam gets rather bad in certain areas and singing your hair in others. Reaching the outer egde of the lighted area you see the quartz disc rotate and click. The ceiling above you then rotates and the beams of lightspray out in new directions. Falling to the ground and rolling you avoid most of the beams. Standing back up you see the quartz disc now illuminated by a beam of orange light. So, you only have a few moments before the pattern changes ... this complicates things a little.
Storyteller's note: In the Western scenario I was planning on having it run through the full spectrum of light (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet). If the player(s) have not made it by then to the quartz disc then a final white light will be cast through the cave doing lethal damage. The quartz disc controls the trap and if turned back to its starting position it will reset the trap. Or if smashed, then its your call.
You can also have the steam be a modifier against the player if you wish to make it more difficult.
