Hadega huffs and moves up to the door. "A gnomish game in the middle of this insane contraption. Really! You would think they'd have the decency not to build a maze inside a maze. Excuse my language--but what rubbish!"
She starts to play the door's game.
Intelligence:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
"Meux! You're Gnomish heritage could prove useful, see if you can try this as well."
Hadega starts to operate the levers and the door groans followed by a series of metallic clicks before the great circular plates on its face spin and rearrange at random.
Levers spin and knobs turn, protrude, or retract, creating a rearranged mess of clockwork oddities. With a metallic creak, the bronze door in the west wall slams shut and bolts with an definitive clang.
A few moments of ominous silence hang in the air briefly before a rushing, gurgling mass of water starts pouring in through several five-foot-wide chutes in the ceiling.
The opposite entryway then seals shut and more and more water pours into the room through the five ceiling grates, raising the water level so that it becomes clear that in less than a minute the room is full of water!!!
GM Screen - no peeking!:
Clever door countermeasures Hadega's actions to solve the puzzle:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Hadega realizes that the door is not truly sentient, or even a construct-style creature. Instead, its devices are sophisticated enough to react as an intelligent creature. Thus, Hedega is able to gain momentum and with her actions can close one of the five chutes slowing the amount of water pouring into the room. But the water really makes Hadega fear the next steps.
Male NG Halfling Medium 7 (Medium of the Master) | HP 52/52| AC 25 T 20 FF 16 | CMB +3/14 CMD 17 | F: +10, R: +8, W: +9 | Init: +4 | Perc: +11, SM: +11 | Speed 30ft | Spirit Influence: 1/5 | Surges 4/4| Active conditions: | Taboo: you must accept any challenge to prove your prowess in battle, including challenges to single combat
"I hear the sound of rushing water and I'm getting a bit wet. I'm guessing this was a trap of some sort..."
Caught up in his unlikely success, Meux gets caught up in the water's presence and pulled under.
Meux is struggling to swim and operate the clever the door at the same time. Thus, he is forced to concentrate only on swimming to stay above the water!
Swim DC 10 in calm water: If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress. If you fail by 5 or more, you go underwater. Currently, no taking 10 possible as the water level is rising and you are under stress.
Male NG Halfling Medium 7 (Medium of the Master) | HP 52/52| AC 25 T 20 FF 16 | CMB +3/14 CMD 17 | F: +10, R: +8, W: +9 | Init: +4 | Perc: +11, SM: +11 | Speed 30ft | Spirit Influence: 1/5 | Surges 4/4| Active conditions: | Taboo: you must accept any challenge to prove your prowess in battle, including challenges to single combat
Swim check:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
"I'm also not much a fan of swimming, mind if we get this water turned off? No pressure though."
Hadega turns to the others standing around. "I can't think with all of this racket going on! A lady needs peace and quiet when playing games of logic, not petulance and pestering. Anyone not swimming, why don't you focus on plugging those chutes, or help me with this door!"
”AND HOW EXACTLY W0ULD YE SUGGEST WE DO THAT!!” the dwarf screams as he wades through the chest high water over to Meux to attempt to hold the gnome up.
Hadega rolls her eyes. "Use that head of yours! A backpack? Propping each other up to disable the levers? Closing the chute manually? You can't tell me five hale Pathfinders are just going to sit by and let an old woman do all the work, are you? Pah! Try something."
Male NG Halfling Medium 7 (Medium of the Master) | HP 52/52| AC 25 T 20 FF 16 | CMB +3/14 CMD 17 | F: +10, R: +8, W: +9 | Init: +4 | Perc: +11, SM: +11 | Speed 30ft | Spirit Influence: 1/5 | Surges 4/4| Active conditions: | Taboo: you must accept any challenge to prove your prowess in battle, including challenges to single combat
If Hadega doesn't finish closing the chutes:
"Putting you head in one of these chutes is likely going to make you drown...hmmm, let me see if the spirits could help...nearby spirits of the divine, I require your aid!"
Spirit dance for 1 round to cast Air Bubble as a divine spell on Lucious (since he doesn't look like much of a swimmer with his heavy armor and all).
As Hadega points out that the others could do something to the chutes Hadega, Jinath, Lucious and Nyloth look at them more closely and realize that you could probably use your strength to shut down the chute mechanism and potentially close it.
Medium creatures must make swim checks (the water is considered calm) DC 10 - if you roll DC 6-9 you do not drown but cannot take any action. If you roll DC 5 or below you go under water.
When Lucious grabs Meux, the cleric cries out in bewilderment. Pride hurting, he struggles a bit, but tries to focus on the door's puzzle and channel his rage into solving the problem at hand.
Clever door countermeasures Meux's actions to solve the puzzle:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10
Meux can countermeasure some of the clever door's new strategy.
One of the chutes closes again and the water is pouring in slower.
Medium creatures STILL must make swim checks (the water is considered calm) DC 10 - if you roll DC 6-9 you do not drown but cannot take any action. If you roll DC 5 or below you go under water.
Meux frantically. almost unconsciously masters the game of watery death for another round-moreover to make the embarrassment of having to be held up stop than the fear of death itself.
Hadega goes under the water, no doubt spewing something about getting her clothes soaked!
If you are underwater, either because you failed a Swim check or because you are swimming underwater intentionally, you must hold your breath. You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Constitution score, but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions.
Clever door countermeasures Meux's actions to solve the puzzle:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Meux has a hard time concentrating and this time the clockwork door's countermeasures seem to be too much for Meux.
One of the chutes opens again and the water is pouring in faster.
Medium creatures STILL must make swim checks (the water is considered calm) DC 10 - if you roll DC 6-9 you do not drown but cannot take any action. If you roll DC 5 or below you go under water.
Female Halfling (Karlsgard) | Paladin (Divine Hunter) 1 | 12/13 HP | Init +3, Perc +0, SM +0 | AC 17, T 14, FF 14 | CMB +1, CMD 14 (FF 11) | F +5, R +4, W+3 | Aura of Good, Smite Evil (1/1)
Swim:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Inga manages to tread water once again, without bobbing too much, and so she tries to yank at one of the chutes, to close it somehow.
And, not knowing if this will help or not, she at least gave it her very best!
Inga swims over to one of the last two open chutes and with her incredible strength is able to jam the delicate mechanisms of the chute so that only little water runs out.
Male NG Halfling Medium 7 (Medium of the Master) | HP 52/52| AC 25 T 20 FF 16 | CMB +3/14 CMD 17 | F: +10, R: +8, W: +9 | Init: +4 | Perc: +11, SM: +11 | Speed 30ft | Spirit Influence: 1/5 | Surges 4/4| Active conditions: | Taboo: you must accept any challenge to prove your prowess in battle, including challenges to single combat
Nyloth attempts to swim over and jam the other chute after expending his last round of spirit dance on the Archmage in order to cast monkey fish in himself.
When the door opens you can hardly believe what you see.
Once-cheerful mosaics of smiling children and adults running through the streets of Absalom line the walls, but age and water damage smear the faces enough to make it seem as though they weep.
Sturdy work benches and bookshelves line the walls. An intricate mess of bronze chains, plates, pendulums, and gears that form a sort of astrolabe dangle high above the room.
Catwalks spin out from the walls in three places, curving on a horizontal plane and meeting in an open circle in the middle of the room.
Between the catwalk circle dangles the body of a desiccated elf, ragged and dusty scraps of clothing barely covering his thin, bony body.
He seems to be dangled in a maze of chains connected to the massive astrolabe above and the chains clank silently as he lolls his head from side to side.
In the middle of all these otherworldly mechanisms you see an hourglass.
DC 15 Int or Wis check:
Having learned parts of the story of Abysiel through this strange journey you suddenly see what this is.
This central workshop houses Abysiel’s grand device, a magically charged hybrid of clock and astrolabe.
All the devices are built around the artifact known as Izryen’s Hourglass, that artifact that Abysiel wanted to use with the help of an evil and insane outsider to ease his loss and numb the pain.
A white minotaur is chained to a dusty couch in the northern spiral of the room.
He seems to be barely conscious and his body is covered in wounds.
Male NG Halfling Medium 7 (Medium of the Master) | HP 52/52| AC 25 T 20 FF 16 | CMB +3/14 CMD 17 | F: +10, R: +8, W: +9 | Init: +4 | Perc: +11, SM: +11 | Speed 30ft | Spirit Influence: 1/5 | Surges 4/4| Active conditions: | Taboo: you must accept any challenge to prove your prowess in battle, including challenges to single combat
perception:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29
"This room is...unsettling. Let us not dally here, let's get Nuar and go." Nyloth says as he makes his way over to the minotaur.
Hadega raises her arms, sleeves dripping stale water. Her boots squish as she moves. Her hair is matted and her bifocals are covered in a grimy film. "This. Is. Unconscionable! A host should welcome guests into his place of living, not drench them with water that smells like morlocks had been using it to bathe in for the last hundred years! What are we to think? We are Pathfinders, and it's time to teach this elf machine SOME MANNERS!"
