James gets to work checking doors.
Start with the door I am in front of, and if not trapped, enter it and check the next.
Xandar will also look around with the aid of his magical senses.
Vedia hangs back to see if anything happens.
Ivar checks out the room, paying special attention to any technology in the room.
The eastern door is unlabeled and opens to another airlock type structure. The inner door is not labeled either, or if it was the label is long gone.
Opening the inner door you find several shelves and desks run along the northern and western wall of this room, while in the center stands a large contraption made of several concentric metal rings arrayed around a thin metal mesh in which is cradled a black ceramic bottle with a
cork plugging its top.
The strange contraption in the center as some sort of turbine that would generate a spherical cage of wind to contain and manipulate air and vapor within the sphere, but the machine itself has long been broken
Eversmoking Bottle
The inner door of the western door is labled [u] Quasi-Gaseous Reseracg [/u] and the northern is labeled [u] Swarm Behavior. [/u]
None of these doors appear to be trapped and if they are locked it is only to keep things in, not out.
James scratches his head thoughtfully as he looks around.
"The strange contraption appears to be some sort of turbine that would generate a spherical cage of wind to contain and manipulate air and vapor within the sphere. To what end, I am not sure, but in any case the machine looks to have been broken long ago. Not sure what that strange bottle is, though."
"What do you think 'quasi-gas' might be? Should we go find out? Could be dangerous, of course..."
"Quasi-gas might be partial gas. I'm not good at hitting incorporeal things. Let's leave it be for the moment."
Xandar picks up the bottle. "This little fellow seems to be a Eversmoking bottle, might be usefull to fill a room with smoke if we need to escape. As the the other thing but it sounds dangerous, do we want to fight it or wait for when we have had a chance to prepare for them?"
"Well, it does seem unlikely that there would much of value to us in these rooms, so maybe let's move on for now."
Ivar shrugs, the stony plates of his armor grinding together. "Fine by me."
None of the doors are locked or trapped on this level that you can tell, using hat check for all of them. Clockwise starting at nine o'clock they are Quasi- Gaseous Research, Swarm Behavior and Smoke and Particle Research which you already looked in.
"Let's head up this flight of stairs to see what's there, and then head back down to see what's below. What do you all think?"
"I think that sounds like a good idea, we have come so far we might as well continue rather than going back down now." Xandar responds taking a quick glance up the stairs.
"Sure thing."
James leads the way, wary of traps.
This large chamber has a tall, conical roof. A tangled mass of whistling pipes run from the floor of the room through the ceiling. Colored smoke issuing from this central core of pipes pervades the room, giving the place a hazy sheen. Tables throughout are covered with bubbling cauldrons, smoking alembics, and delicate mechanical contraptions. Three large tanks filled with colored fog stand on the north side of the room. Elsewhere, large metal bookshelves are crammed with books and papers.
As you move up the stairs you hear a robotic voice speaking in common.
"He will be back as soon as he extracts the information from the android just keep working."
If you are just peaking around the top of the stairs you are not spotted immediately but can assume you will be the moment you move where you can be seen or take action.
James wants to know more about the speakers, so he holds up his hand to stop the others from advancing.
"Get ready - at least one robotic entity, and sounds like a leader of the problems."
James mixes and drinks a few extracts, including Darkvision, See Invisibility, and Fly. When the others look prepared, he pulls out a pistol and a Bang grenade, and then flies up toward the ceiling to get a good look.
Ivar quietly readies his dorn-dergar.
Another robotic voice responds after a moment.
"He has been gone a long time. Perhaps something has happened."
They are concentrating on their studies so you can get the jump on them easily.
James waits for the others to storm in, and then shoots the one doing the talking, using an adamantine bullet.
"I have a spell that can teleport on of you dwarves up to 30 feet forward in an instant if you want to get the jump on one of them." Xandar suggests in a quite voice, ready for when James moves in.
Vedia casts Mirror Image on herself.
"I'll take that help, Xandar." Ivar says.