Arnon nods.
"A rare creature indeed. I hope it doesn't consider me a threat."
He leave his dagger with his companions, and using his shirt proceeds to move the lever (asking for Erastil's guidance before, of course).
As Arnon moves the lever, two things happen.
Firstly, the machine's gears start to spin, and a long chain running from up to the hole in the wall starts winding up onto a large spool to the side
of the machine.
Secondly, the elemental attacks. It moves to strike into Arnon, tendrils of electricity crackling threateningly and ultimately smashing into the priest.
"push it back man! The lever!"
As Arnon shudders with the electric energy coursing through him, Avogadro steps forward and a spray of brightly coloured powder flies from his outstretched hand.
"Arg! It shocked me!"
Arnon takes a 5' step back, and asumes the Total Defense Action.
He manages to avoid Avogadro's spell.
"Move it back? Why?"
Avogadro's spell thoroughly bamboozles the elemental.
Roet enters in Crane Style and, fighting defensively, flurries his sansetsukon against the enemy.
Roet's flurry of blows strike against the elemental, so that by the end the cloud of energy has been completely dissipated. The party is alone in the room. The gears continue to spin for a short while, and the chain is drawn through the hole in the wall, but quickly the chain is drawn taut and the machine's movement stops.
Avogadro steps towards Arnon, hand outstretched.
"no hard feelings sir, the spell would have done you no lasting harm and I knew you had the will to resist. That creature was a threat too great to risk. But it pains me that you may have been caught up. Please, forgive me."
Following this moment of genuine sincerity, Avogadro turns to the rest of the party,
"I think, gentlemen, that we need to find out where that chain goes. It seems to run into where I imagine our original path would go, to the west"
Gesturing with his hand, Avogadro makes to move off...
Arnon smiles whiel he puts a hand over Avogadro's shoulder.
"Quick thinking, no harm done. And it worked very good."
He follows Avogadro after getting his dagger back.
The main corridor continues to the west, then swings north and briefly round to the east again. The cells along the corridor contain the same piles of bones with the occasional whole skeleton. The corridor concludes in a dead end. The position is roughly equivalent to where you entered the hidden corridor, but on the west rather than the east.
A little disappointed that the elemental creature exploded into nothing so easily, Pip sort of pokes at where the elemental disappeared. "Wow. You actually chopped it into nothing." He looks on Roet with awe, tempted to (but not tempted enough) prod the man and see exactly what he was made of.
He follows along with the group, peeking into the cells they pass wherever he can... he didn't want to miss another ghost! When the hallway comes to an abrupt end, the gnome laughs. "Well, whoever built this place sure liked his hidden doorways. There's another one right here!" He bounds to the front of the group and gives it a good shove.
The door swings open. The party finds itself at the southern end of the main cell-block corridor. Overhead, embedded in the ceiling, runs a semi-circular pipe. This can be traced back to the outer wall of the room with the gear, in one direction. In the other, it runs into the wall to the west, while the cell-block corridor turns off to the north.
The unexplored area to the east doesn't turn up anything interesting. Again - empty cells and nothing else to see.
Again, nothing is revealed by searching.
"Quite so, but let's just see what's round this corner..."
Avogadro follows Garekk. The whole experience of begining his first real adventure seems to have changed Avogadro, he has become almost bold, such is his curiosity. Though the persona remains; it is becoming apparent that, some of the time at least, you are not the audience anymore but part of the show.
The northern corridor follows for a little while, finally turning left and to the west, and ends in a closed door.
There's nothing particular about the door that leads Garekk to believe it's trapped. When he tries it, however, it's stuck.
Roet tries to force it to open.
The door opens onto a large room. There can be little doubt what purpose this chamber once served. The dank room stores an ancient rack, a fanciful brazen bull, an iron maiden, a cauldron, six iron chairs with sharp edges and cruel protuberances, and a wooden table upon which sit various implements of torture. A bronze plaque affixed to the western wall depicts a crowing rooster above crossed spears.
Underneath the spear, a short phrase is inscribed, in Common: "Confession Cleanses the Soul - Pain Clarifies the Mind."
As he passes through the door, Roet feels a strange compulsion to sit in one of the chairs ...
... a compulsion that, with considerable effort, he manages to resist.
At this point, however, a large black bird, a raven, suddenly appears in front of the plaque. It looks up at the party and speaks:
"Greetings, fine citizens of our glorious empire! So good to have visitors, though I fear I have no refreshments to offer. I assume you are here for the treasure. Well, I'd be happy to assist, provided that you give me what I require! It has been so long since I was able to ply my trade. I require only that each of you shed your life's blood in this room - simply take a seat in one of my lovely chairs."
Den orders Draken to stay outside and walks forwards to see this bird.
"Mayhaps you may discuss with us and give us your name, without first draining us of life?"
Arron asks for Erastil's help with Enhanced Diplomacy, and then answers the bird.
"Good night, and not, we are not here for any treasure, nor we want to shed blood, ours or others. Who are you? Why do you want us to suffer?"
(+2 and reroll if Patient Optimist)
Reroll:
The raven nods. "In good time, in good time. But please, if you want something of me, then you must play my game. Pray be seated in my chairs."
"the question... 'friend'... is whether you are really here, so to speak
Cast detect magic on the bird then the chairs whilst walking round the room
"you do seem rather more lucid than your hungry companion we passed on the way here... But then Ravens don't usually build chairs?"
Arnon grabs his dagger.
"We don't need anything from you, and if you let us pass in peace, we will leave you in peace."
"Empire - what empire would this be? If you refer to Taldor then I am afraid that was about two hundred years ago. Now there are other, larger ones such as Cheliax and Andoran. If you but flew outside the tower you would know this. You have my word, as the son of a noble Sarment. The Empire you speak of is gone."
The raven stares at Den and Arnon in turn. "To be frank with you, good sirs, I'm not really concerned about the empire. I was just trying to be polite. But, my room and my rules. If you want to pass, you'll need to play my game. Now, please, do as I ask."
"and if, mister Raven, we refuse? We just stroll past and make to use that, not too well hidden, door over there, what then?"
Den shakes his head firmly.
"And if we don't?" - Arnon says threateningly.
Arnon's voice breaks while he says so.
"Ah, the door," says the raven.
"You'll find it's locked, with a fiendishly difficult lock, as any lock-master you have with you will attest. The key is there on the table. How long do you have at your disposal, might I ask?"
The table contains a large amount of clutter.
"With one of us that sits is enough?"
The raven shakes its head. "No, you must all sit."
Roet shook his head.
Very well. - and the monk sat.
"it must be lonely down here, surely a little chitter chatter is pleasent, a couple of questions? Before we make this fiendishly difficult choice..."
Avogadro none too subtlety winks at the party
"...what will we find behind that there door, and why hide it for that matter? Also, there is a chain that runs in this direction from a machine we found, what can you tell us of its purpose?"