Avogadro maintains his point in the line, carefully traversing this new obstacle, following the chain with his eyes,, he exclaims
"Thanks for pulling that lever back there Arnon, I think you saved us an stinging swim!"
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As the Imp's attitude turns helpful, he removes the knife from the things neck and sits quietly through the interrogation. He dislikes the little creature, and would not hesitate to end the imp's life should the need arise, but he also realizes that all creatures serve a purpose in life.. its not up to him to judge if it is not absolutely necessary. As the imp's story unfolds, he feels a surge of.. pity?.. for it. Locked in here for 200 years?! he thinks to himself. This is worse than death..
As the imp makes his final plea and offers up the password, Garekk stands and regards the imp carefully. "I will agree to the deal with this added: You are to leave not just this tower, but you must leave this area. Pick a direction and fly for no less than two days, because if I come across any that you have harmed, YOU will be my next quest." his voice rumbles with the threat, and his serious mien and glower leave no doubt as to the validity of his words. Once an affirmation is received, Garekk unties the imp, and follows the others. "We will keep our word and will return. Be sure you keep yours..."
Reaching the ledge, Garekk thanks Arnon as the man claps Garekk on the back and he feels the blessing of Arnon's god. He then, in turn, steps to the ledge and inches his way across it and around the corner.
"Well done. I thought things would get much worse than that. How so Avogadro? Did the lever lower the sludge."
The druid drops back next to his animal companion, gets his shield at the ready and follows. He sucks his finger a little when he thinks no one is looking.
"It's just a guess but I'd say we have that chain up there to thank for that walkway back there. And I'd wager the chain is the one that was pulled by the lever. Either that or it was an alarm and we're walking into a trap..."
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Garekk moves forward and inspects the door, and once assured it is safe, he opens it, sword at the ready.
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Den shrugs off his minor wound and prepares for whatever lies beyond the door.
The door opens onto a wide corridor that runs south, then turns to the east.
A small, barred window pierces the iron door at the end of the corridor, revealing a plain, ten-foot-square room with a windowless iron door on the opposite wall beyond.
The door doesn't seem to be trapped. It is however locked.
"Another cell maybe? What happened to that key?..."
Avogadro pads down his suit, looking around at the group.
"Well? Who's got the flipping ke... Oh nevermind..."
Sheepishly pulling the rusted key from his pocket, Avogadro tries it in the locked door.
The key fits and the door opens into the ten foot room.
As Avogadro enters the small room, a booming voice echoes: "Please close the door before proceeding with the pass phrase."
"Do we know the password?"
Jumping up and down behind the door, Pip shouts through the barred window over his head. "Harzogopas said good Baron Sarvo wills it! Good Baron Sarvo wills it!" He stops jumping, then glances at those who are standing outside of the room with him. "The imp probably wouldn't lie to us again, right?"
Avogadro slips the key back through the window as the door closes.
"Den, in case the door locks behind us."
"Thank you, Mr Astounding," smiles the druid as he takes the key. He had been trying to remember the passwords but thankfully Pip was around for that.
"Pip, you are a treasure."
He steps up next to the miniature bard and waits for the imp's gift to either be greeted with success or not. How do I help them if the words do not work?
The door opens at Garekk's words.
A single iron lever protrudes from the wall next to the door, through which the party just entered. To the east, a ten-foot-wide hallway curves to the north. The room seems otherwise empty.
Avogadro moves into the corridor with the rest of the first group, eyeing the lever suspiciously but not touching it in any way.
"let's get the party back together before we go pulling any levers, I'd hate to spring a trap on poor little Draken."
There is no malice in his words just absent minded concern for the thylacine.
"maybe I'll find that flipping rabbit in that room later and pull the lever just to see..."
Den agrees with Avo as he follows into the cell, "this floor in here is connected to something. So lets all get through before any levers get pulled. It must be important whatever lies ahead.
The druid casts guidance on Draken as they all shuffle along.
Arnon will move out of the room, making sure all of his companions leave, and close the door behind him.
this floor in here is connected to something.
Pip shuffles into the room with Den and Draken, and waits for both doors to be shut before repeating the passphrase in his best imitation of what he thinks nobility sounds like. The fact he's never met a nobleman that actually speaks like that does not dissuade the gnome from his efforts.
Once safely on the other side, he chuckles a bit. "Who'd'a thought an imp would've been helpful? He must be even more bored than I thought."
The group ends up together again in the larger room (the eastern door remained open and the pass-phrase was not required to pass). The corridor in the east turns is relatively short and turns to the north, ending in a door. In front of the door is a four-armed metal construct, standing on three jointed legs. A large, metallic key floats in the air next to the construct. As the construct whirs to life and speaks to them in a tinny voice: "Please present the crest for passage."
"Crest?"
"Curses! The plaque from the imp's room! With the crest on it. Maybe someone strong should go back for it?"
I'll go back for it, if you think it'd help us, my friend. - says Roet. The half-orc is actually quite confused with everything that has been happening, wondering if he got in for much more he bargained for.
Arnon goes with Roet.
Though the pass phrase was not required, Pipernortin still feels necessary to declare that Baron Sarvo does, indeed, will their passage with his ridiculous nobleman voice.
As Roet and Arnon move to head back to the crest, he calls out after them. "And make sure you tell Harzy that Pip said thanks for the help! Maybe a little positive reinforcement will stop him from trying to impale his next set of guests." Pip rubs the sore spot on his arm, which had started bothering him again the second he thought about it. Arnon had patched him up just fine, but the thing still stung with whatever nasty poison the imp had shoved up his bu-- tail. Up his tail.
He then points at the four armed construct. "I guess we should just leave that thing be until they get back. It's one limb short of being a mean metal spider, and spiders are mean enough as-is."
Counting with Arnon to protect him, the monk goes all the way back and forth, being careful on the ledges while carrying the heavy crest.
Assuming the way back and forth is uneventful, as soon as he returns, he tiredly looks at the others.
We should probably rest now, my friends. - he says - At least, to recover from this fatigue. I imagine that if I'm not too tired, the burden of carrying the crest won't be enough to make me a burden to us all, like now.
"All we need is a good place to rest." murmurs the druid sotto voce. He looks forward and back at the small cell, sludge and many armed moving statue and waits to see whether the others want to make it here.
Draken finishes licking his paws by the time that Roet and Aaron return.
"My burly friend! To describe one such as yourself as a burden would be the madness of..."
Avogadro's words are interrupted by a huge yawn. Without resuming his monologue he looks around the room.
"rest, yes, just the ticket. I'm not really one for camping though..."
yawn
"Do you think we will be able to sleep near that statue?"
"Not likely! Gives me the shivers! how about the corridor on the other side of the 'whats the password' door? nice and guard-able at each end... maybe... that is assuming I can't persuade anyone that heading back to the inn, would be a lovely idea? no?... worth a try, magnificence needs bed rest you know!"
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Garekk hastily retreats with the others as Roet and Arnon go back for the plaque. Looking about he begins to yawn as the others discuss sleeping arrangements. "Did anyone check out that lever? Any idea what it does?" Yawning again, Garekk walks over to the lever and tries to figure out what it may do.
Once his inspection is over, he rejoins the conversation about sleep. "There are enough of us to take shifts and still get a decent amount of sleep.. I say here is as good as any place once Roet and Arnon get back. We can face that.. thing.. when we wake up."
On the return of Roet and Arnon, the party note that the construct at the door has taken on a defensive stance, still in front of the door. However it does not move to attack.
"This dungeon has been here for centuries. I am sure it will wait for one more night. Let's go back to town, and return tomorrow."
"Good idea, Aaron. My backpack is outside the tower and so sleeping anywhere down here would be difficult."
"Yeooowff" yawns Draken while he looks bored.
"Huzzah! Sense in unexpected times! Lead on! May I suggest we leave the plaque in yonder hallway? The locals may wish to claim it if we return with it prematurely."
A little disappointed to be turning in for the night, even the energetic gnome must admit that he's feeling a little tuckered out. No matter--a new day meant new adventures, and being well rested just meant they'd stick that much fresher in his memory for a few epic songs down the road!
"Bedrolls or beds, I wouldn't want to pass up more grub at the inn anyway."
As the party emerges from the tower, they find a small encampment has been set up, with a small number of tents surrounding a camp fire. Talia Orem greets them.
"I took the liberty of setting up your tents here in case you had to come back during the night. If you go back to the inn the Baroness' people are waiting, and you'll never get any sleep. There's a little food prepared by the fire. I've plenty of questions myself and would love to know what is going on, but you probably need some rest."
Arnon thanks Talia.
"We'll try to answer them as best as we can, tomorrow. Thank you for setting this up, and good night."
He proceeds to go to sleep.
" Talia, Dearest lady! You are truly a friend in difficult times, you continue to treat us better than you ought. Thank you. We, I, will answer your questions. But please let us rest. Thank you, again."
With a wide yawn Avogadro produces a small but pretty yellow flower and tenderly threads it into Talia's hair as he moves bleerily past to his tent.