To recap: Tung and Tilver have disappeared/been disintegrated. Dain, Silas, Skarvek and Isable are in the room with the huge gear and have revealed a second hole in the Northeast segment of the ceiling.
As you are examining the dangerous rune in this second chamber, Tung and Tilver come racing in, panting heavily and not much worse for wear...
"Hi, everyone!" Tilver waves and pauses to catch his breath. "Please don't touch that." He looks up at the hole in the ceiling to see if there seems to be any change.
"And if you do, reach out to the left to grab the edge." Tung chimes in. "Tilver said he's figured this puzzle out."
"So it did send you somewhere? Where did you find yourselves? We found the runes that sent you, and tested moving the chamber. But we have not found a way to bring you back. Although that was apparently not necessary." Silas says.
Isabel still flying at the top of the room. "We moved one of the levers, and I shut down the magic of the rune to see what was in the room above. It wasn't you lot. It was a switch we couldn't move. What did you figure out Tilver?"
Tilver is nearly doubled over panting from the run back up to them. "Geristonomos. He said...something odd...this morning. 'SouthWest, NorthEast, SouthEast, and NorthWest. That's the way. In that order.' I thought he was talking about corridors through the vault. But that might be some type of combination instead."
He looks up at where the plate has moved. "Do you know how to control it?"
"glad to see you alive lads. I was not looking forward 5o informing your next of kin you had met a gruesome fate."
Skar looked very pleased to see Tung alive.
"You just pull levers... wait, who is Geristonomos?"
Dain is clearly relieved and happy to see that Tilver and Tung are alive and well. Magill echoes this sentiment, rubbing herself against both their legs.
Answering Tilver, Dain says, "Well, ummm, when we got here this switch was up, and the stairs were in the northwest. Then Silas hit this switch and the stairs...uhhh...moved to the northeast. We haven't tried the other two switches yet."
Tung runs in just behind Tilver but remains silent as he catches his breath.
He observes the levers in the room some more with the platforms to see if there's any cardinality to it.
Tilver comes over to the levers and inspects them for a few moments. Then you see him just reach out and begin pulling and pushing on them with seemingly no concern. He looks up to see how each lever positions the plate and see if he can get the combination Geristonomos recited.
Without looking at Skarvek, he replies, "Geristonomos is a...metal man. He was a guardian we found in here. I've taken him back to my flat to help him recover and rebuild him. He has some knowledge of what's in the vaults, but he's damaged and a lot of what he knows is out of date. I'm hoping that if I can repair him, he'll be of more use in figuring out how to navigate this place. He's already told me about a Sealing Rod that would be needed to close the vaults again."
The switches are just placed on the shaft one above the next.
Tilver, I'm going to assume you mean switches. They move the platforms. The levers send you bye-bye.
Tilver easily finds which switch aligns the stairs and upper portal with which quadrant and sets it so that the huge apparatus swings around to reveal the Southwest quadrant. As with each of the other configurations, this reveals a small upper room with a lever and a rune.
"Perhaps our mages should investigate that rune before we stick our heads in there." Tung says with a suggesting glance to Dain and Isabel.
<The GM starts a game of Jacks...>
"Before we do anything, perhaps Tilver and Tung could let the rest of us know where they were taken? Tilver, what do you think Geristonomos meant by the different directions? Do you think that would teleport us to a new area in the labyrinth?" Silas asks.
Dain moves to the stairway to check for the presence of a rune in the corresponding spot of this upper chamber.
"We were just spit out above a deep pit in a section we've already been. The tricky part was catching the ledge before plummeting down. And then I had to haul Tilver up. Luckily we had some rope." Tung says.
"Depending on if there are more teleportation runes. It may be worth going in pairs. We can be ready for the worst this time at least."
Dain calls down to the others, "OK, the rune is...uhhh...off. That's a good sign we're doing this right." He takes a look around the chamber as Magill scurries up the stairs after him.
Like the others, this chamber contains only a lever. Like all the other levers, it is set to the RIGHT.
Dain tries to move the lever to the left.
The lever, thousands of years old, resists at first, but then moves to the left with a solid CHUNK! Dain can momentarily feel a slight rumbling through his hand.
Nothing else happens.
"Yeah, sorry. The rune teleported me above one of the pits that we had already avoided back near the stairs. There was a orc with a bone ring down at the bottom, so I would say that at least one other fell victim to the trap."
"Ok, so now I think we move it to reveal the Northeast section..." Tilver flips the switches until he can move the platform appropriately. "Dain, see if the rune is active. Then you probably can flip the lever up there."
You move the apparatus to the Northeast. Dain soon determines that the warding rune is inactive.
Dain flios the lever in this chamber to the left.
Watches and prepares to run if it all blows up in their face.
Tung stands arms crossed with a face of impatience but a hint of curiosity.
CHUNK! The lever flips to the left. Dain feels more thrumming in the lever that fades away after several long moments.
Isabel helps checking on the runes. "Let's get these two other switches done. I'm excited to see what the puzzle reveals."
With the third lever thrown, you can all feel a subtle rumbling in the floor that lasts just a few moments. With that fourth and final CHUNK! the ground positively shakes and you hear the sound of stone scraping on stone that lasts a full minute. The sound is coming from south of the western doorway.
When you go out and look south, you can that something has changed beyond the wall of force. The gigantic stone "plug" is missing and a passageway has been revealed beyond it!
"Very well done Tilver and Dain. Now we can see if anyone else has figured out hot to pass this way." Silas says.
"Only one way to find out. Let's go."
Tung begins to make his way around the wall of force
"Onward to glory and riches... or stopping a great evil, whichever we do it will make a good epic."
Silas follows along.
The team goes back up to the Room of Stairs, across to where the Warrenbuilders lay in ruins and down through the Tiled Room where you (sadly) once again decide not to mess with the glass tubes and instead pass through the secret hallway to the back side of the Wall of Force, arriving where the Plug had been. You can see that it is now raised above your heads, eighty tons of granite suspended in some manner you don't care to contemplate.
Beyond, you find a long and dusty corridor. It shows no footprints in the dust. Evenly spaced along the south wall are three "Vault" doors, each still closed and sealed. At the far end of the passage, you can just make out a room beyond an archway.
Tung draws his blade and slowly moves down the corridor to the first "vault" to inspect the door.
"Should we try to open one of these?" He asks over his shoulder in a hushed voice.
"There is no sign of anyone walking in the dust. I think we should just see what is beyond that arch and then lock this back up if we can." Silas says as he sniffs around the door for any odd smells.
It smells like old dust.
Dain nudges Tung down the hall. "We should leave the vaults alone unless there are signs that someone else has...ummm...opened them."
Tung proceed cautiously down the hall.
From the hallway, you see a creepy room with a high ceiling. It is bare save for a platform suspended high in the air on chains. A rickety wooden staircase leads up to the platform. At the level of the platform, there is a door on the north wall.
Tilver follows them down the hallway, looking for any signs that might indicate what is being held behind the doors. He looks up at the platform. "Well, that doesn't look up to code. But it might be interesting to see what's up there."
Tung gives a determined nod and climbs the stairs, giving each step a careful look for traps.
The wooden stairs trigger Dain's memory - childhood remembrances of hiding under the Warren's rickety wooden structures, waiting for a chance to score food. Drawn as if by a magnet, he and Magill cross the room and investigate the space under the stairs.
A deep disturbing chuckles emanates through the room. "It has been so very long since I have smelled the delicious scent of fear. I feel your hearts racing. Mmmm.... I adore your terror!" You can't see any foes.
INITIATIVE
+2 Initiative if Perception, wins ties regardless of which skill is used.
+2 Initiative
STATUS
Silas
Tung
Dain
Tilver
THING 1
Isabel
Skarvek
THING 2