The adventurers lift the first door from its hinges. Pulling it closer to the god box, the door - though metallic - is completely unaffected by the pull of the box. It insert into one of the slots nicely. The humming decreases slightly, much to the startlement of the surrounding troglodytes.
Kargh, the leader of the southern clan is present, as are seven more onlookers.
It seems the 'door' is actually a control plate of some sorts: inserting it attenuates the power of the box. There are six slots, with one just filled by the adventurers. Filling all six slots probably shuts down the device.
The little gnome looks on and gives suggestions here and there.
it would be interesting to see what happens if it deactivates...
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The troglodytes keep looking on, growing increasingly restless as door after door gets lifted and inserted into the sockets. It is only through the repeated calming of Kragh that a riot does not break out.
When the sixth door is inserted, the humming of the box stops, and well over a hundred metallic items clatter to the floor.
The troglodytes are on edge, holding their breath and waiting for the next move of the adventurers...
Asuna does the same and studies everything.
"It's allright. We can reactivate the machine if we need to." Enora says trying to calm the mob.
I hope... She looks questioningly at Bruce.
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Fellgrim and Thistle have a closer look at the device, which seems to be some kind of highly advanced, almost sentient, technological contraption. It's clearly 'off' at this point.
Enora rummages through the items, and finds an arsenal's contents: swords, hammers, farming gear, complete suits of armour, cooking ware, lanterns. Several items are magical, and she quickly identifies a +1 chainmail, a +1 great word, and a +1 heavy steel shield. There's a pouch of thieves' tools as well, which has a hidden brooch of shielding in it.
The Troglodytes starts burbling a weird chant, which should pass as a prayer. Thistle recognises it as only a travesty of regular worship, like a child mimicking a sermon.
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Bruce takes his chalk and writes a message for Thistle.
[/b]"We can try adding a few items at a time as the machine powers up. Not a bad idea Fellgrim."[/b]
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Thistle sees the murmuring of the crowd, and reads the message from Bruce. He takes his chalk to one of the walls so all can see, and writes:
"Rydym yn credu rhai o'r eitemau hyn yn cael eu niweidio eich duw. Byddwn yn gweld a allwn ei helpu i hymian uwch hebddynt, neu drwy eu disodli gyda phethau eraill na fydd yn niweidio. Cael ffydd, ffrindiau.
Byddwch yn amyneddgar, a bydd eich ffydd yn cael eu gwobrwyo."
"We believe some of these items are harming your god box. We will see if we can help it to hum louder without them, or by replacing them with other things that will not harm it. Have faith, friends. Be patient, and your faith will be rewarded."
Once he has relayed the message to the crowd, he turns back to Bruce and the others, writing a message for them on his board in common,
"This thing may be sentient. They pray to it like children mimicking their parents, but not truly understanding. Perhaps there is a way we can communicate with it. If we can find out what draws the food and water to it, we may have some other options opened to us."
Removing the northern door revealed the common area of the northern troglodyte clan: The chamber reeks of troglodytes, and is cluttered with knickknacks and trash, including scraps of armor, tattered cloaks, worn-out boots, odd lengths of rope, and more. The walls and ceiling are covered with blue paintings and writing, and embers glow in a simple fire pit.
Thistle tries to convince the crowd of his good intentions, but Klagh is very sceptical: No removing of the offerings. Ar you sure they are harmful? If so, they must be replaced by better offerings, or the box will be displeased. Bring the hum back!
"I believe every magical item interacts with the magic of the box in a bad way. We need to replace them with non-magical metallic objects. I see that there are some armor remnants over there. Let's replace the magical objects with those."
Very well, we'll take the magical items, then, and forge them into a statue for our god! Kragh says that way we offer in a different fashion. How many magical items have you removed? We must replace an equal amount of metal, or the god will be displeased.
"Now now, that is not very fair is it. We are doing all this work to help your god box. At least let us have the magical items as a form of payment for the trouble we are taking in making sure the godbox will continue to work!" Enora protests.
"Perhaps we could leave the magical items here for now, but come back and exchange mundane items for them after we've explored a bit more," Caranthir suggests. "We're likely to find many things we could give them as offerings, and they will not be the wiser."
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The box and six doors makes seven. Bring us seven times the metal for the items you take, and skraa-orm will be satisfied!
There is no convincing the Troglodyte leader - he is already pretty that the adventurers want to take the magical items, and sees a sevenfold repayment as fair compensation.
Thistle remembers the scout on the previous level, but also quickly come to the insight that they wore predominantly leather armour. There were some metals gates on the level, though, and one of them could be lifted form its hinges and carried down to be sacrificed.
Enora helps carry what she can from the metal. She points the others to metal hinges, locks, nobs, chains, springs and other smaller metallic items they can stick in a bag to carry downstairs.
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Thistle helps direct the gathering of the extra metal parts, doing what he can to help with the smaller items. While those are being picked from the various doors and such, and Jelani helps with the iron gates, Thistle makes his way back up to the first floor. Quickly casting light to help with the opressing darkness, he stumbles around until he finds "clanky" the robotic contraption the group dispatched of at the beginning of their adventure. Dragging that down the stairs, he smiles as he brings it into the room to offer to the god-box.
The upper levels of the dungeon are completely stripped of everything metallic. Kluge is particularly pleased to see the marvellous metal construct of Clanky, in several bits and pieces, brought down to be sacrificed. A statue of a false god? This will please the skraa-orm!
And please it does. The strange Numerian alloy has an amplifying effect of the outer-planar super magnet in the central room, causing the humming to become louder and louder, and all metallic items to be locked in place, unmovable. The adventurers manage to get out before the increased pull takes hold of their possessions.
"Nicely done, everyone," Caranthir says with a rare smile.
"I think we are ready," Caranthir agrees.
"Very well. It seems a pity I couldn't use any of my spells though..."
The exit is found in the north-eastern room:
A tall troglodyte statue stands in the center of this otherwise featureless square room, its arms outstretched. Light-sticks are mounted on the east and west walls,providing dim green illumination.
In the northeast corner, a section of the stone floor is cut away perfectly, revealing a stairway that descends into darkness.
The ramp winding down from the level above ends in a flight of stairs leading to a dank, low-ceilinged room. The curved surface of the Emerald Spire takes up the northwest corner, and to the east is a broad stairway leading down to a dark passage from which the soft sound of lapping of water emanates. A small, closed door stands in the south wall. Several toad-sized crabs skitter about.
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"I hope you are all prepared to hold your breath," Caranthir observes as he looks into the darkness.
The elf removes a magical rod from his belt pouch, then casts two spells.
"Bruce, if I may make a suggestion, I have summoned an invisible servant that can help us with dangerous tasks. Though your skill at finding and disabling traps has thus far been flawless, it might make sense to have this servant actually open doors or handle objects. It will be with us for four hours if any assignments occur to anyone," he adds.