"We either need more keys, or a good guess it seems. Everyone stay up there for now. I am going to try something."
Picking one at random (unless there are obvious differences?), Gauntlet inserts the key into a blue socket.
Kana shouts down:
Before you do or touch anything, let me have a look! I have some ....expertise...with such things.
Kana heads down and takes a good look, trying to judge the mechanics and complexity off the system before she attempts to disable something.
Kana heads down and inspects the pedestal, she surmises that this is a control panel that operates a series of trap doors. The Cannith have done a superb job of disguising the doorways though as the only one appears to the the one that leads back up.
The drop from the ladder was only 10' and the ladder does not extend into this room.
It may be that the only way to unravel this mystery is to activate the control panel...
With the crowded conditions below, Viorr elects to stay and keep watch at the top of the ladder.
Kana takes a moment to think about what she knows and could be helpful here.
Kana has not seen anything like this before, it will have to be activated before she can understand what is happening here better.
Zabeth remains with Viorr near the top of the ladder.
She sits, and closes her eyes as if meditating.
EE can't resist his own curious nature, so he enters the tunnel and looks everywhere around to see what's going on and what's going to happen.
"Maybe the trick is to push all the buttons at once?" Dev calls down.
Annoyed at the reminder of his failure to notice the ladder, Frank kicks the 40' of rope down the hole.
"Some rope if you need it."
He then watches as Broulnindre tries to disassemble the opened hatch up above.
We should really activate this to see what it does. Someone have a resist energy spell? It's probably activated by inserting the control device. I wonder if one is enough?
Kana seems very intent and focused right now.
After a few moments' indecision, Meridian clambers down the ladder to the room below, coming to stand with the others in the small room with the strange device.
-------
With Kana, Meridian, EE, and Gauntlet all down the hatch and the rest waiting above, Gauntlet triggers the key charm.
The room begins to rotate!
In less than a minute the chamber has rotated, and now the entryway appears as a doorway into a corridor instead of a hatch in the ceiling. The hallway is dark. The light from the room illuminates a door at the end of the 30' hallway.
-------
From above the group feels a powerful vibration shake the walls of the shaft. The rope pulls taught for a moment the loosens once more.
Gauntlet quickly grabs the device his key is plugged into to steady himself.
"That was unexpected."
Up above, Frank groans.
"Well, let's at least remove this hatch before something else bad happens..."
Frank passes Broulnindre some tools, steps away from the adamantine hatch, and leaves the eidolon to handle the possibly-dangerous work of disassembling the trap door.
Broulnindre looks for where the adamantine is bolted down and attempts to rectify that problem.
EE quickly crouches to maintain his balance, avoiding the humiliation of ending up on the floor. He evaluates the position of the room right now, trying to find out how much it has rotated.
Even though they see a door, he mutters <maybe... maybe should go back for the others.>
Frank and B remove the hatch with ease.
---
EE as the hole room shifted it is hard to say exactly how much it has rotated. At least 10' perhaps 20'. You see nothing out of the ordinary down that hall but you will need to explore it see where exactly in leads. Though going back may not be a bad option as you are all effectively cut off from the rest of the group.
"Now that we know how this works, let's get the others. I hesitate to move on without support. Hold on and be prepared."
Gauntlet then attempts to remove or reverse the key's position.
Kana, Meridian, Gauntlet, and EE
--- Damage.
---
Meridian loses her balance and slams into the wall as the room rotates.
---
Gauntlet removes the Blue Keycharm from the slot and places it into the next blue slot. The room rotates again and again the allies are forced to shift their footing.
The room comes to a stop once more but the ladder up is not seen. Instead the doorway opens into yet another corridor that smells of burnt wood and charred flesh. Soot and ash coat the corridor and stick to the walls and ceiling. A metal door at the end of the hall appears to have melted into slag.
The area is lit by three everbright lanterns which hang from the ceiling every 10'. The corridor is about 40' long.
---
Up Above
The rest of the group hears the mechanism below activate once more! As it stops, you hear nothing further.
"Well, the odds of dead people making something happen aren't very high, so I'll take that as good news. B, leave the hatch on the ground here and see if you can climb down. I'll..."
Frank scratches his chin.
"I'll check the other tunnels for more hatches."
Frank retrieves and then puts the thieves' tools away; then he tries one of the other tunnels (second most northern one?).
After dropping the hatch and returning the tools, Broulnindre attempts to climb down through the darkness again...
"Those are bones."
Meridian rubs her head from where it smacked on the wall and is about to get back to her feet when EE announces that he is going to use the key again. Instead, she stays where she is, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall.
Pink eye and Tenzo watch from above as the room rotates and then again and all his friends disappear as the room rotates again
To no one in particular:
think they will come back?
Kana, Meridian, Gauntlet, and EE
Gauntlet initially tries to re-trigger the first charm slot but to no avail and is forced to try the next slot resulting in the current shift.
Meridian lays flat on the ground to prevent stumbling to significant success.
EE decides it's wiser to just stay on the ground, given how many times they might have to try the blue key. As he's crouching, he thinks aloud. <Maybe ends up being a rotation. If try enough times might come back to the original position.>
Picking himself off the ground this time, Gauntlet hopes the others are OK.
"Not good. This place is unpredictable. House Cannith paranoia strikes again. Everyone lay down and we will keep trying until we can let the others in. Don't shout. No telling what manner of things survive...or did not survive down here."
Once everyone in the room is secure enough, Gauntlet tries the key again in the original slot.
"Hey, don't have all the fun without us!"
Kana, Meridian, Gauntlet, and EE
With Gauntlet's hard casing he does not even feel the tumble into the wall as the room rotates in a random direction. He removes the Blue Keycharm and attempts to activate it once more, to no avail. It seems that the progression must be followed or perhaps the Day of Mourning corrupted this system somehow.
Up Above
Dev calls down but receives no answer. Whatever magical darkness is there, it obscures sight still, you could try and climb down...
well, should we wait? I don't like the look down there in that dark. Pink Eye says to those remaining
"Dark iz fine." Broulnindre replies.
She attempts to climb down through the darkness again...
Up Above
B reaches the bottom and finds that where there used to be a hole there is now solid metal, quite possibly adamantine...
Soon returning to the cavern, Broulnindre shrugs.
"The hole iz gone. Iz a vall now."
"Ah, umm, hrm. Soooo..."
Kana, Meridian, Gauntlet, and EE
Gauntlet sighs and triggers the next Blue Keycharm slot and the room begins to rotate once more. The rest of the exploration team lays down to avoid tumbling as the room reorients itself.
This time, a corridor of plain gray stone extends ahead of you. In the flickering light from the dim everbright lanterns embedded in the walls, you see a few trails of crusted blood running along the floor, as if someone was dragged down the corridor. At the far end of the hall you see three portals: an open archway to the left, a door propped open straight ahead, and a sealed metal door to the right.
Gauntlet states, "There is one more Blue slot. I say we activate that and return to the first so that we can rejoin our companions. I do not like the look of those blood trails..."
-------
Up Above
B hears the mechanism activate once more. She can reach down and feel steel slide by her hand until it comes to a stop. However, the portal top enter still has not returned to her location.
Kana, Meridian, Gauntlet, and EE
Gauntlet activates the next Blue Keycharm slot, and the room rotates once more. Yet another hallway well lit by everbright lanterns and ending in a door beckons.
That was the last of the slots, assuming the room is working, placing the Blue Keycharm into the original slot, the room should reset to where it started...
-------
Up Above
B hears the mechanism activate yet again. She can reach down and feel steel slide by her hand until it comes to a stop. Once more though, the portal top entrance still has not returned to her location.
EE gets it now, at the same time as everyone else. All that's left is using it once more, so they can join the rest of the group, and start exploring the mysterious passages underground.
Once everybody is ready again, Gauntlet triggers the mechanism again to hopefully return to the original opening.
Gauntlet activates the Blue Keycharm in the original slot and this time it works!
Within a minute, the room is re-set to it original spot. They know this as B's hand reaches into the space of darkness above....
Frank and Broulnindre climb down, and try to squeeze in so that everyone fits.