Zahra could sense magic coming from some place near.
There was more than one aura but, even with the wall all the way to the ceiling, the magic coming from the sandglass was very strong. It was like trying to see a candle's flame held in front of the sun.
Try as she might, the power of the one aura blocked her ability to see any others.
The aura coming through the wall from the sandglass was too complex, too strange to identify.
Dounia was on the move, and so too was the sand in the hourglass. Presumably heralding another series of walls and panels sliding shut while others would open. So there likely wasn't much time to attempt anything. At least the window was open for him now, allowing him to try... something.
First, the obvious. The floating hourglass seemed obviously magical, and not something he was qualified messing around with. But the table with its symbols beneath it... he could at least try to see if it could be moved. For what purpose, he couldn't say, but so far he had been mere spectator at the mercy of whatever arcane mechanism governed the challenge. Attempting to seize the initiative seemed worth some risks.
Dounia could see Tymythy reach through the small open space beneath the window and pushed at sections of the central table. The middle section of the table that contained the keyhole and the small triangle that pointed at the four closed door symbols, everything inside that circle jiggled slightly. It would clearly rotate so that the small engraved arrow could be turned to the four open doors. But the key was clearly needed.
He touched and pushed and prodded other sections of the central table but nothing else moved. Only the keyhole (which would accept the key) and the central disk (which could rotate if the key was used) moved at all. Everything else was an engraving.
So, the table wouldn’t move without the key, but as to make it so that Dounia had a chance to use it, he had no idea. That left the floating hourglass as the only thing to mess with… and the thought didn’t appeal, obviously magical as the thing was. Any of the ladies would be a better choice to decide what to do with that – the only thing he could think of was to try and smash it, and that was unlikely to end well.
So, the sand fell. Time passed. He expected the glass separating him from the mechanism to drop down soon enough. That was the only thing left he had some idea he might do something with. So the hunter took out one of his daggers and placed it where the glass would fall, positioning it carefully. Perhaps it would prevent the glass from coming down the whole way, and let him open it when the next opportunity came? Or perhaps not. But better to try than just stand by idly.
Tymythy removed a dagger from his belt. He set it on the window's ledge. There was a groove the bottom of the glass had sat in and it cradled the dagger nicely.
Dounia continued to work away at attempting to jam the lowered granite wall. Fitting wedges was difficult. She only had so many in her tiny kit. They kept splitting if she used much force. She needed force to get them into the minimal seam.
Dounia continued to look for flaws and cracks. Anywhere she might jam a wedge, she did.
Tymythy could see the window starting to lower.
Over Dounia's shoulder Tymythy could see the bandaged man back away from the window. The window in that door slid down and he could only see suggestions of the secondary door close beyond it. He'd swear the bandaged man had said something to Dounia before he left.
Bandaged man, "Don't worry little creature. We'll see each other again. and again. and again ... an~ ~gai~."
He saw the window beginning to slide down, almost on schedule, right on top of his dagger. It would be interesting to see what would happen. Dounia, on the other hand, was thinking bigger, trying it seemed to block the large granite slab from closing. That might take a lot more doing than stopping a sheet of glass, however reinforced with enchantment as it might.
But the idea was sound, and unlike Dounia, Tymythy had actual climbing gear on him, with all the useful steel spikes just made to be hammered into hard stone.
So he took out his kit, dropped it on his feet, picked up a hammer and a handful of steel pitons and got to work.
Taryth came back. She didn't die here.
Dounia pushed the thought all the way down. There was another way out of this than risking her friends. Or herself.
She continued to work on jamming the wall, hoping that she could do it in time.
Dounia concentrated but risked a few glances as the window on Tymythy's side began to close. Tymythy's dagger nestled neatly in the groove for the window's bottom.
It came down on the dagger firmly and the grip of the weapons cracked and shattered but the blade, tang and quillon was still there. The window halted. The pressure did not. A grinding metallic sound creaked from the ceiling. A fine glass powder sprayed at Tymythy from the bottom of the window. The powder sparkled like salt on his clothes. It (the powder on his clothes) no longer looked like glass, it was more like the granite used in the walls.
The glass continued to push down. The quillons bent. The blade shattered but the window was still opened, not enough to get a pinky through but enough to speak through … perhaps.
Dounia was halfway through her little wedges.
All was quiet.
The room rumbled again and there was that familiar feeling of motion just like during the last rumble.
The five foot wall slowly lowered as it did before. The scene was much like last time, except that Cairee and Zahra's positions were reversed.
Dounia worked feverishly on jamming the lowered five foot wall. She was getting close. So close. The wall began to move upward. It crushed some of her wedges. Others popped free of the wall. The wall was rising. She couldn't do anything to stop it.
Tymythy watched what he could with his own 5' wall raising back to the ceiling.
The wall was closed. If she could only work faster. If that monster didn't keep her from working. She was sure she could accomplish it. The room began to rumble again. The feeling of motion was there. They were rotating around that centre table. Around the very key hole.
All was silent.
The room began to rumble again. The feeling of motion was there. They were rotating around that centre table. Around the very key hole.
All was silent.
All was quiet.
The room rumbled wildly as it did before. There was that feeling of motion again. Then it stopped.
The five foot wall slowly lowered as it did before. The scene was much like last time, except that Cairee and Zahra's positions were reversed.
Seeing Dounia at work, Tymythy took out the climbing equipment the Black Birds once found amongst the possessions of a small group of gnolls. He removed pitons and with the small rock hammer began rushing to knock them into the top seam between the five foot wall and its' opening. His work was rushed. He didn't understand machines. The mass of the wall was great and pitons were not hardened metal.
The wall shut upward block Dounia's view of whatever Tymythy had accomplished.
The wall ground its' way upward. Of the three pitons he was able to set, one sheared in half, one cracked and turned to shards, and one shot free. The third pin flew past Tymythy's ear and hit stone on the back wall.
Tymythy sighed as his own room’s granite wall started moving up, defying his own brute-force efforts to stop it just as easily as Dounia’s seemed to ignore her more refined attempts. Lacking anything better to try, he redoubled his efforts, trying to hammer a piton between the slab of granite and the wall, but the fact that the slab was now moving certainly didn’t make his life any easier.
The hunter sighed, picked up his tools and put them away. Perhaps there would be another chance to use them. So. Back to staring at the blank wall, and the immovable steel door. A door behind which he now knew to suspect some fell beast lurked… yet in Dounia’s case at least it hadn’t been freed. So, perhaps when time came for his turn, the creature inside would remain imprisoned.
So, what to do… there seemed to be little reason to try to work out how the slab was lowered or the steel door opened. He might not want for the door to open, and he doubted there was any handy button to allow him to make the granite slab slide down at his beck and call. Perhaps there was cause for one another attempt, though, now that he at least had an idea what awaited on the other side.
Next, how to prepare for the moment the granite window would open again. His attempts at stopping the window with the steel pitons had ended in failure, but perhaps the same approach that had worked to some extent with the transparent smaller window could be applied to the bigger one. He just needed something a lot more formidable to try and block its progress.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have much to work with in the room. But perhaps hard work could lead to some options. He took out the magical transforming tool, concentrated for a moment to change its shape into a pickaxe and started probing the floor under the layer of water. Perhaps there would be cobblestones or the like that could be pried loose and set aside for later use.
Cairee's thorough search of her cell only confirmed what she's already guessed - there was no escaping this room. Still, she couldn't give up on the idea that the game-maker wouldn't leave some obscure clue, something to hold over them when they failed, If you had only done this, your team would've survived...
The Cleric clasped her pendant and murmured a familiar prayer, surveying the room for traces of magic. She was sure that the dias in the centre of their cells would be radiating all kinds of spell auras, and maybe even the magic that carved 'choose' would have lingered. But was there any somewhere not expected? Perhaps covered by the muck at her feet?
Dounia screamed in frustration as he wall slid up, blocking her view of Tymythy and isolating her again. She let out a howl of frustration, loud and long enough that it hurt her throat. She sacrificed so many of her little tools, and for what? Nothing! Now she had to wait until the wall opened again, and surely that would reveal an open window, and a view of Tymythy being tormented by that...that...monster.
She wished that she had the climbing kit. Tymythy meant well, but she could probably have put it to better use. Still, clever of him to have thought of it. Though it didn't look like it had worked for him. At least he got a little bit of a crack under the glass. Hopefully they'd be able to talk.
She wondered if Cairee and Zahra were in the opposite sides, if one of them was being terrified right now. Should I put the key in when the window opens? What if they choose me? What if they don't? What if we stay down here so long that the clock runs out and we just lose? Or starve? Would they let us starve? Or die of thirst first, I guess. Or just go crazy?" How long had the sisters of the silken scroll been down here? They hadn't emerged until late in the day. They had tried hard not to turn the key. But somebody had. Simone had. Which means Candor had put the key in the lock, had given her that choice. But what if Dounia hadn't grabbed they key? It was almost destroyed in the lock. Then what would the team do? Did Dounia have the right to make that decision alone? She needed to talk to the others!
Thinking quickly, she opened her bag and pulled out a piece of parchment. She had plenty of scraps from when she'd tried to make the little puzzle box. Her charcoal pencil was a bit soggy, but it would work. She scribbled, Do I put the key in the lock? Can we jam the window open with that spear? Or break it?"
Cairee put her back to the five foot lowering wall and called out to Saiph. She could feel the room as she tried to see and understand its' magic. A few heartbeats passed. She could feel a magical presence.
Damage from rnd 12:
Damage from rnd 13:
Tymythy had the time to work a piton into the top front of the wall seam and try a second piton on the other side a little further down. He couldn't manage to get the second piton in and the first fell free. A small chunk of the raising wall came with it, almost the size of the spike itself.
The damage felt pitiful considering the size of the wall.
She wondered ... What if we stay down here so long that the clock runs out and we just lose? Or starve? Would they let us starve? Or die of thirst first, I guess. Or just go crazy?
As she thought this the image of the sandglass came to mind.
It was clear enough to Dounia that she could insert the key in the keyhole and leave it there without turning the mechanism.
The sand glass didn't feel like it was timing them. Why bother letting them know that sand was pouring? They didn't even know what interval the sandglass was. It didn't seem to match the rotating of the rooms. It must be there for a reason! It was an itch in Dounia's head that she just couldn't scratch.
Zahra fought against discouragement as she wasn't able to tease apart the different magics that she could sense. Maybe if she was smarter or more experienced then she may have done something more to help the others, but she wasn't.
She turned to more mundane ways of trying to discover more about the room she was in. Using her light, she looked over her cell again...but found nothing new.
As the room began to move, Zahra quickly scrawled Dounia and Tymythy's names on the back wall with question marks. She then braced herself for what may happen next. When the wall lowered to reveal Cairee, the sorceress realized that Cairee was where she had been and she was where Cairee had been.
She waved at Cairee to get her attention and pointed to what she had written on her back wall in chalk.
Then it sank in that she was on the side of the central symbol with the skull and she shivered.
Cairee kept focusing on the back wall and could feel one faint aura.
She could feel the wall behind her lower as she continued to focus and bring the aura on the back wall into clear view. It was coming from the window in the iron door. It had the strange feeling of a seer or someone skilled in divination magic.
The magic was cast on the window. It was making the window transparent? The material of the window wasn't glass! It was another material, like stone or metal, and a transparency spell was cast on it to make it see-through! Does that mean the glass windows between Cairee and Zahra were the same?! They would be much harder to break!
The sandglass above the brass table was two-thirds poured through.
Cairee had her back to Zahra and seemed to be concentrating. She turned around to see Zahra waving and pointing at the back wall. Written on the back wall in chalk were:
KEY middle
ARROW glass lifts
ONE OF US STAYS
C
Z
Dounia? Tymythy?
Cairee could see realization dawn on Zahra's face and the young sorceress looked near the keyhole at the skull image, back to Cairee, and then behind her at the back window.
She rushed a quick note on a small scrap of parchment and had it ready.
Perception, one last attempt to find some mechanism near the granite “window”: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Tymythy looked everywhere around the side of the cell near the little raised window as the room rumbled around him. He'd felt confident in most of his searching since he entered this cell with nothing turning up. This was the same. There were no hidden panels. No buttons. Barely a flaw save for the seam around the 5' wide wall that one, with effort, might pound a piton into.
There was only one conclusion. He was in a box with a metal door and a small window on one side, and a lowering wall with a window that raised slightly on the other. No one in these rooms were ever meant to find an escape. They were meant only to choose a room to let a monster into. Meant to choose one friend to die.
If they were to escape this 'challenge' they would have to defy that intent or someone would have to win against the creature!
The window just to the side of the keyhole was stuck open nearly the width of a pinky. Underneath if was the remnants of a dagger, its' grip turned to toothpicks and its' blade pommel and crossguard bend beyond usefulness.
Except, it stopped the window from closing entirely. It was enough to perhaps call through ... if the sliding wall were down.
Curiosity at what Cairee was concentrating on gave Zahra something else to think about while she waved to get the cleric's attention.
As her gaze passed over the hourglass when looking at Cairee, Zahra's heart sank to see that the sand seemed to be falling faster. She pointed frantically at the hourglass before scrawling on the wall.
Sand faster!
Tymythy tried to shovel away muck and roots as brown water refilled the space as quickly as he pulled it back. He knew about caves. He knew about weighted traps. He knew how to make a yard go a mile when it came to scrounging and making-do. Quickly he transformed his metal device into a suitable pick and found a spot to work at the base of the five foot wall. His muscles strained. His determination was tested. His effort was rewarded.
A section of the floor began to move. The swamp water seemed to have rotted out a section of the stonework. He fell backwards but with him came a six inch deep rough shape of stone about the size of his head.
Underneath where the stone had been Tymythy could see a second floor. It was quickly being covered by an ooze of thick fenny-water but it was clearly a second surface. The entire room must slide over top of it when it turns. He could see part of the base of the five foot wall. The huge 5' wide stone was set atop this second floor. When the room turned it would be dragged along. When the wall lowered, it must drop into a recess.
That meant if he or Dounia could jam their wall down it would probably prevent the entire structure from turning!
I noticed that Cairee has the doubt trait. Has she failed at a sense motive roll while down here?
She could feel the wall behind her lower as she continued to focus and bring the aura on the back wall into clear view. It was coming from the window in the iron door. It had the strange feeling of a seer or someone skilled in divination magic. The magic was cast on the window. It was making the window transparent? The material of the window wasn't glass! It was another material, like stone or metal, and a transparency spell was cast on it to make it see-through! Does that mean the glass windows between Cairee and Zahra were the same?! They would be much harder to break!
Damn Hallwyn! Was there no chance at all of escaping? Would they have to leave someone behind? No! Cairee couldn't except that.
The sand was pouring faster than the first time you saw it. Just a little faster.
She turned and saw the sandglass above the brass table was about two thirds empty. And it was pouring out faster! She looked up Zahra, who was pointing at it as well. Cairee nodded, and tried to make sense of the writing on Zahra's wall.
KEY middle
ARROW glass lifts
ONE OF US STAYS
C on Zahra's left/Cairee's right
Z on Zahra's right/Cairee's left
The key goes in the middle - that made sense. Arrow lifts glass? What arrow? Oh! She saw a little arrow in front of her spot. Would her glass lift? Would she be able to get a better look at the contraption??
The window just to the side of the keyhole (Cairee's left/Zahra's right) was stuck open nearly the width of a pinky. Underneath if was the remnants of a dagger, its' grip turned to toothpicks and its' blade pommel and crossguard bend beyond usefulness.
Except, it stopped the window from closing entirely. It was enough to perhaps call through ... if the sliding wall were down.
Dounia or Tymythy had jammed their window! If her window lowered, she may be able to communicate with them!
Cairee could see realization dawn on Zahra's face and the young sorceress looked near the keyhole at the skull image, back to Cairee, and then behind her at the back window.
Be strong, Cairee wished towards her friend. It can't hurt you....yet.
[ooc]No go on the second perception check :(
’Well, this was interesting,’ Tymythy thought, pulling his head back out of the hole he had made and got up from his prone position, ignoring how the filthy water had soaked him to the bone – he rather doubted he’d be locked in here long enough to catch a cold. He had hoped just to get something to block the large granite slab the next time it opened, but he had found out something interesting instead.
Once the windows opened, he had something to try to convey to Dounia and the other ladies. But he had no way to effect the change himself. So he might as well try to get another stone or three out, to have some options for jamming the “windows”.
Just as Cairee was nodding to Zahra about the sandglass Zahra had moved to the back wall and wrote:
Sand Faster!
That's why Zahra was at the back of the room. That's why she'd forgotten what she'd thought only heartbeats earlier. That's why she was so suddenly face-to-face with him!
Zahra could hear the secondary door open. She could see the glass in the iron door slide up. A man wrapped in fetid bandages came to the window. His teeth were rotten but his breath was so dry that it had no smell. His eyes were dried out like raisons. How could he see through them. What flesh she could see had the dryness of paper or cured leather.
Cairee's window slid upward about six inches. She had access to the central panel but she had no key. What's worse, she could see Zahra within reach of the monster.
The man's voice snapped like his teeth were biting twigs, "You smell like … like zatar. I haven't smelled zatar since the golden years. I hope they pick you."
Everything was quiet. Lots of time to work.
Everything was quiet. Lots of time to work.
He and Dounia had had their chance, so Tymythy assumed it was now time for Cairee’s and Zahra’s “windows” to open, so he was likely to have a bit of time alone in his little cell. Plenty to time to consider the surprising revelation – so if he and Dounia both managed to jam their movable walls when they were all the way on the lower position they might jam the entire machinery that moved the cells.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done, as he had already tried and failed, and while his backup plan of using stones pried loose from the floor was providing some results, these stones would at best prevent the wall from closing all the way, not prop it fully open – to manage that, his climbing kit and its pitons were still the better plan. Although if they did that, how would they then get the two other ladies out?
Perhaps the strange key Dounia carried would solve that problem for them, as soon as she had a chance to fit it into the lock.
So... if there was no longer such a need to try to get more stones loose – mind you, he could use them to force the window he had already sacrificed one of his daggers to remain open more than a finger’s width... but he assumed it would be time for Dounia’s window to open the next round, not his.
Which meant, it might be time for him to be introduced to whatever lurked behind the steel doors. He gave the other side of his cell a speculative look. He hadn’t got a real good look at the thing he had glimpsed through the far window in Dounia’s cell, but the sight of it, or perhaps some horrible truths it had whispered at her, had seemed to freeze her in her tracks like a deer that suddenly found itself staring eye to startled eye with a hunter with a drawn bow in their hands.
So, what to do about that, then?
I assume there’s not enough room in the crawlspace down below to actually crawl along? So it’s not a viable escape route?
Cairee's window slid upward about six inches. She had access to the central panel but she had no key. What's worse, she could see Zahra within reach of the monster.
Cairee waved her hands frantically at Zahra, beckoning her to step forward. She new Zahra couldn't' hear her. But with her window open, maybe one of her other friends could. Trying to keep eye contact with Zahra, she screamed.
The sound of a door opening close to her made her heart beat faster and her stomach plummet. Her eyes slowly moved towards where the glass began to move and then widened in fear as the horrific bandaged face appeared.
Her mind screamed, MOVE!
She had a moment of being frozen like a nocturnal animal caught in the light but instinct overrode fear and she ungracefully scrambled backwards, trying to put as much space between it and her.
With her eyes still wide, her unsteady voice squeaked out, "Who...who...who", she sounded like a terrified owl, "picks me...for what?"
Cairee watched as Zahra's body tensed. A heartbeat. A second. Zahra pulled back, still looking at the man in the window. She seemed to be speaking with him.
The room had rumbled and moved as Dounia was writing, and she waited, poised, for the wall and window to open. And nothing happened. And nothing happened. She waited what felt like minutes, but was probably just seconds to her adrenaline-fueled brain. "Dummy! It's probably opening for Cairee and Zahra now. Oh, I hope they're not too scared."
If she only got the open window once every few minutes, she better not waste her time. She took the key pieces out, and one of her four daggers. She put them and the note and the charcoal in her pocket, so she could be ready when the wall and window opened. Now, if only she had something big and heavy, something she could jam the window or the wall with. Taking a second dagger, she looked again at the walls of her chamber - were there any stones or pieces she could pry loose and use?
Best think while working, Tymythy thought as he picked up the Anytool in its pickaxe form and got to working another stone free from where it had been set in the floor. Just in case the transparent window opened for him again – it was hard to think of it as “glass” after what he had seen it’s weight flatten his poor dagger without itself shattering into pieces – he could try to use them to force it to remain open more than a sliver. Maybe. Depends on how hard the stones prove to be.
Tymythy moved the new stone to join its brother just under the granite “window”, within easy reach if the chance to use it occurred. That should be enough of that – if the stones were hard enough he’d have the transparent window forced a bit more open than before. And if they shattered into tiny pieces, he hadn’t wasted any more of his time. So, what else could he do?
There seemed to be only one other thing in the cell worth doing anything with – the heavy steel door. Hiding, it seemed, something horrible if Dounia’s reaction to what lurked behind her door was to judge by. Should he try to use some of the steel pitons from his climber’s kit to prevent the door from being opened? Perhaps not. There was a decent chance they eventually needed the door to open, as there had to be some way for them to leave their cells. So that seemed a risky idea.
The mud on the floor thickened as water drained into the space of the damaged floor and leaked between it and the sub-floor it rotated against. It would take time but the mud would slowly become dense enough to walk over. If the room started to rotate he would have to be careful of the new hazard he created.
He went to work on prying up another section of the floor. It wasn't quite as large as the former piece but it had heft to it.
He pushed through the thickening muck to the back window and began covering it. The thicker the substance became the easier the task was. In a few short heartbeats it could barely be seen through at all.
Dounia looked the walls over and the thin mortar lines between blocks of granite looked formidable. Down by the muck line, however, the mortar seemed partially moisture damaged.