"Slow and steady. Let's get a feeling for the whole room. Take your time." Virgil turns and says to those behind, "Ready for anything, people."
"More of those uneven tiles," Thorvin calls out. "There's a big iron lever to the south'a us. Carrion, if I point out the tiles to ya, can you mark them with light? And can you check whether there's any magic on them or on the lever?"
"More of those uneven tiles," Thorvin calls out. "There's a big iron lever to the south'a us. Carrion, if I point out the tiles to ya, can you mark them with light? And can you check whether there's any magic on them or on the lever?"
Both Carrion and Lianth inform Thorvin regretfully that the ability to create light is not within their powers this day. Carrion however, reports that he has been scanning the room for magical auras since entering and has yet to detect any.
Armed with that knowledge, the dwarf steps forward another 10 feet with his companions filing in behind him. After taking another full minute to probe the darkness, Thorvin discovers another pit and a door to the South as well as a pair of pits to the North along with another lever identical to the one found on the South wall. This lever is in the "up" position as well.
"Hold on, lads," Thorvin calls. "Time out. The uneven tiles may be traps, may be someaught else, but what's with the levers? Anyone know anyaught of engineering?"
"It would make sense that the levers control doors or some such. I think we should pull one of them and try to see what happens. But first, I think we should finish scouting out the room."
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Carrion casts Resistance on everyone, including himself, and will do so every minute, as needed.
"I agree with testing the levers, but we should have a plan. If the levers activate a trap, false floor tiles, blocks exits, we may have issue. If we did pull the lever, not everyone should be in the room; if one group is trapped, then the other can find aid.
OR we can not touch the lever at all, until we find it a viable option to continue into the depts of this place....."
Muffled wailing continues behind the newly discovered door to the South.
Virgil listens to the muffled cries for a moment, then shrugs "We can deal with them later. Let's finish reconnaissance on this room."
"Let's hope, then," Thorvin says slowly, "that it's baddies doing the wailing. And not innocent victims of some torment."
Shaking his head, the dwarf walks on and keeps his eyes open.
Moving forward another ten feet and looking about, Thorvin discovers another pair of uneven tiles that were not visible previously. This room is full of them, it would seem. You get a much better look at the door now. It is made of heavy oak planks, banded together with corroded iron. The door is devoid of knob or pull ring and no light shines from behind it only the sorrowful maddening wail issuing from the darkness.
Inspecting the floor for tracks in the dust, you notice for the first time that this room has been swept clean of the dust so prevalent in the previous room and there is no evidence of tracks remaining.
"Is it me," Thorvin asks, "or does anyone else feel like this room is one giant trap? We haven't been sent out to serve as regular sacrifices to some crypt-spirit, have we?"
"Something seems peculiar. I'm going to test one of these traps. Step back if you like." Virgil turns his greatsword upside-down, standing just to the side, and firmly raps it on the surface of one of the stone lids.
Virgil raps his greatsword hard upon one of the stone floor tiles indicated by Thorvin. The five foot section of floor drops away effortlessly as it splits seamlessly in the middle and swings downward upon a pair of hidden hinges to reveal a dank, rough hewn pit ten feet deep. The bottom of said pit is lined with large, overstuffed pillows identical to those found in the packs both outside and in the entry chamber.
"... Interestin'," Thorvin says. He grunts, then shuffles further into the room. "A suspicious man," he says as he continues the procedure of moving and checking the room, "might suggest someone's trying to catch intruders alive. Worrying thought, yes?"
Moving forward still, Thorvin has almost transversed the room from West to East. Peering about as his companions wait in anticipation he spots a third lever and yet another uneven floor tile to the North along the Eastern wall.
Virgil looks about, studying the room and its layout. Avoiding the uneven stone lids on the floor, he moves to the middle lever on the eastern wall. "Luck favors the bold." He pulls the lever and watches for an effect.
Virgil takes the long way around to the lever on the Eastern wall, first heading West, North, East and then South again to the lever.
"Luck favor the bold," he says and then gives the lever a firm yank. At first it is hard to move and then all of a sudden it smoothly pushes down.
A loud clank is heard in the wall behind the lever. Merely a second later a feint "click, click, click" sound can be heard issuing from the general vicinity of the Southern door. This continues for about six seconds and then the noise ceases. After which, the lever unexpectedly swings back to the up position with great force.
"Let me make a guess, here," Thorvin says. "Either we have to push down all the levers to get the door to open, or we have to push them down all at the same time to get the door open. And then whatever's a-wailing can come see us. Is everyone ready for that?"
"Take the lever on the south wall, Thorvin. Lianth, can your wolf pull a lever? We might as well have two people covering the door if anything rears its head."
"Ver' well, then," Thorvin sighs, shaking his head. "Carrion, care to stand at my side for this one?"
"On three. One, two, three." Virgil pulls his lever smoothly and keeps an eye on the door.
As Thorvin and Carrion begin to make their way to the Southern lever, Lianth orders Rourke to guard him. The wolf dutifully begins following the dwarf. As Carrion leaves the light of the druid's torch, he fishes around in his pack and removes a torch of his own and lights it with a spark from his fire kit.
Lianth carefully makes her way towards the Northern lever inspecting the floor before her as she goes. As his companions and their light sources depart his position, Virgil is left peering through the dim light measuring his companions progress.
Lianth is nearly in position when quite unexpectedly, the floor beneath her feet gives way. With a startled scream she disappears from view, and after a ten foot fall lands upon a pile of large, overstuffed pillows. As she lands, burning embers from her torch fly everywhere and instantly begin smoking and smoldering on the dry pillows.
The only thing visible at Lianths position is a bright shaft of orange torch light running from the floor to ceiling.
"Get her outta there, ya roaring fool!" Thorvin roars at Virgil. Putting words into action, he starts to move towards the place where Lianth fell, fishing in his pack for a rope.
Thorvin makes his way North to Lianth and fishes his rope out of his pack. The dwarf loops it around his waist and then wraps it around the closest pillar before throwing the loose end to the druid waiting below.
Listening to events unfolding in the darkness, Virgil calls out "Let me know when she's back up! I'm ready at this lever." Shaking his head, he murmurs to himself, "Clumsy."
"Shake a leg, lass," Thorvin calls down, the good-natured tone of voice belying the gruff words. "I'm not a tree stump, to stand here all day. Y'want us to try and hoist you up, otherwise?"
With Thorvin and the aid of The Green, Lianth clambers up and out of the pit. Such a task would have been neigh impossible for the druid without the aid of the Dwarf's rope.
In short, order, everyone is in place, each near their appropriate lever.
"On three. One, two, three." Virgil pulls his lever smoothly and keeps an eye on the door as Thorvin and Lianth also pull their levers in unison.
A large thunk is heard behind the wall of each corresponding lever. Less than a second later a series of three metallic "tunk" sounds can be heard to come within the Southern door. This is immediately followed by several ticking sounds clicking away together in unison and also coming from the vicinity of the door.
"Makes me wish I'd bought some alchemist's fire before leaving town," Thorvin grunts as he rewinds and stows the rope. "At least then we could blast our ways out if we become trapped. Anyway, weapons out, people." Putting action to word, Thorvin readies his axe as he strides through the open door. "Stay behind me," he advises. "If there's anything in the dark, I'll see it first."
As Thorvin makes his way to the door, please describe what path he takes to the door and in what manner you move there.
Proceeding carefully, backtracking around the room to avoid the uneven tiles and tapping the tiles in front of him with the handle of his axe before proceeding , Thovin is a little over a third of the way to the door from the Southern lever when the ticking sounds from beyond the door stop and all three levers snap into their original upright positions. Reaching the door, the Dwarf finds it firmly locked without any visible keyhole.
"Don't say it," Thorvin warns Virgil. "I'm a dwarf, we don't do 'fast'. Carrion, lad, now we know how it works, would you be the one to pull the lever then run by the route I just took?"
Virgil hefts his greatsword onto his shoulder with one hand, shifts his weight to one foot with his hips cocked, and casually rests the other hand on the lever. He nods to Carrion and Thorvin, "Cupcake. Shortstack. Ready when you are."
On Carrion's mark, Lianth, Virgil, and Thorvin pull their respective levers. The sorcerer, torch in hand, then takes off like an Olympic runner, sprinting towards the door and it's omnious clicking sounds. As he makes his final turn towards the door his momentum causes him to skid and he nearly lands in the pit to the left of the door. Luckily he shifts his balance at the last minute and throws himself against the iron door to avoid tumbling down the hole. Frantically the sorcerer tugs on the door and without resistance it swings open revealing a complex mechanism involving no less than three deadbolts! A dark hall junctions beyond the door stretching off to the East and West. The Eastern corridor turns South after only a few feet and stretches into darkness.
"Jam the mechanism if you can, lad!" Thorvin shouts to Carrion as he barrels towards the open door.
The deadbolts are about 2" in diameter spaced near the top, bottom and middle of the door. They are recessed into the door's jamb when Carrion opens it. After only a few seconds the deadbolts spring out of the jamb a full 4" as the levers about the room spring upward. Currently, the extended deadbolts will prevent the door from closing completely.
"Onward and upward, as they say. Let's get into formation and see what there is to see." Virgil holds his greatsword ready and edges forward into the newly opened hall.
Falling back into marching order, Virgil leads the troupe down the Southern hall. After a few feet it splits East and West. A partially obscured door is partially visible at the end of the Western hall, while the Eastern hall turns sharply South. What might be an alcove is visible in this hall near its end, which terminates in a clearly visible door. The continued wailing seems to be coming from somewhere down the Eastern hall.
"Anyone having hunches? I would say West but I'm not especially attached to the idea."