Shackled City, Act I - Life's Bazaar

[Krago o'the Mountain]

Galen grits his teeth against the pain.

"Pelor," he hisses, "if you wanted me down here, a slightly more subtle sign would have been appreciated."

A few magic words and gestures are sufficient to light up the space below the tumbling pit. Carefully, so as not to be caught by any grinding gears or crushing beams, the war mage moves as far from the mechanism as he can get so that he can more closely examine the pit's moving parts.

Galen's magic illuminates the area underneath the pit's wooden floor quite well. The gearworks are made of solid wood, and are of intricate craftsmanship. It's clear the gnomes of Jzadirune were both clever and innovative engineers to have designed such a contraption. There seems to be no way out of this small enclosure, except back up through the wood floor above.

 

[Jdvn1]

Konstantine stares at the closed pit. Her face, still flush from the effort of holding Galen, is marked by an expression of terror.

"Galen! By the gods, are you alright?" The bard turns to Dowlee. "Whatever are we to do? They're all trapped down there!"

Dowlee, also shocked, looks at Konstantine. Then down at the door, and back at Konstantine. "Well, I suppose there's only one thing we can do. What weapons do you have that can be used as tools?"

She takes her dagger and starts to try to break or cut through the door. "Hold on, guys!"

 

[Dichotomy]

"We'd best be careful, so as to not trigger the pit to open again. If it does, it might tip again." Following her own advice, Konstantine pulls out her short sword and awkwardly starts hacking the pit door.

 

[Krago o'the Mountain]

William looks for a way to open the bottom of the pit. If he fails to find one he'll set to work with his axe.

There doesn't appear to be any means of accessing the area beneath the pit's floor, so William starts in chopping wood. It takes him around 5 minutes of steady work to open a hole in the hard wood that is large enough to pass through, but he does prevail. Galen's magical light gleams up from below.

 

[Krago o'the Mountain]

Dowlee, also shocked, looks at Konstantine. Then down at the door, and back at Konstantine. "Well, I suppose there's only one thing we can do. What weapons do you have that can be used as tools?"

She takes her dagger and starts to try to break or cut through the door. "Hold on, guys!"

"We'd best be careful, so as to not trigger the pit to open again. If it does, it might tip again." Following her own advice, Konstantine pulls out her short sword and awkwardly starts hacking the pit door.

Konstantine and Dowlee give a brief effort at trying to chop through the pit door with their weapons, but the floor is made of stone, and it quickly becomes apparent that this route is futile. However, in the act of applying their blades to the trap's lid, they notice that it does have some give to it. It seems that the lid could simply be pushed open with the application of sufficient strength.

Eliara, five feet below, supports herself on the wall spikes, and waits to see how her companions fare above her before attempting to scale the remaining distance of the wall.

 

[Mark Chance]

There doesn't appear to be any means of accessing the area beneath the pit's floor, so William starts in chopping wood.

During the time William chops, Galen studies the mechanism to see if there's some obvious way to disable it.

It takes him around 5 minutes of steady work to open a hole in the hard wood that is large enough to pass through, but he does prevail. Galen's magical light gleams up from below.

Galen calls up, "This has been a rather unpleasant outing so far."

 

[Krago o'the Mountain]

During the time William chops, Galen studies the mechanism to see if there's some obvious way to disable it.

While it may be possible to disable the gear mechanism, such a feat is beyond Galen's expertise.

 

[Dichotomy]

Konstantine, giving up on trying to cut through the pit door, turns to Dowlee. "Well, I don't want to just push it open. What if that triggers it?"

The bard listens for a pause in the noise coming from the pit. When she finally hears one, she pushes her face close to the floor. "Hey, can you guys hear me? I think we could push this open, but might that spring the trap again? Why don't you try to... uh... break the trap or something, then we'll open the pit door."

Konstantine looks at Dowlee and shrugs her shoulders. "Unless you have a better idea..."

 

[Scotley]

William Human Paladin

"Yes, don't try to open it yet. Let us either try to disable the mechanism or somehow get above it." Turning to the others in the pit he asks, "could we jam those gears with the skull perhaps?"

 

[Krago o'the Mountain]

"Yes, don't try to open it yet. Let us either try to disable the mechanism or somehow get above it." Turning to the others in the pit he asks, "could we jam those gears with the skull perhaps?"

OOC: To clarify, I wanted to point out that there is actually not a skull in the pit. There is a dead skulk, a rapier, light crossbow, and a half dozen bolts...oh, yeah, and Galen's spear as well.