Gavyn, inspecting each wine bottle, finds them to be terribly unorganized. There is no rhyme or reason to their placement on the display shelf. Lord Kindernis must have placed each bottle in whichever vacant spot pleased him at the time. So far, no luck in retrieving the Thayan wine.
Aruzhal, prodding the platter, finds that nothing happens.
The moment he raises the silver dish from the ground, Ilithienne feels a draft behind her, and the sound of heavy machinery echoes throughout the cellar.
Sure enough, the wall next to Ilithienne has opened up, revealing a lengthy corridor extending at least a hundred feet, after which it becomes obscured by a smoky haze. Fiery orange light streams through the haze, down the corridor, flooding into the cellar. Crashing, banging, pounding, just as Lady Kindernis had described. Strangest of all, there is no trace of a mechanism in the wall where the corridor hadn't been a moment ago. It was as through the stones simply shifted out of the way when the platter was lifted.
Mikaela's Divine Sense is picking up on stronger signals within the corridor. Both fiendish... and celestial?
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"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
As the wall over to his left opens up and revels a new passage, Gavyn glances over at it with immnese curiosity, immediately forgetting all about the wine bottle he was looking for. "So something came out from that passage and grabbbed the missing persons of the house?" He speculates to no one in particular, cautisously moving closer to the new passage with his dark eyes wide with excitement. "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go and help them back." He says with an excited smile, looking at the others in the rescue team to see if there was one who preferred to lead the others on.
What on earth?Ilithienne asks in her mind. With a swift move she raises her hand with small crossbow and aims along the newly opened corridor. "We have time..."she answers to Gavyn and without any movement she speaks to Aruzhal "Could you put the tray, back on the ground?" Ilithienne asks calmly "I'd like to check one thing if you please?"
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DM in Tyranny of Dragons
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."
While waiting for the white dragonborn to perform the drow's experiment, Gavyn steps over to the entrance to the passage and peers down the corridor, aaand sees absolutely nothing of interest.
Kallista joins the others in peering down the new corridor. "Could be someone snatching someone, or just pure old curiosity when a tunnel appears from nowhere. Probably a combination of both based on the circumstances of the disappearances so far."
As Aruzhal sets down the platter, the corridor seems to grow shorter, its end drawing closer to its beginning until it reaches the cellar. A wall of bricks materializes over the passage entrance, fusing with the surrounding wall. The noise stops. It is as if the passage were never there.
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"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
Kallista looks over at Gavyn, trying to decide if he's being serious or not. "Something tells me we should bring that tray with us just in case," she says hesitantly.
"This corridor gives both a sense of fiendish and celestial.," Mikaela relays. "I am not sure what sort of magic this is, but we should be cautious." She keeps going, following the others, but keeping a close eye out for something to happen.
Ilithienne touches the stones where the hall was. "Yes..."she speaks faintly as if to herself. "Take the tray... Could you tell me if it is a new piece? The platter I mean?" she asks the dragonborn.
When the portal or an entryway opens, she takes a look at Kallista with a brief smile and walks into the passage.
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DM in Tyranny of Dragons
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."
The corridor is a narrower than what would be considered comfortable, and stiflingly humid. It is clear that fire burning up ahead, from both the light and the heat. Boiling water. You can feel the hot muggy steam in the air. After as you near the end of the passage, you notice that the floor beneath you transitions from cobblestone to plates of bronze. Likewise, the stone walls taper off, giving way to heated metal panels, screwed in place. You reach the end, you are able to see through the steam clouds. The walls split off in irregular directions, giving way to an absolutely colossal chamber.
You stand in what appears to be a foundry extending both left and right as far as the eye can see. At twenty foot intervals are massive, twenty-foot diameter furnaces built into the ground, spewing out columns of flame that rise up, up, up, and... surely there's no way all this could have fit under the mansion? Last you checked, you were only fifteen or twenty feet below ground, and yet here you are. The vaulted ceiling sits at about a hundred feet above your heads, circular holes (chimneys, hopefully) positioned above each furnace.
From where you stand to the opposite side of the room is also about a hundred feet. Positioned along the oddly angled walls near the corridor's end are several shelves, a desk, and numerous huge, spherical devices. Pipes protruding from the walls belch steam every few seconds. Miscellaneous tools are scattered carelessly all over the place.
The room is filled with the noise of the roaring furnaces, the hissing of steam, and the pounding of metal against metal. However, the cavernous foundry appears empty... Save for one.
Directly across the room from you, a tall, thin man stands, his back to you, pounding away at an anvil. His movements are exaggerated, the arm holding the hammer flailing above his head between each strike. Against the backdrop of the furnace, all you can make out is his silhouette.
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"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
What is this place? Ilithienne thinks looking around and with every bit of confidence she can find she says "We are not in Amphail any more...". When they reach the 'forge' one thing comes to her mind "Don't you think it would be a good idea to either let someone know we are going in here? What if the entrance can be opened only from the cellar?"
After a few feet, when the silhouette of the blacksmith is visible she takes a step to the right lowering her weapon. She reaches back to take Kalli's hand to sort of protect her... Keep her behind her and perhaps a bit closer for her own assurance.
"Shell we ask him were are we and if he saw any of the missing people?"
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DM in Tyranny of Dragons
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."
Although Mikaela continues moving into the large space, her footsteps slow just a bit as she takes it all in. "Yes, somehow we've arrived at some other place. I'll go ask this person what the know." She continues closing the distance to this silhouetted figure. As she approaches, she calls out, "Hello. Perhaps you can help us. Can you tell us where we are at? And have you seen any others come this way?"
Aruzhal winces a bit at the heat of the place - he's far more used to cold climates. "Be wary. He might be the reason for the disappearances."
The dragonborn cautiously eyes the man, his shield sliding onto his arm as the group enters the foundry. His eyes shift momentarily to the desk, looking over the contents on top.
As Mikaela starts heading down the strange tunnel followed by the drow and the tiefling, Gavyn follows suit, his dark eyes curiously peering down the mysterious passage. At Ilithienne's suggestion they should tell someone where they are going he simply shrugs and smiles. He never really planned things and he might well not being going back at all anyway, mostly spending his life walking a path of luck and fate. Waiting for the thin smith to respond yto Mikaela, Gavyn looks around for interesting stuff where he stands, particularly checking the shelf to his left and the spherical devices to his right.
Aruzhal, eyeing the desk, sees it is covered in blueprints and diagrams for various, bafflingly complicated contraptions. Clockwork mechanisms, elevators, and something resembling a golem. Ink wells, compasses, rulers, and other drawing tools are arranged on the desk as well. Aruzhal notes that a key is stuck into the lock of one of the desk drawers.
Gavyn, examining the shelf, finds it lined with toolboxes, small bins of nails and bolts, stacked rolls of parchment, and strange clockwork devices.
The spheres are even stranger. Each around six or seven feet in diameter, they are comprised of what appears to be solid rock plated with bronze. Evenly spaced around the sphere's middle are four round windows. The glass on them has to be at least six inches thick, from the looks of it. All that can be seen through them is darkness. As Gavyn draws near, he finds that the sphere's metal components radiate with heat, surely hot enough to cause burns if touched with bare skin.
The stranger appears not to hear Mikaela, continuing his hammering. Drawing closer, she can better make out the details of his appearance. He had appeared tall from the start, but now it was clear that he stands over seven feet tall. He wears a long, soot-covered leather coat reaching down to his ankles, over which he wears a metalsmith's apron, both fitted to his uncannily thin body. A pair of goggles are strapped tightly over his long, taut face.
"That makes four."
He speaks in an airy, metallic tone. He speaks while hammering, forcing his words out in rhythm with the hammer strikes. He doesn't so much as look at Mikaela.
"The second prime today, and the fourth one this week. All three——and now, a fourth——have had the nerve to barge into myworkshop and demand me to explain myself. Ididn't force you to traipse through the portal! No, it is a one-way entrance! No, I didn't put it there. No, I can't open it back up!No, I am not a squatter! NO, this is not Hell!YES, you are in quite the predicament, and I claim NOresponsibilityforit! Now good-bye and good day!"
With each sentence and each strike of his hammer on the anvil, he visibly and audibly grows more angry.
*Side Note: Mikaela's Divine Sense indicates that the man is not a celestial, fiend, or undead.
Aruzhal reaches for the platter, then stops himself. Drawing his mace, he carefully pokes it. If nothing happens, he reaches to pick it up.
Aruzhal - Lv 1 Tempest Cleric - Planescape: Lost
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
As the wall over to his left opens up and revels a new passage, Gavyn glances over at it with immnese curiosity, immediately forgetting all about the wine bottle he was looking for. "So something came out from that passage and grabbbed the missing persons of the house?" He speculates to no one in particular, cautisously moving closer to the new passage with his dark eyes wide with excitement. "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go and help them back." He says with an excited smile, looking at the others in the rescue team to see if there was one who preferred to lead the others on.
What on earth? Ilithienne asks in her mind. With a swift move she raises her hand with small crossbow and aims along the newly opened corridor. "We have time..." she answers to Gavyn and without any movement she speaks to Aruzhal "Could you put the tray, back on the ground?" Ilithienne asks calmly "I'd like to check one thing if you please?"
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."
While waiting for the white dragonborn to perform the drow's experiment, Gavyn steps over to the entrance to the passage and peers down the corridor, aaand sees absolutely nothing of interest.
Aruzhal nods, putting the tray back down (once Gavyn is clear of the entrance)
Aruzhal - Lv 1 Tempest Cleric - Planescape: Lost
Kallista joins the others in peering down the new corridor. "Could be someone snatching someone, or just pure old curiosity when a tunnel appears from nowhere. Probably a combination of both based on the circumstances of the disappearances so far."
Elra Skylash - Human Cleric | Vanzaren Tanidoni - Half Elf Wizard
Mindartis Liadon - Eladrin Barbarian | Naivara Siannodel - Half Elf Ranger
Arrila Evenwood - Half Elf Paladin | Callaphe of Setessa - Human Rogue
Katernin Nemetsk - Aasimar Cleric | Melody - Tiefling Bard
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
"Aww, now it's too late, we will never now where that passage led to." Gavyn says in a theatrical way and slouches.
Kallista looks over at Gavyn, trying to decide if he's being serious or not. "Something tells me we should bring that tray with us just in case," she says hesitantly.
Elra Skylash - Human Cleric | Vanzaren Tanidoni - Half Elf Wizard
Mindartis Liadon - Eladrin Barbarian | Naivara Siannodel - Half Elf Ranger
Arrila Evenwood - Half Elf Paladin | Callaphe of Setessa - Human Rogue
Katernin Nemetsk - Aasimar Cleric | Melody - Tiefling Bard
Aruzhal nods, picking up the plate and opening the passageway again. "An intelligent decision. I was just about to suggest it myself."
He continues his rear guard duty as the group moves down the passageway, watching for danger from behind. Perception: 11
Aruzhal - Lv 1 Tempest Cleric - Planescape: Lost
"This corridor gives both a sense of fiendish and celestial.," Mikaela relays. "I am not sure what sort of magic this is, but we should be cautious." She keeps going, following the others, but keeping a close eye out for something to happen.
Rabbit Sebrica | Skarai | Katryl Brightfury | Rylia Lionrage | Roxana Raincrest | Janek Whitmor | Lokilia Vaelphin
Ilithienne touches the stones where the hall was. "Yes..." she speaks faintly as if to herself. "Take the tray... Could you tell me if it is a new piece? The platter I mean?" she asks the dragonborn.
When the portal or an entryway opens, she takes a look at Kallista with a brief smile and walks into the passage.
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."
As the group starts to move along the corridor, Mikaela moves to take the position at the lead of the group.
Rabbit Sebrica | Skarai | Katryl Brightfury | Rylia Lionrage | Roxana Raincrest | Janek Whitmor | Lokilia Vaelphin
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."
What is this place? Ilithienne thinks looking around and with every bit of confidence she can find she says "We are not in Amphail any more...". When they reach the 'forge' one thing comes to her mind "Don't you think it would be a good idea to either let someone know we are going in here? What if the entrance can be opened only from the cellar?"
After a few feet, when the silhouette of the blacksmith is visible she takes a step to the right lowering her weapon. She reaches back to take Kalli's hand to sort of protect her... Keep her behind her and perhaps a bit closer for her own assurance.
"Shell we ask him were are we and if he saw any of the missing people?"
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."
Although Mikaela continues moving into the large space, her footsteps slow just a bit as she takes it all in. "Yes, somehow we've arrived at some other place. I'll go ask this person what the know." She continues closing the distance to this silhouetted figure. As she approaches, she calls out, "Hello. Perhaps you can help us. Can you tell us where we are at? And have you seen any others come this way?"
Rabbit Sebrica | Skarai | Katryl Brightfury | Rylia Lionrage | Roxana Raincrest | Janek Whitmor | Lokilia Vaelphin
Aruzhal winces a bit at the heat of the place - he's far more used to cold climates. "Be wary. He might be the reason for the disappearances."
The dragonborn cautiously eyes the man, his shield sliding onto his arm as the group enters the foundry. His eyes shift momentarily to the desk, looking over the contents on top.
Aruzhal - Lv 1 Tempest Cleric - Planescape: Lost
As Mikaela starts heading down the strange tunnel followed by the drow and the tiefling, Gavyn follows suit, his dark eyes curiously peering down the mysterious passage. At Ilithienne's suggestion they should tell someone where they are going he simply shrugs and smiles. He never really planned things and he might well not being going back at all anyway, mostly spending his life walking a path of luck and fate. Waiting for the thin smith to respond yto Mikaela, Gavyn looks around for interesting stuff where he stands, particularly checking the shelf to his left and the spherical devices to his right.
*Side Note: Mikaela's Divine Sense indicates that the man is not a celestial, fiend, or undead.
"Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."