"Sorry," Kallista offers up. "Do you know where we are then exactly?"

"Yes, we do apologize for the intrusion. If you know where we are it would be appreciated," Mikaela adds. "And do you know where the others went? Were looking for them. We'll get out of your way as soon as we can."

Gavyn is very excited with all the intriguing stuff laying around this peculiar place, but he stops his investigation and listens attentively as the tall begoggled smith speaks. It seemed the persons they were looking for came this way then. Gavyn simply shrugs as the man mentions the portal being a one-way entrance, he mostly moved forwards anyway, and very seldom back, but then he glances over at Mikaela and hopes she won't miss Tam too much. He then listens for any reply from the smith but is not convinced he will calm down, quite the opposite actually.

A loud crackling noise is heard behind you, followed by a spine-rattling reverb. The passage from which you entered is gone.

---

 

Upon hearing Kallista's voice, the man stops hammering, slowly turns his head towards the group. He mutters under his breath.

"Good gracious there's five of you." 

Turning around all the way to face you, he addresses your questions.

"You are in my private foundry. Your rude friends were directed to the exit. That way. Knock thrice on the wall to open the portal. Now please follow suit or I'll call security. NO, you may not take anything you see. We call that theft around here."

The man points to another corridor on the opposite end of the room*. He then turns back to his work, not bothering to make sure you heed his instructions.

 * The corridor entrance is located at coordinates 4,27 on the map.

Seeing the man being surprised with the number Ilithienne speaks slowly moving towards the exit.

"Thank you for your understanding approach. We are "a rescue party" to find those who went before us..." She pauses for a moment "...but seeing how well we have secured our exit, it may be some other will follow. Such passage ways that open and close are not common in our... world. I have heard of spells that do such effects, but never in a wine cellar.". 

She keeps close to Kallista, as if trying to shield her from this strange man.

For a moment she thinks of place where she was born. Drikken'heim. On many levels life was much easier there... She could have asked to have his skin removed piece by piece untill she had all the answers... Her hand freezes mid way to her hip.

"If we... I may ask you one more question..." Ilithienne looks at him to see any signs of his approval.

"We will certainly not steal anything," Mikaela says, glancing back at the others in the group, making sure they are not doing any such thing. "And we will get out of here as soon as we can."  She doesn't follow Ilithienne, instead turning back towards where they had entered. "Aruzhal, we should check if the tray allows us to go back." 

---

 

The tall man once more pauses his hammering, and without turning to face Ilithienne, replies:

"And what might that question be?"

---

 

"Where are we?" Ilithienne asks gently.

Aruzhal strides toward the closed-off passageway, pressing the silver platter toward the spot on the wall where the passage was.

As Mikaela promises they will not steal anything and her eyes passes Gavyn, the young man shrugs and smiles innocently. Interesting stuff that he came across had a tendency to end up in his pockets but that couldn't be considered stealing really as he wanted the thing more than the previous owner. Still, he didn't want to incur the wrath of the long stern begoggled smith.

Where the passage you came through had been, there is nothing but a small alcove in the wall, roughly the width that the passage had been. Aruzhal holds the silver platter up to the alcove, even touching the wall, to no avail. The passage doesn't re-open.

---

"You primes have walked into what some might call the Center of the Multiverse. Others call it the Ringed City. Many call it by its proper name: Sigil. But those like yourselves, who come here by accident, know it by another name: The Cage. Now, as I've said before, there's a portal out of here down that passage over there. You can see your new home for yourselves. Now good day."

He grins a wide, toothy grin as he finishes. His teeth are triangular, like that of a shark's. He clearly seems to take delight in relaying the distressing news to persistent intruders such as yourselves.

Mikaela watches disappointed as Aruzhal has no luck with the silver platter. "I guess it's the portal out then." She starts to head in the direction the tall man had indicated.  

Hearing the blacksmith description a sudden chill has reached Ilithienne's heart. The cage. She takes a deep breath and looks at him

"A home is where once heart is..." she begins cheerfully "...and if there is a way IN, there must be a way OUT. Good day to you, and thank you." she bows slightly in a polite way unloading her crossbow and sheeting her rapier. She looks at the others "We shouldn't test our hosts' patience. We must leave." and walks towards the pointed exit.

Gavyn has a hard time already leaving all the fascinating contraptions lying around in this workshop, but after some brief hesitation he nods at the drow and follows her, glancing back at the begoggled smith, pondering why he called them primes.

Intelligence check to be aware of the concept of a prime material plane: 10

Aruzhal shakes his head, stowing the platter in his bag. He gazes at the smith, meeting his smile with a stoic gaze.

”Let’s continue, then. We certainly will not accomplish anything standing here. Now, good day sir.”

He walks toward the portal.

Moving in the direction of the supposed portal, you pass closer to the furnace. The heat increases exponentially as you near in proximity. Surely, any closer than 10 feet would leave lasting burns. You wonder how the smith is able to work for possibly hours with that blazing inferno in front of him. As you pass the smith's workstation, you are able to make out some of the sketched blueprints on his desk.* It appears to be a design for the massive spherical devices that populate the foundry, their dark windowed portholes staring at you like hollow, soulless eyes.

The smith himself remains stationary in front of his anvil, following you with his goggled gaze. The flames of the furnace are reflected in his lenses, making it appear as though his eyes were fiery spheres themselves. He is no longer grinning, but still appears pleased that the intruders are leaving.

The dank, greasy metal corridor the smith directed you towards shows no indication of being a portal. It takes several sharp diagonal turns, preventing you from seeing the other end from where you stand. Tiny pipe ends protrude from the walls and ceiling, puffing out short bursts of steam at random intervals. You recall the smith's instruction to "knock on the wall three times" to open the supposed portal.

* Coordinates 7,20

Once she arrives at whatever seems to be an end of this corridor, Mikaela knocks on the wall three times. She then steps back to see what happens. 

Noticing the blueprints, Gavyn is nearly bursting with curiosity now. "The spherical devices, what are they if I may ask, what purpose do they serve?" He suddenly turns and asks the tall begoggled smith with a pleading tone, loud enough for the smith to hear.

The smith had resumed his hammering at the anvil, shaping what Gavyn perceives to be a rounded metal panel. He does not stop his hammering as he speaks to Gavyn, raising his voice above the commotion.

"For the time being, their function is for me to know, and you to not. Now be on your way."

---

Mikaela finds at the end of the corridor a medium-sized room, illuminated by two glowing glass bulbs (works of artifice, no doubt) bolted to the walls. Opposite from her is a massive, round metal door. On the far end of the room are two shelves of tools, behind which hides a simple, unmade bed.

Upon knocking on the metal wall, which makes a hollow clanging sound, the room vanishes. This portal, unlike the one that had brought you here, was thoroughly opaque, as though a wall of pure black had appeared in between her and the room that had been there. No sound emanates from the blackness. However, there is a pungent odor of rotten food.

"Well, don't forget to write me when you are ready to present your invention Mr. Smith." Gavyn says cheerily, giving the tall begoggled man a wave as he leaves.

"By Bahgtru's brackish bidet, it smells like we're in the realm of sewers now." Gavyn says as he tries to get his bearings in this new dark environment, first knocking three times himself if necessary in order to follow Mikaela through the opaque portal.