Heavy is the Head - Campaign thread

Lam listens to Hemlock and tries to gently shake Saoirse awake, concern still present on his face. If she wakes up, he will also help her stand up.

Saoirse wakes easily enough, without even the grogginess of waking from a normal sleep.

- ... five more minut... - the blood hunter mumbles. Then her eyes open suddenly - Huh? What happened? - she takes the hand Lam is offering and stands up - Was it the book? Did it put me to sleep!? Hell, this place is awful! - she finishes, half angry, half embarrassed and 100% wishing to finally speak with the Artificer and go somewhere not ruled by an arcane mind full of tricks and puzzles.

Lam lets out a sigh of relief when Saoirse seems to be ok, and he nods when she asks if it was the book that put her to sleep- it seemed that way to him, anyway. He nods again when she says the place is awful. He turns to Hemlock and says, “I will try key,” giving a quick glance to Sha and the egg- Lam would prefer the key do harm to himself over Sha. He walks over to the key and tries to pick it up.

"This place certainly is a challenge", Hemlock agrees, and prepares himself for when Lam picks up the key.

He moves away a little bit, knowing that being within arms reach of Lam, which is a long distance, could be fatal if the key has the same effect as the sword.

Special: Guidance - round 1/10

When Lam picks up the newt key, a totally blank expression crosses his face, and he seems far-off and desperately confused. There's no telling what he'll do next - but he doesn't seem to respond to anything you say to him.

Hemlock watches Lam closely, keeping his distance just in case.

"Well, something has definitely happened to him", he says to Saoirse, Sha and Ali. "Lam, snap out of it!", he calls across to the bugbear.

With their roles exchanged, this time it is Saoirse who shakes Lam, trying to grab him by the shoulders.

- Hey! Lam? Lam, come back to us! - then she turns up to the rest - What were we going to do with that key anyway. Do you see any kind of keyhole? 

She'll then actively look around the room for any kind of keyhole, or anything that can get them out of that room.

You fond no keyhole, just the four workbenches and the four items. To the north, the sword with a wolf pummel, then clockwose around the room, the ermine mirror, the book with the scorpion on the cover, the newt key. The stairs remain closed to you.

- Wait a moment - Saoirse says - All these items have an animal in them. A wolf. An ermine. A scorpion. And a newt. W. E. S. N ... same as the cardinal points. That can't be a coincidence right? Could it be that the key needs to be in the north workbench, the book in the south, the mirror in the east and the sword in the west? Could that be the organization our friendly voice was referring to?

"I think that is an excellent suggestion, Saoirse", Hemlock replies, looking to try and figure out whether the items are indeed incorrectly placed. "We have the method of carrying of the sword, and I believe the mirror might be safe it you don't look into it. Perhaps if we don't read the book we can move it ok?", he offers.

He then looks to the key, and wonders how to move that safely.

"I resisted the mirror, perhaps I should try with the key?".

Intelligence (to determine direction): 5+1=6

- I'll move the book, then - the genasi replies. She'll close her eyes when she takes the, then closes it to make sure there's no way to read it accidentally and tries to figure out which one is the south workbench. 

Between the windowless room, the unexpected violence, and a sudden nap, Saoirse and Hemlock find that they have totally lost their sense of direction. One might even hear Hemlock mumbling quietly to himself "never eat soggy waffles," a mnemonic left over from childhood, which he would be slightly embarrassed to admit he still needs sometimes, were it not for Saoirse mumbling "naughty eels squirt water" at the same time and for the same reason. Still, the mnemonic is not enough to tell them which way is north. 

"I have failed once, and would not like to be enchanted again. I will only touch these cursed things if you say I must. But your idea is good. At the moment, the sword rests on the northern workbench." Ali clearly wants to get away from these things at the first opportunity.

- Phew, thanks, Ali. I'll place the book in the workbench south of that one. Regarding the key - she says, approaching Lam - perhaps if we lead Lam to the correct workbench we won't need to touch the key again? 

As she says this, she grabs Lam's arm and tries to lead him to the northw workbench. If he comes along with her, once they reach the workbench, she moves Lam's arm over the workbench and then she'll try to open his hand without touching the key and see if he just drops it.

Lam should roll that dc16 wisdom save, then d10 for confusion. If it says he stands still, you can guide him over. Maybe the dice say he can control himself. Otherwise, the dice decide.

Sha is amazed by the aptitude of his companions.  Lam however is beyond scary, after seeing what he did with just one swing of his axe or even just his bare hands...  Sha shrinks down in a corner sitting with the egg.

Whilst Saoirse deals with the book and Lam, Hemlock moves over to the mirror, but approaches from the side so he does not see any reflection. He picks it up from behind, and keeping it facing the floor, moves across to the east workbench.

He continues to keep his distance from Lam and Saoirse as he moves, then places the mirror face down.

Saoirse, leading Lam over to the table works just fine. When you try to open his hand, however, you find that his fist is surprisingly tight around the key. Roll with advantage to try to pry open confused Lam's hand. You can use athletics or sleight of hand, DC is 16 (Lam's strength ability score)

Hemlock realizes while holding the mirror in his hand and repeating "never eat soggy waffles" a couple of times, that it was actually already on the eastern workbench. Putting it back down face down is no problem.

https://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP

- Come on, Lam, just let go, ok? - Saoirse says as she tries to soften Lam's grip on the key. It doesn't seem to work at first, but when she presses his wrist with a little bit of strength this seems to send a spasm to the fingers, which in turn let the grip go barely enough for the key to land on the table - There!

She then looks at her friends face hoping to see him recover his senses. If he doesn't she tries slapping him softly on the cheek: 

- Hey, come on. We're not gonna be defeated by a stupid book and a stupid key, right?

After this, she'll just grab the book with ther eyes closed, closing it tightly and puting it in the south workbench.

Lam gets advantage on his next wisdom throw to shake off the confusion. It will wear off after 1 minute (6 rounds) if he keeps failing wisdom saves.

Saoirse, wisdom DC10 with disadvantage to keep your eyes closed while moving the book, and not tripping or bumping into things.