Ozus, who has been following along in silence, finally speaks up. "For once I agree. I can speak from personal experience, taking action before one knows the potential consequences is... unwise,"

(Sorry guys...typed that last post out too quick. There IS a door in the west wall, with pipes leading in that direction.)

Both Larry and Naero are able to determine pretty easily that the water is flowing westward, towards the door. You also confirm that these wheels control the water pressure, but without some trial and error you're not sure how. When Khessa turned the one wheel, there wasn't a significant change in any of the pipes, and there are no gauges that tell you what's happening either.

Khessa immediately stops operating the hand-turn wheels and instead restores them to their initial state: "Thank you, you are right to advise me... Very often my curiosity exceeds my wisdom! Obviously, now that you make me think about it, you are right".

To tell the truth, the blonde arcane warrior had begun to operate the devices also because she hoped that these, with appropriate systems of pressure changes, would allow her to open some new secret way... but she discovers with embarrassment that a door is already there, and in plain sight! She had simply been so surprised by these pipes that she did not see it!

Ready to remedy the situation, the tall adventuress sends her disembodied hand again to open this new door as well. If there are no threats beyond, she will be happy to once again let the most stealthy members of the group scout ahead...

Peering through the doorway, you can see more pipes running along the walls and ceiling, and the edge of what appears to be a large stone basin. After a few moments, nothing jumps out to attack you...there's no sound but the patter of dripping water.

"Perhaps the purpose of the pipes is to bring water to the basin?" Khessa murmurs doubtfully as she waits for the scouts, if they deem it appropriate, to come in and make further sure that there are no threats. "But I wonder what the basin is for at this point".

Tristan:

”Perhaps we have entered a bathing chamber,” responds Tristan, evaluating the size of the basin and considering what might use such a basin for that purpose.  Out of curiosity, he puts his hand on several different pipes to feel if they have different temperatures.

You don't sense any temperature differences, all of the water feels pretty cold. Trying to get a better look into the chamber, you see that the basin seems to take up a majority of the room. There are nozzles above the pool that are the source of the sounds of falling water. There's a continuous flow that is "raining" into the pool. You can't tell how deep it is without getting closer. There also appears to be another hole in the wall to the north.

Khessa calls her brother from his pocket dimension and sends him to explore the room... Anator, being in the form of a Bat, does not require illumination to see - and above all, in the eyes of any monsters, he should not be perceived as a threat, but as a common animal that has entered the complex.

The blonde arcane warrior remains in telepathic contact with Familiar, so he can describe to her what he sees while exploring the room.

Anator flaps around the room, seeing that there is indeed a passage that goes to the north. There is also a passage in the West side of the room, and a heavy door that is padlocked on the South wall. Along the East wall, there is a flight of stairs below your door that leads up to another door.

The stone basin is filled to the brim, though it's hard for the bat to tell how deep it goes. The surface of the water ripples, revealing that three creatures are moving around underneath. Nothing else is in the room, all is quiet still.

Khessa sends Anator back to the safety of her pocket dimension and shares with the others, murmuring, what she has learned.

"The northern opening will probably rejoin the path we left to take the secret passage" the blonde arcane warrior comments. "I would avoid taking that one. The others are all potentially interesting instead".

"But there is the problem of the three creatures in the stone basin" the tall adventuress concludes. "I fear they could be guardians... Maybe it makes sense to look for a position in the room from which to range them from safety and eliminate them?"

Tristan:

”Do we know they are hostile?  Can you tell what they are?” asks Tristan, looking up and down the passages and towards the basin.  

"I csn not know for sure they are hostile" Khessa admits "but I'd plan for that scenario, just in case".

The blonde arcane warrior also describes what the creatures look like.

[[ OOC: @DM: What they look like? ]]

It's hard to tell what they look like, they look almost like they're part of the water, plus they're all the way at the bottom of the pool. The bat's blindsight is unable to make out anything but shapes, which seem more fluid than any "normal" creature you've seen.

Khessa also shares this description, adding: "They might be Water Weirds... elemental guardians of spring, pool, or water bodies in general. And if they perceive us as intruders, they might attack. Even more so If they have been corrupted by evil influences in this place".

"They are placed well to be guard dogs.  The basin almost filling the room, forcing people to spread out so that it is difficult to protect anyone."

Thinking about the known layout, he hesitates and then shrugs.  "I think we could try to sneak past, try to walk boldly past wearing the cloaks, or go back around and see if there's something else available to help mitigate this concern.  I am assuming we want to go through the locked door, of course.  If not, going around is probably both safer and simpler.  The cloak trial would require deciding who waits for one of us to return the cloaks for the rest to follow."

"Not all of us are able to sneak effectively..." Khessa points out "I certainly am not, at least".

"On the other hand, I would have no problem wearing one of the cloaks" the blonde arcane warrior volunteers. "If the ruse isn't enough to avoid an attack, I'm still a difficult target to hit. While if the trick works, once near the door I can pass the cloak back to you with my magic hand".

"Or we could take back into consideration the manipulation of the valves... " the tall adventuress suggests "We could activate them one at a time and see if there is one that causes the basin to gradually empty (and if not, we reset the valve). If we could empty the basin, the guardians inside would probably retreat along with the water they live in".

"As much as I like the idea of mucking with the pool's water level, all the pipes we can see, or see controls for, are above the pool, not below it."  He indicates the visible pipes with his left hand.  "We might be able to cut off the supply of water dripping into the pool, but since the inflow is so small, the natural output is probably just as slow.  Waiting for the pool to empty will take longer than I think we want to spend.  I could be wrong, of course."

"Then we'll try with the cloak" Khessa agrees. She puts on one of the previously recovered cloaks and tries to pass to reach the locked door... always keeping an eye on the basin and expecting an attack at any moment.

"Stay ready to strike, in case something comes out of the basin" the blonde arcane warrior recommends, before before using a short formula accompanied by a furtive esoteric gesture and starting off.

[[ OOC: If Khessa gets attacked, the attacker must subtract 1d4 from its attack roll ]]

Tristan:

Nodding, Tristan puts on a cloak too but has his hand on his sword just in case.  He prepares to back Khessa up if she is attacked.

Naero 

Pausing his sneaking whilst the others formulate a plan to move past the pool and its inhabitants, Naero catches his own method of passing by the pool. He closes his eyes and begins humming. Dust from the crypt floor swirls around him as his size and shape begins to change. Moments later the dust subsides and in his place is a small brown cat. As Khessa and Tristan cross the room past the pool Cat-ero slinks between their legs as he makes an attempt to cross unimpeded.