The rogue also climbs up to investigate the spellbook - but the strange symbols make no sense to him. Seeing Gareth run towards the hall with his weapon readied, Lanarial grabs his bow and nocks an arrow, then finds a corner to hide behind.

Stealth: 17

Perception: 9

Vi frowns and follows Gareth quickly, fire igniting across her blade.

The hallway is empty. How strange. The only thing you see is the path leading to that particular room.

"Check out that room to the east - I'll watch our backs to make sure nothing comes from behind us. If that room is clear, then come back and we'll investigate the area to the north..." he says in a low tone.

This area is lightly obscured by mist from the waterfall. The larger eastern part of the room contains two rapidly spinning devices that look like turnstiles fitted with stacks of long, sharp blades spaced 1 foot apart. The northern turnstile spins counterclockwise, while the southern one spins clockwise. Set into the south wall of the smaller western part of the room is a brass lever in the down position. 

Gareth-Wyn points at the small gap of space beneath the dangerous spinning blades. 

"Leopard style: I choose you."

Vi narrows her eyes at the space. "All right, let's see what I can do," she mutters. "Talav, stay here." The half-elf removes her sword and sheath from her back to minimize her flat profile and hands them to Tex. "Keep it safe."

Vi goes flat to the ground and starts to army crawl under the braids towards the lever, Talav watching her while he circles over the rest of the group's heads.

You think you can reach the lever from where you are, that's the easy part, but you're not sure how far the blades extend towards the wall - so you're not sure if your hand will get sliced off if you reach up.

"Use your dagger to push the lever up, keep your hands and arms below the spinning blades..." Lanarial calls out. He then turns his attention back to where they came from, watching for anything coming from behind them...

Vi narrows her eyes. "I've got something a little more replaceable." She reaches into her bag, withdrawing a shovel and poking it up towards the lever to see if she can flip it that way without risking her hand.

TINKTINKTINKTINKTINK goes the blade against the shovel handle as you slowly, carefully, raise it up along the edge of the cavern wall. Almost. So close. Steady..! You're almost there! Y-

Suddenly, the blades start slowing down to a stop. Wh-?

You hear soft humming coming from the other side, is that..someone humming a tune? When the blades stop, a gnome with a remote control eating cheese puffs from a bag of "Cheese Dibbles" - his face completely covered in powdered cheese, casually strolls from one end of the cavern safely to the other once the blades stop.

Not even noticing you, acknowledging you on the floor, or caring, he gets to the other end of the cavern, hits the button again as he walks down the hall, and the blades start slowly turning again. You have mere seconds to dash across to the other side before they become deadly once more.

Looking like she wants to curse the gnome out beyond belief, Vi rolls to her feet and shoots across the room at top speed. "COME ON!"

As the gnome walks pas her, Iri excitedly asks, "Excuse me little one, could you pause these blades while we go across? We are here to get rid of a monster!"

The gnome walks by, eating the cheese dibbles like a tree chipper so loudly he can't hear you. He rounds the corner and doesn't return.

Gareth-Wyn, seeing a chance, leaps to the other side.

With the blades slowed, Iri throws a skin of water over the mechanism of the blades and casts shape water to freeze it as she runs across. "Whee! Stupid gnomes can't stop me."

The drow runs at top speed since he is the farthest from the devices, hoping to get through before it becomes like the advanced combat training and torture devices from his home...

Tex runs forward then slides on his stomach over the ice Iri made

You all make it across! For a moment, it felt like some horrible French test you didn't study enough for back in school, but in the end you all made it as you took advantage of an opportunity, the anxiety and urge to vomit passing quickly as you emerge on the other side. You knew one day you'd look back on this situation and laugh, just like all the other silly things you were once worried about that, in the end, didn't really matter in the first place. 

You find yourself at the bridge by the waterfall. It's noisy here, but the mist feels refreshing. From here, you can see the tunnel leading to the next area.

Vi closes her eyes for a moment to enjoy the mist before glancing at Tex. "Mind if I have my blade and my bird back?" she asks with a slight smile.