Noting how afraid the manticores seemed of the loud noise, Raine removes her mace from her back and takes up a position near the bars. She sends her best intimidating glare towards the creatures now cowering in the back of the room.
"You guys keep searching. I'll watch our friends over here."
If the manticores try coming close to the gate again, she'll hit it with the mace in an imitation of what Risha did.
Afamrail watches as the bars clang into place when Risha pulls the string. Clever for a hill giant to rig that up. Their leader must be very capable he thinks.
He goes into the small room and looks closely at the levers and counts how many there are.
"It does not benefit them to have bars close off one means of egress if there is not a way to raise them again. These levers may hold the key."
He calls back to Raine while he checks out the levers for any signs of numbering or marking on them.
"Does the manticore cage block off the entire side of the room or is there a way past them? And anything on the other side."
He does not want to randomly pull a lever hoping to open one set of bars only to let the manticores loose.
Tana watches the bars slide down, the cold clank of them reverberating through his bones.
"The manticores should not be an issue, but getting out of here could be," he says, assuming a position as close to the manticores as he can, getting into a position between them and the rest of the group.
"No, it takes up the entire wall," Raine calls back to Afamrail. "Tana, perhaps you could try lifting or breaking the bars leading back the way we came? If we have no other options, I might be able to tunnel through the floor to get us out, but I'd rather save that as a last resort."
Tana grunts, assuming a position near the bars that lead to the staircase. “If any of you could help, I’d appreciate it.”
He then tried to jam open the bars, first by jerking them in the direction they came from, and if that fails, attempting to pull apart a hole wide enough to squeeze through.
Afamrail looks at the levers and back into the room the manticores are in.
"I can try pulling one of these levers and see what it does. One of them likely opens the gate that just came down. The other may just lower it again. However, there is a very good degree of likelihood that one of them raises and lowers the manticore cage."
He notices the small passage past the manticore cage.
"If you can keep them cowering in the back corner we may be able to slip past and continue exploring for now. Then when we want to head back up the stairs we can risk our chances with the levers."
He eyes the manticores in the cage. For them to cower like that it seems likely that they have been tormented by the hill giants, probably for sport. He would prefer they not have to kill them if they can help it. But he knows that blood will be shed at some point today.
Afamrail steps back to the levers and nods at the others to get ready for what may come next. Once they are in position to deal with the manticores if the bars lift, he will pull the first lever.
The gates are to close to each other to get your morningstar through, but it scared the manticores enough to retreat back to the back of the room.
Noting how afraid the manticores seemed of the loud noise, Raine removes her mace from her back and takes up a position near the bars. She sends her best intimidating glare towards the creatures now cowering in the back of the room.
"You guys keep searching. I'll watch our friends over here."
If the manticores try coming close to the gate again, she'll hit it with the mace in an imitation of what Risha did.
Iris - Tiefling Cleric | Cassandra - Elf Warlock | Solace - Tiefling Monk | Tempest - Hexblood Monk | Lex - Fire Genasi Barbarian
Lilyn - Triton Ranger | Candor - Changeling Bard | Echo - Changeling Warlock/Bard | Rowan - Fairy Wizard
Keeping one eye on the manticores in the corner, Afamrail opens the hidden door and takes a look inside.
Risha nods to Raine and walks back to the coffer and carefully pulls the string.
Past the door is a small room, with to levers. As Risha pulls on the string, the path to the hallway with the stairs is blocked of by large iron bars.
She lets go quickly hoping the bars will go away.
(The bars don't go away)
(Is there any way out of the room now or are we trapped?)
Iris - Tiefling Cleric | Cassandra - Elf Warlock | Solace - Tiefling Monk | Tempest - Hexblood Monk | Lex - Fire Genasi Barbarian
Lilyn - Triton Ranger | Candor - Changeling Bard | Echo - Changeling Warlock/Bard | Rowan - Fairy Wizard
Afamrail watches as the bars clang into place when Risha pulls the string. Clever for a hill giant to rig that up. Their leader must be very capable he thinks.
He goes into the small room and looks closely at the levers and counts how many there are.
"It does not benefit them to have bars close off one means of egress if there is not a way to raise them again. These levers may hold the key."
He calls back to Raine while he checks out the levers for any signs of numbering or marking on them.
"Does the manticore cage block off the entire side of the room or is there a way past them? And anything on the other side."
He does not want to randomly pull a lever hoping to open one set of bars only to let the manticores loose.
Tana watches the bars slide down, the cold clank of them reverberating through his bones.
"The manticores should not be an issue, but getting out of here could be," he says, assuming a position as close to the manticores as he can, getting into a position between them and the rest of the group.
"No, it takes up the entire wall," Raine calls back to Afamrail. "Tana, perhaps you could try lifting or breaking the bars leading back the way we came? If we have no other options, I might be able to tunnel through the floor to get us out, but I'd rather save that as a last resort."
Iris - Tiefling Cleric | Cassandra - Elf Warlock | Solace - Tiefling Monk | Tempest - Hexblood Monk | Lex - Fire Genasi Barbarian
Lilyn - Triton Ranger | Candor - Changeling Bard | Echo - Changeling Warlock/Bard | Rowan - Fairy Wizard
Afamrail examines the levers closely.
(OOC How many are there? And is there any obvious difference between them - colour, size, location)
Tana grunts, assuming a position near the bars that lead to the staircase. “If any of you could help, I’d appreciate it.”
He then tried to jam open the bars, first by jerking them in the direction they came from, and if that fails, attempting to pull apart a hole wide enough to squeeze through.
Athletics: 10
Risha walks over and grabs the same bar Tana grabs and attempts to help.
Athletics: 23
(There is a small passage out of the manticore passage.)
(The bars are metal, there seem to be symmetrical.)
None of you can lift the bars.
Afamrail looks at the levers and back into the room the manticores are in.
"I can try pulling one of these levers and see what it does. One of them likely opens the gate that just came down. The other may just lower it again. However, there is a very good degree of likelihood that one of them raises and lowers the manticore cage."
He notices the small passage past the manticore cage.
"If you can keep them cowering in the back corner we may be able to slip past and continue exploring for now. Then when we want to head back up the stairs we can risk our chances with the levers."
He eyes the manticores in the cage. For them to cower like that it seems likely that they have been tormented by the hill giants, probably for sport. He would prefer they not have to kill them if they can help it. But he knows that blood will be shed at some point today.
"What do you say?" he asks the others.
"If we intend to keep exploring past the manticores, we may as well pull the levers. I suspect you are right about their purpose."
(To clarify, do we have to go through the manticore cage to reach the passage or can we go around it?)
Iris - Tiefling Cleric | Cassandra - Elf Warlock | Solace - Tiefling Monk | Tempest - Hexblood Monk | Lex - Fire Genasi Barbarian
Lilyn - Triton Ranger | Candor - Changeling Bard | Echo - Changeling Warlock/Bard | Rowan - Fairy Wizard
(It is less of a cage and more a room with bars blocking movement, you will have to go through.)
Afamrail steps back to the levers and nods at the others to get ready for what may come next. Once they are in position to deal with the manticores if the bars lift, he will pull the first lever.
The lever pulls up the bars to the stairs.