Lost Lab of Kwalish

<Ooc: Yeah, we have two possible things happening. I'm fine with either- the most probable outcome in the eyes of the torturer and other intelligent inhabitants of the dungeon, is that you will end up as prisoners eventually, and subjects of their experiments.  I'll say this, since we don't have player concensus: these rolls all hold if we move into combat, but let's have the dialogue play out first. (This is a problem introduced by the removal of "roll initiative")>

The owl-man, sword in hand, pantomimes sneaking about surreptitiously and taking some unseen object, pocketing it and absconding.

He is accusing you of being a thief.

You hear the sound of wings flapping from the hallway to the north.

Huarache tries his best to look hurt and indicate that this is not true.

The owl headed man seems I twnt on comprehending the charade before deciding whether to attack.   

Meanwhile, a huge white owl with the head of an aging man swoops in from the north hall.  He lands on a perception near the tables with the prisoners,  keys attached to a band around his ankle jingle as he lands.  He looks at the tabaxi and the paladin and then to the owl headed man, "Andras, what are you doing? Who are these people?"  The man owl asks the owl man.

The owl man (Andras) protests, insisting the intruders be interrogated with enhanced techniques.  

"Always with the 'enhanced interrogation' with you.  You're so transparent when you're obviously trying to justify your disgusting urges. Mind the experiment and leave them ro me!  You, cat man: what brings you to our temple? Looking for something in particular or just poking around?"

"Some friends of ours got lost in the temple, and we're searching for them."

Andras produces from a table beside the three prisoners a large needle, which arouses some I Teresa from those lying strapped to the tables.  "Oh no." Says the woman, "What do you think you're doing with that?" Asks the wererat, now returning to fully human form.  But it is the rat turned woman - an identical copy of the woman on the opposite side of the wererat, for whom the needle is intended.  Though imposing, he merely draws so.e blood from a vein in her arm, though she naturally shudders in anticipated agony and wines at the pinch of the initial penetration.

The man owl ignores this and continued conversing with the newly arrived guests.  "Friends? And have you found them yet?" A cruel grin waxes across his wrinkles face.  "I suspect I could help you find them.  I am after all the warden here.  You know we find so many surprises in our daily work down here, we simply have to hold on to some of them.  My name is Stolos" he says with the odd bow of wings held above arched back, followed by a greeting of a slowly extended left wing scraped beneath by the corresponding foot.  "And with whom do I have the pleasure of engaging in this discourse?"

Leann would have attacked by this point... She is not going to stand by while this person tortures anyone else.

... Leann bursts into action, attacking the owlnheaded man as he finishes drawing blood from the woman that was a rat.  As she approaches, she feels the strange otherworldly presence around the perched man-headed owl.

(By proximity to Stolos, the man headed owl perched beside the prisoners, Leann must make a DC15 saving throw or take 5 psychic damage. (Whispering aura)

Stolos cackles: "We got a live one here!" and casts crown of madness on Leann (DC15 Wis save or Charmed)

Ooc: I'm going to allow some time for responses from Huarache and Sam.  I think this one has to assume Leann attacks first otherwise there actually isn't combat, so I'm skipping the 2d6 roll this round.  Will Sam and Huarache/ Echo attack (optional] or act in some other way (also possible at this time).

Huarache is going to make another attempt to call for peace, so to speak, by using Prestidigitation to make a harmless bang, which sounds louder in an enclosed space. "How about we all just stop for a moment?" he declares forcefully. "Tell us just what on Toril is going on here."

"What's a Toril?" Stolos replies, with an inquisitive intonation.  These thieves were caught looting the temple, now we are taksed with using g the opportunity of their captivity to universities some of the mysteries of the lycanthrope and communicating our findings to Master Thesellar.  Did I heat you say you were looking for some friends? Seems a bit suspect.  Can you describe them? As warden it's quite possible I know their whereabouts if they are within the labs."

It's hard to tell if this exchange is more threatening or generous, but he seems to genuinely think he knows everything that's going on in this place.

Huarache roll a persuasion check.  DC12 and discourse remains civil, otherwise Leann's attacks and the retaliatory efforts of the owl man and man owl unfold.

Sam, please feel free to post an action or dialogue anywhere along this path.

20, I suppose. What race was the artificer we talked to? The only thing I can think of for their appearance is that they would be [artificer's race].

EDIT: Well, never mind. I'm not going to continue this conversation anyway; Huarache has nothing to offer to it, now that I think of it.

Ooc; so will Huarache make an attack? At this point we confirm Leann has attacked Andras and he and Stolos will respond in kind. Stolos even swings at Huarache.

If Huarache does attack, we will keep it sequentially with Leann's, that is before the owl man and man owl respond.

Sam will hold his action to cast hunters mark on the owl man if Lenna attacks him 

Sorry, I forgot about attacking. Huarache has got what they came for, so he's going to call for everyone to get ready, then he will use Logan to manipulate time again. (I assume activation is an action, though I've honestly forgotten.)

Ooc: A guide spends 1 or more charges using its action. Commanding a guide to spend a charge requires no action.

At Huarache's behest, the silver skeleton hidden under its disguise begins to glow visibly.  The chamber remains mostly the same, but the figures before you reverse their actions, moving at incomprehensible speed.  The owl flies backward from the room, the woman returns to the form of a rat.  The man owl removes rhe restrains from the other woman and rhe man on the table.  The events unfolding after that increase in speed until it becomes a blur, slowing again as you now see the warden and rhe torturer strapped to the table, a bright glow of the console between the racks, a flash if light and when you can see again,, on the tables lay a man and an owl,  the man not so old as the head that once sat on the shoulders of an owl, but clearly the same man, not so young, but years younger than he was moments ago.  

When he realizes what he is, the man weeps.  "Thank you.  Thank you" he whispers between sobs. "I owe you my life. Please, let me help you.  It is the least I could do.  Who are these friends you are searching for?"

He is still strapped to the table, as us a giant snowy owl to the adjacent one.  The man now has the keys that were attached to the owl before.

"Don't listen to this creep." The wererat now free and unscathed, standing in human form, offers " I fan get you to the Temple.  That's what you really want ain't it?"

Ooc: Sam, you in this room or still on the other side if the wall.  If they see a lizardman these NPCs will assume it's a guard and that it will act in a hostel manner.  But they re all pretty grateful, so up to you

Pm you 

Huarache and Leann would notice following the ri.e reversal that Sam is no longer in the adjacent room nor the rooms immediately around them.

The control panel is covered with dials, switches, and buttons—including a speckled gold button recognizable as one of the missing components of the Infernal Machine.

<Ooc: Sam is still in game, he's just not in the same place as you two at the moment.

You can go back southwest the way you came in through the secret door in the iron maiden or head north up a corridor that has 2 halls opening to the west; the hallway come to a 'T' after 50ft.>  

<You can free the human and the owl or not.  You can ask them things.  There are also the two prisoners (the woman and the wererat) they actually all know quite a bit about this place and have good reason to help you, but if the PCs don't trust them, maybe they won't ask them anything and tell them to just leave. >

<As a reminder, Moghadam sent you to find his gemsmith and her apprentices, while Kwaliah has tasked you with finding missing parts of rhe Infernal machine.>

Huarache grabs the yellow button as he asks the young man and wererat, "Wait, why do you not trust each other?"

Leann starts to free the captives.

"You mean the guy whose head was on the owl with the keys? He's the one who locked us up.   Guess he'd lock you up the same abs do whatever he was doing to us to you, too." The wererat (now fully human in appearance) replies to Huarache.  Extending his open hand in greeting, he continues "Name's Mack. This here is Big Gadai." He leans in to whisper  "Did Moghadam send you?  He sent us to get his jewels.  Didn't go so well. Makes sense he'd send another crew."

As Leann begins to unstrap the prisoner, Big Gadai grabs his neck and squeezes hard as evidenced by his reaction.  "Where did they take my brother?!" She shouts at him, releasing just enough to let him croak a reply.

"Guards!" He manages to say, pointing toward the unexplored hallway.

"He means those lizardmen" Mack clarifies.  They took Little Gadai a couple days ago. We haven't seen him since." 

"Help us find him, and when we get out of here, we can take the jewels to Moghadam together.  If you git contracts like we did, he'll have to honor them both.  And if he doesn't, I know where they keep the good silver." To Huarache he adds, "whatd'ya say? Us were gotta stick together." (He evidently thinks huarache is also a natural lycanthrope, seeing as Tabaxi are not common here, it's a fair assumption)