FireCat5's Dragon of Icespire Peak

Thenmer stops trying to bend reality to his will for a moment.

"Over to the junction and then South I think, if the instructions were correct"

He looks to the others to see if they agree 

(OK will wait for someone else to jump in here rather than take this any further on my own)

Barthrum goes where Thenmer points and leads on with the left-hand rule until they come across anyone else.

Thenmer looks at Barthrum

"Go South they said. We should go South"

Barthrum says, "Right" and he starts heading in some other way for a few steps, then stops.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea which way is south. Would you please point me the correct way?"

Thenmer looks at him

"I calculate that if we are going East then we must turn right to go South"

Barthrum goes the way Thenmer points. (I apologize for offloading the brain activity here :D )

As you turn right, you find yourself in a room shaped like a large "T" and you're standing in the intersection between its 'leg' and 'hands'. To your left and right, the room extends 10' to each side. The width of these extensions is roughly 10' as well. From where you're standing, the room's length is 20' and the part beyond the "extensions" to the left and right is 10' long and 15' wide. At the end of the T's 'leg', across the room, you can see a tunnel just like the ones you were walking in until now. Bolted to the floor of this room is a rotating platform equipped with four heavy crossbows. Mounted above the crossbows at a height of 6 feet is a chair equipped with pedals. On the chair sits a female gnome that grins at you. She was waiting for you with one of the crossbows already aimed at the dwarf in the front.

Initiative:
Crossbow Platform Gnome: Unable to parse dice roll.
Thenmer: Unable to parse dice roll.
Dolgrim: Unable to parse dice roll.
Barthrum: Unable to parse dice roll.

Barthrum and Dolgrim are surprised and can't act during their turn.
The gnome pulls a few levers and the crossbow aimed at you shoots at Barthrum in the lead! Attack: Unable to parse dice roll. Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.. Barthrum deflects the bolt with his shield, but the gnome is not done just yet. She pulls another lever and the platform simultaneously, automatically, loads a bolt into the crossbow and turns about 90 degrees counter-clockwise so another crossbow can shoot him. Attack: Unable to parse dice roll. Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.. The bolt completely misses Barthrum and hits the wall.
Thenmer then shows up behind the others, surprised to find the party being attacked.

It is now Dolgrim's turn!

This is the map. Badly edited but you should get the idea. The red letters are your characters. The thing in the middle of the room is the crossbows. If we're playing with grids, remember: You can pass through the space of a friendly creature but you can't end your turn there. Also, it counts as difficult terrain.

From her place above the ground, you can't reach the gnome with melee weapons unless they have the [wprop]Reach[wprop] property (ranged attacks can hit though).

Lastly, I assigned it myself this time, but please decide on marching order. I forgot to ask about that.

(I seem to have a broken link on that image

As for marching order I think it was random - we were discussing which way to go and not expecting trouble so milling around any which way :)  )

Seeing the rapid firing crossbow hitting Barthrum, Dolgrim shouts Take cover and tries to grab Thenmer and pull him behind the corner ((1-a/b on the map)).

If they both get to safety, he shouts at the gnome. We come in peace and we do not intend to hurt you. We just came to warn you and maybe trade some stuff with your town.

(is the chair / mechanism made out of wood? Does it have a ladder to the top?) 

(The entire thing is a mix of wood and iron. The chair itself is made out of wood. There is something that resembles a small ladder which can be climbed on but to get to it you have to climb behind the crossbows and stand on the mechanism itself, which will take a DC 13 Athletics check.)

Thenmer is quite happy to be shoved into safety, he had a bad enough time with those strange slime monsters he does not want to repeat the experience with crossbows

"We come from Phandalin, the gnomes across the way sent us this direction to talk with you"

Dolgrim pulls Thenmer away and hides as well. (Dolgrim is now standing at a1 and Thenmer is on b1.) He tries to talk with the gnome but she doesn't respond.

It is now Barthrum's turn!

(I have some sort of permissions problem on the map by the way. I get a 403 forbidden error on it so I can't see it)

Barthrum is very surprised. "What... ! This will not do!" He looks behind him for a moment and casts shield of faith on himself. Then goes on to climb the mechanism and ladder to get to the gnome on top. Athletics check: Unable to parse dice roll.

Barthrum climbs on top of the mechanism, but the gnome pulls a lever and everything begins to spin.

(Rolling for you to save time...) 

Barthrum's Acrobatics: Unable to parse dice roll.

Barthrum manages to hold on and not fall off the mechanism. The gnome looks around, disappointed that no one is in line of fire. "All right!" She calls. "You can come out! I just wanted to use the opportunity to test my new invention. It seems it's too limited though. Needs more work. Don't worry, I won't shoot you, you can move on." She takes tools out of her belt and begins to work on the mechanism, adjusting some levers and fixing some bolts in place. It seems like she never really finished her work and really did stop to test it when she saw you.

(if he can go... ) Barthrum picks her up with one hand (he hasn't drawn a weapon yet) and shakes her over the side of the platform, trying to shake the tools and possible weapons out of her. "THAT IS NOT A GOOD WAY TO WELCOME PEOPLE!"

He takes a few deep breaths trying to calm down and says towards his companions, "What should I do with her?"

(We're out of initiative order now as combat is over unless you choose to attack the gnome. Feel free to post, move and act freely.)

Barthrum, roll Athletics to grapple. Your DC is Unable to parse dice roll.. If you succeed, roll Intimidation. 

Barthrum athletics: Unable to parse dice roll.

And intimidation Unable to parse dice roll.