"Hang the PLAQUE! SSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Quote from ThorukDuckSlayer >>

Quote from JustDungeoning >>

I try to take the plaque with the poem.

 

The plaque with the poem is held in with two small nails. You manage to get your fingernails under the edge and pull it from the wall, liberating some dust into the water around it. Turning it over, you find 3 words scraped roughly into the back;

"Hang The Key"

Quote from ParticleHex >>

As soon as we agree there is no hope, I pull the pin on the grenade.

But first.

Does any part of the uncovered wall look strange?

2

 

two options, I'll give you both:

The uncovered wall (which is within the doorframe) looks normal. Even the hook is normal, you can touch it, but when you do so, the hairs on the back of your arms (or scales, or feathers, or whatever comparable physiological feature you have on your arms) stand on end.

The uncovered wall (where paintings have been removed) also appears normal, with the same style hook as in the doorframe.

Quote from plopped123 >>

Jerry will try to boil the water away into steam.

 

How does Jerry want to do this? bearing in mind that the party is currently in the water?

at risk to all in the room, I can answer Stella's earlier question that yes, the bag of holding is still full of oil.

Quote from DianaWSally >>

"And while you burn the water, I'll drink the water."

*gulpgulpgulpgulpgulp*

 

Your efforts give you a stomach ache in exchange for no appreciable reduction in the water depth.

 

5.5ft deep now, 1.5ft of air left.

 (:sadface:)

I look for a painting with a key on it and hang it where the plaque was. "Stupid riddle"

Quote from ParticleHex >>

I look for a painting with a key on it and hang it where the plaque was. "Stupid riddle"

You find a picture of a key, take it over to the wall and attempt to hang it on the hook, but every time it doesn't catch, just like the last painting that someone tried to hang there - it's as if there's no hook.

The plaque floats past:

"The Key.
The Key is She who Visits a Key by sound but not by letter
thy escape is not by land nor beast but by a route that's wetter
trust thee wood of mans design but do not trust the weather
The key is not The Key ye seek to make thyself unfettered."

6 feet high, 1 foot of airspace left!

Is there a picture of woods?

Quote from Fitz_Coulson >>

Is there a picture of woods?

There are pictures of woods, trees, copses, forests, felled trees, log piles, and what looks suspiciously like an old, sepia-coloured photo of an old giant redwood logging team stood on a colossal trunk, among other images of woods.

I randomly start yanking paintings off the wall.

Quote from ParticleHex >>

I randomly start yanking paintings off the wall.

The water starts, steadily, to fill with assorted paintings of things - some of the finer frames splinter or snap as you pull them off the wall.

The water rises to leave just 6" of breathing space.

Oh great... What is the weather in the redwood logging team picture?

Quote from JustDungeoning >>

Oh great... What is the weather in the redwood logging team picture?

 It's hard to tell, but it doesn't look like it's raining.

"That one! Hang that one!"

So... it's raining. I'm out of ideas.

Quote from Fitz_Coulson >>

"That one! Hang that one!"

You grab the redwood image and attempt to hang it on the hook on the doorway, but it doesn't catch on the hook.

(I like the way you think, this is giving me ideas for a different puzzle!)

Uh... I try to pull the hook out of the door.

Quote from JustDungeoning >>

Uh... I try to pull the hook out of the door.

Every time you try, it's as if the hook isn't there - you can touch it, but it seems like it simply stops being there if anything pulls on it.

Hold your breath everyone, the water's hit the ceiling!

I hold my breath.

Still don't know the answer. Can I have a hint? If I need to roll for one, 6.

Quote from JustDungeoning >>

I hold my breath.

Still don't know the answer. Can I have a hint? If I need to roll for one, 8.

You're pretty much certain that you need to hang a picture on the hook, and based on how many pictures there are, you're pretty sure it can't be expected to be a single specific picture - it's probably one of a theme will do (EG, (and I stress that this isn't the answer), if the riddle pointed to "Fruit", then you feel that any painting with fruit in it would do it).

I try the boat on the still water. If that doesn't work, did we try the piano yet? I try that if not.

Quote from JustDungeoning >>

I try the boat on the still water. If that doesn't work, did we try the piano yet? I try that if not.

You start searching around for the painting of the boat, with your lungs keeping you well informed of just how long you've been underwater. You find the picture and swim back towards the doorway. As you reach out with the painting, you feel it being pulled almost magnetically towards the doorway - and it's pulled from your hands and slams onto the wall.

In a very disorienting motion, you feel the water being sucked towards the painting, like water down a drain, and you along with it.

Were this a campaign, you'd end up where the boat is, but this being hell, you are all dumped back in the waiting room!

I'll post some more doors later - for now, the table has several towels available for you!

(out of curiosity, did you solve the riddle or were you just blindly picking paintings?)

So was that the correct answer? I dry myself off.