How would you get out of this?

[Yogibear41]

Party is stuck in a perfectly circular room where the ceiling is slowly lowering toward the ground to crush us, it has already covered up the doors that happened to be at the very top of the ceiling( the room is basically a pit in the ground when compared to the room before it)

there happens to be a small rectangular depression in the center of the room big enough for 1 person to get in or 2 people if the smallest 2 party members get in it and lay the right way.

The stone ceiling that is lowering down to the ground is magical, but the walls are not.

Attacking the walls to try to break through them has also not worked, and shatter appears to be uneffective due to the weight of the stone walls and low caster levels.


Current party make up is:

Human Barbarian 4
Human Cleric 4
Human Druid 1/Monk 1 with shapeshift variant
Halfling Monk 4
Human Bard 4

Pretty much any spell that the druid, cleric, or bard can cast is available at the moment IE spontaneous casting with entire spell list out of any available book. ( in the long run the DM wants us to make spells known lists similar to sorcerers but not as limited)

the druid and the monk can fit in the supposed safe spot together if the druid shapechanges to his wolf form and lies just the right way.

The ceiling is also lowering rather slowly, at the initial beginning of the drop it dropped a few feet very quickly to close off the door exits, but now appears to be moving at about 3 inches per minute( I think thats what the DM said) we have about 30-40 minutes before it crushes us at this rate.

I'm the druid and the player with the most experience, however with only 1st level casting im not sure what I can do to get out of this situation, currently I am standing in the impression while I watch the rest of the party panic and try to find a way to get out. The cleric is praying for her god to save us via dm fiat, the monk is drinking tea or something and prepared to kiss his butt goodbye, the barbarian is like I smash things not smart yall think of something to do. And the bard had to leave early last game so hes on auto pilot lol.

The one plan I do have is to just potentially save myself which is to stay in the safe spot depression on a full defense(puts my AC at 26 I believe think the person with the highest to hit is only +8 on the barbarian without raging), until the group gets desperate and tries to jump in the whole/push me out at which point I will pop out and cast sand blast right before the ceiling crushes us so I can stun them all for a round and save myself lol.

[Jack_Simth]

Anyone got Search? This looks like a job for taking 20. Most of the spells that would be good are 3rd level spells, requiring a 5th level caster, or are not on the lists needed. Find Traps would help with the Cleric. Generally, though, something like this is expected to have a hidden switch somewhere.

[The Mentalist]

Have you tried all Aiding the Barbarian as he tries to hold the ceiling up, perhaps if you throw an Enlarge Person on him as well.

[Yogibear41]

No one can cast enlarge person, I actually mentioned that it would sure have been nice if we had someone who could cast reduce person as that way we could all fit in the safe spot.

We had the bard who wasn't present cast detect secret doors and he found nothing.

I also believe we did some searches but I can't remeber for sure.

[Schylerwalker]

Something tells me if you told us a little bit more about the dungeon you're in we'd have a better clue of how to get out of there. Something tells me it's not just a single spell or random class feature that's going to get you out of there. Seems more like a puzzle than a trap, if that makes any sense.

Maybe it's a test of loyalty, for example. You all stand around the depression and agree to die together if at all, and the room releases you for your bravery. Or crushes you for stupidity. Again, I'd like to know why you're in this room to begin with.

[Invader]

What spells do everyone have prepared? That's most likely the only way you'll be getting out alive.

[Jack_Simth]

What spells do everyone have prepared? That's most likely the only way you'll be getting out alive.

That's answered as part of the OP:


Pretty much any spell that the druid, cleric, or bard can cast is available at the moment IE spontaneous casting with entire spell list out of any available book. ( in the long run the DM wants us to make spells known lists similar to sorcerers but not as limited)

[Invader]

That's answered as part of the OP:

Yeah but you can't just cast any spell you choose at any time you want unless there's some rule I don't know about. You still pray for the spells you want to cast that day.

[Sylthia]

Did your bard try inspiring competence for the strength checks to bring down the walls?

Did you try jamming a ten-foot pole or a javelin into the area where the ceiling meets the wall to wedge it to stop it from dropping?

What are the walls made out of? Have your bard use prestidigitation to remove the mortar between the stones and simply push the stone out and escape that way.

[Yogibear41]

Yeah but you can't just cast any spell you choose at any time you want unless there's some rule I don't know about. You still pray for the spells you want to cast that day.

House rule, basically open a book point to a spell and say I cast this.

[Yogibear41]

Something tells me if you told us a little bit more about the dungeon you're in we'd have a better clue of how to get out of there. Something tells me it's not just a single spell or random class feature that's going to get you out of there. Seems more like a puzzle than a trap, if that makes any sense.

Maybe it's a test of loyalty, for example. You all stand around the depression and agree to die together if at all, and the room releases you for your bravery. Or crushes you for stupidity. Again, I'd like to know why you're in this room to begin with.

Its some sort of temple to dragons, we happen to be in this room because while naturally exploring the dungeon we were lead into it. The halfing even climbed down into the room to check it out before the rest of us did and nothing happened but as soon as we were all in the room the ceiling began to drop. DM even let me roll a series of skill checks to see if I could get out in time, I jumped up toward the exit (as a wolf)as it was just about to close rolled just under a 40, Shaped changed back to human mid flight rolled a 20 something concentration, then for my final check I needed to roll a tumble and I only got a 13 so the DM said I failed to execute it perfectly so I missed the hole as it was closing.

[Jeff the Green]

What's the floor made of?

[Yogibear41]

Stone everything is made from stone

[Invader]

Anything else special about the room? Markings, items, etc? I feel like with 2nd level casting you're gonna kinda be boned unless theres something hidden in the room or a magic activation word or something.

[rot42]

Blockade is a Druid 1 spell from Complete Scoundrel to conjure a large but temporary block of wood. This might jam the mechanism; or it might hilariously fill the chamber with flying splinters.

Check your character sheet for an adamantine spade to enlarge the depression? Or something to wedge between the stone and the wall.

Make sure you specify that you are looking up during your thorough search checks - old school DMs love to hide things on the ceiling.

[Gildedragon]

Shatter the floor between bard and cleric, then use the druid to Magic Fang monk and use the barbarian to speed up the process.

Dark Way might protect you as it will withstand 800lbs 1200lb if the bard casts Harmonic Chorus beforehand

[Yogibear41]

Druid only has 1st level spells, and we have tried widening the hole with shatter and the DM ruled that because of the density of the stone only a very small amount of it was destroyed due to the spell ( think a few square inches)


Blockade could potentially work.

[Invader]

Shatter the floor between bard and cleric, then use the druid to soften earth and stone to carve out a big enough hole. Magic Fang monk and use the barbarian to speed up the process.

The druid isn't high enough level to cast soften earth and stone and it doesn't work on dressed stone anyway so that's out.

[Slipperychicken]

What are the room's contents and structure? I bet there's a puzzle you're supposed to solve. Has anyone attempted Disable Device?

[Gildedragon]

The druid isn't high enough level to cast soften earth and stone and it doesn't work on dressed stone anyway so that's out.

Yeah I just noticed the level issue
The way to get around the dressed stone was to break the dressed stone layer and get at the rock beneath (assuming this is a cavern-type dungeon, which it might not be, but one can hope.

[Yogibear41]

Its a perfect cyclinder with perfectly smooth walls and a ceiling it was originally about 15 feet tall, with the openings in and out of out of the room being even with the ceiling and coming down about 2 to 2 1/2 half. The initial drop of the ceiling quickly closed them off.

[NamelessNPC]

Check if the ceiling is an illusion.

[Invader]

Try the resounding Voice spell and asking politely to stop the ceiling from crushing you.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The Cleric has the Strength domain, he uses Enlarge Person, Bull's Strength, and Magic Weapon on the Barbarian. The Bard uses Inspire Courage, and the Barbarian rages and Power Attacks the ceiling until it's destroyed. Magic Weapon allows him to damage the magical ceiling if it would be otherwise immune to nonmagical weapons.

[Invader]

We should ask approx how much time you actually have left before you get crushed as well.

[Artillery]

Anyone have ranks in Craft? Spontaneously generate enough Quarter Staffs to hold up the ceiling. Craft DC 0 for a Quarterstaff of any size. A craft check takes as much time as the craft DC divided by the result to craft it. So it takes zero time to craft it. Also anyone who needed a 2-handed weapon now has one.

Destroying the Wall seems like a reasonable thing for the barbarian anyways. Barbarian with Power Attack and a two handed weapon should be able to overcome the hardness of the wall, assuming its stone. A 5x5x5 block of stone has 900HP and hardness 8. Any character with Power Attack will be useful.

A Lvl 4 Barbarian will have atleast 18 str full Power Attack using a Greatsword. So dmg would be 14+2d6 dmg,21 avg. So 13 avg dmg to the HP of the stone per attack after 8 hardness. One attack a round. It should take about 70 rounds to go through one 5x5x5 block. In 30-40 minutes you can get through 4-5 blocks. That is enough space for 5 people and an animal companion. Any character who can do more than 8 dmg per attack on average can assist the barbarian, so possibly Flurry of Blows with Quarterstaff could be helpful.

The AC to hit a stationary object is 3.

The Bard could try Detect Secret Doors. Cleric could try using Augury to see if a specific option is a good idea.

Unfortunately you can't do the easy mode thing and give the Barbarian Mountain Hammer using Heroics because its a Wizard/Sorcerer spell. Barbarian would go through the stone like butter then 14+4d6 dmg ignoring hardness every other round, 14+2d6 with hardness the other round. Would increase effective dmg per round by nearly double.

In this situation hitting a stone wall or floor till it crumbles seems like a good idea.

[Yogibear41]

We should ask approx how much time you actually have left before you get crushed as well.

30-40 minutes as I said in my OP assuming the ceiling continues to fall at the same speed

[limejuicepowder]

Yeah I think the barb smashing the <something> sounds like the best bet. Unless the DM has a hidden secret mechanism he wants you to use and fiats the barb to fail....though it sounds like you've checked the place pretty thoroughly.

Also, fitting in to that depression is a very short term plan. Stuck in a stone coffin until you run out of air doesn't sound like a great way to go...IRL I'd opt to get crushed, I think.

What about laying a pointy weapon, like a sword, along the wall, creating a door-stop effect as the wall lowers?

[Metahuman1]

Get the cleric to drop Bulls Strength, Magic Weapon and Enlarge person on the barbarian. Have the Druid/Monk shape shift. Have the druid Magic Fang himself and the Monk. Have the Bard start Inspiring Courage.

Everyone start attacking the wall, one chunk at a time. Carve out enough 5ft squares to stick the entire party in.

[Invader]

30-40 minutes as I said in my OP assuming the ceiling continues to fall at the same speed

Ahh sorry, missed that.

There seems like there has to be a more logical or intuitive way out than just hulk smash!

[Drake2009]

Id say your dm is trying to kill you.

[Yogibear41]

Biting the wall sounds incredibly painful lol, I did try to go at it with a dagger and it wasn't working to well will get the barbarian to try it next game.

Might try to put a twist on the blockade spell, I have not block of wood for the material component, but I did pick up a cubic small stone case earlier in the dungeon I may see if the DM will let me change the block made into a stone one instead of a wooden one if I use it as the material component instead.

Well definently poke the ceiling with a staff or something to see if its actually real and not an illusion.

I just realized I forgot something the barbarian stuck her greatsword into the opening into the room at the last second before the stone came past it and it broke the greatsword in two... so it must be real. As well as we have a broken greatsword....

[Jeff the Green]

Might try to put a twist on the blockade spell, I have not block of wood for the material component, but I did pick up a cubic small stone case earlier in the dungeon I may see if the DM will let me change the block made into a stone one instead of a wooden one if I use it as the material component instead.

If you have a spell component pouch, you don't need to specifically carry the material components.

[Yogibear41]

Well being a bad player, and due to my back ground story I don't happen to have one lol....

[Jeff the Green]

Well being a bad player, and due to my back ground story I don't happen to have one lol....

Does the cleric or bard? (They should, since they can't cast without it.) You can borrow theirs.

[Yogibear41]

yes, but If the DM lets me use the box I found earlier I would rather do that lol. Not exactly a very social person with my charisma of 7 :smallsmile: although seeing as my life is on the line I could probably ask nicely just this once.

[limejuicepowder]

yes, but If the DM lets me use the box I found earlier I would rather do that lol. Not exactly a very social person with my charisma of 7 :smallsmile: although seeing as my life is on the line I could probably ask nicely just this once.

The other players would "role play" (I use the term loosely in this case) not giving you a potentially life-saving - their own lives I might add - material component cause your charisma is a bit lower than the average person? Really?

[Jeff the Green]

yes, but If the DM lets me use the box I found earlier I would rather do that lol. Not exactly a very social person with my charisma of 7 :smallsmile: although seeing as my life is on the line I could probably ask nicely just this once.

Uh-huh. Also, just the wood box should do the trick if you put a bunch of them around. They're solid wood, and that basically won't break.

[Slipperychicken]

yes, but If the DM lets me use the box I found earlier I would rather do that lol. Not exactly a very social person with my charisma of 7 :smallsmile: although seeing as my life is on the line I could probably ask nicely just this once.

Compared to the average person, your social skills are only 2 lower. Barely noticeable considering the massive swing on the d20. People overreact to scores below 10, they really do. Imagine that roleplaying scenario:

"No, I'm not going to let you save me because you're a slightly less likable than the average person. I would literally rather be slowly and agonizingly crushed to death than be saved by someone with a -2 to social skills."


If this were Pathfinder, I'd suggest casting Acid Splash until you carved a way out. But with 40 minutes on his hands (400 rounds of full Power Attacking= buckets of damage), the Barbarian should be able to Power Attack through just about anything.

[Yogibear41]

No I'm not saying they wouldn't give it to me because I have a low charisma, I'm saying that my character isn't the kind of guy that normally goes around asking people for stuff, hes kind of a loner, and taking care of yourself is a huge part of his cultural background.


Not dying and being a survivor is even a bigger part of his background though so he would ask for help if he needs it.

But it would probably be more along the lines of "give me that so I can save your butt"

If push comes to shove he will gladly sacrifice the other party members to save himself, hes not bad, but hes definently not good either.

Although I doubt I would actually do that because the majority of these players are very new to the game and I don't want to sower it for them. So I do my roleplaying in strides lol. (I talk a big game I've only been playing for about a year lol)

From a roleplaying perspective though I have pointed out alot of things that they do that aren't "good" they are way more neutral then they think. but they want to be the good guys so they are :smallsmile:

[Slipperychicken]

Have you tried searching for secret doors and hidden controls?

[Bickerstaff]

Id say your dm is trying to kill you.

This is a good guess.

It looks to me like your DM is a bit bloodthirsty, especially since A) the ceiling quickly rushed down to close off the doors rather than fall at a consistent pace indicative of a trap, and B) someone went down, didn't trigger anything, and the trap only started once everyone was in.

And you Detected for Secret Doors, found nothing, and presumably Detected for Magic everywhere else and found nothing.

It really looks like your DM is out for blood, not just trying to challenge your party.

But that's just my opinion.

[Sylthia]

How long until your game meets again and you find out?

[Yogibear41]

Monday, and I don't think he is trying to kill us at all, like I said most of the group is new and I don't think he is going to kill any of them if he can help it.

I actually had a talk with him about one fight and he was saying stuff like "I was thinking to myself how am I going to keep them all alive?"

I get the feeling that something is going to happen at the last second that will get us out, I also get the feeling that he is just trying to get us all to use our heads and try to come up with a creative response to a problem with limited resources.


Or perhaps....

He is just trying to kill us rofl :smallsmile:

[Qc Storm]

Get the cleric to drop Bulls Strength, Magic Weapon and Enlarge person on the barbarian. Have the Druid/Monk shape shift. Have the druid Magic Fang himself and the Monk. Have the Bard start Inspiring Courage.

Everyone start attacking the wall, one chunk at a time. Carve out enough 5ft squares to stick the entire party in.

What if the trap doesn't reset?

AKA the ceiling remains there, blocking the entire party in a very uncomfortable 5ft square where they will starve to death. Or eat the monk.

[Gildedragon]

Druid summons nature's allies, cleric creates water, bard prestidigitates the experience into something less terrible.
Monk squirms, dealing unarmed damage to the hole, slowly widening it to somewhere that's less cramped.

Edit: also full 5' squares aren't needed. Squeezing rules. Bigger problem is air actually.

Edit edit: Less so if you carve holes in the walls as opposed to the floor, make them tight but tall.

[Artillery]

What if the trap doesn't reset?

AKA the ceiling remains there, blocking the entire party in a very uncomfortable 5ft square where they will starve to death. Or eat the monk.

I suggested the Barbarian start mining there way out from the wall, make sure you are inline with with the door you came in through. Then just mine back toward the enterance. The room is only 15ft deep. Doing a 1/3 slope its still only like 7-9 blocks of mining. You could have most finished by the time the crusher is down.

[Metahuman1]

What if the trap doesn't reset?

AKA the ceiling remains there, blocking the entire party in a very uncomfortable 5ft square where they will starve to death. Or eat the monk.

Make them Linked to one another. A line of 5ft squares that all share at least one border. After the Ceiling comes down the cleric and druid can create food and water as needed and everyone can keep wailing on the wall Till they finally make it through to the other side.

[Twilightwyrm]

Ahh sorry, missed that.

There seems like there has to be a more logical or intuitive way out than just hulk smash!

In a world where events are assumed to be solves by a mechanism or specific spell, hulk smash ironically becomes quite intuitive.

[Emperor Tippy]

Have the Druid spend all of his spell slots casting Wall of Salt, use Knowledge: Architecture and Engineering to place them in the correct places to support the ceiling. That should at least buy you time if it doesn't stop the ceiling out right.

What magic items do you have? Because there is always having most of the party jump into a Bag of Holding. You can usually cram a Halfling into the central bag of a Handy Haversack that is otherwise empty. You can also put your Handy Haversacks inside one another, that should cut down on the space your items are taking up in the hole.

The Bard can cast Alter Self to drop down to Small size and then join the Halfling in being stuffed into a Handy Haversack.

The Cleric doesn't really have any useful spells, Dark Way is the only possibility but a stone ceiling is going to weigh more than it can support and it won't last all that long.

Your choices are the find the way out, hope that Wall of Salt works, or have some useful magic items. A feather token: Tree would be great and you should at least have one of those.

[Darkcouch]

What event started the trap in motion? Did it wait until all the party members were on the ground? Could be a pressure plate and getting everyone off the floor using dark way might reset it. If that doesn't work, as said earlier, dark way can give you a few additional rounds for the barbarian to smash the wall.

Hopefully you have both pieces of the Greatsword so you can use make whole and don't forget to stack as much damage on the weapon as you can using sonic weapon, frost weapon, and anything else you can think of to give yourself more elemental or force damage per swing.

If it come to it, the bard can also use alter self to make him/herself smaller so you can fit another in the depression.

[Marnath]

Have the Druid spend all of his spell slots casting Wall of Salt, use Knowledge: Architecture and Engineering to place them in the correct places to support the ceiling. That should at least buy you time if it doesn't stop the ceiling out right.

What magic items do you have? Because there is always having most of the party jump into a Bag of Holding. You can usually cram a Halfling into the central bag of a Handy Haversack that is otherwise empty. You can also put your Handy Haversacks inside one another, that should cut down on the space your items are taking up in the hole.

The Bard can cast Alter Self to drop down to Small size and then join the Halfling in being stuffed into a Handy Haversack.

The Cleric doesn't really have any useful spells, Dark Way is the only possibility but a stone ceiling is going to weigh more than it can support and it won't last all that long.

Your choices are the find the way out, hope that Wall of Salt works, or have some useful magic items. A feather token: Tree would be great and you should at least have one of those.

Your advice is to cast a 4th level druid spell out of a first level slot and then use the WBL of a party much higher than theirs to acquire items that they probably don't already have on them to get out? :smallsigh:


Blockade sounds like your best bet, OP. You should probably make some more search checks, even if you already did. Maybe you missed something.

[Emperor Tippy]

Your advice is to cast a 4th level druid spell out of a first level slot and then use the WBL of a party much higher than theirs to acquire items that they probably don't already have on them to get out? :smallsigh:
1) Wall of Salt is a first level Druid spell.
2) 4th level WBL is 6,000 GP per PC. A bag of holding type 1 is 2,500 GP and a Handy Haversack is 2,000. A Tree Token is 400 GP. If you stuff the two small creatures into Handy Haversack's, place them in a third Haversack, and then place that into the Bag of Holding then there will still be enough space for at least one more PC to fit into the BoH. That is enough for everyone to fit in the hole.

[BWR]

The easiest I can think of Soften Earth and Stone (Drd 2) and dig your way out, or at least make some holes in the wall to hide and hope the trap resets after it's all the way down.

Nevermind. Reading fail.

[ThreeDSix]

If I were the DM for this room I'd put the pressure plate for the trap in the depression.

Also. Once all your fellow party members have been reduced to the consistency of your average smoothy, that depression is going to fill up fast, I'd recommend having a water breathing spell ready.

[Marnath]

1) Wall of Salt is a first level Druid spell.


No, it isn't. I'm looking directly at the entry in my Sandstorm and it says Cleric 4, Druid 4, Sorcerer/Wizard 4.

[Emperor Tippy]

No, it isn't. I'm looking directly at the entry in my Sandstorm and it says Cleric 4, Druid 4, Sorcerer/Wizard 4.

You might be right. I don't have Sandstorm on hand at the moment and Realmshelp listed it as a first level druid spell.

[Gildedragon]

Make the kn Planes check to know about Pazz
Have a LG character summon it
...
Profit! (And escape)

[Slipperychicken]

Make the kn Planes check to know about Pazz
Have a LG character summon it
...
Profit! (And escape)

It also provides a good escape from this DM. Chances are he won't DM for you after such brazen shenanigans, so it's a win-win! :smalltongue:

[Yogibear41]

lol well I've basically spent the entire day off and on working on the build for my next character that I'm starting to hope that we all do die so I can make the new character ROFL

[Krobar]

There are precious few problems that can't be solved by taking the biggest, heaviest hammer you have and swinging it as hard as you possibly can.

[shaikujin]

If the DM wanted to kill you, he/she will likely not use a slow moving trap.

With that assumption plus what u said about him wanting to keep the newbies alive, we'll work on the basis that there's a way out.



There a good chance why a depression is there.

Since you are not in immediate danger, have the character with the best mods take 20 on a search check for secret doors/catches/out of place stones/pin holes.

Takes a full round to check a 5 x 5 foot area normally, so taking 20 means 20 x 6 seconds, 2 mins.

Check the depression first, then check the ceiling above the depression.

Maybe it's pressure triggered, have everyone stand in the depression. Then jump. Maybe the floor there is thinner.

Then again, that might be the exact trigger to cause the ceiling to turn into a free fall plummet ,

Maybe it's water triggered. Pour water/oil into any holes you see. But only if the search checks indicate something. No point wasting resources.

If that doesn't work, take 20 to search the whole room starting with the parameter, then floor, then ceiling.

Use a metal weapon and knock at each section of the walls, floor, ceiling to see if there's a hollow. Might indicate a hidden door/tunnel/stairwell/sewage pipe.

Your party is made up of mainly humans, where's the light source coming from? Any wall scones/brackets holding torches ala "scooby doo" secret levers?

When ceiling falls to a level you can reach, hack at it. Test for hollows. Or break it down.

It stand to reason that if the original door has been blocked, there's either another way out, or a trapdoor leading to the original door.

The ceiling might also be the bottom part of an elevator system. But it's moving too slowly for a normal lift...

Last resort, everyone stand in the depression prop up the ceiling with whatever they can find and shout for help.

Even if you are captured, beats being squashed. Being captured offers another chance of escape.


Or maybe it's part of the DM's plan/intervention and the ceiling stops lowering from a faulty gear.

[Miranius]

Pick up some pebbles and have one character throw them at the walls/ceiling to check for illusions.

Just holler for help real loudly? ;)

Make Knowledge Dungeoneering or Architecture cheks if you can enlarge the hole with your resources (acid, pitons, ....)

Does the ceiling seal perfectly or could a familiar escape and get help?

How flexible are your summon monster lists? Maybe you can get a creature to foul up the mechanism (f.e. small fire elemental to melt down some gears or similar...)

If all else fails, cut off a finger of the PC`s to be crushed for later resurrection ;)

[Nepenthe]

It sounds like everyone is meant to fight over who gets to stay in the depression. That means it's probably the last place you want to be. I'm guessing the ceiling will stop itself and something bad will happen to anyone in the low spot. Of course, you should still do everything in your power to prop up the ceiling or break a wall just in case I'm wrong.

Have you tried contacting your droids via comlink?

[thatryanguy]

My money'd be on that the floor itself is a pressure plate, and the depression is a red herring. I'd have everyone jump at the same time, see if that reverses the descent. If so, spider climbs, flight, anything to get people off the ground until it fully resets.

[Phelix-Mu]

I'm gonna have to use this setup. Someone suggested that it was the pressure from the person/coward[j/k] in the depression that is making the ceiling descend. Someone deserves a reward, cause that is some genius-level setup there. Sure to make the players crazy, but genius-level nonetheless.

Personally, I would have to go with either

a.) It's an illusion somehow and constitutes a test to determine the personality of each party member (monk is having tea...SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT).

b.) The pressure of the whole party down there has made the ceiling descend. Like it's a trash compactor or something (now it does sound like Star Wars), and the ceiling crushes everything inside when there is over x amount in there.

c.) This is the best way to make the party try to kill each other to survive. In other words, a detect evil machine. Not a very useful one, but maybe this is some kind of mini-Highlander setup (THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE...or one-and-a-half).

In any case, it's a fail trap, if you think about it. Anyone in a party with a caster over level 5-7 has a way out of this situation, so the trap only catches mooks and idiots that travel in groups. Not a very useful device. I'm wondering if the explanation is something else really simple (aside from a garbage compactor). The elevator guess was pretty smart.

Did the party members find any suspicious gear or treasure earlier? Anything unidentified? Maybe there is some kind of magical trigger the party is inadvertently setting off.

Still, so slow. Sounds like mind games or deus ex machina.

[Xervous]

Aside from those possibilities, I see a horrid situation that could have cultivated it.

Evil DM's thoughts:

"So I would like to introduce this nice NPC, but I don't think the players will listen to what he says. Maybe I should give them a reason to be grateful (not likely) or otherwise indebted to him. Hey, maybe he could save them from some certain death trap!"

[Arc_knight25]

So I've noticed that your party lacks an actual trap finder. I know its not needed in most cases. But it sure beats getting stuck in a pit with the ceiling falling in on you. I wonder if your DM said anything about having a Rogue or some other variant before you started this campaign.

I warned my players and no one took my hede. So at lvl one they found themselves a Kobald home. See how those trap finding skills are now.

As for you predicament I would take 20 looking for something in the room. If that fails, bash for a few rounds...then mad dash for the middle.

[Green Leviathan]

Have you tried turning off all light sources? sometimes there are secret messages &/or light shinning through cracks where hidden mechanisms might be.

[Yogibear41]

(monk is having tea...SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT).

Monk also has an insanely chronic case of ADHD and its probably going to get him or possibly all of us killed at one point or another. Although it is funny to watch as long as it only gets him hurt lol :smallsmile:



This is the best way to make the party try to kill each other to survive. In other words, a detect evil machine. Not a very useful one, but maybe this is some kind of mini-Highlander setup (THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE...or one-and-a-half).


My character is LN and has no qualmes about sacrificing any of them to survive, as he had just met them and they also snuck up on him and knocked him unconscious and then tied him up just because he shape changed to help them kill a bugbear...

"because they were scared" also they claim to be good aligned lol





Did the party members find any suspicious gear or treasure earlier? Anything unidentified? Maybe there is some kind of magical trigger the party is inadvertently setting off.


we did find some sort of pipe/flute of dark dwarven design that has something to do with undead(the dungeon is non dwarf related nor undead related besides a few select monsters) but we already had the bard try to play it and nothing happened.




EDIT: unfortunanetly the game has been postponed until next monday due to DM sickness :smallfrown: