Iron Gaea: The Limitless Fortress - Part One: The First Floor

[Silk_and_Steel]

Iron Gaea
The Limitless Fortress

Part One
The First Floor

It has been a week of rough travel through the mountains, and the tiny village of Refuge now lies somewhere far behind you. The people of Refuge had looked at your group as if you were mad when you set out on your long hike to Thorngrove Vale where the Limitless Fortress stands its silent vigil. Some even tried to talk you out of going, and it was clear as your party headed out of the village that no one expected you to ever return.

The trek through the mountains had been difficult, with no clear paths to follow. Blazing a trail through the untamed slopes had proven dangerous, as your party encountered numerous crumbling ledges, rocky drop offs, and copses of densely packed trees blocking your progress. It was almost as if the land itself did not want you to succeed in your journey. But always the looming monolith of the Iron Gaea marked the horizon ahead of you. No tree or mountain peak was tall enough to block it from your sight, and it served as a beacon, guiding your way.

Now, as a dawn as gray as dishwater breaks over the land, you stand in the bleak landscape of Thorngrove Vale. The ground here is dry and cracked, looking parched and barren in the weak light. All around you bushes of thorny brambles and twisting, emaciated trees claw up stubbornly from the ground, reaching out tendrils and branches to snag and scratch at your clothes as you push through them toward your destination. The smell of damp and mold hangs heavy in the air, and a light, dewy mist clings to the ground around your ankles like some creeping leviathan from a forgotten age.

The base of the Limitless Fortress dominates the floor of the valley, spanning a distance out to either side nearly beyond the limits of your vision. It is a massive, intimidating structure, its dimensions easily dwarfing the grandest constructions of the current age. Thick, twisting brown vines crawl up its smooth iron walls, obscuring the foundation in a mass of thorns, and patches of dull rust can be seen marking its surface.

As you reach the base of the Iron Gaea, you find the hundred year old remains of a dozen camp fires scattered around. Remnants of the last expedition to this bleak place. It takes an hour of careful exploration along the wall before you are able to locate the entrance. A large metal door, like the gate of some grand palace, is set into an ornate frame and serves as the only feature on the tower's smooth wall. The door frame displays images of men and women, adventurers by their appearance, begin impaled on spears, hung by their necks, or devoured by amorphous, featureless creatures.

The door itself is blank, with only a large pull ring at its center made of solid gold. A closer inspection of the ring shows where countless explorers have chipped and shaved off layers of the thick gold, making the ring appear as if it has been gnawed upon by some large beast. Vines have grown over the door, crossing its surface with skeletal hands of bark and thorns as if trying to hold the portal shut against intruders.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif


AC 15
Passive Perception 10



Note: Gellif will have cast Mage Armour when they set off this morning.

Looking at the door handle but making no move to touch it, Gellif says: well, we're here. Who wants to do the honours?

[Rofltrollcopter]

As the group started off in its last of day of travelling, Audrick pulled out his flute and started to play (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mnPPOgf000). It was a whimsical travelers' song, extolling the spirit of adventure and the joys of searching for new horizons. The lilting notes stood in direct defiance of the dreary atmosphere around them.

As they approached the door, Audrick put away his flute and surveyed the images on the door frame. Rather uninspired if you ask me. He mused. I've meet Fingerpainting Orcs with more artistic taste. He winced. Sorry about that Gellif.

A moment later he stood back and chuckled.
I can't help but get the distinct impression that whoever created this place didn't want visitors. Well comrades, we sure aren't going to let some surly architect stand in our way are we?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Sotto Voce, in response to Audrick's comment: don't worry about it. I've never met an orc that could paint either. Goblins, on the other hand...

[daze413]

As the group circles the base, Kalmir steals glances at every remnant of a campfire around the tower trying to find some kind of sign that his father had been here. Largely unsuccessful, he drops his head for a few moments, allowing his guard to drop in deep thought. If Audrick hadn't stopped playing his flute (which Kalmir repeatedly insisted not to play on the way here, to no avail. In truth, he found the song a pleasant distraction from the fear that gripped him now though he would never admit that to Audrick), he would have walked right past the group.

"we sure aren't going to let some surly architect stand in our way are we?" he managed to hear Audrick say.

He draws nearer the door, past Audrick and Gellif "I've never met an orc that could paint either. Goblins, on the other hand..." he could overhear over the silence that filled his head and the beating of his heart. Kalmir inspects the vines and growth that engulfs the door, when was this last opened? he thought to himself.

"I've seen Orcs paint, they favor red..." he added in his grim tone.

[josienoms]

Pirella stood before the door, listening to her companions bicker. She didn't know them well enough to join in just yet, her lack of charisma and natural shyness in social situations had made her a rather quiet traveler until now. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy listening, but she felt someone had to do it. She went to the door, and attempted to open it.

"Are we going to stand around debating art all day, or are we going inside?"

She adds a small smile after the fact.

[Ninja_Prawn]

On seeing Pirella take the lead in opening the door, Gellif will step forward to help.

Much as I'd like to stay and chat with Captain Smiley over here, our future awaits! Let's go!

[Rofltrollcopter]

Well, I don't think tomato is a particular good medium. Insects tend to like squished vegetables you see. Audrick responded to Kalmir.

Not to worry friend dwarf, just taking a moment to observe the scenery. There will be plenty of time for blood curdling terror later, don't you worry about that. As for you Missy Audrick raised his head up to glare at Gellif and snapped in a faux severe tone. That's Sergeant Smiley to you. I don't have some fancy commission. Do you honestly think I look like a Blueblood?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif heaves at the door.

Hah! You do realise I was referring to Kalmir, right sergeant? I thought bards were supposed to be good at jokes!

[Silk_and_Steel]

Despite their best efforts, the group is unable to shift the heavy metal door from its position. As warm hands touch the door there is a sound like gravel being ground beneath a heavy boot, and as the group watches, words begin to form in the featureless metal surface of the door. As each letter forms, a tiny shower of metal dust falls to the ground and mixes with the dry dirt. Slowly the words magically appear until they can be read clearly:

Axes and swords,
Will not help you through.
Yet this and a little pull will do.
Some in the road would
have fought and soon died,
Were it not close at hand,
to let them inside.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif lets go of the handle.

Ah, well... I'm not so good at riddles. What would you soon die without if you were in a fight? Armour, maybe? I guess it is called 'Iron Gaea'... maybe it, um, eats iron...

She looks up at the massive fortress skeptically.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick glanced at the riddle and started stroking his chin thoughtfully. Hmm, on my good days I would consider myself a decent wordsmith. Let's step back and look at this from a high level perspective.

We don't know if we are supposed to simply state the answer to the riddle, or if we need to use an object to open the door. If the riddle is supposed to tell us that we need to use a certain item to open the door, we can deduce that the item in question would be common and not unique, from the fact that multiple generations of people have made it through this entrance way.

If we are supposed to produce an answer, I imagine we just say it to the door and move on.

As for your suggestion, the riddle did say that axes and swords wouldn't help you enter. Granted, they don't need to be made of iron, but I don't think that's the right answer. I suspect that the mention of battle is a misdirection, you notice the comma separating Some in the road would have fought and soon died and Were it not close at hand,
to let them inside.? To me, that says those two lines are part of the same idea, in which case it implies that whatever the answer is, it is something that would let them in quickly so that they could take shelter from whatever conflict this would be referring to. If that's the case, the three lines of the riddle refer to some item or concept that would allow someone to quickly enter through a door.

Lets start thinking in simple terms, and then move on to complex answers. What is something that would let you pass through a barred door? An Invitation is the first thing to come to mind for me.

Audrick walks to the door and clearly enunciates "an invitation".

[Ninja_Prawn]

While Gellif waits for the door to respond to Audrick's words, she tries to get her brain into gear.

Hmm... in my experience, if I needed "something that would let you pass through a barred door", I would look for a key. Perhaps it will accept any key, like a... skeleton lock?

[Silk_and_Steel]

There is no response to Audrick's words. The door remains solid and silent, and the riddle remains etched into it's surface.

[Silk_and_Steel]

At the mention of the word key the sound of grinding gravel returns and the riddle seems to melt from the surface of the door, the letters filling in slowly. Once the surface is smooth once again, new words begin to form and a new riddle appears:


It runs smoother than most any rhyme;
It falls from heights but cannot climb.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick looked at the new riddle and smiled. I think I'll let you all figure this one out. No need to hog all the fun for myself.

[Estralita]

"Meaning you don't know the answer." Kerr said teasingly. "Can't say I'm certain either "

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif reads the next part of the riddle, then winces. Oh, I just got a flashback of my tribe's so-called prophesy... Ugh, that leaves a bitter taste. She looks at Audrick and Kerri. At least this one's pretty easy. Lots of things fall but can't climb, but only a few of them are smooth, like lava... or a nice ale... She gazes into the middle distance.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick smirks The answer is rather elementary if you ask me. While your all thinking about this, I'm going to clean myself up a bit. Audrick walks over to the side and takes his shirt off, taking the time to show off his well formed chest. He gives the group a significant look, and then slowly and rather gratuitously empties a waterskin onto his bare shoulders. At the end of it, he whips his hair up and says Have you lot figured it out yet?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Hang on Audrick, are you trying to tell us you're not very good at climbing? I mean, you are pretty smooth... She winks.

[daze413]

Before Kalmir could open his mouth to reply to the jabs at his demeanor, the words of the first riddle formed on the door. Stumped, he listened to Audrick's logic and expected the door to open. It was only when Gellif spoke, the second riddle formed. Endeavoring to stop trying to wrap his head around the first riddle, he watched Audrick at the corner of his eye as he walked away and poured the contents of his waterskin on his chest.

Coming from a desert country, he couldn't keep himself from saying "You're wasting water."

[josienoms]

Pirella blinks, as comprehension dawns.

"Wait. Water. That's the answer!"

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif wondered for a moment. Maybe it's looking for a specific kind of water, like a river or a stream?

[daze413]

Pausing and thinking for a moment, Kalmir walks towards the door, reaches into his belt pouch and unties his own waterskin. Kneeling, he carefully pours some of its contents on the door in a ceremonial manner, trying to get as much of the water on the vines which grasped the iron door shut.

"An offering, for safe entrance, if nothing else." he said just loud enough for everyone to hear.

[Silk_and_Steel]

The door remains silent, the riddle etched onto its surface, as the group discusses possible answers for a few minutes. Then, as Kalmir pours water onto the metal, there is a rumble from somewhere inside the structure. The riddle vanishes from the door's surface, and the solid portal trembles. Slowly, like a gastropod crawling across the ground, the door begins to slide up. Vines tear and rip as the door pulls up, revealing a dark passageway beyond, leading into the interior of the Limitless Fortress. The air in the passage is cool, and the only light comes from the morning sun spilling in through the door.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Good job, smiley! Says Gellif. Is everyone ready to go in?

Looking into the fortress, do we see anything other than a featureless, unlit passageway?

[Silk_and_Steel]

No. The passage appears featureless and seems to be made of the same smooth iron as the exterior of the Fortress. the light from outside only extends about fifteen feet down the passage, then it becomes too dark to seen. Low-light and darkvision reveal a little more of the passage, but it just seems to continue on into deeper darkness for the extent of your vision.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Lets go inside shall we?

Audrick walks through the doorway and keeps walking down the passageway until he sees something interesting.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif follows, staff in hand.

[Estralita]

Kerri nods, and strides in. "Maybe next time we can defeat the riddles without wasting good water."

[Silk_and_Steel]

As the last of the group passes through the door there is a rumble and the door slides back into place, sealing the entrance and leaving the group standing in complete darkness.

[Estralita]

Kerri couldn't suppress a grin. "And that isn't ominous at all. Oh well. Onward to glory!"

[Silk_and_Steel]

Kerri moves on in the utter blackness of the passage for another fifteen feet before coming to a sharp stop, running face first into a solid iron wall that seems to block the passage ahead.

(Kerri takes 2 damage as she smashes her nose into the wall she can't see)

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick reaches out his hand to catch Kerri by the shoulder. Hold on a moment, you almost walked right into a wall Audrick chuckles and nudges Pirella Humans, am I right?

Audrick frowned Well, this is actually a problem. I'm afraid I didn't bring any torches. Never needed 'em in my life. So unless one of you has a spell or something, were gonna have to improvise.

[Silk_and_Steel]

Those with darkvision can see that the wall Kerri almost walked into has a narrow crawl space at its base.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Oh, um, I think I've got some torches. I think the shopkeeper threw them in for free when I bought my rope and stuff. Gellif lights a torch and offers it to Kerri.

So, looks like there's a crawlspace there. I wonder what it's for...

Gellif kneels down and thoroughly investigates the opening, poking her staff in a bit and then patting the edges with her hand.

Investigation: [roll0]

[Silk_and_Steel]

She finds nothing of interest.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Well, I don't see any traps or blockages... who wants to go first? Oh, if only we had a halfling!

[Silk_and_Steel]

There is no other way to go. The wall with the crawl space is the end of the passage.

[Estralita]

Kerri recovered from nearly walking into a wall with an air of "Nothing happened, and if it did I certainly meant to do it" and more carefully walked forwards to the crawlspace. "This seems to be the next step. I'll go if you guys don't want to" Kerri said right in front of the hole, eager to hop in, but it was fair to ask first.

[daze413]

"Perhaps it would be wiser to have someone with use of both hands and can see better go first?" Kalmir suggested while looking into the crawl space's darkness, futilely. "I'll follow, my Glaive can reach an enemy standing in front of whoever goes first, albeit with some difficulty." the last part he said in a less confident tone.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Yeah, sending the blind woman into the hole. Let's call that plan B, as in we are never doing it. I'll go ahead, except lets only send one person into the hole. I can't say I'm happy about the idea of sending the entire group into a potential deathtrap.

Audrick borrows the rope from Gellif and ties around his waist, grumbling with a fake put upon attitude the whole time. Sure, send the pretty one into the hole. There's no possible way this can go terribly wrong.

He hands the other end of the rope to Kalmir. If you hear two short screams, pull me out. If you hear one long scream, that's just me releasing some of the tension.

Audrick climbed into the hole, looking around carefully as he does so. He proceeds until he sees something noteworthy.

[josienoms]

Pirella shrugs as Audrick makes his joke about humans, not really sure how to go along with it. His plan, however, seems solid, and she offers no objections. She thinks she ought to have gone herself. She knows she's tough, she's more heavily armored than anyone else. But Audrick has stepped up into a roll of leader, or so it would seem. She didn't feel it was her place to contradict him. Next time, she'd try to volunteer first.

In the meantime, she holds the rope, ready to pull Audrick back out if he gives the signal.

[Estralita]

Kerri grimace at yet another joke at the expense of humans. As if being able to see in the dark was such a great achievement, instead of something he happened to be born with and she wasn't. It had never held her back in her long life, and she wasn't going to let it do so now. "We'll try not to drop you too quickly." she said. At some point she was going to have to teach that young man to respect his elders.

Then, suddenly something occurred to her. She wasn't used to having magic, and in the excitement..."This might help." She said bluntly whiile mentally swearing at herself for not thinking of it earlier. She grabbed a stone and held it for a moment. She didn't want the group to think she was entirely dependent on them, and it was probably more convenient than a torch.

Casting the Light cantrip. If I remembered it earlier, things would have gone much more smoothly for Kerri.

[daze413]

"If you hear two short screams, pull me out. If you hear one long scream, that's just me releasing some of the tension."

"One scream, you're fine. Two, we pull. Got it." Kalmir says with a non-chalant face, taking the joke quite literally as he wraps some of the length around his arm for better leverage and stands behind Pirella, both of them ready to heave the Half-elf to safety when needed.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif watches Audrick crawl into the hole, then kneels down and continues to watch* as best she can, since it seemed like Kalmir and Pirella had a good handle on the rope. Hey Audrick, can you see anything in there? She calls to him.

*The rope is 50 feet long and Gellif has 60 foot darkvision, so she'll be able to see him unless he turns a corner or something. Or maybe the rope will run out and we'll have to tie another length onto it.

[daze413]

"Audrick?" Kalmir gives a tug on the rope to see if anything is still tied to the other end.

[Silk_and_Steel]

The narrow crawl space is just large enough for Audrick to move along on all fours with no room on either side to stretch out his arms, and no room above to rise from his knees. The space smells of metal and rust, and the air feels humid around him. He reaches the end of his rope without encountering anything of interest. However, another forty feet down the space Audrick can see a dim green light that appears to be getting brighter and dimmer in a steady pulse.

[Rofltrollcopter]

bother Audrick mutters to himself. He shouts back Can you add anymore rope? He will wait for the party to attach another rope before proceeding further. If the party doesn't have any more rope, he will untie it from his waist and proceed anyways.

[daze413]

Kalmir hands the rope to Kerri. "Can you hold this for a moment?" he asks her as he reaches into his pack, the thing he spent his last 10 gold on, and uncoils the rope strapped to it.

He knots the end of the new rope to the other end. "Thinking about it, the rope idea is not very good." he says as he pulls on the knot to make sure it's secure. "I mean, so if he screams twice, we're supposed to pull, and what? we'd be dragging his face on the floor as we pull as hard as we can." he allows a small grin at the last part but quickly returns to his usual focused self as he takes the rope from Kerri. "Hmm..." he hums to himself contemplatively, thinking about how else to better handle the situation.

"Go ahead, Audrick, I added another 50 feet of rope." he shouted, almost as an after-thought.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gods, imagine if his face got all messed up... We'd never hear the end of it!"

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick's keen elven hearing allows him to pick up on the banter. Have you looked at me, I mean, really looked at me? Audrick's muffled voice comes out of the hole. Depriving the ladies of the world in that way would be a mortal sin.

Audrick peers at the green glow.

Perception: [roll0]

If Audrick doesn't think its dangerous or if he can't tell what it is, he will move closer to get a better look.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Once Audrick passes out of her sight range, Gellif stands up and plays with some Dancing Lights. Four dull red orbs spin idly around her hands.

You know, I kind of thought it'd be more dangerous in here... like, with things trying to kill us every other second. It makes me wonder why everyone is so scared of this place...

[josienoms]

Pirella still stands with the rope in hand, ready to pull if needed.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll get worse as we get deeper. This part is probably meant to lull us into a false sense of security, so we're off our guard when things really get dangerous."

[Silk_and_Steel]

At the end of the crawl space Audrick enters a hexagonal room roughly thirty feet across in all directions. The walls, floor and ceiling of the room as covered by mirrors, including the wall the crawl space is set into. At the center of the room is a raised pedestal holding a small basin of water which is maybe a foot across and filled with clear water. From the center of the ceiling hangs a silver brazier on a long chain. The brazier is flickering with green flames, and moves lazily around the basin in a constant circle. there does not seem to be any other exit from the room.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick hollers back Come on in!

[daze413]

Kalmir exchanges determined glances with everyone and waves them all to get in before he does.

When everyone has gone in, assume Kalmir follows suit.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick walks up and pokes the brazier. anyone have a clue about what this is supposed to be?

[daze413]

Emerging from the crawl space, Kalmir coils the rope around his arms, giving the mirrored chamber and the brazier in the center a cursory look. Having little experience with magic, he decides to let the others handle it while he inspects the mirrors on the walls, tapping the center and feeling the edges for anything suspicious.

Kalmir circles the whole room until the party figures it out or calls his attention even if it takes a long time to circle the room while doing this activity.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif crawls through to the mirrored room and looks around.

Well this is different. Where's the exit?

She has a think and goes over to the wall opposite where they came in. She tries to get her fingers behind one of the mirrors as if to pry it off the wall. Not really putting her back into it, just seeing if it's properly fixed.

[Estralita]

Kerri entered the room the same way the others did, and examined the room with interest.

Upon hearing Audrick question about the brazier, Kerr did raise an eyebrow. "Oh, that's an enchanted brazier. It looks like it holds fire for light and heat, but it actually contains a dozen fire elemental that will roast the first person to go around poking it."

[Silk_and_Steel]

The mirrors that surround the room are solid and firmly set into the walls. There are no apparent seams or cracks one could get their fingers into, and the only thing that marks their surfaces is a thin layer of dust. When Audrick pokes at the brazier, he can easily stop it from circling, but it remains out at an angle and pushes against his finger. As soon as he removes his finger from it, the brazier continues its lazy circle around the basin of water.

A closer look at the basin and it's pedestal reveals three crystal orbs set around its base. One red, one blue, and one yellow. they can be easily removed and are roughly the size of a golf ball.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif scowls at the mirrors on the walls. Then she sees her reflection and stops.

Oh! I have an idea. Maybe there isn't a physical exit, but there's some way to teleport us from here to somewhere else in the fortress?

The objects in the middle of the room are perplexing to her. I wish I knew a bit more about magic. Maybe we should try casting spells at it?

Finally, she will walk over to the pedestal and look into the water.

[daze413]

Kalmir finishes half-circling the room (since Kerri covered the other half) and looks at the brazier and base at the center. It seems the others haven't figured it out yet and he can't help but feel just a little impatient.

He feels one of the crystal orbs, the blue one, and noticing that they can be removed, does so.

If nothing happens upon removal, he inspects it further and holds it up for the group to see.

[Silk_and_Steel]

The water in the basin is shallow and clear. At the center of the basin, beneath the water, is a fourth crystal sphere, this one green.

The orbs themselves are smooth and cool to the touch, appearing flawless and unworked by tools.

[Rofltrollcopter]

Well looks like all the elementals went out for lunch. Audrick quipped. Would have been nice if they left a note.

Audrick reached into the basin and pulled out the sphere. This looks important. Well, we literally have no other options right now, I don't think we can head out the front door, so we should try to figure out what this setup is supposed to do.

Audrick put the new sphere into the slot left behind by Kalmir, so that the green sphere is on the pedestal. He tries all possible permutations of putting the four different spheres in the three different slots.

OOC: There should only be 4! permutations (rearranging four objects in a sequence, e.g. ABCD, ABDC, etc.), so Audrick is using a brute force method and going to go through all of them.

[Estralita]

"I'm just saying if you want to keep that face as pretty as you say it is, poking random objects might not be the best idea. Not here anyway." Kerri said slightly grumpily. Was the whole crawl going to be nothing but logic puzzles? Where was the glory for her god in that? And what was she going to do but stand around waiting for the others to finish?

The opinions of Kerri do not reflect the opinions of her player. Just saying.

[daze413]

Kalmir shakes his head at Audrick. "We must think about this, Audrick. Going around and poking different types of orbs into random holes will not get the job done." Kalmir gets one of the orbs unhandled by Audrick at the moment (the red one), and prepares to place it in the water. "If the green orb gives us a green flame, perhaps a red one will give us something else." he drops the red orb into the water. "And maybe give us another opening..."

[Silk_and_Steel]

When the red orb hits the water the flame in the braizer turns bright red. Not the normal red of fire but deep crimson like fresh blood. The water starts to boil and the temperature in the room rises.

In the mirrors, the groups reflections are wreathed in fire, and they can see themselves screaming as their skin blackens and peels.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I don't like the looks of that! What happens if you put all the orbs in at once?

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick rolls his eyes. Calm yourself Human. With four objects and four possible locations for those objects to go into, there are only 24 possible combinations. I know your race has short lives, but your not going to drop dead.. He is cut off as the temperature in the room starts to rise.

Beelzebub's beard! Seeing as no one else was taking action, Audrick reaches into the bowl of boiling water and pulls out the sphere.

[Silk_and_Steel]

Audrick's hand is seared as he reaches into the boiling water. There is more pain than simple boiling water should induce, and he can see the skin on his fingers blister.

As he pulls the orb from the water the boiling stops. The images in the mirrors fade back to normal reflections, and the flame in the braizer turns back to a clean white.

Audrick feels the pain in his hand fade, and when he looks down, his hand appears pale and normal with no sign of a burn.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Gellif does a double-take. Wait, you're not hurt? Must be some kind of illusion...

She finds the blue orb. Hang on, I want to try something. She then lowers it half into the water while still holding onto it. After seeing what (if anything) happens, she will quickly withdraw the orb from the water (if possible).

[Silk_and_Steel]

Nothing happens with orb lowered only half way into the water

[Ninja_Prawn]

Anyone feel anything? No? Okay, she now drops it in all the way.

[Silk_and_Steel]

As the blue orb falls into the basin, the water freezes over, becoming a solid block of ice. The flame in the braizer turns blue and begins to trail wisps of frost as it circles the basin. The temperature in the room drops noticably, enough for the group to be able to see their breath.

The groups reflections in the mirrors are standing frozen snd unmoving, their skin white except at the fingers , nose and ears where it has turned black with frostbite.

The crawl space has also been sealed behind a small wall of ice, blocking exit from the room.

[daze413]

"It's all just an illusion," Kalmir says as he gazes at the frozen water. He reaches into the seemingly solid block of ice and removes the Blue orb. "What if..." he says as he gets down the pedestal, grabs the yellow orb and drops it into the water.

I'm assuming I can do this.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I'm assuming I can do this.

If he can't, Gellif will seize the red orb from Audrick and drop that in.

[daze413]

If he can't, Gellif will seize the red orb from Audrick and drop that in.

if the red orb IS needed so that the blue orb can be taken out, Kalmir will remove both the red and the blue before dropping in the yellow. I wanna try all the colors! :D

[Silk_and_Steel]

Kalmir's fingers pass through the ice as if it isn't there. His hand grows cold, but not the biting cold one might expect, and there is no pain as he wraps his fingers around the blue orb and pulls it out. Once again the room returns to normal and the brazier's flame turns white. The floor near the crawl space appears wet now though, suggesting not all of the ice was an illusion.

Dropping the yellow orb into the water predictably turns the flame in the brazier a brilliant yellow. However, this time the effects on the room are more dramatic. A metal shutter slams down over the crawl space, blocking the exit as the water in the basin turns black and thick like foul ichor. A rotting stench fills the room, and it burns in the groups noses and throats. the reflections in the mirrors show the group hacking and coughing up blood and bile as they collapse onto the mirrored floor.

There is a low rumble, and the pedestal begins to sink into the floor, taking the basin along with it. The brazier slowly begins to stop its circling and comes to rest hanging in the center of the room, it's yellow flame casting a sickly light over the room. It would seem the group has expended their attempts and failed the puzzle lock too many times.

(Everyone must make a constitution saving throw)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Constitution save: [roll0]

[Estralita]

Kerri's head filled with curses as she tried to focus. That was why you didn't go around poking things in the middle of dungeons without thinking. Not like you had any better ideas, though. Kerri reminded herself. Now was not the time.

Well, if cleverness didn't work, maybe force would now.Kerri tried to pull out her maul, while trying to examine the results of the change.

Constitution Save:
[roll0]

Also a Perception roll, trying to look around the room to see what the results of the change are.

[roll1]

[Rofltrollcopter]

Audrick starts coughing.

Con: [roll0]

[daze413]

Covering his nose with his hands does little to stop his coughing.

Constitution Saving Throw: [roll0]

His eyes begin to water as the fumes sting at them, he sees the pedestal lower into the floor.

[josienoms]

Pirella coughs as well, though her Dwarven toughness makes her a bit less susceptible to the poison than the others.

I'm assuming this is poison damage, so I have resistance to it, and advantage on the save, thanks to being a Dwarf.

[roll0]
[roll1]