RQG 112 - Water Conundrum

## Content Warnings

Small enclosed spaces, rising water, drowning, arguments,

## Summary

LOLOMG pull together in an attempt to save Sasha from a watery death. Grizzop is upset, Hamid takes off and Azu feels very guilty.

## Synopsis

The panels along the wall have moved to show roughly 4’ high pipes that are starting to gush water into the room. The streams of water slam together where Sasha had been standing; she manages to jerk out of the doorway and dodge it, going to the middle of the room. The door on the opposite side is starting to close, but the adamantine dagger they stuck in as a doorstop is making it move slowly. Water is starting to flow out of the room toward the party.

It takes them a few tries to get Sasha out of the room; she struggles to get her dagger, but Azu and Grizzop are preoccupied with healing her instead. The water continues to climb on the other side of the door; less is coming out as the door closes, but the pressure is getting more and more. The dagger hits the doorjamb and a horrible grinding noise comes from the gears on the other end of the door; it grinds to a halt and doesn’t shut. Water continues pouring out and then the water level stabilizes, but doesn’t start going down. Sasha says that if they can open the doors a bit wider they can get more of the water out of the room; Grizzop says that they aren’t strong enough, and Azu says that she won’t be able to hold open an entire mechanical door.

Azu says they need to wait for it to drain on its own, and Grizzop says that Sasha needs to calm down about the dagger because she’s more important than a thing. Sasha asks what she should have done differently, and Grizzop says that she needs to be sensible in the future. Sasha says that he just likes shouting at people when he’s stressed; Grizzop says he likes people to not be dead.

Hamid cuts in and says that they need a pole that they can use as a lever. Grizzop is angry crying. Azu says that everyone needs to calm down, that they were scared, and Sasha says that she wasn’t - Azu says that she was, and Grizzop says he was as well. Sasha walks back down the corridor and Azu lets her go.

Sasha says that they need to get out of here - people will know that the trap has been triggered and reset it; if they know they’re here, they’ll come prepared. Hamid says that they still need to know what’s happening beyond the traps. If people are this good at setting traps, they’re doing something that they want to keep hidden. Grizzop says that they can’t give up, and Sasha says that that isn’t what she meant. He says that if there’s a way to reset the trap, they can find out a way to do it. Sasha says that they should fall back for now and return once whoever’s running this place is gone.

Azu, not liking watching people arguing, looks at the water, and notices that it’s starting to drop. She points it out to the rest, and says that they might not have to wait very long. People probably won’t be coming here immediately, since the trap should kill whoever sets it off. Grizzop says that they’ve beaten the trap, and Hamid cheers quietly. He adds that they just need to open the door when the water is down and carry on.

Azu mentions that Hamid is flying, and Grizzop is as well, with his arms crossed. Hamid explains that sometimes he wakes up and just knows new spells, and that this must be one of those instances. He does feel different; Sasha, from a distance, notices that Hamid’s got spine ridges down the back of his neck and that his cheekbones have gotten a bit more sharp. It’s due to the draconic heritage; the longer he lives, the more dragon-y he gets. Azu asks if he’s going to turn into a dragon, and Hamid, unsure, says probably not.

The water level is still dropping; they all decide to wait in an awkward silence until it has dropped to an acceptable level. The fly spell ends and Hamid and Grizzop drop gently to the floor below. The mechanism in the door has died, and the dagger is still holding it open. They open the door the rest of the way; Grizzop tries to yank the adamantine dagger out - it’s messed the door up, but it’s completely fine and pristine. He hands it back to Sasha, and she stuffs it somewhere in her coat.

The last of the water drains out of the room in a trickle, and there’s barely anything coming out of the pipes anymore. They aren’t sure if this whole thing will happen again, so Sasha ties a rope around herself again and tells them all to stay back as she investigates the other door. It’s still unlocked, and then they all hear a sudden mechanical noise. The four panels in the corner of the room move back and reveal grates, which is where the water would have drained from. They decide to press on, and open the door at the other end, heading forward into a new corridor. Sasha is checking for traps all the way along the corridor. Grizzop is taking a lot of deep breaths to try and calm down, and Azu has started singing to herself in Orcish, quietly, and Grizzop’s comforted by that as well. Sasha is trying to focus, and gives the cloak of Elvenkind to Azu, asking if people can be competent. Azu stops singing.

At the end of the corridor they see an identical door. Sasha checks it for traps, and then unlocks the door, opening it. On the other side, they see a large space. It’s a big cavern, almost looking like an underground lair; there are metallic walkways with safety rails stretching across the cavern. They can see that there is an open-to-the-sky hole, and a river pouring straight down from it into a metal funnel. It may be a naturally-occuring cavern, but it’s clear that someone wants to be able to maneuver around it. It’s possible that it was a natural system that someone has manipulated. It seems as though there’s less water pouring in than it could potentially contain.

The entire lair is deserted; no offices or anything. Grizzop says that he wants to destroy the funnel, and then they can kill whoever is in charge. Hamid suggests that they look around first; it’s clear that this machine is nicking water from the river and contributing to the drought in Damascus. Hamid flies up and starts to go through the hole; he hears a slight buzzing and stops, looking around. He casts *detect magic*, and sees a lot of it - someone has cast a massive illusion across the top of the hole. He pokes his head through it a tiny bit, and sees a well crafted illusion of an empty system; there’s no water there. The illusion is shaped at such an angle that he just sees a barren, empty riverbed. Since it’s so obvious that the thing is empty, Hamid realizes that people would get this far and see nothing here and not come closer to examine it. It’s very cleverly done.

He goes back down and flies around the cavern. The rest of them help explore. Azu doesn’t find much; she’s still thinking about the incident with Sasha and feeling guilty. Sasha finds a couple of discarded tools, goblin-sized. The walkways are big enough for humans, but the work itself seems to be done by goblins. Hamid doesn’t find anything. Grizzop comes over and mentions that goblins made it; Azu asks what he means, and Grizzop points out the tools. Hamid explains about the illusion that he found up above, looking like the water has been completely dried up. Grizzop says that the humans probably hired goblins to do it, since most of it is human-sized. This is very pedestrian; not much intrigue to it, and has less of a “goblin-vibe” to it.

Grizzop suggests that they explore the facility, and Hamid mentions that they haven’t seen anyone around. Grizzop says that this probably isn’t the area people go to; Sasha says that they might have been glassed, or run off after hearing Apophis. Azu asks if it was goblins and humans working together, and Hamid suggests that they go on and explore more to see what they can figure out.

## Quotes

**Azu**: "Okay, why don’t we…we should all just try and calm down, we’ve just all been very scared."
**Sasha**: "I wasn’t."
**Azu**: "I was!"
―Sasha is rescued from the water trap in the room.

**Sasha**: "My dagger!"
**Grizzop**: "Your life! Leave it! There’s more! It’s just a thing!"
―Sasha wants to go for her adamantine dagger keeping the door open.

**Grizzop**: "Yeah, you need to chill out, alright? Seriously! You, are more important than a thing! I don’t care what the thing is made of, or if it’s magical, or divine, or the best thing in the world! You are more important than that THING! You are not getting yourself in danger like that again, alright! You need to be sensible when this kind of stuff goes off!"
**Sasha**: "What exactly did you expect me to do differently, Grizzop? Like, just not try and open the door for you?"
**Grizzop**: "No, not try and grab your dagger back and use your dagger properly, when you needed to…you need to react like a…you need to be sensible, alright?"
**Sasha**: "You go and open the door next time then. That’s exactly…that’s what got me in trouble! I opened the door. It’s my job!"
**Grizzop**: "Yeah, it is! But your job is also to survive! You’re no good at your job if you’re dead! And caring about daggers is not part of your job, and it will get you dead!"
**Sasha**: "You just like shouting at people, don’t you Grizzop. When you’re stressed, you just like shouting at people."
**Grizzop**: "No, I like people not dying!"
―Grizzop refuses to let Sasha go back for the dagger.

**Helen**: "Azu has now started singing softly in Orcish to calm herself down."
**Alex**: "Everything’s fine. This is the everything’s fine song. This is how the everything’s fine song goes!"
**Lydia**: "Sasha’s just like, “please be quiet!”"
**Ben**: "Grizzop is comforted by the song as well. Because he needs it."
**Lydia**: "Sasha is enraged by the song."
**Sasha**: "Guys please! Look, we are probably approaching…could people just be competent!"
**Helen**: "Azu stops singing."
**Ben**: "I just fix you with a stare that’s like, sad."
―Azu doesn't do well in small spaces.

**Alex**: "Azu, you’re far too distracted by the fact that you let everyone down multiple times back in the corridor. You could have pulled her out and you didn’t. More than once."
**Helen**: "Yeah, she could have died in a really horrible way."
**Alex**: "She could have. She could have. The only reason that you didn’t die is she saved you before it could have gone off. How big can I paint the word Guilt in a cavern?"
―Alex is laying on the guilt.

**Sasha**: "A lot of people here, you know, they’re just doing a job."
**Grizzop**: "Maybe, might be an evil job though."
**Sasha**: "I mean, it might be an evil job but then they run off. Like, sometimes you gotta make a living, right?"
**Grizzop**: "Yeah, an evil living."
**Sasha**: "Yeah! Some of us have made an evil living, Grizzop. It’s a living."
**Grizzop**: "Well, some of us haven’t, so."
**Sasha**: "Well, yeah, good for you. It’s great. Good. Good. Lovely for you. Great news. Good."
**Grizzop**: "We might not be able to sense redemption, but we do hope for it."
―Grizzop and Sasha chat.

## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* Sasha makes a Reflex save: 23
* Azu makes a Perception check: 23
* Everyone makes a Perception check: Grizzop gets 17, Sasha gets nat 20, Hamid gets 27, Azu gets 13
* They all take 10 to open the door.
* Everyone makes a Reflex save: Grizzop gets 19, Sasha gets 16, Hamid gets 24, Azu gets 20
* Sasha makes a Perception check on the door: 18
* Sasha makes a Disable Device check: 30
* Everyone makes a Perception check: Grizzop gets 18, Sasha gets 17, Hamid gets a nat 1, Azu gets 7

## Combat Breakdown

**Initiative:** Hamid (23), Grizzop (16), Sasha (14), Azu (13)

**Round 1**

* Hamid: Holds his action.
* Grizzop: Climbs onto Azu’s back.
* Sasha: Makes a Reflex save and gets 23. She makes an Acrobatics check to move through the water, rolling a 19, and gets a nat 20 on another Reflex save. She takes 9 damage for moving through the water, and yells for the others to pull her out.
* Azu: Attempts to pull Sasha out, rolling a 15 on Strength. She pulls Sasha into the water before Sasha is ready, and Sasha takes 6 damage. Sasha makes a Reflex save and gets 14 - she’s knocked prone.
* The water is now 1ft deep in the room.

**Round 2**

* Hamid: Casts *fly* on himself and hovers above the water.
* Grizzop: Holds his action.
* Sasha: Readies her action to move when Azu tries to pull her out.
* Azu: Pulls, rolling low on her Strength check. Sasha makes an Acrobatics check and gets a 24; she takes 7 damage.
* Grizzop: Hops off Azu’s shoulders, slides down the rope, and braces against the door, channelling positive energy. He gets a 22 on the Reflex save, and heals everyone for 9 damage.

**Round 3**

* Hamid: Casts *fly* on Grizzop.
* Sasha: Readies her action to be pulled.
* Azu: Readies an action to pull.
* Grizzop: Starts pulling and everyone’s action triggers. Azu and Grizzop roll a Strength check - Grizzop gets a nat 20, Azu gets a nat 1. Sasha makes an Acrobatics check and gets 24. She’s pulled into the water, taking 11 damage; Azu loses her footing and is on her back.
* The water is now 2ft deep in the room.

**Round 4**

* Hamid: Readies an action to pull.
* Sasha: Readies her action to be pulled.
* Azu: Stands up and readies her action to pull.
* Grizzop: Starts pulling and everyone’s action triggers. Azu, Hamid, and Grizzop roll a Strength check - Grizzop gets 16, Hamid gets 5, and Azu gets 15. Sasha makes an Acrobatics check and gets 28. She still takes 5 damage, but she is pulled through the water. Grizzop grabs hold of her.

**Round 5**

* Hamid: Does nothing.
* Sasha: Attempts to dive back toward the water to grab her dagger. Grizzop is still attached to her and doesn’t let her.\*Azu: Attempts to get the dagger for her. She makes a Dexterity check and gets 6, and she can’t grab it.
* Grizzop: Lays on hands on Sasha, healing 3 damage.
* The water is now 3ft deep in the room.

**Round 6**

* Hamid: Does nothing.
* Sasha: Tells them to wedge it open so that they can get through.
* Azu: Lays on hands on Sasha, healing 3 damage.
* Grizzop: Lays on hands on Sasha, healing 10 damage.
* The water is now 4ft deep in the room.

**Round 7**

* Hamid: Does nothing.
* Sasha: Says that they need to be able to get through, otherwise people will know they’re here
* Azu: Lays on hands on Sasha, healing 11 damage.
* Grizzop: Says that the best chance they have is use the adamantine dagger. Sasha asks if any of them can breathe water.

**Round 8**

* Hamid: Says he can’t, and does nothing.
* Sasha: Smashes the wall.
* Azu: Says they let it drain.
* Grizzop: Does nothing.