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Bishop whispers a few words
Spirit of the machine, wake from your slumber. You will assist Delx in his search through your machinery that lies before us. Do not return until your task is complete
Delx would feel a shiver run through his spine after Bishop sends a spirit to guide his search.

If you need to roll, you can add an additional d10 and take the highest result.

There is a post at the back edge of the platform, visible in torchlight only by approaching near the opening in the wall. The post has a lever on it, currently in a DOWN position.

Bishop notices the lever. His first instinct is to pull the lever himself, but then realizes his skills are better suited elsewhere.
So he sticks to what he does best and guides another to handle it in his stead.
Spirit of branches, you were allowed to rest while nothing harmed us. Make yourself useful and move that lever into the UP position he instructs to the effigy.

Delx whispers, Bishop friend... Maybe tell the moppet to return and flick the control to DOWN as well. Clever dwarves presented a stairway and 'elevator up into the heart of the mountain. But who's to say they didn't also quarry one DOWN, into its roots?

Bishop does as suggested.

Elcroon watched the proceedings, not trustful of any mechanical device that disused for so long would work reliably.

When the stickman moves the lever UP, a pale blue glow illuminates the opening in the wall and it is obvious the opening goes UP. So does the platform, smoothly accelerating with a high-pitched hum. Out of sight …

Did Bishop give the stickman explicit instructions when to return the switch to DOWN? And is Bishop still "focused" on a stickman who is out of sight … out of … mind?

The bard felt the stairs gave them more control. Not trusting the mechanic or magic of the lift, which could place them in an undesirable situation if not plummet them to death, Elcroon sing-songed:

“I would dare the stair
but fear the floating sphere!”

The pale blue glow fades and the humming continues, fading to barely perceptible after about thirty seconds. A few seconds later, a very faint click.

The humming resumes on a different lower pitch, gradually getting more perceptible. About twenty seconds after the click, the pale blue glow begins to emanate from UP and the humming is about as loud as it was when the platform started to ascend. A few seconds later, the platform glides down to rest with a thump-and-click at the bottom of the opening.

Bishop quickly steps onto the platform.

Delx noted Elcroon's unease about the platform and the blue light. Alright, it's the stairs and boot leather for me and Black Dog too. Well, paw pads for Blackie. Come one girl, up we go. He starts up the stairs, bow in hand.

While he was happy that his weary bones managed to keep up with the younger and much stronger adventuring companions, he is going to pass on the stairs.
Convinced climbing all those stairs would hurt him for days after the fact, he decides to switch the lever and take the elevator instead.

tibbius wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2025 6:59 pm With a whispering whine, the metal platform glides down to rest at the bottom of the shaft. The woddamoton and its maker stand there looking relieved (Bishop does, anyway; the woddamoton's body language conveys nothing).

What now?

Elcroon sighed in relief at the sight of Bishop.

“You yet live!
To compete our collaborative.”

Delx
Bishop and his servant have safely ridden the device to the top and back. Shall we all ride to the top together? He steps onto the machine's platform.

For sake of story continuity, shall I assume he had trouble getting the elevator to align with the floor of the exit?

Bishop, now with a better understanding of the mechanism, pulls the lever into the up position and makes it come to a stop at the next floor.

For the sake of moving things along as a party, I’ll play counter to Elcroon’s instincts…

With misgivings bordering on regret, Elcroon stepped onto the platform. He had his rope and grapnel ready as he eyed the diameter of the shaft and the height of the woodamaton.

Noting Elcroon's continuing and even amplified misgivings, Delx belatedly mentally searches his pack for something like a grapnel that may be of use in case of... a free fall drop, being smashed into a rock ceiling, snagged by a rusty projecting nasty thing on the side of the shaft, spring loaded spears being triggered from all sides.... There, his imaginings of possible dangers runs out. He braces his legs in a wide stance and eyes the blade and haft of the dwarven axe. The curve behind the blade to serve as a hook. The stout haft to serve as a bar or jam. Steady, Black Dog, he says and puts his hand on the semi-feral canine's head.

For simplicity let's say you all take the elevator up to the next opening …

Stepping off the platform, you cautiously proceed along the passage. As you move forward, the torch's light shows a faint line of sparkling white and brown crystals drawn across the floor from wall to wall.