Act 1. I've got your back

You don't have much of experience speaking with people, do you? You say yes when you agree with what I say . You Say no when you disagree. I will ask you a question and you have to answer yes or no. Question is: did you understand me?

Zyra and Legolas
The clicking faltered.

"Did you understand me? You… Put it back in its place. No harm. Peace."

Again, a blend of Zyra’s and Legolas’s voices with an added emphasis on the "me" word.

Orryn
The Yawning Portal's most notable feature, a 40-foot-wide well descending 140 feet into the depths of Undermountain, dominated the main room, drawing the eyes and imaginations of all who entered.

As Orryn Fiddlefield stepped through the heavy wooden doors, the familiar scents of ale, roasting meats, and the faint hint of adventure greeted him. The murmur of conversations, punctuated by bursts of laughter and the clinking of mugs, filled the air. Behind the bar, Durnan, the inn's stalwart proprietor, polished a tankard with practiced ease.

Legolas considers before explaining Zyra his viewpoint. No idea if this is just a random echo of our voices as it does not seems to answer. I'll try to communicate with body language instead, if not I give up. Maybe you have any idea what to do here.

Legolas approach silver-forged tongs that recently fell on the floor. And slowly extend his arm toward the object and freezes, listening for the change clicking or any other changes....
Elf can't believe whoever dropped the thing on the floor is asking to put it back - either that whoever is testing us if we are to obey their commands, or is just capricious. Now only a curiosity is driving Legolas.

Zyra and Legolas
The clicking had stopped. No grinding of gears, no echoing reply. Just silence. Heavy, deliberate silence. Whether this was a test, a trap, or simply the whim of some long-dead forge-spirit, Legolas couldn’t say. But the air around him felt charged with expectation.

Meanwhile, at the Yawning Portal
Orryn shuffled through the Yawning Portal with the eagerness of a begger scrambling for loose coin, skirting around the sporadic groups that littered the area as he made for the bar. He grabbed a stool for the convenience of height and removed his hat, holding it against his jacket so as to not be read as rude.

"Pardon my askin', Durnan sir. Lookin' for Grusk Ironsunder. By way I hear it, he has put out fer technical help, an' I've a mind to apply. Happen to have seen him around?"

Orryn
Durnan looked up from the mug he was wiping — more out of habit than need — and gave Orryn a glance.

"Over there."

Following the gesture, Orryn’s gaze landed on a broad-shouldered half-orc seated alone near the fire. Grusk Ironsunder looked like he’d been carved from the forge itself — thick arms marred by long-faded burns and fresh nicks alike, forearms bare despite the chill in the stonework around him. His massive hand nursed a tankard with all the gentleness of a man who respected strong drink, not just consumed it. Laid out on the low table before him was a sprawl of parchment blueprints, curled at the edges and weighted by bolts and bits of scrap metal. A half-eaten heel of bread sat forgotten beside them.



Grusk didn’t look up right away. His eyes were fixed on one particular corner of a schematic, brow furrowed in contemplation. Durnan’s voice rumbled just enough to be heard.

"Hasn’t left that spot in near two hours. He is planning something."

Legolas, just go slow and put the tongs up on the workspace but make sure you keep them at arm length, not a hint of you trying to take them for yourself...

Hammering Out A Deal
With a courteous nod, Orryn hopped from the stool, combing a hand through his hair to smooth out any chaotic strands as he approached the distracted half-orc. Hearing the hardy smithmaster blurt out a half mulled thought, Orryn saw his moment to chime in.

"This wouldn't happen to be related to yer smithy issues, would it?"

Hat in hand, he extended his other in greeting.

"Orryn Fiddlefield, fellow craftsman, an' if ye find it worthwhile, a hopeful apprentice! I hear ye've got troubles clearnin' yer shop. Dangerous sorts."

Getting To The Point
Orryn hangs his hat on the back of the chair, slipping his pack off so that he could lean over the table to fully view the sprawled blueprints. As Grusk rumbled into the briefing. Orryn lingered on the details of the study. If Hornrock was keen on note taking. The information alone could be well worth the risk. Those secrets lost to time could make his own craft that much more fine tuned, more practical. Another push towards finding a way forward. That magic need not be leaned on so heavily.

A heavy finger thumped into the prints, snapping Orryn from his reverie as Grusk dragged the pointed tour towards a sub-par section. One more reminiscent of a hastily scrawled treasure map than an official schematic. It was there, in an octagonal room, that the worst of such a job reared it's clickin' head.

"Yes, I hear as well the first sent in to deal with this clickin' contraption did not survive the encounter. A tragedy, but one we might learn from. By yer words, this deep forge must be where that..thing dwells. Ye said this Barundal Hornrock was a master. Do ye know of his works before the disappearance? Was there a theme, or a problem he was striving to solve? Given this dangerous entity may have been created by the man, such insights, if ye have them, could clue us into what we are dealin' with."

can't be do simple... Legolas thinks aloud. Test? Hmmm
He looks around all the workbenches to see if there is any pattern of how tongs are located. There should be the right place to put it. Do you see where? he involves Zyra in deduction.

Let me see...

There, it should go there. Zyra points to an emlty space not far from the tongs on the ground.

Zyra and Legolas
Zyra's gaze drifted across the chamber, scanning the heavy workbenches lined along the sides. Each was cluttered with relics of labor long past—anvils squat and unmoved, bellows sagging with rot, crucibles cracked and dust-choked. Tools lay scattered across their surfaces: rusted tongs with warped grips, hammers worn dull, chisels browned with age. She searched for a pattern, something intentional in the mess. She noticed something strange: of all the scattered and rusted tools, only the silver-forged tongs had fallen to the floor. Everything else, no matter how decayed, remained on the worktops.
With a slight nod to Zyra, Legolas reached down and carefully picked up the silver tongs. They were cool to the touch—oddly so. He turned, moving in slow, measured steps to the empty space Zyra had indicated. Without ceremony, but with precision, he placed the tongs into the empty space on the workbench.

The moment it touched the surface, a subtle click echoed through the forge. Then another. And another.

From across the chamber, the sounds multiplied—click-click... clunk… click. The noise reverberated from the heavy iron door on the southern wall, and then the eastern and northern ones as well. Bolts sliding. Latches disengaging.

The doors were unlocking.

Legolas, let's retreat to the base of the stairs and see what happens. If it is aggressive, we should be able to beat it up to the trap door.

It? What it? Legolas look around for any movement.
I am going to open the doors. elf confidently approaches southern doors. But stops on front of them looking for companion agreement.

Best Laid Plans
Orryn wanted to gather the information first. Seemed a better strategy than to stumble into danger blind. But if the others were already poking around the place, delay could mean the difference between showing up to find allies, or corpses. Besides, there was no promise the added knowledge would be useful. It could wait.

"It's not ideal, but I'd rather we get those two out of danger before spendin' time researchin'. No point in us buyin' knowledge with their blood."

He grabbed his pack off the ground and retrieved his hat. Nodding towards the exit as he finished securing his gear.

"Alright, let's get to work!"

Legolas, something was speaking from the shadows. We still don't know where the speech was coming from. The tongs released mechanisms for sure but we don't know if that just unlocked all the doors or if it just activated a bunch of traps. Let me inspect the Tongs and the work table to see if I can figure out the mechanism or at least the intent of the mechanism. Keep an eye on the shadows for me while I investigate the tongs.

Zyra will look closely at the workspace and the silver tongs to see if it a trap trigger or a trap disconnect or something else.