[Nexus] Slii Arhem's Plots

[Slii Arhem]

In the grand tradition of Happy and Neon,
I shall place my plots here,
Where no man need look through acres of threads to find a single golden post.

*Coughs* That being said, I'm not quite sure how many plots I'll possibly be running, so it may be this thread will see limited use for a while. Right now it's just here so that my current plot doesn't muck up the Srs thread.

I'm sure when I think of more to say, I'll put it right here.

Current Plots:

Spoiler

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The Time Tower. (Ongoing)

DM: Slii

Participants:

• Absent Harnel
• Active C'nor
• Active Zefir
• Absent Murkus
• Active Reinholdt

The Land Between. (Ongoing)

DM: Slii

Participant: Lost_Deep

((This space will be filled as more plots are added.))

[Slii Arhem]

Time Tower, the plot as it now stands.

In a Cave Outside of the City

For months now something has been going on in this cave just a short distance away from Inside. One man... one Thing has been tirelessly working to hollow it out and construct something in the depths of the earth below. Men come to investigate the noises and smoke have come back aged beyond recognition or not at all. Mages scanning the area have deemed it a temporal anomaly, too dangerous for further study.

But now all is still. Whatever warped energies plagued this place have calmed, leaving it ripe for the greedy and cunning to pillage.

Should any such keen and brave souls head into the dark and humid depths beyond the cave mouth they will come acrossed a most unusual sight...

The tunnel heads downward, slowly spiralling in a long loop before ending at a massive cavern, with a ceiling so high you could almost mistake it for a starless night's sky.

In the darkness ahead there is a faint outline, one that gleams pale yellow under lamplight in a way that sends beams of light over every surface.

Once so revealed the shape turns out to be nothing less than a massive bronze tower, standing stark and silent in the eerie shadows of the cavern.

Stylized clock faces are engraved into the sides of the tower, engraved hands moving over the numbers at different rates by some unearthly magic.

The doors are open, inviting. It is waiting for you.

Dare you enter?

Dare you not?

The Tower's actions:

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Cave Outside the City

The inside of the tower is just as magnificent, high ceilings and golden inlays so oppulent that it makes one wonder why anyone would build such a place underground?

The wall opposite Reinholdt is dominated by a massive staircase, at the top of which sits a completely blank wall. Between the door and the stairs in the middle of a narrow path there is a short pedastle with what looks like a covered glass bowl set atop.

To either side of the raised path the floor is sunken in up to the height of an average man. For every available foot there is a large brass statue constructed of interlocking plates and hinges, with hints of gear systems visible in the gaps of the nearest ones.

Time Tower

What little Reinholdt could see of the bowl before he turns to confront Mr C. seems to be even more confusing than the rest of this place. It is a translucent glass hemisphere, completely sealed over by a flat pane of glass fused on to the rim. It looks impossible to open without breaking the thing entirely.

In the bowl itself sits a handful of silver pocket-watches half buried in sand. The mechanism on each is stopped.

As Reinholdt turns away something happens on the ceiling. Another engraved clock-face high above and cloaked in shadows ticks forward. From the center of the glass bowl-covering a tiny fleck of glass works its way out and falls to the pile of sand below.

All of this takes a second, and then everything goes back to normal.

Time Tower

Assuming the brave young lad ventures down to the very bottom of the cave, he'll see most of this:

Spoiler

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In a Cave Outside of the City

For months now something has been going on in this cave just a short distance away from Inside. One man... one Thing has been tirelessly working to hollow it out and construct something in the depths of the earth below. Men come to investigate the noises and smoke have come back aged beyond recognition or not at all. Mages scanning the area have deemed it a temporal anomaly, too dangerous for further study.

But now all is still. Whatever warped energies plagued this place have calmed, leaving it ripe for the greedy and cunning to pillage.

Should any such keen and brave souls head into the dark and humid depths beyond the cave mouth they will come acrossed a most unusual sight...

The tunnel heads downward, slowly spiralling in a long loop before ending at a massive cavern, with a ceiling so high you could almost mistake it for a starless night's sky.

In the darkness ahead there is a faint outline, one that gleams pale yellow under lamplight in a way that sends beams of light over every surface.

Once so revealed the shape turns out to be nothing less than a massive bronze tower, standing stark and silent in the eerie shadows of the cavern.

Stylized clock faces are engraved into the sides of the tower, engraved hands moving over the numbers at different rates by some unearthly magic.

The doors are open, inviting. It is waiting for you.

Dare you enter?

Dare you not?

Cave Outside the City

The inside of the tower is just as magnificent, high ceilings and golden inlays so oppulent that it makes one wonder why anyone would build such a place underground?

The wall opposite the young man is dominated by a massive staircase, at the top of which sits a completely blank wall. Between the door and the stairs in the middle of a narrow path there is a short pedastle with what looks like a covered glass bowl set atop.

To either side of the raised path the floor is sunken in up to the height of an average man. For every available foot there is a large brass statue constructed of interlocking plates and hinges, with hints of gear systems visible in the gaps of the nearest ones.

As well as something new. The second he steps through the open doors there is a flash from the ceiling as the inlayed clock moves another second forward. From the bowl on the pedastle another chip falls into the pile of sand.

Then all is calm again, and it is up to our intrepid thieves to decide on what happens next.

Time Tower

Tarn will see only a little of the gears, but if he knows anything about gearing it will tell him that if the power source is held in the chest then they are tuned for power and not speed. The outside casing is thick, and mostly humanoid shaped, although the proportions are somewhat off.

If Tarn makes the foolish mistake of getting off the walkway during his inspection, terrible things will happen and he'll be seeing a lot more of that gearing system than he ever wanted to.

But for now, let us assume that doesn't happen.

Time Tower

The chest-plate seems anchored to the statue, it doesn't look like it would come off with anything less than a blowtorch. Tarn's tugging reveals another mystery however. All of the statues are secured to the floor by an unknown means. Whatever it is, it means the Tarn's pulling won't topple the statue over onto him.

And thankfully for all three of their hides, it remains a statue for now, as does the others.

The glass bowl also continues to be dormant. It seems some other means is used to activate its continued degradation.

Time Tower

After the few chips that have fallen away, there is now a visible crack in the seal on the bowl, although nowhere near deep enough to shatter it. If Reinholdt is looking around the pedastle as well, he should find the edge of an inscription peeking out from underneath the bowl on the flat top of the pillar.

The visible part reads, "-ys to measure time."

Time Tower

When Legion enters another flash of light covers the ceiling, brighter this time and longer lasting. This one should be bright enough to draw everyone's attention to the rafters, where the massive inlayed clock clicks forward another ponderous second.

Directly below it, the bowl gains another crack.

Legion in particular should be drawn by the luminescence, because as soon as it appears she should be able to feel the presence of an Object high above her.

Then the light fades, the movement is done, and besides the adventurers everything in the tower goes still.

For Harnel:

Spoiler

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If Tarn is still holding on to the statue when the light begins he'll feel it shudder under his touch, as if the gears inside are attempting to move but jammed on something. it becomes still after the light has faded however.

For Reinholdt & Mr. C.

Spoiler

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The text the bowl is covering also glows in turn with the ingraved clock on the ceiling, and fades when it fades.

Time Tower

It should be noted that the bowl isn't actually attached to the pillar it sits on. In fact if Reinholdt wanted he could lift it up and read what's underneath it as Mr. C. says.

As the fifth and possibly final treasure hunter enters the clock strikes forward another second, the tick audible to human ears this time as it's accompanied by another crack in the bowl's seal. Now the crack is almost enough to threaten the structure of the seal. In fact, one or two more should just about do it.

The glow is harsh and glaring this time, both from the clock and the writing, and lasts a full six seconds.

When it dies down, some of the statues will have moved slightly, arms in a different position, or legs placed a bit apart. The one Tarn was examining looks exactly the same though.

Time Tower

Nothing comes of the bowl being lifted. Even as fragile as it looks it's still holding together fairly well.

The inscription in full reads:

From the wearing of baubles left in the tomb.
To the stepping of flagstones as we enter the room.
Take what you will from this simple rhyme.
For there are many ways to measure time.

Time Tower

As the heavy brass doors are shut, whatever magic the governs this room registers that as the sixth and final set of footsteps over the threshold. The clock on the ceiling strikes one last time, and a flash and tick ring out as loudly and brightly as last time.

Only now the flash isn't just from the ceiling and the pillar, but from the doors as well. Should Legion try them, they will resist any casual attempts to open them.

A final chip falls from the center of the seal, and in a cascade the entire seal begins to crumble into dust. By the end Reinholdt is left holding an ordinary bowl full of sand and silver pocket watches.

For Reinholdt:

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Considering what he's seen, I'm going to say Reinholdt can guess that the sand in the bowl is made up of bits of tiny, yet sharp, glass and probably should be handled with care. Also, the watch faces themselves are odd, made up of twenty five numerals around a circle, with only one arm.

The statues do move again, putting their hands on the blades resting at their hips, but lock into that position once the flash is done. All except the one Tarn studied. Its gears grind, but now movement comes from it. It may actually be broken.

Now all that remains is to find a way forwards. The wall at the top of the stairs at the other end of the walkway hasn't changed visibly.

Time Tower

As soon as Reinholdt touches the watch an ornate brass door appears in the wall atop the stairs. Oddly enough, only Reinholdt should be able to see it. The watch itself is also speckled with the sand, so he may have to brush it off gently if he wants to carry it around.

The room is completely inert now. With no one able to cross the flagstones the statues and clock don't move any more.

Time Tower -> Level 2

There is nothing obviously sinister about the door, and Reinholdt will find it swings open easily enough. To the other four adventurers in the room it will appear as if he vanished into the wall with his new watch.

For Reinholdt:

Spoiler

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Beyond the door are more stairs, doubling back so that the room he enters into is directly above the one he left, leading to a short hallway that opens on a massive circular room. In the middle of the hallway is another pillar, this one with a plaque on it. At the edge of the hallway there is a skeleton propped up against the wall, and above its skull is more writing, what looks to be a series of numbers crossed out. The skeleton is missing its left leg from just above the knee, femur cut clean through.

Day week month year, pick your path and end with cheer.
Step too lightly and you'll end up dead.
Take too many and down you'll head.
Complete the test, go through the paces, and up you go to higher places.
Second, minute, hour, day. You have this long, so don't delay.

Just ahead of where the hallway ends there is a thick glass wall keeping anyone from heading straight into the center of the maze, and another one beyond that. There look to be six concentric circles in total. At the very center, there is a spiral staircase heading upwards to the next floor.

In each glass wall there is an opening, all currently lined up and leading straight to the staircase.

Time Tower

The watch swiping was a smart move, although he'll find that the grains of sand clinging to the watch are rough and irritating to bare skin. Hopefully he was wearing gloves.

The statue Tarn was dismissing so easily stops grinding, stuck on something under the plates. If one were to take it apart they might find most of a leg jamming the gears under the breastplate he had his hands on not moments before.

And Tarn ascends to the second level without much harm done. He'll see the same things Reinholdt does, and is welcome to do with it all what he will.

The cut is clean, looks like it was done by a bonesaw. There is a small pack next to the skeleton's left hand, but everything in it is more worn than you would expect. In fact, given the age of the tower, this man should not have even had the time to decompose this far.

The saw is nowhere on this floor, and most of the equipment is both generic and in poor condition. Above the poor man's head are the tell-tale numbers.

406
405
400
HELP!
There are more, but they are far too faded to read.

It is obvious what they are written in. No pen around, and the "ink" is dry and flaking.

Time Tower - Level 2

The sand only remains on the watches in small flecks that are merely irritating to the skin on their own. Unless she ran her hand through the sand she should be fine.

The opening is large enough for a person to climb through, with smooth edges and a perfectly round shape. Should Legion actually step into the outermost circle of the room to get a closer look at the hole, several things will happen at once.

For Murkus:

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Legion will feel everything speed up around her as she enters the room, all sensation coming to her over three times faster than normal. It is clear that time is muteable in this room.

She can step back into the hallway if she wishes, or continue on without attempting to solve the riddle first.

The second thing that happens is that all the holes in the circles change place at once. The one Legion stepped up to examine shifts to the left by a precise number of degrees, the next one further in shifts right, the next left, and so on and so forth. By the end of the movement every hole has changed place.

Of course, none of this happens if Legion remains in the hallway.

Time Tower - Level 1

((Hint scumming eh? Well I suppose just this once.))

Lellienth, being the last person on the first floor when she does this, will notice two things.

For C'nor:

Spoiler

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There is a discarded hacksaw, rusted to uselessness and covered in dried blood, in a far corner of the room between two of the statues.

The clock face on the ceiling, although it seems engraved, is actually a separate piece of brass. When she sees the size of the next room, she may deduce that they are the exact same dimensions.

It is a shame she hadn't moved upstairs before casting such a useful cantrip, but perhaps even this small amount of information will be helpful.

Time Tower - Level 2

The saw was too far away for Lellienth to reach, and the request to her goddess reveals surprisingly little as she ascends to the second floor.

C'nor:

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The skeleton is decomposed further than it should be as Tarn has already noted, and the dust floating through the air seems to speed up as it move from the hallway to the circular room beyond. This could mean there is a draft moving around the hall.

If Legion did step into the room everyone should notice her suddenly moving over three times faster than she was when she left the hallway.

Time Tower - Level 2

Actually, now that Legion has stepped forward and activated this floor's mechanism, everyone may find that the single hand on their pocket watches are a hair off center, and are now slowly moving towards the first number on their twenty five hour cycle.

When stuck out into the field of the room, Legion's speeds up, but not very perceptibly. It seems that their experiences in the first room was just a taste, and only now has the true test begun.

((A note, I editted one of my previous posts to add some flavor, but there was no extra relevant information added. It simply says that there were more numbers above the "406, 405, 400" thing, but they were too faded to read.))

Time Tower

The hole is offset thanks to Legion's stepping forward, but it's still easy enough to make the shot through it. As soon as the ball leaves the hallway it speeds up to over three times normal velocity, bouncing though the hole in a blur.

And then, as soon as it crosses the threshold into the second ring it slow down. It's still going much faster than normal, but now it seems to be going at least half a step slower.

And despite bouncing once on each side of the hole and then ricocheting off the glass of the second wall to come to a bouncing stop, none of the holes move. Step seems to be quite literal in this case, or something else is interacting with the room to cause the mechanism to activate.

Time Tower

Legion takes her second step into the field and time speeds up for her again. If she was paying attention this time as she crossed into room she'll probably figure out that she's definitely going more than three times normal speed, but how much more is up to debate. The step also reactivates the holes in each wall, causing them to move another few degrees in their alotted direction.

The one in the outermost wall moves a bit more to the left. Tarn would have a hard time bouncing a ball through it from the hallway now.

Nothing in the circle's floor seems designed to harm her. It's all just smooth brass.

[Slii Arhem]

Time Tower

Legion goes to her left right, but relative to the center of the room, if the room were some kind of giant clock face, she'd be moving (counter)clockwise.

She shouts back to the others, "Tell me when to stop!" Of course, she's counting on her own, but if something changes when she's not looking...

Time Tower

Legion will find out a few things by walking the outer circle. The first is that it will take her exactly 103 steps to put her in a place where she matches up with the first hole.

The second she'll only find out if she attempts to turn back and retrace her steps at any time. To put it simply, she can't. There is a force that prevents her from going over her steps again in the room, which means she would have to make a complete loop to get back to where she started, and if she goes through the hole and further into the maze she may not be able to get back out. Of course, if she has some magical way of preventing the force from working, she's welcome to use it.

The third is that when she speaks, the time field speeds up her voice as well, so she sounds like a chipmunk.

[Murkus]

Time Tower

Legion does not imagine that this field will be good for her health. She doesn't try to backtrace, thankfully. Once aligned with the hole, she hesitates momentarily before trying to climb through it. Could it really be this simple, just walking round until everything lines up and then slipping through?

Let's just say the Lady has her doubts.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Time Tower]

Lellienth would ask some questions about how many steps Legion has taken, but I don't think she's even aware that there is a riddle, due to it being found before she arrived, and no-one having said anything about it since, so instead the drowess simply watches for now - if they're working on trial and error, she's more than happy to let the errors not be hers.

[Slii Arhem]

Time Tower

Lellienth could read the riddle for herself, as it is quite prominently displayed in the hallway. For now, lets say nothing terrible befalls her through the watching and waiting.

----

When Legion steps into the next circle (her 106th step so far) she slows down a bit from the over three times normal speed to an even three. If she chooses to continue around this circle, she'll meet the hole after another 89 steps, making 195 in total.

Now there are four circles left.

[Reinholdt]

"Oh hey! I think you can't take more than four hundred steps in total if these numbers are any indication." Reinholdt informs Legion, while trying to figure out how much that one step she took earlier and then backed out threw things.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Time Tower]

"Four hundred is crossed out too, though. So maybe it's less than that?"

She pauses for a moment.

"Oh, and the floor in there is a separate piece of brass. So probably the next person to go in should wear a rope attached to the others, or something similar. That way, if it drops, rather than, for example, being designed to rise, there's a good chance they can be caught and pulled back."

[Reinholdt]

[Time Tower]

"Probably. But... if she falls after taking one step beyond the maximum allotted, why are there numbers crossed out greater than 400? She must fall upon getting to the staircase or something."

"Rope would be a bad idea, due to the way you have to weave through the holes in the wall and the way those holes keep moving. The nature of going in circles like this, you'd end up with a lot of extra slack when you actually did fall and the rope wouldn't actually stop the fall, in addition to probably impeding your way in."

Reinholdt tries to take note as to where the hole in the wall is located when Legion goes through the first one, choosing his position to be 6 o'clock as he looks into the room.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Time Tower]

Lellienth nods.

"That is rather odd... Maybe the numbers run on some kind of pattern, and the safe number is variable?

The other thing is, assuming that the people caught by the trap die, where are the rest of the bodies?"

[Zefir]

[Time Tower]

"Or maybe this whole thing works like a safe? You know get the right combination. In our case let all the holes create a way out of here."

Not that he really can see anything. Mr. C still lays on his back.

[Slii Arhem]

[Time Tower]

"Probably. But... if she falls after taking one step beyond the maximum allotted, why are there numbers crossed out greater than 400? She must fall upon getting to the staircase or something."

"Rope would be a bad idea, due to the way you have to weave through the holes in the wall and the way those holes keep moving. The nature of going in circles like this, you'd end up with a lot of extra slack when you actually did fall and the rope wouldn't actually stop the fall, in addition to probably impeding your way in."

Reinholdt tries to take note as to where the hole in the wall is located when Legion goes through the first one, choosing his position to be 6 o'clock as he looks into the room.

Depending on how accuracte Reinholdt is at his judging, he'll find that the hole is three to three and a half minutes past the "twelve" that marks the far end of the room. It's only slightly off center, but the effect is noticeable.

[Murkus]

Time Tower

Legion is starting to have bad thoughts about this plan. Now that she's studied the room a bit more, it doesn't seem like such a wise choice to just keep walking blindly. But she can't hear the others from here, and she can't go back... Oh well. Time to keep walking.

Though she picks up the pace a little on her way to the next hole. And her eyes are examining every detail.

[Slii Arhem]

Time Tower

When she's reached the second hole, Legion will have taken 195 steps in total. The holes are now facing the hallway again, slightly offset by the abortive first step she took.

If she goes through the hole into the third circle, she'll slow down to under 3x normal speed, although she may not be able to tell by how much. It would take 75 more steps, including the one through the hole, in order to match up with the next one if she's going that far.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Time Tower]

"Huh. You know, this whole place has to do with time... I mean, that room is quite literally built on a giant clockface, and the one walking through it has sped up, apparently. What if those are times, rather than numbers of steps?"

[Zefir]

[Time Tower]

"So 400 means 4:00? Or does it mean 6:40? The number could either display minutes or secounds or a clock itself."

There isn't still anything to do other than talks, bad thing when you are such small. He still thinks why Reinhold hates him. After all it was obviouse he was in human shape after the thing with the watch and such.

[Reinholdt]

Time Tower

Ummm... what? Reinholdt has not shifted to human form once in this plot. I would have said so if he did.

"It's probable. But I think the lizard is on to something with a combination lock. In particular, going right a certain number of steps, left, right, left, etc. while staying in the outer circle, such as to set up a perfect walk through all six holes in six steps. Maybe..."

[Halae]

[Time Tower]

Tarn, who has spent this whole time just standing there and observing the goings on of what's happening with Legion, readies an action.

With Legion standing in front of one of the holes, he's not about to test his theory just yet; He'll let her get through first, definitely. But the moment she's safely through the other side, he'll take a step into the room. Just a single space moved forward.

[Murkus]

[Time Tower]

Legion feels increasingly alone as she proceeds. But she can't think of any way to proceed other than, well, proceeding. So she walks. And she'll keep walking until she runs out of holes or steps.

[Slii Arhem]

Time Tower

After Legion steps through the third hole and Tarn steps forward into the room, the holes spin twice, making reaching the next hole easier for her. She reaches it after 74 steps, instead of 75.

(269 total)

The next hole takes sixty steps to reach, and she is slowed again to only two times normal speed.

(329 total)

And the next 45. Now she is at just over normal speed.

(374 total steps)

Now Legion stands in the center ring, no more holes left to go through. She's moving normally, and based on the amount of steps in the rings before this one she should be able to tell that there are up to 60 steps in the ring around the central staircase.

She could step forward now, and attempt to head upstairs, or she could first take however many steps around she thinks are required to solve the riddle. The answer is still well within her grasp.

[Reinholdt]

Time Tower

374. Reinholdt mentally files this in his head. There were two issues with this number now. One, Legion had made a previous step that off-set the puzzle. Two, Tarn made a step which further off-set the puzzle. While it did mean that other people could help the person out by making steps, it didn't help Rein figure out exactly how many steps is correct.

[Murkus]

Time Tower

Legion stops, peering closely at the staircase. She'll count the number of steps carefully.

[Slii Arhem]

Time Tower

There are 24 steps up the central staircase before it disappears into the ceiling. It, like everything but the glass rings, is made of brass.

Oddly enough, the bottom step seems to be facing Legion, no matter where she is in the room.

Although, from Tarn's point of view, it's facing Tarn. Odd that. Same goes for Reinholdt, Mr. C. and Lellienth, although since they're standing behind Tarn in a hallway they don't really have a seperate point of view from Tarn's

[Reinholdt]

Time Tower

Reinholdt waits on Legion. Surely she'll do something here at some point or another.

[Murkus]

*cough* Sorry. >.>

Time Tower

Legion takes two steps, then starts to climb the stairs. She's counted the one from before. All in all, it should amount to 400. The Lady can't see any other pattern or significance in the numbers, so that's her best guess.

[Slii Arhem]

Time Tower

As Legion reaches the top of the final step the same force that would prevent her from going backwards prevents her from moving ahead. At the same time, the speed of the circle she stands in his greatly accelerated, causing an entire day to pass in six seconds. The pocketwatch she is carrying reflects this speed, the hand zipping around the face until it reaches the top again.

Then, the same magic that governs the rest of the tower's effects attempts to displace Legion, the watch letting out a faint "Ping!" to signal that she has gone over her time limit. The teleport should take her to the front doors, just outside them (unless she has something to prevent that) . Oddly enough, the doors are open despite them sealing earlier, allowing her to walk inside.

The pocketwatch she had is now sitting in the bowl again, waiting to be picked up.

Hardly the lethal punishment the riddle foretold...

((From this point on, if someone wants to make a character go through the rings and attempt a number of steps they can just say how many steps the character takes to save time. Unless they try something fancy with the rings I'll just say whether they went over the needed number or under, and what the effect was.))

[Reinholdt]

Reinholdt will try to walk the maze in... 396 steps, shifting into human form for his attempt.

[Zefir]

Time Tower

Since Mr. C is still unable to do anything he will just watch. And sadly he didn't see the entrace or the way peoplr go. He seems a bit exhausted since he has tried to stand up the whole time.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Time Tower]

Lellienth goes to... Flip Mr. C over? I think the problem is that he fell on his back, anyway...

[Slii Arhem]

Reinholdt will try to walk the maze in... 396 steps, shifting into human form for his attempt.

Time Tower

Reinholdt fails to walk the maze in less than 400 steps, the bare minimum possible. He will also find himself teleported outside the front doors without his watch, having lost a day off his life.