Nathaniel returns, hearing the tail end of what Malcolm says. His face grave, steely grey eyes hard.
"Giving the target more time is exactly what the designer intended. It's a counter-siege weapon. The more time there is, the more enemy troops can march into the blast radius. What we have is a poison trap. The bad news is that it was designed to kill whole battalions, and there are only five of us--one wrong move and we may all die. The good news is that it can be disarmed, but only by hands smaller than my own. I think there were special tools designed for the task, making it nigh impossible for a dwarven enemy to disarm. But they had to have some mechanism, to allow friendly groups to safely leave the thaig." He points at each person in turn.
"Anders, I need you to lay ice in and over the seams, as thick as you can make without breaking anything underneath. It likely won't keep the trap from going off, but it ought to slow it if worst comes to worst, and give us a few seconds longer to run. Malcolm, I need you assisting Anders however possible. Finding rocks to put on the switchplate, maybe, but don't overdo it--you break the plate, we all die. Once the two of you have done all you can, I want you out of here as far as you can go. Iskandar, don't move. Inessa, I need you with me."
And with that, he takes off through the cracked-open gates, expecting Inessa to follow. Just inside and to the left is a set of stairs leading to a turret nestled against the wall. Nathaniel takes them three at a time.
no subject
"Giving the target more time is exactly what the designer intended. It's a counter-siege weapon. The more time there is, the more enemy troops can march into the blast radius. What we have is a poison trap. The bad news is that it was designed to kill whole battalions, and there are only five of us--one wrong move and we may all die. The good news is that it can be disarmed, but only by hands smaller than my own. I think there were special tools designed for the task, making it nigh impossible for a dwarven enemy to disarm. But they had to have some mechanism, to allow friendly groups to safely leave the thaig." He points at each person in turn.
"Anders, I need you to lay ice in and over the seams, as thick as you can make without breaking anything underneath. It likely won't keep the trap from going off, but it ought to slow it if worst comes to worst, and give us a few seconds longer to run. Malcolm, I need you assisting Anders however possible. Finding rocks to put on the switchplate, maybe, but don't overdo it--you break the plate, we all die. Once the two of you have done all you can, I want you out of here as far as you can go. Iskandar, don't move. Inessa, I need you with me."
And with that, he takes off through the cracked-open gates, expecting Inessa to follow. Just inside and to the left is a set of stairs leading to a turret nestled against the wall. Nathaniel takes them three at a time.