The Portcullis Puzzle

Summary

The Portcullis Puzzle occurred in Session 3 when Safia confronted a mechanism controlling multiple portcullises and a door while her companions remained trapped behind one of the barriers. With The Sniff Lord secured in the tunnel and her friends—Sucks, Vasso, and Katniss—separated from her by a lowered portcullis, Safia faced The Portcullis Mechanism: three stone buttons whose function was not immediately clear. Her attempt to discern the logic revealed an interconnected system where opening one barrier would seal another. Safia chose to free her friends, knowing this decision would bar the door at the top of The Rex Tree and trap the entire party deeper in the cavern complex.

Details

During Session 3, Safia stood before The Portcullis Mechanism with her companions trapped on the opposite side of a portcullis and The Sniff Lord restrained in another section of the tunnels. The mechanism consisted of three stone buttons, and Safia attempted to understand their function. On a 7-9 result, the GM told Erin: "You're looking at the buttons and you're looking around the room and you can sort of see logic in where things are placed and how like these three portculli and the wall and the door in the side of the tree, how it's all kind of part of the same mechanism." The revelation came with a cost: "And you think that if you open this portcullis you won't be able to open the door at the top of the tree."

Faced with this dilemma, Safia prioritized her friends' freedom over maintaining the exit route. Through trial and error, she worked out the correct sequence. "You push the button in a specific sequence. That takes a lot of trial and error. And the portcullis. Click, click, click, click, click, click, click. Raises into the ceiling. And you hear a thunk up further in the tree that you believe means the door has been barred."

The party celebrated their reunion, initially unaware they had traded one trap for another—all were now sealed deeper in the cavern with no clear path back to The Rex Tree's upper exit. Safia then manipulated the buttons again to close the portcullis containing The Sniff Lord, preventing the captive from escaping while keeping the others open, though the exit door remained sealed.

Participants

• Safia — Operated The Portcullis Mechanism, made the decision to free her friends at the cost of sealing the exit
• Sucks — Trapped behind the portcullis, freed by Safia's actions
• Vasso — Trapped behind the portcullis, freed by Safia's actions
• Katniss — Trapped behind the portcullis, freed by Safia's actions
• The Sniff Lord — Secured in the tunnel, later sealed behind a portcullis by Safia

Consequences

• The party reunited after being separated by the portcullis barriers
• The door at the top of The Rex Tree became barred, trapping all party members deeper in the cavern complex
• The Sniff Lord was secured behind a closed portcullis, unable to escape or interfere
• The party's exit route was eliminated, forcing them to find another way out of the underground system
• Safia gained knowledge of how The Portcullis Mechanism functions through trial and error