(Sounds like Rash and Anita are going to come back and find the entire place empty except for Solitude and the two Zhents who are still trussed up in the closet lol... and that's assuming Solitude didn't find a way to get in and murderize said Zhents while everyone else was busy).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
(Sounds like Rash and Anita are going to come back and find the entire place empty except for Solitude and the two Zhents who are still trussed up in the closet lol... and that's assuming Solitude didn't find a way to get in and murderize said Zhents while everyone else was busy).
Lol! Who could welcome Rash and Anita warmer than Solitude? (Or maybe you won't even see her... You will only find the massacred remains of the captive Zhentarim and she will be hidden, lurking, a crossbow in the shadows ready to do justice to even the last surviving Zhentarim...)
Spira, meanwhile, making up his mind, realizes that the figures are mere illusions, but this makes them suppose that they must have some role, a meaning...
Impossible not to notice the affinity with the room where Yellow Kylth's Flags were kept: there too was a low wall near one of the ordinary walls... and the flags were kept behind the low wall.
It will probably be the same here too. And since the only way to get to the low wall involves passing through the area divided into squares, with an illusion in each square... this must be a riddle, a puzzle of some kind - with probable negative consequences in the face of any errors.
If Elky's last words, 'And be constant', weren't to be considered as initials but as an ordinary advice, the solution to the puzzle would have to go through the identification of something constant...
"I think this chamber is trouble" Gaer replies to Aidwyn. "As for 'what should we do', I'd walk up to the low wall and look for some flags back there… So, most likely, this is the very thing not to do. Let Quspira think… She's good at this... We're pulling her along for something, after all, aren't we?"
Roxana shakes her head. "I'm thinking common traits. Like maybe all the squares are ones with wings. Or all humanoids. But I'm not sure."
She continues to look at everything. "I'm feeling like going north-west, center-center, south-east might do it. All winged reptiles with four legs. And none of the others are reptiles with 4 legs."
She then takes a deep breath. "However, there are humanoids in north-center, center-east, and south-center. So why not choose those? There is an extra humanoid at south-west. And is the north-center really a humanoid or just like a humanoid?"
"Only one..." Gaer says, with a lump in his throat "If you think our best bet is the route you said... don't go there yourself. Let me try instead, ok? Everything will be fine... I'm sure. But if something goes wrong… you could then do something. Or have other ideas. I couldn't. So, think as much as you like… but when it comes to trying, I will try, okay?"
(OOC - And sorry, yes, Roxana would have picked up the small straight piece of iron that she noticed.)
"Gaer!" Roxana says. 'I've had boys flatter me before, but this one is certainly going beyond the normal,' she thinks. "Uhm." she says nervously now, "I think there's no need for you to sacrifice yourself quite yet. Let's make sure we aren't missing something first." Still holding his hand, she squeezes it a bit without really thinking about it.
"Take it easy, Roxana" Gaer pretends not to be tense at all. "My idea isn't to 'sacrifice myself'. You've been doing just fine so far, smart girl, you'll figure it out. Only... if we happen to make a mistake... and whoever tries ends up trapped... I'm convinced you could figure out how to fix things; I definitely couldn't".
Meanwhile Roxana reflects, examines, checks... Examining the illusions better, some affinities come to mind that Spira had already noticed... In fact, north-west, center-center, south-east might do it they are all winged reptiles with four legs... most likely dragons of some kind. While what seemed to her to be 'humanoids'... upon examining some details of her appearance and posture, they seem to her to be further categorizable ... North-center, center-east and south-west must be celestials of some kind ... While North-east, center-west and south-center must be fiendish creatures.
It would therefore seem possible to group illusions into at least these three categories...
"You ask as if it were something important, for you..." the tiefling smiles at the girl from Longsaddle, flaunting a certainty that doesn't have to be all real "So, how could I not oblige?"
Then he exhales and, before losing courage, takes a step.
He enters the north-west square.
And nothing happens.
He enters the center-center square.
Still nothing!
An uncertain smile spreads across her face as she enters the south-east suqare.
Still nothing!
Wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead, Gaer leaves the area of illusions and reaches the low wall.
"Damnation!" he curses, banging his fist on the wall "All this for nothing!"
Grim-faced, he's about to walk back towards you... then he stops.
He laughs, seeing your faces: "You fell for it, didn't you?"
He goes back to the wall and collects four flags that look exactly like the Yellow Kylth's Flags that you already own - only that they have purple fabric.
While he is still laughing, he keeps a flag for himself, repeats the route backwards and kisses Roxana on the cheek: "I knew you would have figured it out! Thanks for saving me from unpleasant consequences!"
He hands another of the flags to her and the other two to the first two friends who come over to get them.
The white-haired warrior had followed along in the back, now holding his own flag. He wasn't here to find tenderness but it didn't escape him the the air had been full of it since they came to this place. Gaer seemed like a good man and by the way he was with Roxana he certainly had something to live for, much moreso than the white-haired woodsman. "I'll go, you stay and hold hands Gaer." He says with a sly grin, then trying his best to follow Roxana's instructions as he moves forward.
Roxana let's out a sigh of relief when Gaer makes it through the squares with nothing happening. She clearly looks disappointed when he comes up empty handed in the end. Then is left shaking her head as she finds that it was just a ruse on Gaer's part. "Yes, you did get me!" she admits.
Hearing Obidiah's offer to go that came a little too late, Roxana places a hand on the man shoulder. "Thank you. But I guess he's got it. And I'm no less interested in you not dying!" She quickly moves her hand back, not sure how comfortable the man would be with the gesture.
When Gaer returns, she does blush a little as he kisses her cheek. And she gives him a quick hug. "You did great Gaer! Umm, I was just worried because I'd have felt responsible if anything bad happened following my instructions."
"Of course..." Gaer pretends to confirm, looking long into her eyes "Just a bit of noble altruism... What other feeling could there ever be between us? All in all, we're just... fellow adventurers, right? I mean... We should feel... something inside..." he brings a hand to his stomach thoughtfully"yes, something like butterflies in our stomach... if there was something else right?"
He then forces himself to focus on the others: "Now that we've got these too," he waves his Purple Kylth's Flag happily "what do we do? Do we go back up to wait for Rash and Anita? Or shall we continue exploring on our own for a while longer?"
For the past few minutes, Spira had fallen into a muse, nodding and murmuring to herself ...she hoped something helpful, it had certainly started with the puzzle they were all faced with. But as she comes back to the present she realizes how much of it had strayed into remembering how different her banter with Gaer had been in the bad old days in Berdusk. Biting, sometimes; definitely much more corrosive and acid on his part, and her own words harder and sometimes desperately hectoring. Now ... and finally she does let out a little chuckle, slowly realizing how warm the glances and words had grown between Gaer and Roxana. Her brother certainly had grown up since then! Though not too much ... her own heart was still slowing down from the way he'd shocked her out of her muse with that foolhardy stunt. But she couldn't find anything more to say to him than, "Of course you dragged me along for something, dear brother. I am a licensed clergywoman of one of the recognized faiths of the Realms, after all ... " She winks and leaves the remark hanging for a moment before adding, "And yes, Rash, Anita and Solitude would be terribly disappointed to not be there, so let's go up and tell them all our news when the two former get back. Maybe someone should stay down here by the stairs and hold onto the flags though, in case it's like Elky and we have to repeat everything if we all leave and then return."
"that was great job Gaer and Roxana. Mind if I try the "celestials" route? Maybe we could find something more... " ask Aidwyn after taking one of the purple flags from Gaer
Roxana listens closely to what Gaer has to say. She watches him carefully for a bit, staying silent. 'Did I upset him? I figured he was just teasing me! Did he mean to say he had felt something? Or did he honestly not? How was she supposed to know? She now wondered about herself too. She had certainly been nervous. And concerned about Gaer. And... surprised he kissed her cheek? Glad he did?'
Her internal musings were interrupted by Spira's comment. 'A clergywoman... did she mean...' The red-haired woman again felt a wave of embarassment as she blushed slightly.
Roxana was at a loss for words. At least until Aidwyn spoke up. "No! I mean, what else might there even be but more flags? But, how would you jump from the far east side to the far west side for that last step?"
"Okay sis" the tiefling gladly accepts. "I'll stay in the room with the stairs... so you too can say 'you dragged me along for something', are you happy?"
"Hmmm... 'celestials' route would be..." Gaer examines the illusions, hearing Aidwyn's proposition "North-center, Center-east, South-west. To go from Center-east to South-west You'll have to jump… and you should be able to do it, girl... But the point is why? What else do you think you'll find? Behind the low wall there was nothing else, I just looked there... I wouldn't advise you to take a risk... for no reason".
"Well, let's head back to the bottom of the staircase and decide what to do," Roxana suggests. "Umm, Gaer, will you take my hand? We don't have too many yellow flags at this point. Probably not the time to start getting careless. She gives him a small smile. "You really did do great there."
(OOC - I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do. That probably took far less time than it took Rash to get to Longsaddle. So he's still got to cast his 1 hour spell and come back. Roxana would not want to sit around. But we ought to get the group back together.)
"Well, let's head back to the bottom of the staircase and decide what to do," Roxana suggests. "Umm, Gaer, will you take my hand? We don't have too many yellow flags at this point. Probably not the time to start getting careless. She gives him a small smile. "You really did do great there."
(OOC - I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do. That probably took far less time than it took Rash to get to Longsaddle. So he's still got to cast his 1 hour spell and come back. Roxana would not want to sit around. But we ought to get the group back together.)
(OOC: I guess maybe you could set some traps up so we can have more fresh meat after we find the bead?)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
(Sounds like Rash and Anita are going to come back and find the entire place empty except for Solitude and the two Zhents who are still trussed up in the closet lol... and that's assuming Solitude didn't find a way to get in and murderize said Zhents while everyone else was busy).
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
Lol! Who could welcome Rash and Anita warmer than Solitude? (Or maybe you won't even see her... You will only find the massacred remains of the captive Zhentarim and she will be hidden, lurking, a crossbow in the shadows ready to do justice to even the last surviving Zhentarim...)
Spira, meanwhile, making up his mind, realizes that the figures are mere illusions, but this makes them suppose that they must have some role, a meaning...
Impossible not to notice the affinity with the room where Yellow Kylth's Flags were kept: there too was a low wall near one of the ordinary walls... and the flags were kept behind the low wall.
It will probably be the same here too. And since the only way to get to the low wall involves passing through the area divided into squares, with an illusion in each square... this must be a riddle, a puzzle of some kind - with probable negative consequences in the face of any errors.
If Elky's last words, 'And be constant', weren't to be considered as initials but as an ordinary advice, the solution to the puzzle would have to go through the identification of something constant...
"I think this chamber is trouble" Gaer replies to Aidwyn. "As for 'what should we do', I'd walk up to the low wall and look for some flags back there… So, most likely, this is the very thing not to do. Let Quspira think… She's good at this... We're pulling her along for something, after all, aren't we?"
Roxana shakes her head. "I'm thinking common traits. Like maybe all the squares are ones with wings. Or all humanoids. But I'm not sure."
She continues to look at everything. "I'm feeling like going north-west, center-center, south-east might do it. All winged reptiles with four legs. And none of the others are reptiles with 4 legs."
She then takes a deep breath. "However, there are humanoids in north-center, center-east, and south-center. So why not choose those? There is an extra humanoid at south-west. And is the north-center really a humanoid or just like a humanoid?"
"Anyone have other thoughts?"
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
"Only one..." Gaer says, with a lump in his throat "If you think our best bet is the route you said... don't go there yourself. Let me try instead, ok? Everything will be fine... I'm sure. But if something goes wrong… you could then do something. Or have other ideas. I couldn't. So, think as much as you like… but when it comes to trying, I will try, okay?"
(OOC - And sorry, yes, Roxana would have picked up the small straight piece of iron that she noticed.)
"Gaer!" Roxana says. 'I've had boys flatter me before, but this one is certainly going beyond the normal,' she thinks. "Uhm." she says nervously now, "I think there's no need for you to sacrifice yourself quite yet. Let's make sure we aren't missing something first." Still holding his hand, she squeezes it a bit without really thinking about it.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
(Roxana Investigation roll to try to figure out the clues: 16)
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
"Take it easy, Roxana" Gaer pretends not to be tense at all. "My idea isn't to 'sacrifice myself'. You've been doing just fine so far, smart girl, you'll figure it out. Only... if we happen to make a mistake... and whoever tries ends up trapped... I'm convinced you could figure out how to fix things; I definitely couldn't".
Meanwhile Roxana reflects, examines, checks... Examining the illusions better, some affinities come to mind that Spira had already noticed... In fact, north-west, center-center, south-east might do it they are all winged reptiles with four legs... most likely dragons of some kind. While what seemed to her to be 'humanoids'... upon examining some details of her appearance and posture, they seem to her to be further categorizable ... North-center, center-east and south-west must be celestials of some kind ... While North-east, center-west and south-center must be fiendish creatures.
It would therefore seem possible to group illusions into at least these three categories...
A bit nervous, Roxana finally says, "Ok, let's try it Gaer. Just... be careful. We'll all be ready to react if something good wrong."
She takes a deep breath. "It's north-west, center-center, south-east. All the winged lizard.... dragons?"
She then stands ready, clearly tense, as she waits to see what happens. "Gaer, don't die."
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
"You ask as if it were something important, for you..." the tiefling smiles at the girl from Longsaddle, flaunting a certainty that doesn't have to be all real "So, how could I not oblige?"
Then he exhales and, before losing courage, takes a step.
He enters the north-west square.
And nothing happens.
He enters the center-center square.
Still nothing!
An uncertain smile spreads across her face as she enters the south-east suqare.
Still nothing!
Wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead, Gaer leaves the area of illusions and reaches the low wall.
"Damnation!" he curses, banging his fist on the wall "All this for nothing!"
Grim-faced, he's about to walk back towards you... then he stops.
He laughs, seeing your faces: "You fell for it, didn't you?"
He goes back to the wall and collects four flags that look exactly like the Yellow Kylth's Flags that you already own - only that they have purple fabric.
While he is still laughing, he keeps a flag for himself, repeats the route backwards and kisses Roxana on the cheek: "I knew you would have figured it out! Thanks for saving me from unpleasant consequences!"
He hands another of the flags to her and the other two to the first two friends who come over to get them.
The white-haired warrior had followed along in the back, now holding his own flag. He wasn't here to find tenderness but it didn't escape him the the air had been full of it since they came to this place. Gaer seemed like a good man and by the way he was with Roxana he certainly had something to live for, much moreso than the white-haired woodsman. "I'll go, you stay and hold hands Gaer." He says with a sly grin, then trying his best to follow Roxana's instructions as he moves forward.
( Nevermind, too slow again :-P )Roxana let's out a sigh of relief when Gaer makes it through the squares with nothing happening. She clearly looks disappointed when he comes up empty handed in the end. Then is left shaking her head as she finds that it was just a ruse on Gaer's part. "Yes, you did get me!" she admits.
Hearing Obidiah's offer to go that came a little too late, Roxana places a hand on the man shoulder. "Thank you. But I guess he's got it. And I'm no less interested in you not dying!" She quickly moves her hand back, not sure how comfortable the man would be with the gesture.
When Gaer returns, she does blush a little as he kisses her cheek. And she gives him a quick hug. "You did great Gaer! Umm, I was just worried because I'd have felt responsible if anything bad happened following my instructions."
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
"Of course..." Gaer pretends to confirm, looking long into her eyes "Just a bit of noble altruism... What other feeling could there ever be between us? All in all, we're just... fellow adventurers, right? I mean... We should feel... something inside..." he brings a hand to his stomach thoughtfully "yes, something like butterflies in our stomach... if there was something else right?"
He then forces himself to focus on the others: "Now that we've got these too," he waves his Purple Kylth's Flag happily "what do we do? Do we go back up to wait for Rash and Anita? Or shall we continue exploring on our own for a while longer?"
For the past few minutes, Spira had fallen into a muse, nodding and murmuring to herself ...she hoped something helpful, it had certainly started with the puzzle they were all faced with. But as she comes back to the present she realizes how much of it had strayed into remembering how different her banter with Gaer had been in the bad old days in Berdusk. Biting, sometimes; definitely much more corrosive and acid on his part, and her own words harder and sometimes desperately hectoring. Now ... and finally she does let out a little chuckle, slowly realizing how warm the glances and words had grown between Gaer and Roxana. Her brother certainly had grown up since then! Though not too much ... her own heart was still slowing down from the way he'd shocked her out of her muse with that foolhardy stunt. But she couldn't find anything more to say to him than, "Of course you dragged me along for something, dear brother. I am a licensed clergywoman of one of the recognized faiths of the Realms, after all ... " She winks and leaves the remark hanging for a moment before adding, "And yes, Rash, Anita and Solitude would be terribly disappointed to not be there, so let's go up and tell them all our news when the two former get back. Maybe someone should stay down here by the stairs and hold onto the flags though, in case it's like Elky and we have to repeat everything if we all leave and then return."
Famh Thrawn Fiadhaich - 'half elven' sorcerer (wild magic) 2, Sleeping Gods - A Dragon Warriors campaign in the Lands of Legend
Quspira Inirali - tiefling cleric (Life domain) 4, Painted's "He'll be the father of my child"
---RETIRED HEROES' REST HOME---
Sae Ivui Nailo - wood elf rogue (inquisitive) 5 , Sea of Death: Captain Hailstorm's Lost Treasure
Ryshraxea "Shra" Naranthi - tabaxi artificer 1, Nyx's Tomb of Annihilation - Group 1
"that was great job Gaer and Roxana. Mind if I try the "celestials" route? Maybe we could find something more... " ask Aidwyn after taking one of the purple flags from Gaer
PbP Character: A few ;)
Roxana listens closely to what Gaer has to say. She watches him carefully for a bit, staying silent. 'Did I upset him? I figured he was just teasing me! Did he mean to say he had felt something? Or did he honestly not? How was she supposed to know? She now wondered about herself too. She had certainly been nervous. And concerned about Gaer. And... surprised he kissed her cheek? Glad he did?'
Her internal musings were interrupted by Spira's comment. 'A clergywoman... did she mean...' The red-haired woman again felt a wave of embarassment as she blushed slightly.
Roxana was at a loss for words. At least until Aidwyn spoke up. "No! I mean, what else might there even be but more flags? But, how would you jump from the far east side to the far west side for that last step?"
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
"Okay sis" the tiefling gladly accepts. "I'll stay in the room with the stairs... so you too can say 'you dragged me along for something', are you happy?"
"Hmmm... 'celestials' route would be..." Gaer examines the illusions, hearing Aidwyn's proposition "North-center, Center-east, South-west. To go from Center-east to South-west You'll have to jump… and you should be able to do it, girl... But the point is why? What else do you think you'll find? Behind the low wall there was nothing else, I just looked there... I wouldn't advise you to take a risk... for no reason".
"Well, let's head back to the bottom of the staircase and decide what to do," Roxana suggests. "Umm, Gaer, will you take my hand? We don't have too many yellow flags at this point. Probably not the time to start getting careless. She gives him a small smile. "You really did do great there."
(OOC - I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do. That probably took far less time than it took Rash to get to Longsaddle. So he's still got to cast his 1 hour spell and come back. Roxana would not want to sit around. But we ought to get the group back together.)
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
(OOC: I guess maybe you could set some traps up so we can have more fresh meat after we find the bead?)
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!