Quest #21 "Island Hopping"

[Jernau35]

Maag

Maag mulls Andron's plan, then delivers his considered opinion. "Yeah, wotever. If it works, great. If not we try sumfin else."

"Anybody dat is not messin' about wiv stuff in der treasure romm needs to stay on der guard outside. An' we need to roll up Caracenus in 'is cloak an' figure out 'ow to get 'im out of 'ere"

[wolfpack]

Gramble will stand guard axe ready

[kruk]

Lerrick

Agreed Maag. The cleric moves to untie the fallen fighter's cloak. Once she has done so she gently wraps the cloak around the body. Perhaps we put the body in the room we recently discovered.

[Jernau35]

Maag

Just as Lerrick starts to wrap up Caracenus, Maag suddenly stops her. " 'ang on a second. We're forgettin' der most important fing. We can't let 'im go to 'is grave like dis."

Maag crouches down and starts to search Caracenus' gear. " 'e's probably got some decent stuff. No reason it's gotta go to waste."

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"I will stand guard."

[OGRE MAGE]

Back Inside The Secret Room
Starday, 20th of Goodmonth
Morning, Sunny, Warm, Humid

The always talkative Andron lays out an intricate plan to attempt to lift the copper disks up from the platform. To which Alordan agrees that they should definitely go after the minotaur. Maag pilfers anything of value off of their dead comrade before Lerrick wraps him up in his cloak before the bugs move in.

Sticking together, guard positions are taken up in the tunnels as Maag and Andronichishche attempt to manipulate the large copper pucks in an upward fashion. They soon learn that none of the seven can be lifted up, out, or away from the stone dais in any manner.

The others hear and see no indication that Brutus is anywhere nearby. Or Cu.

Actions?

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map:

0C37F228-7B32-498D-90F9-5A6AF274A172.jpeg (167.52 KiB) Viewed 506 times

Alordan 18/18
Lerrick 7/11 2/4 1st (Light stone 40'r)
Tlachtga 8/8 4/4 1st Torch 40’r
Gramble 16/16 (Light stone 40'r)
Andronichishche 6/6 0/3 1st / CL, DM, RM 1/1 1st (Light stone 40'r)
Maag 12/12

MIA
Sir Crestbrook 9/11 LoH (Petrified in Melania’s(?) bedroom)
Cu AC:3 13/13 (Whereabouts Unknown)

Carucenus -5.5/10 (Dead)
message on tiny decorative box
Mina's note

[wolfpack]

so are we going looking for this bastard or are we playing with the disks

gramble yells back over his shoulder

[Jernau35]

Maag

"We might as well stay 'ere", Maag shouts back. " 'e could be anywhere. If we stay 'ere, we get der treasure an' den 'e doesn't matter any more."

In a quieter voice he explains his reasoning to those closer by. " 'e might come back 'ere an' attack us. But 'e could do dat anywhere anyway. Once we get der treasure out, we can go 'ome an' Brutus can stay out 'ere forever. Oo cares?"

What sort of stuff does Caracenus have? I know a couple of people said they were low on torches. Sacks would be handy too. After the Spider Maze we took the gear of the dead folks back to town and stored it somewhere as spare gear for folks to use later.

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga continues to stand guard.

Yelling, "I agree with you Gramble."

[OGRE MAGE]

His sheet is right here...

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=6226&start=20#p462610

[Jernau35]

8 silver pieces! I can't believe Maag almost went to the trouble of trying to Pick Pockets of a guy who's only carrying 8sp! It's beneath his dignity.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche

Andronichishche was admittedly motivated to deal with Brutus ... by force, if necessary ... but Maag reiterated what he already knew. He raises his voice so it carries to the tunnel sentries, "Mr. Maag is correct. The treasure is our primary objective. If we did attempt to hunt Brutus, in these narrow tunnels only one of us could engage him. If slain, the dais would simply summon him again as it has done many times before. For now, he's afraid of us, but that may not last long."

Turning his full attention back to the dais in the secret room, his eyes close in concentration. He was accustomed to solving complex mathematical and arcane equations. Logic games were also a favorite pasttime as an acolyte in the temple. Attempting to follow the meaning behind clues left by a thoroughly insane, yet quite intelligent monster, however, has left his considerable patience worn thin.

"I thought it was more likely the discs must be inserted into the dais ... but, I had hoped otherwise as we had little equipment to spare as a weight," he says glancing at the cloak shrouded body of Carucenus, "... until now." Andronichishche steps out of the room's threshold into the adjacent tunnel, away from the bright copper painted floor and walls.

He removes the light stone from his bamboo pole, and extends the latter into the secret room to test its range. "Let us twine your pole with this one to increase the length. That will allow us to stay outside the room itself. We can tie Mr. Carucenus's backpack to the end of the rope as a weight for the discs, adding pieces of his armor as necessary to increase the mass. Same procedure as before, except dropping the backpack to insert the discs."

After the modified fishing tool is assembled with the weighted backpack, Andron suggests one more change, "If this test has no effect, let us continue with the remaining discs, as I believe we will be forced to reset the discs by raising them manually. If there is a trap, I would rather set it off now while we are in the tunnel."

[ravenn4544]

Alordan guards the tunnel since they aren't going anywhere... he listens for any sounds coming from the darkness.

[OGRE MAGE]

While their shouts echo through the many nearby tunnels, Andron continues his experiments with the large copper buttons, only cringing a little by all the yelling he hears outside.

He soon learns that setting the roughly 50 pounds contained inside the dead man’s backpack upon any of the disks causes them to sink into the dais until flush with its top. However, as soon as the weight is removed, the buttons immediately rise back into their original positions again.

All of the buttons appear to react identically, and no traps appear to be triggered throughout the experiments.

[wolfpack]

put the statues on the disks

[Rex]

Tlachtga

"Excellent idea Gramble. Now which ones to go where? What is the closest statue?"

[kruk]

Lerrick

The cleric stand guard as the others solve the mystery of the treasure room.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche

Andronichishche disassembles the fishing tool and reaffixes the light stone to his bamboo pole. He steps further into the tunnel so he doesn't need to raise his voice to reach the tunnel wardens. "Using statues, or even pieces thereof, is certainly a viable option. We also did not appear to activate any traps, but that doesn't conclusively exclude the presence of one." He pulls out his map and unfolds it with a flourish born from pure repetition.

"Those eroded statues southwest from here," he says, indicating on his map the location of the five statues referenced. "They are unrecognizable as any species due to the extensive erosion. I had thought them to be victims of the medusa long ago, but ... what if they are actual sculptures? Pieces intended for this room and the discs?" He spreads his hand across the map, gesturing to it as a whole. "Moving any statues will take considerable time and effort, however, and put us further at risk from another ambush. I think at this point we should first search for any remaining clues left by Marquees."

He points now to the medusa's lair. "There is definitely writing on the wall of the junk room we haven't checked, nor have we scanned for magical items that may be involved. Additional written notes may also be present, of course. We also have yet to search the pond in the grotto past the secret door," he says, circling the natural cavern on the map in the northwestern corner. "Mr. Cu may also have been teleported to that area. He would be trapped if Marquees had close the door when we left. I suggest we search the pond first and hopefully Mr. Cu will also be there."

Map.jpeg

[kruk]

Lerrick

The cleric turns to Andron

How big are the five statues in the other room? I don't remember. Perhaps if there are small we can go there as a whole group and get them? Might more than one trip, but the room is not that far from here.

[ravenn4544]

Alordan asks, "so we are all going back to that junk room then?"