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Lanny the elf

frobozz wrote:Lanny the elf

Regarding the yellow mold: Fire will destroy it, but disturbing it in any way (including burning it) might cause spores to be released, which could be fatal if breathed. One possibility - open all the doors between the dining room and the castle entrance, and have our fastest PC (ahem) use his monastic breathing techniques to hold his breath while he rushes around the table throwing all the gold plates into a large sack and then racing outside and dumping the sack on the ground. The sack can then be safely burned to kill the mold with plenty of ventilation to spare! (Either that, or just play it safe and take only the silver items that are not clearly covered in yellow mold.) Thoughts?

Drudsa the dabbler

Lanny the elf

Tratiln would prefer not to risk any life to the dangerous molds in the room. He feels it best to just throw in oil and have at it with fire.

Innana the Fighter:

Innana listens to Lanny's plan and decides that she can delay her bath a bit in the hopes of more hidden treasure.. "I think we should all run through together, and if you want to do the run of the dinning room holding your breath, that sounds good to me." I don't want to be too far away if you need me though."

Bouv wrote:Tratiln would prefer not to risk any life to the dangerous molds in the room. He feels it best to just throw in oil and have at it

Flaurmont 6, 11:00 am

After a brief conference the adventurers decide to return to the first level of the castle and make sure all is clear before returning to Threshold. A brief check on the mounts reveals that they are hobbled where they had been left the day before; the small herd has made short work of the grass in the courtyard and seem a trifle miffed that they are not attended to immediately.

The companions promise to return as quickly as possible. Marodin calls upon his Immortal patron to grant him the sight that reveals all traps and pitfalls and a tour of the castle commences. The following is discovered:

The statue to the east is trapped but hides no treasure, at least as far as the adventurers are able to determine.

The two staircases leading downwards have vanished, to be replaced by thick walls of articulated stone.

The tapestries in the two bedrooms are not magical or trapped by any means, nor do they appear to be valuable as they are moth-eaten and damaged by mold. Marodin warns his companions that the bed in the western room is the subject of some sort of magical trap, though he cannot discern the nature of it.

No more loose stones are detected in any of the hearths.

Innana the Fighter:

Lanny the elf

Lanny comments in jest on the group's findings as they move through the castle one last time.

"I think we should re-set the swivel trap on the humanoid statue and move it out into the courtyard to act as our guardian while we are gone... And this magically trapped bed? Perhaps it induces one into a magical slumber of sorts... which actually sounds quite appealing after a rough night on the cold stone floor. By the way, Innana, this master bedroom is yours, I'll take one of the small corner rooms, thank you very much."

After the party leaves the castle, Lanny locks the front doors with the hobgoblin's key.

"Our tinkering with the crystal orb should prevent any nasty creatures from getting in from below, and this lock should keep out any nasty creatures from above. We must be aware, of course, that agents of Bargle may be headed to the castle, to deal punishment to the hobgoblin that they believe has rebelled against them. A simple lock will not keep them out..."

Lanny spends a few quiet moments with his horse Serenity, fetching some water for her from the lake and filling up his own waterskin again before loading up the rest of his gear. He hears Bregalad's suggestion to stop at Myraal's before entering Threshold.

"A wise suggestion indeed... These weapons that we have found are quite extraordinary... I would prefer not to have to leave them at the town hall... And if anyone can tell us about the history of the antiques that we have found, it will be Myraal."

Lanny mounts his horse and is ready to depart.

Drudsa the dabbler

Drudsa checks if Sugarfoot is fine and adjusts his belongings on the saddlebags before the group heads back to Threshold.

"Perhaps Myraal will be able to translate the alphatian inscriptions for us. Extraordinary place, this castle."

Thordin the dwarf

"This place holds many secrets. I doubt we could discover most of them in one stretch. Once we get back to Threshold, we should look for some men-at-arms to guard our mounts and some of the ingress/egress points of the castle if we want to come back here."

Innana the fighter:

frobozz wrote:Lanny the elf

Lanny comments in jest on the group's findings as they move through the castle one last time.

"I think we should re-set the swivel trap on the humanoid statue and move it out into the courtyard to act as our guardian while we are gone... And this magically trapped bed? Perhaps it induces one into a magical slumber of sorts... which actually sounds quite appealing after a rough night on the cold stone floor. By the way, Innana, this master bedroom is yours, I'll take one of the small corner rooms, thank you very much."

After the party leaves the castle, Lanny locks the front doors with the hobgoblin's key.

"Our tinkering with the crystal orb should prevent any nasty creatures from getting in from below, and this lock should keep out any nasty creatures from above. We must be aware, of course, that agents of Bargle may be headed to the castle, to deal punishment to the hobgoblin that they believe has rebelled against them. A simple lock will not keep them out..."

Lanny spends a few quiet moments with his horse Serenity, fetching some water for her from the lake and filling up his own waterskin again before loading up the rest of his gear. He hears Bregalad's suggestion to stop at Myraal's before entering Threshold.

"A wise suggestion indeed... These weapons that we have found are quite extraordinary... I would prefer not to have to leave them at the town hall... And if anyone can tell us about the history of the antiques that we have found, it will be Myraal."

Lanny mounts his horse and is ready to depart.

TK, thanks for running Castle Mistamere - it brought back a few fond memories! Once again, a fresh run of a classic adventure, with tons of new stuff to keep us guessing. Funny how we ended rather than started with the carrion crawler...

Innana watches the sides of Lanny's mouthy quiver into a smile as he offers the master bedroom to her. "Hmmmm, I don't think this bed induces sleep somehow, and I don't think that I would like to sleep on it to figure out how the trap works. Perhaps It works by only entrapping the second person that climbs into the bed,"...Innana feels a sudden need to explain herself, "you know, "Innana stammers, "for interrogation reasons." Innana tries to explain herself further, "like, why did you climb in this bed? Don't you know I am a warrior, and could kill you?" Innana looks at a row of open mouths and blank faces. Innana looks back at the bed, " or not".

Innana remains quiet as the group finishes the last of the castle inspection. Innana follows Thordin out to the stream and takes out some herbs and soap, and takes a moment to refresh and clean off the filth from the cave. Innana replaces her outer armor, and does a quick blade check, and makes sure her net is at her hip in case of any trouble on their travels.

Innana brings Bliss back some water, and talks to her horse, until she is spirited again, and rearing to go. Innana mounts her horse ready to travel once again.

The adventurers reset the statue trap to the best of their ability and lock the main door to Castle Mistamere before mounting up and heading out. The ride back is uneventful. As the companions skirt the Threshold walls they note that, at least from the outside, things seem to have calmed down considerably. The guards seems relaxed; there is considerably more foot traffic in and out of the town; most notably, the pillars of smoke from Fogors Isle have subsided and no longer darken the sky.

The adventurers reach Myraal's tower by late afternoon. They find the mage seated at the large table downstairs, books strewn about him.

"Welcome, my friends," the fat mage exclaims, "I had a premonition I would see you before the week's end! What can I do for you?"

Lanny the elf

Lanny smiles as he looks around at all the books scattered about on the table.

"Myraal, we have returned from Castle Mistamere with a few more items for you to research. We know that you are already under contract with us to research our other items, and we are eager to know if you have made any interesting discoveries, but wait until you see what we have discovered. As you correctly predicted, there were still a few treasures of antiquity carefully hidden throughout the castle... some pulsating with magical energies. Sadly, these treasures were obtained at a heavy cost, as we lost one of our scouts, Saul, in the endeavor..."

Lanny fills in Myraal on the basic details of the last couple of days and then displays on the table the magical and exotic items that the party wishes to have identified or researched. He allows time for the party to ask any questions about the various items and to make any arrangements to pay to have the items identified or researched. After all of this is done, Lanny confers quietly with the party for a few moments. If they are all in agreement, he will carefully remove the silver divination bowl and show it to Myraal.

"Myraal, I say this to you in the strictest confidence: We have good reason to believe that the renegade magic-user Bargle has been at Castle Mistamere, using it as a hideout of sorts to train an army of gnolls and dark dwarves for some unknown purpose... We learned that this silver bowl possesses the power to open a portal of communications between a dark mage and his hobgoblin henchman, whom we discovered was personally training this evil army at Castle Mistamere... and who, incidentally, is now sitting in a jail cell in Threshold due to our efforts. We would very much like to speak to this hobgoblin, perhaps even to convince him that he is our friend, if you understand my meaning, so that we might find out what he really knows about the renegade wizard... Is there anything you can do to help make this happen? The Church does not wish us access to the prisoner..."

Drudsa the dabbler

Drudsa agrees with showing all of the uncovered items to Myraal, including the silver bowl. "Maybe this can be used to locate Bargle's hideout. Also, there might be ways to use it safely, without contacting Bargle, and such a divination tool would give us a tremendous advantage in our travels."

Rhys the Traveler

Rhys offers no objection to Lanny's topics of discussion.

Innana the Fighter:

Myraal

The Guildmage laughs. "Perhaps I should cancel the rest of my obligations and devote myself full-time to identifying the relics and artifacts you all unearth! I will surely examine these new treasures you have brought me. It will be a week before I can complete the work, and another one thousand gold for everything. As to the hobgoblin and Varis, it occurs to me that I have herd rumors to the effect that the hobgoblin was executed yesterday for crimes of treason. Of course, he was a hobgoblin, so the charges were likely just window dressing."

He gestures at the pile of books. "As to your most recent charge, I have been doing as you asked. The elven chain mail is as the elves claimed; you may take that today, if you wish. I am still working on the other set of chain. The material you recovered from the Tower is, quite frankly, fascinating and puzzling at the same time. The journal mentions a comet; there are multiple accounts from credible sources referring to a comet during the specified time period . . . yet not one of these other sources mentions visible beings riding on the comet. Perhaps this farseer the mage constructed was truly a thing of wonder, or perhaps it was merely the first sign of a decline into insanity."

"Anyway, the hawk crest is easy. It is the symbol of the Ivanovoy family, an ancient and noble Traladaran clan that has since fallen onto hard times. It seems there are not many left; you might be able to find the remaining survivors in Specularum, should you wish to pursue this manner."

"The symbol you have brought me, now, quite frankly has me stumped. It is not magical in nature, at least not how we in the Guild understand magic. But then, the knowledge of the Karameikan Guild is woeful compared to that of other lands, to be honest."

Lanny the elf

Lanny curses silently under his breath when he hears that the hobgoblin has been executed. He mutters quietly aside to his companions.

"It appears we just lost a big piece of the puzzle. Let us make sure that we do not bring any more important prisoners to Threshold, lest they be executed... and that we always have a Charm spell prepared for whenever one is needed."

Lanny listens with interest to the description of the other items.

"Excellent, Myraal, thank you for your research! We will look into these matters in the future as time permits. At present, we are still charged by Father Varis to investigate the reports of a marauding beast plaguing the logging camps north of Threshold... and it is equally imperative that we get this new information about Bargle to him as soon as possible."

Lanny accept the elven chain mail armor from Myraal and thanks him again.