Coia: 17 - Puzzling Our Way Through

General Summary

We wander up the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs is a hallway door which has strange handle that does not look too worn. There appears to be a sleeve over the primary post that prevents us from being able to grip the post firmly enough to turn the knob. Sszarden tell the group to stand aside as he's pretty good with getting his hands around knobs, and within a minute he’s able to open the door.
We enter a large room with a parquet floor. The rows on the floor each have a distinct pattern.

1. wood staining of red cloaks
2. natural carving of Aveton city proper with the Lord’s home very pronounced
3. embossed wooden anvils
4. painting of a blue guard
5. wood burning of an undead sorcerer Xykon
6. piles of coin in goldleaf

There’s door out on the far wall and on the near wall is a sign that reads “Artichoke bawd, Artichoke berry wine Autem Bawler, Avoir Du Pois Lay” None of us are fluent in French, but fortunately there’s a sign on the wall which reads “Crush the Establishment, Slay the Sapphire Paladin, Gold before Blood”. Noting the similarities with the pictures on the even numbered rows, we deduce that if we jump from even row to even row, we can traverse the floor safely. A few missteps, spikes to the foot, and acid traps later, we make it through the door and into the next room which is a small library.
This library is long and narrow, full of bookcases with an altar of some kind in the center. Immediately upon entering the room, we group find ourselves in a barrage of arrows. An elderly man and woman fire upon us from behind the bookcases, but we are able to overtake them. Examining the altar, it looks like a large tree with outstretched hands. Beneath the hands are three inscriptions which read:

1. Each morning I appear to lie at your feet, All day I follow no matter how fast you run, yet I nearly perish in the midday sun
2. You eat something you neither plant nor plow, It is the son of water, but if water touches it, it dies
3. It occurs once every minute, twice every moment, and yet never in one hundred thousand years

We scour the library and find the books:

1. An Idiots Guide to Shadowfell
2. Fire, Water, Salt & Ice
3. Reach for the Golden Ring

Placing these in the appropriate hands, a door swings open on the other side of the room. We go through and find four statues in the center with a large door on the opposite wall. The statues are of:

1. a figure shivering & cowering
2. a figure being burned
3. a figure wrapped in vines from knees to nose, smothered
4. a figure swimming up franticly clutching their throat, drowning

Deducing that each statue appears to represent an element, we place ice on the first, fire on the second, earth on the third, and water on the fourth. With each “activation” of a statue, the far door opens a little bit more. Once all four statues are activated, the door is open wide enough for us to pass through.
We enter a room that is filled with those mind-blowing metal pull-apart puzzles that drive Nym insane. He's been talking to himself more lately anyway, but this seems to push him over the edge as he starts frantically playing with his ring, babbling about being unlucky and needing to find courage. The rest of the group is able to get their act together and we push through and make up the stairs to the third floor. We enter a room with a long table and two large Orogs standing at the far end. They hear us come in and attack, but we’re able to overcome them.
We proceed through the next door…

Rewards Granted

• Rogues: 45 G, crossbow, shortsword, potion of Invisibility, pistol, potion of greater healing
• Orogs: Black Studded Leather armor, well-crafted bow (Oath bow)

Campaign

Coia Portal Campaign

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Protagonists

Sszardan T'Sarran

Zenhorn

Emis Faralei

Retta

Nym Lenore

Moose Knuckle

Report Date

08 Feb 2023

Primary Location

Aveton