017 - Session Recap
-From the logs of Indiana
General Summary
By Gozreh I need a bloody drink after this... To Hell with you Luigi, AND your shit choice of pets! After the yeth hounds and birds were dead, Cassius grabbed the large jewel they were guarding. When I say large... to tell the truth, my old salt would be disappointed to hear I didn't take it myself! Something about an... Eye of the Stag...? Hope that thing isn’t cursed... Not sure what it was, but I have a bad feeling about it. ...Maybe that’s just the damn ringing in my ears... Bloody dogs shrieked loud enough to wake a whole bloody city. The hell were they even doing here? I doubt those things were pets... No sane bastard would try to cuddle one of those things.
This place was strange the moment we set foot in here, and every time I think we’ve seen the strangest thing it has to offer, we’re met with something more. First it was the floating torches, the locking doors... then the living knives and flying sandwiches... now a whole pack full of yeth hounds? What's next, a bloody murder? OH WAIT, we already had a whole flock of ravens tearing up Wilby for no reason other than rampage. Whole place has gone mad!! I always thought this place was a damn eyesore, bloody stain on the coastline. Now, I’m just hoping this cursed place falls into the gods damn sea! Corvolas would be all the better for it!!
We held up in the servants quarters to catch our breath for a while. A short rest would do us all some good. Some of us slept off their wounds for a bit, others took the opportunity to eat some food and get themselves cleaned up. We were bloodied and tired... I needed a damn drink, just to take the edge off these bites. Hell, I’ll need a whole barrel to forget this shit at this rate... I offered a bit of rum to Cassius, but he refused... Honestly I’m... a little shocked. I think that's the first time my mate’s ever turned down a drink... Well... that's the first time he’s ever looked... green? I didn’t think much of it, but um... after that, he spent the down time bent over a bucket wringing his stomach out like a wet towel soooo...
-Tocu... are we sure he didn’t eat any of that food in the dining hall...? I told him not to!
~ Brew in his flask probably went bad . . .
Or, maybe whoever refilled it for him used dishwater instead..
. . .Not that I’d know anything about that
-Tragic. Absolutely tragic.
While we rested I spent my time in thought. I’d been playing with these jewels I’d taken from this very room, that strange ornate puzzle box with the rowboat carvings on it sitting just across the way from us. ...Riches. ...Brings me back, it really does. Puts a fire in my belly like nothing else can! But that was when I got to thinking... Pirates- REAL Pirates... they would have picked this place clean if they knew that bastard Luigi was dead. I’ve heard all kinds of whispers about him across the city, some good, most bad... but...
I don’t think I heard much of the bastard being dead, if at all, really. Some called him a saint, some muttered he’s a tyrant.
But... a dead tyrant? ...Not so much. Why hasn’t anyone heard about this...? Or... if they have, why was it kept secret?
The party decided it was best to get on the move again. Good, I was starting to feel antsy. Still, the break was refreshing. Though... oddly, we’d quickly come across yet another strange thing in this house. A small sunroom connected to the main house. The glass walls and roof gave us a look out to the dismal looking outdoors... especially those trees. All... spindly and leafless... and... weirdly claw shaped. Eugh. Meanwhile the plants in here were still hale and green. It was... weird, I... can’t really explain it. This room felt warm when the entire rest of the mansion felt cold. Almost like... stepping into your bedroom or something. Something about it felt... welcoming. It just felt... safe.
Bruun took an interest in a dusty looking typewriter on a desk. I don’t think he’s seen one of these before... I mean, honestly, I’VE barely seen these things, none nearly as nice looking as this one, and nowhere near Corvolus at that. But... I suppose a so-called “noble” would have such things. Ishka mentioned something magical about it, but he couldn’t put his finger on what. Almost as soon as Bruun began to write, it was like a... wave passed over me. Like... like a cool breeze, but only through you instead of against you. ...I guess I wasn’t the only one who felt it either. Whatever it was, that feeling of safety left with it, and we thought it best to move on.
Birthday present idea-
Typewriter for Bruun
For being abandoned, this place has quite a robust armory. Bruun knows weapons and warfare better than any man I’d ever met, and he pointed out all the different kinds they had in here almost eagerly. Billhooks, Halberds, Axes, Morning Stars... Something about them was very strange though... and it didn’t take an expert to see it. Half the weapons in the room had dusky purple metal, and the other half looked pale pink.
He explained that the gnoll tribes called this “sister stone” as weapons forged from each half would empower the other, its “sister.” Apparently they used sister stone weaponry to combat evil spirits, when used in tandem they could cut and bludgeon even ethereal things.
Certainly useful given the situation we’re in! But, I have to wonder... why did they have these weapons forged to begin with... Luigi was a pirate captain, and an especially scummy one even amongst all the sea dogs. He wasn’t some monster hunter fighting ghosts... Who knows... maybe the bastard just liked the prestige of it. When the sister stones near each other, they both glow brightly. Neat trick, eh? They both need to strike their target for the sister stones to work their magic. I’m not the best with a boarding axe myself... but my old man was a bloody devil with a pair of these in his hands. I bet a bit of that got passed down, right?
We stepped into a library filled floor to ceiling with tall, wide bookcases. ...And a very tall, wide dragon statue standing in its center looking down at us. As much as I’ve been bitter about almost every square inch of this biscuit-eater’s castle... I have to admit. ...It’s actually pretty impressive. Even more so when we discovered the entire room itself was an elaborate puzzle Luigi had designed for his love, the Lady Daisy, to figure out how to open. After some digging through papers, maps and documents on the center desk, we found a worn book filled with dog-eared pages. Seemed someone had done their research for the puzzle... but when? I noticed the desk was dusty... but not more than... maybe a week or so would have been.
With some experimenting (mostly done by Wilby swinging back and forth on one of the ladder railings) it was evident that the ladders were part of this puzzle. Slotting them into specific spots along their rails clicked some kinds of switches or buttons... and after knocking through some failed attempts we put together that this book was the key... or rather the story was.
The Dragon Guardians of Eldoria. The story was about five noble dragons, and the battle they waged against an evil wizard. On one of the dog eared pages we found a description of these dragons. On another, it described the battle between them and the wizard... And the final one was about the aftermath, when the dragons defeated the wizard himself.
After... way... way... way... too much time trying and failing... we discovered the solution was the names of the dragons, and the orders they’re written in. I don’t know WHOS idea it was to give me the book. I was WAY too drunk for that kind of responsibility... anyways... First, their names, which also told us which dragon was of what color. Knowing that, we could move the ladders on the colored bookcases to match the order they were listed in. Second, the order they attacked the sorcerer’s army in. We were reenacting the story itself! Finally the third set was each dragon as they attacked the wizard. Upon reaching that point, the dragon statue lifted from the floor slightly... being able to spin in place freely, which... Tocu, Cassius, and Bruun were able to move as the book had said. Once the last movement was done, and the dragon came to rest... all the torches snuffed out, only to reignite a moment later. The statue’s mouth had opened, spitting out a small ladder to be climbed and a small chest in the back of its throat. Seemed a bit... precarious.
In the box we found a pair of matching rings... Wedding bands, I’d wager. Exotic ones at that, I’d never seen craftsmanship quite like these on any hands or in any pockets around the city...
“To my gallant love Luigi.”
“To my dearest Daisy who made me leave the sea.”
...Seems like he really did love the lass... and she loved him in return. Only, if they really did marry... these rings are pristine... No tarnish or scratches on their surfaces. Were they ever even worn at all...?
Report Date
27 Apr 2024
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