Situation Report Fifteen

General Summary

The final room is readily accessed using the three-piece-key. It contains five chests of treasure and we believe that it contains something of importance. Ugnan fills the horn and takes a full long pulls of crisp pure water, resulting an an immediate invigoration. The room contains six chests, a whip and a stand with a gold buckler.
We investigate the six chests in the room and other treasures.

The Treasures

Large black chest trapped and locked 'M'

Clothing Studded wrist guards (+10 DB) [Sharna]

Shimmery chest, phasing in and out, with a 'P'

Clothing Ivory Fortune-Telling Cards (useful to Seers or Mentalist)

Chest un-trapped and locked with 'A'

Clothing Necklace decorated with different nutshell beads, representing a different image of animals (+25 to Linguistics, 10% chance of understanding any language) [Sylke]

Chest un-trapped and locked with a 'V'

Cherry discovers that the trap is an electrical discharge Clothing Two magical copper rings, one plain, one broad (+1 Spell Adder; x2 Spell multiplier) [Ugnan]

Unmarked chest

Simple quiver + 20 arrows (Quiver: 5 OB and 5 initiative [Cherry] with a bow; 20x +20 magical long-bow arrows [Cran])

Unmarked chest

Wing Stone (enchanted, it can be dropped or thrown and gradually returns to the attuned persons hand, glows all the time with different colours of it detects essence, mentalism or channeling [Sylke])
Ugnan decides to construct the strange looking tube but doesn't note anything particularly insightful when he looks through it. He swings it to the glowing orb of light and it becomes clear that the telescope view changes colour when it is pointed at something magical. With this knowledge, we use it to go around the rooms again and the following items also detect as magical.

• Whip (+5 OB, +15 climb bonus ['Indiana Jones' style – Cherry])
• 'Phase' Chest 'P'
• Gold Buckler (+5 DB, light, anti-gravity property that supports Ugnan's weight while slowly descending 10 ft. every two seconds) [Ugnan].
• Chain Armour in Reave's Room (fits Cran, AT 15, encumbers as AT 13, +10 DB) [Cran].
• Portal Mirror

As Ugnan concentrates on the portal with the telescope, he is able to focus in on a winter scene with a small hut, blood-stains in the snow outside, and a creature flits across his vision before he pulls the telescope away from his eye.
Cherry reasons that there may be hidden keys corresponding to the chests in the heroes rooms. Bingo! Her hunch is correct and after a careful search she returns, a beaming grin splitting her face, with four stone keys. The keys correspond with four of the rooms we discovered previously and the keys open them all.
Based on Cherry's suggestion I bring a horn full of acid from Galen's room and pour it on the table. We notice that the acid etches the stone to reveal a white crystal layer underneath. After many, many trips with the horn and judicious use of suitable scrapers to remove the rock slurry, we finally reveal a cold, moving scene of a great hall and the figure of a cruel cold Queen Mab! The queen turns her head towards us and intones, "return what they stole. Your world will fall, and I will not care!". The rock on the table slowly begins to reform and before it goes far, Ugnan shouts into the scrying device, "What did they steal?" Mab booms, "The Heart of Agoth."
Ugnan and Cherry are deafened by Mab's booming voice as the table finally stones over.
We decide that Cran should wind the Horn and we all feel somewhat lifted by the blast. As the notes fade we hear breathing from the surrounding rooms. Dashing through to Reave's room, we see a translucent figure materialise. Reave begins to speak with me and Ugnan. He asks what help we need, and smiles when he recognises that I'm wearing his old armour. Reave advises we speak with "The Eyes" of the heroes, Patience.
Patience appears still bound and speaks, "Only the Heart Of Agoth will keep the Azydaer away from The Gates. Look where the waters of the city are stored, where The Iron Bell tolls."
We next enter the room of Verisimilitude, who sits and speaks to Ugnan. "Ah the truth finder. Very impressive." Ugnan and I speak with Verisimilitude for a minute and he seems satisfied with Ugnan and Cran before gradually fading.
After conversing with the apparitions we link them to each of us and our roles.

• Malthus the Mighty ["The Arm", Sharna]
• Patience Mother of a Dynasty, First of the Seers [trapped by the demons beneath the City according to Malthus] ["The Eyes", Cherry]
• Verisimilitude, Truth was Paramount ["The Brain", Ugnan]
• Althaeus, His Oath is Adamant ["The Voice", Sylke]
• Reave the Just, Defender of those Beset. He was the Mightiest. ["The Heart", Cran]

Ugnan's Hypothesis

Queen Mab is the Queen of the Azdayer. She is desperate to unlock gateways between the realm of the Fey and Kulthea. The Heart of Agoth is a device to keep the two realms apart. The old heroes strived to protect the world of men from the world of the Fey. The Iron Bell is an organization that has unknown desires.

Sylke Demands we Complete Exploring the Tomb…

We retreat back upstairs, heads still reeling from the revelations.
Next we force a warped door to find two linked tombs: 'Solase, too kind-hearted'; 'Nero, the builder.' In Nero's tomb we spot a grate in the floor, which Chery manages to prise up, revealing a drain blocked by a small black cube. Retrieving the cube we unblock the drain, and also detect that the cube is magical and Essence in nature.
Into the final room we discover nothing of any major value and the chests appear to have been looted. 'Alexander, the Designer', 'Theo, The Trader, he built ships', 'Thomas, The Diplomat, a good servant'.

Into the Damp Night Air

As we strive to find a way out of the tomb, searching everywhere, I notice a small cubic indentation in the broken statue in the entrance. The black cube fits and, with a grinding of stone, the entrance opens again. The sweet smell of freedom. Now, how do we shift the loot?

Report Date

28 Sep 2018

Primary Location

Teaque Island