Ep 19: "Knights and Queens"

That morning, Cyl’s feet were still itchy. Using the sending spell scroll from Pinbol, Cyl reached out to her mother for guidance. Her mother asks for more information about Cyl’s ailment and will look for teleportation to bring Cyl home. Finkoo was still working on the portcullis lift. He had also been working on making Oisin a set of thieves tools. During the day he worked at Reynard Manor, fixing things and gathering information.

The Nested Waffle:

Everyone met at the Nested Waffle, where Finkoo ordered the kids plate, Pesk and Seldanna each ordered the Pearl District Sunrise, and Cyl requested half a gallon of blueberries. Pip ordered his own special creation: he tried to make his own coffee by chewing coffee beans and washing it down with hot water. Mari gave Pip a sunflower braid. The group decided to go see Pinbol to check in.

Greywall:

On their way to Pinbol's tower, the group encountered Mo, who was heading down the street with a pair of divining rods in his hands. He was searching for the rotting eirshale and daydream to help Pinbol with research. Finkoo attemped to help Mo with the divining rods, and they all followed the divining into the Temple District.

The Temple District:

Mo led them to an area by Greywall and the Temple District, and while trying to help Mo find the next space, Finkoo saw a hole in the center of an anvil on a sign...almost like a keyhole. The party had just discovered the "Locked Forge", from the riddle they'd decoded from the inside of the defeated Nocturne's helmet.

The Locked Forge:

Finkoo unlocked the door with a little Guidance from Mari, who cut a lock of hair from her own head to cast the spell. This was not the first time that the druid has used this type of spell, but the group was still in awe and confused by her methods. Upon casting, Mari heard a disembodied voice in the head say, “Very good...”

Finkoo accidentally set off a burning hands trap. The group leaped out of the way, but Mari was injured. The inside of the Locked Forge was set up as a Tinker’s shop. There was a huge painter's table in the corner as well - immediately catching Cyl’s attention. Mari tried to hide her injuries from the group, and the voice in her mind supported her, saying, "You’re stronger alone..."

There was a set of stairs heading down to the basement. They found a large iron door with a dozen convoluted and complicated locks that made Finkoo's head spin. When Pesk magically inspected the door to identify any traps beyond the locks, she discovered find traps spell registers as one trap.

Pip started digging into the dirt, and found ice below it. That discovery aligned with even more of the riddle, and Cyl and Pesk began to help digging, as Finkoo and Mari looked over the door. Those digging found a metal dome under the ice with a wheel and a huge crank attached.

Mari heard the voice in her head once again: “You have to be the first...” . Cyl turned the door crank, revealing a well-lit corridor below. At the end of the hall there was a chamber, triangular pits at the corners, two pools were red liquid, and two pools were blue. There were 4 statues on either wall, two heavenly beings, and two demonic. Ahead of them was a chess board along the floor with red and blue runes etched into the squares on two edges of the board. Before the before the board were a two sets of the chalices on moveable pedestals - three red, and three blue.

Once the group began to touch the chalices, the statues began to speak, telling the story of a war between "queens" and "knights" that ended in a stalemate. The party was able to intuit that solving the puzzle before them involved treating one set of chalices like chess pieces, one group as queens, and the other as knights. The party took turns placing the red and blue chalices according to their chess rules, in order to create a stalemate.

Once all the chalices had been correctly placed, the center of the room raised to reveal a giant golem of ice and magic. It spoke in a high, arcanely created voice. It introduced itself as Trey.