Session 35
TBA
Aragir, Cerrule and Cynic finally went to check out their new residence, while Delbellis had split from the group to see someone who was supposed to have a meeting in Brassdorf.
The house was surprisingly large, this a generous patch of land surrounding it. While inspecting it, the adventurers all had their own ideas of what they could do with all of this space.
While Aragir and Cynic were briefly exchanging their plans for the newly found basement, Cerrule left to go to the market, in search of magical plant seeds that she could grow in their garden.
On her way, however, an old carpenter frantically stopped her. He told her that his son had been taken prisoner by the Obsidian Fist, and that he was now locked in the house where they now stood. He was afraid to enter by himself, and so asked the Four Feathers for help.
Cerrule, keen to save the man’s son, swiftly entered the building. When asked where her allies were, she bade the man fetch the others while she continued her investigation.
Aragir and Cynic had just entered the front yard in search of Cerrule when the carpenter arrived at their gate. He once again asked them to save his son, and told them Cerrule had already gone ahead. Cynic tried to strike a bargain with the man, asking for gold before they’d help him, but before they could reach an agreement Aragir hastily dragged him along to help Cerrule.
When they followed her into the building, they found it was enchanted with illusion magics. And though they were able to identify it with help of Cerrule’s magic, she was unable to dispell it.
The hall they found themselves in had a stairs spiralling upward, which led to a round room with twelve doors. After some investigation, they found that the doors kept leading them back to the same room over and over. Considering they had been unable to dispell these magicks, they had to find a way to see through these illusion by other means.
After some close inspection, Aragir found that the natural daylight shining into this hall from the roof was directed in such a way that it led to one specific door, depending on the time of day.
This door lead them to a different room, which had five levers in the middle, each with a different colour.
In a corner of the room lay the skeleton of a man, holding what looked like a piece of parchment that was burnt around the edges. On the parchment a riddle was written;
“ The second lever will sound like a roar
A primary first helps open the door
The last lever pulled is the color of sky
After the second will buzz like a fly.”
In an attempt to find out the effects of the levers, Aragir decided to test each one of them in no particular order. As a result, the three received a shock before the levers returned to normal. With this experience, the group was swiftly able to solve the puzzle.
Beyond this room was the cell in which the carpenter’s son was held captive. The door that was still locked was easily forced by freezing it with help of Cerrule’s Shape Water spell.
On the way back outside, the son explained that he had attempted to steal premium wood for his father when the Obsidian Fist caught and punished him. The Four Feathers and his father quickly reminded him to not try it again in the future.
As a thanks, the carpenter attempted to hand the adventurers his gold, though much to Cynic’s regret, Cerrule and Aragir declined. The man still had to be able to feed himself and his son, after all.
So with only some words of gratitude, the three returned to their home for the evening.
With some time to spare in Delbellis’ absence, Aragir retreated to the study upstairs to take a closer look at the Vestiges and Arcanum crystals.
He found that both vestiges had parts made of pure Arcanum, which would explain their similar interaction with organic material that resulted in their pulling effect. Yet something was still unclear; How did this interaction work? It suggested that their effect manifested on a different plane, which made it hard to detect on the material plane. This also suggested that Arcanum was not of this world, an idea that was supported by Alenriel’s memories of the ancient calamity that created the World Eater.
As Aragir had found before, there were 9 pieces of the vestiges; A breastplate, a necklace, greaves, boots, a belt, a sword gauntlets, a crown and a ring. Each had specific properties, and would reveal different parts on the pages of the Book of Talon. They could unlock spells, and could amplify each other and alter or negate their respective drawbacks. Though he had yet to confirm this theory, some of the text in the book suggested that the necklace was most likely to reduce the life-draining effects of the crown.
While taking a break from his research, Cerrule met him in the kitchen, announcing that she had just finished writing the scroll for the Detect Magic spell. Through the wizard’s academic lens, it seemed amateuristic at best, though it looked like it worked and that was enough.
Realising that they had no food at their new place, the two decided to see if there was something they could buy at a local restaurant, and perhaps see what was taking Delbellis so long…