- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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Quelling of the Flame posted:The roots are massive, and descend far down into the dark, until the hole above is nothing more than a tiny square of gray. When your feet finally touch stone again, you strike up your light to show that you stand at the edge of a flight of stairs wide enough for three people standing side-by-side. They are the only way forward: the other direction has become blocked by the roots. You descend the stairs towards a doorway, Farisia close behind. Nothing happens until you reach the bottom, then as you step through the doorway there is a clicking sound. Farisia gasps and pushes you from behind, shoving you out of the way of a twenty ton stone barrier that slams down where you stood.
You manage to keep your balance and your light but when you spin around you see you are alone. Farisia has saved your life but now you are separated by stone so thick you cannot even hear if she is calling for you from the other side. The barrier has cut off the only exit to a small rectangular room, forty feet wide and deep. The air smells rank in here and something is dripping down from the ceiling, pattering on the floor and your cloak. You raise your light higher and cringe. The ceiling is covered in a layer of grisly ichor. The steady drips are fresh blood. The floor, too, is slick with it, pouring from a scattering of flattened, pulped corpses of indeterminate species. Some wore rudimentary armor but it offered little protection against whatever crushed them.
Dominating the back wall of this room is a disc of stone carved with a pattern of geometric shapes: triangles, circles, and squares. At the very top of the disc is a huge arrow, pointing upwards to a notch marked "000." Looking closer, you see similar notches all around the edge of the circle, numbering from 000-250. The disc is designed to turn and point at these numbers.
After a few minutes of careful study you believe you understand this room's purpose. It is a giant lock, which is opened by turning the dial to the correct notch. The crushed bodies show what happens to those who turn the dial to the wrong number.
Hoping for a clue, you examine the room further and, on the eastern wall, find a bas relief. Your instinct tells you that an answer to the puzzle is contained here, though what that answer may be is not immediately obvious.
Study the image above and when you believe you know what the answer to the puzzle is, turn to the section you set the dial at. Be careful: you only get one attempt.
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May 10, 2024 03:41
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- Adbot
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May 18, 2024 17:01
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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I’ll go with 232. Two large triangles, 3 medium, and two small. 
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May 10, 2024 03:55
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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“When given a no-win situation, cheat.” -Captain Kirk (probably)
nelson fucked around with this message at 20:53 on May 11, 2024
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May 11, 2024 13:44
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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“When given a no-win situation, cheat.” -Captain Kirk (probably)
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May 11, 2024 21:13
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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Quelling of the Flame posted:The Dessians left the answer hidden in the geometry of the bas relief. Moving from the outside of the carving in, there is one circle; six squares (the trickier ones are hidden inside the others, stretching from the upper left and lower right corners); and seven triangles. With confidence, you move the dial to 1-6-7 and wait. For a few seconds nothing happens and the fear that you have miscalculated sends you into a cold sweat. But then the stone rumbles and vibrates. The dial recedes into the wall until it is flush with it and the wall swings open on hidden hinges, grinding along the stone floor. Beyond is another tunnel. You take it.
The noise of running water echoes down the tunnel. You expect to find a flooded chamber, its denizens sightless horrors that you will have to fight through to find a way out. You are not prepared for what you actually find.
You step from stone onto soft loam and in that instant the darkness becomes studded with stars, stars that rise from the ground as a myriad of swirling orbs. They are fireflies the size of a closed fist, each glowing with a beautiful soft light that reminds you of summer evenings. For a moment the fireflies dance about you then they fly to all corners of this chamber, illuminating an underground garden, filled with rows upon rows of trenches, each filled with healthy trees and blooming flowers. Water flows from pipes to quench the thirst of the plants. The fireflies move among the trenches like gardeners evaluating the needs of their wards and you think that is actually what they are: little minders and menders magically built or summoned for this purpose, tending to the secret garden and waiting for the never-coming day when their creators should return.
One plant in particular draws your attention. It is a flower with large drooping petals, soft as velvet to look at. The center is orange and has long stamen tipped with bright yellow. The petals are a deep purple nearest the center, like a bruise, and then become so bright cerulean at the tips that they are nearly white. You may pick the Mysterious Flower if you desire or you may leave it untouched out of respect to this magical place. If you keep it, mark it as a Special Item. You can sense it has incredible healing properties. Consuming its petals will heal 20 ENDURANCE. You can consume it at any time you are not in combat.
You cannot say for how long you stay, entranced by the sweet smells of the plants, the mesmerizing calm of the running water, and the melancholy of those sad lights. In the end, you pull yourself away only because you know if you do not, you will stay forever, happily entombed with the garden and its keepers. Walking back into the room with the crushed bodies is a rude re-entrance into the world. You close the door with the dial, spinning it away from the right notch, hoping that no one else solves the secret you have, and that the garden remains forevermore left in peace. When the dial is set back to its original position there is a grinding sound and the barrier that trapped you here raises once more. There is no sign of Farisia, but you can now hear the distant sound of drums, like a heartbeat: doom-thoom, doom-thoom, doom-thoom.
You hurry out of the room to the central shaft then, dropping your light, quickly begin to climb, the drums like a heartbeat driving you forward. You emerge from the hole into the cacophony of battle. Farisia, blood running down her face, ichor staining her bare arms, is standing at the top of the ziggurat. The bodies of a dozen Swamp Giaks lay strewn about her. But the numbers swarming up the ziggurat steps are legion, four dozen or more Giaks carrying spears, crude bows, and poison-tipped knives, all of them screaming curses and battle cries in their harsh tongue: "Shegga ash taag!" Some beat drums in time with the screams. One wearing a towering headdress holds up a beautiful jadin statue the size of your head, depicting a coil of serpents wrapped around each other. "Took you long enough," Farisia says as you join her side. "The Darkspawn have claimed Tazinc as their own. Little did they know a Vakeros stands here still." Her eyes gleam with a fury born of devotion to her people and her past.
A rumbling roar rolls up the stairs and the Swamp Giaks halt, their shrill cries falling away. Coming up the stairs through the ranks of Giaks is a Gourgaz: an enormous bipedal lizard with a squat head that is more teeth than anything else. Her reptilian tail sweeps back and forth behind her, powerful enough to club a man to death. In her right hand she holds a mace the length of your body. Her left hand is missing, having been severed in some life-or-death struggle. Grafted to the stump is a black spear-like blade which she raises to the sky as she roars a challenge, the Vassagonian sounding bloody and guttural coming from her awful maw:
"Come for Sassaraa's treasure! Now die slow!"
Sassaraa comes at you swinging her mace, heavy as a felled tree. Barely are you able to dodge this before she is snapping at you with her deadly jaws, stabbing with the blade affixed to her right arm, and whipping her tail around to keep you off balance on the steep stairs. The Giaks surround you, raising the Snake Statue to the sky, screaming curses in their horrible language. And the drummers keep beat in time with your pounding heart.
To stay here is to court death. One of you will have to distract Sassaraa while the other cuts through the Giaks and frees a path of escape. Whoever takes on the battle-frenzied Giaks will need stamina and strength to handle their numbers. Whomever faces Sassaraa will need speed and wisdom, for neither one of you can hope to match her sheer destructive power. - Do we take the flower or leave it?
- Should we fight Sassaraa or the giaks?
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May 15, 2024 02:29
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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I was going to say leave the flower but it looks like we’re gonna need it. Take the flower, fight the giaks.
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May 15, 2024 12:42
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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Take the flower, fight the giaks.
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May 15, 2024 19:27
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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I was going to say leave the flower but it looks like we’re gonna need it. Take the flower, fight the giaks.
Quelling of the Flame posted:The Swamp Giaks have been transformed by the presence of the Gourgaz into a swarm of bloodthirsty fanatics. They surround you with crude spears and daggers, ready to tear you limb from limb with their bare hands if they have to. To begin, you stride forward and cut down the Giak holding the Jadin Statue. You mean this to intimidate the Giaks but it has little effect: they are incapable of feeling fear or acknowledging pain while the Gourgaz stands. But Farisia cannot kill Sassara on her own: she is only buying you time to cut a path through this horde so you can both escape.
Frenzied Swamp Giaks: ENDURANCE 30
This combat is fought at a Combat Ratio of +2. If it is Day 1, then add +4 to this, because Swamp Giaks cannot see in bright daylight. Their sheer numbers and berserker rage means Potions and Poisons have no effect. Deal +2 additional damage every time you deal damage if you are wielding two weapons.
Huntress: 22
Giaks: 30
We roll: 6
Huntress: 21
Giaks: 18
We roll: 3
Huntress: 18
Giaks: 9
We roll: 3
Huntress: 15
Giaks: 0
Quelling of the Flame posted:You call out to Farisia to run.
With a path cleaved through the Giaks, you and Farisia race down the ziggurat, Farisia launching a firebolt behind her to slow the Gourgaz. Sassaraa's bellow of rage follows you: "Find you! Rip you! Slow death!"
"So now you've seen Tazinc," you ask Farisia as you disappear under the cover of the trees. "Was it everything you hoped for?"
"I wouldn't visit again," Farisia says. "In fact, I think we should stay away from the southern woods in general, now that I stole Sassaraa's treasure." She reveals the Jadin Statue, which she must have claimed in the chaos of battle. If you wish to keep it, add it to your Action Chart as a Backpack Item.
Fill in a time slot.
Took Jadin Statue.
Endurance: 15/27
The Passage of Time: Day 1 (4/8)
Your path leads you to a clearing marking the SOUTHWESTERN BORDER (219) of the swamp. A black stone juts out of the very center of this clearing. The ground at its base is oddly cracked and dry, as if it has soaked up any water that tried to settle here. The stone is carved into a totem of a snake wrapped around a shield, pointing north. In that direction you can see a raised wooden path stretching out towards a bog.
To the east you can see the top of a triangular ziggurat poking out through the trees. In that direction lies the ancient city of Tazinc. And beyond the totem to the west lies the Fingers, a thick jungle of fruit-laden palm trees. They are so called because they reach into the swamp like grasping fingers. If you wish, you could use them to skirt the edge of the bog, while still heading north.
Fill in a time slot and choose where to go next.
The Passage of Time: Day 1 (5/8)
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May 16, 2024 03:39
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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Wooden Path
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May 16, 2024 04:25
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- Guy Fawkes
- Aug 1, 2014
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Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense
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The Fingers point the way
After such a battle, we deserved alot of fruoit to restore ourselves.
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May 16, 2024 19:27
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- Decoy Badger
- May 16, 2009
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Let's get some finger limes.
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May 18, 2024 03:32
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- Tiggum
- Oct 24, 2007
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Your life and your quest end here.
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Fingers
After such a battle, we deserved alot of fruoit to restore ourselves.
Quelling of the Flame posted:THE FINGERS (45) are a knot of dense, lush jungle. At first you are relieved to be out of the swamp and away from the biting insects and slithering serpents. However, the signs of other life quickly dwindle as well. The bird calls stop. The chittering of monkeys dies. Even the insects seem quiet. What was at first peaceful soon becomes alarming. There is a menace in the silence, as if the very earth were angry at your trespass.
Farisia wrinkles her nose. You smell it as well, an odor like unwashed skin and old fish, so pungent it makes your eyes water. However, when Farisia draws her weapon, your disgust turns to alarm.
"Tazincian boar musk," Farisia explains. "They are twice the size of a normal boar and three times as territorial."
Already you can hear a crashing in the woods and a high pitched squealing. Then the boar crashes through the palm trees ahead of you. It is the size of a large pony, an old silver- backed hog. Snakes slither through its thick fur and droop from its massive, scar-riddled tusks. One of its eyes is missing but the other is wide and full of territorial rage.
Tazincian Silver-Back: ENDURANCE 32
With Farisia by your side, you fight this combat at a Combat Ratio of +1. If you have the Art of Zantashi and wield a Sword, then the first round of combat is fought at a Ratio of +6. If you have the Art of Borese Gunner and have shot left you can fire off a single blast at any point in the battle to deal an additional 15 damage that round.
Boar: 32
We roll: 2
Huntress: 11
Boar: 27
We roll: 5
Huntress: 9
Boar: 19
We roll: 8
Huntress: 9
Boar: 8
We roll: 3
Huntress: 5
Boar: 2
We roll: 3
Huntress: 1
Boar: 0
Quelling of the Flame posted:Tazincian Boar meat is considered a delicacy for its rich, gamey flavor. If you win this fight, you can cut meat from the boar and Farisia can cook it with her power of elemental fire. You can create up to four Meals this way and add them to your Action Chart.
Fill in a time slot.
Endurance: 1/27
The Passage of Time: Day 1 (6/8) - Do we eat our Mysterious Flower now or save it for later?
- How many Meals should we pick up, and do we drop anything to make room?
Backpack
- Viper's Bite Poison (+2 damage per round for one combat)
- Sabito Tincture
- Compass
- Golden Rod
- Antitoxin
- Meal
- Jadin Statue
Leather Satchel
- Thieves' Lockpicks
- Meal
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May 18, 2024 03:42
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- nelson
- Apr 12, 2009
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College Slice
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Eat the flower. Drop the golden rod and take 2 meals.
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May 18, 2024 04:50
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