The Thursday Game 3/14/19 – Is a Puzzlement

Recap of March the 14th in the year of our Lord 2019 –

We are making our way down the Soshenstar River in our two canoes when two jaculi drop to attack the party. The ranger immediately kills one with three hits. The druid easily dispatches the other before your cleric can even utter a cantrip. These were some wimpy monsters! On our map, we see a skull and crossbones marked and take a short detour from the river to investigate inland. The Cleric senses undead ahead. Moving carefully, we see seventeen undead milling about. Was this the army of undead they were talking about in Port Nyanzaru? The party makes the reasonable decision to back out. Perhaps we will come back later with reinforcements from the Order of the Gauntlet (OoG).

After traveling a further two days down the river, the party discovers the remains of OoG’s Camp Righteous. We investigate several tents and find everything in disarray. The tents’ fabric is slashed as if attacked by both weapons and claws. Poking in the mud floor of one tent, the Warlock unearths a Holy Symbol of Torm. We find no one alive or dead and it seems this camp has been abandoned.

A central feature of the camp is a huge statue of a man carrying a crocodile piggy back style. To the left of the statue is a pen of Axebeaks, apparently the only remaining living creatures. They look hungry, belligerent and a little sad. Boar skeletons appear in the pen that have long been picked clean by the unfortunate creatures. The Cleric casts create food and water to feed the birds. When the Monk opens the pen, the birds disappear running into the woods without bothering us at all. Good deed for the day accomplished!

Between the feet of the crocodile-carrying stature is a dark tunnel that leads further into the mountain from which it has been carved. Entering the tunnel, the Paladin walks forward only to have the floor open under him as he falls into a pit. The Monk jumps over the pit only to avoid two giant blades that come down from the ceiling and disappear into grooves in the floor. The Ranger pulls the Paladin out of the pit. Improvising, the Paladin uses one of the canoes abandoned by the OoG as a bulwark against the blades and makes it down the tunnel to the Monk. The Monk climbs up a ledge to find a grid pattern on the floor. Up a further ledge is a door with the same grid pattern on it except one of the squares is faintly glowing.

And so, the puzzle solving begins with the Monk, Paladin and Ranger making repeated guesses of jumping on parts of the floor grid to imitate the pattern on the door. Mistakes are costly as repeated thunder waves buffet the guessers. The Warlock, Druid and Cleric look on in horror as this scene is repeated. There is much bemoaning of the fact that we, as typical murder hobos, absolutely hate these puzzle challenges. The DM is a little too gleeful.

There is an extended discussion of the definition of what constitutes a shadow.

In a strange act of frustration and desperation, the Druid transforms herself into a crocodile and hops on the Monk’s back in imitation of the statue itself. Weirdly, they make their way safely down the tunnel and finally solve the puzzle. The door opens to reveal a room filled with dinosaur bones and cobwebs. In the center is a narrow staircase upon which is perched a beautiful ceramic vase. The vase contains ten different corked spouts. Upon identification of the object, we find that the vase can produce one of ten different liquids once per day. Although some of them seem frivolous, the vase can also produce acid and a basic poison for use against enemies.

With the Druid still on his back, the Monk walks out of the tunnel to see that we are no longer alone. In front of the temple are nine stacks of Batiri goblinoid soldiers waiting for us. The Monk casts a minor illusion of a roaring animal in hopes of chasing them off, but clearly, we have a battle ahead. Fun fact: the Batiri are cannibals!  

As we end our session, the DM reminds us that we could have talked to our guide, Musharib, who would have told us of the local folklore which would have helped us solve the puzzle. The exasperated Cleric notes that damn near every one of the NPCs we have ever had tag along has been utterly useless. As a reminder from now on, we will have a token of ole Mushy Ribs on the battle map and chat him up. First off, what does he know of Batiri fighting techniques?

Respectfully submitted,

Marigold Underbite, Cleric – May Pelor light your way!