Aporeu chronicles Issue 37: A mysterious letter
Stories from the adventurers
This week
The doctor and some puzzles.
A mysterious letter by Vasilievski
Doctors Log entry 8 *Disclaimer* Anything within this log entry is the accurate recollection of Doctor Viktor Vasilievski. Anything you may have perceived differently is a lie you choose to believe. Thank you. As we arrive at Lornan I just know he still isn’t using his elixirs, that man is not sick, he’s hiding something. However, it is an odd… come together. There is Phaedra, Gerolt, Jade, a new face and I. The new face introduces himself as Mud, a Halfling. That’s about all he says, so communication is a little difficult, but at least it’s something. I make my friendship speech, and Gerolt and Jade decide to ignore it. To be expected, but I still don’t get why Jade is so upset… Lornan presents us with a Letter. That is all we receive. “Go solve it.”… Great Lornan, this seems super helpful. Well, to be fair, he tells us nobody has been able to decipher it, because it’s too hard. They just need the best of the best, it’s as simple as that. We start work at what seems to be impossible. The first thing we realize, it’s not a different language…It’s a code. Well this seems like an intriguing thing. We all try, and work on the letter. The progress is slow. I try to use my personal friendships to create epiphanies to myself. First I read them out loud, as Lornan would do. Doesn’t help…but at least it’s something. Gerolt has some good ideas, Mud replies with “Mud”, and Phaedra is getting somewhere. I don’t know where, but surely she will be the one solving it. … Perhaps… I have to think Lillandra would change into something else…Chloe would bend both ways, especially backwards, and Shi’Liane would slither through it all… This means nothing Viktor. Absolutely nothing… Apparently it does mean something, because now Phaedra is angry, and on to something. With my obvious help, she figures out the code. It’s a letter from the goblins, containing a message about an invasion to Ilvorea. It’ll be soon They will gather in a dwarven ruin near Sinar Cahya. Thankfully, Lornan gives us permission to go to Ilvorea, and lets us use the gate. You can’t go to Lauzea…Not yet. Not yet. We travel through the gate. Holy crap. It’s hot. Hotter than hot, it’s scalding. The HEAAAT.. THE HEAAT. Just ignore it, and don’t let anyone notice!, and we find some people. One of them is called Jafar. He explains to us that we need to find Farid for trading in Sinar Cahya, and a man named Mahmut is brought in to escort us. Gerolt manages to cause a major panic by explaining goblins are all going to kill them. Smooth G man. Smooth Thankfully, I manage to quell the uprising with some quick thinking and they return to their work on a new…village? After a While, we arrive at the woods. Oh thank god, it’s a little colder here. Almost bearable. The travel takes a little longer, and Mahmut leads us to a rope ladder, using some kind of magical trick. He doesn’t know how it works, and after some tries, I leave it be. Jade still is terrified of trees, but I can’t help. Gotta trust Gerolt… To tie himself to her… This makes her feel safer? To be tied to a huge amount of weight that actually isn’t as athletic as her?… I’m surely overthinking.
We decide on going to Farid ahead of the still climbing duo, and arrive there. There is actually a rather lovely bustling city in the trees. I wish I had some time to explore, but to be fair, the letter made it clear there was to be an invasion soon. So just talk to Farid about trade, and then immediately to the boss, which is probably Farid anyways. We arrive, and a lady quickly explains it’s Musharaf we need. Great. . And the trade agreements have to go through the guild using the existing channels. Greater…. Oh well, at least trade will follow.
We travel to Musharaf with little done, and find Gerolt and Jade there. They’ve initiated conversation, and Jade eloquently cuts off any conversation I attempt, rudely. Patience Viktor. Patience. . We are to be escorted to the dwarven mines by a man named Rashad. It takes a while, but the mines are cool, so I’m ok with it.
We go down to a big hall, and find a bunch of closed off doors, knowing that they are in fact the doors they would like to unseal, BEFORE the invasion. So to work we go.
Firstly, I detect magic, and find there are magical locks in 6 colors, Red, blue, yellow, green, purple and orange. There are also 6 plaques, of different sizes. I have some great alchemical mixing ideas, involving primary colors and mixology, but unfortunately, Dwarves are too primitive to comprehend such things, so instead I just kinda look at the plaques and locate a key. Apparently, Gerolt found a way to get some kind of puzzle, and activated a mechanism.
They find some kind of jigsaw, and a maze puzzle, and begin solving that, as Phaedra, Mud and I, begin solving other puzzles. I get a riddle sheet, and easily solve them, receiving practically no damage, which Phaedra heals Thankfully, because it hurt like hell!. I had most the riddles correctly, but one of them my first gut instinct was correct…but I then changed my mind. Like an idiot. Inside, there are many old armors, which are relics of an old dwarven time. We alert the guards, and let them collect the goods. We also retrieve a key, for the magical locks.
Phaedra in the meantime, managed to solve a puzzle in one go, about religion, because she is awesome like that. Inside is a dwarven bedroom, and we locate some gems, as well as some old dwarven clothes… And another key!
Next, we bend our heads around a tiny door, and find we cannot gain entrance. Mud goes in, and Phaedra and I look if we can help Jade and Gerolt. Because we cannot, we once again thoroughly investigate the bedroom. It takes a little time, but after some investigation, we come to the pleasant conclusion that we have done all we can here. Upon returning, Mud has resolved the puzzle, as has Gerolt. Jade is …only taking a little longer, and eventually after a little more time, Jade finishes her puzzle, which was admittedly, the most elaborate.
With all keys in hand, we open the main chamber, by putting the keys in the holes and turning. We find a dwarven throne room, with an ornate crown. Which Mud and Jade try to steal. Thankfully, Phaedra pays attention, and this priceless heirloom is returned to the rightful owners. In the end, we lined our pockets, learned we’re great at puzzles, and succeeded at returning an artifact to a civilization. Not bad for a few days work.
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