016. A Terrifying Tarrasque and Hijinks

General Summary

After the short rest in the circular room with the Willow, the party discoveres that some of the smaller stones in the room are floating a small bit off the ground. Gimdalf identifies them as being bits of basalt, and affirms that this is not a naturally floaty stone. They each pocket one or two. Continguing onwards by opening the only closed exit in the room, the party finds a small room which abruptly ends in the now familliar precise cut-off. Prominent in the room is a giant white pillar sticking from the wall, which is quickly identified to be a huge bone. The bone seems to have regenerated a bit from whatever it was that cut everything in an angular fasion. Gimdalf wants to see if there is an exit to this room behind the bone, and starts smashing it up. Gram Crackers and Macca Ni go and stand a few rooms back, because they don't want to be caught in the blast if the bone happens to be some kind of trap, or simply volatile. During the bashing, Gimdalf realizes that this bone could only come from the legendary Tarrasque that he has vaguely heard about in stories. Bashing even further, he finds the cartilage and identifies this particular bone as likely being a finger or toe bone. He collects a sizeable amount of bone, in case it is usefull. As he returns to the others to tell them of his insights, he is greeted by the crossbow of Macca Ni. Gram asks him to do something only Gimdalf would do. Gimdalf promptly slaps Macca Ni on the face with Mage Hand. Gram then confesses that she had no idea what an appropriate response would look like, and that she just wanted to see what Gimdalf would do. Gimdalf tells the party of his suspiciouns about the nature of the bones, which sparks the necessary exitement and discussion on how much of a threat the dead tarrasque is. The consensus is that the tarrasque isn't going to be much of a threat anytime soon, as the bone had not regenerated much even in the long time that it was lying there. Gram collects a bunch of marrow from the smashed bone to try and make soup out of. On the way out, the party discovers that the exit stairs auto-retract after a while. They are quickly opened back up with the use of the book, and the party makes it's way to the foreman to collect their pay. The foreman seems to have forgotten how much pay they agreed to. The party quickly attests that it was 5 gp the person per day, collecting 30 gp for their troubles. They mention that there is a staircase in the tower which "spontaneously" opened, and that there is some kind of facility underneath. They also warn her of the mild traps that are down there. The foreman is very surprised and quickly gets together a band of strong masons to go check it out. G.C. sneaks past the group as they make their way up to the tower, and opens the stairs for them. She leaves as the foreman and masons catiously file into the underground facility.

Back in the City

Back in the city Macca Ni goes to the now familliar Blastwood Inn and books the same room as they had before their watch-duty. He hammers a makeshift hammoc between the ceiling beams and goes to sleep. Gimdalf and Gram Crackers go to the smithy to commision spiked armor for Gimdalf made using bone from the tarrasque. Gimdalf can get a nice price because the proprietor is a dwarf who likes his fellow dwarfs a lot. He then lowers the price even more by selling the rest of the bone to the smith as extra materials. He pays 30 gp. The two of them return to the inn, and borrow a bucket and an old glass from the proprietor. Macca Ni told them he was going to have a nap and they want to play a prank. Gram crackers holds Macca Ni's hand in the glass of water to see if he is going to wet his bed (she is standing on the shoulders of Gimdalf as she does this, because gnomes are not that tall). The experiment fails. Macca Ni is however sleeping very soundly and does not wake up. Gimdalf now stands on a chair balanced on a bed to put a rope around Macca Ni's feet. The idea is to cut the hammock rope at the head-end and have him fall into a bucket of water while hanging from the ceiling with his feet. Macca Ni wakes up while Gimdlaf is putting the knot in the rope. He quickly sees what is happening and cuts the rope. At the same instant Gimdalf Firebolts the rope at the head end. Macca Ni tumbles down in the direction of Gimdalf, who manages to get away in time. Macca Ni ends up falling on the chair and then on the floor, getting a few bruises in the process. Some bickering ensues, in which Gimdalf explains that dwarves can do some pretty hefty practical jokes on each other. To make it up to Macca Ni he will pay his meal. They eat potato wedges (some exceedingly spicy) and some strong beer. Gimdalf also takes some saussages. During the meal they discuss their goals and parts of their various backgrounds. The general goal is to help Nymatar Maeafin get back to his people. Afterwards Gram and Gimdalf go to the wagon maker to discuss some details for G.C's wagon. Macca Ni uses the diversion to Message the guard captain, but he doesn't get a response from his office. A quick inquiry with the wagon maker reveals that the captain usually eats his meals in the part of the guardhouse on the other side of the street. Macca Ni gets a connection after peppering the building with Message. He learns that the invitation for the banquet was indeed successfull in luring all the officers and competent guards. On the night of the 23'rd, the estate will only have rookies and lower ranked guards.

The plan

The plan for the heist is to use one of the two large chimneys as entrance and exit. Gram Crackers will scout them out this night, to check if there are any gratings that need removing. Additionally she will record any guard rotations or walking patterns. For the heist they will use the roofs near the estate to stealthily access the estate's rooftop. Gimdalf will keep watch while Macca Ni and Gram Crackers will enter the building.