Defenders Log Entry #11: The Impossible Happens-- Nobody Dies!
Felix, 2nd level fighter, 24 hp, played by Alex
Drew, 2nd level ranger, 19 hp, played by committee
Morgan, 2nd level fighter, 12 hp, played by Alan
Tyveris, 2nd level cleric of Nevron, 12 hp, played by Joel
Quentin, 2nd level druid, 10 hp, played by Jeremy
Perry, 1st level thief, 6 hp, played by Sean
The party has decided to give the room our best shot. We tried a number of the suggested plans. There were no secret doors, but in fact there IS a secret panel in the chest, which opens with a normal lockpicking skill. In the secret panel, oddly enough, is a 35' rope ladder, attached at one end to the top of the chest! There are many theories about why that would possibly be in the chest, ranging from an escape out the window of the room to a rope ladder leading down through a dimensional portal in the bottom of the chest. We still have no idea which is correct.
The first night we left rocks in various places on the room to see if anything changed during the night. The results were dramatic: the stones were found in an X shape in the center of the room the next morning. Furthermore, when Sean's new halfling thief, Perry, put his head on the stones to detect noise, a bolt of lightning shot out of the floor (like a ward). Fortunately, Tyveris quickly threw a Cure Light Wounds in time to bring him back to full health, and prevent instant death.
We left a note to the "ghost" and asked what it was, and what we could do to help. That night we observed the room through the light of a candle we left there, perched on a rented ladder outside. Nothing happened.
Then we got rid of the candle, thinking that perhaps the light discouraged the ghost from appearing. We were right. That evening the ghost appeared in full glory. Drew made a fantastically good Monster assessment and recognized it as a zombie-like being, except for the glowing aura. The thing, which had a scraggly beard and seaman's coat closing resembling that of Captain Nbod, yelled "Dive to your doom!" Drew resisted and simply slid down the ladder.
Tyveris bravely climbed up, when suddenly the staff we had left in the room was prodding the ladder over. Felix leaped to the ladder and attempted to steady it. Tyveris tried to turn the being, but it was clearly beyond his power. It laughed and said something like, "Your pathetic power does not affect me!"
Tyveris got down the ladder, and the stick hit Felix in the head. Finally, some speckled dust was flung out and it settled firmly on Tyveris. Although we were really nervous and had priests examine him, nothing appears to have happened-- Quentin has theorized that it was sort of a variant of Faerie Fire.
We have continued over the past two weeks to attempt a number of experiments. We have left messages and rocks in different places, and they have often been shifted around and occasionally responded to. The responses have been quite interesting.
The original note we left was left unanswered, but we found in the treasure chest a piece of paper we had left with "Help." written in reddish-brown fat writing (blood, we think). After that we left ink, and the responses have since then been in ink.
When asked, Who are you? The response: You're stupid.
When asked, "How can we help you?", the response was: kill Brinea.
The most recent message we sent, "Who is Brinea?" was trapped with a fire glyph thing, which incinerated the message.
Who is Brinea, you might ask? Well, we think that Brinea is a sea monster, perhaps the specific one Nbod is fighting the painting of the Maybelle. Or perhaps not-- this was suggested to us by a sailor.
Nbod has had in his position three different ships, the Maybelle, then the Conundrum, and finally the Grindstaff, which is a full sized warship.
Nbod, although a nefarious pirate and privateer, was well liked by most of Benct for his great storytelling abilities and nearly unlimited cash output. He was the kind of guy who would pay salvage tax on stolen goods. I love Benct.
The kelp at the bottom of the copper washbasin was analyzed and matched with the tropical fish to limit the search of the other end of the teleport to a large area of ocean either far to the east or far to the west of Port Elizabeth. It requires both open ocean and shallows, perhaps like an underground mountain rising just a little bit above the surface.
All this leads me to believe that the copper washbasin is a two-way teleport to an obscure tropical island, which perhaps may contain Nbod's treasure. And it is probably not very related to what's been happening with the chest.
The dual personality of the responses leads us to believe that the ghost has two different warring sides-- one vicious, the other trying to escape-- and they foil each other's attempts to help or hinder us.
The wardrobe, by the way, has done nothing.
Interestingly, five days before the full moon, the washbasin was suddenly filled with water and some kelp.
We believe that the ghost operates on some sort of cycle, tied perhaps to the lunar phases. We hope to check more into the inn's logs to see if we can determine these phases. Also, we checked, there is no one named Brinea in the inn's registry for 10 years back.
Lots of stuff to think about. We're definitely making progress-- when the ghost phases back in (he hasn't responded since the water appeared the day of the incinerated message), we may get more info.
There are countless more details, and I'll try to add those, with help from everyone else, as the weekend begins!
Log Supplement V:Things to do in Benct when you're dead
1. Insult low level Nevronian priests.
2. Push over ladders.
3. Swap rock and paper positions, while writing insulting notes instead of productive answers.
4. Glow.
5. Make lots of people disappear.
6. Set glyphs on the notes you want people to read.