Play by post anyone?

#1025

Mehrfin spends his time between the lighthouse cellar leading to the dwarven vault, and the house of the old mage.

One cold evening when taking a break from studying the dwarven runes in the cellar, he’s talking with Calaphdi, a Khettish apprentice mage on O’hemm, (a kind of wizard student gap year / spirit walk), and Mehrfin shows the young man some of the Torton glyphs from the mage’s house.

“Ahh, like those on the lens, yes I see.”

“…what!?”

“This glyph, it appears on the rim of the lens. Have you not seen it?”

The Torton rushes up the stairs with a shout, bounding two stairs at a time.

The young apprentice is right, Mehrfin studies the lens, and can see cracks forming within the perfect glass, but also Torton glyphs engraved into the glass. The lighthouse is dwarven, as is the frame that holds the lens so that it can swivel, but this ancient lens is Torton in make.

#1026

Amidst all his skiving and hanging about Muel does learn from the Lightwatch scouts that the army of Duke Greystone is on the move, but is not approaching Durhadda. They’ve heard rumours that the Duke is headed for the Tower of Yag. That is not far from Durhadda, not far at all.

When he visited the lens Muel finds Mehrfin studying it with quiet intensity. And sees for himself that the cracks have undeed grown worse.

#1027

Quildrum spends a lot of time in the Nag’s Head, sometimes with Muel, sometimes with Mehrfin.

He drinks several fishermen under the table over a few days and becomes good friends with two retired adventurers; Nats Longshanks and Oldorf The Hardy (a fat, but still strong dwarf).

The three of them drink and share tall tales until the sun comes up.

#1028

Hykon’s piety serves him well, as did his help in destroying the statue of an evil god.

In a waking dream he is visited by an Angel, a servant of infinity and law, and it takes the form of a seven-winged blind servant endlessly moving both towards and away from Hykon at the same time.

This being, called Mathra-hedra-phon, the Speaker of a thousand thousand truths, tells Hykon that he will be blessed by the Torton Gods of Law, if he can bring a holy light into the darkest pit.

And with that esoteric message the Angel vanishes.

#1029

[OK so where to guys? Tower of Yag or dwarven vault under the lighthouse?]

#1030

Well fellas I say the vault under the lighthouse then the tower

#1031

[Yes, the vault. The lighthouse lens is going to be the key to defeating the Yag, I feel. What say ya’ll?]

#1032

Another vote for the vault here!
[I’m down for another adventure]
I think Muel takes out his Heartstone once in a while, when he gets a quiet moment, and just looks at it in amazement.
[Heartstones are basically lucky charms that ACTUALLY work, right? That’s so cool! Like, maybe pure luck can be “concentrated” from a lot of people into a physical object to be given to a hero of the village or whatever. I’ve never really thought about it “practically” before.]

#1033

[So, it’s the dwarven vault to look for the three keys that will restore the lens.]

[What gear are you each taking with you into this dark dungeon?]

#1034

Quildrum will take sword/with kit of spikes on it, shield, javelin if I can… Merf muel or hykon should carry the torch…

#1035

[Muel is taking a torch, and maybe a spare?
Some flint and steel? Definitely bringing his climbing kit. I dunno? I feel like I’m missing something.]

#1036

As the group gathers themselves up they reopen the floor vault and take the wide steps down into the darkness.

At the bottom of the steps the first main chamber is all black rock, carved in a severe dwarven style of steep angled columns and stoic bearded faces. Four archways lead to four stairways each heading down in the north, east, west and south walls. Ancient dwarven runes are carved into the archways.

Similar runes are carved into the underside of the vault door.

Trails of black slime criss cross the stairways down but none enter the chamber.

[In any room you come to you can examine a specific thing with an INT roll, or explore the room more generally with a WIS roll]

Timer 1

Target 15 (assuming one of you has a torch - who is that btw).

What do you do?

#1037

[Sorry for the slow reply, it was my birthday. Busy things were afoot]

#1038

Happy birthday!!! Turn up…

#1039

Lead the way Muel… I’ll follow you with my sword n shield ready.

#1040

Sorry … been in the mountains. I have a torch in my adventure pack. I assume I got that replenished a bit during our down time. If someone else wants to carry the torch, I can start working on a light spell. [Int 19+3=22]. Though technically I can transform into fire so we might be good.

#1041

Muel has the torch, and he walks over to the North stairs and examines the slime trails:
(INT 13+0)

#1042

[Hykon will just be bringing his regular inventory of equipment plus the 5 bottles of holy water he got from the church while in town. No torch.]

Hykon will move slowly through the chamber, toward the stairs. He’ll look for any signs of a secret door/opening.

INT 8+1=9

#1043

Just above Mehrfin’s head a ball of light appears and bobs along after him. Its a strong light and will last until he casts another spell.

Quildrum stands guard, armed and ready.

Muel examines the slime trails in the northern passage. They’re wide trails but come up short of going into the chamber. And they’re wet unlike the rest of this dusty old dungeon. Looking closely Muel can see that the stone underneath the slime has disolved away slightly.

Hykon looks for any hidden passages but finds none in the shadowy place. He does notice footprints in the dust, unclear how many but someone was down here. When he sighs and looks upwards he notices there are Dwarven glyphs on the underside of the vault door.

Timer 0

Nothing else happens.

Target 15

What do you do?

#1044

I’ll examine the slime to see if it is a lifeform or from a lifeform of some kind, or perhaps otherwise useful. [Int 20+3=23]

I’ll also gather some energy into my ring [3]