Castle Whiterock 13 February 2023: Where's the fight?

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
    Bleu, droning elf wizard
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
    Logan, wolverine
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer

What they did

We wander through the ruins of Narborg on our way to the burning maze, seeing the carrion crawlers and goblins that have moved in, we spot an arcane rune. We ask Bleu, and she says, "It seems to be Wizard Pelltar's mark and has additional symbolism meaning '75 yards due north.'"

Garreth and Polly dig 75 yards due north, and they come out in a chamber. Bleu, Logan, and I follow them, and we link up with them in a chamber that is round and big, almost 40 feet athwart, and a soft glow from the ceiling lights it. The middle of the floor has an opening going down, and above that opening is one in the ceiling going up. On the far side is a big bed, an ironbound chest, and a black wooden bookcase with books. Near where we came in is a kitchen with a table and chair, and a small stone alcove with metal sheets inside.

We hear a woman's voice say, "Don’t forget to eat." As we cannot find the speaker, we ask Bleu to cast detection spells. She tells us that the alcove is magic, as well as the bottle near it, the books in the bookshelf, and the ironbound chest. The voice, she says, is a recording using the Magic Mouth spell.

I check out the chest. It is locked with an outstanding lock. Polly shoots it to make sure it's not a mimic. Then I borrow Garreth's Gloves of Dexterity, drink an Agility Potion, and easily pick the lock. "Piece of cake." I give Garreth back his gloves, and he puts them back on.

Inside the chest are $35,391 in many gold and platinum coins, ten shiny gems worth $1,000 each, and 9 books. Bleu says they look like spellbooks of rare spells. As the chest has unusual depth, Bleu says we cannot safely put the chest into our Bag of Holding, though I can get in it easily, and breathe while in it.

We check out the bottle. It looks like a common bottle, but has some words in Aquan on it: "Stream," "Fountain," "Geyser," and "Halt." Bleu says this is a Decanter of Endless Water, and these are command words. In the alcove, Bleu sees writing in Draconic, and says these are command words for heating the metal plates in the alcove. We pour some water from the Decanter onto the plates, then speak the command words, and the the water steams as it hits the now-glowing plates. We check for food, and find reserved delicacies, canned dire duck foie gras, elven cookies, elven brandy, and so forth. I feed Logan the dire duck foie gras, while Garreth and I try the brandy.

We check the bookcase, and see it has 25 books with Draconic writing on them. Bleu says the writing is about shelves, ladders, steps, and stairs. Speaking the command words, we turn the books into steps spiraling up to the hole in the ceiling. Garreth steps on them, but the books sink a little from his weight, so I step on them, then walk up them to the hole. Garreth, of course, just walks on the air, as do the others.

This circular level is about 35 feet athwart. An opening in the well-lit ceiling leads to a loft that looks like it is cluttered with junk. Along the right wall are several dwarf trees, and along the left wall there is a big desk and many wooden easels. The easels hold canvas paintings, some done, some still needing work.

A perky feminine voice says, “Don’t forget to water the trees. Still need to finish the painting of Amarantha.”

Nobody knows who Amarantha is.