The first Savage Tide has already touched the mortal world, yet none who live today recall this terrible time of red ruin. It swept over an ancient city, transforming beggar and noble, merchant and thief, resident and visitor, one and all into feral, ravenous fiends. What took the ancients hundreds of years to build came crumbling down in a matter of days. When the final ripples of the tide faded, only ruins remained.
Now, after a thousand years, the hidden architect of the Savage Tide gazes upon new targets. This time, the doom will not be limited to one hapless city. This time, all of civilization is perched on the shore, blissfully ignorant of what the tide is about to bring in.
At the insistence of the others, Berek takes a good long look at the huge stone tumbler mechanism, checking out every possible location for a trap he can think of. Finally, after about ten minutes of extensive examination, he finds his initial reactions were, in fact, correct. There is no sign of any kind of trap present in the vault proper.
And so, ready to sake his well-being on this assessment, Berek ushers everyone else out of the vault and slowly begins to rotate the pillar as Shuma suggests. Six to the right; one to the left; and so forth until the pattern is complete. The first moments are a bit tense, as everyone waits to see if anything bad will happen. But after nothing happens for a while, it becomes more tedious than tense. The pillar is heavy. But thankfully the mechanism is well designed, so the pillar can be rotated fairly easily. In fact, Berek wouldn't be surprised if a dwarf was responsible for the design, if not the creation of this unique locking mechanism.
At last, Berek finishes the pattern - two rotations to the right - the arrow comes to rest pointing at the man-like creature with three eyes and four tentacles. There is a long pause as everyone stands and listens for the operation of some machinery. But after a few moments, it becomes clear that nothing more is going to happen.
Take 20 on a Perception check - no traps.
Full rotation according to Shumba's suggestion - nothing happens.
Daerith shakes his head, "Alright, good try Sumba. Now then, let us try it my way." He goes over it again with Berek, "Lets reset the tumbler first back to the doorway, then do it as I suggsted, move to the corrisponding eyes on the wall that match the eyes on the page."
Then the elf moves out of the room again to let the dwarf try his method.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Since you're just dealing with trying a few different possibilities for the lock, I'll let things move forward without waiting for input from everyone.
Feel free to backpost any comments or actions.
With one possible solution disproved, Daerith presses you to try another. Once more Berek flexes his muscles and starts rotating the pillar, first to its starting position, and then through the pattern Daerith suggests. Right until it rests on the wall with the gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes; left to the wall with the tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth; right to the dragon; left to the ettin; and then right back to the dragon again.
Again there is a silent pause when Berek finishes. But this time the silence is quickly broken by a deep rumbling as the five walls opposite the door rotate in place to reveal five small alcoves behind them. Each alcove contains a number of wooden chests and small metal coffers.
"Well done!" Lavinia exclaims. "Well done. You don't know how relieved this makes me." Then she steps forward to walk into the vault.
Very good. You solved the puzzle! Bonus xp all around.
"aye aye captain" Berek says with an ironic undertone. He knew that the Elven Mage was likely cleverer than odd jungle orc but he had to try Shumba's method first in the hopes that he'd have something to rub in later but allas he does as the Elf instructs him and goes through the motions hoping that something will happen this time around.
Daerith waits as Berek moves the tumbler around and then there is a grind of stone as the walls turn outwards and the vault reveals the chests beyond. "Excellent, I knew it." He nods to him pleased as punch that it was his thinking that solved the riddle. He's started to prove that he's a rather capable leader now on many fronts. He smiles at Lavina, "Your family vault awaits you Lady Vanderboren." That smug smile on his face is a reflection of his growing confidence.
Looks like a tiny cross posting with Trogdor and mackaber there.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Beads of sweat still fill the forehead of Lucky John as he watches the others efforts on the stone pillar. Finally, the bard speaks as the walls move to reveal Lavina's legacy. "Well done!", he exclaims in an exhausted tone of voice. Then leaning against the wall he waits for the others to once again enter the vault proper...
With the vault finally open, you all breathe a sigh of relief, Lavinia no less than the rest of you. Once the cheers and congratulations are over, she walks over to the first alcove and opens one of the two chests inside. "First order of business," she says, "is to pay you all what I owe you." Then she looks in the chest and her lips purse slightly. She shakes her head silently and closes the lid, opening the one next to it. This too, she looks in and quickly closes as she turns to examine a couple of small coffers. Open; close; open; close. Another pause, fllowed by a quiet sigh. "I'm afraid this must be the side my parents turned to first," she says with a nervous smile. "They're all empty."
Then Lavinia turns to the second alcove. She goes through this one as quickly as the first, opening and closing chests and coffers to no avail. As she moves to the third alcove, your employer is noticeably upset. "My parents never spoke of financial trouble," she says, tension obvious in her voice. "I always thought we had enough money." This alcove goes quicker than the previous two, and proves just as disappointing. Those that move forward can see that the chests she looks into are empty except for an occasional glint of the odd silver coin remaining inside.
By the time Lavinia is at the fourth alcove, her hands are shaking. She bites her lip as she looks in the empty chests it holds, and nervously looks back at you all. "I'm afraid I may have overreached myself in hiring you all," she says, clearly trying to put on a brave front.
Then she moves to the final alcove and actually cries out as she looks inside the first chest, her hand coming to her mouth. From the flickering light of an eternal flame, you can see the glint of gold. "Thank the gods," she mutters. The second chest proves to be filled with books - ledgers, by the look of them. One coffer has a number of cut gems; and another is packed with documents of some sort. Lavinia sits down on the lip of the alcove and takes a deep breath.
"Well, it's not good," she says at last. "But at least I'm not ruined. I'm sure there's enough in here to pay your wages." She gives you a weak smile. "With enough left over to see me through a while more." She shakes her head and adds, "I had no idea our finances were that precarious."
Daerith stands watching, he doesn't get worried after the first alcove search, but by the time Lavina is on to the third one he's as nervous as she is. The scream from Lavina startles him and he jumps visibly. The sweat on his own forehead he dabs with a handkerchief before tucking it back into a pocket hidden away. "Lavina... are you certain?" He comes forward and comforts his friend, "We all took on thie job because we thought you had plenty of money, none of us want to strain your finances beyond what you can handle." He notices the ledgers in the one still open chest, "Perhaps we can inspect the ledges and see what happened, where your parents went wrong and fix things. I mean, its one thing to be in a bit of financal hot water, trust me I know, but its another thing to be broke completely. It seems rather amazing that all of your wealth just vanished like this."
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
