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004. Ruins Rhyme and Reason

Exploring the rest of the ruins, hopefully finding some clue as to their purpose and the purpose of the crown I found.




Opening Summary

Property Value
Start Date & Time
Previous Scene [[003. Ruins, Rummaging, Ruminations]]
Current Chaos Factor 4
Scene Type Expected

Relevant Entities

  • [[Yolo]]
  • [[Characters/Whoever Built the Ruins]]
  • [[Lee Rensler]]
  • [[Items/Dax's Journal]]
  • [[The Artifact Dax Died To Get]]
  • [[Places/The Ruins]]

Scene

Game

  • Yolo
    • Notice on traveling to room 2, Simple success
    • Notice for traps in room 2, Simple Success
  • GME
    • The hallway is free, the room is trapped.
      • Messy floor
      • You look into the large room ahead of you. The walls are lined with razor sharp blades. Sharpened wooden spikes stick out of the floor at odd angles. The floor is dark, even under torchlight
  • Yolo
    • I reach down and touch the floor. What's it covered in?
  • GME
    • It's not clear, but it's slick to the touch. Wet. Smells a bit like fetid water.
  • Yolo
    • Gross, but manageable.
    • I assume the room has a container.
    • I glance around for any other markings.
  • GME
    • Nothing you see.
  • Yolo
    • Are the spikes on the walls in a particular pattern or motif?
  • GME
    • Very Likely, 55, 5 > chaos factor, no event
    • Yes. The spikes are shaped like the layout of the ruins. Almost like the suit of clubs, with the underlying cross.
  • Yolo
    • I lay down on my stomach and crawl to the chest this room houses.


  • GME
    • You do so without difficulty.
    • Is it locked? Unlikely, No.
    • Is it empty? Likely, No.
      • Odd Meaningful
      • Like all of the other chests you've opened so far, this one is lined with purple velvet, damaged with the passing of ages. The velvet is indented. There are three sets of two indentations. The top is a small oval inset. Beneath each of these is a larger rectangular space. One of these contains a small piece of precious stone. Polished smooth, with a bas relief at the top, and what appears to be writing beneath.
  • Yolo
    • I take it with me, and army-crawl my way from the room.
    • Do I find traps on the way to room 5? Simple Success
  • GME
    • No
  • Yolo
    • Do I find traps in room 5? Simple success
  • GME
    • yes
      • Frightening Illusion
      • As you round the corner to the room, you notice that it has no floor. It appears that there is only an enormous pit in the room. A chest lies at the other side, with small handholds in each wall, inviting you to climb around to the chest.
  • Yolo
    • I hold out my torch and peer over the edge, can I see the bottom.
    • Roll notice, Simple success
  • GME
    • You can't see the bottom of the pit. It looks deep, but something looks... odd.
  • Yolo
    • I pick up a rock from the ground, or if nothing is handy, I take a coin from my purse, and toss it into the center of the room.
  • GME
    Yolo takes the coin and flip it from your thumb. The clang of metal sings softly as Yolo watches it go up, and then over the lip of the pit, but where it should have kept going, it hit and bounced. Plink, plink, plink, roll. Then, as it rolls near the side, the coin falls again, there are several seconds, and then another plink in the distance.

Yolo

False pit concealing a real pit... clever. I bet the only threat is at the edge. Still... Better safe than sorry.

Game

  • Yolo
    • I get on my stomach and make my way slowly over towards the container, feeling the ground in front of me and at my sides as I go along.
  • GME
    • The room contains a fairly wide path leading to the box. It is, you guessed it, in the shape of the ruins themselves.
    • Is the box locked? Unlikely, No
    • Is the box Empty? Very likely, Yes
      • You've arrived at the box, but it is empty. There is no velvet in this box. You're unsure if it ever held anything at all.
  • Yolo
    • I return to the entrance to the dungeon. As I do, I'm going to rack my brain. Do I recognize the symbols in the dungeon layout at all? Something in general knowledge, my magical background, what I know about the occult?
  • GME
    • Common Knowledge: Simple Success
      • It reminds you of the suit of clubs
      • You know clubs is related to one of the tarot suits
      • Maybe also a classic symbol of heraldry? I feel like I've seen this on a flag
      • Graveyards have crosses at tombstones, maybe I've seen a similar one there before
    • Spell Casting: Simple Success
      • Crosses are often potent symbols
      • This is almost, but not quite, fractal.
    • Occult: 2 Raises
      • Crosses are all over the place in religion.
      • It's close to a crux gemina
      • It's also very close to certain types of ankh

Yolo

It's such a common symbol, and yet I can't place it. It's everywhere, which makes it so hard to place.

Ending Summary

Added Threads

  • Research the [[Items/Sketch of cross symbol]]

Closed Threads

  • Escape the ruins

Added Characters

  • [[Items/Strange Bas Relief]]
  • [[Items/Sketch of cross symbol]]

Removed Characters

Property Value
End Date & Time
Next Scene [[Journal/005. Bunking Down]]
Next Expected Scene Overland travel back to civilization, resting at an inn on the edge of civilization, leveling up
Ending Chaos Factor 3
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