Oscar
We explored the rest of the small series of rooms that seemed to hold discarded equipment. The four pouches held 400gp, which we did not yet divide up among us. One room had barding for a horse, and another 4 sets of plate mail, along with an assortment of weapons. There’s value in those rooms, if we can get it out safely. The most interestikng room was the last, which had visible (and audible) ghosts along with a bricked-up doorway north.
The other item of interest was the locked box, which we took out of the room to examine elsewhere. The lock itself is a puzzle; three choices of rune, with bad consequences if the wrong runes are chosen. My examination also revealed a kind of hollow sounding space on the bottom of the box, which I took to mean a false bottom beneath which even more treasure could be concealed. Before we could try to open it properly, a strange ghost demanded we return the box with increasingly dangerous threats. After trying and failing to invoke Denara’s power to turn the undead away, we returned the box. With Minerva and her wolves nearby, and Ygnas still under some kind of mind control, provoking a fight was something we were not ready for.
Minerva herself was spending time tending flowers in the chapel. For some reason, she seemed more human and less ethereal when within.
I took the time to investigate the doors to the east. Both had staircases leading down. The southeast room was filled with skeletonlike creatures engaged in butchery of some kind of animal; clearly the operation was in violation of dozens of health codes and I would bring it to the attention of the appropriate authorities promptly. The northeast room had a single occupant, also skeletal, who seemed to be involved in paperwork of some kind. He did not appreciate the interruption, so we left him to it.
Fritzy tried to sing the wolves into obedience, and seemed to be making progress with one, but the others moved to attack her. Minerva restrained them, but had clearly reached the end of her patience. She was very reluctant to allow Oscar to explore within the rooms after the ghost retrieved the lockbox. Fritzy was allowed to examine the chapel, with Ygnas in tow, but reluctantly.
Ygnas and Fritzy spent a lot of time in the chapel, after which they both came out in a hurry. Ygnas looked to be back to her normal self, thankfully, and we ran out of the tower, pausing only to wake up Warnock. The canoe, and the guard we had left there, were long gone. We’ll figure out what to do next once we’ve had a chance to think it over, but Fritzy and Ygnas did give a quick summary of their experience in the chapel.
First, Ygnas spent time praying at the altar of St Anya, the Yggian patron saint of lost causes, in the chapel. She was granted a vision, and when asked about it, recited this:
A room of swirling black sand going down down down to a room of huge jaws of bone. A huge blue gem containing a screaming woman. Weapons bathed in moonlight upon the altar. A glowing silver disk held against a door. A large X shining on a red brick wall.
I interpret these as such: The huge blue gem likely contains Minerva’s soul, trapped. Finding the gem may enable us to free her. Currently, I would assume the gem is in the lockbox, or if not, deeper into the tower. The weapons bathed in moonlight suggests doing so may be helpful, likely against the werewolves. The glowing silver disk – likely one we found upon the altar – may be either a key to unl;ock a door, or protection from a threat (ie, keeping the door closed). Ygnas, when she came back to lucidity, said she believes the X on a red brick wall means we should break down the walled up door in the ghost room. I’m not so sure abouting breaking it down; the red X could mean avoiding that wall as well. Either way, the bricked-up doorway in the ghost room seems like the best match for that phrase we know of.
Fritzy left her short sword on the altar briefly, and it seemed to glow, but the glow did not last after she retrieved the weapon. She left a handaxe there, without retrieving it, in case a longer amount of time on the altar is needed. And it may come in handy if anyone is stuck there without equipment.
Ygnas continued to pray, so Fritzy explored the various flowers around the room. A type of flower with large, spikey pollen balls appeared to be poisonous, and the pink bell-shaped flowers were what woke Ygnas back up.
And now, we wait on the beach, figuring out what to do next.
Ygnas
There was more storage rooms, a room with horse stuff, and a room with a bricked up doorway and lots of ghosts. The waning moon doors across the pool room went to an abattoir with a skeleton butcher, and an empty room. They both had stairs down. I bet downstairs is worse. Oscar tried to open a box he found in the storage room, but a ghost appeared. He tried to turn the ghost, but the skeleton appeared and swatted it away. The ghost just laughed. I tried too, since I was up, but it didn’t work for me either. The ghost made Oscar give the box back, saying it belonged to its master, Vincent.
Fritzy managed to talk Minerva into letting her go into the chapel with me. Minerva said I looked ready, even though most don’t get to go in the chapel until a week of meditating, so she let us in, after instructing me to strip. I happily got rid of everything but my underwear and my frog lighter. I felt normal once I walked into the chapel. Where normal means I started panicking because I’d just voluntarily taken off my holy symbol. I doubt Zuul cares that I was under the influence of magic. I knew if I walked back out, I’d be back under that influence, but there weren’t any doors. I didn’t have anything to break out a window. I explored, but didn’t find any secret doors. I poked at the altar, and rearranged the moon phase discs on it, but nothing happened except that I scratched my frog lighter. More panic, but I breathed a sigh of relief when it still worked.
I prayed at the altar out of desperation, and received a vision. I saw a room with black sand swirling down a hole in a corner into a room of giant bone jaws. I saw a screaming woman that looked like Minerva trapped inside a huge blue gemstone. I saw weapons bathed in moonlight on the altar. I saw a glowing full moon disc held against a doorway. Finally, I saw the bricked up doorway with an X shining on it. Unfortunately, praying at the altar broke my frog lighter. It sputtered and died. My heart died with it. I told Fritzy everything I saw, so someone would remember. She tried putting her weapons on the altar, and they did glow silver, but looked normal again when she picked them up.
We walked out, and nothing else mattered but I had to go back to my niche and complete my meditations. Then Fritzy shoved some pink flowers in my face. The smell banished the spell, and I bolted for the doors out. This time, I could get to the doors and leave. I’d have won the bet, the henchman and our boat were nowhere to be seen. He better be dead, or I’ll burn him alive like I threatened I would if he bailed on us after taking our money and entering Oscar’s excessively long contract. The others followed me out, and I put my holy symbol back on and prayed for mercy while getting dressed. While the rest discussed what to do next, I sat on the stairs, looking at my broken frog lighter in my cupped hands, and sobbed. The fire is gone. The beautiful light is gone.
