The Shystone Pillar

Continued from On the Road to Shystone Pillar

Waiting in Westborough until a caravan was ready to head towards the swamp that housed the The Shystone Pillar, we busied ourselves with various activities.

Yuri bought cabbages and potatoes for making sauerkraut and vodka.

We made contact with the leader of the caravan that we would be traveling with and arranged everything.

We then made some alterations to our cart, I paid to have some comfy seats put in, we had a collapsible tarp roof over it.

On the second day of the journey we noticed some spires in the distance, as we came closer we saw that they were large spikes with the bodies of guards impaled on them... Apparently there is a bandit group in the area led by someone called Ari Cadmus.

As we continued to travel we became suspicious of a guard in the caravan named Dolf Lundgren... We suspected that he was luring people out of the caravans and into the bandit life.

We attempted to probe him for more information, but... We weren't able to.

That night, the bandits approached the caravan and tried to recruit anyone that wanted to join them, claiming that they were working for freedom and equality. We decided that we probably couldn't do anything about this at the moment.

After a few more days of travel, we split off from the caravan and headed towards the place that we were told about. On arriving there we found a bit of a 'landing zone' on the edge of the swamp with some sort of beacon stone. After exploring the area a bit we were eventually approached by a giant bi-pedal frog person coming from the swamp. Yuri, assuming that this was some giant killer frog, made sure that we were all aware of it.

We went out and tried to establish contact with it, though we apparently didn't share any languages. Through the use of illusions and hand gestures we finally were able to get an understanding that he was the courier that brought stuff to the Lumis Boneforge. He pulled his little boat up to the shore and started motioning for us to load it up. We loaded it up, but also communicated to it that we are wanting to go to the tower as well. He seemed amiable, so we joined him on the boat, letting Rowan know that we would like him to stay and protect the cart while we go.

Traveling through the swamp, the frog-man continued checking a compass, eventually looking a bit confused, we started trying to tell us something... We eventually were able to figure out that, in order to get to the The Shystone Pillar, you have to be not actively trying to get there. Hence, the name. So, eventually we made it there.

As we arrived to the tower, a painting on a tree suddenly began speaking to us! He asked if we were there to get into the tower and when we said yes, he vanished and some words appeared on the door:

For years beyond and centuries of yore we've known the answer to enter the door.

Each new one we must ask again a rite of passage most often spoken.

Your parents taught you how and why and today again you must go forth and cry.

Asking politely if we could enter, the door disappeared, being replaced by a much nicer looking door. We opened it and went inside.

In the room was a table with three orbs on it, on the far wall, as well as the left and right walls, were doors. Between the forward and left-hand doors was a painting of a study, between the forward and right-hand doors was painting of a crescent moon.

As we enter the room the painting was populated by the same depiction of Lumis Boneforge that we saw on the tree painting outside, and he asked us to read his poem:

As she lies awake, path sinister take

In drowsiness wake, path dexterous make

With her gaze for a flash obscured

Go forth and echo for your prize procured

When she returns to the artist's frame

May you return the way you came

Seeing this as the riddle it was, we assumed that it had to do with the phases of the moon and depicting them using the orbs on the table.

We set up the orbs to be in the position that would make a full moon and the door to the left opened, inside we saw a statue, lacking features, but holding a piece of a key above his head. Yuri went up to it to see if he could get the key, the statue quickly smacked him, after which it returned to it's original position.

Setting up the orbs as a new moon, the door to the right opened. In this room was a hallway, approximately 50 feet long, at the end of which was another statue standing behind a plinth that had another part of the key. We decided that, for this side, I should just grab the key and get out of there. Moving very quickly, I managed to get out of the room before the statue was able to catch me.

Having a better idea about what all is going on here, we went back to the first room and looked around the statue, finding a slot in it's back, I slid my dagger in, after which it released the key.

Heading back to the central room, we set the orbs up to be an eclipse and the room in front of us opened. In side was a plinth with a key on top of it. Yuri attempted to grab the key, but his hand passed right through it.

We tried many things, echoing actions, mirroring the key with illusion, everything that we could think of. Eventually Yuri closed his eyes and grabbed the key!

In the central room, we set about trying to discern what needed to happen next. Eventually we found that, in the painting there was a door with a big cross-shaped key and three orbs situated to be a crescent moon. So we set the moons to that position. A door appeared on the wall that we first entered into this room through with a cross-shaped key hole. We unlocked it and entered.

Inside we found another chamber, inside was a painting on an easel, the painting depicted a treasure chest, the chest was open and treasure flowed out of it. Everything about it seemed normal until another depiction of Lumis Boneforge came out of a door in the back of it, wandered forward, grabbed a handful of coins, and walked back through the door. Roshani Folkor took a coin and threw it into the painting, it went in! I tried to take a coin out of the painting but couldn't... Instead I threw one of my ball-bearings into the painting, which worked. I painted a picture of a little doggy in the picture. Lumis Boneforge was glad to have a little dog, which he named Chewie.

Roshani Folkor picked up the painting to look at the back of it, as she did, we saw things in the painting move... She tipped it forward until the key and 250 gold + 250 chocolate coins, 10 each of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds fell out of the painting.

Unlocking the door and going through, we found ourselves in another room. A simple stone chamber, with a 15 foot hole in the middle, surrounded by a 10 foot path. We couldn't determine how deep the hole was. Taking out a rope, we lowered it into the pit and Yuri climbed down first. Turns out it was not a very deep hole, the fog was still thick at the bottom and there was a door. We opened it up and went through.

Now finding ourselves in a nice room with a very large black cat, approximately the size of a horse, laying on a big cat bed...

To be continued...