15:16, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 11 using 1d20+2.  Dexterity save.

Well alrighty then! :-) Guidance before books next time it is!

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 107):

A thick wave of ghastly green electricity envelopes the room in its entirety, arching between the instrument chains and bookshelves climbing upward to the ceiling. It dissipates into the constellations carved into the stone high above, each one igniting with emerald electrical energy for a moment as it absorbs into the stars.

After a few moments of freshly-singed silence, a voice crackles through the air around you, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. The instruments hanging from their chains begin to thrum softly as it speaks. The tone is deep, masculine, and sophisticated. “Well, well, well... Some new company, at last. Hello there. I trust you are enjoying your time poking through these old quarters? I do hope the little fascinations that have been left behind are to your liking. Please, do try any combination you like. They all have their own various flavor of fun to them. And please... stay as long as you like.”

---

You suffer 12 points of Lightning damage.
(We’ll just throw Vesryn’s damage in there later when I find out how he rolled. It’ll be 12 or 6 depending.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:07, Tue 22 Sept 2020.

Bartimaeus dusts himself off muttering, "I'd rather not do that 11,878 more times."

He looked over at Vesryn and Miliplix. "Still alive? I'll warn you before we try again.

"Ok, so the Mahogany chest was lit brightly. It could be because that book was the correct choice, because it was randomly selected to shoot green lightning, or because it was the wrong choice. I suppose we'll have to try it again with different books in other chests. Let's find out what the rules of this little game you've gotten us into is. Also, this office is entirely yours."

---

OOC:

Cast Guidance on all of us in the room.

Maple - Rothfield's III
Oak - Dust in the Wind
Mahogany - Hens in the Fox Den
Cedar - Roses: A Guide

Vesryn seemed to come to life when the lightning blasted trying his best to avoid it or as much of it as he could.

17:57, Today: Vesryn rolled 22 using 1d20+4.  Dex save.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 109):

Again, the light which emits from the mahogany chest is the same eerie green shade, while the ones coming from the other three are a smoky, rust-colored hue. The circle adjusts its shape once more as the books return to their respective shelves. This time you catch a distinct arctic scent in the air before anything happens. Like the smell of pine tar burning.

Suddenly the room erupts in a burst of green-tinged flame. For a split second, all the world is lost in an emerald firestorm as you feel your flesh and all your belongings melt together into a single, running slurry... and then it’s gone. And you stand where you were no worse for the wear, aside from a few superficial burns.

After a few moments, the voice returns again. “Persistence. That is good. That will keep things interesting for you. A life without determination is hardly a life worth living. And what end could possibly be worth while if it is not conducted in a grand blaze of glory? So do keep at it... My fascinating new friends...”

---

Both of you take 5 points of Fire damage
Vesryn, you only took 6 from the previous lightning wave.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:33, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

"I want to check something out, any help you can give would be appreciated."

Vesryn studies the 12 books that are the key to this trap, looking to see if there might be any hidden or out of the way musical notes represented on them or in them.

21:53, Today: Vesryn rolled 14,1 using 1d20+4,1d4.

Then he does the same for the chests.

21:54, Today: Vesryn rolled 9,2 using 1d20+4,1d4.

In reply to Vesryn (msg # 112):

Upon careful study, you only find a single one which you feel may be an indication of some deeper connection. One of the runes in the formula at the bottom of the maple chest appears to be a bizarre combination of several musical notes into a single symbol. It is something you’ve never encountered before in either music or arcane scrollwork, as it has no actual translation into any particular language. It simply appears to be a symbol the caster created themselves... a symbol that appears in one of the margin notes in the book Dust in the Wind where the one writing in the margins notes how recording someone’s deeds in music can immortalize a person, essentially meaning that it nullifies their death.

In short, as far as you can make out, music consumes death.

If there are more hidden symbols like this, you are unable to see them. Either they are too well hidden, or this was a one-off case.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:02, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

Bartimaeus swept his arm across, palm up. "By all means Vesryn. In any case, I think prudence dictates we pause a moment in our attempts. Another blast might not kill me... but our friend here," indicating the skeleton, "thinks that there's plenty of time for us to cogitate. But I wonder... did that much time actually pass? Or was it another enchantment, made to seem as if it had." He looked down at the mosaic rune. "Charm him that he's been here four months and he might hop in willingly to suicide on his second day." He shudders.

Bartimaeus walks to desk and draws out a quill and paper. "There is yet one combination to try to test the mechanism: we believe the Hens is a correct book. It's likely the correct book for that chest. But is a correct book in the incorrect chest designated as such? Answer that question, and our reasonings may begin in earnest."

Just as he began to scribble notes on the attempted combinations, he put the quill down. "Vesryn. You have an office here in the College. Why did you pick the lock of this door? You seem anxious to occupy a different room than you do, but... why this room. Whose room is it, and why did you choose it? Did anyone send you here?"

---

OOC:
I'd like to take a Long Rest before we continue the puzzle; my HP is low enough a failed save would zap me.

I'd like to take care of the reading I'd have done had we just gone back to the entry hall, but for that, Vesryn, would you share one of your potions of invisibility?

I'll start keeping a record of the attempts.

Vesryn takes the time to cast two spells one for him and the other for his companion. Cure light wounds

"I sent the ink and potions to my room I don't have them with me., I hope you are feeling better now."

22:25, Today: Vesryn rolled 11 using 1d8+3.  cure light wounds on Bart.

22:25, Today: Vesryn rolled 6 using 1d8+3.  Cure light wounds.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 114):

You begin your research without issue. It is slow work, but rewarding. For the next 10 hours you spend your time running a few experiments and researching what you discovered; utilizing what space you can within the chamber.

While you are unable to discover anything of note about the coins you found. With little access to anything but the twelve books present in the room, there’s not much to help you in the field of coinage.

Casting Identify on the various items reveals a few details you had missed earlier. The vellum, for instance, is rudimentary spell scroll used to cast the spell Tiny Hut. While still a functioning scroll, you wager that a more complete version of the spell could be performed as a ritual. The metal orb, meanwhile, reveals itself to be some manner of prosthetic eye. The back of it is designed to open up and act as a tiny safe, but can only open while it is attuned to an individual. To do that, they must first replace one of their own eyes with it; a process you are hesitant to even consider. Finally, the violet ink proves to be a simple form of physical cipher, designed to disguise words when used to write, or to hide them from sight entirely. You suspect this is what was used to write upon the seemingly blank sheets of parchment you found.

The spell also reveals a ways to decipher text written with this ink. By pouring the contents of either a potion of invisibility or casting Invisibility on the paper, it will cause the sheet to disappear while the words remain, suspended in the air where the sheet of parchment should be. If you would like to, you could use the entirety of one of the potions you procured to reveal all of the sheets of parchment you found. Otherwise, Invisibility would need to be cast on each sheet individually to achieve the same result.

The book of Tenebrian history proves to be a fascinating read, but again you are struck by the knowledge that much of what is written is only half the story. The truths that you find can be summarized thusly: Tenebria, the center-most nation in the entire continent of Veltria, was a land of peaceful farmer and crafstmen, conquered over and over by larger forces from neighboring countries. The nation was mainly populated by drow, which made justifying such actions easy for the foreign forces. These outsider warlords used the Tenebrian populace for slave labor for hundreds of years, until a great revolution from within, utilizing a grand perversion of druidic magic, finally led the Tenebrian people to freedom. Now a force to be reckoned with and having secured the support of small free-states all across the continent, Tenebria began conquering it’s former oppressors, slowly becoming the massive empire it is today. The free-states which supported it were allowed to remain free; never being conquered and instead having a strong positive relationship with the Tenebrian Empire as it grew. Tideswallow is listed among these as a footnote; though you suspect it was much less of a city back then and more of a hold-out of fishermen and explorers.

The fiction book is a harrowing tale that essentially acts as a narrative parable about the dangers of venturing into the unknown without the will necessary to face one’s own fears. However, the more you read it, the tougher it is to determine where it truly crosses into the line of fiction. For all you know, this could be a completely true story with just a few minor changes made. Rather than no one surviving, there could have been a single survivor. The author.

(During all of this, Vesryn could have been aiding with the research or doing whatever he liked.)

As this is going on, you have the unnerving sense that something isn’t quite right about this chamber...

---

While within this room, any hit dice you use to heal will be reduced to half of their normal potency. Similarly, a long rest will only heal you for half of your max health and will not get rid of any points of exhaustion you may be suffering (not relevant for you two right now); though it will still provide its other benefits. Excellent prediction on that cure wounds!
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:35, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

"My craving is: a privilege you have not earned." Bartimaeus picked up Key to the Kingdom. "'Privilege' means 'private law' in the Old Vaspathian, and different rules apply to lineal descendants of kings. These rules are not earned as they are inherited. Worth a try?"

---

OOC:

Guidance for everyone!

Save: 23:34, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 21 using 1d20+1d4 ((20,1)).

Maple    - Hens in the Fox Den
Oak      - Key to the Kingdom
Mahogany - Headsman's Bounty
Cedar    - Dust in the Wind

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 117):

This time all of the chests shimmer with dark crimson light. When the circle adjusts itself, it is not into another evocation circle, but back to teleportation... yet it is inverses from how it should be to create a portal out of the room.

A moment later, the air above it shifts as a space is torn open. From within, a trio of small skeletons drop in. They clatter to the ground and the rift vanishes. A few seconds later, the three begin to rise. Their skulls and claws appear draconic in nature, but their diminutive forms and upright, bipedal stances suggest they are something lesser.

The one closest to you two opens its bony mouth and lets out a terrible hissing sound as wind is pushed across its empty skeletal frame.

---

You can go ahead and roll initiative as the three skeletons move to attack you.

---

00:18, Today: GM, for the NPC Kobold Skeleton 1, rolled 7 using 1d20+1 ((6)).
00:19, Today: GM, for the NPC Kobold Skeleton 2, rolled 18 using 1d20+1 ((17)).
00:19, Today: GM, for the NPC Kobold Skeleton 3, rolled 12 using 1d20+1 ((11)).
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:20, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

00:25, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 15 using 1d20+2.  Initiative.

Will we be posting by individual initiative or side initiative?

00:33, Today: Vesryn rolled 4 using 1d20+2.  intiative.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 119):

Being the one who actually placed the books, the first two skeletons are going to rush at Bartimaeus and attack with a series of claw swipes; hoping to overwhelm you. The third, however, has a hard time keeping up, having only just reanimated.

The first one reaches you and takes two claw attacks, swiping at your midsection, as it can’t really reach much higher than that. It’s first strike goes wide as you instinctively back away, but it catches you in the calf with the second.

---

01:13, Today: GM, for the NPC Skeleton 2, rolled 10 using 1d20+1 ((9)).
01:14, Today: GM, for the NPC Skeleton 2, rolled 21 using 1d20+1 ((20))
Damage: 3

Has the Imp came to yet or is it still out cold.

Bartimaeus raises his crosier and incants a brown and green nimbus around his crosier, bringing it down on the skeleton’s shoulder.

“Ailuros! Distract that one!”

---

OOC:
Bonus Action, Cast Shillelagh

Attack Kobold skeleton
08:22, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 6 using 1d8+2.  Damage skeleton.
08:21, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 22 using 1d20+4.  Attack, kobold skeleton .

Free Action: direct familiar to aid me next round.

In reply to Vesryn (msg # 122):

The first skeleton takes the hit hard to the ribs as the enchanted crozier comes swinging about unexpectedly. While it reels from the blow, the second skeleton leaps at you and delivers its own flurry of swipes with both claws. Its strikes are clumsy, though. These creatures clearly were not meant for combat and likely have simply been thrown at you as a makeshift trap than an actual lethal assault.

---

13:55, Today: GM, for the NPC Kobold Skeleton, rolled 5 using 1d20+1 ((4)).
13:55, Today: GM, for the NPC Kobold Skeleton, rolled 8 using 1d20+1 ((7)).


The imp is slowly getting his surroundings back, recovering seemingly due to the sudden burst of fire from the previous attempt. It seems to have shaken him out of his daze a good bit. He’s useable as a familiar for the purposes of combat here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:58, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

Vesryn moves to assist his companion by attacking the creatures with his rapier. "Narmacil Telepta" As he swipes at one of the creatures but misses.

16:21, Today: Vesryn rolled 7 using 1d20+5.  rapier attack.

The Imp uses his own actions and such to attack as he is a non spelled familiar, he may or may not attack so up to DM to handle in combat

In reply to Vesryn (msg # 125):

The final skeleton sees your attempt to swipe at the others and prioritizes you as a target. Before it can reach you, however, the imp rushes out from behind your leg and leaps onto it, holding it in one of the most pathetic examples of grapple you’ve ever seen... but the little kobold skeleton seems helpless to shake him off.

You hear Milthrix’s voice both out loud and reverberating in your mind. “Kill it kill it kill it kill it kill it KILL IT!!!”

---

Kobold Skeleton 1 is grappled due to failed Strength Saving Throw.

OOC: We're back around to Skeleton 2, right?

Yes top of round 2, a skeleton then you,

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 127):

(Yeah, sorry, got a little hung up on something last night.)
The second skeleton continues focusing on Bartimaeus, lashing out twice with its little claws. The display would be almost comedic, were it not for the sharpness of those appendages.

---

11:35, Today: GM, for the NPC Skeleton 2, rolled 11 using 1d20+1 ((10)).
11:36, Today: GM, for the NPC Skeleton 2, rolled 11 using 1d20+1 ((10)).

Ailuros pounced on the skeleton threatening Bartimaeus, distracting it, and lept off just in time: she had opened its defenses and allowed her master to deliver a crushing blow with his enchanted crosier.

---

OOC:
11:39, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 24 using 2d20+4, dropping the lowest dice only ((12,20)).
11:40, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 7 using 2d8+2 ((1,4)).

This message was deleted by the player at 17:41, Thu 24 Sept 2020.