11.05.2005
  Marivhon
I buy a Descent Into Depths tm. t-shirt, and mug. Hey now that's how you make money Brogg..........I'd buy em. Of course Chris and I would just give them to each other.....If this is a non-smoking blogg I take a smoke break too. It's tense when you meet yourself. I keep wondering If I'll get enough exp to get to 8th and then fight myself to the death.....that would rock!
 
11.04.2005
  Intermission:
DiD Bloggers, you hear some pleasant, peppy music. The lights are turned on. Now would be a great time to visit the concession stand!
 
  Home
Cinder, the white swords look similar, and the smith rejects them. The smith will enchant your dagger though. The construct intones again, asking for a weapon; looks like it has enough juice left for one more try. (You can try once more, or leave it be... we'll retroactively update as necessary when I return.)

Perhaps there are other things you wish to accomplish here, in which case we will also retroactively modify the chronology. However, your work here is essentially done for now. You have no way to open the final door, and besides, the Oracle has warned you that you'd better hurry back to your world.

You bid him goodbye, and maybe thanks, and enter the glass cottage next door. Applying the oil to the mirror, the pane of glass shimmers and ripples. You step through, preparing yourselves for a fight if Vrill has remained in his basement; if, indeed, that is where you will be returning.

...

It is. You seem to have blacked out again, and when you come to, you realize that you're in what appears to be the same stone cellar in which you found Gregory Vrill. You snap to attention, draw weapons, and look around.

There is nothing. It is silent. Strangely enough, everything seems to have been removed from this place, and there are signs of disuse here. Your light is provided from the light coin. It is cold. The thought occurs that perhaps you're not back in Greyhelm at all- merely a facsimile of the place, but with all the trappings of the strange mirror world you just left.

Tentatively, you explore. You leave the cellar, and return to the warehouse above. There is a growing sense that something has gone tragically wrong. It is dark, quiet, and colder above.

Pushing the front door open reveals daylight, thankfully. Your prayers of thanks catch in your throat as you look around and survey the destruction around you. Greyhelm has been destroyed.

It looks like a warzone. Buildings have been demolished, and lay in ruins. Char and rubble fills the streets. Even worse, this seems to have happened some time ago. Snow and ice cover the remains of buildings. There is no life here, neither human nor animal.

It is Greyhelm, destroyed, in the winter. You step out into the street and begin to move through the city. The entire dock section has been laid to waste, and Greyhelm Lake is also covered with a blanket of ice and snow. The rest of the city, also, is ruined.

Then you hear something. Something metallic and awful, an oddly familiar sound. You hide in the remains of what was once an inn, and peer out through a broken window at what is coming down the street.

It's the armored warrior, from the junklands. A short knight in full plate. He's carrying the same weapon as before; you can even make out the same script on the helm. You quietly discuss whether or not to attack him, when you hear more sounds. More warriors. What looks like a patrol of six moving through the city street, carrying large pieces of metal. They wield a complement of different weapons... some chainswords, others just elaborate metal crossbows, one enormous bladed staff. All wearing identical armor, moving faster than the injured warrior you defeated, but all with the same purposeful, mechanical precision.

They pass on; you are undetected. Conferring, you decide to head quickly back to Grito, to make sure your friends are alright, and hopefully to find out what in the hell has happened here.

Moving through the city requires stealth and speed. You find many more patrols of these strange warriors, all the same except for the weapons they carry and the jobs they are doing. Cinder and Marivhon work to scout safe trails, and a Silence spell or two helps. There are no animals to Speak With. As you head towards the gates, you see that Castle Greyhelm largely is destroyed, with the exception of the legendary haunted Black Tower, standing intact, a tattered flag limply hanging from the top. Just before the great keep, however, is an enormous metal tower, several stories tall, misshapen and made from all manner of metal implements. It is currently under construction by these invaders. A few dozen warriors work to build it.

It is dawn by the time you finally escape. You move for several more hours away from town, witnessing that the outlying villages and farms surrounding Greyhelm are abandoned. Again, it is strange- the desertion and destruction of Greyhelm seems to have happened some time ago. And it certainly wasn't winter when you first left.

You rest for a few hours, keeping careful watch, before resuming your trek towards Grito. Finally, you arrive, and discover what happened to the citizens of Greyhelm.

Grito is surrounded by a huge tent city of refugees. The despair and poverty is depressing. Hundreds or thousands of people from Greyhelm have come here. One other odd thing you notice as you come into the city is the Tower of Illusion. It's completed. And it's insanely, impossibly high, stretching up into the clouds. How much time has passed?

You rush through the village towards Shady Orchards. At least the farm seems intact. Although, there are a couple odd- no, downright horribly bizarre changes since you were last here.

No zombies roam or til the snowy fields. Rather, you see ten or twenty furry border collies playing outside.

Even worse, you hear a familiar voice behind you. It's- it's Marivhon's voice. You turn to see Marivhon, another Marivhon, talking to a younger man who don't recognize, saying "Well, Burghermeister Vrill will be happy to hear about that. Good ol' Greggy, it's about time those owlbears came out right. He..." You stare in utter surprise, and Marivhon, walking down the street, sees you. His eyes widen in sheer terror- of meeting himself, perhaps- and he breaks into a full-on monk-style sprint past you, towards the front gate of the farm.

Welcome home. (We now take a two week intermission.)
 
11.03.2005
  Marivhon
I put my hand....no wait. Ok you guys have fun. I'm just a monk and think I like that my hands articulate. I don't put my staff in. You guys do what you want. I'll just follow my treasure map to monk shit when we're though if that's ok with you guys. I'll be hanging out with the oracle waiting to leave... P..B..S.. KIDS!
 
  Mace
The construct does not work on the axe or mace you found here. It considers these weapons, but says slowly:

"I have already augmented this device and cannot shape it further."

Dave FoO, it can however work your mace over. As with Brogg's broadsword, it enchants the weapon, making it shine and glow.

Light in the construct's eyes is diminshed but not gone.
 
  Brogg:
Sweet!!!

Whoa, Dave, Fist of Odin. Let's us each get a chance to put a weapon on there before we start to do twosies... this guy might run out of juice.

However, I wouldn't put your hands on there, Marivhon. Not to say that they aren't weapons... That staff might work.

I wonder if magical weapons are a good idea?

Now, if everyone does get a chance, and he still is running, I put the axe in there.

I admire my new broadsword.
 
  Dave, Fist of Odin
Boffo! I give the dude my mace! And what the hell - if he'll take it, I give him the magic mace, too.
 
  Broadsword
The blacksmith regards the broadsword on the anvil. Working quickly, it recrafts the weapon.

Hammering away at it with the right hand, while using its left hand to wield strange magic, the sword begins to glow white hot. It begins to sparkle in the light. Within ten minutes, the blacksmith has finished. Your sword glows white and shines like a diamond, and seems much sharper than before.

"A weapon, m'lord," he repeats when finished.
 
  Brogg:
Holy Grisbane! I stick my broadsword on the anvil!
 
  Weapons
Okay Brogg, I thought Dave FoO already had the mace, but you give it to him in any case. Yes, the axe is a battle axe; okay, you keep it.

You pour the blood-oil into the blacksmith. Turning the knob and closing the panel, the chest of the construct begins to heave. Steam rises out of the hole in the head, and dull eye spots begin to glow and gently pulse a deep red. The thing examines the anvil before it and says in a low, soft voice:

"A weapon, m'lord."

You notice that as the oil is drained from the chalice, the engraving and script on the chalice fade to nothing.
 
  Brogg:
Oil?! Yes!

I take the chalice, and run it over to our Blacksmith friend. I then pour it in the hole in his head.

What happens? Does he start striking?

Oh, and as for the magical Axe and Mace, from the Scorpion-bot, I give Dave, Fist of Odin the Mace. (Doesn't he have it?), and I take the Axe. I have proficiency in Battle Axe; is this a Battle Axe?
 
  Illumination
Marivhon, you find that there is already a rose in the vase in the lantern. You just seem to have an extra. However, good thinking... the three lenses you found in the glass world fit perfectly into the grooves within the lantern.

Of course, as has been oft-discussed, you cannot move the lantern. The lantern itself is in the ruined theatre, far from the crypt with the dead girl. Now with lenses and a light source, as the shutters move, strange lights are projected onto the stage. Mostly abstract swirls or wisps, but you can occasionally make out half-formed images of other things. Unclear as to what these images are though.

You have an interesting thought, and place the chalice in the cupped hands of the statue above the girl's tomb. As if by design, the chalice fills with a thick liquid, halfway between dark arterial blood and... oil.

...

Dave FoO, Speak With Dead cannot reach this dead monk... he's been dead far too long for your spell to breach the void. On the plus side, hey, can of Fresca.
 
  Dave, Fist of Odin
Yeah, I'll Speak With the Dead guy. Why not? Speaking with the Dead is, like, a hobby of mine. I'll also poke around into stuff that hasn't been poked around in - you know. But I think we've poked around in all the pokeing-around parts. Now it's time to act upon parts, and then poke further.

Or something. I'm going to re-read the stuff and see what's what, and I'll take a can of that Fresca if the Oracle's still offering.

Plus, the speaking with Dead bit.

Hey - I can feel a great disturbance in the force, as if the world's motive Power or Grand Designer was suddenly - going out of town for a week. I hunker down to wait out the storm, which to Dave, Fist of Odin (I suspect) will pass as if in a heartbeat.
 
11.02.2005
  Marihon takes the iniative.
Rob I put the crystals and the rose in the latern with the girl in the crypt. I have the chalice ready to put it wherever I can.........hrm.
 
  Deja Vu
In the literal, not metaphorical sense.

You have examined the blacksmith to the best of your abilities. There is a hammer. There is an oily hole at the top of its head. There is a large compartment in its chest that fits the small keg-like contraption you found in the glass world. This object is engraved with a script similar to that on the chalice you found. The keg fits exactly without room for anything else.

...

The Oracle listens intensely to your 'prophecy'. He considers it for a minute, and says: "Well that's the difference, right there. You see, your statements are exactly that- statements, with certain truth values that can be assigned more or less depending on how vague the statements are and how far in the future they refer to." He swishes his can around, and, finding it empty, cracks another can.

"But a prophecy, see, uses poetic language. Certain phrases, such as 'a crack in the ice' can be taken literally, or taken metaphorically on a few different levels. Generally the way things work with prophecies is that they contain several poetic phrases which aren't clear until the final moment. Then, depending on the memory and wit of the interpreter, perhaps the final phrase of the prophecy can reveal how best to solve a final dilemma."

"Or, you could just go eat some fortune cookies. You know, if you wanted to hear things like 'You will be rick and old!' or something. One last thing about prophecies. Not everyone's a hero, you know? Most people don't get epics or biopics made about them. But you come to me, you get a prophecy, no matter how damn unimportant your life might be. Everyone's life seems pretty damn important to them; Grisbane just tries to give everyone a chance to be a hero in some small way."
 
  Jambox
Crystal jambox taken.

Brogg, you cannot find an obvious leak without trying to dismantle the blacksmith. There is also no obvious way to dismantle the blacksmith that won't involve repetitive application of magical damage. Apparently, the oil was just ejected, or rejected, by the internal keg. You see nothing else to operate with the construct itself.
 
  Brogg:
It seems like this guy has a leak or something. I am going to check around for the place where that hiss came from.

If there is a leaky valve or something, I try to tighten it. Maybe we need another description of this blacksmith.

I ask Cinder to poke around with his thief eyes.

Oh yeah, and Cinder check this out:
Bad things might happen to you...
Then again, maybe they won't...
Someday you will probably be rich,
Unless you are poor.


Ha! That's your prophecy! -Freakin' Oracles, never can give a straight answer...
 
  Red
Marivhon.

The corpse in the red robes is nothing more than a skeleton. You return to the realm of glass while your friends toil in the junklands, and collect the body. You've seen these robes before- from the Red Lotus Gang. These are robes of a master. Bones in some places seem tougher; on inspection and an IQ check, you'll notice that several of the bones were broken long ago, then re-healed. Seems normal for one long accustomed to a life of fighting. However, the right arm has been twisted behind the body and broken. The neck has been snapped.

You return to the junklands and determine that Brogg has oil. I'll save you the trouble of posting 'I pour in the oil to the blacksmith.' You pour in some oil, open the panel, and turn the knob. As you close the panel, you hear the hiss of steam. The chest of the construct shakes once, then you see black oil leak out the bottom of the chest as another hiss renders the construct immobile. You are getting closer.
 
  Marivhon
does anyone have a flask of oil we could try pouring in this guys head to light him up?
 
  Marivhon
The dead guy in the red robes with the headband.... does he seem like a monk from his build and outfit... You know does he have callouses from breaking boards and the like. I take his corpse either way. How dead is he (how long has he been dead) and could dave FoO try a speak with dead on him......
 
  Dry
Yes, the chalice you found is engraved in the same script, reading "So I may bleed". You make your way back to the crypt, but alas, there seems to be no way to fill the chalice. Further investigation of the rest of the junkyard also reveals nothing that appears useful to this purpose.
 
11.01.2005
  Marivhon
we do have a chalice with the words "So that I may bleed" on it. It might fit in somehow here or in the room with the coffin chick. There is a statue with cupped hands there. I think we should try and get her working, and get her juice over here....
 
  Nope
Brogg puts an arrow on the anvil.

As poetic as that statement may be, nothing happens. The blacksmith construct remains motionless. (Nothing happens if you try the spear or any other object on the anvil.)

There is only a binary knob on the contraption inside the construct, and a small, oily hole at the top of the blacksmith's head. On further examination, turning the knob seems only to cause a small spark to momentarily flash inside the contraption, but nothing else happens.
 
  Brogg:
Hmm...

I put a glass arrow on the anvil. Anything? If not, I search this guy for some kind of switch...
 
  Heart
Okay Brogg, objects taken. You guys have quite a haul from this place. Maybe you should send Vrill a 'Thank You' card.

You leave the glass world and return to the junkyard. Yes, the keg is a perfect fit inside the blacksmith. You connect the two tubes, screw in the spigot, turn the knob, and close the door, and... nothing. It appears there is just a little more you must do...
 
  Brogg:
Oh shit! I grab the little keg and those glass weapons, that's 2 Glass Arrows and 1 Spear. I hand the Flower and the Lenses to Cinder.

Alright, let's get that Blacksmith working! We can do the lamp thing next.

I go to the Blacksmith, and try to attach the keg thing in his back compartment. Does it fit? What happens?
 
  Answers
Marivhon asks what the real name of the Mysterious X is. Dave FoO asks how to get around the atheism of the MoP.

The Oracle finally responds. To Marivhon: "You guys are pretty focused on these monks. I can understand that, I mean, here I am, you know? But there are some other, even worse things out there, so be careful. Anyway, if you want to know more about Mr. Mysterious... take a closer look around this place. That's all I can tell you. Weird, huh? Probably didn't expect to get any clues here in this weird crystal or glass world."

To Dave FoO: "Well, that's a tough one. It's almost paradoxical, you know? That the MoP have such faith in faithlessness, that they're invulnerable to clerical magicks! Of course, they're not invulnerable to your mace, so maybe that's the best plan after all. Besides, how much offensive priest magic is there? I guess you've got all those animal friends though. Hmm, let me think." The Oracle enjoys his Fresca and scratches his chin.

"Well, another approach would be to fool the monks into thinking that your magic wasn't priest magic, but honest-to-god mage magic. Excuse the pun there, or whatever. You know who else has problems convincing other people to believe in his magicks? Well, do you? Might look for a solution there."

The Oracle sits back, prophecies given, questions sort of answered. "Sure you don't want one of these, for the road?"

Brogg asks the Oracle a few more things. "Well, I'd really like not to have to deal with the bullshit of the Council of Grisbane. They're gonna want me back, want some prophecies, crap like that. I mean, if they're about to torture you, I don't want you to have to go through stuff like that, but if you could please try to keep it a secret, I'd appreciate it."

"As for the rest of this place... well like I said, I'd stay away from using that copper key you got. The little house on the void is a place you won't be coming back from without more mirror oil, and I've got the last of it. So you can either go there, then come back here and stay for eternity, or you can go back to Greyhelm and stuff. Your call I guess. If you have some stuff to do in that junkyard, you've probably got enough time for that. I don't know anything about that blacksmith guy though, never really looked around there. And as for the whole Garden of Thorns thing... heh heh, well, let's just say 'you can't handle the truth!' At least not now. Anybody see that movie? That was a pretty good movie. Just saw it, that's why that line is in my head."

...

In any case, you finish up and bid the Oracle goodbye. "Hey, nice chatting with you guys. Have a look around. If you're ever in the neighborhood, feel free to drop by, maybe I'll have some new prophecies for you. Of course, I'd like to hear how those proph's I just gave you worked out too. See ya later."

Okay Cinder, you grab the Crystal G's head. It's fairly heavy (and thus won't fit in the Roos of Holding).

So, there's the rest of the glass world to explore- the rest of the cottages and the two stores. Well shit, let's just move this along.

Here are what's in the five cottages.
#1: The Oracle of Gryss; TV; some Fresca.
#2: large standing mirror; shelf with a little bottle of mirror oil on it.
#3: crystal jambox; cooler with 2d12 cans of Fresca; poster of Eminem.
#4: empty.
#5: dead guy in bright red robes with a black headband, looks like his neck was twisted.

Here's what's in the two shoppes.
Flower Shoppe: glowing glass flower in glass vase (similar to what was in crypt), small black case. In the case are three translucent glass disks or lenses, one pale green, one dusky pink, one deep blue.
Weapon Shoppe: 1d8 arrows of glass, 1d3 spears of glass, small iron trunk. In the trunk is a strange rusted metal contraption that looks like a small keg, about the size of a football. There are a few odd holes in it, and one large knob. Engraved around it is the phrase "So I may work".

This should do it; now what?
 
  Marivhon
sitting and meditating.
 
10.31.2005
  Brogg:
G-A-R-D-E-N O-F T-H-O-R-N-S! Garden of Thorns?! Brilliant, Dave Fist of Odin!

Yeah, we never did open that door did we? Let's do it! With my copper key?
 
  Dave, Fist of Odin
I'm down with mad xps, yo. There's a ton more nooks and crannies to poke into, and I know at least one of the books had a stanza where the first letters spelled a word, so there might be other puzzles.

Dave, Fist of Odin is not the thinker of the party, true, but perhaps if we scan around and find some cool shit, there will be a need for a modicum of clobbering. Of course, 'modicum' is outside the mileu of Dave, Fist of Odin, but clobbering's usually a boolean - either you clobber a thing, or you don't. That's how I've seen it, anyway.

On to puzzles! Let's wake that crystal bitch the hell up!
 
  Brogg:
Hmm... so I can't win in Grisbane's eyes? Yeah, right, like you know what G-bane thinks.

Anyway, I suppose that we should get back to Greyhelm and start dealing with whatever crazy stuff is going on there. However, I have this gnawing feeling that if we can solve the riddle of the Rusty World, we might get some mad xp's.

Does anyone have any ideas? How about the Oracle? Does he have any advice about the Blacksmith?

Also, the Oracle doesn't want anyone to know that he is here? Can I at least tell folks that we saw him?

I am going to defer to you guys if you want to check out this place a bit more. Otherwise, let's take that mirror trip back.

Is there any place that we haven't searched yet?
 
Descent into Depths is an old school 1st Edition AD&D adventure run by the Infinity Group.

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04.17.2005 / 04.24.2005 / 05.01.2005 / 05.08.2005 / 05.15.2005 / 05.22.2005 / 05.29.2005 / 06.05.2005 / 06.12.2005 / 06.19.2005 / 06.26.2005 / 07.03.2005 / 07.10.2005 / 07.17.2005 / 07.24.2005 / 07.31.2005 / 08.07.2005 / 08.14.2005 / 08.21.2005 / 08.28.2005 / 09.04.2005 / 09.11.2005 / 09.18.2005 / 09.25.2005 / 10.02.2005 / 10.09.2005 / 10.16.2005 / 10.23.2005 / 10.30.2005 / 11.06.2005 / 11.13.2005 / 11.20.2005 / 11.27.2005 / 12.04.2005 / 12.11.2005 / 12.18.2005 / 12.25.2005 / 01.01.2006 / 01.08.2006 / 01.15.2006 / 01.22.2006 / 01.29.2006 / 02.05.2006 / 02.12.2006 / 02.19.2006 / 02.26.2006 / 03.05.2006 / 03.12.2006 / 03.19.2006 / 03.26.2006 / 04.02.2006 / 04.09.2006 / 04.16.2006 / 04.23.2006 / 04.30.2006 / 05.07.2006 / 05.14.2006 / 05.21.2006 / 05.28.2006 / 06.04.2006 / 06.11.2006 / 06.18.2006 / 06.25.2006 / 07.02.2006 / 07.09.2006 / 07.16.2006 / 07.23.2006 / 07.30.2006 / 08.06.2006 / 08.13.2006 / 08.20.2006 / 08.27.2006 / 09.03.2006 / 09.10.2006 / 09.17.2006 / 09.24.2006 / 10.01.2006 / 10.08.2006 / 10.15.2006 / 10.22.2006 / 10.29.2006 / 11.05.2006 / 11.12.2006 / 11.19.2006 / 11.26.2006 / 12.03.2006 / 12.10.2006 / 12.17.2006 / 12.24.2006 / 12.31.2006 / 01.07.2007 / 01.14.2007 / 01.21.2007 / 01.28.2007 / 02.04.2007 / 02.11.2007 / 02.18.2007 / 02.25.2007 / 03.11.2007 / 03.18.2007 / 03.25.2007 / 04.01.2007 / 04.08.2007 / 04.15.2007 / 04.22.2007 / 04.29.2007 / 05.06.2007 / 05.13.2007 / 05.20.2007 / 05.27.2007 / 06.03.2007 / 06.10.2007 / 06.17.2007 / 06.24.2007 / 07.01.2007 / 07.08.2007 / 07.15.2007 / 07.22.2007 / 07.29.2007 / 08.05.2007 / 08.12.2007 / 08.19.2007 / 09.02.2007 / 10.07.2007 / 10.14.2007 / 11.11.2007 / 01.25.2009 / 07.01.2012 /


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