RQG 140 - How Puzzling

How Puzzling
Date	December 4, 2019
Length	49:16
Gamemaster	Alex Newall
Players	Helen Gould as Azu Ben Meredith as Zolf Bryn Monroe as Hamid Lydia Nicolas as Cel
Last	Blobs, Spikes, Spiders & Booms
Next	TBD

Summary

The party continue their descend down the Shoin Institute, guided by Skraag the kobold, and begin to realize that Shoin has a thing for puzzle traps.

Zolf is starting to lose his patience, Cel isn't okay with Hamid's assumptions, Azu loves a good smash, and Hamid is hungry.

Synopsis

The party, having just defeated several oozes and a bunch of kobolds, are still at a storage landing several floors down from the top of the lighthouse. Hamid asks what the remaining kobold's name is, which turns out to be Skraag. Hamid tells Skraag to relax. Zolf wonders whether Skraag will be useful or whether they should leave them behind. Hamid asks Skraag what their duties are, managing to deduce from their answers that they are a guard. He asks Skraag whether they know their way around the facility, which they do, and whether they know where Yoshida is, but Skraag looks blank at that last question. Hamid asks them where their boss is, and Skraag points at Hamid. Hamid asks them who was their boss before himself, and where they are. Skraag replies that that boss is 'down'. Hamid asks if Skraag can lead them there, but Skraag looks worried.

Hamid explains the situation to the party, and the fact that he thinks that kobolds have a relationship with dragons, and that he might be able to exercise some influence over them due to his draconic heritage. Skraag starts tugging at Hamid's tunic. Skraag asks Hamid whether they can be a general. Hamid replies affirmatively, and Skraag inflates with pride. Hamid tells Skraag that his very important mission is to tell the other kobolds not to fight Hamid or his friends, and to take them to their former boss.

Hamid translates the conversation to the party, and Zolf feels like Hamid is lying to Skraag, although Cel disagrees. Zolf wants to leave Skraag behind, but the others feel that they could be useful. Zolf urges Hamid to hurry up, and he and Hamid get into a heated discussion, which is interrupted by Azu who suggests that Azu and Skraag should lead the way and they can try the 'scaring the other kobolds' plan. Hamid agrees with her, and they start going downstairs.

The party notices that Skraag is scrambling a bit haphazardly, occasionally bumping into things, which makes them realize they're probably under the effect of same kind of drug as the kobolds they met earlier. Zolf spots another eye-robot underneath the stairwell and he smashes it with his glaive. Zolf suggests to call them 'cameras'. They continue following Skraag downstairs, heading into more populated areas of the building. They notice an open door halfway down the stairwell, and Skraag points at it. Hamid tells Skraag to stay close to him and tells them to try not to get hurt, but the others think Skraag could perhaps go first because they know what is ahead. Hamid asks Skraag what is through the door, and they say "Welcome!".

The party discuss what could be behind the door, whether it is a lobby or a welcoming party of armed kobolds. Hamid says that kobolds aren't very sophisticated thinkers, and Cel corrects him, telling him that kobolds are just as intelligent as the party, and that the kobolds' low intelligence in the Shoin Institute is a symptom of something, instead of being inherent to them. The party concludes that the kobolds have probably all been drugged into compliance.

Skraag keeps tugging at Hamid's robes and tells him to go through the "Welcome" door. Hamid asks whether it is safe, and whether there will be any spike traps. Skraag indicates that obviously there will be spikes somewhere. Hamid asks them where the spikes are, but Skraag isn't very helpful on that front. Zolf checks the doorway with his glaive, but no spikes come out. Cel wonders whether they can dispel the effect on Skraag and get clearer answers. Hamid casts Detect Magic on Skraag, but can sense no magic, which means they can't dispel anything. Zolf gives Skraag a look-over, and finds similar puncture marks in their neck as the kobold they left in the storage room. He determines it's probably some kind of poison. Hamid wonders how long a poison would stay in their system, and Cel suggests it's probably 24 hours.

Hamid tells Skraag to stick close to him so they don't get hurt, and Skraag attaches themselves to Hamid's leg. Hamid asks them to create a little more distance, and Skraag reluctantly creates half an inch distance. Zolf inches through the door, and no traps are triggered. There is a large hallway behind the door, there is a small amount of light filtering through some windows further around the corner. The hallway has carpeting on wooden floors, and there's a big picture on the right of some kind of matronly figure, who Cel fails to recognize. The hallway looks in much better upkeep than the areas the party had visited earlier, although they had a similar style.

The party proceeds down the corridor, and emerge from behind a grand stairway into a very grandiose great hall. The hall has a large, ornate fancy front door. There is an enormous chandelier hanging from the ceiling, with a couple of lesser chandeliers above the remaining stairways. There are several corridors leading off from the great hall to the left and the right.

BREAK

There are signs that people have been in the great hall, such as an umbrella stand next to the front door with umbrellas in it, and there is a large banner hanging over the two stairways. Skraag tugs at Hamid and points at the banner while grinning. Cel walks forward to look at the banner, but Skraag tugs at their clothing to make them stop. Skraag then runs to the other corridor behind the stairway, and the party hears some machinery clunking. Hamid asks what Skraag did, and they make it clear they turned off some spike traps. Hamid excitedly compliments them and Cel gives them two thumbs up.

Cel heads into the great hall, which is absolutely massive. They look up at the banner, which is badly done, but which in Japanese says "Welcome intruders!", and has an arrow pointing down. Cel translates it for the rest of the party. Having entered the great hall, they can see that there are two large, stained-glass windows next to the front door, which depict two images of Yoshida Shoin. One of the images is Yoshida the healer, handing out balms and tinctures to the needy masses. The other image displays Yoshida Shoin as the genius man of science, stood atop a lighthouse looking up at the stars.

The party discuss what to do next, as following the arrow seems like a bad idea. They decide to stick to their other strategy of heading down the stairwell, but Skraag wants to lead them into the hall. Hamid calls them back, but Skraag looks displeased. Hamid and Zolf discuss whether the sign is a trap, but Skraag keeps tugging at Hamid's clothing. Hamid asks Skraag who made the sign, and Skraag proudly points to themselves. When Hamid asks when they made it, Skraag says 'Two ago", which does not clear up the timeline. Hamid asks whether Skraag can get them safely to Yoshida, and Skraag says 'Yes! And then no'. Zolf suggests it's a good idea to follow Skraag, and then just deal with the 'no' part when they get to it. Hamid thinks it's risky, but probably their best bet. The party decide to follow Skraag.

They head into the hall up the main stairway, heading through large double doors into a big dining room which has been laid out for eight people, with a lot of food. Skraag goes over, pulls out a bowl of apples, looks around and then throws the bowl through an expensive-looking window and gives the party two thumbs up. The party assumes the apples have probably been poisoned. Zolf says they didn't have time for lunch anyway, but Hamid is reluctant, struggling to leave the delicious food alone. Both Zolf and Azu grab him and march him out of the room, following Skraag into another corridor.

They enter a larger but more spartan, posh room. There are four chests, two on each side of the room. There is an elaborate, tapestry carpet that leads up to a large, gilded, tacky doorway. Skraag points at all the chests, giving the party thumbs up, and then moves to reach behind the curtains of the golden doorway and machinery starts clicking. Zolf opens one of the chests with his glaive, inside of which is a fresh set of fine clothes fit for someone tall, and there is a test tube rack with six unlabeled test tubes, and a closed wooden, locked box.

Hamid opens the next chest, which has opulent clothes for a heftily build person, and also contains the same test tube rack and wooden box. Azu opens a chest with a very fancy dwarven attire, with a lot of brocade. The party assumes that the clothes have been made for them, and Hamid opens the last chest to find clothing made for his size. All the clothing are Japanese-style regalia, although they are very over the top. Hamid puts the clothing in his bag of holding, and then uses his cuffs to change into something resembling the outfit, although more tasteful.

Zolf takes the box from the chest with the dwarven clothing and hurls it against a wall. The box explodes into chunks, and there is a hiss. Poking around through the remains, Zolf smells acid and finds a piece of paper that is curling into nothing. Zolf is not in the mood to play any games and suggest the party move on. Cel inspects the test tubes, but they are empty although corked. Hamid stuffs his test tube rack in his bag of holding. Cel attempts to unlock their wooden box and succeeds. The mechanism inside the box is designed to break a vial of acid if someone would attempt to jimmy the lock. Inside the box is a piece of parchment which has the number 5 on it. Zolf throws his rack of test tubes into a corner, smashing them. Cel looks disappointed at this, and Hamid pats them on the forearm to comfort them.

Hamid asks Skraag whether it is safe to go through the doorway. Skraag scrapes a line on the floor and stands on one side, holding thumbs up, then stands on the other side and shakes their head. Then Skraag goes over to the doorway and scrapes a line in front of it, and stands on one side and puts their thumbs up. The rest of the party join them on that side of the line before pulling the curtains. Cel drinks a potion to cast Shield on themselves. Azu pulls the curtains aside and reveals a large mahogany door, when she opens it there is a drawing room behind it. There are bookcases and a big picture of Yoshida Shoin on one of the walls. There are no other doors inside the room. In the middle of the room is a kind of coffee table that appears to have some kind of mechanism in it.

Azu and Skraag step inside the drawing room. Cel checks behind the painting, which appears to cover a huge amount of complex machinery. Cel thinks maybe they are in some kind of escape room. As Cel investigates the machinery, Azu uses chairs to prop open the doors. Cel gets the impression that the machinery behind the painting is probably related in some way to the broadcasting machinery at the top of the lighthouse. The machinery is currently dead because the power is off, but Cel is able to deduce that if it were triggered, the painting would move upwards, revealing a series of black and white pins.

Skraag starts messing around with the mechanism in the middle of the table, but nothing happens. Hamid explains that they turned off the power, but Skaarg is frustrated and keeps messing with the mechanism. Hamid explains they broke it already, and Skaarg is disappointed. The party starts destroying everything in the room to search for an alternative exit. They are able to discover they are in a sealed metal box full of complicated machinery. There are a lot of hidden clues that the party proceed to destroy. Eventually they discover a hidden hatch in the ceiling, with a big red cross painted on it. They get the impression that this hatch is not part of the actual solution to the puzzle.

Zolf levitates up to the hatch using his boots of levitation and opens it. Looking through it, he is able to see that they are in some kind of lift shaft, near the top of the shaft with only about one floor of space above them. Although there is no hatch in the floor, Zolf is able to see a maintenance ladder in the lift shaft that leads down. Zolf ties a rope to the hatch so the rest of the party can climb into the lift shaft.

EPISODE END

Quotes

1. Hamid: "Ehm... Tell me your name?"
2. Skraag: "Skraag."
3. Hamid: "Skraag?"
4. Skraag: "Skraag!"
5. Hamid: "Okay, Skraag? I'm gonna... you... Skraag, you need to relax."
6. Skraag: "Skraag, yes!"
7. Hamid: "Skraag?"
8. Skraag: "Yes!"
9. Hamid: "Ehm..."
10. Azu: "Is it me, or are they just saying 'skraag' to each other?"

-

1. Zolf: "Then, whatever you're doing, can we do it quickly and now?"
2. Hamid: "I mean, suddenly you're in a rush, earlier you were like 'Ohhh'.. please- slightly- can we just---"
3. Zolf: "Because we've already not done the stealthy bit! They know we're here so we need to move fast!"
4. Azu: "Why don't you--"
5. Hamid: "It wouldn't hurt us to have some information, Zolf!"
6. Zolf: "Right, just do it quickly!"
7. Azu: "Why don't you and Skraag--"
8. Hamid: "I have done it! And now the only thing that's making us slow is you criticizing us--"
9. Azu: "GENTLEMEN, PLEASE!"

-

1. Hamid: "I mean, we probably don't want to go to the big sign saying 'Welcome Intruders'."
2. Zolf: "Yeah, I don't think so."
3. Hamid: "I mean, it's a pretty bad trap, though! I mean, unless it's a kind of double bluff?"
4. Zolf: "I mean, it's a challenge!"
5. Hamid: "You think?"
6. Zolf: "Okay, narcissistic portraits, obviously clever person, probably quite evil. I'm going to assume quite arrogant and maybe a bit of a... [...]"

-

1. Zolf: "I assume those were poisoned." / Azu: "So those were poisoned."
2. Hamid: "Seems likely!"
3. Zolf: "Although I don't think we've got time for a light lunch, so..."
4. Hamid: "... I mean..."
5. Zolf: "Hamid."
6. Hamid: "It doesn't hurt just to have a quick snack to get the energy levels up."
7. Zolf: "Hamid!"
8. Azu: "No!"
9. Zolf: "Hamid! Evil food! Evil buffet!"
10. Azu: "We can come back for it."
11. Zolf: "No. Come on! I know what you're like, let's keep going."
12. (Bryn: "Hamid is really struggling to walk away, you guys!")
13. (Ben: "I'm going to get-- grab you by the-")
14. Hamid, high-pitched: "It's fine! Fine! It's fine -- I'm fine!"

-

1. Lydia: "Are we, are we in a, like... We're in Zelda."
2. Ben: "We're doing a dungeon. We are doing a dungeon... with a cheat code!"
3. Bryn: "Ok, if anyone who makes computer games is listening to this, and can make a cheat code called 'Skraag', that explains everything you reach as you reach it, I will pay you A MILLION POUNDS!"
4. Lyida: "You've gotta be careful!"
5. Helen: "Yeah, that's been recorded, that's for posterity now!"
6. Bryn: "...A HUNDRED pounds!"

-

• Cel: "Guys, so this room is... maybe... so there's this concept I've been cooking around with where there's rooms you have to escape from? I've been thinking of like 'Mechanical no-go room', or 'Get me out of here please this is frustrating', or maybe just like, 'expensive brand tie-in story plot room'."

Dice rolls and Mechanics

• Azu, Hamid, Cel and Zolf Perception check in the stairwell: 21 (Cel), 19 (Azu), 20 (Hamid), 25 (Zolf)
• Cel Knowledge Nature on kobolds: 18
• Cel Knowledge Alchemy on Skraag: 27
• Zolf Heal check on Skraag: 23
• Cel Knowledge Nobility on the painting of the matronly figure in the hallway: 9
• Hamid Profession Tailor to assess the clothes: 17
• Zolf Strength check to hurl the wooden box against the wall: Natural 20
• Cel Disable Device check on the wooden box: 27
• Azu Perception check investigating the doorway: 13
• Cel Knowledge Engineering on the machinery behind the painting: 17