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Story Hour
The Westgate Campaign Chronicles - serial
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<blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 8125206" data-attributes="member: 7015827"><p>The four adventurers soon found the Cormaeril’s seneschal, Lyter. With as much dignity as he could muster, the man asked if they had come for his life. Darrow’s curt reply was to ask where Tagreth Cormaeril was. The seneschal stated that if he were in the castle, they would find him upstairs. Dermot demanded to know where the House accounts were and Lyter pointed to a ledger by the table in his room. The ranger cursed, realizing that Tagreth must have escaped them. The seneschal began to berate them for plundering the castle, but his speech was cut short by a punch to the gut from Dermot, who hauled off the big ledger book and departed the room along with his companions.</p><p></p><p>The party avoided one group of guards on the main floor and then charged through another, before heading back upstairs to see if they had missed anything. They began to wonder if the exit portal might have been used by Tagreth; Aerikoth admitted that the portal might lead to somewhere other than Hallton’s chest. The four took the stairwell down to the basement and returned to the portal room, where after some further examination and discussion, Darrow attempted to dive through the magical doorway. Shanni tried to grab the reckless dwarf, but he was brought up short anyway, bouncing off the shimmering portal rather than passing through.</p><p></p><p>Endeavoring to discover the portal key, Aerikoth borrowed the thin book on the Cormaeril cipher that Shanni had purloined, comparing it with a ciphered note previously found in Hallton’s mansion. The book referred to a key word of seven letters; the only potential clue were the words “exit portal” scrawled in the margin of the first page. Shanni hoped that they might be able to use the book to find the code word to activate the portal.</p><p></p><p>The wizard took some time poring over the cipher. Shanni used the break in the action to rearrange her inventory. Darrow, growing impatient, pulled out a spare hand axe, wound up and lobbed it underhanded at the portal, where it bounced off and fell to the ground. The dwarf, disappointed at the lack of excitement, retrieved the axe and stuffed it into his pack.</p><p></p><p>Looking up from the book, Aerikoth observed that he would need seven letters or a seven-letter word to decipher the note. Shanni suggested ‘arsehole’ but then immediately observed that it was eight letters. Darrow began mumbling to himself and counting on his fingers. Dermot spoke up and suggested “Tagreth”. Aerikoth reached into his magical bag for some writing equipment, saying it would take some time to check against the cipher. Dermot and Shanni were uneasy about the time factor, while Darrow figured they had plenty of it.</p><p></p><p>Dermot and Shanni were about to argue further when they both noticed a peculiar draft coming from the far corner of the room. When they went over to check on it, they found a hole in the ceiling which had not been there previously. The hole was man-sized and appeared to lead to a steep passage. Dermot cupped his hands and gave Shanni a boost up, but she fell back down, after wobbling and scrabbling at the opening. Blaming the tightness of her tunic, she made some adjustments and made it through the opening on the second try, boosting herself to the lip of the hole and getting a stable hold on its edge. She called down to the others that the passage was slippery, going up a bit and then around a curve, probably up at least one floor.</p><p></p><p>Shanni observed that it might be a way to slip down fast from the above floors. Dermot said that if he had to guess, it led to Tagreth’s rooms; Shanni agreed with this. As Aerikoth continued to work on the cipher, Darrow kept a watch out for any signs of pursuit by Cormaeril guards. With Dermot’s help, Shanni lowered herself back down to the floor. The ranger then asked Aerikoth if there was any chance he could figure out how to open the magic door in the next minute or two. Aerikoth indicated that “Tagreth” had not been the correct word and said it was unlikely he could resolve it so quickly. Darrow helpfully offered “AleBeer” as a suggestion, noting that “BeerAle” was also possible, but he thought somebody like Tagreth would go in alphabetical order.</p><p></p><p>After some further speculation, Aerikoth announced that the word was “Hallton”. He had been able to partially decipher the note taken from Hallton’s manor, which began “This is the last shipment...” The wizard then inquired whether he should continue working on it, or if they should move on. Shanni, anxiously looking over her shoulder at the room’s entrance, observed that if it didn’t tell him how to get into the portal, then it wasn’t of much use right then. Darrow agreed they should probably head back out through the sewers, although he thought they could give Aerikoth a bit of time to figure out the cipher.</p><p></p><p>The wizard took a few moments more to reveal the entirety of the message: "This is the last shipment for now. Continue to guard the location that was shown to you and more may come in the future. Do not fail us." Unfortunately, he noted, it did not include any clues as how to operate the portal. Aerikoth then stowed the thin book and deciphered note in his magic bag.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Carlo-One, post: 8125206, member: 7015827"] The four adventurers soon found the Cormaeril’s seneschal, Lyter. With as much dignity as he could muster, the man asked if they had come for his life. Darrow’s curt reply was to ask where Tagreth Cormaeril was. The seneschal stated that if he were in the castle, they would find him upstairs. Dermot demanded to know where the House accounts were and Lyter pointed to a ledger by the table in his room. The ranger cursed, realizing that Tagreth must have escaped them. The seneschal began to berate them for plundering the castle, but his speech was cut short by a punch to the gut from Dermot, who hauled off the big ledger book and departed the room along with his companions. The party avoided one group of guards on the main floor and then charged through another, before heading back upstairs to see if they had missed anything. They began to wonder if the exit portal might have been used by Tagreth; Aerikoth admitted that the portal might lead to somewhere other than Hallton’s chest. The four took the stairwell down to the basement and returned to the portal room, where after some further examination and discussion, Darrow attempted to dive through the magical doorway. Shanni tried to grab the reckless dwarf, but he was brought up short anyway, bouncing off the shimmering portal rather than passing through. Endeavoring to discover the portal key, Aerikoth borrowed the thin book on the Cormaeril cipher that Shanni had purloined, comparing it with a ciphered note previously found in Hallton’s mansion. The book referred to a key word of seven letters; the only potential clue were the words “exit portal” scrawled in the margin of the first page. Shanni hoped that they might be able to use the book to find the code word to activate the portal. The wizard took some time poring over the cipher. Shanni used the break in the action to rearrange her inventory. Darrow, growing impatient, pulled out a spare hand axe, wound up and lobbed it underhanded at the portal, where it bounced off and fell to the ground. The dwarf, disappointed at the lack of excitement, retrieved the axe and stuffed it into his pack. Looking up from the book, Aerikoth observed that he would need seven letters or a seven-letter word to decipher the note. Shanni suggested ‘arsehole’ but then immediately observed that it was eight letters. Darrow began mumbling to himself and counting on his fingers. Dermot spoke up and suggested “Tagreth”. Aerikoth reached into his magical bag for some writing equipment, saying it would take some time to check against the cipher. Dermot and Shanni were uneasy about the time factor, while Darrow figured they had plenty of it. Dermot and Shanni were about to argue further when they both noticed a peculiar draft coming from the far corner of the room. When they went over to check on it, they found a hole in the ceiling which had not been there previously. The hole was man-sized and appeared to lead to a steep passage. Dermot cupped his hands and gave Shanni a boost up, but she fell back down, after wobbling and scrabbling at the opening. Blaming the tightness of her tunic, she made some adjustments and made it through the opening on the second try, boosting herself to the lip of the hole and getting a stable hold on its edge. She called down to the others that the passage was slippery, going up a bit and then around a curve, probably up at least one floor. Shanni observed that it might be a way to slip down fast from the above floors. Dermot said that if he had to guess, it led to Tagreth’s rooms; Shanni agreed with this. As Aerikoth continued to work on the cipher, Darrow kept a watch out for any signs of pursuit by Cormaeril guards. With Dermot’s help, Shanni lowered herself back down to the floor. The ranger then asked Aerikoth if there was any chance he could figure out how to open the magic door in the next minute or two. Aerikoth indicated that “Tagreth” had not been the correct word and said it was unlikely he could resolve it so quickly. Darrow helpfully offered “AleBeer” as a suggestion, noting that “BeerAle” was also possible, but he thought somebody like Tagreth would go in alphabetical order. After some further speculation, Aerikoth announced that the word was “Hallton”. He had been able to partially decipher the note taken from Hallton’s manor, which began “This is the last shipment...” The wizard then inquired whether he should continue working on it, or if they should move on. Shanni, anxiously looking over her shoulder at the room’s entrance, observed that if it didn’t tell him how to get into the portal, then it wasn’t of much use right then. Darrow agreed they should probably head back out through the sewers, although he thought they could give Aerikoth a bit of time to figure out the cipher. The wizard took a few moments more to reveal the entirety of the message: "This is the last shipment for now. Continue to guard the location that was shown to you and more may come in the future. Do not fail us." Unfortunately, he noted, it did not include any clues as how to operate the portal. Aerikoth then stowed the thin book and deciphered note in his magic bag. [/QUOTE]
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