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Mindscapes: Paths of Uncertainty

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  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018
    You walk down the second path that is filled with lush greenery and vibrant flora. You feel a drowsy, dreamy influence pervading your mind and perception, and your mind is filled with a sense of calmness and tranquillity. The sweet scent of wild flowers hangs heavy in the air, alluring you deeper and closer to the heart of the forest. You try to resist, but find it strangely exhausting to persuade yourself to go back. You find yourself unwilling to return, and as if in a trance, you move on.

    Do you think you're trapped? ;)


    You enter...

    The Jungle of Dreams

    ThacoBelllolienSkatanmashedtaters
  • RVNSRVNS Member Posts: 285
    Am I familiar with the type of fairies that are here?
    ThacoBelllolienRik_Kirtaniyamashedtaters
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018
    Nimran said:

    Grem takes out a :cookie: and tries to entice a fairy to come closer with it.

    The fairies seem to ignore the :cookie:. Probably, they don't know what it is, and are therefore not interested in it.

    Perhaps you need to speak to them.


    RVNS said:

    Am I familiar with the type of fairies that are here?

    @RVNS You can try conversing with them.
    Skatanmashedtaterslolien
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    @Rik_Kirtaniya
    Is my character finding anything?
    Rik_KirtaniyaSkatanmashedtaterslolien
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    @ThacoBell
    Hint: You are currently enveloped in strong enchantments, which is making normal searching difficult. Try to initiate a conversation and find a way out. This is the Jungle of Dreams. ;)
    SkatanmashedtaterslolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018
    Hint: By the way, you may also try searching the area later, but first you must do something to break yourself off from this trance.
    Can you not smell something?
    SkatanmashedtaterslolienThacoBell
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    Vidar's keen senses smell that something is of, it doesn't smell like in any normal wilderness area he has visited. "Let's try conversing with these small fairies and see if they know anything."

    Vidar reaches out his hand slowly towards the closest fairy, the one that at least look a tiny, slightly little interested in the group and says: "Hi, there. Can you please help us? We seem to be a bit lost and could really use some guidance."

    @ThacoBell
    I always try to weave in "Vidar" in my posts from now on, my char's name.
    Rik_KirtaniyamashedtaterslolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018
    The fairies (or so what they seem to be) gaze at you and start giggling, as if amused by your words. They flutter around you for some time, keeping a safe distance, perhaps examining the aura of your mind. Finally one of them comes closer and hovers in front of your party, her little glimmering wings blowing sparkling fairy dust at you. She giggles and says in a sweet voice:

    "Why don't you answer a riddle first?"

    "I can climb trees
    without a sound.
    But must still always
    touch the ground.

    What am I?"
    SkatanmashedtaterslolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    @Skatan
    Skatan said:

    Vidar's keen senses smell that something is of, it doesn't smell like in any normal wilderness area he has visited.

    This smell is already described in my first description of this path. But there's something special about it. Think of the effect it can have on your mind. ;) And once again, remember the name of the place where you are. ;)

    Hint: (More will be given later if required.)

    You feel a drowsy, dreamy influence pervading your mind and perception, and your mind is filled with a sense of calmness and tranquillity. The sweet scent of wild flowers hangs heavy in the air, alluring you deeper and closer to the heart of the forest.

    Skatanlolien
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    Vidar thinks for a moment, looks around at the group, and then a bit hesitantly responds: "A vine."

    This all seem to surreal to be real. A brief exchange of thoughts and chirps with his magpie's and they start to thrust their beaks at him, as to try and wake him from a bad dream.
    Rik_KirtaniyamashedtaterslolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018
    @Skatan
    You've played Exile 2, haven't you? ;)

    "Hee, hee, hee," giggles the fairy, "You are right, wise dwarf."

    Then she continues:

    "In this forest is a flowery vine of dreams,
    That twines around your mind's streams.
    All that glitters is not gold,
    So one must be as wise as bold.
    You must not believe all that you see,
    For things are often not what they seem to be.
    You must stop inhaling this fragrance,
    Only then shall you come out of this trance."


    I hope the logic is clear:
    Wild Flowers --> Sweet Smell --> Contains chemical hallucinogens --> You smell it --> You are day-dreaming! :D

    Hey, hey, now wake up!

    Remember what I said?

    By the way, did you notice that everything is happening inside your mind? ;)

    Yes, Mindscapes...
    SkatanlolienThacoBell
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    edited April 2018
    “Bah! I’m a dwarf, after all! I can’t be bothered by these silly smells! My odor overpowers it, that’s why I bathe rarely! Aye!”

    Hek is going to examine the flowers and try to glean some information.

    “Tell me, wee fairy girlies, do I smell stronger than these flowers?” I waft my armpits around. “Anyone smell that? Aye?!”

    Then, trying to call on the powers of his mind, Hek imagines that he is going to try to conjure up a smell stronger than the flowers around him: a very dwarf-like smell that most dwarves would obviously find pleasant, but which many others might not quite find as pleasant.
    Rik_KirtaniyaSkatanlolienThacoBell
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    ...and if that doesn’t do anything, Hek is basically just flapping his arms at the fairies like a ninny.
    Rik_KirtaniyaSkatanlolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018
    The strong odor emanating from Hek's armpits neutralise the hallucinating effect of the flowery fragrance. Suddenly you find that you are in a place no different from the rest of the forest. All what you saw was a powerful illusion, difficult to disbelieve. And what you thought to be fairies, were nothing but some songbirds of the forest.

    @mashedtaters That was hilarious! :D Bravo!


    You now see the strange vine that was causing the problem. Vidar (@Skatan ) recognizes them to be Dream-vine herbs, which emit highly powerful hallucinating fragrances. If it were not for Hek, you could have run into something dangerous.

    Having successfully overcome this hallucination, the party gets enough XP points to progress to level 2.

    Hint: You can collect some of these Dream-vine herbs. Maybe you can use them later. ;)
    mashedtatersSkatanlolienThacoBell
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    Vidar, finally out of this hallucination and now seeing clearly, collects a sample of these vines. Being a self-proclaimed botanist, he also scribbles down the effects of the vines as well as draws a simple picture of it in his big tome of plants and specimens he carriers around in a bag hanging over his shoulder.

    Vidar then proceeds to start looking around the area, to see if he can find anything of value; searching for both information and for objects or items of interest. On the way to these forests, the group filled him in on the mission and the background, so Vidar now knowing the quest objectives therefore search based on that.

    "Hek, I'm a dwarf like you, but I haven't smelled anything so... pungent since that time I traveled deep into the caverns in the Deepest Depth of Dire Death's region far south and encountered a huge rat-like creature that had been dead for a few weeks; it's tummy swollen and releasing gases, it's flesh rotten and decayed, it's skin bloated and full of moldy fungus. I thank you for this prudent experience and have now also taken notes about dwarves and their respective smells. May I ask from what clan you from so that I can add the note in the correct section of my register?"

    Vidar's magpies, who had never been affected by the powerful hallucination and had spent some time giggling over the funny behaviour of the group, now soar around in circles over the group's head, searching for shiny objects or other things of interest. The swoop down and whisper to Vidar if they see anything.
    mashedtatersRik_KirtaniyalolienThacoBell
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    Hoorah!

    So how does leveling work? I’m not really keeping a character sheet, aside from what I have on the first page.


    Hek says, “How about that, boys! That’ll put hair on yer chest! Be glad I didn’t waft out me beard... not sure even I could stand that...”
    Rik_KirtaniyalolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018

    So how does leveling work? I’m not really keeping a character sheet, aside from what I have on the first page.

    @mashedtaters Well, nothing specifically happens. You might just take a few more spells (though you would need them only according to the situation). You grow a bit more powerful, that's it. We are levelling up only for the sake of levelling up. No statistical formalities here. :)

    The mind is actually what is playing a greater part in this adventure.
    mashedtatersSkatanlolienThacoBell
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    Skatan said:

    "Hek, I'm a dwarf like you, but I haven't smelled anything so... pungent since that time I traveled deep into the caverns in the Deepest Depth of Dire Death's region far south and encountered a huge rat-like creature that had been dead for a few weeks; it's tummy swollen and releasing gases, it's flesh rotten and decayed, it's skin bloated and full of moldy fungus. I thank you for this prudent experience and have now also taken notes about dwarves and their respective smells. May I ask from what clan you from so that I can add the note in the correct section of my register?"

    “Aye, well if you thought that was something, ye should have laid yer nose on ol’ Chief Hekkor Hammerzim after he wrestled with a couple o’ angry giants in the swamps of Ne’erairedout. That’d be enough to make a grown dwarf warrior cry, and ye never want ter see a grown dwarf warrior cry. Makes ye ashamed, scared, and a little giddy all at once...

    “As fer me clan, I’m proud fourth in line for the crown of Clan Hammerzim... o’ course that’s just if all the Hammerzims heirs get killed in the giant wars they been having. And then me older brother would have to abdicate, as well... and then...”

    Hek then launches into a long-winded lecture about his genealogy, as all dwarves are proud of. Those who understand it, however, realize that he’s not quite as close to the crown as he makes himself sound, but he rationalizes it repeatedly by saying, “but I was named after the great Hekkor Hammerzim hisself, so that counts fer somethin’!”
    Rik_KirtaniyaSkatanlolienThacoBell
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    @Rik_Kirtaniya
    I haven’t really been keeping track of my spells... lol... a cleric that doesn’t even know what he can cast... I take it this isn’t really a problem?
    Rik_KirtaniyaSkatanlolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    @mashedtaters No problem at all. :) We can assume that you can so the basic things that a Cleric does, like healing, inspiring courage, turning undead, and things like that. There's no need to keep track of any specific spells. Just enjoy the roleplaying! :smiley:
    lolienmashedtatersThacoBell
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    Grem takes some of the dream flowers and puts them in his inventory. “These’ll come in handy later. Well done, Hek. I knew your powerful stench would help us in some way!” He looks to the trackers of the group. “Do you see evidence of cows passing through?”
    Rik_KirtaniyalolienmashedtatersThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    Maggie and Picca return after some time and tell Vidar (@Skatan ) that they had seen something strange in the first path. You had lost your orientation while you were hallucinated, but Korb (@ThacoBell ), with his keen tracking abilities detects the impressions of your footprints that you had left on the grass while coming this way, and fortunately you are able to return to the fork from whence you had started.

    Maybe you shouldn't rely that much on dice rolls... ;)
    mashedtaterslolienThacoBell
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    Vidar, having listened patiently on Hek's long-winding tales of his clan, family and geneology, finish his scribbling in the tome, pack it into it's bag that he has hanging over his shoulder and prepares to move on to the next area.

    "Grem, first path now or what do you say? My flying friends have informed me that they've seen something interesting and strange down there, but they refuse to tell me exactly what. They like to play games with me sometimes that way, hehe.. but waddaya say, should we head that way next?"
    mashedtatersRik_KirtaniyalolienThacoBell
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    edited April 2018
    Vidar, having leveled up, casts Snake's swiftness Mass to make the whole group run a little faster for a round, so we can quickly get back to the fork in the road and continue our trek down the next path.

    Ops, this spell is CLVL level 3, but I'm gonna leave this anyways. It's all in my mind anyways ;)
    Rik_KirtaniyamashedtaterslolienThacoBell
  • Rik_KirtaniyaRik_Kirtaniya Member Posts: 1,742
    edited April 2018
    You take no more chances and move forward down the first path. The ground is stony here, covered with lichens and mosses (collectable). You see many smooth boulders, rounded down by the forces of weathering. It appears as if Nature has built a Zen garden of her own here, for you soon come upon various diversely shaped rocks and stones larger much larger than you. Your wonder is further increased when you come to a blind end, where a towering wall of rock has grown, impassable by any means.

    On closer inspection, however, you find that there is a smoothened rectangular stone plate upon the rock wall. On it are inscribed several signs, which are as follows:

    3, 4, __
    5, 12, __
    6, 8, __
    8, 15, __
    7, 24, __


    You wonder what they might mean. Just out of curiosity, you go near the wall and swipe your finger over it. An impression is formed following the trail of your finger that soon vanishes again, leaving the wall just as it was. Then, for apparently no reason, you draw the number 5 in the first blank. This time, the impression persists. You realize that this is some kind of barred impediment, and you must enter the proper numbers to make it open up.

    Hint 1: This follows a special mathematical logic.
    SkatanThacoBelllolienmashedtaters
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    "These are not just "some birds". Sometimes I actually wonder if they are my animal companions or if I am their familiar! Ahem.. "

    Vidar stares at the boulder and the obvious math riddle and sinks into deep thoughts.

    @Rik_Kirtaniya
    You know, you don't have to tell us too much until we get stuck. Ie this time it was very obviously a math riddle, hehe :)
    Rik_KirtaniyaThacoBelllolienmashedtaters
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