Trog's Tavern CLV

[Ironsmith]

"'Plan'? There's no plan. I've been looking for a way out all year, and there's nothing here. Food is a non-issue here, and apparently, so is sleep. What exactly would a plan consist of at this point?"

The voice is nearby, all right. In fact, it seems to be moving through June with some degree of regularity. It's just not... here, exactly. It's like the speaker is standing right next to June, but in a direction she can't see.

[Morty]

"Well, for what it's worth, I think the work was worth it? It looks pretty good on you." Ithuriel isn't sure how much the compliment means, coming from her, but it doesn't hurt to say it at least, right? "It's kind of weird going the other way. You know for the first, uh, several years of my life, I'm not entirely sure how many, I thought I was just a rhino? Never knew I could be anything else."

Michalson blinks. He wasn't expecting that. He's not an easy man to surprise, but here it is.

"Like... a regular rhino? Walkin' around on four legs and... eating grass." He's really not quite sure what rhinos do all day. Frolic? Trample unwary passers-by? "But smarter than your average rhino, presumably. So what happened then?"

[5a Violista]

If only June had more experience and practice with weird geometries, she bets she could 'see' in whichever direction this person is. In fact, she could probably even maybe find the way out. Maybe. She guesses.

She rolls her neck.
...
How does one even practice that kind of thing, anyway? Does she need to, like seek out this kind of place? Ugh, she barely wants to think about this right now.

"So, what, you've given up on trying a new way of mapping or discovering what's up with here? No plan means you're content with how things are?"

Speaking of.
She stands and turns to the teenager. "Well, then, you and me, let's figure out a plan ourselves. This place seems to have overlapping geometries, like, um, a fourth or fifth dimension or something. So not as bad as I was thinking, but...well, if we leave this room we should probably leave some breadcrumbs or something in case we need to come back." Like dripping blood or toilet paper lines or leaving a note or something, she thinks.

[Ironsmith]

"No plan because I can't do anything, more like." The voice says. "I'm just stuck here, in these [profanity] tunnels, with nobody but the [profanity] voices in my head to keep me company, apparently until the [profanity] end of [profanity] time!"

Silence, for a minute.

Then?

Quiet sobbing.

Arthfael cringes. "I... well, yeah, we probably should... find... do that." He glances in the direction the voice seems to be coming from. "But then, should we? I don't want to get lost and end up like... that."

[Fenric]

[Bar]

Fenric finishes his cola and checks his phone. He thumbs through the text messages for a few minutes, then stops abruptly and looks around the room, briefly grimmacing at the still headache-inducing bathroom sign.

Well... it may be a cliche... but it's a good one.

He speaks louder

Are there any of the adventuring sort who are in need of a quest? Peril, mystery, risk of death, followed of course by a suitable reward? Who here has a stout heart, a sturdy sword, and a taste for lost treasure?

[bc56]

Selekhael pops out from behind the bar to stand next to Fenric. "Oh, uh, what is it?" The apprentice barmaid doesn't look like much of an adventurer, but appearances can be deceiving. "I can, uh, always use new quests."

[Fenric]

[Bar]

Fenric smiles

Well, I've finally discovered where my long-lost bladed staff has gone off to... but it's not a very nice place.

To start, you'll need to go to an old, ruined facility once owned by the criminal organization KNAVES where they once held a mechanomancer friend of mine, and recover her wrench from there.

You'll need that to help you break into the vault at the old DART headquarters, which was never a good place but unfortunately it is much less friendly to even get to now than it used to be. You see, some fool put up a sign that really shouldn't ever be put up in Inside: the sign reads "Office Park"... And you know what happens to parks in Inside...

[Recaiden]

Someone at the bar shrugs off a bundle of deadtime.
"Did you say mystery and reward?" asks Omiko, a cat-person with extra mechanical arms, a pirate hat, and some dark crystals mixed in with her fur.

"I could use something interesting. It's been so quiet here."

[Rebonack]

"When you're done with the wrench can I have it?" comes a small voice from the rafters.

Oh hey!

A mini-Maph.

He sounds quite serious (which is unusual) and a bit melancholy (which is also unusual).

"Miss E was my friend, too. I wasn't sure what to do with myself when she disappeared. Had to rewrite things a little to get with the times. She was- well, she was my friend. Once you open the way with the wrench you won't need it anymore."

Well.

That sounds like a pretty heartfelt plea.

Also Zee has made it pretty clear before that she isn't fond of Maph being in the tavern. He causes trouble.

[Artemis97]

"Oh!" Zee says, perking up a bit at the mention of children. "Is that what the white dress is meant to represent? I honestly never knew. Well I guess it would be even more of a faux pas if I wore a giant poofy white dress then. A green one could definitely be nice. I'll have to talk with Lil about some designs. And, ah, hehe, speaking of kids..."

Oh no.

It's time for children talk.

"So Navvy and Kara, I more or less adopted them. They were broken by some pretty nefarious forces. They didn't have any parents to take care of them so I couldn't just abandon them. But they aren't the only ones. As I'm sure you noticed when K'rax was awake and active she made, like, a zillion babies. Now I can't really match that sort of pace since K'rax is WAY bigger than I am but I've still made some kids of my own. Only a few. And they're ours in a slightly more traditional sense as I haven't stopped being unnecessarily weird at any point. So that said- Hey Lapis?"

A half drow girl pops out from behind the counter, her arms full of cleaned glasses to set back on their pegs. The familiar resemblance is unmistakable. She's definitely has Raril's bluish skin and her mother's black hair. Unique to her, though, are the yellow freckles on her cheeks.

"Hi I'm Lapis Lazuli! Your hat is so great I love it!" Lapis happily announces.

"Lapis spends most of her time up at VIGIL. I had made her to help with security when these weird body snatcher monsters were making rounds," Zee explains.

"Nobody got body-snatched I did a good job!" Lapis insists.

Raril blinks, looking a bit shocked. Another child? She was unmistakably his, too. Wait... what had Zee said? She's made a few of her own?

He puts on a kind smile, and says, "Hello, Lapis, it's lovely to meet you." But then he turns to his wife. "Uh, Zee, dearest. Did you say you've made a few children? How many are we up to now?" He asks with a nervous chuckle. "I'm just a bit confused, because there's usually a process involved in these kinds of things, you know, where... I'm actually involved?"

[Fenric]

[Bar]

Fenric looks up to the rafters

Ah: hello Maph'tey. Of course... I will make it's return a condition of the quest and reimburse the adventurers...

He is cut off as the cat-person says the dread word aloud. Fenric braces himself and looks around

Hold up... did that stop happening at some point? Is it safe to say "quiet" in here now?

[Rebonack]

"Lapis and her brother Sardus are the only two that I've made in the same style that K'rax constructed the others. And... I was having trouble finding you. I'm still not very happy about the way your sister has treated you," Zee admits. Then offers a coy smile. "Though if you did want to do things a little more traditionally I would absolutely not object."

Lapis of course has no idea what this conversation is about.

"Oh I got to see Sardus at the Thanksmas party I liked him. Are you going to make more brothers and sisters Mother more siblings is more fun! My friend Lucy has a ZILLION brothers and sisters!" Lapis interjects.

It would probably be hard to compete with the Frescots, all things considered.

Meanwhile!

"Oh, yeah? I guess some people got tired of the Quiet Beast and went down into the basement to slay it once and for all," Maph says. "Just like they got mad at ME for doing random encounters. No one likes having fun anymore."

Okay that isn't true.

Lots of people like fun!

[Fenric]

[Bar]

Fenric shakes his head

Ahhh... That was the parting "gift" of a very interesting fellow as he left the Nexus forever. He uttered a dread name three times and summoned it, then folded himself into a piece of paper and vanished.

Fenric gets that "old guy lost in memories" look.

Not that long after a circle of the most powerful casters in Town put every "Protection From" spell we knew of in permanent form on the tavern here, so that Trog didn't have to keep hitting the Easy Button to restore it when various misadventures destroyed the place. We didn't know he actually had to pay for using it...

He shakes it off

Anyway... enough "good old days" from an old werefox. Yes! Mystery and adventure in dangerous ruins! But not with Ruin: he's still a koi as far as I know, and would not make a good party member.

[Recaiden]

"Yeah, used to be you could get some excitement saying that word, but now? Nah." Omiko shakes her head.

"You're still rambling, my quest-giving mentor fellow."

[bc56]

"I don't trust that guy," Selekhael points her finger up at Maph. "He's not supposed to be in here. And are you sure you want to give the wrench to a faerie like him?" Otherwise, she's in on this quest. She just wants the quest giver to be sure he's doing the right thing.

[Meowmai]

"It ain't like I'm offerin' you a king's ransom or anything, Missy." Atreyu answers with a chuckle, "Enough to keep ya from needin' to stock up on breadsticks for a little while, at least. Just that, since I'm not sure exactly what we're in for, I reckon it'd be kinda harsh to just give you a share of the loot. This way, I'm making sure yer paid, even if we don't find much of value in there."

"Well... if you're certain then..." Slowly reaching across, Kestrel took the bag of coin that had been offered to her. "I really can't thank you enough for this." Bashfully, she ran her free hand through her mess of hair. "But trust me, you didn't need to entice me with coin." She gave a slight chuckle. "The chance to adventure with a friend is enticing enough."

[5a Violista]

Well...
June thinks about it.
Yeah, she would feel awful if she let a kid wander around and get lost or get put in danger. Besides, with a lost kid, someone might come looking for him eventually and so she can't let him wander too far.

She goes over to a stall and pulls out one of the rolls. (It's hard to do this with one hand, but she manages.)

"You stay here," she tells Arthfael. She grabs the end of the roll and hands it to him. "Make sure this doesn't break or anything, and I'll see what's down there. Will come back as soon as it runs out. Make sure you stay here in case someone comes looking for you."

June takes a deep breath, and unrolling the roll as she goes, heads out into the hallway.

[Ironsmith]

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

Arthfael opens his mouth to correct the lady, to tell her than June was talking to him and not her, only to realize she probably wouldn't make the distinction and close it again.

"Just... be careful, okay, miss?"

-

The tunnel seems to stretch on forever. It won't take long for June to lose track of how long she'd been walking, but eventually, she does come across something interesting:

A room. Like the lady said there wasn't.

It's a small, squarish chamber, with a door opposite the entrance June takes. There's nothing here except a table with a set of beakers on it and a note:

Seven parts total
For every red, two blue
No green without three parts blue
At least one of everything

There were indeed four beakers here; one red, one blue, one green, and one empty.

[Fenric]

[Bar]

Fenric tilts his head

Maph'tey? I've known him since he arrived here... looked a little different back then, of course. He's only saved the universe a few times, but I think that's a reasonable enough basis for trust.

Not that I'd want to tempt fate too much by asking what danger you think an item from one of the most powerfully lawful-aligned magics there is will be in the hands of someone quite as chaotic as him, but do consider that.

He smiles apologetically to Omiko

Sorry...

[5a Violista]

[weird bathroom]

Seeing the room, June sets down the roll so that she can look at things.
Like, the table and beakers.

She spots the note and picks it up, reading through it. And groans. Ugh, seriously? If someone's going to leave instructions, they should at least make it clear, if they want someone to follow them, and not understandable if they don't.
She flips the note over, seeing if it says what the mixture's for, or anything. And it doesn't eve say how much is a 'part'. Is it a seventh of a beaker? Does the empty beaker count as 'one' of everything, or is it where she's supposed to put it? Is it supposed to be drunken, or poured out, or saved for whatever's beyond the door, or...? Not to mention, is there a certain order that they need to be mixed in? Unfortunately, in spite of how much she was talking earlier, she is trying to talk the minimum amount until her lip stops bleeding, so she can't talk through this thing. And she hates logic puzzles like these, because whoever makes them always seems to be trying to trick you.

She groans, and keeps on pacing around the table, looking at it.
So...needs one of everything. Red, blue, green. Red needs at least two parts blue, green needs three.

She sighs.
She can already see multiple solutions.
One, you need one red, one green, and five blue. Seven total, the green's condition is met with the three blues, red's condition is met that it has two blues, and since blue has no condition she can just fill in the rest with that.
...
Alternatively, two red, one green, four blue. Each red meets its condition for having two blue. Green meets its condition because there's at least three. Seven total.
Alternatively alternatively, one red, two green, four blue.
Or one red, three green, three blue. That works too, for the same reason. Red has at least two blue, and there's the minimum number of blue needed for greens. But, thinking about it, both of these answers aren't as 'trick question' as the other two. Either two reds or five blues are the answers that make the most sense: one if you assume the blues needed for reds and greens don't overlap and the other if they do overlap but you assume the red-blue relationship is reciprocal. And that's all assuming there's no clear/invisible/air/empty included as part of the calculations. It all depends on what the person who made it was thinking, she figures. So the only way to figure out this puzzle is to either figure out who designed it, or figure out what the potions/chemicals do.
That's the problem with logic puzzles, June thinks: they have way too many answers but only one is the 'correct' one. Not to mention, if these are potions, mixing inexact amounts or in the wrong order could be pretty disastrous. Pretty similar to cooking, actually, she thinks.

Deciding that she needs a break from trying to figure out the puzzle-creator, June sets down the note and starts examining the beakers and their liquids, looking for measurement markings, ingredient lists, or whatever else that she can glean from the beakers or liquids themselves.

[Recaiden]

"Now, this knaves place. Is it going to be obvious which wrench we want?"
"That kinda stuff."

Do we know about KNAVES?
Before our time.
She smiles cheerily at Fenric. This does sound fun, wouldn't want to miss anything important.

[Ironsmith]

Weird Bathroom

The three beakers with stuff in them are, rather unhelpfully, unlabeled. None of them carry a particularly strong scent (or taste, if June is adventurous enough to try it). If it weren't so nonsensical, she could easily come to the conclusion that she's handling water with food coloring in it.

The fourth, empty beaker, however, does have some markings on the side that divide it into seven equal segments, assuming it's meant to be filled to the brim, which probably answers June's worries about what a "part" is meant to be. Beyond that, the puzzle-maker doesn't seem to have left much to clarify what the beakers were meant to do.

As June stops to consider this, she'll also hear muffled voices on the other side of the door; nothing distinct, but there's probably someone there.

At around this same time, another, more distinct voice (the same she and Arthfael had heard earlier) chips in. "So. People in my head. Um... quick update, there's this sort of hall of mirrors here now. Thought you'd want to know. Even though you do, and I'm just crazy. Right."

[Fenric]

[Bar]

Fenric concentrates and there is the small flash of a Minor Creation spell with a very amped-up duration. He holds out his hand and offers what looks rather like a snow-globe with a small sphere floating in the middle. Inside the sphere is a red arrow, which currently points south by southwest and slightly down.

This will show you the way.

Then he sighs, remembering a troubling time in the Town's history

KNAVES was the "Killing of the Not Able to Vote Ending Solution"... they had to stretch a bit to fit. The second of the infamous acronym organizations - the GUFI police have them beat by several years - they were a strongly Lawful Evil organization that formed after a string of elections with dismal voter turnout. Their agenda was simple: improve participation through terror. "Vote or Die" seeming to be a fairly solid motivator.

he shakes his head

It didn't stay that way, of course: they rapidly descended into crime and villany, taking up the vacancy left by the decline of the Non-Existant Mafia and the Assassins' Guild. Perhaps their worst offense was inventing and then later selling "Liquid Agony" - originally intended as an item of torture but which proved highly addictive to the victim.

[bc56]

All those names mean nothing to Selekhael. "Uh, that sounds really bad. Why would this wrench be there?" She looks at the compass globe only briefly. Her quest log has already waypointed where she needs to go. Best not to bring that up though, for some reason it makes people uncomfortable.

[Recaiden]

Omiko takes the snowglobe and moves it around, watching the arrow carefully.

The wrench's owner was a captive there, remember? And since the place is a ruin now, we can guess tha KNAVES never gotta chance to take it away with them."
"Really, though? Over voting?" She shakes her head. The olden days here really were crazy.

"'Liquid agony', huh? Read about the stuff, thought it was pretty well out of circulation by now."

[Fenric]

[Bar]

Fenric nods

Yes... more than a little extreme. And of course that is why it attracted extremists.

And while that particular drug has been out of the spotlight for quite some time, I will point out that it is still on the menu at the Black Dragon's Den. Whether Raril actually sells the stuff or it is merely an unexpunged relic of a bygone time, I do not know. Regardless of any of that, booby-traps with the stuff may still be waiting there in the ruins so be sure to have poison-neutralizing items or potions ready.

You also might encounter some of the infamous constructs: deadly golem-like creations that formed much of their guard and armed forces. While their membership has long since departed the city, those could possibly remain.

Then he shakes his head

I expect, though, that the biggest hazard will be the overall state of the building itself: it was bombed and invaded and destroyed years ago, and no one has ever bothered to repair anything, being in an unsavory area of the poorer part of the old central Town.

[5a Violista]

Weird Bathroom

June chooses not to taste them.

She grabs the 'clue' paper, and then walks towards the door. Not going to try to open it yet, but she relaxes and lets her mind wander a bit. Normally when she does this, she can 'see' what's past the doors, so, she feels like unless there's something weird going on preventing this from working, she'll be able to tell if she needs to be prepared for whatever is over there.

And she decides to talk to the voice, to see if she can get an outside perspective on this. "Mirrors are probably a good sign? Maybe it's a metaphor thing."
She takes a deep breath, and looks at the paper again.
"So while you're with the mirrors, logic puzzle time: if a puzzle said 'For every red, two blue' do you think if you have four blues, you have to have two reds or would both two and one red work?" she asks. "Or, in other words, does 2 times red equal blue or is two times red less than or equal to blue?"

[Ironsmith]

Weird Bathroom

"Well, assuming whoever made the puzzle has a good grasp of English, I would assume it to mean 'there's at least two blue for every one red', whatever you're talking about. A one-way relationship, basically. Um... r ≤ 2b."

A brief pause, then,

"Unrelated... there's a note here, too. Something about 'finding yourself', which I think means there's something up with whichever mirror here doesn't have some weird distortion effect, but apparently I'm too crazy to make sense of them. There is no way a mirror can make me look like a mermaid with bat wings. It's crazy. I'm crazy."

Meanwhile, June's probing turns up... nothing and nobody. Those voices on the other side of the door must not be real, or at least, not caused by any people. Maybe a magical effect, or a speaker system? It's not likely she'll be able to tell from here.

[bc56]

"So you want us to go through a decrepit old building filled with booby traps and golems to find a wrench that *may* have been left there by a prisoner that was there at one time," Selekhael summarizes. "Okay, I'm, uh, ready."

[Shadowcaller]

Anika wanders into trog's with Lapis in tow, having taken the skytraum (or whatever it was called) all the way here from VIGIL.
The druid walks right into the middle of trog's and scans her surroundings for Zee activities.

Hopefully Lapis doesn't walk into her plot-clone, that would be awkward. But her existence will require her player to clarify which timeline they're in here.