Actual Play: The Riddle on Paper

Last night’s game was phenomenal.

Normally the group gets together at around 6 to get the talkies out of their system before we begin playing at 7 or 7:30. Last night, however, the group had to get together at 7, due to me and Bridget not being around until then. Then Bri threw her lasagna in the oven, and it wasn’t until about 8:30 before we were able to play.

We had a good mix of people. The “Regulars” included Brian (emptythreat), Dave and Bridget (capuchincaptions) as well as Dave’s friend Lindsay, who has come to one session months ago to observe, and a new guy, Mike. I handed Mike my Human Fighter Alric, and Lindsay was going to play a rogue who was currently squaring off against the heroes.

When last we saw our heroes, as you may have noted before, they were about to face down a group of adversaries who were trying to sneak into Candlekeep. After a quick combat involving Das the pirate (Brian) Sparta kicking the leader of the rogues (Lindsay) down a hill, the bandits were dispatched and Lindsay was offered the chance to surrender. Being surrounded by a pirate, a knight in full plate, a warlock and a gnome with a crossbow, she complied. They took her inside, where they grilled her for information: Who sent her, and what she was after. The answer to the former was a man in blue robes (a description they’ve been hearing for the last couple of sessions about the BBEG), and the latter, a book about the Ancient Guardians. At this point, Mike had to leave.

Written in ancient draconic, the paper spoke of the Ancient Guardians...

 

Thorsil the gnome (Bridget) leapt into action, scouring the library for the book, finding it in almost no time flat. They read an entry that said the Ancient Guardians could only be truly destroyed by speaking their True Name. A page slipped out of the book, which I had happened to have made the day before, and is presented here.

It was my first time devising a puzzle for the group, and everyone loved the results. Though two players spoke draconic, I said it was an ancient form of draconic, and would require careful study and translation. I had used the Draconomicion: Chromatic Dragons to find the words I needed (Page 25), then translated the English characters into draconic characters (Page 24), then wrote them out on a piece of paper, drew a rudimentary illustration of the guardian they’d be facing (in no way am I an artist), then burnt the page around the edges (accidentally burning one of the letters, adding to their riddle, trying to discover what the missing letter was), and then dripping on a little red food dye (which turned into a lot of red food dye as the color spread) to represent blood.

Bridget and Bryan immediately took up the book, scribing down the letter translations then looking up their respective words on the next page. Lindsay and Dave looked bored, so I had them translate the next line, which they did with relish. Then Bridget and Lindsay poured over the end of the document, translating the rest of it. They got stumped when they couldn’t translate one word, until they realized that since there was no translation, that must mean that word was the Guardian’s name. It took no prompting from me, which I loved.

 

Lindsay and Bridget (Capuchincaptions) scour over the Draconomicon while I (Dicemonkey) look on.

 

 

The final translation came out to “Stone Skin in Forest. DANGER. Turin’s Hammer Slaughters.” It was very simple, but took about a half hour, and all the players loved it. I was grinning from ear to ear watching them try to solve the puzzle.

And that was the end of the session. It was very short, but very rewarding. All the players are excited, since they’re only about 750 xp away from Level 4, and can expect to advance after the next game.

All in all, I think it was a great session. Everyone was at the top of their game, and helped out our two new players, Lindsay and Mike.

Mike at least had played 2e and 3e, but Lindsay had only ever played WoW, and kept saying how it would be easier if all her powers were simply managed on the computer.

 

P.S. Everyone should go check out my review for Gestalt: The Hero Within over at Game Cryer! It’s practically like being a published author! Almost… right?