Maze of the Blue Medusa 5E (Inactive)

Game Master TPJ

"We just stole it ... yesterday? Hours ago? It's hard to track time in this place." Yarrow replies.

"You haven't seen the gallery yet? How long have you been here?"

"Wait, you ... came through a painting to get here? Seriously?"

He laughs at the thought of it and the rest of the group chirps and snickers.

"We've been here ... S&@%, I guess it's been years, maybe? Our leader brought us here to escape a ... misunderstanding. But he died a while back. We met a witch who's helped us survive. Aelfadred is normally in charge, but he's gone off to fight the Medusa, so I'm running things till he gets back."

He looks at his bag.

"I've got the painting we grabbed right here if you want to see it, but I've got to warn you, it's really upsetting."

Some of us were less trusting of that woman, but it seems a pretty face can go a long way. Now, don't just advertise you have something unsettling without showing a peek.

If you boys can give us some tips on surviving the maze, we can go you can get to those rope bridges with a locked door behind you. Just keep running.

Wan Deception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

I want them to keep going but I don't want to block the Curator either. If we can just let them pass and go a different way it seems like a safe bet.

"You really want to see this thing?" Yarrow asks Wan.

"I mean, this thing ... it just isn't right. And there's kids in this place. At least, there's that strange ghost boy who pops up every now and again."

He reaches into his pack and pulls out the painting to unroll it. His companions chirp and rabble and all look away, shielding their eyes.

Yarrow unrolls the painting in front of you all.

"It's called The Screaming Face of My Wife by someone named Milo De Fretwell."

The canvas holds an abstract painting, not really recognizable as anything, yet the moment you see it, you feel an immense sadness and terror.

Tenchi and Wan made their saves, so just intense emotions without the physical reaction. If anybody wants to throw inspiration or luck at the save, go ahead and re-roll it.

Suddenly, your emotions completely overwhelm you, and you drop to your knees, sobbing and moaning in the backs of your throats. You feel absolutely inconsolable, as though nothing will ever feel right again.

Yarrow rolls up the painting.

"Crap. I tried to warn you all."

He chokes up a bit. The one called Common Dodder leans in to him, "Yarrow, you always do that. They'll just cry for a few minutes. It'll be alright."

"Why are you all crying?" asks Tenchi stoically.

Wan'di is finally impressed with the art that has been shown to him, a work that through magic and the mastery of the medium combined in sync to create a work of art that could literally convey the intense emotions driving its creation to the viewer. He says a little misty-eyed, Curiousity killed the cat and all that. I, myself, quite enjoyed the experience.

But back to business, if we let you move on while we close the door behind you what can you tell us to let us navigate forward as well? We're new here and could use any sort of map or guidance you can give us.

You jerks! Thratch says through tears.That wasn't nearly enough of a warning.

After a few moments he gets control of his tears. Sniffling, he says, You.. another pause for a sniff, Your story isn't right.

You made it sound like you just stole the painting, but then you said you've been here for a year. Which is it? And who's chasing you? What are we going to have to deal with in your wake? Also, there's an exit right around here, maybe we can use your panting to get out anyone who wants to leave.

"How could you not be? Did you even SEE the painting?!

Vehemence enumerates his emotions and memories. The blues in his brain don't take long to switch violently back to the scarlets they oft are. However, the hues of the furnace king's mind in this moment we're a more maelstromic clash of purples and blackness.

He lashes out at the beaked thieves.

"Damn you lot. What have you done?! You're going to bring their wrath to us! Do you honestly think that WHATEVER has power over that painting could be approachable with meager means such as IRON?!"

These fools have ruined me. The throne is forfeit. DAMN THEM!

Vehemence tries to get up from his knees, but his hands are too heavy. His heart is too heavy. He can only quake and rue. The painting's power was blinding in it's strength.

I get the painting has heightened emotions and all that, but calm down fellas. I'd prefer to learn something valuable to us instead of waiting for this Curator thing to catch up with them while we grill them for useless information!

Ashlyn drops to her knees sobbing into her gloved hands, "Am I that transparent, my greatest fear pulled from me and displayed so easily."

When the effect finally wears off, she dries her tears, trying to rejoin the conversation. "Thratch, I believe you're assuming they came through a painting like we did. Maybe there is just a gallery in this realm that has painting that have noting to do with the portal into this world."

What she said.

Lys sits quietly sobbing, lacking the emotional outbursts of some of the others.
Sometimes you've just got to cry.

When she regains herself she opens her mouth to speak, but Ashlyn speaks her words for her.

For those afflicted, the uncontrollable crying stops after about 5 minutes. You feel slightly better, but certain that you now hate Milo De Fretwell, whomever he may be.

"Thank you, pretty lady. Someone finally is making sense around here!" Yarrow exclaims about Ashlyn's comment.

"So let me get this straight. You stole a painting that was a door to this place? Do you still have it? We just stole ours from the gallery in this Maze. It's ... that way?" He points northwest.

"It's not too far from here."

Then he points west.

"The gardens are just over this way. You've gotta be careful in there though. There are plants that eat faces and some other scary things, but we know our way around there. Our first boss is buried there too. And the witch who helped us lives there. And there's some really important lady. The Evil Orchidmen. The Chameleon Women, but they're everywhere. Lots of things, you just have to be really careful."

For the sake of direction, assume that False Chanterelle was South.

Common Dodder says to Yarrow, "They had a door painting. We stole a crying painting. I TOLD you we should have kept looking. We could have probably gotten a door painting too!"

Yarrow replies, "You saw what the painting just did to them, and what it did to us. It had to go. Once we're sure we gave the Curator the slip we can sneak back and look for a door painting, if there is such a thing."

Back to the group, "Yeah! The Curator! It's a giant pair of sculpted hands that kind of scuttles around and squishes things it's pissed at! Like us, right now!"

He makes a gesture of his two hands together with his fingers making a crawling motion.

"It'll probably ignore you unless it catches you messing with the gallery. It's kinda ... touchy?" The group behind him chirps and chortles at his unintentional pun.

"Yeah, and if you go in the gallery, time is really weird there. Like, it seems to move faster or slower at some points. Probably also why we grabbed the painting and just ran. And the Cannibal Critics live there."

"There's other stuff too. Some kind of freaky wedding in one of the areas."

"You haven't really seen much around here yet, have you? And you really came through a door painting? Is it still around?"

I wouldn't rely on getting out that way, guardian left there escaped the way we came in and closed the door. None of us know how to reopen it. We've killed a few of the cannibal critics and one of them negamancers ran from us. Nothing has been too bad so far, but there is no need for unnecessary risks.

Is there really nothing else you lot can say to help us out here? If we are scratching your back with this curator monster, what are you going to do to scratch ours?

Yarrow continues, "We can lead you to places. Well, some places, like the Gardens and the Gallery. We don't go into the Cells. Our current boss went off a while ago there to find the Medusa."

"So the way the place breaks down, you're in the middle part. This is called Chronia's Halls. Over that way (West) are the Gardens. After that (Northwest) is the Gallery, followed by The Reptile Archive."

"That way (East) we haven't really explored, but that's where I heard there was a wedding that's gone on like forever. Past that, (Northeast) is what they call the Almery. I guess the Medusa keeps her stuff there. Like, relics and other things. Maybe door paintings, for all we know. And past that are the Cells, which we stay out of. Except for Akerstrom. He's out there now."

"It's a huge place. We don't have a map, though I've heard there might be one somewhere. We've just found stuff by wandering around. Lots of things here. If you want to follow some of us, we can do that. We're probably going to split up to make it harder for the Curator to find us."

"Oh, and you might run into the Bondye Reparatè. They dress in robes and wear masks of womens' faces. Kinda weird, you know? They're alright though. I guess they kind of keep this place going, like fixing torches and bringing food and drink. Now they could really show you around if you run into them. They go everywhere."

Quick correction - their leader is Akerstrom, not Aelfadred. Aelfadred is the witch.

Now that's some good information, we can use that. Speaking of food, do you have any food or water? I came from a city and wasn't packed for exploration, I could do with some breakfast. Could you spare some? Then I think we could probably parts ways unless this lot wants to follow you around a bit.

Thratch glares at him for the pun, and then cheerfully says, We just came in a few hours ago. Hey, any luck with your leader finding the Medusa? I'd like to try and find her, too. Do you know anything about her?

"I've been to the wedding. There is a metal construct in there that will ask for your invitation. It makes a lot of noise if you don't have one. No real danger, but not very subtle. I saw the shadow boy, do you guys know anything about him?"

"We haven't run into the Bondye Reparatè for a couple days. They must be making rounds elsewhere." Yarrow says.

The men pool together some rations and present them to the Wan.

"It's not much, but you should get at least a good meal out of it."

Yarrow turns to Thratch, "We haven't seen Akerstrom in … it's been a while now. Probably weeks? A month? You stick around long enough, and you'll get how time starts to lose meaning in here."

He ponders for a moment, as though he's confused.

"The painting you used, was it False Chanterelle? Our first boss, Rinaldini Dodo had a painting called that. He used it to bring us here when the law was after us … then he died … and we met the witch … $^&* is hard to remember sometimes, we've been here so long. I don't know if it's ten months or ten years anymore."

He pauses for a moment. "Sorry. We get really confused sometimes. It's this place."

"The Medusa's easy to find. She doesn't really leave her lair. It's just that it's really not safe to go see her."

To Ashlyn, "That kid just shows up now and again. I've seen him try to lead people to that area. I've heard stories that there was a wedding here like over a hundred years ago, maybe longer, and everyone was destroyed and turned into gold or something. There was some lady who was a magician or something and she froze time in there."

Wan adds <some number> or rations to his character sheet.

Ha! How about that? The same damn painting we used to get in. Don't suppose you've got a map to this place?

"Sorry, I thought I made it clear that we don't have a map. We've wandered these halls long enough that we know our way around. I've heard rumors of at least one map of the Maze existing." Yarrow replies to Thratch.

He peers out toward the rope bridges. "I guess we could go this way. I think we lost the Curator somewhere in the Gardens when we slipped through one of the doors to the starlit stones room. There's one you need to watch out for! It turns your shadows into pits in the ground. Good thing we knew about that one and stayed close to the walls."

The others nod in agreement.

Two of them lean over and whisper to Yarrow.

"Vetchling and Dark Mullein said they could stay with you for a while if you want, and help you find your way around. It's up to you. Once we're clear of the rope bridge we'll split up and double back to the Gardens."

Aterro picks himself up from the corner he collapsed into when the painting was unveiled, and even now he has trouble remembering why he was so sad. He tries to recall the painting, so he can inoculate himself to so dishonorable an emotion, but the image sees to fade, like a childhood birthday that you'd swear to remember always but now can barely be recalled at all.

He nods, as if come to a decision, and gives voice to a question. "Why don't we all stay together? You are already a large group, and simply becoming a smaller large group will give you no succor, but if we all stick together, what could we possibly fear? A pair of disembodied hands? Pah! The day I run from hands without a body is the day that Torm can have my soul!

Perhaps, together, we can both manage to find a route of escape that might otherwise elude us apart?"

One does not divide thy forces in the face of the enemy, but concentrates and crushes the obstacle.

This is known.

The DM screams, "Nooooooo!"

It's only 11 NPCs and no "spoiler" tags required. Easy.

"You've not seen the Curator then, have you?" Yarrow asks Aterro.

"They're gigantic hands, that could easily squash any of us. We have no intention of fighting it."

The rest of the Oku chirp and nod frantically in agreement.

"We have some of our own people still in the Gardens, and the Witch is expecting us to report back eventually, so we'll be splitting up once we're past the next room."

"Besides, the Witch is wary of any who aren't natural bird-folk like us. Don't let the masks deceive you, we're only pretending to be human to blend in with other denizens in the Maze."

And then you all realize these folks might not be playing with a full deck.

And then you all realize these folks might not be playing with a full deck.

No, no, we knew that from the moment we first saw them.

Tenchi already assumes that everyone but himself is mad or on their way there in this maze.

Wan sighs at the idea of joining forces.

"Yeah, so I'm thinking we should get going." Yarrow says.

"Vetchling, Dark Mullein, we'll catch up later."

The remaining Oku file out and onto the rope bridges. You see them move to the chamber across the bridges and start to split up.

Vetchling looks around the room. Dark Mullein chirps a couple times.

As the conversations go on and the paintings' magic subsides, Vehemence becomes lost in some vexed arcane contemplation.

He makes no noise or objections and follows Thratch's lead.

aka using IC emodramatic traits to explain that I'll read all this craziness tomorrow hahaha. Y'all have not let up literally all day. This group is amazing.

True that, do you guys ever sleep or eat? every time I look at the thread there's a minimum of 7-8 new posts and usually nearer to double that

Lys tries to follow the conversation with the bird?-men, though with the masks she can barely tell them apart and quickly loses track.

As she watches (most of) them leave, she finally pipes up "Is there something about this place that makes everyone split up and scatter all over?"

I post from my smart phone and work a job that allows me to take a minute here and there to check for updates. But mostly, I check for posts before work, during break and lunch, and right after work. And maybe while I have a minute when I'm working on some equipment at work.

I check my games like Thratch does: before work, during breaks, and after work.

Phones are wonderful things, and I also post at work.

I've been burning vacation days this week and last, so I've been able to post more than usual. But we should continue this on the discussion thread if anywhere.

Vetchling pipes up, "So, do we want to follow them or do you guys want to head into the Gardens?"

"Personally, I want to check out the magically locked door. The sooner we get past there the sooner we can return for the key." Ashlyn states, remaining intentionally vague for fear that these birdmen will claim the swords for themselves and lock them inside in the process.

I agree, Thratch chides in.

Just to clarify, the rope bridges that the rest of the Oku took are through the magically (un)locked door.

If you're so worried about the door, three can stay behind and go north back in that room we killed the cannibals. Then they can meet us at the bridges by following the commands of the thing in the mosaic room, Wan'di says, Doesn't do me a lot of good hanging back, but Aterro, V, and Tenchi could go the long way and might be better served with the option. Wan thinks for a moment, Well, it wouldn't necessarily even need three if only one or two want to hang back.

You unlocked the door a while ago by solving the puzzle, the next room is the rope bridges - past the previously locked door.

After enough wrestling with his usual demons of the mind, Vehemence slips back into this reality.

"Numbers are oft a friend rather than a hindrance in realms such as these... If those birdmen bear the scent that the hands are after, we may not be in danger. I'm certain that there are already eyes upon us who belong to those who mean us ruin... In the darkness, the one who entered first will always have the upper hand."

Internally, Vehemence chooses to commit himself to never stoop below his nature again, especially in the sight of others. It is of course an emotionally-driven decision, but his resigning to realignment brings him back into focus.

Remorse. The Medusa. His re-ascension. His throne.

Right, I think you mean there is safety in numbers... but what about grabbing one of the swords and taking the long way to meet us in the other room?

Are those swords important? I'm confused

Apart from unlocking the door when placed correctly by the three thrones, you have observed that one sword bestows +1 Cha upon the wielder. It's possible the other two swords also have magical properties which you haven't observed yet.

But they have no significance to the group's collective objective in this moment? What even is that right now? Sorry. I did read everything, still a little lost. There's a garden and another gallery and we're sorta joining forces with the birdmen but not for long ish sorta kinda maybe?

Depends how much you like magic swords that boost stats.

Ironically enough, the focus power of my offensive stance doesn't work on magical weapons. Besides, Samurai=Katana. Everyone knows that =P

That +1 Charisma score needs to go to the sorc or one of the warlocks. And we should find out what the others do. Anyone have Identify?

As for goals, Thratch wants to find the Medusa, as that's what the lady in the painting asked him to do. He also wants to help the rest of you escape the maze, but he's not particularly concerned with ever leaving, himself. And he does not want the woman we most recently met to destroy the maze - so he's keen on not giving her relics of the maze.

As far as goals for the group, I think everyone else just wants to find a way to get out, and we don't really have a way to do that, so any direction we go is as good as any other. This means that we should just keep the swords and go a different direction, but we could also check the rope bridge room real quick, then go back and grab the swords and then find another way.

I bought every 1st and 2nd level ritual before the game started.

Okay. Should we all just head back, pick up the swords and 'go the long way'? Seems like best of both worlds to me OOC. If that's meta then forgive me not trying to do that, just trying to come to a consensus. I have detect magic as a spammable invocation and Arcana proficiency.

Vehemence wants to find the medusa, kill her, and drink her blood to consume her essence to regain power and begin to ascend into his previous principality. He cares for most of the individuals in the party but isn't concerned with leaving the maze straightaway. He doesn't really care about the swords.

We should probably talk about what happened when we were split because I have no idea what woman you're speaking of. Also, if I'm understanding correctly the bridge lead to the wedding. As far as I've found, we don't know a long way around because the two ways I've found to the wedding are currently inaccessible if we shut the door to the bridge.

Thratch definitely would have told the story of the NegaMancer and his thralls, and the insult barrage he envisioned but only half spewed. "...And we were so cool, working as a well trained guild, destroying the thralls as the NegaMan could do nothing!"

Also, the Lady Capilli, who is sworn to destroy the entire maze, but finds the entire thing to be a work of art and doesn't want to destroy it. And how honor is dumb "if it makes you do dumb things, like destroy the maze."

"Oh! And she wants us to find artifacts and artwork and things of beauty for her, so she can preserve the memory of the maze even as she destroys it. I played the smart move, aluding that I would without actually promising anything. But Vehemence over there had to ruin it all and actually give his word."