Mysteries of the Floating Islands

[MadameButterflyKnife]

"While conflict is needed in some capcity to move us forward, I do think that going off on long speeches where neither of you are willing to budge in any capacity may be distracting us from the task at hand. As I did say earlier, the lockpick's existence likely goes against this purely being a dragon's attack. The lizard woman did say it herself, a lockpick would be tangental for someone sufficently powerful or skilled".

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

You're right. Personally I've grown exhausted of this debate. Now, as we discuss the lockpick, I do wonder about this fang I found. Where could it have come from?

[TenOfSwords13]

Let's have a good look at it...

>Have a good look at the fang

[SmilyCube112]

Magnus turns back to everyone else as he returns to a normal tone of voice and says "Right, yes, lockpick. Lemme see if there's anything of note about it."

> Closely examine the lockpick.

[GoldenCityBird]

@TenOfSwords13: You roll a ??? on your investigation roll.

You look at the fang with great care. Is that... fresh blood at the base?

@Matthew: You roll a 1 on your investigation roll.

Your fumble with the fang, accidentially dropping it into a rabbit hole. There's little chance that you could get it back within a reasonable time.

@Florien: You roll a 4 on your investigation roll.

Sure enough, you manage to gleam out what seems to be the remainder of the paper. Great! However, it's deep within the ruined cellar, and too far out of reach to read.

@MadameButterflyKnife: You roll a ??? on your investigation roll.

You find a carving on a stone, which seems to be a grid six squares by six.

@SmilyCube112: You roll a 4 on your investigation roll.

Hang on a second! This lockpick shows no signs of use at all! And on top of that, it seems very likely that this is just a fragment of slate that just so happens to be the right shape and size to be a lockpick.

[SmilyCube112]

"Oh. This is just a slate of stone carved into a lockpick. Whoever created this didn't use it, though, despite it being fully usable." Magnus says to the group.

[TenOfSwords13]

There was fresh blood on that fang. The Dragon Queen may still be close.

[Despair's Archon of Memes]

... Hmmm....

>Find some locks...

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

She may very well be nearby. I just wish I hadn't dropped the damn thing into that hole! Maybe there's something else to uncover...

>See if there's anything else of interest

[MadameButterflyKnife]

"A grid. Six by six. I doubt it aligns with the note, however. It would be impossible to go nine in any direction with something like this. Try and find another paper, or another grid. It may be a system of devices and runes. If anything important is here, I would not be surprised to see an elaborate system associated with it."

>look for either another paper or another grid carving

[Florien]

I found the rest of the combination... I think. It's in the cellar. Anyone want to help dig through rubble or smash through the floor and climb down? I can see through the rubble, so it shouldn't be... too difficult. Oh, tangentially, told you so about the lockpick. Once we've got that paper, we'll probably know exactly what kind of lock we're looking for.

>Find the way into the cellar which uses the least moving of rubble, and get in.

[SmilyCube112]

"Nobody likes a gloater. They can act so uncivilised when given the opportunity." Magnus says, before walking over to Avanyiss and helps with getting into the cellar.

> Find a safe path into the cellar.

[Florien]

Please, gloaters are beloved, you should know. In every story, every play that I can think of, save one, if it includes an egotistical gloating stage magician, the egotistical stage magician is the best character. Quite besides that, I do think you should keep track of how often I'm right... After all, maybe that will break through the bizarre anti-intellectual streak I seem to have run into in this place. Especially with Mordecai. He seems to think less of me because I went to college. Strange, yes?

Anyway, I did not gloat. I merely stated a fact. That I did, in fact, tell you so about the lockpick and how it was largely tangential to everything we are doing. To state a fact that I am not sure you fully registered is not gloating, it is merely making you more informed so that you can make better future decisions. In this case, better decisions like listening to me the first time, yes? Contrary to what Mordecai seems to think, I didn't get a doctorate in applied arcana by extracting "life experience" whatever that is. I assume it's a lie he made up in order to feel self-important. After all, I gauged the guards better than he did, I negotiated with them instead of killing them and got us better results than he could have, I didn't lose a fang that could have been useful. I spotted the thread that made the guards mention that the king kind-of-sort-of-probably assassinated some people in this village and burned the place down to cover it up.

But no, we should definitely keep this anti-intellectual nutjob who nearly turned us criminal and attempted to murder guards over nothing. The one who's been nothing but helpful, if admittedly a bit on-edge from shepherding those who make bad decisions and then defend those same decisions? No, that one's the one who ought to be thrown under the metaphorical cart.

There's a pause as Avanyiss pokes around at the rubble.

Oh, and definitely take that rock with the grid on it, if it's not too heavy. I don't know if it's a game board or a special important thing or if it's even relevant, but if we end up having to go home with little achieved, it'll look great on my lawn. Or presumably someone else's, I assume at least some of you have a house to go to and a place to put a decorative rock.

[MadameButterflyKnife]

"I will admit, it would be a nice decoration for the monestary." Hadil attempts to pick the rock up, before heading to Ananyiss and

>help figure out the best plan for getting into the cellar without destabilizing the rubble

[SmilyCube112]

......"Let's just stop here with the talk. Unless it's important, that is, like with that grid rock. Might want to keep it safe." Magnus says, while looking at the rubble.

[MadameButterflyKnife]

"You would rather not talk? I can respect that. But I do think talk is inherently productive: as we talk, we create new ideas and support each other."

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

I don't look down on you because of your college education, I look down on your because of how you think it makes you superior to everyone else. I've known intellectual types who are much more modest, and I got along with them fine, thank you very much. But fine, you negotiated with the guards, I paid my fines, and yes, I lost the fang. It slipped from my fingers, happy? That is my fault.

>Also help with the rubble

[GoldenCityBird]

@Despair: ???

There seems to be nothing of the sort outside of the building.

@Florien: 3

It's a bit of a tight gap, and still requires a little rubble-moving, but you make it in.

@SmilyCube112: 4

Thanks to your efforts, you manage to perfectly secure the path in, preventing any potential cave-ins.

@MadameButterflyKnife, @Matthew: N/A

There's nothing you can do to improve this. You simply follow the duo in. You see the six corpses you saw before, crushed under rubble and seriously burned. Four humans, one elf, one orc. The orc and half the humans are regally dressed, with matching sigils upon their chests.

You see the piece of paper Avanyiss saw. It's horridly burned, but there's still some to read:

"The seventh meeting of THE PRESIDENTIAL MOVEMENT for the liberation of [...].

"This meeting concerns [...] located in the safe of Queen Burnetta [...]V. This item proves important, as [...]"

"[...]sination is possible, it has been decided that [...] on behalf of our Dragon supporter shall surrender the combination to said[...]

"[...]right, eleven[...]

"Signants are [illegible], maid of honor of Edward Rashbold, and Br[...]"

That seems to be all that's left.

[MadameButterflyKnife]

"Hm. The regal type. These were clearly not mere farmers. Adds more evidence towards what those guards said. One of them appears to be the maid of honor of this King Edward, there appears to be collaboration with a "Dragon supporter"...and yet another code. This safe may be important to this key we are searching for. Maybe the code we found earlier is not, in fact, related to a grid. It could be the combination for this supposed safe. Hang on to that. We should keep this information in mind."

Hadil looks through the rest of the ruined cellar. "A "presidential movement." With the collaboration that may be happening between each sides...would you think this to be a faction of its own? One not bound to any monarch?"

[Florien]

A presidential movement? How electoral is this going to be? I have... questions regarding that. Anyway, we have a combination for the dial lock. Presumably it's three digits, and even if it's not, we can just try every possible fourth digit if we have time, or break the safe if we don't. Safe is with the Dragon Queen. That implies she's endorsed them to some extent. Probably a few reasons she could be doing that, none of which I will list right now. I suppose if she's already on our side it might be easier to convince her to adopt Kyronic principles and toss her title aside.

Oh, we should probably check the dead for anything useful. They are using nothing of it right now.

>Check the corpses for any surviving valuables or status symbols

Oh, and Mordecai, that you think I'm acting superior to you says more about you than it does about me, because you're the one acting inferior. Humbleness is not a virtue in and of itself, and overwhelmingly, it's disingenuous. I see no reason I should not take credit for the things I do and have done.

[MadameButterflyKnife]

"Okay, we should not disrespect the dead by stealing their items. The world gave them these items as gifts, and those should be gifts they carry along with their spirits. We can investigate what they possess, of course, but they deserve a proper burial. A proper departure from this world."

> stop Avanyiss from just. stealing the items if she tries

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Humbleness is disingenuous? Explain your position. And look, Hadil, the dead might have some things to aid in our quest, like money or weaponry and armor. And I could use more of the former right now. They're all dead. They have no need for all that.

> Try to find some currency (maybe some weaponry too) among the dead

[Florien]

Spirits for the dead, items for the living. The only reason we entomb the dead with items is so that Irekhiniv have something to do in between their other escapades. We do not know what funerary rites these ones followed, so we should not assume that they want burial, nor should we care. They are dead, we are not. It is a waste to trust the dead with items they cannot use, and as I have not seen dedicated Irekhiniv out in this place... and seeing as we may be becoming Irekhin ourselves, looting is not just expected, it is compulsory. If they have signet rings, we may find occasion to forge a letter. If they have important entry documents, we may find occasion to use them. If they have money, we may find occasion to spend it. They do not have occasion to pen letters, to enter locations, or spend money, and if they should have occasion, I see no reason that they would possibly need their signet rings in an afterlife where their title cannot have meaning, entry papers to a place not in the afterlife, or money that is likely not the currency of said afterlife.

As for the topic of humbleness, let us be clear. Humbleness is not a virtue. It is, at best, neutral, and quite possibly a vice. It is demanding that someone not be proud of what they have done, lest they incur some nebulous wrath for doing what they intended to do, and it is disingenuous. People are not naturally humble, nor should they be made to be humble. Humbleness is a tool of the monarchists and the false-god-priests to make us think that we cannot possibly understand why they rule, when the reasons that the reasons cannot be understood is because there simply aren't any, rather than them being divine mysteries beyond understanding.

Humbleness is a tool of control. It glorifies self-loathing. It makes people reliant. That is when it is real. Most people who exhibit it, in my limited experience here, are clearly feigning it because it is socially unacceptable to be proud of what you have wrought. Humbleness is one of the biggest mistakes ever made in this plane of reality, and while I do endeavor to be diplomatic with people I may not have to deal with often, you are going to be around me for some time, so it is best that I get it out of the way that your touting of false virtues is disgusting and you should stop criticizing me for the HORRIBLE crime of being willing to bring up my accomplishments.

[MadameButterflyKnife]

"I do think you are accomplished, Avanyiss. You must be blessed by the gods if you haven't gotten yourself killed for running your mouth for so long. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for you, Mordecai, considering your...condition. If you do so desire to take these items from the dead, at least let me give them the honor of a proper cremation and burial. You may consider it such "superstition" or something with no need, but it's giving back to the earth the life it gave to us. Even if you want to mock such "false virtue", allowing them funeral rites is at least showing them respect. It's the most they deserve after being attacked by some monarch's forces."

[Florien]

Well, if you wish to do funeral rites, proceed, once I've gotten the supplies and valuables that are worth getting. As for survival, in practice, most people do seem to like when I talk at length, or at least think I'm worth listening to. I can at the very least present a convincing face that I know of what I speak. It helps that quite often I do.