❧ Emerald (Game 23)

[dramatispersonae]

You find yourselves in an ornate garden maze, hedges towering high above your head. If you continue to look up, you’ll see a dark sky, glittering with bright stars in unrecognizable constellations. The moon is full and bright. The leaves of the hedges are dense and dark green, riddled with bunches of tiny white flowers and the occasional cluster of red berries.

There are four exits around in the hedge around you, and a gazebo hung heavily with blossoming vines in the center of the small clearing. The air is hushed and quiet; your voices are clear, but other sounds are muffled, as if unwilling to break the silence.

Comments

❧ start

[dramatispersonae]

If you move closer to the gazebo, you will find an intricate compass pattern set into the aging stones. There are a set of six chests here. Each has a word emblazoned on it in ornate gold lettering. The six words are:

strength ❧ foresight ❧ ingenuity ❧ caution ❧ ruthlessness ❧ reasonThey are all locked. You do, however, have two keys.

Re: ❧ start

[aberdevine]

... huh.

[crouches near the chests, reading their labels.]

Re: ❧ start

[steampunked]

. . .

So what? We look at the six, decide what's most important and pick two?

Re: ❧ start

[tsundead]

Traits that we'd want to take the contents of... yeah, probably.

[awake now, eating the rest of the pancake he'd been sleep-nomming]

Re: ❧ start

[steampunked]

. . .

Huh, I actually have strong feelings on these.

Re: ❧ start

[authorities]

Are we supposed to open two?

Re: ❧ start

[aberdevine]

I'd guess so. We'll have to choose.

Re: ❧ start

[authorities]

Do you have a preference?

Re: ❧ start

[fairlyheroic]

[hmmm, peers at the chests]

Re: ❧ start

[tsundead]

It's a motivation-based choice.

Re: ❧ start

[fairlyheroic]

So things you'd want, right? That seems pretty simple.

Re: ❧ start

[tsundead]

To some extent, probably. Things we value.

❧ which two chests do you open?

[dramatispersonae]

Re: ❧ which two chests do you open?

[authorities]

[Ingenuity and Reason]

❧ reason

[dramatispersonae]

You have received: a heavy, leather-bound book. It has a cover emblazoned with a four-point compass again, decorated with ornate drawings. There is a dragon curling around the top of the compass, a sun to the East, a tower to the West, and an unreadable title to the South.

The book, when opened, has many pictures, and a lot of words in a language you can’t focus on or understand. You get a headache after looking at it too long.

Re: ❧ reason

[tsundead]

[examines book, then closes it when the headache starts] It seems to at least have a basic map. If we compare it to the compass at the gazebo we should have an idea what lies in each direction.

❧ ingenuity

[dramatispersonae]

You have received: a loaf of bread, a four-meter long piece of lace, and a hammer.

Re: ❧ ingenuity

[authorities]

[well that's

nice]

Re: ❧ ingenuity

[aberdevine]

...

Well. This is going to be interesting.

Re: ❧ ingenuity

[steampunked]

Look, V, we got something for your hair.

Re: ❧ ingenuity

[fairlyheroic]

. . . well, the hammer'll be useful?

❧ which direction do you move in?

[dramatispersonae]

[All exits appear the same, unless you have Reason or Foresight.]

Re: ❧ which direction do you move in?

[tsundead]

[WE HEADIN' NORTH]

❧ NORTH

[dramatispersonae]

You head into the maze to the North. Immediately after entering the hedged path, there is a click; a black iron gate shoots up behind you, blocking the way back into the clearing.

Re: ❧ NORTH

[steampunked]

Well, that's not ominous at all.