fightin' with the legends of yore

[whichcraft]

WHO: Minato, Prompto, and Summer
WHAT: Quest 18, "Steal the Moondrop Heart"
WHERE: A castle in the woods
WHEN: JULY QUESTING
WARNINGS: Probably a lot of Metal Gear Solid jokes? We'll warn in the thread headers.

[Three questers enter the forest, bent on seeking the Moondrop Heart, and unlike other occasions when the woods have been entered, this time their path seems to take them past the trees and through the undergrowth to the cliffs, where they come across a castle just waiting for them.

Though it's reasonably far away at the point when Our Heroes stop, a cursory look in the castles direction does seem to reveal some variety of movement on the walls. If anybody has a way of getting a better look, perhaps they'll be able to figure out more...

Otherwise, adventurers, you are standing just inside the tree line on this adventurin' afternoon, and there is a castle in the distance with a treasure inside. What would you like to do first?

Comments

[messianic]

[...]

And then crawl across the rope...? We need to weigh down the other side too.

[For a rope bridge...!!

But you know, honestly:]

It's worth a try. Let's do it. [AND SO THEY DO?? Nice.]

[whichcraft]

[That is in fact good enough for the DM on this one; following some creative Collegiate Engineering™, the trio manages to get together a rudimentary bridge out of rope and weight, and shimmy on over to the other side of the chasm. Handshakes all around, everyone!

Having crossed over to the other side of the corridor, it's now become visible that the stairwell at the end of the corridor appears to go both up and down; based on the curvature of the wall, it seems like it's a staircase set into one of the structure's towers.]

[photoshooter]

Towers are definitely for treasure. Should we go up? My vote's for up.

[Y'know, JRPG reasoning.]

[messianic]

Sure.

[Thumbs up!!]

Let's do it.

[Minato is all about that JRPG reasoning. Up they go, into the tower...!!]

[whichcraft]

[Climbin' the stairs, up into the tower, and wouldn't you know it, JRPG reasoning is actually highly similar to fairy tale reasoning, because as they get close to the top of the stairs, they will find...a locked door!

It's a large stone door with no visible hinges, which means it's probably going to swing inward once they figure out how to get it open. Set in sconces on either side of the door are six unlit candles, three on either side. Each sconce appears to be set with a small brass plaque.

A cursory glance at the door will also turn up that there seem to be markings of some variety on the door. Curious!]

[photoshooter]

[MISS GLORIOUS RIKKAIDAI DID YOU MAKE US A ZELDA PUZZLE?

Let's shine a light on the door, then, and see what we can make of those markings with a closer look.]

[messianic]

[OH NO PUZZLES.

Yeah.

Minato's definitely also squinting closer, frowning a little as he does. What've we got here...]

[whichcraft]

[@ Asher McDashery you come into MY house talking bout some JRPGs.

The markings on the door are rough and difficult to make out, but with some squinting our heroes will discover that they are actually recessed into the stone of the door, like they were engraved there when it was made.

With a little effort, they will be able to ascertain that the shapes appear to be roughly a star, a clover, and...something comprised of straight, nonintersecting lines, though that one is a little too faded and worn away to properly make out.]

[photoshooter]

Ummm, hmm. So in order, that'd be...

[He goes to look at the three plaques on the left side.]

[whichcraft]

[On the left, he will find that the plaques are arranged as follows:

Closest to the door: HEART
Middle: X MARKS
Furthest from the door: CLOVER ]

[photoshooter]

I found the clover! Minato, is the star on the other side?

[That's a quiet exclamation point, it's fine.]

[messianic]

[Time to look over to the right! They are absolutely playing a video game right now, and Minato is...having fun actually...

Thanks for this quest, Awash.]

[whichcraft]

[On the right, he will find that the plaques are arranged as follows:

Closest to the door: STAR
Middle: HORSESHOE
Furthest from the door: THREE CLAW MARKS ]

[messianic]

Claw marks...?

[... Anyway--]

Yeah, I have the star over here. So that first, and then the clover, and then...

[The claws?]

These...?

[photoshooter]

Mmm... yeah, nothing else is even close to the same kind of marks, right? So that's gotta be it.

[He nods. We're doing this, team. We're making this happen.]

Got a match? I wasn't the one who usually kept the camping equipment, so.

[messianic]

[.... WELL.]

I can light things on fire, but I don't have any matches.

[...]

Also, it looks strange.

[Like, fair warning. It'd probably be better that he taps into his magic than always making Summer use hers, but. Still.]

So long as you're good with that...

[whichcraft]

I'm in favor of strange and stupid, personally.

[Thanks, Summer.]

I'm definitely not one to talk about strange and stupid.

[photoshooter]

I'm sure it's fine.

[Oh god nobody told Prompto about the evoker oH BOY]

[messianic]

[Y...yeah.

He glances over at Prompto, and very firmly:]

Please don't panic.

[And then he's planting that Evoker right up against his temple, yep. Minato will never learn, it seems. Thankfully, he doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger! And he's calling on Orpheus, because a) he's somewhat less alarming and b) he doesn't have massive fire spells that will burn this place to the ground.

It's great.

He's lighting those candles in order, don't mind him--star, clover, claw marks.]

[whichcraft]

[And assuming nobody screams, tackles Minato, or otherwise blows our cover...

The door opens.

Past the door is another rather short half-flight of stairs that leads up to the tower room, which appears to be an abandoned bedroom.

There's a four-poster canopy bed, a mirror, a dressing table, a wardrobe, a giant-ass treasure chest on a pedestal, a rocking chair...

I mean there's so much to look at here. Where would one even think to begin.]

[photoshooter]

[Well, at least he doesn't yell?

As Minato goes about his candle-lighting business, Prompto's face gradually relaxes from a rictus of panicked horror to something very much like .]

Why are teenagers like this?

[messianic]

[sorry prompto. Minato just looks a little rueful and apologetic as he puts away the Evoker and Orpheus fades away.

A...AHEM.

THROUGH THE DOOR WITH THEM.]

Well... if it's not in the treasure chest, I'm going to be really disappointed.

[photoshooter]

It could be a trap. ...But it was already pretty hard to get in here. Still, better safe than sorry.

[Let's at least look this thing over and check for trapdoors in front of it or a tripwire in the room, and all that jazz.]

[whichcraft]

[A prudent impulse! However, given the fine layer of dust over everything, it appears that no one has been in this room for quite some time. It's pretty innocent, all things considered.

In a way, the pedestal almost looks a little bit out of place in comparison to the rest of the decor — as though this room had existed first, and someone had later just decided that this was the optimal place to stick the chest.]

[messianic]

[...]

So.

Can we open it?

[He's definitely just been hovering behind Prompto all this time.

In his canon they just walk up to chests and open them, okay, he's fascinated by all of this caution.]