23-05-30: Tuesday Huzzah - The Chronomancer's Mansion Part 27

Jade brings with him the rewards from the chests; A Sigil of Protection (+1 AC), A Potion of Superior Healing, Boots of Speed, & an 8th level spellscroll (Sunburst). We decide to give the scroll to Sanfire, the sigil to Jade to put on a necklace, the boots to Sanfire, and the potion to Hati. We head to the forge next, so that Thrax can attach Jade's new sigil to his necklace.

We head back to the central chamber and adjust the armillary sphere to 9:30 AM. The portal is dark, but there's something colossal sized that's blue and glowing. We hold hands as we go through the portal, and we find a room that looks like its suspended in space. We're s
standing on a bridge of sorts, with a giant humanoid figure at the end where we can see it from the torso up. There are dice like things floating to either side of the bridge.

Jack calls out to the being at the end of the bridge; it speaks back in our heads in common. Jack asks if we can approach, the being says yes. It says that it was once known as Aeon. He says he can change the course of our history so that we learn that which we need. He says the answer to which prince was last to die can be deduced from the central chamber. Aeon designed and created the mansion originally, although he shared the blueprint to be created by others as well. He created the mansion out of boredom, after living for centuries and having too much ennui. He has seen Lazlo, and sees him now; Lazlo is alive. He says only Lazlo and Alluevia have 'beaten' the mansion, or solved its puzzle. They are with him on the astral plane. The answers we seek (re the last prince) all relate to the golden clock. There's a chest below Aeon, it contains puzzle piece T.

Jade approaches Aeon, and asks if he can change his history so that his wings never burned up; Aeon waves his hand, and Jade's wings have always been with him.

We return to the central chamber and examine the clocks there.
    A Grandfather Clock
    A Pocket Watch with an Eye on It
    A chess clock with two faces (Knight & Harlequin playing each other).
    A sundial
    A mechanical looking alarm clock
    A cuckoo clock
    A sun & moon motif clock
    A gear clock with a shooting star on it and a gold bell beneath

The grandfather clock we can tie back to the math riddle; we try changing the time to 1:00, nothing happens. We try 5:00 and 00:50, but nothing changes.

We look at the pocketwatch, which seems to have an eye on it. We open it, and there's a rose inside. We try setting it to 10:00, but nothing happens.

We found the number 20:17 in the light shadow diagram room; we equate that to the sundial. We set the armillary sphere to 8:17 in the evening; it changes the time on the sundial, and after a minute the armillary sphere itself begins to rotate, until the outermost arm of the sphere goes flat.

We set the armillary sphere to 10:00, and we hold hands as we go through the portal into a dark room. The room is set up like a chess board, including with chess figures engraved on the checkered floor. There's a plaque that reads "White To Move. Checkmate In Two. White Wins. Row Column:Row Column. Where I stand. Now where I must go."

We figure out that the bishop would move first, then the queen to checkmate. The bishop's location is 2:2, the queen's location is 2:7.

There are four chests in the room. Three of them hold puzzle piece U, a potion of greater healing, a spell scroll of greater restoration. The fourth chest is locked; there's a picture of a shadow diagram above it. We try lighting up Jack's sword; the position is almost correct, but it's way too bright. Jack tries using a light spell; finally he places it ON the chest, and the chest unlocks; it has three rubies in it.

The golden spots on the floor are the knights' starting position. We decide that equates the time in this room to the knight faced chess clock. The time we get from the bishop and queen's position is 22:27.

There's a door to the north. We go through it. There's a room with a table surrounded by chairs; the table has a map on it with pieces on the map. There's a sword on the table beside the map; there's a glowing aura over the sword, as if holding it into place. There's writing on the map that reads:

"Assume you control more knights than is typical for a fair fight. Awaken the general by speaking the answers aloud in order.

What is the maximum number of nights that can be deployed on the battlefield in such a way that none of them could endanger another?

What is the minimum number of knights needed to threaten each unoccupied position upon the battlefield?

How quickl can a knight ride from one corner of the battlefield to the opposite corner?"

The first answer is 32: we saw this on a chess board in another room. The last answer is 6. The middle answer is 12. Jack speaks out the numbers: 32, 12, 6; the aura around the sword disappears. The sword looks magical, light enough to be wielded with finesse. Sanfire investigates the sword, Jade helps, but we can't identify it. Hati takes the sword.

We return to the central chamber and turn the armillary sphere to 10:30 AM. The colors of the portal are reminiscent of the greenroom. We head through the portal and enter a chapel of some kind. It's well lit, with pews for seating, and a statue at the south of the chapel. Jack, Jade, and Sanfire recognize the statue as one of Khalistra, goddess of the hunt associated with the moon. We entered from the west; there's a chest to east, it contains puzzle piece V. To the north of the chapel is a pulpit with a book on it, as well as an altar with a cup of blood on it, and three thrones.

Sanfire sits in one of the thrones; he feels refreshed. Hati and Jade try sitting in the other two thrones; they both feel refreshed as well. Jack tries sitting in the throne that Sanfire vacates. Jade goes down to the statue of Khalistra and offers a thank you for the refreshment.

Jack is convinced that the 4th prince is the last prince to die, leaving 06:28 as the number to put in the colon.

We go back to the central chamber and put 22:17 into the knight chest clock. After a moment, the armillary sphere begins to turn until the outermost rim flattens. We put 06:28 into the harlequin chess clock, the second outermost ring flattens and locks into place.

We change the armillary sphere dial to 11:00 AM. We go through and find ourselves in a small corridor with a big room at the end. There's four stained glass panes on the right wall, with a colon between them; these are the same stained glass windows that Jack saw before. There's a chest beneath the stains glass, with a podium in front of it. There's a gem to the left of the room emanating rainbow light. There's an eye on the left wall. The eye says 'behold' above it, and 'destruct' beneath it. The podium has room for letters, and currently has the letters '_ A _ _ E _' on it. Written on the far north wall is the following:

"By Khalistra's light the path shall be revealed and IMPOSTERS (written in gold) shall be unveiled. Use the podium to bring order to chaos. Once order is established, consider the position of each letter within it's corresponding word."

We decide to change the clock to 11:00 PM. We come back into the room, and it is nighttime. The moon shines on the prism, causing it to focus into a beam of light. We turn the prism to shine on the eye; the stained glass windows glow, different colors lighting up; blue, purple, red, grey, brown, red, yellow, brown, red, green. We turn the prism to pass over the north wall; as it shines on the word imposters, part of the stained glass glows gold, eggs by the goose. We turn the prism more to shine on the stained glass; a letter shines in each pane, RG:ND. We figure out that RG:ND translates to 11:34.

We head back to the central chamber, then to the beholder room. We put in the colors in the archway in front of the beholder; there's a stone wall with a peephole, when we peek through, we see where the prism was last pointed. Sanfire heads back to 11:00 PM and turns the prism to aim at the eye. We put demolition into the beholder; the orange beam comes through the prism and destroys the wall where the eye was. A small room is revealed with a chest in it; Sanfire picks up a sigil of precision, a sigil of protection, and a sigil of sojourning. Jade gives Jack the spellscroll of greater restoration. The sigil of sojourning will be attached to Thrax's armor, the sigil of protection to Sanfire's boots of speed, the sigil of precision to Jack's bow. While Thrax is busy forging, Hati attunes to the sword we found in the war room.

Hati hears a voice as they attune to the sword; the blade was once a queen, and would like to be returned to their kingdom. Thrax finishes his forging and we return to the central chamber to turn the armillary sphere to 11:30 AM.

In 11:30 room, there's an observatory with a huge telescope. There's a chest; it contains puzzle piece X. We go out and change the time to 11:30 PM, then return to the observatory. We see some stars in a pattern.

We decide to go to 4:00 in the AM, to visit it at night. Nothing seems to be changed except for darkness; the ghosts are still there.

We return to the beholder room, and put in the colors of 4:00 o'clock's paper lanterns; it opens up a large portal at the southern gate that's aimed at the ghost on the bridge. We put slumber into the beholder; the ghost on the bridge is his dead on, putting her to sleep. We try putting beauty into the beholder; Hati and Thrax are charmed by the now beautiful ghost girl.

We discuss what to do. Hati doesn't want to kill the ghost girl anymore. They approach the ghost with Sanfire and ask what she wants; she wants to die, or revenge on the people who killed her family, men with spears. She doesn't know where they are, and the only living things in the chamber are monkeys. Jade joins us to use 'speak with animals' to speak with the monkeys.

The monkeys don't know anything about the ghost girl, but they say the ghosts in the village come and go with the festival, when the sun and moon meet. They've been dead and gone for a long time.

We decide to ask Aeon for help, both to bring the ghost girl peace and to create an eclipse for the festival. Aeon tells us that the ones who killed her family celebrate at the eclipse festival. We must 'complete the festival' to get peace or revenge for her.

We return to 4:00 o'clock. Hati steps through with Jack to the beholder room; we change the portal to the central chamber, Hati steps through and changes the time to 12:00 PM, then Hati returns to the beholder room. Hati and Jack reestablish the portal chamber to 4:00 and rejoin everyone else.

When the time hits 12:00, Sanfire, Jade, and Thrax see an eclipse happen; Jade is paying attention to the ghosts in the stalls. The ghost girl stays the same, but the ghost vendors in the stalls take on more human form. Sanfire and Thrax just barely look away from the eclipse at the last moment.

Hati and Jack come back through. Hati approaches one of the vendors; he claims no one killed anyone around here, but Hati doesn't believe him. Hati tells him to leave; Jade flitters up to their shoulder, holds out a fireball. The vendor just wants to do business, says there's nowhere for them to go.

Hati approaches the ghost girl, and tells her that her revenge is nigh. They tell her that the people who killed her family are in the village. The ghost scuttle-runs away into the village, killing all the villagers. She returns back to Hati, thanks them, and vanishes into a flurry of black butterflies.

The land is now clear of ghosts. Jack opens the chest at the south of the chamber; it contains an amulet of twin dragons. We head to the chest at the temple, it contains a ring of warmth. Jade takes the ring of warmth, and gives their ring of feather falling to Hati.

We work together to put all the puzzle pieces we have onto the board at the temple. The monkeys start making noise: Jade casts speak with animals, the monkeys are saying 'gong!' Jade hits the gong, and part of the puzzle lights up to say 16:23.