Sphinx and Roundabouts

Yorick was freshly disarmed and blissfully unaware as we loaded him onto a makeshift stretcher made out of a door and evacuated him to the ship, determining to rest up until we were all fighting fit to tackle the rest of the horrors. Orla flexed her now healed arm and twanged her bowstring a few times. Fnarr.

We opened a door into a sodden library with a living ink blot on the wall, having been banished from the soaked books. With a bit of effort we managed to communicate with the ink, resolving to find an ink bottle or some dry paper for it to move into. Aodhan found some useful scrolls, but another body bobbed to the surface, missing eyes and a left arm, bearing another of the mysterious amulets.

Following the corridor round, we found a large black bird interested only in meat and revenge. Orla threw her some meat and tried to engage the creature in conversation, finding out that she had been imprisoned by the duke and was called Aellope. There were more strange creatures in the menagerie, including a sphinx, spider, lizard, siren and a hawk. We let the creatures out one by one, and the spider attached herself to Bastonn, much to his displeasure. The blue lizard turned out to be a kitten-like dragon, who told us to beware of the spider who was naughty. Aodhan was convinced that the hawk-like creature was a rather snooty phoenix. We released them one by one.

A supply closet provided us with lanterns and oil, then we followed the corridor to the north-east tower, which had a large map table and two men dressed in black and a body that yielded another amulet. The map table had a hidden compartment opened by pressing a button in the miniature lighthouse, which contained a blue pearl key and a pack of scorpion cigars. Krisanna had fun playing with the little wooden ships and imagining mighty battles at sea.

A room opened by the blue pearl key revealed a trove of large sapphires that Orla greedily collected. Krisanna contented herself with a handful of pearls pried from the door that were easier to carry.

Eventually we headed up the stairs, finally finding dry floors under our feet. Orla suggested going north, which Krisanna thought was a great idea. It was at around this time that the looted sapphires came to life and turned into burrowing beetles. Oops.

We searched the rooms in order, the first one containing a dead body with a shark broach which Krisanna collected. A spider lady in the next room didn't take kindly to being interrupted and attacked, vomiting spider webbing at Orla, who immediately fought back and, with an assist from Krisanna, killed the creature. Bastonn's pet spider proved to be equally venomous and bit him, before being yeeted out of the window.