Passion Temple
With the directions given them to by Caul, the Adventuring Party (TM) head off in search of the Temple of Passion. Cataquil, Sarr, Anja, Valk and Hawthorne are all prepared for the challenges they will face. Caul has warned them that the temple is likely to be dangerous, with many traps to be negotiated, to prevent the unworthy getting to the artifact room. Traveling on a Union Airship, Anja navigates the party to the fragment in the fallen outlands. They land not far from the entrance to the temple, it is a very ornate building, carved into the walls many intricate symbols, similar to those found on a passion mages totem. By the entrance to the temple is a waterfall, with some mechanical contraption jutting out of the waterfall. Valk pushes the massive front doors, but they don't move an inch. Anja notices an inscription on the door, in an obscure dialect. It reads:
“Those who seek to control the passions beware, your path is frought with danger, and you should not enter these doors unprepared. But if your resolve is strong then come on. But to test those who seek the power over passions, must pass the obsticals of the temple. Your first test is to enter the temple itself, and can not be done by strength alone, you must show that you have the mind to go with it. Before you is a problem, these doors are sealed shut, and can only open if properly balanced, to do this you must manipulate the mechanism in front of you. You will see, that there are 2 containers in front of the waterfall. They can both be filled by the waterfall, or you can empty one container into another, or empty the container completly. The container on the right holds 5 Units, while the container on the left holds 3 units. The door will be balanced when there are 4 units in the right container.” Cataquill quickly works out how to manipulate the containers with 2 levers, pushing the lever up submurges the container in the waterfall filling it up, it flows so fast you cannot partially fill it, pulling the lever down begins to pour 1 container into another, by clever mechanisms, this process continues until the recetical is full, or the pourer empty, and cannot be terminated partially complete. Pulling the level out empties the container, again does it completly, and has no way to change this.
Valk trots back over to the doorway and runs his fingers over the stone, muttering quietly under his breath. After a minute he steps away and looks back to the waterfall.
“Damn thing's 'bout a foot thick, and there ain't no secret doors or the like that I can see. Looks like we'll have to play it their way.”
He looks back and forth between the two containers for a time, slowly counting on his fingers.
“Err, I think we start with the smaller bucket, Quill…umm..You know, I reckon this is definitely a water problem, not an earth one.”
He leans back against the temple wall and gestures to Anja with a wry expression of faux magnanimity.
That sounds easy enough,” says Sarr. “Just do this…
“Right. First of all fill up that bigger one.”
“Right. Now from that one we can pour into the smaller one.”
Catequil follows Sarrs instructions, his scepticism being assuaged by Sarr's confident look.
“Right, now just pour out half of the water left in the bigger container and we're nearly done.”
Catequil takes his hands off the mechanism and turns to Sarr, “We can't do that.”
“We can't? Well, that sounds like a bad design. I don't really see how we can get 4 units into the big container any other way. Perhaps if we were to fashion something to stop the containers filling quite as quickly it might make life easier.”
“Well, somebody else can have a go then if they want…”
“It is, unfortunately, not a bad design, insofar as its intention is to make us play the game. Of course with sufficient time and the right tools I could probably redesign the system to allow the inclusion of a 4 Unit container. In fact I wonder if that isn't the whole point of the puzzle. It clearly isn't going to be possible to do accurately just by estimating how much water, so obviously we'll need to take the system apart and trick the mechanism into activating” says Quill. “Right, anyone mind me dismantling the entire system to see how it works?” Quill asks, perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm…
“Look you can't go just approximating how much water is in there. It's probably carefully balanced so we need to avoid any inaccuracies. And you certainly can't start taking the whole contraption apart, we don't have the time for that. I think Sarr's on the right track. If we fill the little on from the big one that leaves us with two units in the big 'un…” says Anja.
“So you are suggesting that we have two units in the big one, then fill the little one up full… Where do we go from there?” asks Quill
“So you have two units in the big one, which we empty into the little one. Refill the big one to the top and empty from it enough to fill the little one. We had two units in the little one, which holds three and so doing so will leave exactly four in the big one,” says Anja.
Quill follows Anja's instructions, with the 4 units in the container, Hawthorne gently pushes the door, which swings easily open upon the lightest touch. The party decend into the temple proper.
As the party moves deeper in the temple, it begins to get darker, except in the distance they see a pin prick of light, as they continue walking it gets bigger and bigger, finally they find themselves in a room with torches on the wall, they seem to be imbued with stormlight to make everlasting torches. In the room there are 8 statues, each with a different expression. Anja notices something carved into 1 wall, in the same obscure dialect, it reads: “Human relationships are a powerful thing, causing many strong emotions, those in tune with the passions need to understand these emotions, as it is through these emotions that we are made stronger, around you are 8 statues, those in tune with the passions, can activate a statue by touching it. You must activate them in the right order to continue. But beware, activating them in the wrong order will trigger the defences of this room.” As Anja says this, Valk pipes up, “I think by defences, it means something to do with those vents.” Valk is pointing at a series of holes near the top of the walls where it looks like something will drop out of. Anja then takes a look at the statues and reads out the inscription on each, Betrayal, Excitement, Hate, Happiness, Loneliness, Love, Loss, Lust. Anja then begins to read out a series of clues below the first part of text. “1) The line between Love and Hate is very narrow, one can grow out of the other with relative ease, but in this case it is Love which is the former. Love is before hate. 2) Lust is a powerful emotion, driving us forwards, we always want, what we cannot have, but once we have it our Lust lessens, Lust appears early, within the first 3 that are activated. 3) Relationships come and go, but when one comes to an end, and all you have left is the memories, and you know what has gone can never be refound, you have a great sense of loss. Loss is last. 4) Excitment breaths new life envigours the body, as well as the mind, what sparks excitment will often bring happiness, even after the initial buzz has subsided. Excitment is directly before Happiness. 5) Love is a fickle thing, grasp it to hard, it will wither and die, to soft and it will fly away. It is not easily found, needs to be nurtured and allowed to grow, taking time and effort, it must be activated in the second half. 6) When you feel betrayed, it sows the seed of doubt that will turn all things sour. It will turn love to hate, happiness to despair. Betrayal can only lead to hate, and does so rapidly as resentment grows. Betrayal is directly before Hate. 7) When one lacks relationships, you are isolated from civilisation, which breeds loneliness, but it is this emotion that is a seed for relationships. Loneliness is first.”
“Hmmmmmmm, it seems to me quite clearly a progression through a relationship to its end… Ok, well it seems to me that we will go in the order of:” begins Quill Simultaneusly Anja speaks up and together they recite the list in order: “Loneliness > Lust > Excitement > Happiness > Love > Betrayal > Hate > Loss”
After finishing reading the inscription Anja says, “Man, the dude writing this has a negative perspective. Right, looks pretty easy though.” She pulls from the inside pocket of her jacket a well thumbed notebook and a pencil and begins jotting some things down. As Quil starts to speak she reads off the order she has just written down. “So yeah, depressing somewhat.”
As Anja is reading the inscription, Hawthorne seems to space out a little. Those standing close to him hear him mumbling “Loss is always last” repeatedly as his eyes glaze over.
Valk looks back and forth between Quill and Anja and then laughs.
“Heh, when did the two of you become relationship experts?”
He raps hand against Quill's chestplate.
“Never would have thought it of you, Quill; then again I guess you are a *passion* mage.”
Still laughing to himself Valk walks back to the statues and starts looking around for the activation method.
As Catequil activates the first statue, it glows brightly, as it does they party are overcome with strong feelings of loneliness. After a few seconds the statue dims, and the feeling lessens.
After the statues are activated, a panel in the far wall slides open. The everlasting torches continue down into the depths of the temple. As they reach the next room, the door swings shut behind them, at the same time all the lights go dim. In the dim light you can just make out some creatures moving. Valk suggests that the Party draw thier weapons, this seems like a wize move as the creatures come out of the shadows and begin attacking. They seem to be humanoid, completly covered in thick black cloth. As the party are shouting to each other, the screaches the creatures are making become more and more understandable. Each one seems to be saying a different line over and over again. As the battle progresses you identify 5 creatures, and the lines they are saying are: 1) What can fill a room but takes up no space? 2) Give it food and it will live; give it water and it will die. 3) What is it that by losing an eye has nothing left but a nose? 4) My first is in twist but not in site, my second in battle as well as war, my third is in a rock but not in a stone, it is in marrow but not in a bone. It is in a bolster but not in a bed, it is not living, nor is it dead. The fourth the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every place. The final is the third again. 5) What is broken when you name it? While Valk and Anja seem to be struggling to keep the creature at bay, Hawthorne is holding his ground, Sarr and Cataquill seem to be landing blow after blow, protecting the weaker fighters but it seems to be having no effect.
In the confusion of the melee Valk disappears from sight, and for a while it seems that he must have fled the room. Then as a heavy blow from Catequil send the fifth enemy reeling backwards Valk abruptly steps out behind it, wrapping his cloak around the creature's head and then clapping his hands to the side of its skull, covering whatever ears it might possess beneath the two layers of thick cloth. The creature stumbles about and Valk clings on grimly, slowly wrenching its head around. Several times one of the other creatures moves to slash at him, only to be knocked aside at the last moment by a quick strike from one of the other party members. Eventually with a muffled crack the guardian's head turns to face him and Valk mouths the word 'silence', never letting up the pressure over the creature's ears.
As Anja holds of one with her short sword she starts yelling: “Fill a room and take no space… dark, light, silence!… Oh fuck knows! Let's see loosing an eye and leaving a nose… nope, not an eye, an i. Noise! Lets see and first in twist but not in site is w, then a, and r's the only thing in all of those. Beginning of the end is e, which gives warer? Wait, that's not a word!”
“Wait, if valk is fighting Mr Silence over there then we have Mr Noise somewhere around… A couple of nice opposites, get them to hit each other or something to see what happens…”
“This one seems to be talking about fire. Give it water and it will die. Does this mean I should burn the thing? Or does it mean that it represents fire so burning it would be bad? Are you sure you didn't get those letters wrong and its water or something? Not that I'm sure that would help at all but fire and water would continue the theme of opposite… Looks like Valk has the right idea with trying to diable and immobilise things. I do so hate temple guardians that refuse to die properly…”
Sarr stops trying to cut at the creatures with his knives and starts trying to trip them and manoeuver them into each other's way.
No, no, even if the third letter is wrong, it says the last is the same as the third, right… nope it can't be water. Maybe it's some old obscure dialect, I really don't know… “Hang on, if they're opposites, then there's only five of them… Oh bloody hell! Well I reckon if he's fire we should get him wet anyway!” Anja unstrings her water pouch and begins aiming it as the one marked out as fire. “So we have Mr Light, or possibly Mr Dark, Mr Fire, Mr Noise and Mr Silence. And one we're still not sure on… Hang on… in rock, marrow, bolster and not in stone, bone, bed, living or dead… not that has to be r, right?”
Valk looks up from his opponent, a pained expression on his face.
“I sorta assumed they were tellin' us what would defeat them, not what they were.”
He glances back to the struggling guardian in front of him.
“Hope that Mr Silence here don't power up from me keeping things quiet for him…”
“You're right, couldn't hear it clearly from here. These things need to speak a bit more clearly. And preferably not at the same time. And preferably also not while trying to kill us. But yes, W A R E R does sound like the right answer. The fact that the lights went down might make that one over there Mr Light given how dark it is if we are playing with opposites. Or it could make him Mr Dark if we're not. Oh yes, did I mention it would also be nice if it was just a little lighter in here?”
“Well I don't really know whether it's what will defeat them or what they are… I mean the only way we'll find out is if we try, right?… And well if he powers up we'll just have to figure something else out… Oh, what the hell!” Anja attempts to lug her water pouch at the one previously indicated as fire.
As Valk has (5) ears of one covered, it seems to grow weaker, it motions less violent, but doesn't seem to be completely defeated. Anja throws the water over (2) and suddenly it begins to swing much stronger overcoming her defences, with a massive swing of it arm it smashes her half way across the room. In the commotion Catequil rains a few blows down on (3) it crumples into a pile of rags on the floor. The (4) seems to not have developed a full grasp of the party's language, after (3) falls it changes its riddle. My first is in twist but not in site. My second? What is the end of love? My third is in battle as well as war. My fourth is in a rock but not in a stone, it is in marrow but not in a bone. It is in a bolster but not in a bed, it is not living, nor is it dead. The fifth, the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every place. The final is the fourth again. In one respect I am unique do the oposite of what I speak.
Picking herself up from where she lay. “Huh, looks like Valk was right. Someone put a torch to that one before it gets any worse! Oh god and that other one, is it Light or is it Dark? Well I'm guessing since the lights went down it must be light needed to kill it. The torch would help! The forth is wearer, now. Anyone got a clue how to hurt that?”
“Ah damnit, this isn't workin'. Everything's making too much noise. We'll have to finish this one off last. Got an idea for our talkative friend though…”
Valk hurls himself off the struggling creature and back into the shadows of the room.
About twenty seconds later he lurches back out of the darkness daggers punching into the back of (4), he is visible for only a moment before darting away, but in that instant it is hard not to notice that he seems to have stripped naked.
“If this doesn't work I don't want to hear any comments, okay?!”
Sarr steps in between Anja and the one that had smashed her across the room, preventing it from following up but being initially overwhelmed by its increased strength.
“Fire I can do easily,” he says as with a moments concentration storm fire sheaths his hands. He drops his knives and starts to use his speed to duck under the creatures defenses and with quick jabs begins to set light to the creatures clothing. As Sarr lands blows on the creature its clothes begin to burn. With a screech the creature turns into a pile of ash.
As Sarr lands blows on the creature its clothes begin to burn. With a screech the creature turns into a pile of ash.
Hawthorne has, up to this point, been swinging wildly at any of the creatures in a flurry of blows. Those who catch a glimpse of his face see a slightly mad gleam in his eyes as he rains attacks ineffectually against the creatures.
The repeated references to light seem to help him snap out of it and he backs into a corner with his shield held forward. After yelling “Cover your eyes!” he aims his shield at (1) and a flash of light fills the room, radiating from the shield which glows brightly for a few moments after.
Hawthorne then throws himself back into the fray, albeit with rather more control.
Dazzled by the light from his shield, Hawthorne turns on (1) with a few swift strikes, the creature collapses into a pile of cloth. With the other 4 taken out, it is much easier to create silence, the party turns on the final creature, who doesn't last very long against the soundless onslaught. With the creatures defeated the party move deeper into the temple.
In the next room the party come into there is a figure of an elderly man. At a glance he looks healthy, but as you look a little closer, he seems more like an echo than a real person. Before you can dwell any more on this he speaks to you. “It has been many years since any got this far into the temple, you have done well indeed. In any case you goal lies just beyond this room. To enter it you need my help, you have so far tackled the problems of emotions and death, you must finally think upon fate. For most fate is fixed, it is written in the bedrock of the world, people cannot change their own destiny, they move as Fate seems fit. But there are a few, however uncommon, whose destiny is unwritten, that choose their own destiny, and while fate can put things in their path, it cannot make them pick it up. In any case enough of an old mans rantings. Although fate works in mysterious ways, it is all a matter of chance, and fate rewards those who contemplate thier choices; Before you lie 3 doors, you goal lies behind one of them, but you may only open one. I ask you to choose a door, let this door be door A. Out of the remaining doors B and C I tell you one isn't the right door. For example B. To maximise your chance of success should you change your door or stick with your original choice? What chance is there of the door you pick being the right one? I will let you discuss the problem amoungst yourselves. Tell me what you decide.”
“I remember this. There was a man… I think he was in a dream… Anyway, he was ruler of a fairly large fragment and he was generous in a way but he liked to play games a lot. One of the games was a lot like this though. He would place a portion of his treasure behind one door and small trinkets behind the other two. He would then ask them to pick a door and once they had would throw open another door and reveal a trinket and then ask them if they wanted to change. Now, I seem to remember him being rather upset with me. I think there was something to do with his daughter who was rather enamoured with me. I was of course the gentleman at all times but I don't think he saw it that way…
“Anyway, he told me that we were to play his game and that my reward would be my freedom. The other doors would have guards behind them that would be ordered to put me to death should I choose their doors. And then he imprisoned me for the night until the crowds gathered to watch his strange justice in the morning. Well, to cut a long story short I spent the night productively talking to a spirit of wisdom. He told me the best way to deal with these sorts of things. And how to maximise my chances of fate being kind to me…
“I still wasn't keen on the odds though I have to admit. I prefer certain chances of living to possibly chances of living. In the end his delightful daughter came to visit me and I told her to put a light sprinkling of dust before the doors so the next day I could just see where the soldiers boot prints led and so was easily able to tell which door had the guards behind and which one led to safety…
“Anyway, its quite an interesting puzzle. I heard massive amounts of debate on the subject during my time there. Everybody thought they were an expert…. I won't spoil your fun by explaining it all to you now.
“End of the day though unless us telling him the best course of action will tell us the right door we probably just want to drill a hole in them to look through or something. I mean, we can only open one but if we know what is behind them all first it will make life much easier. As the man said not everybody is constrained by fate and I'm damned if I'm going to be one of those that is.”
Sarr turns to the strange man and asks him “So do we have to choose a door or do we just have to tell you how this little riddle works? Because I'll be damned if I'm leaving this up to fate right now…”
There are no doors good sir, that you can see, this is purly an experiment of the mind, to test your knowlage of the currents of fate. Give me the correct answer to the problem and you can procede, with nothing left to chance.
“Ah, well that's ok then. I assumed you had some doors hidden away somewhere. Its not like the lighting in here is up to that much. I guess in a temple like this it wouldn't really set the right atmosphere if you got a few more torches in and such like. Well, anybody want to have a little bit of speculation before we proceed?”
“You know Sarr, I don't really think you get the point of these games. I mean if you're just going to cheat…” she breaks out in laughter, “Oh gods, I really have been spending too much time around Bezeth! “You know, old man,” she says as she writes, “I happen to believe in fate, as much as I happen to believe in dumb stupid luck. The gods play games with the destinies of us mortals and the gods are the delusions of our mass subconciousness. I think it's wise to believe in them all and I believe that we can't know anything for certain. Not of course, that I know for certain that we can't know anything. “So basically your puzzle is all to do with probability theory, which says you have a higher probability of choosing the right door if you change your mind. Not, of course, that that means you *should* change your mind, sometimes a girl needs to stick with her gut feeling. After all one time in three your gut feeling will be right.” She flips over the notebook she has been writing in to reveal its contents to the rest of the group. “Like Sarr its a problem I've come across before. We were arguing it late night one evening in the student's union bar. We all were adamant that the probabilities would stay the same, except this one guy from the department of esoteric science who reckoned your chances were improved if you changed your mind. We all thought he was wrong but he wrote up the proof in chalk on the wall and lo and behold he was right. I was trying to recall how he proved it and I think I've got it here.” OOC: This is what Anja wrote in her notebook. The Maths, I think isn't to hard. Notation: A, B and C are the doors. Let 1 be the probability of a given door being correct and 0 the probability of it being wrong. P(x|y) is the probability of x happening given y has already happened. w.l.o.g. without loss of generality (ie. it does not matter how you permute A, B and C. The calculations stay the same.) Proof: P(A=1)=P(B=1)=P(C=1)=1/3 w.l.og. assume we pick door A. w.l.og. assume he tells us door B is incorrect. B=0. Want to know the probability that C=1 given these two criterea. P(C=1|B=0 & initial choice of A)= P(A=1)*P(C=1|B=0 and A=1) + P(A=0)*P(C=1|B=0 and A=0) = 1/3*0+2/3*1= 2/3 Hence, there is a greater probability that the correct door is the one you didn't choose initially.
“I'm not sure about all that stuff you've written down really but its pretty obvious that when you choose one of the three doors that you have a one in three chance of it being the door you want. That means when given the choice to change your door still has that one in three chance of being right. Nothing can change that. That means that the other door must have a two in three chance.
“I'm sure that is roughly what your notepad says but I find its much easier just done in words than with all that strange notation. It has to be siad its one of the reasons why I steer clear of certain parts of the College.”
Valk laughs
“Damn you Union people are wasting a whole bunch of time if you gotta have fancy departments and maths and stuff for working this out. Come out to the bazaar on the the Surface and any hustler there'll tell you the chance is only half and half. That's how you know it's bullshit and you gotta change it up.”
He gins at the old man.
“Lady Fate always loves those who keep movin'. The man who ain't willin' to change his ways, well he's gonna have his bad luck catch up with him.”
His eyes flick over to Hawthorne.
“Ain't healthy to fixate on things.”
“Well most people's intuition says there's two doors left, thus there's an equal chance of it being behind each. Sarr's reasoning is sorta correct, in that the probability of the door you originally picked being right doesn't change- but the probability that the one you didn't pick being right does change. I guess the reasoning would be that you pick the first one without knowing any information about the other two, whilst once he tells you one of the others is wrong it tells you something more about the one you didn't pick but not the one you did. But that doesn't by any means say you should change your mind, it says that changing will maximise your chances- I mean one time out of three your initial instinct is still right. I still say there are times when you gotta trust your instincts more than probabilities. “Well regardless the point of the exercise was to work out which gave the best chances rather than actually make a choice. I think between us we've pretty much solved the puzzle.”
Catequil has been quiet for some time. His movements have become slower, as if invisible strings and skeins have twined themselves round him, seeking to constrain his actions. With a slow and deliberate gesture he reaches up to his chest, under his armour and opens a a small door in his chest. From it he removes a ball of multi-hued string. “My friends, you are right. Fate is woven into the world. It runs through us, guides, cajoles and forces. It is the highest and oldest Passion, for Death is ever Fated and Emotion bourne along in the endless weft and weave of the world.
But Fate is also Chance. Where a thread frays, where different patterns, different skeins come together to form something new, therein lies the Warlock's power. A Warlock must understand Chance as you have explained.” As he speaks, Catequil unravels the string and begins to tie a complex series of knots and loops around his hand. “The Warlock seeks the weak point in the weft; finds the point at which there are three doors and begins his work. The Warlock understands the nature of chance and works with it. The world is changed so that one door is considered and another is opened and the false path behind it is revealed. The Warlock works with chance and changes which door he will pick. Chance and Fate come together because the Warlock can see behind one door and knows what to choose having seen that Fate.” The ball of string is nearly used up, and Catequil's hand is a mass of different coloured strands, knots and ties. “But, there is a deeper secret. A deeper truth known only to the Masters of Fate. The weft is not written, the weave is not set and Chance is not absolute. When the Master of Fate sets his mind to it, when he makes the proper obeisances to Chance, then Fate opens to him. When I say that I shall open this door and not that one, I decide because I know that Chance has its hand in this. But when I open the door, it is the right choice, not because Chance decreed it, but because I, a Master of Fate, chose it. That is the fundamental truth of the Warlock of Fate.” As he finishes speaking, Catequil reaches out with his entwined hand and opens a door in thin air which was not there before and which becomes solid only as he touches it.
The party follow Catequil through the doorway. On the other side the old man appears in front of them. “oy, your not supposed to do that! Grr, its not like the old days, these young 'uns bypassing procedures. Well I guess it doesn't matter to much. You'll be wanting your relic then. These are powerful things you know, so don't mess about with em. So you need to make your choice. First you need to pick the one who is going to accept the relic, be its guardian. Then they need to pick which one they want.” He gesture behind him, there are 3 pedestals each with an item on them. One has a pair of exquisitely carved dice, the next has a hewn stone bell, and the final one has a cast metal statue. The old man turns to each in turn. “First the are the dice of Gul'Dar, carved from the bones of Gul'Dar himself, and no I don't know who Gul'Dar is before you ask, look it up yourselves if your're interested. Any who throws the dice will instantly change the fabric of Fate giving themselves a new destiny. The next is the bell of Fris Dur, it can call up the ghost of anyone who has departed the world whose spirit still lingers, they may not be willin' to talk but helpful none the less. Finally you have the Statue of Bris'Bas, hold it and think upon an emotion, and it will amplify that feeling in everyone within a large area, about the size of your average fragment. You must make your choice, and you may only take one. Once you have done that, I have a reward for the rest of you.”
Valk pats Catequil on the back.
“You're up, Quill. This is some nice gear; looks like these Temples are really gonna pay out.”
Leaving the Machinist to make his choice, he starts to glance over the room looking for whatever concealed alcoves or traps the ancient builders might have left in their vault.
“My friends, I thank you for honouring me with your presence here. This is but the first step on a longer journey.” Catequil picks up the Dice “But now, it is time to roll the bones.” Catequil Rolls the Dice.