RED OAK: Return to the Pass of the Hounds

[Woe]

Is there any chance I can get that as characters instead of an image? Otherwise, I'll transcribe it myself and that's just going to be a "in the real world" pain.

[Longman]

Why would you want that...?

I mean, if you can give me a reason that isn't "so I can change the font and then run it through a translator", then I'll think about it.

[Woe]

(Sorry about missing the other chest's contents)

Looking at the maps, both the party and me think "WOW this place is expansive!!" The party immediately starts discussing what to do next.

(Kilian) Get some real engineers and start clearing out the place, do a proper excavation. Of all the party, he's most concerned about what they'll find. He shares warnings about other dwarven expeditions that ended badly: balrogs, dragons, undead wizards... quite sobering really, everything that has moved into the dwarven kingdom. At this point, Kilian looks at Bruce, who probably doesn't feel the same sense of loss. They could start an encampment up above, set up a proper guard company, and then bring in some craftsmen to help out with the dig.

(Talin) Report it back to the ROR; they'll know what to do.

(Tiana) Report it back to the elves, and then make a proper anthropological evaluation of the civilization that used to live here. She's excited about the historical opportunities but she's a bit let down that all of the cartography is already done. So she's somewhat in agreement with Kilian, but he's definitely thinking bigger scale.

(Freya) Let's explore a bit. I wonder how to get from level 1 to 2. I don't see that on the map. And this surface tunnel... I wonder where that goes. Is this human throughout or does it turn to dwarven? Wow, I wish I could shrink like Abigall could. I'd be exploring all around here. I wonder whether Roddy would be that adventurous. Abigall, do you know Roddy? (she goes on, but /shrug/ I lost her train of thought).

(insert NPC thoughts here; then I'll start on an attack strategy for those golems)

[Woe]

Why would you want that...?

I mean, if you can give me a reason that isn't "so I can change the font and then run it through a translator", then I'll think about it.

I didn't think about running it through a translator, honest. I was going to try to translate it myself, by putting the words I could easily read under the other text and then see what the sentence looked like when pieced together. I thought about seeing if I could decrypt it, but I think it's not even English to start.

For example, blah sweet? reason? blah blah blah blah fatigue blah the?, but then look for frequent patterns to see if I could figure out words based on frequency or proximity to known words, etc.

Is Sader one of the options in Google Translate? Also, and I didn't realize this when asking, is that I see a lot of French-like words in the below. Fortunately for you, I might know ten French words. Maybe. And when I say "know" I mean, "looks like a French word." Behold!

I'll call out words I recognize|guess, and it's all based on my command of American-bastardized English.
Fait -> fact (fait accompli)
nous -> (us? not us?)
avon -> (no idea what it means, unless it's a cosmetic company; but I recognize the word)
Zue -> the? it occurs a lot.
Zuitte -> could be these if Zue is the
occasion -> occasion (aha!)
est -> is. Looks latin.
BoldenOrn -> Ok, that one is a giveaway.
fatigue -> tired
raison -> it's either reason, raisin, or a vacation. It's French for something (no idea what)
Dointelligence -> intelligence


But it's hard to do because I'm jumping around, and will see words later. I won't copy/paste it into Google Translate (or Skype Translate, or any other translators). It looks like a good mental challenge.

[Longman]

Kilian - isn't sure at all of the history of all this, and when dwarves actually lived this far south. A lot of his stories are fireside tales all mixed in together. It does seem likely that abandoned caverns and tunnels of that size are going to contain something, however. But everyone has heard plenty of his tales by now, anyway. As for engineers, a reconstruction effort on the castle alone would take several years, with a fair-sized team. Down below, you could probably start using this place to live in almost straight away. You do not know what other levels are like, though.

Talin - it sure has been a while since you reported to ROR!

Tiana - It looks like this is a remnant of one of the old human kingdoms, with magic, and in that sense it is pretty important. Again, bear in mind that the elves might not know very much. I've deliberately set the campaign up that way, so you can't rely very much on prior knowledge. They (the elves) are very insular race and didn't keep records of anything outside their own ken. However, Ember may be able to help you with the language issues, and there may even be other sages who know the language outright.

Freya - when you say level 1, do you mean the level that you are currently on? Certainly, there does not seem to be any access from here to any other part of the dungeon, except possibly going down the chasm, either north or south. And yes, Abigall knows Roddy. He's her cousin.

Bruce just wants to rest up another day and then charge over and kill another golem / statue, and then maybe run back again if it gets too much. "Pick em off one by one," he says. But he's not suggesting it too loud because Kilian said it was a dumb idea, last time.

Anna, when asked, makes the surprising suggestion that you should just stash all the treasure here in the secret room, and then go exploring in the area a bit more.

"We've never been up the hill on the south side of the castle," she says. "Or in the valley between the hill and Widow's Peak. And that old road with the oaks seems to lead straight to the Peak. Maybe we should investigate that? But I'm only saying that because you asked me my opinion. I'll do what you all want."

Abigall thinks this is a decent idea. "Maybe the Salmon of Knowledge is still there, in the lake! Maybe he will be able to tell us what to do!" She sounds a bit wistful at this. When questioned, she reveals that it is probably just an old legend, about a magic salmon in a lake in the cleft in the mountain.

[Longman]

For magic, I'm just going to say that 'it is in runes' and say that you can learn the runes you have after a set amount of time (3 months full time).

For the language - which is very different to the runes - I'm using French with a weird font, because I thought it would be a fun way to emulate the fact that Talin would know some stray words, just as you yourself know some words in French. But I wasn't going to take it any further than that. It will still take someone 3 months full time to learn to read this language.

I can give you the full text if you really want it. Do you still?

[Woe]

It would have been fun to try. But if you're saying there is not much point and I can't use word frequency (like 'the' is a popular word), then I'll wait three months of game time:)

"Right, the forest and the nisha. That's on our list of things to do too. Thanks for reminding us, Anna." A brief discussion follows, where they decide to do some limited exploration now and then go back to the forest.

As for Bruce's plan to flush the golems out, let's elaborate on it a bit more. "What can we flush them out with? Has anyone seen a wagon, or anything with wheels while we have been here?"

[Longman]

Nothing like a wagon. No wheels either, to make one. And no one really has the carpentry for that in any case. I'm letting Kilian build barricades and forts with his engineering, but wagons is a stretch. Maybe he can pick that up at higher level.

You could get upstairs and make a moveable barricade out of the building material you found in the ground floor of the gump tower. That's about the best you could manage. The barricade you have already rigged up could also be moved, but you'd have to disassemble it to do that.

Anna and Abigall are happy you weren't patronizing about their idea. The truth is, they'd rather take their chances with the open air, than fight big robots with swords.

None of the NPCs really have much idea about how to charge the place, other than just go for it and be prepared to run away.

Diary attached. Have fun...

[Woe]

I'm still thinking how best to draw them out without sending a live body.

Does Tiana think her magic shield will stop those bolts? Were they magical missiles?

[Longman]

They were bolts of firey looking red stuff that didn't actually cause fire. They just hurt Bruce when they hit him. He is not burned, though.

(In game terms the shield would give you the protection it normally does.)