The Twilight Grove

The Twilight Grove

Entrusted with a crustacean, they journeyed into twilight’s embrace, only to find the key was within their grasp all along, yet the path ahead remained shrouded in the grove’s mysteries.

• Delving Deeper: The party progresses further into the Twilight Grove.
• Crab’s Fate: Returning the crab. Lobster. Thing.
• Dragon Key Curiosity: Yay, a key. I mean, we already had it, I already picked it, but yay.
• Reward and Realization: They receive the desired key and choose an item (a wooden feather) from an altar, only to discover the chief possessed the actual key.
• Discussion and Descent: The party continues down on its pursuit towards the Twilight Grove. It’s gotta be down there.
• Guide’s Absence: Their initial guide is no longer accompanying them, having left with the crab.
• Forgotten Ally: The dwarf they had previously freed leaves them, although they had forgotten he was there. He will be missed.

Episode 5

The party was tasked to retrieve a stolen crab, leading them into a dungeon and the mention of a mysterious Twilight Grove. They ultimately chose to return the crab to its owner and received a key as a reward, only to realize the chief possessed the actual key they sought. Despite the somewhat unnecessary quest for the key, the party decided to descend further into the Twilight Grove to explore its mysteries.

Wraithfoot’s Shadowy Chronicle: A Glimpse into the Grove

**The following is the adventurous tale as told by the master thief Wraithfoot: (Wraithfoot’s trust issues have led to him enciphering his log. We’re talking to him.) **

Hints

Hints for decoding!

1. There are only two one-letter words in the English language, and only one of them appears capitalized other than the beginning of a sentence. 2. For determining a cipher type (e.g., a rotating cipher or more complex ciphers), look for that repeating letter. If it's always the same, it's a plain cipher. 3. (With X as an unknown) the pattern I'X can only be I'm or I'd, unless you add colloquialisms. 4. Words ending in X' are frequently possessives, and X must be the letter S. (E.g., James' house.) 5. Words ending in 'X are almost always 't (the contraction, like wouldn't) or 's (possessive, like Robert's). 6. Two-letter words are tough because there are so many of them. However, with one of the two letters the other letter is a smaller set. E.g., tX is likely "to", Xn is likely "on" or "in". 7. Look for common patterns. E.g., with Z, X, and Y as unknown, XYXZ't matches the word "didn't" and few other words (I can't think of any).

This looks like math. I don't wanna do math. (Displays the deciphered text.)

We returned the lobster dude. Or dudette, whatever. And for that, we got... wait for it... a wooden feather. No, I didn’t write that wrong. A *wooden*. *Feather*. All this bother about a bivalve, and all we get is. A. *Wooden*. ***Feather***. So there’s some major bad stuff going on, someone resurrected us to fix it – and we’re the cream of the crop. The best dead adventurers they could find. They totally didn’t scrape the bottom of the barrel, we’re the best. So when the other guys picked a wooden feather, without knowing what it would do, I’m sure they had a good reason. I mean, it all looked like junk to me, so, sure. There’s got to be something about a feather – I mean, a wooden feather – that is worth it. I don’t get the whole fascination with money and stuff, but I can use it to get nice stuff. Plus, if it’s that important to everyone else, then I should have as much as I can get. I don’t know what the feather is for, but I’m sure it’s good for something. And it’s party treasure. Because there’s only one feather, and seven of us. Man, there had better be a payoff for this, I’m not used to working for free or whatever random stuff we pick up off the ground. Oh, wait, there’s more. So then this chief guy, he looks all happy and stuff when he gives us a key he says we need. Nope. That’s the to the door that I already picked and Zero had made a copy of. Thanks. For nothing. Really. Maybe their mortal enemies in the levels down below us will offer me a contract on this “King”? That’d be cool. Anyway, we moved on, towards the grove that Preacher is so fixated on. Fortunately, nothing we’re finding requires us to think too much – which is good, because I bet they can’t even decipher this, and it’s like the baby cipher we learned in the guild – and the treasure is, like, just okay. But there’s supposedly some big evil thing we were resurrected for, Preacher thinks the grove we’re heading for it. It might not be, and no one is really asking if it is, except me, but I haven’t asked them, because Preacher is completely fixated on it, and sure, I’ll help resolve this before we find out what we’re really here for. I kinda hope we were resurrected for something bigger than an evil tree. There was a long hallway, and a door behind which there were tons of monsters. Probably the two-headed things, I heard tons of voices. Like, more than 40? I think, there were tons and tons of voices. So we skipped that door and went into the door at the end, where I heard only two voices. It was like ten feet away from the first door, so of course if we fight they’re gonna come out behind us, we’ll be surrounded, and I hope there’s shadows and stuff because no way we’re gonna survive with 40 monsters behind us and whatever in front of us. Turns out, the monsters in the back room were just being quiet. There was a king thing there, about five or six others, and a big round hole. They attacked, I didn’t even get a chance to find out if they wanted to take out a contract on the other king. Perplexidor kept tossing the monsters over into it – some of them he’d killed before tossing them, some of them went screaming then suddenly silent with a crunch. Flibbertigibbet actually cast a spell that worked! It would have been cooler if he’d done it again, or hadn’t been so excited that he forgot to do anything useful for the rest of the battle, but hey he helped! In the battle, a few more entered from another door, but not from the guard room that had like 40 of the guys. I don’t know why, Perplexidor alone made enough noise to bring them all crashing out. Zero fought his usual rear-guard action, hiding behind the rest of us, peeking out, and casting illusions. He actually cast a spell that worked, though! A big dragon that looked like it came out of the hole. It frightened some of the monsters away. So behind that door was a bunch of kids and old people and weak people. I like killing, okay? But not helpless kids. I mean, unless I’m getting paid of course. But Preacher, he goes all fire-mad, kills and slays tons of innocents, burns half the room up. I found a few things, but these were just poor peasants so there wasn’t much there. While we’re doing that, Flibbertigibbet goes down into the hole. He was there for a while, then came back up. We went down later, and found some skeletons and other stuff, a couple of blights, and the corpses that Flibbertigibbet looted. I dunno if he would have kept it, but he doesn’t have any pockets. And since he has no clothes and no pockets, if he ever pulls money out from somewhere, I’m not touching it. When we went down we found a couple of skeletons and some blights. We fought them, and the monsters there really liked Perplexidor, that was fun to watch. He kept getting hit. He killed a lot of them, sure, but they just kept picking on him! He didn’t die, so the fun part was watching him get hit. Over, and over, and over. After that we got into a small hallway with lots and lots of doors. The party, as I should have expected by now, all went in different directions. Each person to a different door. When they all get slaughtered for splitting the party like that? I just don’t wanna join them in the whole dying thing. I did that once, and it was spectacular, and next time I die I want it to be just as much fun, not because we split the party up and ran into rooms all willy-nilly. I wonder how much I’ll miss them when they’re not banging around, hiding behind the other party members, looking confused at what should have been simple logical deductions, yelling, and all the other stuff they do. The first room had five sleeping guards in it. Or maybe six. I dunno, I lost count after there was blood everywhere. Except my fur, of course, I didn’t get any blood on my fur. I hate it when that happens. Retch and Perplexidor joined me, the monster dudes were sleeping really really deeply. Without a guard. And we gave them the eternal sleep. Well, eternal so long as no one resurrects them, I guess. The area was like a barracks or something, there was a weapons cache (nothing good), weapons and armor repair areas, a sleeping room (completely splattered in blood), and stuff like that. The dwarf left, seeing his exit and taking it. We shoulda followed him, the underdark might be fun. We poked through all of that, finally left that area, and then finally reached a room with a dragon statue. Retch went ape of course. His dragon detector didn’t go off, so he knew it wasn’t a real dragon. The grove should be close. Retch is still looking for some chalice thing. He still hasn’t figured out that when the parchments we found said “we’re resurrecting long dead heroes” that he’s the long dead hero. The chalice is gone, dude. And he claims to not understand money. So he gives it all to me – and expects me to be his accountant. There’s only two kinds of money – mine, which I have, and other people’s, which by definition and deduction, I don’t have. This is an equivalence, you can be assured that the converse is also true. Okay, now that I say that I think there’s three kinds: the third kind is the stuff that’s not mine, but can be made into mine by taking it. And if I get away with it, that’s my money too. Preacher started yapping about how we shouldn’t kill innocents. After he torched a billion kids and old people. His ethical inconsistency has been noted. If we’re ever back in a city, I’m going to find a thesaurus to buy for Grandpa. He can read, he’s a mage thing and scholar. I want to get him a book that has smaller words so he can get to his point faster. Zero is... still so full of himself. He’ll be okay when he realizes he’s not the only one of us. And that he’s not braver than us. And that he’s not the smartest. And he’s cute, but he’s not the cutest. And he’s not the center of the universe. Perplexidor learns, like he learned not to just open a door when the guy who can detect traps giggles and says “someone else open it”. Pretty sure Retch hasn’t figured that one out. Retch still lurks over my shoulder when I’m picking locks. One of these days I’m gonna miss a trap, I practice dodging just for that, and when it blows up I’m gonna dodge out of the way and it’s gonna be Retch’s face with a poison needle sticking out of it. So... did they resurrect us because we were heroes? Or just the seven most dysfunctional people they could find? As for me, I know that I really did die. And I’m getting worried that this is my punishment.

Return of the crustacean.

Ze veyovxeg yje anpdyev goge. Nv gogeyye, zjuyefev. Uxg bnv yjuy, ze sny… zuky bnv ky… u znngex beuyjev. Xn, K gkgx’y zvkye yjuy zvnxs. U znngex. Beuyjev. Uaa yjkd pnyjev upnoy u pkfuafe, uxg uaa ze sey kd. U. Znngex Beuyjev.

Dn yjeve’d dnre rucnv pug dyobb snkxs nx, dnrenxe vedovvewyeg od yn bkl ky – uxg ze’ve yje wveur nb yje wvnt. Yje pedy geug ugfexyovevd yjem wnoag bkxg. Yjem ynyuaam gkgx’y dwvute yje pnyynr nb yje puvvea, ze’ve yje pedy. Dn zjex yje nyjev somd tkwieg u znngex beuyjev, zkyjnoy ixnzkxs zjuy ky znoag gn, K’r dove yjem jug u snng veudnx. K reux, ky uaa annieg akie coxi yn re, dn, dove. Yjeve’d sny yn pe dnreyjkxs upnoy u beuyjev – K reux, u znngex beuyjev – yjuy kd znvyj ky.

K gnx’y sey yje zjnae budwkxuyknx zkyj rnxem uxg dyobb, poy K wux ode ky yn sey xkwe dyobb. Taod, kb ky’d yjuy krtnvyuxy yn efevmnxe eade, yjex K djnoag jufe ud rowj ud K wux sey. K gnx’y ixnz zjuy yje beuyjev kd bnv, poy K’r dove ky’d snng bnv dnreyjkxs. Uxg ky’d tuvym yveudove. Pewuode yjeve’d nxam nxe beuyjev, uxg defex nb od. Rux, yjeve jug peyyev pe u tumnbb bnv yjkd, K’r xny odeg yn znvikxs bnv bvee nv zjuyefev vuxgnr dyobb ze tkwi ot nbb yje svnoxg.

Nj, zuky, yjeve’d rnve. Dn yjex yjkd wjkeb som, je annid uaa juttm uxg dyobb zjex je skfed od u iem je dumd ze xeeg. Xnte. Yjuy’d yje yn yje gnnv yjuy K uaveugm tkwieg uxg Hevn jug ruge u wntm nb. Yjuxid. Bnv xnyjkxs. Veuaam. Rumpe yjekv rnvyua exerked kx yje aefead gnzx peanz od zkaa nbbev re u wnxyvuwy nx yjkd “Ikxs”? Yjuy’g pe wnna.

Wait, why? Whatever.

Uxmzum, ze rnfeg nx, ynzuvgd yje svnfe yjuy Tveuwjev kd dn bkluyeg nx. Bnvyoxuyeam, xnyjkxs ze’ve bkxgkxs veqokved od yn yjkxi ynn rowj – zjkwj kd snng, pewuode K pey yjem wux’y efex gewktjev yjkd, uxg ky’d akie yje pupm wktjev ze aeuvxeg kx yje sokag – uxg yje yveudove kd, akie, cody nium. Poy yjeve’d dottndegam dnre pks efka yjkxs ze zeve vedovvewyeg bnv, Tveuwjev yjkxid yje svnfe ze’ve jeugkxs bnv ky. Ky rksjy xny pe, uxg xn nxe kd veuaam udikxs kb ky kd, elwety re, poy K jufex’y udieg yjer, pewuode Tveuwjev kd wnrtaeyeam bkluyeg nx ky, uxg dove, K’aa jeat vednafe yjkd pebnve ze bkxg noy zjuy ze’ve veuaam jeve bnv. K ikxgu jnte ze zeve vedovvewyeg bnv dnreyjkxs pkssev yjux ux efka yvee.

Why weren’t we surrounded and killed?

Yjeve zud u anxs juaazum, uxg u gnnv pejkxg zjkwj yjeve zeve ynxd nb rnxdyevd. Tvnpupam yje yzn-jeugeg yjkxsd, K jeuvg ynxd nb fnkwed. Akie, rnve yjux 40? K yjkxi, yjeve zeve ynxd uxg ynxd nb fnkwed. Dn ze diktteg yjuy gnnv uxg zexy kxyn yje gnnv uy yje exg, zjeve K jeuvg nxam yzn fnkwed. Ky zud akie yex beey uzum bvnr yje bkvdy gnnv, dn nb wnovde kb ze bksjy yjem’ve snxxu wnre noy pejkxg od, ze’aa pe dovvnoxgeg, uxg K jnte yjeve’d djugnzd uxg dyobb pewuode xn zum ze’ve snxxu dovfkfe zkyj 40 rnxdyevd pejkxg od uxg zjuyefev kx bvnxy nb od.

Yovxd noy, yje rnxdyevd kx yje puwi vnnr zeve cody pekxs qokey. Yjeve zud u ikxs yjkxs yjeve, upnoy bkfe nv dkl nyjevd, uxg u pks vnoxg jnae. Yjem uyyuwieg, K gkgx’y efex sey u wjuxwe yn bkxg noy kb yjem zuxyeg yn yuie noy u wnxyvuwy nx yje nyjev ikxs.

Tevtaelkgnv iety ynddkxs yje rnxdyevd nfev kxyn ky – dnre nb yjer je’g ikaaeg pebnve ynddkxs yjer, dnre nb yjer zexy dwveurkxs yjex doggexam dkaexy zkyj u wvoxwj. Bakppevykskppey uwyouaam wudy u dteaa yjuy znvieg! Ky znoag jufe peex wnnaev kb je’g gnxe ky usukx, nv jugx’y peex dn elwkyeg yjuy je bnvsny yn gn uxmyjkxs odeboa bnv yje vedy nb yje puyyae, poy jem je jeateg! Kx yje puyyae, u bez rnve exyeveg bvnr uxnyjev gnnv, poy xny bvnr yje souvg vnnr yjuy jug akie 40 nb yje somd. K gnx’y ixnz zjm, Tevtaelkgnv uanxe ruge exnosj xnkde yn pvkxs yjer uaa wvudjkxs noy. Hevn bnosjy jkd odoua veuv-souvg uwyknx, jkgkxs pejkxg yje vedy nb od, teeikxs noy, uxg wudykxs kaaodknxd. Je uwyouaam wudy u dteaa yjuy znvieg, yjnosj! U pks gvusnx yjuy annieg akie ky wure noy nb yje jnae. Ky bvksjyexeg dnre nb yje rnxdyevd uzum.

Fire. And kids. And old people. And holes.

Dn pejkxg yjuy gnnv zud u poxwj nb ikgd uxg nag tentae uxg zeui tentae. K akie ikaakxs, nium? Poy xny jeataedd ikgd. K reux, oxaedd K’r seyykxs tukg nb wnovde. Poy Tveuwjev, je sned uaa bkve-rug, ikaad uxg daumd ynxd nb kxxnwexyd, povxd juab yje vnnr ot. K bnoxg u bez yjkxsd, poy yjede zeve cody tnnv teuduxyd dn yjeve zudx’y rowj yjeve.

Zjkae ze’ve gnkxs yjuy, Bakppevykskppey sned gnzx kxyn yje jnae. Je zud yjeve bnv u zjkae, yjex wure puwi ot. Ze zexy gnzx auyev, uxg bnoxg dnre dieaeynxd uxg nyjev dyobb, u wnotae nb paksjyd, uxg yje wnvtded yjuy Bakppevykskppey annyeg. K goxxn kb je znoag jufe iety ky, poy je gnedx’y jufe uxm tnwieyd. Uxg dkxwe je jud xn wanyjed uxg xn tnwieyd, kb je efev toaad rnxem noy bvnr dnrezjeve, K’r xny ynowjkxs ky.

Zjex ze zexy gnzx ze bnoxg u wnotae nb dieaeynxd uxg dnre paksjyd. Ze bnosjy yjer, uxg yje rnxdyevd yjeve veuaam akieg Tevtaelkgnv, yjuy zud box yn zuywj. Je iety seyykxs jky. Je ikaaeg u any nb yjer, dove, poy yjem cody iety tkwikxs nx jkr! Je gkgx’y gke, dn yje box tuvy zud zuywjkxs jkr sey jky. Nfev, uxg nfev, uxg nfev.

Ubyev yjuy ze sny kxyn u druaa juaazum zkyj anyd uxg anyd nb gnnvd. Yje tuvym, ud K djnoag jufe eltewyeg pm xnz, uaa zexy kx gkbbevexy gkvewyknxd. Euwj tevdnx yn u gkbbevexy gnnv. Zjex yjem uaa sey dauosjyeveg bnv dtakyykxs yje tuvym akie yjuy? K cody gnx’y zuxxu cnkx yjer kx yje zjnae gmkxs yjkxs. K gkg yjuy nxwe, uxg ky zud dtewyuwoauv, uxg xely ykre K gke K zuxy ky yn pe cody ud rowj box, xny pewuode ze dtaky yje tuvym ot uxg vux kxyn vnnrd uaa zkaam-xkaam. K znxgev jnz rowj K’aa rkdd yjer zjex yjem’ve xny puxskxs uvnoxg, jkgkxs pejkxg yje nyjev tuvym rerpevd, annikxs wnxbodeg uy zjuy djnoag jufe peex dkrtae anskwua gegowyknxd, meaakxs, uxg uaa yje nyjev dyobb yjem gn.

Yje bkvdy vnnr jug bkfe daeetkxs souvgd kx ky. Nv rumpe dkl. K goxxn, K andy wnoxy ubyev yjeve zud panng efevmzjeve. Elwety rm bov, nb wnovde, K gkgx’y sey uxm panng nx rm bov. K juye ky zjex yjuy juttexd. Veywj uxg Tevtaelkgnv cnkxeg re, yje rnxdyev goged zeve daeetkxs veuaam veuaam geetam. Zkyjnoy u souvg. Uxg ze sufe yjer yje eyevxua daeet. Zeaa, eyevxua dn anxs ud xn nxe vedovvewyd yjer, K soedd.

Yje uveu zud akie u puvvuwid nv dnreyjkxs, yjeve zud u zeutnxd wuwje (xnyjkxs snng), zeutnxd uxg uvrnv vetukv uveud, u daeetkxs vnnr (wnrtaeyeam dtauyyeveg kx panng), uxg dyobb akie yjuy. Yje gzuvb aeby, deekxs jkd elky uxg yuikxs ky. Ze djnoagu bnaanzeg jkr, yje oxgevguvi rksjy pe box.

Ze tnieg yjvnosj uaa nb yjuy, bkxuaam aeby yjuy uveu, uxg yjex bkxuaam veuwjeg u vnnr zkyj u gvusnx dyuyoe. Veywj zexy ute nb wnovde. Jkd gvusnx geyewynv gkgx’y sn nbb, dn je ixez ky zudx’y u veua gvusnx. Yje svnfe djnoag pe wande.

Our party.

Veywj kd dykaa annikxs bnv dnre wjuakwe yjkxs. Je dykaa judx’y bksoveg noy yjuy zjex yje tuvwjrexyd ze bnoxg dukg “ze’ve vedovvewykxs anxs geug jevned” yjuy je’d yje anxs geug jevn. Yje wjuakwe kd snxe, goge. Uxg je waukrd yn xny oxgevdyuxg rnxem. Dn je skfed ky uaa yn re – uxg eltewyd re yn pe jkd uwwnoxyuxy. Yjeve’d nxam yzn ikxgd nb rnxem – rkxe, zjkwj K jufe, uxg nyjev tentae’d, zjkwj pm gebkxkyknx uxg gegowyknx, K gnx’y jufe. Yjkd kd ux eqokfuaexwe, mno wux pe uddoveg yjuy yje wnxfevde kd uadn yvoe. Nium, xnz yjuy K dum yjuy K yjkxi yjeve’d yjvee ikxgd: yje yjkvg ikxg kd yje dyobb yjuy’d xny rkxe, poy wux pe ruge kxyn rkxe pm yuikxs ky. Uxg kb K sey uzum zkyj ky, yjuy’d rm rnxem ynn.

Tveuwjev dyuvyeg muttkxs upnoy jnz ze djnoagx’y ikaa kxxnwexyd. Ubyev je ynvwjeg u pkaaknx ikgd uxg nag tentae. Jkd eyjkwua kxwnxdkdyexwm jud peex xnyeg.

Kb ze’ve efev puwi kx u wkym, K’r snkxs yn bkxg u yjeduovod yn pom bnv Svuxgtu. Je wux veug, je’d u ruse yjkxs uxg dwjnauv. K zuxy yn sey jkr u pnni yjuy jud druaaev znvgd dn je wux sey yn jkd tnkxy budyev.

Hevn kd… dykaa dn boaa nb jkrdeab. Je’aa pe nium zjex je veuakhed je’d xny yje nxam nxe nb od. Uxg yjuy je’d xny pvufev yjux od. Uxg yjuy je’d xny yje druvyedy. Uxg je’d woye, poy je’d xny yje woyedy. Uxg je’d xny yje wexyev nb yje oxkfevde.

Tevtaelkgnv aeuvxd, akie je aeuvxeg xny yn cody ntex u gnnv zjex yje som zjn wux geyewy yvutd skssaed uxg dumd “dnrenxe eade ntex ky”. Tveyym dove Veywj judx’y bksoveg yjuy nxe noy. Veywj dykaa aovid nfev rm djnoagev zjex K’r tkwikxs anwid. Nxe nb yjede gumd K’r snxxu rkdd u yvut, K tvuwykwe gngskxs cody bnv yjuy, uxg zjex ky panzd ot K’r snxxu gngse noy nb yje zum uxg ky’d snxxu pe Veywj’d buwe zkyj u tnkdnx xeegae dykwikxs noy nb ky.

Dn… gkg yjem vedovvewy od pewuode ze zeve jevned? Nv cody yje defex rndy gmdboxwyknxua tentae yjem wnoag bkxg? Ud bnv re, K ixnz yjuy K veuaam gkg gke. Uxg K’r seyykxs znvvkeg yjuy yjkd kd rm toxkdjrexy.