The Castle - Floor 4

[ +- ] Trackers

Stress Level: 12
Light Spell: 30 min
Candle: 20 min

You toss in the eye of newt. The cauldron's contents change color to grey, then pink, then purple. It bubbles and toils and probably troubles. A thick gas cloud roils out of it and rapidly fills up the entire room, obscuring all vision. The cloud stings your eyes and burns your lungs. You hack and cough. Your eyes water. Your skin prickles. It's hard to breathe. It hurts to breathe.

Then the cloud dissipates. But the pain and discomfort remain.

You find yourself in a new room, high atop the castle. Now that you have left the basement you can hear a storm howling outside, the constant sheets of rain sound like sizzling meat. A bolt of lightning brightens the sky through a large circular window nearly ten feet across giving you a view of the enormous castle below you and the misty forest that surrounds it.

Your room is about fifty feet to a side. Below the large single window lies a glass coffin. Inside is a beautiful maiden with flaxen hair and ivory skin. Her neck is marred by purple bruising all around it. A rose of gold and ruby lies on her bosom, clasped in both hands.

On the opposite side of the room is a large iron chest, two feet long, with three locks in a row.

In the center of the room is a spiral staircase that descends the tower and into the castle proper.

Nothing in the tower is radiating magical energy.

There are no trapdoors and the window is decorative and non-functional. Clarence doesn't see any way to open the window short of smashing it. While looking through the window, another flash of lightning reveals a small footbridge connecting this tower with another turreted tower several dozen feet below. And under that footbridge, nestled between a roof peak and an exterior wall, is a giant ovoid bird nest.

The locks on the chest seem high quality. Moreover, they seem to be linked together requiring three keys inserted at the same time before they will turn.

Anton explores the high tower room. The large circular window seems made of ordinary glass and is certainly breakable if struck hard enough. Outside the window he can see the eaves of the peaked roof above. It seems they are just below the roof and is unlikely to be any hidden rooms above. The roof lacks any trapdoors or other obvious openings.

Turning his attention to the coffin, he doesn't notice any obvious hinges or handles. It looks like it is sealed shut, perhaps to prevent decay or at least keep dust and moisture out. The glass seems like ordinary glass and easily breakable. The coffin lays on a stone slab about two feet thick to keep it directly off the ground and allow for easier viewing.