I think there's something ominous here that Eldingar's not picking up 'cause he's an apex predator shut in so hasn't had his danger sense developed at all. The whole reference to "dark, festering, unforgotten" and the capped well outside lean towards the idea of something tainted, corrupted and toxic being stored out of sight. The water so dark it looks more like oil than anything. The sealed shit near an isolated wizard's watchtower a million miles from anything that could open it. It really evokes the idea of Bad Shit.
Ah.

So this might be the home of Lich Husbando.
 
[X] Answer the riddle yourself.
--[X] War.


I gotta agree here it has to be war, nothing else makes sense... I woulda guessed plague if not for the worship line... maybe industry? but no it lacks the whole "absolve your sins" factor. So ya gotta be war.
 
Wait a second. Something that is both admired and feared, that forgives sins but never lets them go and exists as a festering being far away you cannot forget?

By Jove, I've got it!

[X] Answer the riddle yourself.
-[X] Mom
 
[X] Try to trick Makram into solving it by playing on his ego. It's clear the only thing he loves more than putting people down is puffing himself up, and you're such an easy target he might just take the bare hook, let alone bait.
 
Hrrrm, the whole design of the tower seems to say suggest it being something along the lines of water or something, but then my first thought was the classic time malarkey. And war is a good guess as well. It's clear then what the real solution is:

[X] Try to trick Makram into solving it by playing on his ego. It's clear the only thing he loves more than putting people down is puffing himself up, and you're such an easy target he might just take the bare hook, let alone bait.

 
Old wizards can't just pick the coffin riddle can they

Uhhhhh inclined to go with water but the festering bit makes me think it's not, then again-

*looks at chapter title*
-it's possible the riddle is just complete bullshit soooooo

[X] Try to trick Makram into solving it by playing on his ego. It's clear the only thing he loves more than putting people down is puffing himself up, and you're such an easy target he might just take the bare hook, let alone bait.

Worst comes to worst we just run like hell.
 
[x] Try to trick Makram into solving it by playing on his ego. It's clear the only thing he loves more than putting people down is puffing himself up, and you're such an easy target he might just take the bare hook, let alone bait.

gimmie more markam
 
"I kill in droves, I raze whole cities. I devour mountains and scour the land clean. And yet I am praised, even worshipped. I absolve your sins but carry them with me, and so persist in the dark, festering, unforgotten. What am I?"

You notice what looks like a well nestled in the shadows behind the tower, long since capped and sealed tight - they get water this high up? Well, wizard.

It's round even though the tower was square from the outside, cool and gloomy despite the sun-soaked precipice on which it stands, surrounded on all sides by neat channels cut into the marble floor. Water flows endlessly through the conduits from some unseen source, dark as ink in the gloom, and yet in all these years it doesn't seem to have eroded the stone at all. The conduits fork at many points, perhaps intending to drain elsewhere at some point, but the alternate paths seem magically sealed, turning the water away with barriers of thin air. Instead it all just flows right back to the start, an endless, pointless loop.

Yeah, it's probably something to do with water. Sultanate, sandstone. Water. Tanin. Dug through every mention of the Tanin and Sultanate and couldn't find anything relevant. Though devouring mountains - I don't necessarily think of water doing that? Yeah, it can, but it'd be more like rot, or decay.


I sympathise with Makram's reaction.

"Riddles," you hiss. "Why are wizards like this?"

"They're basically history's greatest monsters," Makram agrees wholeheartedly.

There's probably also some backstory there.

Both Issachar (wears Sultanate-adjacent clothing according to Eldingar, admittedly not the most reliable of sources) and Makram (Sultanate lamp, plus Jinn) have connections to it. Then again, he might not have the modern context for it, depending on where and when the lamp's been?

In all honesty you expected something more local, architecture-wise, when you heard about an 'old' wizard's tower - but when you think about it a little more you concede that you and mortals have very different conceptions of what 'old' is, and the Tanin-Arosa wars did end while you were a teenager. Frankly if a dragon owned it anything under a century is still 'he just popped out for some business' territory.

Which would be kind of funny in and of itself, if we turn to Makram and he has no idea because the cultural context has changed.

[X] Answer the riddle yourself.
--[X] Water.

Now, I should clarify here that I don't think this is the right answer - but I do think Eldingar should make an attempt at it. I think Makram would be more impressed at an honest attempt at answering than an attempt at manipulation that's probably going to be comically transparent. Even if it would appeal to his ego.
 
[X] Answer the riddle yourself.
--[X] Water.

Come on people, this is riddles 101.
Floods, storms, drowning, the sea...
I raze whole cities.
Floods, storms, tsunamis...
Rain
and scour the land clean
Rain again.
And yet I am praised, even worshipped.
This one doesn't even need discussing.
I absolve your sins but carry them with me,
Baptism, ritual cleansing, and even sewer systems
and so persist in the dark, festering, unforgotten.
We literally spotted a capped well/cesspit or whatever on our way in here, we're standing in the middle of a gigantic water feature made of constantly circulating water as we listen to this riddle.
You're water, and if you're not water you're a goddamn liar.
 
"You were lis-? Of course you were don't even answer that," you grumble, again. "Those were our style names. You pick one when you leave home and make it longer and longer as you get older and do more shit. Mother's is a couple sentences and Nana Illvithri's is more or less a novel by this point. S'been so long since I've needed to use it it just felt weird to hear it out loud." You pause awkwardly. "So what I'm saying is just 'Eldingar' is fine, no need to be a shit about it."

"Very well, Master Eldingar."
Pffft, naturally, this guy is just pathologically a little shit, I love it.
There's a brief semi-literal jolt of excitement as clouds form overhead and you barrel-roll to catch a bolt of lightning directly in your mouth like a snowflake,
Mmm, tangy!
A few hours later, with the sun past its zenith and you reduced to humming One Hundred Bags Of Gold On The Wall,
In contrast to the usual versions, the draconic form of this song counts upwards with each verse, framing it as a dragon passing bags around to be filled with tribute. As a result the song is theoretically endless - once a dragon starts, they tend to keep singing until something interrupts them or they become too lost in fantasies of wealth to maintain the rhythm.
 
"Riddles," you hiss. "Why are wizards like this?"

"They're basically history's greatest monsters," Makram agrees wholeheartedly.

Things Eldingar and Makram can agree on #1: Filthy, filthy wizards.

As for the riddle, torn between Greed and Faith. Of the two I'd lean towards Greed over Faith; yes there's 'absolving sins' but Faith wouldn't cover the scouring of lands and mountains.
 
[X] Answer the riddle yourself.
--[X] Water.
 
[X] Answer the riddle yourself.
--[X] Water.
Makram definitely not flexing: "I bet you just can't wait to make use of me eh Master~?"
Eldingar: "why are you like this, what is this power dynamic"
Makram slowly slipping his skirt down one hip: "Mm? Like? Do you see something you like eh Master~?"
Eldingar: "do you just need attention, is that it"
Makram as he pours oil down his nearly naked body: "Pfft as if I cared what you thought."
HA
 
Back
Top