09: Let Luck Be Your Guide

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## Summary

### Fortune Favors the Bold

The party descends another glittering staircase into the magical domain of the old Ark Gods. While the first Arkspring the party braved held more mystery than danger, Mitro’s Arkspring proves a more formidable trial. The party finds themselves at a familiar entrance, but this time, the inscription reads: “Let luck be your guide”.

In the first room, the party finds themselves on a platform suspended over what looks to be an endless abyss. Ark flows through etchings in the stony walls, and the ceiling, twinkling with arklights, looks like a galaxy of stars. The party finds a gold coin with the Arkring on one side and Mitro’s sigil on the other, and two arches at the end of the platform. When Cat picks up the coin with Mage Paw and flips it into his spectral hand, one of the arches activates and offers them a door to the next room.

Luck leads the players to a rectangular room with three stone arches: two leading to staircases blocked by iron portcullises, and one inactive in the center. Mujie flips the coin, and Tails means he, Tira, and Luca get dumped into the room below. Meanwhile, Cat, Mahi, and Bran (with Pombo in tow) investigate the upper floor, the gate having opened when the coin was flipped. When Cat steps on a floor tile emblazoned with Mitro’s dragonfly, two gates in the upper room open, and a mechanism triggers in the lower room. The open gates release two shambling mounds, which Bran and Mahi fight off valiantly, taking their fair share of blows in the process. Meanwhile, Mujie makes quick work of a musical puzzle in the lower room, and opens the way forward for the rest of the party.

Passing through another mystical ark-powered archway, the party finds themselves in a throne room reflected in a giant mirror. When Luca touches the mirror, he is sucked into its reflection. Mujie quickly follows, and the two set the objects in the mirror into their rightful places, whereupon they are returned to the real room and their path forward activates. All doesn't go exactly to plan, however: a certain mischievous god might have armed some fixtures in the room with glitter bombs…

The next room, a tall, narrow column, is piled high with glittering treasures. In the center of the room is an unlocked treasure chest and a basin of water. Tira opens the chest to find a Deck of Many things, and when the rest of the party approaches the basin, it begins to speak to them. It reveals itself as “farsight water”, and promises to show them whatever they want to see. Luca asks to see the next arkspring, and the water reflects for them a swirling sandstorm in the distant Kkora Desert. After a moment, the water drains from the basin, and the room begins to flood, water gushing in from the alcoves in the ceiling and cascading over the piles of treasure. As the room fills up, the party is forced to swim out through the alcoves and onto a platform flanked on all sides by deep, dark water. In the distance, they spot another platform and another arch, and so they flip Mitro’s coin for the fourth time. A platform rises up, and the arch activates, but as the water continues to ripple around them, Tira breaks into a sprint across the bridge. Halfway to the arch, water roiling at the sides of the platform, a giant crocodile splashes onto the path in front of her, halting her in her tracks. Before the rest of the party can catch up, she trades blows with the giant reptile and is bitten and grappled, but after her companions close the distance, they slay the killer croc, take a trophy or two, and move on.

In the final puzzle room, the party flexes their intellects to navigate a series of trapped tiles, activating their shocking enchantments and triggering the final archway to reveal a door with the Arkring emblazoned on its surface.

### Mitro's Sanctuary

Finally, the party finds themselves in Mitro’s sanctuary, a glittering, cavernous room sparkling floor to ceiling with Ark light. At the opposite end of the room sits Mitro himself, who introduces himself to the party. He is put off that no one recognizes him after his centuries-long nap, but ever practical, he admits that the party just might be the realm’s only shot. With his power only just returning, he can't give the gang any specifics, but tells them that he can sense a great danger threatening the realm itself. Having told the party the vague whereabouts of his deific colleagues, and hinting that greater trials await, he sees the band of travelers (and an unconscious Pombo) off—but not before leaving Mujie with one last cryptic question, as well as his Ark vessel: a series of gold rings with the ark symbol its centerpiece.

## Quotes

### *IS THIS GONNA BE ON THE TEST?:*

> “Thousands of years ago, the Sea Witch Uli and her brothers created this land, and since then, we six have watched over it. Nesku, Taariyah and I turn the wheel of time, and inevitably, men kings become greedy, wars are waged, and nations fracture. But we have come too far. The people of Balaayt have forgotten their Gods and misused their realm’s very life force. You take, and take, and now Balaayt itself is in decay. It isn’t just bartering Ark and using its power—it’s going somewhere else, too, but in this current state, even I cannot tell where…”
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> “Listen. The children of Balaayt have forgotten us. Ark gives life to the realm, but its children give us the power to protect it. This place, the golden city of Samsara, is now but gilt. A thousand years ago, it was a great citadel, and my spring was the center. A place to gather in song and dance, to celebrate my majesty and kindness, to beg my favor. And now I lie forgotten under some tawdry dinghy run by a fool of a man whose strength is sorely outmatched by his ego, while his peers wantonly fling trash into the wetlands. You, Mujie, are one of my last followers, and that’s being generous. Your sect should come home to Samsara where they belong and restore this place to its former glory. Rest assured, their faith will be rewarded.”
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> “Let’s see. Normally I’d be more tight-lipped, but I suppose we’re all in trouble if I don’t offer you my guidance and wisdom. Four springs remain unopened, and four of us yet sleep. Bartak’s siblings lie in the sea and in the sands. Uli, that sea witch—her spring is in the Moa Moa Lagoon, in the kingdom of the Seachildren. Suraat rests in the Kkora desert at the outskirts of the Empire of Meranh, guarded by the Empire’s fiercest warriors. Nesku, the Lady Warden, rests in the Cascan Highlands. And Taariyah, sweet Taari, has her Arkspring hidden away in the southwesternmost cliffs of the Malabar coast. Although—...a lot can change in centuries spent sleeping...”
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*—Mitro, on the state of the realm*

### *EXCUSE ME, SIR, I THINK THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR CAT:*

> “And you… Eton, is it? What a state you find yourself in. Just deserts for your meddling…”
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> “Yours is not the curse of a god, but of a man. In other words, you have been permanently polymorphed, and it appears your Ark suffers for it. In your state, the only ones who could restore your body with your Ark intact are the Sea Witch or the Lady Warden, but Uli is far less kind than I, and Nesku does not meddle in mortal affairs for nothing. Nonetheless, I wish you good fortune.”
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*—Mitro, to Cat*

### *MITRO, GOD OF FORTUNE, SPREADER OF HOT GOSSIP:*

> “One last thing, Mujie, before I bid you and your friends farewell. That girl—the one you made a promise to. Would you like to know if she’s really your flesh and blood?”
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*—Mitro, to Mujie*