DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fun & Games ETD: Escape the Dream Episode I: The Dreamthief's Tavern

The last thing you remember is the taste of honeyed ale and the kind smile of the innkeeper as he handed you the tankard. "For the dreams, " he'd said.

You do not wake gently. You jerk upright, a cold stiffness in your neck, still seated at the heavy oak table in the common room of The Hearth's Rest. But the world is wrong.

The great stone fireplace across the room is a dark, cold maw filled with grey ash. The cheerful roar of the storm has been replaced by a silence so deep it presses on your ears. The front door is no longer wood and iron. It is a seamless arch of ancient, grey stone set into the wall, carved with four symbols: a flame, a wave, a gust of wind, and a mountain. To your left, the long, polished bar stretches into the shadows.

You rush to a window. No rain streaks the glass. Only a formless, swirling grey mist stares back, featureless and endless.

On the table before you, clean and stark, lies a parchment. Its elegant script reads:
The fire gives no warmth.
The water has no taste.
The earth bears no weight.
The air carries no song.
Balance them, and wake.

A sudden, rhythmic sound breaks the silence: drip... drip... drip... It comes from behind that long, polished bar.

You are utterly, completely alone.

I'd go check behind the bar. See where the water is dripping.

Behind the bar, the drip originates from a small wooden keg mounted on a stand. A single, fat drop of amber liquid swells at its spout before falling with a soft plink into a tin pail.

Crude, deep scratches mark measures from 0 to 10 along its side; the liquid sits just below the 8. A slate leans against it, the chalk writing smudged but clear: 'Old Tom's Order: 4 measures of the Stormbrew. No more, no less. He's picky. -K'

Glancing at the shelves, you spot a delicate, clear-glass flask and a stout, green-glass bottle among the others. They are labeled clearly to hold exactly 3 and 5 measures respectively.

Tucked under the counter on its own shelf is an empty tankard inscribed with the name "Old Tom."

Hope I got this right. Pour the pail into the 3 bottle and then into the Tankard, leaving 5 in the pail and 3 in the tankard.

Repeat this suquence which leaves 2 in the pail and 6 in the tankard.

Pour the takard in the 5 bottle which leaves 2 in the pail, 5 in the 5 bottle and 1 in the tankard.

Pour the 5 bottle into the 3 and then add it to the tankard to give a 4 measure!

<fingers crossesd>

You attempt this solution, but realize that the tankard can't hold 6 measures. It looks to hold a bit over the 4 (precisely) that Old Tom wants. Attempting to pour 6 into it would overflow it.

Frustrated, you pour everything back into the pail and contemplate the measures again.

1. Fill the 5 bottle from the pail.
2. Fill the 3 bottle from the 5 bottle.
3. Put the remaining 2 that are in the 5 bottle in the tankard.
4. Pour the 3 bottle back into the pail.
5-7 Repeat Steps 1 - 3

You pour the precise four measures into the tankard. A deep, mechanical CLUNK resonates within the bar's frame. The entire shelf unit shudders and swings inward, revealing a hidden compartment.

Inside lie two ceramic jugs, elegantly marked 'III' and 'VII'.

Other than the numbers, are the jugs identical? (basically are they the same size, or does the number appear to have some relation to the size of the jugs)

You inspect the jugs. The jug with VII on it looks like it holds a little more than twice the volume of the jug with III on it.

Also, the jug with VII on it seems to contain a rolled up piece of paper inside it. Pulling it out and unrolling it, you read:

They say Young Tom's half the man;
Give him half of what Old Tom can.
Pour his due into the basin round,
Let the waves wash it to the ground.