Gaming

Allea begins to unlock the patterns behind the random appearances of Helios' tower.

6.

Gaming

 

 

The night passed without incident and they all awoke fully rested.   Since they did not know how long the magic keep would last, they quickly ate after collecting their equipment.

Allea was quite excited to tell them about her intense study of the book. She had not slept the entire night but had spent it studying the tome.

"I think I might have found something!"  She informed them as they all sat in the Keep's feasting hall, "There definitely is a pattern to Helios' tower's appearances."

"What did you find?"  Aaron asked, quite impressed by the Half-Drow girl's intelligence.

"Well, when we found that clay tablet, I was sure that the marks in the clay represented the positions of the patches of dirt where -- we assume-- Helio's tower would appear."

"There were 64 squares, laid out on the tablet in an eight by eight grid and though we haven't verified that there are 64 patches of dirt, I know that there are."

"Did the book you were looking through say that?"   Aedric asked.

"Yes.   The book belonged to a Faesidhe Elf wizard.   He didn't mention his name in his book, but he apparently spent over a year in this valley taking careful notes of the appearances and location of the tower."

"How long ago did he do this?"   Aedric asked, wondering if he might have known him.

"I don't know exactly, but the book was in quite good condition, so I would say it was recently -- less than 10 years ago, I'd guess."

"Was the clay tablet that we found, his as well?"   Snoe asked.

"Possibly.   Apparently clay tablets such as the one we found were used by those trying to unravel the mystery of the tower.   He mentioned in his book the use of the clay tablet, as he could reuse the clay if he erred in his calculations."

"So what did he find?"  Mattleos asked.

"He thought at first that the cycles of the moon somehow dictated the movement of the tower, but in a very complicated way that mixed also the position of the sun throughout the year into the calculation."

"He spent many months on a levitation platform observing the appearances and disappearances of the tower and recording the amount of time they spent in each location."

"How would he record the time?"  Mutt wondered.

"Wizards use mechanical clocks and divide time into seconds as well as the minutes and hours that we use."

"I've heard of that -- 60 seconds to a minute, just like the number of minutes to an hour… right?"   The Goblin asked.

"Right.   He was actually very fascinated with accurately measuring time.    He even spent many pages describing the construction of a clock.    I knew there were such things, but he actually gave diagrams and charts on how to build one.   I'd love to see if the Dwarves back in Westmark could do it."

"Anyway, he also made a clock that he could keep in the folds of his robe.    He called it a 'watch' and it was a very tiny mechanical clock.   He gave a description on how to make this one as well.   But he was determined to get accurate measurements of the movement of the tower."

Allea sat the clay tablet down on the table, and then flipped through the book for a few moments before continuing.

"It was actually Snoe who led me to figure out the pattern."

The albino girl looked up in surprise, "I did?  How?"

"When we found the clay tablet, you said it looked like the board for some sort of game.    That started me thinking.   What game uses 64 squares in an eight by eight grid?"

"Chess!"   Snoe, Aedric and Gamel all exclaimed at the same time.

"Exactly!   I'd heard that Helios was fascinated by the game, so this made sense.   I looked at what the Faesidhe wizard documented in his book.   He listed the order and location of the tower for a year."

"Did it move like a chess piece?"  Snoe wondered.

"Yes!   I looked at all the pieces used in chess, and it moved only like a rook."

"Which has a castle as a game piece."   Gamel commented, and Allea nodded, smiling.

"That's right!   The castle moves in straight lines from location to location -- never diagonally."

"That's brilliant, Allea, but that still doesn't tell us the pattern it is following exactly."   Mattleos responded.

"That is true, and it also doesn't indicate the duration that it would appear.   I was perplexed by this for many hours last night.   But the more I thought about it, I began to realize that the castle seems to be moving as if a giant was playing chess over us."

"Now that is a nerve-wracking thought!"   Aedric laughed, "So do you mean that it is as if all the other pieces are invisible, but are being played without us seeing them?"

"Right; when a new game begins, the castle will always appear on one of the outside corners of dirt patches.   This would be where a rook would begin on a chessboard.   Sometimes apparently the castle is a black rook and other times it is a white rook."

"Is there any pattern to that?"   Mutt asked.

"It is always the opposite of the time before.    That can help us too."

"Yes, but even if the movement of the castle is part of some sort of supernatural chess match, each game of chess is different than the time before."  Mattleos argued.

"Very true, Lord Matt, but there is one consistency -- the starting position of each piece!"

The group all glanced at each other excitedly.

"The remaining problem is the duration of time that the tower remains in each position."   Allea continued, looking down at the book.

"Wouldn't the duration be the same as someone playing chess?"  Snoe asked, "What I mean is -- it would be from a few seconds to maybe a few minutes in length.   But the tower is said to sometimes stay in position for a few hours.   Most chess games don't last that long."

Allea nodded at her cousin's reasoning, "That is very true.   Of course any particular piece is not moved every time, so it could be several minutes in a chess match before it would be used again.   Still, you are right, Snoe."

"So we aren't sure how long a piece would stay in place?"  Aedric asked, his hopes starting to dwindle.

"It wouldn't appear so, but believe it or not, I actually found the pattern for this too!"   She grinned excitedly and everyone waited anxiously for her to explain further.

"I learned that each space on the board has a specific space of time allotted for it.   The further down the board toward the 'enemy side' that the rook gets, the longer the duration."

"I'm not sure I follow how that works."  Mutt confessed, though most of the others were equally confused.

"Let me show you."  Allea replied, pointing at one corner of the clay tablet, "Assume this is the beginning spot on the board for a rook.   It is in its home row and at the extreme opposite side of the board is the enemy's home row."

"Alright, I got that."   Mutt said as he studied the board.

"Starting with the spot the rook begins at and going across the home row, the time duration value is one through eight.    This is in seconds, according to what the Faesidhe mage indicated.    So the castle will spend one second of time per one second of actual time in the unseen chess game."

"Since a rook is locked into position until the pieces around it are moved, then Helios' castle will usually spend several minutes to maybe 15 minutes at its original position."

"So what about when it is moved forward or sideways?"   Mutt asked, "If it moves across the board toward its own King by one spot, what happens?"

"If it moves sideways on its home row, the time factor increases."  Allea explained, "One space over would change the factor to two.   So for every second of 'real time' in the supernatural chess match, the castle would spend two seconds here."

"So it would stay there longer?"   Mutt asked.

"Not necessarily.   By the time the rook is able to be moved, it is later in the game, so even at a factor of two it could be as little as two seconds to maybe 30 minutes or longer."

"What if it was all the way across its home row, where its fellow rook would normally be located?   That would be a factor of eight, wouldn't it?   Eight seconds for each second in the game?"

"You're starting to understand it, Mutt!   You're right; it would be eight seconds per 'real time' of game play.   So Helios' tower could last in that position for 8 seconds to about 105 minutes."

"Alright, but what about going down the board toward the other side?"  Aedric asked, "Does the factor stay in seconds or move upward to minutes?"

"If the rook moved forward one spot, it would be a factor of 10 seconds, then, moving across it would be 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 seconds from left to right.    The next row up changes the factor to 20 seconds, so the row across would be 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160 seconds per second of 'real game play'."

"So the next row would be factors of 30?"   Snoe asked, "Then the next row would have factors of 40, all the way up to the 'enemy row' which would be factors of 80?"

"Well, factors of 70 on the last row, actually, as the first row has a factor of one, but you have the right idea. On the furthest row forward it would be 70, 140, 210, 280, 350, 420, 490 and 560 seconds per each second of time in an actual chess match.  This means that the corner diagonally opposed from the rook/castle's starting position would have nearly 10 minutes up to many hours of time.”

“You see, I don’t think the legends about only the ‘pure of heart’ being the only ones able to enter the tower are right.    It doesn’t depend on how ‘pure of heart’ those are that enter the tower.  Instead, I think it is those who have a ‘pure’ understanding of the mathematical formula he used.   Only those who are ‘pure in understanding’ - or else are just very lucky- should be able to access the tower with time enough to explore it."

"Then you've solved it!"  Aaron exclaimed, grinning at the girl.

"Yes, but there are a few things to remember.   First, you have to know for sure when the game ends, as the position of the tower will then appear on the opposite side of the board.   When this happens, the board is in effect reversed and what was home base in our perspective, now becomes the enemy base, so the time factors change accordingly."

"So that is why it was so difficult for anyone to see a pattern!"   Gamel said while looking at the clay tablet.  

"Yes, I'd say that was the reason.   One time you'd have a factor of 1 at one end and the other time a factor of 70.   Plus, it seems like there are actually two people playing chess games -- somewhere-- where Helios' tower serves as a rook.    Some 'matches' are short, others are long, some moves are quick and others take a while, so there are still some unknown variables involved."

"Allea, what would be the best strategy, in your opinion, to get into the tower?"   Aedric asked the girl.

"If we have enough time, I would say to watch for the tower's appearance from one of the corners and then travel to the space at the diagonal opposite end of the valley.    We'd have to have someone watching the two opposite patches of dirt at the same time."

"But when we knew that a new game had begun, we could watch the opposite square for the castle to appear there, and then go inside.   However, the rook piece does not always move all around the board, so we could be waiting in vain."

"What if the rook piece represented by Helios' castle is taken by the opposition?"   Gamel asked.

"I'd guess that there would be a long period of time where the castle wouldn't appear anywhere in the Valley."

"If only we could find a way to see what movement would be coming."   Snoe commented.

"Our safest move would be to wait until Helios' castle moves to the opposite end of the board.    But we'd have to make certain a new game hadn't begun, or the direction and duration then would change."   Allea told them, "At best, it will probably take us several days and a lot of luck for our conditions to be met."

"But we'd still not know exactly how long we had inside the tower."   Mattleos said as he contemplated the plan, "All we'd know for certain is the minimum duration of the tower in a specific spot, and then that is only if the game is flowing in the right direction."

Allea shrugged with a sigh, "Well, that is all I have learned so far, so I'd say we don't have time enough to figure out how the pieces are moved or who exactly is moving them -- if anyone."

They all looked over at Aedric, who was -- at least in name-- the leader of the group.

“I’m afraid our loved ones waiting in the Underdark will not have days for the conditions to be met.    The longer it takes, the more danger they will be in.     So I would recommend that we consider entering the tower if it enters the row in front of the ‘enemy row’.   Though we would not have as much time - if I understand Allea’s calculations correctly"at least that would lessen the time we would have to wait.”

Everyone agreed, but Mattleos asked, “One problem - how are we going to monitor the position of the tower?    We would need a levitation platform as well.    Allea, do you know that spell?”

“Well… no.”   She replied.

“Perhaps the spell is in the Mage’s book?”   Snoe asked.

“No… there are no spells.”  Allea sighed, feeling now as if her findings were in vain.

For a long moment, the group just stood silently, looking at each other as they tried to think of a solution.

Suddenly there was a loud exasperated sigh from an unseen person.    As they spun around, looking for the source, she materialized in front of them.    It was Valmiai, appearing in the same form that she had to Gamel the night before - except for clothing.   She now wore the green leather clothing that was common for the Sylvan people to wear when on a long journey.

“I have the spell that you need.”   She simply said to them, seeming somewhat uncomfortable in her revealed ‘natural form’.

“Are you willing to help us?”   Aedric asked her.

“Yes, or I would not be here.   We are wasting time, King Aedric - this keep will soon dissolve and while I can maintain the levitation spell for the course of a day, I will not be able to assist in defending it against any of Helios’ bird monsters.    Many perished at the Faesidhe Watchtower, but there will be others.   Some of you will need to protect us.    I must maintain concentration, and Allea and Snoe should focus on keeping the time and location of the towers.”

“We’ll need a device to time the duration of the tower.”   Allea told the mysterious lady.

“That will be no problem.   Several of the mages that died in their attempts to enter the tower left their pocket clocks behind near their camps.   Several are still functional and I know where they are located.”

Aedric looked over at Gamel, who was staring at Valmiai as if analyzing her motives or character.

“Very well”, the new Sylvan King said to his companions, “Let us get started then.”