"Ulfr can you make sure she doesn't have what we're looking for on her person?"
Ulfr grabs the rat by the neck and the rump, turns her upside down, and shakes her vigorously. She almost gets away once. Once.
Ayala gives a surprised and indignant SQUEAK! as Ulfr grabs her and turns her upside down.
"WHA--Hey! Lemme go!" She thrashes and squirms about as the berserker shakes her down.
The following items fall on the floor:
--2 doses of bloodroot poison
--3 tanglefoot bags
--a masterwork composite shortbow
--20 arrows that scatter everywhere
--A climber's kit
--50 feet of silk rope with a grappling hook
--1 set of masterwork thieves' tools
--1 dark grey scarf with knives sewn into the ends.
"Look, if it's the shard you're after, I don't have it! That b*~**--" She points a flailing finger at Natalya. "--is the one who stole it! If it's cash you're after, there's lots of old coins, jewels & stuff in my room--just lemme go!"
Natalya rolls her eyes, and Embyr is struggling not to laugh.
Azura scrutinizes the odds and ends and says, "It's not here."
"We're looking for something else," she explains. "We'll move on. Your choice whether it's violent or not."
She turns back to Saersha and leans in to whisper to the lust wizard.
Ada examines the items. She takes a good look at the scarf. "Let her keep her stuff. That's not what we were looking for. Can't let her go completely defenseless the other girls might take advantage."
Saersha ws pleased with the results of her efforts as the doors opened. Sadly her triumph was ruined by the attack of the wererat. Saersha found herself about to cast a spell at Ayala when the attack turned out to be a very bad idea by the rat as she failed to connect with her target. She listened as Ayala was identified by Embyr and rose to move over to her new pet as the wererat accused her of being a traitor along with many other Tower Girls. Saersha couldn't help but respond to that as the wererat was grabbed and her belongings shaken out of her clothing, "You would have had their support if you treated the other Tower Girls better."
Saersha glanced at Embyr as she tried not to laugh and nodded in aknowledgement of her discipline. The lust mage listened to what Azura said and nodded in agreement as she leaned in to whisper back to the aasimar.
Turning back to the wererat Ayala, Saersha said, "I agree with Ada, take what you have left and go, we don't really have a quarrel with you, in exchange though you need to leave all of us alone and not attempt retribution for what happened here today."
Ayala scowls, gathers up her things, and scuttles upstairs without another word.
Azura nods and brushes her hair back behind her ear.
"So, Ada, can you sense the presence of the next piece? Are we close?"
Watching Ayala leave Ryn gives Ulfr a clap n the shoulder with a laugh, smiling at Azura when she suggests using the shard they already had. 'So damn smart too.' she finds herself thinking.
...and a vision swims into view. A winding staircase descending beyond the starmetal doors, deeper and deeper into the darkness...
Ada concentrates, and gives a nod. "I saw something. A winding staircase descending beyond the starmetal doors, deeper and deeper into the darkness... It looks like we are getting ready for a delve. Before we go I want to examine Ayala's room. She said there were goodies in there." She gives a grin.
Ayala's quarters are filled with gems, old coins, pieces of pottery and sections of Thassilonian wall murals--to the right buyer in Magnimar, the whole collection would be worth about 900 gold pieces.
Ada's search of the room reveals a small chest under the bed in the room beyond the curtain. It contains 87 GP and 175 SP.
But the real prize Ada finds is the secret door built into the side of the mural in the centre of the room--beyond it is a skeleton, its bones browned with age. Surprisingly, the items on it are still in good condition:
--1 masterwork chain shirt
--1 masterwork rapier
--50 feet of silk rope
--A leather pouch containing 250 GP
--A golden pendant in the shape of a lanner falcon, suspended from a golden chain.
"Wow... I wonder who it was who died down here? The gear is still in a good enough condition that it hasn't been that long, but the body is all bones now," says Azura when Ada reveals the secret nook.
"This beautiful amulet is only issued to the Prince of the Market and his or her trusted advisors and companions. This person must've been important."
Ryn lets out a low whistle at Ada's discovery, noting the amulet as Azura hold it up. "Hmm....odd that someone powerful died in a place like this, probably involved in something illicit."
Her nose crinkles slightly as she thinks about it. "Even odder that someone that important didn't have people looking for them or determined enough to find them to use magic. I'm assuming you can find someone with magic if you're willing to pay the right mage."
"Well there's already been one cursed artifact down here, maybe there were more?" speculates Azura as she moves back toward Ryn and holds up the amulet so that the gold glitters in the light.
"Wow, it's beautiful!" Ryn says gazing at the amulet. [g]"Good point, hopefully that isn't cursed."[/b]
Ada gathers what she can carry. "We should come back for the artifacts. They should be worth a pretty penny." If she's looked at oddly she'll shrug. "I'm not one to turn down profit."
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Azura says to Ryn, "Here, bend down a little. No, just duck your head forward... there." She slips the amulet over Ryn's head. "Looks nice. The gold goes well with your skin tone and complements the bronze on your armor."
"So," she says, putting her hands on her hips, "We still haven't found the next piece. Do we back out? Or stay down here? I have a bedroll, we could always camp out for a night like the Tower Girls did. And that way we don't have to worry about someone else coming in here and sneaking along into areas we haven't explored and making off with the piece we're trying to find."
If we need to camp, let's do it here. I want to find that stone before we have to fight a whole extra gang to get it.
Azura nods in agreement with Ulfr. "That was my thought too. I have a little food and water with me. I wonder if we can scrounge up something to make a campfire? These kinds of damp, stony places tend to get cold at night," she says.
Embyr approaches Saersha as the others discuss setting up camp. "Would you like me to fetch wood, Mistress? There are several tables upstairs that could serve as firewood."
Saersha do you think you can close the doors again? I'd hate to have someone slip in ahead of us." Ada doesn't look like she'd be adverse to to camping out.
Smiling at her newest companion Saersha replied, "Yes Embyr, take a couple of others with you in case there are other threats or some of those who left didn't go as far as we thought." She leaned into the other woman again and embraced her as she said quietly into her ear,
Releasing Embyr Saersha looked to Ada and replied, "I can try..." She went back to the doors then and tried to find a way to close them.
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Saersha takes a look around the massive doors, but short of pushing them closed, there's no other way of closing them.
Embyr motions for Zev & Ulfr to follow her. "Please follow me, gentlemen. We need to get wood."
She lets the accidental innuendo hang in the air as she walks out of the room and upstairs.
Zev smirks as he follows after the former tower girl.
Ulfr smirks as well. He almost makes a rude comment, but nah. Later.
Since it looks like the team will be staying in the room for the night, Azura kneels down and removes her pack, then starts unfurling her bedroll and her various creature comforts. She unwraps a small cloth with some almonds in it and cheerfully crunches on a few.
"If we're going to build a fire, we should make sure there's enough ventilation for the smoke to escape," she says. "Maybe a different room with a window or something would be a better place to stay?"
After she polishes off a few nuts, Azura packs away her small cloth again and she stands and turns slowly in place. She stops at one point and glances at her hair, which moves slightly.
"There's a breeze in Ayala's room. Should be enough ventilation."
Soon enough, Embyr comes back with Zev & Ulfr in tow, carrying armfuls of broken wood.
-------------
As the party's camp begins to take shape, Embyr blinks several times and shakes her head.
"Oh... wait, what's going on?"
It looks like the charm spell placed on her has worn off.
Azura quickly intercedes and says, "First, stay calm - if you run we'll have to catch you and that will be no good."
"Everything you remember us saying is true - we did come down here after finding out that Natalya had accidentally discovered a cursed magical relic. We discovered that there's another piece of that relic down here and we're trying to recover it. We didn't plan on tussling with the Tower Girls if it could be avoided."
"Saersha's spell clouded your judgment so that we wouldn't have to fight you. This way we didn't have to get into a big battle with the Tower Girls; we could just try to talk our way in, find the cursed relic, and get out."
Embyr rubs her eyes as Azura speaks, her posture relaxing somewhat.
"...gods, everything's fuzzy..." She looks up at Saersha, her eyes clear. "You put a spell on me?"
Looking at Embyr as the spell wore off Saersha was mentally kicking herself for her oversight. She recovered when Azura spoke up using the other woman's words as a chance to recover and said, "Yes Embyr, it didn't control you per we only made me seem to be your friend for it's duration. It has worn off now since I didn't see the need to cast it again. As Azure said it saved your life and the lives of many of the others in doing so. It didnt make you do things you wouldnt do for a friend, the magic isnt that strong, and everything you've helped us with is what you would choose to do for a friend. Everything I've said to you while under it is true, and I would very much like if you would remain by my side as you have shown that you are loyal to your friends and that the Tower Girls weren't among them, it would be a pleasure if you would be our friend still."
Embyr looks at Saersha, looks at her lips, then a hand rises to her mouth. "...okay..."
"...so the kisses we shared...? I remember those well enough."
"Saersha really likes kisses," says Azura impishly. "If you liked 'em, they probably won't be the last."
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Embyr doesn't say anything, but the blush on her face speaks volumes.
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"Soooo this segues into something else that I need to mention," says Azura. "As some of you know I'm a devotee of Arshea, who is... well, it's complicated, but the general 'public view' is that Arshea is a sex god-dess." The pause in god-dess is audible; those familiar with the empyreal cults would know that it is because Arshea is genderfluid.
"Anyway, as a devotee I pray every day. No different from many of the other faithful," she says. "I'm no priest but I do take my commitment seriously."
She takes a deep breath and then plunges in with the buried lede. "But this particular faith requires me to do my prayers while naked."
"So um... I figured I should let you know before surprising anyone. And please... try not to make it creepy. When you see me praying in the morning, please let me finish. I'm not really... body conscious, but if you stare or make lewd remarks or try to lick me or something - believe me, people get really weird about it - it'll interrupt my prayers and that's not great."
For the safety of the group, Ulfr closes the doors as much as he can down to a slight opening (he doesn't want them to close and lock again) and makes his bed right at the opening. Anything coming through would have to come through him first.
He prepares for the night by first helping everyone else get settled. He then sits in front of the cracked door with his huge club at his side. He doesn't lay down, but sits cross legged in front of the door upon his bedroll and falls asleep sitting up.
Ulfr takes Azura's comments on her faith in stride. I've walked naked with my Clan under the furnace that is the Cinderlands. You won't get any weirdness from me. If it makes you feel any better I can stride around naked in the morning. Might take a few eyes off you. Or would that be too distracting? He winks, clearly trying to calm any tense feelings that she might have over the situation.
"Thanks, Ulfr," says Azura with a grin. "Mostly I didn't want anyone to be shocked or to get the wrong idea."
"I don't care if you 'peek' but interrupting will break my concentration and then I have to start over," she explains.
Embyr's blush deepens and her eyes widen, darting between Ulfr & Azura.
"...what did I just get myself into?" She whispers aloud to no one in particular.
Picking up the Tower Girl's discomfort, Azura says, "Sorry, Embyr. I admit, we are also a bunch of weirdos. But we're happy weirdos who try to be decent folks."
Ulfr raises his finger, For varying definitions of "decent". Two of us are former gladiators, so we're not above a little excess now and again. At least, I'm not...
Saersha seemed perplexed by Embyr's question at first and barely listened to Azura and Ulfr. What they were discussing was of only passing interest just now. Besides that she knew she'd get a first hand view in the morning. Instead she turned her gaze to Embyr and approached the woman slowly.
As she approached Embyr Saersha's gaze turned hot and her hips moved in the most enticing way as she walked up to the former Tower Girl. She reached out and carefully grabbed a handful of the other woman's shirt and stepped in closer as she said hungrily, "You mean did I mean this?" She leaned in and pulled Embyr's mouth to her's with a tug on the woman's shirt and planted her lips firmly against the other woman's mouth kissing her fiercely if Embyr allowed.
"Uh--" Embyr starts to say something, but it gets lost as Saersha pulls her in and snogs her.
She's taken off-guard, only barely returning the mage's affections. There's no trace of the boldness she showed under the influence of the charm spell--it seems Embyr is decidedly inexperienced in such things.
Ryn smiles, coloring slightly as Azura explains her morning prayer ritual. Always a visual person, she found herself caught between the arousal of the image of the beautiful bard naked, and a deep respect and appreciation for the ritual itself and the connection with her deity, a thought that had her running her thumb around the ring on her right middle finger. "If you want to, wake me and I'll make sure nothing interrupts you. Promise." she says softly.
When Ulfr comments she chuckles, nodding. "Yeah, I've been known to be quite the fan of a good time, but if you're one of us, we'll all have your back." She grins as Azura plays peacekeeper/matchmaker, sharing an amused glance as Searsha makes herr intentions clear.
Zev nods. ”Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on everything but you while you’re praying, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
"Really, it's fine, just so long as people don't go weird," says Azura.
Zev slowly cranes his head to look at Saersha.