"Well, where to, next? Are we headed to talk to more friendly kobolds, or up to Hunclay's place?"
Zilch points to the body in the rubble. "Isn't that Hunclay? Don't we need to bring him back?"
Zilch looks around for the little kobold shovels, passing them around.
"Let's dig. Might be more to him, I dunno..."
"That's right, Zilch. Let's dig him out." Candrana digs in with the little kobold shovel (if found, otherwise she uses her hands), trying to free Hunclay's body to take back to Lady Origena.
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"Yeah Dig it. Dig him." This is rather disgusting business, isn't it? "And a kobold, too." Let us finish this grizzly task as quickly as possible, so we can report to the Lady. And then investigate the wizard's house. He has a book! Perhaps it will help me make more sense of mine...
I wonder if the Lady will be expecting such unpleasant evidence. As they excavate the wizard's body (and that of a kobold, too?), Aodan takes a close look around to make sure they don't leave any of Hunclay's possessions behind, and keeping his eyes open for anything that may give a clue.
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The group digs Hunclay's body out of the rubble. Then comes the task of carrying the corpse back out of the ruins. It is well past sunset when the party makes it back to the surface. Unsure where to go, since no one thought to ask where the Baroness lived, the party starts heading back to town. As they approach the bridge, a large well lit manor is visible on the crest of a hill to the south. Perhaps this is where the Baroness lives?
Zilch points!
"Hey! Look at that manor house I found! I bet the Baroness lives there," Zilch begins to trudge in that direction.
If he sees any townspeople, he will ask and confirm the baroness' residence.
"C'mon Grayson, let's go with that body," Zilch spurs helpfully.
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Slashes in his armor, dried blood on his torso, and helping tote a corpse or two, the half-elf bemoans his appearance. I will leave the re-introductions to the Lady to others better equipped.
Despite his hesitation to show his scruffy, beardless appearance, he'll knock on the door, looking to Grayson or Zilch or Kandrana to speak if the Lady responds. It wouldn't do to have a beardless male or a Qadiran address the Lady, would it?
"Uh, Zilchus, eh, should not we make getting ...oof, he's heavier than he looks. Help me with the left side a bit, there... Hunclay to the undertaker a priority? I am sure the Baroness will pay you and have some food, but we should take care of Hunclay's remains first."
"Yes. Let's do that. Surely the Lady Origena doesn't want him dump on her dining table. I'm not sure what I was thinking."
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Aodan knocks on the door to the Sunset House and a tall thin man opens the door. The man is dressed is common work cloths beneath and red stained apron. He is very pale and thin with bags under his eyes. He looks past Aodan and sees the two corpses and with a deep voice almost devoid of feeling he says,"I see this tower collapse is turning out to be more work then expected. Please bring the bodies inside and place them on the floor."
Zilch helps lug the body inside.
"Oh yeah, two more stinky ones here. So...do you recognize this one?" Zilch points to the supposed Hunclay body. "Is that Hunclay? Have you seen him before?"
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As the bodies are brought inside the sent of spices and perfumes are overwhelming, but still not strong enough to fully mask the smell of decay. Inside the work room there are currently three tables, each one is occupied by a Kobold body, one of which is badly burned. The tall pale man examines the dead wizards body, "Indeed, this is the wizard Hunclay. You are the ones hired to find him yes?"
Zilch proudly answers.
"Oh yep, I found him alright. When you need things found, you come to ol' Zilch here," Zilch says giving himself the double thumbs of awesome. "I'm a pretty good finder...I was just telling the others how good I am at finding things."
"Our deed here is done. I ask that we see the baroness."
Grayson says, demanding.
Zilch looks at Grayson as if he had forgotten the man could talk.
"Oh, that one doesn't talk much. Don't mind him," Zilch covers. "I found the manor too, so we know where that is. Do you need anything more from us regarding the body? I don't think we have any of his personal effects."
Zilch looks ready to leave.
"Well then, peace be upon you sir. Should you have any other need of us or our services you can find us around town. We will leave you to it." Davros turns and gently nudges Zilchus towards the door, "Let us be away then."
As he approaches the manor of the Baroness, Davros turns, addressing his companions,"I thank you so very much for saving me and getting me out of harms way back there in the tower. Now I have more thing to ask of you - would you mind if I accompanied you a bit longer? I must find this book my mistress requires or my life," his voice trails off for a moment before continuing, "Well, let us say that things will be very unpleasant for me if I should fail in my task."
"What harm can it do to let him travel with us? He's been very good at keeping an eye on Zilch so far." Candrana offers. "Just please don't offend the Baroness. She's a little on the touchy side, I'm afraid."
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The Qadiran's mention of the book causes the half-elf to scowl a bit.
"Kobolds want it. You need it or else... Must be some book." And such a prize is something I desire to consult. This tome should be retrieved, and it would not do well to let the foreigner wander off and find it on his own.
As they approach the manor, he looks for signs of activity, or perhaps a servants quarters, as the Lady might not appreciate a group of ruffians barging in.
"Kobolds want it. You need it or else...Must be some book."
"Don't worry, Aodan. I'll find it. I'm a good finder. You may have heard me mention that earlier. I can drive a wagon and I can find things good. And I'll find this book, I'm sure I will," Zilch says as they head toward the manor house.
"Sure could use some rest...thing the baroness would mind if we caught some shuteye under her hedges? They seem like really nice hedges."
"If we're going to sleep before we see the Baroness, then we should go back to the inn, and the stew." Candrana looks at her companions, trying to figure out which of them looks the least disreputable.
Zilch nearly spins on his heels, going the other way, at mention of stew.
"Stew, you say? I had forgotten the stew..." Zilch comments. "Maybe we can get our reward quickly from the Baroness."
Zilch keeps walkin' to the manor.
knock knock
Davros positions himself at the back of the group. He leans towards Aodan, whispers "سوف تؤجل لك و تحذو حذو الخاص," and begins peace-tying his shortsword.
Into the lions den...
Zilch opens his mouth as he thinks about what to say...
After finishing the peace-bond Davros looks over at Zilchus. He extends his index finger on his right hand and slowly, deliberately, and gently places the index finger under Zilchus' chin; lifting ever so slightly so that his mouth closes. "Shh. ಚಂದ್ರನ ಕಿರಣ said do not offend the Baroness and I am certain that she meant you as much as she meant me."
Zilch looks at the doorman, then at Davros. He returns the whisper.
"That's not the baroness," Zilch points out to the un-understandably confused man.
Man, his country must be really weird if their women look like that.
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The half-elf groans softly and steps forward, and nods to the servant. Good. Hopefully this one has some tact and understanding of what the Lady's preferences and requirements are.
"Found the Wizard." Or what's left of his rather unfortunately compacted corpse. His face crinkles in contemplation. "And some other stuff, too. Need to tell the Lady."
He shrugs. "Whenever she wants. Wasn't sure how urgent it was. So..."
Be a good and wise servant, and let us know if we need to return at a more sociable time, or if the matter is pressing enough to bother a noble at a rather unexpected hour.
"Yes, if now is a good time, of course." Candrana offers, hoping to round the rough edges off the previous explanations of their presence.
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"Please come inside while I see if the Baroness is available." The servant leads the group to a waiting room off the main hall, before departing to fetch the Baroness. After a few minutes the Baroness enters the sitting room. "Well I am pleased and surprised to see you made it back, and I hear you found Hunclay among the rubble as well? Please tell me everything you've learned about the tower collapse."
"We did indeed find Hunclay among the rubble. Apparently, he had hired Kobolds to collapse the tower and became an unfortunate victim of his own misdeeds. To know more, we may need to search his house most thoroughly." Candrana offers, speaking first in an attempt to keep Zilch from Zilching the whole conversation prematurely.
"We are fairly certain that they are living in or near the drowned quarry. He offered them a book, I believe. Perhaps they all suddenly craved to learn to read?" Candrana offers helpfully.
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"That puts their lair with in the town limits" she says as she takes a moment to ponder the situation. The servant returns with a large bag on a tray, which he presents to Candrana. This brings the Baroness out of her quiet contemplation. "You have done well and here is the payment as promised. You have proven yourselves rather resourceful and I find myself in need of your services again. I have had my suspicions that there was a Kobold tribe in the flooded quarry and I did not think they were a threat, but now the towns people know about them and they are starting to panic. I need you to drive them out before the townsfolk form some sort of militia or other silly mob and get a bunch of people killed."
"What about Hunclay's place? Shouldn't we check that for kobolds or other stuff? Why would Hunclay be trying to take down the tower?" Zilch asks the questions on his mind, no matter the station or warning to be quiet.
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"I would ask that you stay way from Hunclay's manor for now. As I have stated there are some legal matters I need to address. As to why Hunclay wanted the tower removed, it had to do with his study of the stars and it blocked the view from his observatory. We had many heated discussions about it and I refused him every time."
"Zilch, hush. I'll explain it to you at the Inn." Candrana scolds the Zilch, but sighs inwardly.
Quickly, she turns back to the Baroness,"Thank you, Ma'am. Yes, the townsfolk and the kobolds are not likely to get along. We will see what we can do about the problem." Candrana smiles, adding, "We'll let you get back to your evening, Ma'am. If you have need of us, leave word at the inn. We'll check in there. " The bag carefully in hand, Candrana readies to leave, hoping against hope that Zilch can wait for his answers.
Legal matters? Seriously? *High-pitched haughty voice* "Go take care of this other problem while what you are searching for is somewhere else." Something isn't right here.
Davros begins to open his mouth, thinks better of it, and tries to remain inconspicuous.
"Zilch, hush. I'll explain it to you at the Inn."
Zilch snickers. "You probably won't be able to find the Inn without me."
Zilch looks at the bag of coins, wondering how much is in there.
"Should we count that here...?" Zilch asks Candi...and spins back to the Baroness. "M'Baroness, uh...are you going to compensate us the same for the kobolds? Because they are going to be a bit more tricky to deal with. You should hear them talk...'hardskin this' or 'softskin that'. And they don't know the meaning of 'parley', either."
Zilch nods excitedly.
"A dozen hammerfists? Oh yeah.." Zilch looks down at his normal, untooly fists. "Yeah, sure, we'll kill them kobolds for some sweet hammerfists. Let's go team!"
Zilch waves the team out, headed to the Inn for stew and rest and recovery.
"I'm pretty sure she said *AM*a THYSTs, Zilch..." Candrana corrects on the way to the Inn. Why do you bother, ಕಿರಣ? He'll just Zilch it up, no matter what you say.
"Are you sure Candrana, because I thought she said hammerfists too," Davros says with an impish grin and a wink.
"NO, Davros, I'm pretty sure she said... OH!" catching his grin, she can't decide whether to laugh or fume. She goes for the former, then adds. "Very well. if I'm right, I'll keep all the Amathysts, and you guys can have the hammer fists if you're right. Deal?"