Kayla reassures Preli that she was, in fact, fine. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, my friend. Besides, you still owe me a cup of hot kha from Ma Kelley's place. Don't think I'm letting you off the hook!" she says, smiling.
As Kayla just joined the group, she is happy to complete their business with the Gathering and then head back to the surface, or to continue deeper and go through the doors.
"Hmm... perhaps we should quit while we're ahead, so to speak. Let's go speak with Sef, and prove we're cleared out this infestation of gremlins. Then, return to the surface and rest." Adrien waves the group after him, approaching the Gathering. "We've cleared out the gremlins; and we bring their bodies as proof." He gestures to his compatriot, wearing the bodies at his waist. "We would like to resolve this matter before we get to the surface again."
Preli mumbles to himself as he follows the group to the Gathering
"not the mould... not starvation... then what?... fire feeds so... ice?... who is he...
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Thüm has been addressing the rocky outcropping where the Gathering first appeared. "...then Thüm's spear, of dwarf-iron wrought, bit deep into vermin captain's throat, freeing a red rush! The battle was ours!" He stops his recitation, and peers dubiously at the wall. "Stony silence may mean Gathering elsewhere."
Luepel is waiting for the group as they return, shaken, from the corridor. She smiles. "No body or loot. You found the flesh rust then. We learned its power long ago, deep in the shadow lands. Such chambers become traps for the unwary. Ware lest you meet it again. But the body - that was a friend of the man you so fervently seek. I am surprised you let it lie there still."
She sighs. "No matter. Let me take you back to Sef."
Sef is waiting by the encampment.
"What of the vermin? Are they gone then?"
"Assuming these were the vermin you spoke of, then yes." Adrien gestures to the bodies of the dead gremlins that Thüm carries. "We've cleared them out, and they shouldn't bother you anymore."
Sef nods. "If you killed the leader, they will stay away for a long time. The main part of the tribe is elsewhere, on the surface. They walk in here through timespace doors of their own making, back and forth, back and forth. But if the leader is gone ... "
She smiles. "I promised you a reward, and free passage. Here. And this is what the purple haired woman desired."
She gives the party two leather pouches. The first contains a large number of silverdisks. The second, which she refers to as the prize withheld from the "purple haired woman", contains five strange cards, made of a flexible, smooth material. These five cards each bear a brown stripe.
She nods at the cards. "The purple haired woman told us to save all such cards for her, as her own prize. They seem precious to her kind. I do not know why they were of value, or indeed what they are. But they are your mystery now."
Preli steps swiftly forward and graciously takes the pouch of discs with a bow.
"Our thanks lady, this is gratefully received"
He steps back, ignoring the cards entirely.
"Passage, through those metal doors? and the ones in the Gremlin cave?"
He gestures in his best estimate of the direction of the metal wall.
Kayla will take the cards, knowing they are likely more valuable than the metal disks...and after checking with the rest of the party, heads back to town to report their progress so far and let the others resupply.
Arkady continues with the group, watching for anything that might attack them on the way out of the caverns. "We should check on young Val also, ensure that she is well," he says once they are out of the acrid lake once again.
Thüm drops the gremlin bodies contemptuously to the floor. "Nail skulls to walls as warning--vermin will not return." He frowns at the others when they insist on returning to the surface. "Dare we delay while Khonir Bhane's life may be slipping away? Very well. Let us at least return bodies of fallen townsfolk." The old barbarian does his best to secure the bodies with rope and bear them out of the caverns.
Arkady will help Thüm bring the bodies out through the tunnel into the lake, taking them to the lake's edge as best he can.
As the party emerges from the lake, they find Father Kyte, waiting for them. He smiles a deep smile of relief when he sees them, then one of dismay as he notices the two bodies being dragged by Thum and Arkady. "Oh, my goodness. I'm relieved to see you back. But what have we here?"
"A few of the dead, unfortunately." Adrien approaches Father Kyte, a somber expression on his face. "There was another, surrounded by... brown mold, I believe is what Preli referred to it as? According to those we found below ground, the corpse was once a man who was a friend of Khonnir." Adrien sighs, looking back at the two dead bodies. "However, the last people who spotted Khonnir saw him alive, and they know where he went. Coming back to the surface without him worries me, but... well, there's no guarantee what we'll run into. We need to be prepared."
"The brown mould didn't kill him though... And I'd like to know what did to be honest with you! Is brown mould common in the caves, how do people deal with it?"
In town, Kayla buys a sunrod, two daggers and another 20 arrows. She checks her other adventuring gear, thinks about picking up a grappling hook to go with her silk rope, but decides against the heavy metal item. Besides, she was always a good climber...
She encourages the group to get a quick meal, but she is ready to go back and explore for real!
Before Kayla wanders off shopping, Kyte responds to Adrien. "I expect you'll be staying at the Foundry anyhow, but you'd better check in on Val. Like several people in town, she's been afflicted with more serious headaches these last few days. She's taken it worse than most, and has taken to bed. Your two friends are looking after her."
"As for the bodies, I recognise Parda Garr. Pity, a real pity. I'll see to it that her friends receive the body. I'll check up on the other one, but I don't recognise what's left of it. From the armour it looks like he was part of the same group as Parda; I'll have someone ask after him at Silverdisk Hall."
"I see... well, I know that I certainly need some rest before venturing down there again... I'll check in on her when we rest." Adrien's face looks puzzled for a moment, then cocks his head. "Wait, headaches? Of what sort? Does anyone know what might be causing them? It could have something to do with the flame dying out..." Adrien begins muttering to himself for a moment, until Ozymandias nudges him with one protruding metal finger. "Has anyone tried to figure out what might be causing the headaches? I'd like to speak with them, if I can."
Kyte frowns. "Nobody has tried, apart from to speculate. But it did indeed begin when the flame went out. There has been a rash of it across town. Not necessarily consistent, or the same people every day. The assumption of the elders is that the secret behind it lies with all the other secrets, in the caves beneath the hill."
"That's what I was thinking as well... it seems too closely timed to be a coincidence." Adrien frowns, before turning to the others. "We need to keep ourselves sharp, and the magic that let us so easily reach the caves will likely wear off sooner than later. I say we head back to the Foundry, to get some food and some sleep; that, and check on Val."
Kayla nods in agreement with Adrien and follows the group to the Foundry.
"I agree, Adrien. We should check on the young Val, and then look over those items which Sef gave to us - figure out what they are and what they are used for."
The group repairs to the Foundry. There's nobody inside the inn, but when they knock on the door of Khonnir's house, Ulok answers the door. He leads them to a room where Val is currently sleeping.
"She's been like this a few days," he whispers. "It's something of an epidemic in town, but Val, for some reason, seems to have gotten it worse than any other case we know of - it's completely knocked her out. Kyte found her like this when he came to tell her we'd entered the caves. Thought for a while that the clockwork thing had come back to life again and attacked. And we all thought it was going to be fatal. She's been in a lot of pain. It doesn't seem to be a disease and as far as we can tell it's not a curse either."
He pauses, as another thought occurs. "Did Tio rejoin you? When it was clear that it wasn't some machinery linked thing, she set off back for the lake."
Preli remains quiet at the back of the group, not recognising most of the names being used. Until at last he sees an opportunity to jump in...
"Tio? That's the greasy lady that followed you back right? No, she never found us... Probably spotted something valuable and got distracted..."
Preli is not a socially sensitive individual. He misses a lot of the concern in the room.
"Say, is there an alchemist around? I need something really cold to test a hunch. Thinking about it it might indirectly help the young lady there."
"Tio left, you said? No... we didn't see her, as far as I know anyway. I suppose she could have ventured off in a different direction from us, but why do that when she knows the way we came in?" Adrien looks worried, and clearly seems to contemplate for a moment heading back to the caves now and search for her. "She could be in trouble, should we go back? If we wait until tomorrow she could get hurt, but it means we'd be more equipped to help her if she was in trouble... no, we can't risk us all going down now. She's resourceful, she'll be okay, don't you think?" Adrien asks, hoping for reassurance on his proposed course of action.
"I believe she will be alright enough. Was she not also keen to check out the location where the purple flames once erupted and now are silent? Perhaps we can check the top of the hill before tomorrow and see if she is there."
Onna looks thoughtful. "I think someone should look for her. She is of my kind. I will take on that duty. I shall continue to use the Foundry as a base, if you don't mind. Once I have found her, we can rejoin you on your expeditions."
She looks around the group, seeking agreement.
"Sounds good to me! Now let's get tot he important stuff - food and a stiff drink to ward off the coming chill!" And with that she (finally?) heads to the Foundry.
It's the following morning at the Foundry Inn. Val is still in bed, feeling very unwell and being tended to by Ulok; nobody else at the inn seems to be feeling any ill effects. Onna returned late in the evening, very worried about Tio, not having been able to find her fellow android. She's sat outside the inn, on the porch, for most of the night, staring at the stars, lost in thought and resistant to attempts at conversation.
At some point, round about dawn, she draws herself up from her reverie and sets off once more into town.
The rest of the group, having rested, wake normally and sit down for breakfast, Just as they're starting, there's a knock on the door. It's Father Kyte and he has brought company. Kyte's friend is male, apparently human - at least at first glance - with pale skin and black hair, his eyes unusually white.
Kyte coughs. "This is, um, Darian. Your diminutive friend asked about an alchemist. Darian here has been helping out at the Temple of Brigh. I thought the acquaintance might prove usefully beneficial."
He smiles, turns and looks brightly at his companion, gesturing by way of an introduction.
The pasty, white-eyed, violet-tinged man simply stands there stock still for a few moments. Then he suddenly says, "Hello," like a jerky puppet or automoton that has been prodded in to motion.
After another momentary uncomfortable pause, he says, "I am versed in a wide range of alchemical formulae. What kind of assistance do you require?"
"Ah, marvelous! Preli's the name. Preli Othont the third. Charmed and all that"
Preli grabs the man's hand and pumps it up and down
"Brown mould! Got a patch down in the caves that is standing between me, sorry us, and treasure. That is to say investigation, rescue, and all mnner of other worthy deeds. And Treasure. Got anything for that?"
The pale man has a strong handshake, but it is still oddly limp, like he is simply holding his hand in a particular position rather than actually gripping Preli's hand.
"Perhaps. I am not especially familiar with brown mold, as I believe that is primarily found underground, and I have not had an opportunity to study it closely. I could try experimentation upon it. Or, if you happen to know of specific vulnerabilities that it may possess, I could attempt to formulate something inimical to it," he says.
"Preli, didn't you say it absorbed heat? I know it pounced on that torch... does the cold harm it, do you think?"
"I'm not messing with that stuff again! I know I made it look easy when I ran away from it yesterday, but I'll let someone else fiddle with it today. And speaking of - we should get moving as soon as we can grab some breakfast."
As an afterthought, she looks at the newcomer and says, "Oh. Pleased to meetcha, Darian. You'd better keep a close eye on your valuables. My short friend there has an unhealthy attraction to shiny, and valuable, things."
Darian slowly looks down, then says dryly, "Please be careful. Some of my concoctions are explosive."
"See, Preli? I told you to keep your fingers to yourself, or someone will cut them off. Or in his case explode them off!" Kayla says with a grin...
Preli looks up at the group, taking his hat in both hands
"Kayla. And I thought we were friends. I will admit, I have an eye for the valuable and the shiny. But I would never stoop to stealing from comrades!"
"besides, I know a little of alchemy myself. Specifically explosions!
His hurt pretense doesn't last long though
"yeah, the stuff feeds on heat. I was wondering if you had anything cold?"
There's a knock on the door of the Foundry Inn.
A nervous-sounding voice from outside: "A-anybody there?"
The door pushes open. A man enters, carrying a message. "H-here."
He holds out an envelope. Inside is a letter, addressed to the adventurers:
"To our illustrious new saviours of the town. You are invited to visit the illustrious tavern and card room, Silverdisk Hall, as my personal guests. I enclose certificates that you may use for your own entertainment and enjoyment. They may be used, if you wish, at our gambling tables."
The letter is signed "Your most gracious servant, Garmen Ulreth"
Within the envelope are also certificates, in the names of all of the adventurers, both existing (and including Val, Tio, Onna and Ulok) and potential (Darian). The certificates indicate that they can only be redeemed by the particular individual to whom they're addressed, and in person.
After handing over the envelope, the courier turns and makes a swift exit, without even waiting for a reply.
Darian says flatly, "Generating cold is a somewhat difficult technique, alchemically speaking. I can manufacture an oil that will freeze water when in contact, but making something explosively cold will require more diligent research."
"You might try to find a magician who is capable of generating rays of frost. My understanding is that it is a simple, repeatable spell."
"Ugh magicians are so... Flouncy!"
"I think what he means to say is he appreciates the help." Adrien chuckles, trying to seem cordial. "Perhaps we should seek out the advice of someone who might know more about the mold... and that 'flesh rust', whatever it might be."