Seyhannah feeling uneasy hums a mystical tune as she walks up to Fawziya at the box.
She spends the next few moments scanning the catacomb with interest.
Arian keeps a careful watch to the rear. Especially for escaped slimes.
Seyhannah can familiar almost comforting aura of magic of the brooch. The magic escapes her currently, perhaps further study later at camp would yield more information to its nature.
"What areas are still to be cleaned? Is for sure all explored? Is there a basement?" Faffnyr looks around, wondering what to do next.
"This IS a basement, Faffnyr!" Zoisa comments after her rummaging turns up nothing. When she sees Fawziya has had more luck, she hustled over to get a closer look at the goods.
Seyhannah will walk to the end of the corridor to the north careful not interrupt the slumber of the dead. Scanning the floor and walls itself for traps and any other possible valuables.
Josria looked down the right hall praying to both Bastet and Cayden Cailen that there were no enemies down the hall.
Zoisa follows after Josria, looking in the crannies and nooks after her.
Seyhannah peers down the corridor to find that there appears to be another cross section further down.
Eager to find treasures of their own, Zoisa and Josria move down the right corridor, but neither find anything amid the bones.
A bit annoyed, Josria quickly casts a spell to detect magical items.
Josria mumbles a bit as she feels the searching aura reach out, and finds that nothing in her immediate vicinity responds.
Zoisa calls up her dancing faerie lights and juggles them around as she follows after Seyhannah.
"Find anything interesting, Hanna?"
Moving forward slowly Seyhannah continues up the passage way carefully.
Seyhannah doesn't find any traps, but she does find three more corridors, which seemingly all end in dead ends.
"Dead ends are no fun," Zoisa muses. "Nothing but cut-off possibilities and stunted ambitions."
She sends her lights down the left-most corridor to see if there's anything interesting in there.
Josria used the same spell to detect any magical items in the vicinity just in case.
"I'm always suspicious of dead ends," says Arian. "Why build them? Why just have a hallway that goes nowhere? Unless the builder suddenly stopped in the middle of construction, they don't make sense - unless they have secret passages."
"Well, then let us investigate!"
Taking a few moments to focus she looks at the surrounding before shrugging. She then looks at Arian expectently.
Arian cautiously moves down the dead ends, eyes searching out any crevice or crack that might give away the presence of something unusual, while keeping her pole arm at the ready.
(+1 vs. traps)
"Indeed, Arian!", Fawziya said after rejoining the group. "And secret passages lead to secret rooms, filled with secret treasures! We must find them!"
"Here here, Fawziya!" Zoisa cheers as she continues to look.
Josria saunters down one of the corridors, she seems to find nothing and is about to turn around when a glint catches her eye. She quickly moves to the side of a long dead warrior, his bones smashed to piece and a large jagged crack in its skull. However, there is a mace to its side. Upon picking it up, you feel as if the mace is much better balanced than others. [+1 mace]
Arian, Faffnyr, and Zoisa team up and comb out the rest of the tunnels. It isn't long before they stumble upon a corpse of a man in yellowing leather armor, clearly not a member of the monastic community. However, the armor is amazingly intact, almost displaying its sturdiness. Beside him is a dagger, also in decent condition for its age. [+1 dagger, masterwork leather armor]
==You have effectively cleared the old monastary==
Fawziya's frustration mounts as the investigations reveal little more, clearly hoping for a forgotten vault of treasure. "You say these weapons are magic?", she asks Josira, holding the mace in her free hand, testing its weight. "Well, that's something, I suppose. Come, let's return to Almah - her gold shall spend better than the riches of this place."
After exploring to her satisfaction, Zoisa retches a little and laughs.
"Look! The fungal rot gave my puke a pretty color!"
She wipes her mouth and turns back to the group.
"So...we returning to the boss lady and moving in? Will she be okay with the baboons?"
When the party decides to return to their patron, they find her looking over maps of Kelmarane, contemplating the next days actions.
"What of the temple, have you cleared it?" she asks you as you file into her tent.
"All but a group of baboons - so long as you don't disturb them, they should leave you well enough alone. I should like to leave simple animals to their devices, rather than put them to the sword."
"An one ooze or slime monster that slipped through a small crack in the floor, so it may be roaming about still," notes Arian.
"I have hard of places that coexist with wild animals and people. The baboons seemed a little good aggressive though so something probably should be done. Zoisa can speak with them though so perhaps a non violent solution can be found.
For now though, temple is mostly clear. I will say though it will take some work if we intend to use it as a base camp.
"They did leave us alone once we shared some food with them, though. Perhaps they'll get used to us after we've moved in for a while."
"Baboons and an ooze? Strange occupants indeed for a dilapidated temple. We will respect the baboon's territory, but at the first hint of aggression they will need to be purged."
Almah smiles at you all.
"You're definitely earning your keep. From here, we will begin to push into Kelmarane. The city is inhabited by creatures of varying intelligence. I want you to decide on when you will scout the city, if injured return. I don't want you dying on me when we're so close."
For now, the entirety of the group moves into the old monastery. For the day, you are to prepare yourselves and ready for a scouting mission tomorrow. Almah and her guards move into the library, The camel driver and his wife move into the kitchen doing their best to prep meals for everyone, Dashki immediately claims the Shrine to Vardishal room as his own seemingly mesmerized by the gold gilding on the walls, and the mercenaries claim the chapter house for their own.
Garavel suggests you all staying the Dormitory as it has a sturdy roof and central location, but ultimately its your decision.
Arian spends a little time that afternoon practicing with her pole arm, especially working on combinations involving choking up and swinging it like a quarterstaff with strikes alternating between the blade and the capped butt end. Later she heads out a short distance to gather scrub brush and twigs from the desert to get a small amount of firewood, and she helps move all of the gear from the caravan into the confines of the monastery.
As the evening approaches she doffs her boots and sits near the small fire-ring that she's constructed and takes out her jeweled setar to play a soft, slow tune.
Very happy that the building is secured Faffnyr will mobe to the chapel and starts making a nightsrest, after informing her comrades of her intent. Spending an hour in prayers to the dawnflower she eakes up the next morning to greet the morning sun in fervent prayer. With joy she feels her faith rewarded with deeper trust from her godess.
Josria studies the book she and Zoisa found.
She also spends her time creating a small shrine to her deities, Bastet and Cayden Cailean, while also surveying the ruins of Kelmarane.
She does ask if she should serve as the scout since she is a catfolk, whoever is living in the town ruins might not think twice about her snooping around, especially given the fact that she speaks Gnoll very fluently.
The camp gathers around the campfire for the evening meal. The temple is old and provides shelter, but the slaughter that took place there is still somehow present. The pain. The blood. The deaths.
Yet, you all share a decent meal together. The camel driver and his wife bring out the more succulent ingredients to celebrate this first milestone. Some preserved slices of beef marinated in a deep root blend, heavily spiced and topped with fresh herbs that spritz when you bite into them.
All the while, Arians setar's melody glides through the camp.
The next morning, Almah gathers you all. She points to the far off town of Kelmarane.
"You will be scouting out into the town as best you can. We have information that suggests that an all-out attack would be suicidal, so you will be taking out its defenders as best you can, but always caution on the side of retreating. We can always try later. Whether you attempt your forays at night or day, that is up to your expertise."
As the sun drops along the horizon and the cool tendrils of night creep along the sands, Seyhannah sits to enjoy the fine meal that the camel driver and his wife have prepared. Washing it down with a couple glasses of mulled wine, she hears Arien's melody and tries to get some of the other to dance. .
Waking the next day, Seyhannah washes up and conducts her prayers. Preparing for the next step of the party's journey.
"What sort of schlop were you dealing with to have something like this stick to you?"
Father Zastoran gingerly applies ointment to the site of infection nd hands you the bottle.
"Apply once in the morning and once at night. Should be gone in a day or so."
"Some slimy ooze creature. It spread the fungus by slapping me with a pseudopod! It was kinda cool. If you wanna see it, I think one might still be crawling around the basement."
She takes the bottle and grins.
"Thanks, Father Zastoran! See you 'round the camp!"
After wolfing down dinner with an almost disturbing amount of gusto, she kicks back and uses her pesh touch to give herself a bit of a contact high, and offers to provide the same for others this evening.
As Zoisa falls asleep, her dreams weave fanciful and sometimes disturbing scenes, making her shudder a bit. She wakes up in the middle of the night and steps outside to look at the moon for a while. For once, the excitable, carefree expression falters a bit. While this monastery had been exciting and new, Haleen wasn't there. She looks out at Kelmarane for a moment before returning to bed. Perhaps the town would reveal what the monastery didn't.
When she wakes up, she stretches and cleans herself up with her magic before seeking out one of the mercenaries and flashing some of her coin, eyeing the long, curved knife one of them had. Just a dagger, really, but for one of her size it made a fantastic scimitar. She pays the man, who hands it over, and gives it a few test swings, smiling before joining the others with Almah.
"Sounds like a plan, Almah! Is there anything you or maybe Dashki can tell us about the approach to Kelmarane? It might help us get into the town without making a big scene. While that'd be fun, I imagine it wouldn't be profitable."
You boss, Almah looks at you, expectant of some sort of plan or deliberation. If you must talk alone, she expects to be informed of your plans.
Alem ponders the task before them, rubbing his chin as he studies the map. "We know Kelmerane to be inhabited by any manner of creatures. It is quite likely that most potential enemies will have most excellent vision at night. If we go by day, we may avoid playing to that particular advantage."
"Agreed, a somewhat stealthful approach would be helpful as well. Setting off on foot just after dawn would be our best time, approach with the morning sun at our backs. We will surely have Sarenrae's blessings upon us.
"I can take point! I'm small and sneaky, and I've got sharp eyes!" says Zoisa. "I can even turn invisible! For a little while, at least."
Dashki, while a good guide and survivalist, has informed me that he is on the trail of some gnolls that may be in the area, and may be gone for quite some time."
Almah nods along listening to the logic of your planning.
"Which way will you be approaching, in relation to the Pesh fields and the Pale river."
Zoisa's face lights up.
"I'd like to take a look at these Pesh fields...they may be quite profitable once this is all over!"
"I guess that's decided, then," quips Arian.
The group, with a path set out, leaves at once.
As you leave the church, you find the mercenaries setting fire to the pile of soiled mattresses, most likely the remains of the Pugwumpi's presence. To see the odious things gone will be a relief to the mind and the nose.
It doesn't take long before you reach the fields of Pesh that was once a bountiful resource for the now ruined town of Kelmarane.
As Faffnyr is a lousy sneak she opts not the sneaky approach.
Zoisa's eyes widen at the sight of so many cacti growing wild in this field. Having grown up in the city, she'd never seen a true field of the precious cactus that gave her homeland its name. She tears up a bit at the sight of it.
"By the Lantern King's luminosity, I think I've found a little slice of Heaven!" she exclaims.
Then she turns around to look at the others.
"Want me to sneak up and get a closer look and report back to you?"