Tassira follows the others into the room, a glare on her face.
"Gaedren Lamm!" She yells, magic swirling at her fingertips. "You've caused too much pain to walk away now! Your time is--"
She then notices what's lying in the pool below the walkway. Her eyes widen and her face pales.
"--a crocodile. That's a crocodile. That's a bloody crocodile." She promptly points a finger at the beast.
"Imbre Coloris! Imbre Coloris!" She intones in a panic.
Kayleigh takes a moment to tell Kevlin to wait just outside the small door until the battle's done and then follows after Emileva to help her deal with the big crocodile.
His time is a crocodile? Huh?
Nebbin looks back, thoroughly more confused than usual at Tassira's words.
As the waves of color wash over the reptile, its eyes roll wildly and it begins thrashing around in confused fury.
Gaedran backpeddles to put distance between Nebbin and himself, lowering the crossbow in an attempt to drill Nebbin at point-blank range.
Aaaah!"
Aaaah!"
Nebbin lets out a panicked scream as he swings his board!
Nebbin strikes a glancing blow, causing Gaedran to lose his balance for a moment a shoot wide of the mark.
HP 15/15
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (-2 to all when raging)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 17
Rage: 5/9
Harrow points: 3/3
Effects:
Adrenaline as he realizes death just missed him again fuels Nebbin's swing, but he puts too much muscle into it, the makeshift club going wide of its mark.
"You will pay for what you have done to me and other's Gaedren. You should have killed me when you have the chance! Emileva, charge him from the other side!" Neziana rushes past Nebbin to get into the corner so she can strike at the man from the other side compared to Emileva. There she carefully bides her time waiting for the other girl to come close enough to distract their target.
"Er--am I the only one who's noticed the bloody big crocodile here?!" Tassira raises her crossbow and fires it at the thrashing beast!
Her hands are trembling as she steps to the side, reloading the whole time.
"Noticed, but your spell KOed it. How long?" Neziana shouts out with terse words as she jumps from foot to foot, looking for the perfect chance to strike Gaedren.
Emileva shouts the cryptic "I am only one of the many!" at Gaedran Lamm as she closes in on him. With her sword raised she slashes at his head when she is within arm's reach of him.
"Noticed, but your spell KOed it. How long?" Neziana shouts out with terse words as she jumps from foot to foot, looking for the perfect chance to strike Gaedren.
"Not sure--maybe only a few seconds!"
Gaedran's pretty fast for being an old codger, but the flood of karma coming through his creepy little door today is more than his thin soul can bear.
He twists with Emileva's slashing blow to avoid being decapitated, but he does take a deep neck wound that sprays blood. He loses his footing in his own mess and falls headlong into the pit, right next to his beloved, stunned crocodile.
He struggles to get to hands and knees in the slick riverside mud, his untended wound flowing freely down his neck and side. The scent of the old man's blood stirs the monster into further thrashing.
Gaedran's able to come to a sitting position just about the time the crocodile regains control of its faculties. He has a chance to say about half a word before his speech turns into a strangled scream. The croc rips Gaedran's leg off in its first lunge, then dives with a great dirty splash into the shallows at the far end of the room by the door.
Tassira freezes and drops her crossbow in shock as she watches the thrashing croc devour Gaedren alive.
"Oh... oh, sweet Nethys, that's..."
She puts a hand to her mouth and recoils from the edge of the pool, struggling not to vomit.
Emileva watches impassively as the alligator dispatches Lamm. She had expected to feel something more after he had met his reckoning, but she has to work hard to to find some amount of satisfaction now.
Looking over to Nebbin and Neziana she says "Well that's that." in a flat voice. "Let's secure this place and be done with it."
"Oh my gods, it ate him!" Nebbin says, retching. "I guess he's dead. So ... we won? We can all go home now?"
The longer you stand here, the more this place reeks. It smells of briny crocodile s!#$, a fresh kill and something older, fainter and fouler. As the monster lizard goes through its kill ritual with Gaedran's corpse, you can't help but think how often the old man stood in your place and watched a kid die like that. The dangling chains and manacles are bound to a hook on the wall in one corner of the room. You could take the chain in hand and lower something into the pit...
Tassira feebly recovers her crossbow and turns away from the grisly scene.
She starts looking around for another exit from the room. Emileva's idea sounds good. Should secure the area--make sure he doesn't have any more goons lying in wait.
There's a door to a walled off area in the corner where the fight happened. No other doors are evident.
Tassira warily makes her way to the other door and opens it.
Ravnos squirms about in her backpack and hops out.
The room beyond is part study part bedroom, all disaster. There's a sagging bed against one wall with a lumpy mattress. Next to it is a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, fruit rinds and cockroaches. At the foot of the bed is a large strongbox secured by a rusty padlock. On top of the strongbox is a ledger, its pages badly rippled and moisture swollen. In one corner of the room there's a dresser with soiled clothes hanging out of open drawers. Atop the dresser is a badly stained hatbox and an attendant swarm of flies.
The whole is lit by a low-burning oil lamp on the dresser. There aren't any windows and there's no air circulation at all. Somehow it smells worse in this room than it does in the crocodile nest.
Tassira starts coughing and waving her hand in front of her face. "Guys, there's--*COUGHCOUGHCOUGH*--his room here. Gods, it's a mess... there's a strongbox in here that's locked."
Ravnos wrinkles her nose and her whiskers twitch. She blinks a couple of times and eyes the room with feline contempt.
Kayleigh returns to Kevlin's side, hoping that the young boy didn't witness Lamm's gruesome demise. She lets the others check out Lamm's room while she tends to Kevlin and keeps a general watch just in case Gaedren doesn't prove filling to the crocodile or some other threat reveals itself.
Emileva joins Tassira in the room, looking about.
"Gads this place is foul! Let's take a quick look about and get out."
Emi searches about, using a dagger to move things when she can. She'd prefer to touch nothing in the room with her own hand if she can avoid it.
Nebbin stays at the door of the foul room, glancing frequently back at Keyleigh to make sure the crocodile doesn't try to come eat her.
Neziana pumps her fist at seeing the final fate of the man who have caused her so much pain. Though at the same time her belly churns at the violent act of the crocodile. "Yes! Die scum!"
The tiefling looks to Nebbin with a curious look. "We won the fight yes... As for going home..."
By this time Tessira appears. "Let's check out what's there first. We also need to figure out what to do with all the kids here now." She nods towards where Kayleigh has disappeared through the door.
Neziana carefully makes her way across the room towards the box. "Let's check out what we got here."
A glance at the ledger as Neziana moves it out of the way shows pages and pages of apparent nonsense. It's encoded somehow and bears detailed study if you want to have a chance at understanding what it says.
Setting it aside, Neziana turns her attention to the big lock. In just a moment she has the lock off and the lid open. Within she finds a number of objects wrapped individually and carefully stored:
- narrow teak cigar case inlaid with tiny bits of jade
- 2-lb gold ingot stamped with Cheliax coat-of-arms
- miniature gold crown
- fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnet eyes
- silver ring with a personalized inscription
- an intricate ivory figurine of two succubi entwined in a lover's embrace
- masterwork shuriken
- arrowhead made of a very shiny and light-weight silver metal
- odd dagger with a blade shaped like a key - this also bears an inscription
- holy symbol of Shelyn made of abalone
- glass vial containing a clear blue potion.
- obsidian wand
- crystalline vial containing a viscous silver liquid
- bejeweled brooch with a broken clasp
This last item, the jeweled brooch, stands out in its craftsmanship. A house dragon and an imp circle one another gracefully in combat. It's a uniquely Korvosan motif.
While Neziana hits the jackpot, Emileva finds the opposite. Using her dagger, she upends the lid on the hatbox on the dresser, sending up a fresh wave of buzzing flies and allowing a peak inside. Within the box she finds a tar-preserved head of a young woman - someone with a very familiar face. The thing that triggers the memory association are the cards in the bottom of the box, the harrow deck used in your fortune telling this morning. To all appearances, the very deck.
The head in the box belongs to Zellara the fortune teller.
"Woah..." Neziana whistles slowly under her breath. "That's quite some stuff here. I wonder if anything is magical, like the potions from before. Some of this is bound to be worth quite a bit. Come here and see." She looks to the others with a smile. Gaedren doesn't need this, and we deserve some recompense after what he has done to us.
Tassira leans over Neziana's shoulder. "Wow... I might even be able to pay my rent with some of this."
She picks up the obsidian wand and looks it over with her magic.
Ravnos, on the other hand, seems to be more interested in what Emileva has found.
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The full horror of what Emileva finds in the box comes in three stages. When she pops off the box top and sees the head inside she gasps and recoils from it. When she notices the cards and realizes she knows the head, that person, she turns to the side and retches.
As she straightens up it occurs to her that there is no possible way Zellara could have arrived here, been murdered, and had her preserved head placed in the box since they had seen her last at the harrow reading. She screams. The wail easily echoes throughout the small room and into the other where Lamm now floats.
Neziana looks up from her study of the treasures when she hears Emileva reaching. "What is it Emileva? Did he do something awful?" No surprise really, he was a monster. Lucky he just beat me up instead of cutting me up.
Neziana's words and thoughts are rudely interrupted by Emileva's bone-chilling scream. Neziana springs to her feet and draws her rapier, fully prepared for something dangerous to jump out at any moment. "Emileva?!" Her call is drowned out by the shriek.
When nothing further happen, Neziana slowly makes her way over to the other girl. "What happened? What did you see?" She's worried about peeking into the barrel after Emileva's reaction, but she still wants to know what's there. The curious tiefling girl waits for Emileva to gather herself and explain before she looks to see.
When Ravnos sees what Emileva found, her tail gets extremely bushy and her back fur bristles. She folds her ears back in fright and bolts behind Tassira's legs.
Tassira nearly jumps out of her skin when Emileva's shriek interrupts her examination of the obsidian wand she found. She wanders over to the hatbox, waves the flies aside, and peeks in...
...and immediately regrets it. Her face turns a pale white and she scrambles away from it.
"Th-th-that's--that's Zellara!"
Of course you're correct - there's a basic illogic to all of this. The time sequencing is wrong. The tar on the head is dry. This Madame Zellara died some time ago.
The cards of the Harrow deck seem relatively unscathed as you handle them. Their faces are smooth, dry and cool to the touch as they're removed from the box. The deck seems whole, and the cards of your choosing seem to peek out at you as the deck is gathered in hand. The Rabbit Prince, the Locksmith, the Avalanche, the Dance, the Demon's Lantern... the Peacock.
"It's Zellara?" Nebbin says, still not wanting to go into the room. "But she was in her shop? How can that be Zellara? ... Wait, maybe she has a twin! Should we go back to the shop and ask her? But I don't want her to know her sister's dead..."
Emi wipes her mouth, thinking on what Nebbin, ever the optimist, said.
Paler than usual, she shakes her head. "The cards are in there. Our cards. I don't think there's a twin, but it's worth checking, sure. I think we were gathered and sent here by something other than Zellara. A ghost? Magic? A powerful illusion?"
"We'll need to go back to her house anyway. There's no other place where we can take a group of kids. We can't go very far with rioting in the streets."
After hearing the discussion about the grisly contents of the hatbox, Kayleigh's glad she didn't join in the loot search...and she's doubly thankful that young Kevlin didn't have to see the seer's head.
When Emileva suggests returning to Zellara's house, the Milanite cleric's a bit worried about what they might find there but realizes it's likely the safest spot at the moment. Once she's there, she figures, she can plot out a way to return Kevlin to his mother.
By the gods...what have I gotten myself into?
It doesn't take much poking around to find space in your sacks for the items you've collected here. I'm assuming you're taking all the wrapped pieces, the journal of encoded nonsense, and the harrow deck, and you'll find someplace to divide the spoils later.
The mechanics of climbing back up the rope aren't easy, but once one person has done it, gear can be lifted back up through the hole. The Lambs above assist you as you ascend one-by-one back into the fishery proper.
A rather shaken Tassira pauses as the others leave. "Uh... guys? Go on without me for a bit--I'll catch up."
She then moves to investigate the cabinet. ...was that the Rabbit Prince? I thought that was just a bit of sleight-of-hand... or it could be a manifestation of something else altogether...
Ravnos stands at the door, giving her a confused look.
"That's awful." Neziana exclaims in horror as she sees the head of Zellara.
"One way or another, we have been deceived. Either this head here is wrong, or the one who initiated all of this is someone else. I'm thinking it's the later. This head isn't magical, right Tassira?" She looks to the mageling. "I wish I could do magic like you... But Gaedren is not the only vile person in this city and studying at the acadamae is closed to me now."
"The question still remains though, why the deception? I at least would have done this, no matter who the instigator was."
"We should take what we find here. Gaedren won't have any use for it. If we can't find any practical use for the things, we can at least sell them." She goes back to looking over the treasures and she'll make sure nothing gets left behind, including the harrow deck. "Though I don't know what to do about the head. It feels wrong to just leave it here, but at the same time I don't really have any better suggestions either."
"I don't like the idea of going back to the place where someone deceived us with all the kids. Though I'm not sure if I have any better suggestions either. I do want to go there to figure out more what lead us all here."
"This head isn't magical, right Tassira?"
"I don't think so... it--er--she didn't register as magical, at any rate." Tassira replies, still interested in what's in the cabinet.
"I wish I could do magic like you... But Gaedren is not the only vile person in this city and studying at the acadamae is closed to me now."
Tassira pauses in thought.
"...do you have someplace to live, Neziana?" She asks, an idea forming in her head.
"We have to take Zellara's head" Emileva says with some obvious discomfort.
"Whatever might be going on, we can't just leave in this place. It should be put to rest properly.
Upon closer inspection the cabinet is shut, creating the firm impression in the Arcanist's mind that something is out of place. Opening the cabinet, she finds a black wooden box with a sliding lid. She doesn't have to open the box to know what's inside, the distinctive aroma of shiver is one she knows very well. As her fingers dance over the doses, a shame-inducing thrill of anticipation washes over her that she finds difficult to put down.
There are twenty doses of the drug here. Among the crowd she used to run with at school she could get 500 gp for this haul, one hit at a time.
The harrow deck radiates entwined auras of divination and necromancy. The head is a mundane human head, poorly preserved through a tar dipping and beginning to decompose as a result.
Regarding the possibilities to explain Zellara, the world is so full of shape-shifters, skin-changers, dopplegangers, deceiving spirits and mundane fraudsters that it's difficult to form an opinion based on your memories alone. It's certainly not hard to pull off a disguise when the people you're deceiving have never met the person being falsely portrayed. But nothing seemed amiss to you in this regard when you were seated in Zellara's apartment, despite your having been somewhat suspicious from the outset.
Neziana is not exactly wet-behind-the-ears when it comes to fencing quality items at choice locations. To her somewhat trained eye, there's upwards of 2500 gp worth of art pieces and personal effects in this collection, not including the brooch. The brooch alone may be worth 2000 gp, but deserves a look by someone with more training.
For those who've returned to the fishery floor, you find that most of the orphans have stayed put, eager to know if the man who's terrorized their existence has been laid low. Carawyn, Hal (her would-be paramour), Jilly (the soggy girl) and Peri (the little blonde kick-bag, short for Perisimiond) stand vigil over Avram and the unconscious gnome 'Hookshanks'. The other Lambs you rescued are nowhere to be found, and none of the street-Lambs have returned while you were away.
The remaining Lambs cluster around the first person back through the gut-hole, pressing for details of what lies below and a detailed explanation for all the screaming they just heard.
"Fair, fine enough by me." Neziana nods to Emileva's request to keep the head. "You worry about the head. I'll worry about the stuff we found here instead. It's quite the treasure old Gaedren had tucked away here. Especially the brooch, we should find a jeweler or something to appraise it properly. It might be worth as much as all the rest put together and that's already worth like five pound of platinum. More money than I've used my entire life." Though not more than I've seen, in the hands of Gaedren and the corrupt wizards of the Acadamae. "I already got a few ideas how to monetize these things, but that's not pressing, we can deal with that when we get away from here. We are all going where we met the fake Zellara, right?"
Her eyes glittering with excitement over all the wealth she finally turns her attention back to Tassira. "I've always been able to find a place to snug down for the night, but I don't have a permanent dwelling as of now. Why are you asking?" Though with the treasure we found here, that might change. But do I really want to make it too easy to find me by someone from the Axadamae?
"Yeah, we should go back to her house to figure out what's going on at the very least. It seems fairy obvious Lamm wasn't involved in any deception. He's dead from it, and hadn't prepared for our arrival.
I think we should stay there too, at least until tomorrow. We need a better idea of what moving around the city will be like before we try going any distance.
Why don't the rest of you start readying the kids to leave in the front room. I'll handle the prisoners while you're do that."
"I can still channel healing energy a couple more times today," Kayleigh says, mainly to Emileva, but to anyone else who cares to listen as well. "Anyone who's still wounded...gather around me. Maybe the healing will bring around the gnome or the other prisoner; if so, we can question them if you'd like."
From the way Kayleigh's eyes dart toward Emileva without ever meeting the other woman's eyes and the speed with which she uses her healing burst, you'd almost think that the cleric of Milani believes Emileva's offer to 'handle the prisoners' might be synonymous with 'kill the prisoners.'
"Um...I know of a place that might take in the Lambs for a little while at least, but it's located quite a ways north in Old Korvosa--the Temple of Aroden."
"I've always been able to find a place to snug down for the night, but I don't have a permanent dwelling as of now. Why are you asking?"
"Well..." Tassira turns away from the cabinet, a little too eagerly. "...you said you wished to be able to use magic, right? In fact, I'd be happy to teach you the basics."
"In exchange, though, I need a roommate. My rent is due soon."
She then turns back to the cabinet and eyes its contents with a mixture of shame-filled temptation and quiet rage.
"...there's shiver in here. About 20 units, worth about 500 sails apiece." She feels her magic flowing into her fingertips again. "I'm tempted to just burn them all now."