Pieter's house is a plainly built stone hut with a wooden roof. The windows are open and there's the sound of someone moving things inside the house. The door is closed.
'I'm sure Pieter is a nice guy at heart.' Seamus winks at the blue man and the hooded ponytailed man with the servant. He then knocks on the door.
The party hears two pole-like objects being set in a corner.
The door is opened by a lanky, wiry man with tousled brown brown hair and eyes in a brown jerkin and black breeches of common make. He is also carrying a pouch on his belt.
A broom lies in the corner with a dustpan still with dust on it. Both items look like they've been hastily placed there.
There are two tables in the room, beside which lay benches and a sleeping mat on the wooden floor. The cupboards are filled with cutlery and food, but there is no sign of the Crystal Elephant.
"Who are you and what do you want?" The man utters rather ungraciously, his voice as harsh as a ravens crow.
"I was cleaning my house when you knocked on my door."He grumbles, disgruntled.
Seamus carefully puts the remaining items from the crate into his pack, he also picks up the Mwangi coffee and the dried fish, smiling at his new friends as he hefts the coffee in one hand, and the fish in the other. "I really like fish, and I have a plan for the coffee." placing the fish in his bag, he carries the coffee like a beloved child.
Seamus, strikes his best pose, smiling his best smile, then giving his best bow: he presents the man with the very expensive coffee. "I am Seamus Passeri of the Karcau Passeri's." He waits a moment to see if the man recognizes the famous family name, Shrugging his shoulders, his smile brightening. "My associates and I represent the gentleman from Iris Hill. May I present you with this gift of delicious Mwangi coffee as a token of our esteem. We are here to discuss the Crystal Elephant with you. May we come in?"
"I don't like the people from Iris Hill - they've been sending people buggering me over my Crystal Elephant and not taking no for an answer. "He answers, but more mollified. "I'm Pieter, and I do like coffee, though. Here, why don't you all come in and we can talk about matters." He invites the party into his house.
After everyone has seated, he pours everyone a cup of coffee and says, "You see, this Crystal Elephant," he takes it out of his belt pouch and shows it to the party, "Is a family heirloom. My Dad said that it had some...unique properties, but never elaborated on them. "
"I've been asked to part with it several times, and honestly some of the attempts have been quite RUDE, if you get my drift."He continues. "And the people they sent to ask for it. Louts and thugs, I tell you. So much that I felt unsafe and decided to carry it on my person at all times, less it gets stolen."
'Ahhh so he does have it, excellent.' "Lead on good man." Seamus turns and winks to the blue man and the man with the ponytail, then follows Pieter into the house.
Once the group is settled happily in the small home. Seamus, still smiling looks around and begins, "Cleaning your home, and what a lovely home it is. My mother always said "A clean home is a happy home." Making a sweeping gesture with his hand.
"I apologize that previous representatives have made your life unduly difficult, trust me, neither I nor my associates have any desire to 'bugger you' over the 'Crystal Elephant' or any other reason for that matter." He looks at the others, 'At least I hope not.'
Smiling at Pieter again he asks, "What can we do to encourage you to turn that no into a yes?"
"Thank you, thank you."He beams at Seamus compliment on his housekeeping.
"At least you're polite, well-mannered fellows," He answers.
To Seamus's question, he furrows his eyebrows, "You see, I'd rather not sell the Crystal Elephant, but I'm getting really tired of people knocking on my door and irritating me."
"And really, my house could use a new coat of paint, the cupboards could use replacement..."He muses. "How about 40 gold pieces?"
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As his carriage pulls into AbsalomThrushmoor, Howard looks at the city morosely.
A stinking dung-heap of peasants, miscreants and the hopelessly naive... but so is pretty much everywhere, these days.
He watches as the common folk go about their daily business, and shakes his head.
Look at them... blissfully ignorant of the greater truths of our universe, utterly incognizant of just how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, like bacteria upon the skin of the true 'greater powers' of this realm...
Howard sighs, and looks down on the seat next to him, where a tiny therapod is devouring a shoulder of salted pork in a frenzy of anger.
He reaches out and strokes it along its back, tapping it lightly on the nose when it snaps at him.
"Bad Claude! You know you shouldn't do that... Don't forget that it was I that stopped you from passing on; at least be gratefully for that..."
Claude hisses, but goes back to eating without any further hostility.
Howard stays silent, content to let another draw attention to himself.
The less people concern themselves with me, the better.
Howard hangs back, content to let the more martially inclined dispose of the rats, and deal with the heavy crate. He is, however, quite happy to help itemize things.
Howard looks around thoughtfully, then chews his lip before replying.
"I see what you mean. We can *probably* just about cover 40gp, but it would be a stretch... Do you think you could manage it with 30gp?"
"Well ok...fine," Pieter agrees reluctantly and takes 30 gp in exchange for the Crystal Elephant.
The mission complete, the party heads towards Sage Menelus's Mansion in the Ivy district, Dakash and Vincent drawing distrustful glances from the townsfolk.
Everyone spots someone with short cropped black hair looking at them intently from among the crowd, before she vanishes into the crowd.
Dakash has a feeling their "watcher" has unfriendly intentions.
The party arrive at Sage Menelus's mansion and are met by a servant wearing white blouse and pants and a black overcoat. On seeing the black blot, he ushers the party through the tall-wrought iron gate, and into a study lined with red carpets. A tan skinned old man wearing spectacles sits at the desk, flipping through a tome on the History of Ravengro. He peers owlishly at the party. "I see - visitors from the Count. He's asking for his book back, "Tigers and Flies", is he not?"
Vincent attempts to ID the vial.
He tosses the coffee can to the fop, grabs the thieves tools and cards, as well as the acid, if no one complains about it. He shoves the iron ingots into his bags, offers the morning star to everyone else, and straps it to his side if no one takes it.
He takes a moment to attempt to bandage his leg, analyzing if there is any more to the wound, such as potential infection.
The rest of the crate he lets the fop take, and nods when he grabs the dried fish. Slapping his hands together to remove the dust, he picks up his spear on the way out, leading the way if no one else does. He locks the door behind them.
Vincent makes a note of his face and his clothing, as well as if he has any armaments. Take note of the direction he flees. If he sees him again, try to separate from the party enough to climb stairs or something to get a higher vantage, and watch where he goes.
He tells the others: "The two tails are different. Either they are the same person attempting to look different, or there is more than just an individual interested in our endeavor. I remember that Kalath had friends in the thieves' guild. I would hope he doesn't intend to betray the count's confidence."
Allowing the others to take the lead, Vincent thinks to himself, Well, at least he is not completely useless...
With a peaceful and acceptable resolution, Vincent turns his mind elsewhere, thinking of where they need to go to find the Sage.
After they arrive, Vincent nods to the sage, "That is the one. Fetch it, so that we may be on our way..."
Vincent realizes the vial is a potion of Cure Light Wounds.
"It's in the basement. My servant, Richard, will take you there." Sage Menelus replies, then gets back to his book.
The manservant leads the party down a flight of stairs to to a plain wooden door, which he opens, then gestures for the parry to enter, "The book is in there."
Then he shuts the door behind the party and the party hears the turning of a lock.
Vincent rolls his eyes. "This would be the intellectual testing I hear he is fond of. That man has a great deal too much time on his hands."
He looks about the rooms and begins checking for traps and clues.
A plain stone room contains three chests: a copper-banded chest of smooth, dark wood; a red lacquered chest; and what looks to be a cube of solid steel.Behind the chests sits a low table holding a clear glass jar half full of liquid and a covered wicker basket.
Written on the back of the door they came from is the message: “Within these cases lies your book and the way out.”
Vincent, Howard and Dakash hear faint hissing as they approach the Wicker basket.
Inside the glass jar in the clear liquid is a jewelled brass key. Vincent realizes the liquid in glass jar is highly corrosive.
The red lacquered chest and the steel chest appear to be locked.
The steel chest is trapped - anyone touching the steel chest, as well as anyone within the radius will be dyed blue.
Vincent manages to disable the trap on the steel chest, but finds the lock beyond his skills.
Howard manages to overturn the glass jar without any of the liquid spilling in his direction.
Overturning the wicker basket however, is a different story. A tiny green viper with black spots, irritated at the intrusion to its home, streaks out at Howard and sinks its fangs into his ankle.
Howard is bitten on his ankle, but manages to fight off the poison.
Howard and Claude smack the snake until it stops moving.
In the wicker basket Howard finds a blue stone key.
The jewelled brass key from the overturned jug still lies on the floor.
Howard is pretty sure that the snake will be seeing double, and having a bad headache when it wakes up.
Putting the jewelled key into the red lacquered box, nothing happens and the key keeps spinning without making any contact with the mechanism. When the blue stone key is placed into the keyhole of the red lacquered box, everyone but Seamus hears a slight click of a mechanism and notice a small golden key from a slit in the ceiling, dropping 6 inches down from the 15 ft ceiling.
The red lacquered chest also opens, holding a key forged into the end of a jeweled scepter.
'That's a good idea, asking him to take less, I should have thought of that.' Seamus smiles as plain looking human with the odd lazard talks Pieter into taking less money. As they leave he smiles, "That was a smart idea using the money to buy the elephant. Are we going to sell some of this stuff so we can by the book ”The Shadow's Ship” from Leareth?"
Seamus, in an unusual event notices the lady with the short cropped black hair. As the man with the blue cloak and the ponytail begins to speak of the people who have been following them, Seamus shakes his head, "You were paying better attention than I, I didn't see any tail at all, she just looked like a normal person to me."
'huh, not even proper introductions, I guess it's common in this part of Ustalav.' Seamus follows the rude servant and his own associates. Nodding to the bespectacled wizard, he doesn't have time introduce himself again, as the group is shuttled to the basement behind 'Richard' Seamus frowns a little when he hears it's a test, he never did well with tests.
'why are they locking the door?' He watches as the cloaked man searches the room, and then as the man with the odd pet tips over several things. 'I don't think he wants us to mess the house up... ohh, that's smart!
Realizing that the man with the odd pet is solving the puzzle of the keys, Seamus stays near the door so he doesn't get in the way. Nodding his head as the nice man with the staff gently picks up the snake, Seamus volunteers. "I have some minor magical healing ability, should I heal the snake?" Looking to the others, "Do you think we should keep it and sell it? We get to do that right? If we beat the puzzle we get to keep everything to sell?"
Putting the jewelled brass key into the steel chest,the key breaks falling to dust as it is twisted in the lock. The blue stone key does not fit into the keyhole of the steel chest.
The golden key fits into the key hole of the steel chest and it opens, revealing a wand and the book, "Tigers and Files"
'I like this one.' Watching the man and his pet retrieve the key by using the table, Seamus smiles, and begins stacking the snakes basket with the other empty containers and their keys. Once he has his arms full, he asks, "Will any of the keys fit the door?"
Howard tries cepter key on the door lock,and finds that the scepter key opens the door. The party troops out of the basement, where Sage Menelus is still reading his book.
He eyes the party appraisingly, "Well, well, I'm impressed. You not only managed to get the book, you managed not to be turned blue. And in record time too."He compliments the party. "I am Sage Menelus, and you have earned the right to know my name. Feel free to stop by anytime you like, I could use a good discussion for intellectual stimulation over tea."
"Richard," He beckons his man servant,"You may show them out."
Then the party is ushered onto the streets once more.
The party heads towards Learth's dwelling in the Artists quarter, with Dakash and Vincent drawing glares.
"Different colored eyes... I bet he is a demon in disguise..."
"The blue one must be an alien from outer space! I bet he's planning kidnap us for his experiments!"
Among the unfriendly locals, Vincent finds one of the stands out, a woman with 11 fingers instead of 10 in a green dress. Then she vanishes into the crowd.
Howard and Dakash sense the woman is eyeing them in a predatory manner.
Vincent palms the sleeping viper on his way out of the room and drops it in a coat pocket or chair or other suitably inconspicuous location on the way back to the sage.
Vincent ignores the sage, not in the least impressed with being coerced into providing his noontime entertainment and leaves.
Howard finds a General Store named,"Goods and Gear"
The jewelled scepter is worthless, as the shopkeeper, Samuel, tells the party the jewels are fake.
Howard carts the strangely light copper banded chest to Samuel, only for Samuel to tell him that there is no chest, so what the heck is he trying to sell?
The red lacquered chest will sell for 20gp,the steel chest 40 gp and the glass jar, 1 gp. He is not interested in Wicker baskets with Vipers in it. If the Viper is removed, he will give 5 gp for the Wicker basket.He offers 5 gp for the wicker basket.
The party arrives at a Gothic-style building, and knocks on the door to be opened by a harried, disheveled man in wizard robes.
A large intricate carpet dominates the marble floor in this sitting room. A chaise sits along the north wall and a desk spans the southeast corner, its chair positioned with its back to the southwest corner of the room. Three comfortable chairs are positioned around a small, low circular table.
The man eyes the black blot pinned on Vincent's coat. "Are you the people I've been told to expect from the Count?"
He runs through his messy hair in agitation. "I need your help! I've got an out of control imp in my workroom and it's busting up everything in there!"
"It was supposed to be a simple matter, summon and bind an imp so Ronald could milk it for its venom...but it got out of the circle and started pointing its stinger at me. I ran away as fast as I could and locked it in my workroom to prevent it from doing any further harm! But I don't know what else I can do! I'm at my wits end!"
Vincent's bite wound is red and inflamed, leeking pus and he's starting to feel feverish.
Filth fever: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 11; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves.
"Yes, yes, just help me deal with the imp, I'll give you The Shadow's Ship for free."He agrees, relieved. "You might need this,"He hands a masterwork silver dagger to Howard. "Return it to me afterwards, I need it for magical workings."
"Id use it on the imp myself...but as you can see," He gestures at his lanky form, "I'm not martially inclined and the stinger looked nasty."
"Try not to let the imp damage too many things in the room, or blow too many things in the room up? They're really expensive to replace."He pleads with the party.
The workroom is decorated in the colors of ebon black and crimson red. Silk, rare woods, and carefully carved marble compose every bit of furniture in the room. Vials of alchemical substances of sit smashed on the marble floor around the workbench. Part of the carpet is upturned, revealing a summoning circle within.
A dimmunitive creature with fiendish wings and a whipping scorpion-like tail picks up an undamaged vial on the workbench and hurls it on the floor, causing a loud explosion, leaving scorch marks and shattered glass shards on the floor.
Both Dakash and Howard cannot remember what the creature is.
The man closes the door and once the party has entered it, to prevent the imp from escaping. "Tell me when you're done, I'll open it!"
The imp glares at the party, "Kreacher doesnt want to serve weak casty. He doesn't even know how to draw the circle properly!"
Vincent squints at the creature. "I just want a book, and the owner wants you gone. Are you trapped here? I could help you get out."
"Kreacher don't care about books. Kreacher just wants to make casty pay for pulling me out from my house rudely."Kreacher's eyes glint as he gives cruel smile. "Then Kreacher wants to go back home."
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Howard addresses the imp calmly.
"Now Kreacher, be reasonable. I appreciate that you are angry, but causing a ruckus is not going to be healthy for you - after all, your erstwhile summoner asked us to 'deal' with you. Personally, I would prefer to do it amicably, because I find the alternative unpleasant to contemplate. Even if you avoid us, I am sure that others will be along eventually, who will be less inclined to talk - wouldn't it just be nicer to go home now?"
’With people this smart, this has been easy.’ carrying the boxes and basket behind the human with the strange pet, Seamus smiles at the mage as they leave. ”Thanks Sage Menelus I’d love a stimulating discussion over tea."
’I wonder what happened to the snake.’ When the merchant opened the basket and paid for it, Seamus realized that the snake was no longer where he thought it was, begins checking his pockets to make sure it hadn’t slipped into one of them.
’Nice place.’ Admiring the building and decor, simply nods his head when the wizard asks if they are from the ‘count,’ letting the man with the lizard do the talking. As the wizard explains his situation and this associate offers to help, Seamus quickly chimes in. ”Yes we can certainly help!”
When he sees the wizard offer a silver dagger, Seamus presents a blunt Alchemical Silver arrow from his quiver. ”If it doesn’t like silver, this should help.”
Smiling, Seamus, draws his bow as he follows the others into the room. Seeing the small creature destroying things, he frowns, letting the others speak for a bit, finally stepping toward the front, he notches the blunt Alchemical Silver arrow and points it at the creature. ”Mr. Kreacher. You have caused enough mischief, costing the silly summoner lots of money. My associate is right it will be better for all of us if you leave. Now either go home or we will be forced to attemp't to send you home. It’s your choice.”
Sage Menelus nods amicably at both Seamus and Howard, "Hope to see you soon."
"Of course Kreacher is angry. Kreacher was enjoying his spcied coffee in his comfortable, warm cave, when suddenly he was in cold, nasty chamber in a magic cirle with this mean guy demanding to squeeze venom out of Kreacher's tail! Without his coffee!"Kreacher retorts.
"Kreacher's coffee is going to get cold...and won't taste good anymore." Kreacher grumbles under his breath.
"Kreacher pointed his tail at the mean guy saying that he would jab him with his tail and the mean guy ran away!" Kreacher proclaims proudly.
"Ok. Kreacher realize that now there are so many people in the room. And maybe Kreacher has already had revenge in making a mess in his room."The imp looks down at the wrecked room, with grim satisfaction.
Then he looks at the party fearfully, "Kreacher will go home now. But Kreacher doesn't know how to go home..."
The man on the other side of the door, words tumbling over each other in his haste to get them out, blabbers so quickly that it is nearly incomprehensible, "Kreacher - your service is complete!"
Then Kreacher's eyes widen open in surprise as the magic takes over and he dematerializes from the material plane. He waves a farewell as it dematerializes, leaving a smell of sulfur and brimstone.
'Good, one more job accomplished.' Satisfied that the imp will go home, Seamus lowers his bow, "Sorry to hear about your coffee Kreature." he then begins to loot 'look around' the room.