"There are wrose things in the tombs that what we saw," Malavine said soberly. Shaking head head, she added, "Supper would be good. I have some contacts I'll need to talk to about selling the things we found - I should be able to get a good price, if things go well."
Hickle nods, taking a handful of legitimte currency they've procured to aproauch the bar. He calls to the tender by name, having presumably learned it the previous day. "I request a hearty feast for me and my companions, having returned victorious in our mission! Would you do well to start us off with water, and allow us to switch out for spirits and liquors over the meal's course? Oh! And I'd like another pouch of that blend I purchased before, it has a certain respectable taste in my pipe."
"Those are all relatively basic ingredients for a caster's pouch, aren't they?" Malavine considered. "If you need more, lead and saltpeter aren't likely a problem. Charcoal is pretty rare around here, though. Not enough trees to waste making it. Not when you have camel dung to burn." She glanced at the fire.
After ordering a meal for the group, he comes over with a smile on his face and tobacco in his pipe. "Ah... Sulfur, Saltpeter, lead... I know them well! Are you seeking to make a gun for yourself there? I do so applaud your ingenuity! Perhaps I should see about upgrading mine and Shmick's arsenal at some point, hm?"
"ᎪᏒmᎥᏁᎶ mᎬ ᎳᎥᏆh Ꭺ ᎶuᏁ Ꭵs ᏆhᎬ fᎥᏒsᏆ sᏆᎬᏢ ᎥᏁ ᏆhᎬ ᎠᎾᎳᏁfᎪᏞᏞ Ꮎf fᏞᎬsh ᏟᏒᎬᎪᏆuᏒᎬs, mᎪsᏆᎬᏒ." Shmick chimes, sitting down with the group.
"Oh hush, you! There'll be no dreams of world domination on my watch. Pay no mind to him dears, a lot of robots get strange quirks the longer they're alive."
The construct sighs, shaking his head.
But his quirks are what make him fun! Kephry interjects between bites of fruit bread and meats, we gotta have SOMEONE to balance out your crazy, and Pharasma as my witness we know that's not me!
The next day is spent selling and trading in the scorching Osirian heat. Fortunately, the markets are mostly covered with canopies, the merchants of Wati having learned long ago that people shop longer when they don't feel like they're being baked.
That evening, the return party for adventurers participating in the exploration lottery begins early. One of the parties, a group of rough and tumble halflings you've come to know as The Dog Troops, arrived in early afternoon to being their reveling, though a couple members of that group seem a bit more solemn.
Other groups trickle in, so that by the time the PCs have completed their shopping and cleaned up a bit, they include:
A mixed group called the Cryptfinders, consisting of an armored knight (who's not wearing his armor now, but you've seen him before), a Qadiran cleric, a rather flamboyant looking young man dressed in a cape and expensive travelers clothes, and a slightly older man with a beard
An eclectic group called the Scorched Hand, made up of a dark-haired woman in a purple outing jacket and large matching hat and white bodice functioning as a shirt, a very slender young Osirian man in native attire, a strikingly beautiful dark-skinned half-elven woman, and a dark-skinned man wearing the holy symbol of Nethys.
There are other groups yet to arrive, you're certain.
Fresh from a cool bath, Malavine considered the people there. More information on what was likely to come was never a bad idea, and so she headed over to the Halflings. At least they understood the evils of shoes. "Well met. You look like you've had a day of it. In the spirit of co-operate, would you care to share stories? I'll be happy to tell you what we found in our job."
"Aye, sit stranger! Well met indeed! I'm Bedicus, leader of the Dog Troops, but the boyos call me Mad Dog!" The grizzled middle-aged halfling takes another solid drink of of the deep amber Osirian ale. In front of him sat a short sword, remarkably well-maintained.
"Each of the halflings introduces himself in turn. Our journey was brief, and we were the first to return. We found ourselves in an ancient tannery. Very little to see there, but one of the boys noticed a gorgeous blade..." he paused to tap the sword on the table in front of him;"FLOATING in mid-air! As we approached to take a peek, our battle dogs went nuts! Seems the sword was being held aloft by a creature known as a GELATINOUS CUBE, most commonly found in dungeons deep but evidently not unknown in ancient tanneries."
"Long story short," and Mad Dog proceeded to make a long story long, droning on about each detail of the combat. The reason for the sad faces on two of his men became obvious as Malavine listened to the parts of his story where two of their battle dogs met their ends. When the tale was told, they held aloft their beers and said, "To Brutus and Sekut!" and drank deeply.
Hickle rests on Shmick's shoulders, having grown tired from all the walking done when they went back and fourth throughout the market. There were a few choice pieces he was considering making purchase of, but he decided to hold off on splurging his share of their hard earned coin right away.
He laughed as he saw Malavine get dragged into halfling story-time with the Dog Troops. Scratching his chin in thought, he decided to visit the Cryptfinders and introduce himself to their number. They seemed like a pleasant bunch at the very least.
"Well met my fellow tomb raiders! I am Hicklespurn, inventor from the southern duchy of Alkenstar. And this helpful lad here is my boy Shmick. We're from the Anima Libertas, a right group of feisty ladies I do say."
Malavine winced. "That is not a nice trick. Ours weren't too bad. The worst we really saw were a small pack of undead cats, who acted about the same as normal cats as far as I could tell. And the Treasure Room itself had a big statue which - you guessed it - was some kind of construct guardian." She shook her head. "After the first batch of cats, one of my teammates started blowing up anything and everything that could move. So if you see any artefacts for sale with magic damage, they were deffintely that way before we found them."
Falto, the flouncy-garbed leader of the Cryptfinders, greets Hickle with a wave of his hand and a hearty "Welcome, diminutive friend! That's a mighty nice...steed you have there? Are you from Numeria, by any chance? I heard tell they have that sort of thing up there."
|
To Hickle before the next day..
"Well, no I brought a musket with me, just circumstances caused me to leave Alkenstar before I finished my training, so I was given some notes to study."
During the day, she'll get the mats she needs to make some alchemical rounds.
Upon the evening.
"Zelda Lupescu." she says to the others who ask, not mentioning that she is from Alkenstar at this time.
"Ꭵ'ᏉᎬ bᎬᎬᏁ ᎠᎬmᎾᏆᎬᎠ ᏆᎾ sᏆᎬᎬᎠ ᏁᎾᎳ. ᏞᎾᏉᎬᏞᎽ." Shmich calls from under the parka, his entire body sagging several inches in accompaniment. Hickle struggles to hold on from the sudden movement and gives him a few reprimanding pats.
"Now now, enough of that! Ahem- Sorry, you know how kids can be, a right rebellious lot they are. But no, no, I'm not a Numerian, I'm form the Grand Duchy of Alkenstar a few countries south of here as I said. It's in the spellscar, if you need a reference on your map. But I will say, I had been meaning to visit that nation at some point... I'm sure there's plenty of things to learn for improving my boy here!"
"Well, I'd like to hear your tale! Ours was certainly...interesting, right team?" And then, Falto proceeds to not give Hickle an opportunity to tell his tale, but instead speaks extravagantly about exploring the tomb of an important government official. He looks to members of his team to corroborate his tales of fabulous wealth and exciting derring do. The man seems very sincere, and at the end, Hickle counts himself lucky to have heard such a well-spun tale.
"Zelda Lupescu." she says to the others who ask, not mentioning that she is from Alkenstar at this time.
As Zelda circulates, she overheads the woman in the purple hat, whose name sees to be Velriana, complaining quite vocally about the Grand
Mausoleum’s policy of refusal to assign specific sites to groups that requested them. It seems that the Scorched Hand was denied a petition to explore a site sacred to its members’ faith, and was instead allocated what turned out to be an ancient brothel.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thoroughly enjoying his company, Hickle in turn relays and embellishes upon his own tale at the tomb. From strange haunted cryptic mirrors, packs of mummified cats that roamed the halls, vicious sand-born monsters, the grandness and dangers that was the final resting place itself. He spares no expense in his story weaving to include all the girls, highlighting their best and most iconic moments from their adventure. He pays special attention in particular to Payn and her obsessive need to deface anything that seemed capable of animation, having found it hilarious in hindsight.
The Cryptfinders are really enthused two such well-told tales. The group's more martial character slaps Shmick on the back and takes a big swig of his beer, laughing jovially. "This lady Payn sounds like a firebrand!"
Falto nods and chuckles slightly, but seems quite interested at Zelda's comment regarding the Scorched Hand. "They were hoping to be assigned something called 'the Erudite Eye,' some sort of temple to the deity Nethys. Came by a few minutes ago and demanded to know if we'd heard of it's being assigned to anyone else. Seems they claim it's their right, the whole team being worshippers of the magic god."
As Falto speaks, another team enters the bar. This group is known as The Daughters of the Desert, an all-female adventuring party. The leader is an Ulfen bard, and other members are a Rahadoumi cleric of Iomedae, a barbarian from one of the nomadic desert clans, and two Osirian witches, twin sisters who always wear veils.
Bidding the Halflings good luck, and raising a drink to the fallen dogs, Malavine rose and headed over to the Daughters of the Desert. "Greetings. I'm Malavine, from Anima Libertas. Do have time to talk? We're sharing stories on what happened, trying to make sure we're all prepared for the next one. Do you ladies have any stories?"
Hickle shares a laugh with the warrior from his seat, having moved to a propped chair somewhere during his tale. Shmick struggles to keep his hat on from the man's forceful slap, and grumbles his displeasure unintelligently.
When Zelda approaches and the man responds, he brushes his beard in thought. "Truly? Well, at least they seem to be proudly displaying his volatile nature. I find this whole lottery system these persists have going for them to be truly ingenious. Rather then having us all right for the same location, there spreading it out between everyone. Plus, the excitement of cracking open your chosen site is quite a thrill!"
"Greetings. I'm Malavine, from Anima Libertas. Do have time to talk? We're sharing stories on what happened, trying to make sure we're all prepared for the next one. Do you ladies have any stories?"
Sitting with the "Daughters" at an empty table, the leader gives an enthusiastic "Certainly, sister!" She introduces herself as Sigrun Firehair. "There's not much to tell, unfortunately. We were assigned the house of a wealthy pawnbroker to explore. But while we encountered several traps, there was little else in the way of opposition; no glorious battles with monsters obscure. The treasure...was adequate, I guess. But sit! Sit!" Sigrun says brushing an orange lock out of her eyes. She takes out a small journal and a quill and ink. "Tell me of your tale, while my maids and I ply you with drink, such as the locals can produce!"
"Thank you," Malavine replied as she sat. "Ours was a little more exciting. We had a couple of traps, but there were several guardians - mummified cats, of all things, and an animated statue. Some kind of Golem. But as an added bonus some kinds of beetles had managed to burrow in. Gods alone knows how they got in through those stones, some were bigger than my caravan." Malavine shook her head. "It was a decent haul, though."
Sigrun Firehair questions Malavine for as many details of the battles as she can remember.
The evening wears on into morning, and the party begins to break up. In the morning, you may get your new assignments at the Grand Mausoleum.
Having shared her tales, Malavine headed to find her bed.
Anima Libertas meets the next morning and travels to the Grand Mausoleum, where the team is given information about their second exploration site. The second site is a walled, two-story mansion with surrounding grounds, which the Pharasmins believe belonged to some minor nobility of the city. As before, the PCs are given a sketched map
detailing the site’s location in the necropolis.
After a brief travel to and then inside the city of the dead, the team reaches the site. Sandstone walls ten feet high enclose this estate, affording those who once lived inside some privacy. A two-story stone house is visible beyond the walls, adjoining the rear wall of the property. In the center of the estate’s southern wall stands a pair of tarnished bronze gates hanging partially open. A pair of statues flanks the gate. Dusty hieroglyphs are carved into the wall at eye level to the left of the gate.
"They wouldn't put guard statue monster things outside the Tomb, would they? Hickle, can you read what that script says from here?" Malavine would hate to find out the script was Osirian for 'If thou canst readest this, thou have trespassed and shall die.'
"Hmm? Oh, yes."
He stops there for long enough that shmick sighs and roughly pushes his master. "Hey now- Oh! You wanted me to translate that out loud, now didn't you? Of course, how silly of me..."
He proceeds to reveal whatever it says.
The hieroglyphs read “House of Pentheru” in Ancient Osiriani. The statues depict two men with a regal bearing and dressed in loose, short robes and traditional Osirian head cloths. Small hieroglyphs on the statues’ bases identify the figures as Pentheru the Elder and Pentheru the Younger.
The bronze gates are decrepit and appear to have been broken open long ago. There is no means to secure them, and they would not stand much punishment.
Shrugging, Malavine headed to the doors and slipped inside, trying not to touch the sides, since they were already open. She glanced into the room beyond, ready to bravely run away if it was full of angry beetles or mummified cats.
Hickle keeps himself to the front, well aware by this point that in spite of her confidence that Malavine seemed to display a poor sense of awareness at times.
+2 In reference to architecture.
Moving into the courtyard in front of the house's main doors, you see a pairs of columns, once brightly painted and now bleached from the sun, which support stone archways leading to other sections of the property. Tarnished bronze gates hang open under both arches. To the north, a small flight of steps leads up to a pair of ornate doors in the south wall of the house between another set of columns.
The yard shows signs of violence: overturned stonework and the occasional scorch mark, as well as a few obvious skeletons, which appear to be simply that: inanimate dead bodies, long since bereft of flesh.
You do not perceive any threats currently. To Hickle, the structure seems stable and solid. It should be safe to enter.
"Promising, dead people." Scorch marks suggested either a trap tha spewed fire or a caster that spewed fire. Unless they were undead, and hiding among the fallen, a caster wasn't too likely to be an issue. Malavine moved along slowly, feeling with her toes as she went, looking for traps or any sign of skeleton mages.
Hickle does brush his beard in contemplation while his dark skinned companion searches for magic. "I don't believe they gave us any knowledge of this location. Did they? Shmick, is there anything in your database?"
He shakes his head in the negative, "In regards to events I only possess information regarding that which I was apart of."
The gnome sighs, "Yes, quite right. Remind me to update your processor with new information protocols if we have time. Now! I propose we circle around the property first before entering the building propper. Any opinions, ladies?"
Malavine stopped, frowning. "Do I normally understand what Shmick says?"
Detect Magic
No magic in the immediate vicinity. When Malavine considers the layout of the situation, it looks potentially like the house was attacked by several individuals, some of whom were killed in the attempt. It is possible there was a caster involved in the assault, or that someone threw some sort of incendiary device.
Relatively satisfied that nothing was out to killer her right now, Malavine moved closer and examined the skeletons.
The're arranged in such a way that they probably died a violent death. Other than that, there's not much to note.
Malavine, deciding that the outside was simplest to search first, headed for the eastern set of gates and headed through.
"Ꭵ'm suᏒᎬ ᎥᏆ ᎳᎪs ᎽᎾuᏒ ᎥmᎪᎶᎥᏁᎪᏆᎥᎾᏁ." Shmick says in response to Malavine's early comment.
Pleased to see that at least one of his group has taken to his suggestion, he follows along behind the woman at a brisk pace.
The party moves through the east gate. A spacious yard fills the compound east of the house. Several small stone outbuildings have been built right into the compound’s outer wall. A well stands between two of these outbuildings, opposite a stone table and benches that sit in the shadow of the house. To the west, two sets of steps, both flanked by columns, lead up to doors into the main house. To the northwest, an open doorway leads into an extension of the house, next to a small structure with a domed roof.
Shmick takes a look into the well for the sake of curiosity while Hickle brushes his beard, considering the options. "Whell... I believe we should take a look at these buildings attached to the walls first off, then circle around to the other side? If nothing pressing reveals itself we could then venture into the main structure."
"Agreed," Malavine responded with a small nod. "House last." There was a reasonable chance if anything was lurking here, then it would be lurking in one of the small buildings. She walked softly to the door and checked.
Looking into the first building against the wall, to the south of the well, Malavine sees a small room devoid of features, save a large pile of ruined furniture that has all but disintegrated with the passage
of time. However, she soon hears a shuffling, and a two-headed canine the size of a pony, which seems to have made a den in this building, lumbers out from the rubbish.
Canine
Hickle
Malavine
Zelda
Kephry
Initiative Order: Canine, Zelda, Hickle, Malavine, Kephry
The Canine, intent on defending its home, attacks Malavine. The creature moves up and attacks with a fierce bite with one of its heads.
Free trip attempt: