The smell of seared flesh fills the room as Teldon presses the runes in order...one by one, glowing representations of each letter appear within the large sihedron. A pale pink to begin with, as the word is constructed, the colour of the runes becomes a deep crimson - and when Teldon has fully spelled 'murder', the illuminated letters become liquid and flows upwards and into the rune at the very top of the Sihedron.
There is silence for a moment or two before, with a deep rumble and shedding of embers, the lower sihedron hinges open to reveal a small hidden compartment within the door. There are only two features within this compartment...
- The first, a cruel looking dagger.
- The second, a roughly circular basin carved into the bottom of the compartment...around the basin, which is little more than 3 inches in diameter and 2 inches in depth, intricate channels and ridges depict the rune of wrath and the same short phrase repeated thrice;
Zee casts detect magic as Teldon starts pressing buttons.
"The inscription reads, 'wrath runs through my veins.'"
"Hmm... With the themes of blood and murder, I think one of us needs to make a blood sacrifice."
"Wrath runs through my veins... blood sacrifice... Does it have to be one of us? I mean..." She jerks her thumb in the direction of the dead wererat. "There's a person already dead in there, can't we just use her?"
"I don't see any indication that there needs to be a living sacrifice... just that there needs to be blood... I expect the wererat would do... we should hurry though, its bleeding out quickly" Teldon replies, relieved that someone else recognizes that an enemies corpse can be a valuable asset.
The dagger, with a slightly curved blade emblazoned with Thassilonian runes, is fashioned from highly polished Adamantine - it doesn't exude any magical aura at all.
Ziomarra - the strong abjuration aura that was focused on the Sihedron motif of the door also appears to be centred on a position just below the recessed basin.
"Hmmm... The magical aura on the door is focused below this basin. Teldon, see these scratches? It looks like something has to be placed here, into the depression, and rotated. I think there is another physical piece to the puzzle that we do not yet have. And I am getting too hot next to these doors. I'm going over to the windows in the next room."
She leaves her friends and heads to one of the other rooms next door that overlook the harbor. She stands next to the open window, savoring the cool air blowing past her. Seeing the sun low in the sky, she surmises that it's probably near time to round up the Tower Girl prisoners and leave The Crow for now. Before she heads back to the others, she takes another look around the room.
Seeing nothing they hadn't already found, she re-joins the others.
"Friends, it's getting late in the day. We should start heading back to Magnimar and report back to Lady Heidmarch."
"Yes, quite right" Teldon concurs as he and Zee examine the bowl together, "there does seem to be a missing piece... it's likely no type nor amount of blood would suffice right now. Briana, can you please draw the shape of this empty space? It may come in handy in trying to determine what we need and where to find it."
After Zee returns to the chamber with the door, Teldon walks into the window room saying, "I should cool off too," and emerges again moments later .
"What about all the girls we've taken prisoner? Zee, do you think you could get them to accept you as their new leader? They would make for a convenient defense force to ensure nobody else is messing around down here... otherwise we need to allow ourselves extra time if we plan to haul them all back to the watch..."
Zee snorts dismissively at Teldon's suggestion of taking over the Tower Girls. "Ha. I've severed whatever Sczarni ties I may have once had, and I have no desire to re-enter that world. I could probably scare the girls into leaving this area and never bothering us again, but I'm no gang leader. We might be able to bribe them into guarding the place for us, but I would not trust their loyalty. I'm especially leery of leaving them here if there are other Tower Girls still out and about-- like that trio we tangled with in Underbridge yesterday. Honestly, I'm inclined to just let them go in Underbridge with a stern warning that we won't be so merciful if we cross paths again."
Glancing over Brianna's shoulder at her sketchbook, Zee remarks, "Brianna, that is beautiful work!"
hmm... she reacted oddly when asked about the luxury of coffee and now is hiding something about paying for lessons...
"Terisha seemed to have some influence... and likely isn't a big fan of ours..." Teldon offers as he quickly inspects the single door to north of the double doors, "it's better to make a corpse than an enemy, but better still to make any ally. If we're going to let them go we should try to make sure we're on good terms with them; otherwise we should kill them or, at least, turn them over to the watch... turning them over to the watch might end up making it very difficult for us to come back here once we track down this piece though..."
Finishing his inspection, he attempts to open the door.
The wooden door to the north is not locked and, after Teldon confirms it is safe to do so, opens inwardly with no resistance. Beyond the door is a short, roughly excavated tunnel – it appears that Ayala’s plan to circumvent the doors had been, at least partially, put into action. The tunnel, which travels around fifteen feet to the north is littered with tools, buckets of rubble and flasks of water.
I could've sworn the shard wanted me to come down here... Where could that thing be? She touches the shard around her neck again, hoping to get additional insight.
She inhales sharply. "Guys. It's underwater. The next shard. We've gotta go back down to the boat... and then keep going. Come on!"
"This door," Teldon states with some surprise, "this large magical door--with the 'wrath' themed riddle--this is the way to the shard of wrath... unfortunately, Zee's right, we are missing a piece to open it... there will be more stairs down beyond it. For now we need to make our way back out taking time to search everything and document it like we discussed when we decided to not be so thorough on the way in. Then we report back to Lady Heidmarch with that and see if she has any resources that can help us track down this missing piece, or if she can connect us with a person or organization that can."
He removes his pack and retrieves his journal and quill, then straightens up its contents and puts it back on. Heading towards the 'X' shaped chamber he adds, "I suggest we start in here and then we can systematically work our way out room by room."
Ziomarra nods at Teldon's assessment. "I was thinking along similar lines. Let's report back to our Venture Captain, and see if Lady Heidmarch has any resources that could aid us... or a lead on where we might find one. And, yes, let's start heading back, so Brianna can make more of her beautiful drawings of the wonders we've had to bypass. And let's also be sure to take the Tower Girls' notes on what they've found so far."
Seemingly at a dead end! the group decide to retrace their steps - collecting and gathering liberated treasures and searching for missed clues as they go...
In Ayala's Room, you collect up the sections of wall mural, ancient coins, pieces of jewelry, gems, bits and pieces of pottery, and more for eventual sale in the markets of Magnimar—all treasures the Tower Girls have scavenged from the Crow. These treasures are probably worth 900 gp in all. A second look around the room also turns up a small chest under the bed - it holds 87 gp and 175 sp.
In the wererat's room, which was only briefly examined during Teldon's exploits on the outside of the piling, you find a brass platter of Thassilonian make (worth 100 gp) and a fine pottery basin (currently filled with lightly scented water) that is worth 250 gp.
Beyond the Grain Store where the Donkey Rats (including the one that had been trialling after Briana) are grazing, you find a room overlooking the dock - the eastern wall of this room depicts a fresco of a tall red-headed woman with a ranseur, standing over a short hunch-backed man - the ranseur is impaled in the man’s belly, and his twisted demonic hands clutch at the shaft as black smoke wafts up from his face and wounds.
Returning to the top level of the Crow, you find the other store of looted items: an amphora worth 35 gp (and holding 486 gp worth of ancient Thassilonian coins - 98 coins in all) and buried in the straw of the crate is a bronze statuette depicting a rune giant in full battle regalia worth 300 gp.
As you make your way back towards the docks, loot collected, paintings made and maps drawn, you see the warm glow of the evening sun...dusk will not be long...
Joanna shakes her head, almost as if she was nodding off.
"I think the others have the right idea, Nalathi. Today's been long and I doubt we're ready to try looking for the next piece underwater."
Joanna sets off to gather the party's captives in the boats, making sure that they are comfortable as possible and not in danger of slipping into the slumber of death. Once she's finished she leans against a wall and slides down with a long weary sigh.
The silence that follows lasts for several minutes before Joanna calls out to the nearest Tower Girl that still has a grip on consciousness.
"Do you mind if I ask you something?"
The young paladin waits a moment, giving the girl a chance to answer.
"Why did you join the Tower Girls?"
Joanna's voice is calm, void of anger or derision, only colored by curiosity, and perhaps a need to talk to someone.
"What? Huh?", the Tower Girl is initially groggy and sluggish in her reply - tied and bloodied from the fight, she does however eventually reply to Joanna's questioning, "I wasn't always Sczarni you know? Came down from Sandpoint a few years back looking to make my way in life... But no one gave me a chance... I was living hand to mouth, had no friends, no family... Then I met Ayala - she said I could be part of her family - you know what it was like? Us girls, the thrill of the heists, taking stuff from people who probably wouldn't even know it had gone? We never hurt no-one - not a soul... It was a great time". Her mood darkens when she talks of what you already know about - the Tower Girls falling out with the Wreckwash Blades, staying with Fenster, finding the Crow, "This was going to be our biggest chance to be rich... Ayala said there was riches beyond our imaginations behind that door... Don't suppose that'll happen now though..."
Realising she hadn't necessarily answered Joanna's question, she offers one final thing, "For a while, I belonged... Felt I was someone... Do you know what I mean?"
"You're always someone no matter where you are," Joanna quips with a half-smile and gleam in her eye, "but I think I can understand what you mean."
The smile fades as the paladin's memories of balls and feasts where she was an outsider surfaced. Her gray eyes darken until they are the color of storm clouds.
"The truth is, riches aren't all they've cracked up to be. All the gold in the world can't buy you happiness, and all the gems the dwarves have ever mined can't make you whole."
The paladin looks up into the girl's eyes, and for that instant, she's not a knight of Iomedae, but a young, lonely girl.
"I can't tell you what the right path is. I'm stumbling along the same as everyone else in life. Sometimes we make a turn expecting one thing, and finding that it's something different, or not what we wanted at all."
Joanna gives a quiet snort and shakes her head as her words reach her own ears.
"Sorry, I get distracted sometimes, and tend to start preaching a bit," she says with a weak chuckle. She takes a breath in and let's it out in a long, soft sigh.
"What will you do now?"
Ignoring Joanna's conversation with their captives, Nalathi inspects the shoreline. She's no more eager than any of the others to dive in-- that water looks cold-- but she has no doubt that's where they ought to go. 'Beneath the waves,' it said. 'Beneath the rock.' Where else could that be? And how else do we get there? Judging by the reaction the Tower Rat-- what did Zee call her? A varcoling?-- gave Nalathi's magical accessory, she guesses whoever had the next shard last hadn't intended for it to get lost in the dark water.
”Are you letting us go? I can’t stay here – the Sczarni know my face here and the Wreckwash will want to make sure the Tower Girls never get back together. No, that life is over – I need to start again… maybe Korvosa, maybe Kaer Maga… I don’t know – somewhere where I’m not known – somewhere where I can be a different person… a better person I suppose…”
”What were you looking for here? Terisha will want revenge on you… you do know that don’t you? You don’t need to worry about the Tower Girls no more but Terisha and Ayala were close… You should watch your backs from now on…”
The mood in the boat of captive girls is quite sullen… this is probably due to the nature and comprehensiveness of their defeat but is also certainly attributable to the presence of the dead Tower Girl who fell into the shaft – draped lifelessly over a statue some hundred feet above you.
Reaching the boats, Teldon looks with satisfaction on his notes. He takes special care to identify which works depicted Alaznist .
When the conversation in the boat turns to futures and options, he remarks, "You all seem to have certain useful skills... have any of you ever considered joining the pathfinders? It's probably not any more dangerous than what you've been up to, there are many opportunities for reward, and usually you don't really need to worry about running into the law... It sounds like you'd need to relocate but there are lodges all over the place and you could show up to a new place already having some connections and a lead on work... in fact, if you all went together there'd be enough of you to take on whole missions..."
"The subject of that statue is vaguely familiar, but I can't quite place her..."
* * *
Addressing the Tower Girls, Zee remarks, "I know what it's like to have and then lose a family group. I would suggest that you all re-evaluate your lives and try something different. However, you'd be wise to leave if the Sczarni here have bad blood with you. You're from Sandpoint? That's a nice place-- I've been through there a few times on the way to Windsong Abbey, although it's been several years. They always were welcoming and accepting when my family's caravan went through. The sheriff would let us set up in the Marketplace, and we'd open up as a small fair. You might want to consider going back there: it's a good spot for second chances, or so I've been told. It's only about a three-day walk north along the Lost Coat Road, and there are places to stay along the way. There's a tavern there I always liked... the Lazy Dragon, or something like that.
Another place to try to escape your past might be Kaer Maga. They don't ask too many questions there...'your business is your business,' as they say. Of course, it is a far longer journey than a three-day walk."
Realizing that they got suddenly quiet when they looked up, Zee remarks, "I gave her a chance to surrender. That was unintentional."
"Do we have a way to get her down?" Joanna asks after following the others' gazes.
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Hearing Zee's praise of Sandpoint, Teldon looks surprised and says with some shock, "Really?!? My father told me that Sandpoint was an unwelcoming place full of ungrateful people who would rather be eaten by goblins than admit that someone had saved their lives..."
He quickly moves on as Jo wonders about getting down the corpse. "One of us could feather fall down from the platform to the statue..."
"Pathfinders? Not sure I'd want that... All that hard work just so someone can write about some dusty old relic from the olden days... Are you guys pathfinders? Is that what you were doing in there? Pathfinding? For that Heidmarch lady? S'pose it makes sense but you'd better make sure the watch don't get to hear that you're out here... It's forbidden yeah?", the most talkative of the girls - the one who Joanna spoke to first - looks around at her compatriots, "I think we need to lie low whiles we decide what to do, yeah?", a few of the girls nod quietly in agreement, "Maybe we should get out of Varisia entirely for a while...I heard a person can make a living in Cheliax...I don't think the Sczarni tread there?"
For the first time she looks up at the dead Tower Girl and acknowledges the body, "Will you get Embyr down? She was a good person - Ayala did right by her, bringing her in off the street...it's a shame it ended this way for her - at least it was quick"
"I suppose I should have expected that when I made the suggestion..." Teldon reflects aloud, "I'll be back as quickly as possible." He takes off up the stairs towards the little platform as quick as he can. When he emerges a few minutes later back in the tall open space, he carefully lines up his jump and slowly falls back down to the statue. Once there he carefully drops Embyr's remains (doing his best to have her land in the water, to avoid any further damage), and examines the statue before jumping the rest of the way down (aiming for dry ground to avoid undoing any of the drying off that has occurred since his last trip to the water).
Zee's jaw trembles as Teldon lands on the statue bearing Embyr's body. Tears roll down her cheeks, and she sobs uncontrollably when Embyr's body hits the water.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for her to fall off the platform! Blessed Starsong, please forgive me!" Her hand is on the wooden butterfly-shaped pendant she wears.
Joanna fishes Embyr's body form the water, trying her best not to curse the alchemist as she hauls the dead Tower Girl ashore. She lays the body out, giving her Last Rights and closing her eyes.
"Zee, how do Varisians care for their dead," she asks quietly, trying not to focus on her smoldering anger at Teldon.
One of the Tower Girls fights hard against her bonds as Embyr's body crashes into the water mere feet away from the boat - it is only exhaustion and her near death experience from earlier that eventually takes the fight from her - the other girls look on in horror before sinking back into silence.
The evening sun is dimming fast as Embyr's body is hauled onto the quayside - the lights from the 'Summit' high above starting to reflect on the strangely becalmed sea...
Teldon - there was nothing unusual about the statue that Embyr's body was draped across.
Zee stops crying after Joanna retrieves Embyr's body and has lain her on the dock. She wipes her tears with her scarf, then sighs deeply. She hugs both Jo and Brianna, "Thank you." To Joanna's question, she replies, "A proper Varisian funeral includes a loud party with lots of strong drink, and a funeral pyre."
With a look of genuine anger at Teldon after he floats back down to the dock, she shouts, "You dropped her like a bag of garbage! Have you no respect for the dead?!"
After calming down, Zee suggests that she and Joanna take one boat with Embyr's body and three of the prisoners, and the rest take a second boat.
"Wait, what?" Teldon stammers out in shock, "I ran all the way up this tower to help and you're mad at me?!? How did you think I was going to get the body? The ring's magic isn't strong enough to float down with it and I'm not strong enough to climb down with it...
and if they didn't want their friend dead they shouldn't try to kill people... for that matter if you're all going to get this worked up every time you kill someone who's trying to kill you, you are certainly in the wrong line of work...
"Next time you can run up there, jump down all that way, and then kill yourself trying to get the body down more respectfully..." Teldon drops the ring at Zee's feet and gets into an empty boat without another word.
"You could have tied her to a rope and lowered her down. All it would have taken is some extra effort." Joanna tells Teldon in a voice that barely masks the fury roiling through her. She manages to throttle the building tirade and stoops to pick up the ring.
After listening to Zee's idea, Joanna nods and looks to the Tower Girls.
"Brianna and Nalathi should be able to take care of themselves, even with Teldon along," She tells the Varisian Harrower before turning to face the Tower Girls.
"I have a proposal for all of you. It'd be best to give Embyr a proper farewell as soon as possible. I'll remove your bounds if you are willing to help us get to shore so we can see to that. Before I remove those bounds, however, I want each of you to give me your word that you'll not do anything untoward to any of us. Be warned that if you don't keep that word once it is given, I am going to be rather cross with you, and you will not like me when I'm cross."
Nalathi watches the various outbursts of emotion in stunned silence. All over a body? Do they... do they honestly not realize that girl isn't using it anymore? She's gone to the Shadowlands like everyone else, and then she'll be back with a new body. She doesn't need this one. She decides that with emotions running high, now is probably not a good time to discuss what funerals were like back home-- the heart, that most vital of organs, is cooked and shared by the dead person's spouse and family, in honor of a life well lived. The rest of the body is tossed to the wild cave critters, that it might feed the creatures who will in turn feed the tribe one day. The dead person, unlikely to stay in the Shadowlands long, will be born into the tribe again soon. Why mourn? Then again... These big-people cities are awfully big. Maybe they'll never see that girl again. That must be why everybody's sad and angry.
"If you think you could have balanced on top of a statue long enough to tie a rope then you should have volunteered to go. Do you have any idea at all how preposterously difficult it would be to balance on top of a statue while lowering a whole body?!?"
Do you have any idea of anything at all? Calm yourself, Teldon, they're too emotional and obviously not thinking clearly... don't fall into the same trap...
Joanna just shakes her head at the retort and focuses on calming down for a few moments.
"We've wasted enough time arguing. Let's get back to shore and take care of the dead, then we can yell and scream at each other."
Putting words to action, Joanna carefully begins loading the skiff with Enbyr's body before helping the others into the boat.
Zee picks up the magic ring and hands it back to Joanna. That man is heartless! It's all logic with him! Regarding Teldon a moment, Zee's expression suddenly turns from anger to pity. Wait... I wonder if that's actually true, and he really doesn't feel or understand others' emotions like a normal person... That would explain a lot...
At Brianna's suggestion, she says quietly, "You are right. What's done is done. We shall go now."
Backing up Joanna's threat to the prisoners, Zee adds sternly,
"Yes. If you break our trust, we will all be cross with you.
The look in most of the Tower Girl’s eyes reassure you that they have no intention of betraying your trust, ”We’ll help you row, let’s just get out of here please…place always gave me the creeps after sundown anyway” - five of the girls have fully acquiesced but the one who had struggled hard against her bonds just turns away and looks out to sea – there’s no fight left in her but she won’t help you to row back to shore.
The girl who Joanna had spoken to, calls out to the paladin, ”You know we can’t go ashore back in Dockway yeah? There’s a small jetty just by the Rat – near the Small Dolphin Warehouse… no one ever watches that one”
"أنها سوف تكون غاضبة بغض النظر عن ما تفعله ..." Teldon mutters, taking up an oar.
"Hmmm... Joanna, I'm inclined to believe her. I know the jetty she means, and I would agree that few eyes would be watching it."