Grayface nods in silent thanks to Yasmin, giving her a rare smile. Looking then to the armourer he says, "A fair deal. Fifty gold pieces now, and 50 when the ransom is collected." Grayface had many good and bad qualities, but if nothing else he was a man of his word. He counts out coins and hands them in stacks of ten.
When the shining set of mail was handed over, Gray said to his friend, "Yasmin, will you assist me?" The fighter wasn't usually a showoff, but his companion was nothing shy of beautiful. He wanted to impress her, though it was a boyish mindset. He knew his face was the stuff of nightmares but his physique was something to be admired. He removed his studded leather and his sweat-stained undershirt, consciously aware that his glistening muscles were impressive. It was then that he remember the heinous whip scars that virtually covered the entirety of his back. Self-consciously he put his shirt back on said uncomfortably, "On second thought, I will put on the chainshirt later."
Sometime later, "So who is this Royst? I suppose we should make our way there."
Grayface: The Half-Orc flat out refuses to consider buying Grayface's armour, "Not my business pal...you want to sell armour in this town, you're best off going to Rillin's". The general store is slightly more flexible though, "I can get some of this reworked...I'll give you ten gold for it?"
Abernard Royst , a white haired but still surprisingly lithe septuagenarian is a wizard who, it is well known (from discussing with Emerald), has spent years collecting scraps of information about the Emerald Spire. Answering his door, he initially reacts with indignation at being disturbed..."Don't you know how busy I am? You do know who I am don't you?", until he remember what he had asked to see you, "Oh....oh, yes... Emerald... and some new friends? Very well...I won't keep you long....it's just here are rumours you're exploring the Emerald Spire?". He doesn't wait for a response before continuing, "Now you probably won't think this is very interesting but all of my research suggests that the Spire is old....really old....indeed, I have suspicions that it predates the Azlanti...we could learn so much with a careful exploration...but my days of Dungeoneering are past me....would you...would you mind, if you are really delving the Spire, map it for me...nothing detailed...just a record of what you find....or, dare I say it, who you find"
"I'm sure we could come to an...arrangement?"
Emerald will trade her scale mail for a Chain Shirt (100gp shirt, 25gp trade-in, 55gp and 20gp from existing wealth).
How many days were we out in the end, I haven't been marking down rations...
I might not have the best drawing skills, but I sure we can get something of a rough idea for you. Just have to get some paper and ink. We will do our best for you...and our moneypouch also... Rallos grins as he says the last sentence.
Rallos then heads to the general store and gets an inkpen, a vial, ink and 10 parchment.(11.1 gp)
"I'm sure we can create a rough plan, though I'm not a cartographer nor an artist?"
"Of course you will be paid, for each subterranean level you map and catalogue, I will pay you at least 200 Gold...the deeper you go, and the closer you get to whatever secrets lie in the spire, the more I will pay"
Pleased at your willingness to complete this task, he wishes you luck and closes the door...leaving you standing in the biting cold...
Ea will buy 2 days of rations, and will ask for an alchemist shop
Rallos waits at the inn for the rest of the party, listening for any information/gossip.
Ea asks around and soon finds the apothecary run by Sefurd...unfortunately it is currently closed...Old Lady Rillin, who owns the armourers next door says that he left town a couple of days back...
Meanwhile Rallos waits for everyone else at the Juliver Arms...sitting quietly, noticed by no-one, he listens for rumours and stories...unfortunately, at this time of day, the topics of conversation are mundane...talk of a long hard winter, complaints about taxes and gossip about who might be seeing whom behind someone's back...
We should head back to the spire....darkness will fall shortly. I can see in the dark....but dont like walking in it in the winter.
Yasmin is a bit surprised at being asked to help Grayface don his armor. "I don't have any experience with that, you know. I'm not exactly a born fighter. But I suppose I can help." She is, however, much more surprised to see the lash marks. "Grayface, what happened to your back?". In her experience, that usually meant one thing. "Were you once a slave? You had a cruel master."
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Gray meets up with his friends, ready to depart back to the Tower.
Your journey back to the ruins is much slower than previously due to drifting snow…the Echo Woods are deathly quiet throughout your journey. Instinctively, you lower your voices to try and prevent anyone noticing your presence….but it is difficult, nigh on impossible, to be stealthy in your approach. It takes nearly five hours to arrive at the Spire Glen, the late afternoon sun sinking over the tree horizon…the snow doesn’t seem as deep in the circular clearing around the ruins, as if something has either prevented it from drifting or, possibly, that it has melted a little faster…
…Ahead of you, centrally within the clearing, the ruins stand empty and desolate. As snow starts to flurry, you hurry your way across the glen, up the escarpment and into the shelter afforded by the Spire. Where there are cracks or holes in the walls, the snow has started to blow in…and a frost is forming inside the building, covering the walls, the floor and the goblin corpses which remain where you left them…
Moving into the building, you come to the spiral staircase which leads downwards…the pulsating green of the crystal illuminating the steps as they lead into the depths…
We should begin to map this level first. That will be easy money, and we might need it, if only to pay for our burial.
Aye. I'll do what I can to be accurate.
Rallis takes out his supplies and begins to sketch the spire.
"Agreed, we could use the money."
Further exploring whilst you map, you find nothing further of any use or value.
Back in the fountain square, to Yasmin, "I remember nothing of my parents. My youth was spent in a labor colony ruled by the cruelest sort of slavemongers. They left me many scars, but I left them in bloody heaps on the floor..." Grayface's last several words were muttered through clenched teeth.
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In the tower, "Nothing here but refuse, detritus, and rotting flesh. On our way then? Can I get some magical light on my sword?"
Grayface straps on his shield, fingers the pommel of his sword and stands near the descending staircase.
I am ready when you are. You could always light way with your brilliant smile Gray.
Rallos laughs.
Weapons in hand, you follow the stairs that circle around the Spire. Just above a landing, twenty or so steps down, the green crystal of the Spire is marked with a complex sigil the size of a human hand. Although it is stylistically similar, it is noticeably different from the sigil recorded on the scroll you found yesterday.
"I can conjure light, as you've seen, but it is only temporary."
Yasmin studies the sigil, hoping this one will be more familiar.
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Maybe a quick sketch of thus could be good. We can sh[ow the to Royst...he might know what they are for.
....beyond this landing, and the sigil etched into the spire, the stairs further descend into the depths...
Rallos descends the stairs, slowly and deliberately while checking for traps or alarms.
The steep stair descends through solid bedrock for fifty feet before ending in a stone-lined room. A large stone door stands directly south of the stair, a small alcove lies to the east, and another door to the southeast is slightly ajar. An extinguished torch rests on the floor of the alcove.
The room is dimly lit by irregular, luminescent patches of greenish-white, furry mold
Rallos - there were no traps or alarms on the stairs.
Ea will cast Light on everyone's main weapon before they descends the stairs
Rallos moves forward, rapier at the ready. Motioning for his friends to stay quiet while he scouts ahead.
Grayface walks over the discarded torch. It seemed out of place to him. He says as much to his friends, in a whisper, "This seems out of place... why would it be cast aside here? Maybe a secret passage here?"
Gray will examine the torch, then search the alcove for secrets or anything suspicious.
Whilst Grayface convinces himself there is no chance there is any kind of a secret door in the alcove, Rallos takes a look and, seeing the poor alignment of some of the bricks, shows Grayface where to push to open the poorly hidden door.
Rallos carefully moves towards the newly revealed door and proceeds to check for traps.
Emerald has light as well now, and will cast upon Grey's weapon, if he still wants it.
There don't appear to be any traps on the revealed secret door...the soft white glow from the mold on the walls provides a dim light that becomes less perceptible as Ea and Grayface's weapons burst into light.
Well shall we take a look and see what we have here?
Rallos moves to the side of the door, ready to open it when his friends are in position.
Ready to break in that new armor, Gray? I will open the door and cover you with my bow, ok? Yasmin, have that spell ready....I am beginning to really sppreciate that one.
"I am ready."
Carefully pushing one, and then a second of the secret doors open, you make your way into a room filled with the stench of death.
A stout wooden table stands along the wall opposite it. On the table lie three rotting human corpses and the remnants of a large spider. One of the human corpses has had all of its extremities severed, and its torso has been opened to reveal the internal organs. Another dismembered corpse has large spider legs sewn onto the stumps in place of the removed limbs, all of which are neatly arranged near the rest of the spider. A bucket full of reeking, old blood sits on the floor under the table, and needles with lengths of silken thread attached are stuck in a hand-sized block of bloodstained wax atop the table.
A curving wall of glowing green crystal bulges out into this chamber from one corner, the green light from the spire illuminating the room in a vibrant hue.
Well this is a little unsettling. There might be something here....they wouldn't hide this room for no reason.
Rallos looks around the room, looking for anything of interest or value.
Gray thinks to himself, this is heinous...what blasphemy...what outrage... I look forward to putting my sword through whoever would do such things to a person.
The warrior follows Rallos in, ready for a fight if one presents itself.
"Where there's one spider, there might be another," suggests Yasmin, wary of danger. She proceeds with the party, torch in one hand and spear in the other.
Ea frowns, seeing the corpses
Heresy. Blasphem. Give me some time to check a few things. We need all the information we can get to better bring our foes down. This is not some simple goblin's clan. Whoever did that has a twisted and educated mind, and so might be way more dangerous. You might be right about the spiders, Yasmin. If this one was killed and then.. used for this abomination..
She nearly spats out the words
Then it means the one who did that was sure to be able to get more spiders if the experiments turned wrong.
The priest of Pharasma cautiously approaches the table, wary the bodies could be animated
If they don't move, she will methodically inspect the human bodies, trying to determine when they died, what kind of operations were done and how. Then she will touch the remains of the spider, praying to Pharasma for guidance and knowledge. If they move, she strikes.
"That is... horrible." Emerald's gaze flickers across the scene before she pulls herself away and looks aside.
Before anyone moves through the door, Rallos looks over the room…looking for anything untoward, his trained eye spies a crack in the flooring – tracing the crack in a roughly square pattern across the floor, he further notes that the ‘square’ is slightly lower than the surrounding flooring…a telltale sign of a pressure plate. Further visual examination fails to reveal what kind of mechanism or effect the pressure plate triggers…
Avoiding the pressure plate, everyone moves into the room…approaching the table with a mixture of grim determination and disgust. The bodies remain completely inert…cold and still, the corpses are in an advanced state of decay. At a rough guess, these corpses have been dead for at least three months…the ‘operations’ that have been performed are a mixture of dissection and grafting / transplantation. The grafting of the spider limbs to the human corpse has been done with some degree of skill, the limbs have been cut with precision and the sewing together, with fine silk, is intricate.
On the table, between the bodies lies an assortment of surgical tools, vials and a single scroll tube.
Ea – your examination of the spiders fails to reveal what kind of arachnid they may have been.
After a lenghty and careful examination, including the tools (looking if they are clean and cared about), Sister Zalinsel speaks
Strange, I can't say what kind of spiders this is. Maybe they are unique to the Spire. As I suspected, whoever did...THIS did it with skill and precision, and has an intimate, if perverted, knowledge of the anatomy. Maybe it tried to create some new kind of undead abomination.
She seems thoughful for a moment, then
I'm not sure, but I think the one who did that is itself an undead. You can't work on old cadavers like that without reasonable risk of getting ill yourself. I don't know if the spider was poisonous, but someone who refuse Pharasma's embrace has nothing to fear about mundane poisons. It is an holy mission for the faithful of Pharasma to destruct it. Will you assist me?
Emerald softly chants the incantation to reveal magic "Rallos, would you mind checking that scroll tube for traps, I know not what foul creature was working here, but we know it's already used one trap."
Of course I can look over it for you...
There is nothing untoward about the scroll tube...indeed, it is remarkably similar to the tube that you found on the level above you...it certainly doesn't appear to be trapped.
Emerald - there are magical auras leaking out of the scroll tube...through an almost synesthesia like effect, you can see and taste magic from the school of Evocation and, also, from the school of Transmutation. Looking over the workbench, there is a further aura, centred on two of vials, a strong conjuration aura... The smells, tastes and sight of the contrasting auras is a dizzying mixture...
These magical things are beyond my ken. Gray and I will stand guard while you magical types check the items out.
Rallos moves to the door and stands guard.
Emerald will open the scroll case and examine it closer.