"Lady Lavinia should see this while we go to help those pirates. Master druid Ismaire I hope one day to feel like you again but Sasserine has many vipers and we are trying to put them in baskets. Oh and then I believe that we get to roll dice or place bets on who gets to set light to Valanthus' basket. He is a special case - a king cobra of a poisonous fool." Bedu smiles at the druid and dangerous raptor.
"Not a King anything, that gives him too much credit. He's just a slimy little viper that's risen to his level of incompetence and has now come to the attention of the Fates, who are prepared to snip his disgusting little thread."
Tessa shakes her head. "Sorry Ismaire, you weren't around earlier for our unpleasant meeting with this man and you were lucky to miss what we have seen of his work. Whatever foul fate befalls him he deserves."
Ismaire nods to everyones comments on what Vanthus has done. "Okay, if you all say that this man deserves it, then I will go along with it. It just doesn't sit right with me, so if you are going to do something cruel, please don't do it and just kill him. Doing what he did to others only makes you as bad as him."
Erick lets out a bark of laughter as Bedu works on the door. "Girl, didn't say I'd do it. I said the Pirates, who are not nice people, would, and I wouldn't care if they did. If I find him first, I'll put a bullet through his forehead and be done with it. Maybe cut his body into parts and bury them at crossroads to make sure nobody can bring him back. Or give his corpse to a necromancer."
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Bedu starts to work on the lock while he notice something weird on the mechanism, a trigger inside of the lock, likely connected to a trap. With his tools he manages to isolate and disable it and proceeds to open the door.
It leads to a plain stone room, empty except for 3 large chests made of wood and iron.
"Huh... 2nd, 3rd, and 4th verses, same as the first my pudgy bard friend..."
"Be praised so much for the chance to keep practising. There may be bigger traps in here - perhaps it would be safer if you all stay back some." adds the short Qadiran with a faint smile at the man's joke.
The dark hobbit waddles inside the room checking it carefully. He bends down and starts to work at the chests. In his head he counts the risks and fully expects to make another mistake. A deep breath then he starts with his lucky lockpick again.
Nerves or adrenalin, who knows why Bedu does his best work this time but perhaps the practise is paying off.
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Bedu walks in the room and start to work on the chest, examining it for suspicious devices, and he finds one indeed, although with a certain fear he discovers... that is no trap at all... that is a bypass trigger, the chest won't open... turning the key on this chest would simply stop the trap for triggering, as for the trap... he is in it, and he already triggered it.... the room itself is the trap...
As a bead of sweat rolls down from his temple, Bedu quickly works on the chest trying to stop the trap from triggering... as he does so a mechanical click is heard....
The little man closes his eyes scared, then he opens them again.... he feels no pain.. only tiredness.. he checks his body for any would then just falls on the floor prone giving a huge sigh of relief...
It worked... the trap was stopped.
lying on the floor he can now feel the many holes in the floor that no doubt where ready to sprout some sort of spiky piercing death on him.
After a short reprieve he starts to work on the other chests... which prove more difficult to work on for him. but after repeated attempts and some requests of assistance (opening them requires a take 20 with an aid another for dc 30) he manages to pry them open.
One of those chests contain a great amount of money gemstones and statuettes in precious materials, possibly ill gotten gains of the guild, Between the coins the gems and the art pieces you evaluate a worth of 5450 gp in total.
The other chest, similarly, contains several bags full of coins and gemstones, all neatly arranged in silk bags bearing the crest of the Vanderborens. Likely part of the money that Vanthus stole from the family vault.
There seems to be around 8600 gp worth of valuables in these bags.
Bedu gives a low whistle, "Bedu be praised. A fine burglar you will make and prove my father wrong."
Tessa clasps Bedu on the shoulder and shakes him once. "Well done Bedu! I'm surely glad you are with us! Erick would have just shot them all and I fear we would not be as fortunate." She turns to Erick and shoots him a playful wink as she mimes shooting him with a gun.
She goes to work looking through the items and whistles loudly. "Quite the collection here folks."
Erick rubs his chin, looking over the chests. "Oh, I don't know. The coins might have bent a bit. As long as I didn't hit any of the gem bags, blowing the locks off would have been highly affective..." He finishes reloading his retrieved pistol, and then stretches. "So, how do we pull all this out and return our employer's stolen wealth without getting mugged in the process?"
Gavin smiles, his first genuine smile in what seems like days. "We're heavily armed and armored, covered in blood, and smell like a tavern's alleyway. I think we'll be fine."
Bedu tests the water, "what share does Ismaire deserve? Is that a question for the Lady Lavinia or do we think that the danger of the Lotus Dragons means the druid and his raptor should get the same as the rest of us?" Bedu winks back at Tessa as she watches Erick stretch.
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Erick looks at Ismaire, then Bedu, then Ismaire again, then Bedu again. "Good lord, our lockpick is blind. We need to get him some glasses with some of the spoils. The share the Good Lady Ismaire and her raptor get are indeed up to Lady Lavinia. Just as what share we, if any, get as well. Remember, we are on retainer." He nudges Gavin. "Gavin, do check our cherubic barber will you? He may have received a head blow in that fight..."
"Indeed I am most wrong to think of you as a him. Perhaps it is dizziness from a lack of good food and drink while a surfeit of stress and danger. However some of this does not belong to Lady Lavinia, so perhaps we should decide what happens to that wealth, what you all think? Don't you agree, Erica? Oops there I go again thinking of you in skirts and a basque - we should get my poor stomach fed. Ha ha." Bedu's eyes twinkle in embarrassment and pleasure at the banter.
He gamely submits to Gavin's attention's if the healer joins in.
Tessa slips out a flask and sips it into Bedu's hands. She whispers, "It's the stress, surely. Take a swig of this, it will help clear your head."
Gavin laughs as Erick goes through his exaggerated back and forth staring, and again as Bedu calls the gruff man "Erica."
"Aye, I think the Barber is OK, if a little famished."
Taking his copper cup and after a quick supplication, filling it with a raspberry ale, sweet with an underlying tartness, thank the Lucky Drunk for his charity, Gavin clinks Tessa's flask. "Here, here! To a job well done!"
"Well, being on retainer, theroetically Lady Lavinia can lay claim to it all, as her agent's found it." He shrugs. "She doesn't strike me as the type to do so, but legally she could. I suggest we get it all back safe and sound and figure out what of it is Lady Lavinia's, what bonus if any we get, and all that sort of rot." He eyes the bags and his friends backpacks. "I think if we distribute it all we can fit it all in the backpacks. Now, once they are empty, we'll smash the bottoms and sides of the chests and head back."
"I'm in no place to take anything that is rightfully Lady Lavinia's. I agree with Erick we should bring it back and let her decide." Ismaire stands there, ready to help gather the coins and gems.
Bedu starts helping too.
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you collect the ill gotten gains of the guild and finish sweeping the complex.
If anything remains of the once Lotus Dragons they are not here, either never been to begin with or escaped after noticing they were attacked.
Of all the inhabitants only Chortle and a few beasts remains.
The kobold seems peaceful and actually to be willful if not even hopeful to take you as her new masters.
With no trace of Vanthus except for some notes that seem to place him at Kraken cove for the next few days, your job seem to be over here.
"So what are we going to do with the money that wasn't Lady Lavinia's? I don't know which is hers since I wasn't here when it was stolen but I think we should give it to her. We work for her so it is technically hers."
Erick stretches, settling the heavy pack of money on his back. At least his share of what is to carry. "We split it up, and get some new gear. Or pay off gambling debts..." He looks at Tessa as he mentions gambling debts. "As to which is which, we'll let our employer determine what was hers and what wasn't." He says, looking thoughtful...
Erick seems to be considering that a test of the employer, to see if she's a straight shooter or not...
Tessa considers Erick's response for a moment before offering a nod of agreement. Unsure what his true intentions are she agrees in principle, "Seems only fair. Besides, I'd like to hear what she has to say about what we uncovered."
Gavin nods as he stoops to pick up his pack. "Yes. We'll let the Lady see it all and then whatever isn't hers, we'll split. But, we should get on the trail of Vanthus as soon as possible."
Sighing, Gavin lifts the pack and throws it over his shoulder. It would be a long trip back to Vanderboren manor...
"Well, let's clean up after ourselves, we've left some people here who should either leave or know that their mistress is gone."
Erick backtracks to the little blue kobold. "We are leaving now, the people who lived here are either fled or dead. If you want to come with us, I'll see what I can do to find you a job somewhere cooking, if you can cook well. If not, you should scavage what you can, and find your way onward."
Erick then backtracks to the sentient dog like creature. "We are leaving now, the people who lived here are either fled or dead. If you want to come with us, and you can refrain from eating people without permission, I might be able to get you a place as a guard for a noble's estate. Good treatment and regular food. Otherwise, I suggest you leave before anyone else finds this place, they might not be so friendly as us."
Bedu follows quietly but nonetheless happy at the way the party is behaving. It has been hard but we have come through.
Erick nods. "Very well, but if I hear of you hunting humans for food or sport, I'll come find you and we'll have an ending. If they come hunting you, then they are stupid, and you can defend yourself. But from now on, humans are off the menu except for self defense. If you agree, and promise to leave the city without bloodshed, I'll free you to take your chances in the jungle."
Erick nods. "I would not bet against the stupidity of humans, it's a fools bet." He grins. "Then again, I killed the people that caught you the first time, so remember that if you decide to break our bargain." He pulls his pistol out, and aligns the barrel a half-inch from the point where the chain is fastened to the collar on the Worg's neck. "There's going to be a loud noise, and some burning, when I blow the connection, don't bite your tongue... or my hand. We don't have time to find the keys to your locks."
Once the worg is ready, he pulls the trigger and blows the connecting chain to pieces. Once it's gone, leaving just the collar, he begins methodically reloading the gun. "I trust a resourceful creature like you can figure out how to get the rest of the collar off. Or you could spend timing searching this place for the keys. If you leave the way we came in, you should be able to get to the wharf without being seen if you go east, from there, a short swim will take you outside the city and you should be in the jungle before the sun rises."
Bedu steps up to the worg and offers to unlock the collar. "I can make the attempt again. Maybe with luck I can do better?"
"Alas Mr Wolf - your life is in your paws. Choose well for Erick is a hunter with promises of iron."
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the collar is not hard to open although while you try to get it off you can hear a growl from the beast that makes a shiver run down your spine, the creature is still not used to get help, even less so by halflings, and let them get so close without becoming worg food.
"I will take my leave now" says the worg "I suggest you to do the same. I assume you killed my former mistress and I am positive that you would better find refuge among your allies as soon as possible before her family learns what happened here. By what her and her companions said they are both a powerful and ruthless bunch"[/b} after saying this he pounces over Bedu, making him fall as an act of predatory defiance.
[b]"years of captivity and having meals offered to me made me too soft. I'll go find some flesh to sharpen my fangs upon"
and saying that the worg disappears in the labyrinth of underground passages.
Gavin rubs his chin, watching the worg bound down the hallway and out of sight. "I'm not sure that was the best idea. Shall we get out of here ourselves, then?"
Erick shrugs. "He could have attacked us, or warned those we hunted. At the very least, we owed him a chance at freedom. If he starts hunting the locals, I'll go end him." The cavalier says, very straight faced. "Even one such as him can be useful, and has a right to live, so long as he can control himself."
Erick then continues with the others, as they head back.
"He never even said thanks for setting him free. Manners are just as important where I come from," he finishes with a sigh.
Then Bedu turns his mind to the future as they walk back. "We all going after Valanthus? Maybe spend a day buying new gear tomorrow and then leave on the next vessel heading to our boy Vanderboren."
"Depends on what our employer wants, but given the proof of her brother's parricide, I'm fairly certain she'll want him dragged back here, somewhat broken around the edges, in chains, so he can be hanged publicly in front of all of his friends, his honor in tatters, his name razed from the rolls of the city's nobility, and utterly ruined and humiliated before he's hung. Or possibly burned at the stake. Would be more poetic to burn him." Erick says with a very hard edge to his voice.
Ismaire seems hesitant to speak but after Erick's list of ideas for Vanthus she can't help but pipe up. "Uhhhh.... That seems a bit over the top don't you think? I don't think anyone deserves anything like that to happen to them." She shakes a little bit as she finishes talking, and takes a deep breath trying to calm herself. "Let's just be on our way, okay?"
The man shakes his head. "The coward burned his parents, and their entire crew, alive to get their wealth. He tried to kill his sister, and he's involved in people who enslave others. His honor is already in tatters, by his own doing. Those who commit patricide or treason are razed from the rolls of the nobility, and publicly shamed, if still alive. As to being hung or burned, would you prefer to slap him on the wrist and tell him he's a bad boy? If you've never seen someone burn alive, imagine his parents and their crew. The flesh burns and the tendons tighten up, twisting your body as your lungs sear from breathing the flames. You're alive for up to three or four minutes of it, as your body cracks and splits and your blood boils in your veins." He shakes his head. "Someone who enjoys doing that needs to be killed. Don't matter if it's by hanging or by burning or by drowning or by beheading. He's a rabid animal that needs to be put down."