Jinx smiles as she sees her companions strike, "So we *can* hurt it...", she almost growls, before trying to swing her heavy blade at the beast to end it's threat.
The celestial eagle keeps attempting to tear into this cursed foe, despite its inability to harm it.
Now that she has confirmation that it can be injured, Aula redoubles her efforts to keep it distracted for Larenti to sink his blade into it while keeping herself far away from the disgusting thing.
As blows continued to land on the blob-like creature, Larenti redoubled his efforts!
His thin blade sank into the flesh, but seemed to come out on the other side of a flab roll, causing no damage.
He felt his gorge rise in revulsion and frustration.
Bardigan turns back to the remaining enemy, but he is unable to return with a good enough angle to hit anything more than the edge of the rubbery hide. Noticing the change in the flow of battle, Jinx modifies her tactics, and switches to the offensive with her sword. Delivering a solid swing in support of her nephew, she hacks into the shoulder of the thing, and her sword digs deep into the creature before it too vanishes into a puff of foul-smelling vapor. The fight ends so suddenly considering the time it took to start finally causing them harm.
Ganner nearly collapses as the fleshy monstrosities fall. "What in the name of all that's holy ARE those things?!?"
Jinx shakes her head, "No idea... But they vanished as if they were summoned creatures... Thoug I don't know how they would have lasted this long..."
Ganner shakes his head. "I'd hate to see where those things came from if they were summoned. Must be a hateful place."
Bardigan huffs in relief, "May the day never come where we have to deal with those things again!" He then glances at the foul water lapping near his feet and shudders, moving away from the befouled liquid and back toward the door they'd come in by.
Larenti almost stepped away from the water as well, but then remembered that he was already covered in vomit.
"Yes, a hateful place. I'll go see what else it has in store", he added with an sarcastic grin.
With that, he headed north along the eastern edge of the pool, his darkvision scanning ahead for danger.
As Larenti moves up and around the edge of the filthy pool, he sees that the large room beyond carries on in its state of destruction and ruin. There are pieces of broken wall, loose stone, and piles of rubble.
Bardigan calls out softly a few breaths after his half-orc friend moves beyond the edge of Aula's light, "Any more of those blubbery fiends, Larenti?"
Larenti stepped back into the light long enough to shake his head "no" at Bardigan, and then waved everyone forward.
As the light moved up, he moved further out into the darkness ahead.
Larenti leads the way forward into the darkness and ruins of the hidden chambers beneath the old livery. He quickly reaches the end of the large chamber, into what looks like the remains of a few rooms. These rooms have fallen mostly into disrepair. Chunks of plaster hang from the walls, exposing rough stonework beyond. Scattered furnishings that once outfitted bunkrooms, a kitchen, and even an armory lie scattered about in states of complete disrepair, and doors hang from hinges in the crumbling archways that lie between the chambers. A soft, high note from the previously heard pipes whistles out once with a slight rise at the end; almost like it was the inflection of a question.
Ganner follows and when he hears the pipe, he calls back, "Hello? We mean no harm, we're simply trying to explore down here. Do you need help?"
"Ah think we should search carefully, even in this muck. If there's a clue to be found about the Silver Ravens, we need ta find it." She begins to search around in earnest, though she still seems to hold back on the places that are covered in slime, muck, or mold.
"A team of masons and carpenters seem to be the primary need here, Ganner." Bardigan looks around the ruined area, shaking his head at all the disrepair. Then, recognizing the sense in Aula's suggestion, he sets to looking around.
Between the rubble and the pipes, Larenti was getting nervous.
"Shhh" he whispered to Aula and Bardigan. "Let's find out who's playing these pipes, and then we'll search the place."
He tried his best to move towards the sound, while hoping that who ever it was would answer Ganner's offer of peace in kind.
"Sounds a bit like a bird, don't you think? The way that whistle went up at the end?"
Jinx nods, "Might be reacting to us?"
There is neither sign nor sound of the source of the odd pipes. Nothing responds to Ganner's call, and no further melodies can be heard as only Bardigan and Aula look over the area. Bardigan manages to notice three small crates in the northeast corner of the chamber.
Aula carefully looks over the stack of documents, if they seem relevant, she will pass them on to Rexus as they are about the Silver Ravens. She also picks up the small raven figurines and looks them over, passing them along to Rexus as well.
Jinx looks over Rexus' shoulder, "Literal raven figurines. These might have been some sort of signifier to mark caches or a means for agents to identify one another."
Ganner stares at the ravens and tries to remember anything of significance about them.
As the others poured over the cache and discussed its meaning, Larenti searched the long, western walls for any sign of a hidden passage.
Larenti sighed at the area to be searched. "I might need some help, folks."
At first Rexus is curious, but as soon as he is handed the stack of documents, he becomes a flurry of activity. He rifles through the hundreds of pages, scattering and resorting them, all the while a look of extreme curiosity blankets his features. "This is all so odd. These papers have a mix of alphabets on them, from at least three different languages as far as I can tell. It will likely take some time to decipher them. I have some ability in the practice, but would not be opposed to help when we have a chance to sit down with them."
As he tries to collect the papers back into a neat stack, Aula then hands him the silver raven figurines. As soon as he can get all the stuff in his hands organized, he manages to store the papers, and looks over the contents of the crate with an arcane eye instead. "Well, first off, I can tell that these ravens seem to be more than just an icon, as they have the strongest magic. The armor is magical, as is the cloak, and four of the papers are scrolls. Let's see..." He examines all the items, as well as then casting a spell to allow him to read the few scrolls he found. Before long he expounds on what he knows about each of the items.
Meanwhile, Larenti examines the western wall, and finds nothing of interest, his attention drawn by all the excitement about the objects that Rexus identified.
Ganner nods. "This is quite a find! Historically speaking, this may be the first site dedicated to the Silver Ravens found in recent, un-altered memory."
Larenti came to see what the excitement was about. Looking over Ganner's shoulder he let out an impressed, "Oooh!"
"Historical-ity is all well and good, but is there anything about their activities or local agents? People we can get in touch with that might help the Ravens? Ah think that's what we all want to know--is there anything to be done about the local tyrant?"
Bardigan grunts and shakes his head in frustration at Ganner's words. "Unaltered memory." He then nods with Aula, his anger with the current lord-mayor bubbling up to the surface again. "Something's got to be done about that revisionist despot!" He snatches up one of the raven figurines, bouncing it lightly from one hand to the other. "And if there aren't old ravens to do it, maybe some new ones could do the job."
Ganner looks to Bardigan, his face brightening. "What are you proposing, Cain?"
Bardigan casts a glance at his aunt, his eyes lit with fervor, before looking back to Ganner, then the others. He waves he hands to indicate the space they're in, the supplies they'd found. "That there may be something here, Ganner. Something that could serve as a spark, as a foundation. Barzillai's an unruly thug squatting in our opera house, strangling our people." Bardigan begins to pace at this, unable to stay still. "We came down here hoping to find the silver ravens, that they might be a catalyst of change and renewal." He stops pacing at this and shrugs, spreading his arms to indicate the whole group. "Perhaps we found some after all."
Ganner nods, slowly. "'In times of tyranny, the people must become a new law, a law unto themselves, to take back that which the powerful have taken from them.' Restorius Major, the noted historian said that. I believe you're right Cain. I believe it's time to raise some new Ravens."
Rexus comes close to expelling a squeal of delight in hearing Brennan's impassioned words. "We may not have found the Ravens, but we have these." He indicates the stack of papers. "I'm certain that, with enough time, I could decipher the writings, and they could guide us in the ins and outs of the inner working of the Silver Ravens. Until then, we can use what we've found among the things to try and establish a starting point somewhere. For now, let's take what we found and retreat to the Long Roads Coffeehouse. The proprietor, Laria, was an old friend of my mother's and the one that delivered the note to me. If you are all interested in rebuilding the Silver Ravens, she could be a valuable resource."
Bardigan nods, the simple gesture somehow full of weight and encouragement. "Good! Let's gather what we can gather and make our way out of here." He starts to help sort and stack and pack all that Rexus and Ganner deem important. A smirk flits across his face as the group makes ready to depart and he glances at Larenti. "Maybe we can avoid the dogs on our way out, eh?" He chuckles, clapping Larenti on the shoulder jovially.
Ganner helps pack, and does so with a new spring in his step.
"Hmmm. As much as Ah loathe the idea of staying down here a second longer than Ah must, we still haven't figured out what was going on in the room up above. Do you think we can just run through it as fast as we can--and while carrying all this?"
Answering both Bardigan and Aula, Larenti expressed nervous frustration.
"I don't want to be here, either, and I'd like to get clean and away from all the dogs and blobby, devil-things. But do we need to worry about the pipe music, or the floating objects? And what about those vomit-blighters? Where are they hiding out?"
Rexus looks around, just now realizing that back was their only way. "There is no other way out of here? I think we scared off or killed most of the ugly rat-like things, and I think all the dogs are unconscious or bleeding out. That means all we have to do is deal with the room of flying objects, right?"
"Ah think that's right. And that strange coldness Ah felt in the same room. Ah guess if we hurry through we'll likely be alright."
Jinx chuckles, "I'm not sure why, based on what we've experienced, we'd think the room of flying objects will be easy to deal with..."
Bardigan shrugs, "Well, the sooner we get to the cafe, the sooner we can dry off again. And I'm sure it smells a good bit nicer there too." He casts a glance over his shoulder back to the burbling liquid they fought the blob-things earlier and shakes his head. Waving his hand in a gesture to follow, he scoops up some of the recovered paraphernalia in his pack and starts to head back the way they'd come. "Come on, then! Plots don't hatch themselves!"
Larenti happily followed along, the idea of getting cleaned off putting a spring in his step.
With the newfound supplies and notes in tow, the lot of you make your way back the way you came. You avoid the fetid pool, back up the stairs to the slaughterhouse floor, where no sign of the nasty little vomit critters that were not killed is present. Heading into the storage room, and cautiously up the ladder, there is also no sign of any of the odd effects taking place. No changes in temperature, nor flying objects.
Back up to the ground floor, you are reminded of the unfortunate weather outside as a low and somewhat distant peal of thunder rumbles along in the distance. It isn't as heavy as it was early, but it doesn't sound as if the rain has let up at all. As you move into the space of the barn proper, the hounds also still lay where they were left, all three of them breathing heavy as if pained, but all still alive and unconscious.
Listening to the rain, Rexus looks up at the rafters and the ceiling where the weather pounds down. "Hmmm, I had forgotten about the storm. The Longroad's Coffeehouse is a decent walk, roughly twenty minutes. Do we want to try and see if the rain passes, or use it to try and cover our odd group passing through town together?"
Jinx suggests, "The rainwater certainly won't hurt any more than the vomit or midden-waters. Let's make use of Gozreh's gift to cover our escape and wash the filth from ourselves."
"That sounds more agreeable than being caught by guards. But what are we to do about these dogs? They're still alive, and though they attacked us, they may have just been hungry or trained to attack--this place is owned by someone, surely? Ah wouldn't want anyone looking for whoever came through." Aula looks toward the doors. "If we bring them over near the doors, Ah think we Ah can wake them from outside, and someone can shut the doors before they can get at us."
Ganner nods. "Being clean sounds like a great idea to me!"
"As thorough as that may be, Aula, I'd rather let sleeping dogs lie, as it were." He shrugs, casting Larenti an understanding glance, then nods toward the free falling rain. "I say we press on through the storm and leave this livery behind us quick as we can."
At Bardigan's request, for what seems to be Larenti's sake, the dogs remain unhealed as the group exits out into the pounding rain. The sky is dark and overcast, but only with the dull grey of a clouded day, as it is well into the morning. It takes little to no time for the downpour to thoroughly drench the small group to the bone, but it is better than the foul odors left behind in the old livery, and some of the ones on the members as well.
The path Rexus leads them takes them North through the Redroof area, and moving toward the Bleakbridge crossing the Yolubilis River. The small shops that line each side of the bridge, and the normally bustling market at each end, are quiet and mostly empty. Hardly anyone is out in this weather to do any shopping. With only a brief stop, to pay a newly levied tax of three coppers for each person crossing, paid in full by Rexus, the group slogs across the expanse.
Turning to the Northwest, the group walks parallel to the Yolubilis Harbor on their left. As they pass the harbor, Rexus offers, "I'm sorry for the distance, it usually doesn't take this long..." He looks back and notices that Jinx is setting a slower pace than he is used to by himself. He changes his tune quickly, "But no worries, we'll be there soon enough, and have a nice warm coffee to chase away the chill."
At the end of the length of the harbor, the path turns northward once more, and into Villegre. As the path nears the expansive wall around the city, just northeast of the park, you reach your destination of the Long Roads Coffeehouse. Upon entering, the inviting smell and warmth easily pushes back the chill of the rain-soaked travelers.
As soon as Rexus draws back his cloak, and shakes off the damp, a bright-eyed blond halfling woman rushes up cheerfully toward the man. Everything in the demeanor of this curvy halfling speaks to a woman who’s made good in business, yet the lines around her sparkling eyes suggests she’s seen far more of life than she admits. She beckons to the servers to bring steaming cups of fresh coffee for each of you, and stuffs handfuls of pastries into your hands. "Please, Darlings, pull off those cloaks and lets retire to my office to catch up on old times." You're all sure you've never met the woman before, but she treats you all as if you have known each other for years.
Bardigan grins broadly as he sheds his cloak at the welcoming woman's suggestion, "That's the warmest invitation I think any of us have heard all day. Far be it from me to refuse such an offer!"
Larenti would be happier to accept such hospitality if he wasn't drenched and covered in wet filth. But he was happy at being slightly washed and new enough to play along with the ruse.
He smiled brightly as if at an old friend and followed the halfling woman's lead.