Maria was glad for Sepsinia, wishing her luck in the future.
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After Melodie gave her sentence, Maria took Onora aside. "Don't suppose there are any other locals like her around that we should keep an eye on, are there? No offence but, given the state of the town, it certainly wouldn't surprise me."
Onora shakes her head. "Nobody nearly so bad. Mag was the worst of the lot. Right now, I'd be more concerned about all the newcomers that will be drifting through here during market days."
Zhi seems uncomfortable during the make-do trial and stays close to Sara. Part way through the proceedings, a young tian man comes up to them.
"Lady Mai, could I speak with you a moment," he asks.
"Not now," Zhi says tersely.
He frowns and vanishes into the crowd.
~~~
Once the sentence is pronounced, Zhi approaches Melodie. She seems conflicted.
"If she does come back are you actually going to have her hands cut off?" she asks quietly.
~~~
"Our next project should be the pump house," Zhi says once the ladies return to the manor. "The bugs around here are pretty ridiculous and if we can get the pumps working again it should help."
She looks sideways at Sara.
"We don't have to start on that until tomorrow morning, though. I want the rest of today for just you and me."
Once the sentence is pronounced, Zhi approaches Melodie. She seems conflicted.
"If she does come back are you actually going to have her hands cut off?" she asks quietly.
"If she comes back I'll have to." Melodie responds, equally quietly. "The law is clear on theft - I'm being lenient by banishing her, especially since she's been convicted before. This really is her last chance..."
--------------------------
"The pump house makes sense." Melodie agrees. "Maria, can you ask around the village, see what sort of preparations we need to make? I need to write a letter."
With that sorted, and Sara and Zhi up to some sort of deviancy no doubt, Melodie heads to the library with paper and pen, to deal with a question Zhi had posed earlier.
Dear Bartelby,
I wanted to thank you again for your hospitality at the Jubilee. It was a lovely occasion and I truly enjoyed getting to know you and your beautiful estate. I hope to come and visit you in the near future - perhaps we could continue our discussions on magic?
However the purpose of this letter is business related. After the taxes you so kindly returned to me, I realised I am lamentably ignorant on the quantities and timings of the regular levies. I was hoping you would be kind enough to tell me when the dues are collected, and how much they should be. I am keen at the moment to conserve as many of Stachys' resources as possible - rebuilding the town is taking considerable investment now, but I trust it will prove beneficial to us all in the long run.
With kindest thoughts,
Melodie,
Lady d'Valois.
Sealing the letter Melodie seeks out one of her agents and arranges for delivery to Lotheedar.
Asking around Stachys reveals that the pump house is surrounded by marshland and shallow, stagnant ponds for 2 miles in every direction. The easiest way to get there is to take one of the few flat-bottomed barges the locals use to travel or fish. Maria is able to find a friendly villager willing to loan you the use of his barge for this purpose. It should take about 2 hours to reach the pump house.
The villagers also warn the tiefling about a creature they call "the Lurker" that lives in the stagnant waters around town and feeds on livestock that wander off from their herds. Unfortunately, they have no idea what the creature might be--nobody has actually ever seen it.
"If she comes back I'll have to." Melodie responds, equally quietly. "The law is clear on theft - I'm being lenient by banishing her, especially since she's been convicted before. This really is her last chance..."
"I know that's what the law says, Zhi responds, unable to look Melodie in the eye. "I've seen more than one person ... "
She shakes her head.
"I can't help feeling hypocritical, though," she continues as she looks down at her hands and then finally looks up at Mel. The conflict is written on her face. "The only reason I still have mine is because I'm good enough not to have gotten caught when it counted. Is that what we're really doing here? Punishing her because she got caught?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I know you made the choice that had to be made. And I'm really thankful that I didn't have to. But I really hope she takes the threat seriously and doesn't come back."
With that sorted, and Sara and Zhi up to some sort of deviancy no doubt, Melodie heads to the library with paper and pen, to deal with a question Zhi had posed earlier.
As the afternoon winds down, Zhi takes her leave of her pleasurable company with a quick kiss and a simple, "I need to talk to someone in the village."
--
As the villagers chat jovially amongst themselves, Zhi sits quietly at a table in the corner of the Wolf's Whisker. She nurses her ale as she keeps watch on the door. Her vigilence is eventually rewarded as a young tian man enters and looks around nervously. Seeing her he moves quickly to her table and takes a seat.
"Dakara saishutekini jikan o toru koto ga dekimashita..." he begins before the small woman raises a hand to stop him.
"Taldan, Kaito, and no need to whisper. Anything else raises suspicions," she says calmly. She raises her hand to get the attention of the woman running the so-called bar. She then gestures to her mug and to her companion.
"Now what is so important that you need to meet with me so urgently."
The young man looks around again to make sure they're not being overheard before looking back at Zhi.
"You're losing focus, Zhi. Marcel told me about the letter."
The girl's eyes narrow.
"That was just a stupid mistake, Kaito. Everyone makes mistakes."
"You're making more mistakes like that. You're spending too much time with that Burke woman."
"How I spend my personal time is none of your concern; I thought we already discussed ..."
"But it is my concern. It's embarassing watching you sniff around after that gaijin ... "
As if by magic, a dagger is held in Zhi's hand, partially concealed by her ale mug.
"Be very careful about what you say next, Kaito."
Kaito looks down at the weapon and sighs.
"This is exactly what I mean. I don't think you can do the job," he says sadly. "I want to talk to her."
"Sara?!"
Some of the other patrons look over as Zhi raises her voice. She continues in a quieter tone, "Why do you need ... "
"Raven. I want to talk to Raven myself. You need to arrange a meeting for me."
"She's not going to talk to ... "
"A meeting, Zhi, or I'm out - I'm going back to Oparra."
The young rogue frowns.
"I will pass along the request, Kaito," she says finally. "I should warn you, though, she's not fond of ultimatums."
"I don't care, just tell her."
Kaito gets up from his chair and heads toward the door without looking back, narrowly avoiding the woman bringing him his ale. With a shrug, she sets it on the table with a questioning glance at Zhi.
"He seems a mite high strung," she says.
"If, by that, you mean he's a real pain in the ass, then I agree," Zhi responds.
You spend the rest of the day checking up on the various civic projects around town before retiring to your estate to rest. In the morning, you borrow a barge from one of your citizens as you prepare to journey to the broken pump house.
You travel north from Stachys, poling the barge along the swampy marshes. Insects buzz loudly over the stagnant pools of water, especially around the festering carcasses of livestock that became stuck and drowned in the muck. After a couple of hours of traveling, you draw near the pump house.
A sturdy stone building straddles the berm separating an algae-cloaked marsh from the stagnant canal waters. A long sluice looks as though it might have once accommodated a mill, while a stone walkway wraps around the southern portion of the building. Moss almost completely obscures the slate roof.
As you draw near the building, a monster suddenly emerges from the murky water next to your barge! This three-legged freak is mostly mouth. Three tentacles, two tipped with barbs and one with eyes, extend from its sides.
It bites Melodie, teeth tearing through her delicate skin!
Zileska instantly moves to stanch the blood from Melodie's wound. She draws out a bandage from her bag and applies it to the songstress, and it immediately folds underneath the changeling's clothing and affixes itself to the injury.
Melodie screams as the creature tears through her skin, blood running freely across her body and the raft. The sound is piercing, but the toothy creature seems worst effected.
The monster bellows in pain as Melodie screams. Its tentacles thrash around as it tries to recover from the daze.
"At least we know why nobody's come out this way," Maria said as she took a shot at the monster with Dignity's Barb.
Quickly reloading the crossbow, Maria fired again.
Maria's first shot goes wide, but her second bolt sinks into the creature's grotesque bulk, thick blood oozing from the wound.
After looking nervously at the water, Zhi pulls her shortbow and quiver from her bag. The then notches an arrow and lets it fly.
However the arrow does little, if any, damage.
Zileska finally gets Melodie's bleeding under control after applying a styptic powder.
As Zileska staunches the bleeding Melodie screams again, although the effort seems more calculated this time.
Sara smashes the creature's eyestalk with the oar, causing it to roar in pain. Zhi's arrow bounces off its rubbery hide. As Zileska staunches Melodie's bleeding, the mesmerist screams at the monster again, keeping it dazed and off-balance!
I can't do anything from here and if I jump in that water ... it'll be like The River Test all over again.
Zhi drops her bow, grabs one of the barge poles and shoves the barge closer to the creature.
"Excuse me, Mel," she says calmly as she steps up to the barge's edge and pulls her rapier from her bag.
Sara pushes the barge pole deep into the thing’s mouth.
A glimmer of familiarity flashes across her eyes as she looks into this thing’s long eyes, recalling a story told to her by Hare.
”Ugh, otyugh! Its bite is diseased, keep care!”
Sara drives the pole into the monster's mouth, poking a hole in the back of its throat. The pain is amplified by Melodie's voice. Blood and bile pour from the wound as the otyugh sinks back under the fetid water.
As you pull the barge towards the base of the stairs, Zhi spots a hidden nook near the base of the stairs. Inside are a variety of treasures. This hoard includes 17 pp, 33 gp, an engraved silver compact (worth 250 gp), a platinum-and-diamond necklace (worth 850 gp), a masterwork trident, a magic buckler, a magic ring, two magic oils, and a magic wand.
"Wow, that thing liked its shinies," Zhi says with a whistle as she pulls out the jewelry.
She stows the valuables in her bag and hefts it up, keeping her rapier in her hand. Pausing to cast mage armor on herself, she moves up the stairs cautiously.
"Come on ladies. Let's see what else is creeping around here."
Melodie, less keen to rush in than Zhi, takes thirty seconds to examine their new items.
Zileska carefully closes up her satchel and says, "So... probably more things like this around the pump house. And we need to figure out how to get it working again."
"Once we clear out any threats," Zhi says, slowing moving along the walkway. "We then hire someone to figure out how to get it working again. I am not a plumber."
This large room once contained supplies and machinery for repairing the pump and cleaning the well, but these have long since rotted into mulch. The pump mechanism has clearly been modified to accommodate a rope that once passed through a small slot carved into the wall. A well stands in the northeast corner.
As you look around the dim, dank chamber, you hear snarling as six figures start to stir and rise from the muck. These humanoid creatures have long, sharp teeth, and their pallid flesh is stretched tightly over their starved frame. They hiss and begin stalking towards you hungrily!
"Ugh, ghouls," says Zileska as she struggles to grab her pertinent gear (and thus does not take action until her initiative turn).
"We got this," Zhi says confidently to Sara. Displaying, perhaps, an excess of said trait, she pulls a second blade from her bag. She moves forward to stab at the ghoul to her right.
Zhi drives her blade through the ghoul's neck, sending it sprawling back into the muck.
Still wielding the barge pole, Sara attempts to pin one against the wall and crush its head or chest.
And crush its chest she does. The ghoul spasms and slumps lifeless on the end of the oar.
"Oh bloody hell," Maria remarked as she saw the ghouls. Charging in after Sara and Zhi, she stabbed at a third ghoul with her blade.
Maria drives her sword-cane into the ghouls chest. It snarls in pain and retaliates with tooth and claw, but the nimble tiefling dodges its attacks. A second ghoul rushes in and snaps at her, but she sidesteps again.
Sara is less lucky, as the two ghouls who rush her both sink their teeth into her shoulder and side!
Sara freezes in place, the familiar sensation of total loss of control over her body happening once more.
"Oh no!" Melodie murmurs as Sara freezes in place. She too feels frozen, unsure what to do.
Oh, this is going to get ugly!
"Damn! is all Zhi says as she sees Sara stop moving.
She moves up next to the still woman hoping to draw the creatures attacks.
She stabs at the ghoul right in front of the tall woman.
Zileska lets the fighters keep the front line secure while she does what she did before in the Crabbe garden - she holds forth her symbol of Calistria.
"You may want our tasty flesh, but you can't have it!" she shouts.
(Will save DC 14 for half damage)
Most of the ghouls resist the blast of positive energy. Still, all of them are wounded, three quite badly after Zhi runs up to stab one next to Sara!
Keeping the injured ghoul between her and its compatriot, Maria paid attention to the first one's movements, predicting how it would move and striking when the opportunity presented itself.
As the ghoul prepare to lunge again, Maria drives her sword up through its neck and out the back! It gurgles and goes limp, and the tiefling kicks the creature off of her blade.
Melodie whistles, a note high enough to make everyone in the vicinity wince.
The ghoul seems unaffected by Melodie's scream!
The ghoul near Maria steps forward to assault her, while the other two bite and claw at Zhi! Bot women get bit!
Cursing as the ghoul's claws found their mark, Maria once more focused on its movements before striking.
Maria waits for her opening, then stabs the ghoul in the chest where its withered heart sits. Dark blood oozes from the wound as the monster falls!