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Satisfied with having put just the right amount of fear into the courier, Banon gave a grumpy harumph before putting away his bow. Regardless of her horribly, terribly ugly countenance, the grizzled ranger had sincerely hoped for nothing to be amiss at the orphanage.
Scratching his beard, he gave a heavy sigh as he made his way back into the building to relay his findings.
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Several minutes later...
"...ain that's wa we need tae confront thes auld hag."
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"I will agree to that, too, then: she will have plenty of time to be answering questions, I would think."
"Someone is going to have to take care of these children... Perhaps that should be me."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"An' haur ah was thinkin' 'at th' Chelish waur ruthless. Huir uv a weel, let's heed back 'en."
The children weren't old enough to pay for his services, and the more Banon listened to his companions, the better convinced he was that his time and effort would be better spent elsewhere.
"'main 'en 'en, Fion. Let's gang."
You take your leave of Auntie Baltwin and her orphans promising to report your findings to the Silver Crusade. Heading back to The Temple of the Shining Star, you discuss your findings in the house.
The streets of Absalom teem with mass of humanity (and other races) all going about their business disconcerned with the doings of some initiate Pathfinders.
You are about to enter the Temple to report back to Ollysta Zadrian, when a funny feeling strikes you.
Shaking your heads at shadows, you enter the Temple of the Shining Star and seek out Ollysta Zadrian, paladin of Iomedae.
"So you have returned from the home and delivered the aid. What is your report, should the Silver Crusade continue to support this place, or shall we look elsewhere for those in need?"
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Castien gulps, then takes a deep breath and blurts out, "Auntie Baltwin is not worthy of your support, nor anyone else's. She does not use the medications on the children - she sells them to fund her drinking habit. In addition, she sends the healthy children out during the day to clean houses and the like." He runs out of breath, and in that moment realizes not only how much he's said, but also the content of which and to whom, and his mouth closes.
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Kellean speaks up meekly from her position in the back, half-hidden by the group. "Indeed, miss-ma'am," - "'Miss-ma'am'? Pull it together, Kellean! " - "She is, it seems, guilty of fraud, selling the medicines meant for the children, all to fund her alcoholism. I am unfamiliar with the laws regarding the labor of children in Absalom, but that, too, may be against the laws."
"After my tasks for the Pathfinders are done for the day, I would be glad to come back and help these children, " Kellean adds guiltily.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Well then, it is as we suspected. This Baltwin woman has been recieving aid from other charities as well as our own, but it appears she has been furthering her own wanton behavior instead of looking out fo the welfare of children. We will address this in our own way, but for now, aid to the home will most certainly cease."
She looks at all of you smiling, "You have done well, my Pathfinders-in-Training. You have done exactly as asked, and in a suitable timeframe. I will recommend you to Venture Captain Valsin when he asks me. In the meantime, if any of you wish to continue to serve those less fortunate and do good in teh world, Silver Crusade is always looknig for new intitiates. I think at least one of you," she says this last looking directly at Kellean, "would fit in with us very well. See me after your current tasks are complete to discuss."
She shows you out, and you leave the Temple, checking Valsin's list of tasks for what to do next.
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"Continuing in order, the next would be the Osirian nobleman, Dremdhet Salhar, just over in the Wise Quarter, to see about gaining permission for the Pathfinders to explore the Salhar vaults..." Kellean says, reading off the list. "I wonder why it says, on this one in particular, 'Do not embarrass the Society in this matter'?"
The group makes its way without incident to teh rich estate of Grand Councilmember Dremdhet Salhar and are greeted by a guard once they reach the opulent gates.
"The Grand Councilor is not available, having been called away on business, but his trusted advisor is available to meet with you. Amenopheus has been entrusted to negotiate on Khan Salhar's behalf in business matters."
He leads you down well-decorated hallways and past many expansive rooms before directing you into a simple study where a tan-skinned old man flips through a large tome, scraps of paper sticking from it in a dozen places, on a simple writing desk. The man silently motions you into the study with one hand, not looking up from his book. After a few moments, he closes the tome and addresses you:"Good day to you, Pathfinders. I am Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage, advisor to Khan Salhar. I understand you were sent here to discuss archaeological permissions. Knowing this was coming, I spoke with the Khan at length on the subject and have this to say."
"Since Osirion was reopened to exploration a decade ago, adventurers, historians, and treasure-seekers flock to my country by the hundreds, perhaps thousands. While most families with ancestral burial vaults maintain guards and keep their sites out of the hands of casual thieves, not all families have the wealth or power to restrict everyone, and as we all know, not every defense is perfectly secure. Unscrupulous tomb robbers and maligned merchant organizations cause Osirion to bleed relics into the Inner Sea — something the descendants of Ancient Osirion cannot afford. We Osiriani have thousands of years of rich history coursing through our veins, and while that power has been out of focus in recent years, we are content to wait, knowing our enemies will wear themselves down. As they fall into arrogance, folly, or greed, we wait for our return to power, knowing we bear the riches of our ancestors at our feet."
"Khan Salhar remains impressed by the Pathfinder Society, orating in their favor a handful of times in front of Absalom’s Grand Council, in fact. Due to previous relationships between him and the Society, Master Salhar has agreed to grant permission to the Pathfinder Society to explore his family’s vaults below Sothis. The only thing he requires is that you retrieve the map of the vaults from his own vault here. The servant will lead you to the basement and show you the room."
The Sapphire Sage’s eyes twinkle as he smirks knowingly, then he turns back to reading his book as though he had never been disturbed.
The guard/servant leads you back through the mansion to a set of stone steps into a cool basement. Soon, you end up at a plain wooden door, which the servant opens with a key, bowing and gesturing you inside. As you look around, you see the plain stone room contains three chests: a copper-banded chest of smooth, dark wood; a red lacquered chest; and what looks to be a cube of solid steel. Behind the chests sits a low table holding a clear glass jar half full of liquid and a covered wicker basket.
As you observe these objects, you hear the door close silently behind you and the soft click as the lock engages, keeping you inside, turning to the door, you see a message written on the back of the door: "Within these cases lies your quest and your way out."
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Kellean is puzzled, too, but suggests an answer to Culsar's query, "It is strange, to be sure, but perhaps it makes sense as a test: if we cannot do this well, it might not be wise for Salhar - or Amenopheus - to allow the Pathfinders into the family vaults."
She then moves to follow Castien's investigation of the items.
The copper-banded chest appears normal from your visual observation. It does look very much like a normal treasure chest.
The red-lacquered chest has a solid metal plate surrounding a gaping keyhole, which pulses with amber runes. You see no key which would fit this over-size lock in the room.
The steel box has only the faintest crack where it's lid meets the base, and appears to be completely featureless, save for a narrow keyhole on one side.
The gallon sized glass jar is about half-full of a clear liquid. At the bottom of the vessel lies a jeweled brass key. You recognize the liquid as an acidic compound dangerous to be touched or even breathed.
The wicker basket is 2 foot round and has a lid fitted snugly on it's upper rim.
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It's a shame I've not begun my magical studies yet, else I might be able to discern whether these have any magical auras. Still, I can deal with the obvious for now... Castien sets his backpack on the ground and unfastens his blanket from it. He unrolls it at the far end of the room, then carefully grabs the glass jar and slowly pours its contents out onto the blanket, allowing it to soak up the acid. Once the key falls out of the jar, Castien takes a dry corner of the blanket, dries the key, and only then grabs it with his hands.
When he sees the others looking at him strangely, he shrugs and looks briefly at his smoldering blanket. "Seems a small price to pay..."
Castien dumps out the acid, ruining his blanket. Despite his care and avoidance of the liquid, the vapor from the exposed acid still is inhaled by him, burning his nose and mouth, a bit.
The wicker basket gives off a faint aura of transmutation. The steel box gives off a faint universal aura. The others do not emanate any aura.
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Let's see. Would that key fit in any of the locks?
Castien has the key, so Fenchil will only check if the holes in any of the chests (or the door - is there a keyhole?) seem to be the right size. If not, he turns his attention to the wicker basket, which does not have a lock. He'll try to manipulate the lid with his rapier, in an attempt to pry it off.
It appears that the jeweled key, recovered from the vat of acid, might fit all of the three locked chests.
The key does not seem to work in the copper-banded chest, it turns but does not free the lock mechanism.
In the red-chest, the key fits into the lock, but just spins freely, not engaging or disengaging anything.
When you place the jeweled key in the steel chest lock, the key breaks, and crumbles into dust as you watch horror-stricken.
Fenchil uses his rapier to pry the lid of the wicker basket, and after a few moments, it' falls with a soft thud to the floor. A pile of crumpled linens, looking like someone's wash, lies inside. Atop the linens, glinting in the light is a blue stone key.
As Fenchil tries to pick up the key with the end of his blade, it slips off, falling deeper inside hte basket. The clatter disturbs the baskets guardian, a large red viper pokes it's ugly head from the basket and makes aggressive movement toward the ranger.
Viper in a Basket - Round 1
20 Banon (checking out other chest)
19 Fencil
14 Kellean
11 Castien
10 Viper
3 Culsar
Viper in a Basket - round 1 - continued
The shaky strike by Fencil fails to hit the slithering snake, but Kellean's slash does make contact, for 1 hp of damage, not stopping the serpent.
Moving around the others, Castien fires two arrows at the snake. One flies wide, but the other is true, small piercing head, burying into the snake's exposed flesh.
The snake launches itsself at Fencil who first disturbed it.