Lady we brought your guy back. Everything else there is dead, dead. What else do you want?! Albus says losing his patience.
She took over a corpse and she says I'm the weird one? what did i get into Shad?
The woman will peer at Thorrpe.
Oh, he swallowed Gaunt's gut-stone? Well, cough it up and I'll consider our deal satisfied. I would have settled for Gaunt's head mind you, but seeing the stone will do.
She'll wave one of the creepers forward who will scurry towards her holding a cup of what smells like rotten fish and vinegar.
Now, I understand you surfacers don't much care for pulsum, but it should help you regurgitate the stone. Once I can examine it I'll fulfill my end of the bargain.
Thorrpe glares at Takara
Stupid wizard. Ruining things for everyone, if I die now it will be her fault
Thorrpe sticks his fingers down his throat and vomits all over the ground, most likely at Takara's feet.
Feeling his eyes on the back of her head, Takara rolls her eyes. "You'll get it back."
Well...
BLAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!
Gaunt Cadaver examines the gut-stone in detail, making sure it is the same one she knew from when Gaunt Cadaver lived with the rest of the Dark Folk.
Satisfied, she smiles.
Well, it's not the prettiest tropy but she'll do. I appreciate your help with this, it makes life easier for us.
She bows, and opens her hands as she does in an elegant gesture of welcome.
The Xotl do not have many friends amongst the surfacers, but you may count yourselves amongst them. Now a reward for your efforts.
She claps her hands and another of the dark creepers scurries over with a chest. She opens it and produces two large funerary cones made of solid gold.
These we found in the depths below the estate set above doorways. We have no idea what they are for, but they should be able to be sold for a prize amount.
She hands them to you and they are surprisingly heavy - four pounds each. There are smooth cones with Ancient Osiriani hieroglyphs inscribed on the "base" of the cones.
Truly I must apologize however, as I do not know the nature of the outbreak anymore than you. There are, of course, many more people than normal moving throughout the Necropolis with the opening of the gates by the Grand Mausoleum, but my people did see something that we thought was unusual. There are two people who recently entered alone - a strange woman with dark hair who seems to have extraordinary interest in the undead. She was last seen in the southwestern part of the necropolis.
She pauses for a moment.
And then there was another man - he came into the necropolis before the undead woke. He carried a golden mask and looked to be arguing with some sort of...pet? He carried it in a brass cage. One of my creepers noticed he dropped something in his haste however, and I am happy to supply it for you.
She hands over the scrap of parchment to you, then gathers up the dark creeper you carried and prepares to re-enter her home.
If there's nothing else?
appraise
linguistics or spell craft
Albus nods to Dwalindor and checks the paper. Yea.
"Thank you for your kindness. It will not be forgotten on our end as well." Takara assures the woman. "If you need anything, let us know."
"Mind if I look as well, Albus?" the mage asks of her compatriot as she sidles up next to him to look over the papers.
"Makes no sense to me from a magical standpoint, but these writings are deeply religious..." she comments off hand.
The parchment appears to be a star chart of the skies in Wati in summer.
If this is a star chart as you suspect, there are a number of areas you could go to review information. The Academy of Skies and Moon, Mahhept's Marvelous Maps, the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss, the Observatory of Truth and Wisdom, Pahak's Prognostications and the tomb of Menket Maatya are all good places to start.
Albus, as you listen to the many locations Dwalindor rolls off, you think about the golden-masked man - he might be near the Marid's Caress Bathouse or the Shiny Bauble.
"Alright, Dwalindor. To the Academy of Skies and Moon!" Takara states boldly as she strides forth!
The Academy of Skies and Moon, as Albus knows from his 30 on Knowledge (Local) and no doubt related to the rest of you on your way there, was once the premier location for Wati's astrologers to gather to discuss their arcane art. Once people from all over Garund traveled to learn at the feet of the masters here.
But while they could tell you exactly what it meant to be born to a prominent noble while Castrovel was ascending in the Kraken, they didn't see Lamashtu's hand at work when the Plague struck the city and the reputation of seers and astrologers never recovered in Wati, not in two thousand years of predictions.
When the Age of Lost Omens arrived the city simply shrugged, long comfortable with the idea that prophecy was too fickle to be interpreted precisely.
The Academy itself seemed to have been destroyed by fire during the Plague, scorch marks long faded and ceilings collapsed.
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Dwalindor mock sneers at 'Mr. Know-it-all Albus'.
"Uh yeah, Albus - Um, I already knew all that stuff too...but figured we were in a hurry so I did not mention it.
And besides, who cares that the Academy of Skies and Moon was originally built with hand-cut limestone instead of brick.
I fail to see how architectural inconsistencies are relevant!' :-)
+2 vs limestone
"Men... all they care about is what stone some building is made from..." Takara mutters as she looks around the burned out Academy.
percep
stealth
And they think we are crazy Shad. What in the world are they babbling about?
The winds have blown through the Academy and leave the wind blowing through sandstone blocks marked by fire from the time of the Plague of Madness.
You think you hear scratching from the interior of the Academy.
Thorpe stands 10 feet behind Dwalindor creeping oh so creepily
You did indeed hear something Dwalindor - looking inside, you find a huge rat sifting through the ruins looking for food.
It turns and looks at you, and you realize it's actually very clean for a rat - its eyes shine brightly as it looks at you and it even seems to wag its tail at you, like a dog. It chitters nervously when it sees you.
"It seems to like you, Dwal. Go make friends with it. Offer it food or something." Takara encourages.
Thorpe takes put a ration and crumbles it up and scatters it
The dire rat runs up, gathers up pieces of the ration and then scampers back into the ruin.
Vexed, you turn around and see a terrible figure approaching - with a hat you recognize.
Velriana Hypaxes has returned!
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Seeing Thorpe offer the rat food, Dwalindor smiles, then sees the hat and woman approaching. With a sneer he quips...
"I was about to say I smelled a rat, but that one was too clean. Now I know that stench.
Albus, I thought we killed her already or am I seeing a ghost?"
Dwalindor keeps Lucy ready for action.
Who is that?
Defiiileeerrssss...I thooouuugghhhhhtttt I smeeeelllleeeeed youuuuuuu....
You can see the rotting flesh hanging loose against her frame.
Shad this is not good! Keep me safe!
As before Thorrpe's shadow seems to stand up and pulls a shield off its back and it defends Thorrpe.
The creature advances on Albus, intent on punishing the closest of the adventurers who robbed it of its divine glory in the Sanctum.
What did you do to her?
Thorrpe moves into A flank w dwalindor and he attacks immediately prior to his attack
for
Old friend of ours. Ouch. Help! The magus says trying to get free.
"Let him go!" Takara will wait until her compatriots act before casting a spell to subdue the undead.
Dwalindor looks back and forth from the lady.
"Wow, those sound surprisingly like a couple people we met, eh Albus. At least the gold looks real, despite the fancy writings."
Neeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvveeeerrrrr....
Dwalindor successfully hits the undead, but it remains in control of itself.