"Well not directly", Pip explains. "In some cases, yes. In other cases the blood must be purified and refined first."
Aspen speaking her name snaps J out of admiring the colorful flora. "Oh, no questions. But I think we're ready to meet the Master Gardener now."
Pip nods in understanding. "Of course. Right this way. The Master Gardener's office is right through these doors."
The little plant leads the party back into the ruined exhibit hall and through the northern doors into another long hallway that looks to empty into a large greenhouse.
"The Master Gardener is down the hallway and to the right. Have a nice day", Pip says as he departs.
Unlike the dead and warped growth in most of the Arboretum, the plants growing in this greenhouse seem to be relatively young and healthy. Several raised beds of earth host strange looking plants with long, sinuous vines, and a small, gently flowing fountain with a red lion statue at its center sits near the middle of the chamber. Against the wall stands a worktable and chair covered in gardening tools.
At the far side of the greenhouse, a humanoid creature with a taut green shell that extends like a cowl from chin to brow, wreathing a face of brilliant flower petals looks up in surprise. "You can't be here!" the Master Gardener says in a rage. "Leave me alone!"
|
Seren will take a walnut and a length of ivy, holding one up to each eye and peering at them before tucking them into a pouch for easy access. She mutters something about at least getting paid for her blood and then waves a hand by her ear as if brushing something off.
When they get lead further in to the new room she tags along beside their charge still, admiring the change in scenery as she resists the urge to pick a flower or two. At the Gardener's room she freezes in place half-way through a step when he shouts.
"We were told by a little green man named Pip that we could talk to you. We just wanted your help." She holds her hands up away from her weapons at her belt.
'No! Never! Lies and tricks. Pip would never let the likes of you inside the gardens."
Aspen and Seren's words hit the mark and the plant-woman visibly calms down and seems to come back to her senses.
"Yes, of course. I apologize for the unsightly outburst. What brings you to our gardens?"
J grins, impressed by the party's skills at deescalation. "Your gardens are lovely but we're actually here for a friend. He thinks he might have left something behind here years ago. Would you mind if we examined that lion statue?"
The Master Gardener clears her throat. "Yes, go right ahead. Take your time."
Looking the statue over, Seren see no hidden latches or compartments. She does notice that it doesn't seem very heavy or affixed to the ground.
With a bit of effort tipping the statue over proves simple enough. On the bottom is a hollow from which a tightly wrapped package falls free that's filled with missives from before the disaster.
"That's my handwriting", Grisham says as he emerges from J once again. "I'm sure of it."
|
Aspen picks up the notes and thinks for a moment about reading them but then hands them to J (unsure if Grishan can actually hold them) without a glance. "I don't presume to feel entitled to your family's secrets."
"Now that we have that done, where do you want to go, J? Have you been satisfied so far with this place?"
|
|
Seren was ready to help tip the statue over, but it's already falling over the moment Aspen begins to work at it, and she merely jumps back so it doesn't falls on her feet. She gives the halfling a bit of a look for that one, but gets distracted by the ntoes and Grisham's sudden reappearance.
"I was kind of curious what they said..." She attempts to peer at the notes over either the halfling's shoulder or Junia's as appropriate. "I mean, since we came all the way here for them... but Aspen is right, what else do we need to do?"
J becomes visibly disgusted as she reads over the missives and Grisham's pale features become troubled. "I'd like to speak with my brother once we're done here", he says.
|
|
Laureglyn reads over someone's shoulder and looks troubled by much of what he reads.. "You were very effective at gathering information, Grisham. I hope you were as cautious as you were successful, as there is much damning information in what you've recorded here. I would have thought that by now your information would have gone cold, but that's not the case is it... much of this is timeless personal information, is it not?"
He purses his lips thoughtfully, then asks, "Would you mind if the Society were to be informed of the parts that involve them? This would be priceless information to pass on to the hierarchy of the Society."
|
|
"True, we should know who we can and can't trust around here. We don't need to lose any future pathfinders... uh... needless. Especially ourselves!" She finishes reading over Junia's shoulder and moves to a move appropriate distance.
"I don't recognize most of the names, but they sound important enough that someone at the lodge will know what to make of them. I do know Deckland, though! I met his daughter, she's mean. Is that all you needed to do, Grisham?"
"You can do whatever you want with the information. We would have never recovered it without your help", Grisham says sadly. "I just want to talk to my brother again."
Suddenly eager to move on herself, J bows to the Master Gardener and then points toward the exit. "Can we move on to the Drownyard now?"
The Master Gardener bids the party farewell and resumes her work.
The Drownyard is located a short distance from the Arboretum Arcanis, and is surrounded by a tall, wrought iron fence. The key provided by Drandle Dreng unlocks the front gate.
The grounds of the old Tri-Towers Yard have been cleaned up in the last several years, and several old ruined school buildings that stood too close to the cliff’s edge were demolished. All of the gnarled old trees were removed and new flowering bushes and trees have been planted in their place. Despite these efforts, the few ruined classrooms that remain look sad and forgotten. Just inside the gate sits a small, locked storage shed marked with the Pathfinder’s Glyph of the Open Road.
J. falls silent as she steps on the grounds of her old school. "Please give me a moment to remember the students and teachers who died here."
|
|
Seren stops with the group for a moment, then lets out a heavy sigh. It looked nice enough, for what it was. With a nod to J the takes the time to go towards the shed that's caught her attention. Dreng said check, she should check it while they're here.
If the door is unlocked, then she'll open it, if not then she'll try their key.
A large sign hanging on the back of the shed reads:
Entry to above ground structure in the ‘Yard is strongly discouraged. It contains an dangerous supernatural force. Items in the yellow box are for emergencies only.
Signed, V-C Dreng
The shed was locked but it appears thieves and vandals came through recently and broke in. What remains of the lock hangs off the shed's door.
All that remains inside is two glass vials held within stylized cold-iron casings etched with strange runes and other eldritch markings. Within the vial rolls a small wisp of white vapor, churning as if caught in a miniature vortex of air and a small square of paper. The note describes the items as 'haunt siphons' and explains their use.
|
|
She mutters under her breath about stupid thieves not respecting property as she rummages through the shed and returns with the note and vials. "I'm pretty quick, I could use one. I haven't quite learned how to cancel out haunts yet. I feel like I'm on the cusp of being better that that... but not yet, sorry."
She holds the two vials in either hand before her, in case Laureglyn or Aspen want to take one. She glances to where J is once or twice, just to see if the girl is ready to move on.
"Yes, thank you", J says while wiping a tear from her eye. "I feel like we need to go this way."
The small classroom is all that remains of a once great school. School benches and chairs are scattered about in a haphazard fashion and a chalkboard hangs crooked from a single nail on the western wall. The sound of the ocean beating against the cliffs in the distance is the only thing that breaks the silence.
"This was our classroom", J explains. "This is where Grisham and I met."
Everyone notices a slight unnatural vibration from the ground - a haunt is manifesting!
Seren's siphon hums with power as it sucks in the gathering energies. Aspen's touch finishes it off, putting an end to the growing vibrations.
"Thanks again for the guidance and protection", J says once the danger's passed. Her voice suddenly grows distant as if listening for a barely audible whisper. "I'm certain there's another restless force calling to me from below. It's inside the entrance to the necropolis", she explains after a moment’s pause. "That way."
J leads the way down a narrow stone corridor that reeks of death. Quickly the party happens upon a trio of corpses slowly rotting into the stone.
On the bodies the party finds three suits of leather armor, three short swords, three oils of magic weapon, two potions of cure light wounds, a scroll of remove disease, a wand of lesser restoration (6 charges), and a wand of protection from evil (18 charges), a collection of excavation tools and sundry items, and assorted coin.
|
|
Seren watches J intently when she starts listening to things no one else can hear, the little medium is -quite- familiar with that look, and if J shows no hesitation, neither will she. "We cleansed the first one, we can do it again. May it find some peace where it belongs." She makes an odd gesture of her hand, head bowed, then scurries after the rest.
when they find the bodies she starts rummaging around their equipment and handing it off between those present. She tries to give the scrolls and wand to Aspen and Laureglyn, since they seem much more likely to be able to do something with them. "Caution is good, we could use their stuff. I wouldn't mind one of these oils and maybe a potion.
Despite being up close to the bodies she only looks at Laureglyn and shrugs. "You've got me, but hopefully their spirits have passed on.
|
|
Aspen takes one of the oils, the scroll, and the wands.
"I'd say they've only been down here for about two months," Aspen comments as he looks over the bodies. "And two of them don't have any physical injuries that I can see. Must've been some mental damage, or maybe an attack from something incorporeal. Let's hope I'm wrong though."
Once everyone is ready, Aspen clunks along and leads the way further in.
The hallway opens into a wide chamber.
The spirit of a young girl with blond hair sits in the center of the room. As the party approaches, the spirit gets up, turns around, and addresses J. “I’ve been waiting for you a long time, Junia. Waiting for you to come back. Why did you leave me? Won’t you come back to me? Then we can all be friends again.”
J is visibly paralyzed by fear and guilt, and can only mutter, “Cassiel, Cassiel, I’m so sorry, please forgive me”.
Grishan emerges from J and looks to the party. "This is Cassiel Marlinchen. She died down here with me."
Cassiel hesitates "...it just doesn't seem fair."
"It's not fair", Grisham adds. "But our deaths aren't J's fault either. She's our friend and she's still alive."
"I... I know. I think I just wanted to say... goodbye", Cassiel says before fading from view.
J smiles warmly and embraces the party. "That was it! Cassiel was the one drawing me here. I want to follow in your footsteps. I want to help other trapped spirits."
|
|
Aspen feels a bit uncomfortable in the embrace at first but eventually he reaches up to pat J's arm. "I'm glad we could help you. But you should know that we got off easy this time. Granted, we were prepared and that's half the battle. But sometimes you just come across something that's too much for you. All you can do is be ready for anything and everything, that's Rule #1 of Pathfinder training, should you choose to follow that path. I hope you do, really. I think you'd make a fine agent some day."
|
|
"It's wonderful, isn't it? It's how I spend my life. I'm glad you could help her. If you want to help more, I'll do it without question. Aspen is right, but I'm sure we'll be fine. If there are other's here, we have to do what we can." She returned the embrace wholeheartedly and nodded to affirm her statement.
After a moment of pause blinks and works something off her belt. "Here." Seren will try to press a holy symbol into J's hand. "This is Ashava, she's an Empyreal Lord that's made it her duty to guide lost spirits to where they belong. I follow her, if you really want to help spirits I could teach you her ways. Being in the lodge like Aspen says would give us a lot of time to figure it out."