"You're right about that. Guess I need to study up on the mythological creatures in this land. And puzzles."
N'Dateh looks at the lot, quite puzzled by what they are doing.
Julian turns the pillar to the right until it rests on the six eyed gorilla, the turns it left until it rests on the one eyed roper, then turn it right one click to the dragon, then left to the 4 eyed umber hulk, then finishes turning it right to the dragon once again.
As that clocks in place, there is a rumbling, and the other pillars in the room rotate revealing 5 alcoves with small chests and coffers inside.
Lavinia begins to go through the chests and as she opens up each one, there is nothing but a few coins scattered on the bottom. She keeps going alcove to alcove getting more desperate each time she opens a chest.
Finally in the last alcove there is a reprieve. Several of the chests here remain untouched. One of the iron coffers contains a number of documents and she pages through them quickly. She also find a ledger, but she flips through it with a frown unable to read it. She counts out the coins and gives each of you 200gp. "I am concerned that there seems to be a lot of my family's money missing. There is a stack of IOUs that I can collect on that will allow me to pay my back taxes and get my estate in order. I will need to think about what is next, especially with my finances not what I thought they would be.
Morgana mutters, "Wouldn't surprise me to hear he's been using the vault as his own coinpurse..." She sighs, then suggests, "We might be able to use magic to decode the text, Lavinia, if you give us some time."
N'Dateh stares at the woman, his alien eyes trying to convey some kind of compassion: "Do you think someone like Vark could have figured that code? I do not. I wonder if someone make current visits here, or if these coffers have been empty for a while... Anyway to tell?"
Julian shakes his head:
"I do not think Vark was capable of this. Let me look at the text, I solved this riddle, maybe I can unravel your text?"
Julian is not able to figure it out, and passing it around no one knows what language it may be. As you are leaving, Lavinia pulls the clerk aside and asks if anyone else other than her parents have come into the vault recently. He replies with an affirmative, saying that her brother Vanthus visited the vault several times over the past month.
Lavinia informs him that it couldn't be possible as he has been missing for over a month. The clerk is shocked at that news and that Lavinia didn't know he'd been visiting the vault- Vanthus had a signet
ring and the clerk recognized him as a Vanderboren. The clerk agrees
to inform Lavinia if Vanthus tries to enter the vault again.
As you leave, Lavinia asks, "Can you come back to my estate in two days? I need to get my estate in order and check into a few things regarding my brother. Meanwhile enjoy the money you earned."
She has her coach drop you off wherever you want, then leaves to her home.
"Sure, but I'm also wondering about her brother. Might not hurt to ask a few questions of our own."
Before asking around, Julian consults his local book that is like a who's who. He wants to find out about the brother.
Morgana nods, "I believe we can do that..."
N'Dateh nods with the others, his eyes staring in the vaults, wondering what makes humanoids dig such permanent holes in worship of the past.
The thought brings him back to his lost ancestors. The ones he can't hear anymore, and he grows sullen.
Julian doesn't recall much about her brother.
There are a number of districts in town (Azure District, Merchant's District, Champion's District, Cudgel District, Noble District, Shadowshore and Sunrise) you think as a group you could canvass one district a day. On your full day free, you begin inquiring within the district you are staying in (Merchant's District).
People remember seeing Vanthus here and there, although no one's seen him recently. Everyone assumes he's still living at Vanderboren Manor when asked.
N'Dateh accompanies his new companions, though his mind is elsewhere. Inside. Looking for his lost ancestors.
Julian stops in some taverns in the merchant district. He buys a few rounds of drinks to get conversation started.
"I am looking for a Vanthus Vanderboren. He may want to hire my crew."
You spend the day inquiring about her brother and relaxing and spending some of your well earned gold. Soon you find yourself back at her estate.
Lavinia greets you warmly and you all sit down while she talks about her brother.
Lavinia explains to you that the two of them were quite close growing up, since their parents were rarely around. They grew to depend on each other, and got into a fair amount of trouble together. After one particularly complex prank involving several elixirs of love being emptied into the nearby water tower, their childhoods came to an end.
Lavinia was sent to the Thenalar Academy to live out the next five years of her life, and Vanthus was shipped out to work on a plantation. When they returned to live in the family manor a year ago, they had both changed. Lavinia likes to think she benefited from her time at Thenalar. Vanthus, on the other hand, spent his time away nurturing his bitterness. He no longer had time for Lavinia, slept all day, and spent the nights with what Lavinia recalls as "associates of doubtful character." Eventually, he moved out of the house entirely - Lavinia believes he took up with a lover in Azure District, but she never learned the details.
When their parents died, Vanthus returned for a week to live at the manor, but he had changed even more. Gone was the easy sense of humor she recalled fondly from their childhood, and in its place was a bitter cynicism and a morbid streak that sent chills up Lavinia's spine. After several arguments, Vanthus struck her with his fist. Lavinia was shocked, and for a moment she thinks Vanthus was shocked as well, but an instant later he was back to his new self, all scowls and menace. He gathered his belongings and left - Lavinia hasn't seen him since.
She knows something profound happened to her brother at some point to change him, but she's not sure what this was. She believes he's fallen in with a bad crowd, perhaps smugglers or thieves or even killers. Although his attitude might speak otherwise, she hopes that it's not too late, that if he can be brought back to her side she might be able to talk some sense into him and redeem him before he passes forever out of her reach. The problem is, she doesn't know where he's gone.
Lavinia has few clues as to where Vanthus has gone. She recommends asking around about him throughout the city; she doubts he's hiding out in Champion's or Noble District, but even these locations may hold clues. Her suspicion that he's been living with a woman in Azure District arose from half-heard rumors, but it remains the strongest lead she has.
Lavinia asks you to try and find him and bring him back to her. You already searched the Merchant's district. each district takes about a day to comb through and search for leads.
Julian nods as he follows the story, keeping quiet until it is over.
"We will get information from the Champion and Noble district. Then we will approach the Azure district with caution. If he has fallen in with a bad crowd, they may have their resources too."
Julian explains to Lavinia earnestly:
"There is time to stop your brother from a path of destruction."
Julian consults his tome of local information and begins to do some research.
Morgana suggests, "Might be safer to at least keep to pairs as we go... though I can certainly ask around the Cudgel district -- it's not where you'd expect to find a noble, but... sometimes that's the allure."
"Seems almost certain he's in this Azure District, no? Not only that, but it sounds like my kind of place. Any care to join me checking it out?"
"I would join you Quartle..." offers N'Dateh, a bit lost on the whole human family topics and its associated drama.
Once he's more or less alone, he asks Quartle: "So why are we looking for this brother, since he seems like a bad boy who ran off with the family's money?"
"Because I think our employer is a little naive. He went bad. She thinks she can get him back. I expect the same as you. We'll eventually wind up killing him or turning him in to the city guards. She pays well though, so let's see what we find." Together with N'Dateh, Quartle heads out to try to track down their quarry.
"Ok. I can use some gold..." thinks N'Dateh, though he also thinks of a nice bottle of whiskey he could get drunk on...
Julian notes that they are five, so they can split up 2 - 2 -1 and look around. With N'Dateh and Quartle heading to the Azure district, Celentria heading to the noble the district, and Morgana going to the Cudgel district, Julian joins Morgana as the Cudgel district sounded a little rougher.