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Makda leads the way into the next room and finds that the doors are unlocked. She is able to spy the floor below from the palisade she now marches down until she reaches another unlocked door.
Carefully opening it, she finds a grand black walnut table obviously imported from Avistan covered in scattered papers. At the head of the table is the body of a stately looking woman. She sits prim and proper at the head of the desk....sans a head of her own.
The papers are scattered all over there is blood on the floor preserved by some of this paper.
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The continued exposure to blood and gore is slowly beginning to desensitize Arisira. Each room, though just as gruesome as the last, becomes easier and easier for her body to endure.
I am not sure if this is good, or bad. Adapt and survive, I suppose
Entering the newest room, she barely pays any attention to the headless woman- instead focusing on the papers that litter the table. Can these provide us anything useful?
After searching the papers, she approaches the body. Her new found confidence in handling the realities of battle waivers slightly. This was a person of importance. Making plans and detailing orders. Did she know this was the end?
Searching the woman, Arisira attempts to find clues to her identity- or the sequence of events that played out here.
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Mak'da steps into the room and scans around, looking for any sign of tracks or other disturbances.
Watching Shen she turns away, that one lacks the stomach to live here
Whoever did this was thorough, lets us hope they are not lurking about waiting for anyone to come and investigate.
She mutters a quiet spell as Arisira searches the papers, the little one has courage...
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Xanko moves over to console Shen "I know how you feel love. Makes me queasy myself.... the torn apart bodies... rotting here in this hot and humid weather... who know what kind of creepy crawlers burrowed in to the dead flesh... i hope the dead dont start to move on us... and the smell is horrible... like eating rotten eggs and fish... I'm not helping you am I...? I'll leave you alone." and he leaves her be.
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Vera gives Shen a pat on the shoulder. "This is not something one comes on every day. Thank Cayden. I must find out what happened, and I'm sure you would like to as well. We'll then be able to do something about those who did this, and that will make us all feel better."
She moves into the room and examines the body as well as the papers.
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Interestingly, this woman WAS killed by spear wounds - but from a big boar spear, not the smaller Halfling sized ones you have seen.
The papers as you pour over them seem to contain mostly mundane reports about the local activities of local flora fauna and tribes. Theyre scattered and out of order now but with some tender loving care might be salvageable into some actual intelligence
Mak'da also finally finds a more solid clir - a large humanoid footprint that ends in a claw. A lizardfoll footprint to be exact.
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”Thank you Vera, with all this happening so fast ... I am used to the finer things in life. In our Calistrian temple in Kinthargo wounds were only healed ... well, when they were inflicted by the clerics’ whiplashes in the intimate bonding rituals.“ she says and blushes a little bit.
”But let us concentrate on these documents first. Maybe I can help to order them.“
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Antal listens to Shen's idea on returning the Song'o to their tribal lands in order to end the haunting. As the others move on without discussing, he takes a last look at the ruined room and follows them. We'll discuss that later, clearly.
He moves to catch up, noting that Vera has drawn her bow already. The diminutive fighter makes his way along the battlement. Into the room with the Woman at the desk covered in bloody papers. He keeps his mouth covered as he did before to help ward off the smell and disease from death. In the darkness of the room, he relights his lantern and sets it on the desk in a clear spot.
Xanko comforting Shen. He is better off without the drink.
As the group looks through the papers, he joins them. "I apologize for the delay" he says. "I cleaned up the shrine as best I could. I am not much with papers, but if there are some locations mentioned perhaps they will match up with information on the map?"
Mak'da says "looks like lizardfolk"
"If it is, then it is bad for them. I warn you all now that I have limited tolerance or mercy in me for their kind." He watches Mak'da approach the eastern door. "They killed my family, I am fairly certain, back in Jalmeray. To me they are all alike."
He continues to search the papers in the flickering lantern light and prepares himself. My hated enemy. Do I blame them, Irori, for my failure?
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Lizardfolk
Wait, I thought the halflings did all of this? What happened here..." her voice trails off into a a soft whisper. An unconfident, waivering, whisper.
Less than two days off the boat and we are in a fort attacked by Song'o, or Lizardfolk, or Both. I have already seen more dead bodies than I ever hoped, and less than half have had their heads. This isn't adventure... this is a massacre.
Her eyes dart around the room for a moment, and her hands unconsciously regrip her bow. A deep breath. Another deep breath.
"It was bound to happen eventually"
She redoubles her efforts to organize the notes, and attempts to gently comfort Antal. As they hunch over the table she whispers... "I am sorry Antal"
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"The grippli fellow did say there were both hafling, and lizard folk here. I couldn't quite gather if they were here at the same time. Came to trade and then started fighting, or fought together against the people of the fort." Vera says a prayer over the body.
"The head removal thing is really worrying me." And freaking me out if I were being honest with myself.
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You are able to quickly draw some information from the papers but again, a proper collation of the material would take hours of sorting.
You do find an older report describing the military situation - apparently the Sargavans when they landed had won a series of battles against the local tribe of Boggards and seized what had been their land which triggered a series of struggles and battles between the tribes of Song'O, Mireborn Lizardfolk, Grippli, Boggards, and Ekujae Elf tribes which had the commander on edge, fearing that they might face an atttack from one of them eventually.
Meanwhile, Mak'da finds that the door to the next section of wall was busted open and appears to be free of snares and traps.
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"Thank you Arisira." Antal acknowledges her whisper, and says no more about the subject.
He nods at Vera's comment about head removal. "Which is why we must keep ours. Since these papers could take hours to go through, I suggest we just collect them and review them once we are sure we have time." If no one else has done so, Antal will collect the military report and bundles of papers and stash them to review later.
He picks up his lantern from the table and carries it in his free hand.
An interesting report, and I would like to compare it with my new map. How old is it? Grippli too!
Seeing Mak'da has already checked the next door, Antal will begin moving toward it. His boots carefully avoid blood so that no new tracks are created. His shield appears poised to deflect an imaginary thrown spear to send it spinning toward the courtyard.
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Mak'da looks over to the others. Are you surprised at the savagery here, people will fight to protect their homes and lands and these people come and take and take and take, heedless of the fact that this land is already occupied....
Her voices rises as she speaks, clearly agitated. She takes a deep breath, But I will help you find out what happened here and put a stop to it.
even if whoever did this was probably justified in their actions...
With that she slips quietly out of the door and heads over to the far tower, T'Krit in tow.
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"See.... this is entirely the kind of things that happen when there is no good tavern within riding distance. If this were a town with a decent tavern none of this kind of violence would be happening." Xanko tells the others as the savagery is discussed. Then he follows Mak'da, careful not to follow too close to the dino-thing.
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The group walks along another parapet where the weather has begun to turn, the dark clouds have begun to gather and then rain had begun, a light drizzle and the occasional stiff breeze provided much needed relief from the heat and humidity. The group soon arrives to the place where they saw the grippli hiding earlier. There is a straw bed and some half eaten local flora and fauna.
There is also a lockbox near the straw bed with a hastily scrawled note "Property of Zooif, DO NOT STEAL GREEDY HUMANS"
It looks like this room's actual purpose was as an archery stand in case of an attack coming from the jungle - obviously suggesting that's where they expected one to come from.
The door to the next room is left handing open, leaving just one second floor room to explore.
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The party proceeds onward to the final remaining tower and once more the stench of death rises up to greet them.
Once more, a body lies in a bed decorating a stately chamber, this one lined with bookshelves containing all of the most popular and trendy melodramas and overly purple poetry from Cheliax.
In the bed lies a bloody mass, also missing its head as you have come to expect, with a note pinned to the body by a halfling spear.
You also hear a small desperate knocking coming from beneath the floorboards.
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As arisira walks through the previous room, she pauses briefly in front of the locked chest. Zooif she says, committing the name to her memory. Zooif the Grippli
She toys with the idea of responding to the creatures note, instead noticing the party moving ahead and quickly catching up. She glances back at the room before moving on. Perhaps we might need to come back here
She steps into the bedroom and looks around. "Not the type that you would expect to find in a fort. In the jungle." she observes, to no one in particular.
"Wait! Does anyone else hear knocking? Could there be survivors?!" Without waiting for a response, she begins to frantically locate the source of the noise.
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Like the others, Antal ignores the box from Zooit. No point in making an unnecessary enemy. There will be plenty of necessary ones...
He looks out into the jungle, squints one eye and looks down an imaginary arrow shaft into the dense foliage. "Like sitting ducks in here. Why I don't prefer forts" he says.
Advancing into the next room, he sees the note pinned to the body. He moves to read it, glancing at the floorboards as he walks. "Hold still" he says as he moves up to the note. "We'll get you out of there."
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As Mak'da and Arisira follow the sounds the two of them spot a trap door in the room partially obscured beneath the bed.
Mak'da goes to slide the bed off the door which disturbs the body somewhat and causes thousands of tiny insects to crawl out of the body at the group.
Shen
Mak'da
Xanko
Arisira
Vera
---
Swarm
Spider
---
Antal
T'Krit scampers across the floor, claws scarping on the rough wood. He lashes out at the spider with a large taloned foot.
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The party, seasoned pathfinders who went to school for this stuff and just hardy pioneers in general very quickly unleash a flurry of green and red volatile liquids all over this wooden fortress room and bed.
The spiders are very quickly charred as is the mangled and beaten headless body they were living in.
After moving swiftly to prevent the fire - and SMELL dear Desna the smell - from spreading too badly, they are able to move the bed off of the trap door. They also find a now SINGED note on the bed.
WE NO LONGER LET HUMANS RUIN RIVER! LEAVE SONG'O LANDS. OR WE KILL AGAIN
-CAHSHIL TRIBE
As they consider the note the knocking has gotten more intense as whoever it is hears you. Opening the door, the party finds waiting for them a desperate tiny halfling who begins to speak very softly in raspy dry voice in halfling while holding a dagger in a defensive posture, ready to defend himself.
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While Antal speaks with the halfling, Arisira uses the opportunity to observe the captive- looking for signs of battle, wounds, etc. As Antal finishes talking, she takes her moment and speaks into the conversation.
"Lupaan, että voimme päästää sinut menemään. Tulimme tänne löytämään vastauksia. Voitko auttaa meitä tämän kanssa?"
I promise we will let you go and will not hurt you. We came here to find answers. Can you help us with that?
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The little halfling spits at Shen Typical Sargavan scum! in Polyglot.
She clearly has no understanding of the Taldane/Chelish coming from Xanko's mouth.
But does lower the dagger after a moment of consolation from Arisira.
We came. Lizardfolk destroy our home. We come to seek shelter. Aid. To Warn the Sargava people. Not one of them understood our language. They finish the job....they do all of this. They have a new power. A new viciousness. They may have lost territory to the boggards but.... The little woman begins to sob. Muhdzuzi is all that is left of the Cahshil Tribe now, I think.
Beyond her you can see in the room there are stacks and stacks of dry food and beneath the bed, having fallen off the body in the bed in all of this confusion was a large key.
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"I can also translate for you, Mak'da. What would you like to say to her?" Antal has lowered his shield and watches the group. Seeing the key drop, he stoops down to pick it up.
"Xanko, you can lower your weapon. She warns us of lizardfolk, with a new power. She is not being aggressive." He turns the key over and looks at it.
The armory? I guess she didn't find this or she would have used it.
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"She says they came here to seek shelter from the Lizard folk. To warn us. They have a new source of evil. She says that her tribe has been destroyed."
Arisira reaches out her hand out, the help the halfling out of the trap door.
"Olivatko ihmiset turvallisia, kun tulit? Kuinka tulitte piiloutumaan tässä ansaan ovessa. Jätteet, jotka jätetään tänne, näyttävät siltä, että heimosi on vastuussa kaikista näistä kuolemista .... jota en usko."
Arisira fumbles for the singed note, showing it to the halfling to corroborate her story.
"Were the Humans safe when you came? How did you come to hide in this trap door. The things left here in this fort make it appear that your tribe is responsible for all these deaths... which I do not believe."
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The halfling slowly nods
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Muhdzuzi shakes her head at Vera. And responds as she begins to climb out of the trap door.