"Hey, that is some nice looking threads the stiff is wearing. If he didn't stink this bad then I would consider robbing the dead. Hold on a sec.....what is this?"
Something catches Moira's eye. She walks back to the back of the room and runs her hand on the wall. She removes her special thieves kit and begins to trace out the secret door. She does her ususal examination of the door.
Finding no traps, Moira opens the secret door, revealing 3 locked sea chests (DC25).
Moira smiles at the compliment and responds, "Well I'm glad that you are here with your big stick thingie. You showed those zombies who's boss."
Taking her time, Moira manages to unlock the ancient and rusted locks.
Chest 1: Full of silver and copper coins (7500 cp and 1500 sp)
Chest 2: 12 bags of gold and gems (1000gp in gold and 500gp of gems)
Chest 3: 8 potions, a wand and an ornate jade box (300gp) containing a light brown gemstone, with a slip of paper identifying it as an earth elemental stone.
Eyes glittering in the gloom of the cave, Ignius rubs his hands together. Well, this was quite the find, He says at last before pausing at the note. Our employer will want to know about the note, I am sure that she will eventually ask us to track down her wayward brother.
ID'd potion 1, 4 and wand.
"Oh wow. Goodie, goodie goodie." Moira shows her happiness at the new find. She beings to jump up with joy, jumping pretty high for a girl her size and weight. She takes Justified by the hand and starts dancing with him for about 7 seconds then moves over to Grun and picks him up, also dancing with him. Then she moves over to Ignius and stops and stares at him, feeling quite intimidated. "Uh hmmm. I don't think you dance do you?"
The young rogue then moves back to the chests and stares at the coins and gems and says "I'm really glad you guys let me come along. We are having SO much fun."
Chuckling softly, Ignius shakes his head. Oh no my dear, I dance but only rarely and for special occasions. This however is quite a find.
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Well then, Ignius says finally, It seems that we know where we need to go now and we earned some coin along the way. I think its time we left this place. Moira my dear, would you care to take the lead again?
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Moira helps out with stuffing the coins into her backpack. "Well Muscles, we need to exchange some of the copper into gold or gems once we are back in town, but first we need to get out of here."
The young rogue executes a military salute towards Ignius when he says that she should take point. OK everyone...back through the water....through the room with the crabs...then the zombie room. Back to the way we entered." Moira then takes her new friends back to the starting point.
Let's get out. We're going to need to rest.
Heading back to the initial room, you find that the rope has been cut and the trap door closed.
Grinning, Grun scampers up the shaft on his lizard, but when he reaches the trapdoor, he finds that it has been weighted down with something, probably large stones.
Ignius' magic lights find the shaft to descend only 30 feet into the bedrock of the island before opening up into a larger room.
[dice=Moira's D.D.]1d20+8
Moira does a quick investigation of the entrance, rope and iron hook, but finds no nasty surprises.
The Grippli looks around, thinking... Can we salvage timber from the doors? Maybe we can build a zig-zag ramp up... Justified can then push.
Moira joins in on the thinking. She then starts to rummage through her backpack and pulls out 2 flasks. "These contain oil. We can toss them up on the wooded door and Mr. Ignius can use his fire to ignite it. Then we can just wait until the structure collapses." The young girl shrugs her shoulders as though the plan might work.
Grin urges Grikk up the shaft... Have to make sure the flames can breathe.
He slips a blade between slats and tries to make air holes.
Yes, excellent! Once the oil is applied I'll set fire to the trapdoor and hopefully the rocks will fall through and we can make our escape.
Please with her idea she gladly passes the flask of oil to Sun.
"In the mean time, we can go cook the crabs we killed ealier while we wait for the trap door to burn and collapse. Nothing else better to do. Hey,....how about we make a fire and sing songs around the campfire."
Grun is agreeable, not the least of which to tht food. He and Grikk do as discussed.
If might get smoky in here, if we use wood, use heated stones for cooking.
Scrounging some rags from the dead, Grun scampers up to the trapdoor and soaking them in oil, he wedges them between the slats. Ignius sets the whole mess ablaze before quickly clearing the shaft. The old weathered wood catches easily and in short order it gives way with a groan, a small avalanche of stones tumbling down to land with a clatter. Whoever did this definitely didn't want you to get back out.
Climbing back out, you are greeted by a dead man, sprawled in the dirt. Rolling him over, you see that it is your dirt half-elf informant. Someone has slit his throat, ear-to-ear.
"I'll do it!" Moira approaches the dead body and carefully begins to search it.
Huffing and puffing, Ignius wipes the sweat from his forehead. When the time came for him to learn the second circle of eldritch power he would have to remember how much he disliked climbing. Turning back to the events at hand, Ignius sighed. Well, that didn't go so well. I hate to point fingers, but I would be willing to bet that Vanthus played a part in the man's death. The scroll we found stated that he can be found in the Lotus Lair below the Taxidermist's Hall. Perhaps it would be best if we returned to the city quietly. Informed our employer of the recent events and then went to have a conversation with the man. Thoughts?
I agree. I don't know anything about this Lotus Lair, but it sounds like something that might be guarded. Better weapons and gear would help. We will have to be careful however to ensure that our quarry does not know we made it out alive.
Glancing back to Moria. Ignius frowns. My dear, you seem to know a bit about our city's seedy underbelly. Have you ever heard of this Lotus Lair?
Grun is satisfied with the plan, he mounts and seeks out the fisherman.
Moira can't recall if she's heard the name, indicating that they must be a relatively new or very secretive gang.
Flagging down your ride takes a bit of doing, apparently your fisherman went for a bit of a wander, but eventually he swings into view of the beach and ferries you back to the mainland.
The docks are abuzz with the latest news: The old harbourmaster has been brutally murdered! Though the rumours vary wildly as to how this was accomplished, all agree that he was found in his home brutally eviscerated.
I think our best course of action would be to check in. Nodding to the rest of the group, Ignius rubs his chin in thought. She might want to know about her brothers involvement. I also think it's best if we don't go out alone for the time being. You all saw what happened to our informant. So yes, let's go check in, and then buy anything we might need before we start looking into this "Lotus Lair".
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Moira gives a thumbs up and winks at the mage. "After that maybe we can go have a couple of drinks at some of the local taverns. Men usually have loose tongues after a couple of drink. Perhaps we can gather some info on this Lotus gang."
Ms. Greyshadow, just how old are you? Ignius asks, considering the idea of sending Moira in to a smokey tavern to deal with drunk men.
"What? You can't tell how old I am?" The young rogue starts to walk around provactively and flash her eyelashes. "I'm 18 years young thank you very much." Her body seems much like a 14 year old, small in height and even smaller breasts, much like a gymnast. Her body is quite deceiving, as her new friends have noticed, that she is quite adept with the rapier and her critical thinking is impressive for someone her stature. "I know I don't look like an 18 year old but I can stuff my leather armor to make my breast look bigger."
At a loss for words, Ignius instead shakes his head. In his lands a woman would never be so provocative. It was still odd to him to have to learn about different cultures and styles. Moira was just so.. forward. Sighing the older man gestured to the others in the group. Lets head back to our employer and let her know the results of our search. We can purchase goods and then see about this lotus lair, yes?
Moira stops and stares at Ignius then to the others. She shrugs her shoulders and says, "What? What did I say?" She is dumbfounded and her eyes are wide open.
The young rogue conforms then follow the others to purchase some goods.
Eventually the party makes their way to Vanderborn manor. Kora, Lavinia's house halfling, greets you at the door and walks you though the manor and to the dining hall. She tells you all to enjoy a refreshment, indicating a well stoked side bar, while you await Lavinia.
A short time later Lavinia sweeps into the room. A look of worry clearly stamped on her face, "You all seem a little worse for wear. Have you run into trouble? Did you find Vanthus? You didn't hurt him did you?