|
Hey you little Groms, what do you want to be when you sprout? You can't stay at Aunties forever and it looks like the older kids have already moved on. Kneeling down next to the two boys fighting over candy I just started as a Pathfinder today. I can't wait to travel to distant shores for some tasty waves and battles with magical beasts. There's a whole wide world to be explored past these stinky city walls.
diplomacy check -
|
Seeing Curraine's effort, Falyf decides, that he can talk to children as well. He kneels down next to a little girl, "so, are you always thus few in here? It looks so emoty the house, when there is so much space. Or are your friends jsut away for a moment?" trying to get more information out of the kids.
diplomacy
|
Auntie Baltwin begs and pleads with Adamus, becoming more desperate as time passes without the children. By the look in her eyes, he can tell it's only a matter of time before the old woman snaps.
Down the street, the others begin questioning all the children, learning nothing from most of them. Curraine's conversation with the two boys goes south fast.
"I want to be a big warrior like him!" One of the boys says, pointing at Taurus. "So I can kick your butt!"
"The only thing I smell is you, mister elf." The other boy jeers. "Auntie says elves are dirty from hugging trees, but you smell more like a shipyard rat to me."
As Curraine suffers the verbal abuse of ten-year-olds, Taurus finally makes headway with another young boy who is able to explain the alarming words of the girl and the suspicious missing children. Apparently, Auntie Baltwin has put the healthy orphans to work as servants and maids in other houses in the city, especially in the middle-class Eastgate district where she makes her home. She tells the children their work pays for their room and board.
|
|
Taurus snorts as he feels his patience reaching his limits. As he finally gets a decent answer out of the children he lets out an uncharacteristic sigh of relief. Once done trying to pry information out of the kids, the big warrior is able to laugh a bit at Falyf's expense.
"...dirty from hugging trees. That's clever, I'll have to remember that".
"Let's head back. Hopefully Adamus is finished with the old crone and we can report our findings", the hulking barbarian says as he easily hoists the boy that had been pointing at him off the ground and perches him on his powerful shoulders for the walk home.
|
|
"Alright, are we done?" Falyf asks. "What do we have, an old lady, who is an alcoholic, guilty of child labor, sells medicine given to her and is a racist, brilliant. She is at least in trouble, or even worse." Falyf summarizes it with sarcasm. "The Silver Crusade will be thrilled to get the report."
|
|
there's more to life than swinging a blade Curraine begins casting obscuring mist. As the mist descends,and I smell like a sewer rat because I was saving the joker over there's ass. Curraine leaves the two boys in the mist with a smack on the back of the head. I thought you guys were Grommets. But you're just Goonies.
|
|
During the walk back Taurus summarizes what he and the elves discovered while they were away.
"We learned from the children that, in addition to skimping on treating the children so that she can sell the medicine and living in a bottle, the old woman puts the children to work when they are healthy - cleaning the homes of the moderately wealthy", the hulking warriors explains. "That might be a part in why they are sick so often", Taurus muses.
"Did you get anything else from the crone that we should share with Ollysta?"
|
|
You notice Adamus' usual soft demeanor change a bit when he hears that bit of information. "What? She uses those children for cheap labor? And here I thought she did care about them. She just pleaded with me to not tell Ollysta, I didn't learn anything else." He seems to be almost disappointed now. "Well, I suppose we should tell the lovely Miss Zadrian everything so she can deal with this."
|
|
Realizing that she's not going to talk herself out of the trouble she's in, Auntie Baltwin stares hate at your group at the children are returned to her house. As the last one leaves, she points a shaky finger at all of you. "Go and tell Ollysta what you want. I don't need her help! Sure I skimmed a little off the top, and I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you rotten Pathfinders!"
****
Back at Ollysta's you give your report, and though she sighs sadly with each issue you list, she thanks you graciously for the favor and promises that the Silver Crusade will look into things further and see if anything can be done to help protect Auntie Baltwin from her own greed and vices. Wishing you luck and health, she bids you farewell.
****
Walking under an overcast afternoon sky, it's a little difficult to tell the time, but you believe it's around 2 hours after noonday when you enter the Wise Quarter and arrive at the rich estate of Grand Councilmember Dremdhet Salhar.
You are greeted by a guard who is apparently expecting your group as you reach a tall, wrought-iron gate that serves as an entrance to the grounds. Inside a servant leads you down well decorated hallways, and past expansive rooms.
"I'm am sorry to inform you that Salhar is not present." He says, then explains. "He was called away on important Council business. His most trusted adviser is available to negotiate any business you may require." He brings you to a simple study near the end of a long hallway. Inside a tan-skinned old man sits behind a desk flipping through pages in a large tome. Some of you recognize him as Amenopheus, called the Sapphire Sage. He is a mysterious figure in the Society, and it is well known that he currently serves Dremdhet Salhar. As you approach the open door, the wise sage silently gestures you into the study with one thin hand, while closing the tome with the other. Once inside, he addresses your group.
“Good day to you, Pathfinders. I am Amenopheus, the Sapphire Sage, advisor to Master Salhar. I understand you were sent here to discuss archaeological permissions. Knowing this was coming, I spoke with Master Salhar at length on the subject and have this to say.
“Since Osirion was reopened to exploration a decade ago, adventurers, historians, and treasure-seekers flock to my country by the hundreds, perhaps thousands. While most families with ancestral burial vaults maintain guards and keep their sites out of the hands of casual thieves, not all families have the wealth or power to restrict everyone, and as we all know, not every defense is perfectly secure. Unscrupulous tomb robbers and maligned merchant organizations cause
Osirion to bleed relics into the Inner Sea—something the descendents of Ancient Osirion cannot afford. We Osiriani have thousands of years of rich history coursing through our veins, and while that power has been out of focus in recent years, we are content to wait, knowing our enemies will wear themselves down. As they fall into arrogance, folly, or greed, we wait for our return to power, knowing we bear the riches of
our ancestors at our feet.
“Master Salhar remains impressed by the Pathfinder Society, orating in their favor a handful of times in front of Absalom’s Grand Council, in fact. Due to previous relationships between him and the Society, Master Salhar has agreed to grant permission to the Pathfinder Society to explore his family’s vaults below Sothis. The only thing he requires is that you retrieve the map of the vaults from his own vault here. The servant will lead you to the basement and show you the room.” The Sapphire Sage’s eyes twinkle as he smirks knowingly, then he turns back to reading his book as though he had never been disturbed.
Before you can form a question, a cleared throat announces the sudden return of the servant (or perhaps he never left). "This way if you please, sirs."
The servant brings your group back through the spacious estate, leading you down sturdy stone steps into the cool basement. Through a hallway, after a couple turns, you end up at a plain wooden door, which the servant opens and, with a bow, gestures within.
|
|
You enter a plain stone room containing five containers. Three chests: a copper-banded chest of smooth, dark wood; a red lacquered chest; and what
looks to be a cube of solid steel. Behind the chests sits a low table holding a clear glass jar half full of liquid and a covered wicker basket.
THUNK! Click!
You turn around to find the door closed and locked behind you. Written on the back of it is a message:
|
|
Starting to reconsider this whole Pathfinder idea, Haris ponders as the blood drains from his face. Looking at the five containers, he comments ruefully nodding to each item and their implications, "Door number one, door number one, door number one, door number one OR..., door number one. Alright, who's first?"
|
|
PickIng up the key disturbs the linens, and from beneath them a hiss issues forth followed by the head of a small snake that lashes out and sinks its fangs into the bracer of Adamus' armor. It hangs for a moment before retracting back into the basket.
Stepping quickly away, Adamus escapes undamaged and in possession of the key, which upon closer examination appears to bear runic markings of some kind.
Snake