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Khismia felt herself lost. First, delays at customs and then, when she finally found her way around, she wasn't able to see much. Rain was all around the place:
- I actually surprised all this people haven't moved to Qadira or other warm countries, yet. Probably cheap alcohol is sold in batches here. And some kind of drug, like that one used - she pointed at Tarrig, - May be they even make it from that middenstone bug.
After the pause, she continued:
- I've seen those bodies, but they are so broken, that probably we could not make them speak again. I might have success speaking with living..
Trying not to push for more, she started speaking around with traders, showing them proper signs of respect and appreciation of their work, as Trade Princess should do. After she finished with them, Khismia switched to other people around, hopefully to get attention of those, that were hiding near the roof or find out how to meet them.
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Vyk moves to investigate Tarrig's shop. The door to this modest cobbler’s shop hangs open and a pool of rainwater has collected in the front room. Shelves of shoes line the walls, and a small counter covered with shoemaking tools sits near a narrow flight of stairs to the south that leads up to a second floor. Vyk finds nothing of interest downstairs, but finds what he is looking for in the bottom drawer of Tarrig's nightstand. A modest stash of flyleaf a hallucinogenic drug.
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If the monster is still there, it may attack us, but I don't believe it is. There's no rumbling, no movement, nothing.
Miko glances at the rune I don't know what it means, but it's probably the result of somebody crossing the wrong person. Or being. Did you ever notice how vicious attacks are never marked with a flower?
Miko doesn't mind examining the rubble a bit closer, and see if she can get a glimpse of the inside of the destruction in the house.
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This living room is in a complete state of disarray. Doors are smashed open and the northern wall has exploded outward. The furniture is in shambles, and rain leaking in from multiple fresh holes in the roof has done little to wash away the thick layer of sticky black slime that seems to coat every surface—slime that exudes a horrific stench something like an open grave, burnt decay, the air before a thunderstorm, wet and diseased fur, and worse. Scattered amid the slime and rubble are body parts—too many to be from one victim and all strangely bloodless.
Khismia does her best to calm the people, but doesn't learn anything new.
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Vyk considers hiding the drug for a moment, but sighs and puts it back. He hoped that Tarrig can handle his addiction without being too self-destructive. But beyond that he didn't know what else he should do.
Instead he focused on the investigation and used his magic to sense any magical signatures in the cobbler's shop.
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Vincent follows Miko into the rubble after some short deliberation. He casts a Light spell on his pendant to better see his surroundings under the overcast sky.
Miko scoops up some of the goop with the magical hand, but the stinking goop causes her eyes to water when it comes near. It's horrible. Any of you know what this is?
"I'll take a loo-BY THE GODS, WHAT IS THAT STENCH?"
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Jeffrey finds the same stash of flyleaf that Vyk did, but nothing else of interest. Tuich peers into a window an to see what was once a cluttered but cozy parlor, but now the couches, bookshelves, tables, and other comforts are in complete disarray. The eastern wall is partially collapsed, including what once may have been a fireplace to the northwest and two doors leading into other rooms of the building to the southwest.
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Jeffrey marches into the ruined building only to have his senses assaulted by the horrid stench.
He starts looking through the books and notices that most are about the history of Carrion Hill or the surrounding area, or books about astronomy.
Vincent steps into What appears to have once been a library and bedroom it now in a shambles. Furniture is splintered, shelves and books smashed and torn, and everything is coated with a thick, stinking layer of tar-like sludge. A door frame lies burst open to the southwest, beyond which a flight of slime-smeared stone steps leads downward into the dark.
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"There are a lot of books about the history of Carrion Hill or the surrounding area, or books about astronomy," Jeffrey says as he joins the others at the bottom of the stairs. "You should take them if you're into that stuff. After all, no one owns them anymore now the owner of this place is dead."
"Something went up these stairs and didn't go back down..."
Jeffrey takes his tower shield from his back and draws his longsword.
"Let's find out if it's still there," he says, and slowly starts his way upstairs.
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Tuich shakes her head. "You don't know that, Jeffrey. Maybe they had family. Maybe there was a will, or some of the books were borrowed and didn't even belong to them. We should leave them be."
Unseen beneath her scarves, she wrinkles her nose. "Besides, after soaking in this for a while they probably stink!"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Tuich does have a point about the soaking. These books are heavily rained damaged and pretty much worthless.
Jeffrey leads the way from behind his shield, decending down into the darkness.
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Vincent sets his Ioun Torch orbiting around his head. Its trajectory is slow and seemingly concerned, matching his own anxieties about what might lie in store ahead.
He also casts Light on anyone who wants it and also activates his Wayfinder's Light property. It never hurts to have backup light sources.
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Apparently thinking along the same lines as Vincent regarding backup light sources, Tuich pulls out her starknife and flicks it with her finger, setting it aglow.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Vincent systemically hits each skeleton with a undead distrupting ray to no effect, calming his fear that these may be undead. With the all clear from Vincent, Jeffrey moves to the open passage to see a long set of stairs leading down into the darkness. The walls and stairs coated in the foul slime. It would appear this is the route the creature took to the surface.
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Jeffrey goes charging down into the darkness forcing the others to keep up as the stairs lead them further and further into the depths below the city. The only sounds are the Pathfinders footsteps and heavy breathing as the darkness seems to close around them the further they head down. The walls eventually change from the old brick to carved stone as the long decent down finally ends in an underground chamber where ancient stone pillars support a stone ceiling. Thick sheets of pale fungus and mold cake most surfaces. To the south, the hall has collapsed in rubble, but to the north it opens into a vast cavern in which eerie glowing light flickers. A thick, dry smear of black slime and strange circular prints in the mold runs from a flight of stairs in the west wall north into this cavern.
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"Seems to me this 'rushing in' thing has gotten us in hot water before, but..." She shrugs as her silks begin stirring.
"I can ask Ashava to grant two of our fighters concealment in darkness if that will help. It will only last a minute, though."
She proceeds to ask her patron for guidance on behalf of each party member, then uses a flask of holy water to call forth a bladed scarf that sparkles in the dim light.
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