|
"It says it just wants to go back to where it belongs, wherever that is."
Garedon removes the chronicler's kit from his pack, opening a journal up to a blank page and setting up a inkpen and inkwell on the floor. With the aid of his mapmaker's kit and his wayfinder's compass and Guidance, he proceeds to draw a rough map of their current location and the areas explored so far. He then marks their location, points around to the room, and back to the point on the map, and then hands the pen over to the member of the dark folk.
Now that he can see the ... individual, Garedon inspects it and tries to search his memory for information on such a race, consulting several of his Pathfinder Chronicles chapbooks.
|
|
"Ah, yes, a 'dark creeper', so called for obvious reasons, but about which I will expand upon further. Once-humans, as I understand it, now able to cast darkness at will and who, quite paradoxically, explode in a bright flash of light when killed. Perhaps, humans who have strayed too close to the plane of shadow... In any event, it would simplify burial, prevent many forms of undead parasitism, and generally make them unattractive to predators, among possible benefits. Very interesting indeed. Despite such potential benefits, I believe that it was merely trapped here by the pursuit of the mindless undead vargouille we defeated, as was earlier hypothesized."
"It says that we can have these treasures - apparently pilfered from the complex - and wants to go that way." Garedon points behind Vyk Tyr.
"I would suggest warning it against further exploration of the ossuary complex - implying that it will become only more dangerous, not less, would be prudent - and then escorting it to its point of egress, thus also revealing same to us."
|
|
"He's probably better off waiting in here, frankly. We can come get him afterward. Otherwise the priests of Pharasma might attack him."
Vyk looked thoughtful for a moment after Tuich suggesting asking the Dark Creeper more questions.
"Yeah, and ask him how he got in here, too. That might give us another clue to how the other beasties got in. And any other information on what's down here would also be very helpful."
Vyk tries to sense any additional magical signatures in the room.
|
|
Noticing Vyk Tyr's spellcasting, Garedon motions to the 'treasures' found by the dark folk individual, and to the individual itself.
To the dark folk, he holds his side and winces, then says "Ouch. Ouch." Next, he points to his wand of curing and mimes himself being cured, touching the wand to himself and then straightening up, removing the hand from his side, and saying "Ahhh..." with a smile.
"If this works, perhaps I will have found another, more effective way of communicating with other, linguistically-primitive individuals," Garedon thinks with a quick look around the room.
Garedon hands his wand of curing to Tuich and then motions to the dark folk.
|
Religious carvings depicting the judgment of souls cover the walls of this room. A stone sedestal with a bowl-shaped depression on top stands in the northwest corner. Wooden cabinets and chests of drawers line the walls.
Looking around with detect magic Vyk notices a cloak of protection +1. The few things the dark creeper placed on the ground are an engraved ivory bracelet, three freshwater pearls, 27 gp and 32 sp. It seems a little hesitant about the wand but allows it.
Adelaide reports that she is not picking up any evil aura off of the dark creeper. This could be from a weak aura or no evil at all.
|
|
"These are 'pearls', made of the same material as the shells of the mollusca - such as oysters - and of egg shells, as well as of stone types such as chalk, limestone, and marble (themselves composed, as learned scholars believe to be, of the shells and the skeletal structures of a multitude of dead organisms, often individually too small to be seen with the unaided eye), although the first mentioned presentation is of the greatest relevance here as pearls are formed the by long-term, successive application of concentric layers of shell material around an irritating inclusion. Despite the abundance of the raw material, and the fragility of the resultant substance, the pearl is associated with, according to one encyclopedic tome, 'very rare, fine, admirable, and valuable'. I believe this latter association must be why my mother was prone to calling me 'her little pearl', although it was often accompanied by a particular facial tic, the cause of which I was never ever to properly determine..."
"Now, regarding the nature of ivory and the historical importance of 'scrimshaw'..." Garedon pauses, noticing that, by some remarkable coincidence, Vyk Tyr is beginning to exhibit the very same facial tic as Garedon's mother. Distracted, he somehow gets back to relevant matters.
"Ah, yes, the translation to its communication: It extends it 'thanks' and entreats as to whether it is henceforth allowed by us 'to go now'. Would it be the consensus of the group that we should follow it? I believe it would be in our interests, in our capacity as working agents of the Pharasmin authorities charged with assisting in the reclamation and protection of the ossuary complex, to understand where the entity entered this supposedly sealed complex."
After consulting his wayfinder for Guidance, Garedon points to the items and says in words (hopefully) chosen from his languages as the most understandable to the Dark Folk, "These, Pharasma's. Not for you," before gathering them up and putting them in a bag. He then, however, removes 5 gp from his own belt pouch and gives them to the individual in partial compensation. Next, he points to the individual and then the group, saying, "You go, not come back. We follow you out. Understand?" He then points in the direction the individual was pointing, motioning it to start leaving.
|
|
The creeper snatches the 5 gold offered and bolts down the hallway. He heads north and then west to a sealed door with a seven pointed star shape on it. It fumbles with the lock but manages to open the door which leads to a set of stairs that lead out of the crypt. He turns to Garedon and bows before heading down.
|
|
"We shall have to remind the Pharasmin authorities to change the locks upon taking repossession of the ossuary complex."
[ooc}Always change the locks![/ooc]
With that, Garedon and the party returns to the room where the party discovered the Dark Folk individual.
Garedon casts Guidance on Vyk Tyr and Resistance on himself before the group opens the next door.
|
That just leads deeper underground doesn't it? Would it be that this place in connected with the underworld? The vast expanse that exists under the surface? Who know what other creatures we may find in this place.
Miko has a look at the seven-pointed star, seeing if there is anything odd about this marking. Again seven, one for the many
|
|
Garedon enters the room behind Vyk Tyr and complements (?) him, saying, "You did an excellent job opening that door. I do believe that we have found a role for you in the party suited to your capabilities."
"Yes, it is interesting. Also, that brings to mind a hypothesis of mine - still in its formative stage - relating a culture's choice of words in euphemisms, which was engendered by the well-known Tian curse 'May you live in interesting times.', where 'change' and other potential difficulties and uncertainties are to expected to be anxiously awaited, to certain characteristics of that culture regarding aversion to same, and to the common culture's use of the word 'interesting' as euphemisms for 'different' as being 'bad' or even 'uninteresting'."
"It is all very confusing this effort to be polite, which is one of numerous reasons I could enumerate on why one should not be polite."
|
|
"You have not heard of the wormfolk? Perhapsssss you are not from around here, you may know us as naga. Usually I charge people to gaze upon my magnificence, but I will give you thissssss one for free." A small serpent like creature with pointy ears slithers out from under the table.
"Now did you wish to purchase some of my wisdom? I know many sssscrets about thissss place."
|
|
"Thank you, Miko," Garedon replies quite sincerely, oblivious, as always, to any sarcasm.
"Hmm. Interesting." "Still, given its position within these catacombs, it may actually know something of importance, despite itself. Whether that will be communicated to our advantage or withheld and used to our peril is the another part of the question."
Garedon considers the thing for a moment, wondering how it got to its current position.
|
Tuich points and is just about to ask why there's a lit candle in an unoccupied room deep within the complex when Yrix speaks.
Oh...
Do you wish to draw back the mystery that cloaks the Godsmouth Ossuary, and reveal all the secrets of the Ancients?"
"Yes, please," Tuich mutters to herself, not entirely in jest. One hand on her scarf, she keeps a wary eye on the creature.
|
|
"What lies to the south, in these catacombs indicated here on this map?" Garedon asks, pointing to his rough map of the complex, and proffering one gold measure.
"And please excuse my friend: he is using the word 'guy' in its colloquial, gender-neutral usage. Furthermore, he is most probably ignorant of ... naga ... anatomy. Indeed, it has been my experience that, without long cranial hair and the eponymous, visually-apparent secondary sexual characteristics definitive of the order of mammals, most humanoids are unable to reliably distinguish male from female even among other humanoids. Sometimes, long hair alone has been enough to ... well, we needn't discuss that now." Garedon finishes looking quite discomfited by some memory.
|
|
She uses her tail to grab the coin Vincent tossed on the table and says,"I hunt and gather what I need from this place and most creatures down here know not to mess with a wormfolk. I just dealt with in intruder recently that kept babbling gibberish until I drove him out." She then looks at Garedon's map before adding, "I am afraid that is beyond my influence, please ask another question."
|
|
She takes the coin from Garedon,"the next room is a sssset of stairssss that lead deeper into the under city. The door is trapped and only I know how to open it. If you like I can allow you through for 5 gold a piece." She takes Miko's coin and adds,"Many creatures pass through here but as far as residents go there is a human with some undead followers that reside beyond the great pit." Yrix then takes Vincent's coin before saying, "He was a weak one so I was able to drive him out with my venom spray"
|
|
Tuich moves quietly over to stand next to Vyk, whispering to him at an opportune moment.
Raising her voice she then comments, "Five gold is a lot to get somewhere we don't even know we want to go. Besides, maybe only you know how to open it now... but someone clever enough could also know soon enough." She ends her declaration with a sweet smile.
|
|
"Yrix , if you don't mind, I'd like to consult with my companions for a moment." Vincent backs up a bit and gestures the others close.
"The way I see it, we need to clear this area out, but I don't see Yrix as offering a fair fight, poison spit or no poison spit. Do you think we could convince her to clear out without resorting to violence? And to leave any magical relics of Pharasma behind? Normally I'm a slice first, talk later kind of guy, but this seems a little unfair."