Emilia, seeing Silvio finish off Lamm's pet, drops her sling by her feet and grabs hold of the rope that crossed over Mouse's position and tugged, hoping to assist Mouse and Carlisle up from the water before the shark appeared and caused havoc.
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Descending next to the desperate boy, Mouse throws her arm around his chest and attempts to surface with him. As she struggles to take hold, she hears a splash, and the end of a rope hits the water and begins to sink. Gratefully, she reaches for the rope with one hand, keeping the other firmly around Carlisle's chest.
Swimming with powerful kicks of her legs, Mouse breaks the surface and gasps for air, one hand grasping the rope thrown by Calcedon and the other arm wrapped firmly around Carlisle's chest. She kicks her leg to wrap the rope around it, in order to give her a bit more support, and prepares to climb the rest of the way to safety on the walkway above. The kid'll need help! she calls out, getting a mouthful of water and tasting the tang of salt and a faint hint of blood from the crocodile.
As Mouse surfaces, she sees a shadow dart from her right. In under a second, a shark appears and bites the leg wrapped in the rope. The shark leaves large bite marks as pieces of Mouse's flesh float from the wound.
Carlisle attempts to punch the shark, but fails miserably. "Help! Help! Kill the shark!" He coughs and spits water as he frantically fights to survive.
The bard steps to the side to give room on the narrow walkway for the two to get out of the water. He reaches down to give Mouse a helping hand, and light glowed for just a moment between his hand and her arm. "Alright fine, she needs that too." He muttered, and did his best to deliver the magical energies.
Mouse feels healing power flow through her body.
"Stay calm, Carlisle", Emilia called out to the frantic, scared boy.
From her spot, Emilia retrieved the light mace from on her belt and when the shark's head surfaced, took a swing, hoping to smash it in the head or on its nose.
"I did not expect us to be encountering quite so much of Varisia's marine life today!" shouts Manius as he jabs at the shark with his rapier.
Emilia retrieves her mace and strikes true on the skull of the shark. She hears a crunch as she caves in one of its eyes.
Once again, Orcsson finds a vital point on his strike. He pierces the shark's side. A massive amount of blood pours out as the shark's gills as it sinks and then lays belly up on the bottom of the river bed.
Still with an arm around Carlisle and a hand on the rope, Marial gasps with pain as the shark attacks. As Calcedon extends his hand, the pain lessens slightly, though it still threatens to break her focus. With Calcedon's help, she manages to clamber up onto the walkway, pulling Carlisle along with her. For a moment, she simply lays on the walkway, catching her breath. The kid ok? she finally says, still flat on the sodden planks.
After a few more moments, Mouse slowly makes her way to her feet, leaning against the wall for support and limping on her injured leg. Her slow steps take her to where Lamm lies, side caved in and chest still. She seems almost in shock, simply staring at his fallen form. After several silent seconds, she speaks softly. It's done, then. Good riddance, bastard. You ain't ruinin' no more kids. She turns to leave, then suddenly wheels around with a wordless shout, driving the spike on her shield into the unmoving body.
The bard didn't know what to think. He helped the half-elf up out of the water, and responded to her question. "Seems so." But his mind was somewhat absent from what was going on. Lamm was dead, and his parents were avenged, or so it seemed. It was evident that he was an evil old man, and he got what was coming to him, but the bard didn't feel like everything was quite right, and he didn't really know how to express it.
He picked up his sword and sheathed it, checked his violin case for damage and wandered over to where Mouse was mutilating the body. It was something she had to get out, evidently, but if there was one thing that eluded him, it was how women think. He began to look around the room, more to not see the hurt and anguish in the young lady and to look for a distraction perhaps for them both.
Cal notices the closed door in the corner opposite of the door they entered moments ago.
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Well. I guess it's finished... Garvid looks down to see the foaming red waters, staring at Orcsson. Glancing over Lamm's unbreathing corpse and Mouse next to him, he remains quiet for a moment, before nodding. "He's dead. I didn't plan on it, but..." He shakes his head. "Nevermind. That was a ballsy move, Mouse. But I'm glad to see the kid's alright." His eyes turn to Orcsson. "Hey, Beastslayer! Nice moves out there."
Reaching over to check Lamm's body, Garvid says, "I suggest we see what is in that room over there, then chuck this s$+*sack in the water. Have him deliver some joy in his death to the marine animals."
"Eh, was just an overgrown goldfish." Manius smirks as he gives his blade a twirl then wipes it clean on his sleeve. He walks over and stares at the corpse of Lamm. "Huh. Ugly bastard. Looks kinda familiar too. Shame I can't ask why he killed Varial..." Manius' smile temporarily falters, but he regains composure quickly.
Silvio struggles with the body of the gator. "Help! Lamm said she was inside!" The kid is nearly in tears.
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At Lamm's death, Emilia wondered if she had found any of the justice she had been seeking. However, she did not have much time to contemplate it, when Mouse pushed herself out of the water, Carlisle in tow. She moved to the young boy and examined him for he had been underwater for longer than she liked.
Turning to the others, she indicated quietly, "Once Silvio's friend is discovered, then I will undertake the healing on all." Emilia handed Mouse a cloth bandage to tie around the wound on her leg in the meantime, so she wouldn't lose any more blood. "Tie that in place, Mouse. I would not see you continue to bleed. I will knit the wound very soon", she instructed the girl as Emilia's attention was on Carlisle presently.
Garvid nods at Orcsson, his head hanging. "Yeah... Meant to take him alive... Though, that seems to rarely work for me these days." That, and driving a fist into an old man's guts usually kills them. You f$$&ing idiot, Krein... Putting a hand on his chin, he smiles at the half-orc. "Say, think there's enough leather on that bastard to make at least 6 pairs of boots. We can probably skin the crocodile, as well."
As Silvio cries out, Garvid puts his hand on his shoulder. "Uhm. Kid. There's no easy way to say this... but if we get her out not, uh... It's not going to be pretty. We'll hand her to Em, and she'll do the rites. That's basically what Pharasmin priests do. She'll pass along peacefully and quietly." His voice is calm, but the grasp on Silvio's shoulder is firm. Last thing we need is seeing a semi-digested child's corpse in a pile of crocodile guts. That sob didn't die quick enough.
Emilia's brow quirked at Garvid's remark about what Pharasmin priests actually do. She did not know his experiences with funerary rites or the various gods and religious lore, and his simple, tenderfoot statement made her silently contemplate the fighter as she tended to Carlisle.
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Calcedon goes to open the door in the corner of the room. Digging out a child from a lizard's stomach wasn't a kind of thing he wanted to do, for various reasons. Hopefully he'd be able to make it up to Silvio later. There just wasn't any reasoning with a person in that state.
At Garvid's statement that he meant to take him alive, Cal felt like he could remark about that. "Remind me not to spar with you. You could likely kill a man with a rose." he said as he pulled open the door.
Em's skill reveals that Carlisle is severely dehydrated. His lips are dry and white. The manacles on his ankles have caused damage to the boy's skin and were at risk of infection had Em not stepped in and provided medical care.
As Em provides first aid, the young noble boy leans his head against her shoulder. "Th..th..thank you... He sniffles as tears well up in his eyes. "I...I...want my m...m...ommy." He grasps Em's arm hard as he proceeds to sob.
When Cal opens the door, he immediately sees a small, rusty cage with a severely malnourished little girl lying inside of it. The girl is bound by ropes and gagged. Her eyes are swollen closed and her mostly naked body is covered in bruises. She wears a torn and tattered flour bag as a makeshift dress.
As he steps in:
This foul-smelling room seems to be a combination bedroom and study. A wooden bed with a lumpy mattress stands against the east wall, while a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, stained goblets, fruit rinds, and scuttling cockroaches sits nearby. At the foot of the bed sits a large strongbox, a slighty rusted lock securing its lid. A sagging dresser filled with moth-eaten clothes well past their glory days is in one corner—what appears to be a wooden hatbox surrounded by a small cloud of flies sits atop this dresser.
Cal raised his voice so that it could be easily heard, his theater training coming in handy. "There's a little girl in a cage back here." He pulled his dagger immediately got down and began sawing at the ropes and anything he couldn't easily loose. "She's unconscious, Em. We may need some help here."
Holding the boy and attemting to soothe him, Emilia turned to one of the others and steadily asked, "Look for a key to these manacles in Lamm's pockets. If there isn't one, we'll have to pry/break them off carefully."
"It's alright now, Carlisle. Your mother sent us to find you. She is waiting in the Grand Temple of Pharasma for you. I will attempt to heal your wounds very soon. First, we will try to take these bonds off you."
Then she heard Cal's voice from the the room. He had found Silvio's friend but she did not sound well off.
Turning to her closest companion/s, she said, "Please keep looking for the keys to the manacle lock. I will take Carlisle with me, and, if the girl, Maretha, needs healing, too, then I can administer to them both. Mouse, if you are able to walk, you may want to join us there for some healing."
She lifted the light, young boy into her arms.
The foul smell of the room assailed her and she attempted to shield Carlisle from it and pressed his small face gently to her chest. She set the boy lightly down on the lumpy bed and told him to wait/not move and then she walked carefully toward the cage and attempted, through the rusty bars, to examine the still girl and determine if she lived and what her condition was. Stretching her arm, she felt for a pulse.
"Is there a key to this cage? Do you think Lamm set trap on it, if we open it?" she enquired of Cal.
At Em's soothing words, Carlisle's sobbing ceases. He looks into her eyes and lets out a sigh of relief. When she lifts him up. He lays limp, but wraps his arms around her neck. He looks up and gives her a warm smile.
When she lays him on the bed, he adjusts to get a look at the young girl in the cage.
"Is there a key to this cage? Do you think Lamm set trap on it, if we open it?"
The boy speaks up softly, "Ma'am...I think the bad man has the key in his pocket."
Em reassuringly smiled at the boy as he told her where to find the keys and called out to the others near Lamm's beaten body.
"There is a cage, here. We need keys to get the girl out. Please find them on Lamm. In his pocket."
The moment the girl is found in the room, Silvio begins to become even more hysterical. "Maretha?! Is that you?" He runs to the room to see if it's her, if she's still alive.
The girl is definitely Maretha, though she is a shell of who she once was.
"On it, sister." Garvid steps over to the body in the corner, kicking the rusty knife away out of habit. Patting the body, he shoves his gloved hand in the pockets in disgust, looking for a key. "Found it.", he mutters as he pulls out a hand covered in lint and dirt from the old man's soiled trousers, and steps into the room. As the foul smell passes onto him, he frowns. He begins saying, "For...", before glancing over Carlisle, then continuing with a different choice of words, "...Abadar's sake, I've smelled sewage better than this.",
Walking to the cage, ignoring the origin of the crunching sounds, he unlocks the cage and carefully takes the girl in his arms. "She weighs less than a kitten... Let's take her and get her out of this filthy place."
The much smaller young man nearly bowls over Garvid, trying to reach his 'sister'. "Maretha! Oh god, you're alive! I thought I had lost you!" He cradles her head as Garvid picks her up, shouting hysterically a the former guardsman. "Be careful with her! Who knows what Lamm did!"
"Yeah, let's get her out of here! We need to get her somewhere safe. Maybe the Church?"
Garvid nods at Silvio. "I'll be as gentle as possible, Silvio. I've done this before, sadly. Now, question is, is there another door leading out of this place? Not really fancying that bridge again."
The girl has been badly beaten. She is severely malnourished and dehydrated. The bleeding around her fingernails is probably a sign of torture. Unlike Carlisle, it will take days for her to heal physically.
The key chain from Lamm's pocket has three keys on it.
Looking to the girl now in Garvid's arms and the appearance of a hysterical Silvio, Emilia waited a moment, before speaking.
"She has taken many a strong beating. It looks as though Lamm did not feed her or give her water. She was tortured, also, as there is blood around her fingernails. It will take days for her to heal physically. She will need to be monitored. For now, I'll do what I can to start the healing process...and then we go to the temple."
And with that, Emilia drew the wounded together (Mouse, Carlisle and Maretha in Garvid's arms) and holding her silver and onyx holy symbol aloft sought Pharasma's healing grace and poured it in a wave across the wounded. And then once more for some of the wounds were grave, indeed.
"Before we leave, there is locked strongbox there and we must remove Carlisle's manacles. How many keys did you find, Garvid?"
Garvid nods at Em as she relates the diagnosis. "Whatever you say, goes." As soon as it's done, he shivers a bit. "I can feel my knuckles again. Thanks. And, three, actually. It's on my belt." He nods his head towards his left flank, where the keychain is hung. "Grab it. Trying not to move too much now. The one with the three ear-like things is the one for the cage." He shuffles slightly. "I guess if there was another door, Lamm would've ran long before we were finished with the other place."
Em nodded and reached out and took the keys from Garvid's belt. She pushed aside the key Garvid described as the one for the cage and tried the other two in the lock of the manacles, hoping to free Carlisle sooner rather than later.
Looking to Silvio, she simply said, "When I am done freeing the boy, can you determine if the strongbox is trapped and use the last key to open it? You are more skilled at traps than I would ever be."
"Oh, crocodile-skin boots? That's a little too ostentatious, even for me." Manius ponders for a second, stroking his chin. "Nah, it's not. Shame there's no hands left to haul the croc." He lets out a sigh, defeated.
Manius does a search for any secret exits.
"I know he was old, but he can't have been so senile as to leave his only means in and out a wooden plank and a decrepit bridge..."
Em's calm words break Silvio out of his hysteria for a moment. He glances around the room as if seeing the surroundings for the first time. He makes a disgusted face. "All that power over us, and he lived like this? Not much better than a Lamb, actually."
He kneels by the strongbox, taking a look at the lock and the lid to see if there was any sign of a trap.
The young man, however, continues to be distracted by Maretha's condition. He checks on her every few seconds. "Looks fine to me, give me those keys and I'll open it."
As the others rushed into the room, Cal backed off to give them room to work. It was a completely disgusting room, but it was Lamm's. He wondered if he had any correspondence with accomplices or other useful things to bring about justice to other evil creatures in the area. As good as it felt to finish off Lamm's atrocities, the city was practically rife with devils.
"Lamm lived in such a way that we all found repulsive. This does not surprise me at all." Idly, he picked up the hatbox and took a look inside.
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After Emilia channels her positive energy, Carlisle sits up a bit. "I feel a good bit better now. May I have some water?" Maretha, still too weak to move, attempts to open one of her swollen eyes. It opens long enough to see Silvio. A smile crosses her face for a split second before she closes the eye and falls back asleep. Her breathing appears less laboured now.
Emilia easily finds the key and unlocks the manacles around Carlisle's ankles. He leans forward and gives her another hug.
Items on Lamm:
-masterwork dagger
-masterwork crossbow
Silvio takes the last key and opens the large strongbox. He lifts the lid and finds a collection of treasures:
-narrow teak cigar case inlaid with tiny bits of jade
-2 pound gold ingot bearing the Cheliax coat of arms
-a miniature gold crown
-a fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnets for eyes
-a silver ring bearing the inscription “For Emmah—the light in my nights”
-a highly realistic and highly scandalous ivory figurine of two entwined succub
-a finely made bow string for a violin
-an adamantine arrowhead
-a tiny glass tube containing a dose of oil
-an obsidian wanda crystalline vial containing a dose of something silver
-a bejeweled brooch with a broken clasp: The circular gold brooch depicts a pseudodragon and an imp coiled around each other in an almost yin-yang pattern. The pseudodragon’s eye is an amethyst, while the imp’s eye is an emerald.
At Em's call, Mouse snaps out of her reverie and joins the others in the small room. As she enters, she sees Maretha, clearly battered but alive with Silvio worrying over her, and Carlisle embracing Emilia upon being freed. A smile crosses Mouse's face at seeing the rescued children. It's done...the bastard's never going to hurt anyone again.
As Silvio opens the box, Mouse joins him, staring over his shoulder into the box. He got his hands on some pretty things...wonder where they came from, or who he nicked 'em from? Having no experience with such finery, she has little else to offer concerning the items, although she picks up the scrimshaw when Cal has finished examining it and looks over it inquisitively.
As everyone looks over the strongbox's contents, Mouse leans to Em and begins to speak softly. Lamm was a piece o' garbage, but he was all the Lambs had. Some of 'em may have a hard time findin' their own way from here. Any chance your church'd be able ta take some of 'em in, give 'em food and a room if they'll take it? I'll ask some o' the folks I've worked with too, see if any of 'em got need for some helpin' hands.
Garvid harumphs as he sees the contents of the box. "That's a lot of expensive garbage..." Seeing the kids feel better, thanks to Em, lightens his frown somewhat, however, and he leans on the wall, careful not to disturb the sleeping girl. "You got a way with kids, Sister. I guess we can just take the strongbox itself. I don't think we got enough pockets for all this junk." Moving his foot to step on a cockroach, "I think it's nigh time we got back. Damn pests are getting comfy with me, and I'll need a long bath."
At Mouse's proposal, Garvid nods appreciatively. "That'd be nice. Hearing the ones earlier in the big place made me think they're not lost yet. Better breaking your back for an honest living than breaking someone else's for more coin. Let's you sleep peacefully."
Mouse smiles. That's what I found out leavin' here. Here's hopin' they learn it too. I can take the box in my backpack, if a way of carryin' it's what we need.
Ingot: You know it is worth 100gp.
**You cannot be sure the value of the rest. You will probably have to take it to someone with more skill.
You are 100% sure that the brooch belongs to Queen Ileosa. You have seen her wearing it. It's value has to be close to 1000gp.
Cal moves over to the hatbox. It is completely covered with flies. He waves his hand to shoo them away. The stench created from his hand motion is almost more than he can bear.
He picks up the box and cautiously removes the lid. Nothing could have prepared him for its contents. The decomposed, severed head of Zellara Stardust lies within. Her dead, milk-colored eyes stare blankly at the bard. A centipede crawls out of her nose and moves up the side of the box towards Cal's hand.
Zellara would have had to die weeks ago for the head to be this decomposed. It makes no sense since you were with her just yesterday.
Cal notices something wrapped in a handkerchief under the head.