Davin darts forward and grabs the Gem
You've found it! There may be hope for us! he exults
The assembled Martikovs look relieved and hopeful.
We must rebury it at once.. Davin says and then Dag offers Western Fields? They are closest to ripe.
Davin nods and hands the Gem to the man who bustles off, calling out for his children to come with him.
"It is good that your farm will once again be protected from the Devil, Strahd."
The paladin seem more withdrawn and taciturn than normal, almost as if a cloud of doom hangs over him.
Curious to see this artifact in action, Talus grins and follows the excited family out into the West fields.
Gail glanced at Ozgo with concern, "Where I come from we have a saying, the bigger they are the harder they fall. Don't worry about it, we're going to be OK." Gail wasn't sure she entirely believed that, but it seemed the right thing to say at the time.
Before Ozgo could reply, she hustled Talus, similarly interested in seeing the gem in action.
Malthorn smiles as Dag leaves with the gem to plant it near the western vineyard.
"Glad we were able to return it to you, what can you do now to protect from it's theft again? " he pointedly ask Davin, yet without malice.
Davin straightens up at Malthorn's question What can any of us do? Be vigilant. Not let the bastards come at night with no warning. he says bitterly, you can sense you've struck a sore spot for Davian.
Dag Tomescu grabs a spade and buries the gem in an easily viewable from the Winery spot in the Western fields. He moves several large stones to cover the hole and make it more difficult for thieves to take it.
It'll take a while. But the magic will work. It did before. The vines will thrive once more and the wine will flow. Dag says hopefully
The magic this gem works is really amazing. But the land should be free and not dependant on magic from a gem to grow a good wine! We need to end this curse somehow!
Kassimir is obviously worked up about this.
Gail studies Kassimir for a while before agreeing, "Aye. Back home you didn't need anything like this to grow stuff. We need to be rid of him. Easier said than done mind."
She contemplates for a moment before asking, "So what's our next move? Is it time for us to visit Rictavio?"
Malthorn nods, understanding the bitterness of dealing with something well beyond your ability to adequately fight. Saying simply "Then we shall do what we can to help."
Joining the others and hearing Gail's question, agrees. "Probably past time to do so after our last meeting with Strahd went so well" he finishes with a smile.
Esmerelda asks if you know where Rictavio is located, and if so might she join you in finding her old mentor.
Talus nods, "Indeed we do, Esmerelda. He inhabits a tower relatively nearby." he says, "Now that the gem has been returned, shall we visit our sometimes saviour ?" he asks the others.
The consensus was to see him so Gail said with an air of finality, "Well then I suppose we should say our goodbyes and try and head off find Rictavio while there's still daylight. He said something about waiting for us a Wizard's Tower, I think I roughly know where that is..." She explains where she thinks that is to Esmerelda.
Looking to Esmerelda, Malthorn indicates the wagon. "Will you be joining us?" if so Malthorn will take rear guard again. Continuing to harass Ozgo for his navigational skills.
Ez gives Malthorn a funny look and begins hitching her team. Gail gets a glimpse of rune covered horseshoes on at least one of the draft horses.
The other Martikovs, including the irascible patriarch Davian, bid you farewell. It seems that restoring at least one gem to him made the old man a little more friendly. But only a little.
As you are traveling the nearly 6 miles to Lake Baratok Gail spots a curious bundle hidden alongside the road in a bunch of undergrowth.
"Custom Horseshoes? I like the way you ride!" exclaimed Gail as they got underway.
Several hours later
Gail was siting on the front of the wagon watching the miles roll by. It was all starting to blur into one, Barovia was full of moor and scrub land and other places nobody wanted to live. It was all vaguely depressing, all very much the same, when suddenly Gail noticed something! "WOAH, STOP!" she cried, "There's something strange there by the road side." When the wagon came to a halt, she hopped down to investigate.
"Gail, whatd'ya find?" Malthorn calls out leveling his staff at the area Gail is going to search.
Gail halts the wagon and inspects the small bundle. She finds something wholly mundane, an entire suit of clothing (smallclothes included). They smell used, like someone took off all their clothes and left them here for some strange purpose.
Gail wrinkled her nose and dropped the bundle in disgust, exclaiming "Yuck these could do with a wash." She thought for a few moments before adding, "Strange to leave these all the way out here..."
She cast around looking for any trace of the owner, perhaps they left some footprints?
"Heh, heh, that'll teach you to go around picking up strange bundles on the side of the road. Now if you find one still containing the money pouch let me know."
Malthorn calls from the back of the wagon. "Attention all travelers, beware of individual running naked through the mist. Intentions unknown."
Esmerelda cryptically says If someone left their clothes willingly. I doubt you'd recognize them if they ran past...
The Wagon continues on its way, and soon you arrive near at a Tower near a lake.
You come to a cold mountain lake enclosed by misty
woods and rocky bluffs. Thick fog creeps across the dark,
still waters. The trail ends at a grass-covered causeway
that stretches a hundred yards across the lake to a flat,
marshy island with a stone tower on it. The tower is old
and decrepit, with collapsing scaffolds clinging to one
side where a large gash has split the wall. Timeworn griffon
statues, their wings and flanks covered with moss,
perch atop buttresses that support the walls.
Ezmerelda hops off the wagon and says Arvesh! and suddenly the two draft horses disappear into nothingness. When she spots the curious glances that you toss her way she says Best not to show that particular trick to the locals...they fear magic.
Ez talks to the front of the tower and then calls out What do you think of this? Khazan?
The tower door is made of iron, with no visible handles
or hinges. In the middle of the door is a large, embossed
symbol-a connected series of lines with eight stick figures
set around it. Carved into the lintel above the door
is a word: KHAZAN.
Gail was puzzled, "KHAZAN... What? And what's with the little pictographs of dancing men on the door?" She looks horrified at Ezmerelda, "We're not expected to dance are we?!"
Talus leans in , inspecting the symbol, then looks at Gail, "You may be right, the lines seem to suggest a pattern of movements that may serve as the 'key' to opening the door....I will make an attempt." he says quietly, then stands before the door.
First, he raises both forearms until they are pointing up.
Then, he lowers his left arm, pointing it at the ground.
Then, he points both arms straight out to the side.
Then, he lowers both forearms until they are pointing down.
Then, he raises both forearms until they are pointing up.
Then, he lowers his right arm , pointing it at the ground.
Then, he points both arms straight out to the side.
Then, he lowers both forearms until they are pointing down.
As his arms reach the 'final' position he loudly says the word, 'Khazan', and waits....
Malthorn watches mikdly fascinated as Talus performs the indicated movements, I hope he goes in the right order
Unconciously he takes a step backwards
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A smile creases the grim paladin's face as he watches Talus go through the motions in an attempt to open the door.
After Talus finishes his strange dance, the door opens silently.
The flagstone floor is strewn with debris, and a few old
crates stand near the east wall. A torn curtain to the
south partially obscures the tower vestibule.
A five-foot-square indentation in the center of the floor
contains four pulleys attached to taut iron chains that
stretch up through a similarly sized hole in the rotted
wooden ceiling. Standing next to the chains are four tall
clay statues.
Gail just stares at the door aghast, "Uh yeah. I'm glad you're here Talus - I'd have refused to do that on principle."
She steps in and notices the general disarray, "Er Rictavio is a bachelor these days right? Kinda shows... I wonder if anyone has been here recently." She has a good look around for any sign of habitation - footprints or anything else really.
Looking at the disarray of the first floor Malthorn quips to no one in particular. "Must be the maids week off, that looks like our only way up."
Studying the contraption in the middle of the room Malthorn supposes this is a lift of some sort.
does it appear to be sturdy, and can he tell why the statues are surrounding the 'lift' if it is one.
Malthorn looks around and sees evidence of there being someone here recently. As he approaches the center of the room...the clay statues in the room begin pulling the chains, and a lift begins descending. Soon, the lift is at the ground floor. The clay statues remain silent and still...waiting.
Talus crosses his arms and takes a moment to savour his success with the door, then enters with the others.
He looks around and swivels around when the lift begins is journey downward, waiting until it stopped, "I believe we're to step on and go up?" he asks rhetorically.
"Let's all step on at the same time. Don't want anyone going up alone." he suggests.
Gail eyes the contraption with a disapproving frown, "Uhh we're going on that are we? Oh heck - here goes."
She waits for Talus to move forwards before stepping on herself.
"Well it worked on the way down perhaps it will on the way up as well." Malthorn says before stepping aboard the lift.
Ozgo searches around the ruins of the main floor as the others examine the lift.
Perception:
Looks safe to Malthorn as he steps onto the lift.
As the heroes step onto the lift, the Golems begin pulling the chains and the lift rises jerkily and with a great commotion. It seems like its been some years since the chain has been greased.
The lift does rise to the second floor, whereupon the golems cease pulling.
Dust and cobwebs fill this otherwise empty room, the wooden floor of which is badly rotted and partially collapsed.
Ezmerelda says Well, obviously he isn't here prost statuie lapsing into her native tongue. The golems then begin pulling the chains once more and the lift rises again.
Time and the elements have all but destroyed this chamber, leaving a gash in the northwest wall and slimy black mildew on the walls. The wooden floor is completely rotted and has begun to fall away in places.
Ez now sighs heavily as this process has taken at least 15 minutes. The golems, while tireless, aren't particularly fast.
Grăbește-ți lucrurile stupide she shouts down and after a minute or two, the lift begins creaking upwards at a snails pace.
Unlike the levels below, this room shows signs of recent habitation, and although the place reeks of mold and mildew, it has plenty of creature comforts, including a cozy bed, a desk with matching chair, bright tapestries, and a large iron stove with plenty of wood to feed it. Ught enters through arrow slits as well as through dirt-caked windows with broken shutters. Other features of the room include a standing suit of armor and a wooden chest. Old wooden rafters bend under the weight of the tower roof, which has somehow remained intact. Mounted to the rafters are pulleys around which hang iron chains that support the tower's elevator platform.
Ez leaps off the lift with a growl and begins searching the room.
Ozgo quickly leaves the lift-contraption as if he fears it might suddenly drop them all to their deaths.
"This is quite a strange place to live. The place is falling down around him."
The paladin decides to check out the armor on the stand.
Gail shakes her head at the slow progress of the lift contraption, "Honestly what's wrong with stairs?" she asks Ezmerelda. Once in what must be the living quarters Gail sniffs the air and sighs, "Men have no idea how to look after themselves properly..." Noticing that Ezmerelda is searching for something Gail asks, "Need a hand?"
She has a good look around anyway, for anything interesting.
Talus steps off of the elevator, having patiently waited for the ascent to finish. He doesn't join the search of Ritavio's domicile, but does look about the place with bemusement, "Indeed, Ozgo, why live in such a <sniff> fragrant place."
He then grow still, shifting his perceptions , reordering his visual acuity to a different phase....
...he then looks calmly about the wizard's abode, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Noticing Ozgo's interest in the suit of armor Malthorn cautions " 'ware that it is truly empty, in a house not a days hard ride from here the suits appeared empty but fought as if the owner still walked within."
Keeping an eye on Ozgo's new interest, Malthorn walks around the room for a moment before plopping down on the chest. "Opening chest inside a wizard's tower is likely not a good idea.
"Ez, whatcha looking for?"
Kassimir who followed his new companions silently smiles with amusement on their comments. He was pretty impressed with Talus performance on the door.
How knows how the mind of a wizard works...besides the currents of magic altering ones perception and thoughts, the individual experiences shaped by the powers of fate are the same as for everyone else. Perhaps the powers of fate are why some seek magic in the first place...I´m afraid i´m not much of a help in coming to conclusions here, but i would really like to meet this Rictavio. There are things i would like to ask him.
Ezmerelda answers Gail and Malthorn Some clue as to where Rictavio might have gone. He was JUST HERE! After all this time of chasing him down, I just missed him. Again. she finishes, sounding almost despondent.
Talus uses his Third Eye but doesn't spot any traps, or hidden doors.
Malthorn smells the scent of lavender rising thickly from the chest.
Still looking around, Gail starts poking around the fireplace and finds a burnt fragment of Journal. The hand is cramped and stylised but she persists in reading it and towards the end she gasps softly before muttering, "Poor Rictavio..."
She shows the fragment around before starting the obvious, "I suppose he left in a hurry, I wonder why he felt the need to destroy his records... Well obviously because they might be found. But whom did he fear might find them? Us or agents of the dark lord?"
With the warning from Mal, Ozgo gives the armor a good looking over, but is ready to defend himself if it comes to life!
The longer he sits the the more uncomfortable Malthorn gets. Listening to Gail recount Rictavio's journal, he is seen to nod as if following along closely but occasionally a sharp shake of his head also occurs. Finally standing up from the chest he ask Ezmerelda absentmindedly "Did Rictavio have a lavender fetish? I feel like I'm sitting in the midst of a garden right here."
Turning he searches the exterior of the trunk for any traps or triggers, if none are found he will attempt to open the trunk.
Malthorn opens the untrapped and unlocked chest and discovers something grisly. A severed head that has been treated with oils, it looks well preserved.
Ezmerelda curses softly in her own language and says He is Vistani. That much is clear to me...but I do not know his Clan.
Gail stares at the head in disbelief for several moments before adding sarkily, "Errr, that's not even remotely creepy... No wait what the hell is he thinking?! I suppose this must be all that remains of those who stole his child. I can understand vengeance but keeping this is beyond messed up."
Rictavio had just lost any sympathy Gail had for him. The man was clearly deranged and probably a menace, one they would have to remove.
"Well that is less than pleasant" Malthorn says staring at the head "Didn't seem to be that kind of fellow when we met him before."
Somewhat gingerly Malthorn picks the head up and looks behind it, to see if perhaps it was hiding something. If nothing is there he will close the trunk and move a little bit away from it while they determine wat their next move will be.
Ez responds to Gail Van Richten is a...hard man. He would sacrifice much to get to the Devil Strahd.
Malthorn doesn't notice anything important in the chest.