While the others had talked and inspected the scene, Xander hadn't even looked at it. Instead, as they neared the site where the girl had vanished he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them a moment later they had clouded over a milky white. He scanned, seeing things beyond the sight of mortals, listening to voices no others could hear.
Spirits normally have very narrow means through which to interact with the living or effect the world. That does not mean they do not exist. Some rare people can sometimes see them or sense their presence in the world. Some rarer still could see into their world. This is often a gateway to madness. For those strong of mind and accepting of hidden truths, it is instead a vault of hidden information where much can be learned.
Chances are, if something happened anywhere, a spirit saw it. It was just a matter of getting their attention.
"A̻̖͖͘ͅ ̪̠̯g̭̟iŗ͎̰͉̤̹̳͎l͇̘͖͎̜̥ ̜̀w̰a̻̙s̝͖ ̼̲̞͟ḩe̤̟̬̘r̗̫͉͉̜͙ẹ̠̙̩ ̳̩͖w̖i̪̺͉̱͓͕͓t̶̘̬͍̪ͅͅh҉̙̥͉̖͙ͅ ̶̘̤̪̘͔t͏̦̠̫h͈̻e͟se̪͉ ̣̰̖̟t̶̻̟̻̤̤̠o̞̫̹̼̬y̥̞̙̤̻͎s̥̹.̠͙̮̭͇̼̜ ̵̟̫̯S̻h̦̮̘̣̟o̭͞w̡̻̳̮̖ ̖̥̙̠̙m͇͉̩̤ͅe͓͓̥̻̖̮ ̴ẉ̝h̴͖̪e̳̪͇̼̬̯̝͡r͇̘͉̟̗̝e̲̗̯̟ ̩͠s̸h̶̹̞̲̖ͅe͙͇ ̨͔ͅw̞̻̗̹̜e̬n͉͍̞͚̲͘ṱ̤͙̗̥̦͠.̛͇"
Xander doesn't slow when they reach the chandlery. He winds through the room in a partial trance, his white eyes still scanning. "This way. The door at the back."
When he reached the door he ran his hands over the frame and tested the knob to make sure it was safe to open.
Xander notices no traps as he scans the door frame. As he tests the knob, he notices that it does not appear to be locked. He also notices movement, as the wax statue next to the door lurches into motion and pulls him to the side, placing itself in front of the still-closed door and resuming its ramrod-straight stance.
Xander's face was impassive at first, eyes still clouded, his consciousness only half in the realm of mortals. He watched the wax thing with dead resolve. Then he blinked and his eyes returned to their usual blue hue. "Oh, f!!%!" he cursed, stumbling back from the creature.
"What the hells is that!?"
He closed his hands as though gripping a weapon. A translucent long-handled hammer appeared in his hands.
As the wax statue moves, so does Vandrare. The ranger rises to his feet, his hand drawing the long sword sheathed at his side. He adopts a defensive stance as he studies the potential opponent.
Shogunto touches himself and casts Mage Armor. He steps back, looking at the monster, and all the present can see his eyes emit now a blue "smoke", with the pallid feel of the dead. It's if he's possessed, somehow. He's not effectively attacking the golem, but absolutely ready to do so if needed.
Tess readies herself in the front with her Halberd and Shield at the ready for trouble.
Milo blinks as what he had taken to be a wax mannequin lurches into life.
His rapier is in his hand in the next second, but the creature doesn't seem... directly hostile.
"...set to guard, perhaps?" he stage-whispers to the others. More loudly, he clears his throat. "Excuse us. We'd like to pass. We have business with the chandler."
The figure continues to stand in the doorway, silent and unresponding to Milo's bluff, its expression and stance unchanging. It looks as if Milo's assumption is correct; going through the door means going through the wax man. With the footprints passing through, it's clear that there's some condition under which it allows access; it's also clear that name-dropping isn't it.
Milo's blade lowers a bit; he scratches at his head. "I'm hesitant to attack what might be merely a shopkeeper's security... albeit impressive security," he says slowly. "Perhaps there might be something more in this front room that gives us some insight into passing Mr. Candle, here?"
Sheathing his blade, he backs carefully away from the wax figure and starts hunting for a desk or similar in the crowded room, glancing around for anything like a shop's book-of-sale, or keys dangling on cords, or the like.
Rummaging around on one of the counters, Milo finds a paper-bound notebook. Its contents look mostly unremarkable: details of client orders, to-do lists, and the like. One pair of pages jumps out, though - they depict a sketched schematic of what looks to be the golem now facing down the group, with notes and arcane symbols scribbled in the margins.
Most of the schematic is very neatly drawn in black ink, but one note is scribbled across the pages in a faintly shimmering green ink. The first line, though in Taldane letters, is incomprehensible: ILQUIS KANNADARZ TLNID GANARCH. Below that, however, is perfectly readable: PERFORM YOUR INCANTATIONS AND GIVE YOUR DAMNED STATUE MY NAME; I TIRE OF WAITING FOR YOU TO ACCOMPANY ME IN! An arrow points from this sentence to the nonsense letters above.
"Ha!" Milo crows, and brings the book over to the others. "Look at this!"
He pauses, staring down at. "....I have no idea what it means, though... other than suggesting that yes, something is very much afoot... a code or a cipher, perhaps? So some ritual must be performed, and then the named can pass this wax-man..."
This is a Wax Golem. Vulnerable to fire, but resistant to any other spells which would allow him to resist. As most constructs, he's fairly immune to a number of other things, like poisons and mind affects. Some of them can even develop sentient...
He follows listing what golems and constructs are usually resistant or immune to. Finally, he tries to understand the schematics with his linguistics.
It's Sylvan... The language of the Fey. I can't understand it, though. - Shogunto tells the others.
"Fey, you say.. We should be prepared for a tricky little prick."
"The captain of the guard has given us his blessing to find his little girl, and she went that way. I don't really feel like trying to spend time translating this when all that's standing between us and the way forward is an overgrown candle."
"You said its vulnerable to fire, but I don't want to burn the place down. We need to be careful with this."
His spectral polearm flickered and faded to ectoplasmic smoke.
"I very much doubt a candlestick maker has need for such a guardian; I can't imagine the workshop to be full of valuables or anything worth investing this much effort in protecting. There is a chance the child is down there, hungry and frightened." As he speaks, the dhampir keeps his sharp gaze focused on the wax statue. "Unless anyone else has a better idea, I say we destroy it."
"Given the tricky nature of fey, we should be cautious.
For all we know attacking the thing sets it off."
Milo squints at the letters a bit more, but he does not spontaneously gain the ability to decipher the other language.
"Isn't there some spell that lets you read another language? None of you know it, or have scrolls of it?" he asks peevishly. "At the very least, fighting this guardian will probably mean we alert whoever's down there. Very well. If we're going to do it, let's be smart about it: if possible, let's hit it with ranged weapons and make it get out of that little corner to come deal with us, or I won't be much good to you all."
" Perhaps we should search for a second entrance to the cellar, though there's still a chance whoever may be down there has heard us already... Taking the fight outside of the shop will draw more attention, and I for one don't feel much like taking on the city watch as well." Vandrare muses, glancing around the shopfront for any less obvious method of entry.
Vandrare sees no alternate ways down from the store front, but remembers that the shop is set atop a small rise. There are no signs of another entrance on the same level as the storefront, but it's possible that a basement entrance could be set into the far side of the hill, where it would not be immediately apparent from the road.
Vandrare's expression suddenly changes into one of realisation. "Wait! There may be another entrance! This shopfront is too small to take large deliveries, it makes sense that there may be another way into the basement. We should check the far side of the hill for a second point of entry. If we don't find another door we're no worse off than we are now, but either way we need to make a decision."
Leaving the storefront, Shogunto suddenly begins to squirm uncomfortably, the blue haze in his eyes seeming to flicker and change color and intensity. I...I think something's wrong. An old ritual I performed, to bind my...companion to me, allow me to carry its being within my own. Perhaps I should return to the inn; I'm not sure yet how the townsfolk would react, if I can't keep him within. I'll be there if you require me. With that, he departs for Shade Row, rubbing at his arm as if an old wound pains him.
A few moments' search after his departure reveals a set of double doors set into the side of the hill the chandlery sits on. A few stray wax drops on the door suggest that this is indeed an entrance to the chandlery's bottom level. The double doors are large and reinforced with steel bands, as is the door's frame.
Vandrare approaches the second entrance cautiously. "This looks far more promising." he says, testing the doors to check if they're locked.
"Once we get inside, stay close to me. There may be more of those wax monsters, or worse." he turns and murmurs to Kinvara. Though he had not known her for long, he couldn't help but feel a sense of kinship toward the dhampir woman.
She seems so fragile... I pray she has the fortitude to handle whatever challenges lie ahead. I have so many more questions for her...
The journey to Nidal had been one of many firsts for the ranger. His first time meeting with the fabled pathfinders, his first sea voyage and his first encounter with another of his kind. Many nights he had spent deep in conversation with Kinvara; mostly chit-chat at first but as the time passed he found himself sharing more personal thoughts. His feelings about the death of his beloved mentor Hendrik, and of the isolation and solitude he felt among the people of his homeland. To sit with someone and speak free of prejudice or judgement was truly refreshing, even more so when it was someone who knew exactly what it was like to be so different.
Milo is happy enough to think there might be another entrance. Fighting the wax creature's sure to be... unsubtle, and Milo likes subtle. Especially in Nidal.
"This was good thinking," he says to the dhampir, grudging praise, as they find the door. He glances around the street to make sure nobody's watching, and readies to enter with the others.
"Hold a sec. These are the kinds of entrances that sometimes have nasty surprises." Xander gave the entrance area a practiced sweep.
As Xander searches the door, he sees the end of a wooden rod through the crack between the door and the ground. It's unusual enough to catch his notice, as it could presumably be propping something up on the other side. Since it relies on the door to hold it in place, whatever it supports would drop or tip as the door opened.
With a few moments' work, he's able to dig a small hole, no more than a couple of inches deep, that the rod end drops into, so it no longer relies on the door for support. Now, if the door's opening is meant to trigger a surprise, it should no longer work.
Vandrare watches as Xander goes to work disabling whatever surprise may have been waiting, and makes a mental note to take similar caution in future.
"Nicely done. Shall I take point?" he asks the group, longsword in hand.
"By all means," Xander said.
"I'll take point, since I have a shield for blocking most surprises."
As the double doors open, you are assaulted by the overpowering smell of hot fat. The wood rod Xander saw underneath the door is indeed propping something up - a vat of wax as tall as a person, steam rising from its surface, leaning at an angle against the wood rod, a splash of cooling wax on the ground where it sloshed as the vat dropped. Clearly, the rod was set so that the vat would tip when the doors opened, creating a rather nasty surprise for anyone caught unaware.
To the sides of the improvised trap, more vats stand, each as tall as a person. Well, not precisely - more accurately, each vat rises to the shoulders of the person encased in the cooled wax inside, leaving only their frightened faces visible. Each turns as far as they can as the doors open, and you see a young girl, a teenage boy, and a middle-aged man, their eyes wide with amazement, fear, and a glimmer of hope at your arrival.
Behind the vats, blocked from your view at the door, a small, angry voice pipes up. Catalina, I told you, use the upstairs door...if you tip that vat, I’ll take this to the baron, I swear it... The sounds of footsteps can be heard, as well as a strange fluttering noise.
Xander slips closer to one of the vats, putting a finger to his lips and hoping his companions were quick to act.
Vandrare follows suit, slipping into the shadows.
Any compliment Milo might have made for Xander's capable handling of the threat dies on his lips as he hears voices-- sees the wax-trapped people-- and recognizes the potential danger.
He slips into the room, trying to use the shadows of the vats for cover, and easing his blade from its sheath with a whisper of steel.
Tess takes the point
After a few moments, the small voice calls out again. Catalina, close that door! You stupid - Fane, Oana! Go and get that door shut!
As you hide in the shadows of the vats, two people emerge into view from the other side of the vats - a man and woman, both showing the swollen necks typical of tallowthroat infection. With a slightly glazed look in their eyes, they scan the area.
Suddenly, their eyes narrow on Kinvara and Vandrare crouching and trying to hide, and their eyes go wide. Master Ilquis! they cry out. It's not Catalina at all - there's two people back here!
What?! the small voice cries out. Who - who dares to interrupt me?! I warn you, I act under the baron's authority! Suddenly the room beyond the vats blossoms into light.
While the two sick people concentrated on the pair of Dhampir, Xander quietly slipped forward to take a look further on. Vandrare and Kinvara could buy him a little time just by being noticed. Xander wasn't about to waste the opportunity