Remaio Alcasti asks the PCs to retrieve Honaria’s many decorations and honors from her burial chamber. The PCs reach the tomb without incident. Inside, they encounter signs of previous struggle, and do battle with the crumbling remnants of the Alcasti tomb guardians. When they reach Honaria’s nal resting place, they encounter the crippled clockwork owl Amantius, who is still leaking corrosive fumes from his damaged mechanisms.
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Seated in a secluded corner of the bar with an unobstructed view of all entry and exit points, Melicertes sips a chilled mojito, chewing on a large, velvety mint leaf.
Remaio, you spoiled brat. What shall we fetch for you this time? Something from your mother's dressing room? Honoria's mummified pegasus mount? Your soiled laundry?
The paranoid aquatic elf scans the inn's unfamiliar faces, looking for assassins, traveling salesmen, and other evil predators lurking in the unkempt, dingy, and shadowy world of men.
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Dol enters the bar, the edges of his beard somewhat singed from working the forges.
He is about to plop down on a stool when his eyes adjust to the dim light and he notices Melicertes in the corner. He heads over and takes the opposite chair.
"Ho there, Melicertes, and well met! I apologize for not participating in your last task, but the church calls, does it not?"
Stopping a passing barmaid, he orders a mug of ale as well as another mojito for Melicertes.
"So, tell me, what grand adventure did he send you on this time? Raiding a dragon's lair? Rescuing a shield from the belly of a leviathan?"
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Pulling on his beard thoughtfully, Dol accepts the cryptic explanation. "Well, then, truly a story for the ages. I raise my mug to ye."
Dol does so, then downs the remainder of the mug in one gulp. He then calls out to the server.
"Another round here, for my fearless friends!" He chuckles to himself and smiles while muttering "Dragon hoards.... well, well..."
You all waste the evening away at the bar, reminiscing about your last mission together and piling on ever "accurate" details about dragons to catch Dol up as he returns to the team. You notice that Ferdrin is starting to express some not-so-subtle regret about his part in escalating the the kobold situation. Being a more academic type, he cannot help but analyze the situation over and over, as he drinks the night away. Finally, he slumps over on the bar...
Just then a page enters the bar, announcing a delivery for your party. The rolled-up letter is fastened with the now-all-too-familiar seal of Remaio Alcasti. However, as you unroll the note, you also find a small vial of holy water and a small key.
After, the party considers its collective knowledge of Taldor's history, noble families, and burial customs...
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Shortly after the note is delivered, a very familiar pot is brought in by a delivery person, along with a well-crafted backpack.
The pot is set on a chair near the team, and a chalkboard placed leaning against the backpack before the delivery person skedaddles quickly away, clearly looking like they aren't getting paid nearly enough for this job.
A somewhat familiar tendril snakes it's way out and 'looks' at the note from Remaio, before the pot burbles in apparent agitation. A different tendril dances along the chalkboard, making a picture of a crown, an apparent horse's butt. Then the tendril points to the 'horse's' butt then the note.
Then crude symbols begin to appear on the board. "Rdy 2 go. Get bag pls."
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Dol picks up the key and examines the vial.
"We need special water to uncover the keyhole? Odd." He examines the vial.
Putting them in his pack, he grabs Bobbi's pot and prepares to go. "Sleep well, Ferdrin! No, Bobbi, I don't know much about Taldan mausoleums, but I can tell you a thing or two about dwarven catacombs."
As he waits for the rest of the party, he starts discussing the finer points of dwarven burial customs, pleased to have such an excellent listener around.
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Melicertes scans the note the page delivered. "Now Remaio wants us to rob Honoria's tomb. Wonderful. At least he included the holy water and key. But another trip out into the hinterlands? Lovely."
The oracle nods in agreement with Ijo. "As the empire began to crumble, Taldan nobles increasingly began to build tombs in remote locales to avoid the depredations of vandals and scavengers."
"If we get jumped by a lich, I can channel positive energy." The paranoid elf doesn't sound confident about the party's prospects.
Dols magic scan reveals a faint aura of transmutation, confirming that it is indeed holy water.
Your long journey through the foothills of the World’s Edge Mountains is uncannily desolate, and a lonely pall hangs over the entire trip. You're almost happy to finally reach your destination...
A white marble tomb emerges from the shadow of a low mountain. Two composite columns frame the tomb’s tarnished silver door with cracked hinges. The rain-streaked relief of a pegasus head sits in place of a keyhole.
As Dol sprinkles the holy water onto the door in vaguely ceremonial fashion a hole starts to form dead-center on top of the pegasus head. After the center hole grows to just larger than a pea, a narrow slit extends downward, adding a short nub and completing a recognizable keyhole.
On inserting the key, the damaged door opens revealing a narrow entrance passageway that shortly opens into the initial room. A large granite tablet covered with names and dates stands in the center of this small room.
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Dol quickly realizes that there is nothing else of interest, much less danger, in the room apart from the tablet.
Looking it over he predictable encounters a long list of resting Alcasti, in unnecessarily fine print that makes visual scanning exhausting...
- "Buford Windrom Alcasti"
- "Brian Alcasti"
- "Mr. Underhill Alcasti"
- "Robin the Brave Alcasti"
- "Volusentia Burria Alcasti"
- "Flavia Flavia Alcasti"
- "Meg Alcasti"
- "Duccia Caprenia Alcasti"
- "Deloris Aerlo Alcasti"
- "Mulva Hest Alcasti"
- "Rote En Egbuttius Alcasti"
- "Nero Telesidoni Alcasti"
- "Edward Spoony Alcasti"
- "Boogiddy Wombat Alcasti"
- "Frank J. Llama Alcasti"
- "Tim Alcasti"
- "Cosmo Kramer Alcasti"
- "Tom Riddle Alcasti"
- "Sauron Alcasti"
....
On and on it goes. Finally, Dol comes to the relevant entry...
"Honaria Alcasti, 4049 AR-4123 AR."
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As the door opens Bobbi takes the opportunity to slither out of their pot and reform, stretching a bit and checking to make sure their limbs work and their body is solid.
"We should be very careful that we don't run into looters, and treat everything with respect... which apparently at least some people had a hard time doing!" the oozy entity offers. "And if we can, see what else we can learn about the line and the family, this is history after all."
That being said, they take careful notes of the tablet and it's positioning. Pathfindering is hard work sometimes.
Melicertes finds nothing of note before the party moves onto the next room.
A statue of a soaring pegasus rises above the pool of stagnant water in the center of the room.
Another door stands shut before you.
After spending considerable time telling pegasus from owlbear, and enjoying the scenic (musty) water-view, the party heads through the next door.
Somber statues of Alcastis past line this hallway, their hands broken apart and lying at their feet. A pile of shattered rubble lies strewn across the floor, the stone pierced through with abandoned spears and swords. The air is thick with dust and neglect.
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Melicertes stoops down, examining the debris. "Look, here, in the rubble. There are distinct features in the shape of the stone. See? This looks like a paw and an ear, maybe part of a statue of a dog? The weapons all came from the hands of the Alcasti statues—four spears from the statues on the south wall, and three swords from the statues on the north wall. And look, all of the weapons bear a pegasus crest upon them, same as on the wax seal on Remaio's letters. Three longswords and four spears." He counts the statues. "One sword seems to be missing."
The oracle picks up one of the Alcasti weapons, casts detect magic and examines it. "I'm going to hang onto one of the spears."
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"The front door wasn't open, yet something appears to be living down here. Something that apparently REALLY hates dogs.
There must be another way in, and I hear our visitor through that door."
Dol will walk over to the door and prepare to fling it open once others have weapons readied against danger.
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Bobbi blinks for a moment as the musty air of the crypt washes over their person, carrying with it the vibrations of many different things as well as the party. They pick up one of the spears if no one else grabs it, then points dramatically with a tendril popped out of their neck at the door worriedly before withdrawing it back into themselves.
They attempt to brace their spear in the event something comes charging out of the opened door.
Melicertes doesn't determine anything else about the spear he holds at this moment. Dol gets confirmation from the party and pops the door open...
Stairways lead up to a marble dais, where rotted wooden offerings lie in splinters. The tiles of the floor are scorched black, and the smell of magical ozone fills the air. A sickly pale glow sputters amid a pile of debris, illuminating a shattered sword upon the ground. In the chamber’s walls, rows of niches bear ceramic urns labeled with bronze plaques. A repetitive grinding sound echoes through the chamber, erratic and yet unceasing.
Upon the dais you see the source of the grinding sounds, the tomb's guardian. Formerly a statue of a proud, doglike creature, it now lies in fragments, only able to move its intricate metal frame with its magical animating force. The guardian’s jaws spark wildly as the disparate pieces drag themselves towards your party, struggling to destroy the intruders.
You also notice that two of the hands from the stone statues appear to have been misplaced into this room... but more than that they seem to be moving on their own!
They all begin to lurch towards you in response to your intrusion!
Melicertes
’Bobbi’
Ijo Ibn Son (shield, AC +4, 10 rounds)
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Damaged guardian dog
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Dol
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Crawling hands
Ijo's lash tears at the nearest hand, shattering it into debris.