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Mun nods his head at Kelumur's words. "Yes, I think finding the fountain would be our first task. It was described as a large fountain with a red lion statue. If you have seen such and can direct us, it would be very helpful."
This little fellow lives in here, he must have some trick for surviving the rain. "If you have any advice about the dangerous rains and how to avoid their ruin, that would be appreciated as well!" Mun exclaims with enthusiasm.
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"If you have any advice about the dangerous rains and how to avoid their ruin, that would be appreciated as well!" Mun exclaims with enthusiasm.
"Dangerous rains? What are you talking about? This rain is what lets my plants grow and gives them life. That does not sound dangerous to me"
"There may be something like that back in the main greenhouse, but I can't be positive." The creature strokes it's mossy beard for a bit, before its eyes seem to brighten. "I can show you around the place if you would like! You can even see some of my wonderful experiments! And I'm sure the Master Gardener can answer all of you questions." he pauses for a moment before continuing, "Buuuuuut, I must ask you to pay a small fee before you can continue further. You must each grant me a small portion of your blood for my future research. If you allow me that, I will be a most gracious host."
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"I like to consider myself a master botanist, and I dabble a bit in alchemy as well. I take particular interest in combining my two interests, creating magical substances by enhancing various flora. Having a variety of blood samples allows me to experiment with new things. You are welcome to sample some of my creations if you would like to."
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The mandragora puts his hand out to stop Kelumur, "Please, let me." Pip transforms one of his fingers into a thin, translucent, syringe-like tube with a needle-sharp tip and withdraws a small amount of blood from the half-orc's finger . The blood flows through the needle and via a long, translucent vein to one of the nodules on his back. "I will entertain your request, and you can see my botany lab first. But if you do not keep your word, I can't promise that the rest of your passage will be easy. I expect the rest of you to honor your part of the bargain."
Decaying vines carpet the walls and ceiling of the hall, and the earthen smell of decay is thick in the air. The floor is riddled with narrow cracks and fissures, extending several feet below.
A collapsed sign near the door further ahead, lists the exhibit that was on display in this gallery at the time of the earthquake: “Flowering Shrubs of Eastern Taldor”. Plants once grew in the large, ceramic planters that still hug the southern wall. Dozens of branches clinging to decaying leaves emerge from the wooden door to the north. To the east, a room with healthy trees and shrubs is visible through a glass door set in a wrought iron frame.
In the room to the east, dozens of healthy plants with vibrant and colorful leaves, fruit, and flowers emerge from the decay in this small greenhouse, spilling out of the pots and berths that once contained them. The excitment on Pip's face is quite clear as he shows you his lab. "I would not recommend touching or eating any of the plants, besides the ones I will give you. Some of them can have unsettling effects on humanoids such as yourselves." He takes a few minutes showing you plants and seeds of various types and explaining their properties to you. Among the specimens he shows you are a pair of walnuts that each provides the effects of a potion of Shield of Faith, a tough length of ivy that functions as a potion of Spider Climb when chewed, two cherries that function as potions of Reduce Person, and two watermelons that each produce the effects of potions of Enlarge Person on the first person to eat a bite of them. "Now, I believe it is time for you to keep to your part of the bargain, yes?"
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Fung raises his eyebrows suspiciously at the creature whilst he brings the party for a tour, fearing whatever ill intents it might have for their blood. He stares at his team mates in turn, looking quite worried and concerned. "But.. I... he ...." Fung stammers, then falls silent.
Finally, he rather reluctantly also lifts his hand up towards the creature.
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Pip smiles at your niceties, and the thought of more blood to use for his experiments. One by one, his syringe like appendage drains a small amount of your blood. J., who has stayed silent for the interaction with the creature, reluctantly follows your lead and allows her blood to be taken as well. "Now that I have more specimens for the lab, I will show you to the Master Gardener. While I don't know of this statue you ask about, I'm sure that she will provide you with more answers."
He leads you north, through several corridors and galleries that eventually lead to the entrance of the second intact greenhouse in the arboretum. A wooden plaque outside reads “Plants of Eastern Garund: Please proceed with caution, as some are poisonous”. "You will find her within this greenhouse. I am quite excited to play with my new samples!" The odd creature then turns and skips back to his lab before you can ask anything else, though he does shout a rather ominous sounding "Good luck!" before turning down a distant corridor.
Unlike the dead and warped growth in most of the Arboretum, the plants growing in this greenhouse seem to be relatively young and healthy. Several raised beds of earth host strange looking plants with long, sinuous vines, and a small, gently flowing fountain with a red lion statue at its center sits near the middle of the chamber. Against the wall stands a worktable and chair covered in gardening tools. Standing in the middle of the room, tending to some of the various plants, is a plant like humanoid, with long vines for hair, and a face made of flower petals. She turns to you and shouts as you approach. "Stop where you are, don't come any closer! I know who you are! Gardeners from Quantium who have come to harvest me and my babies!"
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Mun holds his hands out in a non-threatening gesture, calling out to the creature. "We are not these gardeners you fear. We are Pathfinders with no interest in doing you any harm! We seek a package left here many years ago; we will leave you in peace if you let us look for it!"
"Are you the Master Gardener? Majordomo Pip brought us!"
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Garekk follows the little creature through the gardens, keeping his hands close and his elbows in.. doing his best to keep as far from these odd plants as is possible.
"That is a creature known as a Ghoran!" Garekk exclaims in surprise. "But like Kelumuur, I don't think its in its right mind.." he continues in a very much lower voice, meant only for his companions to hear. "Majordomo Pip led us here.. he said that you may be able to help us find a statue hidden within this place. Could you help us, please?"
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As the mandragora skips away, Fung sighs a small sigh of relief, and whispers to his party. "I was so sure that that evil plant creature was going to use our blood for some foul magic, but other than this prick, we don't seem much worse for the wear?"
With Garekk having identified the gardener, Fung stays silent for now, trying to recall what he knows about Ghoran from his herbalist master.
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Your combined efforts of diplomacy get her to relax a bit, "Very well. If you are not here to destroy me and my babies, then what are you doing in my greenhouse? I heard that wretched creature with you, the one who calls himself Majordomo Pip. He's been plotting to get rid of me ever since I arrived here."
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"For what it's worth, Master Gardener, the Majordomo had nothing ill to say of you. Be that as it may, I can see the fountain that was described to us." Mūn points in the direction of the red lion fountain. "If we may have your permission to explore there, I think we may be able to finish up here quite quickly."
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"Very well then, but on one condition. Keep my presence in the Arboretum a secret long enough for my babies to sprout and grow. I wishe to grow a presence of ghoran within the city and then petition the Absalom government to ask for my people to be freed from captivity in Nex. And do not make any move towards my garden or this will end badly for you."
Carefully tipping over the Red Lion statue on the fountain reveals that it is hollow. Inside is a small package wrapped in many layers of wax paper: Grishan’s intelligence packet. Reading his notes reveals a number of secrets, all in Grishan’s hurried script:
Case M7 In process, expect updates after Stilonius’s birthday party.
Case D4 Lady Miranda Dacilane is rumored to have committed
numerous amorous indiscretions during her youth. The most outrageous
was that she was the mistress of Orias Deckland, a scandalous member of
Absalom’s upper classes, and bore him a child. She is also rumored to have
belonged to a secret society known as the Harbingers of Fate. Rumors come
from a drunken but reliable source.
Case A1 Badru let slip that his sister is heading to Osirion to
participate in a secretive excavation of a tomb from the time of the Pharaoh
of Forgotten Plagues.
Case M12 It is well known that the Morilla family runs the Guild
of Wonders, Absalom’s most prestigious espionage and assassination
organization. What is less well known is that the Aspis Consortium, a Chelish
band of fortune-hunters, hired the Guild of Wonders many times to spy on
the Pathfinder Society and the Blakros family. I successfully created
a diversion for the servant’s attention, and was able make copies of several
documents that prove that Lady Annasendra personally oversaw contracts to
assassinate members of the Pathfinder Society. If the number of events I am
invited to is any indication, they haven’t caught on yet, but I’m afraid to dig
deeper in to this situation.
Case N4 After hours of searching and days of asking subtle questions,
I’ve turned up absolutely nothing of interest. Surely people this boring must
be hiding something.
Case L3 The servant in charge of the kitchens has a penchant for gossip.
Information Broker I read in a diary that that an information broker lives
in Absalom named Torch. I hear he’s well worth his coin, but is not to be
trusted, because he’ll sell information to anyone.
Case Maldris 8 To my shame I have learned that my own father,
Merrin, is a charlatan who used the chaos of the Andoran’s People’s Revolt
to change his name from Vanoecker. I later learned that the Vanoeckers were
an Andoren noble family with a tyrannical reputation. The worst part was
that I discovered that my brother knew about this all along. So much for his
glorious, egalitarian ideals and Andoren purity. We’re just as guilty as the
rest of them!
Case T3: There’s some big ceremony coming up at the temple of Asmodeus
in a few months. People were muttering about a great fire to honor him, but
I couldn’t hear many details. I can’t shake the though that those devil bootlickers
are planning to burn slaves in that pyre. I must investigate further.
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As the creature acquiesces to the party's pleas, Garekk gives her a deep bow. "You have my word that no harm will come to you or yours through my actions. Thank you for your generosity. I will remember this, should you ever have a need I can assist you with."
Garekk pours over the documents, his face clouding over and his brows quickly lowering into a glower as he reads deeper into the pages. Once finished, he hands them off to the rest of the party to take their turn while he muses over the information gleaned.
"J and Grishan. If you do not mind, I would ask that you give us a bit of room to consider what we are going to do here. These documents are.. interesting to say the least, and we need to decide what to do with them. Before we do though, Grishan, can you tell us anything of your brother or his affiliations?"
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Garekk nods, receiving the answer he expected. "Ok. If the two of you would give us some space to discuss this, we will let you know what we decide." Garekk then turns back to his companions, a look of worry crossing his face.
In an undertone designed to keep his voice from carrying, he gives his opinion to the rest of the group.
"I do not think that we should give these documents to anyone but the Society. Let them decide what to do here. There is some very damaging information, and it would be very important for them to know of the Aspis connections here."
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Fung looks uncomfortable keeping the information from Junia and Grishan, but from the local lore that he has gathered while living in Absalom and as a Pathfinder, he knows that this information can be very damaging. "I don't feel that we are qualified to make the decision of what to do with this. If even Grishan, I mean back when he was alive, have concerns about his brother, I don't think we should pass it on. I say we pass them on to our Captains."
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Mūn furrows his brow. "I'm not certain that we have a say, to be honest. These documents are not ours nor the Society's--not yet. I think Grishan needs to acquiesce if we're going to turn them over to the Society." He looks over to the pale figure floating near Junia. "I suggest that we seek his permission to keep these documents for the Society, explaining that there is sensitive information that only pertains to his former life. It has no bearing on his current existence, which needs to focus on J alone."
"I'm sure he can be convinced, but if he insists on reading this here, so be it."
"This information could be quite damaging in the wrong hands. It could also be quite valuable, if sold. I would oppose that, however. This does need to make its way to the Society. We simply must be honest and fair with Grishan and his interests."
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As the one who asked Grishan and J to give them privacy, Garekk gives a bit of a cough and steps towards the pair with the documents. "These reports you made.. they can be very important. You managed to find some very incriminating evidence on several very important people, Grishan." Garekk looks at the pair with compassion, and finally relents. "These reports.. I.. We believe that the Society needs to see this, and the sooner the better. You may read them. They are yours after all, but this could be very bad in the wrong hands. Please.. after you read them, may we take them to the society?" he finishes plaintively, extending the reports to the specter and to J.
Unfortunately, his inner turmoil very much prevents his true feelings to show and he comes across gruff and demanding.
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Kelumur makes his opinions heard, being blunt about the whole situation, and stands in the way of Garekk handing over the reports. "What information we have here that was gathered, from what I understand could be very sensitive, as Mun pointed out. Grishan, I'm afraid I do not know enough about you to know if I would share this with you. There's is a lot a stake. Please do not take this personally.
But upon seeing Grishan's pain, and not being heartless, Kelumur considers his words carefully about what he says next. [b]"I'm not inclined to share everything with you, but some of the information could possibly be divulged without the specifics. I hope you understand." And Kelumur then turns back to the rest of the group, to await what the party says.
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Sensing that his companions' words may not be sufficient to ease the spirit's concerns, Mun adds his voice to hopefully smooth things over.
"Grishan, I know all this must be confusing. We're just trying to help make sure that we keep your interests at heart in light of the information in this packet. I'll be blunt: some of this could be painful to you, and some could even be damaging to you, your family, and others."
"You and J share a bond now; I believe you would be best served by looking forward to your new life intertwined with hers." Motioning his hands towards the packet, the elf continues. "This stuff from the past has no bearing on your new existence."
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Grishan seems to be getting very frustrated with all of this. "Are you telling me I can't even read my OWN notes? I wrote them! The whole point of coming here was to retrieve these to help give me closure to my past! How do you expect me to move forward without this closure?" He storms off away from the party, fading into nothingness and returning to J's mind.
J. breaks her silence and speaks up, obviously upset about the whole situation. "I can feel his pain and frustration, I've never felt it so intense. What could possibly be in there that you would withhold from him? Our intentions were to read the notes and allow you to decide what happened with them. You can give them to whoever you want to after this. Whatever happened to freeing those in need? Right now, Grishan is trapped in this personal prison of his, devoid of his own memories. I never knew the Pathfinder Society was about keeping secrets..."
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Garekk is surprised by Kelumur's response, and holds position as the others chime in once again. He looks about the group, and states "I believe that he has a right to know what he wrote. They have already agreed that these can go to the Society once they read them. I think that we need to uphold our end of the bargain as well. Grishan and J are tied together.. Grishan can do little harm of his own. Give the boy this last chance to find himself. If there is nothing else about their situation I understand.. it is this." He ends his words with a bowed head.. resigned to accept the groups vote but hating the harm that this is causing to the young spirit.
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Mun ponders Grishan's outburst with sympathy, even going so far as to take a step when Grishan storms off as if to follow the spirit, pulling up short when Grishan dematerializes.
"J, this is Grishan's choice. I was hoping to persuade him to just forget about it and move on, but of course he may read this if he insists."