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You head back to the changeling's beds and take turns keeping watch as the rest of you get some much needed sleep. The night goes by without incident, and without the The Sewer Sage making his triumphant and hungry return, and you wake up eight hours later.
From here, you recall the earlier set of doors you had listened behind, and still hear the sound of gusting wind on the other side. The other set of doors seems completely quiet on the other side.
"Well, that was lovely once we got the blood stains out." She yawns. "Where to next? Wasn't there a door with some wind or something on there?"
Geoffrey yawns, "Sounds good to me."
"You okay, Geoff? You seem a little tired." Issil hops on his bed and puts the palms of her hands at the back of his neck. "You just need a massage. Hold still..."
Issil mumbles as she rubs away and casts Lesser Restoration , clearing Geoffrey's fatigue.
"Feelin' better? Good."
"It seems to me that sleeping in one's armor would be most uncomfortable," Morvena remarks the next 'day' after finishing her daily spell preparations. "But I suppose one could become used to it, in time. At any rate, the eastern doors seem a good a place as any to begin our explorations anew."
3rd - Haste x2, Summon Monster III
2nd - Glitterdust, Stone Call, Summon Monster II, Web
1st - Burning Hands, Grease,
Cantrips - Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Read Magic
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Victor drags his sleepy self in, rubbing his eyes and his temples "Slept like the dead, but still feelin' it this morning. Anyone got any grub?" He leans back and forth a bit to stretch, drawing out his dagger to double check its still there, then his lock picks as they mention the double doors.
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Victor presses open the doors, which are not locked. A long mahogany gambling table sits at the center of the chamber, surrounded by richly carved chairs fitted with silk cushions. Shelves carved into the walls hold old broken bottles, while benches with padded seats sit against the walls under these shelves. All of the furnishings are moldering and decaying... as is the skeleton of a halfling clad in dark leather armor and clutching a handful of bone dice, slumped in a chair at the northern head of the table.
As you enter the room, a faint, milky shimmering dances in the air around the halfling corpse.
Then it quickly coalesces into the ghostly form of an attractive but wild-eyed halfling woman.
She smiles sweetly at you as the bone dice her skeleton touches float into the air and spin. "A wager? A game? I’ve waited ages for a game. These bones are lucky tonight! Will you wager part of yourself for my secrets, my friends?"
"Huh. Yeah." Issil cocks her head to the side. "What happened to this halfling, anyway?" She points at the skeletal remains.
Geoffrey instinctively reaches for his mace before the halfling ghost materializes, but lowers it when 'she' makes no hostile move. "Yes, we would like to know what happened to him...or her." He smiles charmingly at the ghost.
"Ummm sure, why not. What's there to lose really?" He sits down in the closest chair or bench and looks around the room a bit closer.
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Victor isn't sure who the ghostly halfling is from her appearance alone, but he's sure she isn't up to any fast ones with her antics. He and Morvena get a look at the equipment her decayed physical corpse contains, and though most looks useless, the ring, armor, circlet, and deck glow with magical auras. Another jeweled ring on the halfling skeleton's left hand looks quite valuable.
The ghost looks pleased at Victor accepting the offer. "Excellent! I am Guildmistress Lorelu, and we'll be playing Odds and Evens! You've surely heard of it, friends, if you're from here in Kintargo," the ghost smiles.
The round begins with the first player claiming “odd” or “even.” The second player then decides the number of “throws” in the round (minimum of two). The two players then alternate making these throws, each rolling 3d6 to generate a number.
All of the resulting numbers are added together, and if the final total matches the first player’s odd or even claim, that player wins the round. If the final result doesn’t match, the second player wins the round.
The house is always the first player on the first round. For all subsequent rounds, the loser of the previous round chooses the next round’s first player.
A player who seeks to cheat at odds and evens and succeeds at a DC 20
Sleight of Hand or Profession (gambler) check can adjust the total of his roll; on a success, that player can reroll one of the three dice rolled in that throw, but must accept the new result. The actual result of this Sleight of Hand check sets the Perception DC for others to notice the character cheating.
"If you haven't, the rules are as follows." Lorelu spends a few minutes explaining as she tosses a die around rhythmically, then stops. "Except.. let's make things a little interesting. Each time you lose, you must allow me to feed upon your... essence. I'm stuck here, and I'm dying to know what I lost when I was killed. No pun intended," she giggles. "If you win, I will pay you in knowledge. Ask one question, get one answer. What do you say? Let's all play!"
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"Guildmistress Lorelu, it is our honor to meet the master of the Gray Spiders, a guild of, em, 'entrepreneurs', who used the Lucky Bones as their, em, 'corporate office'."
"You deserve all the credit, as the face of the Spiders, for maintaining the guild's delicate 'business' a matter of 'discretion'."
Pádraig Henry whispers to his companions, "The Gray Spiders were thieves and abductors. Lorelu kept their true activities secret from Kintargo's authorities, operating the Lucky Bones as a front for their guild."
"Ah, you like us to play 'odds and evens'. I recall it's a simple two-player game that uses six-sided dice."
"The round begins with the first player claiming “odd” or “even.” The second player then decides the number of “throws” in the round (minimum of two). The two players then alternate making these throws, each rolling 3d6 to generate a number."
"All of the resulting numbers are added together, and if the final total matches the first player’s odd or even claim, that player wins the round. If the final result doesn’t match, the second player wins the round."
"The house is always the first player on the first round. For all subsequent rounds, the loser of the previous round chooses the next round’s first player."
Pádraig Henry whispers to his companions, "A player who seeks to cheat at odds and evens and succeeds at a Sleight of Hand or Profession (gambler) check can adjust the total of his roll; on a success, that player can re-roll one of the three dice rolled in that throw, but must accept the new result. The actual result of this Sleight of Hand check sets the Perception DC for others to notice the character cheating."
The bard offers a nod of cautious encouragement to Victor. Good luck. A sucker's born every minute.
Although somewhat relieved that the ghost of Guildmistress Lorelu doesn't seem inclined to a battle, Morvena does look rather alarmed at the proposed wager.
"Feed on our essences? I do not like the sound of that," she hisses to the others. "We came here to take this place for our own, not to join whatever spirits still linger!"
"Look Morv," Geoffrey responds in a low whisper, "Since Lorelu is tied to this place she would continue to haunt this place even should we defeat her in battle! I would much rather see if we can come to an accomodation with her first...perhaps we may be able to lay her spirit to rest for good by humoring her!"
"If you say so," Morvena scowls, crossing her arms across her chest. "However I will not participate first or even second - not until we see whether she honors this wager she makes."
Issil seems confused and intrigued. "That explains a lot. It seems like everyone is hungry around here."
Issil is about to sit at the table when she pauses. "Wait, what do we need to know from her? Besides maybe not feeding on other visitors who attend here. Let's figure that out before we start sacrificing souls and stuff."
"Well let's go already. Three throws sounds like a good start. Sure would be good if you gave me a freebie to start. Its only reasonable right?" He raises an eyebrow and smiles, looking for a set of dice to use.
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Lorelu's face contorts and folds into an angry, shimmering scowl as she floats between Pádraig and her remains. She shouts, waiting for the halfling to back off.
It's difficult to get a closer look at the goods, though Pádraig does manage to get a sense of what auras emanate from the goods: a faint abjuration from the ring, a faint illusion aura from the armor, a faint transmutation aura from the circlet, and a moderate illusion aura from the deck of cards.
Once Pádraig steps back, Lorelu floats back above the remains, and her face brightens up. She laughs happily. "I'm so glad you accept my offer! Okay then, for this first round... I call ODD!"
The ghostly form rolls three dice of her own.
She adds up her own dice with Victor's, and frowns. "Ah, 64. Shoot. Consider this simply beginner's luck. A deal is a deal, so what do you wish to know?"
"Pádraig, please. She got almost as mad as I did when one of my clients tried to steal my jewelry." Issil grins. "I almost burned him to a crisp, too..."
She turns to the ghost. "So you led the Grey Spiders, right? We heard the Order of the Torrent was ordered to shut this place down. But instead, they took over your operations. Is that true? "
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"The Order of the Torrent...!" Again, Lorelu's face twists in anger. "I hate those stuck up, vengeful, wannabe knights. You're not with them, are you?" She floats around each of you now, looking carefully along your armor and clothing. "Doesn't look like it, thankfully for you, or we'd have a big problem. Those hellknights came in and killed everyone, including me, and then sealed off the halls. No one's been in here since then."
Thinking back to Octavio's retelling of the Grey Spiders' history, Lorelu's explanation seems to line up.
The ghostly halfling suddenly sighs and lowers her head. "It's been a long time that I've been here, hinged in undeath. I miss the sun. I only wish for the dawn to kiss my bones one last time."
And then she's beaming again, eagerly tossing her dice around. "But for now, how about another round? I feel my luck's improving! I'm going first this time, and I call ODD!"
"You know, we could just bring your body out of this place." Issil shrugs. "Then you'd get to see the sun again. Once we're done here (and you don't mind us moving your body around) we could take care of that."
Issil pulls up a chair. "Okay then. I'll put my soul on the line." Issil sits down. "Let's roll 4 times."
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Lorelu watches eagerly as the dice land, then counts on her fingers the total, her face dropping. "Sixty-six bones. Even. You win again."
"If there's more you wish to know, a deal is a deal, and I shall answer another question."
The ghost shimmers brightly as she takes a seat on the mahogany table. She sighs mournfully, a wistful smile on her face. "You would take me out of here and put me to rest? Such kindness from those I would likely have counted as prey in life..." She floats behind her skeleton and moves her ghostly hands through it, towards Issil.
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I have no idea what I'm doing here.
Cousin Charlotte loved to talk about ghosts. How they went boo! And would shake tables or blow curtains without wind. She frightened a young Issil with a kazoo, string, and a few loose planks of wood. Issil panicked and ran right into the kitchen, startling the help into dropping and smashing several of House Tanessen's finest plates. The idea ghosts were haunting her was much worse than the fear of her punishment. The servants got most of the blame, anyway. Suffering because you don't punish nobles if a commoner will do.
Issil isn't sure how to shake a ghost's hand, but it what she's going to do now. Or at least, try.
"A deal's a deal. Once you've had your fill of games, we'll bring your body out and you can play games again. Elsewhere."
She turns to her teammates. "I stole the first question. So, you can steal the next. Who wants to ask her something?"
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"An interesting ally?" Lorelu laughs happily. "Would you like to carry my bones wherever you go?" The halfling floats towards the room's exit, and then stops, swimming through the air but unable to move as if a rope had tied her down. "It's too bad. I think my first task would be rooting out those Order of the Torrent folk, and ensuring they get a dose of my vengeance. Gray Spiders style." She makes a stabbing motion with her fist.
Then Lorelu sits back on the table, examining her dice. "Another round? In which case, I call even. Or will you free me of my undeath now?"
"Any other questions, or are we done here?" Issil shrugs. "We still have another room to check out, right?"
Morvena shrugs. "We do have at least one more room to examine, yes. It might be worth asking if there are any other nasty surprises in store for us there...but then again, it might not be."
"But whether we play further or not I am not opposed to putting her spirit to rest," she adds.
Especially since I do not think it would be wise to juggle both Octavio and her as allies.
Victor shrugs, a bit disinterested for some reason as he's declared the winner. He thinks about asking a question but Issil takes the burden off of him. He slides the dice over to the next player and leans back in his chair, apparently satisfied with the result and a bit aloof to the situation. "I know, I'm a natural. You guys play as long as you want, I'm out."
Geoffrey nods slowly, "While I am sure there are many things we could learn here I think it would be kinder to lay you to rest now Miss Lorelu."
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"After I'm gone, please, bury me with my dice," the halfling begins floating towards the exit as you collect her remains. "The once-proud face of the Gray Spiders will finally be laid to rest as the setting sun gives way to darkness," she sighs, smiling wistfully as you move back through the hallways.
With some luck, it turns out the sun is setting just as you step outside. You place Lorelu's bones, and as the last ray of sun disappears below the horizon, the halfling, still floating above her physical remains, waves goodbye with one last roll of her dice.
"Well...I suppose putting even thieves and scoundrels to a proper rest is a good thing," Morvena remarks once the halfling's spirit has journeyed onward. "We did not ask but surely it would not hurt anything to take possession of the possessions she leaves behind? It is difficult to tell with rogues but it seems that at least some of them might be disappointed if we did not take advantage of such a windfall."
Victor nods at the request "Dice, check. Have a good one, peace out." He helps bury the bones, mostly by keeping watch from the shadows as Geoffrey does the heavy work.
Once she fades away he nods in agreement with Morv "She only mentioned dice.. so ya."
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"See ya. Go gamble with the gods or something." Issil waves her goodbye.
Issil grins and turns toward Pádraig. "NOW you can touch her stuff. Bury the dice, though."
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Issil spends some time examining the equipment, and determines that the bejewled silver ring is worth 1,500 gold pieces. Unfortunately, her quick glances over the items doesn't reveal their magical properties.
Additionally, within Lorelu's ribcage is a bag containing 119 platinum and 240 gold pieces.
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"The small-sized armor is +2 shadow leather armor. Sweet! Fits me like a pair of yoga pants."
"This delicately engraved silver headband is a circlet of persuasion, and this set of parchment cards is a partial Deck of Illusions. A full deck consists of 34 cardsbut only the 8 spade cards remain."
"I'm not sure about the ring. One of you want to take a look?"
Pádraig Henry looks longingly at the circlet. "Man, this would really be useful for a bard like me, but I don't want to be too greedy."
Geoffrey laughs heartily in reply, "I know of no one more deserving of these items Padraig! Your songs lend strength to my blade and brings gladness to my heart!"
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"Morvena might find the Deck of Illusions useful. A card creates an illusion like a major image spell. It's random, and there's 'only' eight of them, but the illusion could be as weak as a goblin or as strong as a lich! Powerful stuff."
"Mm, yes...this is a Ring of Protection +2," Morvena declares after studying the ring for a few minutes. "Quite the nice little enchantment on it!"
When it comes to divvying Lorelu's former possessions, she shrugs. "Obviously the armor is of little use to me and neither do I have any particular need for that circlet. And the ring should go to Geoffrey or Victor...perhaps Issil...as they usually suffer the brunt of our enemies' blows."
"As for the deck...if you wish me to make use of it, I am certainly happy to try," she adds. "Conjuring illusions myself has never been a particularly easy task but if the cards do all the heavy lifting...well, I suppose I could enjoy a bit of fun with whatever they might create!"
The haze lifts a bit as the items are identified "Woah now, I wonder if she had a partner in crime we could bury too..." His gaze lingers on the circlet and ring.
"That's a nice haul, huh?" Issil eyes all of the gems and equipment. "But Pádraig deserves first dibs. Everything we find is usually too big for him."
"I do 'humbly' request I get that circlet though." She notices Victor eyeing the ring and shrugs.
Once the party finishes splitting up equipment, she looks ahead. "We have one room left, and that halfling didn't eat our souls. Shall we move on?"
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Pádraig Henry takes a couple of minutes to doff his armor and don Lorelu's fancy leathers. Then he slips the circlet over his brow.
He can barely contain his enthusiasm for the ensemble. "I feel like a new man!"
The halfling stows the +1 leather armor for sale at the next available opportunity.
"Who can use this cloak of elvenkind? It won't help me, now that I've got these shadowy leathers."
Pádraig Henry nods at Issil. "Yeah, let's finish clearing this place out."
"Victor. It's all yours." She points at the cloak of elvenkind.
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With Lorelu's bones buried (and her dice), and her items now claimed, you head back down into the Lucky Bones towards the only set of doors you had not yet explored. The double doors open to an oval-shaped chamber dominated by a twenty-foot deep pit.
Narrow ledges, only two feet wide and slanted toward the pit, run along its edges. Two rusty iron winches sit to the east and west sides of the room, connected by a length of sagging, moldy rope that hangs over the pit. Thick growths of pale yellow fungus grow in the pit, amid the bones of what appears to be a long-dead giant snake. The fungus has reached the central portion of the southern ledge, but hasn’t grown that high on the northern side.
Issil keeps her brooch lit with a light cantrip. "So, who's good at balancing themselves?"
Assuming no one stops her, Issil decides to tiptoe around the pool, towards the other side.