"Who is Rexus?" - Ederion asks Aster, and then notices Rexandi leaving. - "Hey. What's up Rexandi? Where are you going?" - he puts a hand on her shoulder to try and make her pause.
Aster shoots Tarn a dark look, then a sympathetic one to Rexi. "Tarn would you please help Bazzle collect whatever he found in the other room?" not waiting to see if he does, she shuffles with Ederion to Rexi. "Maybe we should talk outside the pit?" poison, blood, near death and lingering immortal smells are distracting and Aster would like to get out of here as well.
Bazzle wraps items in the nice shirt and puts it in his pack. He then makes his way back to the group.
With the extra weight of the items he found he looses his balance he wiggles arms swinging a moment to steady himself before he lurches forward planting a foot with a stomp among the yellow fungus. "Oh $h!t."
POOF
The yellow mold explodes into spores so thick that Bazzle can barely see where he was going.
It doesn't seem to bother him any, minus the constant sneezing.
When Bazzle returns to the safety of the pit trap he dusts himself off and wipes his nose. "Lets get out of the pit and we can look at what I found." He looks around at the tension in the group. "What?"
To Ed, Aster looks quickly and tells him “I am... not entirely human, let's talk about it later please, and see to our friend above.” Aster climbs the rope as best she can and rushes after Rexi. “Rexi... Please...” she struggles to keep up, dragging her leg behind her. “The people of this city need you, even if a pig headed lug believes, Wrongly, that he doesn't!”
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Rexandi spins on one heel and keeps walking backward as she shouts, "I've had it! For generations this country has shat on people like us, on halflings and tieflings and whateverlings and now they're finally coming for the humans that they don't like and His Lordship has decided he will deign to work with us against them but he sure as sh!t is gonna complain about it and let us know what he thinks of us!"
She bumps into a wall, looks behind her, adjusts course, and keeps going. "A rebellion that overthrows Thrune and goes back to the old status quo is no rebellion at all. I'm not in this so that I can go back to being scared looking over my shoulder because some 'full-blood human' thinks I shouldn't be working in a bookstore, I should be sweeping chimney ash. Because he thinks I can't read. Because he thinks I'm only good for menial tasks. And maybe pushing against a wall and checking what's below that tail? Hey, guys, lemme show you how you get some tail! because, you know, I'm just a tiefling, an object, I'm less than human and just here to service them, right? Like all my family, all the people like me in the slums. Where the bad people live. Because we're all criminals. We must be, because we have fiend blood, you know? So we're less. We deserve it. And obviously if I make them a little turned on because I'm 'exotic,' then it must be because I'm a succubus or something, I'm just a slut who wants to be violated..."
Rexi backs into another wall and this time she falls against it, sliding down, crumbling into a ball at the base, covering her face and weeping while shuddering with incoherent rage.
"Seriously what happened. I go away for a second . . . wait one of the deadly sins is wrath?"
"Oh Rexi" Aster says with sympathy, finally catching up and slumping down next to her. Resting her head on the girl's shoulder, as she tries to catch her breath. "'You are what you want to be and to hell with what anyone else thinks.' My Sara told me that once. It led me out of the sewers, into trying to be one of them. I'm pretty good at it too, but... I'll never truly fit... in more ways than one."
She'll raise up again and offer Rexi her shoulder if she wishes, in return for the lending of hers. "You saved a life today, many future ones as well, if that greasey lard priest rotting over there had been allowed to continue." offering up a little encouragement at least. "How many of 'Them' could say the same?"
To Ed, Aster looks quickly and tells him “I am... not entirely human, let's talk about it later please, and see to our friend above.”
"You are not entirely human?" - the elf ponders - "Well, I'm an elf so..." - and chuckles, until he hears his companion's anger and distress above, understanding this to be a serious matter.
"Seriously what happened. I go away for a second . . . wait one of the deadly sins is wrath?"
"Not sure either what is going on here" - Ederion shrugs with a look at Tarnagius, then climbs up to join Aster and Rexandi.
"Are you okay? Did you find my brother?" Morgran asks Ederion with the most hopeful looking dwarf eyes he's ever seen.
"I have not young one" - Ederion nods at Morgran - "We'll just have to keep on looking" - he adds with a smile.
The young dwarf nods repeatedly. "Right. Well maybe he's down that tunnel?" He replies by pointing at the secret door at the bottom of the pit. He looks pretty nervous of the edge there, perhaps a fear of heights.
Rexandi just keeps sobbing while huddled in a ball as Ederion pats her on the shoulder and Aster tries to console her. It's obvious that the toll of struggling against Thrune is taking its toll on her.
She mumbles softly, "I just can't take having to swallow allying with bigots and racists and having to beg to be treated like a person. I'm just all out of the energy to deal with it."
Bazzle climbs out of the pit.
As he moves over the edge he hears Rexandi going on and is still confused, "What's all this Rexandi? You are far more than a person. Humans are so boring. No wild colors in skin and hair or personality. They can be as uptight as Dwarves without all that hair. You are a child of magic that scares them. But gifted as we are they need us. Now come we need to get back to being the tongs that will wrench the cob from their buts." He continues like this with a wildly unempathetic encouragement unless someone shuts him down.
Morgran stifles a laugh at the 'cob from their butts' part.
[dice=Morgran SM]1d20
The young dwarf nods repeatedly. "Right. Well maybe he's down that tunnel?" He replies by pointing at the secret door at the bottom of the pit. He looks pretty nervous of the edge there, perhaps a fear of heights.
[dice=Morgran SM]1d20
The young dwarf nods repeatedly. "Right. Well maybe he's down that tunnel?" He replies by pointing at the secret door at the bottom of the pit. He looks pretty nervous of the edge there, perhaps a fear of heights.
"We've been through that path already - your brother is not there" - Ederion adds - "We need to push forward, but perhaps you should return to the surface and your mother first" - then looks around at the others.
"Yes, we should get you home and ease your mother's mind a bit." and break it apart at the same time Aster says and thinks. Pulling herself to her feat, she pats Rexi on the shoulder, then shuffles over to the pit, looking down, she asks Tarn "Are you ready to be pulled up?" his hand being what it is, despite his ill timed comment, he saved her life from the evil chained delight, and will not leave him.
Morgran says "Maybe he got out and he's waiting for me at home. Let's go I'll show you."
Then he realizes that Tarn needs to be pulled out. He'll help Aster. "So what was that creature you turned into? Are you a druid, ma'am?"
Ederion also helps pulling Tarn out of the pit.
"We really should explore the rest of the area..." - he pipes in.
Rexandi wipes her runny nose and clambers to her feet miserably. "Getting out of here is the best idea I've heard today," she manages to choke out, then hiccups.
"Please, later Ed. You almost died, Tarn's hands a mess, and we are low if not out of spells. If there is truly anything dangerous left down here it has either fled already or we will find it on another day. Getting Morgran home should be our priority."
"Ok then..." - the elf nods in agreement, then heads back to the 'refrigerator' room to pick up the contraption .
He gathers the 'remains' of Morgran's brother, wrapping it in as many blankets as possible, and placing it in his backpack, then joins the others.
When the group exits through the hidden fireplace above the spider lair, they realize something very important: It is dark. Curfew is in effect, and so no one other than a Thruney should be outside their homes.
"This might be a bad idea gang. But its after curfew. Do we want to stay here till morning?"
"I'm fine either way" - Ederion pipes in - "But if we have a long way to go, maybe we should bunk it here for now. That would be my vote"
Locals of Kintargo know that they are on the complete opposite side of the city to their hideout, the Wasp Nest. They've managed to sneak back home before, but curfew is a dangerous time to be wandering. That being said, there may be closer locations that would be reasonable places to crash for the night.
Out of a hesitancy to walk the streets during curfew, the group eventually decides to stay in the dungeon for the night. In the former spider lair, the air is certainly much more pleasant to breathe, but there are a few concerns. The cold, hard stone floor makes for a terrible bed, and the crawling insects make for creepy company. The room still contains plenty of spiderwebs, some from the giant widow that you fought, while other are from more regular, though possibly still dangerous spiders. Other insects like ants and cockroaches skitter upon the floor, looking for wherever that sound of dripping water is coming from.
Aster will take out her bedroll but set it up for Morgran. "Lie down little one, it is too dangerous to get you home at the moment. First thing in the morning." Aster will gingerly nestle down next to him, on the floor with her back against the wall. "Becka says you are fun, and brave. Would you like to hear a story, one of Becka's favorites?" Aster will softly tell him a story about knights and dragons, heroes and magic, hoping the fear will lead to exhaustion and he gets to sleep.
She is so worried about Becka. She knows Verna will keep her over night without complaint, but she also knows Aster not coming back will worry her own little one to no end. Her mother's passing too fresh.
"Wake me when it's my turn to watch" She'll whisper to the others, before trying to doze off herself.
Bazzle lays out the fancy shirt on the ground and uses his backpack for a pillow.
"Who has first watch? I'll go first I guess."
Ederion will return the 'remains' in his backpack to the cold area (it should remain cold for a while no?), then sets himself down to sleep on the stone floor using his backpack as pillow.
"This is turning out to be a surprising evening, to say the least" - he comments to the others - "Bazzle wake me for the next watch?"
Morgran listens closely to Aster's story, and Kethaera helps by making sound effects and other little things with her cantrips. He doesn't quite get into it, but certainly enough to keep him distracted. Unfortunately he just has a terrible time trying to sleep. His mind must be racing.
Every now and then, those on watch hear the odd muffled laughter of people, the clinking of coins, the opening of a heavy door, or a deep voice saying "Welcome to the Lucky Bones. Do you have an invitation?"
These sounds are pretty faint, and feel slightly otherworldly.
You are sitting at a large wooden table with plenty of other finely dressed folks. Everyone is having a good time drinking and playing dice games. One of the people, a female halfling, shouts "These bones are lucky tonight!"
Though you don't remember any big details, you will wake up with the vague idea that you won a sizable pot in one of the gambles.
You find yourself in the middle of a loud and busy room of extremely elegant decor. You are a performer juggling human skulls, and the people are delighted. At the end of your performance, you throw all the skulls into the air where they explode into fireworks. Not a single person freaks out, but instead shower you with praise.
You find yourself in an elegant room wearing nothing but your underwear, a bow-tie, and a pair of bunny ears. Men and women, both inebriated and sober, flirt with you constantly. Though you're certainly flirting back, you're also consciously trying to remember names, faces, details of the conversation. When you take a break, you pass a Gnome juggling skulls before entering the kitchen and slipping into a hidden corridor. There you write down everything you remember.
Rexandi putters about cleaning up spider webs and shooing away various creepy-crawlies. She uses a healing spell for herself, sets her backpack in a corner, then carefully unwraps her clavichord to check it for damage and mends any chips or cracks. She spends about half an hour tuning it and then plays a few short, haunting melodies before she wraps it again and puts it away.
She unrolls a bedroll and carefully spreads it near the wall, then puts a comfortable soft gray-green blanket, which she smooths out over the bedroll. The whole ritual of unrolling and smoothing the bedding seems to help calm her somewhat, and now she has gone from anger and fury to exhaustion and embittered quiet.
She puts her cloak over her backpack, lays down her head, and tries to get some sleep.
After Rexandi finishes her rituals, she goes out like a light.
You are in a tightly packed room with a bunch of aristocratic men. In front of you is a stage featuring nothing but a cage, sized for a tall man. Two sketchy people wearing black face masks with a glowing white left eye drag out a scantily clad human woman, probably within her teenage years. She is tossed in the cage and left for at least two dozen men to watch. Though her brown hair is made to perfection, and her makeup is done by expert hands, she is very clearly afraid, like a deer desperate to bolt. Then the men start bidding with such staggering amounts of platinum that you can't even comprehend it. You want to speak up, to stop the whole process, but just as you're about to yell the door flies off its hinges. Soldiers covered in full-plate armour charge in and slay any who resist.
As soon as he wakes up, Ederion goes immediately for his notebook, scribbling down some notes.
Once he is done, he goes for his rations but then stops - "If we are heading out, I'll wait and try to grab a decent breakfast?" - and looks at the others.
"Good Morning." The gnome rubbed his eyes, "I had a really weird dream."
Tarnagius has absolutely nothing to help him sleep comfortably, which must be quite the shock to the high noble of Kintargo. Despite this, the tired fighter sleeps on the hard floor without complaint.
Ederion writes down as much as he can remember about his dream. Unfortunately, the words are really hard to remember, and he ends up with an odd mismatch of random words and names that have little to no meaning. However, he does remember what the rooms looked like, and remembers that the kitchen was near identical to the one he encountered Baccus.
A simple, but horrifying nightmare. You find yourself in utter darkness. You can't feel the floor, in fact it feels kind of like you're swimming, but you have no idea which way is up or down. No matter how you move, nothing seems to change. Then, you feel something brush against your leg. You struggle, and try swimming upwards. The darkness remains, and you suddenly feel a sharp pain, similar to the bite of the snake you fought. A warm liquid envelops you, it feels thick and slimy. The last thing you remember is a terrible laugh, guttural and completely inhuman.
"It's probably this place." Aster mumbles as she tries to stretch out the aches that come more and more often with sleep, made much worse when sleeping on cold stone. "Mine was about gambling of all things... and Good morning as well, sorry for the delay in manners."
She'll nudge Morgran, "Little one, it's time to get you back home. Oh you're awake. Didn't sleep well?"
Morgran looks like he's seen a ghost. The dark rings under his eyes, his dirty complexion from being locked up for so long, as well as being a bit pale do not contribute well to his scared and tear-stained face. "I'm fine." He says, without making eye contact.
"Gambling huh. I was juggling. Not all that odd for me right, but I was juggling skulls, human skulls by the size of them."
"What..?" - Ederion stops and stares at Bazzle for a second - "That was you... I saw you in the dream I had also tonight - juggling skulls... Wow..."
"I'm fine." He says, without making eye contact.
"Are you sure?" - Ederion insists.
Not only is he in mourning, and had a terrible night, but he's also trying not to impede upon you. He doesn't want to be a burden.
"What now? I was in your dream. REALLY? That's weird."
"VERY weird" - Ederion agrees with Bazzle, still looking at Morgran, then at Aster - "We take Morgran home?"
Rexandi rises in the morning and splashes a little water on her face, then takes a long drink. She brushes her mussed hair and then reclaims her cloak, gingerly folds up her bedroll and blanket, and stows them back away.
"Seems everyone had bad dreams," she said. "This place is cursed... or just holds old memories of terrible deeds."
"C'mon, I could use some sunlight and some food," she opines as she shoulders her pack once more.
Aster agrees with getting out of this place, and with getting Morgran home as quickly as possible. "A little delay in breakfast, if possible?" she'll suggest to Rexi, "I believe Morgran would really like to get to his mother."
and we have to tell a mother her other son had been eaten.
Moonday, the 10th of Sarenith, 4715AR
The early morning is characterized by a light rainfall, and surprisingly warm temperature. Moisture sticks to the group as a moderate wind whips through Kintargo. The guards will definitely be cranky after standing in this weather for a few hours. Moondays are generally work days, but shops close a little early for prayer. The pre-curfew evening is expected to have limited activity due to people praying in their homes or at church. Townsfolk who do not recognize you give you strange looks and offer a wide birth, while guards eye you suspiciously but refrain from approaching.
A group of armed and armoured mercenaries is not uncommon, but the fact that many of you are bruised and bloody makes it a little suspicious. Though mercenaries are usually multi-racial, you will stand out in the predominantly human districts. (Old Kintargo is pretty multi-racial, Redroof tends to be a Tiefling district, and the Greens are 100% human.)
The Ravens walk through the muddy district of Old Kintargo without any issues or delays. The road makes travel quick and relatively safe, though passing by guards or other authorities is always a little worrisome. They reach the Tenement quickly and head up to Morgran's apartment. The stink of fish reeks when the door opens. Torga Saltbeard cautiously opens the door, but then opens it wide when she sees Morgran. He cries as he runs into his mother's arms, while she smiles deeply and hugs him firmly.