The fact there's a trail to the bloody trap door worries Matiscio. Abandoned, huh? Right. Still, doubts be damned, he follows and keeps a watchful eye on their surroundings.
"Alright. I got a sun rod at the ready in case anything happens, Evander."
Gilda mutters a few words under her breath towards the pocket where she seems to store Sprinkles Too.
Gilda then glances at her allies, seemingly deciding who is most likely to get eaten unexpectedly.
Evander creeps quietly down the stairs, turning the corner and navigating via his darkvision. The stairs continue to descend and the investigator begins to smell the strong scent of garbage and sewage. Near the bottom of the stairs, he’s able to see the full room before him.
The air is thick with the cloying reek of garbage and decay, and clouds of fat flies buzz about, making it doubly unpleasant to breathe within the dank chamber. A wooden door, reinforced with rusting iron strips, sits in the eastern wall.
In the midst of all the garbage, Evander notices four sets of writhing tentacles accompanied by faces mostly composed of mouths made of sharp teeth. While three of them seem oblivious to the investigator’s presence, the fourth’s face turns toward Evander and it begins moving toward him.
Evander draws his rapier, and calls back, "There are four weird tentacle things down here in the first chamber, and one of them saw me and is coming to attack." He then prepared to strike if one attacked him.
I'm going to Parry any attack that comes at me. I will not riposte - saving my panache.
Upon hearing from Evander Celia casts light on herself and heads down the steps. Peaking her head around the corner to see the creatures she tells the others. "Wait, wait, these are otyughs. I ran across some in Osirian when we were exploring a tomb. I know they look odd, but we might be able to negotiate with them. They are basically trash eaters. If we can strike some sort of deal to get them a steady supply of trash and refuse to eat they may let us pass. Could even prove useful as guards for us should we take this place over."
She yells out to the creatures in an attempt to at least stop the fight before it begins then let someone else take a more diplomatic approach once there is no threat of a fight "We outnumber you and will put you down if you attack. Wouldn't you rather make a deal? We can get you plenty of food, more than you have now, but if you fight us we will be forced to deal with you!"
Considering there is no way for him to see or react to anything in the darkness, and being the last one in line, Gregor maintains his intent to light his buckler. As Evander moves into the darkened space, Gregor draws his bow, but takes no action until a call to danger is made.
Gilda sucks in air as she quickly parses Celia's proposal.
"I hope yer right!"
She considers biting her nails as she awaits the creatures' response.
The otyughs pause at Celia's words. They seem to understand her and appear to be considering what she said.
One of the creatures picks up a heap of food waste that appears to consist of rotten meat and spoiled vegetables. It takes a bite of the rancid food before putting the remainder on the ground. It gestures toward the pile, then toward Celia, then toward itself. The creature opens its mouth to reveal rows of sharp teeth and makes a chewing motion.
Then it stops and stares at the wizard with outstretched tentacles.
Celia thinks a moment considering the meaning in the creatures form of communication.
"They eat old rotten stuff, I don't think it is meaning it wants to eat me. Maybe it wants more details on how we can offer it more food... or maybe it is expecting an offering right now?"
She calls back to Gregor "Falcon can you come explain to these otyughs how we can make a deal that will be good for them and for us?"
As Gregor moves up she leans over to whisper in his ear "Convince them we will get them more food. I'm sure we could get Laria's waste to give to them, maybe even find other places around town to collect their waste, would serve a dual purpose of helping Kintargo and keeping these creatures happy. They're a bit grotesque and defensive of their territory, but no real threat otherwise. Kind of like ugly, over-sized dogs that just like to eat trash. They could be helpful should we claim this place as our own, maybe just get them to let us pass for now with the promise of getting them more of their food later?"
Giving Gregor a moment to consider she replies to the creatures "We can bring you more of that," she motions to what the creature just ate "but we don't have it now. We didn't know you were here. My friend can tell you more so we can make a deal."
Gregor looks at the hideous blobs with skepticism as Celia discusses her plan. He keeps one eye on the things as he turns to return the whisper. He picks his words carefully, trying to use ones that they may not know, "You mean these... entities possess a level of... sentience that would engender bargaining? Though you compare them to... canines, are they possessed of the same... expectation of loyalty one can of the former? The best we can... produce on their behalf would be within our tunnels, and there's no promise of... sustenance and could become hindrance to our teams." He has a hard time thinking they would be doing anything but lying to these things just to avoid them on entry.
Turning to the otyughs, he asks, "What is it you want from us so we don't fight?" He awaits an answer with an eye toward understanding.
Do not let the eye take control over the dominion of the mind. See, think, feel. Look past the obvious and peel away what outer layers you can to get the true nature of what you're looking at. He remembers the words by master Jalpur well, but not because the truth of them resonated within him at the time. There was a girl, a certain girl, who he couldn't help but stare at while these words were uttered.
How could he have known back then that they'd become relevant in an encounter with demonic-looking garbage grazers?! The beasts communicated with them, and seem to prefer a peaceful solution to their current stand-off, which by itself merits respect and understanding. "Huh, who woulda thought ..."
Evander incredulously looks at Celia as she begins trying to negotiate with them, but turns back to the otyughs, still prepared if they attack. I am surprised that these creatures backed off. I figured they'd continue the attack like kytons or devils.
Celia shrugs to Gregor's inquiry "Like dogs, you feed them and treat them well, they will be loyal. However, yes unlike dogs they are quite a bit more intelligent. As for sustenance for them we have the tunnels, perhaps Laria's food wastes. There are other taverns in Kintargo I'm sure we could convince to give us their trash. Perhaps recruit some other members just to collect and deposit trash here?"
She smiles as she imagines them starting up some sort of trash collection service, rather than everything getting dumped into the sewers or who knows what else. Thinking to herself a catchy slogan Silver Ravens, keeping the city clean one pile of trash at a time...
At Gregor’s question, the otyugh gestures more animatedly toward the waste in front of it. Then it gestures toward itself again, this time appearing to mime gathering up something.
Gregor’s fairly certain that the creature wants you to give it more waste and garbage to eat. The ranger doesn’t believe the otyughs will let the group past without first giving an offering, though they might let you leave with the right words.
Matiscio does all he can to keep himself from glancing at Gilda, but fails. "No offense, but, eh, ahem, perhaps you know where to score these fellows a juicy meal so we can pass on through?"
"Ha!"
Gilda pats her hip at Matiscio's inquiry.
"I think Laria's would be a good start, but yeah there's plenty'a places with good stuff up in Ol' Kintargo. Course the good stuff has a lotta us all pickin' through it for the juiciest bits, so it won't go unnoticed if we start haulin' a bunch down here..."
The otyughs continue to look at you hungrily.
Gregor scrunches up his face at the idea, "I don't know that us hauling refuse in the hopes it will be enough is a worthy endeavor. If there isn't another way out of here, we may not be able to effectively lead a quartet of these things through the city to the nearest sewer entrance."
He turns back to the weird looking blobs of tooth and tentacle, "We do not have trash on us now, but if you let us pass, we will find you each a nice home with plenty of filth to eat after we have explored the space beyond." He turns back toward Celia, and whispers "Can they understand me?"
The otyugh that's been miming with Celia growls at Gregor's words. It points vigorously toward the pile of garbage in front of it and doesn't move from blocking your path.
"Imagine the doghousing variant the Thrunites will come up with if they manage to tame these guys ..." whispers Matiscio in the back. The thought was too horrifying to hold in yet the brawler can't help but feel bad for sharing it out loud.
Celia nudges Gregor and shakes her head, picking up on the same meaning as he had before. She glares at the otyugh that is being persistent.
"Hey! Don't growl at us. We are trying to be nice and work something out with you. How about you calm down before things get ugly! If you won't let us pass now, maybe if we go get you some food and bring it back first? Would that make you happy or would you rather fight?" She shakes her head "I don't think you would like it if we had to fight...."
Gilda taps her foot, wondering if there's some way that Old Kintargo would bestow upon her the ability to talk to the denizens here. She tries the old tongue that the mites she knew always used for good measure.
"Hey, you big'uns understand this?"/
Celia's efforts to intimidate the creatures don't seem to work as well as her first try. They continue growling and you notice they also seem to be inching closer to you. Still, all four otyughs occasionally glance longingly at their respective piles of garbage. While they don't seem eager to attack, they seem to be heading in that direction should you linger.
The otyughs don't seem to understand Gilda's words at all.
Seeing their continued agitation, but not an outright attack Celia moves to usher the others back up the stairs "Let's go for now. We can get them some food and come back to avoid an unnecessary fight."
Gregor just shrugs and shakes his head, heading for the stairs as Celia suggested. He mutters to her as they go, "Am I missing something? Are these walking filth bins worth placating? If this is to be our new hideout, don't we want to be rid of the vermin?"
"They're sentient beings who, unless pressured, won't attack you. Attacking them just because they might be a nuisance seems ... well, something our friend Barzillai would do without a worry on his mind, no?"
The otyughs only follow you to the base of the stairs, so you're able to exit the basement without issue.
Celia rolls her eyes at Gregor and nods to Matiscio's words "Well, two things to consider. First, why fight a reasonably harmless intelligent creature when we don't have to? Second, if we are to make this a new hideout they could be advantageous to keep around as a first line of defense."
She pauses a moment for Gregor to consider that before explaining further "Let's just assume that is the only entrance, or at the very least it is the easiest entrance to find. People stumbling down there might think twice before exploring further if they are confronted with those creatures, not having previous knowledge of them. If we can figure out a means to keep them happy and allow us to pass freely, then allowing them to stay there would be a useful first defense of the new hideout. In essence, it makes little sense to fight and kill something that we can turn to our own advantage."
Evander isn't sure about this, but Celia seems confident, so he decides to go along with her. "It's also possible that there's another entrance, perhaps connected to the sewers, that we could use for our people to come and go. However, I do have a concern. If we can use garbage to bribe our way past them, what's to stop someone else from doing the same?"
"Ehh, Barzillai's goons ain't so clever. And ya'll are forgettin' we just found a fancy new way to git ridda all the bodies that we keep pilin' up. A lot easier than usin' acid or draggin' em down to the docks!"
Celia shrugs and smirks with a bit of a cocky remark "Well, I suppose that's a risk, but one I hope is less likely since not as many people are as well studied as I am."
When they get to the coffeehouse Celia takes the lead to speak with Laria since the others seemed somewhat hesitant to the whole idea. "I was wondering if you could help us with something. We have need of a good quantity of rubbish. Rotten food, old vegetables, bad meat, et cetera. Do you have a trash heap we could collect or know where we could find something like that? Furthermore, any ideas for maintaining a consistent supply of such trash? Maybe yourself and other shops would be open to collecting it for us to pickup on a regular basis and dispose of for you?"
Laria raises an eyebrow at Celia’s question and scratches her head. Eventually she replies, “I’ve got a pile of trash next to the Coffeehouse that you can use as you please. Shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Not sure about other shops, though. There’s usually a worker with the city who comes by and picks it all up. Someone might start asking questions if too many shops suddenly stop producing trash.”
The halfling will also offer Gilda’s one of her hand carts that she normally uses for coffee deliveries. The shaman guesses one cart can hold enough rubbish to last the otyughs a few days. However, the garbage would be pretty visible - and rank - while in transit to the basement of the Lucky Bones.
"Celia, could you cloak the refuse in an illusion to make it look empty. I'm not sure if we can do something about the smell, though. Is there a spell we could use to hide the scent?"
Celia nods "I can do that. As for covering the smell, there is an improvement on the spell I know to create the illusion. It would also alter the smell. However, we would need to find a means for me to copy it to my spellbook. I haven't had the time to research it myself as of yet." She shrugs "Unless someone else has another means to mask the scent."
Thinking a moment she continues "Honestly though, does it really matter if it's just a trash pile being carted through town? Is there some ordinance against carting trash? I mean, if one or two of us are doing it and the others are just following behind in case of trouble I don't think it would be that troublesome unless I'm missing something."
Matiscio smells where all of this is leading to.
"So, Gilda and I get to play two idiots whose load of 'fresh vegetables' got rejected by a merchant and now we need to haul it across town. More specifically, this place? I doubt any overly dutiful guards will continue their protests if stopping us means said garbage becomes their problem."
All of this somehow helps with formulating the next thought that hits his mind. "Maybe, maybe we ought to use your powers of illusion to make one of the wheels look shaky so they won't bother to stop us at all."
Gregor has been tight-lipped about the whole decision, as he was clearly outvoted on the issue, and is now involved in the notion of hauling garbage to persuade large 'sentient' filth eaters. He can see Celia's utilitarian approach as a much more viable rationale than the bleeding heart stance. She does appear to understand how to appeal to his line of reasoning. Gilda's was a bit macabre but still valid, as much as he always hates to agree with her.
It's at this point that he feels like they are splitting hairs and wasting time. "I doubt we need to waste much more time or limited spellcasting resources on disguising a cart of garbage. Pigeon has proven quite glib, and is not out of place performing the task, and it seems Allocco is willing to help. The other three of us," he indicates himself, Celia, and Evander, "can follow at a safe distance, but with space between us. Say Reverend and I on the edges of the street, while the lady is less the sort to skulk about and can walk up the middle, maybe even ahead of the cart a ways."
He looks at Celia, "There is a minor spell to allow us to communicate quietly with one another over short distances, yes? If you have access to such a spell, we should likely begin using it more actively during our missions."
Evander was actually of a like mind with Gregor - they might make for useful guards, but they would only be loyal as long as they were fed garbage - and they might eventually become dissatisfied and attack anyway. Still, if they had to, they had to.
"I concur with the plan, Falcon. You and I to the sides of the street, Alloco and Pigeon moving the cart, and Lily either behind or ahead, varying which it is."
Gilda shrugs off all the complexities being presented in the logistical challenge of carting trash through the City.
"Ehh, in my experience when I'm pushin' an empty cart I tend to get asked more questions. And the few times I had a cart with something new in it, the guards had the nerve to ask me if I stole it!"
She beams.
"I found it's no problem cartin' trash through the City, especially when I'm talkin' or singin' to Sprinkles... err, I guess.."
Gilda pauses for a moment.
"Sprinkles Too today. It was when I lost a perfectly good half-apple that Sprinkles ran..."
Gilda inhales and takes a couple deep breathes, seeming to change the topic.
"It shouldn't be a problem, 'specially with all this good stuff here."
Gilda quickly snatches a particularly intact coffee roll and tucks it away for Sprinkles Too to enjoy.
Celia nods "Sounds like a plan then. I will trail behind."
The brawler tries to keep Gilda's vivid descriptions from getting into his head. Hearing them is one thing, but visualizing them? Stop thinking about it!
"Alright, the sooner we get this over with, the better."
With a plan in place, you collect the handcart that Laria indicates and place the pile of trash from the Coffeehouse into it. As it turns out, you’re in luck. Garbage was set to be collected tomorrow, so the hand cart is nearly completely full once you’ve finished loading it.
Gilda and Matiscio push the cart while Evander and Gregor stick to the sides of the street. Celia trails behind.
Gilda’s intuition turns out to be correct and the Korvosan guards you pass along with a pair of Rack Hellknights don’t bother you. In fact, they seem repulsed by the cart’s contents and hurry to get out of close proximity.
Unaccosted, you make it to the ruins of the Lucky Bones and down into the basement where the otyughs still reside. They look up and start moving in your direction with mouths open. The lead otyugh seems to recognize you from before and halts the otyughs’ advance. They sniff at the smell of the fresh garbage you’ve brought and flail their tentacles in anticipation.
"Next time we need to sneak someone in or out of the city, well, now we know how to do it," Matiscio quips once they're in the clear. Even though the guards and Hellknights gave a wide berth to the cart, it wasn't exactly a stress-free endeavor and what better way to get that stress out than humor?
Sadly, the sight of the horrifying monsters flailing their nappy tentacles at the group brings him back to the stressful here and now. "My teacher always told me to look with heart, mind and soul but these fellas are challenging that bit o' wisdom", he says in what is almost a whisper.
Celia notes to the otyughs "Here you go. Now we will continue past since we have held up our end of the deal. Later we will see if we can get you more."
Celia waits for Gilda and Matiscio to dump the trash for the creatures, once they seem to be happy with their new food she will start toward the door to show the others it is safe.
The otyughs take the garbage readily and greedily. The lead otyugh actually seems to wave one of its tentacles to Celia as she passes.
The rest of you are also able to pass unaccosted, which is probably for the best since you feel a bit queasy and sick to your stomach as you pass by the piles of trash. This isn’t a place you want to linger for long.
As you reach the door on the other side of the room, you notice something shiny in the southwest corner of the room you're currently in. It doesn’t appear the otyughs are at all interested in whatever it is as that part of the basement seems to be untouched.
Gilda manages to spot a trap triggered by opening the door. Evander and Gregor are then able to easily disarm it to safely open the door. The trap appears to have been a poison stiletto - a nasty surprise for anyone caught unawares.
The door is also locked, but Evander and Gregor are again able to open it after a few attempts. On the other side of the door is another staircase leading down. The stairwell becomes dark at the edge of what you’re able to see, leaving where it goes as a mystery for now.
"Do we care to fetch that shiny object from over there, there in the corner, before we push on? I can go get it." Normally Matiscio would've objected to that, but their trash gathering-and-delivery scheme had already enveloped him in an ungodly odor. Stepping forth into the Otyuch's den surely couldn't make him smell any worse.
"If it won't make the otyughs hostile, then go ahead and get it. As for going down the dark stairs, Perhaps I should move ahead at the edge of the light, since I can see farther into the darkness."
Gregor nods to Matiscio's suggestion, "Go ahead and grab it, I'll provide overwatch just in case."