"I am happy to share
And heads off,
At the Gas she moves fast pased it if she can
"I am happy to share
And heads off,
At the Gas she moves fast pased it if she can
A sniff, "That could have been nasty. Handy this wand." And they move onward while the worst of it is cleared
You survey they very spartan furnishings of the barracks and find little that surprises you, beyond the odor wafting down from the corroded copper pipes running along the ceiling. A decent stock of arms and armor have been left behind. Of the armor, the leather straps have rotted away, and the smaller metal fittings have corroded, but the larger, important pieces remain intact.
Your still attuned eyes show that none of these mundane pieces bear any enchantments upon them. Nevertheless, being examples of craftsmanship from a lost dwarven golden age means that these pieces would be valuable to collectors, a museum, or the surviving dwarves of the Five Kings Mountains.
"A fortune in dwarven goods. Non magical or no."
Hefts off her handyhavasack.
"Pick out the better pices and I will pack them in here"
"It can definitely help with amassing wealth if we need to outbid those that want to decimate the town. Besides, Ulfar gave us his blessing to use what we can to help the town." Layla points out.
"He did. Good fellow, Ulfar." He assists, "Just hope any flesh and blood living dwarves are as understanding. With our luck, one will get his beard in a twist"
"Miya, think you can determine the most valuable pieces that we can carry out of here? You've got a rather discerning eye." The magus asks with a smile.
She looks for the best bits
Miya focuses upon some of the handweapons in the barracks armory - axes and daggers, mostly - because they demonstrate a fascinating transition period in the crafting techniques used by the old dwarven kingdom. Experiments in alloy composition and the joining of the hilt to the functional end make these pieces of particular interest to historians, especially among modern dwarves.
All told, she manages to stuff into her haversack enough armaments to net a potential total of 1200gp from the right buyer.
"Alright, where to next? Down the hall?" Layla asks, getting her bearings.
"Sounds good to me." he admits
The hallway past the captain's office leads northward for about 20 feet before hooking eastward into a longer hallway that stretches four about 80 feet before ending at a set of stone double doors. The doors were etched with carvings that may have represented scenes from the old kingdom's history, but they have been vandalized. Most of the details have been effaced, probably by a bored or irritable Bloodeye as he passed through here time and again to stow or retrieve his loot.
After using the servant of the wand to open the doors, which still move easily upon their carefully engineered hinges, you find yourself looking upon the stronghold's great hall. Long stone slabs, cracked and broken, lie upon the floor - remnants of tables that collapsed when their supports wore away over time.
The air in the southwest corner of the room, close at your right-hand side as you enter the room, is unnaturally cold despite the presence of more of the copper heating pipes running along the roof.
It should be possible to skirt around this corner and safely pass through the room and progress towards Bloodeye's stash as long as you keep about 10 feet away from the mold growing in the corner.
To the right, on the southern wall of the room, is another doorway, but these doors have fallen off their hinges and the way is open.
She stops and points out the molds.
"There on the Ceiling, corner of the room where the pipes are, a colony of brown mold so be careful. Cold will hurt them"
"Nice catch! It must be absorbing the heat from the pipes." Layla says looking up at the deadly mold. "If we stay clear I suppose we'll be fine, if not, I can imbue my gun with cold energy."
"Bless your eyes, Miya." Randu breathes then nods to Layla, "Let's try to stay clear of the mold, but keep that cold wand..err gun handy as you say."
You take a meandering, awkward route around the great hall, but the effort is worthwhile. The brown mold doesn't dramatically lunge forward or race across the pipes to attack you, so you are able to bypass the hazard and cross to the doors on the opposite side.
The open doorway leads to another long hallway that stretches for 80-odd feet, ending at an intersection that hooks westward right in front of another set of double doors.
Thanks to your conversation with Ulfgar the Chalkost, you know that these doors lead into the kitchen and pantry, where Kabran Bloodeye stowed the bulk of his ill-gotten goods. Also thanks to the benevolent dwarven outsider, you have advance warning that the doors and the floor in front of them have been rigged with a trap by the crimelord.
"I can use another of the wand's charges, to trigger the trap, but that might also damage the treasure. So... preferences?"
Miya looks at the traps working out if she can pop it
"I'm no good with traps, but considering how greedy a bastard Bloodeye was, I don't see him setting traps that would destroy his stuff if somebody sent one off. It's more likely to be something very harmful to living things, like spikes or ice, then something like fire acid that would destroy the treasure " Layla conjectures.
Rrruh looks up at the ceiling as Miya kneels down to examine the door and its surroundings. The ceilings in the hallways have been corbel arches made from gray bricks, sharing a color with the walls and floors but otherwise being made from a lighter stone.
Miya identifies the basic mechanisms of the trap. Opening the door to the kitchen will cause the hallway floor in front of the door to collapse into a chute or shaft. This collapsing floor encompasses the ten foot width of the niche that holds the doorway and a five-foot depth away from the door.
She also detects a strange, unidentifiable odor - suggesting that something nasty and foul awaits at the bottom of the chute, should anyone fall down.
She tells the others what she found.
The passage of time has withered away the mortar holding together the stonework of the walls and ceiling, thus leaving wide gaps that could be exploited.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Climbing along the wall he moved over the pit trap hopefully and tried to open the door.. slowly and carefully checking back to his friends to make sure everyone was good as he slowly tried to open the door... elevated above itby clinching the way..
Rrruh opens the door to the old kitchen, and the stone tiles of the floor give way as their supports are retracted by the trap mechanism. The tiles fall some forty feet down before making a wet, squelching sound as they crash into some sort of slime that lines the bottom of the shaft.
Safely setting himself down on the far side of the now-open pit, Rrruh stands inside the old kitchen.
Pegs and racks along the walls are empty save for cobwebs, with the old dwarven utensils and cookware likely having already been pawned off by Bloodeye long ago. On the other hand, the doors to every oven, cupboard, and cabinet are shut yet free from dust. A few large copper pots and pans still sit, covered, on stone counters and a long, lacquered wooden table at the center of the kitchen.
looking about the kitchen he tries to see if there is a table or a store or even the door to lay across the gap.... if he cant find any he pulls some rope out and preps to toss it across... so that folks and tie it off and make the attempt to jump across... with a safty line to prevent them from falling. . .
Hiya is carfull as she goes into the room, looking about
Staring at the gap for a bit, Layla shakes her head, muttering something to herself as she backs down the hall, taking off her hat and securing it against her pack. Coming to a stop she takes a deep breath, before bursting into a full-tilt run down the hall, hurtling herself into a leap at the edge of the pit, her body using every bit of strength and flexibility to sail across the dangerous stretch.
Randu? He floats over the pit to land safely.
"Pardon my cheating."
The rest of the party makes their aerial way across the pit, then Rrruh lays down the lacquered table as a bridge, thus making it easier to haul any recovered valuables out of the kitchen.
It does not take long at all to find Bloodeye's fabled cache. They are stowed in cupboards and cabinets, stashed in pots, tucked into shelves, or even shoved into ovens.
There are a wide range of narcotics: You find pesh, both raw and refined. Bottles of alcohol and spirits of wildly varying quality and strength. Belladonna, bachelor's snuff, cigars, eskelette, flaylead, harlot sweets, and even opium.
Besides these contraband substances, there's also a wide range of more innocuous trade goods that have likely been stolen or smuggled: Bolts of cloth and rolled up carpets are laid out upon counters. Casks of salt, sugar, and spices. Trade bars with dwarven emblems stamped upon them. Bundles of clothing, both common and fine. Stacks of furs and hides that tower higher than Randu.
All in all, the goods that Bloodeye has stashed in this old dwarven kitchen must be worth many thousands of gold pieces.
Suspecting a secret door, you investigate the stone wall but cannot find any seam, groove, or hinge.
MIya points out some scratches in the dust-free floor right in front of the one face of this corner.
"I think there is a door here, well hidden by magic, I can sense it but I just cant find the way to open it.."
With a tilt of his head he stands behind the other monk and tries his beast to emulate her gaze...
Only Rrruh sees as the wall shivers like a disturbed pond, revealing a door protected by illusion magic. When he reaches out and opens the door, it breaks the illusion for the rest of the team.
As it turns out, this door leads to the kitchen's pantry. Thankfully, no traps have been laid upon it. Perhaps this is because the space is too small, or perhaps because Bloodeye did not want to endanger the valuable contents within.
Once you open the now-revealed door, you find that Bloodeye stashed his most valuable and most dangerous loot inside.
For starters, an entire shelf seems given over to phials of poison. However, your attention is quickly drawn to the shelf above, where a magnificent helmet made of brilliant silver and polished steel sits, adorned a rainbow array of gems.
There is a rich array of gems and jewelry - stolen or smuggled, who can say? The piece that looks the most valuable is a necklace made of fine platinum links set with thirteen black pearls along its length.
The strangest item sits atop the highest shelf. It appears to be a bird skeleton, assembled and held together without wire or string. It sits upon a stone perch, with all the seeming that its simply waiting to fly down at a moment's notice.
Layla lets out an impressed whistle, uttering an arcane incantation, to shift her perception into the magical spectrum as she inspects the most notable items first.
Layla quickly deduces that the helmet is meant to resemble a specimen of the legendary family of items known as the Helms of Brilliance - the key word here being "resemble." This is a counterfeit helm, enchanted to present a magical aura but possessing no actual abilities. Likewise, the more valuable gemstones embedded in the helmet - the diamonds and rubies - are merely colored glass. The opals, at least, are real if a bit flawed, giving some value to the item. It's unclear whether Bloodeye was planning to pawn this fake off on a buyer, or if the crimelord himself was fooled by the fake.
The necklace is a very curious case.
At first, Layla identifies it - albeit with some trouble - as a Periapt of Proof against Poison. However, as she leans closer to examine it, she spots a small note beneath the necklace. Scrawled in Bloodeye's sharp handwriting, it delivers a clear message to any of his agents accessing the stash: DO. NOT. WEAR.
Once Layla identifies the strange bird skeleton, she can only marvel at how such a thing came into Bloodeye's possession and tucked away in his secret stash. This is actually a rare artifact of minor power known as the Weird Queen's Magpie. Knowing its value but unable to make use of the artifact, the crimelord likely stashed the intelligent construct away until he could figure out what to do with it.
Randu is stunned by discovery after discovery. A secret door? Fine. Illusions? Not unheard of, "Good eyes, Miya and Rrruh" but still odd.
Then, the discoveries of the treasures. His own ability to sense magic full ablaze.
:
"What do you make of it, Layla? That necklace... trouble eh?"
Myia dose not like the bird thing.
But as they others look over the hoard she will pack away what she can into her Handy Havasack. The Gems and fine things her here go 1st.
"Maybe cursed? Would explain the warning." Layla replies. "This stuff is pretty impressive, but as is, would be pretty hard to sell."
"This means this is all the stuff he did not sell, which may mean his coin is here we have just not found it"
She says with a grin,
"I'm betting cursed. But I'm not putting it on to test it."
Randu's informed second opinion, drawing upon bits of folklore incorporated into his spellcraft skills, provides a bit more elucidation into danger posed by the mysterious necklace.
This is almost certainly an example of the foul type of cursed magical item known as a Necklace of Strangulation...which does exactly what it sounds like. You can't be sure whether Bloodeye had the dangerous jewelry purposefully made or whether its creation was an accident, but it's clear that the crimelord knew what he had on his hands. Who knows how many people might have been assassinated if he'd been allowed to reclaim the necklace along with the rest of his hoard.
"Cursed," Randu confirms as he looks the necklace over, "This thing will strangle whoever wears it. I never thought to see one outside of a stageplay tragedy. Redeye probably had plans for this."
"O really, could I have it, I think I could get it blessed. I worry if we sell it someone really bad will use it."
She says
When told how much it's worth she picks in her hands and looking at it, says.
"I have killed many times. To me, the act of taking a life by design is an act of homage to them and is to be done with honor. When I take life by design, I respect them and give them the honor of my finest craft. But you all have to ask yourselves, would you be happy for me to use this? Or if you choose to sell it, happy for another too. What if the daughter or son was taken with it? All I can say is, I live my life by a strict set of rules. The killing of the Young or innocent combatants by design is forbidden. If I were to used this on a subject of my act they would be ones who desired such a fate. To that end I would be reluctant to see this in the hands of those without such rules. Who would take life without honor? Destroy it or let me use it. But to sell it, would not have honor in my view. This item's fate is for the party to decide as a whole, not for me alone. I only wanted to share my views."
Her views stated, She places it back on the shelf and goes to see if they have missed anything.
The most valuable and astonishing of Bloodeye's secret stash have been identified. Miya's careful scouring of the pantry turns up a few more small precious stones that have tumbled into the dusty rear of the shelves. Thus, between the kitchen and pantry, you inventory every last item that Bloodeye kept in his fabled hidden stash.
It could take days to tally an exact value for the items in the stash, but you're positive that it would be enough to buy half of Falcon's Hollow in the upcoming property and land auction. Of course, Deputy Splint strongly advised you against pocketing any of Bloodeye's ill-gotten gains. Then again, Commander Odeber didn't give you explicit orders not to...
"Miya, you bring up some good points. For now, let's not sell it. Either we destroy it, or make sure it goes to hands we feel would only use it against tyranny."