”Sure, I can sing it again. Just be ready for anything. Those people didn’t die of old age...” Mirabella says, before she begins to sing the entire song again.
Logan examines the aura of the vest which also appeared to be enchanted.
Once she is done singing, Mirabella can add her knowledge to the identification efforts.
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Logan identifies the magical items as a +1 mithral short sword, and a vest of escape. The statue is too much for him, but he does detect the aura of conjuration on it. Up close however the statue looks like a very lach bug or insect akind to a giant mantis.
Nothing happens when Mirebella sings the song.
After releasing the trance, Logan explained "I guess we're going to have to check the well at some point. Not sure what the statue is beyond magical but the sword is enchanted to strike exceptionally well and the other item is called a vest of escape."
"How heavy is it I wonder? I mean i dont think i have the mass to move it, but i could rig a small blackpowder explosion i bet to get it off...."
She started to hum to herself as she pulled out her abacus to math out how best to explode the stature off of it.
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Jack gives Canacha a spacey smile.
I love her A-B-C approach to problem-solving: Abacus, Blackpowder, and Ca-Boom! OK...that needs a little work....
Looking at the statue again, Jack frowns. "Why does this guy have four eyes?" Realizing the eyes are gemstones, Jack gets excited. "Maybe we have to push the gems in the statue in a particular order to open the capstone! Anyone know what the heck a malachite is?"
Just in case he's wrong, Jack takes a few moments to check the statue for traps.
They are green i think. Like my eyes. wait. maybe those are jade? Emeralds? green saphires?"
Hold on. Gem lore was part of my bardic training. Let me think for a bit to make sure I get this right...
Mirabella studies each gem in the statue carefully, matching their appearance with what she has been taught about gems and other minerals.
Very carefully, Mirabella touches the Moonstone and tries to press down on it. If it moves, she presses it again and moves on to the other gems in the exact order mentioned in the verse.
Logan grinned at the ranger, "Maybe you're onto something Jack... The song went 'Moonstone, Moonstone, Ruby bright. Open Turquoise, Malachite!' So based on what Mirabella told us about gem colors the order would be: white blueish twice, red, bluish green, green."
Lena stands watch at the back of the room to make sure nothing follows them. "Careful that stone might be holding something in. Instead of keeping us out."
Bicks stands back ready to heal should something explode.
"Good point Lena."
She nodded pulling out her pistol again and putting the club away. She moved torwards Jack and ever so slightly pulled him back away from the lid in case it did do something bad.
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Mirabella presses on the gem she identified as a moonstone and hears a clicking sound, she then presumes to press in the combination of the poem. After a few moments the lid pops open revealing a rounded staircase leading down into water. What ever might be in the tunnels undernearth the Lucky Bones, it's clear that you need some way to breath underwater to continue the exploration.
"Woah!" cried Logan, "A staircase, leading to a flooded level, now that I did not expect..."
Sword in hand, he peered cautiously down the stairs.
Relieved she didn't accidentally unleash some horror or explosion on the party, Mirabella peers into the depths.
Looks like there are more than one exit from this ol' thieves den. Good to know. I suggest we save the underwater exploration for when we are better prepared. We still have a ghost to deal with up here. And it probably wouldn't hurt to do a thorough search for any other secret doors and passages.
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There are documents and maps in the previous room you were in, including some of the Lucky Bones, might have a plan of all the guilds old secrets.
Looking down the staircase, Logan can tell that it's going to be almost pitch black down there. You are going to need a way to light your path while underwater.
"Real estate prices just went up."
"I don't swim well." She taps her armor. "Let's go take a look at the documents." She heads back into the meeting room taking a seat at the table and starts going through the maps of the Lucky Bones to see what we might have missed.
She glances up and gives the Guildmaster in the Painting a wink as she settles in.
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Lena studies the maps of the old Lucky Bones, boefore and after the thieves moved in, and after about 20 mins she is fairly certain she can locate every secret passage that were put into the casinos basement area. She also finds documents describing the subbasement as the area used for smuggling kidnap victims and other stolen goods out using barrels and the natural flow of the river. There is also mentioning of some device to keep the water out of the area. Perhaps more time with the documents will reveal more.
When Lenna reported her findings, Logan mused, "Fascinating, so we think there's some sort of device to keep the water out? I wonder if it could be magical in nature..."
He spent some time reading through the papers to see if anything matched things he'd read about during his training.
"So smuggling tunnels barrels and river flow. That sounds cool. I wonder what the device they use to keep the water out. Some sort of continual motion flow pump i bet. Oh maybe its a valve gap drainage system?"
Following Lena back to the meeting room, Mirabella shrugs off her pack and retrieves a selection of food and snacks from her supply of rations before setting it aside against the wall. She stretches and leans back in her chair for a moment, before grabbing a bit of sausage and hard cheese to nibble on while she peruses the books and maps with Lena.
"We might as well take a break for a couple of hours. Jack especially could use the rest. If we are to make this place our permanent base, we must figure out as much about it as possible.
We should also consider how to use the space. I figure we will need a barracks of sorts, infirmary, supply room and armory and perhaps an alchemical workshop. A small shrine too, perhaps, for Lena to hold worship to Miliani. This room here should serve nicely as a meeting room for us. Oh...and we'll have to get rid of all the bodies somehow."
Logan's education had been largely misspent which showed when he tried to assist Mirabella still apparently some of the things his history tutor said sunk in.
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Mirabella finds a ledger containing a set of deeds of warehouses and warerfront buildings in Vyre own by one Molly Mayapple. Other notes indicates that these deeds are stolen and that the Gray Spider had intended to use them to blackmail the owner before the Hellknights put a stop to it. One note lists: "Mayapple may be a fellow rat, but that doesn’t exempt her from being fed on by a Spider!"
Logan and Bicks finds some old city maps of Kintargo that seems to have been the guilds old information about where patrons, allies and enemies of the Gray Spiders lived at that point in time. Some of the maps might still be useful, it shows numerous hidden routes along the rooftops and through the sewers.
Lastly a second map of the Lucky bones are stashed away filled with notes on how the guild would defend the hideout in the event of an attack. Guildmistress Lorelu were to defend the floor you are on now, while Guildmaster Baccus was to defend the smugglers' tunnels and that he were to call for the help of his pet devil. Lastly Guildmistress Hei-Fen's role were to attempt an escape via the smugglers' tunnels and bring news of the assault to their allies in Vyre.
While studying the maps and papers, Mirabella makes numerous notes in her own journal.
Once she is satisfied that she has gleaned all the valuable knowledge from the documents, she closes her journal and yawns.
"So, what's next?"
Logan paced as he thought, "It's clear we need to rest then venture underwater. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not a particularly strong swimmer, I wonder if we can obtain some magic to assist us? There's the water breathing spell of course, which is currently beyond my abilities. I've heard of another spell, Alter Self which might help although I don't know it's formula."
"Mmmm speaking of Alter Self..." mused Logan, "I think I might have an idea or two of how that forumla works. Hmm I need to study."
"Should we get Jack cured?"
"Of course, thats the first order of business as soon as I get him drug out of here."
She paused giving the punch drunk and addicted man a fond smile.
"This is our new base yeah? I got him, see you all here tomorrow for the underwater stuff maybe?"
Jack tags along happily with Canacha as they leave the ruins. He's quiet for a while but then he starts talking nonstop.
"I feel weird, though not necessarily in a bad way. When we were back in the Lucky Bones, I was relaxed yet jumpy at the same time, always afraid another ghost might jump out and attack us. Now that we're safe...I feel a lot better."
Giving the lady dhampir a winning smile (he hopes), Jack pushes his luck. "I feel great now--ready to take on the world! Or just relax, you know? Say...you don't happen to know if there are currently any other opium dens in the city, do you? We could go there and relax a bit, you know? Take a well-deserved break from all our Thrune-bashing and city-saving. Maybe talk a bit...get to know each other better."
Jack again gets that lovesick puppy look in his eyes and ventures, "I've always admired you from afar...maybe it's time, you know, for me to uh, admire you from a-near."
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Jack's mind is to unfocused to localise any opiumdens from memory. On the way to the temple of Abadar, which is closest, nothing really happening except Canacha has to drag Jack away from stores and alleys in his attempts to find a hidden opiumden. At the temple things are a little hectic as the clerics are busy closing down the bankpart for the night, but you manage to get over to the clerical area and quickly find a healer to help you.
Logan marches up to the healer and says, "Ah! Hi, I wonder if you can help us... My friend here has a bit of a problem. He came in contact with the ghost of an opium addict, which seems to have passed on the addiction and addled his brain. Can you help him?"
"Please, its of the utmost import."
She added keeping a tight grip on Jack's hand. Her heart was beating far too rapidly after his earlier words. It was like almost everything she had hoped for well minus the crushing addiction to expensive and dangerous substance.
Jack frowns as Logan speaks. "I'm standing right here, you know," he points out. "And my brain's not so addled that I can't hear you saying that the ghost addled my brain."
After a moment of silence, Jacks gets to the real reason he's fuming. "Oh--and thanks for being our chaperone, too."
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An elderly woman comes out to look Jack over "I sure can help your friend young man, I can remove the addiction part of the disease, however his mind will need either a restoration or a few days of sleep before he is back to his useal self." she says as she casts the spell
"That should help your friend feel a bit more normal again. It will cost you 210 gold pieces. she responds feeling the spell remove the addiction from Jack.