SEWERS OF KINTARGO (8 Gozran)
Some of the hatefulness leaves Captain Carthen's eyes as Leora speaks her peace and enchants T'chazzar's main weapon. "Sing, little songbird, as you did in the dream," he calls to Jessibel. "Inspire your allies to do what must be done and to do it quickly!"
Jessibel reluctantly complies, singing a mournful battle song of old that speaks of friends lost in the skirmish. She also moves to Leora's side, looking crestfallen at what must apparently be done.
Davina moves closer to he action. "I'm so sorry Belfram. WE'll do what we can to fulfill your request."
With a silent nod, Arani quickly fires a pair of arrows at the revenant guardsman, seeking to grant him his final rest.
Falina felt for this man, trapped so long out of his own time, he was a good man before and he deserved to die one as well. Focusing she called on her magic, channeling power as she chanted and gestured into a pair of missiles that shot out and slammed into him.
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"It is my chosen work to smite the wicked," says T'chazzar, his backswords resting easily in his hands.
"Yet you are not among them. A man killed trying to save his city, restless for centuries, who traps himself so that he will harm no-one? Waiting for someone, finally, to give him rest?"
The drow shakes his head.
"That is no creature of evil. That is a hero."
Tightening his grip grimly, T'chazzar says, "I shall strive to give you the rest that you deserve."
SEWERS OF KINTARGO (8 Gozran)
Carthen doesn't try to dodge Arani's arrows as they fly in, taking him in the arm and shoulder; unfortunately, both missiles do only slight damage, as the undead, like those in your dreams, is resistant to all attacks save magic ones. The guardsman from another time seems ready to 'turn,' losing the last vestiges of his humanity, when T'chazzar makes his speech.
"Thank you, friends," Carthen intones, regaining control at least momentarily. "I now pass the mantle of 'heroes' unto you. Be swift in your duty! I don't think I can resist the change much longer!"
Falina obliges Carthen by firing a couple of magic missiles into his chest. As you all take the fight to the tragic hero of a time long past you notice something disconcerting: Some of his wounds are beginning to heal!
"Oops, should have stuck around for a second!" Leora trundles back towards Arani as fast as her heavy armor allows. "May Arani's arrows fly straighter than me trying to walk in a line after a few beers!"
Her solemn silence expressing her respect for the man they had to put down, Arani fires arrow after arrow.
SEWERS OF KINTARGO (8 Gozran)
Jessibel scoots toward Captain Carthen...and then past him when the undead watchman shows no sign of attacking her (yet). Leora sharpens Arani's aim with a spell, and that spell makes all the difference. What would have been a near miss with one arrow turns into a hit; what would've been a solid hit turns into a deadly crit, hitting the watchman with such force that it impacts and breaks Carthen's spine. He collapses without a sound.
Jessibel's actually brought to tears as she stops singing. "We can't just leave him here in the sewer to rot or be eaten by bugs and rats! We should bury his remains in the Tears of Aroden cemetery, near where Dom and I buried Zea." When she mentions the name of the missing former Silver Raven, the bard starts to sob and Sabrina moves forward to offer comfort. The girls work on a plan to send a message via the silver raven wondrous figurine left at Songbird Hall to Forvian Crowe to see if he and some of his fighting men can help with the task, assuming that the Silver Ravens' main force plans to return to the lower level of Hocum's Fantasmagorium....
Joining Jessi at Captain Carthan's side, Leora pours some whiskey from her flask into the sewer in honor of the fallen man and offers a simple prayer. "Cayden Cailean, guide Captain Carthan's brave soul to the Boneyard."
.
After the Ravens have had a moment to reflect on Captain Carthan's death, Leora asks "What would you like to do next? I think we should go see the scrivener, maybe we can catch up with Forvian and his crew afterwards."
T'chazzar sheathes his swords and kneels before the dessicated corpse. Then he stands and as he does so he carefully hauls up the remains of the body so that it doesn't disintegrate.
"Jessi is right. We should... give him a proper rest."
Slinging her bow across her back, Arani moves forward to stand over the body once again laid to rest, spending a silent moment with her head bowed.
"Seeing to his burial would definitely be the right thing to do. I definitely agree with the idea of checking in on the scrivener though. Thanks for the boost there Leora."
Silver Stein Inn (8 Gozran)
Returning topside, leaving the undead-infested sewers behind, your party regroups at Alyss Rustwell's inn. There a sheepish Jessibel approaches Falina and surreptitiously hands the sorceress something: a dirty wand made of copper.
"I found this in the ghoul caves," she confesses. "I think it's a wand of some sort...but I probably couldn't identify it myself anyhow. Besides, you can probably make more use of it than I."
Again, Jessibel and Sabrina offer to summon Forvian Crowe and his crew to help give Captain Carthen a proper burial if the main party wishes to return to their exploration of Hocum's.
The wand is decorated with engravings that resemble arcane bolts. You guess it's a basic wand of magic missile (and it is; CL 1st, 13 charges).
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"Let's see the scrivener. His time might be over. I wish we could find a way to free him faster. I don't like how he's being used. It must hurt him badly to watch knowledge destroyed."
How are our spellcasters doing? We may be able to waltz right in with no resistance, but maybe not.
Falina watched as Jessi approached her and held out the dirty looking wand. Before tkaing it she gestured and cast a spell causing the filth to fall from it and then reached for the wand. As she looked at it closely Falina recognized something and pulled Jessi close beside her as she held the wand out and pointed to what she had spotted. "You see these symbols," she pointed to what looked like energy bolts, "this is probably a wand of magic missiles, a low level one from the feel of the magical aura that still has some charges to it."
As the discussion of going after the Scrivener began Falina said, "I think I will manage another fight fine. Particularly with this wand to help out. The sooner we get there the better."
"Sounds like we're up for it. I agree with you on the nature of his service there, but I wouldn't have the faintest idea what it would take to set him free early." Arani replies.
HOCUM'S FANTASMAGORIUM (8 Gozran)
Leaving the somewhat reliable frenemies Jessibel and Sabrina in charge of summoning Forvian Crowe and some members of his team to prepare a grave site for Captain Belfram Carthen at the Tears of Aroden Cemetery, the heart of the Silver Ravens return to Hocum's Fantasmagorium. All is as you left it the previous day--including the bodies of the Asmodeans and other creatures slain during your first incursion.
At the bottom of the spiral staircase you find the otherworldly scrivenite still on duty, and still tasked with preventing non-Asmodeans from examining the books in its chamber or continuing deeper into the complex. The chatty book-scrolls-and-ribbons outsider confirms that none of the Asmodeans 'cataloging' here have returned to the surface during the past day.
Before going back into the room with the scrivenite:
"I have an idea. Could we try to trick the scrivenite by telling it that the Asmodeans have finished their work here, so there is no need for it to stay and guard them? I mean, they won't be doing any more research here..."
Hello again Scrivenite! Say, what caused the blood stains and mess in here?" Leora had forgotten to ask about this during their last visit.
HOCUM'S FANTASMAGORIUM (8 Gozran)
"There was a great battle here between the Asmodeans, their allies, and the original occupants of this hideout. As you may have surmised, the Asmodeans prevailed."
"How would it affect our remaining service period if all the Asmodeans here were to suddenly die?" Arani asks.
HOCUM'S FANTASMAGORIUM (8 Gozran)
"Hmm...that might increase the time I can dedicate to reading and make the end of my service less stressful," the scrivenite answers Arani dryly, "but it wouldn't change my mistress's orders: I'd still have to guard against and engage any intruders who tried to pass."
Leora frowns when the scrivenite answers Arani's question, since their original plan had backfired.
"Who else was helping the Asmodeans during the fight? Who were the original occupants?" she asks, even though she has a good guess at the answer to the second question.
Thinking back about Asmodean priestesses, Leora remembers what the Ravens found at the tavern formerly known as Clenchjaw's. "If your mistress died, who would become your new master? Was your mistress's name Karlena?"
Leora looks at her friends to see if they have any questions or ideas to avoid a fight with the scrivenite.
HOCUM'S FANTASMAGORIUM (8 Gozran)
"I'm not entirely sure who the original occupants of this place were...some sort of scholars of Irori, I guess. The Asmodeans were assisted in their raid by a number of called or summoned devils, some of which were quite powerful."
The scrivenite pauses at Leora's second set of questions. "I know of no one named Karlena," it intones. "As for what would happen should my mistress perish...I would fulfill my bargain with her. The death of the other party of the agreement shouldn't change the deal; likewise, killing someone to get out of an agreed-upon bargain seems distasteful to me."
Davina looks like a light goes off in her brain. She motions for her companions to come back up the stairs after they are finished with their questions.
"He says he can't let non-Asmodean's past. What if we look like them?Leara would Cayden be ok if you pretend to be an Asmodean? What about the rest of you? Any problems with taking the clothing off the dead and trying to bluff our way through?"
”I’m a bit recognizable.”
Once they are back upstairs, Leora says "Sure, we can disguise ourselves. We have some of their armor and outfits and stuff here. If we wanted to get really creative -I know I'm not much of a liar, myself- we could have Jessi talk to the scrivenite, since he hasn't met her before. She could wear her red and black outfit, and tell him to let us in."
"I'd be willing to give it a try." Arani replies after considering the idea.
Falina considered the situation they found themselves in and had a vague idea that might work. She gestured for the others to come with her and led them away from the Scrivinite to somewhere they could talk unheard. Once they arrived she asked, "Do you know what it' Master looks like? Any idea at all? If not, do we have a way to find out?"
Falina gave them all a serious look as she said, "You already know that I can change forms but you haven't yet seen what I can really do with it. If I can change form into the "Master" I can possibly convince it to let us, or some of us at least, pass."
Jessibel listens to her friends’ intel on the bookish outsider and gives the matter some thought. ”I think you’re onto something,” she says slowly, the wheels in her mind still spinning and looking for traction. ”It sounds like whoever summoned the scrivenite has left it to its own devices, for the most part, with orders to help the Asmodeans in the building. It seems intelligent, though, and likely wouldn’t let you folks just waltz past it because another unknown Asmodean requests it, unless….”
”What if you were prisoners—or more accurately, posing as prisoners? The scrivenite might still be suspicious were I to show up, claiming to have captured you all by myself, but Falina could change form to impersonate a second Asmodean. If we could disguise one more of you as well, it might work: Three Asmodeans bringing three prisoners to Nox for interrogation. We could tell it that Falina and whoever else we end up disguising escaped, and that we need to turn over the prisoners as soon as possible to hunt down the escapees.”
”What do you all think?” the bard asks the other Silver Ravens. ”And more importantly—who wants to play the third Asmodean?”
”I like Jess’ plan. I can disguise myself as the third Asmodean. That’s one of my many skills.”
”Would you all mind being prisoners? I do know what Nox looks like, but we don’t know if she’s in or out of that area. I’d rather us be random Asmodeans.”
Leora listens as Jessi and Davina talk about the plan. "Yeah, I asked that scrivenite a ton of questions and am not so hot with disguises, so I'd rather be a prisoner. Falina, Davina, and Jessi will be great at the disguise thing."
Leora gets out all of the Thrune-related and other stuff to help with the disguises.
"That could definitely work. I'm a fair hand at disguise but not what I'd consider great, and it would be better if it were mostly people the scrivente hadn't met as yet." Arani agrees.
REDROOF AND JARVIS END DISTRICTS (8 Gozran)
The plan slowly comes together. Leaving Sabrina at Songbird Hall to meet with Forvian Crowe and his men about interring Captain Carthen, Jessi leads the rest of the Silver Ravens to her second home: the new headquarters of the Kintargo Opera House Society. There, two of Jessibel's friends (Jenni and Kathie) meet with the party and say they'd be happy to help with the disguises, saying they can work wonders with their makeup and disguise kits. They provide the would-be prisoners with realistic-looking bruises and blood spatter before corralling Davina into a chair and working their magic on her.
******************************************
Once back at Songbird Hall, you're able to borrow enough rope to bind the hands of the false prisoners using easy-to-escape slipknots. Next stop: the cellar of Hocum's and a meeting with the scrivenite guardian.
HOCUM'S FANTASMAGORIUM (8 Gozran)
Disguised as Asmodeans leading prisoners, Jessibel, Davina, and Falina lead the 'captives' back to the scrivenite. Jessi, playing the part of an Asmodean priestess, haughtily informs the scrivenite that the three captives were discovered upstairs in the museum, but two of their female associates--a tiefling and a redhead--managed to escaped. She informs the bookish outsider that she'll be marching the intruders before Nox for proper interrogation.
The scrivenite takes its time sizing up Jessi, the other two Asmodeans, and their three prisoners, causing quite a bit of nervous tension, but then it tells the group to proceed through the doors to the northwest.
Beyond those doors, a long stone staircase descends further below the city streets, ending in an unadorned square chamber with a pillar in its center. Light won't be an issue, it appears: magical continual flames are present at intervals along the walls. A lengthy hallway with more pillars slides away to the south. On the east walls are four closed doors, and another hallway heads east just a few feet from where your party is gathered.
The false bonds are loosened and the prisoners are returned their confiscated weapons. All is silent in the subterranean hideaway.
Davina does her best to look cowed, and moves past the Scrivenite.
She looks relieved to have her weapons back. "Careful."
Davina moves up to the first door and listens carefully. If she hears nothing she'll try to open it.
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Davina, hearing nothing stirring beyond, opens the door, revealing a 10-foot by 10-foot room containing a bed, a trunk, and a desk. Though a quick search reveals nothing of value or particular interest, you do find an apple core and some rock-hard bread crusts on a tray atop the desk--signs that this room has had a recent occupant.
[ooc]Someone let me know if you want to follow the main corridor or check out the narrower one near the room you just explored. Also, as usual, I'll assume you guys are taking 10 on Stealth checks while moving throughout the level unless you tell me otherwise.[ooc]
As they made their preparations to trick their way past the Scrivener Falina once again shifted her form. This time she took the appearance of a homely woman who was otherwise unremarkable and then donned the clothing of an Asmodean to complete the disguise.
When they reached the bound being at the scriptorium getting past it was decidedly simple. Their disguises seemed to work out and they had no problem convincing it they were who they claimed to be. Once they were safely out of sight she helped hand the weapons back out as the bonds were loosened.
Once they were prepared Falina said, "Don't look at me for a minute." Once she had some semi-privacy Falina focused and the hideous popping and cracking sounds that some had heard as she shifted before were evident to everyone. "There," she said, "much better." She looked at everyone and then said, "Let's get this over with."
Leora keeps her head down and doesn't say anything while Jessi, Davina, and Falina bluff their way past the scrivenite. After they are past, she gratefully takes her weapon back from Falina and prepares to explore the lower floor. "Nice work, ladies! The scrivenite had no clue!"
Leora takes a moment to look around the first room for anything else of interest -perhaps a secret compartment in the chest, a hidden drawer in the desk, or perhaps something behind the bed.
"How about we go down this side corridor first?"
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Leora's quick search of the small bedchamber reveals no hidden features or treasures. Taking the cleric's suggestion, the party next checks the narrow eastern corridor. To the north are a pair of small storage rooms. The first has mops, brooms, buckets, and other mundane cleaning supplies. The second is empty but smells of decay, and dark red and black stains mark the floor. Remembering the charred zombies you fought upstairs, it seems likely the corpses might've been stored here briefly before being reanimated as guards.
To the south is another bedchamber, but larger and slightly more opulent than the previous one. In addition to a bed, this room features a workstation that's part desk and part bookcase; it also has its own washroom.
Taking a cue from Leora's search of the last room, everyone makes a quick scan of this larger room, and Arani and Davina make a simultaneous discovery: there are scuff marks on the floor near the legs of the bed, indicating that it's been dragged from its current position fairly often. Beyond, in the south wall, the ladies can make out the outline of a secret door. There's no obvious way to open the door, however...at least not with the bed where it is.
Remaining silent as the ruse plays out, Arani breathes a sigh of relief once she has her bow in hand again. As they study the room, discovering the secret door she looks up flashing Davina a grin as she notices as well. "Looks like we'll need to move the bed. Want to finish check everything else first or enter the secret passage now?"
"I say let's check the door first. It might save us some fighting if we can avoid enemies." Davina suggests.
She offers to grab an end of the bed to help move it. "If we work together we should be able to move this quietly."
MANY STEPS MONASTERY/HQ OF THE SACRED ORDER OF ARCHIVISTS (8 Gozran)
Under Davina's supervision, you're able to lift the bed and reposition it quietly closer to the center of the room. There's a square section of wall with a bit of smudging on it and, when pushed, this released some sort of spring powered latch, opening the secret door. Peering through, you can spy a another narrow corridor; one door is almost immediately on the west wall while two more are a bit further down on the east. There's a slight movement in a larger room 40 feet or so to the south: a man dressed in a red robe with black trim peruses a tome of some sort set atop a long table.
The fellow is wholly engrossed in his work and doesn't seem to have seen or heard your party yet.
Seeing the man ahead down the secret passage Falina gestured for everyone to stay out of sight. She was glad now that she had stayed in the Asmodean robes as she had a plan. While they could leave him be and likely slip away or try to take him down quickly she had another idea.
[ooc]Assuming they back out of sight:
Walking a little ways into the hall, just close enough to get within thirty feet of the man, Falina stopped and cast a spell on him.
Davina waits to see what Falina has in mind. I hope she doesn't get caught at whatever it is she's doing.