After having enough action for the day, you start your return to the cave entrance. As you pass through the cave where stalactites and stalagmites fill the tunnel like massive teeth, you stop to collect the body of the local girl who had been killed and looted by the skulks. You also make a mental note to bring back alcohol so you can burn the body infected by russet mold.
When you reach the watery entrance, the water breathing spell has worn off. Your best swimmer sheds their excess gear and swims up to the surface with the end of a rope.
"I hate to leave now... it feels like we are just finally getting somewhere!"
Skivven gets ready to swim up to the surface, and ties his belongings that he doesn't think he can carry off with a coil of twine, to pull up after he is on the surface.
"It seems that these caves have been dormant for quite a while; I think they can wait a few more hours," Harrash opines.
Harrash follows after Skivven, holding the other side of the rope that Skivven had brought with him, also bringing the belongings Skivven left behind.
The whole group eventually returns to the surface. From here, you can find the family of the woman you brought back, get alcohol for the burning of the russet mold corpse, or return to Thr Foundry Inn for rest. Or something else if you think of anything.
The time is around 4 o'clock.
Using the rope and grapnel trick from before, Valeria will pull the body from the deep freeze and begins carefully wrapping her cloak around the unfortunate corpse, taking care not to touch any of the mold.
Once it is firmly wrapped up she uses some rope to secure the cloak in place in a sort of makeshift body bag before hefting it up on her shoulder and carrying it back to the beach where they first arrived.
Once back in town Skivven has a distinct skip in his step. Though they have not rescued anyone yet, or restored the town's torch, he feels like a victorious hero returning home.
He returns to the in run by Khonnir's daughter, Val.
"Hello, Val! We're back!"
When he sees her expectant face, his bright mood dims a bit.
"Ah... we haven't found your father yet, but we think we found an entrance he went through. We encountered the humanoids and fey that his earlier expedition found, so we are making progress. Don't worry!"
"We just came back to rest up and resupply. We'll head down again tomorrow. In the meantime... have you ever seen these?"
Skivven pulls out the strange "playing cards" made of an unknown material.
"I was hoping you might tell us what they are."
Val looks over the strange cards, puzzled.
She is referring to the girl who was killed by the skulks and the man in the makeshift bodybag.
"There are in fact weird doors," Harrash replies. "Until now we had been making use of a tool we found to open them, but maybe these cards could work better."
"And I'm sorry to say, but we did find the bodies of two people we couldn't identify. Would you do the gruesome work and identify them, or should be bring them back to someone else?"
Valeria looks the young woman over first. "This is Parda Garr. She used to be really nice, but got mean after she joined the Ropefist thugs."
Then, she carefully opens the bag to look at the russet infected man. She gasps and starts to tear up. [B]"That was a friend of dad's. He was with him during the second expediton when they all disappeared. He had a fiance, the daughter of a rich blacksmith here in town. She'll want to know what happened. What are these dark lines on him?"[/ooc]
Harrash looks over the dark lines Valeria found.
"I'm very sorry, Val. But we thought these people ought to get a proper burial."
The dark lines are signs of the russet mold infection. If the body is not burned, vegepygmies will spring from the corpse in less than 24 hours.
"A proper burial? That sounds appropriate. I'll tell his fiance since he was my dad's friend."
Yes it is.
"These lines seem to be signs of russet mold, which we also saw underground. We should probably cover the corpse with alcohol before burying it so that it doesn't cause vegepygmies to emerge," Harrash advises.
Valeria goes behind the bar and begins grabbing bottles of cheap alcohol. "Val, you said this man has a fiance somewhere in town. Would be so kind as to go and bring her here? Quickly, as there might not be much time." With that she begins pouring the rotgut over the exposed body.
"Yeah. She's on the other side of the town."
Val leaves for a little while and returns with a well dressed young woman. "I was told that you found my husband, Gerrol. Something happened to him down below?"
Arrenopos watches uncomfortably. The two things that still escaped him were humor and grief. He felt like an outsider whenever such occasions came about. Even with Khonnir, he felt that it was wrong that he didn't feel more apprehensive over his disappearance.
"Unfortunately, we found his corpse below," Harrash informs her after an uncomfortable silence, with a motion to the bag, once again finding himself the bearer of bad news.
"Let me see him," she says, trembling.
Valeria turns to the small child "Val, if you could go get Father Kyte, and please be quick about it, we can offer the Last Rites before we do what needs to be done."
With all the emotion in the room, Trem's stay on the side, unsure of what to do. He takes our Bekend and cradle him in his arms. Once in a while, he feeds the small armadillo. When Valeria asks for Father Kyte, Term looks up. "I... I can go also. I mean, um, unless someone needs me right now." If no one object, Trem follows Val and heads to where they would find the priest, happy to be out of the room.
While Val Baine and Trem go to fetch the cleric, the noblewoman goes to pull away the cloth that covers her fiance's body.
Harrash sits down in anticipation for the cleric to come.
While Val Baine and Trem go to fetch the cleric, the noblewoman goes to pull away the cloth that covers her fiance's body.
"Are you sure you want to do that? It's... um, not very pretty."
"Yes, I need to see that it is him." She unties the top of the cloth and pulls it back to reveal. Gerrol's body is a bit grayer than before, but the mold is still hours away from maturing. She gasps and begins to sob as she lools upon him.
"Ah... I'm very sorry." Skivven looks away.
Val and Trem reach the temple of Brigh to the shock of the clerics. Joram Kyte rushes forward as fast as his advanced age will allow. "You're back! Thank the gods. I had feared you had perished below as well."
"The... The gods did allowed us to come back, but, um, we found some that, well, weren't as fortunate. They could, ah, use your services to pass safely to the Boneyard." Trem tries to urge the old priest, but at the same time he knows that the man isn't as spry as he once was.
"A proper burial? Yes, that seems appropriate, but give me until tomorrow and I can arrange a memorial for the whole town. But I have to ask. Is Khonnor among them?"
"We haven't found Khonnir yet," Harrash answers. "From what we know, he went beyond the last doors we've managed to reach."
"Well, I guess there's still some hope then. I do hope you find him for Val's sake. So, first thing tomorrow, we'll bury them in the town cemetary."
"Yes, that would be good. But after that we will need to return to the tunnels below to continue our search."
"Excellent. Then it's settled. I shall begin preparations immediately, and I do wish you luck in your adventure tomorrow." With that, Joram Kyte retreats back into Crowfeather Palace.
"Valeria, did you bring extra alcohol to bring back underwater?" Harrash asks. "And do we still have anything else left to do in Torch?"
As you head back to the Foundry Tavern to get ready for the next trip below, you are intercepted by a muscular man in tight fitting leather clothes. "You must be the adventures who actually managed to return from the caves. My boss, Garmen Ulreth, sends his regards and an invitation to join us at Silverdisk Hall." The lackey hands you a letter. The crude hand written stands at odds with the flowery prose it creates.
Greetings and salutations adventurers,
We at the fine establishment of Silverdisk Hall do hope that you grace our humble clientele with your presence. Surely, ones who have braved the dangers that have claimed the lives of so many fine men are willing to brave the dangers at a few games of chance. Enclosed, I have placed a voucher for each of you. They are worth 100gp a piece to be used at any of various entertainments. We will eagerly await your arrival.
Sincerely,
Garmen Ulreth
As the others return from the church without Father Kyte, Valeria sighs exasperatedly. Pulling Arrenopos slightly apart, out of earshot, she whispers "If you could kindly move the body to the foundry and fire up the forge that would be appreciated. We may have need of it soon."
Turning back to the grieving widow, she picks up two glasses and a bottle of something strong before taking a seat at one of the tables, motioning for the woman to join her.
Pouring two drinks, she passes one across the table "You're going to need this." she tells her. "There is no easy way to say this so i'm just going to say it. Your fiance came in contact with a fungus known as Russet Mold and it infected his body and killed him. Now, sometime within the next day those spores are going to bloom in a most horrific way. I don't know how much time we have before that happens, it could be minutes or it could be hours, so we need to take care of the body as soon as possible. The only way to make sure that the infection doesn't spread is to incinerate the body.
I had hoped to have Father Kyte here before that happens to help bring some sort of peace of mind to you but I don't think that may happen. I'm going to go to the church and explain to the good Father the urgency. As a precaution I've asked my companions to bring Gerrol's body to the foundry and to fire up the forge, just in case." She holds up her glass in a toast "To Gerrol." she says before tossing the drink back and throwing the glass into the fireplace to shatter.
She reads the invitation and wracks her brain for more information on this Garmen Ulreth before saying "It can wait."
Valeria walks across the village to the church and enters, barging in on Father Kyte if necessary. "Father, I believe that my companions didn't impress upon you the urgency of your presence." With that she will explain the situation and the need for him to come to the Foundry right away. "We're working against time here and I would like to bring some solace to the widow before we need to do what needs to be done."
"You must be the adventures who actually managed to return from the caves. My boss, Garmen Ulreth, sends his regards and an invitation to join us at Silverdisk Hall."
"We are indeed! Though we are hardly triumphant heroes yet. We did some exploring, but we haven't solved the riddle of the Torch or found Mister Baine. We plan to go back tomorrow."
Skivven unfolds the letter and loos it over.
"Oh, my! That is quite generous! We will have to stop by... perhaps after supper."
After soaking the body in liquor, you watch as the dull lines crossing the face of poor Gerrol start smoking as the mold is burned away by the alcohol. Afterwards, Emelia helps prepare both bodies for burial tomorrow morning.
When they rest of the party returns from Crowfeather Palace with the note in hand, the time is about 7pm.
"Let's go use the voucher we got for gambling. We should probably rest overnight anyway, so we won't be wasting time," Harrash suggests.
Silverdisk Hall is one of the largest buildings in Torch. It is also one of the most notorious. A sprawling one story structure of rock and steel, the hall is the personal venture of Garmen Ulreth, a greedy, lecherous, slimeball of a human. He is generally regarded as the leadet of the local ropefist gang, but no one has been able to prove his connections, aside from using several of the thugs as bouncers in his casino.
As you enter, you see dozens of near empty tables filling a large lobby. Along the far wall are custom made gambling machines of a clockwork design. There is also a counter where patrons can cash in their winnings or juat buy a drink and snack. Several scantily clad women from the brothel work as waitresses.
"A real casino! I had heard of them, but I was never in one. What should we play? I'm not sure I know any of these games."
Skivven looks around, not exactly sure what to do with his voucher of how to decide what games to try. After a while he decides to look for a table where people seem to be winning and play whatever they are playing.
Skivven places his voucher on a table with several other players. The name of the is blackjack, he's told. The dealer gives two face up cards to each of the table players and one face down to himself.
Skivven is given a card with a picture of an old man's face and the letter K in the corner and a card with four swords and the number 4 in the corner.
"Ah! This fellow looks impressive! What do I do now?"
Skivven listens to the croupier who explains his options. After the explanation, Skivven brightens.
"Oh, I see! Hit me then! Not literally. You know what I mean."
Uncomfortable in the new environment, and not familiar with card games, Harrash stands from afar and watches Skivven playing the game.
The dealer flips over a nine of torches, busting Skivven, and he takes Skivven's chips behind the counter.
Gameplay continues like that for a while. Occasionally, Skivvem would win a bit, but eventually, all his the money he put to the game was gone.