"How many beds???
Miro starts looking over urns to find the one they need.
"Right. Urns. Stay focused and get what we need and get out. Also place to dispose of bodies, although Gorum likely wants a more morbid celebratory symbolism I suspect. Urns."
Suki, Hide and alert me for visitors from upstairs.
Exxor will wander among the urns, seeing if he can discern meaning in the spider etchings.... names; numbers, something useful.
Does anyone recognize this language?
Human I guess. Miro shrugs.
Exxor rolls his eyes.
Miro rolls his eyes across the ground. We tried that way back. Went to the door and offered them a nice Erynies head in order to look at the urns. They told us to leave or die.
Yes, even I must admit that diplomacy failed this time. You cannot have a discussion when only one side is willing to talk. But still, it would be nice to resolve these issues without the currently required wardrobe replacement.
Seriously - what is this chicken scratch? Exxor says in an annoyed tone as he peers at the seemingly unfathomable scrawl.
Alright! So I will need some good perception checks by someone who can read infernal
No Speako devil
Hippa reads the Infernal aloud, with several variations which changes the context. Even her tone and inflections are adjusted, she would fit well within a Cheliax household.
It takes quite a long time but at last Hippa finds the correct urn. It now sits on the floor in front of you. What do you do?
Get back to HQ and do the spirit thing. JUst what do we want to ask it again?
Miro bullies everyone back to base.This might be a good extra hideout for the Children of Westcrown, eh? Lock it up and clear the bodies out later.
"Ummmmmm? Yes. I may be able to pray for blessings to ensure these monks find eternal rest as well as remove the corpses. We should make sure the door is locked and confirm no other entrances to this building. As much as I hate to say it, I'd like to drop a line on the way you came in just in case front entrance is being watched. Speaking of which... You stink. Care for a bath or I can make a rain cloud follow you until you are tolerably clean."
Drop the rain.
With more enthusiasm then you would think, Hippa spamcasts Create Water that consecutively cascades you from each side (Front, Lside, back, Rside and one large plunge from above.)
Ah..been a while since I have been so clean. Miro makes sure to dangle a rope down the loo.
Exxor watches the whole scene in amusement. Then he will search through the place - within sight of the party to see what is what, and make sure nothing else is lurking nearby.
Exxor finds a small jar with a smokey substance inside. There is an image of a soman dealing out cards on the outside
Ok, I must have taken a blow to the head during the fight so I have once again forgotten what we need to ask about. I know we need to go to some pathfinder house to dins the thing that will stop the shadows.
Exxor will show the jar to Hippa,
Any ideas what this might be, it seems more like something you would know of...unless it is a Harrow Reading Genie; I am at a loss.
You are easily able to return to the base to rest, and examine the jar.
IT is definitely magical, that you know. It seems that it
Hippa is exhausted, stressed and, in general, peeved. "No I don't want to look at it now! I want a bath. I want to sleep. I hate getting into fights, especially when someone's death (likely mine) is the only resolution. You want a combat adept? I become one. But it is a long dark road.
Ugh. Fine! [casts Detect Magic]. Yep! Congrats. It is magical. Nope. Nothing. I am out.
She stomps away, hair in disarray, twitchy. Grabs an apple, loaf of bread and cheese to her room.
Perhaps Areal can do it. Miro goes and gets a bath as well. Along the way, he notices something still stuffed in a back room.
So...we going to do something with this Shadowgarm we killed?
Poke poke
How do we get into the secret cache of the Pathfinders?
Tram? Exxor?
Might not be responding due to dot death
|
He spent their return of course slinking through hallways trying to avoid Miss Tarvi spotting him in more ruined clothing before he could change. Once he changed he made his way to where they had taken the strange urn.
" That sounds like a good question, and for the shadow things as well, I wonder if this is going to be a shortened time thing again, perhaps we should gather up as many questions as we can think of and order them in importance?
Sure, cache of course and uh...Well any other ideas?
I think we should focus on the cache. Where is it? How do we enter safely? What are we looking for inside it? Does Corina know anything else about Delvehaven? That leave us with one follow-up question based on the answers we get.
Exxor will request all the notes and ledgers and spread them out on table for a group review.
In 4674 ar, many years after the House of Thrune seized control of Cheliax, they made a great show of reopening Delvehaven and inviting a select few Pathfinders back to run the lodge—but those choices were not the Grand Lodge’s to make. The House of Thrune only agreed to Delvehaven’s reopening if Chelish Pathfinders of their choosing were to manage the site, and the Society reluctantly agreed to the conditions. Securing an accurate list of what had and hadn’t survived in Delvehaven’s vaults was a political nightmare—the House of Thrune and their pet Pathfinders reported that nothing of value remained, but they were resistant to letting anyone from outside make their own inventory and exploration of the ruins. To the public, the lodge seemed to be run by the Society, but in truth we have very little idea exactly what was going on in Delvehaven during those years. The whole situation seemed to be coming to a head, with a full-on clash between the House of Thrune and the Society imminent, but as things worked out, Delvehaven didn’t remain active under Thrune’s control for long.
In 4676 ar, something happened in Delvehaven that caused the deaths of all the Thrune Pathfinders and its subsequent sealing by the government itself. The House of Thrune has to this date refused to open Delvehaven or allow the Society access to the lodge, and various conflicts with the Aspis Consortium and the House of Thrune in other parts of Cheliax since then have effectively distracted us from Delvehaven’s legacy. General consensus in the Society today is that Thrune looted Delvehaven to the root and that nothing of value remains within. But I’m not so sure. Over the past several months, I’ve grown more and more intrigued by the unexplained mysteries of exactly what happened in Delvehaven.
Of perhaps more interest to you as Westcrown natives, I’ve learned a bit about the artifact Bisby returned with, an artifact that was in Delvehaven at the time of Aroden’s death and that hasn’t been seen since. Notes on this artifact are vague, alas, but from an initial report sent from Delvehaven just before Aroden’s death, it would appear that the artifact had ties to a dualistic religion of light and shadow. The fact that it was only a few weeks after the House of Thrune closed up Delvehaven that the shadow beasts first appeared in Westcrown can’t be a coincidence. I suspect that they found this artifact in Delvehaven, but in so doing triggered the lodge’s defenses and caused something. I’m not saying that the source of the shadow beasts is hidden in Delvehaven, or even that the artifact is involved—but in my experience, there are no coincidences.
The portfolio contains a lot of info SEE THE MAP FOR THE TEXT
Additionally there are
Ledgers: These sheets of paper serve as accounting ledgers for Delvehaven. All of the ledgers are dated from the years of 4674–4676, the period when Delvehaven was under the control of the House of Thrune. Of particular interest is a passage on the top paper that indicates the strong possibility that the Delvehaven Pathfinders hid a portion of their treasure and clues about how to enter the deepest vaults in an off-site hidden cache somewhere in or near Westcrown, but that no indication of where this cache might be located has yet surfaced. These ledgers are frustratingly vague and written in shorthand, but on-site, they grant a +8 bonus on Appraise checks made to determine an object’s value and a +8 bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify magic items discovered within Delvehaven. The ledgers cease abruptly at the end with no explanation.
Missing Pathfinder List: This single piece of parchment lists the names, descriptions, and in many cases their fates
Poem Cipher: What appears to be a page torn from the back of a book sits in a larger piece of folded parchment. The torn-out page presents a poorly written poem called “Cugny’s Wedding,” about a man who falls in love with a mermaid but drowns when he tries to seduce her. The poem is covered with spidery script, as is the folded parchment that cradles it. A quick study of the parchment indicates that someone believed the poem was a code or cipher that hid the route to a cache of Pathfinder treasures kept outside of Delvehaven (as indicated in the ledger portion of the Delvehaven papers).
Q: Much apologies for disturbing your rest, we would like to know what was your title and position in the Pathfinder Lodge Delvehaven?
A: I was the local Venture Captain.
Q: Why was Delvehaven closed to the grand lodge by the Thrunites?
A: Coriana convinced us of the need for a new government. We supported the resistance and we fell.
Q: Where is the hidden cache of items hid by the Delvehaven pathfinders?
A: I don't know. Coriana was in charge of that. She made it and we never actually spoke again…
Q: Are the shadow creatures tied to anything within Delvehaven?
A: I don't know what caused them.
Q: Bixby's Journals were hidden, where might these be?
A: I do not know where his journals are. I believe that he left and returned to Absalom with Inerkik.
And let us review what we know –
In 4605, Donatalus Bisby brought back with him a potent artifact from the Mwangi expanse. The artifact had ties to a dualistic religion of light and shadow. Only Bisby and his chronicler had returned.
In 4674, House of Thrune reopened Delvehaven under Thrunite Pathfinders control.
In 4676, something happened in Delvehaven that caused the deaths of all the Thrune Pathfinders and its subsequent sealing.
From the Crux Journals (dated 4674-4676) we learned the Delvehaven Pathfinders hid a portion of their treasure and clues about how to enter the deepest vaults in an off-site hidden cache somewhere in or near Westcrown. We also found the poem cipher: a page torn from the back of a book sits in a larger piece of folded parchment. The torn-out page presents a poorly written poem called “Cugny’s Wedding,” about a man who falls in love with a mermaid but drowns when he tries to seduce her. The poem is covered with spidery script, as is the folded parchment that cradles it. A quick study of the parchment indicates that someone believed the poem was a code or cipher that hid the route to a cache of Pathfinder treasures kept outside of Delvehaven (as indicated in the ledger portion of the Delvehaven papers).
And there was something else about the Sisters of Eiseth.
Now we add Coriana was romantically linked to Venture Captain Aiger Ghaelfin, and designed the cache.
What else do we know or suspect?
Very well, light her up.
The candle lights
The smoke swirls, hovers over the urn and the face of an early middle aged woman appears. She looks at everyone in turn, taking in the room
Where is the cache of the pathfinders that is kept outside of Delvehaven?
Miro waves his hand in front of the ghost's face.
What is the nature of the artifact that Bisby found?
Watching the image coalesce, she tries to pick out details of who the woman used to be. Hippa was fine with Miro taking the lead, she seemed distracted. She quietly mused about sneaking back to monks' lodge and cleaning up the mess to make it look abandoned vs slaughter. She has not been shy with this proposal to the group.
But mission first.
Exxor will watch the coalescing form with the others.
It wasn't too long ago that things like this really freaked me out, but hey, that was last week. Exxor focuses on the ghostly figure forming again.
The ghost pauses then speaks
Yes, there is a cache. We hid is specifically in case everything went bad, and it did. It is actually very easy to find you simply have to look for the Pathfinder symbol, hidden within a more innocuous carving of the city. We put our symbols all over the place as red herrings, but look for those and you will find the cache. Assuming no one else has.
What would be wrong with a nice simple, go look here. Exxor wonders as he listens to the ghost, and sees if the second question's answer is any more leading.
I hate this ghost. We need a whip that can harm ghosts so we can whip one whenever it gives answers like this.