** spoiler omitted **
As the lizard falls limp, Varuzhan pries himself from its jaws and quickly applies a smelly herbal salve grabbed from his pouch to stop the effects of the creature's poison.
. The herbs are potent but Varuzhan's wounds are deep and they do not immediately take.
; . Instead, Varuzhan suffers further from the poison.
. He keeps trying as his movements become even more sluggish, but they don't work better the second time.
; .
The poison runs its course, and Varuzhan is much worse for wear. He is able to treat his external wounds, however. He also treats Miranda's injuries.
"That Mwangi Bog Lizard has no business being in these lands. Someone has strange ideas on pets to keep!"
Nissim rushes to Varizhan's assistance. Although the strix seems to have his own situation swell in hand, Nissim helps as he can. He then does the same with Miranda.
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Aldous quirks an eyebrow as the strix begins smearing a paste on himself. Fascinating. Is it... Oh, it is injured. Perhaps I should help.
"What's the matter, man? Why the paste?"
Grabbing hold of Varuzhan, Aldous closes his eyes and thinks. He'd never tried before, but it shouldn't be too different to restore the creature's sluggish demeanor, brought about by toxins, as one would restore a wound brought about by a weapon. It was merely to redirect reality in a way that Varuzhan's body would forget that it was crippled. So...
Thinking of horses jumping hedgerows, and athlethes flexing before a race, Aldous thinks of the word, and makes it so. The smell of aloe pervades the room.
And again.
And again.
And again.
With the battle ended as suddenly as it began, Boros reloads and holsters his pistol, then sheathes the rapier as well. After giving Varuzhan a quick look to make sure that he won't bleed to death, he draws his gladius, steps up to the comatose lizard, and prepares to cut its throat. "Well, wherever it came from doesn't really matter, does it? It shouldn't be here, and to judge by its appearance, it wasn't doin' all that well. We're probably the first good meal it's seen, in a manner o' speakin', in a good while." Before the blade can make contact with the beast's exposed throat, a thought occurs to Boros, and he pauses to give it a considering look. After a few moments, he sheathes the gladius and looks at the others. "I just had an idea, a real wild one. What if we tamed this thin' and put it guardin' wherever it is we set up our base?"
Before his compaions can raise any objections, he lifts a hand to forestall them and continues. "We tryin' to start a successful rebellion here, but we have damned little in the way o' assets to put toward that cause. We got the stuff we found in that old rebel base before it fell apart on top o' us, sure. And we got an informer, who we all hope stays bought and undiscovered. We got this place," he says while indicating their surroundings. "Which may or may not be too damaged to actually use. And, o' course, we got whatever there might be to find down here, if there is anythin' to be found. That's not a real encouragin' list, honestly. So we got to be creative, make use o' whatever we can get our hands on, if we can."
Boros nudges the unconscious reptile's side with a boot. "Well, rigbt here's a potential asset for us, if we have the skill and patience to work on it. But we need to decide on that right now, while we have it in a state where we can take the time to think it over. 'Cause if it's not restrained and ready to be taught when it wakes up, then we've wasted that opportunity." His pitch finished, Boros looks expectantly at the others, awaiting their thoughts on the matter.
Miranda sits down to wait for Varuzhan's cure to take hold. It felt a bit weird, but not entirely unfamiliar. Hmm? But that wasn't really the biggest issue right now and she put the thought to the back of her mind. "It was a really fierce lizard." she agrees with Boros. "And if we got it to eat Thrune goons instead of us that would be helpful - but I'm not sure how to manage that..." Trailing off she looks thoughtfully on the ko:ed creature. How did that thing end up here? - And I wonder if Aldous can make that nicer-then-sever smell on demand?
Nissim and Varuzhan attempt in vain to hold the progress of the poison, but luckily it quickly runs it's course.
Varuzhan simply didn't expect he would need to prepare counterpoison for a creature from such faraway lands.
Nissim, on the other hand, did not even know about this kind of lizard...he knew about poisons, but in the hurry, the steps he took did not prove to be effective before the substances potency had run it's course.
Luckily, the Barrister proved to be versatile in his abilities, and quickly negated the poisons effect on the strix. Of course, that consumed a majority of the power he wielded...would he come to regret that, later?
Boros, ready to finish Wenzel off, stalls his blade, considering the option of using the creature to their advantage. Miranda ponders such as well, watching the emaciated creature breath calmly.
Rexus feels that he should answer that suggestion:"I'm not sure, Boros...that creature was ferocious...if not for the healing and all of you, I'm certain your friend would be lizard food, now. I could certainly also see if there's anybody capable of training such animals, but honestly, this thing seems a bit exotic. I wonder how it got here in the first place?"
With the others busy, Lily keeps watch, looking for other strange movements in the water, or the darkness, now that the fog has dissolved.
Varuzhan is quite stunned to find his physical sluggishness almost instantly removed. "That's astounding! Thank you, Aldous. Your curative magics are very impressive."
He then looks over the unconscious creature. "As for training it, that lizard just tried to have all of us for breakfast! I'd suggest we don't risk giving it a second chance."
...that lizard just tried to have all of us for breakfast!...
"Aye, I'm well aware o' what it was tryin'. And I don't blame it for doin' what it knows, not at all. But consider the advantages here. First, with no eyes, illusions and disguises aren't likely to work on it. And it's bite is apparently good for takin' a target down without permanent damage. Might even be able to harvest whatever it's usin' for our weapons." Boros pauses for a moment, then raises another point, albeit a less pleasant one to contemplate. "And should we need to dispose o' bodies that can't ever found again, well...," he trails off with a grim expression and a pointed look at the sprawled lizard.
Varuzhan shakes his head, then waves an arm dismissively. "Feh, I won't stop you if you want to risk your arms and legs for this sort of thing. If you're gonna keep it, let's make sure it won't escape anytime soon."
"I think it's certainly worth a try." Lily says, finger on her lips, "There's a risk involved, but we could easily save a life here that we'd otherwise be required to end... and later, it may just save our lives in return. For what it's worth, I can look into studying techniques to train animals - I'm not particularly clever, but I've always been lucky with animals as a whole." With that, she reaches into a long slender pocket in her leather pants that blended in with her thigh, producing a small wooden wand etched in roses and hummingbirds. With a swish and a flick she taps Boros, Miranda and Varuzhan once each, hoping to help their wounds to seal while not wasting the valuable resource overmuch.
-6 hp, now.
-5 hp, now.
-4 hp, now.
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Rexus rummages around in his full backpack, before producing some rope from it:"I do have this, if you mean to bind that thing. Just keep it away from me!"
Handing it to whoever is willing to take it, he steps back away from the lizard, trying to convince the surrounding darkness to back off with his glare:"And still more places to check. I hope this thing had no buddies-"
"Oh! Rope. I have some of that too." Miranda races Rexus to search trough her own pack, rather quickly since it didn't contain too much, producing a long silk rope - perfect for tying up scary lizards.
"So tie it down and complete our search? We'll have to come back and give it some food then. And maybe make a pen or something, just so we don't have to keep it bond too long."
Aldous smiles at Varuzhan, pushing his glasses up on his nose as he does so. "I've never done that before! I'll admit it - I'm impressed with me! Though I'd not last so long in the maw of that creature - you're also impressive, in a different way."
Then, sniffing, he steps away from the lizard. "I'd recommend killing it. It smells aweful, and playing with dangerous toys is well, dangerous. Put it out of our misery. Regardless, I won't be going near it." Taking his place by Rexus, the barrister eyes the lizard warily.
NIssim stands with his arms crossed, looking the lizard over, with a concerned expression.
"I like the idea of keeping the lizard as a guard in theory, but I'm not sure we could make it work. Even if it could be trained to recognize all of us as friendly, rather than just its trainer, which I'm not sure of, how would anyone else pass through, friends as well as enemies, without being attacked?"
"if we are planning to move anyone freed from the saltworks prison through here, or to have them stay here for a while, how does it work? Can Laria or others move through freely? Does the trainer have to be present in all cases? Is it only alert and effective as a guard when hungry? If it's kept caged when we're not present, is it a worthwhile guardian?"
"Also, if something does go wrong, it is a very dangerous beast. It seems to me a lot of questions, trouble, and risk for little in return."
As he moves to bind the lizard's sides to its body using the rope by Miranda, since she was faster than Rexus in providing a coil, Boros considers the various points carefully. Once the scaley body is thoroughly wrapped from neck to hindquarters, as best as he can manage, he addresses the raised concerns. "First off, if Lily here can get the basics o' trainin' learned, she can manage that part of it. That'll handle the need for resortin' to a stranger to do the work. Second, we can put it guardin' places that most folk don't normally go, or need to get into for any common reason. An escape tunnel, a vault for funds, places o' that sort. If we use it where people are, then it can probably be taught to stand down for the right command."
Rising, he looks his bindings over with a critical eye, hoping it'll suffice to keep the lizard in check. "For everythin' else, we deal with it as it comes, after seein' if the beast can even be taught," he concludes as he moves the bound form well back from the water. "For now though, we should finish up lookin' this place over. Then we can buy some meat or somethin', get this critter to associate us with regular meals until Lily can learn what she needs to get started."
With the group unsure how to handle the lizard, for now, it is bound with rope and moved away from the water. It could still be killed, later, if that was decided...and most probably, someone would manage to knock it out again before it could free itself, even if it came to before such a decision was reached.
These creatures were not known for subtly escaping their bonds pretending to still be unconscious...if it woke, you would know it and could certainly react before it could tear through the bindings.
Of course, that still left, unexplored, the dead-end with a secret door, the opposite direction with stairs up, and the watery path with broken wooden pieces that possibly formed a walkway, long ago.
With the lizard more or less safely stowed away, it's fate to be decided later, the group snaps back to the task at hand...
Seeing that the beast has been restrained, Varuzhan is eager to move. "Come on, let's check out those stairs next." He'll lead the way as typical. .
"Yes! That sound like a plan!" Miranda leaps up and assumes her position in the queue.
Walking up the stairs, carefully, you can already tell that this is different from the area before. While the area below was rough-hewn from the rocky fundament below Kintargo(well, below old Kintargo, where applicable), this area seems smoothly shaped by an expert mason...or magic. The air is still humid, and the same algae as on the way down took root here, covering some steps with a slick green slime, only significantly fewer...almost as if the stairs had been maintained.
Cautiously, you make your way up, coming to a archway in a brick wall, with a paved floor beyond. It seems that an ill-fitting wooden door had been installed in the wall, but it's been smashed from the side you approach from, the door's remains covering the rooms floor near the archway. Beyond the splinters and hold in the wall, there is a room that feels like a forgotten basement. Some storage cabinets, most of those on one side filled with rotten vegetables or fruit, those on the other side smashed, together with the cages they held, and bones of more small animals strewn about. On the third wall, there's a water cistern, but even a fleeting glance convinces you not to drink from there. There's even a drain to what you suppose is the sewers this side of the city, but cursory inspection reveals that it quickly narrows into a cylinder too small for even Miranda to traverse.
On the wall near where the cages had been, a stylized torch is mounted on a wall sconce, shining bright from an orb-like knob at it's end. On the other side of the room, stairs seem to lead further up.
Varuzhan moves cautiously into the room. "More animal bones - maybe pet food for that lizard?" He looks for some more information about what might have been going on here.
"Rexus, do you have a guess as to where those stairs go? Seems like it might connect to a place next door to where we came in from."
"A pantry maybe? I know I board up mine pretty quick if it turned out giant sewer lizards got into it ..." Miranda guessed as she looked around, taking care to be at least a little quiet. Feels like someone has been here somewhat recently at least. Hmh.
But they were not here anymore. And it didn't look like they intended to come back either. Would be a real shame if that glowing ball had to be here all alone! the tiefling thought to herself and inched closer. A portable - and seemingly inexhaustible - light source could be helpful for the rebellion!
As Varuzhan and Miranda each find something particular on which to focus their attention in the ruined chamber, Boros takes up position to watch the stairs heading up in case any trouble comes from that direction. As he does so, he beckons Lily over and nods questioningly at the unused sunrod stuck in his harness. "While we've a moment to do so, would ya be so kind as to refresh that light spell o' yers? Don't want it givin' out at the wrong moment down here, ya know?
"Could it be that our summoner downstairs keeps, or kept, a residence up here?"
"I think maybe this is where the person who was keeping Wenzel as a guard spent their time down here." Lily says, as she picks up a random object on the table to examine, before casting light on it and tucking it into Boros's bandolier, causing the sunrod to cease glowing. "Might be better off making sure the sunrod is at hand if something takes your light." she says, having realized the vulnerability.
Varuzhan checks the Animal Bones, trying to guess their age. It's not easy to say, consider they have been scraped clean. The assumption that the Lizard had broken in and was responsible does seem sound.
Especially because some more prints can be found - if there ever was anything else to track on the stone floor, there is no longer.
To his inquiry, Rexus answers:"No idea. This whole section seems new...well, not, it's obviously old by itself, but I don't think it was connected back then. But the way the stairs keep going up, they'll have to end up someplace..."
Taking a cautious look with Varuzhan and Aldous, trying to gauge how far the stairs go, they find they come to a sudden halt in another short corridor dead-end.
Meanwhile, Miranda circles the glowing light, finding no trickery that could prevent her from aquiring it for the rebellion. In addition, it's just a vanilla wall sconce, designed to simply place the torch one carried in it to have both hands free to do something else, then pick it up again...that is to say, it is not secured in any way, and Miranda takes possession of the object.
Meanwhile, Nissim suggests his theory, and Lily answers, while re-applying a light spell to an object she hands to Boros.
She finds it hard to date specific objects as every furniture item down here seem to be plenty generic and basic storage tools, as those in use in many basements across Kintargo. But several of the tables or cupboards show signs of age and long-term use. Nothing here is really OLD, but it's definitely not new, either. Her guess would be somewhat between 5 and 30 years of age for most of the objects down here.
Checking the fruits/vegetables fits with the earlier result from checking the herbs near the summoning circle. It's probably been at least a few month they have been left to rot. Even with a good grasp on decomposition, it's hard to tell more accurately, with the cold and damp climate down here.
Nissim approaches Miranda to get a better look at her new bauble.
"That's a very handy item you've found there. It can be turned off as well. I believe agim to turn it on, and muzg to turn it off."
"It would make sense if this was our dear demoniacs cellar. Probably didn't feel like going down here anymore after encountering bity maybe?" Miranda mumbles while bouncing up and down underneath the torch. Tall folk *always* felt the need to mount them so high up! And she wouldn't want to trust any of the crates down here either. But it only took a few tries before she could get a solid hold and claim her prize.
Shiny. Literally! she noted to herself as she examined the torch. It was quite pretty. Probingly she poked the 'burning' part, finding it cool to touch as one would only expect from a magical torch. "Mm!" she hummed in agreement with Nissim's evaluation as he came over. "Though I don't need it to see; maybe you would want to hold on to it?" Once she has finished her throughout examination she prepares to hand it over to Nissim - or anyone else feeling they would benefit from carrying a bit more light!
"Stairs to nowhere? Let's assume that there's a secret door at the end of this. Only question is, where exactly is it?"
Varuzhan starts to bumble around but doesn't have much luck.
"Alright Miranda, I will hold on to this, thank you. It makes sense since I don't have a weapon in hand."
NIssim takes a look at the stairs with Varuzhan, then moves into the center of the room to think about how the area might be laid out. How does it all fit together?
"Odd, indeed." Lily says, having cast her own detect magic to eye to fancy bauble as it exchanges hands. "It's not at all like the ones my grandmother used to make. Well, it is, but isn't. It's much more specialized and stronger than what my grandmother made. Also... more beautiful - Don't tell her I said that - But also darkly beautiful." she says, biting her lip. "Who would take such care to make such a wondrous object, and then bind it with infernal words? Perhaps the crafter intended to control some sort of creature that utilized potent darkness? Or was no friend of Tieflings and feared their ability to sink them into darkness?" As she waxes poetic, she finally shakes her head, before looking to the progress the others were making on the not-door.
"It could also simply be what was once a way up, that was sealed when all of this became obsolete." she suggests. Despite this, they may well have a bit more luck than they'd have expected.
Boros keeps a wary on everyone as they move around the room, making sure that he always knows where the party's most vulnerable members are in relation to himself and the possible directions from a threat might appear. He adds little to the various discussions, however, as this isn't something he can really contribute to in any meaningful way, but that isn't something that honestly bothers him; there's time for thinking and time for doing, and this is clearly the former. And since the party has people who pretty obviously know what they're about, he's quite willing to leave the experts to their work without being one of those rear-echelon mother futterers.
While a majority of the party take a closer look at the light-spending new gimmick they aquired for the rebellion-to-be, others check the top of the stairs. Thoroughly so, and successfully. One of the walls is not real, giving no resistance to probing hands. Inmediately behind that wall, there's a heavy wooden object. Varuzhan, taking his time, finds that pushing against it seems almost impossible, but applying sideway force seems to move it rather easily. His probing is only minimal, though, just trying to get a basic understanding of what he is dealing with.
Nissim ponders the possible layout...you went from a building down into a cellar, and from that cellar down to the level with the lizard and summoning circle, then up towards what looks like a cellar, and from there, stairs lead up yet again. With no serious height differences of the ground floor in the neighbourhood, and considering the amount and height of steps, he would assume that the plateau at the end of the stairs here should be back up at ground level, probably leading towards another building. It may be possible to pinpoint said building trying to retrace one's steps from outside, but down here, that would be guesswork.
"Lots of stuff if just in Infernal so it sounds fancy." Miranda remarks and scuffles along the wall of the dead end, searching irregularities that could hint to secret, or simply walled up, passages. "I mean it's not like you are going to find many Celestial dictionaries laying around here. Imagine the twist this Thrune goon would get his panties if people used that instead!"
"So then," Aldous says, waving his hand through the wall, "It is an escape tunnel. Or a secret entrance. Hand that torch up here, let's see what is behind the wall."
Providing the others bring the torch, Aldous proceeds to do just that.
"There is probably someones house at the other side." Miranda points out and shuffles as far away from the false wall as possible. "Are we sure we want to invade the privacy of a demoniac - one that thinks something big and gnawy might want to come up this way?"
"Though..." She lightens up and grins. "It could certainly be an experience!" Quickly dipping her hand into one of her many pockets she produces a small drill*. "But maybe you'd wanna take a peak first?"
Varuzhan admires the halfling's resourcefulness as she pulls out a small drill. "Sure, let's try drilling through and seeing what we find."
Hearing the plan proposed by Miranda, Boros sighs and shakes his head with an amused expression. "Ya know, you could just run on back to the inn above us and ask what's next to them on the street, right? Be a lot safer than drillin' a hole on someone's wall, maybe drawin' attention we really don't want. Especially if we mean to use this place for anythin'." As he says this, Boros is already leaving the room, clearly intent on following through with the suggestion he just made. And this will also give him a chance to look over the captive lizard as well, making sure that it is still restrained properly.
Giving Boros a moment to run back up, barely remembering to shout out to Laria before entering her cross-bow-threatened area, he asks about the building next door, in the proper direction.
As it turns out, it's a managed apartment complex for those who can afford such luxury. There's a number of very expensive individual living spaces, with a shared common area and shared service staff. Basically the next best thing to a mansion for rich people not QUITE wealthy enough to have a mansion for themselves. Pinpointing a certain living space could possibly be done, but by definition, the caretakers of the place would not give out any information(at least not while the rent is paid - generally they did not ASK questions, and much less ANSWER them, that was often even part of the contract.)
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Shortly after, downstairs
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Opting not to slide the wooden obstacle away, for fear of an occupant afraid of big, gnawy, or generally invasive visitors, Miranda instead retrieves a tiny drill, hoping to make a peeking hole into the wooden board.
It takes time, as the tiny drill was not designed for this kind of work, but the wood seems to yield. Deeper and deeper it goes, until suddenly, it's through, pushing a much weaker obstacle behind which subsequently seems to fall down with a muffled "wumph".
Looking through the freshly made hole shows a mostly dark room, not really a worry for Miranda or Varuzhan. Their field of vision, however, is strongly impacted by what appear to be book covers to the inmediate left and right side of the hole and a wooden board below, on the other side of the wooden barricade that could possibly be called a bookcase, after learning more about it.
On the limited angle viewable, there seem to be a desk and a bed on the opposing wall, next to each other, and only partially visible. Both bed and table seem clean and unused(there are elements like an ink pod visible on the desk, but the work area is empty and everything seems very orderly).
Before rejoining the others, Boros offers Laria a quick explanation what's been found so far, including the captured lizard, and he makes a point of inquiring about getting a large supply of fresh meat with which to feed the beast, though he doesn't need it immediately. On his return, he checks thw bound reptile yet again--can never be too sure, after all--then enters the room where the rest of the party is gathered. He takes a moment to explain what the building next to the inn is, which means they've likely drilled into someone's bedroom. Boros also points out that any light from their side shining through the hole would certainly draw notice.
Laria explains that she will see about the parts of meat that usually go to the garbage or into the stew, and will probably have some ready for you, later.
The reptile is still bound and out, breathing calmly. As you walk by, it seems to stir for a moment, but when you move further away, it relaxes again.
Peering through the hole, Varuzhan is quite amused. "There's a bookcase on the other side hiding this door, and it seems like we knocked a book onto the floor. The room looks neat and undisturbed. Seems like we could snoop around quietly if we want to. At the very least, we need to go in there and put the book back, so let's do this."
And so Varuzhan decides to slide open the secret door.
"An inn?" Miranda looked a bit confused. "Why would they have an secret cultist entrance? Unless ... the whole thing is an secret cult!"
Since that sounds a bit worrying, Miranda puts an hand on her daggers as she steps aside to let Varuzhan move the secret door.
Not one to wait for a reaction from the other side, Varuzhan slides the bookcase to the side, while Miranda nervously handles her daggers behind him.
Behind, there's a very clean room, and very dark, with no light entering it from outside...the bed and desk opposite your entrance, you already knew about. On the the right hand wall is a closed wooden door, and a washbasin, to the left 2 closed windows that can be barred from the inside(not surprising, since you expect to be on street level - even if the whole complex is probably walled in.) and a heavy chest at the foot end of the bed. On the table, towards the door side, are a bunch of papers and envelopes stacked up.
Stepping into the room and looking back, the illusion blends perfectly with the remainder of the wall, hiding the way down. The bookcase is not the only one, in total, there are 3 book cases along the wall. There's also 2 closed wardrobes, in the same style as the cupboards.
The floor is made of high-quality wood, but quite old. Moving around on it DOES produce some sound, but is not very loud.
Although he said nothing on the subject, he is glad Varuzhan decided to go ahead and enter the chambers beyond the hidden door. He is most curious to learn more about the person, or perhaps persons, responsible for the summoning circle and/or the lizard's presence.
Lacking the vision to see in darkness like Varuzhan and Miranda though, he bides his time before entering himself. He doesn't want to possibly ruin their cover by vringing a light in.