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The two remaining ghostly figures glide forward through the grain and strike at Ziggy with their claws.
His armour easily deflects their blows.
Kaitanu fires off a quick arrow, but this seems to pass through their insubstantial bodies.
Status, bold may post (round 1)
Tsadok
Malika
Ziggy
Kaitanu
Black Echelon 0 rounds at the grain.
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Ziggy cuts on of the undead in half. Then Malaika does his thing. The second remaining one vanishes in a puff of positivity.
One of the piles of grain shudders and after a shriek of pain lies still as well, while another pile of grain errupts outwards as a fifth black echelon emerges! It looks like there were some hiding.
Status, bold may post (round 1)
Tsadok
Malika
Ziggy
Kaitanu
Black Echelon 0 rounds at the grain.
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Kaitanu looks at the chest of poison. "Let's dispose of this properly before it gets used for the wrong purposes. It seems we were able to get here in time. I hope we continue to be so lucky."
Kaitanu lets Ziggy carry the heavy chest out of the granery.
"Unless there is something else we need to attend to, where can we find this code book you had stolen?" he says as he looks around for any more light signals.
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Yagos shrugs.
"Take it with you, but lets get it clear of the grain. Maybe someone can analyse what sort of poison it is. Actually, historically it would be of considerable interest to kn..."
The scholar notices the stony faced pathfinders again.
"Quite right, immediate problems first. I do know of an information broker who might be able to help, but his price is steep and finding him can be.. unpleasant."
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"The sewers..." sighs Yagos.
Yagos leads the pathfinder team to a sewer entrance. The smell is bad on the surface, but that is just a lead in to one of the most horrible assaults on their noses that the team has ever experienced.
"You get kind of used to it after a while.." assures Yagos.
Unfortunately "a while" is longer that the seemingly interminable length of time that he leads you through twisting, slipper and disgusting corridors that vary in size from almost okay to 'you need to squeeze just a little bit here.'
Eventually you come to a slight slope upwards that seems just a tad less disgusting, and at the end of some twists and turns, a very solid looking door. Yagos raps on it in a complicated pattern and it is eventually opened by a large half orc.
"Keep your weapons sheathed, or you are likely to lose your hands, and possibly your lives." warns the historian. He turns to the half orc and requests an audience. After a few minutes the group is ushered into another room. This has a large tub in the middle, in which is sitting a man covered in horrible burns.
Two servants ladle water over him, while two large and heavily armed half orcs remain on guard.
"How can Grandmaster Torch help you today?" he asks in a soft spoken voice.
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Attempting to remain as composed and collected as possible given the circumstances, Malaika steps forward. Sir, A minor crime lord by the name of Nessian has begun activating some leftover magical attacks from one of the previous attacks against Absalom. He cares nothing for the destruction he is causing. He merely hopes to be able to profit from the confusion in the aimless random destruction. Noblese Oblige, requires us to stop him and protect those less able to protect themselves. We would appreciate your assistance in locating this Nessian.
.
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That is certainly not a small price. Unfortunately, even where I willing to pay it, we simply do not have the means to do so.
It is possible that we may someday be among the rich and powerful. However we are currently men of quite modest means. As I am quite sure you are aware.
So why don't we just move along to what you really want?
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Torch sighs.
"What I really want is to relax in my bath and keep my reputation intact. Getting rich would be nice too."
He looks around the somewhat rag-tag group.
"However it doesn't appear that I'm likely to get rich from your gold, maybe I should just use some of your skills instead.."
One of the servants pours more water over him, and then he continues to speak.
"I’ve recently come into possession of a series of safes. Unfortunately, the safecracker I employed has turned out to be quite useless. If you can coax even three of the five safes open, I could be persuaded to disclose Nessian’s location and dispense with my regular fee entirely. These chests are remarkably unique and I have the foreboding suspicion that, in this case, the receptacles just might be worth more than their contents, so I’d rather you didn’t smash them open. Oh! One more thing: if my diviner warns me you have crossed me and stolen the contents, there will be repercussions."
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First things first...
The grandmaster rings a bell and a servant comes in. He ushers you out of the bathing chamber, down a corridor and into another room. The room has five quite unique chests is in.
The first is an iron case with a laughing devils head for a lock.
The second is a red box inset with a trio of golden faces, one stern, one angry and the third overcome with hatred.
The third is covered with carvings of ivy
The fourty is a seal stoen chest with no visible lock or hinges
The last has strange stylized writing wrapping around the whole of the rectangular chest. Ten small pores run along the box's lid.
While you can try them in any order, to keep things sane, I'm going to suggest you look at them one at a time.
If you start with a perception check, that is generally a good idea.
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Kaitanu realises that the devil’s head can be
turned in both directions, like a combination lock, but without
numbers to act as a guide.
It takes only a small amount of time, and Kaitanu soon has the box open.
Within is a lost treatise entitled “The Inward Facing Circle” written by
Coganaris the Wracker. There are also two scrolls.
This red box has been inset with a trio of golden faces: the
first appears stern, the second angry, and the third fumes
with hatred.
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The box springs open, and within Kaitanu spies a collection of ancient stone miniatures of a Viking army from the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
The third chest is covered with a relief of carved ivy.
Taking some time Kaitanu makes out some writing within it.
"Though different now sounds my name, the spelling
still remains the same.
Once prior leap of might, now becomes bird of white."
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"Looks like you knew the answer all along! I wouldn't have figured that out myself."
Ziggy laughs while nodding his head, slightly jiggling the chest.
"Maybe we can solve all of these for Torch?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
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The chest doesn't move
But it doesn't feel 'right' either. Looking hard at it and squinting sideways, Ziggy realises that the box is not what it seems. Closing his eyes and pushing his hands through phantom resistance he realises there is a lid that can be opened.
Even when he opens it, the chest appears a block, but he can feel round inside and extract a mass load of very odd bits and pieces. The spellcasters quickly realise they are expensive spell components...
And onto the last box.
Kaitanu quickly realises there is a hidden panel on one side of this, but no means to open it. The strange lettering on the box...though..
Maybe a linguistics check (or anyone with training in the perform skill, or maybe bardic music?)
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Kaitanu continues to look over the last box. "I can't figure out how to open this panel. Maybe this wording is the trigger, but I can't make any of it out. Anyway, we only needed to open 3 to get what we needed and we got 4, so I consider that a success. Let's let Torch know what we have found and get our information."
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The Half orcs come back in and sneer at the pathfinders. Slowly they usher you out of the room and back to Torch.
"Well, four is better than none. I can't have you down here all night. Nessian can be found in the Pyramid of the Dog, an old seige tower a little outside of Absalom."
The team and Yagos are ushered out of the den, and the scholar leads you back through the disgusting sewers to the surface word.
The team emerges from the sewers to find that the rest of the night had passed for them in the sewers, and it is now dawn of Oathday.
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"It is one of the final and most important signals. The lights will
send a team of Black Echelon operatives to attack the Metro-Cathedral, an old church of Abadar. According to the codebook, when Black Echelon shuts down the giant organ in midtune, the sudden disruption becomes the signal for Silent Tide; the awaiting (undead) Armada is to approach to the city and begin its attack run!"
He looks frantic.
"We have to stop them!"
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As you approach the cathedral, a magnificent tune is playing. Then the sound starts to break down and become patchy...
A creepy moment ensues as the sound becomes a cacophony of off-key noise and then suddenly comes to an end. Yargos screams "We have
to hurry and continue the music, lest the attack ensue!"
The party charges through the doors of the cathedral. There are several rows of pews and a fantasticly giant organ at the far end of the room. A single cleric flees toward you, persued by three of the ghostly figures you saw before. Another five, with their ghostly aura's of silence have climbed onto the organ and are starting to climb up the pipes to silence them.
Status, bold may post
Malika
Kaitanu
Black Echelon
Ziggy
Tsadok