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Kirrote dives into the meal with gusto. By the time he's done with all of the courses, the table in front of him is covered with all manner of splashed sauces and greasy spots. He pays only a small amount of attention to the conversation about the girl. For the most part he got enough information earlier. Go to a scary place and explore it. Easy.
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Lady Dacilane nods, before replying: "Perhaps, but taxes, excises and fees are the basis for the strength of any governing body that desires to govern. Thus, I feel it is my duty as a loyal citizen of Absalom to pay what is due to Absalom." She stops to cut another small piece of boar, while looking at Kirrote with an air in which stoic acceptance, disgust and morbid fascination combine. "Perhaps if your friends have goals beyond that of evading lawfully enacted taxes, I might be interested; your words, and your general demeanor have piked my curiosity."
After being escorted back to the gate, ever-so politely and solemnly by the majordomo, you find yourselves on the wet streets of Absalom. The rain has ceased, but, as it is wont to do, the rain has turned to a wispy fog in spite of the late hour and the cooling temperature. Without waiting any further, you make your way to the Precipice quarter, where you manage to get in in spite of the guard that has been posted to keep the rest of the town safe from ... whatever may lurk there after dark.
In spite of Absalom's high demand for property, the Precipice quarter remains mostly vacant, with the light of a candle or torch far and few in between. The normal sounds of the night, dogs howling, the calls of cats in heat, are strangely absent here, and as you get closer to your destination, the lights from the rest of the city appear distant and cold.
The smell of guano and the spray of the sea are the first things to greet you, before you come in sight of a fence of black iron pikes surrounding a black-wide yard, desolate, with a handful of buildings across it, fewer still those that aren't crumbling and falling apart. Dead tree branches reach out across through the spaces in between, like emaciated prisoners trying to escape.
From the light of your spells, you do see a figure on the other side, seemingly performing some sort of gardening, cutting a tree down with an old axe.
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Yangrit wonders why the males in her group decided to start their mission when decent people would be starting to think of their beds. She is sullen, silent, and hyper-wary about the prospect of dealing with undead. She's not really afraid, but...
Something about that gardener seems off to her, but she is also wary of the general area. It bugs her that Whizbang announced their presence that way (What was he thinking?), but she's too preoccupied at the moment to deal it. She peers intently at the gardener for a bit, then scans the surrounding area for threats.
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The man turns around to look at you by the light of his own lantern. Thin, almost emaciated with thinning gray hair, and dressed in clothing suggesting he isn't a gardener by trade, he stares at you with dead eyes, expressionless.
Yangrit looks around, but does not see anything out of the ordinary, apart from the strange man standing in the middle of nowhere looking back at you and the brightly colored leather ball which rolls off of the cliffside.
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The man's dead eyes and expression cause the little hairs on the back of Yangrit's neck to rise, and the brightly colored ball seems out of place here in this creepy place after dark. Yangrit's dwarven eyes try to locate where the ball came from. Subconsciously she prepares herself for a fight, shifting slightly into almost a defensive stance.
Speaking low so only those close to her can hear, Yangrit mutters,
"Something doesn't feel right here."
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From the other side of the fence, the man just keeps on looking as Yangrit looks about for something noone else seems to have noticed. She isn't sure where the ball came from. From where it was seconds before it fell, someone on the other side of the fence should have been in plain sight to kick it forward. Thus far, there is noone to be seen.
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As the others speak with him, Howirk looks over the man for any signs of trauma, enchantment, or possession.
The man looks alive, but his actions suggest that he may not all be there. Howirk tries to assess the man's health. Is he even reathing?
[occ]If there is no clear evidence that the man is undead, Howirk is ready to move on [/ooc]
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Howirk looks at the man, puzzling at his condition. He certainly looks alive from the other side of the fence. The large gates giving onto the Drownyards are not too far off to the right, requiring you to let the man out of sight for a moment. The padlock, unlike the rest of the fencing, is new and shows little signs of corrosion. As you unlock the gates and push them open, a figure approaches you, marching towards you with great strides as the hinges shudder and squeal.
"Why good evening! How are you doing? Welcome to the Tri-Towers Yard, it's a little run down after that earthquake, but I'm sure you can see the place's charm!" exclaims the same man from earlier on, taking his work gloves off to extend a hand towards you. "Perhaps I can be of assistance? Are you looking to meet with someone in particular?"
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"Oh that was you? I'm sorry, I thought you were just more hoodlums, coming to rattle the fence and scream."
The man, by Thaddaeus' assessment, seems to not be under any compulsion. He does not even seem to bat an eye when Thad immediately goes to cast detect magic, a spell that confirms to the cleric that this man does not have any magical auras on him.
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"Would you happen to know of a way down in the Necropolis that lies below this yard? Barring that, would you happen to know where the groundskeeper is at this hour? Oh, and you wouldn't happen to have you seen a two-finger ring topped with a ruby salamander?" With each question, it almost seems like Wizbang is checking an item off a mental checklist...
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Turning to Yangrit, he replies: "Why she is a student here! And... She is running a little late. But that's fine. Children you know. She is probably playing with her friends" he adds, turning back to both Thaddaeus and Howirk.
At the mention of a Necropolis he turns to Wizbang and steps closer to the elf, gravel crunching under his feet "Necropolis? I'm sure I don't know anything about that. But maybe Mrs Heracks can help, she was down there the longest before I got her out. Perhaps she can help! Come along, I'll introduce you; she's in Headmistress Kiwu's old office now."
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"This Mrs. Heracks sounds helpful." Howirk responds. It must have been the old Halfling luck that I came across someone with their wits about them and able to provide us with help, he thinks. Howirk heads in the same direction as Marlinchen, looking back to urge his companions to follow.
"This school that your daughter attends appears to be pretty prestigious. Tuition must require quite a sum of gold. This doesn't look the best place..." Howirk looks around at the fenced-in area and recalls the warnings the party received before they entered the Quarter, before concluding his sentence, "To make a living."
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"Oh no, not at all" replies Mr Marlinchen to Howirk as he marches quickly towards your destination along stone paths that have seen better days. "Since the incident, tuition has gone down to ... nothing really. In any case, having rescued so many of the children and staff, I doubt they would make me pay. Gratitude and all that" he adds a little smugly as you pass what once was once a fountain, its waters dark and thick with dead plankton. "But helping with the upkeep of the place, or at least the garden, is the least of what I can do" he adds, gesturing at many flower bushes, blooming in spite of the cold air with colors of black, dark blue and white.
He looks to Wizbang and continues: "Oh no, Mrs Heracks is just a teacher! She's just using the Headmistresses' office for the time being."
He finally leads you into a building that seems to have half-fallen off of a cliff with age, with the rest of it moldy, mold growing as a violent sea breeze blows through broken windows. Almost running in, his head darts left, then right before darting into a room with incredible speed.
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Yangrit has all kinds of alarm bells going off in her head about this guy, but in spite of this (or maybe because of it) she doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary during the exchange in which he first mentions Mrs. Heracks.
She follows the group towards the building, bringing up the rear and scanning again for any sign of someone who may have dropped that bright leather ball earlier, plus anything else that may give her a clue as to what's going on.
She is trying too hard to notice everything because her tension is so tightly wound, so her efforts end up being rather dysfunctional.
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Wizbang pontificates about all the details he knows about the funerary flowers, typically used in last rites throughout the island of Kortos, and how it is customary for flowers just like these to be placed atop gravestones, as a bouquet for the departed. He doesn't even notice that their host has dashed off as he begins a dissertation on various funereal rites throughout the inner sea region.
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As Yangrit marches on, she becomes convinced that there is no possible way for someone to have kicked that ball with anyone seeing them. But how could that ball just... Appear?
The room your guide has entered is dilapidated, like the rest, but still has a roof to shelter it's contents. About a dozen desks, sized for children, are lined up in front of a larger, adult-sized desk upon which lay a couple of books and a . Sitting at each desk is a child in an old school uniform, looking straight ahead at a dusty, empty chalkboard. Despite your entrance, noone moves. At the head of the class, standing behind the desk is a severe, middle-aged woman dressed in a conservative attire.
"Ah, Mrs Heracks! I'm sorry to interrupt your lesson, but I was wondering if you could help these visitors?" asks Marlinchen jovially. The woman slowly turns her head to gaze upon you. "Yes, I am... Well, it shouldn't take long... Yes, they wish to visit the necropolis."
At those words, the heads of the children all violently turn ninety degrees in your direction, and their eyes turn pitch black.
"Well, I don't think. Let me ask them."
Marlinchen turns to you sheepishly, scratching his head. "Uhm... She is saying that the entrance is flooded and the crypts are dangerous, but if you feel capable of handling the dangers within she's more than happy to take you there. Do you feel ready to deal with that sort of stuff?"
The jaws of the children all drop down further than a jaw should, revealing utter darkness as the wind blows through the building, felicitating a low moan.
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"Uhm... She is saying that the entrance is flooded and the crypts are dangerous, but if you feel capable of handling the dangers within she's more than happy to take you there. Do you feel ready to deal with that sort of stuff?"
The jaws of the children all drop down further than a jaw should, revealing utter darkness as the wind blows through the building, felicitating a low moan.
"Moreso than this sort of stuff." Howirk responds without realizing he is speaking aloud. A chill races down his short spine. Howirk looks quickly among the ghostly children to see if any match the description of the Lady's daughter.
Unable to find any child matching the Lady's description, he turns to Thaddeus. "Hrrm. No rings or remains here that I can see. Though clearly, there are quite a few spirits that need to be put to rest. I hope that you and your god are up to the task, Holy Man." He goes to pat the cleric on the back. "While you're busy with that, I'll grab the treasure."
Howirk looks to behind him and gives the wizard and the two warriors a grin. "It looks like we will be following the nice...uh... schoolmarm to the necropolis." The Halfling nods his head in the direction of the ghostly Mrs. Heracks.
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The teachers walks past you all and out of the building in complete silence, and leads you to a tar-black pool, with a bubble intermittently percolating up to the surface in the center.
Mr Marlinchen nods and begins to look at the ghost attentively, as if she were speaking, though her lips do not move. The chirps of night insects are the only things breaking the silence around you.
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Kirrote remains puzzled by what is going on but he continues to follow the apparitions. He stops at the black pool. "Ok. Now what? What do we do with this pool?"
"Swimming is not my strong suit. Short legs aren't all the best for kicking." Howirk says in reply. "You, however, look like quite the swimmer. Care to take look around?"
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Wizbang focuses, but does not detect any magic around. By his recollection, this water has been stagnant for a while. Best not drink it.
"She wishes you good luck, and says the entrance is beneath the arm. Yes, I will keep an eye on them while they are up here..." he adds, rolling his eyes with a warm smile. "She's afraid you'll get into trouble and start vandalizing the place. Typical" he chuckles, as all color from the teacher drains, followed by skin, muscle and sinew, and she silently screeches for a mercy the gods will not give. And then, in an instant, she is gone.