Withdraw then, and do so carefully!
|
Anaristiel calls out to the others, "Hold; do not attack. I will try to gain us access to the northern gate." To the gourds, she replies...
A path we cannot clear, but we can allow you to pass if you cease the destruction of our garden. Not a single leaf touched! Not a single vine bent!
|
Mogall cast his spell like ability Pass without trace {link} on himself and three others before moving through the patch.
The adventurers move through the patch with great care, avoiding any further damage to the gourds.
From atop the rusty iron gate, the wail is slightly clearer. Though rusty, the gate still looks quite sturdy, and will need some force to open. It's relatively clear of vegetation.
Lance cracks open the gate, and manages to do so without damage to the vegetation. Beyond the vine-encrusted opening, a flight of stairs leads down into a cellar.
Six round pillars and a large iron gate built into a low archway on the west wall are not the most compelling features of this musty cellar. Drawings rendered from soot and dark brown paint cover the walls. They’re broken up by narrow fissures of dark earth and crumbled plaster. The room is filled with bones, most of which are heaped around a large throne against the south wall.
The oldest and most obscured of these drawings depict scenes of the Thrune family being savaged and brutalized by humans and devil-kin alike. The newest scrawlings depict civilians burning under a Chelish flag.
The dark brown paint is, in fact, dried blood.
The most recent addition to the heap of bones seem to be troll bones, with a significant number of deep bite marks.
The piles of bones are deepest around the throne, upon which sits a skeleton in black chainmail. It’s held together with dried vines and has slumped forward slightly, a crown of dull iron upon its brow.
|
Adrianna cautiously examines the room, noting that the dark brown paint is, in fact, dried blood. She also points out the most recent addition to the heap of bones seem to be troll bones, with a significant number of deep bite marks.
"A skeleton on a throne in back chainmail with an iron crown. This scene is eerily familiar to a children's tale from my homeland, told in the dark around fires to frighten the weak of spirit. But there is a deeper warning to the tale, to be certain. Hey Jalthas. Why don't you go check it out for us?"
The skeleton remains motionless on its throne. It looks to be made of the bones of different people, and have not been gnawed on.
The wailing sound is clearer now, and seems to come from the area to the west.
Skeletal corpses thinly wrapped in decaying burial linen rest in niches cut into the stone of a wide hallway, which is intersected by numerous narrow fissures. Many of the niches have collapsed, with bony remains jutting out of the rocks and dark earth. The hallway opens into a larger room, where a stone altar is surrounded by cracked walls decorated with intricate reliefs of religious figures and prominent Davians whose tombs lie beyond.
All is not quiet in this tomb. A troll is bungling upside down from a thick chain, looking to be in poor shape: an arm has been cut off, and heaps of entrails slither down from his slashed abdomen. Below it stand two ghouls, dressed in tattered robes that must once have looked regal. The floor is slippery with entrails.
---
Adrianna
Mogall
Anaristiel
---
Ghoul
---
Lance
Jalthas
---
Adrianna tries a quick knockout, and actually manages to hit the ghoul before it can act. When she strikes, Mogall's flaming sphere rushes by the ghoul, who manages to avoid the burn.
Adrianna comes in to strike the ghoul from the side, and her polearm damages the putrid flesh of the ghoul. The regal ghoul then retaliates by slashing his claws at Adrianna, drawing deep cut, and letting the horrible ghoulish poison do its dirt work.
---
Lance
Jalthas
Adrianna
Mogall
Anaristiel
---
Ghoul (28)
---
---
Anaristiel and Lance harass the ghoul, but fail to hit the fast creature. Adrianna, fighting off the numbness, bit the ghoul with a blow, but misses her second one.
Mogall steers his sphere around, burning the ghoul badly.
---
Lance
Jalthas
Adrianna
Mogall
Anaristiel
---
Ghoul (48)
---
Doomed as the ghoul may be, it still finds the resolve to lash out at Lance, drawing two deep gashes with its claws.
---
Lance
Jalthas
Adrianna
Mogall
Anaristiel
---
Ghoul (48)
---
Lance tries to impale the ghoul, but narrowly missed and scratches the wall. Anaristiel just barely hits the undead. Jalthas feels the weight of his armor make his arm clumsy, and nothing good comes from his blow.
The ghoul also manages to avoid Mogall's fire orb.
---
Lance
Jalthas
Adrianna
Mogall
Anaristiel
---
Ghoul (56)
---
Seeing the tough opponent that is the elf, the ghoul changes tack and assaults Jalthas
---
Lance
Jalthas
Adrianna
Mogall
Anaristiel
---
Ghoul (56)
---
Jalthas swings at the ghoul, feeling his arms go numb from the ghoul's attack. Fortunately, as he does so, Adrianna comes in, battering away at the ghoul, until it falls over, an easy prey for the flaming orb of Mogall.
The troll, still hanging upside down, manages another moan as his arm slowly starts regrowing. It is miserable and in pain.
Though suspicious of the pathfinders, the troll manages a gesture of thanks, then retreats from the fortress.
With the first site of interest explored, Zefiro Ballinger is already working on what the pathfinders may expect from the second site....
Motes of dust float in the air as the midday sun shines through the skylights of the museum roof. Several scholars and students move about the bookshelves and display cases on the main floor and the balconies above, while some are hunched over tables piled with heavy tomes. Zefiro is in discussion with a colleague when he
notices the visitors.
“Ah, you have returned. Welcome.” He shakes hands with everyone. “Right, we have that package for you.” Zefiro beckons to a student at a nearby table. “Run up and fetch the Athenaeum materials from my office.” He turns back from the student, though he occasionally glances nervously at the people going about their work around him.
“The ruin you’re about to investigate is certainly a major discovery, and it’s sure to earn great prestige for my colleagues at Egorian’s Athenaeum. A lost colony of ancient Taldor right within the Kharijite province would certainly give our beloved empire a strong claim to the region.” Zefiro steps a little closer and lowers his voice. “I would be very interested to discuss your findings when you return, with a bit more privacy. Come see me here in the evening and we can have a talk in my office.”
Zefiro takes a step back as the student returns with the package. He hands it over to the party, “If there’s nothing else, I must get back to my duties.”
The Athenaeum package contains several items: an official document that authorizes its bearer to inspect the archaeological site, a map of the Kharijite province that has a route to Ibhir marked on it, and an archaeological report that details the discoveries made at the site.
Zefiro seems to have very little time for questions, and motion the group towards the door.
----
The sail to Khari is quite uneventful, and the crewmembers—none too pleased about having to transport civilians aboard a military vessel—keep mostly to themselves.
The Chelish frigate cuts through the waves by the Arch of Aroden as sunrise paints the harbor of Khari red. Vessels from all around the Inner Sea are moored at the docks, waiting for their cargo to be unloaded or for new goods to be brought aboard. The city spreads around the bay, with sandstone buildings and twisting minarets marking its Rahadoumi origin now emblazoned with red-and-white banners of Cheliax.
Most of the inhabitants dress in a Garundi fashion of colorful robes and billowing blouses, but occasionally a regiment of Chelish soldiers or a Hellknight parts the crowd. Several open- air markets fill the city with clamor as merchants and patrons haggle loudly under many-colored stalls.
At one of the stalls, an exasperated man with an Osirian accent complains loudly, “It would be bad enough if it was just the damned dockworkers who take their time unloading my goods, but now I have to wait for those infernal bureaucrats to grant me a travel permit to even leave the city. I swear I’m about to lose my mind with the incompetence of these people!”
A gruff barkeep informs the party of the tight grip Cheliax keeps on the city. “Recently they’ve been cracking down on any shady business, so everyone needs a travel permit to leave the city. I hear the inspections of coming and going cargo are pretty thorough as well. Good luck at the magistrate’s office—the lines are bound to be as long as the Arch.”
A bored caravan guard provides information about the archaeological expedition. “They had plenty of scholars and soldiers as well. The number of tools and supplies they were willing to lug across the desert surprised me. Our caravan shared the road with them for a while, but they kept mostly to themselves.”
An unscrupulous merchant reveals information about the Aspis Consortium caravan that went to the expedition site. “The Aspis Consortium transported a caravan full of supplies to the ruins. I’m not sure what they were carrying in those crates, but I hear they looked heavy—not that they were advertising this on the streets or anything, but I have my sources. It didn’t take long for them to receive appropriate permits either. I guess it helps to have friends in the right places.”
The people of Khari see themselves more as Chelish citizens than as Rahadoumi despite their ancestry. Lord-mayor Marsiol Giovenci, a steadfast ally of the Thrune regime, rules Khari. Giovenci takes a harsh stance against anyone who would engage in smuggling and black-market deals.
This time of the year, fierce sandstorms tend to plague the area around Ibhir, and it’s bound to get even worse in the following weeks before the storms subside. It’s a good idea to make the journey there and back as soon as possible.
The settlement of Ibhir has remained abandoned for centuries since the Everwar. At campfires, the local people whisper ghost stories that revolved around foolish travelers who took shelter in the ruins during a sandstorm and never returned.
Cheliax forcibly annexed the Kharijite province from Rahadoum during the Everwar, and Rahadoumi diplomats have been demanding that Cheliax return the region to its rightful owner ever since.
The Everwar, also known as the Wars of Expansion, was a century-long war of conquest launched by King Haliad III in 4305 ar that—among other territories— expanded Chelish control into northern Garund, allowing them to control both ends of the Arch of Aroden. The Everwar lasted through the reigns of five Chelish monarchs and finally ended in 4410 ar.
There are several ruins in northern Garund left behind by long-lost human civilizations, most famously the Jistka Imperium. The Jistkans were famous for building golems and other mighty constructs.