There appears to be a slight emanation of magic coming from the intact statue. It's definitely coming from inside the statue's base.
Hagrym notices a hollow spot on the base of the statue, and with a little prodding, discovers a cache of items! The items include a burial mask carved from lapis lazuli worth 500 gp, three clay tablets describing funerary practices, and a rod of the viper carved from a single piece of petrified wood to look like a fanged serpent. The last of the clay tablets is actually a scroll with the spells deathwatch and false life!
Although you search the room thoroughly, you find nothing else of value, though the darkness effect does not subside. Eventually you head back to the Sunrise Gate, where you join a line awaiting entry. Up ahead you can see your old friend Mahu inspecting baggage and you realize that relics brought into town have a tax on them!
After a few moments the line moves and you're face to face with Mahu. He barely glances up, but seeing you he smiles broadly. "My esteemed traveling friends! You have already been in Eto and gone? Your day must be very busy indeed! Please place your bags on the table for inspection." He gestures toward a wooden table and waits for you to set them down.
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Hagrym will lay his backpack and other containers on the table. He has the mask and the tablets included therein, hoping they get noticed, and the staff might pass unnoticed, in Rekkdar or the other's hands. "Had a good day out exploring," the dwarf laughs, pointing to the found materials in his backpack.
Mahu nods, examines the mask and three clay tablets and pronounces the tax to be 15 gp per object, or 60 gold total.
Quinton begins to weave a tale, but Mahu waves his hands as if to quiet him. "Yes, yes you are crazy old man, I know. The rest of you, bags on the table."
Mahu sorts through Karos' things, nods and waves him through. When Rekgar steps up, Rekgar begins chatting him up about his day and Mahu seems happy to speak about his horrible wife and horrible children; not noticing Rekgar causally leaning on the rod while he does. After a few moments of of complaining about generally not being appreciated, the travelers behind you begin to grumble and Mahu sheepishly waves you through with a grin, forgetting to check Rekgar at all.
All that remains now is the matter of the Hundredfingers gang; what will you do?
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Sir Quinton frowns as his story is cut off -- "Well, I never!" -- grudgingly handing out his share of the tax as they enter the city.
Still, his foul mood seems to end almost as quickly, once Kurvast brings up their next quest.
"Indeed! I'm most eager to find out what this message is? I suspect some sort of tryst. Reminds me of this pair of lovers I once knew. Quite tragic story that. Their messages went awry, and the one thought the other was dead, though she wasn't, but not knowing that, he killed himself, and once she discovered his fate, she did the same. Quite the tragedy, as I said."
He blinks rapidly as his eyes tear up.
"I've not heard of this gang, but if it's to be a tryst, I suspect we should check the local brothels."
Despite wracking your brains, you haven't heard anything about the gang.
The pub turns out to be a small place of no name save a faded sign of a pig and a whistle. The patrons are mostly the porters who load and unload the caravans and are happy to chat and gossip for the price of a cheap drink. You hear a great deal about the peculiarities of the local caravan masters, the health and skill of local whores and finally, a warning to avoid Beggar's Alley as a local band of hoodlums calling themselves the Hundredfingers lurk there. One old timer, his back bent by time and work and his skin deeply tanned whispers that he hasn't seen the Hundredfingers 'round the bazaar recently; something has them spooked.
By the time you leave the pub the sun is sinking and the shadows are lengthening. You find Beggar's Alley easily enough. Two rows of decrepit wooden shacks are separated by an alley that serves more as a filthy runnel than a pathway. Broken wooden doors do little to keep the elements or vermin out, but there is little within to steal. Few of the shacks boast more than a chair or two and several threadbare bedrolls. It's uncharacteristically quiet, save for a woman wearing bright clothes and carrying a straw basket in which sit several brightly colored bottles of fluid. As she walks, she calls out "Cures! Potions to relieve burns and aches and pains! Made from the Thuvian Sun Orchid itself! Guaranteed to heal even the worst of burns!"
Seeing your interest, the woman walks over to you, smiling broadly. "Well, the potion is 3 gold. And who might our mutual acquaintance be, good sirs?"
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Rekgar sighs as he determines that this woman could be in trouble. He shifts his stance to a more defensive position.
"I sense that something troubles you. You keep looking at the shadows and dark corners as if waiting or looking out for something. Is something the matter? Even the doors hold more interest than your wares."
To the others
"Beware. Something isn't right."
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16
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Sir Quinton is just about to open his mouth and ask for some of the famed Sun Orchid Elixir -- just what I need to have time to regain my old vitality, and what are the odds of finding some in such a place?! -- when his companions take a more hostile stance.
Harrumphing to himself, he stops to wait to see what happens.
Surely, they're overreacting. After all, I suppose they should be suspicious at our good fortune. Chances are someone will try to take advantage of this woman to claim the Elixir for themselves.
He looks around with concern for the expected assailants.
The woman's smile seems fixed, but her eyes narrow slightly. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, good sirs; I merely seek for the next customer. These are my wares and I look to sell them; I have no 'game', sir dwarf. But if you do not wish to purchase, then I must be off."
The woman smiles a bit more authentically. "I'm looking for someone to help me find a burnt man. Have you seen someone like that?"
"So you know of our burnt friend? I may have something he would be very interested in; do you know where he is now?"
As Quinton edges closer, he sees that the 'boy' is actually a young halfling girl with a bobbed cut. She hisses at him as he appears next to her, her attention focused on the woman in the alley. "She's a snitch! Come here lookin' fer us Hundredfingers! Now git, before she sees us!"
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"Oh, well, maybe we can help lead her off," he whispers in reply before ambling back to her conversation with Rekgar.
"Come, friend, I don't think her elixirs are probably real, after all. It did seem odd that she would walk around so freely with Sun Orchid Elixir, but it must just be some sort of flimflam!"
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"She has an amber necklace around her but I can't recall where I might have seen it before and also she wants to know where our current employer is." he answers Quinton as he still maintains a defensive stance despite his body not showing it, his well trained body prepared to dodge at a single notice.
The woman, whose face goes from smiling to exasperated as you speak about her as if she's not there, throws her hands in the air. "If you do not wish to buy and do not wish to discuss our mutual friend, then I have no business with you!" She begins walking toward the alley mouth to leave.
From the other end of the alley, opposite where the woman went, comes a commotion. Two thuggish looking men wielding saps are kicking down doors as they move through the alley, calling out rude words at the people who cower, trying to shield their loved ones from the violence. They seem to be moving toward you.
The two thugs stop about twenty feet away, looking sure of themselves, whacking their saps into their hands with loud THWAPs. "We been hired to clean up this neighborhood, see. In the name of civic improvement. So scram. This isn't your business."