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The Trade Prince seems pleased enough with the offer and departs your company quite warmly.
Eventually, each of you returns home to rest after enjoying the fabulous festivities.
***
Some time around the crack of noon, the party departs Absalom. leaving the hustle and bustle of the City at its full swing, you are finally relieved to have some peace and quiet out on the roads. Following the map and directions to Asad’s Keep, you eventually find the travel to the site to become quite arduous; the terrain is rocky and marred with the scars of millennia of wars, making it thirsty work for you to to reach your destination, but you encounter no resistance. At the end of the gully, about fifteen feet above the ground on a cliff face, is an ancient, iron-bound door. Its wood is dried and cracked. Directly in front of the door is a steep slope of rubble and dust-crusted debris that, as luck would have it, provides a path — albeit a rough and difficult one—right up to the door.
Perception:
Aegon - Perception
Grimaldus Perception
Kishara – Perception
Mandrak - Perception
Moll - Perception
Yhen - Perception
Aegon barely has time to shout a warning and get his blade out as a woman jumps down from the cliff in front of the party. “How long will it take you all to cure, I wonder? You seem so full of life, and I am oh so hungry.” she says quietly to herself as she lands.
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"Pathfinders!?"her attitude abruptly changes.
Her head jerks, and her expression softens as the foul signs of sickness drain from her eyes somewhat. She straightens from her crouch, and calls out to you all in earnest. “Friends, it is I, Maurit Zergo, a Pathfinder as well, even in this horrid form. I can help you, if you will take the help of someone as damned as I.” She almost seems normal and healthy for a second, but soon shambles back to her crooked slouch. She is clearly quite ill.
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"I don't know you. Help? Hmm, do you by any chance have a map of this keep or some valuable information that you can share with your fellow pathfinders?"
Yhen changed her attitude to match the woman of in front of her despite being treated as a piece of meat. She moves behind the group but as soon as she passes a party mate, she gives them a weird glance, as if telling them to get themselves ready.
Retracing her mind back to her previous memories of her books, she tries to find the words and remember where she saw them.
Cure... Full of Life... So hungry..."
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"I don't know you. Help? Hmm, do you by any chance have a map of this keep or some valuable information that you can share with your fellow pathfinders?"
"Yes, yes! I have seen much, I can show you! Take you there! Very dangerous inside but I know the traps! What do you seek!?" she seems almost giddy with excitement...
"Damned? What do you mean? Were you part of the Pathfinder expedition that came before us, Maurit?""Please tell us what happened. What brings you to this place in such a condition?"
Kishara approaches slowly, trying to get a feel for Maurit's intentions.
I'll lower my weapon and approach her while using Detect Evil.
"We found this lair, we were the first ones, we could tell. We had started exploring the musty halls when we were jumped by a strange creature, it ran right through us! Most of the party fled, with the creature in pursuit, they left us for dead... it all went black, I don't know for how long... but I am so hungry..." she stares into the distance.
Kishara feels that Maurit is serious about both her hunger and her desire to help fellow Pathfinders... Aegon divines she bears an Evil aura, though at the lower end of the spectrum.
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"Maurit - We are seeking a green stone sword - jade, actually. Did you see anything like this when you were exploring? Can you describe the creature's appearance which attacked you? When did you explore the ruins - perhaps we can determine how long you have been here. And for what do you hunger, exactly?"
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Kishara steps behind Grim, making sure she is beyond Maurit's range and removes a blank sheet of parchment from her map scroll as well as a piece of chalk and charcoal, sharpened to a point from her pack. She then steps beside Grim and places the materials on the ground near Maurit (in a 5ft square adjacent to her) and speaks gently to the poor creature.
"Maurit, I brought these to make my own map as we explored. But you already know much, yes? Can you help me?"
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Moll leans on a Guisarme that she brought with her. She is kitted out now in leather armor and with a pair of shortswords at her waist, with a pack full of gear and a shiny silk rope. When Maurit identifies herself, Moll's expression is outraged. "They just left you here?" she exclaims. "I'll have to have words with them when we get back. But you don't look so good." she says. "Maybe we have some healing we can give you."
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Detecting an evil aura, Aegon's expression turns sad. "She is no longer one of the living." He hardens himself to do what must be done and silently swears to avenge this poor murdered woman.
"Maurit, you have an evil aura about you. I need you to describe the creature that attacked you for us, we may be able to help."
I stop approaching at 10 feet. I keep my hands and starknives at my side but ready to attack her if she does anything hostile.
"I can't say for certain, but only the very strong and those who worship evil deities have evil auras while alive. She seems to be neither." Aegon whispers back to Yhen.
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"Green Katana! Yes I have seen it, I can take you there! I can take you! I know the creatures!"
"Map? You have a guide! A pathfinder!"
Maurit starts drawing, and pauses as Aegon starts his line of questioning... she drops the charcoal... her expression has changed.
Aegon
Grimaldus
Kishara
Mandrak
Moll
Yhen
Maurit
The mood has changed, the tension palpable. You have had enough training to know when an opponent is postured for battle...
R1
Yhen
Kishara
Moll
Grimaldus
Mandrak
Maurit
Aegon
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Maurit's change in posture and expression trigger the reflexive training Grimaldus has endured for the past ten years. In an instant, the greatsword is off his back and held in both hands in front of him in a balanced grip. His stance shifts from open to closed and he stands tensed on the balls of his feet.
"I had a feeling we would dance... Grimaldus mutters under his breath.
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Kishara turns to Aegon with pain clear on her face, "Does that mean we're too late to help her? She's already gone?"
She notices the shift in the damned woman's stance and pulls her Rapier, but also raises her hand in a placating gesture. "Maurit, no! You don't want to hurt your fellow Pathfinders, no? I don't want to hurt you!"
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"I am proficient with the dagger and shortbow, but do not prefer either of them. However, if no one else can use them, I will bring them along. I wonder how far she got on the map before going beserk?"
Grim will check the drawing, and will put any other item from Maurit (besides the leather armor!) that is not claimed by others into his backpack. He then heads up the slope to the entrance and prepares to enter, sword drawn and ready...
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"She had two potions of cure and still they left her here to die." Kishara remembered the preening Eagle knight and his "friendly" words of warning.
"He knew she would be here like this, no? And we're just a convenient clean up crew, aren't we?!" Kishara looks at each of her companions, lingering on the paladin.
Kishara positions Maurit's body to look like she is resting peacefully and covers her face. "We'll bring her back with us when we leave. Maurit Zergo will NOT be forgotten!" Kishara wipes at her cheek roughly and gathers her writing implements from the ground and stands beside Grim examining the map Maurit had begun.
"It looks like she indicated a few areas. I wonder if X's mean danger or treasure... Looks like we're back to exploring the place ourselves. She mentioned traps, so best let me go ahead."
Kishara approaches the entrance looking for traps.
Perception:
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Moll, looking sickened at the action she was forced to take despite it being a reflex reaction, cleans off her sword blade by rubbing it with sand. She sighs and sheathes it. "I'll carry her Dagger." she says. "A small tribute to a woman I was forced to execute. Hopefully I'll get a chance to use it on whatever did this to her."
"Let's go." she says.
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"Well said Kishara. You're right, if Major Colson's words are anything to go by this isn't the only victim we'll find in these ruins." Aegon's face is grim as he continues on towards our destination.
Do you mind if I take the dagger? I don't have a slashing weapon and it looks like we might encounter zombies. I'd also like to pick up a stick for use as a club along the way.
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"Wait guys, I just need 30 minutes of your time or less. Can we at least give her a proper burial? She attempted to eat us only because she have to eat, but as a former pathfinder I want to give her respects. As I want the same done to me if my time is up."
You have fought valiantly, go rest fellow pathfinder."
Upon doing what Yhen intended to do, she will proceed to follow the party.
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The body burns away, burnt both as an act of repect and of caution.
Kishara meanwhile clears the way up to the entrance, carefully checking each move as she goes to ensure no traps, pressure plates, or fell magic.
Attached to the north wall at this corridor junction is the relief carving of a giant face. The relief is that of a Qadiran man with a billowing beard. His eyes are closed, and his lips are parted, as if he were blowing out a flame. His lips frame a deep hole in the wall. The paint once adorning the relief is chipped and faded, but traces of its brilliant blues and pristine whites are still visible here and there. On the man’s forehead is a single Kelish word, carved in a flowing script.
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"Watch out for the mouth, there. I've seen traps like that...Looking at Maurit's map, to the right of us (north?) it looks like a star with a big 'S' and stairs leading to a door. Wait...this isn't a star - it's like a body with eight lines coming off it, like legs. Maybe they faced a giant spider here? I think we should check to see if there is still one there - rather we find it than the other way around!"
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Observing the carving, Kishara says "Maybe it says 'blow', or 'whistle'?' Hmm..."
Kishara will want a place up near the front, preferably beside Grim (or in front of him if we have to go single file) to keep an eye out for traps or other hidden dangers. She'll also get out and light a lamp if need be and carry her new light mace in her weapon hand.
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Grimaldus will take point, with Kishara right behind looking for traps and carrying a lamp. Aegon comes next, ready to swap places with her for a fight. Next I think is Mandrak, followed by Yhen, with Moll as rear-guard. We head north, looking for a potential spider...
"Kish, will you check the door up on the left when we pass it? We may need a quick escape route!"
Perception
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Kish checks the door as she nears it, about the same time Grimaldus hits the corner. The door looks fairly routine and lacks any obvious locks, being merely an internal door. She notes nothing that indicates a trap.
As Grim rounds the corner he sees a long, narrow room choked with webbing. Within the webs are a number of what appear to be small, dead humanoids with dark, scaled skin, each wrapped in a cocoon of sticky webbing.
Being wary and alert from the warning on the map, Grimaldus spies the Giant spider in the corner and readies his sword.
Aegon
Grimaldus
Kishara
Mandrak
Moll
Yhen
SPIDER
R1
Mandrak
Yhen
Moll
Kish
Aegon
Grim
Spider