Roscoe and George move out of the horrid cloud gasping ans wheezing for fresh air, and they get to see the carnage that has unfolded.
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Heel, Gertie! Magrim yells as he drives the girl into the sand.
I accept your surrender, but I'm not letting you up until we've taken some precautions. Grab her spell components and bind her hands, the dwarf says to no one in particular.
Now, where are the gems? These are items of vast power, not some trinkets to sell to the highest bidder. Tell me--when the Aspis had their greedy hands on the gems, would you be alright with your money knowing they'd use the gems for their own foul purposes?
"I sold the gems! Look I have the receipts!" the bound captive gestures to a satchel. Sure enough, inside are three documents to back up the claims: two terms of sale and a letter of credit worth 6,000 gp, all three signed by some buyer named 'Angvar Branmaz'.
"Look we were only there to steal a fortune off the Aspis, they are fools - you'd do the same! Kafar had a long con running, but now he's dead"
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"So why on earth did y' come 'ere? If y' have th' letter 'f credit and the terms 'f sale and the gems are sold, I can think of *much better* places to wait to get... you were afraid you were going t' get screwed, weren't you?"
Agraic doesn't blame the two for being wary on such deals. He can't remember any of his *own* in the past, but the set-up sounds... eerily familiar.
"Of course there was the chance to get burnt in the deal, they are a bunch of vipers, makes sense to get to these places before they do"
Kel starts going over the body and he notices that he was wearing bandages and looks really sickly, but he is unsure why...something is wrong though. Undeterred, the swashbuckler completes his search.
He uncovers a bunch of items that he has help identifying:
Cloak of resistance +1
+1 mithral chain shirt
potion of barkskin
potion of cure serious wounds,
5 vials of strange fluid (anyone have alchemy?),
A masterwork sickle smeared with some of the strange fluid.
a formula book
marbles (4),
masterwork thieves tools
Just as he is about to finish up, he discovers a hidden pocket in the scarf that seems to contain notes and ciphers.
Chugging along well here guys, doing well and almost to the end!
Keep on at it for the big finish :)
The pair seem close to cracking the documents...
Kel can't place it though...
"So now you know what I know, you going to let me go or what? I have a friend to bury!"
You can tell that you have one half of the set of ciphers, but the information will be of great value to the Society.
What is strange though, is whilst you were using the bills of sale as a reference point for it all you made a curious discovery.
You have two terms of sale and a letter of credit worth 6,000 gp, all three signed by some buyer named Angvar Branmaz, but you notice that one of the terms of sales—the one matching the value on the letter of credit is genuine, but the other is an underpriced forgery. It looks as though Kafar and Nefti planned to pocket the payment difference by giving the counterfeit document to the Aspis Consortium.
"I think our bites got infected, I feel so cold..."
Agraic discovers the answer. Both.
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The half-elf quickly pushes all the gear away from Kafar and pulls out an alchemical mixture that might help with disease(antiplague), unless anyone has objections, and hands it to Nefti.
Ensuring that things are removed from the body, he'll then pull out an alchemist's fire and prepare to torch it. It's the only way to be sure.
"Thanks for the blessings, I hope to recover..."
Nefti gestures to the bonds "Well?" seeking to be released.
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Agraic packs up things and prepares to move onward. "Cayden'd say let 'im go and get 'is jus' desserts, but right now if whatever we've done to help 'im get over the worms doesn't work, we're the only chance we have of him making it through. Untie him, if he tries t' screw us, well, we know what t' do then, right?"
The skittering of stones further up the path draws your attention.
Amenopheus comes into view. The Sapphire Sage seems exhausted, and his clothing scorched and torn - though no wounds remain evident. "The Pillars of the Sun are now a safer place" he jests looking back the way he came, then back to the party "How have you fared?" he enquires whilst looking at the corpse and the captive.
"I'm fine now. I see our plan of splitting up worked out, and you stopped them before they reached any further. Curious to hear of their planned treachery to the Consortium. Have we located the gem?" he enquire as he takes a seat and dusts off, away form the sickly people.
It appears to be the Sage.
"Deathworms, gnolls; the usual suspects in the sandy wastes"
"Well if we are done out here, I believe it is time we went in and looked at the Sanctum of the Sages"
"My gem is broken and fragmented, so my memory of this place is equally broken and scattered - just fragments of memory. Once inside I might be able to recall more."
