"Any objection t' me hangin' on t' those sling stones? Ah think ah c'n set 'em int' a club or somethin'. Make sure we git more use outta them th'n we would in their current state."
Blaze takes a seat on anything that might be available, even the floor if must be. He sits in silence for several minutes, clearly lost in thought. When he finally speaks its in a serious tone "It would appear we've cleaned this temple out, and yet we have found nothing incredbly special beyond the wolf statue and the books. So either one of them is what Vankerman's after, we missed it or we've been had. I would seriously hope its not the last. However if he wants the wolf statue, he can get it over my dead body. It is obviously a sign of some sort as well as powerful. Which means I ain't turning it over to Vankerman.
On top of that, we have the lovely problem of how suspiscious he's been acting, causing our near death a few times due to idiocy and probably irreviocibly harming Valorious. Don't get me wrong, I never liked the man, but damnit he was one us, albeit a drunken, cranky one. And now Vankerman's going to want something from this temple, something he didn't do anything to help obtain nor something I believe he's paying us enough to just blindly hand over.
We need to figure out what we're gonna do, before we try and leave this place. I am not saying we must turn on the boss and cut him down, but we need some sort of plan."
"Seems simple 'nough t' me. Regs say spoils go t' th' unit that recovered 'em an' don't get devided with th' rest o' th' company. Th' Corpr'l was relieved o' command th' moment 'e got too sick 't give reliable orders. Command passed t' Blaze t' finish th' mission. At th' time th' wolf was recovered the Corpr'l was still part of the company, but he wa'n't part o' th' squad. He ain't party t' none o' th' haul. He might no' like it, but th' regs are with us on this 'un."
"Ugh... Valorious can get his booze money elsewhere, but Blaze is right, you don't hurt the Steel Wolves and you don't turn on the Blood Hawks." Cort makes a small sign with one hand. "If Vankerman has been playing us, I swear by the line of Broadcloak that he will not return to civilization." Cort's eyes are fierce as he makes a blood oath. "I still may kick your ass for leadership Sunny, but for now... I pledge my blade and word to you as our Corporal." Cortland bows and presents his blade in the fashion of his people, holding it by the tip with the hilt towards the Qadiran.
"Gents, as much as the current discussion is quite fascinating, perhaps we should be focused on getting out of here. Vankerman will probably want those last books we found, as they come closest to matching his current prize, anyway. He seems more interested in the scholarly stuff to prove him right than anything else. And while some of the other objects are quite fascinating, they can more comfortably be explored back at base camp than in the middle of a ruined temple we don't know yet know how to get out of."
@Doc
"I gots no objections tah yer keep what yah like. Yer out costs ever time I sip one o yer drinks an ever time yah rigs somethin tah trap stuff, yah had to ave lost 50 foot o rope back there, I think we ought tah pay yah fer tha in mah way o thinkin."
@Dark
"We needs tah make sure yah get a weapon o some sort, maybe yah ken grabs one o them morninstars we found afore."
The weapon hilt does not match up to the blade found earlier. You guess that the hilt is meant for a smaller weapon than the longsword sized blade.
Kaavel nods "I agree it is best we get out of these ruins first than before we get to camp we make a plan. If worse comes to worst I can knock out Vankerman than the rest of you can question him if you like."
The long johns, decks of cards, box and hilt all radiate magic - the books do not. Vankerman can have those but I agree that we keep the rest. Im pretty sure that was the original agreement though. Lets go see what he has to say before we make any moves against him.
The druid was more than ready to get out from this underground temple and took up his pack along with his share of the books to be carried out and waited for the others to get ready to move.
"Magic drawrs? That's new. After we git outta here ah'll lay it all out an' try t' figure out wha' it does."
Looking around, Doc looks to the scouts. "Don' s'ppose any o' ye found a way outta here?"
"The long johns?" Cort says, deadpan. "Seriously?" He shakes his head. "Magic underwear... mages are crazy." He packs what items he can help carry without burdening himself and gets ready to go. The youth straightens his hat and looks around. "So do we have a way out of this place? Unless I'm mistaken we've delved the depths and found only these things, and the way back we came should't be easy to make it out of."
"Tha might jus looks like long handle underwear tha may be part o tha magic."
"Pretty sure we can go back the way we came"
The squad loads up on books and loot and makes its way back to the elevator that first brought them down. It takes a while as the sheer quantity of books and objects means that they need to be dragged rather than carried and it takes some time to traverse the ditch where the insect swarm resided.
The elevator seems to react to the presence of the wolf figurine and ascends to the surface once everyone is within its bounds. The rise to the surface takes a few minutes, but passes without issue. The key that was placed within the slot to initially gain access is ejected once you are at the surface and can be retrieved.
You expected to find Vankerman or at least one of the porters waiting at the top, but you find yourselves alone...
uh...this doesnt look good at all.
Perception -
Sentis will drop his load and start looking around.
Seeing Sentis looking around Kaavel does the same.
"Why did I just know something like this was going to happen?" Darkbiter moves forward quietly, prepared for the worst.
Looking around it is clear to see that the top pagoda was until recently home to a couple of the porters, but you can find no tracks leading away from where you are currently.
"Does this mean we don' git paid 'til we find 'im?"
Darkbiter leaves the ruins to check on the status of the base camp.
"Dark an I will scout an see wha might be goin on."
Stealth
Perception
"Awww crap out-stealthed again."
"Well, that's just odd. Hmmph, I guess this means we don't have to part with any of the treasure, books included."
As you approach the campsite, you notice a couple of porters standing guard facing outward towards you. Something seems 'off' though and you notice their faces are daubed in a chalky white substance and you cannot see any pupils in their eyes.
You don't think they have noticed you yet.
Motions darkbitter back a bit further away....
"What yah make o tha?"
"Looked almost like tha porters are dead an standin, an there is no noise in tha jungle, mayhap we should go another way entirely."
"Might not be a bad idea. Circle around back to the shaman and see if or how Icy is holding up. Let's check with the others."
"Agreed"
The advance scouts are able to withdraw back to the rest of the squad without incident and pass on their findings.
Well? Did you guys find the others?
"Reports at tha ready."
"Dark an i scouted ahead, tha jungle is silent, not certain wha is goin on with tha animals. At tha camp two porters stand guard, they did not see us, an we are not certain iffen they are tha porters at all."
"No signs o tha others."
@Dark
"Yah want tah add to tha?"
"If they are the porters, someone has done something to them that I really want to have no part of. I personally think we should take advantage of whatever daylight we have left to start to circle around back to the village. The farther away we can get from here the better. I and/or Sentis could go last and cover our tracks."
"We could make a skid tah carry tha loot on. likely tah goes faster tha draggin it, by a handle, I should know after draggin it out o tha place."
"Will make tha goin easier."
"Ah don' feel right leavin' 'em. Shoudn't we a'least figure out wha' happened t' em?"
I agree with Doc. What did you mean by 'someone has done something to them' Darkbiter? That sounds ominous indeed.
"I'm with Doc and Sentis, we should at the least investigate what's going on with the porters. And see if we can find out where Vankerman went as I'd rather not have him at my back."
"I agree, if Vankerman is a threat I say we bring the fight to him. If not, he's our employer and we'd be failing the mission to allow him to come to harm. We need more intel. Do you think you could get by the sentries?"
"If we do investigate, I suggest we at least make a stash for this stuff that isn't in the temple and is along a possible escape route. Let's not risk the goods even if we are risking ourselves."
"Hows bout I gets close nuff tah put an arrow in one o tha guards an yah ken watch what happens fer yerself, iffen dark an I are wrong we ken heal him right up."
"I still think we need to find a safe place to stash this stuff that isn't an obvious one like the temple itself before we go play with whatever is out there."
"I know no man left behind an all tha, but I am tellin yah tha men are no longer men."
"Let's get this loot hid an get a look see back at camp."
@Doc
"Yah gots ideas on hidin tha loot?"
We could leave a couple of us here to guard it while the rest check out the camp.
"Yah gots ideas on hidin tha loot?"
"'Ow much does i' all weigh? With a litter or somethin' we c'n prob'ly jus' carry it with us. Once we git close we set i' down. Either things go well an' we go back t' git it, or they don't an' we won't care anymore. Ah c'n set some alarms 'round it at th' drop point."
Shaking his head to Sentis the dwarf says "If there's somethin' bad at work 'ere, it'd be nice t' have the wolves a' full strength an' in th' same place."
"I agree with Doc, we should all stick together here. Think we can make sled too, shouldn't take too long"
"It is frickin heavy Doc jus tha chest was plenty heavy an them longjohns!"
Why dont we put this stuff back in the temple while we check out the camp? We can remove the key after we come back up so no one will be able to get to it. Its been safe down there for quite some time so it should remain so. Then we can keep our mobility while we see whats going on with the porters and Vankerman.
"My only concern with that is that if we have to fall back, our enemy would know either where we fell back to or where we would have to return to. I would rather remove the temple from our plans just because it's the one spot our enemy would have knowledge of. If, however, the party feels differently, I won't argue any further."