Everyone sits patiently finding whatever they can amuse themselves with while Ezra teaches her familiar Identify and spends the pouring over the writing on the sword.
Afterwards....
The writing translates roughly to He hath perverted/twisted the true/real/sacred order of life and death/rebirth shall forever more call his own tool/athame/weapon his home/prison/world
The sword seems to be a focus for negative energy. Any living being that wields the sword has it's lifeforce drained to empower and fuel the sword. When no-one touches the weapon it appears to hold a +1 enchantment. When a living being wields it is enhanced spending on how powerful the wielder is but drains their constitution. The weapon also holds an intelligence.
"Interesting. This draining effect does not seem to be permanent or seriously debilitating. I wonder who is imprisoned in the blade."
Pulling it free of the scabbard, Sir Leon waited to gauge the debilitating effect
Mordecai perks his head up as he hears the description. "Drains life force you say? I wonder how that would affect an undead bearer....
Krovax turns to Leon as he goes to draw the blade, cautioning, "Stay your hand, Leon. If this blade is beyond the measure of a simple identification to fully comprehend, then we need to handle it with caution. Once we can get a full understanding of it, then perhaps we can use its power."
"For now, store it away safely, and let us go acquire the next piece."
Leon nodded. "I think I have an idea along those lines. I will discuss it with you later."
Ezra pulls the blade from the others. "It is a prison for someone. It has already caused me harm. Until we figure it out, I suggest I keep it in my pack. No sense all of us losing power."
Leon nods. "Let's get going."
The fetchling observes the dynamic of the others.
Ezra deciding that the blade is far too dangerous to trifle with right now puts it away in her pack after wrapping it up.
Now that all of you have made your preparations and enter the hall of doors and after taking a moment or two to decide step through the third door that looks more like a ship's than a building's.
Stepping out into a dank alleyway smelling of refuse and sea water in the dimming light of evening you turn around to where the door should be and only find a wall of grafitti and carvings. But looking closer you can see a small carving of the Lord of Mirror's symbol, a six pointed twisted and jagged star, inside the carving of the eye of a creepy looking pirate. The sounds of the ocean assail your ears and despite the lateness of the day it is uncomfortably hot, especially for those in medium or heavy armour, as the sweat instantly begins to bead on your flesh. Looking around you can see the port a fairly short distance away to your right and you can hear the sounds of a thriving market place around the corner to your left.
Mopping his brow, Mordecai holsters his shield on his back and tries not to look too heat-wearied.
"If we find a place to stop for an hour I can prepare a spell to protect us from his blasted heat; or we may continue on. I care not overly which we choose."
"An hour is of no consequence. We can spare that for our own comfort. No reason we should not enjoy ourselves on this expedition."
"Heat is of little consequence for the hell born, but rest if you like."
The fetchling jokingly says, "If you guys already need a break we can stop."
Krovax shrugs to the others as they complain of the heat. "One of the benefits of not relying on so much armor. At any rate, we will both be more comfortable and able to begin our search for a guide if we find us an adequate inn and tavern. So, let us head that way."
Mordecai nods and follows Krovax to an inn.
Ezra follows along.
The fetchling assists in finding lodgings. He asks, "Should we split up and try to locate a guide or work together after finding a place to stay?"
As they begin to reach town, Leon dismounts, offering his horse to Aluria as a knight should when escorting a lady.
As he helps her mount, he speaks quietly but in a voice that offers no room for argument.
"Our patron has already expressed a strong desire for us to keep our actions discrete and not draw attention to him, ever. I take that strongly to heart. While we are in the field, or anywhere else that the situation is not tightly controlled, I must insist that you keep your proclivities toward what the people around us would consider normal. That means you bathe in water for the time being."
looking around you find a busy looking inn that shows signs of frequent traveleers due to the extra long bar in from to tie up horses and a pair of grumpy looking half orc bouncers. Heading inside you find a weasily looking gnome sitting behind a bar serving several patrons drinks. every one of the patrons looks like a typical adventurer. dirty clothes, well used weapons and more coin than can be gotten with honest labour being used to celebrate of drink away sorrows. Rauchous music is being played while scantily clad women dance and sing dirty songs for the amusement of the customers. Over it all you can hear loud boistrous laughter coming from a group in the corner.
Sitting in a booth with bar maids on each arm is a darkly tanned man with deep scars crisscrossing his flesh, a bluish-grey skinned goblin drinking from a pint and spilling all over itself and several locals sitting around listening and cheering, "... that's when that lil ponce of a whatever you call em cried 'Not my spellbook!' but what could i do?" he pauses and watches to make sure everyone is listening intently while being fed by one of the maids, "So i picked it up and threw it in the fire! No way i'm gonna let the fire go out when were surrounded by the locals. Ha I think he'd still be crying if he didn't take that poisoned dart a couple days later, but i warned him not to go that way." Everybody starts laughing evern louder and the goblin chuckles so hard he falls of his seat which causes more people to laugh, until they see that the scarred man stopped laughing. "You ain't laughin at me bud are ya?" his voice having lost all of his joviality, "I don't like it when people make fun o' him so you better be saying sorry right quick!" as he stands up snding the serving girls to the floor and most of the crowd for the door. "Settle down Grim! Now who's gonna buy the next round?" mutters the goblin as he stands up and looks morosely at his empty stein.
The fetchling walks over and offers a hand to the serving girl to help her up, while scanning the room for reactions.
This should give me an idea of the types of people around here.
EDITED.
Krovax turns to Leon as he mutters, "Perhaps we've found us a pair of guides already. I'm going to go have a chat with them."
Krovax then steps over to the table where the boisterous duo were seated, and calls out to the gnome behind the bar, "Put the next round on me, bartender. Make it your finest.". He then turns to the two seated, and says, "Gentlemen, mind if I join you at your table?"
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As they begin to reach town, Leon dismounts, offering his horse to Aluria as a knight should when escorting a lady.
As he helps her mount, he speaks quietly but in a voice that offers no room for argument.
"Our patron has already expressed a strong desire for us to keep our actions discrete and not draw attention to him, ever. I take that strongly to heart. While we are in the field, or anywhere else that the situation is not tightly controlled, I must insist that you keep your proclivities toward what the people around us would consider normal. That means you bathe in water for the time being."
Aluria looks at Leon and smiles.
Of course I am a professional after all despite my vices. Oohhh you are very attractive when you are serious Leon..
Aluria walks over to the scarred man.
Finally a man of great strength!! What a pleasure. Would you care to buy a lady a drink then?
Aluria chuckles and sits beside Grimm.
"If you're buying ye can sit wherever ya want," he pauses and looks Krovax up and down, "'Cept my lap, I'm not inta that kinda funny stuff." the. When Aluria slips into the seat beside him he perks right up. "You on the other hand..." The large man unmistakably drinks in the sight the young woman and offers a boastful flex of his bare biceps for her entertainment. While he's distracted the goblin turns to Krovax slurping at his newly refilled stein. "You folk aren't from around here."
"No sir, we are not. We are recently arrived. Just arrived in fact. But I do believe I have failed to catch your name. I'm Krovax," he says as he extends his hand towards the goblin's direction.
"That's Wilbur Grimsby, Grim for short, and you people tend to call me Bigzy, its short for Bigzelyotrus which is apparently too much for most of you to remember. So what brings you to Bloodcove, aside from buying me beer?"
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Well let's see I will have what this well endowed macho man is having bartender.
Wooo!!! What big biceps you have!!
Aluria claps and glees at Grim's display of his biceps.
My name is Lady Aluria...pleased to make your acquaintance.
Never ask a Lady a question first tsk tsk tsk...May i ask what's a strong looking man like you doing in a place like Bloodcove?
After helping the serving girl up, the fetchling bows forward and responds by saying "I am but a humble servant of Lady Aluria Redbath."
Why are these idiots using their names if we are supposed to be covering our tracks.
The fetchling then walks around to a position behind Nightingale that allows him to view most of the patrons and the room. He crosses his arms and begins scanning the room. He seems less interested in their conversation than the rest of the patrons.
While they negotiate terms with the first person we stumble across as a guide, I had better make sure no trouble comes our way. I wonder if any of my former colleagues are in the area.
Ezra will remain in her seat and listen.
"I do whatever gets me paid, but mostly taking foreign shucks through the Mwangi. You'd be surprised how many rich people from all over the world will pay to go out there and hunt some dangerous monsters or to climb up those old temple things to do whatever. I mean I had an old pair from Cheliax that paid me a fortune to take them to one just so they could try and rekindle the old sods loins if you know what I mean.""Hey Grim, why don't ya tone it down a little? You wouldn't wanna turn off any potential clients."[b]"What clients?.... Oh. Ha ha, guess I better lay off those drinks for a few minutes. Oops.["/b]
Mordecai restraints a sigh of displeasure and stands patiently at the back; he can tell that this encounter is going to take as long as this annoying little goblin wants it to.
"What my friend is trying to say is that we're men for hire with a variety of skills and experience with the area."
"I see. What sort of rates do you charge for your skills and experience with the Mwangi?"
"What do you want us to do? Or where do you need us to take you."
"Well, perhaps I should let the knight in our party explain the details, and in more private accommodations. A moment, please gentlemen? I trust Aluria can keep you company for a few moments."
After excusing himself, Krovax heads over to the other's table. He says, "Those two are in fact guides, so they claim. The human appears quite capable of defending himself, and the goblin is perhaps the most well spoken of their kind I've met. They are asking for what exactly we need them to do, so I felt it best coming from our 'Knight.'"
Leon had finished paying for rooms. He wasn't sure if they were staying the night in this place yet, but a few coins was a small price to pay for a refuge from prying eyes and ears.
nodding to Krovax, Leon had a question for the magic-users.
"Mordecai, Ezra, can either of your magics obscure the identifying symbols on the map, or create a copy that lacks them? I would like to show them only the topography and our destination, not any potential clues to what might be there."
The two 'guides' sit back and drink while you all crowd around a different table and have your discussion... unless you head to the rooms Leon procured.
"No need to go to that kind of trouble. Magic is not something to be trifled with, anyway," Krovax says as he removes a piece of paper and his quill and ink. He then prepares a version of the map as best he can while leaving off the items Leon indicated.
"Blood? I gotta say lady I got no idea how to respond to that one. Do you mean you like it rough? Or are you a biter?"[b] he pauses for a bit examining you obviously athletic build, [b]"No, your not like that are you. You get excited by real battles, by the thrill of combat and watching your opponents fall. I think I understand now. You're all here to hunt something down, or someone. We're no strangers to that. Heck we just finished with some old scalpers a few weeks back."
"What have you got eh? A treasure map or something. Say no more. You want us to take you somewhere but you don't want us to see your real map in case we try to cut you out and take it for ourselves right? Alright just give us a bit of information, how far in is it? How big, will we need horses or a boat? Cuz that'll change what routes we can take. Depending on how far you want to go we usually charge ten gold each a day, on hunted each up front and the remainder when we get you back here, plus one half share of whatever we help you find. You'll be responsible for buying any gear this expedition requires. Deal?"
Krovax turns to the goblin exclusively as he negotiates the deal, allowing Aluria to continue her...conversation...with Grim. He slides the altered version of the map the goblin's direction. "Here is the approximate location we are interested in traveling. I will trust your knowledge of the area to approximate the length of the journey. As to the terms of our arrangement, I have another offer in mind. We pay you the ten gold each per day, with one hundred up front. However, as opposed to half of what we find, perhaps we could interest you in continued employment. Employment which would perhaps be better suited to individuals of your caliber..."
When Krovax passes the fresh maps to Bigszy he pauses and looks it over for a while then gets up and moves over to a pack twice his size and grabs a long wooden scroll or map case off of the side and returns to a nearby empty and dry table where he unrolls a large detailed map of the the Mwangi. He spends a good twenty minutes comparing the geography from your maps to his own and when content he places three heavy bone weights down in three different party of the map before looking back to Krovax, "Well, you're maps aren't the best references but i'm pretty certain that the ruins your looking for are around here," as he waves his little hands over the three weights. "As long as those maps aren't fake of course. That's a long, almost two month, trek into harsh territory, especially this one. It's mostly unexplored and full of really nasty creatures. We can go by boat for most of this to save time." as his finger trails along thin blue lines on his map weaving and curving through the varying shades of green. " but we'll still have to do some foot work. This is a really dangerous trip you wanna go on. We want a full share rather than a half."