|
Wibeke hits the imp and cuts deeply in it's chest. Sothy grapples the tiny creature after that and waits for somebody to knock it out. Negerp does not take his chance to do so. Bear does, but the wounds Bear's teeth made close completely.
Imp red -14 HP
Wibeke
Braxton
Imp blue -13HP, -4NL, shaken for 4 r, defeated
Graxzos
Sothy
Negerp
Bear
|
Graxzos yelps and then groans, blinking furiously, as the imp re-poisons him. Curse me ancestors six thousand ways from the sands for trading their poison resistance to guard against magicks! Feeling even more sluggish, he swipes at the imp as it flies past, missing.
"Hell-blasted...debbil...I'll kill ye..." he mutters, trying unsuccessfully to focus on it as it zips around the room. He belies his words slightly by drawing his shield and chopping at it again, missing by a mile.
|
|
"Ha! Ha!" Graxzos pants/laughs, leaning on his ax and trying to catch his breath. "Blasted devils thinkin' they run the place, just 'cause it's manned by a bunch o' stinkin' Chels! I OWN THIS ROOM, IMPS!" the dwarf bellows suddenly, thumping his chest with one fist. "I OWN ANY ROOM I ENTER!" He lets out an elated cheer and sits on the bed, focusing suddenly and intently on priming and readying his pistol.
Once his pistol is once more ready for action, the dwarf heads back to the secret door he discovered. "Right then...let's see what's behind door number one, eh?" he chortles, and opens it.
|
|
In contrast to the large and lavish rooms that make up the rest of this side of the embassy, this secret study is cramped, utilarian, and sparse. Almost all of the room is taken up by a Long desk topped by a series of cubbies full of papers and curios. The desk itself is clear except for a piece of paper and a small, framed Portrait of Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin with a lipstick kiss-mark on it. The walls of the room are irregular and look as if the room was shoehorned into wased space between other rooms. Like the rest of the personal Chambers, this room is windowless, and is pierced only by the secret door and an air vent in the southern corner.
|
|
While Braxton is checking the air vent, Graxzos wanders over to the desk. "He-llooooo....this is sumthin'," he says with a grin, picking up the portrait of Valsin and examining it. He runs his hands over the desk, probing intently for any secret doors or cracks, and then picks up the piece of paper to peruse.
|
|
The air vent is large enough for a medium creature to crawl through. Tucked behind the vent in this room is a valise containing 50 gp, four opals, a hat, a pouch with dust inside, a cloak and official-looking documents establishing several different fals identities for Zarta Dralneen.
Among the papers Graxzos finds a paper including some codes. On the back of the portrait you find a letter.
|
|
"Not I," Graxzos grunts as he turns over the pieces of paper he's found. "And it seems mighty worrisome to me that Lady Z has pulled this disappearance without the aid of her false names there..." He peers closer at the paper with the codes written on it. "Sulfur and brimstone, what in Asmodeus's teeth is this? Must be some kinda code...not like any language I ever saw..." He frowns, thinking. "A whole series o' 8-digit numbers...and what d'ye reckon this message is about? How come she inked these particular letters darker?"
|
"I don't know about you guys, and girl, but that just looks like a random bit of junk to me and Bear. I could check tomorrow to see if those items are magical, but I am guessing we want to find her and get out of here. Let's take it all and check later. We have been bumbling through this place and it is only a matter of time before we get caught. Someone want to head through that shaft, or are we going to explore another room?"
Negerps shakes his head in consternation. There are clues to be had, but I just don't understand. Bear and I need a good fight with something that we can hurt in the woods. The sooner we are out of here, the better.
|
|
On the letter Sothy and Graxzos can see a part that does not make sense. But when they compare the normal text with the note at the bottom they can see that the number of letters of each word is the same.
In the vent is enough light to see normally. This crammed vent leads to a series of old Ventilation tunnels. The floor and some of the walls of the tunnels are plain stone or plaster, but in many places the walls and ceiling Display pieces of crumbling mosaics, frescos, murals and bas-relief sculptures.
The s e tunnels are narrow with low ceilings , and tend to be about 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall. On the left side of the vent entrance Sothy can see a centaur painted on the wall.
|
|
Graxzos stares at the paper and the codes until his brain hurts. Then he shakes his head and turns to the vent.
"I SAY AYE!" he bellows, and hurls himself into the vent, crawling rapidly after Sothy. From deep inside the tunnels the ones remaining in the room can hear him muttering:
"...gods-blasted code-writing two-faced Chel..."
|
|
The room is large and square. The walls glow with a gentle blue light, and the air feels unnaturally cold and dry. Shelves line the walls and stand in ranks through the moddle of the room, punctuated by a wooden table and ornate chairs. An imposing, unoccupied desk faces the main entrance to the room.