Mh, most interesting. Did you have any contact with these men? And are you perhaps smoking something?
What? No, I mean...no. The handsome man looks a little confused. I just saw them.
The Lamia pads towards him and strokes his hair, That's okay pet, I'm sure it will all be fine.
Why do I feel that when she calls him pet she means that literally?
"I guess that we could head back to the tunnels and see if we see any new signs of someone coming and going? If they did carry out the compasses we can try to track them to wherever they took them to."
It's a good idea Almathea, but it might actually need longer than we planned too.
Leto arches an eyebrow at the Lamias behavior...
Most interesting.
"The body we found with the list didn't have a mask, though, so I don't know if we're talking about the same groups of people." Marnarius takes out the map and indicates the line from the only compass the party found. "Did you see them near anything in this area?"
One of the other Lamia pads forward, No, she says with a slight smile, But...we have seen these men with masks here. She points to on the map. But be careful, the creatures that make their home in that area of the necropolis are...cunning. They will lie and try to mislead you. Dark folk. I assume these men with masks have made some sort of deal with them. Perhaps that is the cause of this undead infestation.
The handsome man stays silent and retreats to stand next to his master. She slowly strokes his hair as she watches you. Are we done here then? Is that all you wished from us?
Marnarius frowns. "That's closer to the gate than I'd like to be. We'll have to be careful."
"I think that's plenty. You've been very helpful, thank you. Please be careful when venturing outside. A mob of undead can be very difficult to turn aside." Turning his to companions he added, "Ready to take a look?"
It is late, you're welcome to stay here for the night, the lead Lamia purrs. The handsome man looks uncomfortable for a moment, but as the Lamia strokes his hair he seems to lose interest in the conversation and stars idly off into space.
"No, thank you. The people of the city are counting on us to resolve the threat quickly, and we are well rested at the moment. Thank you for your hospitality and your information."
"Perhaps we can come back and visit after we have dealt with the undead threat to the city."
The half-elf silently prepares to move on. I don't like how they're behaving towards that human, but we have a job to do now. We'll get him later, if we can.
The Lamia make no move to stop you from leaving. It is now very late in the evening. It will take a few hours of traveling at night to get to the other side of the Necropolis. Are you headed directly there or stopping to camp?
Once out of the lamia lair, Marnarius stifles a yawn. "We've been hard at it for a while. Better we rest for a little and go into this next challenge fresh. Nevai, can Skyblazer carry a message to the Cathedral to let them know what we've found?"
"Sure, he can carry any message you write. Where do you propose we rest though? I'm a bit wary of hiding amidst the bones of this part of the city. I have some magic left for the day, though our healing wand is spent and will need to be replaced."
"Let us be sure to mark this place on the map so that we can revisit it later after the undead are dealt with."
Well if we rest here we could as well rested at the Lamias place. They seemed friendly enough.
"You can go back and rest there if you trust them. I don't."
"Let's go back to the Pyramid of Arithmetic Bliss. Plenty of places there to hole up."
You have no problem making your way back to the Pyramid and forming a camp for the night.
"I think we should camp out in the two connected rooms on the west side. They have a single door--we could get cornered there, but unless we encounter incorporeal undead they can only come at us at a single point."
"That sounds reasonable to me."
"I'm no expert at defending camps in a city. Out in the desert on the caravan routes there aren't nearly as many places for attackers to hide their approach. I'll defer to your judgment."
Almost precisely in the middle of the second watch Leto hears a soft scraping on the stone floors of the building. After a few moments you hear a woman's voice.
I know you're here. It sounds raspy and grating as it echoes through the empty building. Come out, murderers.
With a chill running down his spine from the raspy voice, Leto tries to silently wake the rest and alert them, his bow in hand.
As he wakes them, he puts his hand on their mouth and gestures everyone to be silent.
Thea awakens with the others and seeing Leto's gesture, she remains quiet and attempts to listen for any sounds of movement in the dark.
The voice sounds like it is coming from the main room of the building.
Nevai eyed his armor, then thought better of making so much noise and picked up his bag, khopesh and shield instead. Unsure of what's going on, Nevai looked to Leto's lead.
Marnarius rolls to his feet and prepares to ignite a sunrod, if the door starts to open.
Leto whispers:
Psst, there is someone or something out there, searching for some murderers. Didn't sound friendly.
The door to the room you're in does not open, but the rasping voice continues to echo in the otherwise empty building. Come out, murderers. You cannot escape.
"Let it come to us, whatever it is. Do any of you recognize the voice?"
"I don't recognize it. If I had to guess, more undead, in which case it's accusations aren't exactly inaccurate."
The voice continues to call throughout the building, but doesn't seem to be coming closer.
Come out, come out, wherever you are.
The voice continues for some time, seemingly having the patience of the dead.
Com out murderers. I have forever to wait for you.
Nevai shrugged. "I need my sleep."
To the voice he called out, "You've got the wrong place. Go away."
The voice continues to drone on, neither coming closer, nor going away.
Nevai sighed. "Who are you?"
Marnarius waits, listening.
You don't recognize my voice? Come out and see, murderers. It is quickly becoming clear that the being is willing to simply wait for you to come out and has no intention of coming closer.