Lamm's Den - Round 1 - concluded
The nimble ranger picks his way carefully past the raging alligator, and over to where Lamm lies bleeding out. With a push he shoves the body near the edge, and as he does so, the alligator, even though weakened, helps pull the body into the water, rending flesh and bone with it's massive jaws.
End of Round 1
Durriken grins wickedly as the gator does its work, keeping the crossbow trained on it, ready to shoot when the creature stops worrying the body.
Ready action, shoot at and miss the gator if it moves to attack again.
The alligator crunches the bones of the old man, and slowly submerges under the water to enjoy it's meal, it's rage of few seconds ago sated.
End of Combat
With Gaedren Lamm being no more, the young witch moves over to begins to see if there is anything of value among Lamm's "treasures".
"Not as slow of an end as I would have hoped for him, but a suitable one none the less."
The things in these chest are mostly those being discarded by Lamm. It is apparent that the valuable items his Lambs bring back to the fold end up elsewhere. These bins hold old clothing, cheap baubles, old purses and the like which may have salvage value but are not intrinsically valuable to you.
While she rumages through the items, Arianna asks, "Anyone want to see what is behind the door over there?" gesturing toward the door in the southwest corner of the room.
Durriken stares at the water as the blood fades from view. Satisfied that the old man isn't coming back up, he tosses the crossbow into the pile of gear and fishes an old, cracked glass vial out of his pocket. Turning it over in his hands, he tosses it into the water near where the old man disappeared. Faster than you deserved, old man.
Hearing Arianna's request, he straightens up and moves to the other door, checking it for any hazards before attempting to open it.
The door in question does not seem to be either locked or trapped.
This foul-smelling room seems to be a combination bedroom and study. A wooden bed with a lumpy mattress stands against the east wall, while a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, stained goblets, fruit rinds, and scuttling cockroaches sits nearby. At the foot of the bed sits a large strongbox, a slightly rusted lock securing it's lid. A sagging dresser stands in a corner, and what appears to be a wooden hatbox sits atop it, surrounded by a small cloud of black flies.
Gyllan takes a deep, calming breath as Lamm disappears beneath the water. Well, he won't be taking in any more little Lambs...and maybe the ones he's got can make their way home now.
He stares into the water until his companions open the door at the far end of the room, and he follows them into Lamm's unpleasant chamber. His eyes are drawn to the chest, as he wonders what Lamm might have secured in it, but the movement of flies catches his attention. Oh, gods, what's died in that box, I wonder?
Not really wanting to consider the answer to this question, Gyllan approaches the strongbox. He takes a careful look at it, as Lamm is likely to have placed some sort of trap on it, and one loaded with poison in all likelihood.
The footlocker does not appear to be trapped, although it is locked.
"You wan' that open? Step aside, then. Locks are my specialty." Fingers says, taking his picks and tools from his belt pouch and bending down to work the chest. He works the tools into the mechanism makes some fine adjustments, and then a loud "click" is heard as the lock pops open.
"Have at it, boys..." Fingers says, opening the lid.
Inside the chest are several parcels wrapped in cloth and tied with rough twine. Something like a dozen parcels all together. As you open them you find.
1) A teakwood cigar case with tiny bits of inlaid jade
2) A 2lb gold ingot with the Cheliax coat of arms
3) A minature gold crown
4) A fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnet eyes
5) A silver ring, with an inscription : "For Emmah - the light of my nights"
6) A highly scandalous and realistic ivory sculpture of 2 entwined succubi
7) A finely crafted shuriken
8) An adamantine arrowhead
9) An abalone-shell holy symbol of Shelyn
10) A tiny glass tube with any oily liquid inside
11) An obsidian wand
12) A crystalline vial with a heavy silver liquid inside
13) A bejeweled brooch with a broken clasp
Even to the untrained eye, this brooch appears to be the most valuable item in the cache. It is circular, gold, and depicts a psuedodragon and and an imp coiled around each other in a yin/yang pattern. The Dragon has an amethyst eye, while the imp's eye is emerald.
The buzzing of the flies around the wooden hat box and the smell of the room continually aggravate you as you stand looking at the loot.
" Oh, by Desna's starry path! Lamm was a bold one! There's some interesting stuff in here, but the prize is definitely that brooch. You're not gonna believe this, but that's Queen Ileosa's bauble. I saw her wearing it one day, some merchant visiting the city one day asked me to take him to see the queen herself - or at least get a peek at her. I knew we'd never see her, but I took him to the castle and we waited outside for hours, and we actually caught a glimpse of her looking out her carriage window before she closed the curtain. And I mentioned it to enough folks, that when it went missing recently, friends told me that the queen was supposedly all upset because one of her favorite pieces of jewelry had disappeared. Wonder how Lamm got hold of this thing?"
Holding the brooch in hand, he studies it a bit more and says, "Huh, didn't get such a good look at it before. The psuedodragons and imps are often seen in Korvosa, the imps came to serve the Acadamae, and have taken to roosting in the high places of the city, and the psuedodragons hunt them."
Wrinkling his nose and sniffing a bit, he says, "Guess we should check out that box with the flies. Must be a hell of an ugly hat."
Arianna casts a detection spell to make an initial appraisal of the items gathered from Lamm's quarters, before moving over to the hat box.
Using one of her many scarves to cover her nose and mouth help cope with the disgusting odor, she opens the box...
Three items show as magical: #10 - the oil in a tiny tube, #11 the obsidian wand, and #12 - the silvery liquid in a crystalline vial.
The Oil:
The Silvery Liquid:
The obsidian wand:
The rest of the items, while valuable, are mundane in nature.
As Arianna opens the hatbox, she is horrified to find a human head inside. Looking more closely, it appears to be woman's head and as you lift it out to examine it, you recognize it as the head of the Varisian fortune-teller, Zellara. The head is several days old now, and beginning to decompose. Under the head is a small lacquered wooden box.
Arianna gasps in horror, seeing the severed, decomposing head of the fellow Harrow practitioner.
"It seems Zellara's faith in the Harrow was quite strong, guiding us to Lamm even from beyond the grave."
Noticing the small lacquered box, Arianna investigates. "What in the Nine Hells do we have here?"
A look of puzzlement crosses Gyllan's face as he realizes what, or who, he's looking at. "Wha...? But..." He gives his head a quick shake, then realizes what Arianna has just said. "Well, that's one way to look at it, I guess. I'd see it a little differently. Someone wanted us to think she was Zellara, and get us to kill Lamm. But who? Why? We've been used as someone's cat's paw, and I don't like it. Let's see what awful thing is in the little box and then get out of here. I don't want any more surprises in this place."
He takes a quick look at the box to be sure there aren't any surprises awaiting him, then picks it up and opens it if he doesn't see anything to worry about.
Durriken frowns at the sight of the head, fighting the urge to retch at the smell. He scoffs quietly at Arianna's suggestion, then nods at Gyllan. "More than likely. Or this is the twin of the woman we spoke to. She did say that Lamm had harmed her in some way. Either way, it would seem that we have done what we came for. Lamm is dead. I see no reason to remain here."
The small lacquered box is retrieved from the foul wooden hatbox without incident. Opening it, you find an extraordinary Harrow Deck. The cards are larger than normal playing cards (about the size of Tarot) and they are hand-painted with gilt silver edges that glint in the lantern light. The images on the card faces are so vibrant they almost seem to move with a life of their own when viewed from the corner of your eye.
Looking at the incredibly ornate Harrow deck, Arianna mutters, "Absolutely beautiful...This must be Zellara's deck. She said that Lamm had taken it from her."
"Then let us ask the person who sent us here. Put the head back in its resting place, gather what we can, and leave this place, before the watch find us here with a severed head and the corpse up above."
"What would you do? Free him, after what he and Lamm have done? Turn him in to the watch with only our word that he was a criminal, after we broke into his place of business, killed one guard, and severely injured another?" Durriken stares coldly at Corso. "A dead body can't tell the watch who we are, can't testify against us, and can't lie or bribe the watch to get us out of their way."
"As far as him not being a threat to us, he claimed to be unarmed, yet he bore a dagger and a wand. But fear not. If you care to save your conscience, both he and the Gnome drew breath when I joined you down here. Feel free to drag them to a healer."
Finished, he looks around for backpacks or other containers that can be used to carry whatever the group decides to take with them.
Durriken shrugs. "I was going to kill them both. You and the others led me to believe that was not acceptable at the time. If you are finished with them, I still contend it is the best course of action."
There are several crates or boxes around that could be used to store the loot you gathered, additoinally there are the chests full of Lamm's junk you could dump out and team up to carry. Most of you have room to carry more.
It is late at night and no one else seems to be around the Fishery. What do you plan to do/go next?
"I'm with you, Corso, I don't think Durriken was right in planning, or trying, to kill those two when they were helpless. But what's done is done. And I do think he's right about getting out of here. Let's leave them as they are, collect the loot we got from Lamm, and that head, unfortunately. And then let's go back and see Zellara. Or whoever she is. I'd like to get to the bottom of this."
Gyllan busies himself dumping out a few crates, looking for ones with suitable handles, so they can be hauled by rope out of the hole in the fishery floor - and so they'll be a little easier to carry across the plank walkway. He loads the valuables they've found into a couple of the crates, and the semi-rotten head into another, and looks to the rest of the party to be sure they're ready to go before picking up a crate and heading back out the way they came.
Arianna shrugs, her need for revenge mostly sated. "The adults that were here were complicit with Lamm's schemes and deserved to meet a fate similar to the man himself."
Agreeing with Corso and Gyllan, Arianna helps gather the "treasures" from the room and readies to return to Zellara's with the others as her thoughts turn from vengance to the children Lamm had held captive.
"Most of these items are by and large useless to us, though some of them may be of use to what I assume will be now more crowded and resource strapped orphanages. Would we want to anonymously donate some of this items to those organizations?"
Durriken quietly assists in gathering up the items from the chest, and adds the gear he dragged down with him to the pile. Once it is all stowed, he helps move it over to the rope.
"No sense in givin' this stuff away, sister." Fingers says laconically. "The folks runnin' them orphanages'd jest get rich and them kids'd be just as bad off. Better to find them Lambs and give to them direct. Even better, sell off that stuff and pass out the coin to them little kids."
Being that you are still on a pier on a decrepit wharf-front at night, Corso sees nothing unusual in the immediate area. Somewhere in the distance, alarm bells ring and flashes light up the sky as you look back to the west towards Castle Korvosa.
As you exit the Fishery and head back toward the busy street, a wing of Sable Company griffon riders swoops overhead, angling towards Castle Korvosa at breakneck speed. One mount is badly wounded, spilling blood all over the street in front of you. As you watch, stunned, the griffon succumbs and crashes headlong into a house nearby, taking it's rider and itself into a bone-shattering demise. The rest of squadron races on, not missing a beat, nor returning for their injured companion.
A cry of triumph comes up from the street, where a mob of looters is breaking windows out of storefronts. The mob hasn't seen or noticed you yet, their attention also diverted by the crashing griffon.
Suddenly, a force of roughnecks comes around the corner behind the mob chanting, "The King is dead, long live the Queen." The mob turns and begins to pelt the new group with stones and rubble shouting, "Hang the Queen!" and "The usurper whore must die!"
Quite obviously, something is amiss in fair Korvosa!
Durriken urges the group silently away from the mobs, picking up the pace a little. Something is very wrong. Best to get inside and sort things out.
Gyllan reels a bit at seeing his beloved Korvosa wracked by chaos. Hearing Corso cry out he says, "Settle down, man! Durriken's right, we've got to get inside, and we should stick together if we want to avoid getting killed by a mob for no reason at all. Let's head to Zellara's as fast as we can."
He thinks for a moment, then says, "Arianna, can you tuck that brooch away somewhere safe? The last thing we want is to have someone decide we're for the queen, when we don't really know who to be for at this point. And I'll see if I can sort out a route back to Zellara's that'll keep us off the main streets and out of trouble."
Arianna nods in acknowledgment of Gyllan's request, tucking the brooch into one of her many scarves.
Seeing Gyllan take the lead, Durriken ushers the others past him, falling into the rear of the group, both to keep them moving and to keep an eye out for any potential pursuit.
(+2 v. Humans)
What have I gotten myself into? No good is going to come of tagging along here. Still, I owe them for helping kill Lamm. I will see them safely to our benefactor's, that should be repayment enough...
Sticking to the shadows and the side streets per Gyllan's guidance, you avoid a group of looters, and make it to Zellara's house on Lancet Street. As you walk, a blast of arcane energy erupts from up Citadel Hill, near where (you assume) the Acadamae is located.
As you approach the house, you notice it's appearance has changed. Whereas the place had a neat, tidy and well-cared for appearance before, with a little garden included, now the place is ramshackle. It appears it hasn't been live in for weeks. The door is slightly open and the interior is dark.
Arianna, now more convinced than ever, says, "No we were not conned. We were dealing with a spirit."
At the front door the darkness of the place is a little unsettling. Corso (i assume) sends his dancing lights inside to give some illumination. The inside of the house mirrors this version of the outside. There are no tapestry wall-hangings, no food or basket, any furniture is broken into pieces and scattered over the floor.
As you begin to peer around, a spectral image of Zellara the Varisian fortune-teller appears in the room. Her image is there and you can see and hear her, but it's a shimmering image that flickers a little and is semi-translucent.
"I must apologize my friends for deceiving you. But the greater good needed to be served. By recovering my Harrow Deck, you allow my contact with you from beyond the grave. Even this contact would not occur without a dramatic need."
"Korvosa is undergoing convulsions, my friends, and the city and all who live here are in peril. My Deck will assist you in saving the city should you choose to take on this task. The Harrow Deck has several powers, but the most important is the connection it allows with my spirit. I will come to you from time to time and read your futures, these readings may give you certain advantages throughout these hard times. I beg you to keep the Deck safe and consult me if you are troubled by events."
"Additionally, the Harrow Deck can be used 3 times per day to identify magical properties of items by touching a card to the enchanted goods."
Now, ask me what questions you will for my time to manifest in this way is short."
Durriken eyes Arianna suspiciously but says nothing as the "spirit" speaks. When Corso blurts out his question, Durriken frowns slightly but says nothing, turning his attention back on the apparition.
The woman seems to know more about what is going on than the rest of us. I wonder why that is?
Gyllan is stunned by the appearance of Zellara's spirit, wondering to himself, Is she dead or isn't she? Or is she somewhere in between?
He wants to hear the answer to Corso's question, but cannot wait. "If he's dead, how did he die? Did the queen have something to do with it?"
"I will keep your Harrow deck safe, Zellara. Is there a specific peril beyond the instability in the monarchy?"