Ezra rolls over in the overstuffed chair as Edwyns speech falls upon deaf ears, and begins to snore loudly, unaware of the battle across town.
The centipede attached to Cassiel's leg writhes as he attempts to move away.
Cassiel's arrow plunks off the stone behind the centipede.
Ezebelle slices off one pincer and part of the face of the centipede before her. It hisses in pain, spraying blood and small drops of venom, and withdraws, skittering back up into the darkness of the upper tomb.
The second Centipede turns on Ezebelle, hisses aggressively and snaps its pincers at her legs. She steps deftly out of the way.
Ezebelle quickly comes back at the Centipede, attacking with a great overhead chop.
Duly noting that one-half (or perhaps two-thirds) of his audience is fast asleep, Edwyn sighs, still nodding off himself.
Glancing around, Cassiel quickly checks to see if there's anything else that's waiting to jump out at him: he wasn't about to be taken off-guard like that again.
"Lady Sarenrae, holy warrior of the light and warden against the forces of darkness, grant me the strength to defeat those who would snuff out your sacred light of truth!" He says under his breath. The head of his arrow glows with a soft golden light.
He nocks his bow and takes the shot.
Cassiel notices no other intruders. The first centipede to flee seems truly gone, as well.
Cassiel's arrow pierces into the side of the creature, the golden light letting out a sizzle against it's thin carapace and flesh.
As Ezebelle lets fall her axe, the centipede skitters up onto the wall, up the stairs into the upper tomb and around the corner into darkness. Silence becomes the tomb. The room is as it was before the attack, only with splatters of greenish centipede blood trailing back the way you came and out of sight.
Cassiel lowers his bow.
"Well, that could've gone better." He says, rubbing his leg where the centipede bit him.
He turns toward the sarcophagus. His holy symbol's light continues to glow.
"Come on. We might as well finish up here."
"Agree. Let's grab the cache and go. That fight may have brought more attention then we like." Ezebelle concurs.
The lid on the aforementioned coffin, centered in the room on the far back wall is heavy and will require some effort to remove.
Ezebelle walks over to the lid grasping it in a corner. "Cassiel come give me a hand."
"Right."
Cassiel moves to lift the coffin lid.
After a few minutes you both haul the lid off of the coffin. A musky scent wafts from inside, but interestingly does not carry the distinct smell of a decaying body. You see inside from the full light of Cassiel's amulet. You find the following:
(12) arrows, apperently made of silver
(4) 1-foot long gold tipped iron rods
(6) glass flasks full of a clear liquid
(10) exceptional looking arrows
(5) exceptional arrows, but that have a strange effect on the eye, they seem to vibrate very slightly in place, but also have a strange heft to them when lifted
(2) exceptional arrows inscribed with, what Cassiel understands as, prayers used for banishing undead.
(5) potions, unidentified, a light blue liquid inside
(2) potions, unidentified, a deep blue liquid inside
(1) Scroll, unidentified
(2) Scrolls, identical, unidentified
(1) Scroll, unidentified
(1) a thin darkwood case, unlocked bronze clasp on the front, decorated on the back with a familiar glaring eye
It appears that this stage has been rummaged through in the not too distant past.
Ezebelle quickly gathers some of the items, handing the rest to Cassiel. "I'm sure the other will be able to help us identify some of this stuff. Though we may want to ask Utho to not enter the room..."
"We should get out of here quickly, before the town wakes up and finds out we are out here." Ezebelle states conscious of the dwindling nighttime.
Cassiel holds onto the potions and scrolls, as well as the anti-undead arrows.
"Lead the way." He says. He closes the coffin and follows Ezebelle.
On their way out of the tomb they notice that the doors are still closed. The centipedes must have come in through the cracks in the walls. Cassiel and Ezebelle move carefully out of the Restlands via climbing the eastern wall and skirting the Restlands briefly before returning to the main road. The moon is lower in the sky, but it is less covered and it's shine brightens the night. Going back through the main route of town the Laughing Demon at the end of the western road has dimmed and only a few lights remain. Music is no longer coming from it and they can infer that the bar goers must have shuffled off to bed. They leave the town center, still no others have been seen out.
They reach Lorrimor Place uninterrupted and step through the wooden door into the front room. Inside they find Ezra asleep in a large chair, snoring loudly. Utho has fallen asleep as well, curled up on the floor in a notably canine fashion. Edwyn sits by the hearth with a book on his lap, one of his eyes is half open and the other is shut. It is not clear if he is asleep. The hearth is all but embers, but the room is warm and a bit dim.
Being not particularly interested in waking anyone up, Cassiel motions for Ezebelle to be quiet.
*creak* *creak* *creak*
Cassiel tiptoes towards the stairs leading up to his room.
Ezebelle bursts in to the room, the adrenaline still rushing from the graveyard encounter. She drops the spoils loudly on the ground scarcely noticing the sleeping companions or Cassiel as he tries to quietly make his way up to his room.
We found it! haha, bring on the ghosties now. Knowing sleep is unlikely at this point, she lets out a little whoop, and heads for the kitchen.
Once there she starts raiding cupboards, looking for something to quell her appetite.
Cassiel pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"Godda**it, Ezebelle."
He sighs and sits on the stairs. No real point in getting any sleep now...
When the gear clatters to the ground, Edwyn wakes with a start, sending the book on his lap hurtling to the floor. Sleep still in his eyes, he glances about, looking at Cassiel and Ezebelle each in turn, before finally settling his gaze on the clutter of gear on the ground. His eyes widen for a moment, comprehension sinking through the fog of exhaustion that addled his brain. Sighing with relief, the wizard leans down to collect the book he dropped, dusting off its cover before placing it on the table. He glances at the mess on it guiltily, having made no attempt to clean it after his failed research; he hoped that Kendra would not mind him leaving it there.
"D-did you run into any t-trouble?" Edwyn asks the two quietly, as he collects the equipment, making sure that Ezebelle did not break anything.
Ezebelle finds some dried meats and a few dozen root vegetables in the cupboards. Towards the back of the kitchen, on the rear wall, is an ice chest set into the ground. Inside the chest are some raw chickens and a pot of some kind of stew. Fog flows out of the ice chest and you can tell it's well maintained and very cold.
Cassiel shrugs his shoulders.
"Kind of got bit. Not very deep." He says, pointing to his leg.
"Aside from that, not really."
Ezebelle looks into the ice chest, contemplating the chicken and stew pot. Too much trouble. She returns to the cupboards and grabs some of the dried meats before returning to the common room.
Seeing Edwyn wake Ezebelle looks over at him excitedly.
"Oh! you're awake! You missed it, it was awesome! Giant Centipedes, Cassiel failing to dodge its bite, and then we found this... stuff." Ezebelle exclaims, looking to Utho at the last minute.
"Think you could tell us what some of these things are?" She finally asks.
Cassiel's initial proclamation of being bit does little to allay Edwyn's fears, but he sighs once more when Ezebelle elaborates. There were worse things to get bitten by than centipedes. He raises one of the vials containing bluish liquid before his eyes, swirling it around gently.
"I... believe s-so," he replies, "I will just n-need a few minutes."
Utho, suddenly awake, smiles at his returned companions. "Iomedae helps those who help themselves." He says before turing and heaing to his room.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Cassiel arches an eyebrow at Utho as he returns to his room.
"Well... he's more understanding than I thought he'd be." He says. He winces as his leg bite starts aching again.
He rubs his leg bite. It doesn't help much. Cassiel ponders why Sarenrae has seen fit to grant him magic that will allow him to decipher any message and escape with that information, but no magic that would allow him to heal himself. To teach humility and the value of teamwork? Perhaps.
The scrolls and potions you can identify are as follows:
The first eludes your identification
The second set are (2) potions of lesser restoration
The third is a scroll of detect undead
The fourth is (2) scrolls of hide from undead
The fifth is a scroll of protection from evil
The arrows with the strange appearance and weight also elude your identification.
The thin darkwood case has a symbol on it, which you recognize immediately as the same symbol on the manual of the Order of the Palatine Eye.
Edwyn sets aside the magical items one by one, relating to the others their various effects, while apologizing profusely about the ones he could not identify. ("P-perhaps in the morning...") Before he can go on however, the wizard's eyes fall upon the darkwood case, recognition coming over him. "Oh!"
Slowly, carefully, he attempts to open the case.
"Eh, don't worry about it so much." Cassiel replies to Edwyn's apologies. "The rest can wait until morning."
He walks over to Ezra and taps her on her shoulder. His bitten leg aches.
"Ezra?"
The latch clicks and flips up allowing Edwyn to draw open the lid, which slides roughly. The case is clearly well made, but seems to have not been opened much in a long time.
The inside of the case is lined with velvet.
There are ten cylindrical indentations, but only four of them are filled with small iron and glass vials. These glass vials are held within cold-iron casings etched like four tongue and fanged skulls on each side. The bottom end of the iron case is a ring of small skulls with bone talons reaching up to hold the glass in place. Within the vial roils a small wisp of white vapor, churning as if caught in a miniature vortex of air.
Next to the vials and the empty indentations is a board covered in the Necril alphabet, a stylized sun, star and moon in the top left corner, top center and top right corner, respectively. There is a large human skull painted on the bottom center.
Next to the board on the right in a small indentation is a brass planchette.
"I... have no idea what this is."
Edwyn looks to the pile of the books almost longingly, his eyes searching for the purple book. Already however, his eyes are starting to droop again. The wizard stifles a yawn, setting down the open case.
"That can wait till the morning as well... perhaps..."
"looks like a good haul!" Ezebelle states happily, munching away at her dried meat. "Go to sleep Edwyn, this stuff isn't going anywhere, we can discuss it more in the morning."
Ezebelle then looks over at Cassiel with concern, realizing she never actually asked him how much damage the bite did. "How you doing? Bite causing you a lot of pain?"
Cassiel leans against the wall and pulls up his pants leg, revealing the bite. Two holes where the centipede's pincers struck him. It's still bleeding a little.
"Could be doing better, could be doing worse." He says. He winces. "Still, at least it didn't get any of its venom in me."
Edwyn nods at Cassiel's suggestion slowly, the momentary excitement of the hour having worn thin. With slow, staggering steps, he retreats to his room upstairs, where he would promptly collapse onto his bed, going to sleep for real this time.
Kendra appears, the look of sleep heavy on her eyes. She is wearing a modest blue nightgown. "Good evening. I hope you al-" She yawns laboriously. "I hope you all are fairing well. Oh." She starts when she sees Cassiel's wound. "I believe I have something for that. Have a seat and I will be return shortly." She leaves back through the door she entered.
A moment later she enters with a small doctors bag in hand. She set's it next to Cassiel on the table. "Now I don't have much of a knack for treating wounds, but this should help you, if you want to do it yourself. Or if you'd like me to try." Her eyes glimmer with the hope that she might help Cassiel, but her face shows uncertainty.
"Looks like you've found quite the stash there." She comments when she sees the items strew out on the table and on the floor. "Care to have me look at any of it? While I might not be much with a bandage, I do know a few spells and I've learned of many magical properties from assisting in my father's studies." The eagerness is apparent in her voice, maybe even pride.
Cassiel shrugs his shoulders and sits at the table next to Kendra.
"Go ahead." He says to Kendra, putting his leg up within easy reach of the kit. He winces, but tries to cover it up with a smile.
He promptly drops it.
Whoever said that 'pain don't hurt' was a godd*mn liar.
Ezebelle sees Kendra walk into the room with her healer kit and hopeful eyes at Cassiel.
you can see that Ezebelle is fighting herself on the matter. She can plainly see the hope on Kendra's face but is unsure of whether to leave Cassiel to Kendra's untrained hands.
"If you can assist in figuring out some of these items that would be great. You can tell me in the morning what they are. Let me leave you two to your touching." Ezebelle coyly mentions with a smile, then heads towards the stairs, the smile leaving her face as she travels to her room.
She tosses and turns for a while before falling into a restful sleep.
Cassiel reads Ezebelle's face like a book. He can tell she's uncomfortable with leaving him in her hands.
He opts to keep quiet, though. Let her rest; she's done enough for one day.
He turns back to Kendra.
"This wound isn't very serious, anyway." She kneels down and pulls a bandage and a small ointment vial out of her bag. "It does not need stitches. I suppose you should be glad about that." She drops some of the ointment on the wound, which smarts and then suddenly becomes cool. Then she produces a small piece of fabric and wipes it down. After that, she begins wrapping your leg with the bandage.
As she does, she says "You know I hope I have not made your friend uncomfortable. My emotions were unchecked with the passing of my father and I may of been too forward before, asking of your relationship. I understand this is not something to be shared between strangers."
Cassiel shrugs, biting his tongue as the ointment does its work.
"Oh, it's no problem. Ezebelle and I are friends, that's it." He looks over at the pile of gear on the floor.
You see the hint of a smile on her mouth. "Well it's good to have friends around. It has been nice to have you stay, even if I've been keeping to myself. I would like to repay your kindness by being useful." She stands and puts her arms akimbo. "There you go. That should heal in a short period of time."
Then she turns to the gear. She draws an amulet from underneath the collar of her gown and closes her eyes, muttering a few incomprehensible words. The amulet gains a blue tinted glow and she lets it hang from her neck and holds out her hand to each item individually.
"These arrows will strike the incorporeal and the ethereal."
"These potions will repair light physical damage to the body."
The other items are
"And this... oh, this is quite the strange collection of items." She holds up the box with the vials, board and planchette. "I will need a little while to discover what this is. Perhaps my father's books will help."
Cassiel gives Kendra a smile.
"Take your time. You've done a great job already." He says, setting his foot back down on the floor. There's still a bit of tenderness in his leg, but he's feeling better already.
He stoops and gathers up the arrows.
Upon waking, Ezra wanders the house in silence for a half hour or so, then decides to prepare breakfast for her companions. The gnome takes some time in the larder looking for bacon or dried sausages, eggs, cheese, and vegetables. Once she has the basics taken care of, she begins to rummage through the shelves hunting for anything vaguely resembling coffee.
When you awake, Kendra is still up, looking over the board and it's strange markings, as well as the planchette. She does not seem very tired and explains that she had slept through most of the previous day and could easily stay up, propelled by the excitement of this find.
In the larder, you find some dark tea leaves. One kind seems pleasant and the other is smoked and therefore very pungent. When you return to the kitchen, Kendra comes in and helps you make breakfast.
"I need to take a break. You and your friends will likely find interesting the purpose of that board and the other objects. I'll explain when you've all gathered," says Kendra.
Cassiel comes down from his room and has a seat in a chair. His leg looks much better than before.
"Thanks, Kendra."