"Ah, come on," Olise moans, "I was going to bring the heat! Isn't there anything else to fight? Like a big rat or something?"
Biffin looks around the room for anything that the key could be used for.
After taking care of severe injuries in the group, Andrus joins Biffin in searching the area.
Should he fail to find anything, Andrus suggests to push on for there are still caverns not uncovered.
Vardigas shoulders his axe and wags his finger at Mona. “I cannot approve of such trickery, but you are most creative when you fight. Your mind is almost as sharp as my weapon!” He bursts out laughing and claps the tiny bard on her shoulder with his meaty hand.
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You go back to open the chest in the previous chamber and, once opened, the sheer amount of stolen loot is staggering.
You see an expert-quality crossbow, a feather token (bird), three light arrows, a scroll of bless, a scroll of magic weapon, a wand of produce flame, a vial of oil of mending, a collection of rare inks and powders (worth 8 gp), a series of related esoteric books (worth 10 gp), a bag of gemstones (worth 80 gp), and a small sack filled with coins (5 gp, 74 sp, and 183 cp). More importantly, you easily find the Star of Desna, the heirloom Keleri Deverin sent you into the sewers to retrieve, and a thick journal with the title Notes on the Last Theorem scratched into its cover.
"Aha! Mission success! Well done, everyone, we got what we came for!"
"Yes," Olise says softly, curiously turning over the strange journal, "And it looks like we found something else interesting." She flips open the book to the first page and tries to read what the book is about.
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Olise attempts to decipher the text, but it is written entirely in Aklo (except for the title apparently). With none of you able to understand the foreign text, you throw it into a backpack with the Star of Desna and return to Keleri.
She is extremely grateful for your return of her heirloom and begins packing immediately for her trip to the Swallowtail Festival. In between packing bags she pays you a decent adventurer's wage of gold coins and asks if you found anything else of interest.
One of you shows her (she is an old friend) the copy of Notes on the Last Theorem. She immediately takes great interest in the text and informs you that she can is fluent in Aklo and will let you know what exactly is in the book as soon as she is able to, no charge.
After a few minutes of skimming, she quickly finds a line refrencing the Night Heralds, which is a secret society of Dominion Cultists. Upon reading this, she states that it was good that you brought her this text as she is a member of the Order of the Palatine Eye. Among other goals, the Esoteric Order seeks to find and control dangerous lore and secrets so that cults like the Night Heralds cannot use them for ill intent. While the Esoteric Order has other primary enemies (such as the death cultists known as the Whispering Way), they have of recent years grown more and more concerned with the machinations of the Night Heralds, and the hints provided in the pages of Notes on the Last Theorem are truly worrying to Keleri, who fears that Necerion may be seeking some ancient doomsday weapon or other potent artifact. She cautions that the group is dangerous and must be stopped.
Keleri needs time to study Notes on the Last Theorem and to report back to the Esoteric Order about this lucky find. She invites you to help her in studying the text and even offers to sponsor them if they wish to seek membership in the Esoteric Order.
