"Fine fine..." Penny pulls out her ink pen, and writes on some scraps she finds laying around. "DO NOT ENTER. DEVIL INSIDE".
"There. Now lets finish exploring the final room before heading back. That way we have full details of this place before having to come back a second time to deal with Mr Devils over there."
And with that she motions for Cwm and the other 'tankier types' to start leading towards the final unexplored room.
Leaving the devil alone for now, you head south and wind your way east then north until you reach a large room.
The walls of this room are covered with arcane symbols. In the northern chamber, a wooden table sits against the eastern wall, with several items laid atop it. A bright light shines forth from an opening in the south wall.
Unable to look past the light, a voice calls out "What's this now? I recognize you not, mortals. Are you minions of the petty human? If not, I plead with you to release me from this unjust and outrageous imprisonment. Do so, and you shall be rewarded."
Cwm stops at the door, throwing out his arms to prevent anyone from entering. He quickly checks the threshold for traps. Finding absolutely nothing, he steps aside so that someone else can enter first. Cwm closes his eyes tight and holds his hands to his ears, just in case.
Seeing the wall, Penny instantly knows what this is. She halts her allies, and pulling back from earshot of the unknown voice, she whispers to them all.
"Don't go through there unless you prefer to live in darkness. That wall will blind you, permanently. We need to find out how to disable it. Anyone have idea's? We should be able to look around, but stay away from light."
The creature says "I cannot pass that area of light. The wizard drew me into it on three occasions and I was drained each time. Do know of a way to suppress it? I fear if I enter the light once more, I will kill me...." She goes on in bitter tones to explain a method to extinguish the wall of light— by hurling a handful of enhanced magical dust through the wall—but adds that Hunclay told her he’d hidden his supply of this dust away in a secret cave outside of Belhaim.
”A secret cave, hmm?” Tykent starts flipping through his mess of scattered notes for any mentions of books or journals. ”I don’t suppose he happened to taunt you with it’s location? Vague hints? Slip of the tongue?”
"I'm afraid not. He often talked with his assistant who took notes for him, perhaps he should know? I believe his name is Mathezic?"
If you free me from this prison, I surely will provide some aid to you in the future."[/b]
"^@&*(#$%!" Cwm glares at Yngvilda and Tykent as he curses, "Mathezic, you hear that? gods be damned!" He calls into the room, "so does that make you Linus or Saba? Your little friend had to step out for a bite to eat. We were about to go check up on him."
"Linus or Saba? No, I am called Maffei. I was summoned here by Hunclay to aid in his research-for a time he believed in a connection between the Plane of Shadow and the Dark Tapestry. When I laughed at his ignorance, the wizard became enraged and imprisoned mee here to punish me for mocking him."
"Bwa ha ha ha. Really? You call him the ignorant one, yet here you are stuck behind his spell. Who needs the help now. I think it's you. "
Penny pulls her 'allies' aside once more, whispering "Well, it appears now we have 2 reasons to go back to town. One to inquire about the devil, and another to find the little rascal that YOU all let go. I am sure she who is in charge would love to hear about that."
She stands upright once more. "Now Cwm. Mind taking a gander over to that table. What do your fiery eyes see? "
The creature pauses talking at Penny's slight "I see." is all she says, though you can imagine her face with a thin line where her lips would be. "And your name, all powerful mortal that would shame me, what is your name?"
Cwm looks again at the table and turns to Penny. "Normal table stuff it would appear. Go check it out and I'll watch for traps from here."
”Her name is Penny - which is all anyone’ll pay for her thoughts since she gives them out so freely!” Tykent laughs heartily at his joke and continues digging through his notes. ”You can call me Tykent, and my condolences for your imprisonment. Ah, here we go - journal, summoning chamber. Perhaps our dearly departed wizard mentioned his secret cave in there.”
Yngvilda has been quiet, all this talk of devils and mortals a bit above her head. When Penny asks Cwm to go look at the items on the table though and he refuses, she sees an opening to be useful.
She walks forward and grabs them all, trying not to get too close to the wall. If she needs two hands she'll put her shield away first.
Penny scowls at Tykent before talking to the creature once more. "Now now, no need to be down. I did not say we were not going to help, we just need some time to... gather necessary materials to break the spell. Surely you can be a little more patient with us."
Seeing Yngvilda assess the table "Ahh yes, great work everyone."
The objects on the table consist of an exotic-looking suit of leather armor and a beautiful scimitar and sword sword. They stand out from everything else you've seen and you can surmise that these three items are Maffei's personal possessions, not part of Hunclay's estate.
Seeing what Yngvilda finds, Penny's scowl turns to a rare sight. A sadness appears over her eyes as she asks of Maffei. "How long have you been imprisoned here? Its obvious that these belong to you. This, this is awful what he has done to you. We will find help, and will work to remove this barrier. While we are gone, do you need anything? Perhaps some rations or water?"
"I have been here for four months now, waiting for the wizard to release me. He comes by to belittle me and ridicule me, taunting me of ways that I could escape should I only have the materials or the power. He has not been by in several weeks now, does he know you are here?"
Cwm watches Penny talking to Maffei but doesn't join her,
"We'll see what we can do. Tykent any look with that cave location?"
Yngvilda tries some practice swings with the scimitar and the shortsword, while she's talking. To their magical experts she says
"Is any of this stuff enchanted?"
The barely contained look of excitement wouldn't be out of place on a scullion maid given the week off.
To the mysterious Maffei she addresses one last question before leaving.
"So we can better, er, research the means to get you out. What manner of not-mortal creature are you?"
After learning how long Maffei's extended stay, Penny looks at the others again, watching to see how they respond.
"Peciliar" She looks over the gear Yngvilda is holding, casting detect magic on the items.
(the +2 to identify magical properties)
"Peculiar Maffei. I sympathize with your position, but how exactly have you survived weeks with no food or water. I would have expected you to practically jump at the offering, but not even a mention of the need. Just what being are you hiding behind that wall?"
The voice hesitates and says "I will tell you, but I want you to give me your word you will not be judged by what you think you may know about my kind, which I suspect is not a lot. I am shae, a creature of the shadow plane. Fear me not, I have nothing against my would-be saviors."
"Tykent any look with that cave location?"
"Still looking, still looking," the old man mumbles, flipping through pages.
"A Shae? Here? How exciting. How did you come here. Did the wizard summon you? What are your intentions once freed?"
Tykent finishes skimming the book and finds no mention of a cave unfortunately. It would appear that they will need to find another way to obtain this information.
"I was summoned here by the wizard. I have no intention of staying, I just would like to return home. If you free me however, I will stick around to assist you for a short while if you so desire my assistance."
The mysterious people known as the shaes are natives of the Shadow Plane. In their own language, their name means “unbound” or “unfettered.” According to shae history, they were once humanoids who through tireless study and self-perfection managed to transcend the bonds of a definite form. Though they still bear roughly humanoid shapes, shaes’ outlines are perpetually wispy and impossible for any non-shaes to focus directly on. Though shaes may engage in all the same pursuits and professions as other humanoids, their overwhelming racial pride often leads them to see all other humanoids—especially humans—as lesser beings. Ironically, this casual disdain sometimes leads individual shaes to gather harems of worshipful human consorts, and it is from these unions that fetchlings often issue. Humans involved in such relationships often hope to learn the secret of the shaes’ power over shadows, and claim that only in sacred union with the creatures can one glimpse their true features. Shaes are roughly 6 feet tall and weigh 100 pounds. They often wear masks and form-fitting clothing when around other creatures in order to give the lesser beings something to focus on.
Yngvilda looks blankly at the mention of Shae. She shrugs.
"We can't get you out yet even if we wanted to. We need to track down this powder you mentioned. We'll be back, fear not."
To the others she says:
"Right then, the location of this mystery cave is not in the notebook. We know Mathezic took the notes so he probably knows, so that's a place to start."
After Cwm finishes excoriating her she continues.
"What's done is done. Perhaps he's in town now and will talk to us because we let him go. Are we done here?"
Cwm nods, "sounds good. I almost hope he isn't there so I can hunt him down."
"Perhaps we can ask around in the town about nearby caves."
Eldon will move towards the way out and wait for the group.
Back in town, Cwm seeks out some of the younger delinquents in town to ask about the caves. He figures if anyone would know, it would be the kids looking for a place to act rowdy. He wasn't above using his Fiery Glare on anyone that appeared to be hiding something.
Yngvilda grabs an ale at the tavern and asks everyone who comes in about nearby caves. She's mostly just happy to be back out in the sun and with a drink in hand
She might have had a little too much of the ale before she started talking to people however...
Eldon will explore the town, stopping to talk with anyone he meets.
Tykent passes Yngvilda another mug of ale and leans back in his chair to continue chatting with some of the regulars at the tavern about what lies outside of town.
A halfling turns to Tykent, and says "Caves? Hmmm. None really that I can recall, why do you ask?" When you bring up that it's related to Hunclay in some way, the halfling laughs. "You know what's funny though, I spotted Hunclay traveling along the old Devy Road a few times-this was a little unusual, since it was rare to see the wizard outside the town, and he certainly seemed to be moving with a purpose down the road. Maybe there's a cave down there?"
As everyone comes back together, Cwm is dejected and mumbling to himself, "damn kids! not afraid when they should be! in my day ..." He nods when Tykent lets them know they have a lead down Devy Road. "Before we head there, do we need to check in and let Lady Origena know not to send anyone else to the mansion? Don't want them getting hurt.
Oh - and maybe she knows something about the caves since the road's named after her family."
"I think while we are here, we should let her know our findings, and that we are continuing on our assigned tasks by searching for this cave. She already sent me to check up on you folk, so likely further delays won't be tolerated. We need to give her something."
"Checking in can't hurt."
She takes a second to make sure she's not swaying too much.
"It might make sense to make a start on this journey tomorrow though. I remembered that I dumped a bunch of junk we picked up in the kobold lair in my room, we could trade that in and get some supplies?"
You arrange a meeting with Lady Origena for late morning tomorrow, where she's asked to meet you at Hunclay's estate. This gives your party time to get a solid nights rest and hit the streets for some quick shopping.
The next morning you arrive at the manor to the sound of a small army of clerks going through the (hopefully safe) manor to finish cataloging its contents and organize lots for the coming auction. The auction is scheduled for just a little over a month away. In that time the Baroness sends word of the auction to merchants, wizards and scholars all throughout Taldor, and word spreads through specialized channels to other nations just as quickly.
"Ah! There you are!" She receives the news of your progress quite well. "Well to the manner of your reward. Here is the remaining 5000 gold pieces fee for clearing the house. I will be scheduling the auction of the items. It will take awhile to get the house fully stripped as well as get the auction set up. As my thanks, if you wish to attend the auction I will cover half of the cost of any item you bid on, up to 7,500gp."
Looking around the room, "Does this sound acceptable? In the meantime you are welcome to stay in our town, I will pay for your time in the piper during that month as well."
1 Exotic birds 50 gp
2 Kitchen lot 100 gp
3 Parlor lot 300 gp
4 Dining room lot 200 gp
5 Library lot 400 gp
6 Stuffed grizzly bear 60 gp
7 Book of extended summoning 550 gp
8 Flesh golem manual 2,000 gp
9 Manual of war 1,500 gp
10 Assorted potions 660 gp
11 Assorted scrolls 255 gp
12 Hunclay’s spellbooks 4,000 gp
13 Bedroom lot 440 gp
14 Observatory lot 1,000
15 Storage lot 500 gp
16 Clockwork lab lot 1,000 gp
17 Summoning journal 1,000 gp
18 Rare book lot 1,100 gp
19 Dust of Darkness 600 gp
20 Mithral scroll tube 300 gp
”There’s also the matter of the devil and the shae in the basement,” Tykent adds cheerfully. ”At the very least, the clerks should be warned to avoid those rooms for the time being. And we’re certainly willing to help... resolve those issues, though we have one short trip to make first.” He he motions for Yngvilda, as the de facto leader of the group, to elaborate.
Cwm chuckles at Tykent's never-ending good cheer. He looks over the items and confers with the others off to the side, "anything of interest? The Dust of Darkness is intriguing."
Yngvilda has been feeling a bit better after a night's rest, although it hasn't cured her of her daydreaming. She was only mostly paying attention and stumbles forward at Tykent's prodding.
"Er yes, we haven't completely finished clearing the basement just yet. However we are about to undertake a small trip out to some nearby caves that we have learned about where we should be able to procure the necessary means to fully clear out old Hunclay's captives. He seems to have been fond of binding strange outsiders to help him with his experiments, and he's left a pair of them stranded."
She looks to the others trying to gauge if she's missed anything.
"Oh and you wouldn't happen to know of any nearby caves he might have been frequenting do you? Down the Devy road perhaps?"
"Oh." she says, looking concerned. She calls over an assistant and instructs the clerks to stay out of the basement for now. Turning her attention back to the party, she asks "Cave? There are numerous caves up and down Devy road. Head north and when you start to see the fir trees, split east off the road. Can't miss them. Do take care though, word is that wolves frequent that area."
Yngvilda doesn't look particularly interested in the auction items, so she's ready to investigate these caves after a bit of shopping.
Having already been round looking for a healing wand to no avail, she wanders around the stores asking for magical cloaks
Cwm also seeks out a wand, but nobody is willing to sell him theirs.