Kiley slowly calms down after the fight ends. She pulls the sword free of the dwarf's corpse and steps back as the others look over his belongings. She wipes the blood from her sword and only then notices her tail is free. The color drains from her face as she tries to hide it again before anyone can take note.
"Nonononono! Not now! Not here!"
Tellanya is impatiently gesturing towards the door, but when the note and other documents are presented, along with Esmaralda’s theory, she adds ”well...” and then adds a little detail about Thassalon.
She finally notices at Kiley’s tail, and nervous mein, and laughs. She focuses intently, ”Kiley why are you embarrassed? There is nothing to be ashamed of. At least your mother wasn’t a dark elven priestess. They’ll give any fiend a run for their money in terms of vicious evil.” She says this without a hint of maliciousness, and quite cheerfully.
Kiley freezes as Tellanya notices her struggling to hide her tail away and for a moment she can't breathe as her heart leaps into her throat. She swallows and after a moment she relaxes a little. Tellanya's tone and obvious good cheer helping to ease her past the initial desire to run. She lets her cat-like tail slip free from the concealing folds the scarves around her hips and waist while she turns to face the others and reaches up for the scarf around her head and covering her ears. She pulls it away revealing the auburn and black striped ears with their tufts of fluffy white on the inside. She holds her arms wide and feet together like a magician having performed a trick and forces a wide grin that shows off her too-large canines.
"Tah-dah?"
"Those are wonderful tiefling features, Kiley. Yes, feel comfortable to be yourself with us at all times. Other than Cheliax and Taldor, I'm not aware of other nations that have overtly strange reactions to your kind. Even if our common road takes us there, I recommend you don't attempt to hide it regardless... These features are a gift of sorts: they cause most idiots or a%@#@%*~s to reveal themselves immediately!"
"I-I don't think I cannot hide them. It's not really safe for me, or you. Not this close to Riddleport," Kiley says. Her grin disappears and she looks away and hopes she hasn't divulged too much. Her ears droop and her tail wraps itself in a spiral down her legs. She stands that way, small and vulnerable, for a moment before she looks up with an eyebrow raised in question.
"Tiefling? Is that what I am," she asks Esmaralda.
Cam folds her arms and shrugs. ”I talk to my armor. Anybody gives you trouble, Kiley, I’ll teach ‘em a touch a’ respect.”
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Henric's self-inflicted spell is broken at the sound of light-hearted conversation. When he sees Kiley without her coverings, and the others smiling at her, Henric can't help but to join in.
He comes up beside her and nudges her shoulder with his, "See," he tells her, a little smugly, "I told you that you'd be fine, didn't I?"
"Tiefling? Is that what I am," she asks Esmaralda.
"Tiefling? Is that what I am," she asks Esmaralda.
"Thanks," she says to the others as they voice their support. "Gets a little hard to remember that I spent the last few years around some really terrible people and that probably had more to do with how they treated me than what I look like."
Kiley's tail relaxes to a more natural position and her ears perk up.
"So Henric, any ideas about how to get into the vault thingy!"
Looking up at the door in front of them, Henric replies, "That is an excellent question! Let's see what we can find out."
The scholar moves towards the door and tries to see what he can discover.
"Yes, Stryn has examined if for traps but we had to wait until he unlocked it." She points at the door, "we had to get inside because that's where we found the gauntlet."
Henric finds his ability to determine aspects of magical items flummoxed completely by the door, as it appears to not be magical at all, but rather mechanical. The Sihedron Rune in the center appears to be a combination lock of some kind, but what the combination is...well, that could take some doing.
Concentrating, Henric sees an image of the past day of the Dwarf, Dolland, attempting to open the doors. He sees the dwarf turn each of the seven points of the Sihedron individually, with each having 5 positions. Dolland would turn one tine one position, then try the door, then continue moving forward. Henric learns there are 78,125 possible combinations, as well as receiving a vision of a woman in scarlet-red and gold robes with vibrant red hair wielding a ranseur with a human skull impaled on one end opening the door.
You recognize this woman as the final Runelord of Wrath, Alaznist.
Henric steps back away from the door, mouth hanging open. "Alaznist..." he mutters aloud, but then continues in a regular tone of voice. "Seems like we have quite the job on our hands. This lock has 78,125 possible combinations, and our friend here hadn't figured it out yet. Whatever is in there, we can't let some common bandits get ahold of it."
Henric stops for a moment, realization dawning on his face. He digs around in his backpack and pulls out the map of Roderick's Cove that they found. Looking it over, he examines the marker that was placed in the Stone House; where they currently are. He quickly makes his way over to the lock and starts adjusting the tines to resemble the marker on the map.
Tellanya looks again at the rune, over Henric's shoulder, focusing and concentrating, "Yes, you are right Henric, the right way is actually the wrong way." She puts her spear away, and steps over to him, "may I?" Almost without waiting for permission, somehow, Tellanya flips one of the tines to an incorrect position that definitely does not match the actual configuration of the sihedron. However, doing so causes an audible click.
She exhales, "yes, I was told I would do it correctly."
Cam rests her gauntlet under her chin. ”If she’s the Runelady of Wrath, then the order and such is probably related to somethin’ about her being the best.”
It’s cause she *is* the best! Like I wouldn’t even call wrath a sin; it’s just good fun.
”Given your name, I’m 100% unsurprised you’d be a fan, Ira.”
Kiley decides it's best to let those more knowledgeable about ancient history meddle with the puzzle and steps back. Henric is smart, and she's certain he'll figure it out. Cam's musings catch her attention and Kiley thinks back over what's happened over the past week or so.
"I don't think Ira has the same tastes as the crowd Dolland was betraying the Roadkeepers to. Order of Resplendence, Peacock Manor, and Peacock Spirit don't sound wrathful to me. It sounds more like some guys who are full of themselves," Kiley says as she ties her hair back with the scarf that had been covering her ears and replaces the green bycocket on her head. She looks at her less than pristine clothing and figures that she'll have to wait until they have the gauntlets secured to take care of that little detail.
The symbol on the Roderic's Map that you copied turns out to be the correct combination - apparently, he was good enough to break into the vault. With a click, the lock opens, and Cam and Kiley open the doors to reveal a billowing wall of fog. It doesn't spill out, staying put, clearly some kind of magical effect.
After careful study, Henric and Esmaralda are able to determine that the fog is an effect of a mage's private sanctum spell, and that it should be harmless to pass through. Stryn does so, stepping through, and then he steps back out and says everything looks fine, allowing you to enter.
Smooth white marble lines the walls of this chamber, its faces carved with spiraling lines of softly glowing runes. The chamber’s floor and ceiling are likewise adorned with these ominous glowing runes. An elegant but empty sword display made of redwood stands in the center of the room, while an iron chest sits against the wall to the west. Everything in the chamber is covered in a fine layer of ash.
Stryn finds no traps on the chest or the sword stand. The chest looks to be unlocked.
Seeing the culmination of years of study come to a positive finding, Henric reverently makes his way to the chest and runs his hand over it before he tries to open it.
Henric finds that no one has touched this chest within the past day - it has lain undisturbed for millennia. It is also not magic.
Barring anyone interfering, Henric will open the chest.
Tellanya peers over Henric's shoulder, with barely restrained interest.
Camellia’s first instinct is to check the sword stand for anything of interest or note, running her gauntleted hand lightly over it.
Kiley watches the others' backs. It is getting just a little crowded in the vault.
Camellia looks over the weapon rack. She can tell it's clearly of an ancient design - probably Thassilonian, like everything else down here. It's an example of exquisite craftsmanship, and there is a single plaque at its base with a word written in Thassilonian.
Baraket
Baraket was the name of the Sword of Pride, said to have been created by the Runelord Xanderghul himself. It was said to have a hilt of glass and an invisible blade, as well as having other magical properties to make its wielder a more fearsome foe. The Swords of Sin, as the swords made by the runelords were called, were also reported to have a mind of their own.
This hasn't been touched in years, but you get a brief vision of a human man who looks like a young Sir Roderic, founder of Roderic's Cove, reaching out to take the glass basket-hilt of a rapier with no blade from the stand.
Henric carefully opens the stone chest, revealing a pair of gauntlets sitting on the rotted remains of a once-fine red velvet cushion. The gauntlets themselves look like they are made of some pale green crystal and strips of leather. The leather and pale green crystal-like areas are covered in hundreds of softly glowing runes.
You recognize that the pale green crystal is not crystal at all, but an incredibly rare skymetal called noqual. Noqual is associated with abjuration magic and is known for its potent antimagical qualities. It is as hard as iron yet weights half as much, yet it is also incredibly costly to make magic items out of it due to the need for special reagents and processes.
You identify this magic item as a major artifact known as Runewarded Gauntlets:
A set of runewarded gauntlets helps to protect the wearer from the influence of intelligent magic items, an effect that immediately becomes apparent to a wearer when the gauntlets are first put on. While worn, the gauntlets suppress all magical qualities of a single intelligent weapon carried. They have no effect on nonintelligent magic weapons or nonweapon intelligent magic items. Runewarded gauntlets make spellcasting more difficult when worn, imparting a 10% spell failure chance to all spells cast while worn (not just arcane spells). This spell failure chance does not stack with spell failure chances from other worn items.
The spirits rejoice around you as Henric reveals the gauntlets. "They're here, they're here! We weren't sure when they were here, but apparently it's now!"
Kiley doesn't see anyone trying to sneak up on the group.
"The pale green crystal is not crystal at all, but an incredibly rare skymetal called noqual. Noqual is associated with abjuration magic and is known for its potent antimagical qualities. It is as hard as iron yet weights half as much, yet it is also incredibly costly to make magic items out of it due to the need for special reagents and processes. I have no idea what the gauntlets do, however, but they are evidently magical in nature. We may need to retain a powerful wizard or bard master to fully identify these items."
Henric very carefully reaches into the chest to pull out the gauntlets, closing his eyes to read their auras.
After a moment, he nearly falls back, but keeps himself upright.
"Very magical," he says, breathing like he had just run a marathon, his eyes wide. "These are Runewarded Guantlets, a powerful Thassilonian artifact. They protect the wearer from the influence of magic items with intelligence, as well as suppress all magical qualities of a single intelligent weapon carried."
He looks around the room at everyone, his eyes still wide, "Why would they need such things, and why would these bandits want them so bad? It seemed like they had some idea of what was in here."
Tellanya breathes a sigh of relief, "yes, we needed to find them. They will assist us. They have assisted us, already." She blinks, and takes a closer look at the gauntlets. She compares the runes on the gauntlets, idly, to those on her ring, but looks up after a moment, and then stands aside, waiting.
After a moment, she nods at Henric, "what will be done has already come to pass."
Henric gives Tellanya a quizzical look, then opens his mouth to start asking questions, but pauses and closes his mouth again, staring on in a ponderous look.
"We need to find who, exactly? what is our next step here? do we need to bring something back to this ghost in Roderic's Cove?" replies Esmaralda to Tellanya's statement.
Tellanya wasn't paying attention to much, but when Esmaralda asks her a question, she blinks as if confused, and points at herself, "hmm? The gauntlets. We will find them, and we did." She points at the gauntlets. "We found them for Sir Roderic, who -" she concentrates, "is dead, yes, is dead, now but was - once alive." It seems to be taking her a lot of effort to keep things straight, and so she shakes he head as if clearing it, then tilts it, as if listening for something, and smiles kindly.
Esmaralda tries to maintain a façade of politeness, but is beginning to believe this Tellanya is some kind of crazy person, or damaged by some unseen forces somehow. One thing that seems clear, even for this Tellanya lady, is that this Sir Roderic ghosts seems to be the key to unlock this mystery at this time.
"Alright everyone. Shall we take these possessions assembled here to Sir Roderic's ghost and see where the chips fall?"
Tellanya points at the word written in Thassalonian, "that word said, 'Baraket' in the language of the ancients, if that helped anyone piece together knowledge."
Esmaralda nods and smiles at Tellanya, having no clue what she's talking about. She turns to Kiley and Cam, and quietly says "Your friends here... are they all right? should we take them somewhere for some help? and what say you about the next step? Sir Roderic or straight to the Peacock Manor? after a well-deserve night off at the inn, of course..."
Kiley's growing ease with the group vanishes at the mention of going back to Roderic's Wreck. Those that look closely can she her tremble and the keen-eared hear the ragged breaths that come too quickly to be calm. More telling is tension in her shoulders and the way her ears fall and her tail wraps around her legs. For a long moment, her blue eyes see things in the past, the recent past from only a few days ago and the more distant past on a horrible, autumn night that saw her the last surviving member of her family's caravan.
"P-please, d-d-don't make me go back to the Wreck." Her voice quivers with barely held terror at even just thinking about going back to that haunted nightmare as she begs Esmaralda not to.
Henric stands up, cradling the gauntlets in his arms, like a pair of twin babes. "Yes. We weren't given any further instructions past collecting the gauntlets, so let's go see the founder."
He notices Kiley's sudden tension, and moves closer to his friend. "Don't worry, Kiley. We're right with you. Just stand behind me if you're not feeling comfortable."
Looking down at the gauntlets again, he asks, "What should we do with these?"
"Hide them. In a magic bag, if you have one," replies Esmaralda immediately, acutely aware that artifacts tend to attract archmages, cult leaders and diabolists, among many others...
Esmaralda nods and smiles at Tellanya, having no clue what she's talking about. She turns to Kiley and Cam, and quietly says "Your friends here... are they all right? should we take them somewhere for some help? and what say you about the next step? Sir Roderic or straight to the Peacock Manor? after a well-deserve night off at the inn, of course..."
Cam leans the flat of her longsword against her shoulder. ”Telly here makes a lot more sense than y’all give her credit for, if you ask me. Just gotta listen to people right. Some people you just gotta listen to harder’n others is all.” She nods towards the weapon rack. ”Anyways, got a bit of a psychic reverberation from that weapon rack. Sir Roderic had the sword with no blade that was here, which sounds like our Baraket.”
Regarding the question of what to do with the gauntlets, Cam shrugs. ”Don’t match my armor. Don’t have a magic bag, either.”
Awww, you’re just worried they will make me get quiet if you put ‘em on. How sweet of you.
Cam smiles at something only she heard.
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Henric nods in agreement. "I didn't detect any kind of ill intent or malicious effect from the gauntlets," he adds, "but better to be safe."
He grabs the sack from the dwarf, and carefully places the gauntlets inside, then stows the bag away in his backpack.
"Splendid Henric! let's go see Sir Roderic!"
Tellanya searches around for a few minutes while the others chat in this room.
After a few minutes she looks around, and says, "I believe we have forgotten that, yes, there are three doors to deal with. One contains the gearghost. One was barricaded, upstairs. One will be to the north." She points north, but as if remembering something, asks to borrow the party's wand, and moves to heal those who are injured.
Kiley keeps silent as the others discuss returning to the wreck and dealing with the ghost here under the stone house. Though she seems to calm a little at Henric's assurances, her eyes dart nervously about and her hands refuse to stop trembling.