Even a cursory examination of the fallen Sczarni reveals his soul has passed on to the Boneyard.
Kala ties up Green Bandana with her rope and checks her surroundings. The worktables in this room are littered with archaeological finds and objets d’art, including a set of white jade figurines, an ancient bronze short-spear tipped with a chunk of roughly cut obsidian, well-preserved Taldan tapestries and several darkwood Mwangi masks.
While she hears nothing on the other side of the south-east door, the huntress confirms the door is locked and does NOT appear to be trapped.
Clearly terrified, the Sczarni trio slumped in the watery lower chamber remain where they are, silent and shaking.
The secured Green Bandana and the two lads on the upper tier continue playing dead long after Loam’s color spray has expired.
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Sleeping Sword breathes deeply, then opens his eyes.
"The Way of the Sleeping Sword teaches us that the warrior who knows his enemy and who knows himself, will also know victory. This was no victory.
Stop, Andor. You disgrace yourself and the Society. You have killed wantonly, and now you loot the dead whilst proclaiming yourself surprised. And you do so if full sight of the dead man's family. I have been called a monster many times. But you - I can barely find the words. Stop."
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Maybe there is some hope for the deadman after all. "He's right Andor. You can't feign surprise then pilfer through their stuff. Taking a life was bad enough. Let's try to get back to our actual reason for being here. Remember that? It was to clear The Societies reputation in this town. Looking down at the body, "So far, I am not certain how well we are doing."
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"We are doing poorly," says Vulpina, dispelling any doubt as Andor makes himself useful in picking the lock. "Let us do what we can to determine the truth of our inciting incident... and then we shall include this in our report."
"Youthful or not, they did fire upon us when we attempted to enter diplomatically. There is... a certain gray area, one might suppose."
But only a shade and a half from black.
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Andor looks at the others in surprise.
“Sorry guys but I think you have forgotten that all these people are criminals! We are talking about an organized crime family that wanted to enter the drug trade! Do you know what people that take drugs after a while look like? Have you any idea who you are protecting here? I have worked my whole life for freedom and I really believe in action in the heat of battle! So calm down and remember that drug trafficking and organized crime is evil! So let us do our jobs as Pathfinders!“ he says with stern look.
“And that job is to take care of those people that wanted to frame the Society for their criminal actions! So if you guys don’t get back to business then I can continue with it on my own but I do not need anybody here lecturing me on what my mission is!“ he says and continues with his actions.
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Vulpina's eyebrows raise, and she steps across to stand over the fallen youth. She looks down at him; eyes closed, breathing heavy...
...shaking with fright.
Faking.
"Be still," she tells him, then turns her gaze toward Andor.
"If that is the case, then why not execute this young man here?" she asks. "He is just as guilty of those crimes as the other."
She gestures her blade across the room. "And these others, too? There are only a few years between them, and they pose hardly any less threat than the one bleeding out on my boots. Or does it only matter that one dared raise a quivering blade against you?"
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Andor raises an eyebrow.
“Really? Are we really going this path? I think I already said that I did not want anybody to die so I will definitely not execute anybody! And please ... especially you lady that wanted to kill an innocent boy to threaten someone should be careful!“ he says shaking his head.
“Any more questions that you guys want to discuss? I think we have given those that might still be hiding in here enough time to prepare so a couple of more hours definitely won’t make a difference, right?“ he says and continues.
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"It was a risky bluff then, especially when most of your own side do not know you. We would do well to discuss tactics before we go much further. Each of us here has acted as an individual, not as part of a team. We had, and have, no plan.
As for you Andor - do not claim to be acting in the interests of justice whilst you rifle the pockets of a dead man in front of his brother, you despicable charlatan."
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He then turns to Sleeping Sword.
“ I have enough brothers and sisters with differing opinions about life to know that nothing is black or white. So I acknowledge your judgment on my actions and apologize if you feel offended! Nonetheless, I personally am not offended by your words as I know what I stand for... “ he says.
“Maybe you are projecting your own hunger and your insecurity regarding the needs that you feel and what you strive for on others? Just a question.”
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Vulpina heaves a sigh and shakes her head. "Should they have persisted in firing upon us, even with a child between them, we could have made a proper judgment of their characters and struck them down with far less regret," she states. "If they had dropped their weapons, we would know them to be redeemable."
"In other words, I played the villain so that you all might play the hero more effectively."
She casts a sidelong glance at Korum; "I was not anticipating heroism against myself, however. That is my own shortcoming, I suppose."
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Sleeping Sword replies to Andor:
"Offended? I am offended by wanton slaughter. I am offended by the despoiling of the dead in front of their family. I am offended by a swordsman not understanding that his sword is a killing tool. I am offended by your lies and your disingenuous, false apology.
I know my own weakness. I accepted what I am long ago, and I strive every day to follow the Way as illuminated by the Light of the Empress of Heaven. In that I might find my salvation. You - you are ignorant, savage, and cold, and you show no signs of understanding. The gods will judge you, more harshly than I."
The old man looks away, and towards the rest of the group.
"It is likely that none of these sczarni are honourable. It is likely that all of them are lying to us."
And turns back to Andor: "But that is not enough to warrant their deaths."
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All these tense, heated words swirl around Kala. She feels she ought to join in, to say something about what she thinks of Lady Vulpina's and Andor's actions. She just has no idea what to say, or how to say it. She scowls at them for a while, but the sight of the kids cowering on the floor while all this is going on is disquieting. A sarcastic musing presents itself: Yeah, a real good impression we're making. Society's gonna promote us for sure.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Stinky sniffing at the bodies on the floor, no doubt testing to see if there's one he could sneak a nibble of. She fishes out a piece of dried meat from her pocket, holding it out to him. "Stinky, here boy. Leave them alone."
Eventually, she decides to do something. She slowly walks down to the base of the stage, between the stairs, and lays down all her weapons. Then she quietly and slowly walks over to the youths cowering under the tables in the middle of the room. Crouching down before them with her hands spread out to show that she means no threat, she softly and sincerely says: "I'm sorry."
Of course, she doesn't know what else to say. A vague sense of frustration nags at her as her mind completely blanks on anything useful to say.
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She fishes out a piece of dried meat from her pocket, holding it out to him. "Stinky, here boy. Leave them alone."
MEEEAT! YES! THANK YOU! OMNOMNOM! Stinky becomes a ball of happy energy at the proffered jerky, completely oblivious to the moral dilemma being discussed by the group of people. He follows Kala as she moves away, hoping to get another treat out of her as soon as this one is gone.
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Andor is now the one to be flabbergasted.
“I really thank you for your view on the world and my actions! It gives me another perspective!“
He looks at the dead body and sighs.
“I can only say what I said before: I did not want anybody to die but at the same time I have seen a single dagger kill a fellow pathfinder with one strike ... and if I have to strike down an enemy that is threatening us with their weapons to protect anyone of you here then I take the responsibility for all the accusations that you just made! And please do not believe that I do not understand ... I understand that your perspective is not mine!“
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Without a louder spell in mind, Loam was about to shoot a bullet into the ceiling to stop this argument. But seeing as some of the aggression has abated, she resorts to words instead. Arguably her weaker of the two suits.
"Repetition of our arguments here will not lead far. We have said our pieces. Andor, you may brood on these words for every day hence. It will stop when you take them to heart and try to change accordingly. Or when you banish them from your mind entirely, as is entirely your choice. Your reasoning was sound, partially, the action you took wrong. That lets me hope you will have a better outcome than most."
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"The Way of the Sleeping Sword says: the only one who can save you, is you." says the old man, softly.
He puts his back to Andor and joins Kala.
"Go home to your mothers, children. And if you have neither home nor mother, then go to Heidmarch Manor. I will join you there later, and we shall see if we can find a better path for you than this one."
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Reaching his limit, "ALRIGHT! That's enough, from all of us. The fact of the matter is that we still need each other to finish the mission. The dhampir's right. We haven't been acting as a team, myself included."
He looks to everyone, "I've seen most of you around the lodge, but the only one I really know is Kala here. For whatever reason, you joined The Pathfinders. We all did. If nothing else, that is a common bond we all share. Let's focus on that for the time being. Right now, we need to trust one another. We need to know we have each other's back. If for no other reason than the fact that any enemy will display a unified front."
He takes a breath, "I for one will move forward assuming the best intent in all your actions. Any issues I have, I will discuss afterwards. Not lecture, judge or threaten; discuss."
"Can we ALL live by that for a little longer?"
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Andor suddenly looks at Vulpina in a strange way. While picking the lock he starts chatting in Tien.
”Hey lady, where exactly in Tian do you actually come from? I do not know if I mentioned that but I grew up in the forest of spirits near Hongal. I know that I look like a barbarian from Avistan to you but I actually have learned a lot about etiquette from Tian society! So what’s your story?“
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Vulpina stands behind him, watching him work. She has never learned the art of finessing locks, but she doesn't doubt she could learn; it could not be that much different from maintenance on her pistols, after all.
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Andor realizes that something is off with Vulpina’s descriptions and he doesn’t hide it. He raises an eyebrow.
”Lady, I do not want to be disrespectful but I think that your story doesn’t add up! Well, looking at you and matching that with a couple of vulpine noble stories I heard about the Reipa family could lead to other origin stories!“ he says with a sly smile.
”But I really don’t want to invade your privacy but being a Kitsune myself, I can relate to not looking back while traveling and adventuring!“
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Sleeping Sword listens with quiet interest to the exchange between the two kitsune, whilst not making eye contact.
Uh, kitsune. Tricksters - and worse. It seems in some cases their unfortunate reputation is well deserved.
Seeing Lady Vulpina's physical reaction to Andor's words, Sleeping Sword stays silent.
She quietly and slowly walks over to the youths cowering under the tables in the middle of the room. "I'm sorry."
“Go home to your mothers, children.”
The three in the flooded center rise and back slowly away from the Pathfinders, before taking off for the western doorway at a dead run, like identical switches flipped in their heads at exactly the same moment.
There is an almost comical logjam of panicked bodies in the open doorway, before they eventually *pop* around the corner and are gone!
Shortly afterwards on the upper tier, the two lads playing Dire Possum get to their feet slowly. Wary eyes track the movements of Andor and Loam, before they too climb down the empty steps and hug the northern and western walls as they flee the chamber wordlessly.
“I suppose that courtesy doesn’t extend to me.”
Green bandana’s eyes *flick* open as he carps from the floor. “Are you going to leave me tied up here like a dog? Within feet of the brother I need to mourn and bury?”
“I didn’t kill anyone, you know.”
Andor unlocks and opens the door in the south-east corner to reveal a steep set of water-filled concave steps, descending into what appears to be another stone crypt.
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After the youths have left, Kala stands and retrieves her weapons.
He ignores the boy on the ground.
”My preparation is complete. Let’s go in!“
Gesturing to the green thug she had bound earlier, Kala mutters: "...Dude! What the fudge?" Still, if they release him, he'll probably undermine everything they're trying to do here. With a resigned sigh, she crouches beside the guy and says: "Look. We'd rather let you go like those kids, but you're more likely to cause trouble. We want to be able to talk to Uncle Titus without this incident affecting his opinion of us. We can untie you on our way out." Feeling bad for leaving him there, she reaches over and closes the eyes of the dead brother, whispering: "I'm sorry." Then, feeling all kinds of awkward and guilty, she rises without making eye contact with anyone and shuffles to the door, ready to move on.
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Loam doesn't step closer to the thug before speaking to him, for fear of reigniting the same conversation. "We could be soft with you, yes. But your hands aren't clean for lack of trying to dirty them. In understandable anger, to be sure, and yet here you are, without a scratch on you. We could have done worse. But we can only be so soft without being foolish.
"For the small amount it is worth, I am sorry. I lost someone not long ago. Is there anything within reason you would like, before we go? Like moving you elsewhere in the room?"
Green bandana turns his face away as soon as you make it clear he’s not getting released. He lies on his side in sullen silence.
Andor consumes several more extracts and heads down the mildew-lined steps. The second crypt at the bottom beckons …
Sleeping Sword’s detect magic sweep causes three items in Andor’s collection of liberated workshop artefacts to *glow*
A simple silver cloak-clasp inlaid with mother-of-pearl emits faint abjuration magic.
A stout, partially melted beeswax candle radiates faint enchantment magic.
While on closer inspection, the bronze ‘short spear’ is actually a thick arrow tipped with obsidian and powered by strong necromantic energy.
✩
From the base of the wet stairs, Andor confirms the newly located chamber has a similar configuration to the western effigy crypt. However, the iron-stained stone walls appear to house actual sepulchers.
Now inside the crypt, you can see virtually all of the cells have been unsealed. Their heavy stone lids, etched with indistinguishable writing lie cracked on the stone floor.
“UNCLE TITUS! SIX PATHFINDERS PLUS AN ANIMAL COMPANION APPROACH! MIDDLING COMPETENCE!”
“TWO DUELISTS, WIZARD, HOLY KNIGHT, FORESTER AND WOLVERINE, TIEN INQUISITOR.”
Jumbled, crumbling skeletons lie heaped within each cell, looted of any valuables.
One lid remains intact, on the chamber’s western wall at floor level. It swings open on visible hinges, no longer adequately disguised as a secret door. It leads to a curving passageway scarcely larger than the dimensions of the doorway.
Harsh chemical fumes emit from the opened portal, and the sound of voices and the flicker of movement in front of a light come from the passage beyond.
Korum scans the stony crypt and as his eyes pass over his companions, Stinky transforms into a human Shelynite paladin, whose features reflect the wolverine’s character and personality.
Ser Stinky the Steadfast holds out a rose to Kala, and turns to face Korum, mouthing:
بدون ارواح
To Lady Vulpina’s ears, the warning originates from the top of the staircase, sounding out in Green Bandana’s voice.