Sebastian once more thinks aloud. "Maybe it can't leave this room, but again, it's worth the try." Who knows what awaits in there...
Nayala heads to the new opening, cautiously examining it for traps or hidden features.
"I mean, if the snake can go first, great. But I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it if it cant."
Lila moves to Lavinia's side, trying to at least look like a bodyguard even if she's rather inept at that role. She peeks around a bit as well.
The vault opens to reveal an octagonal shaped room supported by a singular pillar. The pillar has dozens of deep grooves along the side. Inside on each wall is a fantastically rendered based relief of some creature. The ceiling is only ten feet high, with the now familiar star pattern radiating out from the pillar. All of the star's arms are black, except for the one facing the door, which is red. Each creature's eyes are decorated with red garnets, whose gaze regards you from the wall. The room stands empty.
"I have a bad feeling about this place..." Sebastian's curiosity is vested by his cautiousness this time, and he lets Natalia, who seems interested in going first and noticing things, do the honours, always with Lavinia's permission, of course.
He conjures a ghostly weapon just in case, though.
"Now, this is something I would expect to see in a hidden vault. I wonder if this is the room that parchment was talking about. Can I see that note again? Just in case."
Nayala cautiously steps in and looks over the pillar and floor, trying to determine if something harmful will occur.
Looking at the pillar, it appears it can be rotated in any direction. However, it doesn't rotate smoothly, but appears to click in a certain direction as it turns.
"Chimera looks to sunrise
Cyclops looks to sunset
Umber Hulk looks to sunset
Basilisk looks to sunrise."
"And you people say my rhyming is bad! At least I don't use the exact same word to rhyme in my compositions!" After looking things over, the pretty teen makes some more observations aloud.
"I spy with my little eye...two things that are red: one point of the eight-sided star symbol, and the eyes of the monsters in the bas reliefs. My guess is the red bit on the symbol is a pointer of sorts and that 'sunrise and sunset' refer to whether to rotate the pillar east or west. Maybe the number of eyes each creature has is like a combination code for opening the vault."
"Let's see.... A chimera has three heads, each with two eyes, so the grand total's six. Cyclops--one. If we want to trust the Kora/Kova/whatever who said an umber hulk has four eyes--Do we really want to trust her?--that just leaves the basilisk. Is that the lizard thing with extra legs, or does it have extra eyes?"
After wracking her memory, the teen blushes a bit when she realizes the answer is before her: She merely counts the red gemstone eyes on the bas reliefs.
Sebastian meditates on Lila's idea. "If sunset/sunrise mean Eest/East, then it should mean left/right... Then if the pointer has to signal the creatures... in order... I think we should turn the wheel East until we point to the Chimera, then West until we point the Cyclops, and so on." He scratches his chin. "I guess."
"Yeah, sounds good, guys. Just gotta figure out how many eyes this basilisk thing has. Other than that, seems like a straight forward combination lock."
Richter can back up Lila.
"Yep. Nasty things, basilisks. Eight legs, but only two eyes; if they had any more they might be unstoppable."
"Okay, so six, one, four, two? Stand back, I'm gonna do the thing."
Nayala confidently turns the stone pillar/dial in the aforementioned combination.
Nayala turns the pillar in the designated directions, and after the star rotates to the last monstrous fresco, the 5 alcove vault doors open. Closed chests and coffers line the alcoves in various sizes.
"Maybe I should send someone...disposable to check out those chests, once we've looked them over."
Lila fidgets. Turning to Lavinia, she asks, "Did your parents have keys to these chests? Might they be trapped?" Gesturing to Nayala, she asks the noblewoman a third question: "Or should our sharp-eyed trap-finder take a look at them first?"
"I mean, this place is full of secrets and hidden features, why wouldn't they be trapped? I imagine they weren't planning on using this a a daily withdrawal kind of place, right?"
Lavinia pauses and says "I have no idea what other traps or defenses my parents or their associates could have placed here. Even my brother doesn't know.
"You have a brother?" Lila inquires. The teen catches herself before she asks if this brother is cute.
"Well, trapped or not, I guess there's only one way to know" Sebastian shrugs. He doesn't touch anything, though, until the experts have had a look first. The cemetery is full of daredevils, after all.
Lavinia looks at Lila and says "Yes, his name is Vanthus. I haven't seen him for three weeks. He was very bitter and cruel after my parents died.
"Well, let's everyone just back off and see how things go."
Once everyone has done so, Richter will create a Utility Construct to begin trying to open the chests.
Sebastian does indeed back off. He's survived some explosions, even when not warned about them, to handwave such an alert just like that.
Lila stands back, keeping Lavinia at bay as well. "Since your parents never mentioned if you'd need an additional set of keys for all these chests, might as well let Richter's Thingamabob try to open them."
Unless you've got a Kova the Trap-Springer you've never told us about....
"There might be some room-destroying or 'kill us all type dangers on those cheats. Let me take a look at least before we open them, okay?"
Nayala cautiously examines the chests and floors for traps.
(+1 vs traps)
Apemantus Oldcastle backs off for the Construct, and nods for Nayala.
Natalia finds no traps on the chests
Nayala doesn't find any traps on the various containers.
Once given the all clear, Richter's construct begins popping open chests.
"Not that I don't trust you, but you've convinced me there's no such thing as an overabundance of caution in this instance."
"Yeah, you can't be too careful, I guess. I'm very keen to see what's inside these chests though. "
As the astral construct open the chests, they seem to be empty except for a couple of silver coins per chest. Upon reaching the last 5, Lavinia sighs with relief as she and the group find around 2,000 go in gold and gems, plus a large amount of ledgers that seem to be IOUs and debts owed to the Vanderboren estate. A small iron coffer sits to the side in the last chest.
"Box within a box? Quite interesting. Let me take another look."
Nayala examines the iron coffer closely.
(+1 vs traps)
Lila frowns at the lack of wealth in the vault of her new, allegedly wealthy noblewoman friend. "Was this about what you were expecting?" she asks Lavinia.
Eyeballing the IOUs she adds, "Do you want me to total these receipts and IOUs, or do you have an Accountant Kova to do that?"
"Wow, that's a nice inheritance" Sebastian comments. Of course, it was well guarded, but still.
He wipes his hands, as if the task was over. If he's going to get paid for this, he could very well get used to it. Now, it's LÑavinia who has final word about it.
"So, what now?"
”My guess now is that the Lady looks at these IOUs and decides if she needs us again right away.”
The box within a box has no traps on it.
"Thank you and the gods!"Lavinia exclaims. "Now I will be able to pay you, my back debts, and gain more capital for future investments. Still, it is much less then I had originally expected. I plan to examine the IOUs and ledgers with the help of some trusted accountants, and arrange to get them sorted and coming in as needed. But let me reward you all first."
Sebastian hesitates when the coins are offered to him. "Ehm... Alright, listen, I don't really mind waiting for my payment if you think you need more time. I mean, it's okay if I get more jobs from you in the future, and you pay me then, when your investments allow you to do it more loosely." He shrugs. "That's if you prefer, of course. I think of it as an investment, also - money later instead of now, but more jobs like this one."
Lavinia says "Once I have this secured I have an additional mission for you all. Please meet me at the manor once you're ab le.
"Say, Lady V...you seem to be in need of trustworthy, competent retainers. You also seem to have both an empty manor house and a moored vessel in town. Would you like to make our business arrangement a bit more...continuous? We could provide our assorted skills and of course protection for your up and coming household, while you would be assured of our services much in the way your team of Kovas. Plus, we can save a bunch of coin on inn rooms."
Nayala gives a wide grin as she receives her coin and makes the pitch to Lavinia.
"Part of our future discussion concerns that very topic, miss Nayala. Other parts involve topics that are partially too open for prying eyes and ears, especially in the Castle. Please take as much time as you need to store or spend your coin as you wish.With that, Lavinia begins to to collect the remaining coin after your reward is separated, securing it in one of the chests for safekeeping. She indicates that she will be able to reseal the treasury and its secrets, and would appreciate an escort back to the manor, and then you can spend your well deserved reward as needed.
Lila fulfills her obligation to Lady Vanderboren, escorting her safely back to her manor house. There, she mentions to Nayala that she's going to look for Mokhai, adding that "it might take a few days." She heals any lingering wounds from the mechanical snake's bites before leaving.
The one-eyed bard is gone for a full week, however. When she returns, she looks more grim and resolute than before. Lila bluntly reports that she found no sign of her old friend anywhere in the city.
Lila's either lying about Mokhai or leaving something out about what kept her busy for the past week.
While waiting for Lady Lavinia to detail the next mission she has planned for the group, Lila does a lot of training with the unusual sword she's always carried but never used. The short gal has learned to wield it somewhat formidably, using an unusual technique that vaguely resembles a dance and makes use of her hips and legs rather than her lesser arm musculature.
When she meets up with the others for meals or relaxation, she reports that she's added some items to her weapons repertoire: cold iron and silver daggers and crossbow bolts with tips fashioned from those same metals. Also, she's purchased a flask of alchemical fire which she's heard are good for dealing with swarming insects and the like.
(ooc]Moving On[/ooc]
As the group returns to Vanderboren Manor, Kova the housekeeper shows you into Lavinia's receiving room. Lavinia sits there primly, waiting for you all to sit. Once you have done so, she begins.
"Thank you my friends for coming back. Thank you again for helping me to recover the Blue Nixie and what remains of my family's fortune. Now I must ask of you a harder task. I'm concerned about my brother Vanthus. I spoke with the treasury clerk on on my way out of the treasury, and he said Vanthus had been going in and out several times during the last month. That's incredible, since he has been missing for the last month. He has been angry and bitter since my parents died, and disappeared a week after their death. I'm greatly concerned for him, since he had been seen with people of very questionable character. If you could, would you please find him?
"To be clear, are we just 'finding him' or do you mean us to confront and convince him to come home?"
"Yes exactly, good question. Also, do you know of anything Lord Vanthus was doing or attempting to do, any friends or associates, or even just any rumors, that would help us begin our search?"
Apemantus Oldcastle knows the next question is a bit sensitive. He is respectful in his tone and careful and considerate in his words.
"And one more question, if he's been secretly entering the Vanderboren treasury, likely taking money little by little for whatever purpose (that seems to be incrementally increasing), how 'quiet' should we be in avoiding a possible scandal?
"I mean, if he's been taking a little money out at a time for, Mayaheine-forgive-me, a gambling or a prostitution or a drugs problem, how far under-the-waves do you want us to be in to avoid scandal?"
.
"Perhaps we could start with the treasury clerks, asking some questions. They saw him last. ....I wish we could question the Iron Cobra!"
Apemantus looks to his new companions for opinions.
"Is Vanthus a man about town? Do you know of any people or groups he frequents? Dining clubs, drinking establishments, bath houses? The staff in those places see and hear a lot more than the guests like to believe, and with some kind words and coin to grease the wheels, we might be able to learn what he's been up to."
to know about Vanthus?
Sebastian nods. "A small description would also help. And... Just to know where to start, what do you consider 'people of very questionable character'?"
Some dark thoughts and guesses begin to enter Lila's mind. She decides--at this point, at least--to address only the only foremost on her mind. "Your brother would need a signet ring to enter the vault and remove things," the teen begins slowly. "Did your parents grant him such a ring while denying you--apparently the legal heir--one? If not, how did Vanthus obtain one?"
The girl keeps the next follow-up questions unspoken for now: How far would Vanthus go to obtain such a ring-key? And how far would he go to ensure that his many thefts went unnoticed by his and Lavinia's parents?