The wave of scintillating light washes over the swarm of rats and Aconite, leaving in it's wake a pile of twitching, over stimulated rats, which can be killed and scattered with a minimum of effort.
"Thank you all for comin' to help," the woman speaks up. "I'm Ylandria, and my mate here is Eun." Getting a better look at the pair, Eun is wearing a Twincandles satek, while Ylandria's is missing, replaced by a mud-soaked bandage.
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Wilen holds up his arms and stands still, letting Juis and Lebraerio treat the various gashes and scratches left on his skin by the rats.
Well met, Ylandria, and Eun.
Wilen nods at them both. Glad we could help. Say, what's that symbol there on your clothing? What sort of business does it represent?
He points at the visible Twincandles satek.
Ylandria gives a bit of a crooked smile to Wilen's question. "You mean the Twincandles mark?" she replies, "This is Magnimar. Surely you've dealt with other Sczarni families, yes?"
"Spiders?"Ylandria looks a little puzzled by that comment, "don't know any folk that use spiders as symbol, Sczarni or no...."she trails off for a moment, before giving a second glance at the obviously able group. With a more serious look, she finds her voice again. "Wait a second, are you talkin' about ol' Eli? Because if you are, I'm willing to talk about it, if you're willing to come with me to talk with my bosses. They'd be interested in dealing as well. Some folks are abusing family bonds...."
"Well, we'd have to go back to our camp at Two-Lights. That's where the kapetos are at anyway," Ylandria says, matter-of-factly. "The thing is, While I know what's going on, they're the ones with more bargaining power for us, and they'll want to talk with you as well."
Ylandria nods and smiles before leading you all into the district. "Part of the reason I know what's going on with ol' Eli is because I was there," she says before quickly adding, "I wasn't involved in the robbery or hurt him, though. I like the man, and we've worked through him before."
"The problem comes from some distant cousins that came from Riddleport a couple months ago. I went with some of them to collect a package from Eli. When I got to haggling with him over the price, the bastards decided to rob him instead. They beat him, then when realized they didn't know where the package was hiding, one of them sliced him with a dagger with some venom on it as the ransacked the place."
"I held no chance against them, and when I tried to help Eli, one of them handed me a compass an' order me to leave it by him. At this point, that weird plant of his came to life and attacked us. I got a good slash along the neck,"gesturing to the bandage on her neck, "We got out of there with some of what we were lookin’ for, but I couldn’t leave Chert in there with that thing. I didn’t know if it would hurt him. So, I drug him outside. It was then I found that I still had that compass, which I threw on the ground there and took off. It was a mess. I don't know why they did it. There was no rhyme or reason to it all...."
Ylandria nods to Wilen as the group approaches the Twincandles camp. "I think you have the right of it on this one, I don't think they are the talking and reasoning type either. They've set up base camp on our territory, so they are still around, for now at least. But the kapetos are done with them, and want them gone. And well, I think we can help each other on this one. You know, ‘my enemy’s enemy’ and all that?"
The scent of incense suffuses this ramshackle camp, not quite overpowering the pervasive odor of mildew. Gnats swarm between lean-tos, shanties, and tents, the best of which are assembled on foundations of scrap wood, and the worst of which rest directly on the soggy ground. Soot-smeared children play near cook-fires tended by old women, while tannery workers eat from bowls held in their stained fingers. At the center of the cacophony of color and smells is the base of the two tall wooden masts upon which Two-Lights’s nightly beacons burn. The masts form the central support for a festively ornamented and irregularly shaped tent, clearly occupied by the camp’s most important residents. And it's to that tent that Ylandria leads the group.
Outside of the main entrance, an imposing bare-chested Shaonti man stands, expertly scanning the shadows for trouble. He makes a step toward the group when he spots you all, but Ylandria steps up quickly and raises a palm to the man. "Hold, Taus. The bosses want to speak with these people," she says with a matter-of-fact tone, and after a brief exchange of good-natured bickering, he steps aside to let you into the tent. Within is a somewhat extravagant den, with heavy drapery throughout, and piles of pillows as the primary seating. "Wait here,"Ylandria says, "I'll be right back with the kapetos."
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Wilen, still at the back of the group glances around the encampment. He suspiciously eyes several people looking for any discord among the residents, and eases up when he finally concludes that the cousins must not be here.
He looks to the Shaonti man and nods to initiate a trite conversation.
So, what brings a member of the Quah to these parts?
Taus is remarkably unresponsive, as he's more intent on his work then chatting. Thankfully, the awkward silence is swiftly avoided as Ylandria returns with a pair of new arrivals. "May I introduce the Twincandles kapetos, Jacek and Olivia Giatano." Just one look at the pair makes it obvious that they're closely related, and the ornately embroidered trousers and silk blouses makes it diffecult to tell the pair apart, save for Jacek's thin mustache.
"Ylandria has informed us as to your business in Ordellia,"Olivia begins with an formal tone, "and it’s fortunate for all of us that the goals of the Twincandles and the goals of the Pathfinders are as alike as two petals from the same bloom. We can tell you how to find the ones you seek—the scoundrels who attempt to debase your honor."
When Olivia pauses, Jacek speaks up, much cruder in his manner of speaking. "Oye, truth! They worn out any welcome they had here, and we want ‘em gone. We tell you what you want to know, you lot agrees to listen."
Olivia opens by admitting, "Among the families in Magnimar, we're the one of the smallest. In an effort to gather more strength in town, and in hopes to move into the narcotic trade, we held a recruiting drive. We was contacted by a swain who claimed to be our cousin, a man named Titus Terliss. He told us that his gang was on the hunt for a perch in Magnimar to hide out for a season, and one of his fellows was a savvy alchemist, could help us cut in on the trade."
"So, we cut a deal with 'im." Jacek continues. "He and his motley set up in an abandoned crypt 'ere on Two-Lights. And they did good work... for awhile. There was a good flow of pesh from the lab they had, but they've got other plans apparently. They've been taking out member for other jobs, one's that we aren't told about until afterwards, and ones we wouldn't want done in the first, like what they did to Mr. Chert."
"They are indiscreet and coarse,' Olivia concludes. "If you eject them, you can help yourself to whatever spoils they’ve accumulated. Our excursion into the soporific trade has not been profitable, and we wish it ended. If you're willing, of course."
While Olivia is hard to read, you're fairly sure that Jacek is playing it on the level.
You are aware that there was a cult to Gozreh in this area before Magnimar grew into the city it is now. This is probably the remains of that temple that they're using.
This section of Ordellia is part of the Yondebakari river's flood plain, as evidenced by the soggy ground you all have already been dealing with. Unless this particular crypt was very well made, I'd expect the inside to be a bit of a soggy mess as well.
As for recent gang incidents, there's nothing that you can you can think off that can directly assist you in this issue.
In an unrelated note to that check, you recognize the writing on the stele as an old dialect of Varisian, and with a little bit of work, you can decipher the writing to read, As the storm’s fury bends the strongest tree, so can the wrath of man turn aside all obstacles.
Jacek looks to Declan first. "Jus' clear them out, and try not ta hurt ours unless you have ta. Doubt the kids would try to fight folks as armed as y'all."
"As for what they've done down there,"Olivia responses to Nylthe,"I'm not sure, but they didn't smuggle anything large or involved past us. We were interested in this place for it as a landmark, we never bothered with the crypt below." She turns her attention to Ylandria, who continues to answer.
"When the Twincandles took over this camp, the door was open, and point a’ fact, we couldn’t figure how to move it at all. When the cousins came, that Terliss spent a little while tryin' to read writing that was scrawled on the door. After that, the door was closed whenever we went down there. We were locked out. Actually, the best thing would be to take you down to that door. Here, follow me." And with that Ylandria leads you to a quest section of the camp, where the beginnings of ruins poke up from the sodden ground.
Buttresses jut crookedly from the ground, between piles of shrub-covered stone. A narrow gap in one of the standing stone columns—just wide enough for a person to pass through—leads to a small, cylindrical chamber within. A sturdy block and tackle is mounted above a five-foot-wide pit, leading into the darkness below. "This way down." Ylandria says as she swiftly moves to the side of the pit and reaches for some handholds crudely carved to the wall and starts to descend.
After a 20 foot descent, the pit opens into a 15-foot-by-20-foot chamber. It’s low ceiling is supported by an array of recently installed wooden spars. The room’s only point of interest is at the easternmost end, where a 6‑foot stone stele, seemingly part of the chamber wall, stands. It’s etched with an eroded relief of a humanoid figure, positioned above a slightly less eroded inscription. Ylandria points to the stele and says, "That's the door I was talking about."
After a moment of studying the stele, First Declan, then Lebraerio and Aconite find the markings that show this is a hidden door of sorts.
Just trying the door shows next to no give in it. It's very well locked.
In spite of Wilen and Lebraerio working together, whatever mechanism is holding the door shut refuses to budge. This door is surprisingly well done.
After a couple moments of working on this door, Wilen's comment seems surprisingly accurate. And for a moment, you swear that this infernal door is actively trying to stay locked after several latches that you swear you had dealt with somehow find a way to relatch.
then... Click and the door swings in just a little, but is very much open. Ylandria nods, finally breaking the silence. "Some of our gang are likely down there. If they are, they might not’ve been able to get out, with this door in the way. I’ll keep it open so you can send them up."
A dark, damp stairway leads down to the south, slowly curving westward as it descends. Its walls are reinforced with wooden supports, and the western wall is set with empty alcoves, each several inches deep, suitable for displaying religious icons or similar small relics. However, as the group begins to descend, most of the party, save Wilen and Nylthe, notice another secret door, this time behind one of the posts.
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Nice work Declan, this was a tough lock. I got some torches, if someone need.
Lebraerio get his own Ioun torch to use, and using the lihgt, studies the religious icons, out of curiosity, trying to find out which gods are prayed to.
He stops near a beam
I think that with some team effort, we could remove that beam, and access the door.
I'm sorry, I missed that you had Knowledge(Engineering), when I rolled for Juis and Lebraerio. As I told them:
You are fairly certain that whoever placed the supports did so as a precautionary measure for most of the beams. When some effort, you could remove that beam to reach the door.