Renac gives a slight courteous bow to the Lavinia and a large smile on his face. This is where things begin to change maybe, a step towards redemption and justice.
"I would be honored mi' lady. You shall not regret this decision I can promise you that."
Ukufa listens to the offer with a stoic expression before succinctly replying:
"I accept."
The Jasdian pauses, weighing her words and marking the noblewoman with an intense gaze;
"Know however my first duty is to Wee Jas. Always."
Lavinia seems a touch confused by Kellan's request. "From my understanding, several of you have the talent for magical healing. I'm not sure exactly why you would need additional funds."
"I will not force you to undertake any task and you may leave my service at any point. I'm not asking you to forsake any of your other obligations. I hope this to be a fruitful partnership that will benefit us all."
After some finer negotiation points, the deal is struck and Lavinia shakes each of your hands.
"Excellent. Now with that out of the way, I do have another task for you, if you are feeling up to it. This ring that you have found is the key to opening my family's vault, but I must admit that I have never visited it before. The some of the vaults beneath Castle Teraknian are rumored to be quite extensive and well guarded against the potential thieves. Now what little I remember from my father suggests that my family's vault is relatively small and safe, but I do recall some mention of a guardian."
"That being the case, I would like you come with me to the vault to be on guard against any potential dangers that might lurk within. Also once inside, I will be able to pay you the coin I already owe you."
"I can hire us a coach, if you are able to go now. If you have other commitments, then perhaps you can meet me at the Castle tomorrow?"
"A talent for healing can be snuffed out, and material components are not always ready at hand. I accept, however, if you perhaps had another healing contact should we fall on desperate times..." Kellan trails off, hoping for a local contact that could perhaps be leveraged with their new found patron.
With his flask refilled and armor polished to it's usual battered state,
'Ready to travel m'lady.'
He bows half heartedly and awaits the escort to the coach.
Katigar slings her pack over her shoulder, concerned that is has become a little lighter after their battle with the spider and the use of her last healing potion.
"Ready..." she lowers her voice to a whisper, turning her head to the dwarf "I am afraid we are not the least bit prepared for this adventure..."
Renac simply stands hand on the hilt of the falchoin at his waist he seems all set as it is.
Lavinia claps her hands, "Excellent! I'll send Kora to hire to fetch a coach."
In short order, the party finds itself bouncing across the noble district in the somewhat cramped back of a carriage. You disembark at High Market and take a ferry over to Castle Teraknian.
You've never been in the castle before and the ancient edifice is even more impressive from the inside. It's easy to see how it has managed to withstand the test of time. But your time in the castle itself is brief as Lavinia only stops to speak to a clerk who quickly verifies Lavinia's identity and her signet, before escorting you all down a spiral staircase into a large circular chamber under the castle. Over a dozen five-foot-wide hallways radiate out from the central vault chamber. Each of these halls is ten feet long and ends at a single iron door which serves as the entrance to the family vault. Once he directs Lavinia to the appropriate corridor, the clerk bids you all a good day and returns to his office in the castle above.
The party moves down the short passage way to the iron door. The portal is emblazoned with a simple rune, an eight-pointed star. Above the door, inscribed in flowing script on a polished silver plaque, is the name "vanderboren." A single handle protrudes from the door, just below a circular depression bearing the mark of the vanderboren signet.
Lavinia pulls out the signet ring and places it in the depression on the door. The door flashes once with blue light, then slowly swings open on creaking hinges.
The floor of the domed chamber beyond is of polished green marble. Two fifteen-foot-wide alcoves have lower ceilings and feature marble pillars carved to resemble coiling snakes. In the center of the room, five similar pillars are embedded into the walls, rising up thirty feet to a dome overhead. Looking up, the dome bears a huge representation of the same eight-pointed star that was engraved on the door.
Bhru peers inside of the room,
'Lovely stonework Miss 'vinia. But not much in the way of treasure 'ere..'
The dwarf crosses the threshold and takes his time appreciating the stonework before taking a trained eye to it.
Kellan begins muttering the incantation for Detecting Magic. Once his spell is up he cautiously, from the entrance, examines the pillars. Still muttering to himself as he waits for his spells effect, he thinks aloud, "Five pillars and five magical beasts in the note... Wonder if they turn...?"
Renac walk in and looks about the room, curious he thinks on the domed ceiling.
"I hope we don't have to use your ring on the rune above, that would be an interesting way to deter people." he jests as he walks into the room and looks up studying it from below.
Stepping into the vault, the party begins to poke about, while Lavinia watches on from beyond the threshold. As soon as you've taken a couple of steps into the room, you hear the distinctive rasp of metal against stone. A three foot long automaton of articulated iron rings slithers into view. Masterfully constructed the metal snake rears up and opens its fanged maw in a silent hiss.
Combat Initiative
23 Ukufa
20 Kellan
17 Katigaar
15 Renac
14 Snake
1 Bhru
"Yeaaaaaow! Lavinia! Snakes! Really!?"
Kellan instinctively moves for a better angle on the automaton. He draws his crossbow and decides to test the things mettle.
As the alert goes up, Ukufa moves forward purposefully, drawing a blade as she goes...
"Try outflanking it yes?"
Hugging the chamber wall she approaches the construct at a wide angle, then preemptively strikes with her knife;
Katigar rolls her eyes at the sight of the giant snake before her.
"You have got to be kidding me..."
With two hands she grabs the handle of her axe and swings it off her back. She moves swiftly to the other side of the snake, opposite Ukufa, and draws the mighty weapon above her head. Still feeling the fatigue from their last run in, she takes aim and hurls the blade toward the beast...
As the snake comes into view renac looks confused for a second before he starts striding toward the snake, pulling his falchion in one motion and hacking at the metal snake.
“Well seems we’re onto something if there is automaton here.”
Kellan's bolt hits the creature, but careens off, failing to pierce the creature's touch exterior. Everyone else misses.
The snake lunges at Ukufa, but misses.
Lavinia leans into the chamber. "I can't imagine why my parents would need to have such a vicious guardian."
He looks at his crossbow in disdain and notes that Bhru's hammer may have a better effect on the automaton. Kellan walks over and touches Bhru, tossing him a sly wink as he says, "I think there's still room for you at the party friend." He wipes his hand on his robe, unsure what that section of Bhru's armour was coated with.
The dwarf heads straight into the maw of danger! Swinging his battered hammer,
'Miss Lady 'vinia! Din't your Ma say mention anything about a snake!'
Renac tries to hack at the automaton hoping it would it will do something, as he takes a quick look to see Lavinia and her reaction.
Everybody fails to land a solid it on on the nimble and formidably armoured foe.
With the creature surrounded by the party, Lavinia feels safe enough to step into the room. "It's such a vicious little thing! How did my parents not get attacked by it?"
Katigar feels the exhaustion in her bones. She takes a look around the room and raises an eyebrow at Lavinia, biting her tongue.
"Let's try this again, shall we?"
She lifts her axe above her head again and locks onto her target.
Bhru steps between Lavina and the snake,
'Yur parents must have had some trick to this Miss! They couldn't have fought the beastie every chance they wanted to get some gold!?'['b]
[Ooc]will hold my attack action if it comes for lavinia
Kellan is feeling less than helpful at this point. He agrees with Bhru and moves to investigate the main room. The five pillars still hold his main source of curiosity.
Katigar's blade manages to gouge a line into the metal skin of the construct, but steel doesn't cut iron so well. Renac though, is able to take advantage of the weakened part of the metal snake and strike a disabling blow to the mechanical contraption. It twitches feebly for a few moments before falling still.
Lavinia sighs, "I guess it couldn't have been helped, but I expect that having it repaired is going to cost more than I'd like."
With the threat neutralized, the party has the freedom to search the antechamber thoroughly. Amongst the twisted carvings on one of the pillars you discover a switch that once activated, causes the portal to the next part of the vault to open.
The octagonal room beyond is supported by a single large pillar with dozens of deep grooves along its sides. The seven walls of this room each bear fantastically detailed bas-relief carvings of exotic monsters in threatening poses.
Starting at the wall immediately to the west of the entrance to the room and moving clockwise, the carvings depict: a tentacled monster with a glaring red eye and a mouth full of teeth, a looming dragon, a fish-like creature with three eyes and four tentacles, a two-headed giant wielding a pair of immense clubs, a spherical creature with four eyestalks and a bulging central eye over a drooling maw, a gorilla-like beast with a fanged maw and six eyes and finally a towering black spider with seven eyes.
Each monster's eyes consist of a glittering red stone. The ceiling above is only ten feet high, with the now-familiar eight-pointed star pattern radiating out from the grooved pillar. The arms of this star are black, save for the one pointing south toward the entrance, which is red.
The central pillar can rotate in either direction. The pillar doesn't rotate smoothly. Rather, it "clicks" in its socket as it rotates, eight times in the course of a single revolution. As the pillar rotates, the eight pointed star in the ceiling rotates as well, the red arm pointing to a new wall with each click.
Renac walks forward blade once again sheathed, looking at the carvings he is uns a hand along them and he says aloud. “This is rather monstrous carvings, Lavinia do you know anything about this? Were your parents possibly interested in this material?”
Drawn to the glittering stones Kellan is disapointed to find that they don't appear to be valuable. He wanders the room checking each set absent-mindedly counting the gems he doesn't have. One to the left, two more next carving, three more, four on the two headed giant, five if you count the little ones on the big toothy one, 6, 7 on the last...
Realizing he's not quite grasping something Kellan casts a quick cantrip on himself to attempt to figure out what is happening.
Kellan mutters to himself as he comes back to the entrance, "Almost like a clock with eyeballs for numbers... I also don't think these are any of the monsters on that parchment with the ring, certainly not a Dragon anyways..." He blinks, smiles weakly, and tosses a half hearted wink by way of apology as he nearly bumps into Katigar at the entrance.
As Bhru scours the room he runs his hands over the stonework,
'Fine craftminship it is! Miss 'Vinia there must be some connection to the key 'n the paper we found? Kellan are ye' sure there isn't the beasties round here or their likeness? How'd it go? The chimera lookin to the sun, cyclops lookin on the sun, 'dusa lookin to the sun?... That can't be right...'
Lavinia seems to be as surprised as anyone by the design of the room. She shakes here head, "I'm beginning to think that there's a lot about my parents that I didn't know."
She digs in her pockets a moment and pulls out the parchment that you found with the ring. "You might be on to something with that idea."
Chimera looks to sunrise
Cyclops looks to sunset
Medusa looks to sunrise
Umber hulk looks to sunset
Basilisk looks to sunrise
"I'm not sure of much friend dwarf..." Kellan turns to the central pillar. "Perhaps this room is but a lock." Kellan leans on the pillars briefly, lost in thought. To his surprise the pillar rotated under his weight. Kellan looks up startled to see the star has moved just as the pillar issues forth an audible tick. "Hmmm, the number of eyes perhaps..." Kellan on a whim begins rotating the central pillar.
When Kellan rotates the pillar to face the dragon for a second time. There is a soft whisper of stone against stone and five alcoves open in the vault's walls. Inside lay numerous chests and iron coffers.
"Oh, very well done!" Lavinia exclaims as she rushes to the nearest chest. "Now let's see about that coin I've promised you."
She eagerly opens the chest, but her delight fades as she looks in.
"What...? This isn't right."
She hurriedly begins flinging open the various coffers and chest. You can see that while a few are packed with books and ledges (one even has a number of maps depicting an island), most are empty, with a scattering of loose coin in the bottom. As Lavinia's panic begins to peak, she opens the last few chests to find them still filled with coin.
"Thank the Gods! But something isn't right here. These chests should be brimming, but that will have to be a problem for another day. There is plenty to keep things afloat and more than enough to pay you what you're owed, with a little bonus thrown in. That snake was a nasty bit of business."
She pays to each 500gp in coin and gems.
"I need to take proper inventory of what I have left, but there is a mystery that need solving here. When don't you take a well deserved rest and then swing by the manor in a few days, I might have some more work for you then."
Bhru beams a bit before politely bowing to the employer,
'Thank ya Miss 'Vinia, greatly generous of ye, much needed scrubbin' and rest sounds great!'
He prods his half-orc counter part with the blunt end of his warhammer, come to think of it, they are all blunt ends. So he gives her a light whap.
'Say yer thanks and lets get a move on. We can head back to the manor after we done some shoppin'!
Kellan's eyes take on a far away glaze as he accepts his payment. He could get used to knowing once again how he'll fill his belly for the coming months. Not quite believing his luck at cracking the safe, nor his fortune in being recruited by his new benefactor he murmurs his thanks and staggers towards the exit. His motivations have subconsciously shifted slightly in recognition of the current 'good thing' he's stumbled into. Not long ago he would have hoarded the gold for his investigation but with such a quantity at his disposal his recently adopted miserly outlook has cracked ever so slightly. Perhaps I'll join the dwarf and half-orc in a shopping excursion, why not!
Ukufa stoically nods her thanks to their patron as she receives her reward.
Bhru's suggestion of a shopping trip barely flickers a reaction from the Jasadian as she examines a gemstone;
"First Ruby Sorceress requires her tithe. Then Tharvel's Hides*. Need better armour."
A shoppe in the city's Cudgel District; deals in fine hides and leather goods. .
The lithe ranger pauses, mulling an offer the group before she departs;
"Should you need items. Arcane or divine. I can petition the Sisterhood."
Some days later, you receive another summons to the Vanderboran manor. This time it is delivered by a courier, not an elderly halfling housekeeper.
Returning to the estate, you notice renewed signs of life. It appears that Lavinia been busy restaffing. Once inside, you are led to the same dining hall where you took your first meeting. Lavinia greets you all warmly and makes small talk until all the guests have arrive. A couple of new faces sit at the table. Lavinia makes brief introductions. "I felt that their particular skill sets might be beneficial for the task that I have for you."
Once everyone has arrived, she begins.
"Greetings friends. I hope you still have a little coin to rub together after celebrating your recent successes, but joking aside, I have another task for you, if you are interested. First though I would like to thank you for your aid so far. Though the vault was very cash poor there were a number of uncollected IOUs from various individuals and organizations my parents performed services for that I intend to cash in. Those should help to cover the household expenses for the next few months or so, but according to the household books, that vault should have been brimming with treasure. I inquired with the vault clerk and apparently, my brother Vanthus has been making regular visits to the vault over the last month or so, ever since our parent's died. I haven't seen him since shortly after the funeral. We had a disagreement over the company he's been keeping and he took his leave. I don't know how he's been getting in, but it seems to me that he has been robbing the estate blind."
"I need you to find my brother, I believe he's fallen in with a bad crowd, perhaps smugglers or thieves, or even killers. I hope that if he can be brought back to my side, I might be able to talk some sense into him and redeem him before he passes forever out of my reach. Are you willing to perform this task?"
A young fellow with a ready grin, burned bronze with outdoor life and dressed like an anime pirate raised his hand politely.
"Aye m'lady Lavinia; seems ta me ta be a straightforward task. What I wonder is, do ya need anything done besides findin' yon Vanthus?" He asked, seemingly cautious about probing too much here.
A slight elf who sits at the table fidgets nervously, begins to rise and then sits again. After Spinnaker Jon speaks, he raises his hand, "Um, Lavinia, might I posit a theory? Perhaps your brother fell into debt or some other shameful need for funds several months before your parents sad passing? It might be that your mother's ring was not lost but rather... let's say 'borrowed'... by your brother at that time. He might have felt, at the time, that it was a loan he would repay someday, something nobody would notice. Such situations have, historically, a tendency to escalate beyond the original intentions of the 'borrower'."
He coughs sharply and pauses to take a sip of water, Just a theory, of course."
"Um, so, your brother, Vanthus, wasn't it? Um, so, do you have any idea where he is living at the moment?"
Kellan murmurs his way through the introductions, still slightly sluggish from lunch, a meal he's been unnacustomed to having of late. He listens as intently to the questions of the newcomers as the meat pie sweats allow, and quietly responds in turn.
"Certainly I'll help m'lady, having a full belly and purse full of coin once again with the promise of more sounds most amenable. Have you an idea of where Vanthus and this bad crowd of his might be found?"
Ukufa takes measure of the newcomers as she listens to their patron's new assignment.
The stoic ranger then poses another outcome;
"If he beyond redemption..?"
She pauses, measuring her next words;
"Wee Jas can unfetter his soul from the vessel of sin."
"To be honest, I hope it is nothing worse than debt. But with the amount of money missing, I would imagine the whole city would be abuzz with rumors of such."
"The two of us used to be quite close when we were children. Our parents were rarely around and we grew to depend on each other. Unfortunately, we also used to get up to a fair amount of mischief. After one rather elaborate prank involving elixirs of love and a city water tower, our parents had had enough. I was sent to the Thenalar Academy to live out the next five years and Vanthus was shipped out to work on a plantation. We only returned from our exile last year,"
"I like to think that I benefited from my time at the academy, but Vanthus, resented the punishment. He no longer had time for me. He slept all day, and spent the nights with associates of doubtful character. Eventually, he moved out of the house entirely. I believe he took up with a lover in the Azure District, but I never learned the details."
"When our parents died, Vanthus returned to stay here for a week, but he had changed even more. His easy sense of humor was gone, replaced by a bitter cynicism and a morbid streak that sent chills up my spine. During his time here, we got into several arguments. In our last, he struck me with his fist. For a moment, I think he was as shocked by his action as I was, but an instant later he back to all scowls and menace. He gathered his things and left. I haven't seen him since."
"I believe that there is still good in him and would like to speak to him. For now, all I ask is that you find him and ask that he return to the manor."
"I suppose our search begins in the azure district then. Do you happen to have a portrait of your brother?"
"Yes,actually. That portrait over there is of Vanthus." She points to a large portrait on the wall, depicting a handsome young man with a short beard. "The Azure district is as good a place as any to start looking. You might want to check around the rougher parts of town too. Do you have any other questions?"
"Ahh, the resemblance is immediately apparent my lady, I think its the eyebrows that truly tell the tale of shared lineage. However, there's no time like the present, I'm off to the Azure district!" Kellan, in an attempt to avoid drowsing off from an uncharacteristically full stomach, has already knuckled his forehead to the lady and taken several strides to the door before awkwardly turning back to the group, "Uhhh, does anyone know of a landmark we could meet at this [afternoon/evening]? And, err, perhaps someone could direct me to said district?" The obligatory wink is entirely predictable at this point.
"Err, well, if you would like somewhere quiet, I could reserve a reading room at the library?" Voronwe shrugs, uncertain if his offer will be well-received.
"I will start in the Noble District. Our man is still a noble, after all, and I study there so I am familiar with the place."
Voronwe talks to the working people of the district: scribes, maids, artisans, footmen... they are more his people than the nobles.
"An' I'll deal with Shadowshore firstly... It'll be fun!" He grinned.
hours.
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