|
"We are fine," Uthe replies in a voice lacking in its normal energy. "We are just being silly. It doesn't matter. They are both long dead. We should keep exploring. We have a job to do."
"We have time." Say'ri says gently. "Come here." She pulls the catwoman into a hug and Uthe finds for the first, or possibly second time that Say'ri's chest does have one advantage - it's softer...
"You're very sweet you know." Say'ri says softly so only Uthe can hear it.
[dice=Perception]1d20+7
Jazadi suddenly tenses up. "...what was that breeze?"
"A breeze? What breeze?" Ammon asks, falling into a fighting stance and looking around warily.
When Ammon returns, the halfling slips into the tub. She closes her eyes happily as she soaks in the warm water. ”Join me?”
When Jazida warns about a breeze, Dhakira grabs her holy symbol and her dagger, ready to cast if necessary. Chagrinned, she asks her to confirm « Are you sure? I’m not feeling anything. »
But she moves slightly away from Say’ri and Uthe, thinking they might want privacy. Still she keeps an eye out for danger.
"You're very sweet you know." Say'ri says softly so only Uthe can hear it.
"You ... you are pressing your bosom against us," Uthe says in a weak protest. "But you are not so stinky." For a moment she seems to soften into the embrace, but then she pulls away.
"We should continue our exploration," she says in a louder voice as her tail swishes back and forth causing the bells to chime frantically.
"I KNOW I felt a breeze." Jazadi unlimbers her whip and looks around.
Nothing more seems to come of the breeze that Jazadi felt.
Continuing further through the house, you come across an enormous stone table, the marble top polished and smooth, runs parallel to the west wall of this large room. A much smaller stone table stands in the east side of the room. Splintered piles of dust and wood lie in the corners and along the walls—the only remains of chairs after untold years. A strong, fetid stench pervades the room. An open, sand-filled hallway lies to the
south, while an open doorway leads east.
Half a dozen human skulls have been set upon the western table. Each skull is polished clean and balances atop a tarnished silver goblet standing on a tarnished silver dinner plate.
As soon as you all enter the room, the human skulls begin to rise from their place settings, silently hovering in mid-air before rushing forwards to swarm Say'ri.
One of the skulls shatters into pieces and clatters over the floor.
The rest of the skulls rush into Say'ri, slamming into her but bouncing back off ineffectually.
Jazadi yelps and snaps her scorpion whip at one of the skulls!
Jamie cries a challenge as she fires at the skull next to Ammon.
"What; can't swim?" he replies, grinning. "Guess I'd better come along to make sure. Keeping you all safe is kind of my task and all."
He gets in the bath and easily lifts Jamie in over the edge.
Ammon was studying the table when the skeletal heads suddenly attacked!
Seeing Say'ri have no problem with them and completely destroying one outright, he waits a few seconds to see if Dhakira was going to bless everyone again as she tended to. Then, he shifts into a position where he was in between most of the skulls and the others. From there, he studies the one next to Dhakira and strikes!
"This whole new body thing... I won't lie and say adjusting has been an easy task. But having a friend like you at my side to support me... it makes it a little bit less difficult. There's no going back. I'm a halfling woman now, like it or not, and I'm going to have to manage as one from here on out."
Her pupils widening to fill her eyes as the skulls dance around in the air, Uthe sends a blob of sizzling green acid towards the nearest.
Dhakira starts casting a spell.
Ammon batters another skull to pieces and Uthe's acid manages to disolve most of one of the skulls, but it still joins the other hovering heads to hit Say'ri!
Trying to watch all of them at once, Uthe settles for sending another splash of acid at one of the skulls.
A few moments of silence go by as he strokes a few strands of jamie's hair in the warm bath. "What sort of person was Nell, by the way? Or would you prefer not talking about her?"
With the skull on his right destroyed, Ammon turns to his left and attemps to replicate his earlier success!
...And he lands a vicious hit!
Jazadi snaps her whip again!
Her mood sobers when talk turns to Nell. ”She was a very nice woman. I treated her like an afterthought, but thr more I think about it, she was quite special to me. She deserved far more honor than I paid her. She gave her life for me. The very least I can do is honor her sacrifice my making sure it was not in vain.”
Jamie looks up at Ammon. ”What about you? Have you ever had somebody... special in your life?”
Dhakira finishes her spell and Justin the eagle appears near the last skull. He makes 3 attacks
She looks around after and realizes that her companions have downed 3 of the skulls while she was casting. « Well that turned around fast! It looked like it would take a while and you could use help, and suddenly they’re almost all gone. Let’s see if I can help one of you with this last one » She casts Guidance on Ammon.
Uthe finishes off her previous target and then Ammon, Jazadi and Justin deal with the remaining three in a flurry of blows. With the various heads destroyed it is easy to evaluate the various pieces of silverware. Six silver goblets (45gp each) and six plates (30gp each) are salvageable. The next room is almost identical to this one, but devoid of the dust, floating skulls or anything approaching valuables.
With these final two rooms cleared that is the entire ground floor. Barring the centre courtyard, all the bottom floor has been checked and anything valuable secured.
Jamie peeks into the courtyard. If she doesn't notice anything valuable, she will lead the way upstairs, searching for traps.
Uthe invokes a quick cantrip and scans the courtyard for any magical auras.
He sighs and shakes his head. "Ah, probably ruined the mood a bit, didn't I? Why don't we instead drink a glass of this here wine for the fallen and just try to live our lives to the best, for their sake too? Supposedly it's Taldan. Was a bit expensive but figured you might like it."
Reaching over to a bowl, he pulls out a bottle of actual Taldan wine. Though, as a noble, Jamie instantly recognizes it as being a very cheap brand the locals hesitate to even call such. If it's expensive here, either there are really high import rates or Ammon got fleeced.
Looking around the room and poking the skulls to make sure they were down, Ammon simply waits for Jamie and Say'ri to make the calls on where to go, then follows. He warily tries to recall where the haunt was that almost made him kill Jazadi and whether that one was close to their current position.
She holds out her glass as the warrior fills it, then taps it against his. "To those who have fallen. And to our lives yet to be lived." She drinks the wine and tries not to make too much of a sour face at the taste.
Justin puffs out this plane after ten seconds. She looks over her companions while Jamie and Uthe look over the courtyard. « Anyone hurt? » . She’ll either use the wand or channel, depending on how many of them are hurt.
Then she’s ready to follow.
Peering into the courtyard, all seems usual.
A tiled walkway surrounds a square patch of earth and sand in this high atrium. A balcony on the second floor overlooks the courtyard, and a square hole in the ceiling opens to the sky. Four columns in the corners of the atrium support the roof above, and the walls are decorated with symbols and hieroglyphs depicting animals, celestial creatures, and the sun and moon.
Standing on the threshold, you take a moment to inspect the courtyard a little more thoroughly. It is clear that one of the statues does not appear as the rest. The statue is of a beautiful woman, but after a short moment, blinks.
"Oh, visitors, you caught me; the spirit of House Pentheru." The woman says, moving her shoulders to loosen her stiffness and standing as a normal woman.
Jazadi pauses as the statue-lady comes to life.
"We are explorers and archaeologists--we're known as the Falcons." She waves hello. "Hello to you, spirit of the House of Pentheru."
"It has been lonely here for so long, I am pleased to meet you, Falcons." It shifts and starts moving towards you, slowly.
She tilts her head to the side inquisitvely.
"Tell me, how long has it been since my masters were here?"
Jazadi starts to think and measure the years in her head...
"...two thousand, two hundred and fourteen years." Jazadi finally says. "Assuming, of course, you're referring to the Plague of Madness and the riots that consumed Wati."
Dhakira is awed by the apparition and Jazida’s skills at diplomacy.
She wonders if the woman is a haunt or a ghost.
Then she tries ro help Jazadi deal with the woman [b] « We do not intend to disturb the rest of this house inhabitant. What is your purpose in this lovely courtyard? »
But she stays alert to any in the woman demeanor that could indicate hostile intentions.
Deciding to hang back since Jazadi seemed to have things in hand, Ammon instead studies the statue of the woman and wonders if he can recall anything on her, or it.
"Oh my poor family!" The house spirit laments. "To have been consumed by such violence. I did what I could to protect them, but the mob was too strong! I have slept, slept for so long. What has happened in the outside world while I slumbered here?"
"Well..." Jazadi bounces on her heels. "...Wati's rebuilt, mostly. The Church of Pharasma helped a lot--and they've turned the half of their city that was afflicted by the Plague into a large necropolis. The other half, as I understand, is getting by just fine."
"Is there anything we can help you with?"
Dhakira supports Jazida, waiting for the woman’s answer.
"Do you not wish to speak to this ... house spirit?" Uthe whispers quietly as Say'ri steps back near her.
"Always?" Uthe questions with an unreadable expression. "That hasn't been our experience." She then turns her gaze back to the conversation taking place with the ancient spirit.
Uthe looks back, her own confusion evident. "You said that you always say the wrong thing. We were merely pointing out that you haven't always said the wrong thing to us. So your conclusion is fallacious. But you are human so it's understandable that you would be wrong about being wrong." She grins and then turns back to listen to Jazz. Her ears, however, continue to twitch in Say'ri's direction.
The Amurrun tenses at first when Say'ri touches near her ears. The bells on her tail jingle slightly as it swishes back and forth. But a moment later and she tips her head slightly giving the woman easier access. Her eyelids lower slightly as Say'ri's fingers begin moving.
"This is, perhaps, not the ideal location for bonding such as this," she says in a sleepy-sounding voice. She makes no move to stop the woman, though.
The 'house-spirit' sighs heavily. "Oh, you mortals are just so boring!." It exclaims wearily.
Its statuesque womanly form melts away into the sandy courtyard revealing a medusa-like horror with tentacles and an enormous jaw that widens into a mouth full of fangs, almost as large as its head.
Having been caught off-guard, Jazadi is a little more concerned about the coming fight than the identity of the sand-like tentacle creature.
'What; did she expect us to relay 2200 years of information in like half a minute?' Ammon wonders, silently disappointed that this living relic and treasure trove of information might have to be destroyed.
He moves forward and strikes, placing himself right in front of the... thing.