"Tsuto's journal was pretty incriminating," Lief offers, "as is her new demon-arm..."
"Whatever we decide to do next, I think some rest might be in order."
"Sounds reasonable to me. Your perspective about the journal is a good point."
Diego begins prepping for a long rest. "Set up here? That way we can keep an eye on the hidden entrance."
"You guys can use my cure light potion as well. As for evidence, as mentioned, we have Tsuto's journal, Bjorn's testimony, and we can grab some of the maps and notes from their planning room. I'll bet one of those rooms is hers. If she's as much of a writing bug as was Tsuto she may dime herself out." Alistair says and then steps to the hall considering. "As for getting her out, we'll need to get her over the trap. Tossing her across means you are going to have to bind those wounds again. Are you sure we can't setup where the beds are? Seems such a waste."
"My thoughts behind setting up here is to guard the hidden entrance. We will be down two on watch, but I think we should post an around the cloak guard at this door. Camping here would eliminate the need for two separate watches. Besides, I wouldn't be comfortable sleeping on any of their beds. Probably get goblin lice, boor worms, or some other undesirable condition.
"Ehh, good point. Standing watch it is. It smells better down here too. Alistair says and then tosses his pack in a corner. "I can't wait until we get back. Hot bath, warm, soft bed, my dad's cooking. Yep, it'll be great."
Diego lets out a quiet sigh when Alistair mentions a home cooked meal. Shortly after the subject of food gets mentioned, he pulls out a ration and begins eating it. "Admittedly, a solid meal sounds good."
Nico isn't thrilled by the idea of sacking out down in the lower chambers, but she is uniquely among them all unharmed so she doesn't complain. She also takes whatever watch shift she's given with grumbling.
"I'm thinking we should split the watch between me, Nico, and Alistair. I'll take first watch, Nico second, and Alistair third. How do you guys feel about that?"
”Sounds good. Guess I need to settle in. Alistair says and then sits down with his pack. He pulls out a bit of jerky and cheese along with a light bedroll. He pulls his boots off to let his feet air out. ”I’ll put those back on in a moment. I’ll feel a bit more secure with them on.” finally, after eating, chatting and just messing about he drifts off to sleep.
"Thank you friend. These bandages feel soft...they should help." He said softly, taking the waterskin off of Nualia to wash away the blood from his mostly healed wound before offering it to Lief to do the same. Securing the bandages around himself, he looks down at Nualia's body.
"Are you sure we shouldn't perhaps break her fingers or her jaw. In case she can cast spells to escape easier?" Bjorn asks with a little scowl. He doesn't push the issue, leaving it in their care before he lets himself drift to sleep. Unwilling to let himself be a burden, he wakes up a little later and takes a shift.
Lief accepts the potion from Alistair with gratitude and chugs it down.
”Trying to hobble her now would very likely kill her,” he points out. “I know I should volunteer to help with the watch, but if you’re all alright doing it without me I’ll just lay down here… or, actually, let’s check that room at the end of the hall that she snuck out of. Maybe she has a big featherbed with a nice pillow I could borrow…” As he talks he walks down the hallway to the open room.
Maybe she has a big featherbed with a nice pillow I could borrow…”
"Might want to hold off on opening any more doors until we are prepared Lief. If it helps any, I believe we have a couple silk sheets I could fluff up for you."
”Mmm, silk sheets would be nice…
At the point that the group drops off the found gear in the armory, Diego makes it a point to retrieve the silk sheets that were found in the room next to the throne room. After returning back to the resting spot, he fluffs up the sheets, making a poofy pile in one of the room's corners. "There you go. Nice and fluffy, as promised."
Nico can't help but let a snort of amusement escape. She feels sorry, not sorry, maybe a tiny bit sorry.
Lief peeks into the open room Nualia emerged from before turning in for the night. Wide stone ledges of red marble line the curving walls of the chamber, which is well lit by four charming, burning skulls that sit in each corner.
Three chairs rest in the room, and both stone ledges are covered with old books, scrolls, teeth, bones, scrimshaw artwork, jars of deformed creatures soaking in brine, taxidermized animals and limbs, and other strange objects. Nualia's notes, and several journals, are scattered around as well -- there is enough there that it will take several hours to sort through it all, but between you all, reading it all while keeping watch tonight should be possible.
To the north, a large round fountain filled with frothy blue water fills the room with the gentle sound of bubbling.
Nualia was a foundling, taken in by the former priest of Sandpoint, Father Ezakien Tobyn. Unlike Father Zantus, who seems a kindly, warm, compassionate fellow, Tobyn was a zealot. He cared more about her aasimar heritage than her as a person, and was incredibly strict. She did not have many friends, as he kept her cloistered, and even adults in town were awkward with her -- rumors that her touch or proximity could cure warts and rashes, that locks of her hair
brewed into tea could increase fertility, and that her voice could drive out evil spirits led to a succession of humiliating requests over the years.
She met a boy, Delek Viskanta, a local Varisian youth, and fell in love. Her father would have been livid, so they carried on in secret, meeting in the old smugglers' tunnels below the town for their romantic dealings -- tunnels you recognize as being the ones attached to the Glassworks, where you discovered the compound run by the quasit.
Nualia became pregnant and Delek abandoned her. Father Tobyn berated her, made her pray for forgiveness, and would not let her leave the church. Something happened -- the resentment Nualia had felt for so long boiled into a rage, for reasons she cannot explain, other than to surmise Lamashtu was guiding her. She went into a violent frenzy, and miscarried her child, seven months along. The baby was monstrously deformed, the midwives taking it away from her and burning the body.
She fell into a coma, and dreamt unhealthy dreams -- dreams filled with demons, beckoning her. Dreams that showed her how to expel the angelic taint from her blood and replace it with chaos and cruelty. When she awoke she felt like a new person. She locked Tobyn in his room and burned down the church, fleeing Sandpoint that very night.
In Magnimar, she fell in with a group of Norgorber cultists calling themselves the Skinsaw Cult. They aided her in tracking down Delik, and she murdered him. Her revenge was not satisfied, however. She blamed all of Sandpoint for her rage, and vowed to see the town destroyed.
The mysterious leader of the Skinsaw cult saw her potential, gifting her the seven pointed medallion you took from her -- a Sihedron Medallion, she calls it. The leader told her she had a role to play in coming events, and to follow her dreams. They led her back to Sandpoint, to the tunnels, to the place where she'd conceived her child -- a bricked off wall that led into the ancient quasit-run compound. Erylium, the quasit, was a foller of Lamashtu, and spent months tutoring Nualia there.
During this time, Nualia received another vision from Lamashtu -- a vision of a monstrous goblin wolf imprisoned in an underground room. In Nualia's dreams, she learned that this creature, a barghest named Malfeshnekor, was also one of Lamashtu's chosen. If she could find him and free him, he would not only help her achieve her vengeance against the town of Sandpoint, but he would be the key in cleansing her body of what she had come to see as her "celestial taint." Nualia wanted to be one of Lamashtu's children now. She wanted to become a monster herself.
You find her plans to raid Sandpoint with an army of goblins -- the initial raid, on the day of the festival, merely a diversion to steal her father's body for the ritual that granted her the demonic arm she now possessed. A larger raid had been planned, to burn the town down as an offering to her goddess, in the hopes of being made a half-fiend.
Of particular note, Nualia explains the strange font below the city, the one spawning sin creatures is called a runewell. It is fueled by rage, and by murdering the citizens of Sandpoint, she hope to feed its power and create an army of the monstrous beings.
Nualia regains consciousness somewhere during Nico's shift on watch. She cannot speak with the gag in, but she glares with hatred at Nico and spends the evening struggling against her bindings, to no avail.
Nico spends most of her watch shift reading Nualia's note and journals. She does notice the voice, but given its even, unstopping repetition, she guesses it isn't a person (very broadly defined) but either a trick of the wind through passages, or something that does not think in the way that people (again, very broadly defined) do. In either case, with the second possibility being far worse, she does not investigate for a source. It can wait until the morning and the presence of everyone together.
Nualia's writing are fascinating, if extremely disturbing, and answer many of the question Nico had, which makes Nualia herself far less crucial to figuring things out if harsh decisions need to be made later for some reason.
When Nualis regains consciousness, Nico shifts her eyes over to her for a moment so the prisoner will know she is being watched. Otherwise Nico ignores her.
Annoyed by the noise but not overly concerned, Alistair sits out his watch listening and reading. He finds Nualia’s to be a sad story. Still, everyone must pay for their choices.
On his shift, Diego spends a bit of time organizing what he can in the resting area and tends to Lief's and Bjorn's wounds. His lack of knowledge in researching things is obvious and he has simply accepted the fact that others are more adept in such matters. He indirectly acknowledges the voice but stays fast on his post throughout the shift. When he wakes Nico for her shift, he hands down the information about the voice and then beds down.
Lief frowns at the lack of a big comfy feather bed in Nualia's study. Nevertheless, he makes a quick inventory of what is there.
"A lot of this is the unholy texts and trappings of Lammashtu worship," he explains as he gathers a pile of notes and journals and nestles into the heap of silk sheets to read them.
"Oh, sh!t, I almost forgot..." he groans, sitting up. He sets down the book he's been reading and casts the simple spell to recognize magical auras.
Other than the items on Nualia's person, Lief finds no magical items in the room she abandoned.
The night passes uneventfully, and from reading her notes, one thing seems clear. This chamber you opened, the one hidden by the false column of coins, was what Nualia sought to open. And the reason she sought it was to free a horrible creature called Malfeshnekor, a barghest, according to her notes. You are fairly certain you know what's behind the ominous southern doors Diego had been investigating, now.
"I think we need to try and raise these coins again before we leave with our prisoners. That will hopefully keep the goblins from finding their way inside. But, further exploration down here threatens to unleash this thing she mentions in her notes." Alistair says to the group in the morning.
" I think the cork may already be out of the bottle on that one Alistair. Lief was saying he most likely can't rest the door and with it not sealed, that thing could be let out at any time." Diego responds while rolling up his bedroll and blanket. "Confronting that thing sounds endlessly dangerous.
For whatever reason Nico feels like the present conversation should be happening at a place where Nualia can't hear it. She drags Alistair, Diego, and Lief out into the hallways and down a bit.
"Nualia's journal called it a barghest. What is that?"
Diego leans against the wall while considering Nico's question. "I'm not sure, but if it's some super beast that Nualia intended to unleash on the world, it can't be good. If Lief can't reset this magical wall thing, then I'm afraid we may have inadvertently released it. Or at least made the prospect much simpler."
"Why don't we compare that seven pointed star medallion Nualia was wearing to the indentation you saw. If they are about the same size I'd guess it is a key. That would mean as long as we keep the key in lockup back in town, no body can set the monster loose. Or, we toss the medallion in the sea so no one can get it."
"Maybe it's what we were hearing last night?"
"Well, its prison is very old, so it seems like it doesn't age and die. That's not a good start when thinking about what it might be capable of. My thinking is we sweeping the place of goblins so they don't mess with it and go back to Sandpoint for some expert advice."
" I like Alistair's idea about the star." Diego states while grabbing the star and heading towards the door. "Do we want to explore what's behind the other doors? The ones that don't have a star. Or do you guys want to take our prisoners and head back?"
Once at the door with the indentation, Diego compares the amulet to the impression without inserting it.
"I don't see the need since we've got our girl but I'll back your play if you want to open some more doors."
"I'm going to side with Nico about making sure the goblins are eliminated. That alone will require us to look around the lower area a bit. As fare as inspecting some of these other doors, in the sealed off area, that's going to require a group consensus. It's dangerous and could very well be unnecessary. The risk vs. reward is there though. It's obviously a very old area, which could hold infinitely valuable artifacts. Items that could pose just as much danger as the beast we are trying to avoid."
Lief seems lost in thought for much of the morning, as he reminisces about the big soft bed at his parents' house, and the hot, fresh breakfasts their cook laid out every morning. When he finally realizes what everyone else is discussing he explains, "Barghests are extra-planar beings that only come to our world to feed. They grow more powerful by eating innocent people. They're resistant to wounds caused by non-magical weapons, so if it is locked in--as it seems to be--a trip back to town for some magic weapon oils may be in order."
"Well, at least if it eats us it won't grow more powerful" Nico jokes nervously.
She is creeped out by what they've found down in the lower levels, but it's hard to argue against the idea of making sure the place is free of goblins before leaving.
"It's not like we're just abandoning this place if we go back to Sandpoint to prepare ourselves well enough to have a good chance before returning. It's a couple of days away. Not that much can change if we get rid of the goblins now."
"Lief, is there any way, whatsoever, to reset the coin door?"
"I can make my claws and scales as tough as blades. Kept a few potions on me for such an occasion. I hate dealing with such creatures, they're glorious fights but it feels rather unfair..." Bjorn mutters, scratching at his head.
Investigating thoroughly, you find that Nualia's pendent does indeed appear to match the arcane seal on the southern door. Pressing the seven-sided star against it should fi perfectly, should you decide to face the creature within.
A similar panel just inside the room, beside the doorway you opened, bears the same signal, and appears as though it will close the door again, if similarly activated -- the person closing it will need to hustle out before it closes, but then a pair of coins should work to open it again. The coin slots are less well hidden, with the illusion gone, but on the flip side without the pile of coins, there was no hint as to what the slots were for.
After inserting the star into the impression that resets the door, Diego heads over to the skeleton door and prepares to open it. “Do we want to continue through this door? Or leave now?” He says while looking for the way to open the vile door.
While grim in appearance, there is a clear handle in the shape of a femur on the skeleton door, and it does not appear locked or trapped.
"You want to go through the creepy skeleton door?" Alistair shakes his head, "Ok, creepy skeleton door."
Nico actually blanches at the idea.
"I really think this is best left for sometime later. We've done what we came to do. We have a prisoner to deliver and secure in jail. This is not the time."
With blade ready and his hand on the door, Diego gets ready to spring. Then Nico's voice brings him back to a more realistic perspective. With a deep sigh he removes his hand from the door and then turns to the group. "You guys are right. We should head back before things get to out of hand."
After walking back from the door, Diego looks over at Nualia for a moment. "Well, I suppose I could toss this one over the trap to Bjorn. We could then reclaim our other prisoner, deal with getting the pissed-off horse across the flimsy bridge and then past the large cat outside the encampment. If we can get it all the way through the briars, it would serve us well with the loot we have collected." Diego points out while thinking about the heavy box from the goblin crap-house. "Thats if we can find a way to control it. There is a strong possibility that the goblins may have damage the horse too much for it to be of much use."
After voicing his thoughts, Diego walks over to Nualia, picks her up, and then slings her over his shoulder. "You fart, you die." he says jokingly before moving back through the corridor.
Alistair leads the way so the big guys can carry the dead weight. He easily jumps the trap and moves forward to check for lurking threats.