Penelope knows next to knowing about demons, devils, or the like, other than what were in the religious texts she was taught from. "That sounds possible, Desna, I mean. Maybe Lady Cirthanahas could help you discover your magical source when we return??" Penelope sounds unsure, simply because she is. But she does sound resolute to help. "I'll go with you."
I and the fair Lady dont exactly get along. I also believe that she flat out lacks the skillset for this, her belief that my powers come from Iomedae being the biggest tell in this...
As you may have noticed, I am what is somewhat bombastically called a "Fanglord", meaning I have some weretiger ancestor. Iomedae doesnt generally recruit from such quarters, she is not at all associated with the moon, to which I feel a strong connection, and doesnt particularly care about darkvision etc. Dont get me wrong, I consider myself to be more brave then is possibly good for me, and some aspects of her code, such as never leaving friends behind, are things I can sign up to, but authority? Nah. If there is a heavenly source for my powers, Kelinahat or perhap Jaidtz would be a more propable suspects, although I am way to reckless to be all that influenced by Kelinahat as well.
As Penelope and Svetlana discuss...something or the other about demons, devils, and gods, Elowen moves toward the unexplored hallway, making her way toward the first door.
The sooner they had cleared out this place, the sooner they could get the ingredients back to where they could help people.
Jenkin follows Elowen, having little interest in Dwarven religious beliefs himself and instead shifting his 'protect that thing' target to whoever goes off by themselves first.
Penelope doesn't know how to help Svetlana find her answer, though she promises herself she will try to help as soon as she figures out how. Til then she pats the other woman's shoulder "The others are leaving us, so we should follow them, I think."
Yeap, onwards and upwards!
Yenkin you wanna open the door to the south?
Following Odelia's magical gaze there is a faint magic to the south on the right and the left. And a door is wide open.
The double doors leading into this chamber are shattered and broken, one of them lying on the floor. The room beyond is in an equal state of disrepair. What was once a library is now a shattered mess with one corner being completely collapsed and dominated by a wide pool of stagnant water. Thick fungus grows on most of the books that still remain on the shelves lining the walls.
"This might be a naturally occurring cenote or cistern, but it is definitely deeper than it looks." Elowen says as she looks at the stagnant pool. "There might be something living beneath the surface."
Room 9
Odelai clucks her sorrow over the state of the library. "What a shame... So much wisdom lost."
She starts edging toward the corner of the room , trying to avoid the water while trying to get her eyes on the source of the magical signal. "There's something magical on the shelf over here, maybe a book, a parchment, or something else."
Could you use some minor telekinesis to grab the books? I think arcane magic users sometims have this?
The witch grunts, "Some do... but I'm not one of them." With no other obvious choices, Odelai tries to carefully climb up the shelves hoping her light weight won't cause the shelves to collapse.
Penelope hopes the magical whatever is worth it, and stands at the ready to shoot whatever comes out of the water to eat Odelai.
The first shelf groans so moving to a different one Odelai's light weight proves to be a good thing as she nimbly moved upwards. Avoiding the fungus coated books while doing so. Close to the ceiling the leather-bound book with a beautifully ornate hammer on the front of it.
This book is written in Dwarven and contains hymns to Torag. The book is beautifully illuminated and likely worth a fair bit, even more if you can find a collector or a follower of Torag. Flipping through you an extra sheet of paper tucked in the back and that is the source of the magic.
Climbing down and looking around with her magic seeking gaze. You all will have to go into the door across the hall as the magical something is somewhere on that side. But the door is locked.
Jenkin fiddles with the lock for a few minutes, seeming to be trying to will the tumblers to fall into place through sheer force of personality more than anything else.
After a minute or so of this, he stands up, angrily jiggling the door handle one last time. "How about if I just break the door down?" he asks, brandishing his shiny new magic axe.
Odelai buffs the cover with her sleeve and admires the book for a moment. When flipping through the tome, she finds the loose parchment. A brief examination reveals... "I'm not an expert but this appears to be clerical magic for a 'spiritual weapon' spell." She offers the sheet to Penelope and puts the book in her pack.
At the door that is frustrating Jenkin, she looks up the corridor. "I think there may be another door into this room, or at least into this area. Let me try that first before you dull that lovely axe."
The gnome moves up and around the corner and tries to open the door there.
The door opens with a creak of old metal. This small chamber was used to store the traveling cloaks, coats, and hats of visitors to the monastery. Now only a few moth-eaten rags hang on the pegs and a single soiled hat rests on the table. Feeling along the walls does not reveal a hidden doorway.
Jenkin nods, takes another look at his shiny new axe, and then does his best to preserve the edge by kicking the door down.
"Ow."
A twinge of pain coming from his mashed toes, he grimaces. "Alright, hard way it is. Chopping through a door can't be much different than splitting logs..." And with that, he readies both axes and begins a hackfest.
Odelai is about to leave the cloakroom when curiosity gets the better of her. She looks at the hat more closely and carefully picks it up.
Over and over the axes slam into the door, primarilly focusing around the hinges. Swing high then low. Its happens faster than a tree is felled but its loud and inelegant. But Jenkin's knows what he is going with his axes and the door breaks. The lock is still keeping it up but it is seperated from the hinges and can be pushed in.
Odelai the hat is heavily moth-eaten and there are only dead moths under the hat
Jenkin pants, but grins as the last edges of wood splinter. He stows his normal axe, then pets the head of the new one. "Good little Door-Knocker, aren't you?" he asks, happily, then completes the 'opening' of the door by kicking the swinging edge in with his boot, this time to a more dramatic effect.
The gnome considers if the hat might suit her, moth-holes and all... before deciding against it and placing it back on the table. She hrmphs and returns to see Jenkin's progress now that the banging has stopped.
She looks at the destroyed door, remarking "Have you ever considered selling your skills as a battering ram?"
Penelope laughs at the sheer awe-inspiring brutality of a man with an axe against a door who decided to bar his way. "Good job" she says, with only a twinge of guilt in her heart about the inanimate object's feelings on the matter.
Reminds me of that trench digging song,
Shovel Shovel Shovel
our foes we disembowel
Svetlana chuckles to herself.
Jenkin fiddles with the lock for a few minutes, seeming to be trying to will the tumblers to fall into place through sheer force of personality more than anything else.
[dice=Disable Device]1d20+3
After a minute or so of this, he stands up, angrily jiggling the door handle one last time. "How about if I just break the door down?" he asks, brandishing his shiny new magic axe.
backpack:
a set of thieves tools, 50 feet of silk rope, a small coin purse with 42 gp in assorted coins, and a small blue vial containing a potion of cure light wound
The door falls inwards in a rather dramatic fashion followed rocks, hunks of wood, and pieces of metal falling on top of the door. Hand you walked in that debris would have fallen on whoever walked in first.
This small chamber appears to be some sort of sitting room, complete with a single table and a pair of chairs, both in relatively good condition. Resting atop the table is a half-eaten crow next to a crude knife and a cracked mug. There is a door in the back corner.
Jenkin steps in over the rubble of the door, then takes in the room's furnishings. "I think somebody lives here..." he says, a little sheepishly.
Odelai follows the human battering ram through the door, sniffing for the traces of magic. She chuckles at the feast. "I've heard of eating crow... but not literally."
This small, cramped chamber holds two beds (one of which is covered in bird bones), a small sack, and an array of old tools. The other bed looks recently slept in. And there is a hole in the wall above the bed with the tools that leads outside.
Odelia you move right to the pouch and inside are assorted coins and a big round ruby. This ruby has, when you focus on it, a faint conjuration magic on it but it is not magical itself.
Odelai takes the ruby out for closer examination and puts the bag of coins aside. She clucks at it, commenting more to herself than Jenkin, "There's conjuration magic upon it but it isn't inherently magical. Curious. What were they trying to achieve?"
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"Oh, hey, more mushrooms!" Jenkin says happily, justifying, in his mind, this little bit of breaking and entering he's apparently an accessory to. He reaches up and plucks an additional three from behind the headboard of the bed. "Aside from that, should we be taking the stuff in here? If someone's holed up in the ruins, and this is their personal squat, then it's kind of like stealing from their home..."
Elowen watches in silence as Jenkin decimates the door with his new axe. While she definitely appreciated that they needed to get through, the sight of the destruction of wood, especially with an axe was less than comfortable. Men with axes had long posed a danger to those she cared for, and yet ironically, that same danger and the response to it had led to the life she had now.
She looks up from her thoughts at the discovery of more mushrooms, collecting them from Jenkin and adding them to the others, as Odelai sifts through the belongings on the table.
"We shouldn't" Penelope agrees with Jenkin. Her face a tad bit pinched. She looks in the room to see how long ago the occupants were here.
"We shouldn't" Penelope agrees with Jenkin. Her face a tad bit pinched. She looks in the room to see how long ago the occupants were here.
But she had no idea "Maybe we should leave a note." she slips off her pack and pulls out one of the used scrolls "Does anyone have anything to write with?" she didn't pack to take notes.
"Maybe we should leave a note." she slips off her pack and pulls out one of the used scrolls "Does anyone have anything to write with?" she didn't pack to take notes.
”My ink and pen I left in your room, Penelope. Sorry. ”
"Aside from that, should we be taking the stuff in here? If someone's holed up in the ruins, and this is their personal squat, then it's kind of like stealing from their home..."
One of Odelai’s eyebrows rises at Jenkin’s argument as she lowers the ruby. She expected Penny to take the high ground, but not the hardy warrior. ”I’m impressed, Jenkin. If you feel strongly about it then yes, let’s leave everything. I’m curious to figure out what dweomer is on this gem and why, but I don’t need to keep it.” The gnome chews on a thought, then swallows it instead of speaking.
I mean, why shouldnt we be taking these things? I kind of doubt that someone here is all that nice and friendly? With a Worg for company?
Svetlana is a loot monkey
Odelai leans against the table, addressing the team as a whole, ”Some see the world in absolutes and other see nuances. While I respect the former group… I believe in nuance. Context is - and for - Kings. Last night, during my watch, a shadow flew over. It might have been a wyvern, a drake, or possibly a younger dragon. Let’s say it was an evil, green dragon and we tracked it to its cave, intent on ending this threat to the town. Now imagine we enter the cave to find it empty except for the dragon’s treasure hoard… Should we leave the treasure because it is in the dragon’s ‘home’? What if there are magic weapons we could use against the dragon? Would we need to kill the dragon before it is acceptable to take its treasure? And if killing the dragon makes stealing its treasure ‘right’ then is the same true here? If we find out this is the lair of an evil bandit, do the rules change?”
As an aside, she states, ”This ruby has some minor magic on it… I believe it is a piece of a greater magic item.”
"If we find someone here, that this might belong to, who doesn't try to kill us, we can leave it. Otherwise, keep it." Elowen suggests.
The gnome motions to Jenkin, "May I look at that ring a moment?" She compares the ruby in her hand to the one in the ring. She looks for a broken mounting that might be missing this stone.
"Judging someone to be worthy of stealing from without any evidence other than their neighbors seems a slippery slope. There was an old man with a house near the church that I grew up certain he ate babies. Turns out he was simply a horrible abusive monster, but no baby eating at least." her example of having a bad neighbor wanders a bit as she frowns at the memory.
The young half elf listens to Odelai's philosophical discussion, then added "Right and wrong is weighed for each situation, I believe" I agreeing somewhat "But it still feels in your belly as right and wrong." at least it does for her.
Then back to the matter at hand, "I am against taking anything other than what is abandoned or someone proven to be an enemy, but I am not anyone's keeper."
Odelai finds the various arguments interesting as a mental exercise, taking none of it personally. ”Although it is likely hypocritical, I find my ‘rules’ change based on where I’m standing. For instance, I have never visited a village and been tempted to steal from anyone’s home. Equally, I have never robbed a grave in a graveyard… But when we found the dead fellow in the stableyard, I didn’t blink when we took his gear.”
”And I don’t disagree with Jenkin’s discomfort taking what is here. Maybe it is because this fellow – good or evil – seems lowly, scrounging to get by. Crow can’t be a filling meal. And it seems he chose to hide from, rather than face us. While the mystery of this stone intrigues me, I’m not inclined to take this ruby without recompense.” The gnome continues to mull the issue, navigating her own moral inconsistencies.
"We can discuss the right and wrong of taking things once we're on the way to getting everything back to cure the sick villagers." Elowen points out. "Is there anything else to check out here before we leave?"
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Odelai's glance falls on Jenkin then Penelope... and back again. With a sheepish look, she pockets the curious gem and leaves a stack of gold coins in its place.
.
The witch straightens up as she leaves the room and heads to the final mysterious door. She listens at it briefly then tries to open it.
Jenkin shrugs and moves on, not really having enough patience to be a moral backbone for more than a minute or so at a time.
Penelope does not comment either, but does have a pinched set of lips, like she is keeping them closed with Will alone.