Memories of your past, realities of your present, and fears and hopes for your future suddenly overwhelm you with a torrent of emotion. So many choices you’ve made! So many more to go! Do they even matter? Are your choices yours, or are they always what you’d choose? Do you have a fate that’s set in stone, or do you get to decide your future? Suddenly, you’re standing on a street corner—one you somehow know is in the Grand Bazaar within the city of Absalom. Before you is a wooden building flanked by a flower shop and an open-air meat vendor. A sign above the building’s door reads “Three Moves Ahead,” and déjà vu washes over you. You’ve never been here... or have you? Will you? Should you? A blood-curdling scream shatters the building and, after a brief sense of pain and loss, the vision fades. As your senses return, you realize that clutched in your hand is something new. A single beautifully illustrated harrow card. You don’t remember finding it, but you instinctively know it has always been yours. Though you only now hold it, your fate has been tied to it for a long time...
Part 1: The Choosing
Chapter 1: Luck of the Draw
Absalom! The City at the Center of the World! It has stood at the geographic and metaphorical fulcrum of Inner Sea intrigue for 5 millennia. Indeed, Absalom’s continual influence has shaped not only the face of the planet but the very nature of the cosmos. In Absalom, a person can be whatever and whoever they want, and for the right price, it is said, they can procure anything in its grand markets.
You have traveled from far and wide to reach the city, following the strange vision in the hopes of learning more about it and the strange Harrow card that suddenly appeared in your possession one day not too long ago.
The Starstone is the heart of Absalom, but commerce is its blood. Nowhere does that blood flow more freely than in the Coins. Carts full of goods, busy vendors, and merchants dressed in their finest clothes crowd the district from daybreak until well after dark, and the sights, sounds, and smells of the Coins can be overwhelming to out-of-town visitors. The Grand Bazaar in the center of the district draws shoppers from throughout the Inner Sea region in search of surprising bargains, one-of-a-kind services, and rare commodities.
This massive plaza at the heart of the Coins is one of the largest open markets in the Inner Sea region. The Grand Bazaar is a microcosm of the economic diversity of the Coins as a whole, with rag vendors’ carts parked rows away from pavilions dealing in Minkan silks. The crowded booths, ramshackle shops, and fragrant stalls of the market are constantly changing, but you follow the directions imparted to you by the vision, and soon enough, you find yourself at your destination.
The wooden builidng, flanked by a flower shop and an open-air meat vendor, is caught between smells both floral and savory. A sign above the door reads “Three Moves Ahead,” with images of dice and game pawns. The shop appears to be closed.
But as you arrive, you realize you are not here alone. Three other individuals are emerging from the crowd at the same time as you. Three others, you instinctually realize, whose destinies are now intertwined with your own...
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Fast to arrive through the promising scent of good food in an exotic market, Briar stands next to the meat vendor holding her prize and tearing into with all the voracity of a child given a stick of spun sugar. Somehow both savagely and daintily ripping chunks of grisly seasoned meat from the bone while managing to not spill a single ounce of the fat laden juices on her bone bedecked outfit of cloth, leathers, beads, bones, and assorted jewelry.
"Mmmm Sanja.. you *chew* shou-d rea-yey try vis *chomp* vey says izz azzbeak -ut-" Her own thought was interrupted by a snort at the sudden burst of spices that she bit into. "Gahhhng, way too much meat on this bone for that scraggly bird. My guess is thresher from the water but then again bones and all that. What do you think?" She sneezed off to the side again from the various spices then shook her head causing the feathered splotchy gray-brown mohawk of hers to lose a few tufts into the breeze.
The towering canine looked down at her diminutive companion, providing the exact description of someone you didn't want to meet in an alleyway. The clothing giving way to a not much left to the imagination level of revelation, showing off plenty of battle scars and well earned muscle to match. Not to mention the equally massive sword hanging in a loose shoulder strap over her shoulder, simply clipped with snapping buttons just below the hilt and towards the end of the blade for quick drawing.
The tawny gnoll awaited a response from her companion while switching between eying the sign reading 'Three Moves Ahead' and the two other approaching figures.
Briar's companion is of an ancestry not often seen outside Jalmeray, not even in the cosmopolitan Absalom. The kashrishi is currently sniffing delicately at a bowl of pickled vegetables on a bed of rice, raising their head as Briar addresses them.
"I am sure it tastes very good, and I am happy that you are enjoying it." Their voice is low, deep, and soothing, the accented Common lilting. "I do not consume the flesh, or any other parts, of living creatures, however." There is no trace of annoyance or impatience, despite Sanjana having explained many times to Briar that they are strictly vegetarian.
The top of their horn barely reaching the level of Briar's hip, the kashrishi is almost as wide as they are tall, their soft, creased skin hardening to iridescent plates on their shoulders and back. Their stocky body is currently wrapped in a purple silk saree richly embroidered with gold thread, an numerous gold bangles adorn their thick arms. The crystalline horn is one of the defining physical features of their ancestry is covered by a gold curved cone inset with turquoise and amethyst, from which fine gold chains hang in sweeping arcs to frame their head. Small bells attached to their anklets tinkle musically whenever Sanjana moves - which is not often. Unlike their companions, they carry no visible weapons. A belt formed of interlocking jeweled discs circles their midsection, with a gilded, ornate scroll case hanging from thin chains on one side and a short scepter covered in silver filigree on the other.
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"Hwaet! Do my eyes conspire to make of me a fool? The Seidrstafr's Steward, the Wound-Weaver // Curse-Cutter of Kharswan's Kingdom?"
Visna's voice seems to roll up from the cobblestones in a rich, echoing alto that presages her heroic stature. Her smile gleams like the mirrored plates of her well-polished armor. That armor is hung with the many tools of her trade and travels, but her draw is kept clear of clutter for axe, amulet, and alehorn.
She presses a pair of small coins into the palm of her young guide, "No matter the plans of mortal minds, my destination this day clearly lies before me." With a softer smile she adds, "Two Street Satchels ere you depart. Pork if they have it."
With keen interest, Visna's eyes slide from her erstwhile companion to Briar. "But I see a new warrior has found a place of honor at your sword-side. How fair you, friend? I am Visna Freydisdottir: Crownbreaker, Threadcutter and Farstrider, Hullbreacher of the Gnod of the Fire-Cauldron's Stems.
"What tales do they tell of you?"
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Briar slowed her chewing at the approach of the enigmatic figure of Visna. Tilting her head sideways down towards Sanjana giving the kashrishi a glance, "Take it you've made a name with this one?"
At Visna's more direct approach Briar practically bristles. "I see you are a tale speaker, hymn-weaver perhaps. Then hear of my tale. I am Briarthorn of clan Jamalpajaz. Slayer of the great rotten tyrant king Kaldazah! I have taken the heads of lizard kings, my jaws have clashed with those of the great beasts of Mwangi, stepped foot in the hollowed ancient halls of Maagambya. And traveled through the Maelstrom to arrive unscathed. But these are just preludes to the tales the ancestors shall sing about me once I fulfil my oath."
She laughs with a threatening cackle before tearing the last shreds of her meal from the bone before chomping on it as well as a savory after meal treat.
The fourth figure had slipped up in front of the building, looking intently at the wooden building. "Hello, I'm Pen" she says simply, in sharp contrast to the speeches around her, while not taking her eyes off the door, as if doing so would let it run away.
The elf who spoke is an average build with an average height decorated with a simple but pleasant enough face. Her Everything is covered in a layer of traveler's dust, having not stopped once she made it back into the city to get HERE Now. A small pack with a carved staff slipped through hoops and hooks on the side, a few pouches on each hip, and a slim dagger on her thigh, are all the other bits she has.
Well other than the small blue elephant clutching her shoulder, and sniffing with her trunk toward the others. A slow wave of that appendage of greeting.
"I've been There" the elf points at the flower shop. "Lovely tulips." she points at the meat market "I've been there." she doesn't comment on the wares, but the small frown suggests her experience was not pleasant.
One last point to the Moves place "But I do not remember ever seeing this one." her eyes finally move to the others. "Have any of yo-- Oh, I know you." Pen says, seeing Visna for the first time.
When Briar bristles it just makes Visna's grin broaden, but then a look of recognition enters her eyes. "Kaldazah? I have heard of your deeds. You were the one hwaet wrestled the Eight-Coiled Wyrm of Wagadu. I must know: when it had its jaws on your-" She stops abruptly as her expression shifts from interest to delight.
"Pen!" Visna clatters forwards to sweep the elf up into a rib-creaking embrace. "It's been an age! Does the Lodge need your wisdom once more? If your tasks do not delay you overmuch, I have a question that needs answering, and if this Crowfeeder at the King's Table," she gestures at the game store, "cannot quench my mind's thirst, I would with gladness recompense you with a glass of..."
Her smile turns sheepish. "To my shame, the memory of your tongue's delight has escaped me into the wine-dark shadows of unsung tales. A taste of whatever it is you desire."
Pen's eyes go HUGE, then her cheeks seem to explode all the way to the tips of her pointed ears. All that Before she is enveloped by the amazonian woman. "I... yes... no... um...." There is sputtering going on, attempting to find a solid place to answer.
When she is released, she settled on "It wasn't elven, just iced wine, negroni, and gin... with apricots and salt. Mixed thoroughly with shaved ice and a touch of grapefruit. " Why was she babbling on about the ingredients of the DRINK!
"It is nice to see you. Again. Visna Crownbreaker." she manages to be polite, a smile as she looks Up at the other woman. Then, looking at the other two, "Sorry, I am Pentella Cole, an explorer for hire, and this is Puck." the elphant flaps up from the ground, where it got dislodged, back to Pen's shoulder. "We are here because of this." she fished out a card, with Rabbit Prince on it. "Do you have something similar, Visna?"
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Briar gave a short barking laugh, "Ah yes Wagadu's ruin they called it I remember it fondly." She used her now free hands to pull back some of her strewn beads from her mid-section revealing a large scar that looked like a fang pierced through her abdomen. "The beast gave me this one but I survived past it's venomous fangs. Perhaps not the bit you speak of however so I'd relish to hear what you've heard of the encounter. Perhaps I can correct any mistellings of the singers."
Sanjana would know Briar enough that she'd be happy to spend the day rambling on the streets about her own slightly exaggerated stories. Even with their previous goal literally in sight well within reach.
Sanjana was not very good with faces, but that particular print of roiling emotions they would recognize anywhere. "Visna, what happiness to see you again. I hope you have been well. What brings you here today?" The kashrishi turns to gesture at their companion. "This is Briar, a fearsome warrior from the jungles of Mwangi."
As a stranger joins their group, seemingly someone that Visna is familiar with, Sanjana greets her as well. "Pentella Cole and Puck, a pleasure to meet you both. A friend of my friend will always find welcome with me." The seer examines the proffered card, a small sigh escaping them. "I found a similar card tucked in my belt just as we disembarked. My optimist side would like to think that it is nothing more than a clever ploy to draw customers to this shop." Sanjana turns to look at the aforementioned shop, gaze meaningfully fixed on the closed door.
Pen looks down at the gnoll's companion, the shocking differences in height makes the elf think that anyone that spent much time with the two would develop neck problems quickly. She returns the greeting pleasantly, Pick preening at being included. "My optimism is in short supply, unfortunately " she says grimly looking back at the shop again
The fact that the shop appears closed is unusual, as it should be open at this time of day. Listening closely, you can hear movement from within the building.
Visna's face breaks into a broad smile as she holds up The Paladin. "Only one finger short of a hand."
She flips her axe into her hand and gives the door a heave. "Let's see hwaet the fifth finger is up to."
"Yes" the elven woman says agreeing with Visn. Quickly she moves to the door, but despire her desire for speed, she cannot keep herself from pausing to check for traps and locks.
But the amazon gives the door a heave and her precaution is misplaced, she pulls her staff off her back.
The door to the shop is not locked, but it is slightly stuck. Visna gives it a sturdy shove and the door gives way.
The shop consists of a single wide room. A few shelves hold dice games and card decks, while private gaming rooms to the west sit beyond open curtains. Chalk lines cover the floor of the room, some of them smeared beneath the body and blood of a dead Varisian woman.
Standing near the body is a ram-headed devil with flesh and wings of rusted metal. Further back is a larger, skeletal fiend with a long, scorpionlike tail. The devils hesitate only a moment before springing into action!
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Briar had already intended to enter the building, but she hadn't yet finished her bragging but when the skald woman moved to shoulder open the door she followed. "We aren't going to simply break and enter now. But when has that stopped humans from not entering sacred burial grounds? Surely the shop owener won't mind us following some tendril of fate."
Thrn the door barged open revealing two devils and a corpse. "Summonings here!?" She snarls and charges forward past the group, "Stay back Sanjana." Moving past the Rusted demon she lunges at the bone creature and snaps at it.
Sanjana remains where they are, reaching for the scroll case at their left hip to quickly pull out a strip of parchment and read it, sharing the essential information with Briar in a hurried whisper.
The bone devil dodges Briar’s attack. Sanjana remembers that the devil has a weakness to good damage, but it resists poison and physical damage except from silver weapons.
The rust devil enacts a powerful spell, attempting to transform Briar’s flesh into rusting metal. It then moves to flank the gnoll.
Meanwhile, the bone devil casts a spell, creating a zone of truth within the shop entryway. ”Do you have Harrow cards in your possession?” the fiend demands telepathically.
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Briar feels the heinous magic begin to take hold but brushes the bone dagger hanging from her neck and the ancestors grant her the strength to shake it off. She lashes out once again however as the bone devil begins to cast and manages to break away a few of it's more delicate bones drawing some marrow from the devil. Her short rounded ears rotate towards the rusty goat creature behind her and she reaches for her blade, two on one well two on four, a fair fight.
Her jaws lock onto the bone devil preventing it from getting away. While she bends forward in a half-crouch, pulling hard on the hilt of her Sword causing the latched buttons to release and the flat of the blade to rear up towards the Rust Devil's mouth.
Lastly Briar simply tries to crunch into the marrow of the foul tasting devil but it seems she'll only maintain her purchase for the time being. But she does her job well keeping the interplanar beings tied up in melee regardless and generally allowing the team to harry them further.
Sanjana feels the compulsion pulling on the threads of their mind, but it is a simple matter to ignore it. So, this creature was interested in the Harrow? Perhaps time for a little misdirection...
Reaching into a pocket, Sanjana's fingers feel the familiar contours of the Harrow deck. A moment, to let it settle. Then the kashrishi draws two cards.
"'The Hidden Truth'? No. For this one, 'The Locksmith'."
Flicking their other hand towards Briar, a ghostly deck of Harrow cards streaming forth to surround the gnoll protectively.
Pen barely registers the bone devil's command. "Devils in a store. Middle of the day. People all around. Asking about cards." She catalogs the oddities out loud. Thankfully she had already slipped her card back in her pouch.
Her staff rises, the carved green ball flares, and the rust devil's muscles start to tense.
A split second later she snaps a word of elven to solidify the air in front of her for protection.
In a flash Visna hurtles into the room, paying no heed to the Bone Devil's wiles; she vaults game tables and shoulders past displays before careening into the Rust Devil from behind, laying into it with Maiden's Smile before shoving the fiend to knock it off balance.
The rust devil ignores Pen’s spell and dodges Visna’s attack. Briar grabs the bone devil by the neck, clamping her jaws around it. She slashes at the rust devil’s throat but it is not silenced by the hit.
Both fiends attack Briar. The rust devil scores a critifcal hit with its horns, then the bone devil manages to bite the gnoll and get a critical hit with its claws!
Seeing the gnoll getting torn into, makes Pen stop conserving her spells. A ray of green light that warped the air around it with a sicking wobble shoots from her hand into the creature.
She weaves her shield into the air again as well.
With a flick of her wrist, Visna hurls aside her axe, using her momentarily empty hand to clutch at the Last Coin threaded around her neck.
A small cloud of runes softens the Rust Devil's blows against Briar, then she lets the amulet drop as Maiden's Smile whistles its way back to her grasp. With three precise blows she sets runes of righteous vengeance aglow on the bite of her axe and tries to stave in the Rust Devil's foul head! Rocking it back with one strike she seizes it in her off hand, twisting its arm out the side and pulling it off balance.
With the bone devil dispatched, Sanjana shifts their attention to the remaining creature, examining it carefully as a hand reaches for a scrap of parchment from their scroll case.
Then the kashrishi holds its gaze, slowly narrowing their eyes menacingly.
Visna snags the rust devil with her first strike, putting it off balance, but it shoved her away when she tries to grab it. Pen hits the fiend with a disintegration beam, but it resists it partially. Meanwhile, Briar tears at the bone devil with her jaws, ripping chunks of flesh out of its body. Blood flies all around, and the skeletal fiend crumpled to the floor. Sanjana attempts to intimidate the rust devil, but it remains unimpressed.
The rust devil turns its attention to Visna, assaulting her with critical strikes from its horns and claws!
Seeing that the creature is hard to hit, Pen holds out her palm and yells in a clear only mildly panicked voice "Les orbes de lumière détruisent notre ennemi!" Then a stream of bright orbs erupt out of her palm to slam into the back of the rusty devil.
Once more Visna flings away the gleaming edge of Maiden's Smile, trusting to the desperate hope of her Last Coin to blunt the force of her fiendish foe.
Maiden's Smile still whistling through the air, Visna sketches baleful runes in the air between her and the rust devil. She lunges for it, her axe returning to her grasp mid-swing!
"I know not hwaet brings your evil to this place, but I will see you cast out!"
Her axe cracks into the side of the devil's head, and with her off hand she holds it fast, silvered gauntlet sizzling gently against its skin.
Sanjana reaches into a fold of their saree, feeling the weight of the bent piece of wood fall into their hand. They could bend fate only so far before a more direct course of action was required.
You focus your attacks on the rust devil. Everybody manages to wound it, from Pen’s magic missiles to Sanjana’s boomerang! Though severely injured, the fiend continues to fight back. Luckily, this time it only manages to slash Visna once with its sharp claws.
"An ill star shines bright over our battle this day," Visna gripes, suddenly all thumbs as she tries to use her axe against the writhing devil in close quarters.
Visna slams the devil against a cabinet by the throat then turns and flings it across the length of the store!
It was time to change tactics. Hooking the scroll case to hang from their belt again, Sanjana reaches across to grasp the scepter, which the kashrishi lifts high.
"Trust your skill. Ill-luck does not last forever."
With the other hand, Sanjana catches the boomerang as it returns, and throws it again at the rust devil.
The chaos of the room might be one for the storybooks, if Pen cared about such a thing. She still marvelled slightly: in this single wide room were devils, blood, boomerangs, axes, and teeth, accompanied with her glowing missiles (again).
Briar and Visna struggle to hit the rust devil. Visna hurls the fiend away in frustration, sending it clattering to the floor amidst a broken shelf. Pen blasts it with more magic missiles and Sanjana thumps it with their boomerang again.
The fiend rises to its feet with a bellow. It flaps its wings, sending rusting iron feathers at Pen. One stabs into the elf!
Pen winces as she pulls one of the rusty feathers out of her leg. With the strength and resistance this devil is portraying, she is impressed that the warriors are going toe to tow and not ending up as a bloody meat sack.
She thursts her staff at the devil, like one would do with a spear (if one had no experience thrusting a spear at all, that is), and a bolt of magical energy shoots out stuttering in and out of phase as it sheers through the air.
"Hwaet! It can shoot those feathers?" Visna gives Pen a sheepish smile and a half bow before bounding across the room once more. "I will see to it that the fiend does not so trouble you again!"
Pen blasts the devil with a phase bolt, rocking it with the force of the impact. Briar grabs it by the neck and restrains it, leaving it wide open for Visna. She slices it open with her blade, spilling rusty blood and guts onto the floor. The fiend goes limp in Briar's grasp as it dies.
With the threats neutralized, you have time to examine the room further. It seems that the dead Varisian woman was roughly searched, her possessions dumped in the blood pooling around her body. Her upper arm bears a very recent tattoo that looks like an architect being struck by lightning (an image often associated with the Harrow card known as The Vision).
The chalk lines on the floor form a rough map of Absalom. Your path through the city is immediately evident, tracing the route you took to Three Moves Ahead.
A door in the back of the shop leads into what appears to be an office.
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As the Rusty Devil goes limp in her grasp Briar's rage subsides but not before there's a sickening crunch as the neck breaks under the weight of her bite.
Afterwards she rolls the corpse off of her and gives a pant as the adrenaline from the battle wears down. Her features shifting to one of both pain and concern for her fellows.
"Well struck Crownbreaker. I can tend to your wounds if you need though."
Briar flicks her blade clean and unceremoniously brushes her bloody rusty mouth with the back of her arm before fishing around in one of the pouches on her belt pulling forth a handful of herbs and applying them several times throughout the next twenty minutes or so.
While she works, chewing some herbs, igniting others, and pressing all of them into the various wounds gently but firmly Briar hums and chants low in her native tongue.
During her almost reverent healing procedure Briar seems to fall in a meditative state, garnering the sense that the whole process is so trivially rote to her memory that she doesn't even need to examine the actual damage done to determine the best course of action for clearing it up. Though she occasionally casts glances over to the drawing on the floor which she had at first assumed to be the circle for summoning such devilish beings.
Some of the more subtle markings on the map have been scuffed from the fighting, but Briar can identify the locations of three businesses: Historia Reliquary, Kraken’s Ink Tattoo, and Reclaimed Paradise, all of which have been indicated with marks but without context as to what the marks mean.
Sanjana looks at the map, but shakes their head as they are unable to discern its meaning. Instead, the kashrishi begins to walk slowly around the room, their horn beneath its gold cap glowing softly. They stop next to the murdered Varisian woman, touching a few of the objects dumped next to her.
"Thank you" Pen says in the wake of Visna's declaration of intent and her rather visceral follow through. The elf wraps a bit of cloth around her leg and limps over to the chalk markings.
"Fascinating. 'Visions' as the tattoo suggests, rarely has this amount of details. Maybe the cards we all mysteriously became the owners of are catalysts to allow tracking." she pulls her out again, considering flinging it into the pooled blood, but instead lets her arcane sense take it in. Which she had probably done a hundred times already, but one hundred and one MIGHT work. While she is at it, she looks around the room as well.
"The devils were looking for card holders, remember the command it tried to give us? Investigating the other businesses might hold more clues" she is thinking out loud, in a slightly distracted way. Which Visna would know is pretty normal for her. "Historia Reliquary, Kraken’s Ink Tattoo, and Reclaimed Paradise..." she tries to remember anything about the places.
Nothing in this room appears to be magical or have much emotional significance. You head into the office, which is a mess. Piles of paperwork and incomplete games cover every surface. A messy cot indicates that someone’s been sleeping here for the past few days.
As soon as you enter the office, you feel the mental pull you experienced during the vision that lead you to this place. That tug draws you to a specific business ledger jammed awkwardly onto a shelf. Tucked between some pages of this ledger is an ornate Harrow card that matches those in your posession--The Vision. As soon as one of you picks up the card, it imparts its powers to you:
Suit Book (Int); Alignment chaotic neutral
The Vision represents arcane knowledge. As long as you have The Vision invested, it grants you a +2 item bonus to all checks made to Identify Magic. This increases to a +3 item bonus if you are at least 17th level.
Activate [free-action] envision; Frequency once per day; Effect A visible bolt of blue energy bursts from your head. Attempt to Recall Knowledge about a subject, rolling the check with the most appropriate Lore skill check. This check always resolves as if you were master in the most appropriate Lore skill to Recall Knowledge on the subject (or if you’re at least 15th level, as if you were legendary in that Lore skill). If you’re already master (or legendary) in that Lore, the result of your Recall Knowledge check is one degree of success better than it would otherwise be.
On the last few pages of the ledger that contained The Vision card, several notes have been jotted down. Included is a summary of the meaning of The Vision (that it’s the chaotic neutral card of Intelligence, and that it represents abstruse knowledge, sudden insight, or instability) and the shop owner's suspicions that more cards from the same deck must be somewhere out there in the world. She noted that one Dieral Myrnese, owner of the Harrow Barrow, might know more. The Harrow Barrow isn’t a shop but a traveling business whose proprietor wanders throughout the Grand Bazaar and (at times) elsewhere in Absalom. These notes also indicate a few nearby people who have a close connection with Dieral: Erikanesh runs a reliquary, Arhan owns a tattoo shop, and Clemeth owns a scrapyard. These seem to correspond to the locations on the chalk map in the other room.
With time to search the rest of the room, you pick through the confusing jumble. Amid various business records, unfinished puzzles, boxes of clothes, and incomplete or broken games, you can find several ordinary harrow decks. You also find four scrolls: a scroll of quench, a scroll of heroism, a scroll of slow (6th level), and a scroll of telepathic bond.
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"I believe we saw those places while searching for this one Pentella. If those devils were looking for card holders then we should make haste to aid them, and inform the guardians of this place of the possible incursion."
With everyone's wounds tended to as best as she could given the time and resources she sat Pen up and gave her a motherly pat on the backside as if shooing her to go play with the other children. The soft and gentle action comes as a little odd considering the size of Briar and her other showings of strength.
"Either way for our own safety as owners of stands Harrow cards we would do best to keep together for the time being until we are certain that we are no longer under threat of assassination by the minions of the hells."
Pen's cheeks fluster a bit at being mothered. 'I'm a hundred and fifty year old!' her mind balked, but she had to admit the massive gnoll was good at it. Her leg hardly hurt at all anymore.
"Um... thank you." Politeness mattered. "Yes, if everyone is willing, I think numbers matter in this... matter." Flustering mars her ability to speak it seems. "And maybe one of this Dieral's associates would know where we could them? For answers about what all this is."