And there was evening and there was morning, a new day.
When you go to meet with Kroft again, you find Citadel Volshyenek’s guards unusually agitated and nervous. When Briggi asks what's up a colleage tells him "One of those Shoanti kids went and got himself killed, and now the rest of them are all worked up—if it’s not one riot about to erupt, it’s another! Field Marshal Kroft’s in her office now, trying to talk some sense into the Shoanti ambassador. In fact, she mentioned that she’s looking for you all to help with the situation."
Cressida Kroft isn’t alone as you arrive at her office; with her is an elderly Shoanti man of 60 winters. He regards you sternly while Kroft introduces him
"This is Thousand Bones, a shaman of the Skoan-Quah, the Clan of the Skull." She guestures for you to sit. "You know what went on in the city the last days. Among that, a mob murdered a Shoanti man. I'll leave it to you - Thousand Bones - to give the details."
The old shaman speaks with a deep voice, his words carefully chosen but delivered with a barely restrained anger. "My people have worked hard to understand those who dwell in Korvosa, yet it seems each day we see new examples of how this city’s people work just as hard to foster old hatreds. My grandson is dead, beaten to death by cowards in your city street. I do not blame you, yet still Gaekhen is dead, and my son and his kin are not so forgiving as I. They wish to return to the Skoan-Quah in the Cinderlands, to join with the Sklar-Quah and rally to war against Korvosa. This would be disastrous, for both our peoples. Amends must be made."
"Our ways are not as yours. If a body does not go whole to the fires of the ancestors, the smoke of a warrior’s spirit cannot rise to the Great Sky. If I could send Gaekhen’s body to the Great Sky with honor and dignity, his father and brothers would listen to me and stay their wrath — the talks of peace between my people and yours could continue. But he was not just murdered. His body was taken from the scene of his death, sold by a peddler of corpses to a necromancer known as Rolth, a criminal to both our peoples. I have spoken with the spirits, and they have revealed to me that Gaekhen’s body has been taken to a place below this city’s graveyard, a place the spirits call the Dead Warrens."
"With this knowledge, I could surely lead a group of my finest warriors into your graveyard to retrieve Gaekhen’s body, but this would be seen as an act of aggression by your people. No, it falls to you to make amends for what has been done. You must bring me Gaekhen’s body, lest we be forced to recover him ourselves. And although it pains my heart to say it, we will not be gentle if it comes to this."
Thousand Bones then rises, nods curtly to Cressida, and leaves.
"Great isn't it. After riots there is a war to bo averted."
She opens the drawer of her desk. "Here the pay for the last job."
"Any questions about the new one?" She puts a pouch on the deak for you to take.
Is there any way we can identify Gaekhen’s body?
"So the job is to retrieve Gaekhen's body from a complex under the graveyard, these 'Dead Warrens'. Do you have any information about this complex, like say how to get in? What all can we expect down there? If you don't know, who would?"
Do you have any idea how long Thousand Bones can hold off his people? Is this something that has to be completed by nightfall, or do we have a couple days to complete this task if we need it?
"I don't know how patient those people are. The faster you resolve this, the better." Kroft replies.
"Korvosa’s graveyards, in the Gray District, are riddled with underground chambers, some of them burrowed by ghouls or other monsters, others remnants of ancient Shoanti burial grounds. Some of these warrens are patrolled and kept clear of monsters by the church of Pharasma, yet the Gray District is a large place and the tunnels below are vast and tangled. The Pharasmins focus on containing the problems with undead and necromancers, but as soon as they wipe out one, it seems as if two are ready to spring up in its place. The problem’s particularly vexing in Potter’s Ward, where the bodies of the poor and homeless are buried. According to Thousand Bones, the Dead Warrens were one of his people’s burial vaults. You can find the Dead Warrens in the chambers that lie under Potter’s Ward."
Regarding the status of the criminal investigation Kroft tells "We have the man who sold Gaekhen’s body to Rolth in custody: a simpleton named Elkaris. He spilled everything when we told him what was going on and how much trouble he was in. In any event, Elkaris says he delivered the body via wheelbarrow to a partially collapsed mausoleum deep in Potter’s Ward, near the southern edge. A toppled and headless statue of a sword-wielding gargoyle lay in the dirt near the mausoleum’s entrance—he was told to leave the body behind the gargoyle. This location matches where Thousand Bones believes the Shoanti burial grounds called the Dead Warrens are located, so that’s the best place to start the search."
To Briggi's question Kroft replies "Thousand Bones described Gaekhen as about 18 years old with short brown hair and a distinctive scar from a firepelt’s claw on his left cheek. Furthermore, Gaekhen had several large and distinctive Shoanti tribal tattoos on his arms and torso. It’s unlikely that any other freshly killed Shoanti are in the Dead Warrens today, so that should be a dead giveaway."
"As for Rolth Lamm, he has long been a thorn in my side. A failed Academae student, Rolth’s a monster of a man who was expelled after the true nature of his experiments were revealed. He was butchering vagrants, stray animals, and anything else he could get his hands on to try to build some sort of golem from their collected parts. The Academae didn’t press charges because it didn’t want to cause a scene—it just quietly expelled him and the man’s been trouble ever since. Personally, I suspect he’s responsible for a large number of additional murders over the past decade, each involving mutilation to the body, but he’s a slippery one and I’ve never been able to find any evidence against him. He might or might not be in the Dead Warrens, but anything you can find there that could lead to his arrest would be greatly appreciated."
Lamm? He Lamm's spawn? How an utter wretch managed to produce something is a mystery.
Well if he raised him, I’m not surprised he was a nasty piece of work. Growing up around someone who treated kids to shackles over crock infested water, probably taught him unspeakable things…
"Yes. Why make a map of something you'd prefer not to exist?"
"You know the old Lamm?"
Plus remember we found that Keylock dagger that was supposed to be associated with the Old Lamm?
We asked you about it at the time, and did some research, but it seems like it is a cold case like you thought it was.
A foul criminal for certain.
Plus remember we found that Keylock dagger that was supposed to be associated with the Old Lamm?
We asked you about it at the time, and did some research, but it seems like it is a cold case like you thought it was.[Dice=Bluff]1d20 + 7
"Yes, I remember. Anything else before you busy yourself in preventing a war?"
She ponders something for a moment, then adds "It's ridiculous. I have to pay you amounts of money to get stuff fixed, that the guard should take care of with the regular personnel. And in normal times I could hire a small army for that amount of gold."
Do you feel like we are not giving you value for the city? After all, you just asked us to stop a war. It will cost the city quite a bit more to fight that war, than what you are offering us.
Plus, there are things a small highly competent squad can do that an army couldn’t. Just like a dagger placed in a chink of the armor is far more effective than a broadsword to the breastplate. Both will eventually take down the knight, but using the right approach is faster and more cost effective.
Oh and you get results while officially being able to take credit or distance yourself from the actions as you wish. You can’t do that with a squad of guardsmen, even highly skilled ones.
"You deliver on the tasks given to you. No complaints about that." Kroft replies. "But it's crazy times. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're doing it. But in normal times I could hire a hundred mercenaries to go through the Dead Warrens, kill anything that moves and bring back every young, male, dead Shoanti they find. And it would still be cheaper."
"But in these crazy times I can't get a single person to sign up for the guard." she tells, throwing her arms in the air. "And look at you. Some random group whose main recommendation was that you had found the queens lost jewellery. It's desperate times when I as the head of the guard have to delegate things that decide between war and peace to you."
Chosen my the gods no doubt. Briggi grunts.
"War will not wait for our chit-chat. Let's put this philosophical discussion on hold, and go retrieve a corpse."
"If the chosen could now get at the task? I need a Shoanti corpse, compelte, and preferably in one piece."
Briggi salutes and leaves with the others.We might as well bring the cart with us. Maybe get some holy water to splash on any undead
If this is underground tunnels, or gods help us, a couple connected warrens, we are going to need light also. I have some torches, but is that what we want to use for light?
Hmm. Anything else we need to pick up?
If this is underground tunnels, or gods help us, a couple connected warrens, we are going to need light also. I have some torches, but is that what we want to use for light?
Hmm. Anything else we need to pick up?
"You and I will need light for sure, but alchemical so it can be hidden under a cloak if needed. Either sunrod , maybe a candlerod, or, if we can get, a moonrod. I have some rope, in case we need to climb. Briggi's right about the holy water, but save it for things that are difficult to settle with steel."
If things get dicey, Ernhild and I can see in the dark so we could douse lights if need be.
Umm as we are underground, do we need to worry about swarms of bugs? I can’t really do much against them. How do we deal with those?
Also Kroft said something about this Lamm trying to build a golem. If he is still buying bodies he may be still trying. What would we need if we ran into something like that?
This is starting to be a long list, we are going to need to go shopping. To bad we don’t have a magic bag of some type.
We can get some holy water from Ernhild's temple. Briggi starts writing a shopping list
Alchemist's Fire 20 gp each
Sunrod 2 gp each
Holy Water 25 gp each
I can donate 375 gold from what we have sold
If there are going to be rats and vermin, something to help against disease, Rats and the like chew on corpses...
Sounds like holy water from the temple and a laundry list from the alchemist. Anti plague, alchemist fire, weapon blanch, and a gloom lantern, moonrod, or sunrod for light.
That plus a cart for the body, and if someone is really worried a scroll of gentle repose. But I personally think the last is overkill.
Should we go and see what we can find?.
Aye, I will help with the shopping When the group parts Briggi goes to get some alchemist's fire
5 vials=100 gp
Tisha heads into a back alley and goes through a small door trying to find a legendary gnome named Lini.
Lini are you in today? I was told to come here by a hunch backed alchemist who came through one day and said you were the best shopkeeper ever!
"And right he is!" you hear behind you. And in the middle of the alley that was empty a moment before, you find an extravagant merchant's stall with a happy go lucky gnome behind.
"How can I help you?"
Briggi arrives back with five alchemist's fires. Just the thing for burning the undead.
Hi…. We are looking for a few items…. Any chance you have them?
A Dusk lantern. (35gp)
4 holy weapon balms (120 gp)
10 flasks of oil (1gp)
4 tubs of vermin repelant (20 gp)
"I don't sell mundane mining gear." Lini replies. The other items she gets out of drawers and boxes and puts them on the counter.
hmmm. If you don’t have do you have sunrods or moonrods?
If so I’ll take one of each.
Do you have a cloak of resistance +1? If so, how much?" inquires Narciso.
"Yes, here." Lini answers and adds one of each rods to the wares on the tabletop.
"The common cloak of resistance costs 1000 gold." Lini informs Narciso.
"I'll take it!"
Narciso dumps a bunch of accumulated coinage on the counter...
Lini takes one look to assess the value of the coin pile on the table, swipes it into her cash drawern and hands over the cloak. "Pleased to do business with you."
Tisha gives a big grin to Lini.
Spugnoir was right, you are the best shop keeper!
Tisha says as she hands both rods to Narciso and one holy weapon balm to Biggi and Ernhild.
Then she hands one tub if Vermin Repelant to each of her companions.
Who wants the last holy weapon balm? Narciso I assume you will normally be using magic, so maybe Biggi wants a second one?
What about you Tisha? Want one of the balms?
Ernhild Jaggvir
Tereze Amnell
