Finding nothing of particular interest, Tribim moves to the southern portion of the room to make sure they're not leaving any threats behind them, then inspects the double doors on the far wall. Making sure the doors are free of traps, he quickly attempts to open them.
Aerith followed along, wondering if the lack of enemies was due to their numbers being deployed elsewhere, or whether they were currently gathered here in one place. Knowing that they were doing what was needed to find out, she kept her eyes and ears open as they went.
Mahmoud follows behind Tribim, his narrowed eyes alert, but otherwise untroubled. If he were given to whistling, his expression suggests he would do so.
Four stone wells fill much of this otherwise unremarkable room. Disassembled mechanical remains lie scattered around plumbing connections in the southeast corner.
Tribim hears movement inside the southwestern well, and when he looks inside, he sees a familiar figure: the Pharasmin priest from the auction! He's beaten and bound, but very much alive.
Looking over the edge of the southwestern well, Tribim realizes the priest is causing the noise he'd heard. Nodding that direction he casually points out the obvious as he draws out his 'Force Hook' "I think we found the priests."
Looking from the floor of the pit to the ceiling he considers the best way to use the 'hook' to get the priest out.
Shaking his head, Tribim turns to his fellow shadows, holding up the 'force hook' "Do either oh you have a rope, I can get him out with the force hook but I would have to get down there."
”I could go down.” Aerith offered. ”Id be useless at pulling anyone up, but if it is a trap I could teleport out of there. Including sending him up that way. Though I do not have a role, so I might need to teleport down as well.”
Mahmoud nods. "Also, I have a rope that is a hundred feet long stowed in my pack. If you want to climb down, I can hold it for you."
”Lets do that. You let me now, Tribm keeps an eye out. And I’ll teleport him away if we get attacked while doing this.” She said.
Nodding, Tribim offers the 'Force Hook' to Aerith, "If it's reasonably safe and you have time, you can use the hook to get out." He shrugs slightly, "That way you can save your magic."
While Aerith is retrieving the captured priest from the well, several masked men emerge from the chamber to the east. The evident leader raises a hand in cautious greeting before putting it back on the hilt of his sword. "I knew keeping the priest here was a bad idea. Look, the Silver Chain has no quarrel with you, and with the chaos in the city right now, I think all of us have better things to do than kill each other. Take him and go."
Having sheathed his blades to help with the Force hook, Tribim, hoping to stall, raises his hands to show they are empty. "For myself, I am willing to parlay, But let me confere with my fellows and the make sure the priest is well."
”Finally, reasonable people.” Aerith said, as she worked to get the priest to safety. The last thing she wanted was to get into a fight to the death when in such a disadvantageous position.
Mahmoud glares at the newcomers, but shrugs to Tribim. "He's got a point," he mutters. "No point us killing each other when there's undead all over the city."
Ptemenib has been severely beaten but appears to have no injuries that can't be healed with rest or a bit of magic.
Nodding to his fellow Shadows, Tribim smiles, "since the priest seem to be fine, we're willing to walk away." HE puases cocking his head, "But tell me this, why did you grab him in the first place?" Remembering the body they'd found he adds, nodding back the way they'd come. "Dead fellow had a note from someone named "Meret-Hetef" anything you can tell us about that?"
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Having gotten the priest back up to the ground level, Aerith helpfully added ”In most books I have read, the blackguards cannot resist monologuing their plans. We would be more than happy to listen.”
Mahmoud continues to glower at the Silver Chains, using his menacing demeanor to reinforce their desire to avoid bloodshed.
"He was poking his nose around this location - which is no longer secure, thanks to you." The Silver Chain leader seems annoyed by this. "As I presume you'll be telling the authorities about the events of today, I'm certainly not going to share any information that I may or may not possess. Now that you have the priest, you may leave. I encourage you to do so with haste."
”Why yes, you may indeed leave. We won’t hurt you as you walk out this door. Now.” Aerith said, as she pulled herself up to stand as tall as she could and she spoke with an imperious tone. Unfortunately, this came across much more like a spoiled girl of a noble house, rather than anything actually threatening.
Raising an eyebrow at the elf's idea, Tribim makes a separate offer, "Or, since the priest was sneaking in and was clearly out of his league. Give him his holy symbol back, then answer his and our questions." shrugging slightly. "and we keep your secret location secret."
He looks towards the others (including the priest) to see if they would agree. "We Just act like it never happened."
Then he lifts his wrist showing the silver bracelet he'd kept. "And we return ALL the stuff we gathered from the rooms we were in."
The leader and his minions place their hands on their weapons. "This is your final opportunity to leave peacefully. I will not tell you again."
Imperiously, Aerith did her best to look down at the men. ”We already gave you the same ultimatum. And we will not repeat ourselves. It is we who are allowing you to leave.”
Shrugging, Tribim glares at the leader of the 'silver chains' "You heard the lady."
With a sigh, the men draw their weapons and ready themselves for combat.
Caught between either going into the attack or healing the priest, Aerith dithered until it was almost too late. Finally she decided to just send her blade flying at the nearest enemy, hoping that it would at least catch him off guard.
Realizing combat was at hand and the 'silver chains' were backstabbing criminals, Tribim moves across the room, using the 'pit' to hopefully prevent getting flanked. Drawing his blades as he moves, he feints with a slash and follows up with repeated quick short thrusts from both hands.
Mahmoud senses the mood shifting to combat and hurls his magic dagger at one of the Silver Chains.
Tribim slays one of the Silver Chains, and Mahmoud wounds another before the others close the distance to you and attack!
Frowning as the 'silver chain' falls, Tribim quips, "You should have left." Shaking his head as the second 'silver Chain' steps over the fallen body, he dodges the clumsy attack. Feinting with a slash he follows up with repeated quick short thrusts from both hands.
The elf desperately ducked, weaved and dodged. She was seemingly unarmed. This was not the case, however, as her blade flew into the exposed back of one of her assailants
Mahmoud ducks and weaves around Aerith and Tribim as the assailants attack, trying to interpose himself between them while he continues throwing his dagger.
You easily dispatch the two other lesser foes, and Mahmoud wounds the leader.
Shaking his head as the second 'silver chain' falls, Tribim, almost apologetically repeats as he steps over the bodies and moves behind the leader, "Seriously you really should have left." Feinting with a slash he follows up with repeated quick short thrusts from both hands.
Mahmoud, Aerith we doing ok?
The elf sighed as she looked down at the corpses. ”We gave them a chance.” Turning her back to the bodies she walked over to the priest. Channeling her arcane energy she focused o knitting together the worst of his wounds.
”Let us get him back on his feet and see what he has learned. I suspect he will be more much reliable than any of these men would have been.”
Mahmoud, Aerith we doing ok?
Mahmoud holds his fire as it seems Tribim has finished off the leader. He moves forward and listens to hear if there are any stragglers moving nearby.
Tribim is a whirlwind of steel, unleashing multiple deep wounds all over the leader's body. When the dust settles, there are no enemies left to fight.
Potential Loot
Studded Leather Armor
Composite Shortbow (STR +3)
Arrow x20
MW Kukri
natron fang
Thieves' Tools
Brass Funerary Mask x3
Gold Funerary Mask
Turquoise x9
33gp
Natron Fang
Carved from a single chunk of magically strengthened mineral salts, a natron fang is a khopesh forged to combat the undead, specifically mummies and incorporeal undead. A natron fang overcomes the damage reduction of mummies, mummified creatures, and other mummy-like creatures at the GM’s discretion. Once per day on a successful strike against an incorporeal undead creature, a natron fang also deals 1d6 points of Charisma damage (Will DC 10 + 1/2 HD + practitioner modifier halves) in addition to the weapon’s normal damage.
As Tribim cleans and sheaths his blades, he shakes his head. "A pity, it didn't have to end this way."
As he spoke, he helped collect some of the valuables, nodding towards the door, "No reason not to finish looking around." As he heads toward the remaining double doors, he asks the priest, "Exactly what is it you came here searching for?"
Turning he quickly inspects the doors for any signs of a trap.
Finely crafted antique furniture from many different periods crowds this chamber, and the smell of rich food hangs in the air. Books and charts crowd one cedar table, while a half-finished banquet of fruit and roasted meats sits on another. A living area with a bed and other furniture fills the southern portion of the room.
Potential Loot
handy haversack
Assorted gemstones and jewelry worth a total 3,765gp
bird feather token x3
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Ptemenib shrugs. "I saw a few of them push a wagon into an alley and then leave. That seemed suspicious, so I decided to follow them. I guess I wasn't as stealthy as I thought, as they ambushed me outside this place."
Nodding at Ptemenib's answer he asks, "Did you ever sort out what was in the wagon?"
As he moved into the room, he begins to look around, holding up the 'haversack' "Nice bag." Continuing to poke around the room he adds, "We should check the warehouse for anything of value before we escort Ptemenib back to the temple."
Aerith nodded along, not really listening. She was too busy admiring the khopesh that they had found. The intricate runes carved into the blade were clearly made to combat the undead, something that even a witless child could see. As such she didn’t even both telling her companions the obvious, as she was trying to be aware about overhearing common knowledge. Instead she used her telekinesis to make a few practice swipes in the air.
”Yes, yes.” She said, absentmindedly. What she was really determining was whether or not to sell her current blade. Against the living it was certainly more deadly, but it was not enchanted and she didn’t want to have to carry both of the
…
"I chose to follow the men and come back to the cart once I saw where they went. Unfortunately, I was caught before I could return to the alley."
Tribim finds nothing else of value or interest in this room. There may, however, be something in the large warehouse area where you fought the undead organs. You hadn't taken the time to give a thorough search of the area due to the need for haste in locating Ptemenib.
As he finishes searching the room Tribim smiles at Ptemenib's answer, "Maybe you can show us where the cart is when we return you to the temple." He gestures towards the west, "But first, let's see what the 'Silver Chains' have in their warehouse."
Not waiting to see how quickly the others follow him, Tribim moves back the way they came and begins searching the large storage area.
As it turns out, most of the goods stored here are mundane and not worth much money, but there are a few valuables to be found.
Knowledge (engineering) DC 25
You also notice the vestments and holy symbol of a Pharasmin priest hanging near the eastern door. Ptemenib indicates that these are his - confiscated before he was thrown in the cistern.
Potential Loot
Bottle of Honeyed Wine x12
Statue of Ymeri, the Auroric Flame-Mother
Three Rivers Codex: a genealogy of Wati's founding families
Collecting the book, bottles and babe, Tribim stuffs them in the newly acquired haversack. Turning to his fellow 'Shadows' as the priest puts on his vestments, he hints, "I believe it is time to return Ptemenib to the temple." As they ready to leave he reminds the priest, "Remember, we're going to check the cart you followed."
Aerith gladly helped in the looting. Her head swam with plans as to what she could do with just a few thousand gold, along with the help of the right mage or priest. But specifically she needed the gold to make it a reality, and given her current levels of extreme poverty, a few thousand gold was quite the reach.
”The cart, yes.” She muttered. ”We can’t forget to check that out. Who knows what clues we might find.” And valuables She added in her head.