Grod shrugs. "One way to find out, I guess." with that, Grod takes the ring and tries it on.
Nothing extraordinary appears to happen to Grod. So while the ring may be cursed, the effect is not readily apparent, nor is any effect if the ring is merely magical in some other way.
Book!?! Ari quickly opens the book and scans it to see what it is.
"Okay, everyone keep an eye on Grod and see if gets furry or starts referring to himself in the third person while i appraise these other things best I can."
Isidiana glances and feels the weight of the small sacks of precious metal dust. She estimates the silver bags are worth 5gp each (total of 40gp) and the gold ones are worth 20gp each (total of 120gp). The silver earrings are estimated at 25gp value and she feels very certain of those values.
The journal of Tsuto is quite informative. The two dozen or so parchment pages are filled with drawings, most of which are maps of Sandpoint or erotic drawings of a human female.
The maps seem to depict different attack plans on the village. The first set shows plans for an attack by 30 goblins -- one of those maps is circled and is recognizable as the tactics used in the raid on the town just days ago. Of more pressing concern are more maps which illustrate plans for an assault on Sandpoint by a force of more than 200 goblins. None of these are circled, and a few are scratched but the implications are ominous.
In most of the drawings of the woman, she appears to have normal human anatomy, if perhaps a bit exaggerated in certain places, but the last page of the book shows her with a demonic hand, and another drawing with fiendish horns, forked tail, and wings.
"Okay that drawing looks a lot like the descriptions I've heard of Nualia, only, not so corpsey?"
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"There are several things of note in here. He confirms he was behind the raid on the town and that he stole the remains of Father Tobyn. Sounds like the goblins were from a place called Thistletop. Anyone know where that is? His list of allies is interesting. One named Ripnugget has simple straightforward tactics. One he doesn't get along with named Bruthazmus who seems to be a bugbear. Then there is Malfeshnekor who sounds like quite the brute but it doesn't sound like they have found him yet. Anyone have any idea what a quasit is? The woman he is working for is a follower of Lamashtu and is trying to turn herself into a demon maybe." Garen says to the group as he reads through the later journal entries. "I probably should have studied more but you only have so much time. We'll need to ask the sheriff about these. Some may be local brigands."
When everyone is ready I want to share our information with the sheriff and ask him to put a guard on the glassworks.
Ari replies in a distracted manner while reading. "A quasit is a minor demon, sometimes a familiar for a strong evil mage."
"Send her freaks up from below through the smuggler's tunnel? I think we need to check out that other door! If it's a tunnel that leads down to a beach that would be the tunnel mentioned!" He glances around at the group. "We need to alert the sheriff, get Ameiko home, rest and recover and back here. And just in case, barricade that door!"
Sheriff Belor Hemlock is at work at the Sandpoint Garrison, moving paperwork from one pile to another while scrawling illegibly on the forms as he does so. He seems relieved to get some distraction from the papers, and listens intently.
"You have this journal? Can I see it?" he finally says, and then spends a few moments perusing the pages before sliding it back across the table. He is clearly a man of few words, but his reaction takes the cake. "Seems like trouble..."
He does go on to explain that the area around Sandpoint, is technically his responsibility, but he doesn't have enough guardsmen to patrol the village let alone the whole region. "I rely on an elven ranger, Shalelu, to keep the peace in the hinterlands, and to let us know what is going on there. I will send word for her to return ASAP, and we can get the latest intel from her."
Meantime, he encourages you to explore the smugglers tunnel which apparently is a means for goblins to enter the town undetected and to see what can be found about this quasit or whatever it is that is apparently down there. "We will start to prepare for the bigger assault, but if 300 goblins attack us here, we can't stop them. Not without more soldiers. I may have to go to Magnimar and convince them to send aid..."
Ari is discouraged by the Sheriff's words, but understands. The town just doesn't have the resources....
"I don't see where they'd gather that many goblins from. The groups around here can't have that many or it would be too dangerous for anyone to travel! They must be reaching pretty far out!"
"We'll get details on the tunnel, but we need to rest to get our magic recharged and heal some wounds."
”Ive never heard of a goblin tribe that big. It’d take several, and usually they’re too quarrelsome to work together; that’s why tribes are small to begin with. But if someone from outside could cow them and force them to work together…that would be a challenge.” Grod says, unconsciously reaching to the handle of one of his axes.
"Aye, consider it done." the sheriff says with a grave nod. "My men will keep strangers out and try to prevent anything from coming in while you recuperate. Father Zantus may be willing to aid you when he hears you are serving the town." He scribbles a quick note outlining your efforts on Sandpoint's behalf.
"Shalelu will have more intel on what is afoot with goblin tribes in the hinterlands. I defer to her knowledge, but my experience aligns with yours. Someone, maybe whoever is pretending to be Nualia, would have to be marshaling them to bring an invasion sized force together, but...look where we are now. It's possible."
"Father? We hate to bear bad news, but...."
Zantus listens to the story of Lonjiku's murder, Tsuto's betrayal, and the possibility that Nualia is still alive. "It's quite a story, and I wouldn't believe it but for this journal you have. Even then, its hard to wrap our head around. It that Nualia, if she indeed lives, is dabbling in occult and fiendish pursuits. It needs to be stopped. If there is indeed a quasit, the tool of more powerful devils I am sure, living beneath Sandpoint -- that also must be ended."
He summons acolytes of the different faiths worshipped in the Cathedral and they provide healing magic that restores all the party to full health. He hands you a vial of holy water and a silver dagger. "I am not sure if these weapons will be effective in your fight, but I'd rather you had them. Return them if you can, but don't fret if you lose them fighting for Sandpoint and for Good!"
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After touching base with the sheriff and Zantus I guess we can escort Ameiko back to her inn.
"Shall we settle in at the inn and turn in early or do you want to sell what items we found for additional equipment before tomorrows expedition?" Garen asks the others as they walk back toward the Rusty Dragon.
"Can any of you identify what this does, exactly?" Grod says, holding up the ring they found earlier while the priests are doing their healing.
Zantus asks to hold the ring and studies it for some time, praying devoutly over it. "The ring gives the wearer extra protection from attacks, almost like armor." hey says, giving the spellcasting away for free given the situation.
There are plenty of shops to sell the rest of your gear. but the most likely place is Savah's Armory. The building still bears scars from the Sandpoint Fire that consumed the old church and killed Father Tobyn and supposedly his adopted daughter Nualia. It sells all manner of weapons and armor, including a few masterwork items and exotic weapons. The proprietor, Savah Bevaniky, greets you warmly. "Ah the Heroes of Sandpoint. How can I assist you? Glad to offer a 10% discount if you tell people you bought your weapons from Savah...What do you say?"
Savah takes the composite shortbow off your hands along with the quiver of arrows. She recommends Sandpoint Jewelers to off-load the earrings and the powered precious metals. Nearby that story is attended by a short, round man with a large shock of curly black hair that is quite unkempt. He does deal fairly however and you are quick to trade the precious metal dust and the earrings for cash.
With some coin in your pockets, you make your way back to the Rusty Dragon for a calm dinner and a good night's rest before delving back into the basement of the Glassworks in the morning. Night passes without incident.
In the morning, Ameiko - wearing a pretty nasty shiner and nursing some stab wounds - is up early with you, making sure breakfast is had.
After breakfast Ari is ready to head back in. "Let's see where that doorway leads. I'm betting we'll get to the beach on it, but what else is there? Where is the quasit?"
Isidiana entertained a little for the crowd before going to bed though she kept it mostly to instrumental as she had a lot of lyrics to work on.
Then she bathed and rested HARD.
In the morning, she woke up in a much better mood, "Ameiko, how are you?"
"All in all, not bad considering my father was murdered, my brother did it, he was killed and in league with goblins that tried to burn my town down. And I got beat up in the process. Other than that, I'm all good." says Ameiko with a wry smile. She is making light, but you can see there is a good deal of physical and emotional pain there still.
She sees you off with one final sarcastic jest. "Don't burn down my birthright if you can help it!"
The town guards still wait, one outside the Glassworks, and one at the door way to the basement. They swear that no one else has entered the building since they posted watch. As you enter, the ground floor looks the same, including the abattoir in the work floor. Descending to the basement, you pick your way over the demolished brick walls and into the final room.
Inside you see a small room and from that, a long man-made tunnel that continues off to the northeast. Not entirely surprised, you follow the narrow tunnel for about 200 ft and there it joins a longer passage that runs north and south.
She sees you off with one final sarcastic jest. "Don't burn down my birthright if you can help it!"
"Ugh, smacks of effort but okaaay..." Faux grumbling "Always tying a heroine's hands."
When they get to the Glassworks she asks the others "North or South?"
Ari looks both ways and shrugs. "I don't see a slope either way. Let's try north. Regardless of what we find we can come back and try the other way...."
Ari in the lead, even quieter and watching for traps....
Grod lets the others go down the tunnel, then brings up the rear, to be sure no one sneaks up on them from behind.
North they move.
The tunnel is clearly man-made with rough but relatively straight walls. It continues in a pretty linear direction for at least 1500' or more then suddenly dead ends in a rock wall that does not show signs of being hand-worked. No doors or side passages are seen during this entire long walk.
Garen starts searching along the dead end wall but is unable to locate any sign of concealed door or other items of interest.
Seeing nothing but a dead end Erridon wonders about the tunnel. "It doesn't look like it collapsed. More like whoever was digging it just quit."
He sings a cantrip to detect magic and scans the area. "I guess we go back and head the other way. We still need to figure out if they used this tunnel to sneak the goblins in, and might use it again."
Izzy D also helps check the walls, listening for sounds, checking acoustics and so forth.
The divination cantrip does not reveal any unexpected magical auras to Ari, but as soon as he suggests they turn back, Izzy shouts out she found something.
At the base of the wall, a loose stone lying harmlessly on the floor next to the sidewall, is actually hinged to the ground, and underneath is a toggle switch currently in the down position.
"Good job Izzy!"
Glad to have an extra set of very perceptive eyes Ari moves in to search the area for details. "Let's search for traps before we do anything. Don't want to collapse the tunnel on us by being hasty!"
Searching the area thoroughly, Ari is pretty sure that there are no traps on the switch or in the area.
When the switch is flipped, an opening in the stone wall at the end of the tunnel is slowly revealed. It's about a foot off the ground, and only about 2 feet square, so it will be a bit of step and squeeze to enter. Peering through the opening, it appears to be a natural cavern (as opposed to the man made tunnel you are standing in). Daylight seems to be coming from some far off source as the light in the new cave is dim, but brighter farther off. The sounds of the sea is quite audible on the other side.
Ari sends dancing lights through and looks for any signs of recent activity, footprints, etc. "Somebody should stay back just in case this door closes and there isn't a switch on the other side."
He crawls through. "Goblin size tunnel. But it looks natural. Odd. I wonder who knows about this?"
Squeezing through the small opening, Ari can see the cave on the other side quickly widens out. The floor here is soft beach sand, not hard stone, and goblin-sized footprints are easily visible going in every direction inside the cave. It's not long before the investigator finds another similar rock with a switch that he assumes works the concealed door from this side. There do not appear to be any traps in the area.
The wider cave opens to a natural chamber just up the way, and sunlight appears to be streaming in from there. The sound of surf and gulls is audible from that direction.
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"Good job Izzy!"
Glad to have an extra set of very perceptive eyes Ari moves in to search the area for details. "Let's search for traps before we do anything. Don't want to collapse the tunnel on us by being hasty!"
[dice=Perception searching walls, floor and ceiling for traps]1d20 +7
"Thank you, thank you." She bows as if at a performance, "It is with great delight I accept this recognition of my keen gnomish senses and ..oooo a right sized tunnel."
Grod looks apprehensively at the small opening. "Hmm. Well, needs must, I guess." It takes some awkward struggling, but he gets through and follows the others.
The near the mouth the cave is littered with the detritus of a goblin camp. There is old foodstuffs, broken bits of weapon or armor, moldy bedrolls, and other items strewn here and there. It's pretty clear that a contingent of goblins camped here at one point. Looking out, a narrow strip of sandy beach separates the cave from the sea. It appears you are at sea level below the bluffs that Sandpoint in built on, north and slightly west of the Glassworks, not far from the old ruined lighthouse that marks the skyline of the village.
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"Now we know. We can tell the sheriff about this maybe suggest getting some stone masons down here or some brick layers and close that off. Maybe someone who knows what they are doing could collapse part of that tunnel. Either way, we may as well go back and hit the other direction. See if we can find this quasit thing." Garen says to the group as he ponders future actions and slowly comes back to the here and now.