Drancis nods in agreement, "Agreed. Let's take the shortest path. We can always divert to the coast if we find the going too rough."
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Drancis considers Kaolin's words carefully. "So would you recommend us taking a longer route to get to the Hellbit Trench then? Are you aware of any coastal settlements on the way there or are we basically on our own?"
"Perhaps we should try making our way towards the nearest town instead," Drancis considers the situation slowly, "I hate going into a situation blind, especially since no one travelling up there has returned!"
Drancis sighs in disappointment as he realizes this is but a fragment of what the group is looking for. "Well, I suppose if I wanted to safeguard such a treasure like this, I would not keep them all in one place. I would split them apart and secrete each one elsewhere." He shrugs helplessly, "I suppose we had better return to see Sister Kaolin. She would be quite interested in what we have discovered down here and should be happy to know we destroyed that evil spirit! Maybe she knows of other locations of the Optus Aeterna?" He then gathers up the precious treasures and prepared to head back to the entrance chamber.
"This...this must be what we are looking for," Drancis breaths softly, his face alight with excitement. "We need to record this...somehow!"
"Do you need any help there Pal...lomia?" Drancis asks nervously, "I can help you dig up the...whatever is buried here."
Drancis' eyes widen as he sees the manifestation of the holy spirit in the chamber. "Do you really think that is a good idea Zoreck? What if it...uhhh...he takes offense at being unearthed like that? Maybe we should see how he reacts to the other crystals we found." Drancis takes out the crystals he has been carrying to see what reaction is triggered here.
"This must be it," Drancis whispers to the others. "We should see if this place is safe to enter." He adds, as he peers up at the ceiling, looking for any signs of threats.
Drancis glances at Palomia briefly, a confused look on his face, as the treasure contents is read off by the human sorcerer. This doesn't make any sense!... Not the kind of treasure stash you would find in a tomb...unless this is a false tomb? Suddenly inspiration strikes him, "Wait a minute! All of these items deal with manipulating both stone and water! What if these items were placed here deliberately...as a means of passage to the TRUE Tomb of St Albat's?" He nods excitedly.
Are we still on for this Zed? Not sure what we are waiting on here.
"What have you done with Saint Albat?" Drancis cries out as he gathers his aetheric powers to him, loosing a blast at the false prophet.
That's great news!
"Yes," Drancis stays put at the edge of the chamber, "We are humble visitors to St. Albats, seeking your great wisdom on the answers which we all seek. Might you be able to bestow your knowledge upon us lowly servants?"
"Looks like this is the final resting place of St. Albat," Drancis whispers to the others, "We should be respectful here and NOT disturb his offerings. Just offer him..one of the crystal fragments we found earlier and hope he is as wonderful as they say he is."
As Drancis slips quietly into the hole he whirls in alarm as Palomia curses up a storm. How did she ever survive on her own without getting ambushed regularly? You would think that goblin would have at least givn her some pointers! Once Palomia has quieted down he just simply shakes his head in resignation as he moves along behind the others.
"AAaand how many are pointed AT you." Drancis mutters under his breath.
Drancis stares thoughtfully at the mysterious tubes, "While I am no fan of disturbing whoever sleeps in those tubes, I am also no fan of leaving a possible threat behind us either. We will need to proceed past them in any event." He turns to face the goblin, ""Could you see what is inside the tubes?"
Drancis stares at the tubes, a crawling feeling traveling up his spine, before turning to face Palomia, "Rikkan and I can examine the tubes...and I don't even need to be close to them to do so, but I would like to know if they are magical in nature. You seem to be in attunement with the arcane...could you see if any auras still linger here?" he adds in a hopeful voice.
Drancis shakes his head, "These marking don't make any sense to me at all."
Drancis brings up the rear of the group, dropping down the last part of the trip and allowing his ring of featherfall to break the fall. He makes sure the rope is secure before quietly joining his companions. I hope this place does not become OUR Tomb here!
Drancis glances down into the depths of the pit, for once thankful of his cloak's magical properties. Why does it always have to be underground?? "Thank you again for allowing us access to your sacred ground Sister Kaolin," he nods formally, "We will make every effort not to disturb his remains any more than is necessary." He then awaits Ravboom to take the lead here in exploring the dark pit further.
Drancis nods politely on hearing the tale espoused by Sister Kaolin, though his interest is captured by the news of the 'pane of glass' possessed by this Saint. I wonder if that is related to the Gate that malfunctioned here... Drancis gestures to the outside , "Is that what your acolytes are studying to become? Scribes to copy St. Albat's text? Where are you copying his text to? I see no scrolls here."
Drancis looks over the woman whom he assumed was Sister Kaolin trying to read her true intentions yet could not seem to decipher her meanings for some reason. Electing to trust her (at least a little) he offers, "Yes, my friend here speaks truly. As you may have guessed we are offworlders, and have been researching how and what these structures were used for in the past on other planets. Do you have any records of these...Gates we may peruse?"
Drancis shrugs, "I have no idea, to be honest, but I'll be damned if I wait for them to make the first move." He motions back to where the others await, "Let's get the others before they die of heat stroke."
Great...more zombies to deal with... Drancis places a hand on Palomia's arm, pointing to the stones, "Look at those stones, the pattern matches those upon the shards we have seen here. I say we leave them be and see what is inside."
Seeing there was no way he would allow Palomia to go into a hazardous situation unprotected Drancis joins her walking quietly behind her. From what I have seen she could not fight her way out of a burlap sack... "Yes, we would be most appreciative if he could have some food and shelter for the evening."
Drancis squints his eyes against the sun trying to pick out the leader of these mud-worshippers. "I don't see anyone leading this...prayer session. Wonder if we can sneak around them. I don't feel like interrupting them."
Drancis crouches down out of sight, giving the woman another irritated look. "It means we sit tight and wait for them to pass us by...if they decide they want a fight THEN we give them one," he whispers back harshly, "In case you hadn't noticed they are looking for us...AND they outnumber us!"
Drancis shakes his head in wonderment at the woman's words, "I am sure if we ask them politely they will allow us to borrow a few," he mutters sarcastically before he hastily grabs the reins of his camel and pulls it off the trail. "Rav is right. Let's get moving."
Drancis gazes back down the trail, eyes squinting against the glare of the noontime sun, "Anyone following us here does not have our best interests at heart," he grimaces, "Palo can you send Relas to get a better look at whoever is following us? As for the rest of us I think finding a place out of sight would be wise."
Sounds good then Drancis will purchase one of those wands. I believe the purchase price is 375 gp?
"What did we find out?" Drancis echoes Zoreck's words with a wry smile, "Nothing good I am afraid," he proceeds to fill in his friend on what the group discovered whilst in the mine. "So, long story short: We have to leave this town quickly...AAND we have a couple of new partners," he adds indicating Palomia and Ravboom, "who agreed to help us get off this planet, for equal shares. A bargain price if you ask me," he finishes, glancing at the goblin. Now if only Palomia would just lighten up some, this may actually turn out to be a somewhat tolerable journey...
Since we are about to head into another long journey here, I was thinking in addition to the hot weather outfits we should pool our resources for a magical source of water. It looks like the cheapest source would be a wand of Create Water (375 gp). Since none of us is a cleric or druid it would require a UMD check to activate....risky but a good backup plan in case water is not readily available. GM Zed: what is Trebelbet's purchase limit? Is one of those wands available?
Drancis considers the offer carefully before nodding slowly, "I have no objection to offering you a full share of the loot we discover, but we do expect ALL of you to pull your weight here. If we are going to escape Rhyths we need to work together, glancing at both Zoreck and Palomia.
Drancis stares at the goblin as if he had just been affected by the 'radiation' he warned the Baron against. This goblin is MUCH more intelligent than even I gave him credit for! Alas I think he is right...if we stay here then we share their people's fate... "Yes, I do agree with Rav here. We cannot stay here long...BUT I also know the journey to the Monastery is a long one. We need to resupply here before setting out." He glances back to where the Baron sits in audience, "We can claim some supplies as part of our recompense!"
The look of concern on Drancis' face as he hears about his friend's condition is soon replaced by a look of disgust as he mulls in his mind how long he should let the man stew in his own filth. "Of all the stupid, hare-brained ideas...getting drunk in a strange place where we are being hunted...should let you sleep it off under the stars!" Finally a decision made he waves off the chunks of vomit and filth at the barbarian's feet, before cradling the man in a softly glowing bubble of aether, picking him up (none too gently) with his mind and motioning for the others to follow behind him. "Let's get Sleeping Beauty here to bed...and as far as I am concerned, he can sleep in his clothes." He mutters ungraciously.
Drancis pauses as Rav offers his advice, an impressed look on his face. "I do believe you are right Rav. A sufficient amount of lead surrounding the gate would allow us to...hopefully repair it. I have grown skilled in manipulating small objects so I could do it without getting close...but if we repair the gate, then the main source of revenue for the Barony will dry up!" He shakes his head doubtfully, "To be honest, I don't know how he will react should we say we want to tinker with the Gate."
Drancis hurriedly returns the strange crystal back from whence it came. "By the Gods, I had never felt anything so...STRONG before," he responds shakily, "I see no way to repair this gate unless we do something about that radiation first!"
Drancis' eyes glitter with amusement as Rav returns with the scouting report, "Yes, worth checking out further," he nods as he gathers his powers carefully and touches the goblin's arm...
"Now that you are feeling better, lets check this out." he adds. When he sees what Rav is talking about his jaw drops in amazement, "Another gate," He breathes in astonishment, "Damaged, yet it could be...repaired. Baron Yacob MUST know of this!" He glances back at the others, "We can speak of this later, but for now I think it will be safe to take one of the smaller crystals...for us to examine, NOT to sell!" reaching out with his mind to grab one of the unattended crystals.
Drancis sees the goblin is in bad shape, cursing he just moved out of his range. That fool! I could heal him right now! Gathering his power again he looses another aetheric blast at the lone Wretch...
Drancis follows up his aetheric blast with another one...
Drancis nearly stumbles back into the goblin and maneuvers behind Rav, sending another aetheric blast at the wretch who was next to him before he retreated.
"Hang on Rav!" Drancis focuses his attention upon the climbing Wretch, sending another aetheric blast into it and trying to knock it from its perch.
Drancis sees the oddly-formed wretches enter the area and is repulsed by their sight. "Anyone have an idea what those things are," he cries out even as he sends a massive bubble of aether crashing into the creature at the edge of the pit.
Drancis' jaw drop in amazement as the strange singing echoes down the hallway. Still keeping an eye on the pit he carefully makes his way closer to the passageway. "I don't think I have ever heard a worse set of pipes before in my life!" He quips to the others.
Welcome back Zoreck!
Drancis nods in agreement with Relas, "Okay the rest of us will keep an eye on this pit. No telling what may lurk there."
Drancis shakes his head in response to the otherworldly panther, "Hold up here. Palo has the right idea here, there should be tracks around here." He joins Palomia in scanning the floor of the cave for any tracks.
Drancis nods slowly in agreement, "Of course we would be happy to investigate the mine for you." If we want any access to these monasteries we need to make the Baron happy here, he reflects silently to himself, plus Rav will not be deterred here methinks...
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