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Once back in town, Jonas finds himself with a couple of task to pursue. One of them certainly involves the Pathfinder Society. Not only is he to report on what has transpired so far, but perhaps they will have something to offer in the way of information regarding the strange creatures at the auction. 'The Society's scholars are supposed to be looking into it, after all,' he thinks to himself, bringing to mind the conversation he had with Venture Captain Hestram. The other is a little simpler. It involves the uncut gems. Surely he must know someone who can at least point him in the right direction. After all, this is hardly the first time he has loot he needs to take care of.
"Too bad," Jonas quips as he joins them. "I would have been very curious to see how he would have gone about convincing a dwarf to give up his beard. I imagine it would involve a fair amount of quaffing." To any strange looks the others may give him he simply answers, "It is like drinking, but you spill more."
Unlike his louder and more boisterous companions, Jonas remains hidden for the time being and the only move he makes is to bring his hands closer to his bow without drawing it yet though. And the only sound he makes? A soft sigh. 'I do so hope we have not just gotten ourselves killed,' he ponders . Despite the severity of the situation, a smile betraying amusement graces his lips.
"We may as well, yes," Jonas agrees with a nod. "Anyone care to come with? Preferably someone who can do so at least a little silently tough."
"Certainly," Jonas agrees. "Nothing like a little sleep to rest the body and clear the mind."
"We could check it out now," Jonas offers. "Perhaps one or two of us could approach silently and scout it out a little better."
"I prefer not to be weighted down, you understand," Jonas offers with a shrug, "but I can a lend a hand if needed, sure."
"By all means then," Jonas agrees with a nod, his bow already in his hands and aimed at the door.
"The hole it is then," Jonas agrees with a shrug as he gets ready to follow the warpriest and the paladin down after checking that his bow is securely slung across his back and the daggers remain firmly within their wrist sheaths. It simply will not do if weapons start falling down and making noise while he is climbing down a rope.
"Well, given the necromancer and now the pendant, I am going to venture a yes as the answer to the evil cult question," Jonas quips, injecting some levity to the situation as he waits for Elxurian's examination of the piece of jewellery to finish.
"Well, we could rest, but do so in shifts," Jonas offers. "One or two of us can stand watch for part of the time and then switch. Not ideal, I know, but at least this way we all get some sleep in relative safety. I am unharmed, so I do not mind continuing, but others are not quite so well."
Taking a few moments to better study the opening, Jonas appears deep in thought for a minute before finally speaking up. "The way the walls have been worked probably points to some native underground race. My first guess would have been dwarves, but it does not feel quite right. It looks more like the work of deeper dwellers than them, such as the duergar." Looking up, he smiles. "Say, did that tiefling have anything of note on him? Perhaps something that could shed some mroe light into this whole thing?"
Jonas continues to stay by Penka's side, checking to see if he can do anything to make the gnome a bit more comfortable. Though his first instinct was to pursue the tiefling with the others, he trusts that his companions will soon make short work of the necromancer.
Jonas is about to follow the others and pursue the tiefling alongside them when he reconsiders. Seeing Penka unconscious, he pauses and leans down beside her. "Keep going, I will keep our gnome a little company," he calls out as he starts to see if he can do anything to at the very least stabilize her.
Moving along behind the rest of the group in pursuit of the necromancer, Jonas manages to keep a safe distance from their foe and his divine magic. As soon as the chance presents itself, the rogue fires an arrow at the fleeing tiefling.
Moving forward a little more, Jonas once again casts the simple acid spell. This time, however, his aim is hindered by the various allies and foes in his way and the orb splashes harmlessly against the far wall.
Moving ahead just enough to be able to get a better look at the skeletons, Jonas takes less than a second to decide against using a bow to strike at what are essentially walking piles of bones. Instead, he brings to mind and lips the words of magic and holds his right arm outstretched in front of him, palm facing forward towards the undead. There is a greenish glow less than an inch in front of his hand as a globe of acid materializes and stays there for but a moment before speeding towards the closest of these new enemies.
"I am Jonas, Jonas Crow," the Taldan rogue introduces himself, "though Jon will also do nicely." He chuckles softly and to himself, at least mostly. Between Tsura, Elxurian and now Ausk, piousness seems to be winning over mischievousness.
"I suppose cutting their heads off might do the trick? After all, burning them is out of the question in here," Jonas says with a shrug.
"This is not a nice place," Jonas quips as he lets loose an arrow. His aim proves anything but true though, and the projectile hits nothing but air.
"So, basically fight -and preferably kill- whatever comes and then attend to the half-orc," Jonas says as he joins Tsura behind the table, shortbow at the ready. "Elxurian, make sure to draw it here. No need to try to fight it on your own."
Jonas walks behind Elxurian, ready to provide support if any of the figures proves more conscious -or alive- and hostile than they first appear. "Hopefully, nothing jumps at us like the last time," he muses. Still, despite his hope, he keeps his bow at the ready as he scans the room.
"What did that, I wonder," Jon remarks as he follows Elxurian and notices the centaur's remains. "Not those... oozes we took care of surely?"
"Well," Jonas remarks, chuckling softly at Quarick's method of choosing, "I suppose left is as good as right at this point. Unless we want to split up?" His tone makes it evident that he finds it to be a bad idea indeed.
Wasting no time and heartened by the one creature's demise, Jonas lets loose one more arrow, his aim remaining true, even though the wound he inflicts is far from serious.
Taking a moment to aim better than before, Jon fires another arrow at the ooze, and this time he hits his mark. "Finally," he mutters softly to himself.
Quickly nocking an arrow, Jonas fires at one of the two... creatures. Still, with them surrounded by his companions, his attack misses, the projectile breaking against the room's back wall.
Slinging his shortbow across his back, Jonas climbs down into the room below, taking the bow in his hands once again as soon as he has done so. Moving from one side of the room to the other, he tries to see if he can discern which way the tracks move and if both the centaur and the human ones go in the same direction. "I am hardly a tracker and such places are hardly my usual haunts," he reminds the rest. Nevertheless, he gives it a shot.
"Perhaps I should walk beside Elxurian," Jonas volunteers also. "I may not be as formidable in battle, but if this tunnel is not as natural as first indicated, then whoever made it may have put some traps along the way as well."
"Shadows are not that bad," Jonas quips in reply to Tsura's remarks. "As for the woods... well, they are the woods. Greenery and... brownery and rocks and dirt and animals and so on." He shrugs and smiles. "Of course, when there are other things in them that should not be, well, that is another story."
"It does sound like fun, or at least interesting enough to consider," Jonas offers nonchalantly, a shrug of his shoulders complementing his tone. "And Nashota and her centaurs have been courteous and have been hospitable, however brief our time here. We may as well return the favor." And then he adds with a rather obvious glint in his amber eyes, "Not to mention that there does seem to be a reward involved." Quickly turning to Elxurian, he says with a somewhat apologetic look, "Not that that is my main and only incentive, dear lady. Certainly not."
Jonas moves a little, getting himself closer to the front, hands held high to show he is wielding no weapons. "Greetings," he calls out with a smile and the best non-threatening expression he can muster. "You are wise to be prepared, as well as wary. Not all travelers are peaceful. Yet, that we are. As my friend here has already said, we have been sent to talk with Chieftain Bloodhoof, leader of the Cangarit centaur tribe. There is an item of great interest to her that we seek to return." He shakes his head, the smile still present. "We seek no violence and no harm, proud guard. But we understand your caution."
"Yes, good job indeed," Jonas agrees. "At least one of us knows how to swing a weapon. And a big one at that." There is no bitterness in his tone, though there is a hint of annoyance at being less than effective in the fight.
From the relative safety distance affords him, Jon fires another arrow. This time, however, his aim proves to be less than true.
Finding that the feeling of fear has subsided enough for him to stop trying to flee, Jonas curses under his breath and quickly moves to return to the fight and support the rest of his companions. To that end, as soon as he is near enough, he draws and fires his bow, his targer the nearest of the ugly beasts.
As the creatures' appearance turns horrific, or at least even more horrific, and they let out a frightening howl, Jonas is most affected by it. Both the sight and the sound are too much for him to bear and he suddenly finds himself wanting, needing to get as far away from them as humanly possible.
"It appears keeping your eyes open has proven to be the wise thing to do, Master Deadshield," Jonas acknowledges as he tries to see what it is the others are seeing. And while he is quite content to let Elxurian do the talking for now, he does keep his hand close to the bow on his back nevertheless.
"Something the matter, Master Deadshield?" Walking next to the dwarf, Jonas notices the way he carries himself and how he looks around. "You seem a little on edge perhaps? Of course I could very well be wrong. I generally have a little bit of difficulty reading dwarven expressions on occasion. It must be all the facial hair." He shrugs, his tone friendly and his words meant mostly in jest, an attempt at striking up a conversation.
Taking his leave from his... acquaintances, Jonas finally returns to the Murdered Mare and, after a light dinner and some wine, he retires to his room for the night. Rested and relaxed, he is ready to talk to his new associates the next morning, finding both Elxurian and Quarick and soon enough Tsura as well having breakfast and talking. Joining them and helping himself to some fruit and cheese and a cup of coffee, he appears in a good mood. "Well," he begins after taking a sip, "my contacts do not seem to believe that Herne was the target. And I have to say, they usually know what they are talking about." Another sip. "On the matter of the creatures, they unforunately could not help, at least at the moment, but they would do a bit of research and maybe get back to me. They did mention though that a... ahem... a sample, as in a corpse, might actually help them find out more." He shrugs. "That is pretty much it for now. That and the fact they still believe the fragment or whatever it is may have something to do with the whole thing despite any doubts we may have as to its authenticity."
GM Captain Trips: Jonas listens intently as the Venture Captain speaks. "Herne said as much himself," he offers, nodding in agreement to Hestram's words. "So one of the others was the creatures' target, yet we have little to no idea which one. And as for the creatures themselves...," he continues, shaking his head. "The fact they seem to be unknown to us all, at least for the time being, is hardly reassuring."
He appears a little troubled, but quickly enough a smile appears on his lips again. "Of course, if everything was already known and no mysteries remained, it would make our Society a thing without purpose, would it not? We do love our mysteries." "I will see about... borrowing a corpse for study if given the chance," he says with a shrug, "but you will let me know if you find out anything more even without one?"
"If you will excuse me, I will be taking my leave for a little while," Jonas says to the others as he prepares to leave. "I have an idea or two about some people that may be able to shed some light into what happened, but it will probably take a bit of time. But I am sure we will find each other easily enough, yes? I am staying at the Murdered Mare myself, so perhaps we could meet up there a little later?" He then adds with a smile, "I am sure we will have more to talk about soon enough." GM Captain Trips:
As the others talk with Herne, Jonas turns to the red headed woman. "Lady Auttenberg," he says, a brief bow of his head accompanying the words, "I seem to recall some things about your family. You are related to House Rogarvia, yes? By marriage at least. A House that, if memory serves, vanished overnight and to a man many years ago." He pauses, letting the information sink in, before continuing. "Considering the strangeness of that event, could you possibly have been the target of those strange creatures?" As he waits for an answer, he momentarily turns to Clovis to nod his own agreement to his offer before turning back to the noble woman.
As Clovis introduces the nobles still present and talks of those that have departed, Jon notices Lady Cormas' surprise, but does not dwell on it. He does however turn his head slightly as if to look at the rest of those being introduced, but mostly to deny her a better look of his features. 'Well, someone is bound to find me familiar now and then, especially if he or she is from Taldor,' he ponders briefly before turning his attention once again on the matter at hand, trying to remember if any of the names are familiar, at least in addition to those he has already heard about either due to his time in Taldor or his stay in Absalom and recognized before the event began. As he searches his memory though, he hardly has time to speak when Elxurian accuses the one by the name of Herne Yarplen of being the creatures' target, something he vehemently denies. "Elxurian?" He turns to the woman, his expression one of puzzlement.
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