"Uhh? The control rod, obviously..." he says, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter. "It worked. Now, are we going to rummage about the room some more? What about that door?"
Iri picks up the control rod. "Rummage, then look at the door. How is everyone feeling? Sillas, Starlan, I need to clean those wounds in case they fester."
"I'm sorry if I sound like everyone's mother, but who knows what those germs those things have on their teeth?"
I'll sit up on a chair and let Iri check my wounds/ heal them/ whatever.
"Merreck, thanks for finding that. If you can wait,
I want to catch my breath for a minute before opening mysterious doors."
I'll check out the book I found, and suggest Merreck or others search the rest of the desk and shelves around here. (Those scrolls could be useful for any Arcane Types - assuming they're Arcane Scrolls) Any clue to what's in the barrels?
"You don't sound like my mother."
There are a number of scrolls on the desk, and the book itself, which are all written in a similar, yet unreadable script.
A number of documents and handwritten journals are stored in the broken cabinet. They cover a variety of topics from creating homonculi to gardening, and seem to be Delphis' personal notes.
The door leading out of this room is not locked.
As for what's in the barrels, it's difficult to be certain without cracking them open...
...which Merreck does in no short order. A substantial 'CRACK' is heard, followed by an enthusiastic "Oh yes. My nose never leads me astray! I thought there might be liquor in here!" Merreck cups his hand, and pulls up some of the amber liquid to his mouth. "A brandy! Maybe apple, I can't be sure. Delicious! You go on without me! I'll be here! 'SLURP'"
"Smartarse."
"Ummm.... You try reading this."
I hand Iri the book as I move to check out the non-magical papers in the vandalized cabinet...
OK, OK, Can I find anything like a cup to sample some of the booze?
"Darned right I'm not your mother Dahl. Which believe me, I'm truly grateful for."
Iri sounds quite irritable as she binds up Starlan and Sillas's various wounds.
"Since we've found the manual, I think I can get this thing to work for us. A little bit more help won't hurt us." She nods at the fallen constructs.
"Merreck, can you teach one of us how to use those lockpicks? There's no reason for you to have to take all these risks for us."
"My green eyed paladin of light, why are you getting grumpy just because you're suddenly doing your job?"
Cassio's voice sounds remarkably loud after his lengthy absence.
"Don't pass up on the brandy. I'm a judge of it, and from the smell, your Delphic friend knew what he was about. And don't let that lockpicking friend of yours drink it all before you taste it. Think of your friends, Iri, who must share your tastebuds along with so much else."
Merreck barely looks up from the barrel he is sampling from. His slurping is audible from the other side of the room. "Lockpicks? Oh...oh yes..." he says, as he throws them near the busted cabinet. "Practise, practise, practise...that's my only advice."
It's obvious that Merreck barely knows how to use them himself, and he's currently too involved to stop and teach what little he knows now.
There's a used cup on the desk that could be used for sampling. It's quite a tasty drink, and these barrels are probably last year's batch, currently ageing.
The scrolls are of Unseen Servant x4, Repair Light Damage x2, and one that eludes you.
The 'Homonculi' manual really is just the collection of Delphis' notes specifically regarding the constructs found in the basement here. The pieces will require some work to get back together, but there are some spare parts lying around this room. Combined with the Repair scrolls, you should be able to get either the mechanical dog, or the hummingbird thing back together again. In Delphis' journal, he refers to them respectively as the 'Iron Defender' and the 'Clockwork Mender'. Through studying his notes, you realize Delphis' intentions for these constructs; the Defender was built simply to defend the place while Delphis was away, but the Mender has a further role. Not only can it magically repair the defender (or any other construct/machine) should harm come to it, but it was charged with the general repair and maintenance of 'the distillery'. You haven't seen any equipment that matches that description, but you haven't explored the rest of the place yet either.
Regardless of the construct you bring back, it will be hostile toward you until you perform a ritual that will align one of you as the Master. The ritual is somewhat complicated, but is detailed in the journal. Most of the work is done, as the thing has already been built once. The repair and re-attuning is all that is necessary, but that will still require around 500gp worth of special materials, and a full pint of the 'Master's blood.
Iri looks thoughtful as she reads the notes.
"OK. I see how this works. Merreck, would you like to go shopping again, if I give you a list? You'll like this jaunt, I promise you. The humming bird will fix up the distillery if it ever breaks down."
She looks around. The room is entirely delightful to someone of a scholarly bent, but she remembers the original reason for coming to Passage rather abruptly.
"Before I start getting bogged down in fixing the constructs, maybe we should look around for any information Delphis left about the vault and how to get into it?"
Sillas gives Iri a grateful smile as she binds the nasty bite the construct inflicted upon him.
Standing with a slight wince, he goes over to Merreck's lockpicks "I saw someone use these once; I think I might be able to work them, given a little time."
As she puts the finishing touches to the bandage, Iri nods. "That's a good idea. You might put in some practice now. Delphis doesn't seem the type to just leave important information out in the open, even with Fido here as protection."
Swishing about the liquor, I take a sip "Hmmm...."
Taking a larger sip, and taking a long look at the stack of barrels, I add:
"If we could get these loaded on the airship, I KNOW my family's pub would take the lot.
It's not Talentan Fire-Juice, but... Anways, let's worry about that after checking this other room."
I'll watch Sillas intently as he experiments with the tools, and try myself if he offers.
"These look... very nice." (compared to normal lockpicks I would have seen)
Iri finishes binding up wounds and starts a systematic search of the room. "I wish I'd asked Switch to come along. Or your friend Maedar, Sillas. They're both illusionists and maybe one of them could have pretended to be Delphis. Getting into the vault would be easy enough for him - after all, it is, or rather was, his vault and his property."
She rummages through desks, drawers and cupboards. "If we could find a picture of him and the password, Starlan or Sillas could try disguising themselves as Delphis. It's simple, but it might work."
"Well actually, I had quite a time of it once,
Impersonating Human Wizards by saying I'd been shrunk while venturing into the Planes... heeheeheehee..."
You sift through the room's contents for some time, but find that most of the material here covers Delphis' work life, both magical and mundane. For more information regarding Delphis' personal life, you decide to explore the next room.
Pushing open the big double doors, you enter a bigger room. A large mechanical apparatus spans the length of the eastern wall, and a number of empty barrels stand at one end of it. A number of large vats are incorporated to the contraption. Leaving this chamber is another door at the far end. There doesn't appear to be any trap mechanisms attached to it, so you open it freely.
You've finally arrived at Delphis' private chamber. A messy but comfortable looking bed is here, as are a smaller number of books and notes. Not only are there a few portraits of Delphis, at varying stages of his life, but his private journal is found on one of his side tables.
Iri pounces on the journal and starts to read it.
"Hey girlfriend, whatever happened to privacy?"
"That's hardly a subject you're qualified to comment on."
The thought is snippy.
You'll get more out of the journal the longer you read it, obviously, but the most recent entries are dated near his death. He reveals that he feels he is being followed and watched; the entries give the general feel that he was slightly afraid for his safety, but due to the nature of his concerns, he was unsure of who to contact for assistance. He mentions "not wanting to draw more attention to the amulet than is necessary". Scanning a few pages back reveals the entry where he explicitly mentioned storing the amulet in the lockbox with the password "Avorton".
Delphis' wardrobe is also located in this room, full of evertyhing from casual to formal wear, all in last year's style typical of wealthy Aundairians.
"Result. We have the password. We got clothes and we've got pictures too. All we need is a decent disguise kit. It can go on Merreck's shopping list."
"Great! ...Anybody know what Avorton means?"
I'll search around the bedroom and distillery room more carefully. Search = 21
Nodding at Iri, I add:
"Yes, maybe we can pick that up in Stormhome, and we can study up on these journals along the way...?"
"Hmmm...", Glancing between each of us,
"Unless I use my "Wizard shrunken by the Planes" schtick, it looks like Sillas is our likeliest Wizard imposter.
...Do you want to some privacy to see if these clothes fit you fine...?"
Sillas nods to Starlan "Please.". Pausing for a moment he adds "There's uh...a few talents I possess that I think I should make you all aware of. I tend to wander the streets in ah, less reputable areas and I've made a few friends. One if which was an illusionist; a street performing hedge-wizard, really, who taught me a few minor tricks that might be helpful here."
Iri bounces to her feet and impulsively hugs Sillas. "That's brilliant! Perfect, exactly what we need."
Suddenly blushing she pulls back. "I'm sorry - I didn't mean to embarrass you."
Sillas looks surprised but shakes his head "Don't worry about it."
After a moment he says "Ah, could I have a moment to see if Delphis' stuff fits?"
Spending enough time pouring over Delphis' various libraries turns up some useful information:
*Delphis spent a considerable amount of time studying the amulet while it was in his possession. This intimate knowledge is one of the reasons why he wanted it to be put away safely. Fortunately, he wrote down a great deal of what he found into his personal journal. A specific entry holds the most pertinent facts, wherein he refers to it as The Tigerbreath Crucible; "It appears that the casing of the Crucible is made out of solid adamantine. It is carved in the terrifying visage of a wild feline. In the great cat's mouth holds a glittering red gem. That must be the focus for the magic that is holding Tyrankalis inside. This beautiful prison would be worth 20,000gp for the gem alone, with another 2,000 just for the metal used in making it. Not to mention the meticulously crafted adamantine detail. It's not an easy material to work with, by any means. The large and elegant warning on the back is written in ancient Giantish, clearly marking it's long-dead creators. A collector of Xen'drik artifacts could pay even twice that for such a specimen. I'm afraid this piece of archao-historical-crafting must stay lost to the world. What a flight to think: if I possessed even half the craftmanship these ancient sages did...[the next few lines are scratched out]. No matter. I am sure that whoever is following me at night is looking to make some quick coin by robbing me of this thing. I can't risk it; the Tigerbreath Crucible must be kept safely. It can stay here no longer." It's clear that Delphis has handled the amulet often in the course of his studying it; he makes no mention of a sinister force affecting him.
He also included a rough sketch of the thing.
*In some of his more business-related notebooks, Delphis has clearly laid out a number of businesses and merchants who he has relations with. There are more than enough individuals listed here, many in Aundair, to act as contacts to purchase the fruit-based alcohol. The addresess of a number of merchants located in Passage can be found readily. You gather that he is the kind of person who likes everything laid out and explained in great detail; like clockwork even. There are more than enough notes concerning everything from harvesting the fruit to preparing it for shipping. It's clear that he made effective use of Unseen Servants to assist with some of the more menial labour tasks. That magic was meant to assist him in his solo efforts, and is not necessary with several people working on the task.
*Delphis' notes on his construct provide you with enough details to repair them. The damage is severe enough, however, that you'll need to salvage parts from either of them to repair the other, meaning you can only get one of them up and running. Other magical supplies worth a total of 500gp need to be procured in town, and the person attuning themselves to the construct will need to donate a full pint of their blood. Magic is in the blood, after all.
*Cleaning up the place is a good task to undertake. Even Merreck joins in, and manages to help find a decent store of unperishable food stuffs. As long as some effort is put into making meals, eating is not an issue so long as you remain in Delphis' home. Merreck also sets about rigging most of the windows and shutters into a locked position, giving you all the privacy you will need.
Iri turns the notes on the amulet over and over in her hands, deep in thought. Finally she speaks.
"You know, we'll have to have an escape route planned for this. I know the Flame will find ways to keep it safe, but I think Delphis was deluding himself if he believed a thing like that would just vanish into a vault and never be found." She pauses.
"Well, obviously he was deluding himself. Look how very dead he ended up. Another thing is, Dahl is interested in the amulet. I'm pretty sure that's not going to be a good thing. You might want to have some plan in mind to incapacitate me in case he gets really interested. I don't know what Dahl can do if he tries. I'm pretty sure he can't exist if he's not in my head though, so that's some kind of safeguard - but only if I'm in charge of my brain at the time."
I let out a low whistle as Iri reads the bit about the price of the amulet.
When she goes onto the bit about Dahn, I'm not quite sure how to react, though I know that voice was certainly the most DISTURBING in it's tone. I'll probably need a private conversation with Sillas about this one.
Sillas looks a little worriedly at Irirangi as she speaks about Dahl. "Do you think...that he might be able to take control somehow?"
"I don't know. But you've met him. He's not going to tell me even if he can. You and Starlan should have a plan though and you need to keep it quiet from me. Just as a precaution. Which means planning using words. Why don't you do that, while I try and find some clothes for you Sillas?"
Iri makes the suggestion sound utterly pragmatic.
Sillas nods, dislike of the idea clear on his face. "Alright. I'll also get started reading these journals to get ready to impersonate him."
Seeing his expression, Iri goes to Sillas and gently touches his arm.
"You may not like the idea Sillas, and I'm not sure I do myself, but it is a sensible precaution. We should be prepared for the worst if we're going to tangle with artifacts like this."
She smiles slightly. "I promise you, even if Starlan doesn't know if I'm me or not, you will."
"Yes, it is sensible. We'll do everything we can to be prepared."
Sillas smiles faintly and nods "Yes I will, I just hope we aren't in that situation."
The night passes easily enough with you engaged in your tasks. There's plenty to keep you busy. Sim spends the night trying to glean as much of Delphis' personality from his personal writings as possible. He certainly picks up on a few turns of phrase that Delphis seems to use repeatedly. With some help from Merrick, and her own magic, Iri manages to piece together one of the constructs. She'll need to get more key pieces specially crafted by a smith to repair the other one.
In the morning, Merrick has to be intentionally woken up from his sound sleep. Groggily, he acquiesces, and sets about making some breakfast for everyone, asking Starlan for help.
It's still early morning, but you are refreshed, full, and have plenty to do. What's your plan?
Sillas:
"If Iri herself has some reason to fear this "Dahn" voice, I suppose we should take it seriously...
So perhaps we should try to keep Iri out of the loop somehow...
We could give her some excuse of an another errand we're doing, and retrieve the amulet without her...?
Or perhaps we could bring along a locked jewelry box with a rock in it, and pull of a switcheroo between us, so she THINKS one of us is carrying the item, when it's really the other, and if "Dahn" directs her to take it, she would just be taking a rock?"