"I wonder what was in the water...and how the dead arose here...but we should go back to Kassen. The town, that is."
Garuneh scratches his face. "Goodberries and magic stones....next time..."
Holy water, alchemist's fire, clubs.
"A hot bath" Bria moans.
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The journey back to Kassen is somber and uneventful. It takes 3 days to return back to Kassen, exhausting all of the party's food supplies. Roldare's faculties return to him during the travel.
Day 2
Day 3
Day 2
Day 3
When the heroes finally return to Kassen, they find a city still lost in its sorrows. Upon the group's arrival, townsfolk start to circle and question them immediately at the gates. Mayor Uptal comes out to greet them, but his joy at their return quickly turns to horror when he finds out what has happened. The news quickly spreads throughout town. Trelvar Silvers rushes out of his tavern and swoops up his daughter, Asina, with tears of joy. While many of the people close to those who died are in shock and anguish, others are rather grateful that this new menace has ended quickly. A grand feast is held in the heroes' honor, but it is not the same as it was in previous years. This year, many are drinking to help forget that they have lost friends and loved ones. Plans are made to return to the crypt and bury the slain townsfolk tomorrow.
During the celebration, the heroes receive a few visitors.
First is Braggar Ironhame, the dwarven blacksmith who runs a small business on the south side of town. He presents to Bria a masterwork dwarven war-axe. He says it was his during his days with the Ninth Battalion. Bragger would like to see his old axe be used again and he feels Bria is the right dwarf for the job. He invites Bria to come over to his forge if she wants to learn more about the Ninth, or to talk of other things. His last remark he says in a gentle, almost bashful manner. Braggar cheeks suddenly flush and he stomps off in a huff.
Next is Olmira Treesong, a middle-aged woman wearing clothing made from bark, leaves and grass. She is accompanied by a fox, a squirrel and a very fat toad. She give Garuneh a wand of cure light wounds (22 charges) to help the party in the future adventures, and to thank them for their service. She remarks to Garuneh that if he wished to learn more about the Green Faith, to come find her about town.
A refined looking elderly woman glides into view. She has wispy white hair that trails down to her knees that is parted down the middle to reveal sharp facial features. She walks directly to Gunder, ignoring everybody else. The woman bends over and whispers into the halfling's ear.
The lady then folds into the shadows, disappearing, leaving only a small wooden (+1) shield at Gunder's feet.
When the night appears to be winding down, a man dressed in dark colors draped in a green hooded cloak comes to give his congratulations. When the light shines on his face, a long jagged scar runs from scalp to chin down his face.
"Greeting friends, my name is Cygar. I am from the Pathfinder Society. Are you not familiar with us? In short, we are a group of international treasure hunters and adventurers. I was wondering if there was anything more that occurred within the Crypt? Something more then just the dead coming back to life and killing townsfolk?"
Liz dances on a table quaffs wine, barfs in a potted plant and falls over, her feet sticking up over the edge of the table.
HIC! Ummzzz What about dat amulet? Garooneh? Tel him about it. I luvvv ya man! HIC
Partaking much more gently than Liz, Aldous speaks with the man in quiet tones.
"We discovered a few clues as to a hidden vault, lost somewhere and potentially containing items and knowledge of great power. The keys may have been stored in that crypt at some point, but are gone now."
Aldous pulls the iron mask from his pack and shows the man surreptitiously.
"In addition, Nirmathi bandits wearing these looted the place before us. I can't say for certain they have those keys, but it seems likely."
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Cygar arches a brow with a smirk at Elizabeth's antics.
"Bandits you say? Were they all wearing these masks? Did any of them have any other identifying marks or emblems?"
As Aldous looks around, he is able to see Father Prasst sitting outside the temple. He consoles those who have lost love ones while keeping a vigilant eye on the rest.
Wagah-Nagh-what?
Gunder is puzzled by what the lady whispers to him. When she leaves he picks up the shield she left behind and tries to follow her as fast as he can .
"Wait! I don't understand. Lets talk! Don't run away. Please."
"I cannot say for certain if they all wore such masks, but I believe so. We also recovered newly minted coins of Nirmathi provenance. This suggests a more...overt...mission than simple banditry in my opinion. But excuse me one moment, please. I must speak with the good Father for a moment."
Heading towards the priest, Aldous reassures Dragon as best as he can.
"Father Prasst, I hesitate to call upon you in such conditions, but I fear my familiar and myself may have contracted an illness in the Crypt. Would you be so kind as to examine us?"
Bria accepts the axe with gratitude. She follows him back to his place.
May Sharonnna! We should buy a mule or somethink cuz we get so heavy.
Garuneh bows to Olmira. "You have my gratitude, Mistress Treesong." He speaks with her cordially, but quietly, for a while in the mysterious language of druids, about the signs of nature in the area, and not a few times about how he misses the swamps of home, probably leading to an indulgent smile on her part.
Garuneh turns to Cygar after Aldous goes to see about his latent pustules. "Sir Cygar, well met. There was a fearful aspect to a watery passage that caused some of us to run. We were not able to identify it--it could have been related to Asar and his undead minions, but we were not able to determine that."
He shakes his head. "Oh...and one of the Nirmathan coins was stamped with the sigil of the Open Road. Excuse me--" He runs off to Braggar's place and bursts in on Bria and Braggar's....conversation. "Sorry, so sorry, just need to borrow the coin bag, Bria," he says, and runs out with the party purse of Nirmathan coins before the dwarves can react.
Once back, he fishes around and gives the coin to Cygar. "We found near a body of a man. He was killed by giant toads...I'm sure you as a treasure hunter would understand..." he finishes somewhat awkwardly.
"...I'm sure that Nirmathan Pathfinders couldn't have stolen the amulets and awoken the dead," he continues after a moment, digging himself a deeper conversational pit.
Garuneh never actually saw the dwarves. The bed was pushed away from the wall, the blankets tumbled over in that direction. There were voices, a slight titter and then silence when he entered.
When Garuneh left, he heard a 'thunk' as though a boot had been flung against the door by a dwarf. The sound was quite distinctive.
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Gunder tries to follow the woman among the throng of people, but she disappears as if she just became one with the shadows.
Bria leaves with Braggar as they walk off into the darkness, silent but with a purpose.
Aldous hurries over to the Temple of Erastil. Father Prasst immediately welcomes Aldous but then becomes as serious as the wizard with concerns to his dilemma.
"By the gods, this is zombie rot. Both of you have have it, he much worse then you. Let me see if I have any scrolls that might help."
"Excellent, it appears the previous priest have left us two final blessings. Alas, this is all I have. If anybody else in your group falls ill, come see me and I will try to treat them with traditional methods. Otherwise, it appears I have no more scrolls."
Father Prasst unravels the scrolls and begins to say his prayers.
"O' Deadeye! Remove this disease and cure them. You are the Great Curer, there is no cure but through You that leaves behind no disease."
The boils and sores begins to recede from Dragon and Aldous after Prasst's prayer is complete.
"Now it may takes you a few days to get back to full strength, but you should fully recover."
After Garuneh's returns from his interloping, Cygar fingers the coin with great concern. He then looks over his shoulder a few times before closing distance with those interested in the conversation.
"This is what I was afraid of. I will let you in on a secret. The Pathfinders' knew there were some artifacts of significance in these parts. We had undercover agents planted in a number of factions within the area and I was to be their contact in Kassen. I don't know whom you've found, but I could look into it. These tomb robbers need to be held accountable for their actions. The gods know what kind of plague they could have unleashed had you not stopped them at the start. Any chance you and your crew would be interested in getting to the bottom of this? While this may be unofficial Pathfinder business, I could make it official if any of you are interested in joining the Society."
Eyz would be intarezted in doin it sneaky sneaky! We be sekret agent people!
Garuneh gets Elizabeth a large mug of...cold water, grimacing.
"I thought we had to pass some tests to join? I would want to talk to my cousins, but they've been fine without us so far. Consider me intrigued, Cygar."
"Many thanks, Father. I would be distraught without my little friend here, and even more so to have become one of those walking corpses. "
Coming back from the healer, Aldous has a look of grim anger mixed with relief on his face.
"Damn 'zombie rot'? Can you believe that? Those filthy walking maggot pillows infected Dragon and I with their nasty disease. Thankfully the good Father fixed us up. If you are feeling ill, I'd recommend you speak with him, although I think he'd exhausted his magic for today."
Upon hearing the offer about unofficial official Pathfinder Society action, Aldous's long ears pick up.
"I'm very interested. Getting some payback against those wretched necromancers and preventing future walking dead? Working for the Society and getting in good as members? Count me in."
Gunder tries to hide in the shadows as well.
He wants to be alone while trying to make sense of what the strange lady told him.
How can I join them when I don't know who they are or where I can find them?
He inspects the shield she gave him, looking for any clues.
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"Excellent. Well, if you get to the bottom of what is going on, that should past any test the Venture Captains could think up. Let me see what information I can dig up. I will get back to you soon."
Cygar departs blending back into the festivities.
Gunder, sits alone with his thoughts. He realizes that an opportunity has come him and that he needs to take advantage of it. Now or never. The shield's front is painted with green tentacles writhing out of an azure flame.
Dreaming . . . Give in, to be let in.
These thoughts reoccur in Gunder's mind.
Gunder tries to sleep - maybe he will dream a solution to the riddle.
(In his room at the inn - not out on the streets of course)
Liz sleeps it off on a comfy bed as well.
Garuneh dreams of booted redcaps tromping all over a bridge made of doors, which quakes and threatens to break just above his head, as he lays in a muddy ditch with a sprained ankle. He wakes up bolt upright and nearly casts Surge at the door. After darting eyes this way and that, feeling his face and then his foot, and then muttering about dwarves, ravines, and the dead, he washes up and heads to the common room, shaking his head.
Liz dreams of lording over Kaer Maga with an army of golems and surrounded by her woman army. Bria is her right hand and Gunder,Garuneh and Aldous all wear loin clothes and feed her grapes.
Liz then wakes up.Just as the dream was getting good! Liz pouts and heads down for breakfast.
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The night's celebration turns to the morning's recuperation. It appears Trelvar has taken time off to spend with his daughter, Asina. Jimes, a halfling, is running his establishment in his stead. The morning meal consists of portage and sausage. While the sun is out this morning, there is a chill in the air.
Liz will head to the stables/horse wrangler and see about purchasing a mule for the group to carry their equipment.
We should get some more food and things like holy water and alchemit's fire as well.
Aldous is very poor company, recovering from his illness and head down in a book, even while absent mindedly spooning porridge and sipping tea.
"This may take me a bit...I'll know better by tonight just how long I think."
Ohhhh... I have to go see the priest. I think I got something from the crypt.
Liz hurries to the priest. Father, I got something from fighting in the crypt. Can you heal me? Even some traditional methods would be fine if you don't have the miracles for it.
Later that night...
"Sigh...looks like it's going to take a while to master these spells. At least I won't have to waste time on the necromancy stuff."
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You wake up.
Father Prasst recommends to Liz that she should sleep in the Temple every night with a patch of clay soaked with holy water. If no new sores develop after 2 days, then she should be clear
Elizabeth is clear of disease by the 3rd day after returning to Kassen
You spend half the next day in bed, with the later half in a bath heated by steam of the forge below in Braggar's simple home. Whatever you want to do is up to you.
Ah! Thank you very much, Father. Liz donates 5 gold.
Passing by Garuneh and the others when they get back to the inn, Liz plops down at the table.
So has there been a decision on what we will do next? We should be considering what that Pathfinder told us.
Bria is content with continuing. The rest of the party can do the heavy thinking.
Gunder wakes up - more confused than before.
That was the oddest dream I have ever had. I wonder if it has anything to do with what that strange lady told me.
Maybe when I dream of eating whole stars that just means I should get something to eat. 'Give in to the breakfast' - thats probably what she meant.
Downstairs he meets Garuneh and Liz.
"Good morning! Did you also have weird dreams last night? What's for breakfast? You were talking to pathfinders? What did they tell you, Liz?"
Well he talked about how some cultists were involved in a plague that almost got unleashed here and we should seek him out to see if he has any more info. Sounds like a steady job.
So does anyone have any further buisness in town? I have bought everything I need and am all recovered from my illness.
"I should be ready to travel shortly. Perhaps a few scrolls to scribe, but I'd like to stock up on traveling supplies in favor of scribe ink. I have found it hard to consume my scroll-supplies, after all."
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To buy his scribing materials and scrolls, Aldous has to buy these items from Holgast. Holgast frequently calls Aldous, Ezren, his now deceased apprentice. When corrected, Holgast agrees with his mistake, but continues on in the same fashion. On Aldous's last visit, Holgast invites Aldous into his tower for some tea.
"Now Ezren, you have graduated from apprentice to journeyman. This is a grand ordeal, very grand indeed. You'll have to make a name for yourself out there now. You are far to young to be some hedge wizard and too talented to pop out potions all day. The Arcanamirium could use a mage like you. I've heard the tales the people tell. If half of them are true, then the 'Rium is where you need to be."
Bria will do a little last minute shopping for trail rations. She seems unusually happy. She also wants fish hooks.
Well accustomed to the old mage's senility, Aldous doesn't even correct him any longer. he does snort just a bit at the notion that he is 'too young' for something. "Master, tell me more of this Arcanamirium. It sounds like an organization I would be most interested in joining."
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"Why my boy, the Arcanamirium is Absalom’s foremost magical academy. Practicality and generalism are emphasized there at the expense of flashiness and abstraction, something I think you can appreciate. The Arcanamirium strives to populate the world with wizards who are capable of using magic to help those around them, not just in times of crisis but for everyday needs as well. The academy recognizes that the more magic impacts the lives of ordinary people in helpful ways, the better its reputation will become among the masses. An angry mob with torches and pitchforks is less likely to materialize if the commoners know they owe their standard of living to the small magical improvements that the Arcanamirium favors.
"As an arcanscenti, I still hold ties to the Grand Library in Absalom and with a fraction of their resources. I can put in a good word for the deeds for which you've done."
"That would be fantastic. I long to learn from others schooled in the arcane arts. You have been most helpful, Master, and I greatly appreciate everything you done for me."
Aldous speaks with utter sincerity, thankful for the time and knowledge the elderly mage has gifted, even if some of it came from his dead apprentice's spellbook.
Still at the breakfast table:
Gunder's eyes widen as he hears Elizabeth talk about cultists.
"Cultists you say? Cultists are bad - we shouldn't get involved with cultists. Did the pathfinders mention what kind of cult it is? Maybe something with tentacles and dreams? No? And did they mention where the cult's base of operations is ... is it here in Kassen?"
He nibbles on a bread roll nervously.
"I'd like to rest here for maybe a day or two more. But after that I am ready to leave."
Gunder uses the day of "rest" to ask around in town whether anyone knows the strange lady he met at the party.
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Holgast uses the arm of his chair and props himself up. He then pats Aldous on the shoulder. "Good, good. Well, we don't have all the books of the Grand Library, but I do have a few resources should you need them."
When Gunder asks around about the woman he interacted with at the festival, he is told she is Moltan Vargidan, the wealthy and eccentric matriarch of the Vargidans. It is said this old family has a touch of magic in its blood, with each one of the children showing some talent in the Art as well. Where this magic comes from is a mystery, and the family refuses to speak of such things in mixed company. While everybody knows who Gunder is talking about, nobody actually remembers seeing Moltan during the celebration. Gunder is pointed to the Vargidan Estate in the center of town.
Gunder goes to the Vargidan Estate and knocks on the door.
After breakfast, Liz finishes up her purchases and lounges around, waiting for the others to be done with their chores.
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Gunder arrives at the Vargidan Estate. It is a moderate size home for being near the center of such a small town of Kassen. It is two stories with peaked roof with midnight blue painted wooden walls. There are 7 windows, that a figure appears to pass by once in awhile, but never draws back the lacy curtain.
When Gunder goes to knock on the door, it opens before he can rap the wood. In the doorway stands Mistress Vargidan, regal and defined. She does not smile nor does she appear to be surprised at Gunder's arrival.
"Master Uag'ma, how have you been sleeping? Enter. How may I help you?"
"Thank you, Madam Vargidan."
Gunder enters before he continues.
"In fact, I had the most curious dream last night. But you probably know that already, don't you? By the way, my name is Undertable - not Uagma. Your prophecies must have misspelled my name. As for how you may help me: answers would be nice. The dark tapestry - what do you know about it?"
After rounding up a mule, some travel food, and lamp oil, Aldous converts most of his remaining coin into scribing materials, courtesy of "Master" Holgast.
"I too am ready to travel. Mule here will provide some additional capacity for our travels, up to about 300 lbs if we load him fully. I hope we can come by some serious coin soon, as I would love to be able to scribe some scrolls for future use."