Downtime 17-21 June 1023
The party has taken to renting a Common Room on the second floor of The Yellow Bottle, a tavern and inn in the Merchant’s Borough. In exchange for a reduced rental, the party members and hirelings are to be made available for errands and night-time security.
17: Messer and Heavy Infantry 1 (Bertrand) errands, Boris and Griffon Security
18: 3/5ths and Heavy Infantry 2 (Beaufort) errands, 2 Short Bowmen (Beauregard and Belmond) 2 Heavy Crossbow (Berland and Bollinger) men security
19: Jacob and Barret errands, Braun and Torrent Security
20: Boris and Griffon Errands, Messer and 3/5ths security
21: Charlos and Cook, Bulwark and Hagar security
18 June - Daytime - 3/5 & Hvy 2
You see a couple of young urchins take up spots on the street across from the tavern, sitting on a ratty old blanket, begging for change. 3/5 goes across and chases them away. Within an hour two more show up, on hte other corner. This time Hvy 2 goes to take a look and sees that there are urchin beggars on other corners, too. He goes for a walk and sees urchins begging or loitering on almost every corner for 2 blocks, all around the Yellow Bottle.
The faces chnge from time to time, but all through the week there are urchin children begging or loitering near the Inn. Anytime you try to approach them, they run off. They have a strange ability to disappear!
20 June - Night Watch - Messer and 3/5
During the night Messer and 3/5 catch a couple of black-clad figures trying to climb the outside of the inn, in the rear of the building. Surprised, the two drop to the alley and runn, disappearing around a corner and seemingly vanishing into thin air.
21 June - Errands - Charlos and Cook
Emiryk sends Charlos and Cook to the market for vegetables and three goats for butchery. You see the ever-present urchin beggars. You notice when you are gathering the roots that there are several urchin children watching you from different booths and stalls. When you look at them, they pop down behind something, or turn and walk into the crowd.
You make it back to the Inn without an encounter, but they are definitely following you.
20 June 1023
Barber goes to Marinizi looking for Lady Ursula.
Barber:
Some time before heading out to the Crystal Necropolis, Barber is going to swing by the palace of the Red Prince, and mention that he has a matter that requires great discretion and it involves Lady Ursula. Hopefully, she will take the bait if she's there. I will mention that it is a matter of nasty gossip and a certain musician. And that I wish to extricate her from trouble.
I half expect a runaround here. If the sister will meet with me, I will show her the handkerchief and mention that there are some unseemly rumors going around about Lady Ursula and a certain musician to whom she gave this cloth. And, I would be willing to make the matter disappear completely, free of charge, if you will look me in the eye and answer a single question.
If that doesn't work, or if Lady Ursula really doesn't seem to be there, it's off to the Crystal Necropolis.
If she does show up, I will intercept the party and bring them back so that we can plan an abduction instead if they are willing to join in.
At Sinj Manor Barber gets to speak to one of Princess Gisela’s Ladies-in-Waiting.
DM: After introducing yourself, a Lady-in-waiting to Princess Gisela comes to see you. She asks about your presence and why you would be interested in Lady Ursula.
Barber:
I will show her the handkerchief, and tell her that I have recently run afoul of Carran Vett, and there is a lot of gossip circulating about her Vett. I fear that she is at risk of blackmail, and I - deeply disliking the cad - am trying to thwart a number of his dealings. I surmised she might be here, and wanted to enlist her help in humbling him.
DM:
She is unwilling to admit whether or not Lady Ursula is here NOW, but she assures you that she has seen the Lady recently and she is in good health and good spirits. She has NOT, I assure you, run off with the Carran Vett
Barber:
I am sure she hasn't run off with Vett, I assure her, showing the handkerchief (but I will give it only to lady Ursula.) I will also mention that there is other, stranger gossip saying that she ran off with a cult, and I desperately hope that is not the case after the terrifying rumors I have heard about them.
DM:
She seems a bit put-off by your discussion of Vett and subtly indicates that he is not what he seems and is not to be trifled with. He has been a guest of the Prince several times and has always behaved with the utmost courtesy and is a true gentleman. She personally suspects Vett is nobility from the heart of the Empire.
She offers to provide papyrus and ink, for you to leave a note for Lady Ursula, and the LIW will give it to her the next time Lady Ursula visits
Barber:
I will do just that:
Dear Lady Ursula,
We are not acquainted; I am called Barber, and I am a problem-solver and investigator who works for a number of wealthy and influential parties in Sojenka. I deal with trouble when it should not sully the hands of people with higher calling. I am concerned that rumors about yourself and one Carran Vett have been used against you and your husband, and I have a number of theories about whom. I am not in any individual's employ, and I am no white knight, Lady Ursula, but I see an opportunity to earn some coin and do the right thing at the same time. A rare opportunity in my line of work. I wish to contact you. But I must depart town within 48 hours on other business.
I wish you well, and hope to gain your patronage.
I will sign it with a strange, cryptic mark.
DM:
The Lady in Waiting Annika thanks you and bids you good day.
Barber:
Just my luck to run into a fan of that one-man-boy-band
21 June 1023
Barber leaves Marinizi to meet up with the rest of the band at Samichi.
22 June 1023
The rest of the party members, Funeral, Scribbles, Boris, Griffon, Charlos, Bulwark and two heavy infantry men-at-arms (Bertrand & Beaufort) leave Sojenka for Samichi. Their travel on the road to Opatiza (the second largest town in the Realm) is uneventful. On leaving Opatiza for Samichi they find the paved Imperial road has ended and the way to Samichi is just a track. It is well-traveled, but slower going for the men on foot and their donkey-wagon.
At Samichi the party sees the gibbets hanging outside the south gate, with two thieves hanging inside the cages. Crows have picked at them for quite some time now.
The guards at the gate wish to know the names of the party members and the name of their Company. “The Firemen” is the name given.
They go into town for lunch, and to wait for Barber, who arrives early in the afternoon. They discuss what happened at Marinizi and decide to press on to the Crystal Necropolis and follow up on the lead that says Lady Ursula actually ran off with them.
They are also interested in what that fellow Viktor said about buying anything they found at the Necropolis as “curiosities”.
The “Firemen” follow the river north for about 10 miles, when they spot the landmark they were told about, a stream coming in from the west. Here they turn east toward the Stabala Forest and, after avoiding a massive ant colony (normal ants), they approach the location of the Crystal Necropolis. Even in the late afternoon the ruin itself is covered in fog. They can see tow enormous statues, over 100 feet tall, rising from the fog, with a nimbus of blue light behind them.
A trio of buildings line the remains of an old Imperial road running south-to-north, and two more on the eastern side of the road. All have been burned to the ground and are surrounded by great circles of ash.
To the north-east they believe they can hear the sounds of iron on stone and people singing or chanting rhythmically. They walk around the fog bank to the north, where they can see a good-sized camp, tents and such, has been erected in front of a large dark shape in the fog.
On approach they are greeting by three me in homespun robes carrying spears. They greet the “Firemen” and invite them to come parlay. They introduce themselves as the Chosen of the Prophet of Eelathoh, goddess of escape, and invite the party to join them for a rough dinner and hear of the grand plan to escape the Necromancer’s Apocalypse. These Chosen are very excited that the High Priest has found the Tomb of Deliverance and they will soon be able to go to the realm of Eelathoh and live in peace and tranquility.
They eat some stew with others of the camp, noticing that quite a few are bandaged or on crutches, despite the presence of Healers in the camp. Their Host explains there was a bit of a battle with some brigands that were dwelling in the necropolis on the edge of the fog.
Later they join in the evening praise ceremony and Barber tries to make friends with young people, to get some gossip.
The first youngster he approaches isn’t very talkative, but the second one is classically disaffected. He tells Barber that he has a “wait and see” attitude, though his cousin at the Jacinth Tower says the Prophets do this kind of thing every 35 years or so, when the purple lightning appears in the Kotar Mountains.
He continues, saying this time might be different, because there is an Amazon ship in the harbor for the first time in years. The scholars in the tent by the excavation seem to think they have some special information this time, that the High Priest has a magical device that brought them to the Tomb of Deliverance. Also, he has heard that there are Berzerker cults roaming the grasslands, looking for something to resurrect the Necromancer King and lead the Berzerkers to glory.
Leaving the ceremony, the party ventures over to the hill where the excavation is taking place. They find a fly tent illuminated by lanterns and torches, where five men are arguing about the meaning of a text they are translating.
Two think they have found the Priest’s Tomb, with the Gateway, two others believe it is the Architect’s Tomb, that holds the Key to the Gateway.
The argument is over whether opening the Priest's Tomb without the key could set off a trap that destroys the Gateway.
Charlos approaches, introduces himself, and offers to assist, as he is knowledgeable about the language being translated, Old Jacinth.
They all go to look at the tomb itself to view the original inscription. Charlos sees the source of the problem, part of the tomb entrance has shifted, obscuring part fo the inscription and causing the confusion in the meaning of two vague words.
Scribbles casts a spell to hold the door in place while workers remove the shifted stones. The damaged portion falls, revealing the rest of the inscription, that this is indeed the tomb of the Architect.
The Scholars are delighted and go back to their tent, arguing over the best way to investigate the tomb. Of course, the party decides to go in right now.
They find a narrow passage, and a very old locking mechanism that relies on a kind of carpenter’s square and a bronze replica of a plumb bob.
They are able to open three of four doors to rooms in the tomb, but not that of the Architect Heiko himself. In one, a wall has been painted with a long story about the creation and downfall of the city that became the Necropolis.
Charlos was able to translate most of it, determining this most important portion to be a clue:
The priest instructed the tomb be built in the effigy of a wyvern and the key to the Well of Repose be hidden in the Library.
They also found a stairway down to a lower level, where a curving passage led to a circular room with a large, white stone disc on the floor, about a foot thick and 12’ in diameter. The other direction of the passage curve away in a widening spiral, leading to a crypt and possibly more beyond that.
They were running out of fuel for their light sources, so they returned to the camp to rest and investigate their discoveries.
The party was able to open the door to what looks like an “Achitect’s Library”, where they gathered up as much as they could, including some beautifully crafted architect’s tools and at least one scroll with magical writing.
fin
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