"Shoanti? Here?" Baer recoils as if she had just sniffed an otyugh's poop. "Really?"
Know (Local)
"That doesn't make much sense. Them Shoanti ain't liked the Korvosans in a long time...ever since them Cheliaxans kicked them out of here and forced them into the craptastic Cinderlands," Baer remembers. "They probably would want to bring a few dozen streaming tribes of barbarians to flatten this place. There are few groups of Shoanti would want peace, but they are weak and likely wrong."
"As I mentioned, the Field Marshal is looking for you," the guards tells Tural. "If you want to have more information you should go see her. Thousand Bones is with her now."
You walk up to Cressida's office and indeed notice she isn't alone when your arrive. With her is a tall, rail-thin Shoanti man of give or take 60 winters. He leans heavily on a walking stick, the polished femur of some giant beast crowned with a firepelt cougar's skull. He wears a
shirt decorated with countless jangling animal bones, many painstakingly scrawled with dozens of tiny symbols and glyphs. A bearskin cloak is draped about his bony shoulders, and warpaint in the shape of a skull decorates his face. The Shoanti's eyes are milky as if he were blind. On his shoulder sits a regal red-feathered razor crow.
"You’re back! And what a perfect timing!" Cressida motions for you to sit down. "I’ve already had the report about her from my agents. Let's leave that for later."
"This," Cressida nods at the Shoanti man who regards you impassively, "is thousand Bones, a Way-Keeper for the Skoan-Quah, the Clan of the Skull."
Cressida gives you the same information the guard gave you earlier, but adds some more info: "The dead Shoanti is one of Thousand Bones his grandsons, a young warrior named Gaekhen. He was murdered by a mob that used the unrest in Korvosa as a feeble excuse for misplaced vigilantism."
She turns to thousand Bones and waits for him to speak.
When Cressida's summarized what's happened the old shaman speaks with a deep voice, his words carefully chosen but delivered with a barely restrained anger. "My people have worked hard to understand yours, yet it seems each day we see new examples of how your people work just as hard to foster old hatreds. My grandson is dead, beaten to death by cowards in your city street. I do not blame you personally, yet still Gaekhen is dead, and my son and his kin are not so forgiving as I. They wish to return to the Skoan-Quah in the Cinderlands, to join with the Sklar-Quah and rally to war against the whole of Korvosa. This would be disastrous, for both our peoples. Amends must be made."
"Our ways are not as yours. If a body does not go whole to the fires of the gods, the smoke of a warrior’s spirit cannot rise to the Great Sky. If I could send Gaekhen’s body to the Great Sky with honor and dignity, his father and brothers would listen to me and stay their wrath—the talks of peace between my people and yours can continue. But he was not just murdered. His body was taken from the scene of his death, sold by a peddler of corpses to a necromancer named Rolth, a criminal to both our people. I have spoken with the spirits, and they have revealed to me that Gaekhen’s body has been taken to a place below your boneyard, a place the spirits call the Dead Warrens."
"With this knowledge, I could surely lead a group of my finest warriors into your boneyard to retrieve Gaekhen’s body, but this would be seen as an act of aggression by your people. No, it falls to you to make amends for what has been done. You must bring me Gaekhen’s body, lest we be forced to recover him ourselves. And although it pains my heart to say it—we will not be gentle if it comes to this."
Thousand Bones then rises, nods curtly to Cressida, and moves to leave the room. "I will return to my people to await the delivery of my grandson’s body."
Cressida sighs and rubs her forehead. "I apologizes for his behavior, but I have to agree with his assessment. Someone tied to Korvosa needs to find the dead kid's body and return it to his people. As a gesture of good will. Things will quickly go from bad to worse if it doesn't happen. Normally, I'd contact the Church of Pharasma to organize an expedition into one of the warrens under the city graveyard, but you've
proven capable in the past."
She moves her hand away from her forehead and leans back in her chair. "Don't worry too much about Trinia's escape, which the agents who were standing by in the alleys already told me about. Even the best people can't succeed a hundred percent of the time, and I trust you did all you could. I've heard there were some nasty falls, and I'm glad to see you're all still whole."
"If you can help me with the current issue there's still that 1000 gp a person to be claimed. I'd like you to begin immediately, but feel free to ask questions if you have them."
Mavor nods solemnly as Thousand bones and Cressida do their talking and he waits patiently when they finish.
As he leans on his greataxe as usual he looks at Thousand Bones and solemnly nods again and says: "My condolances for your loss, Thousand Bones. Wish I could say I know what you're going through, but I'm an orphan myself, I have no family of my own. As to your grandson's body, we will bring him back."
He then looks to Cressida and takes one hand of the greataxe and rubs his own arm.
"Well I've grown up in the city myself, but I've never heard anything other than rumours about the Dead Warrens. Can you eloborate a bit more on them Marshall? Any idea what we can expect down there or tell us who this Rolth character is exactly?"
Denario subconsciously flicks the corner of his deck's top card, while listening to the old man's story.
Death mages, filth worse than crimelords.
When he finishes, he speaks.
"Though i don't have a people or clan to rally against any specific target, i can understand the urge to take action, if something befell a family member. I've only half heard vague talk about those locations, but i don't like the sound of this, death magics are a desecration."
Baer looks at the Shoanti, casing the man up and down. She snorts.
Diplomacy
"Sorry your warrior did not have more skill."
Know (Local) - Dead Warrens
"Yes, like Mavor asks. What do we know of the Dead Warrens?"
Thousand Bones had already left before Baer's snappy comment, but he'd nodded at Mavor and Denario as he left.
"Let me start with telling you about Rolth," Cressida says. "He’s long been a thorn in my side. A failed Academae student, Rolth’s a monster of a man who was expelled after the true nature of his experiments were revealed. He was butchering vagrants, stray animals, and anything else he could get his hands on to try to build some sort of golem from their collected parts. The Academae didn’t press charges because it didn’t want to cause a scene—it just quietly expelled him and the man’s been trouble ever since. We suspect he’s responsible for nearly a dozen slayings, each involving mutilation to the body, but to date we haven’t been able to find him or locate his lair. He might or might not be in the Dead Warrens, but anything you can find there that could lead to his arrest would be greatly appreciated."
Baer recalls several things about the Dead Warrens, but the knowledge is already shared by Cressida before Baer can share it. "Korvosa’s Gray District is riddled with underground chambers, some of them burrowed by ghouls or other monsters, others remnants of ancient Shoanti burial grounds. Some of these warrens are patrolled and kept clear of monsters by the church of Pharasma, yet the Gray District is a large place and the tunnels below are vast and tangled. The Pharasmen focus on containing the problems with undead and necromancers, but as soon as they wipe out one, it seems as if two are ready to spring up in its place. The problem’s particularly vexing in Potter’s Ward, where the bodies of the poor and homeless are buried. According to Thousand Bones, the Dead Warrens were one of his people’s burial vaults, chambers that lie under Potter’s Ward."
"We have the man who sold Gaekhen’s body to Rolth in custody: a simpleton named Elkaris. He spilled everything when we told him what was going on and how much trouble he was in—in any event, Elkaris says he delivered the body via wheelbarrow to a partially collapsed mausoleum deep in Potter’s Ward, near the southern edge. A toppled and headless statue of a sword-wielding gargoyle lay in the dirt near the mausoleum’s entrance—he was told to leave the body behind the gargoyle. This location matches where Thousand Bones believes the Shoanti burial grounds called the Dead Warrens used to be located, so that’s the best place to start the search."
Allyph shudders. "It sounds like an awfully creepy place..."
"Do you guys think we'll need to buy certain stuff if we go there, or will we be fine like this?"
"Probably need a good bashing weapon like a club or mace if we need to bash some skeleton heads in. Usually against undead it helps to use ifre I've heard, but usually many things burn."
"Heh, i knew an elf once, he said everything could be solved by burning it. How did he say it...ah yes, . Well it didn't work out against the fire elemental the little greenhorn used in the competition."
Denario smirks with his arms crossed.
Baer nods, listening to the story of the other failed Academy student.
Maybe I will turn out better.
"The store? Stuff?" Baer wonders what might be helpful. "Fire is good. Some prefer holy water when dealing with the undead."
Baer snorts and thinks about how much money she has in her purse. Baer is ready to go assuming she can find the Potter's Ward.
"I will keep using my buffs and debuffs. Seems to work fine for me. Although I don't know how it will affect undead..."
Tural adds.
"Else I don't have much experience with undead so I wouldn't know."
"I don't like undead," Majenko shares with you. "I was once attacked by a zombie, but he wouldn't fall asleep no matter how often I stung him."
After Cressida's dismissed you, you head for your usual store. Inside the old owner greets you. "Hey! How have you been doing, lads and lasses?"
A few more friendly words are exchanged, but the store owner quickly gets to the point. "So what can I get you?"
Mavor puts his old and somewhat splintered greatclub on the counter.
"I'd like a new one please, from a fine craftsman if possible."
He then looks back at the others and asks: "Think we need bottled fire and holy water?"
"They wouldn't be a waste of investment, i'll say that. I've found coming prepared gives you a potential edge in a match."
Obviously, a cardplayer's way of relating things.
Baer pats her one fire flask in her pouch (but not too hard).
"I got one fire, and my staff should be sufficient," Baer mentions.
Quorthos says nothing, still fuming over his failure to rescue the girl. Hopefully we can accomplish this task... what a mess this city is!
"Here you go!" the store owner says after retrieving the requested items, handing over the items.
The old man takes you money and Mavor's old greatclub. "Feel free to stop by again! Always a pleasure doing business with you!"
After you leave the store you head straight for the location where you're supposed to find the Shoantie's body. Korvosa's vast graveyard, a place known as the Gray District, is a mournful place even by day. Alone in the city, this place is quiet and calm in the face of the civil unrest, yet this calm is an unnatural stillness in the air, almost as if the graveyard were preparing itself for a vast influx of new dead. Certainly, this ominous feeling is nowhere more noticeable than in Potter's Ward, the final resting ground for Korvosa's poor and homeless. Mounds of unmarked dirt stretch far and wide, indicating sites of mass graves, while crumbling mausoleums from years ago, abandoned by their families as the Gray District expanded to the west, dot the bleak landscape, forgotten and empty. Mourners do not visit here, for the dead buried in Potter’s Ward leave behind few who regret their passing.
Locating the mausoleum described by Elkaris, the simpleton who sold Gaekhen's body, is a relatively simple task. However, no sign of Gaekhen's body remains in the area. When you look around you notice the presence of a man's tracks, together with a wheelbarrow trail. More interestingly, several smaller humanoid tracks, each bearing only four toes, clutter the site as well. These tracks lead into the mausoleum itself.
if you make the check.
Mavor walks around and inspects the tracks entering the mausoleum and then follows the wheelbarrow tracks.
He wonders as he sees the footprints, though he doesn't recognize the sort of print he thinks to himself if he knows any underground dwelling creature that could match the same description.
He holds up a hand to signal the others they should wait before approaching any further and points with his greataxe towards the trap door.
"I guess this is our way in. Let's not keep those corpse-snatchers waiting."
Mavor switches over to his greatclub as he expects trouble and probably of the undead kind.
Denario only just spots the trapdoor.
Huh...i've seen better.
In response to Mavor's comment;
"Right...just be prepared for the chance we're meeting some of the not so restful locals. No telling what sort they used to enforce security."
"These footprints are not what I expected. These are Derro footprints. I read on them some time ago."
He shares all the information he knows about the creatures.
"Better than undead in my opinion though. Rather not meet those."
Perception
Baer snorts around the tracks that Mavor found, and then again at the trapdoor that she missed.
She is ready to follow Mavor down, her mighty staff in her hands.
"You first, Mavor, then I will follow. Try not to get lost, boy," Baer says to Quorthos. "Stick with us so you don't get hurt."
Quorthos scowls at Baer reflexively at her comment, then smiles and shakes his head. He slips his brass knuckles onto his left hand, and follows Baer down into the shaft.
Derro... crazy little creeps. Wonder what they want the bodies for? Or maybe they're just working for this Rolth joker.
Both Mavor and Tural recognize the footprints and share all the information with the others. You then proceed down the stairs below the poorly hidden trap door. Downstairs it's completely dark, and only those with darkvision are able to see.
The large room you arrive in is supported by four wide pillars of stone. The ceiling above arches in a dome nearly twenty feet high. The walls are lined with skeletons caked into the mud—human bones mostly, but here and there smaller bones might be from halflings, or perhaps children. Fifteen-foot-square pits sit to the east and west, each filled with a large heap of hundreds of bones. To the south, a crude hole has been gouged into the wall, providing access to a tunnel.
Waving one hand in the air while muttering a spell, Allyph creates four dancing lantern to provide light for Denario and herself. "That should help!"
Allyph draws her rapier and stays at the back of the party.
Mavor moves towards the east side of the room, greatclub in two hands as he walks closer.
"Careful now, we don't know whatever lurks in here besides Derro."
He mentions as he tries to look out and listen for any signs of other creatures present.
He aims to look into the eastern room and hiding behind the pillar compared to the west room.
Baer sniffs the air and moves the column opposite Mavor, looking into the alcove on her side. Her staff is at the ready.
Perception
"Come along now, don't be afraid."
Tural moves forward with Mavor and Baer. He walks in between the pillars so he can overlook both rooms when they are opened.
"I am ready"
Tural whispers into the large room, his words echoing from the walls and ceiling.
Denario follows Baer's direction and stops behind a pillar.
While moving into the large room Mavor and Baer each notice something moving in one of the bone pits.
To the west Baer sees about six human skeletons clatter into unlife. To the east Mavor sees a large bear-like skeleton with the head of an owl move slowly.
Baer and Mavor inform the others of what they see, enabling the party to act before the skeletons can.
Surprise round:
Allyph
Baer
Belfin
Denario
Majenko
Mavor
Quorthos
Tural
Round 1:
Red
Quorthos
Baer
Tural
Allyph
Owlbear skeleton
Orange
Belfin
Mavor
Majenko
Denario
Purple
Green
Blue
Yellow
Tural uses the split second he sees before the undead can react to cast bless on the party.
"Let us focus on one at a time! There are too many."
Tural says to the others as the doors open.
Mavor looks a little on edge and then comes with his approach.
"Take out the small ones first they should fall more easily than the big one. Afterwards we have time to gang up on the big one."
Mavor moves to the south of Baer and gives a sideways glance to her.
"Ready to kick some bony ass?"
Slow on the uptake, Quorthos is still by the entrance when the warning from Baer and Mavor comes. He closes his eyes briefly and concentrates on the void, mumbling softly in Aklo. A black rift appears in mid-air in front of the western door. The rift tears open, revealing a black void sprinkled with stars beyond. A large creature resembling an Ustalavic fell pony steps through the rift, which seems to knit itself closed immediately afterwards.
"That should buy us some time with the big one...
Pony CR 1/2
N Medium celestial animal
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +5
DEFENSE
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
hp 13 (2d8+4)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +0
SR 5
Resist Acid, Cold, and Electricity 5
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 hooves –3 (1d3)
Special Attacks Smite evil/good
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 4
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 13(17 vs. trip)
Feats Endurance, Run
Skills Perception +5
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Smite evil/good
1/day as a swift action (adds CHA bonus (+0) to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD (+2) against evil/good foes; smite persists until target is dead or the celestial/fiendish creature rests)
Denario notices the bones s he arrives at the pillar.
Aha...skeletons it is.
"Mavor, my hunch was right, the bones are here 1st."
Denario flicks his wrist, the sheath dropping his deck onto his hand.
Round of Surprise
Baer 5' steps in front of Mavor, readying her staff in two hands to swing at the first skeleton up the stairs.
to hit;
damage.
"I got these, go get the other one."
Allyph draws her wand of shield and 5-foot steps forward.
"This rapier's not going to do much, is it...?"
"I'll aid your attacks, Baer!"
From atop Baer's shoulder Majenko readies himself to aid Baer's next attack.
While Tural casts bless and Quorthos lets a pony appear from the Dark Tapestry, everyone else readies a weapon or attack while getting in position.
One of the human skeletons climbs up the 15-foot ladder and appears in front of Baer, who takes a wild swing at it. Even with Majenko's aid and Tural's spell Baer misses to undead.
Clinging onto the ladder with one claw, the skeleton swings its other claw at Baer. The attack bounces off the battle ward Tural cast on Baer earlier today.
Round 1:
Red
Quorthos
Baer
Tural
Allyph
Owlbear skeleton
Orange
Belfin
Mavor
Majenko
Denario
Purple
Green
Blue
Yellow
Using her wand on herself Allyph casts shield. She then puts away her wand and takes another 5-foot step forward, ending up next to Quorthos.
Round 1
Baer spins her staff twice at the skeleton, then 5' steps to make room for Mavor.
to hit; (bless)
damage;
to hit; (bless)
damage.
Tural immediately turns around after casting bless. He casts misfortune on the giant bear skeleton. After trying to steal the skeleton's luck he starts a low voiced chant.
Misfortune (Su): The shaman causes a creature within 30 feet to suffer grave misfortune for 1 round. Anytime the creature makes an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, it must roll twice and take the worse result. A successful Will saving throw negates this hex. At 8th level and 16th level, the duration of this hex is extended by 1 round. This hex affects all rolls the target must make while it lasts. Whether or not the save is successful, the creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 24 hours.
Chant (Ex): A shaman can chant as a move action. Any creature that is within 30 feet that is under the effects of the shaman's charm, evil eye, fortune, fury, or misfortune hex has that effect's duration extended by 1 round. A shaman cannot select both this hex and the witch's cackle hex.
DC 16
Quorthos leaves the pony-shaped segment of voidstuff to "guard" the larger skeleton, and moves across so he can see the other skeletons down in the pit. "Why put them in a pit? It makes them so much easier to deal with..." What are we missing?
Quorthos gestures arcanely and fires a thin ray at the skeleton wearing purple rags.
Baer spins her staff twice at the skeleton that just attacked her, but misses with both attacks.
Tural turns around to face the owlbear skeleton and casts misfortune on it. He then starts a low voiced chant to increase misfortune's duration.
Quorthos wonders what he's missing while he moves across so he can see the other skeletons down in the pit. He shoots a thin ray straight down the pit, hitting the skull of one of the skeletons and blasting it apart.
The owlbear skeleton moves up the stairs and claws at Quorthos's pony. It nearly tears off one of the pony's legs, then pins the summoned animal down.
One of the human skeletons climbs up the stairs and swings a claw at Mavor. The claw's deflected.
Round 1:
Red
Quorthos (Pony 5/13HP)
Baer
Tural
Allyph
Owlbear skeleton (Misfortune for 2 rounds)
Orange
Mavor
Majenko
Denario
Green
Blue
Yellow
Majenko readies to aid the first person who attacks an enemy within his reach. "Get them!"
In his eagerness to be helpful Majenko's tail nearly pokes one of Baer's eyes out. "Sorry!"
Mavor takes a step south-west and swings his greatclub at the first skeleton, then hopes to connect it with the other one on the stairs.