"Agreed. Confirm that we cleared the place of traps and dangerous inmates, and found one of the servants alive - but he only wanted to leave the area as fast as humanly possible. Then we can have dinner, and a quick kip, before we head out to the cave."
"I think we are working quite well towards your .. goals."
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You return to town and report your findings to the baroness, Lady Origena thanks you for your services and pays you the 5,000 gp fee. In
fact, she's so pleased that she also tells you that if they wish to attend the auction and bid on some of Hunclay's belongings, she'll cover half the price of anything you win, up to a limit of 7,500 gp.
"I'm going to send a small army of clerks through the manor to catalog its contents and organize lots for the upcoming auction. The auction is sheduled for Starday evening."
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so I can purchase that gaggle of birds in the cage, wonder what I will do with them bowing and nodding to the great lady ting thanks her. "Why thank you's m'lady, 'at's bloody well, er.. at's swell o' you's, we's'l go eye balls 'em caves we 'eard about, and be done's a for tha auction, wroight." turning to Hans and Felicitas as they leave he asks "Now we can try 'at ham and 'ave a pint er three, an tomorrow we's'l 'ead ta tha cave wroight?"
"Thank-you Lady Origena. That is very generous of you."
He then nods to Ting Tang.
"Let's head to the inn to rest for the night."
"Sounds good to me. A decent nights rest should work wonders on my kinks!"
"Agreed! Let's enjoy a pleasant evening, and a relaxing rest - for we have work to do in the morning!"
Hans then ambles off to do exactly that.
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ting toddles off after Hans and Felicitas, after a pleasant dinner and a few frothy beverages ting heads to bed. Waking early, he head out to the watering trough and takes a bird bath. Then taking care of his equipment; a little oil, a little brushing, a little work with the whet stone. He meets his friends in the Inn's great room for breakfast. After eating his fill of porridge and toasted bread with honey he ask "Are we's ready ta 'ead ta tha cavey caves we's been hearin' so much about?"
Hans looks up from a hearty (and above all, protein-rich!) breakfast, and grins, wiping some errant egg whites from the corner of his mouth.
"Sounds good to me, Ting Tang! Give me a few minutes to polish this off, and I will be ready to hit the road - it's time we stretched our legs properly."
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You return to the inn to have dinner and ale. The sun is shining and it's warm. You can have your dinner served to one of the tables outside. Orem lights some candles.
After dinner, drinks and chats you return to your rooms and have a good night's rest.
The next morning, after breakfast of course, you head out to Hunclay's cave. You travel along the old Devy Road for about a mile. Suddenly ou see buzzards circling in the sky. After another half a mile you reach the cave's entrance. Two bodies lie near the shore of a small pond that runs out of a cave at the base of a 30-foot-high cliff. Both bodies have been mutilated by wild animals — little remains but their ruined gear and some scattered bones. You also spot the killers of the two men: three wolves. One of them is really big, almost as big as a horse.
Ting
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Wolf red
Wolf blue
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Hans
Felicitas
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Dire Wolf green
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those wolves need put down Ting, bastard sword in hand, seeing the wolves, charges the largest, drawing his sabre as he rushes toward the large beast studying the creature for a weak spot, he swings both blades at the carnivores underside trying to hamstring it with the sabre and gut it with the hand and a half sword.
Starting a bard song Felicitas moves forward ready to attack next round with her rapier.
IC +1
Hans happily walks forward, and with a roar, attempts to slaughter a wolf.
"Good job Ting Tang!"
Hans walks around into a flanking position, and tries to finish-off the remaining wolf.
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Ting, believing the only way to survive another attack from the direwolf was by rolling under it and attacking its soft underbelly, had not plan on what might happen if he succeeded. Sticking out from under the fallen body of the great grey beast was tings crooked beak. "Oy, a little bloody 'elp 'ear please, I's seems ta have gotten me'self in a compromising predicament, wroight"
Hans chuckles.
"Sure thing, Ting Tang!"
Initially, the blood soaked fur slips from his grasp...
...but eventually, Hans gets his shoulder underneath the bulk of the dead wolf, and with a mighty heave, throws the corpse off Ting Tang.
"I reckon we could make a pretty decent rug out of that one's pelt..."
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As Hans tosses the dire wolf carcass, ting tang, covered in gore, emerges. Smiling, he says "don't worries yer'selves! Most of tha bloody mess is tha wolves, I's did get a nick, wroight 'ear on me shoulder, would ya's mind usin' tha healy wand Miss Felicitas?" looking at the size of the dire wolf, "Rug? You's could make a tent out's of it. Use 'em little one's as door flaps, wroight"
Hans grins.
"Now, there's a thought! Think of the impression you would leave with a tent like that. Still, we shouldn't get side-tracked - let's see what's in that cave..."
He then heads cautiously in the direction of the cave, sword at the ready.
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As Felicitas uses the wand on ting he thanks her"T'anks Miss Felicitas, I's appreciates tha 'elp, wroight!" Then separating himself from the group he shakes himself, similarly to a bird in a bath, getting a surprising amount of the gore off of himself. He hurries to catch up to Hans nodding his head in aggrement, "Wroight you's are gov'n'r, let's see whats in tha bloody cave." As they approach the mouth of the cave, ting quietly walks to the entrance and takes a look inside.
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The pond in front of the cave entrance never gets deeper than four fet at the center - the creek that covers the cave floor is one foot deep, leaving six feet of headroom aboce. the spring that feeds the creek trickles out of the rock face in the alcove to the west, and an increasingly shallow tunnel leads around the corner to the northwest.
Ting hears a strange skittering and a wet hissing coming from deeper inside.
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skittering and hissing, that can't be good ting returns to Hans and Felicitas, he explains the layout "'At ol' pond's about beak deep so's you two's 'll be fine, a little water in tha cave, fed by a spring, 'en's tha cave turns west, I 'eard a strange skitterin' an a wet hissin' got's no bloody clue what 'ey's is, wroight." Prepairing to go back, ting has his bastard sword resting on his left shoulder and his right claw poised to draw either a chakram or his sabre. Wading back through the pond and into first cave ting follows the increasingly shallow tunnel that leads around the corner to the northwest keeping a keen eye out.
"Well then, sounds like the cave is defended. Let's see what manner of beast the wizard left here!"
Tightening his grip on his sword, Hans moves forward, following Ting Tang.
Felicitas prepares herself to start singing as soon as a beastie ... emerges.
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The shallow water ends at the entrance to a large cave. The air within is almost uncomfortably warm. Four chests sit at the far side of the cavern. The ceiling, studded with stalactites, is ten feet high above the floor at the entrance. In the middle of the room lurks a zombie. Not a human zombie, something bigger, it is shaped like a crab with faceted eyes and a mouth like a lamprey. It is almost as big as a horse.
Felicitas
Ting
Hans
Felicitas
Ting
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Zombie
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Hans
OMG is that ugly...
Knowing her weapon will most likely prove useless Felicitas tries to aid Hans in hurting it.
"What in the Nine Hells is that?"
Unperturbed by the weird nature of the creature, Hans roars, working himself up into a fury which causes his form to flicker and Blur, and charges forward to take a swing!
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Felicitas identifies the creature as a Neh-Thalggu. Usually these creatures are alive and breathing, this one is not. It's undead.
Hans and Ting charge the creature in the chamber. They both hit, but the creature is still moving. Felicitas successfully distracts the creature so Hans has a bigger chance to hit.
Felicitas
Ting
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Zombie -43HP
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Hans
Attacking again Felicitas tries contribute more to the fight.
Frothing mad, Hans eagerly steps forward, and hews into the animated pile of flesh.
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ting, still bleeding from the bite he took from the monster smiles his Tengu smile, as he sheaths his bastard sword and say "Now 'ats what I's yappin' bout gov'n'r, so what does ya suppose it was tryin' ta keep us away from?" As he goes and looks at the Four chests set at the far side of the cavern. "We's most likely found tha keys fer 'ese 'ear fancy boxes, but whats tha fun in 'at, wroight?" ting meticulously checks each chest for traps and then picks the lock on each.
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Four locked iron chests rest on the eastern side of this cavern. Of these four, three are relatively small chests that have arcane lock cast on them, but Ting can open them easily. Within these chests is a total of 11,300 cp, 7,200 sp, 1,800 gp, and 60 pp, all in small cloth pouches of 100 coins each.
The fourth chest is twice the size of the others and is of very fine manufacture. The chest is locked and has arcane lock cast on it, Ting can also unlock this one.
Sitting atop an exquisite darkwood case are four packets of dust and a scroll in a mithral scroll tube, itself worth 300 gp. The darkwood case is worth 250 gp, and contains five books. Four of these are rare antique tomes on astronomy written in Ancient Osiriani; each is worth 1,000 gp. The fifth tome is a tattered volume called Secrets of the Dreaming Dark.
Secrets of the Dreaming Dark is a very old and massive tome, several hundred pages long and bound in black leather. It claims to be a translation of a much older book, but the book’s original author is unknown. The pages are scribed in Aklo in cramped handwriting, and include complex star charts and maps of strange, distant worlds. There are numerous breathtaking illustrations of eerie monsters and alien gods as well. Unfortunately, pages or even entire chunks of the ancient text are loose or missing here and there throughout. Successfully reading and understanding the book requires the ability to read Aklo, as well as years of intense study. Since this copy is in relatively poor condition, it’s worth only a fraction of its normal value, but is still worth 11,000 gp.
Hans looks thoughtful.
"Well, we should definitely turn the books in... we would have trouble vending those around here, anyway. The gold, however, is another matter..."
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if we are leaving lets take what we can, if were staying here, doing work for the duchess, we shouldn't double-cross her, it would be bad for business. Ting looking at the new found stuff smiles and says "I's likes that shiny tube and tha fancy darkwood case, wroight? If'n we's is leavin' quick like, lets take the moneys and go! If we is stayin ta 'elp tha noble lady, we's shouldn't double cross 'er. Seem's loik 'ey's always finds out, wroight?"
"I think Ting has a decent way to think about it. I mean there can be a certain.. let´s put it loss while in transit. But our reputation is at stake. And let me negotiate... I think I can improve our finders fee... dramatically!"
Hans nods.
"Very well then. Let's turn it in. I agree, we can probably leverage this somehow - after all, we were only contracted to clean out the mansion; this is definitely a bonus!"
He then helps to crate everything up, and lug it back into town.