(IC) Old Anteirobrahd-by-the-Spiral

[Quagmire]

Aldren eyes the pit-master suspiciously, unsure about whether he can be trusted. Quell was already injured, and Aldren didn’t like the idea of leaving someone in his group alone with the pit-master and his squire.

He brushed himself off and put is hammer back on his belt. Would you mind if she brought a second person with her as well? If neither Quelle nor the pit-master objects, Aldren follows them out.

[batsharkgrapple]

The alley outside The Sunken Squall is misty with rain in the evening. Phee the squire tips the ashes from her totem censer. Smells like sugar-tobacco and carrots.
From out here the group sees the broken section of wall which leads to the slag pits, one of the hundred fighting pits outside taverns in Bitterwalks. Here is a hemispherical pit in the ground, surrounded by trash and stained with blood. Empty weapon barrels fill with slow rain, overflowing. Everyone has abandoned it after Tvarkin's rampage.

Pit-Master Alumina-menthus speaks. There's a chance the guards may soon be here. News travels with the wind here in Anteirobrahd, sometimes swift, sometimes slow, so who could tell how long we have. Tvarkin is my man, and I want to sort this out as quickly as possible. I'm already at odds with the authority in this part of the city. If you would assist me, I would be willing to make reparations.

[Luccan]

The alley outside The Sunken Squall is misty with rain in the evening. Phee the squire tips the ashes from her totem censer. Smells like sugar-tobacco and carrots.
From out here the group sees the broken section of wall which leads to the slag pits, one of the hundred fighting pits outside taverns in Bitterwalks. Here is a hemispherical pit in the ground, surrounded by trash and stained with blood. Empty weapon barrels fill with slow rain, overflowing. Everyone has abandoned it after Tvarkin's rampage.

Pit-Master Alumina-menthus speaks. There's a chance the guards may soon be here. News travels with the wind here in Anteirobrahd, sometimes swift, sometimes slow, so who could tell how long we have. Tvarkin is my man, and I want to sort this out as quickly as possible. I'm already at odds with the authority in this part of the city. If you would assist me, I would be willing to make reparations.

Quelle raises an eyebrow He killed a patron. What exactly are you asking us to do? Her tone is more incredulous than rejecting.

[batsharkgrapple]

Alumina-menthus peers inside. The buffalo skull helmed woman is standing with a sandal on Tvarkin's back.
My champions Latimer and Ulauren will, ah, relocate the body. Perhaps you could tell the guards that Tvarkin in his batte-rage caused mere structural damage. Which of course I will be paying the owner for. Tvarkin is my prized combatant, I would very much like to retain him.

[OdeMx]

Her tone is more incredulous than rejecting.

Spoiler: ooppsss

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Django completely agrees with Quelle! Actually, he is almost as interested in knowing what sort of idea the PitMaster has as in how much the party purse weight will increase in the next couple hours, almost....

The last post wasn't up when I wrote this one, ignore it I guess.

[batsharkgrapple]

Pit-Master Alumina-menthus surveys Aldren and Django's incredulous looks, and the damp red bandages around Quelle's thigh, and takes a deep ragged breath.
I can offer you monetary compensation. Understand that I do not carry around large quantities of coin, but I can offer you each one of these. And of course, a favor from me, should you need it in the future.
The senior pit-lord snaps his finger, and his squire Phee pulls up her pastel blue sleeve, holding her cape over her forearm to shield the precious bracelets from the rain.

On the girl's wrist is a collection of 7 silver bracelets. On each bracelet is a precious jewel, in the likeness of a planet in the solar system, including the Sun.

Yellow topaz, for the Sun. A symbol of radiance, hope, light.
Blood ruby, for Kophao. A hell planet of glittering magma. Passion, War, Fire.
Amber for Ceseomia. A lush desert paradise. Overcoming adversity. Patience.
Emerald with specks of blue cobalt for Terran. Adapting. Goodwill. Narcissism.
Dark Jade for Decutis. A gas giant jungle planet. Predation. Poison. The Circle of Life.
Opal, for Monov. Honesty. Honor. Loyalty.
Amethyst, for Yuggoth. Eldritch secrets. Insects. Arcane knowledge.

These are easily worth 200gp each.

[OdeMx]

"I'm having a hard time deciding between red and green one, can you decide for me?" Django puts his wrist waiting for the squire's desition. "How can we contact you?"

[Luccan]

Quelle's eyes travel the bracelets, examining the first and third most closely. However, when her gaze sets on the final bracelet, something in her demeanor shifts. A covetous look crosses her eyes. The amethyst... My master had a powerful telescope. Tracking Yuggoth's position through the night sky was a favorite pastime of ours. She accepts the Amethyst bracelet, secreting it under her sleeve. She looks to the Pit-Master The deal is struck. I do hope Tvarkin can control his outbursts in the future, else the taverns shall need thicker walls.

[batsharkgrapple]

Seeing Django isn't certain which jewel he wants, and sensing her master's anxiety, Phee hands Django the silver bracelet with the Blood ruby, for Kophao. She then hands an eager Quelle the amethyst bracelet, for Yuggoth. Seeing the elf's choice, the young squire shares a secret conspiratorial smile with her. (a student of the arcane, perhaps?)

Pit-Master Alumina-menthus answers Django. Come to the slag pits around these parts, and ask about for 'a glass of gin, bathed in the light of an eclipsed moon'. You should be put into contact with me shortly after that.

A peal of lightning colours the thickening clouds green for a moment. He looks to Aldren. From the hole in the Sunken Squall, Latimer and Ulauren emerge. The man, Latimer, has the corpse wrapped in a khaki blanket over his shoulder.
After the last of you have chosen your bracelet and the deal is agreed to, we should head inside. My fighters are removing the man's body, gods give him rest.

[Quagmire]

Aldren looks annoyed at Quelle getting to the ‘eldritch secrets’ one before he could, and swears to his ancient god under his breath. He looks grimly at the corpse being carried out. ”A philosopher I knew once asked me the cost of a life, saying that was the unanswerable question that plagued humanity. He clearly didn’t leave the academy much.

Aldren refuses to look the pit-master in the eye as he reaches for the emerald bracelet, willing to go along with this deal but clearly uncomfortable.

[batsharkgrapple]

Roughly ten minutes later, inside the Sunken Squall, we are alone with the guards, Alumina-menthus, his squire Phee, his fighters Latimer and Ulauren, and the bartender, shrunken away in a corner righting fallen furniture. Tvarkin is not present, having been sent away at the same time the corpse was disposed of.

The four guardsmen wear the uniform typical of the Southern guards, a type of varnished grey chain mail, grey open-faced barbuta helms, equipped with spears and bows. The leader is a grisly man, bald, with a red-wine birthmark over both his eyes, missing half his bottom lip, yellowed teeth poking through. The leader also has concrete thorns and ivy wrapped around his spear. He introduces himself as Simon Au Conteau, and asks everyone for their story about what happened here.
Never a night off. Never. Here I thought I could have an easy shift, have a drink to celebrate August St. Morrdum's return from the mountains.

He asks for Alumina-menthus' story first, and the pit-master delivers it as practiced. Structural damage only.
Simon then sends the pit-master and his retinue away outside with a couple of his guard, so only the party remains. So, what did you witness here?

Spoiler

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if anyone would also like to do anything in the ten minutes before the guard arrive, feel free.

[OdeMx]

Django nods to the guard and tells the story that was agreed.

Inside his head he congratulates himself on the choices made... he started the day with a handful of nails and a cursed apple and is about about to start an adventure with his bestest friends besides the fact that he has made 225gp in one day and probably another 55gp to split among friends... good choices indeed!

Django can't help but smile while daydreaming at the prospect of getting a black leather armor just like the one his former master had... and a small crossbow of course, every rogue that respect himself has one! Ohh the possibilities....

"Hey, Mr. Boss guard, you look tired, fancy and apple?"

[Luccan]

Quelle looks somewhat shamed at Aldren's comment, muttering what sounds like He's already dead... Once inside again she sits resting her leg near a suitably bloodied and broken piece of furniture or wall. She cleans her flail's heads during the wait, stowing it away when they come in.

[batsharkgrapple]

Guard Captain Simon nods as the crime scene narrative is told.

When Django offers an apple, the grizzled man stops and frowns. He removes his helm, showing the extent of scarring on his head. A little network of wounds and terrors.
What then, have me off with a poisoned apple? There are a thousand mendicants and fools who would be made princes in the street for killing a captain. I was born at night sir, but it wasn't last night. His face takes a tight, horrified quality. I was there when the Medicalis Arcana came out from the Undercity, when Phazmis Yurrin unleased his prion plague. My squad was first response when those Bast cultists sailed across the sea and unleashed their killer animals on the docks.
Another guard murmurs, struck with grief. Tigers. Tigers red with blood prancing up and down the Chaplain Lane.

If no one raises any last objections, the guards take a note of the report, briefly speak with the tavern owner, and vacate the area.

[OdeMx]

"Made prince? Never heard that! Quite Interesting...." with out feeling offended or intimidated Diango puts his apple away " my friends and I have to go back to work, if we aren't needed anymore, with your permission we leave now. I wish you a life free from the royal pauper assassins!"

[Luccan]

When the guards leave, Quelle stands You're right. We've spent more than enough time here. Let's finish our current job before we have to worry about something else. She walks as normal as possible, not wanting to show any weakness in Bitterwalks or the Undercity.

[batsharkgrapple]

The party leaves behind the Sunken Squall, out of the Bitterwalks, out into the thin mists of rain outside. They leave behind the mad Tvarkin's sensless murder, some content, some not, accepting bribery from the master Alumina-menthus to lie to grisled Captain Simon Au Conteau.

Now, the party continues their investigation into the alchemist Brother Mickelin's missing coffer, which was supposed to be delivered two days prior, by a man called 'The Ravishment of Many Shades', who lives on an avenue called Your Senses Are False. To get to the Olive Undercity, the party travels to an entrance they are all aware of. (hard life in the city among the peasants breeds knowledge of the dark things beneath)

The party travels through the rainy Southern city. They come to a dead end street behind an abandoned bakery, and happen upon a broken, long dry well. From the well grows a gnarled and leafless tree, which gestures 'come hither' with ash-grey branches. At the base of the well are crab-orange bushes which dance and rustle in the rainy wind. Parting the bushes, the party discovers a grimy staircase down, built into the well.

The descent into the stairs quickly becomes a journey through utter darkness.

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What is our marching order? The stairs only have room for single file. There's no light, meaning only Quelle can see naturally, if you want to go back and buy some light.
You know the journey down to take roughly an hour.

[Quagmire]

I don’t enjoy this darkness, I’m not quite fond of the idea that any creatures down here could attack us. Aldren states as he trudges down the corridor blindly. He considers it for a second and says Most of us can’t see in the dark and I don’t think any of us fancy standing in the front and being the first to get cut down. Seeing how we’ve just come into a bunch of wealth, I think we could buy a torch or lantern and perhaps hire a warrior who could defend us.

[OdeMx]

Guess we won't take the halberd, anyway Quelle has a nice Flail. And we take:

3 short cloaks
Torches
Tinder box
10ft pole
2 slings

And we are set to go

Spoiler: OOC plan

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We do have torches, I say we send Quelle to the front so we dont hurt her night vision,
Django can go 2nd and Aldern 3rd? Is that ok with you all guys?

Quelle should take the 10ft pole.

DM, is this a dungeon or just and under city?

[Quagmire]

Spoiler: OOC

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that marching order works for me

[Luccan]

Spoiler

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I can accept that, though I'm hoping we avoid fights

Once the human and halfling have readied their torches, Quelle takes the ten foot pole and proceeds down. She'll test the steps ahead of her with the pole, not trusting the old staircase to not give way at any moment.

[OdeMx]

Spoiler

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I can accept that, though I'm hoping we avoid fights

Spoiler: ooc

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Yeah, I agree, we should avoid combat as much as we can, or at least until we get lvl 3

[batsharkgrapple]

Spoiler: ooc

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Right so Quelle first with the 10ft pole, Django 2nd, Aldren 3rd, no torches lit?
@OdeMx, this isn't a dungeon persay but there's still a chance for random encounters on the way down to the Undercity.

[OdeMx]

Spoiler

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I can accept that, though I'm hoping we avoid fights

Once the human and halfling have readied their torches, Quelle takes the ten foot pole and proceeds down. She'll test the steps ahead of her with the pole, not trusting the old staircase to not give way at any moment.

Yes we ready and lite the torches and go after Quelle! Down we go!

[batsharkgrapple]

Spoiler

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Random Encounter Checks
Turn 2(1d6)[2]
Turn 4(1d6)[5]
Turn 6(1d6)[2]

[batsharkgrapple]

Travel down the staircase down passes long and arduously. It is a monotonous trek down the unknowable living history of Old Anteirobrahd. The black stone of the city changes to wood a third of the way down, before changing into worked and carved ground. In the walls, you see esoteric symbols which catch the torchlight. Depressions in the walls and ceiling where ancient fossils were excavated. The lonely, inky purple nothingness of it all puts your nerves on end. The party's minds wander in odd directions in lieu of other stimulus. What people built these stairs? And why? Here there are scorch marks, for some purpose. Here there is a symbol, like a crude lizard with six legs, another mystery forever lost. And what is man? What is our purpose here on these eternal stairs.

At the end of the staircase, Quelle sees the pale green light of the Undercity first. The torches flicker out at the bottom of the staircase. You have arrived.

---

The Undercity is a sprawling collection of obsidian black structures. Some building shapes looks familiar, but most are utterly different. The gutters are stuffed with the trash of long centuries. Almost everything glows olive green, providing illumination, and the sharp obsidian edges of the structures crackle softly occasionally, like a firecracker going off underwater. You hear a dreadful constant sound, the irregular ticking like of a geiger counter. It smells like ozone down here.

Ahead is a street sign, all green copper and dangling fetishes. It says the party is currently on a street called 'Avoid Sleep Here'. The sign indicates 'Your Senses Are False' is at the end of the current street.

Nearby, a rat the size of a bus sits in an alley. It watches the party's movements lazily.

[OdeMx]

Django can't stop looking the behemoth rat, hand in sword pummel and eyes on rat he says "Guess we better 'Avoid Sleep Here' and move fast to our 1st stop, I'm sure that rat is friendly!"

Django Walk fast, fast, fast away from the rat! And urges his friends to do the same.

[batsharkgrapple]

The party traipses down Avoid Sleep Here. Footsteps on the black stone echo out and take on a life of their own. The gargantuan rat flicks it's whiskers and cleans itself.

On Your Senses Are False, there is music. The sound is tinny and blown out, and the tune creates a bittersweet feeling of love lost. The source seems to be a strange egg-shaped device, on a stool nearby a pair of figures. The pair wear heavy ratty hooded cloaks. They are at a table, playing some strange game with dice and irregular shaped cards.

There is a building with an open storefront further on. The area is lit by two tiki torches, flickering with forest green flames which draw the eye. Inside the store, you see textiles (brilliantly woven rugs and wraps, with garish patterns that put you in mind of mazes, Galaga games, and nocturnal eyes), camouflage pattern backpacks, stacks of tinned food, pottery which makes you slightly uncomfortable to look at (shaped into clearly human forms, but somehow bereft of all humanity), and a clay flask with two spouts.
The woman running the store looks bored, resting chin on hand. She has a third eye symbol carved into her forehead, and wears a bandanna over her mouth made of glittering moss-coloured silk.

Even further ahead, is the Ravishment of Many Shades' abode, detailed by Brother Mickelin. It is a low obsidian rectangle. You see smoke rising from the chimney.

[Luccan]

It appears... calm. Quelle looks to her companions Shall I knock?

[OdeMx]

It appears... calm. Quelle looks to her companions Shall I knock?

Please do! You are the most appropriate