Third Adventure 03: Recovery and An Offer

"You want to talk...? Ok then..."

Snarg bites the side of his mouth and addresses the foremost individual: "A'ight, if ya wantin' me to be talkin' wit' ya, ya got me. What do ya wanna be knowin'?"

"I'm Kolson Wezrae," he says standing up from the inn table, "To whom am I speaking?"

"Oh I know," he said with a cheeky grin, "they're here to congratulate us! So, there I was, standing next to the biggest puddle of water I'd ever seen, roaring to life! Oh, I roared right back at it and started chopping away! Everyone else kinda did there own thing, when suddenly my axe is glowing red hot. For a second, I thought I could glimpse the fire elemental, bowing her favor to me. As my axe bursts into flames, I give a mighty shout, and the golem shudders in fear! I lunged forward in one fell attack, splitting the puddle in half along its heart! From that moment, I knew it was my destiny to slay the beast, and save this wonderful town!"

The group grabs the four of you without comment or reaction and heads off in separate directions. Each individual is accompanied by no less than 3 of the heavily armed guards. They each take you to a small room and begin asking you questions. They are fairly simple in nature, but the general gist is they want to know everything you are aware of about the secret room found adjacent to the Water Golem's construction site, what happened in there, and what you found.

Snarg looks slightly perturbed after being dragged in to the room. "I ain't hidin' anythin'. If ya want to be goin' the room yerself, ya be knowin' as much a I'm knowin'." he crosses his arms and continues, "Followed the remains of ya Golem to be makin' sure it's croaked and then we be seein' couple o' offices, shiny crystal, and note takin' slab. We're havin' a couple o' curious ones who be touchin' ya crystal and then gettin' a little of a jolt in the noggin. Had to put 'em down before they be doin' any more damage. That's it."

Spoiler:

Snarg of Wildpaw wrote:Snarg looks slightly perturbed after being dragged in to the room. "I ain't hidin' anythin'. If ya want to be goin' the room yerself, ya be knowin' as much a I'm knowin'." he crosses his arms and continues, "Followed the remains of ya Golem to be makin' sure it's croaked and then we be seein' couple o' offices, shiny crystal, and note takin' slab. We're havin' a couple o' curious ones who be touchin' ya crystal and then gettin' a little of a jolt in the noggin. Had to put 'em down before they be doin' any more damage. That's it."

Spoiler:

You get no reaction except a faint frown from the investigator. "I'm sorry, why did you have to... how did you put it... 'put 'em down'? Is violence towards your own people usually how you react to situations?" He looks at you rather intently.

Zeiss sighed. He wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

"Snarg found the room. I'm not sure how he did, I was too busy taking care of my broken leg. We entered it and discovered different kinds of instruments. The crystal is what interested us. At the time, we assumed the Order knew about it and we were wondering why nobody warned us..."

The guards in their magma armour were still in the room. Zeiss focused on the Banderling who was conducting this interview.

"...I was curious, so I threw water on the crystal. It absorbed it and brightened because of that. Then, Kez, an Olthoi, touched it. She fell unconscious for a moment but woke up and attacked us. We had to defend ourselves. I don't know why, but she left town this morning. I think she was shocked by the accident. Here, I told you everything that strikes me as important. Is there anything else or can I return to the Inn? My colleagues and I still have to argue about a job we were offered."

"You're here about them, aren't you?" Rory says, holding back his contempt for the law. "About the possibility that two workers and a Lugian were smashed to a pulp? All bloodied, bones broken, a horrifying sight to be sure. Friends of yours?

"I don't know if you've noticed," he continues, almost reveling in his near-belligerent streak while stretching out, "but if you'll take a good long look, you'll see I'm well within my ability to take down two workers or a Lugian, if I'm not angry enough to do in all three. But did you get a look at my axe? Nice and shiny...and sharp. Not the sort of weapon you use to cave skulls in.

"But, if you'll recall, those corpses were rotting into the earth by the time we stumbled on them. Plus, there was something off about that Lugian corpse, wasn't there? Something absolutely...magical. Like some kind of liquid had drained his reservoirs dry. At least, that's what I figured. And that place was swarming with puddles the size of trolls, and those were able to relieve two of our allies of a significant pool of mana, before we got clear of the hallway."

Zeiss:
"No further questions then. You may go." He gestures dismissively.

Rory:
One of the guards comes up and smashes his mace, heard, into the back of Rory's head. It hurts quite a bit. The Banderling talking to him looks over his glasses, entirely unamused. "This can be as long or as fast as you prefer Mr. Rory. All we want to know is what happened in the unusual room you found past the Golem's chambers. Or..." he pauses. "Are you alleging there was no such room?"

Snarg returns the investigator's frown and raises an eyebrow. "It's bein' nice of ya to be carin' 'bout our well-bein'. Seems ya be lookin' fer somethin' specific-like. Maybe if ya be tellin' me more 'bout what ya lookin' for exact, Snarg's able to be helpin' ya out more."

Snarg:
"Not at all," the Banderling demurred. "I'm merely pointing out that you yourself have deliberately left a hole in your own story. You say one of your own touched the crystal, and then you had to attack them? Why? For what purpose? I want details, Gnoll."

"Hey, watch the robe fur face!" Kolson objects after the goon squad plants him squarely in a chair in one of the smallest rooms he has ever seen. He didn't wait long before another Banderling joined them.

She was nice looking for all she did to hide it under her uniform and Kolson relaxed a little. At least the company might not suck. He removed his hat, placing it in his lap.

She joined him at the table and said, "Hello Mr. Wezrae. You and your little band of adventurers sure have been busy."

"You can call me Kolson if you want to."

Snarg chuckles a bit. "Seems ya be knowin' a bit more 'bout it, I'm thinkin' ya bein' a bit holey too. Ya seem to be knowin' it was only one that we be puttin' down when I said a couple of 'em touched it and we be havin' to put 'em down." he relaxes his stance a bit and shrugs. "Just goin' loopy, stabbin' me and 'nother, insultin', weird voice, so we havin' to put 'er down 'fore more slicin' be goin on. I honestly ain't knowin' any more 'bout it."

Interrogation: Rory

Oh, the room?" Rory said, massaging the back of his head. He found a bump there, and gave the guard who left it there a dirty look. He uttered an amused huff at the Banderling's use of his name. He was sure the interrogator would have used a racial slur if only he knew what the hell Rory was.

"I thought I was on trial for murder. Sure, whatever. Snarg found a switch, pressed it, and presto, we went inside. We saw a giant jewel in the middle of the room, didn't know what it was for. I was sure someone had set us up, so I was sneaking around the office rooms looking for someone to yell at. Soon as I came back, I noticed my Olthoi companion lying on the ground.

"My fellow adventurers were just about to pick her up and carry her out when she suddenly pounced on me and tried to reshape my ears. Nearly cut one clean off. I had no choice but to draw my knife in self defense, she was completely insane. Did I mention she was a giant bug with claws?

"She leaped off kept attacking other people, and we tried to knock her out, but she suddenly regained herself just before our Lugian companion struck her down. And that was it, we left."

Snarg:
"Hrm." The Banderling sneers, and you get the impression he doesn't care for Gnolls, but he buries it under his professional demeanor. "Very well, Snarg of Wildpaw. You may go, our apologies for the interruption."

Rory:
The Banderling gives you a long, hard stare, and you get the impression that he is trying to determine if you are telling the truth or not, before finally hmphing to himself. "Our apologies for the brusqueness, Mr Rory. You may leave."

The interrogation took only a minute. Zeiss was the first one to return to the inn.

"Well, it was a lovely meeting."

They still had to discuss about the job offer.

Snarg firmly shakes the hand of the Banderling, then sees himself out. "If ya wantin' to be talkin' more, just ya ask!" he tells over his shoulder.

Kolson:
The Banderling woman glances at the Elf with mirthless eyes. "We are aware that you and your company, currently under contract as stipulated within the Guild of Adventuring Personnel's Bill of Accommodation, ratified year 189, encountered something unusual in the Golem Manufactory east of Al-Ferin, currently under ownership by the Order of Summoners." She brings a quill to a piece of parchment, ready to write. "I would like to know absolutely everything about what you found in that Manufactory other than the Golem itself."

*After many hours of running, Kezrin finally felt somewhat normal again. The hours of exercise had done her well. Her mind was cleared, at least for the moment, of the horrifying image of her bloodied claws and of Snarg and Rory's malicious faces. Her pace slows to a light jog as she hits the edge of town. She runs to her tent and packs everything up. Moving closer to the inn she sets up camp again. She is not quite ready to rejoin the others, but she has decided that it is best to stay with them and repay the debt she owes for her unconscious actions.*

Spoiler:

"My, my, you speak legalize. An under appreciated Romance language if you ask me. Personally I prefer poetry. Have you heard of The Spring and the Fall? Wonderful poem. If we ever get the chance I'll read it to you sometime."

Kolson:
One of the guards brings a gauntleted fist down, hard, on the top of your head. You have a bit of a headache now. The woman continues to stare at you, expression unchanging.

"Ugh, that hurt. For future reference my dear, it isn't a good idea to hit people in the head as it makes them woozy. Not a good way to perform an interigation I think.

Anyway Major Killjoy, as you know I and my colleagues were hired to fulfill a Guild Bill posted by The Order. Not that they were particularly interested in helping us to do so.

When we arrived, we found three paths, two of which were inaccessible and one which contained a trail of blood leading off to parts unknown. One was magically barred, presumably by The Order's lock down measures. The other contained a high level magical trap. No, strike that, a high level resetting magical trap. Our expert attempted to find out what he could about it but was almost killed in the attempt by a Fire 10 spell."

He pauses for a bit, for emphasis on the power level.

"Finding those paths barred to us, we continued down the third, an open path with two water aqueducts on either side. The water itself was glowing for reasons unknown, enough so that it lit the entire hallway.

As we continued down to the hall's end, a globual of water sped around the corner and moved to attack us. Sethos managed to defeat it with a strike from his staff. We were attacked several more times throughout our exploration of the facility, in the course of which we found out that the pests drain mana and, once defeated, revert back to normal water. As we defeated more and more of the creatures on our trip through the facility, the glowing water returned to normal, forcing us to use torches and lanterns to see.

When we rounded the corner, we were presented with the choice of continuing forward or taking a left down the stairs. We chose to go forward, following the blood trail. There we found a pair of your folk, presumably the two missing workers, and one Lugian, a member of the previous Guild expedition.

As near as we could tell, the Banderlings had been bludgeoned to death by parties unknown, since the paste left over by our fellow Adventurers attests to the Golem's predilections. The Lugian had been magically drained, likely by the water creatures but again, we had no sure idea.

Deciding to leave that mystery for later, we backtracked back to the stairs, descending them to find a large, sealed door. Our Olthoi, Kez, worked the control pannel for the door, which opened up into a large room. When we moved to investigate, we found our fellows from the Guild pounded into an unrecognizable paste.

It was at this time that the Golem appeared, sealing us into the room while it tried to destroy us. To be honest, it was quite strange. It manifested around 20 feet tall and only grew in size as the fight continued.

Skipping ahead to after, one of our party, Snarg I think, found a door leading into a secret area. It contained a room filled with devices of Pyreal-make and offices in adjacent rooms.

But our most important discovery was a large, green and thoroughly unnatural crystal.

Our group tried many things upon it including a Scan spell, poking it with a staff, throwing a torch at it, Kez even touched it, the blasted fool! But it resisted all of our attempts to discern what it was. It seemed to absorb the elements, threw one of us across the room, even rendered Kez unconscious. She awoke in a murderous rage not long after, quite out of sorts for her.

You have to understand, Captain Frowny-eyes and assorted goons, she's a kind and peaceful researcher, she'd never do that under her own volition. Whatever it is, be careful with it. I don't know who made it or why but it can't be for anything good."

Kolson:
The woman continues scratching with her quill for several minutes after you finish talking. She totally ignores any further attempts at discussion until she's done. When she is she looks up straight into your eyes and asks you an unusual question. "In your opinion, Mr Wezrae, what do you think that crystal was or, perhaps, why? Purely speculative, from what you tell me you didn't get enough information for a solid thesis. So... professional opinion."

Kolson waits patiently for the investigator to finish writing.

"My professional opinion? Now you want it? Alright, here you go.

If you had ditched the goons and introduced yourself like decent folk, I would have helped you with anything you asked within reason. We could have shared a pleasant conversation, gotten to know each other better. Frell, we may have even been friends.

But you came in here assuming I was a criminal when you lacked any evidence to prove so. So you'll excuse me if I'm reluctant to share.

May I go now?"