Seeing that his spell didn't work, Tristan hurls another dart of acid at Lamm. If the man is behind cover, Tristan will hold, ready to attack as soon as Lamm reappears.
Gobbleguts, Lamm's 'pet' alligator, is dead. Maya (low on spells), Khadmeade (low on hit points) and Bael (bow in hand) stand on the far side of Gobbleguts' pit. Tristan is across the other side, his magic poised for action. Gaedren Lamm, shrivelled old criminal, petty thief and abuser of children is cornered in his squalid lair.
Ducking out of the doorway, his hand crossbow loaded for another shot at Maya, Lamm suddenly notices Tristan off to his left and spins to level his handbow at the wizard instead. Tristan is faster, a glob of acidic goo shoots from his fingertip into Lamm's face, knocking the jaundiced old man to the floor.
A sudden calm descends. Lamm lies unmoving, but still breathing.
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So, job done. There is a big pile of junk, and Lamm's personal quarters to examine, of course....
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Maya rushes forward, but her moment of hesitation ensures that Tristan reaches Lamm first. She trots to a halt...deprived of the kill herself, but at least present to witness his demise firsthand at the hands of one who had fought by her side.
It was enough, she decided.
"A dark cloud has passed from this city," she murmurs, eyes closed. "A creature that fed on the lives of children has finally passed. Let us collect our trophies and be done with this cursed den."
With that she speaks in the secret language of the spirits, awakening a second sight that would guide her to the most treasured of Lamm's belongings.
Tristan pulls his guisarme away from the corpse and thrusts the end of it into the pool, trying to wash away the blood. He looks nervously at Khadmeade, hoping the dwarf won't question his actions.
The old man had merely looked pitiful at the end, not threatening. Can I really be sure that he's even the one that killed Teresa?
Tristan had expected to feel satisfaction upon getting his revenge, but now, he just feels empty. This won't bring her back.
Khadmeade's face is unreadable as the dwarf joins the rest of the group. Looking down at the body of Gaedran Lamm, the dwarf pauses to give Tristan a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
The spirits tell Maya that nothing in the pile of large junk, neither does the old man carry anything magical. Moving on to Gaedrann's roach-infested den, however, there are a couple of items that glow in her spirit-sight. A hatbox, on the room's only table (rickety, of course) beside the remnants of a meal now crawling with flies, and a small wooden chest at the foot of the filthy bed. Neither container is magical itself, but the auras coming from them speak of items inside that may be magical.
OOC
Don't forget that under Pathfinder rules you can use Appraise or Knowledge (arcane) with a detect magic spell to identify items. Identify does the same, but with a +10 bonus.
All Lamm does have on his person is his masterwork hand crossbow, 5 bolts, a masterwork dagger and a ring of keys.
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Would anyone mind me taking his crossbow? I have learned shooting with this a long time ago..." Bael asks the others. "And shall I check the box? It is maybe trapped."
OOC
AC 16 (T13, FF13), HP 25/25, F +2,R+5,W+0
Resistance to cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5.
Darkness 1/day, Sneak 1d6
Rapier +2 . 1d6+2 . 19-20/X2
Shortbow +3 . 1d6 . 20/X3
Stealth +8 (including ACP)
Perception + 4
use spell-like ability. Hope it can work this way.
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Bael checks the small chest, but it doesn't appear to be trapped. Sure enough, one of the keys from Lamm's keyring opens it, to reveal several cloth-wrapped bundles of various shapes and sizes. Some long and thing, others blocky or round, but all the size of something you could hold in one hand.
To Maya's fading(*) spirit sight, three of the bundles radiate a magical aura. One is a slender object, the other two are small and roundish.
OOC:
(*)One minute is probably up by the time you get the chest open.
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Maya carefully lifts out the three potent items and lays them on the floor by the chest. Each one she unwraps and peers at curiously, leaving the other objects in the chest to Baal and the others.
After giving his guisarme a final swish, he goes over to look at Lamm's junk. The loot will come in handy, he knows, but right now he doesn't care about that. He looks for ledgers, notebooks, papers - anything that might document Lamm's deeds and dealings.
The large pile of junk is just that - mostly broken crockery, dented helmets and rusted tools. Tristan doesn't find anything of interest amidst it - it looks like nothing more than a pile of unwanted stuff shoved into the corner.
Maya unwraps the three magical items from the chest. They are a slender obsidian wand and two vials of liquid - one a tiny vial of oily liquid, the other a crystal bottle of a silver liquid. The function of any of these eludes her for the moment.
Bael finds that the other bundles are all valuable-looking art objects. They are a miniature gold crown, a teak cigar case inlaid with jade, a gold Chelaxian trade bar, a scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnet eyes, a silver ring inscribed "For Emmah, the light of my nights", an ivory figurine featuring two entwined succubi, a finely-made shuriken, an adamantine arrowhead, an abolone shell holy symbol of Shelyn and a bejewlled brooch.
OOC
Tristan and Khadmeade both have good Appraise skill and between them they are able to value these items.
Crown 350 gp
Cigar case 25gp
Trade bar 100gp
Scrimshaw kraken 200gp
Silver ring 150gp
Ivory succubi 450gp
Masterwork shuriken 301gp
Adamantine arrowhead 60gp
Holy symbol 300gp
The brooch, featuring a pseudragon and an imp locked in battle, with jewelled eyes, is obviously far, far more vaulable than any of these items. It's value may, however, be meaningless. Tristan recognises it as matching the description of a piece of jewellery lost by Queen Ileosa some months ago. A reward is offered for its return.
Also, don't forget that there was a magic aura coming from the hatbox on the table.
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Maya gathers up the three items of power and goes to the hatbox. For a moment she rests her fingers on the thin, threadbare velvet lined lid, then with an unspoken decision, she opens it.
"We can try to see what these do," she says as she does, "So we can tell how best to break these spoils between us."
"I can cast spells to identify the magic items, starting tomorrow, but I can only cast a couple every day, so it will take a few days" Tristan says as he makes an arcane gesture and examines them for the first time.
Tristan studies the wand, the vial of oil and the silvery liquid. Aided by his mystically enhanced sight, the workings of the magic behind these items becomes clear to him.
Meanwhile, Maya opens the hatbox. Inside is a severed head, quite obviously a couple of weeks old. Even with its state of decay, the face looking up at her is clearly recognisable as the face of the woman who hired them - Zellara. Underneath the head is a Harrow Deck.
Tristan
The items are:
Wand of Magic Missile (25 charges)
Oil of Keen Edge
Silversheen
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