Day 101 - Investigations & Explorations

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**Investigations & Explorations**

**Days 101 (25th May)**

**DM Note: You took over the lease on the house on the 17th May, it expires on the 31st. The 10 day uber bless on Bazin and Umar expires on the 27th (evening)**

The party has a number of threads to deal with and is busy most of the day pursuing various lines of enquiry across the city.

## The Letter From Gohde

On examination the letter is addressed to “Garaf, Twoo and Company”, Gohde’s seal appears genuine and matches that found on your papers of secondment to the Pathfinders. Similarly the outer seal appears genuine, and does not seem to have been tampered with. However as already noted, the contents are remarkably imprecise and have no date on them.

Wun is asked to investigate with the Sands of God (Universal temple) from which the note arrived as to the provenance of the letter.

Clerk: “It came in with the high priority despatch case from Northlake, which would have left Northlake yesterday first thing. There was no routing information so we couldn’t tell where the initial point of despatch was. The is a despatch going out tomorrow morning, so if you have anything so reply just bring it in before dawn and I will include it in the package – nothing too bulky mind you. You might want to make sure you get anything important included, since we have been told that the courier service may be operating on a much more limited service over the next few months, no idea why – nobody tells me anything.”

…a bit of palm greasing (sorry offerings) later….

Priest/Administrator: “Yes, the courier service is run by a subdivision of the Royal Sky Knights, all mounted on Greathawks capable of covering large distances quickly. Normally most deliveries are routed through Northlake, purely because of its’ location. We would expect a package once a month, primarily church business but occasionally notes for the local consulate come through and very rarely specific letters for individuals such as yourselves. One of the notes coming in this time advised that the free operation of the courier service might be impeded over the coming seasons but that alternative communication channels will be established as soon as possible.”

…despite a little more palm greasing, Wun is unable to unearth any more information.

**Total Spend: 4 silver**

## The Underbed Compartment

The party is satisfied that they have scanned the entire villa for secret compartments and/or traps and the only area of interest is the heavily trapped compartment under Onwens bed.

Umar, Bazin and Caradoc visit the Sands of War Temple to see if they can procure some services to remove the wards on the compartment.

Clerk: “Yes, we can assist with the removal of unwanted spells, normal fees are 45 silver per casting of a Dispel Magic, with no guarantee of success of course. We can send one of our acolytes over to perform the casting this afternoon if you wish?”

Caradoc: “We think these wards will require more than an low level acolyte, plus there are mechanical traps.”

Clerk: “Everyone always thinks that their spells require the high priest himself, but I assure you that our acolytes will be more than up to the task.”

Bazin: “Perhaps we would be better speaking with a Priest directly….”

Umar: “Agreed.”

Clerk (somewhat grudgingly): “Please wait a few minutes”

The clerk leaves and comes back with a young human male, obviously a priest – although also obviously quite junior.

Junior Priest (noticing Bazin and Umar): “Ah, many apologies for having to wait sirs, do come with me and I am sure we can reach an agreement.”

The characters are taken through to a small office, obviously the junior priest is currently part of the administration staff as the desk is covered in ledgers.

Junior Priest: “So I understand that you have a small trapdoor that you wish to open, and that it is heavily trapped and warded. Now we can help with the magical wards of course, but to be honest our skills with the more mundane traps are fairly limited. Do you know what sort of skill levels would have been involved in the castings of the wards.”

Bazin: “High level druid, possibly an avatar of Wyldwood”

Junior Priest (gulping): “Ah, so seriously heavy castings then…..”

Junior Priest: “My suggestion would be that we assess the strength of the wards first and then can determine the most effective way of removing them. For 1gp, I can get one of the senior priests to come over in an hour or so to have a look and tell you what he thinks. Obviously preparing Dispel Magic in quantity will take a while but we should be able to then remove the wards efficiently tomorrow.”

Bazin: “Seems a reasonable idea to me.”

Junior Priest: “If you are going to need assistance with the non magical traps, your best bet to keep it above board would be to go down to the Pierside and ask to speak with the head of security. I am sure he will be able to point you in the right direction.”

**Total Spend: 1gp**

## Removing Magical Traps

Just before lunch a Dwarven priest of Shanah turns up at the villa, he introduces himself as Jiriff and asks to be shown the trapdoor that needs investigation.

Looking it over he cast a couple of spells, and whistles appreciatively.

After a couple of minutes investigation, he casts another spell, and whistles again.

Jiriff: “Right, this is above my competency I think, I could be casting Dispel Magic here for a few days and not make much dent in these wards.”

Jiriff: “There are eighteen wards in total, plus three non magical traps. From what I can see of the magical wards, two of them are some form of custom warning system letting someone or something know that the wards are under attack, the remainder of the wards are designed to damage or incapacitate anybody attempting to open this little door.”

Jiriff: “There are a mix of castings in here, druidic, Wyldwood and Shanah, with the Wyldwood castings being the most potent. One of the warning wards is Wyldwood in origin, the other is Shanah.”

Jiriff: “The strange thing is, normally you can spot a thread common to wards, some way of the caster being able to circumvent them, but not here – these wards were set up as a way of locking something away that the owner had no wish to see again.”

Jiriff: “Dispelling these wards will be time consuming, unless I can persuade Cheron to come and stand here for 20 minutes with his axe drawn. The real complexity comes if we do not want the warning wards to go off, both of these are tied to all of the other wards, including each other. If any ward disappears, the warning is despatched.”

Jiriff: “So if we do not want to warn somebody that their little hidey hole is being broken into. We have to target the two warning wards first and only those two. Preferably with multiple dispel attempts.”

Jiriff: “I mean look, you guys are obviously favoured of Shanah at the moment, so we will help as much as we can. But this is going to cost money and time no matter which way you look at it.”

## Removing Mechanical Traps

Caradoc and Joshua head over to the Pierside to speak with the Head of Security there. She turns out to be a female Ariel who calls herself Feathertouch. You explain the situation on the trapped entrance with her.

Feathertouch: “So you say that this is all legit then, you currently have the tenancy of the old Diamond Fort and so have rights to all contained within.”

Caradoc: “Correct, check with Temple of Shanah if you wish to validate.”

Feathertouch: “No, I trust you.”

Feathertouch: “Ok, so based on what you have told me then I can get some skilled help to assist with the mechanical traps, also have some contacts for the magical elements – although they do not come cheap.”

Feathertouch: “The rates would be anything from 5sp to 1gp per hour, depending upon what skill level operative you are looking for. My suggestion is that you don’t go cheapskate, but it is up to you. Discretion is guaranteed, we will remove the trap triggers and bypass the lock mechanisms – but will not open the container unless forced to do so by the mechanisms encountered.”

Feathertouch: “Of course there is always a risk with these devices, so you would pay a deposit of 8 hours. This would go to the operatives estate if there was an accident resulting in permanent injury or death. The deposit would be returned upon success, less any fees incurred.”

Joshua: “Sorry to have to ask, but what is preventing the operative from simply taking their time excessively?”

Feathertouch: “All of our operatives are bound by a professional code of conduct. We do not fleece the customer, it is counterproductive in the long term.”

Caradoc: “And this contract would be ratified by.”

Feathertouch: “A priest of Perceval if you wish, for a 5% surcharge.”

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