Greetings-
Boamund spun around and jogged, his clanking armour echoing down the passage, back around the corner to rejoin the rest of your group. His departure was followed by calls to return and talk, that those calling him back meant no harm. You talked it over quickly and decided to return, en masse, around the corner and see who these people were. Their accents were not Western and Ahappi had a glimmer of recognition- someone he'd met around here before?
You came to the archway that led into the room where the speaker(s) had been and could see that the arch itself was enchanted, with Maugis able to see what must be defensive magic there. A suit of chainmail (later found to bear the New Arv/Baronet Barapitis's heraldry and belong to Sgt Lesoncurre) hung there on a dagger stuck into a crevice in the wall, and there was recent writing of some kind scratched out on the floor in front of the arch. Inside the torchlit room, the occupants were hidden, taking places to either side of the arch, but you could see a statue and archway in the left and right corners of the room, plus signs of habitation (bedrolls, rubbish) and old skeletal remains swept aside from the middle of the room.
You quickly struck up conversation with the occupants, who claimed to have no knowledge of the “serpent cult” that you sought but had heard something like that might be around here. They said it was a dangerous place and you'd be best off leaving. Things got a little tense, moving toward armed conflict, but then calmed down as you decided maybe they were just “innocent” rogues hanging out here and didn't have anything to offer except bloodshed. You left them, then spoke together back around the corner and changed your mind, with Ahappi opting to go back and pass through the arch, unarmoured, to meet them in person. He went accompanied by Maugis.
The arch didn't harm you- you reckoned it would be activated by metal or armour or something. The occupants turned out to be sailors and mercenaries, led by a tough Wachazan from Esrolia named Djehut Twostrike, who used scaly armour-conjuring magics to protect himself and sported elaborate arm-length tattoos of sea serpents. Indeed, Ahappi had met him on his last visit to New Arv and Djehut had been in the broad area since then, doing odd jobs and eventually losing his ship, now “in between merchandise” that he said his crew sold– i.e. they were smugglers and pirates and amoral toughs who'd do what they must. Conversation soon calmed to a neutral tone, with the six mercenaries accompanying Djehut relaxing while the two sailor-knights spoke and Maugis chimed in now and then.
But then a figure was heard sneaking down the passage that led through the archway to the far right (the one to the far left was fully collapsed) and it revealed itself to be Sgt Lesoncurre, whom you sought and Djehut said he'd been discussing potential business with. Ahappi spoke bluntly, that he had been sent by Gulos to take the Lur Horn from the Sgt and Lesoncurre said he knew what this meant, that he was meant to be murdered. But Ahappi's alternative offer of turning against Gulos with Lesoncurre's help didn't pique any interest at all- “You don't know the Captain that well” was the coldly determined Sgt's reply. He challenged Ahappi to a duel instead; sighing, Ahappi accepted.
The soldier looked skilled but clearly no match for Ahappi, and the duel demonstrated this from the start. Lesoncurre held his ground just past the arch, readying magics on his ball-and-chain and bracing with his kite shield, with a quick attempt at a Tire spell failing to fatigue the Captain as he slowly closed in. Ahappi's first strike slung the Sgt's weapon down the hall, so, with a stony face and fatalistic determination, the Sgt rushed at him to bash with his shield, but that shield too was knocked back down the corridor. And then, as Lesoncurre tried a flying tackle, Ahappi tripped him, leaving the humiliated Lesoncurre almost helpless at his feet. The man spat and cursed at Ahappi (refusing surrender), who then decided this duel was over, and after two quick harpoon stabs it was.
Djehut and his men had been watching the duel with keen interest, some of them placing bets (with strong odds for the Captain), while Maugis monitored it too. Djehut then approached the Captain, as he took the Lur Horn from the Sgt's back, and congratulated him on an impressive victory. The sailor now saw the skill of Ahappi and knew that this was no man to trifle with, so their relationship took a turn toward more amicability. Ahappi even offered Djehut a place in his crew but the sailor said, with some surprise and uncertainty, that such things would be better discussed over flagons of ale sometime. Meanwhile, Maugis went past the dead Lesoncurre to see where he had been camping out, and found a triangular chamber with mundane belongings left there, in addition to a Rokari book of prayers with mad scrawlings of hatred for the Giranois “frog fuckers”, trying to find justification in the Sharp Abiding Book's doctrine to logically exclude those natives from status as Malkioni. Orsattus, having shed his armour before going through the first arch, came to see if there were any clues about Froalar here but, finding none, went back to the rest of the party who'd been watching outside that enchanted arch.
And soon the Captain had finished what he could ascertain could be achieved here, after hearing from a more chatty Djehut that there had been strangers here (matching descriptions you'd heard) lately, and that they'd taken residence down the hallway through the semi-collapsed arch you'd seen before. He warned that they had a bad vibe to them, even though the lady “Kim” that seemed to lead them was easy on the eyes, emphasizing that they might not just be mercenaries and that he was sure that they were no Dripping Beards pirates but rather some kind of associates. It was evident that this underground area was fit only for those who could hold any space in it, and more frail or foolish sorts wouldn't be here long, especially as the place was thoroughly looted (e.g. the statues in Djehut's room had been defaced and removed of any old valuable decorations). So you went for that other archway, with the Captain and Djehut sure they'd cross paths once again. Djehut also related, before you left, that if there was any Froalar-ish religion remaining here, it must be elsewhere deeper within the cave/corridor complex, not nearby, as his band had roamed around these passages enough and seen no such thing. It didn't sound like Djehut planned to be here much longer, hearing his complaints about “crowding” here.
The old archway around the eastern corridor had lost its magics but you realized that, even though the chamber beyond was half-collapsed and had signs of leakage and accumulating pools, some power within caused magics to be absorbed or dissipated immediately upon entering. Boamund led the way in, seeing a dim heat source in one central puddle on the edge of the rubble, and was caught off guard as his magics vanished and a bubbling mass of protoplasm (a gorp; acidic chaos-tissue) rose out of the puddle. Fraud ran in and “gave” the pseudopod-extending thing his shield in return for pulling the blinded Boamund out. Repeated castings of magics into and within the room proved that the power here that eliminated folk magic or sorcery (at least) was beyond anything you could conjure. There was a stone stairway that led upwards on the right side of the room, but you did not see a way to easily reach it, with this gorp threatening to grab anyone heading that way. So you retreated, pondering how you might pass (Fraud Shaven opted not to try sprinting around the gorp to explore the stairway alone with his dark-sight), but instead favouring trying some of the less explored, unsubmerged passages back the way you'd came.
The dead-end passage with the ceiling trapdoor proved to be another frustration- it was locked or barred from above and, thumping it with Maugis's staff and the Captain's bulk hefted against it by Boamund, you heard a cry from above to “Get lost, in the name of Baronet Barapitis!”. This didn't seem like an exit to risk forcing your way through, so you went back into the old sea cave near the entrance. Boamund relented and climbed into the crawlspace-like natural tunnel in the northern side (“passage 3” on your map), followed at some distance by Fraud and lit by a spell from Maugis. After he ventured a few metres into the twisty tunnel, suddenly three grey serpents lashed out at him out of the stone itself, and one bit him aggressively enough that he retreated, being barely able to dodge or fight in this cramped space. Something about the tunnel and snakes bothered him. On reflection, in consultation with Fraud Shaven, it was concluded that the snakes were no Froalar-things but instead were chaos-tainted “stone-snakes”, which was unexpected. Indeed, with the gorp, this place seemed to have more chaos infecting it than you'd wager, for lying just below a settlement.
Your magics and mana were running low, the night was growing late, and you had the Lur Horn for Captain Gulos; one objective achieved. This place had too many deadly obstacles to be worth pushing deeply into it, so you favoured retreating to see whether the local Captain might be able to give you more information now. You swam out into the dark night in the harbour and went toward the Excelsiinn to find him.
Conversing as you walked, some facts – and questions – seemed to emerge from your visit: 1) The Esrolian pirates had been dealing with Lesoncurre and whomever these “strangers” were. Gulos had complained about fast-raiding pirates plaguing his port lately, but none of these matched their modus operandi. Some puzzle-pieces are missing, and the sewers might still hold some. 2) Lesoncurre surely had been stirring up anti-Giranois sentiment and activity in the region, so his death might help peace here? Few would miss him, but who were his allies? He was not acting alone; he was said to be well-connected and resourceful, well-travelled. He was Rokari but had no evident connections to those eminent Rokari you knew, and his mad notebook didn't seem like the kind of thing that even your hated Vicar in St Thosos would tolerate, Rokari doctrine being so strict and top-down-managed. 3) These sewers were exceptionally unusual: the entry was an old cave complex, modified by the Godlearners back when this area was used for whatever they used it for; more than just a sewer (it was probably not far from the sea even then; maybe in an estuary). The passages where you'd met Djehut, Lesoncurre and the gorp were surely old Godlearner (or older?) manufactures, and there were some other such passages like the corrupted magical one that Ahappi had barely escaped intact. It seemed like multiple civilizations had been busy here, but Godlearner (degraded, twisted) magic was still dominant. 4) Speaking of magic, this place was messed up! Plenty of strange warped magics lingered here. Sure, it had been looted in recent years since resettlement in New Arv, after probably being vacant for ~600 years (this is a place no Giranois would ever go!). Time and the curses heaped on the Godlearners by the Shattering could be blamed, and maybe more such as the chaos taint (cause or symptom of the warpings?), meddling looters, or something else could have contributed. No wonder, though, that few people go deeply into this place- and anyone that does must be desperate and/or deadly. 5) Nothing has been clearly First Age here, or obviously related to Froalar, but– there are tantalizing common threads. Wachazans with sea serpent tattoos, the chaos snakes, the Captain Gulos's eel-and-snake ring, the rumours that Maugis and Orsattus had both heard– this was too much for coincidence. There must be more to these sewers, and some of you still yearned to know more of that (Orsattus for religious reasons; Fraud for an inner longing and curiosity; maybe others). 6) Who were these seven “strangers” and how did they manage to live with that gorp there? Were they even still around? Djehut thought so, but you'd seen no sign of them.
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