Café de Nuit

Rafael wrote:

Adam wrote: "Back to the pursuit, then?"

"Hell, yeah!"

tarlyn wrote:"Hey keep it down, I heard something near the back of the building. I think maybe we should have a look. It sounded big."[/i]

Cirdan will then assume a defensive position, and slowly, so the heavy armour doesn't hinder him, move forward to the door and look outside...

Outside the door is a small brick courtyard, half overgrown with weeds that have pushed up between the bricks and surrounded on all four sides by a ten foot stone wall. To the right , the wall is pierced by an open gateway that provides egress to the street. To the left, from whence comes the shadow and the noise...




A chestnut horse sticks its muzzle towards Sir Cirdan and whinnies. The animal seems a little agitated, but not hostile. Another horse stands on the far side of the chestnut, a dun colored mare. Both horses are saddled and bridled, and both are tied to a scrawny apple tree that grows hard by the wall. No human being is in view.

Bennedict raises his crossbow, creeping behind Cirdan and Norzak towards the door. At the sudden and unexpected appearance of the horse, he jumps and fires his crossbow, jerking it away at the last second so that the bolt impacts with the door frame.

"Ah, eheh, sorry about that. I'm a little jumpy."

With recognition that no enemies are lurking in the shadows outside, Benn mops his brow with the handkerchief and takes a moment to examine the building more closely. Perhaps it's nothing, but the recent revelations regarding the Incabulos activity in the city makes any room containing vermin seem somewhat suspicious.

Benn's closer exmination of the building brings him across a few items of note: a pit or shaft in the middle of a small room to the left of the main hall, and a storeroom to the right that contains five wooden chests. Other than that, the place is empty of everything but broken stones, dust, and spiderwebs.

Shining a light into the dark pit will reveal that it is twenty or twenty five feet deep, with a rusted iron ladder running down one side. At the bottom is an iron lattice. Beneath that is an open space, possibly a horizontal tunnel of some kind, though It's hard to see clealry from the top. Patches of light reflect dimly upwards, and a gentle sound of flowing water can be heard from below. A faint odor hangs in the air over the opening, somewhat like the smell of meat that's been spiced to cover its rancidness.

In the little storeoom to the right sit the five chests. All five are locked and latched. They all appear to have suffered some degree of dry rot.

Bennedict groans as he looks down into the pit.

"Perfect," he says to no one in particular, "Just perfect."

He turns to the others. "I have a bad feeling the assailants may have fled down here."

"That's okay, Benn. Ye wanna descend 'n we go after them? Maybe we kin lookit these here chests first. Might be something useful in them we kin use, I say. And is the elf okay to continue on with us?" Norzak asks as he approaches the chests.

ewancummins wrote: Shining a light into the dark pit will reveal that it is twenty or twenty five feet deep, with a rusted iron ladder running down one side. At the bottom is an iron lattice. Beneath that is an open space, possibly a horizontal tunnel of some kind, though It's hard to see clealry from the top. Patches of light reflect dimly upwards, and a gentle sound of flowing water can be heard from below. A faint odor hangs in the air over the opening, somewhat like the smell of meat that's been spiced to cover its rancidness.

Cirdan will smile to the horses - maybe the nutbrown one reminds him of a stallion he rode in his younger days back home -, but then quickly turn to the pit.

"So, to the sewers, my comrades? - Norzak and I can see in the dark, what about you, Ben?"

Rafael wrote:
Cirdan will smile to the horses - maybe the nutbrown one reminds him of a stallion he rode in his younger days back home -, but then quickly turn to the pit.

"So, to the sewers, my comrades? - Norzak and I can see in the dark, what about you, Ben?"

"Not so much," Benn says, doubtfully. "I should be able to create a magical light, in any case."

Open Lock 15, not 16 as I said. Disable Device 22.

Norzak approaches the five chests. He casts a spell upon himself and thus feels more dextrous. He nimbly unlocks each chest and deftly plays with each hinge, thus opening each chest.

The chests contain grotesque masks of brass, tin, and tarnished silver, some decorated with cut glass of a deep green color. They are made to resemble the heads of rats, mice, flies, and other vermin.
Also in the chests are the ragged remains of deep burgundy robes, a set of a dozen iron daggers of curious design, and a small bronze medallion on a golden chain.

Norzak doesn't touch anything. Looking over his shoulder to the others he asks "Any you fellers know what these things are?"

The medallion is of greenish metal, and fashioned to resemble a grotesque eye.

"Don't touch that!" Bennedict shouts, catching a glimpse of the amulet. He rushes forward, looking on with deep concern at the objects contained therein.

"Mein gott, it's worse than I thought." He stares down at the amulet of the eye, fear clearly apparent on his features. "The Incabulos cult is active in the city."

He scrawls backwards in his mind, looking for the words to the Ezran incantation to reveal if any of the objects are magical. Bennedict tries not to let his voice shake as he casts it.

"None of this is magical," the archivist states simply, reaching in and picking up the amulet, holding it up to the light. "I assume you recognize this, Cirdan?"

Cirdan spits. "Sure."

Assuming it is safe, Cirdan will take up the items in the chest.

"A conspiracy is going on here. Those thugs were paid by someone with power. No wonder the other one jumped into his death."

Are the robes and the masks enough for us to disguise ourselves with them?