"There's plenty of machines that could have controlled it, and may have broken down or been turned off."  Zorden commented with regards to the torch.

"Finding exactly which one it may be, and getting it restarted, if that's possible, will take more time as we certainly didn't see all there was to see."

Khonnir's questions got Cain worried a bit, though he tries not to show it. "I don't remember Sanvil ever mentioning Val, so I am sure she is alright. I'll be heading to the tavern momentarily to break the news to her, now that we have something to tell her. Father Joram, is Khonnir fit enough to go home, or do you wish to keep him here for now?"

He nods in agreement to Zorden's words. "We certainly we did not search the entire place. There's a whole section of it infested some kind of murderous plant people that we just locked away. And then there's the matter of this party of orcs, rats and a woman with purple hair that we heard about. Apparently they were down there before anyone else, and wanted anyone following after them dead. Call me paranoid, but that's kinda suspicious. Oh, and from what Sanvil has told us, Ulreth has been beefing up security at a warehouse of his right about the time the torch went out. Might be worth checking that out as well."

OOC: Cain will be off to see Val as soon as we are done here. He'll be leaving the matter of collecting the reward for finding Khonnir to others.

Morin grinned back at Dolga's ribbing.  "Yeah, I bet. We smell like shit, too!  Or at least industrial waste."

Seeing his suggestion had upset Khonnir, Morin put up his hands in apology.  "I'm sorry, that was a bit insensitive of me.  You've been through a lot, and you're still recovering.  If you're not up to heading back into those caves right away, nobody's going to force you.  Would it be alright if we held onto your combat gear until you're better?  I'm not sure if we would have made it out of those caves without that wand of magic missile."

"Actually, one more thing.  That Technomancy scroll you had: since it's yours, I'm betting you know how to use it better than we do!  We've got a whole bunch of tech gizmos we just can't figure out.  Even if you're not up for exploration duty, maybe you could help us out with your knowledge!"

OOC: I'm hoping one of the NPCs present will be able to identify our mystery loot, which included "a pad with a few buttons and a mechanical gauge on one end reminiscent of half a clock, a thick, wand-like device with an empty reservoir on one end and a series of needles on the others, a similar but gun-like tool with its own, already filled, reservoir and needles, a pair of partially transparent containers about the size of a grenade but with small, blinking green lights and some kind of liquid inside, and a pair of another needled device filled with a reservoir of liquid."  As well as four serums from Sanvil's pack, and a unidentified grenade.  I'm willing to burn the technomancy scroll if it helps, since none of us can really use it anyways.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Fri 14 July 2023.

Father Kyte and Bazlundi Otterbie return from their aside, Bazlundi still looking pained by her headache but now also saddened by something, and Joram nods to Cain's question, "I've done what I can for today and whatever was infesting his mind has been cleared. It's only a matter of time before he fully recovered."

Khonnir squints slightly in thought before nodding and reporting foggily, "They injected me with something ... nanites? I felt my mind slipping each day. I think they were trying to figure out my spells, but they robbed me of them..."

Joram pats Khonnir on the shoulder and assures him, "It's over now, and I'm sure your magic will return to you before you know it."

---

"Orcs and rats?" Dolga repeats before noting, "I didn't see any gathering of orcs and rats, but I did see a purple-haired woman a while back. We get plenty of strange folk passing through. Or we did."

Bazlundi perks up slightly at the mention of the local gambling house proprietor, "You think Ulreth is involved? I didn't know he owned a warehouse, but the whole district has been quiet without the torch."

---

Khonnir blinks at Morin's question, trying to remember what he might mean, but soon agrees. "Combat gear? ... uh, ok, if it helps stop those machines. I don't know if I can help with the scroll..."

Khonnir's weak response finally clued Morin into the fact that Khonnir Baine might be dealing with more than "mere" trauma and exhaustion, but a full-on brain injury.  Hopefully some rest and magical restoration would be able to restore the councilor back to his old self, but until that happened, Morin resolved to spare the man from any future badgering.  "That's okay."  He replied, reassuringly.  "Just rest up, big guy.  I'll catch up with you when you're feeling a bit more like yourself."

Turning back to the party, he dusted off his hands as though he'd just finished a hard day's work.  Which, to be fair, he had.  "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat!  Whatdya say we head back to the inn and catch a quick siesta, then start poking around Ul..." Morin had been about to suggest tracking down Garmen Ulreth's mystery warehouse, but hesitated as he realized the entire town's government was gathered in the room with him.  After all, Ulreth was a powerful man, and the only evidence they had to go on was the suspicions of an enemy spy.  That was enough for Morin to start digging though the man's garbage, but it might be best if the councilors were left on a more need-to-know basis.  He'd mention it to the others once they were out of earshot.

"...Start poking around all the fine liquor Mr Baine has stockpiled!"  Morin finished, doing his best to cover up the slip.

Dolga frowns at Morin's slip, but makes nothing of it while Bazlundi nods approvingly.

Joram looks over Synn's body and begins to ask, "Should I make arrangements--" but is quickly cut off by a grunt and shake of the head from Cael, "I'll take her to her tribe; the witches have their own ways." Joram nods in understand and assures the party, "I will keep an eye on her here until you are ready."

Serantha smiles sadly as she turns away from Synn's body and addresses Khonnir and the group, "Are you headed to the Foundry Tavern now? I can gather the rest of your reward and bring it to you there."

Khonnir nods and answers groggily, "Yes, the tavern! Reward? I don't ... oh," he trails off, realizing he doesn't quite understand, but stands and follows along as the party departs for the tavern.

---

After crossing half the town once again, the party arrives at the Foundry Tavern--Cael for the first time. The smell of cooking food fills the tavern which is well-lit by the high sun through the open windows and soon Val pokes her head out from the kitchen to see who's coming in. Recognizing most of the group she begins to call out, "You're back! I have a pot of stew on--" but soon pauses as she realizes two faces have changed, and after a moment registers Khonnir. "Daddy!" she cries out and rushes across the floor to wrap the weakened man in her arms, nearly knocking him over, "You're ok! I was worried! ...are you ok?"

Khonnir smiles weakly and pulls the young girl back into a hug and assures her, "I am now, honey. Cain and his friends rescued me."

Val nods and pulls away from her father, her eyes a bit wet, and then proceeds to hug each of the party in turn with a long string of, "Thank you, thank you!"

"Tell me, Valerie," Khonnir begins to make sure the young girl listens, "Did Sanvil ever come around here? Mister Trett?"

"He ... came this morning and asked about them," she gestures to the group, "but they already left. There wasn't much I could tell him."

"But he didn't ask about you or me?"

"No, why?"

"It's no matter, nothing to worry about," Khonnir concludes, visibly relaxing a bit as he moves to find a chair to take a seat and rest his wounded limbs.

Val turns towards the group, looking at first a little confused by Khonnir's questions but then by Cael's presence. She smiles, having already hugged and thanked the man, and introduces herself, "Hi, I'm Val!" She looks the group over a moment and asks concernedly, "Where's Miss Kalasha?"

"Told you we will find him. He's a bit out of it, but should recover soon." Cain smiles as Val hugs him.

Her asking about Kalasha however got him worried again. "Oh, shiii... with all the problems we had in those caves, I completely forgot about Kalasha. She and Vin left the party because Sanvil asked to see her. I swear, if that bastard..."

OOC: So, yeah, I completely forgot that our paladin Kalasha left us because Sanvil sent an urgent letter for her. And Vin the duergar went with her. We should definitely ask Sanvil about that.

"Kalasha had to go away on paladin business."  Morin cut Cain off with a cheerful lie. "We hope she'll be able to make it back, but we don't know for sure." 

Taking the party aside a bit, he continued more seriously.  "He might have just sent them off on some kind of wild goose chase.  I mean, goofy religious beliefs aside, those two are a couple of absolute weapons.  Even if Sanny and his boys could take them down, they would have been beat to shit and low on spells by the end of it, and they seemed pretty fresh when they came after us."  He thought for a moment, and his face fell slightly.  "Unless he poisoned them, that is.  Or somehow talked them into handing over their weapons.  I mean, neither of them seemed particularly clever."  As he spoke, the gnome's expression grew more and more horrified.  "Gods...without a trained bard around, they would have been absolutely helpless!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:14, Sat 22 July 2023.

"Right, paladin business."  Zorden echoed, offering the girl a reassuring friendly smile, which was neither reassuring nor friendly on account of too many sharp teeth being much too visible.

He then remarked to the others, "That being said, we should probably come up with a plan for what to get done tomorrow."

"Right now I just want some peace and quiet to examine Sanvil's spellbook. Ionaya, you said you wish to have it afterwards, right?" Cain asks Ionaya.

"As for tomorrow, we should first ask Sanvil some pointed questions about Kalasha. Assuming he does not tragically perish in an escape attempt by then, of course. In fact, perhaps we should do so now, just in case he does come to a tragic end later. Other than that, I am open to suggestions. Try to gather some information on this mysterious warehouse, perhaps? We still have not heard what the Council is offering for going back in to fix the torch. Doing good is all well and fine, but doing good and getting paid for it is much better."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:01, Sat 22 July 2023.

Morin nodded along with Cain's suggestions finding himself in one of the rare moments where he didn't have anything further to add.

At the mention of further payment, Morin pulled a notepad out of his pocket and double-checked the details of the agreement.  "Four grand, same as our pay for saving Khonnir."  Morin didn't care about the money, of course.  A few thousand gold was a pittance compared to the opportunities for adventure and discovery lying under Black Hill Cave.  But...well, getting paid was nice.

"Speaking of pay, we'll need to find time to sell everything we pulled out from underground that we aren't going to keep."  Zorden figured.

"With one less merchant in town, might take some extra time."

Ionaya nods to Cain, confirming her desire to look at the spellbook later.

She waves happily to Val Baine, "I'm so glad we brought your father back."

"I feel we should take care of ourselves, including selling the items, and then examining the warehouse once we have finished preparations.", she asserted with a decisive tone.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:30, Fri 28 July 2023.

"Paladin business...?" the young girl considers the non-answer a moment, but then turns her attention to Ionaya, "You were together when you went in, weren't you? I'm glad you're safe, too! What of the others?"

"Did you say you had stew on?" Khonnir interjects, turning the conversation and the inquisitive girl's attention away from the fates of the others who ventured into the caves.

Soon the young Val serves a modest meal of stew and bread which hits the spot after a long morning of dungeon-delving, robot-smashing, betrayer-busting, and general hero-ing. Through the afternoon and early evening Morin, Ionaya, Zorden, and Cael visit a number of Torch's many shops to sell off their trophies and track down useful gear to trade for while Cain remains behind to copy Sanvil's spells into his own spellbook. Finally, as the sun begins to set on the town and the last of its shops are closing up, Morin insists on spending a few silver at the Copper Coin--the cheaper of the taverns in town where most of the laborers can be found unwinding after a long day's work, or just filling their days now that most of Torch's industry has ground to a halt.

After a few songs to liven the dreary mood in the tavern and a few lies to gain the trust of some random drunks, Morin gleans a bit more about the happenings around town;
"My cousin says his friend saw a monster snake in Crowfeather Lake, a beast big enough to swallow a wagon!"
"Someone died a few weeks ago at the Marrymaid, cut open from throat to gut. Wrennie’s hushed up the killing because it’s bad for business, but I think she’s covering something up!"
and finally "Yeah, I've seen some of those ropefists hanging around the abandoned warehouse on Ember Street. The place is boarded up, though."

Come morning, Val prepares a breakfast of eggs, mushrooms, and sausage to get the party's day started right but takes a plate to her father who is still recovering in his home rather than the tavern. With his share of the loot and the reward settled, Cael wishes the group luck in their coming battles and departs to the Temple of Brigh to return Synn's body to her people.

Zorden had spent the evening yesterday, after working with the others to cart around the goods they'd found under the hill to Torch's various merchants to sell, making more ammunition and powder.  He'd borrowed a work bench in Khonnir's workshop for the purpose as it wasn't the cleanest activity.

In the morning he enjoyed the breakfast Val prepared and wished Cael good travels before he departed.

To the others he asked, "Is the plan to head back down today and look for the source of the torch?  Or are there other things that might need doing first?  I was able to acquire the materials I needed to refurbish some of my equipment, bit I figure it'll take most of the day to do.  It's not absolutely necessary to do today, but if the plan is to take care of other less... intensive business or other activities, it might be worth me spending the time doing that before we know we're going to be going looking for more trouble."

Having finished copying the spells he was interested in, Cain hands over Sanvil's spellbook to Ionaya.

Likewise, he says his farewells to Cael, sorry to see the man go. They really could have used his help when they return to those tunnels. Right now though, he is sick of that place and would prefer to spend some time in the town.

"Ugh, I had enough of that foul water to last me a lifetime. Let's wrap up whatever we have to do here before we head under the hill again. There's no telling how much further we would have to search to explore it all... or if we will even be able to find and fix whatever has gone wrong with the torch."

OOC: Cain would like to ask Sanvil about our missing paladin first and then maybe check out that warehouse? We don't really know if the warehouse is connected to the main plot at all (it could be an unrelated smuggling operation or something), but maybe we could at least case the place, see if there's anything suspicious going on. Might be some cash in it, if nothing else.

Btw, why does Morrin suffer from a headache? An aftereffect from something down in the dungeon, or just a hangover from last night?

Like the others, Morin sadly waved goodbye to the big man.  Cael hadn't been much of a conversationalist, but he had been pretty good at smashing robots apart.  As the barbarian wandered off to bury Synn, Morin set about scouring the Foundry tavern for coffee beans, or any other stimulant to banish his crushing hangover.

Having located something he was fairly sure counted as coffee, the gnome joined the others at the breakfast table.  Rubbing his aching head, he shrugged in response the others' discussion.  "With Baine out, we could probably spare a day if you really need it.  Depending on how everything else goes, maybe we'll have time to hit the caves after you're done fixing up the old musket."  He perked up a bit at the thought.  "Hey, maybe I could help you get it done.  I'm no gunsmith, but I know a thing or two about a thing or two and I've always wanted to see how one of those things fits together inside!"


OOC: Morin just barely avoids taking the penalty.  Anyways, I agree about sweating Sanvil a bit, then heading over to the warehouse.

07:52, Today: Morin Matzylford rolled 12 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 8.  headache?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:23, Thu 27 July 2023.

"Oh no, you've got one of those headaches?" Val asks as she sees Morin fumbling about for coffee and moves to help him steep a large, strong cup of the stuff. "They've been going around ever since the torch went out. Some say it's bad water--Crowfeather not doing it's job--but even without dad Father Kyte's been looking after it." The young girl looks Morin over, concerned, and assures him, "No one'll blame you if you need take some time to rest."

"You're welcome to watch and lend a hand if you'd like."  Zorden replied to Morin's offer.

"Though if the plan is to talk to Sanvil again, you might be better off helping with that."

Ionaya started to address Val's question, but after a timely interruption, decided that it was better to answer later.
However, the sylph is sure to give Val a hug and a smile while they eat the meal Val prepared.

Before Cael left, Ionaya told him, "I am in your debt mighty Cael, please call upon me whenever you have great need. You're a special person and I hope to see you again."

"Huh. Well, maybe we could also stop by Crowfeather's and check if the purifier is still running." Cain proposes on hearing of a new problem from Val.

OOC: Alright, so we first check in on Sanvil, then the warehouse? Or maybe we check out the purifier then, in case someone was messing with it?

Morin shook his head at Val's suggestion.  "Oh don't worry, I'm fine!  And if everyone's getting these headaches, well that's just one more reason to fix whatever's going wrong!"  The gnome's hand unconsciously moved to rest on his scrollcase, which had recently taken on a curious addition from Khonnir's collection: a scroll labelled "detect radiation".

"I say we check the purifier last.  If Khonnir and Kyte can't find anything wrong with it, us taking a look feels like a real shot in the dark.  Don't get me wrong: I'm always down to poke around some magitek, but I'd wager the headaches have something to do with the torch itself going out."

Leaving Zorden behind to tinker with his musker in the Foundry Tavern's foundry, Cain and Morin(and Ionaya?) head up the road to the town garrison. Still early in the morning, the barracks seem to in the midst of a shift change with a number of men and women in semi-standardized sets of leather armor. A familiar face, one of the guards who has been stationed near the Weeping Pond for the last few days and has helped the party in the past, recognizes the diminished Canaries while seemingly on his way to report in and waves as they approach. When near enough to talk he greets them and asks, "Mornin', friends, you're not going back in the pond, just the two(three?) of you?"

"Not right now, but we are making preparations to go back. Right now, we would like ask our friend from yesterday a couple of questions, if you do not mind." Cain answers the guard.

"Yeah, we're taking a prep day." Morin added casually.  "Sharpening the swords, running down errands, you know how it goes.  Is Sanny still in a state to talk?"