After some work with his crowbar and a few solid blows with the hammer, Hoid opens the box. Inside he finds a bunch of coins, mixed gold, silver and copper. Sorting them yields: 135cp, 45sp, 11gp. He also finds a folded piece of parchment.
There is writing on the parchment. It appears to be elvish script in black ink. But, it is a nonsense string of characters that is four lines long. The bottom left of the parchment has a stylized symbol of a spider in black ink.
The parchment found in the recently opened box appears to be Elvish alphabet and script. It is not a message in Elvish. Erbert confirms that. Reads like VXFUYECBMOGUEWXBKOYD… for four lines of text. It is not a language recognized by any of you.
Chadwick and Trolkarl head off to the Harbormaster’s office. After your rest, it is now the end of the day. The sun is low on the horizon. It is a rising low tide currently. Ships can be seen headed into port with the tide. Chadwick wonders at Jadeth’s comment about how you all smelled upon returning from the sewers. Low tide is definitely worse than what you all smelled like.
You find Dimmick in the office, behind the counter. He sees you enter and calls out to you, “What news, travelers?”
Dimmick, we do come with grim news. We prefer to share things with you privately.
If we are alone with him, I give him the buckle and share everything from the point Hoid and I left this office... meeting Scampus, seeing evidence of the fight the sailors reported to him earlier, us entering the sewers, fighting the goblins with their leader and the half orc, then the giant rats
We saw posts that the warfmaster was paying 1sp per rat. Was this a new problem? Would Lonis have gone about trying to solve the rat problem alone?
And I share Scampus attacking us in his wererat form.
Earlier, as the half-orc retreated, he warned us about the wererat returning. Perhaps Lonis was lured to the sewers like we were and ambushed by their group.
Dimmick quickly agrees to speaking in private. You enter the smaller office and he closes the door behind him. “What is it you have learned?,” he asks.
He listens quietly as you describe the past few days. He interrupts a few times to ask for more clarification, then listens again. As you show him the belt you can see his shoulders slump a bit. When you finish, he walks to the desk and sits down. He pulls a flask from a drawer and takes a long pull from it. He then offers it to each of you, “For Lonis. A great captain and better friend.”
He sits quietly for a minute, his eyes get a bit glassy. He sits up facing you, “You can take me with some men from Ship Kurth to see this place?”
I trust you and your men could handle yourselves in normal circumstances. But the ones that ran off used magic and talked about feasting on souls. Let us make sure it is safe first, and then we will return.
Dimmick smiles what you believe to be a dangerous smile. “Ship Kurth can handle itself. My guess is that a ‘friend’ or two will be joining us as well.” He looks to the belt and back to you. “The belt is salvage, thus yours. He had no heirs I am aware of so no one will challenge that.”
Reaching into another drawer he asks, “How many giant rats did you kill? Bounty is 1sp each. They are a constant plague along the wharf and shoreline.”
“The 50gp reward is yours once we examine the area,” he says standing up. “I will send a boy to Ship Kurth. Where should we tell them to meet us?” Dimmick heads for the door, strapping on a cutlass and buckler that was hanging on the door. “We should go.”
Dimmick pulls out 4 silver coins and hands them to you. “How is Jadeth handling your wee-folk friends?,” he asks with a more jocular smile. “I bet she is in a buzz!” As you walk out Dimmick calls “BOY!!” Just a short moment later a skinny boy no more than 10 bursts through the door. He bends down to whisper in his ear. The boys eyes grow large and he nods and sprints out the door.
”He will be there in a flash. Possible salvage on this trip and now he is officially on it.”
The walk back to the Dancing Dolphin is brisk. Dimmick does not want to tarry. Two big dockhands join you carrying clubs.
Erbert ignores the conversation, instantly seizing onto the piece of parchment. “Finally!” escapes his small lips. He turns it this way and that, bringing out his journal and his quill, making a copy of everything. He tries to recall what he knows about codes, interpretation, decoding, and ways of hiding information that shouldn’t be out in the open. He also has a look at the spider insignia, trying to recall if he’s ever seen it. “Most unusual…. This seems above the pay grade of that Scampus fellow…”. On a piece of scratch parchment, he keeps trying to come up with different combinations of the letter, a veritable word search. He hears the noise of patrons, conversation, and his companions in the background. Time seems to slow down…
Investigation : 18
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
While the conversations go on around him, Erbert works on the writing on the parchment. His mind enters what Gilo used to call The Flow. He continues working out combinations, looking for patterns.
“Hah!” Erbert exclaims, a little sound of satisfaction coming out of the wee gnome, and he looks up at the rest of you as if he just beat you soundly in a game of chess. “There is a pattern here. Just that… I don’t understand it. Do any of you speak or read undercommon? Or any friends of yours that are Drow that wouldn’t stab us in the back after interpreting this for us? There is something here we should sort out.” He stands and points to the parchment and his evidence, sharing his notes and findings.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
After some work with his crowbar and a few solid blows with the hammer, Hoid opens the box. Inside he finds a bunch of coins, mixed gold, silver and copper. Sorting them yields: 135cp, 45sp, 11gp. He also finds a folded piece of parchment.
Unfold the parchment!!!
There is writing on the parchment. It appears to be elvish script in black ink. But, it is a nonsense string of characters that is four lines long. The bottom left of the parchment has a stylized symbol of a spider in black ink.
Ok, what Humans are going to the Docks and reporting finding Cpt Taggerty belt(without him in it)?
There are 2 humans to choose from, and they (should) have the two highest charismas in the group: Chadwick and Trolkarl.
Is there a local smith? Maybe we can have one use tools to open it if we don't have anything strong enough.
(( All strongboxes open at this point. ))
The parchment found in the recently opened box appears to be Elvish alphabet and script. It is not a message in Elvish. Erbert confirms that. Reads like VXFUYECBMOGUEWXBKOYD… for four lines of text. It is not a language recognized by any of you.
Chadwick and Trolkarl head off to the Harbormaster’s office. After your rest, it is now the end of the day. The sun is low on the horizon. It is a rising low tide currently. Ships can be seen headed into port with the tide. Chadwick wonders at Jadeth’s comment about how you all smelled upon returning from the sewers. Low tide is definitely worse than what you all smelled like.
You find Dimmick in the office, behind the counter. He sees you enter and calls out to you, “What news, travelers?”
Dimmick, we do come with grim news. We prefer to share things with you privately.
If we are alone with him, I give him the buckle and share everything from the point Hoid and I left this office... meeting Scampus, seeing evidence of the fight the sailors reported to him earlier, us entering the sewers, fighting the goblins with their leader and the half orc, then the giant rats
We saw posts that the warfmaster was paying 1sp per rat. Was this a new problem? Would Lonis have gone about trying to solve the rat problem alone?
And I share Scampus attacking us in his wererat form.
Earlier, as the half-orc retreated, he warned us about the wererat returning. Perhaps Lonis was lured to the sewers like we were and ambushed by their group.
Dimmick quickly agrees to speaking in private. You enter the smaller office and he closes the door behind him. “What is it you have learned?,” he asks.
He listens quietly as you describe the past few days. He interrupts a few times to ask for more clarification, then listens again. As you show him the belt you can see his shoulders slump a bit. When you finish, he walks to the desk and sits down. He pulls a flask from a drawer and takes a long pull from it. He then offers it to each of you, “For Lonis. A great captain and better friend.”
He sits quietly for a minute, his eyes get a bit glassy. He sits up facing you, “You can take me with some men from Ship Kurth to see this place?”
Of course, we can take you
Looking down at the belt and then back to Dimmick
I trust you and your men could handle yourselves in normal circumstances. But the ones that ran off used magic and talked about feasting on souls. Let us make sure it is safe first, and then we will return.
Dimmick smiles what you believe to be a dangerous smile. “Ship Kurth can handle itself. My guess is that a ‘friend’ or two will be joining us as well.” He looks to the belt and back to you. “The belt is salvage, thus yours. He had no heirs I am aware of so no one will challenge that.”
Reaching into another drawer he asks, “How many giant rats did you kill? Bounty is 1sp each. They are a constant plague along the wharf and shoreline.”
“The 50gp reward is yours once we examine the area,” he says standing up. “I will send a boy to Ship Kurth. Where should we tell them to meet us?” Dimmick heads for the door, strapping on a cutlass and buckler that was hanging on the door. “We should go.”
I believe there were at least 4 giant rats, plus a swarm of little ones.
Our group should be at the Dancing Dolphin. We can have the men from Ship Kurth meet us at the Dolphin.
Dimmick pulls out 4 silver coins and hands them to you. “How is Jadeth handling your wee-folk friends?,” he asks with a more jocular smile. “I bet she is in a buzz!” As you walk out Dimmick calls “BOY!!” Just a short moment later a skinny boy no more than 10 bursts through the door. He bends down to whisper in his ear. The boys eyes grow large and he nods and sprints out the door.
”He will be there in a flash. Possible salvage on this trip and now he is officially on it.”
The walk back to the Dancing Dolphin is brisk. Dimmick does not want to tarry. Two big dockhands join you carrying clubs.
As you arrive to the Dancing Dolphin, Dimmick asks, “Why don’t you go find your friends and meet us outside? We will wait here for our escort.”
Erbert ignores the conversation, instantly seizing onto the piece of parchment. “Finally!” escapes his small lips. He turns it this way and that, bringing out his journal and his quill, making a copy of everything. He tries to recall what he knows about codes, interpretation, decoding, and ways of hiding information that shouldn’t be out in the open. He also has a look at the spider insignia, trying to recall if he’s ever seen it. “Most unusual…. This seems above the pay grade of that Scampus fellow…”. On a piece of scratch parchment, he keeps trying to come up with different combinations of the letter, a veritable word search. He hears the noise of patrons, conversation, and his companions in the background. Time seems to slow down…
Investigation : 18
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
While the conversations go on around him, Erbert works on the writing on the parchment. His mind enters what Gilo used to call The Flow. He continues working out combinations, looking for patterns.
We go in, locate the so called “wee folk”, and share the happenings with the salvage excitement and ship Kurth.
The “wee folk” were born ready. Except maybe Erbert. He is trying to solve a crossword puzzle.
“Hah!” Erbert exclaims, a little sound of satisfaction coming out of the wee gnome, and he looks up at the rest of you as if he just beat you soundly in a game of chess. “There is a pattern here. Just that… I don’t understand it. Do any of you speak or read undercommon? Or any friends of yours that are Drow that wouldn’t stab us in the back after interpreting this for us? There is something here we should sort out.” He stands and points to the parchment and his evidence, sharing his notes and findings.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Wee, maybe short of stature... our center of gravity is strong!