Chapter Four: The Manifest of the Harikan Squall

Zangua tumbles adeptly down the tunnel, jabbing the catchpole into anyplace it'll fit. He wonders who the Zapanim were or are, and wonders and wonders.

Mordred crunches gravel under his feet as he tries to sneak around. Fortunately for him, the tunnel seems devoid of life.

Vad practices a few of his Leth-isms on a credulous Felor. The likeness is good enough that even the real Leth does a double take as he catches them out the corner of his eye as Felor regales Vad with rock lore.

Shamush applies white mold to his cut and tries to feel, really feel, what it does to him. His arm throbs mildly. There is a faint but pleasant tingle in the back of his neck, traveling up the back of his head and down his shoulders. He finds it is not so difficult to empty his mind of thoughts. Felor observes him, and takes note of how visibly the tension Shamush carries in his upper body seems to dissipate. The wound itself does not appear to react differently than it would under any other simple poultice.

The only life forms Leth finds down here deep in the rocky earth are tiny flatworms that cling to damp rocks in little congregations of a dozen or more.

Felor is declared the winner of the Ability Check Throwdown! Fjorgyn takes notice of his knowledge and devotion and will come to his aid with Advantage at any one point in the future.

Finally, after many long hours of walking miles and miles underground, a long, twisty passage of rocky narrows opens up to a 20x40' chamber. At the south end of the chamber is a small triangular opening, just tall and wide enough for a person to crawl through.

Something happened in this chamber. There is a broken longsword on the ground, and an intact bronze mace with an egg-shaped spiked head. Metal rings, some of them broken and twisted and others linked together, lay scattered about. The wooden cover of a bound book lies open with scorch marks along the spine, suggesting that all the pages were burned out. A scrap of brown linen hangs from a jagged rock near the west wall.

Either or both of these could be possible.

The linen could be from clothing. The rings have some lateral linkage so, not a typical chain. The book bears no markings on its cover that could identify what it held, but bound books are very much a rarity in Bload.

We are the worst Private Detective agency in Bload.

ETA: What kinds of things would typically be bound into books, Octo? Religious texts? Business ledgers? I'm just trying to understand what assumptions Mordred might make when he sees a book.

Zangua sees some scuffs and stains on the ground but can't really analyze them with confidence.

Scrolls and flat papyri are generally considered to be honest media for written recordkeeping; the practice of binding sheets into a cover for ease of handling and transport was pioneered by spellcasters, and while non-magical books do exist, they tend to arouse suspicion anyway.

Yes, you are the worst private detective agency in Bload.

From what Vad can tell, there was never anything written on the book cover.

The mace is an unusual design, not the usual form everyday weaponsmiths are taught to craft in Bload. Other than that, noting about it seems remarkable.

Yes, this is south.

Leth can't make much sense of what happened here -- a fight, perhaps? -- but he does notice something the party overlooked before, on the ground near the doorway: a small, tarnished brass key.

Have we come across any locks we couldn't open thus far? I don't remember any.