Episode 1: The Salvaged Job

Moving the crates proves easier than the heavy stones, and soon a passage is clear for everyone to pass through unimpeded.

Kalis smells the unmistakable scent of meat cooking on a fire.

Maenor also smells the cooking food with hints of rosemary, paprika, salt, and pepper. He can hear the bubbling of a stew with carrots, onions, and potatoes.

Maenor also hears the shuffling of feet and the light chop of a knife on wood.

Maribel pokes her nose into one of the open crates, inspecting its contents. Not finding anything interesting, she snorts out the scents and shakes her head violently, before settling in to wait once more.

Maenor thinks he hears that the sound of the knife on the cutting board pause for a bit, before it resumes.

Coda disappears from view. Soon after, the door that Kalis is guarding opens on its own.

Beyond the doorway is a large room that has been organized into a kitchen. A set of shelves stocked with a variety of dried goods and preserved foods line two of the plain stone walls, and a fireplace is bright with flames licking the underside of iron pots and kettles strung on a spit. A small counter rests against the wall, and a sizeable island table in the center of the room is laden with vegetables and grains.

Standing at the island, back to the opening door, is a human male. He is dressed in plain garments soiled with dirt and grease, and is cutting several carrots into small pieces.

Map

The man does not appear to notice the door, nor the presence of the invisible halfling.

Coda can see that in the far corners of the room, there are open doors leading into hallways. Torchlight spills into the hallways from beyond.

There is a closed door along the same wall as the storage pantry Coda arrived from.

Down the south hallway, Coda sees a narrow and evenly-constructed passage that turns westward. There is a closed door in the corner.

To his immediate west, Coda finds an expansive chamber with a high ceiling. Luxurious pillows are piled against the wall, and a low table adorned with goblets and fine plates is decked with fruit and meat. Braziers illuminate the room, filled with smokeless tinder. Coda can smell a bit of incense.

He notices a hallway leaving the chamber further west, and that the chamber itself extends northward beyond his immediate view.

Map with the current view

There IS someone sharing the large chamber with Coda. Just as he enters into the room, he cannot help but notice the large leonine creature sprawled on silken pillows just to his north. The powerful, tawny body dominates the cushions, while a long tail coils around thick legs that end in sharp claws.

A man reclines just above the giant cat, curls of black hair atop his head neatly groomed to a well-trimmed beard. His bare chest of taut muscle rises and falls with shallow breath, and his kohl-rimmed eyes are closed in apparent slumber.

Coda then realizes that he does not see a man and his pet lion, but rather that the man's body merges into the cat-like form! He recognizes this creature as a lamia, known to be vain and evil with seductive charm.Map