PREVIOUS: 004: Step Into My Parlor
Tanvir's House
Lucya falls asleep, and stays that way this time. It's past sunrise by the time she opens her eyes again-- she nearly jumps off the couch before she remembers that she doesn't have to feed the chickens, and won't have to for a while.
LUCYA: "Auhh mercy..."
She looks over to find Jagal sitting in almost the exact same position. Even the heron's left by this point.
LUCYA: "Wh-- Ye didn't sleep all night??"
JAGAL: "Wha—" (settling back down) "Uh, yeah, morning to you too."
Jagal idly turns the wood heron in his hand. Quality could be argued either way, but it's certainly detailed, at least.
JAGAL: "Dozed off some, sure. Don't need much."
LUCYA: "Auh, I didn't mean tae spook ye!"
She stands up, pats down her now ragged dress, and gives him The Look.
LUCYA: "I don't think I believe ye, wee man. Now I'm ginnae go root around for some mushrooms or veggies or somethin', make a nice soup, and ye can sleep while I'm keepin' watch, aye?"
Jagal looks up at the mention of soup but won’t comment. He just gives her A Look back.
JAGAL: “Sure, I slept for twelve hours. You’ve been out twenty.”
LUCYA: "If it'd been that long I'd be way hungrier! I know yer type, aye, sayin' one thing and meanin' the other..."
JAGAL: “Ah, but what would be the fun in it otherwise?”
LUCYA: "Has, auh... That feller left his room since?"
JAGAL: “Not that I saw.”
She looks around, then leans in a lil closer.
LUCYA: "And that bird's gone too... He was there, so's I didn't say anything last night, but I found some mighty odd papers on top a that shelf!"
JAGAL: (not exactly sounding interested since she most definitely said “papers” and not “valuables”) “Yeah?”
LUCYA: "Aye, it looked like some notes on that book, but they weren't a scryin' or blood magic... Mightae been a map?"
LUCYA: "I wannae show Mx. Eleri, but that feller would chase us if he knew we'd taken 'em, aye...?"
JAGAL: "No telling with him. Imagine he'd be on his guard after all this, though. I'd at least wait a couple days if you wanted to try borrowing something without getting caught." (leaning back) " 'Less you'd rather try to bring Eleri over here. Hoo, bet that'd be fun to watch."
LUCYA: "M-maybe I'll just try to remember what it looks like..."
Lucya looks around one more time for any sign of surveillance, then picks up the papers again. It is definitely a map, but she doesn't recognize any of the names or landmarks, and Tanvir's handwriting is near inscrutable. She sighs as she flips the paper over.
LUCYA: "I guess if he hasn't hidden it by now, though, it's nae that important... Ach, I'll have better luck with the mushrooms. Ye wanna look at it?"
JAGAL: (getting up and stretching) "Sure, why not."
Lucya hands him the notes, then gathers her bags and heads out to forage-- she's certainly not going to trust any food Tanvir might offer them, that's for sure.
🎲 Lucya rolls to Resupply and gets a weak hit. She chooses -1 momentum to gain +1 supply.
There's not too much around that hasn't been eaten by R.O.U.S.s or contaminated by exploding bird guts, but she scrounges together enough mushrooms and herbs for a decent stew. At least her small collection of spice bottles survived the fall in the water, but she'll still need to replace the rest of her rations when she's back in town.
Jagal isn't sure how much he'd trust Lucya's food, either, but soup is soup. In the meantime...
🎲 Jagal rolls Secure an Advantage to hunt around for some valuables... Not only is it a miss, but the numbers on the 2 d10's match-- time for a Complication! The oracle gives us "passage," and we decide Tanvir has a secret murder basement.
Jagal barely skims the map-whatever-thing before making sure he's unattended and browsing the shelves.
JAGAL: "Gotta be something worthwhile in here."
Jagal handles some books at random to see if any feel hollowed out or not pushed back fully or...
Finally, a fairly large book, rather than coming out as it should, tilts outward with a distant clunk.
The floor under one of Jagal's feet suddenly gives way, and he just barely manages to avoid tumbling headfirst down the steep stairs of, apparently, a secret passage underneath Tanvir's house.
JAGAL: "Uh."
It's hard to see much of anything without heading inside, but he can make out the vague shape of a table, some cabinets, and symbols drawn on the floor. Jagal figures there must be something worth hiding in there and proceeds slowly. Maybe avoiding the symbols, those seem sketchy.
The room is surprisingly large, given the size of the house and the climate of the area. Some magic is probably involved to keep it from flooding. For now it's only lit by one tiny window near the ceiling, but there's a lantern on the table, next to some knives and scalpels.
🎲 Jagal rolls Gather Information. Another miss. At least in Ironsworn, you still get information-- it just adds a dire complication.
Jagal forgoes the lantern and keeps creeping forward in the poor light.
All around the room, neatly organized in cabinets, boxes, and display cases, are corpses-- swamp fauna of all shapes and sizes, some preserved, some freshly dead. It's obvious great care was put into this macabre little collection, but it's not going to be worth money to any sane person. In the back corner, though, there are some spider webs of a telltale pattern...
JAGAL: (muttering) “Okay, well. Definitely his, if there was any doubt.”
Jagal is just about ready to head back but squints at the web for a second. The details aren't the easiest to make out in the dark, but...
It's larger than a typical nest, but it's definitely nightmare spiders. And a rack of vials is sitting there right out in the open... Suddenly, there's a thump, and the creak of a hinge. The rectangle of light from the trapdoor starts to disappear.
Tanvir: "You do just love to get yourself into trouble, don't you?~"
JAGAL: "Oh, for—"
Jagal yoinks a vial since they're there but attempts to zip back up the stairs before the exit is gone. Unfortunately, Tanvir has a lot of practice closing that door quickly to keep the live prey from escaping.
TANVIR: "I'll be back when I'm done with the books! Ahahaha."
JAGAL: "Good thing a pro like you won't need long for that, huh?"
No response from Tanvir, and his footsteps (if there are any) are just as silent as they were before he shut the door.
Jagal groans to himself and heads back downstairs. Little point trying to escape before Tanvir's had a chance to step off the door, so might as well take his time, right?
It's difficult to make anything out just by the light of the one small window, but a scuttling sound betrays the presence of... something else in the basement with Jagal. Probably a spider? Hopefully a spider.
JAGAL: "Hm?"
Jagal actually goes for the lantern this time. Not like the light's gonna attract the homeowner's attention now.
The lantern lights without any trouble, sending the spiders scattering back to the dense nest of webs. Poking its glassy-eyed head out of the nest, though, is something that is definitely NOT a spider. Or is it?
Something that was probably a heron once stands up on more legs than it should have, and opens its beak to let out a cry that makes no sound.
JAGAL: "Please tell me I'm seeing things."
❗ ENCOUNTER: The Amazing Spider-Bird ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪
The creature stalks along the wall towards Jagal, tilting its head to keep a beady eye on him. Is this food? He doesn't look like Tanvir, and he doesn't smell like food... But it's still hungry.
It lunges forward to peck at Jagal, maybe get a taste of his blood, see if it's food.
JAGAL: "Okay possibly I'm not seeing things."
🎲 Jagal rolls to Enter the Fray and gets a weak hit, then Clashes and gets a strong hit.
Jagal may be struggling a bit with the weirdness of the situation, but at least this thing isn't registering as a Bird And Friend to him.
JAGAL: "NO thank you."
Jagal instinctively sidesteps and slashes out while the spider-bird's neck is extended.
Blood spills out from its neck, but it doesn't seem to register any pain. It swivels around and strikes again, a little more forcefully this time.
🎲 Jagal Strikes and gets a weak hit, but because he tried to use the special attack from his Duelist asset, a weak hit counts as a miss. He chooses to Endure Harm.
Jagal thinks he has a second to draw his other dagger but seems to have miscalculated.
JAGAL: "Ggk!"
With a force that shouldn't be possible from even a live and healthy bird of its size, the heron gouges Jagal's shoulder. Blood! And it's tasty!
📝 That's -3 health, yipes!
Jagal pulls back too late, his hasty strike glancing harmlessly off the creature’s beak. Instead it’s just his own blood flowing steadily now. The slightest move of his arm sends jolts of pain and numb tension down to his hand, but he’s long since figured out how to stifle any unnecessary cries. Sure making it harder to keep his grip on that dagger, though.
JAGAL: “Stupid b… What even are you? Ugh!”
The creature scrapes its beak across his arm, trying to catch as many droplets of blood as it can. This is some gourmet-level stuff! Better make sure he can't get away. It raises a stinger grafted to the bend of its wing...
Meanwhile...
LUCYA: "...Where is that bliddy wee man?!"
Unlike the others in this cabin, Lucya's footsteps are decidedly audible as she lumbers over to the fireplace, a bag of foraged herbs and mushrooms swung over her shoulder. She looks around the room to see if he's playing hide-and-seek again.
🎲 Lucya rolls Gather Information to try to find Jagal, and gets a miss.
LUCYA: "...Well, I'm not ginnae dig through this man's cabinets for ye! I'll just make this soup and eat it all by meself..."
She fills up a small pot she'd had stored away in her bags, and hangs it in the fireplace. Her loud complaining attracts some unwanted attention.
TANVIR: "Would you keep it down? I'm working..."
LUCYA: "You...!"
Tanvir just snickers.
LUCYA: "Ye did something t'him, didn't ye? Where'd he go?!"
TANVIR: "Ahaha, why would I do that? I actually enjoyed his company, for once... But alas.~"
TANVIR: "I haven't seen him since about ten this morning. Didn't even give me his little sculpture... And Hilda posed for him all night!"
LUCYA: "A-are ye sure?"
Lucya's intimidating posture doesn't change, but her voice wavers a little.
TANVIR: "It's not as if he stopped to say goodbye or anything. But he's not here now, is he?"
LUCYA: "..."
Her hand falls to her side, against her axe's iron blade.
LUCYA: "...Ye'll still give me th' books, if I'm still here at sundown, aye?"
Tanvir sighs and cleans his glasses.
TANVIR: "Book, singular. And yes, if you're that desperate for it. Just stop making a racket, please... And maybe let me have some of that soup?"
Lucya grimaces, but she's just a little too scared to talk back this time.
LUCYA: "...I'll wait."
Tanvir closes the door again, and Lucya sits down in front of the fireplace with a sigh, stirring the soup occasionally.
Meanwhile, back in the murder basement...
🎲 Jagal rolls Face Danger to avoid the spider-heron's stinger. It's a weak hit, and he chooses to Endure Stress.
Jagal feints a dodge one way and swiftly ducks the opposite, though he's still close enough to the creature that the stinger grazes one of his many bags.
JAGAL: "What is that, what in—" (quieter, wincing) "Gh."
📝 We decide to ask the oracle if Lucya hears him. Despite the chances being Unlikely, the answer is yes!
Lucya hears a muffled noise and looks up. She's not sure what it is, but Tanvir hasn't made any noise from his room the whole time she's been there, and it sounded like it came from inside...
LUCYA: "Wh-who's there...?"
Presumably thinking the stinger hit its target, the spider-bird opens its beak in another silent squawk and lunges at him again.
🎲 Jagal rolls another Clash with the Duelist special attack, and after burning some momentum, we FINALLY have a strong hit for this poor boy.
With the extra warning from the non-squawk and his own adrenaline levels at this point, Jagal easily has time to prepare. He sidesteps the lunge and pivots, slashing both daggers hard through the creature's side and some of the wing.
Jagal lets out a low hiss of pain at the impact and loses his bloodied grip on that weapon, sending it skidding on the floor. At least the other is still firmly in his grasp.
The heron doesn't flinch, but the impact knocks it off balance for a few moments. An obscene amount of blood spills across the floor as it topples sideways into a shelf of empty glass vials.
The crashing sound Lucya hears is definitely not just the wildlife.
LUCYA: "Hey... Hey! Who-- what's down there?!"
Lucya flops over and presses her ear to the floor, banging her fist a few times.
JAGAL: (finally registering again that there's a world up there too) "No idea what this thing is, but I don't care for it much!"
LUCYA: "Jagal!! Ye didn't run away!"
JAGAL: "One of my many regrets right now!"
LUCYA: "I-I'll get ye outta there! How did ye get down there?!"
Lucya scrambles to her feet and draws her axe, trying to follow the sound of Jagal's voice.
TANVIR: "I just told you to stop yelling-- What are you doing?!"
Tanvir walks in just as Lucya swings her axe directly into the floor.
LUCYA: "YOU!!!! Tell me how ye get down there or I'll chop me a hole meself!!"
🎲 Lucya tries to Compel Tanvir, and... another miss with doubles on the d10's! We decide to go for the funniest coincidence we can think of.
TANVIR: "..."
Tanvir reaches for the trick book on the shelf next to him and opens the trapdoor directly beneath Lucya's feet.
LUCYA: "WAUUHH-AUH-Auh-auh!!!"
Lucya tumbles down a few stairs before managing to stop herself, just before hitting the floor. Tanvir quickly shuts the door behind her.
LUCYA: "Jagal!! Yer bleedin--"
LUCYA: "..."
The heron... spider... thing regains its balance and tilts its head to observe the new prey.
JAGAL: "Yeah. Think you can do better?"
NEXT: 006: Soup and Sorcery