45: The Treasure

Festag 21^st Sommerzeit

The elven thing was so frightening that none of you could bring yourself to stand in its way. So you hovered around the edge of the chamber. Only Gustav, surprisingly perhaps, was brave enough to face up to the thing.

Balden and Dietrich tried to channel, but only Dietrich was successful, perhaps helped by the purple magic that filled the chamber. He managed to gather enough magic to cast a spell at the undead construct, reminding it of how it used to be alive.

Berta shuffled around the edge of the room, preparing to go for the altar-like block of stone in the centre. Max fired his blunderbuss hitting the thing squarely, but the blast had little effect. And Artur drew his sword trying to pluck up the courage to join Gustav.

Then the thing swirled towards you. It whipped out a bony tendril towards Max’s head which he barely dodged. Then another one shot out towards one of the marines, lashing him painfully. Another one went towards Gustav which he managed to parry. One hit Balden hurting him badly. One of the other marines was missed. And a last one hit Artur.

And then under the influence of Dietrich’s spell, contemplating its eternal undeath and the life it used to have, the creature seemed to lose motivation and it stopped its attacks. Buoyed by that. Most of you overcame your fears and you charged in to attack the thing.

Balden failed to channel his magic again but Berta charged in and got a good hit on the glowing elf-skeleton construct and positioned herself next to the altar. Max fired a pistol, but missed. Dietrich circled around towards the altar, keeping out of danger. Artur charged in getting a good hit on the creature. Gustav kept up his attacks and a couple of the marines joined in.

And confused by Dietrich’s spell the creature seemed unable to continue fighting, and with everyone piling in it wasn’t long before it was just a pile of bones and detritus littering the floor once more.

The orb stopped glowing and fell to the floor. Gustav and Dietrich both had the idea to grab it, but as Gustav went for it he stumbled, and so Dietrich picked it up with his cloak so he didn’t touch it, and Gustav pretended he wasn’t interested in it, after all.

Meanwhile, Berta was going through the possessions of the skeletons, and she came up with more than eight guilders worth of change in old coinage dating to around one hundred and fifty years ago.

And then Flosse, who had been standing back, in a corner, for the fight, started getting her marines together. She also looked to Artur to join her, expecting an officer of the law to be on her side, but he stayed non-committal, but Flosse offered Artur a job, anyway. And Berta said he should come to Marienburg and do crime with them, instead.

And then, with all the marines to back her up, she insisted that Dietrich hand over the orb. Dietrich warned her that anyone without magical powers that possessed it would die, but she wasn’t convinced, and insisted. And so he tossed it to Gustav, who handed it to Flosse.

Most of you seemed to think that there must be more to the structure than just the chamber you were in, and you had a look at the altar thing, but it looked like it had been part of the rocks, and the chamber cut around it, and it didn’t seem to be concealing anything.

Then you checked out the rockfall in one corner of the chamber, and you managed to dig through it and found a way up to a spiral staircase. And ascending that, you soon came out at the top of the island, in what looked like a short ruined tower. But apart from a good view of your boat on the beach, there was nothing much to see there.

Dietrich checked out the magical winds in the chamber, and he could see that it was mostly purple and black. And the way the purple interacted with the black it seemed to be rather aesthetic and stable. But where the orb had animated the construct the winds were wilder, and among the purple and the black there was a bright white that he had not seen before.

Flosse was clearly annoyed that the only treasure you had found was the crystal ball, but after Gustav had a word with her she seemed more satisfied and ordered the marines to get ready to leave.

You mentioned the painting again, and she agreed that you could have it, and she handed it over. You were pleased with that as your only job had been to find the painting. But she seemed to think that wanting a treasure map to a treasure she already had made you losers.

And after Flosse and Gustav and all the marines had left, you had a discussion about what to do next. Dietrich explained how he had promised to give the orb to Mellori the elf, but said that if Flosse had taken it by force, perhaps he couldn’t be blamed. You agreed that there was probably nothing left to find around the chamber, and the way Gustav had convinced Flosse that she already had all the treasure interested you. And in any case the boat was your only way off the island.

So you launched the boat and although it had been a bit damaged by landing on the rocky beach, you thought it would last until Nordwrack. You decide to sail close to land, just in case. Flosse insisted that Artur took the tiller as he had sailed so well getting there.

And as you launched, the goblin boat came about and sailed towards you, trying to grapple you. Artur narrowly avoided it, however, and for good measure Max shot the goblin on grappling duty, forcing him to drop the rope.

And so you sailed up to Nordwrack, and as evening was approaching you decided to spend the night there. And you were put up for the night, for a thirty shilling, and a shark tooth necklace, donation. Artur decided he wanted to accompany the rest of you back to Marienburg, and as you decided you could do with the extra muscle, you managed to convince Father Alsen to let him go for four Guilders.

Wellentag 22^nd Sommerzeit

In the morning you headed east towards Leihafen which you decided was your best chance of finding a boat heading for Marienburg. Flosse and her entourage followed the coast westwards, on their way to Wulfhaven. You wondered about trying to beat Flosse back to Marienburg, considering that if Rudolf knew the treasure was found he might not pay you for the painting.

You hadn’t gone too far when you spotted Mellori standing in your way, and he asked you for the orb. You told him that Flosse had it, and he reminded Dietrich of his promise. And you asked him whether it was that important anyway. Mellori said the orb was priceless and went on about it very poetically, but it still wasn’t clear why it as so valuable. You traded insults for a bit, and and after being insulted by Mellori, Dietrich got really angry and told him to fuck off.

He insisted that you were now obliged to get the orb from Flosse, and he said that he would help you. But you weighed up the idea of just attacking Mellori. How hard could he be, and he didn’t seem to have any back up.

But then he offered you a hundred crowns to help him, and Berta had the idea of kidnapping Gustav and the orb, which would be the perfect way to cover the theft. And you decided this was too good an opportunity to turn down and you turned westwards to go after Flosse.