Having recovered their
strength, the companions decide to split up. Raskel and Druvvaldis hold down
the fort in Plamenka’s room, to defend their base, and direct attention away
from the rest, who thoroughly search the non-family parts of the warren for the
treasure chamber. They investigate all the dead ends, finding some to have been
originally planned as more escape chutes, before the plans were abandoned. All
are primarily stone rather than dirt, and appear to lack crevices that conceal
portals behind them.
As they move through
the tunnels, Chonkorchuk detects magical auras, to see if some sort of dweomer
might be inscribed into walls, or concealed behind them. After finding nothing,
and establishing to their satisfaction that the dead ends in fact lead nowhere,
Chonkorchuk, Dmitri, Plamen and Lionia return to the corridor in the maze
beyond the bone room, where the hermit did detect necromantic and transmutative
auras before. Lacking the magical sigil to open the portal, Chonkorchuk orders
his fefila to dig through the wall. After intensive digging lasting a third of
an hour or so, it has created a one-foot tunnel into the room beyond.
Unfortunately, though it is invisible, the creatures beyond are vigilant, and
succeed in catching and dispelling the poor beast. Then, one begins to poke a
rusty spear through the opening. The companions blast and hack at the bony limb
that holds it, and succeed in wresting the spear away, but its holder retreats
deeper into the chamber.
The band takes counsel
about how to best draw out or destroy the skeletons in the chamber. Plamen
proposes blasting them with thunder, but that is hard to do through a wall, and
the tunnel is simply too small. He can also roll in a flaming sphere, as he did
in the bone room, but the party members worry that the room contains treasure,
and the fire would damage it. In the end, it is decided that the sphere is the
way forward. Plamen rolls it around different parts of the chamber, but the
sound of creaking bones suggests that the skeletons are avoiding it. Soon,
something seems to burst into flame, and a sizzling sound is heard. Fearing
that they are indeed damaging something valuable, the healer dispels the
sphere.
Having failed to
destroy or draw the skeletons out, the group decides to retreat a bit, so that
the skeletons come out to them. Eventually, the ruse works, and four of the nezhit’ crawl out through the opening.
Chonkorchuk blasts one (the erstwhile owner of the rusty sphere) in short
order, but he and a tibia-wielding Dmitri have a really difficult time with a
second. Meanwhile, Plamen holds back the remaining two with his staff, while
Lionia deftly disposes of them with his sabre. Finally, the holdout is subdued
before any further harm comes to the companions, and after enlarging the tunnel with their shovel, they slither inside the
chamber.
 |
| Woot! |
Inside, they finally
locate what they have been searching for this whole time. A wooden water pail
was filled to the brim with copper and silver coins, but the wood was mostly
burned by the flaming sphere, and now the treasure lies in a heap upon the
floor. Fortunately, most of it was undamaged, but several hundred coins were
melted together into slag. Though they are no longer contained, Plamen and
Chonkorchuk both have cooking cauldrons, which can hold about a third of the
coins, and Lionia produces a sack, which fits the rest. Thus loaded with
precious cargo, the four return to Plamenka’s chamber, and begin counting the
loot.
There is much
kibitzing as Raskel and Druvvaldis try to count and separate the different
types of coins, causing them to lose count on several occasions. Lionia insists
on getting a full quarter-share, as was originally agreed on, and is not
challenged on this claim. He mostly stands apart from the counting, watching
the door, but he does interrupt several times, and at one point, his hand is
seen hovering over the pile, precipitating an argument, and causing the
counters to lose track once more. Eventually, he suggests that the counters begin
again after they have slept, for the morning is wiser than the evening.
The night passes
uneventfully, and in the morning (if that is what it is), the counters return
to work. This time, they are interrupted by loud screams, and sounds of a
scuffle reverberating off the tunnel walls. Chonkorchuk, who has not been
involved in the counting, has spent time recalling his fefila from the
Otherworld, and now sends it to investigate. The fefila soon sends him a
telepathic message about an evil spirit near Plamen’s room. Not wishing to
confront her, the band decides to wait her out, thinking that she does not stay
in one place for long. In the meantime, the count concludes, and the treasure
is divided up into proper portions – a quarter for Lionia, and an equal share for
everyone else.
Before leaving, the
band has one final discussion about what to do with the loot. Chonkorchuk makes
a final pitch to return all of the treasure to Baba Yaga, though he is not sure
whether the copper coins constitute part of the “pure treasure” or not. Plamen
and Druvvaldis, who were not in it for the money from the start, are inclined
to follow him, though perhaps going directly to the hermitage is a mistake,
because that is the first place the villagers are likely to look for him.
Lionia, for his part, insists that he joined the band only for the treasure,
and feels he owes nothing to Baba Yaga, who, at any rate, never specified how
much of the treasure is hers. He is unswayed by Chonkorchuk’s warning of the
crone’s wrath, nor by promises of access to her realm, but does seem to hold to
the promise of turning over the galumphing oaf, and says he will discuss the
matter with his associates. But for now, he will be returning home, and tells
all those going off with Chonkorchuk to seek him there. Raskel decides to
accompany his fellow fox, while Dmitri says he will go and see if he can use
the treasure to restore his lost limb.
 |
| The band disperses. Last apperance together? |
Finally, the band is
ready to leave the warren. At the main entrance by Plamen’s room, there is no
trace of the evil spirit, though there is a dead body of a villager dressed as
an armed servitor of the monastery, which looks like it is denuded of its life
essence. The group leaves it, and exits the warren. There, some follow
Chonkorchuk toward the river, and some follow Lionia in the direction of
Medunitsa. Suddenly, there are sounds of crying villagers and monks approaching
from the direction of Lazarevo. Lionia yells for everyone to scatter – those
following him should meet him at home later. Chonkorchuk runs for the river,
telling those following him to meet up at the hermitage.
*(How the muzhiks divided the buried treasure)
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