“Tell me about what you are doing and the … Grog poison?” Pearly inquired and walked behind Ruby. “I have never heard of such a thing. I have seen poison IN mead or ale, but not what you said.”
It was where the south wall joined to the west wall that Ruby gave Pearly a knowing look. “Ah-ha.” Scanning the wall further, the pyful pirate answered Pearly. “I am looking for the real entrance, you see this isn’t a church or temple of any kind.” Ruby stopped and with a gzed happy look in her hazel eye, proudly announced, “It’s a vault.”
“What do you mean, Ruby.” Pearly tapped on the wall and pointed out the goddess-like symbols all over the decor. “It’s a church.”
With a simple yank away from the wall, Ruby stepped in front of the older woman and folded her silk-cd arms over her chest. “Think about it, Pearly. It can’t be a church or a house.” Ruby held up one finger. “First, the path is never used. If it were a church, then the path would be almost muddy where people and horses have traveled. The cobblestone started at the edge of the clearing and only came to the front doors.” Ruby ughed, “The illusion is staring you in the face, Pearly.” Ruby dropped her arms and did a sweet spin, the air catching her dress. “Second, if it were a home, then there should be some sort of livestock and farming for the family at the very least. Lastly, it's in the middle of nowhere. You only know about this pce thanks to the cloth map.” With a little dance leap, Ruby handed back where she’d started at the wall junction. Blowing a kiss with a follow-up wink, Ruby One-Eye pulled a hidden lever and a stone door scraped as it opened inward. “Treasure that, Pearly. That could be the only thing of value you get.”
“A vault.” Pearly handed Ruby the cloth map. “I was told it was a house. I should have known that he was too stupid to find the pce, let alone get in.” Pearly quickly stepped inside and closed the door. “Ruby, does it lock?”
Unsurprised by Pearly’s small confession as she suspected something in the first pce, Ruby studied the map and the writing that had been scrawled onto the cloth. “Gerald.” She waved her hand. “Don’t worry, I knew someone was following us.” With another fun spin, Ruby turned a small cogwheel that blended into the wall. “That’s the lock, it will take someone a month to get in.” She shrugged, “We just need to see if there is another way out.” She ughed and skipped down the well-made path, “Vaults keep things in, not let things out.”
A few minutes ter the duo came to the end of the hallway and stood in a very rge open space with different iron-barred cells all over the pce. Pearly scanned the walls for more sconces and spotted tiny basins that ran along the middle of the four walls, almost as though flowers should be growing in them. She reached out and took a handful of the dirt that appeared to be in the pots and sniffed. “That isn’t dirt. Smells like saltpeter.”
“Keep the torch back, unless you want to burn yourself then.” Ruby added and confirmed her suspicion. “It's mixed with some kind of fat that both preserves it and makes it burn slower. I use a version that Ava creates for us all the time when we go into pces like this and find ‘Grogs’ with poison.” Ruby ughed. “You know full well I said frogs.”
With a swift smack against the rock wall, Pearly felt the thick substance fall from her palm. Assured by Ruby that the basin was likely just a light source, Pearly took a step back and then tapped the torch into the powder. With a sputtering fre and a slow hiss, the fire came to life. “Oh, much better.” Proceeding to walk the length of the wall, Pearly lit all of the bowls and the vault revealed itself clearly. “Stars shine, this is incredible.”
Fire spread the low light of the torch and bounced its glow from the reflective ceiling to illuminate the different cells. A quick survey, Ruby noted that the bigger pieces were at the far end of the huge hall and not locked as the cells were. “Okay, This IS fun.” Ruby giggled and walked to the first lock and saw a number eight with a diamond beside it. “Humm…” Ruby bounced her way from lock to lock and saw some had clovers, spades and hearts. “Well, all of these have just pying card numbers and symbols. The royalty cards are missing, as are the aces.”
Peering into the different cells, Pearly noticed that all of them had something of value in them. Artwork, gss cases, ornate pottery and in some cases actual stacks of copper, silver and gold coins. “Looks like you have a ton of things to choose from on our deal.” Pearly sighed, “I know you said frogs, Ruby.” Pearly scanned another art-filled cell. “I didn’t want to hear about that rumor, so I said grogs.”
“Ah.” Ruby conceded as she honestly didn’t want to try and expin how she knew frog-people. “Alright, this stuff is mostly junk.” Ruby pointed to the nine of diamonds cell. “That is nothing but carved red gss, I suspect dyed with rose hips. A real spindel has bck lines at the top.”
Pearly walked to Ruby’s side and studied the gem. “I can’t tell.” She passed the younger pirate and headed towards the rger statues. “This really isn’t my calling, Ruby. I shoot people and take cargo from ships. Trade it for real silver.” She pointed to a lovely piece of art that had flowers in a field. “This looks pretty to me, I think I would get like ten-”
“You’d not get an egg for it, Pearly.” Ruby chuckled and gnced over her shoulder. “Still just us.” Ruby tugged the older woman behind her. “Come on. Not everything that glitters is treasure.” Ruby ughed, “How are you a pirate if you can’t tell the worth of things?” Ruby did a little circle in pce as she kept talking. “All of this is an illusion, in case the pce got broken into. Easy things to take are right by the exit, so the robbers can get in and get out before they are seen. Assuming that they even get into the building.” She carefully plucked a coin from a stack that was close to some bars and snapped it open. “See? Ceramic with a silvery pigment to appear real.” She wiped off her hands and headed deeper into the vault.
“Someone took lots of time setting this up.” Pearly noted a little louder than she intended. “Gerald, wants us to get caught in here, doesn’t he?”
“Probably. We find the royals and aces, we will likely find that gem. We just have to get out before Jaques betrays us and gets the vault owners to open the doors for him.” Ruby shrugged, “I bet his crew is moving into pce now to kill the operators right after that front entrance trap is sprung.”
