"These creatures are most unnatural. Perhaps this is why..." but then Eklektos trails off. He stares into space, which happens to be at Theron, for a minute, then shakes his head and continues.
"My purpose, when I left the Barrowood, was to stop the abuse of the natural world that was contained therein. People are cutting down the trees to harvest the wood with little or no respect for what they destroy by doing so. However, I am not powerful enough to stop them myself. But these shadow beasts, these hellspawn, are a far greater affront to the natural world. They should be destroyed or sent back to the pit they came from."
With that, Eklektos takes a minute to look at each of the other people at the table. Then he stands and goes to Theron, scratching the big cat behind the ears. The cat's eyes open, and his head comes up. A low rumble comes from his throat, turning into a full growl in short order. Leaning against the table of the booth, Eklektos locks eyes with Janiven and waits for somebody to speak.
"I'm not a fu****g priest myself, and i don't speak polite.But my prayers go to Iomedae, and as such i want to crush anything dealing with "shadows" or whatever"
"I'm no priest. Just a man concerned with what he sees being done to the world around him. Abuse the world, and it will likely reciprocate. When Gozreh gets angry, she can be a terrible one for vengeance."
"A revolution on a small scale...us as firebrands of justice and freedom, now that sounds like the kind of fight Cayden himself would have signed up for, and then how can I as his dedicated priest pass on doing the same? Yet...I have to ask, you make it sound like the house of Thrune is responsible for the shadows, if so, why here alone? And how can we take the night back from the creatures of the night?"
"To seize the night and make the streets of Westcrown safe to walk again, that I can back."
Semenya is enjoying the food and the company - but she still watches the door carefully for any sign of trouble.
"Now I'm confused. Do you want to kill off the shadow beasts or do you want to overthrow the House of Thrune? And I'm not sure how a small group could accomplish either goal. This group of supporters you talk about - just how small is it? And if you're going to take on the House of Thrune, it seems like that'll take money. Who's backing this rebellion?"
"Yes, i don't think we'll do much of a difference, and i'm no fool.When i have to opportunity to smash some common sense into a foe i'm well happy to do so, but i don't expect to change Avistan.But if you simply were looking for a brawler you found one."
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"I understand your concerns Del, but I am not trying to wage war. I am only trying to create an uprising from within the belly of the beast. We start with small heroics to win the people over, then we....." In the middle of Janiven's sentence an excited pounding comes from the front door. Janiven immediately adopts a defensive stance and runs over to the window peering through to see who is knocking, then swiftly moves to the door, unlocks it, and opens it. In stumbles an out-of-breath and frightened-looking teenager. "They've got Arael!” he calls out, then immediately doubles over in a fit of coughing brought on by his long run. Janiven’s face grows grim as she comforts the boy and asks him to explain himself; in a moment the lad recovers enough to spurt out, “The dottari nabbed Arael, and the Hellknights of the Rack are trying to get custody of him! There’s a bunch of Hellknights on their way here now! I only just made it in here; they’ve already surrounded us!” As the boy finishes his sentence, the sound of clanking armor advancing on the tavern becomes apparent.
"Ooooh, not good..." Derek jumps to his feet and runs over to a window, taking a peek outside to see if he can spot what is going on, trying to gauge the number of people outside.
"Someone, lock the door, we need to buy time while we come up with a plan here!" Derek then quickly unhooks the buckler from his hip and puts it on whilst looking at Janiven. "Is there another exist from here Janiven?"
Del inhales audibly in frustration as he picks himself up from his chair. He puts his hat on and draws his short sword.
"Shove a table against that door! Is there a back door to this place?"
Del scans the room again to get a better idea of their options.
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Derek
Janiven pushes the boy back from the door and closes it quickly, securing the lock. A second later a few of you turn a table on its side shoving it against the door. Janiven looks back at you while leading the boy by his arm.
"I am sorry for involving you in this. Please follow me." As they move behind the decrepit bar, a heavy pounding rattles the front and back door.
"Come out and give yourselves up!" booms a loud voice from the other side of the front door.
Janiven and the boy lift up a heavy trap door in the floor behind the bar. Breathlessly, Janiven calls to all of you. "This shaft drops down into the sewers. By taking this route we should be able to lose the Hellknights quickly."
"By Asmodeus black heart! I think they are proper Hellknights, at the very least I counted 18 of them. I say flight before fight; this is one of the moments where caution is the better part of valor!"
Derek nods towards the shaft. "Let's go everyone, this is no time for heroics, I don't want to compose a eulogy for any of you just yet!" As he waits for the others to go, Derek looks for a candle, torch or lamp to bring down into the darkness.
Del is okay with letting the actor wait for everyone else to climb through the trap door. He sheaths his short sword as he lets Semenya go before him, offers to help Arodio with any of his equipment "Drop it down to me!", and climbs down to wait at the bottom to catch Arodio's shield.
Semenya will look for the following before heading down:
Any refuse or clutter in the kitchen; ashes from the cookfire would be perfect. She'll sweep them into a pile near the door, then memorize where it is.
She will then have Arodio step on the top of the trap door after stepping in something wet, then step in some ashes.
She will then cast Mage Hand to ashes over the trap door after it's been closed and everyone's down. With luck, the outlines of the trap door will be obscured, with a big footprint on it.
Anything to make them spend time looking for people hiding in the kitchen before finding the trap door is a good idea. It buys us more time to run.
Arodio scowls loudly, but has to admit this no time to fight.
He hurls his bags to Del with a warning "Watch for the weight"
Then he follows Semenya plan, wetting himself in a pot from the kitchen, then step on the ashes and on the trapdoor ; then finally he joins the rest.
At the knocking, Eklektos would have grabbed his spear and Theron would have perked up. Upon hearing what was happening, both would have moved to be ready facing the door. Once the others had moved into the sewers, Eklektos would make a point of shoving Theron toward the hole. "Big cat coming down." Five seconds later, during which the cat would look at him incredulously, he'd give Theron a nudge, and the cat would jump down. Stepping quickly to the middle of the room, he'd cast Obscuring Mist, filling the room with fog. He'd move quickly back to the hole. Then, whispering a quick prayer to Gozreh, he'd climb down into the hole. Once he's down, he'd grab his Wayfinder from his belt pouch.
"Good idea Eklektos! They might think we set the place on fire and that might buy us another few minutes." After everyone else is down, Derek grabs a tablecloth or some other piece of fabric before climbing down the shaft and closing the hatch behind him.
As soon as someone makes some light he begins to pull strips out of the table cloth, using the spell Presdignation he scents them with lavender and hands them out to the others before tying one around his own face to avoid the stench of the sewers.
"Ok Janiven, now where to? I am thinking you have some sort of plan?"
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The secret tunnel under Vizio’s Tavern is rough-hewn and leads down along a 20-foot-long, 5-foot-wide hallway to a simple wooden door. The opposite side of the door has a wooden bar. As you pass through, Janiven bars the door to help slow the sure-to be-following Hellknights. On the other side of the door is a sewer tunnel running to the left and right. Janiven points to a mark on the sewer wall. "Look for these at each intersection in case we get separated from the each other. The sword always points in the direction of the safe house. I know we don't have much time for introductions, but this is Morosino. He is my friend Arael's apprentice." She then kneels down pushing a small rock aside revealing a small hollow. "Good, they're still here. We won't have time to rest while we are being pursued so each of you get three." She starts passing out vials to each of you. "They are healing potions in case we have to fight."
"You are a brave lad Morosino, good on you." Derek Toussles the boys hair before accepting the vials handed to him. A wise precaution indeed."
Slowly scaning the area Derek walks over to the intersection, looking down both the left and right path he listens intently for a moment.
"They are already inside the tavern it sounds like...we better get moving fast, some of them might be down here in the sewers with us..."
Semenya glances at Del, then murmurs, casting Message between she and he. She then unwraps her parcel, accepts a scented rag for her mouth, and straps a...great axe to her chest on quick release ties.
"I'll go on ahead. Usual routine."
[ooc]There is errata saying that the sewer scale maps are 10' squares, not 5' squares.
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She moves about 100' ahead - well outside the light of the sunrod, but inside the limits of her spell - and scans ahead.
Stealth
Perception
Reminder - Semenya has a 120' Darkvision, not 60'.
At the second of the symbols drawn on the wall, she'll stop and murmur to Del, "Have Keegan use Prestidigitation to temporarily cover these; if we see one at an intersection, have him use Prestidigitation to overlay a mark on top pointing in the opposite direction."
Roughly every 10 minutes, she's going to cast Message again to keep the 'Walkie Talkie' effect going.
After adjusting the bags around his body, but ready to drop everything in case of a fight,Arodio follows Semenya at close.
"Nice toy that big axe you have there green, may i call you green ? Have to try something like that myself"
Semenya gestures Arodio back to the rest of the party. "We'll talk later, pink." She murmurs to Del, "Please explain what I'm doing; I need to move quietly."
She then moves forward, about 100 feet ahead of Del, and makes a point of being stealthy and looking down the corridor.
"Good idea." whispers Del. He passes the prestidigitation idea on to Derek.
"Arodio, lead the way for us, but let Semenya scout ahead of the light. She can see in the dark, and she can keep in touch with me magically, so we'll know if she needs us."
Also being able to see in the dark, Eklektos and Theron will take the rear guard, just outside the dim light line and keeping one to either side of the sewer, both making an effort not to be seen. They will periodically check to see if they are being followed.
More quietly :"whoops, sorry"
Arodio keeps leading the rest while following Semenya
As Del passes the plan along Derek nods in understanding. He then uses the Presdignation cantrip to subtly alter the signs to indicate the opposite passage.
"Right, it's done, let's move..." He whispers and slowly starts to advance, initially trying to be as quiet as possible, but realizing that it doesn't really matter he relaxes and moves normally.
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As Semenya moves ahead to scout, Janiven talks to all of you in a hushed tone. “Arael and I made these marks a few months ago when we explored the sewers. We marked all the intersections so our people could find their way through the sewers to our hideout.”
As you travel, the noise of the Hellknights back at Vizio’s Tavern diminishes.
“They might take a few minutes to search in the tavern, but some are going to follow us down here after they grab a lantern or make torches. They might even try to infiltrate the sewers ahead of us if they can guess our route. We need to keep moving.” Janiven adds, seeming a bit worried.
Arodio
Del
Janiven
Morosino
Derek
Eklektos & Theron (Back outside of sunrod)
Correct me if I'm wrong here.
Del whispers Janiven's warning on to Semenya: "Keep an eye out for any Hellknights that might try to head us off up there."
Semenya keeps moving forward, relaying information back to Del.
She tells him where to find the marker to relay to Derek.
Stealth
Perception
Semenya keeps moving forward, relaying information back to Del.
She tells him where to find the marker to relay to Derek.
"Derek, this 4-way intersection would be a good place to try and throw them off, if they're looking for these markers. Lemme see, Semenya said the legitimate one should be... ah, here." Pointing it out.
Based on what they're doing, giving them a bribe of some food might not be a bad idea.
"Right, I got it, thanks." Using presdignation once again Derek changes the markings to indicate the opposite direction.
"You know Del, I think we can add a little to the bluff here, after all, eventually they might just figure out we are going in the opposite direction, maybe we should leave the fourth mark as is, if they figure out our game then that would throw them of."
"I hope all of this metal i'm wearing isn't making too much noise"
Arodio says almost whispering.
"That's a good idea, Derek."
...
"Semenya says there's four goblins ahead. She's going to try to talk to them. But let's close our distance in case she needs us." Del draws his short sword and starts walking faster.
"Stay near me Del, possibly behind"
Arodio readies flail and shield and hurries toward Semenya
Eklektos and Theron continue along behind, keeping to the shadows just outside of the range of the sunrod. At the talk of Goblins, however, they'll begin to move closer, moving into the region of dim-light toward the edges of the sunrod's range. Eklektos will move up to the dim side of the bright/dim sections provided by the sunrod , but Theron will stay back closer to the far edge of the dim zone . They'll continue to keep to opposite walls, though, and attempt to be stealthy.
"Goblins you say Del? Hmmm, we have probably bought some time to escape from our pursuers, so I believe we can attempt to negotiate, but as Janiven said, they might be trying to cut us of, so we better not take too long, if they don't agree we better strike fast...and strike first if possible"
Derek also moves forward, not really trying to be stealthy since Arodio makes the point more or less moot.
"Make sure you stay well back from the fight Morosino, but don't disapear out of sight down here"
Semenya will count to ten twice in her head as a clock (about two rounds), staying very still; waiting until she can see the glow of the sunrod on the walls behind her.
She'll come forward with the crossbow pointed down - not at one of the goblins, and will start the Hypnotism spell.
Hypnotism will fascinate them even if they don't share a language.
While it's running, she's going to repeat the following, first in Common then in Orc:
"There are Hellknights coming. You should make sure they don't find your mates and children. Lead them away from your nest."
Number of HD affected.
Duration in rounds of the Fascination effect.
Will save DC: 14.