You heard a story in the Rusty Dragon one time... a tale, really, for surely it must have been embellished, at the least, if not a pure work of fiction... the story of Elrick van Caskerin, a down on his luck soldier who fell madly in love with a 'woman of the night'. Her spirit had been so broken by the harsh brothel-keeper that her heart was no longer capable of love. So, Elrick sought out an alchemist and paid a hefty price for a potion that would teach her to love again. He smuggled it to her and waited with baited breath while she drank... but nothing happened: the potion was a fraud. When the brothel-keeper discovered what was happening he had them both beaten. Elrick, devastated, returned to the alchemist to confront him. The pitiless scoundrel taunted the broken man until, in a fit of rage, he struck him down. Unfortunately, the alchemist's brother was a powerful and well-connected man and he swore revenge on Elrick. The soldier, now poorer and more unhappy than ever, fled Riddleport to be forgotten... or, so the story went...
Tera chokes as she laughs and sobs at once. It takes her a moment to recover, but when she does, she stands back and begins cleaning the blood off the both of them and magically repairing her clothing.
"Thank you, Sal. I needed that," she says between casting spells, "I just... even after what happened to Roakkad, I never thought about the possibility of dying. Then, when I opened that door, Orik stabbed at me, and I knew that if I'd been even the least bit slow in reacting, I'd have been bleeding out or dead. It terrified me and I was just... I forced that back as long as I could. I'm sorry I made you upset, and I know none of us asked for this, but when you stop and think about it, would you be out here even if you weren't Marked?"
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As Tera and Sal head off together, Zache mutters to himself, attempting to put some of the things they've been told to rhyme.
"A bugbear in the tower high,
Whose longbow arrows piece the sky;
A merc' in Tera's custody,
In legislative parody;
An unidentified canine,
A devil-dog of fearsome kind;
A mage unlikely to parlay,
And going by the name Lyrie;
And then the one we've come to seek,
With cruel intent and murderous streak,
Nualia, with demon limb,
And bent on bringing futures grim."
With a short sigh and a harsh chuckle, he shakes his head, adding,
"A day, a task, a battle dark,
For those who bear the gods' birthmark!"
"You forgot t'mention my rugged good-looks..." Orik jokes while looking around uncomfortably. "So... we just wait for them t'come back or, uh, you guys wanna poke around Nualia's room?"
Tera returns with Sal a few minutes later, her robes once again as good as new.
"Well, it looks like we're still in the clear," she says, closer to her normal self, though still somewhat subdued. She quickly weaves a spell to make a map of Thistletop in mid-air.
"Okay, we've explored the upper levels and took care of the goblins we found. We've explored this much of the lower levels," she says indicating the bottom level of her map made of light, "before running into you, Orik, we were planning on checking these doors," the doors they have found that haven't bene open blink, except for the double doors carved with demonic imagery, "then going up to take care of our friendly bugbear."
Tera smiles as she looks at the mercenary. The others already know what this smile means, though this is Marcus' first time witnessing it. She has a plan.
"But, we might be able to skip all of that and just go straight for tall, dark, and hairy. Orik, do you know what's in the rooms we haven't checked?"
"I'd be comfortable moving right to the hobgoblin. The less time we need to spend trusting Orik, the better." Marcus says as the ladies come back, not caring if the brute hears.
Orik laughs at Marcus' frankness. Starting with the closest doors he begins explaining, "this door just across th'hall there is an empty room. Nobody ever talks about it- coulda been that Tsuto's. This one at th'end of th'hall is Nualia's, but I never been in there b'fore. Th'bugbear calls that big room you came through "th'feast hall" and I think there used to be tables and chairs that they moved outta there. That last door on the southern wall is for some kinda nursery but, thankfully, it ain't in use right now... that door on th'east wall there I ain't ever been through but I heard it leads back t'that squid thing's cave."
He frowns at the map for a moment and then points at the double doors and adds, "that place gave me creeps... its some kinda chapel but I swear I saw eyes in there, in th'dark corners by th'roof... four of 'em... red, beady, shining in the dark... They kinda reminded me of that devil-dog she's got with her all th'time, except, you know, flyin' or something... I ain't been back in there since."
"More like trying to get you to realize that it's not expectations that got us here," Tera replies as she begins mending the rent in her clothing, "I think the town would prefer us not to be storming Thistletop given what happened after the fire and Roakkad's... his..."
After struggling for a moment, she shakes her head and gives Sal a sad smile.
"Guess I'm not as much better as I thought," she says, "but I'm better enough. Let's get back to the others before they start to worry."
And when Sal says they should still have a party when they get back, Tera grins.
"Oh, we're going to have it," she whispers back, "because I'm going to be the one teasing someone about their boy-troubles for a change!"
"Well, if you don't mind checking Nualia's room while we plan," Tera says while fishing out the Pumpkin King's Crown from her pack.
After giving the room a brief scan with magically enhanced eyes, she begins to lay out her plan.
"So, we know that the fuzzy-wuzzy bugbear was here," she says as the upper part of the watchtower the bugbear was in pulses brighter for a few moments while a cartoonish caricature of a bugbear pops into existence within it, "and we know that there's plenty of room in the throne room," the room where they'd cut down Chief Ripnugget also pulses, "so we set up an ambush for him there." Caricatures of Kaede, Kaelaah, Marcus, Orik, Sal, and Zache all pop into existence in the throne room. "You guys will hide in there while I'll be the bait." A cartoonish image of Tera pops into existence at the bottom of the stairs before pulling out a comically oversized jack o'lantern and putting it over her head. "I'll get his attention and lure him into the throne room where we'll trap him and kill him." The little cartoony Tera flings a ball of fire at the bugbear and leads him on a merry chase to the throne room, both leaving a dashed line behind them. Once he's in the throne room, Zache and Sal slam the door behind him and everyone jumps out of hiding and the bugbear gives a little cartoony cry of terror.
"So, any questions?"
Not for the first time, the tall shoanti looks worried, "And what if the bugbear catches you before you get to the Throne Room? It's a risky plan and I'm not sure I like it much..." Kaelaah's voice trails off, "We wouldn't know and we wouldn't be coming to rescue you..."
"Let's just pray that doesn't happen. I could scream as loud as I can if I need help, but if I'm in trouble enough that I can't run away, then I'm probably not in any shape to be screaming," Tera says after thinking for a moment, "sorry, Kaelaah, but this is probably our best chance to get the drop on him. Besides, if you don't hear a bunch of cursing, yelling, and giggling after a few minutes, you can just assume that I've screwed up and need a rescue."
"If you think you can handle this, then I trust you," Zache says firmly, staring at Tera through the translucent map. "How long should we give you before heading in anyway?"
A quick check of the empty rooms reveals a simple bed and a small dresser with some papers stacked on top of it. Notes scrawled on the pages outline a plan to coerce Lonjiku into letting some goblins into Sandpoint, different horrible ways to murder him, and then for using the Glassworks as a staging point for more trouble.
Nualia's room isn't much bigger than the others. It contains a very nice bed with rather new looking silk sheets at the north end and a plain but sturdy desk with a chair and an unlit lantern at the south end. The desk is empty except for an unopened inkwell.
Orik raises an eyebrow at the sight of the illusory pumpkin-headed Tera running about. "You know," he offers, "if you all wanna set your trap in th'feast hall instead, I can just go tell him he doesn't have t'be on watch anymore and he'll head straight down here with no idea anything's up..."
Leery about letting Orik out of their sights, Marcus searches for any signs of deceit.
"Seems to me that he's on the level, for now. And it is a good plan." Marcus begrudgingly admits.
"Oh," Tera says as she puts the Pumpkin King's Crown back in her pack, "that might actually work better."
Tera seems to deflate just a little as her plan is replaced by Orik's. It seems she was looking forward to her zany scheme.
"Well, I guess we'd better get ourselves set up in before Orik goes and sends this bugbear to our little web," she adds after a moment.
"We should deal with the goblins that we fought down here and try to make the room look like it wasn't in a fight," Kaede brings up. "If this bugbear sees them, he'll go defensive before he's in the room. " She looks toward Tera, "Can you clean up the blood stains in the dining hall?"
"That does seem simpler, and safer," Zache shrugs, rolling his shoulders. "I can help with the blood. I'm used to cleaning ink stains; how different can it be?"
"I can," Tera says as she gets busy cleaning things up. After a few minutes, it's like the fight never happened.
Satisfied that this other plan is less likely to result in the death of another of the Marked, Kaelaah quietly helps to clean - insomuch as a goblin's eating area is ever 'clean' - the dining hall... when he is finally satisfied that there is nothing left to arouse the bugbear's suspicions, he too finds somewhere to hide...
Once consensus has been reached and people are more or less in position, Orik disappears up the stairs. Waiting in tense anticipation, it seems like an hour passes, though it probably takes less than a minute before the adventurers here two armored men banging and clanging down the stairs. A moment later the bugbear strides into the room and his eyes go wide as the trap is sprung...
Orik draws his sword as the intruders begin attacking the bugbear.
As the bugbear enters the room, Marcus calls on Gozrah to buffet the beast with gusts of wind.
For
Closer quarters than when the bugbear was firing upon them as they attempted to cross the bridge, Kaelaah attempts to make the surprise count...
Tera sends an arrow streaking at the bugbear as the trap is sprung. She frowns a little as it appears she might not have capitalized on their surprise.
With a slight bout of hesitation, Kaede quickly and somewhat gracelessly jabs at the Bugbear's side, following that motion with a forceful command: "Do you yield?"
Only Kaelaah and Kaede manage to land their attacks against the unsuspecting bugbear, but both deliver powerful attacks. Its eyes go wide with rage and it shouts "Intruders!" as it scrambles to return the attack...
With lightning fast reflexes, the hairy brute draws its heavy flail, steps forward next to Kaede, and brings the spiked metal ball whirling towards her...
,
Letting the flames rage across his exposed flesh now, Kaelaah whips his fire into a raging inferno... and cursing the bugbear for the mongrel that it is, lashes out.
Tera begins to look worried as another arrow goes skittering along the stone.
"O bugbear from the tower tall,
The time has come for you to fall," Zache begins, keeping his meter more singsong than his usual heroic verse.
Kaede shakes her head at the bugbear's decision, shifts her grip down the length of her glaive, and begins answering his attack with swings of her own.
Orik steps down to the bottom of the stairs next to Sal, grabs his sword with both hands (since his shield is still on his back), and swings it down hard with a grunt...
The bugbear snarls at Orik's treachery, but its snarl quickly turns to a malicious grin as the heavy sword joins Tera's arrow, Sal's rapier, and the sharp end of Kaede's glaive in failing to do any damage. "Lemme at that traitor, li'l girl," it barks at Sal as it swings its huge mace around at her."
The flames continue in a fiery ecstasy from Kaelaah's palms, he shapes the arcs as they curve along the passageway...
After the blow to Sal, Marcus moves next to her to heal her.
In an effort to grab the bugbear's attention, Kaede continues to swing at the archer, only for her attacks to swing even more wild.
Tera chants the words to a spell and two golden eagles streak from her hand to slam into the bugbear.
"Oh just die already," she snaps as she glares at the brute. Her other hand is already pulling out the iron wand with the twisting forked tip.
Frustrated that he can’t get a clear swing, Orik ducks behind Sal and darts around her to take another swipe at the bugbear. Still holding his sword in both hands, he puts his momentum behind it as he brings it down hard...
The hit cleaves open the bugbear and drives its remains to the floor.
Marcus closes his eyes momentarily, focusing on Sals wounds and transfers some of the damage to himself.
Then moves to make sure if Orik changes his mind,Marcus is harder to get to.
Once the bugbear's down, Tera makes sure it is dead before checking on Kaede and Sal.
"How badly did he get you," she asks as she pulls out one of the other wands at her hip.
As she sees how little of an effect it has on the two other girls' wounds, Tera smacks the wand against her palm a couple of times as she mumbles about it being as stingy as Banker Gellar before trying to use it again on the two of them.
After healing up their wounds, Tera begins to use her minor magics to patch and clean everyone's clothing.
"The wand's almost gone. Besides that bugbear, there's only Lyrie, Nualia, and those things you saw behind those doors, right," she asks as she works on Kaede's clothes.
”I believe you...” Orik answers dryly, ”you’d never’ve made it this far if you fought like that all the time. ‘Cept you, red- that was a pretty handy trick.”