Way of the Righteous (WOTW Alternate History) (Inactive)

Game Master Darkfire142

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24 Appraise (untrained): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 (To identify the daggers listed above.)

Sedelion's sigh is long and low. "We can't take him with us. I have seen just how effective that demonic transportation can be, and I do not want to end up back here again, excepting the off chance that I can raise it to the ground. But I cannot just leave him here either."

While contemplating what to do with the half orc gailor, the elf looks over the daggers, most of them just being grisly, but a few looking partially valuable... and one grabbing his eye for its sheer aura of wrongness.

"Most of these are worthless, unless you want another dagger for the road or unless you want to supply some would-be torturer with his introductory extraction set. Four seem to be made of interesting metal types... one is gold, probably ceremonial.... one is silver, which might be useful.... one is obsidian, I would recommend not trying to throw that one.... and one is an iron that seems to be permanently cold."

The elf points to them in turn as he mentions them... then picks up the magical one.

"This one, however, seems to be magical in just the wrong way that I would expect here. I am taking it with us so that it can be destroyed... there are celestials that will thank us later. If no one objects I will take the other four I pointed out, at least until we get out of here. The gold one might help pay for passage out of the country, and the other three might be useful if this place has any surprises."

If no one objects he will take the five... if someone wants one of them besides the +1 lawful evil aligned one, he won't object, but that one he will be pretty adamant about carrying himself.

You get the sense that the Gold and Obsidian daggers were probably used by the torturer for "Experimentation". Seeing the variety of knives, the torturer probably got a sadistic pleasure using different types of cutting implements on his victims. The daggers seem like the only thing of value to take, although the whips and and some torture tools could make you some money if you could find a buyer. There are two Cat of Nine Tails that have Silver and Cold Iron metal bits attached to them which seem the most valuable of these whips.

There is a holding cage in a corner of the room caked in blood, probably used as temporary storage of prisoners in case there was a succession of tortures going on. There are 3 exits to this room. You came in the west door. There is a door to the south that looks like it might be some kind of storage closet and a door to the east which looks maybe to fit the keys you took off the assistant torturers. Where do you go?

Maybe I could carry one of those, if you don't mind. - says Abbo, particularly pointing to the cold iron dagger.

With that said, he positions himself and points to the door that looks like a storage closet, as if suggesting them to carefully examine it first.

"Daggers are beneath me at this point, this has a good swing. On the part of saving him, his mind was weak if he could not stand against them, I do not care if he survives or not. He tried to end us, it is fitting we do the same"

Sedelion nods to Abbo and hands him the Cold Iron dagger carefully. Hearing no other requests, he attaches the silver, gold, obsidian, and magical daggers to his belt. He then grabs one of the cold iron cat'o'ninetails and coils it around his waist like an improvised second belt, leaving the other whips and daggers with a final look of disgust.

"There is another like this one in that... collection... with cold iron pieces instead of the usual dregs, if anyone is interested in it," The elf says casually as he moves toward their prisoners.

Taking the unconscious interrogator, he drags his prone body to the cage and places him inside, ensuring that his hands and feet are bound, and that his mouth is gagged. Satisfied that he will have his work cut out for him just to be able to call for help, he closes the cell behind him and locks it (presuming that we have the key from one of them) before returning to the half-orc.

"All of this is true. And yet, I would still offer him a chance at salvation, if not escape, before leaving him to his fate. Is it possible to restore his power of speech? I know that his tongue may be beyond repair, but if we could at least get a last request from the man... some wrong left unrighted, some person he would wish looked after.... SOMETHING to ease his passing by doing once we leave... then I will be able to sleep easier knowing we failed to free him of his chains, self imposed though they might be."

Libis can kill him first. If not the Hound will take action

Randu cares nothing for the daggers, at the mention of the prisoner he inspects the man's mouth if he can, "If he can write, that might also give him last words... but I don't know if we have pen and paper for use about here."

Heal Skill to see if the fellow might be healed enough to speak? 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

No, he won't be able to be revived without healing.

Anyway as no one acts, the Hound takes out his sword and removes the head of the Gailor cleanly with a single cut. He says, "We have no time for this argument. We will go now and tarry here no further. I take no pleasure in this but it is what has to be done to end this debate. Now we leave this prison together, no further arguments."

Sedelion stares at the former Gailor's head for a moment before looking up to the Hound.

"Did you at least get anything from the dying torturer before you decided to execute this one? I'd rather not walk into the guard's private dice game if we can bypass it." The elf's tone is cold and neutral, barely any emotion coming forth. Without waiting for a response, he picks up the Gailor's mask and ties it to his belt, then walks to the torturer that had been dying and wordlessly slits his throat with the evil aligned dagger before heading toward the closet that Abbo is standing at.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25 (Examining the lock on it, and comparing it to the keys. If it doesn't match, he will take a 10 on picking the lock unless 21 won't beat it.)

The closest is actually unlocked and you look inside. Inside of the closet you see a few cleaning supplies, brooms, mops, rags, cleaning fluid and the like but also a shelf with some bottles with a mix of powders and flasks, properly labeled. There is a mix of different poisons, salts and other strange chemicals on the shelf but also two bottles that are labelled "Healing Potions". There is also 2 flasks on the shelves labeled "Green Acid" and "Black Acid". Probably fluids used in further torture methods. Some of the poisons look valuable although the morality of using them or selling them is something to be questioned.

"We will need funds if we do escape this hole. We take these, we sell the poisons." he says

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The following poisons are on the shelf:

Bloodroot, Greenblood oil, Wolfsbane, Shadow Essence, Medium spider venom, Black Adder Venom.

Having already been rebuked by the Elf, Ash frowns silently as the others banter back and forth over the fate of the orcish gailor. No wonder the forces of evil took over our realm. We cannot even agree on what to do with a single prisoner... As the Hound suddenly steps forth and beheads the Gailor, a muffled "ha!" escapes his throat.

"I still don't understand how he would be able to question a corpse without some truly mighty powers?! He rammed a sword through him twice, or does the massive pool of blood around the body not make that clear? With all due respect Sedelion, you just locked up and gagged the only one who can possibly give us the information you have repeatedly expressed a desire to gain. Seems somewhat counter productive. Of course, we will need to heal him a bit to get anything out of him, then likely put him down after... but would be better than running through this prison blind."

Ash walks over toward the cage and gestures to the lock while looking at Sedelion.

"Do what you want with him, I honestly don't care," the elf says with a monotone to Ash, tossing him the keys. "Given my penchant for fighting near the front, I think I will hold on to one of these potions labeled as 'healing'. You should probably grab the other one, Bron."

Without further fuss, or room for debate, he hooks one onto his increasingly burdened belt and passes the other one to Bron. Hearing Libris mention interest in the poisons for monetary reasons, Sedelion shrugs.

"If you wish, take them. You might want to grab that other Cat'o'nine with the cold iron as well... anyone wanting the poisons would probably be interested in that too."

He then walks to the other way out of the room and listens intently at the door, keeping pressing his ear close to it.

Taking a 10 on perception at the door we didn't come through to see what he can hear.

"Not a bad idea Sedelion" he nods as he grabs the other flayer

Ash catches the keys as they are tossed to him, giving the elf a questioning look as he does. With a shrug, "Okay, so I put it to the rest of you. I have some limited ability to heal wounds - I can use them now to revive the unconscious torturer and we can interrogate him and possibly gain useful information, or we leave him be and I retain the healing to use on one of us later. Thoughts?"

"Keep the healing for us, they do not deserve such kindness"

Sedelion has heal as a trained skill.... been a bit, since I actually had it on my list, but could I use it to wake him after stabilizing him or some such? The rules seem to indicate that first aid checks should be possible, but it doesn't go into the realm of non-lethal damage care from what I can read.

Catching the flask in mid-air, Bron opens the cap and makes a toasting gesture to everyone, including the dead.

-As one of my old mates used to say, better drink while you're at the pub, you never know what your wife's gonna throw at you when you get home.

Then he drinks the potion. Some of you can see a small tear appearing in one of his eyes.

Healing Potion (I hope): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 Ooookay...

-Alright, so when you're finished with all the chattering, can we get out of here? When we're back to our full health and properly armed we can come back and beat the hell out of these people if you fancy - and believe me, I fancy...

"Allow me instead, Ash," He says, "This healing has...limited use. If he doesn't wake from this, we leave him be."

Another Rebuke Death, only works on those under 0 hp anyway
1d4 ⇒ 3

Even as he works, the cleric considers the tensions within the party already. He cannot blame others for wanting haste, though he finds himself agreeing with those that encourage gentler mercies than death.

Sweet, that will heal him of 3 hp points as well as 3 nonlethal damage, for a total of 6 damage removed - likely getting him conscious.

A torturer wakes up looking groggy and likey pinned down by the rest of the party. He gives you all a filthy look and says, "You are a fool to let me live marked ones! You will never escape Branderscar, no one escapes here!"

Does Sedelion hear anything beyond the door? If so he will bring it up after dealing with the torturer.

Hearing the man speak, and confident that he has learned all he can from listening at the door for now, Sedelion walks slowly to man, make a deliberate show of picking up what was once his short sword on the way.

"You haven't been spared because we wanted to hear what hasn't been done before, worm. If we followed that script then we wouldn't be here like this, and your friend would still be alive helping you to scrub the floors." As he mentions the dead torturer, he draws the short sword through the dead man's midrift, placing a coat of blood on the edge.

"Now, I do not know much about torture, so I am not even going to try to be inventive. I will ask you this once. If I am not satisfied with your answer, I will let my companions do what they want to you... I am sure one of them is more inventive than I am." As he is speaking, the elf begins carving a swallowtailed butterfly on the dead man's head.

"If your answer satisfies, I will leave it up to you whether we leave you in that cage alive or dead. If you choose dead, I promise on my honor that it will be as quick a death as we can grant you. Given what your former colleagues will probably do to you once they retake this room, I would recommend that option."

The elf smiles grimly, wipes the dead man's blood off the sword, sheathes it, and attaches it to his belt.

"Oh, and thank you for the sword by the way. I am sure it will come in handy. Now, tell us. What is the quickest, least dangerous path to the head warden's tower?"

The torturer looks amused, "The wardens tower! Ha ha ha! Why would you go there? Vengeance perhaps? Go ahead and try for if you dare you will all burn in the fires of hell. The quickest route is out the front door and into the courtyard and around the side of the keep. You won't live long enough to get there!"

"Hm... vengeance? No, that doesn't quite sound right... if I wanted revenge I would be asking you the quickest route to that bastard Sergeant's bunk. Though I imagine that the new warden will probably clean house here and take care of that weasel for me." The elf pauses and gives a conspiratorial laugh, as if he was in on a joke that was just beyond the reach of the torturer's grasp.

"Still, in all likeliness, you won't be in a position to see that even if you do choose life. Does the warden have some pet monster guarding the door? Or were you thinking that there would be guards in the courtyard to stop us?"

Librus listens, calmly. For now. But he silently hopes they will still go after Blackerly. He has a promise to keep

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-You mean you access the warden's chamber from outside?

"Yea, there ain't a way to enter the tower from inside the inner keep. The door to the Warden's tower is on the outside of the building around the side. As for what he has there, who knows. He's some kind of hellbinder as far as I know. Who knows what he's got cooked up in that tower." Says the torturer.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 2 = 9 (To see if he is lying, though seems low enough that I probably can't tell.)

The elf nods, unable to really read whether the man is lying or not.

"So, which door is faster for getting there then? The one we came through or the one you had a key for over there?" Sedelion points to the door he was just listening at.

Sedelion can't tell if he's lying or not.

The torturer says, "Back upstairs you idiot. The front door of the inner keep is the best way out there. The doors back there you won't find anything, its just our living quarters."

Sedelion nods, then turns to the others.

"As far as I can tell he isn't lying, but I am not the best at determining such things. I am satisfied with his answers and am prepared to offer him his clean death, should he want it. Does anyone else have a question for the worm first?"

Sedelion will wait for the others to either inform him of any duplicity he has missed, or make any follow up questions, but failing either he will then make good on his oath whichever way the torturer chooses.

Sadly, Bron has never been too good at catching liars (that explains a lot), so he'll have to do with whatever the guardian has told them.

Randu tilts his head trying to discern if the fellow has been lying.
"What do you know of patrols or stationed shoulders?"
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

The torturer isn't lying about anything he said, at least as far as Randu can ascertain. About the patrols he says, "The walls are patrolled by guards. We also got Dogs as well. Good luck getting past them without the barks attracting attention."

"Well, I don't think he's lying," Randu says with confidence, "Not that the truth is very comforting."

"No, it isn't, but then it never was going to be. Still, better to know than to be surprised."

Sedelion smiles grim thanks to Randu, then continues.

"Assuming no one else has any further questions, which is your preferance? Death or staying put in that lovely cage for your fellows to find later?"

The Torturer says, "The cage then, if that's a choice."

Ash smirks, "To the cage then... and back to sleep." He swings his leather club at the bound and prone torturer, easily striking him and (assuming) knocking him back unconscious.

melee attack vs helpless: 1d20 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 1 + 4 = 14 effective dex 0, -5 to AC
damage, nonlethal: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Before a response or rebuke from the others, "I have no problem letting him live, but he knows that cage, and this prison. He may have had some way to escape the cage, or notify other guards from within. Best he is out for a while. Now, who will help me put him back so we can get moving?"

You easily knock him out and put him in the cage. He should be out for a few hours at least, long enough hopefully to complete your escape.

"Where to now? Are we going to interrupt a little gambling game?"

"Maybe we can find some food to placate the watch dogs," Randu muses, "if we had a sedative to lace it with...but then, I'm not sure. Are any of you good with animals?"

Sedelion nods curt thanks to Ash.

"Indeed so, and my offer of his life did not include his being conscious. I had intended to do that myself, so thank you for sparing me the trouble." The elf pauses, takes a breath, then adds, "And thank you for honoring my word to him." A trace of a smile brushes his lips as he says it.

"As for the gambling game... while we might get a bit of coin for our journey, it sounded like it was well attended by any guard who did not draw duty. Armed and armored as we are, we might not be able to overcome them... and more than likely we will not be able to keep them from raising the alarm. I would recommend we avoid it, unless we really think we need the money."

Turning to Randu, he says, "I have a little sway with animals, but it isn't what I would define as a strong suit of mine."

Sedelion has the Wild Empathy skill from being a ranger, but given the bonus I would be adding to my roll would be my ranger level (1) and my charisma modifier (another 1) it is likely to not work unless I get lucky.

"I still think we clear this place, don't want anyone reporting what we did. It will give us enough time to get distance between us and this forsaken place"

Abbo stays silent while the others chat about how to deal with the dogs. He particularly liked canines, but there's not much he could do other than hurting them - and in a fairly lethal way. He swallowed, for a moment, thinking on avoiding it if possible.

Not sure if I could try to help you handle the animals, Sedelion. I'm not skilled at it at all, but maybe I could support an attempt.

Assuming I could make at least a DC 10 with an untrained Handle Animal and a good Charisma...

Our GM would have to confirm this, but I somehow doubt it will be that low of a DC, but it might be worth a shot.

The elf nods noncommittally to Abbo. "If nothing else your magic might be useful if things backfire."

Hearing Libris' comment, Sedelion shakes his head.

"We don't have the time or the manpower to give this place the proper clearing that it needs, and even if we did it might cost us the advantage of surprise when dealing with the warden. Besides, unless you want to try to sneak into the tower from an unconventional angle using that portable door we have, heading further into the keep will require us to spend time backtracking when we do make for our exit." He pauses, but then shrugs.

"If you really feel that strongly about silencing more of them, perhaps we can do it after the path to our exit is cleared, so that we can make a run for it if things go awry."

Bron has heard this thing for... what, the fourth time already?

-Guys... I don't want to suicide, so... I should warn you that if we break into that card game, we all die. I think we have a winner horse by trying to silence a patrol and cross quickly to the warden's quarters.

After saying that and watching everyone's reactions, he adds:

-Of course, when I'm fully armed and recovered, I will come back to collect my chips. That'll have to wait for now, sadly.

I would like to remind everyone that we also have 3 Hero Points each at our disposition.

i used 1.

"I agree, if we have a clear path to escape. I am all for it. But at the very least. I want to see that coward Blackerly choke on his own blood" he growls

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"Very well, let us get clearing our path out of this infernal pit."

So saying, the elf begins to head back toward the door to the courtyard, keeping an eye out for patrols.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Maxim locks the torturer within the cage, then turns back to the others. "Alright, then let's move. Do we want to check the living quarters he mentioned through that door, or simply head back up and find our way out of the keep? Either way, we should get moving."

You go back upstairs to the ground floor and see there is a single double-door heading to the north you have not gone through. Listening at the door you think you hear nothing. The door is pretty thick, so thick that it probably kept your fight in the basement from being heard.