Away Team:
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Away team: Spoiler: Janosz dives and dances around, desperately trying to avoid the ogres' rapid-fire blows. Dust, tile shards, wood splinters and a not insignificant amount of blood flies through the air. Suddenly, the killing blow bounces off an invisible barrier. Clearly relieved, a battered and bloody Janosz nods at the others. "They'll find a way around the wall. Let's clear out the other enemies before they do."
Lizardmen, then Mintash.
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Ferez shakes some blades out of her sleeve and flings them at the nearest lizardman.
, Kazadar!
Away team: Spoiler: "They may look different, but they smell the same", Janosz barks back at Marrius. "And they bleed and die just like any other demon-worshipper."
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Away team: Spoiler: "Amazing." Janosz looks at the chaos unfolding around him in disbelief. "As much as I would like to just sit and watch the patrons kill each other, we probably need to find Trinkis before he is murdered by his jailers. Marrius, any idea if there are sub-basements here?"
Away team: Spoiler: "I'm not the one who's mad, gangster." Janosz shakes his head condescendingly at the crimelord. "Looks like you're in deeper waters than you can handle."
; I get another +2 if the effect comes from an aberration.
Who are still standing?
Away team: Spoiler: "We are wasting our time talking. These guys are ogre magi, not humans." Janosz steps back, clearing space between himself and the dais as he reaches for his bow. "You might look different, but you smell the same, shapeshifter."
Away team: Spoiler: "Incoming goons," Janosz mutters as the group enters the casino. "Top of those stairs, by the far door, some over by the bar." He goes quiet as they approach Joord's dais, focusing on the gangster with hawk-like intensity.
Away team: Spoiler: "The lizardmen are presumably mercenaries. Will they keep fighting if we knock off Joord?"
Spoiler: "We are here to see Joord. He is expecting us," Marrius begins before Janosz pushes past him and gets into the doorman's face, grinning unpleasantly.
"How much does Joord pay you, buddy?" he growls. "The answer is this - not enough to f#%+ with us. Go take a lunch break while we chat with Joord. If not, I'll take that cute little nightstick of yours and break every bone in your body before ramming it so far up your ass that it'll tickle your tonsils."
"Good points. Lead the way; I'm ready for anything. Make sure Kadesh stays within croaking range, so he can warn us of ambushes."
"Ok. Has anyone ever seen him blow stuff up, fly or just disappear?"
"Sounds like a fine plan. Does anyone know if Joord surrounds himself with suspected spellcasters?"
"Hidden ally. These negotiations won't be decided by the finer points of oratory."
"Where and when is the exchange supposed to happen? That place will be trapped, scouted and ambushed to hell. We should aim to preempt that. Do we have any way to know where Trinkis is held?"
"Riedran shards-for-food trade? They are here, too?"
"Waddya mean 'if'?", Janosz grins. He seems very open to resolving the dispute in the messiest possible way. "No jumped-up gangster gets to grab my buddies and walk away."
"Ferez. Wanna follow these turds and see if we can figure out where they are keeping Trinkis?"
"The real question is whether these goons are House representatives or local gangsters. We can kill the latter; the former we might at least try to subdue."
"Y'know, Marrius must be truly desperate for cash to make a ridiculous demand like that. Also, he never mentioned any intention of returning to Karrn previously. Combine those two oddities, and I wonder if he is being squeezed by someone and might need to run back to Karrn. Who has that kind of reach?" "We might want to scry on him anyway. For all we know, he's tied to a chair somewhere with someone getting the hot pokers ready. The offer is so bad it almost seems like a warning or coded message."
"Come as close as you want or think you need," Janosz replies in a low voice. Gil finds him in a philosophical mood. "Y'know, Gil, Cassandra, whoever you are right now... That glamour doesn't fool me anymore - it might make you invisible, but I felt you approach, even before you spoke. I could demand that you reveal yourself, but appearances count for nothing, as Gelb, the ogre magi and even the demon-goblin that originally owned the tent all proved. However, you smell the same, and I will trust that. Though the senses might be deceived, you have to eventually trust something. The other way lies madness. Let's get outfitted and meet the rest of the crew." "Do we have actual kalashtar help now?", he mutters as he makes his way to the store. "It is about damned time Havakhad threw a bone our way, considering how much we've done for them."
Janosz tenses up as the telepath establishes contact. Nice try, mind-witch. Come talk to me in person if you dare. Bring some of your ogre bodyguards, too, to make it interesting.
"G++@@+n, that hurts. Did the graft take properly?" Trembling, Janosz only keeps from touching his left eye with great effort. He sits up and squints into the darkness. "The ritual was successful. The pain should recede in a few days", rumbles a distinctly unsympathetic Orcish voice. "Your Flamish buddy couldn't take it, though", snickers another unseen Orc. "There's another ritual that exchanges your skin for tree bark. That one would really freak him out." "Quiet, you two. Concentrate, Janosz", whispers a third voice. "The seed grants powers besides sight. As we speak, its roots grow through your brain, your nose, your ears, heightening your awareness of the world around you. Use these powers. What do you see?" Janosz fights off waves of nausea and vertigo as his vision clears up. "Graka. Jolz." He nods respectfully at the Gatekeeper hierophant and her massive bodyguard. "Balgat's outside the door. I can...smell him. And there's another orc standing behind me by the wall. Where's Rodergo?" "He left", sneers the orc by the door. "Said he had to catch a train. Also said to say that you couldn't go to Flamekeep. Said he wuz doing you a favour. You've been out for a bit, so I guess you missed that train." "Moron." Shaking his head, Janosz staggers out of the hut and into the bright sunlight. Ezreal will know what to do. After a brief goodbye, he hails a skycab and heads for the Upper Dura district.
"See those ballistas? They can clearly see invisible things - Gil is being targeted right now."
"Be somewhat quiet, folks. We don't want to ruin Gil's surprise, do we?"
"In general terms, we can assault one catapult, seize it and use it against the other one. However, we need to get there first." "Also, where is their leader?" to spot banners or a smaller group of warforged moving together or something similar that would indicate where the commanding officer is.
"I was wondering if we could attack their ammo from a distance and maybe let the living spells do some of the work for us."
"All right! Let's get an overview, shall we? By the way, how long does the invisibility effect last?" Janosz scrambles up the interior wall and peers over the battlements. "What is your plan for your troops? Stay inside and support us with missile fire?"
"The whole gang's here," Janosz mutters, "but they are currently invisible in case more trouble rolls in. Get me up to speed on the situation here."
"Stand down, you wretched factory failures! Tell Lightbringer his old buddy Janosz is here to save his rusty ass. And stop shooting at me, or I'll f%@! you all up like I did that living spell!"
"Oh well, let's see if this thing feels any pain."
"We load everyone into the tent and then get the hell outta here. We can't face a besieging army, especially one that throws things like that around. And now the front wall is gone, too."
"Isn't it obvious, Rod? She's pregnant, and you are the father!"
"As all of this depends on being able to first contact and the teleport ourselves to Lighbringer's location, wouldn't actually getting in touch with him first be of the highest priority? If you can't reach him, the plan unravels, after all."
"Fine." "The Mournland it is. I assume Ezreal or Rod can locate Lightbringer through magical means. How do we get to him without schlepping through the wasteland? Marrius' airship?"
"I still think it's gonna hafta wait until after we're done with this kalashtar business. So I'm against it, for now. Sorry."
"Which brings up the next question - how do we get to Adar? Havakhad, you mentioned something about wards and the land being shielded from scrying and travel?"
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