"Rovugite Wisdom," indeed.
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I've been around. Kamau is literally of no use at all to the 'information gathering' stage. He's designed that way for the most part. I've contributed all I really think I can. My intention is/was to just show him loitering in the background and looking mean while people did the planning work.
Knowledge (local):
Intimidate:
It's not wearing thin at all. Kamau just legitimately didn't understand him. I figured that at some point, considering you're making a point of it, Albrekt's accent and word-choice would eventually be incomprehensible, and this one had enough of both to justify Kamau just... not getting it. :P
Kamau stopped, arms folded, to listen as Albrekt rasped out his words. When he'd finished, Kamau waited a moment, then turned to the others, asking in all seriousness, "...did you understand any of that?" in his own stilted, enunciated Common.
Kamau seemed restless, foregoing a chair in favor of pacing slowly and aimlessly around the room, keeping his footfalls light so as not to be annoying. When Pyrrius spoke then, Kamau nodded. "An ambush would be best. Our target will not be unprepared for combat, whatever his quarry may be. The idea of an 'interview,' though... I would prefer we assault him in the open rather than inside any dwelling, especially his own."
"But not tonight." Kamau speaks up, having been content to loom silently in the doorway as they discussed the possibilities. "Tonight we should rest, and prepare ourselves for tomorrow's work. Shall we all agree to meet here after the noon bell, to take up our next course?
"The formalization of terms is one part of the murder-sacrament." The Garundi warrior stared at Pyrrius's back as he spoke (or met his eyes if Pyrrius turned). "I will be pleased to have a student of the law to bind the parties involved. I dislike legal wrangling."
Kamau slid around behind Pyrrius to close and lock the door. For a big man, he moved quietly. He then turned, folding his arms and leaning his broad shoulders back against the doorframe, shifting his weight a little to let his sabres settle. With narrowed eyes, he took in a little of the dynamics at play - Albrekt fascinated by his death-moppet, Solace bustling about and trying to keep some order with her shop crammed full of her erstwhile coterie, Haruk and Pyrrius beginning the elegant verbal sparring that often hallmarked the meetings of Asmodeus's faithful.
Haha, Albrekt is talking to the doll, hahahaha-- --...ohgoditstalkingback. D:
Kamau openly rolls his eyes at the company, step-turning around the side of the bookcase and into Pyrrius's view. "We find ourselves at the end of a long day's labors, Pyrrius." He says, looking back over his shoulder at Haruk sitting at the table, and Albrekt and Solace at the shelf full of fetish-dolls. "Our manner is not all that it might be. The one you seek is indeed here." DM Fatespinner: Kamau still has his knife in his hand, wrist rolled back to tuck the blade against his arm and not be an openly hostile thing. Readying action to prohibit spellcasting on Pyrrius's part and all that jazz. I realize that Pyrrius is an actual PC and all that, and that, no, he's not here to be a problem. This is more in case Pyrrius happens to be particularly perceptive - he might notice these things happening. Kamau is moving like someone who expects a betrayal or a new threat.
Unseen around the corner of the doorjamb and a bookcase, Kamau looks to Haruk after this is spoken, waiting for a confirming look, perhaps, or an expression of distaste or fear.
Kamau narrows his eyes at the door, then turns his head to Solace and Haruk as he moves to cover the entryway. The fact that the door hadn't been kicked in or pounded on was a good sign, but it seemed nothing could ever quite settle his vigilant mistrust of events. One hand fell on the weighted kukri at his hip for good measure.
Dead serious: I was actually a little ashamed of my whole spoiler-reading thing and didn't want to be the first to post a response. However, given the time that has passed, I'll go ahead and do so.
Kamau silently looks around at the trinkets in the shop, seeming more comfortable now that the day's excitement is on the wane. When Haruk's thoughts turn to profit, Kamau looks around at everyone. "Is our business concluded for the evening?" he asks bluntly. "Where shall we meet in the morning to continue our work?"
Kamau sharply turns his head and scowls at the knock at the door. He glances at Haruk, then at Solace, tilting his head to indicate she should answer it. Kamau himself steps up next to a bookcase beside the doorway, drawing his heavy-bladed kukri and looming just out of sight of those who had chosen such a poor moment to come knocking...
Kamau paces slowly around the small shop, using his elbows to hold the crossed blades on his back inward somewhat to prevent them knocking things over. He is the perfect window-shopper - Look, But Don't Touch - and while he seems curious about some of the objects, he doesn't ask after them. When the table is assembled, he puts his hands on the back of the chair, but doesn't sit, unable to settle into a seat with the two blades on his back and apparently unwilling to part with them for the purpose.
Kamau gives a derisive sniff at the man's demand, but after meeting Haruk's eyes a moment, he turns and keeps walking while they conclude business.
Kamau followed, deliberately maneuvering so as to edge in and out of the guard's peripheral vision, never letting the man have eyes on the entire party at once.
Kamau had been half-shadowed in the alleyway when the guard had looked away. When he snapped his eyes back and his eyes focused again between the shadows of the fence and the lights all around, Kamau was halfway up and over the fence. He landed lightly. "Rethink this course, guardsman," Kamau said softly as he straightened up. "It need not end this way for you, but it will if you persist." He laid hands on the protruding grips of his blades, clearly ready to wet them again if it came to that. "Follow your orders, bear us until we no longer require you, and be gone."
I hadn't expected that Pyrrius would be introduced to the group as their court appointed attourney... ;) Really? I gotta say, that's exactly where I thought it was gonna end up.
...we seriously can't go more than thirty feet without annoying the police.
Kamau took a few rolling steps forward, leaving his backpack in the alleyway behind him and visibly limbering his arms as he walked. The barred shadows reflected starkly on his sharp features. "I have obeyed your command, guardsman. I am here for you to see. My name is not for you to know, and you are better off ignorant of it."
"An ally," Kamau declares flatly, dropping to the ground. "You and yours do not patrol the rooftops, from which came the assassin's arrow today. I will not suffer to have my companions caught out in the open as the victim was." As he spoke, he loomed up out of the dark beneath the rooftop overhang, a challenging scowl-smile on his dark features.
DM Fatespinner: Kamau will follow the party for a short distance to get out of earshot of any non-party-members nearby, before revealing himself again. His intent will be to find out where the party is going (since, if they head into the residential district it probably won't be obvious) and 'guide' them around guard posts as well as possible as they navigate through the street-maze.
Knowledge (local)
Kamau watched from a nearby rooftop, hunkering low to keep his profile away from the night sky, a shadow in the deeper shadows of the city. He couldn't call out to them without being loud enough for others to hear, so he simply silently willed them all to pay attention...
Hel's Teeth we're making heavy weather of one wounded, scared, hexed guard lol... just as well he's not a serjeant or we'd be in big trouble!! I'd say we're out of the woods on that one. It's chunky-salsa time.
Perception! (+2 additional if the thing being perceived is Human):
Kamau flicks his wrists, leaving spatters of blood on the ground. Seeing Albrekt shambling after the second terrified man, Kamau decides that the moment is done with, and begins to withdraw.
GM Fatespinner: Kamau is going to disappear into the city and shadow the group once they're on the move again. If at all possible, he'll wipe the blood of his swords on any available cloth as he passes, like hanging laundry or a market-stall's tablecloth or something.
Bahahahaha, "Baying like a wild animal." Holy crap, the group had no idea what it signed up for. We got an Albrekt+Ventar duo and then within a day we lose Albrekt's minder and suddenly it's like we're carrying around an axe murderer. This is not going to go well. :P *edit* I'm seriously laughing so hard I'm crying. Albrekt's turn comes up, he charges, and lands a 15-damage hit on the poor bastard. Goodnight, guards! Thanks for playing! ...okay, now that I've settled down, I see that it's a 13 to hit, it might not actually land. Still.
Main-hand:
I'm going to be gone until late tomorrow night (my time), so I've left instructions with Fatespinner as to how Kamau will play out this combat, assuming that I end up missing it. If I get back in time, I'll contribute, and I'll see how practical it is to contribute from my phone during the day.
Kamau snaps out of the dark, reverse-wielding one of his serrated blades. His swing is an inch too low, raking the neckguard of the man's armor and drawing a welter of blood from his upper back, but missing the decapitating slice he'd been going for. He hadn't expected Albrekt to act quite that soon.
I dig Pyrrius as well. Albrekt, question: Are we looking to swing for the fences on these two guards? Is Albrekt looking like a guy who's about to kill someone, or does he just look like he's going to viciously beat the lunch money out of them? I don't want to waste the stealth and tear onto the scene unless we're planning some full-on murder, here.
Kamau lays hands on his blades, readying to leap in. It seemed Albrekt intended to make good on his threat...
Kamau wordlessly passes the guards at the front of the group, quickly turning aside as the two watchmen keep their eyes on the rest of the party. He steps into the shadows of the wall, waiting for the possibility of Albrekt... reclaiming his bribe.
The regular armor bonus for a +1 breastplate is +7, not +6. That said, however, because the armor currently has the broken condition, the enchantment is nullified and the base armor value is halved (+3). Once you can get some of the party casters to lay some mending on it, it'll eventually get back to being a masterwork breastplate (+6). You'll need make whole to restore the enchantment, however. Fair enough. Assume that the breastplate is somehow stowed or carried along nearby since we're heading out of the sewers anyway. Kamau still has his chain-shirt on. Broken armor would make his armor check penalties for climbing and stealth pretty nasty, too.
Unseen in the shadows above, Kamau grimaces in mild annoyance for a heartbeat before quickly dropping back down the ladder to the others. "The door is locked from above, with a trap for the unwary hand. This will not be the easiest ingress, and it is a pointless risk to take. Perhaps we are better served returning through the waterworks and completing our supposed task..." Kamau raises an eyebrow at Albrekt. "And retrieving your coin, should you still care about it."
"Let me go up first. I'm used to infiltrating places like this. It would be a poor fate to have a chance at our first target slip away because we blundered up into the middle of a church service." Kamau lightly bounds up onto the ladder and begins to climb, ignoring the crossbars and gripping the side-poles of the ladder, quickly ascending like a man pulling himself up a wide rope. His gear faintly rustles, but otherwise he makes no sound.
I added the +1 mithril breastplate to Kamau's item list and updated his stats. I'd appreciate it if one or two people would doublecheck me to make sure I didn't forget anything. Kamau has stowed the chain shirt for now. While I realize that mechanically they're interchangeable, Albrekt is simply *more bigger* than Kamau and the idea of just trading armors has not occured to him.
After the party has taken only a few strides away, Kamau sheathes his blades in their strange upside-down straps. He seems to walk with a new purpose, back a little straighter, eyes sharper. After they arrive at the intersection, he looks back at the group. "To the surface, then?"
Kamau watches the warrior's hideous display for a moment, then steps up and takes the breastplate from where it clattered to the floor. He picks it up, looking at Albrekt's marred frame, then shakes his head in slight bafflement. "And what will you do, Albrekt? Will your scars turn aside their blades? You smashed your old armor, and now you're left with nothing."
Kamau watches the vampire simply claim the Urgathoan priest as his own, and can't help a sort of half-smile. Such was the fate of the unwary. As they made to leave, he looks up when Albrekt gets his attention. He momentarily ponders the offer, looking at how the breastplate only barely covers the warrior's massive frame. "Yes. I think you're right. I'll take it."
Kamau smiled slightly at this, crossing his blades over his chest. "Ah, sacrament-killing. At last, the purpose is found."
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