The grappled stone knight jabs upward at Abrel's chin with his morning star...
...clipping it hard and slamming his jaw shut.
Round 5:
Enemy
Elandil, Abrel, Cole, Davin, Shal, Bhoors <--UP
Cole moves forward for a clear shot, and fires a dagger at the remaining enemy.
Abrel spits out some blood and growls, forcing the stoney warrior into Cole's blade!
Elandil attempts to freeze up the cultist again. He chants the words and frost begins to form over the brute's shoulders.
Abrel's biceps pop as he lifts the chin of the knight to expose his pulsing neck veins, but ultimately Cole's dagger is just a hair to the right and the chance is lost.
Round 5:
Enemy
Elandil, Abrel, Cole, Davin, Shal, Bhoors <--UP
Elandil's ice ball splatters in the knights face, but he just looks annoyed "*spit*sphhh*...g&$$~#nit..."
Davin takes another shot at the final enemy.
Attack:
Damage:
Bhoors moves up and attacks the stone knight. All the while chanting a tune, something about lillies puzhing through sod.
As the group swarms the grappled cultist, Shaldinari takes a breath, aims, and tries to send another blast of eldritch energy into the stubborn man.
Bhoors mutters something like "...a fragrance so bountiful..." as he stabs the grappled guard in the chest, dancing around throwing healing magic all over. Davin and Shaldinari's attacks seem to have little effect on the mountain of a man.
The guard raises a boot and plants it right on Abrel's thigh, pushing off with all he's got...
Cole dances in and brings both swords to bear after being healed by Bhoors.
Abrel loses his grip, and curses under his breath.
Fine.
The knight flexes his hand and suddenly, his blade appears!
His blade clangs off the stony plate! Gods dammit!
Round 6:
Enemy
Elandil, Abrel, Cole, Davin, Shal, Bhoors <--UP
Seeing another blast bounce harmlessly off of the cultist's armor, Shaldinari shakes her head. "You've the luck of little ones sir, but you will fall to blades of my fellows eventually unless you surrender yourself soon."
Seeing the cultist is free Elandil tries to interpose himself between Shaldinari and the brute. Drawing his scimitar as he sidestepshe keepshis shield ready to block attacks.
Growling in frustration, Davin takes careful aim at the armoured foe and let's fly his arrow.
Attack:
Damage:
Continuing his hymn muttering and death dance Bhoors stabs at the stone guy and looks over his shoulder at Shal.
Cole's offhand stabs up from behind and the blade twists, the man writhing in agony. Abrel feels the guards resistance go slack a moment at Shal's words, he looks around and see his companions not rising again... "*sigh* Fine...alright! I surrend-*hork*" Davin's arrow finally finds a way through the plate, and Abrel feels him go even more limp...
Seeing the man slump unconscious, Shaldinari breathes a shallow sigh of relief. Still holding her ribs even after the healing from Bhoors eased the worst of the damage.
"Well, that was worse than expected. These earth cultists seem to be a bit tougher then those squid lovers who were after us earlier." She says with a wince of pain as she bends over to search the men for any valuables or useful looking information.
Shal, you find a short note written in some odd kind of language. Most notable is the accompanying hand drawn sketch of Boltsmelter's Book:
It is signed with some equally odd symbol...
There is also some equipment, including: stone plate, stone morningstar, 3 stone scimitars, 4 light crossbows, and around 30 stone bolts.
This could come in handy as a disguise. Does anyone want to wear it, or shall I? Abrel asks, then laughs, Do you think this shade complements my eyes?
Having taken the small gatehouse, the party quickly grabs what it can and gets back to the cover of the shadows. The splendor of this district is apparent even in its current state, the broken cobblestone roads have pavers that are perfectly cut and of exotic marble. Shattered glass windows are thick and colored beautifully. The lowest levels of the very tall buildings here are almost completely vaporized, leaving only a handful of the sturdiest columns. Still, the hanging architecture resembles the canopy of trees in an old forest as you make your way through this upward sloping urban landscape.
Ever on the lookout for the symbol of Mystra, you dodge encounters here and there. Bums on their last leg fight like dogs over rotten dried beans. Turning a corner a small child bolts startled at being discovered. Somewhere above on the 20th ruined story a madwoman sings a song of love.
Elandil tries to focus on looking for the symbol but the destruction has him rattled.
Perception:
Trying to keep a lookout for any more cultists, Davin also searches for the sign of Mystra's temple.
With no objection, Abrel will disguise himself with the stone plate, crossbow and morningstar. He will not stealth but will walk out in the open as a decoy.
Shaldinari moves along with the others, showing them the letter she found on the cultist. "Looks like these guys are after the book as well. I'm not sure what the rest of it means." She says quietly.
As they continue moving through the ruins, she attempts to keep an eye out for the secret sign, but the surrounding devastation and her own still aching ribs make concentrating difficult.
Cole stays to the edge of the group in the shadows of the ruins while also searching for the symbol.
The party makes its way around this once glorious place, partly at random, seeking any signs of the hinted hideout. The cold stance of the stone guards is easy to spot from a distance, and evading further encounters is bolstered by the shadowy ruins and no doubt Abrel's ruse. Still, you get the feeling their posts have been set up to control your movements, and soon you find yourself walking through a narrow passage with fallen structures on both sides...an excellent point for an ambush.
Davin is the first to hear it, a *cacaw cacaw* bird call, obviously not made by any real flying creature, coming from somewhere above.
Hearing the odd sound, Shaldinari tries to slip further into the shadows while quietly calling forth a bit of fae magic. With a quick gesture and movement of her lips, an echoing *cacaw cacaw* is heard a few dozen feet west of the party, but from the ground.
"Maybe I can throw off their timing and coordination a little." She whispers to her companions while continuing the illusion.
Davin stops and lets Shaldinari cast her spell and waits to see what might happen.
There is a moment of silence after Shaldinari's casting before "*psst* Hey...hey you..." Large stone beams have fallen and crisscrossed nearby, leaving a triangular shaped hole no larger than a fist. At the end of this hole are tiny little lips, attached to someone's face...it speaks in a hushed voice "...you ain't dressed like those nutjobs, and you aint a Mulmasterite either casting like that. The hell are you, and what are you doing in here?"
Shaldinari flashes a quick hand signal to the others as she turns toward the voice. Her eyes search for the secret symbol while she attempts to keep the person talking.
"If by nutjobs, you mean those blasted cultists, then you're right. I'm not one of them. " She says quietly. "I'm just a trapped traveller looking for a way out of this gods forsaken burgh. Was told to look for Radomir the halfling cause he might be able to have a way past the element lovers."
There's another pause, and if you peek into the hole you can see the lips whispering into a little piece of wire before "30 yards at your left is an illusory floor, you big ones will have to squeeze, its the only way in these days. Radomir will see you."
If you proceed in the indicated direction, you find the silver star of Mystra smoothly plating a piece of white marble. If you hadn't been looking for it, the reflection would have kept it hidden. Directly next to it, you feel around with your hands for the secret hole, and turn up a circular hole perhaps 2 feet in diameter.
Cole here's the voice and moves to the identified area.
Well, I guess we'll all be squeezin' in that hole. Who goes first?
"I'll squeeze in there. Let's hope these people are trustworthy..."
Elandil secures his equipment so it won't get hung up and enters the hole.
"Right behind you."
Davin waits until everyone else is through before he follows. He keeps his bow out and ready as the other scramble through the hole...just in case!
With a final brush of the noon sun, the party drops underground into a surprisingly clean chamber. From the looks of it, this was at some point used as cold-storage for a number of goods. Now it is mostly empty save a heavy iron door to the north.
You hear the rattling and clattering of perhaps 3 deadbolts, 2 mortise locks, combination locks before the door pops open. A halfling adorned in some kind of urban camouflage waves you inside silently. Boltsmelter grumbles disapprovingly...until the scent of roast pork...no, bacon...tickles his huge dwarf nostrils "Ach...whats this, another trick? Thats the scent 'ova 3 kilo slab pit fired..."
You all can smell it too and as you pass through the long hallway it is clear that whatever this halfling community's operation is, it is well supplied to endure the madness above. You arrive during a meal, a full table, and those attending stand to greet you with a formal cordiality, putting on an attitude of business.
One halfling doesn't stand however, merely grinning and tapping his fingers restlessly "So, you are looking for me, you say?" At the side of his plate, is a small pile of white pills... "Hungry?"
Abrel takes off his helm before heading down in his stony plate. Damnable plate is heavy and stifling!
The knight looks to Davin first before pulling out the charm, presenting it to the halfling, Whitebeard sent us. He said you'd help.
"Great...more crawling around in small tunnels." Shaldinari says with a slight shudder. Taking a deep breath she closes her eyes and squeezes through to the chamber below.
With a raised eyebrow she glances at the generous spread set out on the before the smugglers. "A fine table you set." She says to the halfling with a small smirk. "I see the smuggling trade is doing very well these days."
At Shals comment "We're confident for the future. The incursions here, though devastating, have presented some interesting resources that would otherwise be impossible to acquire. Have you ever drank from the Aquan reservoir beyond the Material Plane? Or tasted the fire salts from the chaos realms? There are those that pay well for such experiences."
"As for this meal, you can thank Vanessa...she has perfected the arts of culinary conjuration. Self reliance isn't so new to us, you see.
Turning to Abrel he takes the little arrowhead, smiling in memory "Whitebeard, eh? Yeah, I owe him one...so that means we can keep talking." he wipes his mouth with a delicate white napkin "Plenty of tunnels beneath Mulmaster, go deeper than most can dream. Yer red hot though, everyones talkin' bout Boltsmelter's crew. Dunno what you did you old son of a b&+*$ but you got yer balls in the wasps nest. City Watchers even working with the destroyers against ya."
He pops a pill with a quaff of water and paces a bit "Price. We can help each other. You'll run a few of my packages along with ya and meet a contact on the outside. Fair right? I'm not trying to trick you or anything, its pretty simple...tit for tat. Only one of you needs to carry, but if you're all willing then all the better. What d'ya say?"