[ooc] I already rolled and failed Lorelei, hence why he's on the map. (forgot to mention this earlier) As you move beyond the barrier of built up...crap, you feel your skin tingle as incredibly powerful magic washes over you. Lorelei can give me a knowledge (arcana) check to recognize an ongoing spell-ish effect (basically, if you roll well enough, I'll tell you the spell that it resembles). Still waiting on Manisha.
Manisha pauses when Lorelei states she can bring the necromancer back.
You're not sure what sort of magic this is.
While part of Star is disappointed about failing to identify the strange magic, the rest of Lorelei is thrilled when she pulls the necromancer back.
"Got him!" she happily calls back to her comrades.
Manisha was watching intently for the result of Lorelei's spell. Not familiar with it herself, she watched as Lorelei cast the spell.
If the necromancer is still standing after Baergar's attack, Manisha calls upon her celestial heritage, Yoour evil ways shall end here necromancer.
Detect Scrying, Nondetection, and Shield drop.
Manisha's spell rebounds upon the defensive spells of the necromancer, and then shortly thereafter he is cut to shreds by the offensive attacks of the Baergar.
Grilka's eyes snap open and her armor shimmers and then disappears, as it does, she shrinks back down to normal proportions. Raising her hands, she says, almost quizzically, "I surrender."
Lefty's right beside her, unseen.
Smart. Don't you dare move.
Delaying until she dares to move.
Baergar frowns, covered in the viscera of the slain mage. "We do not have a means of keeping prisoners. That one is a liability."
@ Baergar: We can't leave bodies, either. Gather what's left of his corpse and bring it here. It has things we want.
@ the half orc: Don't move.
You do what you're told, you might live.
Lying.
"If you don't I get to try a few things on you," Hiram says, checking the blade of his falcata as he wipes the blood from it. He often found it was better to leave things to the imagination of the person he was threatening with harm
turning to your group, she says "so now what?"
Taking a closer look at her, you can see that she is wearing an unusual outfit which covers her torso, but leaves her limbs exposed. You can just make out the shape of a tattoo that would appear to cover her back, if the scale of it remains the same and it is indeed one tattoo. While obviously strong, Grilka is built more like a lean hunting cat then a powerful bear. As you give her the once over, you can see that she has little, if no, body fat. everything is muscle. You also notice that she appears to have no wounds anywhere that you can see. Clearly something happened to wipe away the damage that was dealt to her, but it is unclear what specifically.
Looking up at Hiram's threat, she says simply "lord, I hope you aren't going to force yourself on me." then she winks at Hiram.
Baergar rolls his eyes.
Lefty will continue looking for magic items, and the strange rock they use to get inside.
Show us your "key," and how it's used to get in.
Grilka says simply "I don't have a key."
What do you use to get inside? Your charming personality?
You use stone from the wall. Tell us how that works.
Grilka chuckles and says "oh, no. I'm not stupid enough to go inside. I'm just the hired help."
You're not being very helpful. That's a problem.
Lefty attempts to use his ranged legerdemain ability to remove the wayfinder from around her neck. He casts Mage Hand, then tries to sneak it off of her.
"Please, what do you take me for?" Hiram says coolly, he had been insulted by many more creative than a half-orc mercenary, "One of your employers?"
Grilka continues to smirk, as if she finds the whole thing funny and says to Lefty "I'm just the hired help. Emphasis on the Hired part. They don't tell me their plans."
Turning to Hiram, she says "very witty. I'm sure you'll make a good thrall." She shrugs then says, to no one in particular, "I do know some things, but I'm not foolish enough to think that if I volunteer information, you'll spare me out of the goodness of your hearts. I'll tell you what I know, and then you let me go. seems like a fair swap."
Well, you won't be seeing that sword of yours ever again. You may just walk away with your life, though, if that's of any value to you.
While the others talk with their captive, Manisha engages in the eon's old post battle tradition of scouring the bodies for usable gear.
With her eyes glowing, the various items with a magical aura are revealed to her.
She'll strip off anything that also looks well crafted.
While the others interrogate Grilka, Star reaches into her shroud of shadows, tucks away her Nexus Crystal, and withdraws a series of three brass bells. She absentmindedly juggles them with surprising skill before growing bored and storing them. She quickly turns her sights back to the scene unfolding. Meanwhile, Rose relays all dialogue to Lorelei.
A few remarks earn a couple of giggles from Star.
"Funny," Lorelei remarks with Cheshire grin. She does a flip in the air before turning to the rest of the group and adding, "Probably doesn't know anything useful. Let's get going. I'll turn her into a toad. Or a statue."
Baergar chuckles. Statue, I think. She already looks made of stone."
"Come now, we ought to give her a fighting chance, I vote toad," Hiram adds cheerfully.
Grilka says "you could do that, but then again, you would surely die to the....guardian. or Torak. Probably Torak. He's not....nice like I am. Then again, I could tell you the password necessary to get past the guardian, but it's up to you."
Baergar rests his mammoth tusk sword on his shoulder and crouches down before Grilka: bearded face close enough to smell her breath.
He speak in a quiet voice. "You know I once killed an entire tribe of your people. Every single member: down to the last child."
He shrugs.
"I was young and distraught over the loss of a beloved friend. I have turned toward of life of peace and productivity in my old age."
His brows draw down until his hate filled eyes are not but smoldering embers.
"But I will gladly make an exception for you if you keep playing these coy games. I have a kingdom to rule, a world to save, and no patience for the whims of Orc children."
He brings the point of his sword under he chin. "What will it be? You help, or you die."
Grilka actually laughs at Baergar's taunt "looks like we have something in common. When I was a pathfinder, I helped to kill a village of orcs as well, although I didn't do it by myself. I'm not trying to be coy, I'm just saying that you can kill me or let me go: only one of those two things is going to get you information. the other...not so much."
Who has Speak with Dead? This may go much easier with the corpse.
Grilka shakes her head and says "actually, speak with dead will not work on me. There are certain precautions in place to prevent such a thing from happening. Furthermore, you wouldn't even begin to know what to ask, much less the correct way to ask it."
Baergar presses the point in a bit harder, visibly irritated now. "Tell us all you know, and I will set you free. Withhold, or even seem to withhold, and your life is forfeit."
The dwarf king removes the threat of his sword and stands waiting.
As Rose relays all of the dialogue to her, Star scratches her chin in thought before shrugging. She quickly concludes that this debacle is going nowhere. Time to shift tactics.
"Agreed. She talks. We let her go. No physical harm," says the little fey-like woman. She turns to her allies and adds, "We need to move. Time is limited. Doom is upon us."
Lorelei smiles.
Grilka nods, stands, bows to Baergar, and says "Very well. Here is all I know. The Whispering Way hired me to guard this enterance for a period of 30 days. that was on the first of the month. In that time, I was escorted inside once by one of the necromancers who was bringing his tithe to The Whispering Tyrant's army. His tithe consisted of the ghosts of 15 children that he had murdered and bound to his will. As we approached Gallowspire proper, I noticed that several of the defensive psionics that I had up ceased to work, either by being suppressed, or by being dispelled. As we approached the guardian, who appeared to be the ghost of a mounted combatant mounted on a horrific-looking spectral mount, the necromancer presented his stone and spoke the following phrase: Kith, Alar, Nee Sidharkama, Tar-Baphon. He was then allowed to pass and his offering was lead off by an undead attendant of some sort, which I could not make out as it was covered completely in robes, but I guess that it is undead because it appeared unaffected by the touch of the ghost children. I can tell you that this phrase contains several different languages, and that the first word in Thassilonian means "gluttony". I have no idea on the others. I know that there is a veritable army of undead waiting inside Gallowspire proper, and quite a few of them are incredibly powerful in their own right: mummies, liches, and vampires, to name a few."
Grilka pauses for a moment, then says "I also have heard several of the necromancers from among the 'way talking about the fact that Tar-Baphon is going to become a god. I'm not sure how that will come about, but they seemed excited. That's all I know in regards to the situation here."
Lefty tries to use his knowledge and his tongues ability to identify the mix of languages in the phrase, and perhaps sense its etymology. It could tell us something.
Sensing that the time of questioning is over, Grilka stands and says "any questions about anything before I leave?" Turning to Hiram, she adds with a smile "sure you don't wanna force yourself on me?" then she laughs and stretches a bit while waiting for your response.