"Oh, he just orders a drink is all. Never seen him eat a thing." She turns a glance to the barkeep, "An extra mead Allen."
Allen quickly gets the order and hands it to her, she in turn hands it to Tomlin.
At Tomlin's words the man, Dether, slowly cracks open his eyes. The man is muscular, though not muscle bound. Blonde hair and gray eyes. He stretches a bit then sits up straighter in his chair, blinking a few times before focusing his eyes on the halfling. "I'm sorry, what was it you asked?" After Tomlin repeats the question he rests his elbows on the table. "It's a shame is what it is. The libraray holds the greatest treasure trove of knowledge in the world, and to see the city losing its grip is a real shame. I come down every couple of years from Akleta, and it's never been this bad before." As a seeming after thought he holds out his hand, "Names Dether by the way. Yours? Where you from?"
His act is good, very good, but you are quite certain he heard your question the first time, his doze part of the act.
More to this one than meets the eye, Tomlin thought to himself. We may be onto something here Name's Gavin, and I guess you could say I'm from all over. Such is the sailor's life! But 'earin' of all this upheaval has right shock me to my boots. As the mead arrives, Tomlin clinks his mug with Dether's. To better days, yea? It's good to meet ya Dether. So, what business you in? How long's your stay in Coran?
Tomlin attempts to keep the conversation focused on city events and specifics of Dether's activities in town. He won't press any issues though. If a chance presents itself he adds: Probably a long shot, but some chance do ya know Bannali? I got a message to get to him but no idea where he's gone to.
Dether grins, warming up to his conversation with Tomlin, "I like to think of myself as a scholar," he reaches back and fingers the hilt of his greatsword, "but travel in some places isn't exactly safe, particularly the ruins in the barbarian lands north of Akleta."
He takes a sip of the new mead, "Thanks for the drink Gavin. I expect I'll be here for about a month. I've been looking for a lady friend of mine. I haven't seen her in some time though and not sure if she is even still around. But I'm also doing some research in the library, looking for additional information on northern ruins."
Dether frowns at mention of Bannali, his words measured. "I do. But I'm sorry, I mean no offense, but he's not exactly a friend of mine."
At these words the half-elf several tables away pushes back his chair and begins walking briskly towards the door.
Tomlin recorded the half-elf's abrupt departure but decided there was nothing he could reasonably do about it at this point. I do hope Tavrus has noticed that one, he thought to himself. The halfling kept his mind on the conversation though, as it seemed to be bearing fruit.
Yea, I figure Bannali might rub some people the wrong way. Truth be told I can't say he and I are friends either, but I got a message to get to him. I guess when your a sailor everybody thinks ya can be a messenger boy too! Anyways, if you had any idea where I can find him it would be a big help to me. Thinking for a moment he adds, maybe we can scratch each other's backs. Whose this lady friend you's on the lookout for? I figure since you got all that research to do, maybe I can help find her while's I'm on shore leave. What do ya say?
As the half elf gets up, Tavrus sets down a neat stack of a few silver coins to pay for his meal.
He moves to head the half-elf off as he gets to the door. "Hey, how have you been, man? I haven't seen you since... damn, I think it's been nearly a year." He lowers his voice. "How's business faring?"
to determine if he is about to make a run for it
to try to pretend to be an old acquaintance
Dether lowers his voice a little, "He was in here yesterday, but you know how he is, doesn't often go out in public by his given name. I think the barmaid there called him Jared, or maybe Jacob when she greeted him. Kept is hood up to cover that bald head of his, and had his religious symbol tucked away underneath his shirt."
Dether's words are to eager. You understand he knows you are not a friend of Bannali's, but his words do speak truth. Any trouble you might cause Bannali is well worth it to him to tell.
"That's very kind of you to offer to help me track her down. To many in this city think only of themselves, caught up in their day to day lives. It's been a few years, last time I saw Lorine Vext she was working at the Wailing Spirits over in the dregs. Very unsavory place that, and an unsavory line of work."
He is not telling the truth here. You doubt there is any such person named Lorine. But like Bannali, you expect he wouldn't object to someone stirring some things up. The Wailing Spirits however rings a loud bell in your mind. That was near the location where the drow Maklo, now being kept at the western gates, was taken prisoner.
As Tavrus moves in front of the half-elf he stops, listening to what is being said. The half-elf turns away for moment, looking at the two humans sitting at the table next to the exit where he and Tavrus are standing. When he looks back the whites of his eyes have gone pitch black, giving the appearance of two black holes in his head where his eyes should be.
The clothing and equipment Tavrus is wearing ripples and waves as thought suddenly caught in a violent wind, tugging at his body.
An unseen force suddenly thrusts Tavrus to the side, tossing him into the table where the two humans sit and slamming him up against the wall.
"Edric!! Come he-" Tavrus is cut off, thrown across the room and into the wall, falling prone.
Initiative
Hearing Tavrus' shout, then seeing him thrown, Ian will run to Tavrus' aid.
The half-elf dashes out the front door, immediately turning east towards the docks, quickly disappearing from view of Ian and Serelina. Though it shouldn't take much effort on their part to get him in sight again.
Well, Tavrus for his part this turn will spend a move getting up and a move heading out the door. He will meet up with Edric and the group before giving chase.
Tomlin shoots Dether a wide-eyed look as the half-elf wings Tavrus into a table without touching him. It wasn't hard for the halfling to summon a shocked expression; but he sought to tailor it so as to hopefully not deepen Dether's suspicions.
Can you believe that! What 'tis this town comin' to that a body just assaults others after a greeting! Tomlin bolted up out of his seat, and looked worried as Tavrus got to his feet. Moving up towards him, the halfling pretended to be simply concerned for the other man's welfare. 'Ey? You OK?, he asked as Tavrus darted out the door after the half-elf.
Quickly chanting and gesturing, Serelina gets a look of keen concentration on her face as she casts a spell.
Streaming out of the ally-ways on either side of the bar are two dozen armored cityguards with loaded crossbows, all pointing at the half-elf as he runs out of the bar. The guard leader shouts "Halt now or we will fire!" The bowmen all look coldly upon the half elf, hands on the triggers of their flatbows.
Without the slightest hesitation Dether has his bow in hand and is bounding up behind Tomlin. "By the gods."
Allen, the barkeep ducks down behind the counter and the barmaid slips into a corner to get out of the way. The customers in the tavern give a cry and shout, most vocal being the two humans whose gruel has been knocked to the floor.
As Ian and Serelina come running up and guardsmen begin pouring out of the side alleys with loaded crossbows, the dozen or so people walking the streets press themselves to the walls of the enclosing buildings.
The half-elf skids to a halt at this new event, and for a moment darkness seems to gather around his form before he thrusts forth his hands, palms in front and fingers slightly curled. A flaming sphere erupts from his hands, though flame looks to be covered by a shrouding blackness. It travels 20' from the half-elf then explodes, engulfing the illusion of soldiers and a couple of individuals in shadowy flames. The half-elf immediately starts moving forward again.
That was a shadow evocation, fireball.
Seeing that her foe hasn't been intimidated, Serelina ceases to concentrate on the spell revealing the guards as illusory. Trying to slow the shadow-caster down, she attempts to dazzle him with a lesser, but often effective spell. Muttering an arcane word with a sharp gesture while throwing ground mica towards the shadow-caster, she invokes brightly colored motes to surround him. When the magic is cast she begins to rush after him as he appears to be attempting to flee.
Glittering gold dust coats the half-elf and everything around him.
Tavrus and Edric double move, but begin to lag behind the other, faster party members.
Concentrating, Serelina leaps gracefully into the sky flying swiftly after the fleeing shadow-mage.
Tomlin moves out to the street just as the strange fireball engulfs the illusory guards. Glancing back at Dether as the man followed behind, he said wide-eyed By Nethys! Did ya see that?? Who is that guy?? The halfling continued to trot forward in the direction the half-elf went, passing Tavrus as he went. Not wanting to blow his disguise though, he said nothing to the priest.
Ian runs in pursuit.
As Ian sprints in persuit, catching up to the half-elf, Tavrus and Edric are not far behind.
Dether coming out of the tavern right behind Tomlin slows at seeing others in pursuit of the half-elf. He seems unsure if he wants to get involved in something, but the hesitation only lasts a few seconds and he nocks an arrow, letting it fly over the heads of Tavrus and Edric and strike the half-elf.
The half-elf continues to flee another 10' before turning and looking at Ian with its pitch black eyes.
An overpowering sense of dread fills Ian's and Tavrus's hearts.
Tavrus flees, he hadn't drawn a weapon yet so nothing to drop.
"Edric, kill him! I'm out of here!"
Edric charges the man, scimitar in a two handed grip, wielded with all the malevolence a mindless form can muster
Soaring ahead, Serelina gains another ten feet of altitude (20' up) and flies to catch up with the shadow-caster. She then opens her mouth and screams silently.
Tomlin glances back in surprise as Dether launches an arrow into the fleeing half-elf. Perhaps these two have some history. Morphing the surprise into his guise took less effort. Oh, uh, well, I guess we'd best help, ya? The halfling then took off at a dead run, pulling the daggers out of his boots as he did. He gave Tavrus a puzzled look for a moment as the man ran past, but Tomlin knew enough to see magic was at work if not what kind. The halfling again said nothing though, and made sure to show no sign that might tip Dether off (or anyone else watching) regarding his affiliation with the party members.
Ian immediately swings his Bardiche as the half-elf begins to cast his spell, then yells, shielding his face with his arms, weapon clanging loudly on the street, then stumbles along behind Tavrus.
Ian's polearm connects with the half-elf who stumbles slightly as he moves away, before both Ian and Tavrus turn tail in the other direction.
Edric charges in, but his swing misses.
The half-elf covers his ears momentarily before shrugging off the scream.
The half-elf takes a 5' step away from the Edric and Tomlin, magic weaving around it, though nothing happens.
Shadow evocation - detonate.
Dether moves forward, launching another arrow, narrowly missing.
Serelina lowers slightly then vomits forth a swarm of spiders upon the shadowmage.
Now some distance from Dether, Tomlin smiled cruelly as he closed in on his quarry. Darting south, the halfling placed himself directly opposite of Edric in a flanking position. He then lashed out with one dagger, attempting to open a vein as he struck.
Attack [bonus includes +2 for flanking]
Damage, if hits + + 3hp/rnd bleed
As spiders begin spewing forth from Serelina's mouth dropping onto the half-elf Tomlin takes advantage of the distraction and stabs him in the arm.
The half-elf collapses to the ground unconscious. As he does so though Tomlin and Serelina can feel their hair stand on end and an instant later the air is filled with the smell of ozone as lightning erupts from the half-elf's body, tearing bits of flesh from him, and striking Tomlin, Edric, and Serelina.
What remains of the half-elf is burned flesh, torn and ripped by the explosion of energy.
Dether, looking on with an arrow nocked, blinks, then looks around as the illusionary guardsmen from Serelina's earlier spell vanish. He keeps his bow in hand looking warily around the streets - which have been emptied of any normal citizens.
Edric is destroyed.
Tavrus returns two minutes later, as the scene begins to normalize. Seeing the unresponsive nature of Edric, he eyes the corpse of the half-elf.
"That will have to do. We will take this one in for questioning. Damned enchanter." He begins to laboriously get the half-elf's body into his bag of holding after patting him down for sharp objects.
Serelina screams as the electricity rips through her, sending her fine hair standing on end. She then quickly lands next to the shadowmage and reaches into her haversack producing a set of Masterwork manacles, dropping them atop him. "Get him bound and I will try to heal him to see he doesn't die before he serves our purposes."
Will Save
Reflex
Caught completely off-guard by the blast of electricity, Tomlin writhes in place for a few seconds before staggering back in heaving breaths. Eyes glazed over from pain and literal shock, the halfling nods dumbly at Serelina as the manacles drop onto the half-elf. Sliding them into place, he stops for a moment trying to collect his thoughts. I...I'm not sure there is anything here to save. He's, uh, dead...I think. Very dead.
Tomlin does nothing else to prevent or persuade the witch from any other actions. On one knee with head bowed, he took several moments in silence to collect his thoughts and try to get his mind around what happened through the haze of pain. He...he just blew himself up....why did Tavrus and Ian run?....I...I should get the valuables. His words were spoken to no one in particular though Serelina was the only one around. Staggering to his feet, Tomlin took any valuables that Edric's shattered form had, and picked up Ian's weapon. I imagine they will want these back Tomlin then searched the body of the half-elf for any valuables.
Before Dether made it any closer, Tomlin looked up at Serelina. Gather the others, I will meet you back at the Tower. That man back there...Dether, I need to keep up my guise with him; he assisted us but I do not trust him. Pretend I don't know you. The words were spoken quietly and afterward, the halfling hobbled back in Dether's direction.
Approaching the man he said, Ugh...I need to ge' some rest after all that. Should be the guard's problem now, ya? Did you know that guy? Looks like he jus' went crazy or some such?
to confirm he is dead.
"he will serve our purposes either way. Even the dead are not beyond questioning."
"Ian, could you give me a hand taking Edric back? We can't leave him here and he can no longer move."
Shaking her head, Serelina recovers and says, Ah... yes. The feedback slayed him obviously. I apologize, the energy blinded me a moment, I think. She gathers back the manacles and looks at Tomlin and says, "A moment brave halfing, let me soothe your wounds a bit." She then lays a hand on his forehead as if taking a temperature, concentrates and heals him.
Ian grunts, his brow furrowed, still trying to get his head together.
"Yeah. Yeah I'll get it."
Looking around the street briefly, he picks up the smoking platemail-clad form of Edric, hefting it onto his shoulder as he did Hezek. After a moment of staring at the shredded remains of the half-elf, he turns to Serelina.
"The hells did he do to me? Last thing I remember was his eyes turning black, then I was down the street out of breath."
He gestures vaguely down the street for emphasis.
Serelina looks at Ian with what could almost be regarded as sympathy. "Fear is a natural emotion to feel in stressful situations, so it is easy to manipulate with magic. It is not surprising that your untrained mind was overcome with the emotion."
Looking to the man following Tomlin she addresses him and Tomlin together. "Goodmen, thank you for your assistance. Be assured that our work here was done with direct order from the Masters. As such, I must entreat your aid to transport this criminal's remains with us. If you would both be so kind as to carry him with us, we will be returning to present the events to the Masters forthwith."
She then prepares to be off, assuming the two will comply... perhaps a little too haughtily.
"Damned," Ian says, nodding slowly. He follows Serelina, trudging quicker to catch up beside her, heavy boots clomping.
After walking in (relative) silence for a moment, he asks, "Any uh, magic stuff that'd shield me, in the future? A ring or somethin'?"
He watches Serelina, suspicious of her, as usual, as he is with all practitioners. Despite his obvious distrust he seems glad to have some magic on his side. He's never acted that way around Tavrus though--no suspicion or wariness, just a sort of brooding, grudging respect.
Going over the half-elfs belongings Tomlin finds a masterwork short sword and 100 gold coins. His studded leather is ripped and torn from the explosion, being nigh useless at this point.
Dether approaches and stands about 15' away, keeping an eye up and down the street.
As Tavrus returns and examines the body, it is indeed dead and the eyes have returned to normal. About the same time half a dozen men and women in the uniform of the city guard arrive. Upon learning that Serelina represents the tower though their expectations of a fight in the streets quickly changes to one of subservience.
Dether stretches out a hand to Serelina, "Mistress it is my pleasure to serve, but I must beg your leave in this if you will permit. I have other engagements, less violent than this one", he gives a half smile, "that I need attend to."
The man does not seem impressed with Serelina's position as an authority figure, but has at least the presence of mind to offer politeness and common courtesy in the situation, no doubt a practiced habit.
Dether raises an eyebrow at Ian's last question. "If I might suggest good man, certain cloaks properly enchanted can help ward off such emotional manipulations, or a properly enchanted headband could raise ones mental awareness."
"Yes, I can cast a bit of the stuff myself, and he got even me. What mysteries lie in his now-inert head that he would use suicidal magic as a last resort? We may never know... but then again we might." he says by way of a grim joke that even he doesn't smile at.
Tavrus continues to slide the bag over the remains of the body once it has been searched. Once in the bag, he grabs Edric's old scimitar and ensures the straps keeping his helm on are tight for his being carried by Ian.
"Let us go" he says in a tired tone.