Gelik never even gets out of bed. He looks so peaceful, lying there.
Kamal delays.
The thug drops his crossbow, draws a shortsword and moves to engage Torch. The other thug rubs his eyes unsuccessfully.
Somewhere in the corridor you hear a door opening.
I need new saves from Gelik and Aerys. Torch, Ralf and Kamal are up.
With Aerys entirely vulnerable and no one else nearby to aid, Torch focuses all his efforts on defeating the assailant.
As the blade cuts into the man's flesh, Torch shouts for help, hoping the rest of the group (except Ralf, of course) can hear him.
Cool. As soon as he can, Gelik casts Hideous Laughter (DC 15) on an assassin.
Zzzz... *Snore* Zzzz.. Yes.. you are very beautiful... *Snore* Drooling on his pillow, after the first night of sleep in a bed after weeks in the field, Kamal rubs his eyes at the crash of glass into the room. He stumbles out of his bed, trying to regain a sense of his surroundings. Between the still vivid dream of a lost city with beautiful women deep in the jungle who had never seen a man before Kamal and the blast of glittering light, the jungle guide was unsure what was happening. Then he spies the man crouched in the window holding a crossbow and the mwangi reacts in defensive anger, conjuring a rolling ball of fire at the open window, blocking entrance into the room. Dammit! That was a good dream, Gah! Why do I always get woken up in the middle of the good ones!
Ralf painfully pierces the thug's thoughts.
Ralf catches a glimpse of the thug's thoughts. "Take them alive... yeah, right... these people are dangerous. They never told us."
The thug roars in pain, but manages to duck out of the way of Kamal's ball of fire. Two more of them open the doors to both rooms and fire a shot at Kamal and Torch, respectively, but they both go wide.
Torch puts some hurt on the thug in his room, but he retaliates with a poisoned shortsword for 6 points of damage and a Fort 15 save.
Then you are all up again. Gelik and Aerys need to make one more save to kick the paralysis.
Torch grunts as he feels the blade slice open the skin over his ribs. He sees the glint of poison on its edge, but feels no effects for the moment; it takes less than an instant for him to decide he has no time to worry about it. Instead, he slashes at the thug again.
Aerys struggles to resist.
"Hey! These guys have orders to take us all alive," Ralf shouts.
He hits the thug with a wave of pain.
Torch cuts down one of the thugs, and Kamal's ball of fire pushes another out the window. Ralf puts the hurt on one of the remaining thugs, sickening him and Gelik and Aerys spring into action.
You are all up.
Aers immediately jumps at the thug in the door, trying to capture him in an arm lock.
With Aerys in the doorway, Torch's options are limited - but seeing her able to move, along with dropping the first attacker, is enough for the half-elf to feel as though things are starting to turn in their favor. He moves up next to Aerys and adopts a protective stance, cutting at the thug with moves designed to give her cover.
Ralf will bash the guy in his room, if he's still alive after Gelik acts.
If Gelik can move to the window without being burned by the ball of fire, he'll do so, then look down to see if he can spot the intruder that fell out. If he can tell that the defenestrated man is still moving, then he'll cast Color Spray (DC 14) down at him. If he can't get to the window, or can't see the man outside, or he's splattered on the cobblestones, Gelik will target the remaining intruder in the room with Hideous Laughter (DC 15).
Seeing no trace of the thug outside, Gelik hits the remaining thug with Hideous Laughter. The man collapses on the floor guffawing and Ralf bashes him with his club for good measure.
The other thug avoids Aerys's grasp and tries to get away but runs straight into a recovered and very angry Cheiton who gives him a blow to the knees. You can easily subdue the pair of them after that.
"What in the Nine Hells?" Torch asks, pushing past Cheiton to make certain there are no more threats in the other sleeping chamber. "What just happened here?"
Hired thugs underestimating our awesomeness. No big deal. I say we strip 'em down to the altogether and kick 'em to the curb. See how tough they are nekkid. We'll need to post a guard for the rest of the night. Also, Cheiton's going to need the services of a skilled glazier. I'm going to assume that these morons were after him. That way I won't feel guilty when I don't offer to pitch in for the repairs.
Cheiton grunts assent to Gelik's plan. "I know a few of these lads. Common thugs they are but I have no beef with them. It must be you they were after.
"Whoever they were, their bosses told 'em to take us alive. Fat chance!"
"Alive, eh?" Torch repeats consideringly. "We must have information they want... and that probably means they're after Saveth-Yhi too. Well, we knew we'd have competition soon enough. Guess this confirms it."
Joke's on them. I have no idea where I'm going.
"Yeah, but who's paying them to get in our way?" asks Aerys. "Perhaps their paymaster needs discouragement!" Aerys, peeved at being awoken from her sleep by these theives. "An it ain't nice being made to stand arond and watch, unable to do anything." she spits on the floor in disgust. "I want words with their master."
Gelik is amenable. He stands on tiptoe and yells in Ralf's face. Can you wake one of these morons up? Aerys wants a word with 'em!
Gelik is aware that Kamal is capable of rousing a thug as well, but he likes excuses to yell at Ralf.
You take (among other things) three (identical) potions, a wand, three sets of magical studded leather armor, three hand crossbows, three masterwork punching daggers, three masterwork shortswords, three thunderstones, several doses of spider vine poison and 108 gp.
"So are you going to kill them?" Cheiton asks flatly. "You are entitled to, you know, and it would be the easiest way of making sure they are not coming back. Noone would bat an eyelid."
Ralf will identify the wand, one set of armor and one potion, using his trance + take 10 for a spellcraft check of 39. He's oblivious to any shouting.
Aerys nods at Cheliton, making sure both men are now tied securely to chairs or the other heavy furniture. "If that's the law here, then I'm sure there is room for negotiation, if they want to live." She gets the first one by the scruff of his hair, dragging his face up exposing his neck. With her dagger, she slowly draws blood from a small cut under his chin. "You have a choice, to explain who sent you and why or meet Pharesma before you get old. Or course it may take some time for you to complete that little journey to her boneyard." She waits a few moments for his answer, before she continues, "Unless we start with a bit of a manicure first." Aerys slices the his index finget off his right hand, holding the bloody digit up in front of the screaming man, "one down, nine to go. SPEAK!"
Turning to the other, she says .. "Don't worry you'll be next...."
"Answer who sent you, how much did they offer, and where were you going to take us! What else did you want?"
The wand is of Glyph of Warding (5 charges), the potions are of Invisibility and the armors are +1.
Ah! Gelik, grossed out and surprised by the violence, dives under the bed and won't come out until the screaming stops.
Ralf explains what the items are, if anyone is listening.
When Aerys starts torturing the man, he looks sad and disappointed, but he says nothing.
Torch takes Ralf by the elbow and leads him out into the hall. He glances at Cheiton. "Are there any actual authorities in this town to turn them over to?"
Cheiton shrugs. "Not much, I'm afraid. They'd probably just hang them anyway. Or you could probably sell them as slaves to someone who's not too picky. Or let them go - I think they learned their lesson."
He looks pointedly to the bleeding nine-fingered man, who's blubbering that they were hired by the Aspis Consortium to interrogate you about your expedition and that's all he knows. The agent that hired them left town shortly after and may he please go now?
Cheiton gives him a scornful glance. "Either way, you'd better be off sooner rather than later. Was there something else you needed?."
Gelik crawls out from under the bed, looking a bit queasy. I'm good. He responds to Cheiton. I say we blow this joint, the sooner. the better. You can let these chumps go a few hours after we've gone, so they can't tell their bosses squat.
The frustrated gnome packs his little kit of belongings, taking special care with his pirate hat. He decides to wear his boar-hide headdress for the next leg of the journey. What's a consortium? He wonders to himself as he works.
Aerys smiles at Cheriton and the 2 men thoroughly tied up, "You two, give me your names, so you might be given a place in my epic. To Cheriton continues Give them to the law, let the law here deal with theives and assasins." before she returns to her bed where she starts to write a few words of poetry of the days events, describing the men and their names. Once done she lays back down and sleeps again.
They say that you haven't heard cursing until you've heard a dwarven miner curse. After this morning you all except Ralf have heard cursing, when Cheiton opens his door and finds that the thug have put a Glyph of Warding on it.
After that he is very quiet at breakfast and just says that you'd probably do well to be off as soon as possible. He'll personally see to it that those goons get what they deserve.
Resplendent in his boar hide headdress, Gelik is ready to resume the journey. They make their last few sales / purchases on their way out of town.
Leaving Kalabuto, led by the resplendent Gelik, you have a rather pleasant journey for a couple of days. You follow the Korir river eastwards, and on the third day you arrive at The Lake of Vanished Armies.
There are dozens of little settlements along the river and the muddy banks of the lake, and the people are friendly enough, offering you food and recreational drugs (and Aerys even gets propositioned once or twice) .
Your continued travel will take you north, but it is also the case that your treasure map speaks of a sunken wreck somewhere in this lake, so the question is if you want to take the time to hunt for it.
So do you want to press on or go treasure-hunting? It will delay you a day if you want to stay, so it's up to you if it's worth it. So far you are making good speed.
"Sunken treasure?" says Torch musingly, waving his hat at some buzzing flies. "We're on time, or maybe even a little ahead of schedule... I know we've got some trouble on our trail, but we've handled it so far, and I'd hate to pass up the chance to learn what secrets the lake might be keeping. We might well never get another opportunity for this kind of exploration! What do you say we give it a shot?"
"to find a sunken ship under the water.....you gotta be joking, you don't know what things lurk in the water out there....and do you have a boat? .... and if its on the map, its probably been looted already. I mean what do you expect to find?" says Aerys, thinking about trying to protect her friends and swim at the same time. She shrugs a Torch's suggestion.
Gelik, still a little baked from all the lakeside drug parties with the locals, raises his hand. Another vote for looting sunken treasure! He trades his headdress for his pirate hat. Now appropriately accessorized, he adds, Arr.
After thinking for a moment, he suggests, We could rent a boat. What's the worst that could happen?
Shaking her head from side to side, her eyes looking the the heavens, Aerys sighs and says, "Oh all right then Gelik, we'll pander to your little adventures. We'd best find a boat then. And if any of you have magic to help, it'll sure come in useful." Her shoulders sag, as she kick the floor as he toes drag along with each lethargic step.
Way to harsh my vibe.
"Well, time's a-wastin'! That lost city won't discover itself," Ralf points out as he sees the others discussing something.