Tyrrol shrugs, disinterestedly.
"Well, what reasonable reason can you think of that would have prompted him to wander off in the middle of the night, to follow Clegg by himself? As you pointed out, he will not last long out there... We will be lucky if we can find his body before the scavengers get to it."
Tyrrol pulls a small stone from his belt pouch, and breathes on it; the stone immediately begins to shed a pale, cadaverous glow, which grows in intensity until it sheds as much light as a torch.
Satisfied, he throws it into the air, where it begins to orbit his head.
Tyrrol shrugs, disinterestedly.
"Well, what reasonable reason can you think of that would have prompted him to wander off in the middle of the night, to follow Clegg by himself? As you pointed out, he will not last long out there... We will be lucky if we can find his body before the scavengers get to it."
"None. Like... none. And as far as scavengers finding him before we do... that's what I'm afraid of, my oversized ally. That's what I'm afraid of." He tells him as he peers out into the darkness.
Clegg walks off down the path muttering, "I had to do it. I had to do it."
While you lie there it comes to you, Clegg's under some sort of compulsion. It explains his odd manner at times and his weird emotions at the beginning of this last encounter, and his "I had to" rant.
You put your hand to your chest and it comes away red with blood. The effort is too much and you fall unconscious.
Feel free to read the Search Partay! spoiler.
It's a cloudy moonlit night. Sometimes there's a pleasant silvery glow from the moon. Sometimes the clouds scud over it and all is dark except for Tyrrol's orbiting light. At those times you must slow down or risk tripping over the stones and roots or holes in the path.
It is during one of these dark periods that the trail rounds a large rock. As you come around the bend something, larger than a dog, lies sprawled across the path.
You've found Lecian. His chest is covered in blood and the cavernous dent in his left ribs is the reason. He is, mercifully, quite unconscious.
"Hmmm... I said that he would probably be dead, but it looks like it is not yet his time..."
Partay!
Lecian stirs. His eyes open and he raises his head.
"Whew! That was close. You were nearly a goner there, Lecian. Look out, Mordecai, I got this." Lothan digs in his backpack, pulling out a few potions and offering them up. "Here, take these Lecian. This oughta help."
Ever pragmatic, Tyrrol has but a single question for Lecian:
"What happened?"
"Zincher didn't like me following him. How'd you find me out here?"
"Lothan appears to be both an amazing tracker, and to have a keen sense of when someone has been away too long and gotten into trouble." Mordecai says dryly.
"It would certainly simplify matters if we knew if your attacker was the as-yet-to-be-named person with whom we have a short and violent appointment..." he mutters softly.
Noting Lecian's condition, and gesturing for Lothan to put away his potions, he casts another healing spell, calling upon Urgathoa in Osirioni;
Tyrrol gives Lecian an appraising look.
"So, you are saying Zincher himself attacked you? That... is interesting."
He then turns to Lothan.
"I don't suppose you can follow his trail? Together, we should fair better than Lecian did alone."
Lothan shrugs, "Alright, but I got plenty just in case."
"THAT'S true. No offense, Lecian. Although next time, tell us what you're up to, so we can help. You're just trying to have all the fun by yourself." He grins wryly. "Now, let's see if we can find this fool."
"Yes, it was Zincher himself. However, I don't think he was acting of his own volition." Lecian rubs the wound in his chest. "I would've told you where I was going, but it would've been too obvious if we all followed Zincher."
Mordecai frowns at the stubborn wound, refusing to close up, and invokes a third healing ritual.
As Mordecai heals Lecian again, Lothan looks on curiously as the wound seems to barely heal. "You sure you don't want him using one of those healing bottles of mine, Mordecai? It looks as if you're a bit off your game there, bud."
Mordecai throws his hands up, his healing spent, and rises, giving Lothan an unamused look, making a Varisian gesture with his thumb that sums up his reply.
The path continues on.
Lothan shrugs, as he has no idea what Mordecai means by that gesture, and takes out a potion. "You want one of these Lecian? It's all yours if you want it." He holds it out for him to take.
Lothan picks up Clegg's trail again. The man is keeping to the path. While that makes it easier to predict where the next trace should be, the trail is hard=packed and traces are faint.
The trailing edge of the clouds clears the moon and its half-light steadies. The beat of the breakers on the beach at the foot of the cliff marks time.
You've come well down the long slope toward the ghost tower when Lothan stops. A few second's work and he spots where Clegg left the path. The man turned toward the cliff and his trail does indeed plunge over the lip of the precipice.
You're just about to drop over the edge of the cliff onto the narrow trail when 3 out of 4 of you hear the soft scuffle of feet on gravel. Someone, or something, is coming up the trail.
"Right, then, gents. It sounds like we have company."
Tyrrol then prepares to brain whatever, or whomever, is coming up the trail.
Tyrrol draws aside from the path to wait in concealment.
St Le
St Lo
St M
Init
Lecian
Lothan
Mordecai
Tyrrol ;
Zincher
The bulk of Zincher's upper body rises up over the edge of the cliff. He places his hands on the edge and stiff-arms himself up to swing one leg, then the other over the edge. Then he starts to stand.
Mordecai
Tyrrol
Lothan
Zincher
Lecian
Mordecai hisses, "I'm not sure if the bounty was dead or alive, so if we can just knock him out, that would be fine."
His morningstar takes on a life of its own, borne aloft on spectral winds to strike at Clegg.
The morningstar only graces his hand a moment before he sends it forth again, as he attempts to move it with more finesse, frustrated by it's lack of accuracy.
The maceflies wide on its first pass, but Clegg is surprised and freezes.
The second pass knocks him on the shoulder and he reels back.
Surprise Round:
Tyrrol shrugs, but acquiesces to Mordecai's request.
Not needing any further prompting, as soon as Clegg's head and shoulders appear above the lip of the cliff, Tyrrol takes a swing!
Round 1:
Then, before Clegg has a chance to act, he delivers a blow to Clegg's shoulder, which narrowly misses taking his head clean off.
Tyrrol frowns.
"Yr wyf yn ymddangos i fod allan o'r arfer o beidio lladd pobl."
Tyrrol's flail smashes into Zincher's head which snaps back hard. The crime lord seems stunned.
Lothan thinks that's crazy talk but just shrugs and says, "Okay, if you're sure." He then draws his blade and swings with the flat of it.
Round 1
Lecian sheathes himself in a shimmering suit of magical force.
The party gangs up on Zincher. Tyrrol's second blow knocks the big man back over the edge of the cliff. He slides a short distance down the narrow track before stopping with his head and left arm hanging of the trail.
Tyrrol moves forward to retrieve Zincher, and once he has brought him back over the edge of the cliff, unceremoniously dumps him on the ground, and starts to search him.
"Shall we take him back to our 'contact' at the camp, our investigate what he has been up to? Personally, I would rather *not* be lugging a lot of 'dead weight' around..."
Mordecai mutters an invocation to stabilize the man, if he yet lives.
"I am curious what he was up to, out here. The night is dangerous, even in Riddleport, and far more so here. To be venturing away from his men alone is very suspicious, and it must have been a matter of great potential reward to motivate him to take such a risk."
"I can drag his sorry butt back if you want me to. No prob. As long as I get to literally drag him back." He says, grinning. "You know, like face down. Whaddaya say, fellas?" He asks with probably a bit too much anticipation.
Tyrrol shrugs.
"Just try not to cause too much permanent damage when you do so; I presume that whomever our employer is working for, they would prefer to be able to talk with him, and not just with Speak with Dead..."
Lothan gives a look of defeat. "Alright, alright. Maybe I'll just kick 'im a time or two on the way there." He brightens up at the idea. "Yeah, that'll work. A few rib shots won't kill 'im." As Lothan moves to go pick him up, he gives him a swift kick to the chest. "That's for nearly killin' Lecian, you freakin' jerk of a scumbag. And also for everything else you've done that's bad. Yeah, you don't look so tough now, do you? Freakin' jerk." He kicks him once more for good measure just before he bends down, grabs an arm in each hand, turns and stands up while pulling Zincher's arms up over his shoulders from behind him, allowing the unconscious man's feet to drag. "Alright, let's get this over with." He says as he starts back.
You drag an unconscious Clegg back to camp. When you get close you can see slivers of the central fire through small gaps between logs in the palisade.
"Alright, Tyrrol, now what do we do with him? Is someone suppose to meet us here or what?"
Tyrrol shrugs.
"I'll head back to camp, and get Akron. He can decide what to do with Clegg."
He then turns towards the camp, and sets off in search of Akron.
"Probably for the best that we don't drag him into the camp in front of all his dubiously 'loyal' men. We can wait here until Tyrrol returns." Mordecai says quietly to Lothan and Lecian.
"If we don't have a chance to put him to the question, we could track back during the day to get an idea what he was doing over by the bluff..."