Majenko takes to the air, flying up to Quorthos and landing on his shoulder.
"Hi again, Quorthos!"
He then tries to sting the red thug from around the corner.
Allyph draws her rapier as she moves into the square with the sleeping yellow thug. She then tries to stab the dazed, red thug with her rapier.
Quorthos summons a golden eagle, which immediately attacks the blue man. Its beak and one of its talons rip open the man's arm.
The red thug receives a minor scratch from Majenko's attack, but resists the dragon's poison.
Allyph draws her rapier and moves up to the red thug. Her attack misses the dazed thug.
"I yield!" the blue man screams in panic, looking over at his sleeping elven friend. "I won't do anything if you don't!"
Round 6
Belfin
Tural
Yellow -8HP (Asleep 20 rounds)
Baer 4/22HP
Mavor 20/28HP
Red -1HP (Dazed till Denario's turn)
Denario
Allyph 15/18HP -1Wis
Quorthos 18/20HP
Majenko
Blue -6HP (Surrendered)
Green (Asleep 20 rounds)
Denario takes total defense, not being in position to take any helpful action.
Mavor grabs some rope and ries up Beltias, just for good measure after he hears pleading sounds from the other side of the corner.
"Good! Let's get things done here. Take this Beltias fella out of here if need be."
Baer grunts, admiring her wounds, punctures that nearly ended her.
"Allyph, the wand, please," Baer snorts. "That one's blade poked holes in every defense I had. Are you all sure we need him alive? My club would feel very nice caving in his skull."
Baer, when given the wand, will tap herself with it. She leans against the wall, waiting for the contract's binding to do its work.
After a minute, she will tap herself again. (Wand of Infernal Healing 46/50 left.)
She offers the wand to Denario before returning it to Allyph.
When she is feeling better, she will search Beltias for loot and magics while Mavor ties him up.
"He was good with his blade, Mavor. Better than me with my staff...of that there was no doubt," Baer grumbles to Mavor.
"Belfin, come friend."
The scorpion crawls back to Tural's pack and settles there.
"Best leave him alive I think. Besides I do not like killing people, even if they threatened to kill me."
He glances through the hallway to assess the situation.
"The question is, what are we going to do with all the other cutthroats? We can't leave them here to cause trouble again in my opinion."
Denario passes on using the wand.
"Thanks, but i'm fine."
Hearing Tural's question on the thugs however, he shrugs.
"It's not a matter of like, but weither it's safer to do so than not."
"Thanks, but i'm fine."
Baer seems shocked, looking again at Denario. He *is* unhurt. That's new.
"So you are," Baer mutters. "Mavor?"
Baer wands Mavor and hands the wand to Allyph. (45/50)
"What about the boy? How does he fare? Quorthos?"
Mavor gladly accepts the healing and nods in response to Baer.
"Thanks for the healing Baer. Good thing we have the wand with us. Luckily just a minor wound."
"Hello, again, friend!" Quorthos responds to the tiny dragon as it settles on his shoulder.
As the foes surrender, Quorthos helps to tie them up, searching them for concealed weapons.
At Baer's question, Quorthos smiles. I'm probably three times her age... "I fare well, Baer. A scratch, nothing more."
He looks around the room at the captured thugs. "We can't just let them go back to their life of crime. I expect the Guard will have a place to keep them."
You take what you think is valuable from the thugs and their leader, after which you heal up. While discussing what to do with the men you hear a long, female scream from the bell tower. A moment of silence follows the scream, after which more screams erupt from the building's ground floor.
Allyph accepts the wand Baer returns, and is about to inspect the loot better when she hears the scream from the bell tower.
"What was that...?" She looks warily at the others and the tied-up men while the other screams erupt.
"I'll keep an eye on these, if you want to go and check out what's going on. I'm by the way with Quorthos on bringing them all to the guard, before they start planning their own revenge actions against us."
Baer seems shocked, looking again at Denario. He *is* unhurt. That's new.
"So you are," Baer mutters.
Denario didn't need much imagination to read Baer's expression, play enough poker and you get to read basic thoughts.
"You're spacing out Baer.", he snaps his fingers to jolt her back to the ground, sort to speak, before sprouting a smirk.
The smirk was short lived, as the loud scream came up.
"What the...?"
[Allyph's suggestion]
"Yes, let's get moving."
"There was a scream from up above. Whatever happened in that belltower had a reaction downstairs. I'll check it out."
Mavor rushes towards the stairs leading to the belltower.
A sign on the door to this room reads “Mission Bell.” This small, octagonal room has open beams, unfinished walls, and raw floorboards. The room is quite drafty, with scatterings of rat droppings about the corners. Set into the studs of the west wall a crudely spaced ladder leads up to the belfry. This drafty chamber rises 18 feet to a loft. High above, the mission’s copper bell hangs from a thick beam. A rope pull cord allows the bell to be rung from here.
The cache contains 32 gp, 256 sp, 400 cp, a quartz short sword pommel (30 gp), a silver anklet chain (22 gp), a signet ring of Korvosa’s Ornelos family (5 gp), an ornate brass candelabra (15 gp), a bronze knocker in the shape of a dolphin (10 gp), a folding marlin spike (2 gp), a set of sailing charts in a leather tube (250 gp), and an anchor feather token.
Mavor, followed by Denario, quickly climbs the ladder. A bell riddled with faint cracks hangs within this drafty loft, a rope pull cord dangling through a hole in the floor allowing the bell to be rung from below. Slatted arches in the tower’s walls allow sound to escape, while keeping most of the harsh weather out. The waxy stumps of several candles, a 50-foot coil of hemp rope, and a grappling hook lie discarded upon the floor.
The man who went upstairs with the woman stands looking out the southern archway, at the courtyard below. He turns around to face Mavor. "I am Mika the Fallen! I set her free, and now she's no longer troubled! I am the savior of mankind!"
There's no sign of the woman, unless you choose to look at the courtyard below. Her body no longer just bruised, the woman lies broken on the ground. Father Padrick and another man stand next to her body, while another man tries to calm the two crying kids who saw the woman fall.
Tural quickly follows Mavor upstairs.
At the first landing he quickly glances around and sees a loose plank in the eastern wall. He tears it loose to see what it is. He finds tons of goods inside which he quickly stashes in his pack.
"Uh.. One moment found something here..."
He yells as the others keep running upstairs. He soon follows with a full pack. As he runs up the stairs he is just in time to hear the man make is exclamation.
When he gets up he glances at the man and then at the railing.
"What have you done?!"
He walks up to the railing to glance down and a grimace passes on his face.
"You are no savior! You are a murderer!"
When coming up the stairs, Mavor looks around the room quickly, then spurts onwards when he notices no sign of enemies here.
When he gets to the upper Bell Tower he sees the man standing before him which introduced himself as Mika and narrows his eyes at him, easily grasping what just happened here.
"If you're so great a savior, why call yourself the Fallen? I'll make you live that title and set you free as well." He says as he points his greataxe at the man.
"Go back to hell 'Fallen'!"
Denario, unpleasantly surprised like the rest, shakes his head in disgust.
"I'm not even going to intervene when they go after you."
Quorthos rushes upstairs, following the scream. When he sees the woman lying in the courtyard, he looks around at his companions. Confident that they have "Mika" under control, he rushes back downstairs to the courtyard, trying to reach the woman before life leaves her completely.
Mika swings his arms wildly. "I am no murderer! I am the savior of mankind!"
Denario's daze spell causes Mika to become quiet while Tural starts casting his sleep spell. When Tural's spell completes, Mika falls to the floor.
Quorthos makes haste to reach the courtyard. The woman's heavily wounded, but it looks like Father Padrick was able to keep her alive.
"I'm out of healing spells," Father Padrick tells Quorthos. "If she doesn't receive magical healing fast, it's unlikely she'll ever be able to move again."
Majenko had stayed on Quorthos's shoulder while he moved around. when Fatehr Padrick mentions healing, the little dragon flies back up into the bell tower and to the second floor.
"Allyph, the wand!"
After taking the wand from Allyph, Majenko flies back the same route.
"Quorthos, you know how to use this?"
"Che.....blind fool. Let's tie him up and take him downstairs, the others are probably waiting."
Denario roughly picks up the slab of meat, after tying him up with his own belt and any ropes at their disposal.
Mavor looks at the awkward pose Denario exhibits while picking up Mika and frowns.
"You sure you can handle that Denario? You don't look like you've hauled much cargo in your lifetime."
Baer aids in moving the prisoner. She moves a bit more slowly than others, still regaining her strength after the tattooing from Beltias.
"He sure seems mad. I'm partial to the orc tribe way of handling people like them: send them into the wild with a knife and let see if nature deems them worthy to survive," Baer notes.
"Not sure this city and community life is always the right path."
"You sure you can handle that Denario? You don't look like you've hauled much cargo in your lifetime."
"It's true my wits had done more lifting than my arms, but that doesn't mean i never had to do physical tasks."
As the group heads down again Tural tells them about the treasure he found earlier.
"Who would hide such stuff in a place like that?"
Mavor comments on the city life and Tural gets a hard look on his face.
"Most of the time it's not in my opinion. Have roamed through small villages all my life and have never seen the trouble that people get into here. Too many people in too small a space if you ask me."
To the stronger party members it looks like Denario's back's about to break while carrying Mika, but Denario successfully carries Mika all the way to the ground floor. Meanwhile Mavor and Baer, expending far less effort, carry Beltias and all of his thugs downstairs.
"That, uhm... quite a collection," the acolyte says when all the captives have been placed together, "and I have to admit this place will be a lot more peaceful without these people around."
Denario more drops than puts down the madman, before shaking loose his average muscles.
"Good to hear, nobody needs a delusioned lunatic who throws people from great heights."
Baer grunts and snorts, having found their prey she is ready to return.
"Sorry for the mess we made. Sometimes when bringing order, we need to unleash chaos. And blood."
Mavor grins boradly as he hears Baer talk and slaps her on the shoulder.
"Well said Baer. It's a shame they wanted to fight, handing over their leader would have been so much better for them."
Mavor says as he puts down Beltias as a sack of sand.
Quorthos uses the wand of infernal healing once on the woman. Over the course of a minute her bones becomes unbroken and she's fully healed.
The woman bursts out into tears when she's able to move again. "Thank you so much! Thank you! He told me he'd be able to take my pain away, and then he just...! Thank you!"
Father Padrick smiles brightly as the two kids who witnessed the woman fall, and the two men who joined them in the garden, watch the woman with big eyes. "He healed her! The red one did!"
When everyone's back together, inside the building, Majenko flies the wand back to Allyph and lands on his regular spot on Baer's shoulder.
"I don't know where you came from, but you proved us a service by taking care of these thugs," Father Padrick tells you. "They've been up to no good here. May you receive Sarenrae's blessings, strangers."
The woman saved by Quorthos steps up to the party. "I've had misfortune in my past, but when I fell I realized I still wanted to live. Hadn't you been around..."
"If... if it's not too much, could I ask you one more favor...?" the woman asks hesitant. "My uncle lives in Korvosa... If you could escort me there, I'd very much appreciate it... I should add he's a merchant, and I may be able to put in a good word for you...?"
Baer nods at the woman.
"Sure. Come along and stick next to me and Mavor. We'll make sure no one bothers you," Baer grunts, picking up one arm of Beltias and waiting for Mavor to get the other side.
"We'll have you back safe soon enough. Let's go."
Unless there is something else to do here, Baer will lead the party to the woman's merchant friends, then return Beltias to Cressida. She will not hesitate to non-lethally slug Beltias if he shows signs of waking up.
Tural follows Baer out of this district.
"Will need a good nights rest after this day. I've near burnt out all the magic I had today."
Tural, compared to this morning, looks very tired. On the way back he asks the lady some questions.
"Not to pry but why did he throw you off? We only came at the last minute but it seems a very strange situation."
Mavor nods and goes to the other side of the woman, raising his gretaxe on one shoulder again to look more intimidating as usual.
Quorthos finishes healing the woman, and helps her to her feet. Hearing the children's amazement, he walks over to them and crouches down to their eye level, trying to appear an non-threatening as possible given his appearance.
"Hi there, little ones! My name is Quorthos. What's yours?" He smiles. "Yes, I healed her, but it was with the help of my friends - we're a team. It was the right thing to do - I know you'd do the same for me." He gives the adults a wink and a smile.
To his companions: "I think we may want to escort the lady and our captives to town, and perhaps find out more about the situation in more private circumstances..."
Quorthos will spend the walk back talking to the woman and trying to keep her mind off of recent events. He makes sure she (and Father Padrick back at the camp) knows where he lives in case she has more trouble.
"My name's Carl, and this is Amy," the boy tells Quorthos. Quorthos's words seem to leave a big impression on both of the kids.
"Mister, why are you red?" the girl suddenly asks, unable to control her curiosity.
------
The party eventually leaves the church and the Thief Camp behind, leaving Quorthos's contact information with Father Padrick and his acolyte.
"Please do send someone to pick up these other thugs as well," Father Padrick says. "Thanks for all you've done!"
Once the party reaches the city gates they inform the guards about thugs in the Thief Camp, telling them to pass on the message to Cressida. One of the guards immediately gets to it.
Still carrying Beltias with them, the party escorts the woman to her uncle. During the walk she tells the party what happened. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not tell how I ended up at the church. I was lost and searching help... I was so blind with grief over what had happened to me, and when you entered the church everything happened so fast. I was confused and went upstairs with Mika. He took me to the bell tower, where he told me he knew of a way to take my burdens away. It was only then that I realized what he was up to... I don't know why he did it..."
You arrive in front of an antiques shop, which you enter with the woman. "Juliet!" the man behind the counter exclaims. "Child, what happened to you?!"
As the woman bursts out in tears, the man walks up to her and hugs her. "I haven't seen you for days! What's happened?"
The man escorts Juliet to a table with some chairs and lets her sit down, but Juliet's in no state to clearly tell what's passed. After you inform her of at least the part you've aware of, the man nods understandingly. "Thank you for bringing her back home. The poor girl's lost her only parent, my sister, not too long ago in an armed robbery. I took her in, but she's been lost ever since."
"My name's Brandon, by the way. I, uh, don't suppose you need any antiques?" Brandon says laughingly as he looks the party over. "Hmm... wait a moment, I may actually have something for you."
Brandon disappears in the back of the shop and returns with a ring. "I found this one in a stash of antiques I bought. It's a magic ring. I was going to sell it, but you can have it instead. Just sell it if you don't know what to do with it."
"Well, why aren't you red?" Quorthos replies to the girl in mock indignation. "Just kidding. Everyone is different in some way - I was born with a different color of skin. But that means I'll be easier to find, if you ever need me. Father Padrick knows how to get ahold of me. Now, you and Carl take care of each other while I'm gone, OK? I'll come back and visit again soon."
--
After delivering the woman back to her uncle, Quorthos looks around the shop with unconcealed curiosity.
Spellcraft
Baer inspects the ring...then tosses it to Denario.
"Don't make much sense to me, human, but it's magic so it might be worthwhile," Baer grunts before turning back to the merchant.
Baer looks Brandon up and down, wondering what kind of man can freely give away magic rings.
"Is there anything else you need from us, Brandon? I suppose if we come across antiques in the future, we might see if you want to buy them?"
Denario carefully takes a look at the ring's features. An obvious smirk shows.
"Well now, a nifty item i would say. A ring of spell knowledge, someone of the arcane can store the energy of a single spell within."
Tural's eyes widen as he grabs the ring.
"I have heard of this! I have never seen one of these before though. I already have many of the spells I could store in this ring because of my earrings."
He says as he touches them.
"It would give me the possibility to cast one more ward per day though."
He glances up again at the group.
"Although one of you might have greater need of it."
He turns around to the shopkeeper.
"This is a very great gift. You greatly help us in our quest for righteousness."
"Although one of you might have greater need of it."
Baer nods as Denario explains. "I musta missed that day in class...being expelled and all."
Baer turns to leave.
"Time to report to Cressida."
*Presenting ring....*
Tural's eyes widen as he grabs the ring.
*no ring...*
Haven't seen that kind of grabbing since Big nose Herbert's won the 2nd hand in the semi-finals.
"I musta missed that day in class...being expelled and all."
"The place is far from perfect.", he smirks.
After another close inspection Tural comes to the conclusion that he isn't able to use it.
"Maybe not actually, here have it back."
He says as he gives the ring back to Denario.
"A great gift nonetheless!"
"I would be honored to accept this gift, on behalf of all of us," Quorthos states, giving a sidelong glance to Denario and Tural. The man rewards us for rescuing his daughter, and we're discussing whether it's any good, in front of him?
"I'm just glad we could reunite you and your daughter." Quorthos turns to Juliet. "You know where to find me, if you have any further troubles. "
---
Once we leave, Quorthos stops the group out of earshot. "Sorry for that - I don't necessarily want the ring either if it means no one else gets any of the reward. I just felt we should show gratitude first and haggle later." Quorthos holds out the ring to whomever seems to be the one carrying the "party treasure".
Brandon nods at Baer. "Of course! If you ever come across valuable antiques, I'll make you a special deal!"
A quick inspection of the shop reveals Brandon buys and sells mostly furniture, but you see some antique jewelry behind the counter.
"Niece," Brandon replies to Quorthos when the latter figures the party's being rude. "Juliet's my niece, but that's okay. She's like a daughter to me. And I'll keep you in mind if anything ever comes up."
Once outside the shop the discussion about the ring's value and usefulness continues. On their way to Cressida to party makes a quick stop to their usual store.
Allyph sigh and shakes her head in disbelief when some of the party members start bickering about the ring in front of Brandon. She's glad Quorthos realizes it's not very polite and decided to intervene.
While walking Allyph also inspects the ring, which very much intrigues her just 'cause it's a ring.
It's so shiny... I want to have it! But I... no, I don't need it! But it's so pretty! Agh, what to do?!
With some effort Allyph hands the ring back to whoever had it. "I have no interest in it," she says, sounding like she's telling an obvious lie.
Once at the shop Allyph inspects the others items. At first she only pays attention to the shiny silver from the anklet chain and the signet ring the party found. Her eyes then fall on the rapier.
This one's better than mine, I should take it.
"Does anyone mind if I take the magic rapier?" Allyph asks. "I don't think anyone else is going to use it."
Baer helps sell the loot, doing whatever haggling is necessary to change the goods into monies.
Baer is ready to move on to Cressida.