As you say. Marcus continues politely. I mean no offence.
If you don't mind talking a bit of business I'd be interested in hearing what you have to sell.
And hearing how you ended up here. I wager it is an interesting story.
Well, Barak, as I said our hands are a little tied here. We have established safe havens in the Ashen Waste. If you see a grove of healthy trees growing in the wastelands, it is a sign that our sanctuary is near and can provide respite. If you want to learn more about our role here, you are welcome to travel there. the gardener said slowly, his posture and tone of voice relaxed.
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The hag scowled at Marcus, her head roughly at the same height as his even when sat down.
Potions, I sell potions in my apothecary! I settled here from the ruined city; now be off with you, let a lady drink in peace eh dearie! she said, her voice raising in volume. Her bear began to growl and raised its head from her lap to snarl at the intruding Wizard.
At the sound of hag's raised voice and the bear's accompanying growl, Durin stands up and turns to check on his companion. Everything alright Marcus?
Durin clears his throat when Marcus does not respond. Oi! Marcus! I asked if everything was ok?
"Well thank yo for the information we will try your forward base if you believe that would be the best place to get info. that is unless you have any further advice or have hard any rumors?" after the answer Barak thanks the halfling again and returns to the others in the bar to relay the news. buying the group another round Barak also agrees to staying in the boarding house.
Marcus' eyes focus when the hag mentions the city. For a moment it looks like he is going to push things further before he retreats from the hag and her bear. He attempts to do so casually but a retreat it is.
Everything is fine Durin, Arachiel.
The wizard returns to the table and discusses the groups options, staying away from the tantalising but dangerous new information about the mercenaries.
Has Barak gone already? I was going to ask Vincent to accompany him.
Barak engaged the gardener in some more small talk but the halfling seemed keen to get back to his gardening and the conversation soon petered out. He bade the Dwarf farewell as he returned to his plants.
Kirilarien eventually finished pressing the local Dwarves for information, although they weren't especially talkative.
She had been told that a large party of Dwarves had been spotted moving around in the area of the Desolation known as the Dead Fields; the south-western quadrant. Apparently these Dwarves hailed from the Stoneheart Mountains and were based only a little into the Dead Fields. No one in the camp seemed to know what they were doing there.
After she reported what she had found, the group whiled away the evening in the tavern, which seemed perhaps the least openly hostile place in the camp; although it quickly became the busiest as the evening began to sink in.
The Bender Brothers boarding house was a rambling plank structure appears to be comprised of the dismantled remains of dozens of freight wagons and other assorted scrap lumber. Stenciling above the door names it as "Bender Bros". The two polite Gnomes are happy to give you a tour. Within are a series of rooms with low, 6-foot, ceilings and wooden floors. Despite its ramshackle appearance it is fairly sound and one of the nicer buildings in town, complete with shuttered windows. It is a bit cramped (except for Halflings and Gnomes) but otherwise serves as fair accommodations. Each of the rooms is large enough for one guest and the Bender Brothers are happy to group you together- each room has a good quality lock on it. The facility even includes a dining room, kitchen, pantry and toilet; as well as the Bender Brother's own rooms on the opposite end of the structure to your potential rooms.
As for the two Gnomes themselves; these rough-looking gnomes wear the same black leather armor and bear the same scraggly black beards beneath their bulbous noses. They have perpetual sneers yet behave very cordially, particularly to Lord Vincent who quickly adapted to "forgetting" his prior visit.
The deal the two brothers offered was thus- 5 iron bits per person per night, so in total 35 iron bits. An evening meal would normally cost a surcharge of an extra iron bit per person, but the brothers always offer a free evening meal to first-timers.
Durin takes in the tour of the boarding house. On the alert from Father Death's comment, and naturally suspicious by nature, he starts to get a bad feeling about the place.
"Individual rooms to keep us all separated and alone... Cramped spaces to limit movement... Making a point to show us the rooms are "secured" with a quality locks... Makes the rooms harder to get out of too should the locks be tampered with.... And surly, rough looking "hosts" who are overly polite only as required and wear blackened leather," Durin thinks to himself.
"Just about everything and everyone in this town is looking to take whatever they can, whenever they can. This place seems like more of the same."
This place reminds me of the House of Abraham in Garrotten... Durin mumbles out loud.
The group told the Bender Brothers they would consider their offer, allowing Samuel to make his report. He shrugged nonchalantly as he said, quite casually, in Lord Vincent's voice-
Couldn't read one, but I delved the other's mind. They make a habit of murdering their guests in the dead of night. The camp suspects but have never been able to prove it. They put spoiled rabbit in the evening meal, which causes nausea and diarrhea. Then when one of the guests uses the facilities, he is stabbed to death by the third brother; slain on the toilet from behind the wall; which is entirely illusionary. The other two use crawl spaces; they run beneath the whole structure- and kill the sleeping ones. Their secret brother is quite the illusionist, while the two "public" faces are assassins. Oh, and the illusionist possesses a Gem of Seeing. He will have already seen through my facade as a result, assuming he was able to surreptitiously watch us.
So it is exactly like the inn in Garrotten then! Durin confirms to himself.
Bad rabbit in stew huh. Missed that part. Devilish bastards to be sure.
How do we want to handle this?
Barak thinks hard "Hang on lads I've got an idea, we pretend we don't know the whole story and still trust the brothers. meanwhile we buy a potion from the hag to protect our guts possibly telling her to get a discount. if the camp don't like the idea of the brothers it we might be able to get some of the inhabitants on side. well what do you think?
At the inn Marcus relays Kiri's findings.
So we do have a party of dwarves who may be able and willing to help us. IF they're still alive and IF we can find them somewhere in the Dead Fields... Well its more than we had before I suppose.
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At the inn Marcus is courteous enough to the gnomes although he again shakes his head at the exorbitant rates.
Happy also to receive Sammuel's report before proceeding, the wizard gets about as angry as you've ever seen him when he hears of the gnomes intentions. Perhaps its a reaction from his noble upbringing but the idea that hosts would violate guest rights in such fashion seems to have him incensed.
Gah this place! This bloody place! Why else would a Priest of the God of Death think this was a good place to spend the night... And come to think of it that bloody Usurer encouraged us here as well. There is no way the locals don't know what goes on here. Travellers enter and never leave and suddenly they have a new load of gear to sell!
Well these rabbits fight back. And its time to show everyone in this miserable camp that we are no easy meat.
Its tempting to try and beat them at their own game but pretending to eat the tainted meat and lure them in is going to take some doing. Taking them at dinner when they are not prepared might be the best place but how to lure out that third brother?
Zanzu listens with intent, but can't disguise his disgust at the actions of the brothers. "Whatever you decide, I'll do my best to aid you against these assassins, but maybe the guest house should be under new management." He adds, his eyes full of venom.
Durin follows along with the conversation, first nodding along with Barak's plan, and then responding to Marcus. It is possible that Father Death has no particular favorite in the coming fight. Just that there is a fight at all.
And as far as luring out the third brother, what about Sam? Could we use his particular skills in this?
After Arachiel has said his piece, Durin replies, Does the word of a shapeshifter count as proof? Or more importantly, is proof even needed? This place seems to be a more "take what you can, hold what you can" kind of place. I think just taking them at dinner makes the most sense. Perhaps Sam can ferret out the other brother in time. If not, we deal with him in due time. He'll either be hot to get revenge right away, or he'll skip town if he knows what's best for him!
As an afterthought Durin adds, He is an illusion specialist... is it possible he is pulling a trick like our friend Sam here?
Marcus thinks for a moment about Barak's suggestions. We could ask I suppose but we'd be risking word getting back to the brothers before we're ready. The hag seems canny and we can't be sure at this point at least whose side she is on. But we could give it a try if we want to proceed that far.
He nods at Arachiel's statement and then Durin's remarks.
Sammuel could try and locate a third mind and confirm via a code phrase or something. The place can't be that big.
Its not as if we can sit down to dinner armed and armored but neither can the gnomes. Or if I'm reading Arachiel's intentions right we could simply try and block the exits as soon as Sammuel locates the third brother and start a fight.
Right so its all on one floor.
We have Samuel locate the extra one .. he may well be in place for his attack rather than risk moving later. Engage them while several of us tie down the other two.
If that sounds generally reasonable, its just when to strike. Fairly immediately, at dinner or after going with Barak's plan?
Now I think of it IF the illusionist saw Sammuel as he inferred and if he realised what he is ... which seems pretty likely actually, then they may already know we're on to them...
When in doubt, go with the simplest plan I say. Take them at dinner.
Very well. My role in this will be strictly non-combatant, naturally. We should have a signal- a key phrase so that everyone knows when to strike.
However... we can hardly bring weaponry to the dinner table. Barak's plan has merit in that we will at least have our weaponry close by if we wait for their ambush. If they haven't changed their plan upon recognising my true form...
As Marcus says, perhaps you should simply show force and not risk any preparation they might have. Storm the boarding house, kick in the door and slaughter them?
"Perhaps a faster measure is in order we could enter, go to our rooms to "change" for dinner and when they have left us to our busines we just go out silently and storm the kitchen? speed and surprise will be key mind." Barak rubs his hands though his beard "Do we try to take em alive for whatever farce of a trial this arse-backwards town can devise. They may still have supporters." Barak stops and puts a grubby hand on his lips pensively "I don't think there is a right answer here. whatever we do will have far reaching consequences and for the time the camp is still useful to us." removing the hand from his face and waving it dismissively as if rejecting an internal idea then eyes sparkling he says "Perhaps we hit the third brother first so to speak." Barak grins at Durin his hammer and the ground. "As any good dwarf will tell you a strategic cave in can turn a rout into a victory. Sa...Vincent points at the floor we smash it to bits dragging the slimy toerag out by the neck."
Considering they hang those that cheat at games of chance... and I am doubtful they held a trial first, I think we should just eliminate them and be done with it.
When we are called to dinner, we just show up armed and ready for a fight. Once they are dealt with, we explain to anyone who cares, and I doubt many here will, that they tried to poison us and kill us. We know how they have done it in the past, so we just use that as our explanation of our actions.
Those that have a problem with our explanation of us defending ourselves reveal themselves as likewise untrustworthy. That is also valuable going forward no?
"Well, as for weapons, I'll take mine with me to dinner!" say Zanzu as his steel like talons extend from his hands. "But it wouldn't be amiss to take some precautions against their poison before we go in, let's see what we can find in my bag." His head goes down and almost into his haversack looking for the right tonic.
His head pops up, "Now where are those vials of anti-toxin ... come on here, I want you. Oh a potion to help me regain my poise, oh no I like I might have used it already, best I look carefully then. Oh and marbles and that sticky old bag." He holds his head up and looks around. "Well!" he clucks as the others just watch for moments at his strange behavior.
"Oh and proof, we'll need proof you know, manys the times I've been let ... I mean I was in court and the judge let off some naughty fellow for lack of proof, not finding that diamond that once hung around a duchess' neck. That sort of thing." he waffles on in a bit of a flap, that he might talk himself into trouble.
I think I still favour the kick the door down plan but not enough to deny the majority.
We may need to play it by ear though. None of us are exactly actors and they may already be suspicious. I'm happy to go as soon as we can locate this third.
I'm thinking of one addendum though. If I place a spell of invisibility on Zanzu he could circle the place and locate all of the exits hidden or otherwise. Maybe even find a good place to lurk although he'll need to ware any traps and that gem.
What do you think my friend. Are you up for it?
Noticing Arachiel's discomfort the mage thinks for a moment.
There is nothing stopping us from taking them alive if we can. I'm pretty sure Durin could get them to confess their guilt. And if they are the mass-murderers they seem to be I don't believe the Patriarch of Myr would have issue with our actions.
With an eye towards Arachiel, Durin nods and remarks, It would probably be a good idea to verify aspects of Samuel's report before we act upon it. Make sure that the story checks out and the proof exists should we need it, before switching his gaze to the doppelganger, and, no offence, just looking out for ourselves here, but to ensure that he isn't trying to pull a fast one on us.
Durin smiles, You are an exceptional liar after all. It is obvious that Durin means to compliment the shapeshifter.
Back to the others he adds, Well then, the plan is for Zanzu to do a little sneak and peak while we try to flush out the third brother before dinner if we can? We should get on with it then, or I am soon likely to be hungry enough to eat the spoilt rabbit anyways!
Barak shuffles with impatience "whatever we do lets get it over with soon."
Aye, lets get thing started.
If we do make it do dinner, I'll try and excuse myself and summon some support.
"Vincent" our code-word can be the tower we recovered. Mix a direction and general distance into a sentance if you can.
When Zanzu is ready, Marcus casts invisibility and then mage armour on himself.
Realising that they would be under direct scrutiny of their hosts as they entered, Marcus opted to wait for a more discrete moment to make the Tengu invisible. He did, however, place the Mage Armour spell upon himself. "Samuel" apologised to the group but declared that he simply refused to risk his life in what would surely lead to bloodshed. He wished them luck just before they entered the building.
The group entered the boarding house, where Jebli and Jashanah Bender, the two brothers took down their names, closed the doors behind them to stop the wind getting in. The two seemed anything but ill at ease, despite the armed group having walked into their establishment and chatted amiably, asking how the group's foray into the Desolation went.
The martially inclined had a chance to look at the gear of both brothers. Each brother wore a rapier at their belt and were clad in black leather armour. Less than half a minute into the check in, before any money had changed hands, Durin became uncomfortably aware that Jashanah was studying him intently as he spoke; and Jebli seemed to be looking at Arachiel in the same way. The atmosphere in the room instantly changed. Jebli called out towards the right hand side of the house as his hand went to his rapier; his brother Jashanah also seemed ready to fight. It seemed that the brothers had cottoned on to Lord Vincent's true identity and had abandoned their lengthier plan.
The Doppelganger ain't with them. We'll have to kill him after. No witnesses.
The awkwardness of the brief social affair thankfully immediately forgotten, the group sprang into action. A little surprised by the sudden attack but hardly unprepared for it, the small wooden boarding house suddenly rang with the sounds of weapons leaving scabbards...
Round 1-
Ordered Initiative-
(Favoured Terrain Desert +2)
Marcus- 30
Kirilarien- 28
Janashah- 24
Zanzu- 23
???- 21
Arachiel- 17
Jebli- 12
Barak- 9
Durin- 9
Khun-Duhn- 7
Active Effects-
Map-
Notes-
Action-
Reacting with incredible speed, Zanzu and Marcus were able to pull off their attacks and spells before the two brothers even had their rapiers drawn...
Round 1
Time seems to slow for the wizard as the gnomes reach for their weapons.
The brothers are too spaced for a glitterdust spell but not for one of the conjurer's other favourites. Stepping beind Arachiel, Marcus rolls a small bead of molasses between his fingers while retrieving a scroll with his other hand. Chanting quickly, Marcus casts a spell of slow on both brothers.
Round 1
Kiri moves almost as fast as her master, the tiny azata realising that the cramped conditions have Durin disadvantaged. Focusing her inherent magic on the gnome threatening the doughty dwarf, the outsider retrieves her wand of ill omen before flying to Marcus.
Marcus' quick spellcasting seemed to slow down one of the brothers, before Kiri's magic overwhelmed his mind for a moment. Acting as though a little dazed and his eyes glazed over, Jashanah stabbed his rapier in a straight arc; straight into Durin's breastplate and glancing off harmlessly.
Zanzu tries to somersault over the chair and get into position behind the brother Jabil. He takes in Jabils position, his clothes and any jewelry he wears, looking for something that might give Jabil an advantage or protection. His hands twitch as he looks for an opportunity to take such an item and pocket it for himself.
Zanzu somersaulted in position across the room and swiped the gem that Jebil was just reaching for at his belt; a beautiful looking emerald.
With a bright flash of magic, an lightly armoured dark elf materialised behind Jashanah, clutching three nutshells in his hand. The Dark Elf's movements were mirrored by no less than five copies of himself, and each of the six Dark Elves moved in unison together as the warrior chanted words of power; the forms of all six of them blurring as he motioned; completing his spell.
The gem you hold is allowing you to see through the illusions and spells around him. It is another Gnome, clearly the third Bender Brother. You can tell that he has used Transmutation to assume the form of a Drow and illusionary magic to create mirror images of himself; as well as a Blur effect.
The spell cast was Confusion.
Of the attacking party, only Zanzu escaped the burst of magic that followed. A cacophony of lights and sounds threatened to overwhelm the minds of the group; a compulsion of madness that threatened to take over the mind and compel odd behaviour.
Please roll 1d100 on your turn and resolve your action according to the chart from this spell. Duration is 7 rounds.