Victims in the Water - Round 5
As Elael frees the soldier type, who kicks hard for the surface free from burden, he notes the chains are rusty and in poor condition and might just as easily be broken as having the locks jimmied. On the bottom turns to the next fellow in line, a bookish type who is flailing about wild-eyed and struggling against his chain.
Seeing the first man, kick past her to the surface, The Shoanti priestess again gasps for air, swimming to above where the next man lies. With the guidance of Pharasma, who must not want these men for her own yet, Eostre arrives above them and prepares to dive to the bottom.
Victims in the Water 6 rounds
Elael works on the first lock holding the next man in and frees him, despite the man's flailing around. Unfortunately, this man in the middle of the chain, is held by two separate locks and is only part free.
Victims in the Water, round 6
The Shoanti oracle is swamped by waves on her first dive attempt, but manages to get to the bottom and find the other men. She is unable to get any work done on the chains this round, however.
Seeing the others struggling or slowly freeing the men, the half-orc looks for a blessing then jumps over the side into the water 35-ft below. His dive is less than graceful, but he enters the water without incident, and makes strong strokes to get to the men and then to the bottom, grasping the chain between the second and third man.
|
Elael's concentration is intense, trying to hold his breath and sidle along the chain to continue unlocking the locks. He spins around in alarm when the huge Cressyk hits the water, diving to the bottom. Seeing an ally, he turns around, air bubbling a bit up from his mouth.
Elael swims towards the next man, indicating to Cressyk and Eostre towards the final, fourth person instead of the one he's just about to work on.
Elael smirks a little, underwater, at the failure of the half-orc's impressive display of strength. He'll be sure to highlight later on how much more successful his more subtle maneuvers were with the rescuing.
Victims in the Water - round 7
Jiro and Rhanloi haul up the first rescued swimmer. As he gets to the top, he falls huffing and puffing on the rocky ledge. Archibald, winded by all the excitement, gathers his robes and a seat on a rock outcropping.
Meanwhile, in the water, Cressyk grabs the last chain of the second man, breaking it with ease. The burly half-orc then propels himself to the next man. That second man is, now also freed, and he pops to the surface, bobbing on the wave top, breathing deeply.
Still using his lock-pick, Elael opens the first lock on the third man on the chain. He still is held by one more length of chain.
Eostre attempts to break the chain holding the last man on the string, but her power is not enough to snap the rusty links.
Victims in the Water- Round 8
Cressyk knows time is running short, so he strokes to the where the last man is tethered to the chain, grabs the the chain, and snaps it, freeing the man who wastes no time propelling himself upward to the surface.
Elael meanwhile, jimmies the last remaining lock, watching with grim satisfaction as the clasp opens and the man floats to the surface with the weight of the chain remaining on the bottom.
The Shoanti priestess checks on all the men as they bob to the surface, she helps each into the rope harness and signals to the surface men to haul it up.
Eventually, all the men are atop the ridge again, huffing and puffing, and quite thankful for the save.
End of Rounds
As the last of the heroes gets lifted up, one of the men, the first one thrown in, stands and approaches you. "I am Yargos Gill, and my friends and I owe you our lives. I don't know why these hoods attacked a few old men out to dinner, but you have our gratitude. However can we re-pay you?"
He grins sheepishly and pumps each of your hands in turn. Yargos is a tall, rail-thin man with an unkempt beard and bushy eyebrows covering squinting eyes.
|
|
Elael is huffing and puffing himself quite a bit as he's hauled to the surface, and can't help but to spend a few moments lying on the ground around their dead adversaries when he reaches the clifftop.
Between breaths, he gasps a response to Yargos. "You can...try a little...harder to...stay out of...trouble next time."
|
"You are indeed in our debt, Yargos Gill. It is that the Gods put us on a path to find you or else you would be dead. This goes to show that our intentions are just and blessed by the divine. But, I apologize, for I have not yet introduced myself. My name is Jiro i' Legatu", he says as he makes the tiniest of bows,"and we are looking for an old code-book. You have recently acquired this book from an old archive and our desire is to have this book in our possession. This even exchange would result in you and us severing the karmic ties that now bind us."
|
Rhanloi lets the others do the talking - in the frozen north talking just wastes heat. Actions make heat. So he busies himself retrieving and coiling the rope. He keeps a wary eye out for the others while listening to the conversations.
His raven familiar lands on his shoulder after the coiling is done. It looks at the old men and cocks its head to one side, then croaks out words in a strange language. "কেন পুরুষদের আজকের জন্য মাছ? খেতে না?"
Rhanloi barks a short chuckle at the raven's question and shakes his head back and forth.
Yargos looks at you sheepishly and shrugs. "If I had the codebook I'd gladly give it to you, but there's more to that story..."
He glances around cautiously as if nervous about the surroundings. "I may have made a dreadful mistake with the book," he confesses looking at the ground again. "Do you know what this codebook is for?"
His voice takes on a professorial air as he begins telling the story of the codebook."Eight hundred years ago, a great Taldor armada anchored off the shores of the Isle of Kortos like a thousand locusts, waiting for the signal to invade and finally conquer Absalom. The plan was simple, but deadly. In the misty weather of Desnus, a fifth column of infiltrators known as Black Echelon would work from inside the city to weaken strategic defensive positions and destroy Absalom's warning system. Once the bloody mayhem was complete, the saboteurs would signal the fleet to begin the attack."
He looks at you to make sure you are all understanding his lecture so far. Convinced you are following along reasonably well, he continues:"Prearranged signal lights were prepared for each phase of the offensive. A red flashing light was the signal that Black Echelon was to poison Absalom's granary, a purple light with three pulses was the signal to destroy the city's bell towers, and so on. Unbeknownst to the infiltrators, the leaders of Black Echelon had been discovered and assassinated by the heroes of Absalom. The signal lights sat dark and Black Echelon sat idle. The Absalom navy set upon the Taldor invasion force and destroyed it to the last mast. Any remaining Black Echelon members were rooted out and put to the sword."
"And the story would end there and be an interesting footnote of history, but for one fact. The members of the failed invasion mission, called Silent Tide, each swore an oath called The Binding Word. This oath pledged Black Echelon and the Taldor marines awaiting the invasion signal, to fulfill their duties no matter the barrier or cost. Apparently, The Binding Word is even compelling them after their deaths centuries ago."
He swallows and looks glumly. "You see, once I acquired the codebook with the signals, I foolishly signaled a few of the codes on a lark; now I have reason to believe that Black Echelon is active again, a cadre of undead soldiers setting about sabotaging Absalom, so their skeletal marine mates can invade with impunity."
"I planned to flash the abort signal and then alert the authorities, but before I could, a local young crime lord named Nessian assaulted me and stole the book. I think Nessian means to use Black Echelon to secure his place in Absalom's underworld by manipulating the undead operatives to wreak havoc and disrupt the city. Since only he has the code-book, only he can give the abort signal ending the attacks. He thinks he can blackmail the city as he wishes, making him an exceedingly powerful crime boss indeed."
"It was Nessian who set these thugs on me, trying to shut me up about the codes. Unfortunately, i have forgotten the abort code already, but that didn't stop him from trying to silence me and anyone I've talked to including my simple dinner companions there."
"As it stands, if you want the codebook, you have to find Nessian first. Maybe you can stop the invasion from beyond the grave as well?"
|
|
By the time that Yargos is maybe a quarter of the way through his speech, Elael's caught his breath, and now he sits up, listening raptly. "Dozens of men...caught in undeath to serve a long-forgotten purpose, and at the same time endangering all of Absalom, huh? And a crime boss abusing his power? Sounds like a challenge!"
Elael is grinning madly.
"Any idea where this Nessian frequents? Or maybe where we might find a few members of his gang?"
"I do not know where Nessian hides himself. I hadn't heard of him at all until he stole my book the other night. But I know someone who might know. Grandmaster Torch is a man who knows such things, it may cost us, but he'll know where Nessian can be found. Follow me!"
The elderly historian says farewell to his damp friends, and begins to lead you away from Torsen's Maw and into the city. The night is cool and the air still damp from the recent rains that have so plagued The Puddles.
"Eh, what?" says the sleepy Yargos. When you take a moment to point out the repeating pattern to him he startles awake in an instant. "Nessian!" shouts Yargos. "He's signaling Black Echelon - the undead! Six flashes of red - I do remember that signal...By the Gods! That's the granary! Nessian has sent those monsters to poison the granary! C'mon! I don't know how, but we've got to stop them -- we're the only ones who know what's happening."
Yargos explains that the cadre of undead saboteurs intends to poison the city's grain supply with an ancient poison called Gut Wither. It was part of the invasion plan 800 years ago -- if placed under siege, the city couldn't hold out long if all its food reserves were tainted but now poisoning the granary could bring on mass starvation.
As you approach the granary, you can see an eerie cold fog has descended on the adjoining streets and alleyways surrounding the storehouse. As you get to the door, you find the three guards assigned to protect the city's food supply already dead and the massive wooden front door already forced open.
The raven returns, squawking shrilly into Rhanloi's ear.
Archibald casts a light spell on the end of his staff as well, giving exrra light in case the samurai has to go to his blade. Eostre readies her mace for close in combat. Yargos suggests he sit this one out after turning a squeamish green color when the guards bodies are discovered.
|
"Ah! A fellow practitioner of the arcane arts, eh?" he says in Rhanloi's general direction. Before she can respond, he continues: "...a fine familiar you have there too. Why, I had a familiar once. Insufferable nuisances I find. Used to make me sneeze, you see. One minute I'm casting a simple alarm to wake me for my morning jog, and next minute I've somehow conjured a water-elemental. My favourite carpet! Ruined!". The wizard continues on his rant for some time, irregardless of whether anybody is listening or not. In fact, he hardly seems to notice.
Archibald will ready a disrupt undead spell hobbling his way into the hall after Cressyk and pressing himself behind the cover of the open door. He taps his foot impatiently at the others. "Do try to keep up, confound you!"
As you get to within sight distance of the northeast silo of the granary, you do in fact see three robed and hooded figures standing atop a grain pile, a shroud of mist gathered around the feet of each. As you watch, the corner figure is kneeling opening an ancient and rusted iron chest. The other two stand guard, and see your approach, one points wordlessly and the others reach for their sickles.
Guardians of the Grain - Round 1
23 Cressyk
23 Archibald
20 Elael
18 Eostre
17 Black Operative
14 Red Operative
13 Rhanloi
8 Blue Operative
5 Jiro
|
|
Archibald, as the others overtake him, lets out a loud harumph and sweeps into the chamber. He waves his staff menacingly at the cowled figures. "Now see here you... you ruffians! We can see you slinking about over there. We'll give you this one chance to stand down and you won't be bruised, battered, transfigured or otherwise ensorcelled. I mean it!"
Guardians of the Grain - Round 1- continued
As Cressyk races to combat the Black Echelon, a fourth operative leaps from it's hiding place in the pile of grain and attacks but the wraith's sneak attack rebounds from Cressyk's armor surprising the half-orc and stopping him short.
Archibald enters the room, fussing at the silent enemies, but they pay him no heed, as if he weren't even there.
Eostre moves past the samurai, and touching him gently whispers: Pharasma's protection on you as you face those who would escape her judgement. Banish these souls back to her realm."