Vardan steps forward with his Lucerne Hammer and says, "That's no way to talk about a lady.", swinging the long weapon from behind Sarge.
for
Steave wants to keep the half-orc alive but subdue him. He concentrates on putting him down and punches him.
Iolana gives the half-orc a nasty look, "You disgusting, lowly, maggot infested little *^$&^%! How dare you call her such things. You should beg for mercy from us, you *(&%, or you will be meeting your masters much sooner than you want!"
"You will do nothing of the sort!" Kyra responds, looking over her shoulder at the injured Anevia. "Anevia, please stay behind me, where I can defend you!" she asks, taking a defensive stance with her shield.
The orc snarls as he is assaulted, Jackram's strike missing him among the grease and glitter and Steave's unarmed strike deflects off a magical shield. He strikes back at Jackram with grim determination.
But his Ranseur swings wide.
Xanaphia deciding she would really like to kill this scumbag considers using her wand but realsies that may be a shield spell which would render the magic missiles harmless.
Steave shakes his fist as it impacts the half-orc's shield. This one needed to go down. He swept his foot to trip him and tried to kick him in the head on the backsweep.
vs. prone if tripped
With a very angry look on her face, Iolana cracks her whip at the half-orc.
Jackram's final strike downs the half orc. Anevia cries out in despair, grasping her bleeding arm, she runs and checks the two small rooms, calling out "Irabeth! Irabeth? She's not here!" panicked concern laces her voice, she returns to the main room.
"It's Vagorg I think." she says motioning to the orc dead on the ground. "I'm fortunate that you were all here, if I had come back alone I surely would have perished which was his plan no doubt. Vagorg, if I remember the story correctly as Irabeth told it to me one summer afternoon, was a cultist of Xoveron who wanted to burn down a whole neighborhood in Tymon, Irabeth arrested and imprisoned him." she shudders. "Not a nice man."
After a moment she goes into the bedroom, any who follow her see her open a secret niche. Inside is a note that says that Anevia should make her may to Irabeth at Defender's Heart. "She's at Defender's Heart! She must be alive." Anevia cries out cheerfully. "Friends, for your use, in case we get separated, the password for the fort, is Silverstrong. Would you mind if I stayed with you and we made our way, once we've helped Horgus of course, to Defender's Heart? Aravashniel and his wards would be safe there."
She also takes from the cache 3 potions of invisibility and two potions of CMWs.
"Sounds like a plan. First to Lord Horgus's manor. Then, this Defender's Heart. Which way lord?" Steave rallies everyone and readies to move.
Before everyone starts to move out, Xanaphia checks the dead orc over with detect magic in case he had anything useful on him. It would be a shame to waste anything valuable on an orc who had been worthless before his death. Just a pity nothing useful could be done with his body
"Sounds like a good idea to me."
"Anevia, anything else here look out of place?" Sarge asks, looking around to see if any thing else of note might have been left.
Vardan nods, "That plan seems sound."
Leaving the small abode and stepping into the courtyard, Aravashniel and the librarians are sitting in a half circle, keeping a watchful eye Chaleb and the tieflings.
"Everyone is unharmed?" he asks, standing up slowly.
Horgus leaves his place leaning on a wall and says, "Just north into the nicer part of town for my stop. Not sure how much nicer now though."
"Relatively intact" Anevia answers, still clutching her injured arm, as the gash on her arm stops bleeding from the pressure she's been applying to it.
As you depart, the sun is setting, picking your way through rubble casting long shadows. Every now and then you catch something out of the corner of your eye, a person in an alley way darting out of sight, an unknown set of eyes watching from a window or a desecrated building. Howls of monsters still in the city sometimes break the silence that is otherwise only broken by your own footsteps or the crackling sound of flame.
The sun sets further as you approach the manor, creating an eerie look as the sun is twisted into violent hues of purple and red by the smoke in the air over the city, making the sandstone wooden dwellings look as if some painted hellscape.
The manor stands firmly intact, gate closed buildings abandoned, even the green hedges lining the path are left unburnt. Horgus of course fails to see the boon in this and begins grumbling about how his entire household staff has left and when you enter the house by way of the key Horgus carries on his possession, he adds, thieving staff to his list of complaints. The inside is quite dark, and looks to have been lavishly decorated, though most things not nailed down or too heavy to carry have been taken.
Good to his word, Horgus goes to his study and opens his safe, rewarding the group 2,000gp with a "As promised. You got me here in one piece and were entirely adequate." having trouble even now expressing anything other than bothersome half-hearted thanks.
"You may all stay here tonight if you wish, then be on your way in the morning so I may ride out this damnable crisis in relative peace." with that he says his goodnights and heads up to his bedroom.
You are left in the study, there is are 2 couches and several overstuffed chairs, a desk, and a big stone fireplace, with wood piled next to it.
After Horgus leaves, Sarge mutters to the others, "Sometimes when ya spend your whole life relating to money, you forget how to relate to people," and takes out a whetstone, running it over the edge of his falchion, taking relaxation in the repetitive motion.
Setting down her equipment, Iolana begins to do various stretches before settling down in one of the chairs for a bit. "So, how are we going to arrange who sleeps where?"
Steave nods to the lord but does not thank him for the reward, treatment or attitude.
When everyone, including librarians and prisoners, settles into the study, Steave replies to Iolana, "Folks, as nice as this place may be, it is far from secure. We should consider ourselves at war and behind enemy lines. Therefore, we should set watches and traps around the doors and windows. I would like to use the fireplace, but I think the fire would attract unwanted visitors. Maybe those with darkvision should take the watches in the dead night to keep our lights low. How does that sound? Anyone good with traps, even noise-makers rigged with mess kits would be enough."
Kyra sets her bag down and addresses Steave, Sarge, and Iolana together, after bowing to Horgus. "Steave, I agree with you, and...I would be happy to take the second watch, as my eyesight is perfectly adequate in the dark. There is something more pressing I need to attend to first, however. If I could get two hours or so, I would be appreciative." The aasimar once more bows to the group, setting out towards a less crowded area in the current room. She strips herself of her armor, left with a simple robe marked with the symbols of her faith, and begins to pray, and those who listened carefully or drew close would realize she was performing a shorter set of prayers for the fallen tiefling she began her adventure into the caves with, Amanda. A look of relative calm marked her face, despite the slow addition of tears streaming down from her eyes.
Vardan nods, "Indeed, we do need a watch... Not just for attacks, but for our prisoner as well."
He then winces and says, "And while I largely agree with Steave's assessment, I think it's a near-impossibility to believe that the lordling won't start a fire tonight, and wouldn't listen to our advice otherwise. As such, I'd recommend that we do light one for heat now, and then try to keep the embers glowing for small amounts of light and warmth overnight."
He shrugs, "Like Kyra, I can see in the dark and take a watch in the middle of the night... especially as I have no magic to be disrupted. Thorne can see fairly well in dim light, but also has a strong sense of smell."
"A fire would be very nice to have, I'm a little sick of eating cold jerky from rations," Sarge opines. "I don't have the trick of seeing in the dark, but my eyes are pretty sharp. I'll take whatever watch is needed."
Finding a comfortable place to sit far enough away from kyra as to not disturb her prayers Aliester agrees with rojerz assessment.
"Setting watch is a fine idea, but I know nothing about traps myself."
"Your right sergeant, we should at least have a cooking fire." Steave starts cooking and thinking about the watch schedule. Eventually he proposes the following:
1st 4 hours.
Sarge - normal vision -
Iolana - normal vision - spell-caster
Xanaphia - normal vision - spell-caster
2nd 4 hours.
Vardan - darkvision
Steave
3rd 4 hours.
Aleister - darkvision - spell-caster
Kyra - darkvision - spell-caster
After supper, Steave quietly says to the group, "I don't like that Lord Horgus is by himself. Hey Sarge, do you want to go check on him, quiet-like before we settle into bed? "
"That sounds like a good plan to me Steave." Iolana grabs a notebook, ink, and well and finds a place to keep watch from occasionally jotting some notes down and humming to herself.
"Aye, cap'n, sounds good to me." Sarge finishes sharpening his Falchion and sheathes it, makes sure the +1 mace they've found is on his belt, and goes with Steave to walk slowly and quietly through the dark halls of the mansion.
Xanaphia is happy to go along with everyone elses plan.
So the captain and sergeant sneak out of the study in search of Lord Horgus to look in on him.
Jackram and Steave sneak up the stairs and down the hall. Snoring sounds come from a room on the right.
Horgus is sprawled out on a larger feather bed with an oak frame, his wine cellar apparently was unraided as he possesed the key. There are only two candles burning in this room and a half empty wine bottle is stopped up and resting on the bed next to the drunk sleeping man. Two more unopened bottles sit in a wooden crate on the floor.
"Can't hardly blame him for wanting to get drunk after the time we've had," Sarge whispers to Steave.
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Kyra, still praying, speaks in a quiet voice, enough for those close to her to hear.
"Please, if you have anyone close to you...anyone at all you'd like to pay respects to in this time of confusion...I'll include them in my prayers here and now." She'd calmed down and was no longer crying, finally finding her resolve again.
Hearing Kyra's words, Iolana pulls out the object she tends to hold when she is depressed. In a quiet, emotion filled voice, she asks, "Could you add Ilinica to your list please?" She seems surprised that she said anything at all, and quickly puts the object away.
"I will join you in praying for my foster family and hope they have survived the chaos around us"
She joins in the prayers
The aasimar nods solemnly at Iolana's request, continuing her prayers in a state of perfect calm. She'd seen the human clutch at some strange object before, and she could only guess she was doing so now. Of course, assumptions would do nothing right now.
In a somewhat melancholy voice, Kyra speaks to the haunted woman, trying to comfort her somehow.
"You hold your ...your trinket in the same way that I clutch the symbol of my faith when I am distressed, Iolana...It is the one thing I can rely on to get me through this, to get me through anything. But this is our time to grieve, and I feel like we will be traveling together for some time...I shall pray for Ilinica and Xanaphia's foster family as well...but I would ask that you have faith in us, Iolana. We will get past this and prevail...We shall overcome these trials."
A tiny smile forms on her face, trying to at least cheer the bard up, though she shuffles to the side to make way for Xanaphia to join her in her prayers.
When Steave returns to the camp with the Sarge, he announces that Lord Horgus celebrated his homecoming with his wine cellar and sleeps soundly. They settle into the watch schedule, in order to get to morning without incident.
A rather sad and wistful tone in her voice, "Yes, I suppose I do at that. It is the only connection I have anymore, the only thing I have left to help me through troubled times." So quietly it almost can't be heard and backed with a choked sob, "One of these days, maybe I will tell you about her." Iolana then returns to her writing as she sits her shift on watch, humming a sad and melancholy air as she does.
Settling into your watches for the evening, the night passes in relative quiet. The air broken once or twice by a scream or call in the distance of the city.
Morning breaks on a red dawn, light creeps into the room through the glass windows, casting long shadows.
"Red sky in the morning, soldier take warning," Sarge mutters as he looks out a window over the destroyed city.
"What's our next move, then?"
"I believe the only true place left to go is to this fort where Anevia's wife is waiting, yes? Although, I am also worried about these supposed safehouses mentioned in that note we found near the cultist...To think that such a horrid cult could worm its way into a pure religion is a terrifying insult." Kyra says, worry clear in her voice.
As she gets up, Iolana stretches and hums a bit as everyone gets up and begins speaking. When she is finished she replies, "I'm worried about the cults too, but I think we had better get everyone with us to safety before we worry about them."
"I concur. We need to head toward Defender's Heart. I'll ask Horgus if he wants to join us." Steave replies and goes to invite Horgus to join them.
Vardan nods, "We can explore and hunt once we know our charges are safe." ...and continue to hope that our mothers are...
"Yes we need to try and get to somewhere were we can find out what is going on"
Horgus responds in a kinder, if slightly hungover voice in the morning. "Ah Sir Rojerz, I think that I would like to weather this calamity from the comfort and relative safety of my own property. The threat to my home is sufficiently passed I think, though if I can get my staff and goods back that will be something of a journey. I've enough food for myself for a good long while. I wish you all good luck however."
With that the group sets off, headed with prisoners and wards in tow, to Defender's Heart and hopefully, relative safety.
Staying near the prisoner and our wards, Iolana keeps here whip handy and an eye open for trouble.
Kyra keeps an eye on the would-be paladin for the majority of the trip, giving him an absolutely dirty look, silently expressing her anger. Somehow, it was more terrifying than any verbal yell or scream she could let loose.
"Yes, let us travel to our destination, and reunite two lovers, as well as punish a slimy excuse for a soldier!"
"Well, if that's how you feel Lord Horgus. I sincerely how you are making the right decision. If you change your mind, you can seek shelter at Defender's Heart. Alright people, let's go." Steave heads.
Xanaphia moves along with the group keeping her distance from the prisoner, and keeping an eye out for trouble. It disturbs her to see the city she grew up in ruined and she keeps an eye out on the bodies they pass hoping she does not recognize any