Tal thinks he barely can make out one of the hidden thieves.
Looks like there is another over here! Tal proceeds to engage the rest of the ambushes as he spies them.
Aerial charge power attack subdual for
Confirm for
Tal subdues another one!
As he does, a thief reveals himself and throws one of them fireball beads at him and the unconscious thief.
Cheken instinctively pounces when she sees the violence.
Reflex
"There sure are a lot of scouts over here..." Richard and Sherix rush towards the next thief.
Tal jumps out of the way of the fireball, but the thief is not so lucky. Cheken slays the thief that threw the fireball.
Tal will bring the bleeding thief down to Richard and Acheh for them to stabilize and hopefully they can get more information than the recently deceased one that they were talking to before.
Richard disarms the thief to the best of his ability before using a wand of cure light wounds.
"Now now. Don't try anything fancy. My friend checked his blade, but these birds are quite ferocious."
Oh great, the thief doesn't believe me at all.
Tal saw the previous thief take a number of arrows yet only 2 theives were seen. He stays up above the street level looking for the remaining assassins.
perception
Tal does not see anymore thieves.
The thief looks at Richard and smiles. Hey! Thanks for the healing Bud! Now if you will let me be on my way!
"Wait- how many others are watching over this place? At least tell me that much." Richard crosses his arms.
Sherix also keeps an eye out for trouble.
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There's five, no wait, there are fifty of us. Oh! Sorry! There are 500 of us! The thief says with a chuckle.
"Hey we have been very kind to you. Healing you. Not letting you die. The very least you can do it repay us with some information my friend asked for."
Tal descends back down to the others. That must be all of them as I didn’t see any more. Turning to look at the assassin Tal asks, Is he giving us any information worth his life? If not then cut him loose so we can enter quickly. As Tal mentions cut him loose he makes a slashing motion with his long sword. It is easy to tell that he means to cut the assassin’s throat and not really let him go alive.
Intimidate
The thief takes the threat from Tal a little more serious than he did from Richard. He lowers his voice, Look if I tell you anything they will kill me, if I don't tell you anything, you will kill me. What choice do I have? Look, if you are looking for the guy that owns the shop, he's dead. If you could speak to the dead, you couldn't. Maglin and his quieting needles see to that. So you should turnaround and leave. There is much to do here but die. Maglin and Kruthe the Hammer are no jokes!
"I don't think we will get much more from him. Let's knock him out, throw him in a trash can and dump him at the watch later so that we can get to the dirty business inside."
Tal doesn't sheath his sword but draws move it away from the assassin. Well, now we know there are 2 in there at least. I will lead the way and you guys follow. No sense sneaking in either as they will know we are here after this fighting.
Tal then flips the blade sideways and knocks the assassin out. Agreed. Can't let him go and I said I would trade his life for information.
Tal then sizes up the door and forces it open with shield raised to give him total cover.
Opening the door, you all see a small smoke shop lit by the dim glow of a lamp hanging from the ceiling. The shop’s walls are decorated with pipes, smoking tobacco, and more exotic wares, while a counter runs across the back and a door beyond leads to a small bedroom. Poor Goren One-Ear has been pinned, spread-eagled, to the back wall of the shop by a number of long, wicked-looking daggers. Furthermore, the lower half of his face is a bloody mess where his jaw has been brutally torn away—the missing jaw sits on the counter, a smoking pipe perched decoratively on the lip and tongue.
An ogrekin charges out of the back room.
"I know the customer is always right, but..." Richard makes a grim joke just as an enemy bursts into the room.
Tal steps forward 5ft and lunges forward with his long sword keeping the ogrekin at bay. This allowed the others to enter if they wished while still keeping them safe from the large brute before him.
Power attack lunge keen for
Threat confirm for
Iterative for
Tal wounds the ogrekin who tries to return the favor.
Now that he can see someone, Maglin will shoot a bolt at Tal.
Another foe enters, and Richard decides to Inspire Courage
"My, my. I understand you were upset and wanted a refund. But maybe you should have brought your grievances with the Better Business Guild?"
He moves into flanking position to help Tal with the Ogrekin.
Acheh casts divine favor.
Richard inspires his allies while Acheh casts divine favor.
Tal takes full advantage of the inspiration by Richard along with his position to try and lay out the ogrekin.
power attack with keen inspire and flank for
iterative for
Tal slays the ogrekin!
Maglin will step up to Tal!
He misses!
Richard continues to Inspire Courage For +2 Attack/Damage.
Then he moves to flank Maglin, before attempting to trip.
Richard tries to trip Maglin, but is unable to.
Thanks Richard for the assist!
With Richard providing flank and inspiring him Tal was able to focus completely on powering through his attacks.
+1 keen power attack for
iterative for
threat confirm for
The first hit was a solid slash across the torso. However, it was just an opening hit that left the foe distracted enough for Tal to drive his longsword deep into his gut. Tal gave an extra little twist to the blade as he pulled it free. Watching the man drop Tal looked at the others, Do we stabilize him and bring him along for questioning?
"We may as well try. When we let them roam free, they wind up in pieces." Richard frowns.
Suddenly the door of the shop opens and there stands a gnome-like creature, holding a severed head.
Greetings heroes! You forgot to get one of the thieves outside. I took care of that for you!
He rolls the severed head to your feet.
The creature's gnome-like body is bent and gnarled, no more than 3 feet tall, and his large hands grip a scythe much too big for him. His mouth bears a smile too large for his diminutive frame, and a shapeless hat atop his head drips crimson with fresh blood. He lets out a tittering giggle as he tips that gore-smeared cap to the PCs.
"Ah, yes, I see. And you are...?" Richard keeps his hand on his whip as the gnome is all too happy to enjoy the carnage.
"Yes, a name would be an excellent place to start, and maybe you could tell us why you are here?"
Tal looks at the new comer with disgust and disbelief. How is it every time I knock someone out or rescue some poor sap they go and get offed by someone else? What is the point in even trying to save or redeem anyone around here. I may as well just start killing everyone one and not holding back at all.
Tal looks at the bleeding out figure at his feet and sighs. You stabilizing him or me?
He then points the sword at the new comer gnome Dont get any ideas about this one. He is going to hang for his crimes once we bring him to the authorities. And yes, who are you?
the gnome-like creature giggles. Why? I am Dog's Tongue of course and I bring you greetings from the Mother of Flies! You and the Mother share a common enemy as these enemies of yours suggest. He points his scythe to the recently beheaded. Mother would like very much to entertain you at her abode in Hagwood and discuss certain matters of family, nostalgia, and bloody vengeance. After all, like they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend! You will be safe from the Mother and her minions during the parlay. Once you hang that one or invite him to tea, we will go see the Mother. You won't be disappointed and She can help you defeat... He looks around ominously, The Council!
Sherix twerks her nose but makes no comment.
Richard coughs. "Of course. I am interested in why the Mother of Flies would be interested in the Council. Their reach must be further than I expected."
He looks at the mouthless person. "And something tells me we won't get much information here."
Well, Dog Tongue, before we go I have to ask…who is this Mother of Flies and why does she want us specifically and how did you know we would be here? Once those questions are answered then I guess we will consider going with you…once we take care of this mess. Shall we meet tomorrow night? Where should we meet you? That will give us enough time to dispose of this man here and gather our gear for a trip to see this Mother of Flies.
Once away from Dog Tongue Tal will open up to the others his thoughts. Do either of you know anything about this Mother of Flies or where she lives? While I think it is great that we could gain information on this council I want to know what we are getting ourselves into.
She is a hag of great power. The Drovenges, who you know now control the council, and Mother had a falling out and each now seeks the other's destruction. Like I said the enemy of my enemy is my friend and so forth. She has heard that you have been thwarting the Drovenges lately and they dislike you all just as much as they dislike her. Was she mistaken? I am here because I was hoping to see if Goren could put me in touch with you all, but it seems like he is on the quiet side. He laughs at his joke. I came here finding a trail of bodies that lead to you! He points to the head. Apparently you did not spot that one and he was either going to ambush you or spy on you but I stopped him. Mother sent out several agents to track you down. Looks like I am the lucky one and even got to have some fun! I will meet you on the main road heading out to the city by the 5 mile marker.
Maglin-Gear +2 leather armor, +1 buckler, masterwork rapier, masterwork light crossbow with 10 bolts (each poisoned with blue whinnis), ring of protection +1, thieves’ tools, quieting needles, pouch with 6 diamonds (200 gp each)
Kruthe-potion of cure serious wounds (2); Other Gear +2 spiked banded mail; +1 warhammer; shrunken head pouch with 13 gp, 25 sp, and a cracked ruby worth 800 gp.
Thieves (6)-potion of cure moderate wounds; Other Gear +1 leather armor, masterwork rapier, masterwork hand crossbow with 10 bolts, stolen coins and jewelry worth 300 gp
"We're certainly no fans of the Council. I did not realize the extent of their reach." Richard mixes a compliment into there somewhere. "We would be foolish not to accept the Mother's invite. Thank you for your information."
Once the blood-soaked gnome leaves, Richard relaxes. "Ugh. It's the only lead we have. The last time we tried to question these thieves, they would up torn in half or dying with their secrets."
Sherix sneers. "You know this Mother of Flies will find any reason to eat us. This doesn't feel like a trap, but it still feels like a dumb idea."
Richard nods. "Yes, this won't be normal a social gathering. Best to be prepared for combat. Just this once, I'd love to meet a nice otherworldly creature. Maybe a noble fey queen who wouldn't mind her entourage entertaining us for a night or two."
Sherix grimaces but follows silently.
5 mile marker, got it. See you then. Tal sheathe shis blade and grabs the unconscious man and the loot leaving the Leah before heading out. Either of you able to make the body invisible for a period of time? If not then we need to invest in a portable hole at some point. Until then I guess we have to just make it seem like he is drunk and passed out. Let’s take him to my forge so as to not reveal any other locations.
Once at the forge Tal will have Ermolos run to alert Areal and as if he wants this one brought for questioning and if so where?
">Invisibility<? I can buy us maybe 32 minutes, 8 at a time." Richard thinks. "Let's get him to the forge. The sooner we leave this grisly scene, the better."
Arael arranges for a 'Friendly' to take Maglin into custody, but immediately after, and before he could talk, he is found hanging in his cell. The death is ruled a suicide, but just why was he put in a cell with his belt still on?
"A suicide... really, that's the best they could do?" Richard grunts. "I feel like they should write down their life stories before someone drives a knife in their gut."
"Alright, I'm ready to visit the Mother of Flies when you are, Tal. Acheh, don't be surprised if this meeting goes sour."
"I'm glad Richard can handle invisibility. It is not one of my blessings."
"If we are expecting it to go sour we can consider some scouting is in order."
know local
Upon hearing of the death of the assassin Tal spends a good 15 minutes cursing out the Council for always finding a way to kill every single person or entity that he has tried to save or capture in the last few months. He then spends the next 30 minutes taking a practice sword to a training dummy after writing Council of Thieves upon its chest in bright red lettering.
The Mother of Flies... ah yes, there is a woman of ill repute by that name, but she lives near the sewer entrance, not the forest... wait what?