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Abaos nods to the three who approach, then turns back to the crowd. "These three will accompany me and the gang to Oleg's Trading Post. The rest of you, well, I promise, there will be plenty more adventures in store! Please, continue to do as Happs and Kressel ask, and know that I'm proud of you. We'll have full details tomorrow. But for now," and he raises his glass "let's party! Break out the games!"
As people (hopefully) rush to entertain themselves, Abaos will turn to the three selected.
"Townsend, good to see you again! Can't wait to catch up," he says to his old acquaintance, hugging him. "And you, wow, you look like you could take Guthruc for a spin!" he laughs, looking to Dharak. To the third man, he exclaims "Love the tattoos, my friend. You'll have to tell me how you got them?" He holds out his hand to the two newcomers, as if to shake them. "Pleasure to meet you both," he proclaims. "I'm Abaos. What are you called?"
"Townsend, good to see you again! Can't wait to catch up," he says to his old acquaintance, hugging him. Townsend takes the opportunity to whisper in Abaos's ear (Like a spy! he thinks excitedly) "What do you need me to do? You not trust these people?"
Louder, he says, "If you hadn't randomly selected me, I'd have volunteered! Whatever you need, I'm you man."
"Pleasure to meet you both," Abaos tells the two newcomers. "I'm Abaos. What are you called?"
"Name's Dharak," says Dharak, "Guthruc says you're quite the diplomat." He shakes Abaos's hand enthusiastically, he has a killer grip.
The thin man looks slightly proud at the mention of his body art. "Had them done in Pitax," he says. "I'd recommend the artist, except I never learned his name. My own is Martin. Martin Kornhaber, at your service," he says with a simpering smile, awkwardly shaking Abaos's left hand.
Awn continues smiling his usual grin and stays inscrutably silent as ever, enjoying the forest and the gathering of folk.
Well, these brigands are a lot more interesting than the mites!
When Townsend whispers in his ear, Abaos whispers back. "Later," is the lone reply he gives.
He goes to shake dharak's hand, and tries to maintain a straight face.
Finally, he looks back. "It's a pleasure to meet ya'll," he says. "I'm hoping to not need ya'll, but with us growing this strong, I don't want to be on the receiving end of any retaliation by the Stag Lord. Plus," and he winks "I've got another task for ya'll, as well, possibly. We'll find out once we reach Oleg's."
He pulls out the second deck of cards he owned () and slaps them down on a nearby table. "Before we depart, would you like to play a game? I'll answer any questions you have, and we can all have a good time before we head out tomorrow morning."
Guthruc will hunt for more food until we depart, donating it all the the camp. Guthruc will also invite Dharak along as well if he'd like. Hunting like this brings guthruc joy, the thrill of the hunt, kill or be killed.
unfortunately, much of the wildlife has either fled or become too terrified of Guthruc's handiwork to be anywhere nearby.
Awn will sit with Abaos.
"I have never played cards before. What is the aim of this pastime?" the tree an asks without a shadow of guile.
Guthruc will hunt for more food until we depart, donating it all the the camp. Guthruc will also invite Dharak along as well if he'd like. Hunting like this brings guthruc joy, the thrill of the hunt, kill or be killed.
[dice=survival]1d20+5
unfortunately, much of the wildlife has either fled or become too terrified of Guthruc's handiwork to be anywhere nearby.
The bandits quite appreciate Guthruc's providence; most of them aren't competent enough survivalists to find anything, more often than not, and Bydon is often too busy to go out foraging.
With a temporary surplus of food, card games and contests, and evidence that the party is everything that they were cracked up to be, morale runs high and everyone gets to sleep late. Almost all of the bandits' ready cash had been donated as tribute to the Stag Lord, so they play poker for pebbles. By the time the fire burns too low to read the cards by and people start drifting off to sleep, Abaos has won a small fortune in worthless rocks.
The day dawns overcast, with dew rather than frost on the ground. It's nice weather for walking, which is good, because you plan to be walking.
The thin man with the rapier did not disappear during the night, which might surprise some of you. The three bandits that you've volunteered are packed up and ready to go as soon as it's light out, with Townsend and Dharak laughing and joking and looking forward to excitement.
You've traveled the route to Oleg's from the Thorn River camp before, though in the other direction. You have no difficulty finding your way, though you occasionally have to wrestle your way through the underbrush.
Tell me when you'd like to sleep, wake up, and walk through the next hex en route to Oleg's. (Likely after you've questioned the outnumbered suspected spy.)
Also, there's a random encounter today. So tell me if you want to question Mr. Kornhaber in the morning, afternoon, or evening. Things might happen before or after.
Iorskan hasn’t paid attention to anything regarding the potential spy, possibly because nobody told him. Which was probably a smart course of action. As is, he is quite happy to walk with his Kobold followers. At times he wanted to walk with the others, but they seemed busy talking to humans. Who kinda gave him the heeby-jeebys with their scaleless skin (seriously, how have they not gone extinct with such chewable skin and no night vision?). And Guthric, despite being his close friend, might mistake one of his kobolds for food. Or step on one while killing birds.
Still...due to the temporary surplus of food, he was in high spirits indeed.
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As Abaos walks the trip to Oleg's, he spends most of his time talking with the various members of the group, chatting with the kobolds to improve his linguistic skills, and generally having a good time.
At some point during the late morning, before the sun has risen high in the sky, Abaos will quietly grab Awn, and whisper "It's time. Grab Townsend and Ozzy, have her bring her beasts. I want as few people involved as possible, just in case; well, in case we're wrong." He'll pause, then say "Give me 5 minutes, then follow. I'll be going straight."
He then calls out to the group ."Hey guys, let's take a quick water break."
As the group stops temporarily to grab some water, Abaos will walk over to Martin. He'll tap him on the shoulder, and ask "Hey man, let's take a walk." He'll move him over to the right, and lead Martin in a straight line from there.
He'll lead the two down for a few minutes, then stop. Abaos will ask. "So, Martin, can you tell me a little about yourself? I've spoken with Townsend and Dharak a little bit, and I know everyone here pretty well, but I don't know you. Can you tell me where you got that armor? And the rapier; well, that's a really fancy weapon to have around here. Who were you before you became an outlaw; I'm curious."
Abaos will wait patiently from there, hoping against hope that there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything.
, Abaos will coax "Look, I'll tell you who I am, who I was before, if you tell me who you are. Fair?"
Martin shrugs. "I don't particularly care to speak of bridges long since burned, though there's no harm in it. My name isn't actually Kornhaber, it's Orlovsky, and I nicked both the rapier and the armor before leaving home . . . " he trails off, staring into the middle distance, "six years ago."
He takes off the scarf he'd wrapped around his rapier's hilt, revealing a family crest built into the decorative handle, a black eagle against a gold field. "I try not to draw attention to myself, and so, the scarf. But I've yet to find a better sword."
"I'm wanted for a medley of crimes in several of the River Kingdoms, but I've no interest in returning to Brevoy. I thought the Stolen Lands would be as good a place as any to lie low, and got swept up in the revolution. I must say, this Stag Lord sounds like a nasty character, and I'm a sucker for a good cause."
The delivery was perfect, practiced, but Abaos knows for a fact that "Orlovsky" was mispronouncing his own supposed last name. That's a pretty big clue that the thin man isn't being entirely truthful, and also that he's never spent much time in Brevoy.
At this point Awn arrives with Ozzy, Misters Winky and Blinky, and Townsend.
Guthruc and Iorskan are within a double move or charge of the crowd, but are clueless as to what's going on and will remain so unless a loud noise gets their attention or they make a perception check against DC 10 and care enough to check it out.
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Abaos sighs, and shakes his head, circling around Martin to cut off any escape.
"Oh, Martin," he says, "I had really, really hoped you'd tell me the truth."
He pauses, waiting for the realization to kick in, and continues "Bright Awn, here, he had you made, from the start. Knew something was different about you. I really, really wanted it to be something different; but, someone born into the family would know that it's Or-lawv-sky, not Or-lov-esky. So, please, because I will only ask this once more- what's the real story?"
Ozzy and Mr. Blinky move to cut off any potential escapes, while Mr. Winky takes up a position above with clear sight lines where it will be easy to track him if he tries to run.
Playing the gallant tree-man whodunit-er is hard without a suitably impressive named Elven Curved Blade in hand, so Awn obliges by levelling the blade at "Martin", say at...neck level.
Ready action: Attack!
"Huh." the thin man shakes his head as everyone falls into position around him. "Well, I heard the pronunciation from Akiros, so, really, this is all his fault."
He holds very still when Bright Awn levels his sword, slowly raising his open hands to face level, to show he's unarmed. (Or, that he isn't carrying any arms.)
"Whoa. Hold up, no need for that. Since you asked so nicely, my name is Dovan. Dovan from Nisroch, at your service." He gives a little mock bow and tries, unsuccessfully, to keep the contempt out of his voice.
"So . . . what happens now? I refuse to tell you anything, you string me up by my ankles and ask again, I keep lying until you believe me and then your merry little band leaves me to bleed out while you go your merry way? Like hell." The man from Nisroch tries smiling pleasantly, like an animal baring it's teeth.
"I'm one of the Stag Lord's four lieutenants, along with Akiros, Auchs, and Kressel. Kressel tipped us off about your little insurgency, and, 'cause she's too pathetic to infiltrate her own camp, the bandit king sent me to get the leaders of this little coup alone and either kill or convert them. Now, I do hope you don't mind me assuming your reactions, but you don't strike me as prime employee material, so I'll try and make this fast." With his hands still at head level, the lietenant pulls his golden chain out from beneath his armor, revealing two small golden spheres attached to it. He moves to detach one.
Abaos, not sure what tricks Dovan might have up his sleeves, decides to preemptively decapitate him.
Dovan ducks to the side, avoiding the attack while still trying to detach his trinket from it's chain. Townsend, conscious of the threat and wary of the necklace (which he assumes is magic) attacks with his shortsword.
The man from Nisroch's enchanted armor blocks the thrust entirely.
Dharak hears the sound of battle and looks over at where the party seems to be all attacking Martin Kornhaber. He stands up. "Uh, Guthruc? Iorskan? We s'posed to do something about that?"
Guthruc looks over to where Dharak indicated. "of course! It's a fight! ...And I want in!" A dangerous look flashes in Guthruc's eyes. "Come small dragon, we eat man this moon"
Guthruc enters rage and charges.
The orc seemingly appears out of nowhere to those who were focusing on the plant. He brings his immense club about and sends Dovan from Nisroch into the dirt so hard the rogue bounces and, somehow, finds his feet again.
Iorskan, unable to fly just yet, can still run. He rushes over, flames leaking out of his maw. Claw glowing with trapped heat, he slashes at the man. He didn’t know why they were fighting, but friend Guthric said it was time to eat!
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"So . . . what happens now? I refuse to tell you anything, you string me up by my ankles and ask again, I keep lying until you believe me and then your merry little band leaves me to bleed out while you go your merry way? Like hell." The man from Nisroch tries smiling pleasantly, like an animal baring it's teeth.
Abaos speaks up as the man reacts. "You're wrong, Martin," he says loudly enough for those gathered to hear. "We don't kill you. We find you, we hunt you, and we let you crawl back to the Stag Lord, to see how kind he is to those who fail him."
As Guthruc charges in, sending the man flying, Abaos finishes "It's not too late to join us, Martin," he says "and a survivor like you knows where the winds are turning. But I see you've chosen your side."
With that, he rushes down to the ground beside Dovan from Nisroch, grabbing at the chain around the man's neck.
Awn blinks as he manages to miss Dovan from quite close. So close that he can attack again - as Abaos goes for the chain aorund the man's neck, Awn lunges forward and stabs at the spy again - he twists fate to try to catch the rogue...
[+1 BAB, +2 Str, +2 flanking]
[+3 THF]
Immediate action: Use second sight to add +1 to Awn's strike = 17.
So Kressel was in on this...interesting.
The party's onslaught was must faster and more brutal than Dovan expected; he isn't particularly slow on the draw himself and he thought he could get to his necklace in time to give himself an escape route. (Over someone's dead or stabilizing body, that is.)
As it is, even people who were standing meters away and not paying attention beat him to the punch. Bright Awn's aura probably had something to do with that. And so Dovan of Nisroch topples to the ground at -13 hitpoints, leaving his peculiar gold necklace in Abaos's hand.
Now that the man is down, Guthruc draws his knife and moves to de-limb the man for a mid-morning snack.
He calls to Dharak to start a roasting fire if we have the time.
"Food!" Iorskan eagerly waited next to Guthruc. "I want a leg." he said happily. Iorskan reflected on himself that he was indeed civilized. It wouldn't do to eat without waiting his turn, and the others might want whatever the man had. Like his pants, maybe?
He still really didn't 'get' the idea of pants. Everyone seemed to wear them, but for what purpose? Every time they had to go to the bathroom they had to take them off. So what was their purpose? Maybe...it was because their pink skin was so fragile? So they had to cover it up. But that couldn't be it, because even Guthruc wore pants, and the orc was as tough as they came.
It was, and probably would remain, a mystery.
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Abaos grabs the necklace, ponders it for a moment, then looks down at the dead man. "S***," is all that reverberates through the man's lips.
A sudden string of further curses goes off as he stands up, thrusts the necklace at Ozzy, simply demanding "Identify this, and strip the corpse," as he walks off, into the woods, to sit for a few minutes.
As he wanders off, he thinks Kressel's in on this. Kressel betrayed us. The camp! The camp's in danger! Gods! But, if Kressel and Happs were close.... He stops thinking for a minute, shaking his head, before walking back out to meet the group.
"We have to head back," he says. "The know where the camp is. They know where we are, and what our forces are, everything." He pauses.
"Look, I don't know how much good it'll do, but if Kressel was in on it, well, then we could be heading back into a trap. I don't know. What I do know is, it's a risk returning. There's no shame in leaving, especially for those of you who don't want to run this risk," he looks around to the original party, "this is far beyond the requirements of our previous contract. But, for those of you who do come with, I will thank you."
He pauses to repeat this in barely comprehensible Draconic.
Iorskan watched in confusion. ”Calm. Guthruc will cook, give you a leg. You will feel better after eating.”
Then, to the kobolds ”Don’t worry. He is just scared. If there is any danger you see, tell us. If we have to fight, then don’t fight in close combat. Harass them with missile fire and flee if they get to close. Then, we all eat!”
Ozzy just stands there, surprised at how quickly events go sideways. When Abaos shoves the necklace into her hands, she just looks at it for a moment, then sets about removing the other items that she saw emanating magic auras, as well as anything else that looks valuable to her or her eidolons, before the orc and and dragon can eat them.
Awn places a calming hand on the elemental's shoulder.
"Peace, brother. Remember, Kressel was our enemy once before. As was Happ and Townsend. They may be again. Perhaps our camp was never "our camp", but a gathering ground for the Stag Lord even yet."
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Darak looks at the dead man, bewildered as to what happened and keeping his distance in case he needs to hot foot it out of here. He doesn't know any of you particularly well, after all, and you just killed one of the people he was adventuring with.
Now that the man is down, Guthruc draws his knife and moves to de-limb the man for a mid-morning snack.
He calls to Dharak to start a roasting fire if we have the time.
"You . . . aren't joking." Dharak scratches the back of his head. "Uh, sorry man, I don't eat people. Thinking about it makes me a little sick, actually, so I'd rather not be a part of this . . . what'd he do, anyway?"
Abaos stops. "Don't think I haven't considered that possibility, Awn," he says tartly.
He wheels on Townsend. "How much of this did you know?" he asks quietly. His tone doesn't sound threatening, but the starknife that suddenly appears in his hand is.
Townsend raises his hands defensively. "Nothing!" he protests. "I just helped you against the spy, didn't I?"
He frowns and starts pacing. "I dunno what to think . . . Kressel was always a little . . . vicious, y'know? But Happs trusted her . . ."
Dharak breaks in. "Wait, am I getting this right? Kressel, the lady in charge, turned coats? Well, if she expected anyone to switch sides with her, she probably should have told us, 'cause they roped me into fighting deer-hat, not fighting for him."
Townsend sounds earnest and maybe a little hurt, Dharak sounds frustrated at being kept in the dark. Neither of them sound like they're lying to you.
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Those skill unlocks aren't automatic. By RAW, those skill unlocks are only available to unchained rogues through the Rogue's Edge ability. Scanning the Luckbringer page, I don't see anything equivalent.
Abaos sighs as Townsend and Dharak speak, and sheathes his knife.
"I know," he says, his voice turning sad. "I know. I'm sorry. Shouldn't have done that, Townsend."
He turns to Dharak. "And Dharak, well, Bright Awn's had suspicions about Martin here since we got to camp. So, we engineered a way to get you all together- it was no accident that the three of you were chosen." He stops, and smiles at Dharak. "Well, you were, but I have a feeling someone intervened for you."
He continues. "Well, Martin and I took a little talk, and he confessed in front of me, Awn, Ozzy, and Townsend here, that he's Dovan from Nisroch, one of the Stag Lord's lieutenants, a list which also includes Kressel."
He sighs. "We were all deceived by her. But, if it's true, and she's gone to the Stag Lord, as Martin- Dovan, said, well, we have to considered that location marked. Evacuate, move somewhere else. Same with the kobolds and the mites- we can't assume that they aren't marked by the Stag Lord."
He sighs, then continues. "Look, I'm not certain how to make this work. I worry about the Levetons- sorry, Oleg's- being attacked. We'll have to send them warning."
He looks at Townsend. "Look, Townsend, I didn't just bring you because I trusted you, though that was a big part of it. I think it's time for a promotion, and I was hoping that maybe, we could station you at the trading post as a measure of security. If you're up for it, well, you're job just got a lot harder, but I'd appreciate it if you and Dharak continued on to the Levetons, kept them safe. If you're attacked, it doesn't matter- get them out of there. The post can be rebuilt, but we can't get them back. Understand?"
"Nakpik, Eadoo, Zornesk, and Poro- ya'll need to get to Chief Sootscale, and let him know to be on high- alert. Just in case." He looks at Iorskan. "If you need to go with them, I understand, and wish you the best of luck, friend. Though I do hope you might consider walking with me."
He looks at Ozzy. "I'm not certain who that leaves us, but could one of your beasts make it to the mites? Perhaps?"
"The rest of us, will oversee the evacuation of the bandit camp. And question Happs. I hate to do this, but it seems like a necessary precaution, though I'm glad to know not everyone in the camp wants to slit our throats." He smiles to Townsend and Dharak.
He looks around at the assembled people. "What do you think?"
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Ozzy looks uneasy at the suggestion of sending one of her eidolons away. She moves close to Abaos and speaks hesitantly in a low voice. Actually, Mr. Blinky and Mr. Winky... well... you see... the thing is, they're my imaginary friends. They turned real to protect me when I was stuck in the shadow place, but... it hurts them if they go too far away from me.
If Iorskan could have shrugged he would have. ”I will walk with you. My kobolds are fine so long as nobody tells where they are.”
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Abaos looks at Ozzy uncomfortably, and just pats her on the shoulders. He's really hoping to keep her from noticing what he's thinking- that's she absolutely mad!
"That's ok," he tells her. "We'll have to think of another way to warn them then."
He looks at the kobolds, then speaks to Nakpik in Draconic
"You didn't happen to tell the humans where you live?
He looks sheepishly at Iorskan, and shrugs.
Awn listens with growing concern. He worries for Oleg, and how the Levetons might react to have a former foe and strange half-orc arrive to "protect" them "from the Stag Lord".
"I will accompany Townsend and Dharak to the Trading Post as a surety that they arrive, and that they are believed. My aura can help us to travel swiftly. Then I will return to a predecided location. Have you one in mind? If not, perhaps I can follow your trail... or that of those who seek to trail you..."
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"I will accompany Townsend and Dharak to the Trading Post as a surety that they arrive, and that they are believed. My aura can help us to travel swiftly. Then I will return to a predecided location. Have you one in mind? If not, perhaps I can follow your trail... or that of those who seek to trail you..."
Abaos dips his head as Awn speaks. "I trust to your wisdom, friend," he answers. "I don't know where we're going, not yet, but I will send word. For the intermittent time, help Townsend and Dharak as best you can. We need the Levetons."
He looks at Ozzy. "Would you and Guthruc attend to the mites, then? You all go, swiftly, and return to the kobold camp when all is settled. Iorskan, if you are certain you are not needed with Chief Sootscale, you can attend me to the evacuation of the men. Once we have determined a location, I'll send you to the kobold camp to collect Ozzy and Guthruc."
He looks around at the group. "This will be dangerous, and could have dire consequences. Be on high alert the whole time. We can't afford any losses, we won't have any losses. Are we clear?"
Ozzy finds a gold necklace with two detachable gold beads. The beads emanate a moderate aura of evocation. She also finds an enchanted set of leather armor, an enchanted rapier with the Orlovsky family crest emblazoned on it, as mentioned earlier. The satchel at his side that had the moderate aura of conjuration held a helpfully labeled potion of cure serious wounds. The other items are as of now unidentified, though in the case of the rapier and armor their function can probably be guessed.
The kobolds assure Abaos that no humans know the location of their home. Zornesk is curious and wants to head over to see the mites, Nakpik is wondering if maybe they should just continue on their way to the trading post as she doesn't think the Sootscale clan is in any particular danger, and also points out that unless their was another spy in the camp no one could possibly know that the party has allied with the mites, since news of this surprised the Thorn River Camp only yesterday.
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Abaos understands Nakpik's thoughts, but he doesn't want to take any chances. The possibility of another spy being in the camp is there, as well as Martin having some sort of magic to communicate with the Stag Lord, or the mites that ran being captured by the Stag Lord and forced to spill; the list goes on. Someone should go to tell them; that being said, picking up on Zornesk's eagerness, he proposes that some or all of the kobolds go with Ozzy to the mites; best establish kind relations now. He'll also propose that the kobolds should learn to speak other languages (mite, common) to help them as official explorers.