"You know where I stand, Lady Janiven." Camris tries to suppress a smile.
If anything, Araxus grows paler than he was before. He looks around the table at those assembled. He swallows what remains of his wine and looks down at the table.
Then he speaks up. "It appears we are all with you, Lady Janiven. We will see this done and rid the city of the menace that has continually threatened our way of life. For years, the true power of this land resided in Westcrown, and so it should be once again." He pours some more wine and raises his glass in salute to Janiven's proposition.
"Oh goody, That's settled then!" Slidell declares with a grin, obviously pleased with everyone's cooperativeness.
"Now we can dispense with all of the huffing, puffing and blowing your house down and get to the real reason we came here." He says merrily.
"You obviously have an idea where to start. Other than simple shadow-hunting. Why don't you tell us what you have in mind?" He asks their hostess with a raised eyebrow and knowing smirk. (More of a 'I dare you to tell me something I don't already know', and not a defiant attitude.)
Slidell Suddenly rolls his eyes and mutters "Oh, NOW what is it?!"
Then he looks puzzled, then his eyes widen in alarm, and he spins in his seat towards the alley door.
"Janiven, are you expecting company? Besides us, obviously." He asks, back to his previous, serious, persona.
Camris, alarmed by Slidell's reaction, stands and readies his longsword.
"Yes, I was expecting..."
Janiven's words are cut off by frantic pounding on the alley door. She holds up a hand for caution, drawing her sword, and slips to the door.
"Who..."
"Janiven? It's me, Morosino! Open, hurry!"
Janiven unlocks the deadbolt and pulls the heavy door open. A young man, barely more than a boy, practically falls into the room, catching his balance as Janiven slams the door behind him and shoots the bolt home. His damp, disheveled hair and rosy cheeks give evidence to his recent effort, as do his gasps for air.
He ignores the assembled company and grabs Janiven's arm. "They've got Arael!" he cries, and immediately doubles over in a fit of coughing.
Janiven's startled look turns grim as she sheathes her sword. "Calm down. Who's got Arael?"
Veran's sense of urgent fear grows even stronger, along with a feeling of helplessness.
"D-d-dottari," the boy coughs, "They nabbed him and now the Hellknights are trying to get him from them. And they're on their way here right now! The Hellknights!"
There's a clanking of armor growing steadily louder outside - from several directions.
Janiven looks grave, but not panicked. "Arael is my partner in this venture. I'm sure that's why they are on their way. Still, we should not be found here." She surveys her new recruits. "I apologize for getting you involved in this little situation. Fortunately, I can also get you out of it. This way."
She rolls over the top of the rather decrepit bar and slides something heavy, then bends out of sight and pulls. Morosino hurries around to assist her efforts, still coughing.
Camris rushes over to where the pair are to see if he can help too.
Slidell holds up a finger, his head tilted slightly.
"Annnd that would be the Hellknights. Several of them. From both ends of the alley if I'm not mistaken." He says calmly.
He perks up as he observes Janiven's efforts.
"Ooooh! A real, live hidey hole! Ooooh! Or is it an escape tunnel? Now that is WIZARD!" He claps gleefully.
Camris sees that the Janiven slid aside a heavy crate and she and Morosino have heaved up a heavy cellar door and leaned it against the inside of the bar.
Janiven straightens and gives Slidell a grimace of a smile. "You won't think so once you've seen it, my friend. There's a little cellar with a specially made bolt-hole which goes out of here... straight into the sewers. Fortunately..."
A heavy pounding on the front door interrupts her lecture. It is followed a mere second or two later by the same noise at the alley door.
Janiven shoves Morosino toward the trap door and hisses urgently to the rest of the room, "He knows the way, follow him. I'll delay them a bit. Unless you want to stay and persuade the Hellknights to be reasonable?"
"Go, everyone!" Camris tries his best to whisper loud enough to be heard by all in the room. "I will take up the rear in case things go sour."
Slidell closes his eyes for a moment,...
,... and sends a message. He thinks of curling up in his favorite comfortable chair, in front of his fireplace, with an interesting book,... 'HOME' he sends along the empathic link to Veran.
"He knows the way, follow him. I'll delay them a bit. Unless you want to stay and persuade the Hellknights to be reasonable?"
Slidell opens his eyes. "I think we should warm up with something easier first. Like teaching a Cyclops depth perception." He says wryly.
The skinny mage grabs his overcloak, pops his wide brimmed hat back over his wild hair, and picks up his heavy cane. "After you?" He gives a small bow to Araxus.
Morosino literally drops through the open trapdoor with all the heedless vigor of adolescence, ignoring the ladder. There's a clatter of wood as he does something in the cellar, though it is not visible from above.
Janiven trots to a chest and pulls out a couple of shapeless sacks.
"Go now if you're going! I'll delay them some and be right behind you."
"Last one in is a rotten egg!" Slidell says gleefully as he hastily climbs down the ladder.
Araxus's eyes widen with alarm at the approach of the Hellknights. He needs no goading to know he does not want to be seen here. With all haste, he climbs down into the cellar.
The cellar is a small, low stone room dimly lit with a single candle and festooned with cobwebs. Several built-in cabinets line the walls. Morosino has opened one and, with shaking hands, has unlatched the back of the cabinet revealing a dark passage beyond. He looks to those assembled so far.
"C-c-can any of you see in the dark?" His voice jumps between a couple of different octaves, uncertain today whether it wants to display a man's sonorous tones or a boy's innocent piping, and his cheeks flush even redder in the dim candle's glow. Clearing his throat, he continues, "There's a door at the end of this that leads into the sewers. I don't want to take our only light so that the others can see. There's a stash of stuff near the door and I can get more lights there if someone can lead."
After making sure everyone is safely through, Camris looks at Janiven questioning whether she plans to retreat too.
"I can illuminate our way easily enough," Araxus says. With a waive of his hand and an arcane phrase, the pummel of his dagger sheds light like a torch. He quickly heads into the tunnel, thus illuminated.
Morosino nods acknowledgement and thanks to Amadeo, snagging the back of Amadeo's tunic as they plunge into the darkness of the tunnel and following right behind him.
Araxus follows with light, showing a rough-hewn passage with a low ceiling. It ends in a wooden door, just visible in Araxus' light.
"Stop here," Morosino whispers to Amadeo, "The cache should be around here somewhere. I haven't been through the sewers before, but Janiven and Arael have, and stashed some things in case of emergency."
He begins patting, poking, and prodding the walls of the tunnel, searching for a hidden pocket in the walls.
"Help me look. I can't find it!"
Janiven glides to the front door and tosses one of the bags at the floor before it. The bag splats open with a smell of pine resin.
She turns back to the back door with a little grin and prepares to throw, then looks to Damien.
"I can leave this one open if you care to use it. Let me know and Camris and I will be gone," she says quietly.
A huge boom resounds as something heavy and solid hits the front door, and dust sprinkles down from above. The timbers and boards at the front creak under the impact.
"They've brought a ram," Janiven observes unnecessarily.
Araxus searches for anything that resembles a cache of supplies in the light shed by his spell.
Slidell follows after Araxus, (after giving one last, furtive glance upwards). When they reach the intersection, Slidell taps the top of his own heavy cane to life with a glimmer of light. It is only a candles glow compared to the brightness of Araxus' light spell, but it serves to aid him as he looks around.
"Grm,... you wouldn't think you'd need to hide something in a sewer. Seems that would be pretty well enough hidden if you ask me!" He grumbles as he shrugs his shoulders, obviously unclear what he should be looking for.
Damien can't help but think, So quickly the endeavor is discovered?. A small moment of panic rises as he feels his paranoia was justified and he immediately begins to wonder if any of the other members of tonight's meetings was an infiltrator. Inquiries would need to be made...
Damien throws back the rest of his wine and grabs the bottle. This vintage would be rare enough to trace, so he can't leave it behind. Standing, he deftly stoppers it with the discarded cork and places the bottle in the leather sling-like holster where he normally has his lute.
"Well, it seems trust will be tested fully before the end of this day."
As Janiven reveals their escape route, Damien nods appreciatively. "Excellent. It seems I am not the only one who understands what this adventure means in full and has planned accordingly. I feel my faith in you is sound," he says gesturing to Janiven. "Let us hope this faith can be extended to each of my fellow accomplices."
As Morosino, Amadeo, Araxus, and Slidell quickly disappear down Janiven's "rabbit hole", Damien makes a slight coughing sound, embarrassed.
"I took the precaution of placing an item outside the premises. A dagger is currently in your trash bin. Recently bloodied no less," Damien smiles ruefully with an apologetic bob. "It may help divert the Hellknights' attention from our little group if for but a time."
Janiven stops to grin at Damien. "It may catch their interest and may not. If it even sets them off on a wild goose chase, it will help. Well, folks, let's get down that tunnel and out of here, right?"
She tosses her final tanglefoot bag at the back door and heads towards the trap door, waving Damien and Camris down before her. As they descend, she pulls over several shelves full of kitchenwear and closes the hatch behind her, stooping in the low room as she picks up a metal bar, sliding it through loops in the bottom of the trap so the door is not easy to lift.
"Come down the corridor and let's see if they have found the stash yet."
The little tunnel is short, only about twenty feet, and lit by Araxus' and Slidell's spells. Janiven squeezes past the others to the door.
"Camris, can you close the cabinet and the cabinet back behind us, please? No luck, gentlemen? We hid it better than I thought. Here, just let me get in here... and pull this rock..."
She squeezes between Amadeo and Morosion and tugs a rock from the passage wall to reveal a small cave beyond. "We feared it might come to this someday, though not quite so soon. Here, take these..." She hastily hands out small flasks to all, marked with Iomedae's symbol, dividing them evenly among the group. "The sewers can be dangerous. Use these if you need them. They will heal you of many hurts. We won't have time to stop and rest once they get in. And they will get in."
She turns to face the group squeezed into the little corridor. "Arael and I scouted the sewers and marked a route to our safehouse. There are many grates, but they keep them locked tight and it's nigh impossible to pick them from below. The designers of this place weren't stupid."
"You should be able to find chalk marks pointing to the sanctuary at each intersection. It's going to be tough. We didn't make them too obvious just in case some sewer nasties are smart. Look for Iomedae's longsword and go in the direction the HILT points - not the blade."
"Now, as to light... light attracts Hellknights and other things down here. We can try to go without and follow the lead of those who can see in the dark, or risk light and the dangers it brings. Also... despite what we sometimes think of them, Hellknights aren't completely stupid and the Dottari have just tweaked their noses by picking up Arael, I'm sure. They'll really want to catch Morosino, at the very least, and might drop hunters into the sewers once they figure out where we are. So. Light? No light? I'm open to ideas."
She pulls out a key and sets it in the lock of the wooden door to the sewers.
Slidell's mouth make s small 'O' as Janiven pulls out the rock covering the hidey-hole.
"Ah, yes. That would have been the next place I checked, of course." He murmurs.
He nods as Janiven speaks, as if agreeing with the seriousness of her words. But there is a slight lift to his mouth as if he finds it all quite gratifying.
"So. Seems this is to be a proper adventure after all then!" He says cheerily. Then eyes the three vials before he puts them safely in his coat pocket. "A dangerous adventure perchance, but still,..."
"Personally, as much as I would love the chance to play 'blind man's bluff' and other games of trust, I function much better when not relying on others to tell me when I'm about to trip or slip over something. I'm for light. We can keep them dim so they provide us with ease of travel, but not alert every night-vision nasty that might be looking for a meal."
Also," He adds thoughtfully, "Not that I have much experience at traveling through sewers, but I suggest no live fires. Some evocationers refer to sewer gas as the 'commoners fireball'." He adds wryly.
"Ooo, this is exciting!" He whispers to Camris as Janiven starts to unlock the door to the sewers,...
"Yes, it is exciting at that, Master Slidell. I truly hope it doesn't get terribly more exciting." Camris watches behind the group, hoping the catch any pursuers as his eyes adjust to the dim light.
Araxus grimaces at the thought of sewer exploration, but being pursued by Hellknights is enough to keep him silent on the subject. He nods at Slidell, "Agreed about the light. This can be a dangerous enough place without being utterly blind." He stashes the potions on his person and prepares to proceed.
Damien moves forward to join the group waiting patiently. He eyes each of them in the wan light provided. He tries to ascertain if any of them seem to be feeling self-satisfied at the moment.
Unfortunately the shadows are many and the lines of everyone's faces seem to simply indicate stress, but to what cause, Damien is not able to ascertain.
Once Janiven appears to ppen the door, Damien remains quiet and accepts the offered goods. He follows the others and brings his hood across his noise cinching it as much as he can. Their adventure was sure to be filled with unfortunate smells. He draws his rapier in one hand in a smooth motion and the clear ring of steel.
"Don't mind me. I would rather be ready in case the sewer chooses to disgorge someone's bloated pet land dragon, thank you."
Janiven turns the lock and opens the shabby wooden door.
I've arranged marching order as well as I could from the RP above. Haven't figured out squeezing in MapTools, so you are all in a 30' corridor now. Icons with red dots in the lower right-hand corner currently have tiny familiars with them (on their person) which are not shown separately. Light sources are currently Amadeo (torch/light spell) and Slidell (candle?) Not sure where Slidell's light source is based on his spells and equipment list, please clarify.
The sound and smell of rushing sewage grow louder, as does the pounding in the room above. Suddenly, there's a crash, audible even above the sewer noises.
Janiven turns back to address the group. "They're in. It won't take them long to be on our trail. There's no marker here because we all know to head left. Follow me."
Hopping lightly across a stream of sewage, Janiven lands on a narrow catwalk on the opposite side of the sewer and moves westward, crossing several wooden planks which have been laid across the stream at strategic locations. "This stuff isn't deep, as we found out when somebody fell in, but it stinks."
As the group emerges and light is brought out, Janiven is able to point out a chalked outline at the nearest intersection. It depicts a sword or long dagger with the hilt facing west.
"Look, they'll be down here soon," Janiven calls to the group, "I have a sunrod and can lead them off. They know Morosino is here, so he can come with me. If we're caught, they should break off pursuit and you folks can get to the safehouse. Keep looking for the swords and you should be fine. Or we can all go together. I got you into this, so I will do whatever you like. But we have to do it fast."
Slidell looks around at the others.
"Well, I'm good with whatever you think is best. Are there any,... things that we need to be aware of wandering around down here?" He asks, looking around in curiosity, not fear.
Morosino squeaks 'things!?' while Janiven laughs briefly. "It's the sewers of Westcrown. They're the best in the world, but they do contain some odd things, yes."
Damien eyes Camris carefully as he responds to Janiven.
"If you think you can escape without detection then splitting up would probably be wise. However, if any pursuers see our faces, they must be eliminated. We will have little choice if we wish to successfully launch this venture."
Damien lowers his voice for Camris to hear.
Araxus nods at Damien. "I agree. Splitting is best, if you are able to safely lead them off."
Morosino squeaks 'things!?' while Janiven laughs briefly. "It's the sewers of Westcrown. They're the best in the world, but they do contain some odd things, yes."
Slidell's eyes widen, and he smiles ever so slightly. As if in gleeful anticipation of finding something 'odd'.
"Very well then, I guess we split up. See you soon then?" He says cheerfully, waving to Janiven as if he were going to take a walk in the park.
"If you think you can avoid capture, Lady Janiven, then I suppose it would be best for us to split up," Camris's voice quavers with concern.
"Master Mysterio, I realize that this endeavor may come to violence, and I understand what the Hellknights represent. I won't hesitate to take the appropriate action where they are concerned."
Damien chuckles. "I would expect nothing less from one of your caliber of commitment. Please do not take offense, young Camris. We must all be comfortable with each other after all."
|
Amadeo is all too aware of the 'things' that could appear out of a stretch of water, sewer or no
"If you feel splitting is wise then we best be quick about it"
Amadeo looks about the dank tunnel for anything useful or out of place. Zeb perches on his shoulder looking about in a similar fashion as his master
Perception
Janiven pulls out a sunrod and lights it, then gestures with her head to Morosino. "Come on, son, we'll go back past the entrance and down the other way. Don't worry; we've got the path marked in several places."
Her green eyes sweep the rest. "Go as quickly but as safely as you can, and be ready for trouble. There are rats and worse in here. Keep a sharp eye out for the chalk marks; it's easy to get lost without them. Once you find the exit, our safehouse is right across the street. There's a garden gate you can go in and knock on the boarded-up door. The others will hide you if there's any pursuit. With any luck, I'll make it there before you and they'll be ready. If not, tell them what's going on. They'll need to know."
Janiven trots off the way the group came, past the entrance to the cellar tunnel and down further, Morosino a shadow behind her.
The sewer is wonderfully made and fairly well maintained, though some of the construction looks recent and possibly unplanned, like the door to the tunnel you emerged from. In the light from the spell, you can see that they are cylindrical, joined stone, with a walkway along one side high enough to be dry in all but stormy weather. Though you may have heard of marvelous mechanisms in the sewers that help flush the tunnels with seawater as the tide turns, you see and hear no evidence of them, though the sewage is not as... shall we say, dense as one might expect under a city this size. Still and all, it is a dank, dripping, noisome sewer.
Araxus regards his companions warily. He has not decided how trustworthy they are. "Let's proceed quickly," he says.
"I shall take the lead, if someone would be so kind to hold up a light," Camris attempts to sound cheery.
Damien points at Araxus with one finger. "Agreed. Let us leave the 'law' with nothing but the fine perfume the sewers provide."
He then includes everyone in his gaze. "If needed, I know a little trick that can make light dance ahead for us."
Slidell watches Jeniven and Morosino as they move off until their alchemical light is ls to the turning of the sewer walls.
He turns back to the others, eying each in turn. He sniffs.
"My, what an incredible smell we've discovered!" He says with a lifted eyebrow.
"So, Camris leads," He says with a slight bow to the halfling.
"Amadeo, would your excellent night-eyes like to follow? If I'm behind you my candle spell should not interfere over much with your vision. That would leave Araxus with his most useful magical light in the vanguard, and the good Damien bringing up the rear." He says with just a hint of satisfaction, as if he figured out a puzzle.
Damien points at Araxus with one finger. "Agreed. Let us leave the 'law' with nothing but the fine perfume the sewers provide."
He then includes everyone in his gaze. "If needed, I know a little trick that can make light dance ahead for us."
"Indeed? I would save that trick in case the Hellknights actually follow our path. We might use it to lead them astray."
Janiven's light fades into the distance but does not completely disappear. The remaining group arranges themselves and heads in the direction of the longsword's hilt.
The sewers turn out to have quite a few twists and bends without any intersections, so Janiven's light is long out of view before you arrive at the next one.
Araxus has his sharp-eyed rat keeping an eye out for the markings with him. He examines the walls of the sewer as they move along, looking for any important markings.
Camris strains to see in the dim light and hopes to spot any hostile...things before they spot the group,