Valt enjoys the meal and the drink, but his mind is still wondering, where did the "color changers" went?.
They wanted us to take his enemies, and now they are gone. I wonder if they found a way to return to its home, in the darkness below.
After a while, after another mild shake goes, he asks:
What do you think about returning to the Black Caves again? I mean, we found Khonnir, but the flame is still missing, and now those strange shakes are worring me. I decided to go again, and I hope all of you too.
Not to say that curiosity about the the caves creation and the metal walls are spurring me to investigate too.
After some time, Nortmog wanders into the Foundry Tavern, even though he hasn't been there before, and plops himself in a seat. He takes some pork meat and stuffs it into his mouth, roaring like a baby dragon as he gobbles it up.
"So what are we doing here? We all done saving the town? We didn't recover his baby brother, but we did find that man."
A few seconds later, Khonnir is brought into the tavern at set to the side by some acolytes. A tear streams down Val's cheek and she rushes over to him. He is asleep.
"I want to get the torch re-lit if we can. I'm a smith of weapons and armor, so the Torch would be of great use to me." Nyssa sips at her ale then continues."I think we should re-supply this afternoon. I used quite a few arrows... Then get a night's rest and go back in to the Caves, first thing in the morning.
"See Val, I told you we'd get him back. He'll be back to normal tomorrow."
You spend the afternoon resupplying, eating and resting. Then you get a good night's sleep, either at Kraig's place, or another tavern/inn, or at the Foundry Tavern.
In the morning you meet up at the Foundry Tavern and find that Val Baine is missing. Khonnir is still asleep.
Nyssa went shopping, then spent the night at The Foundry. She wakes feeling refreshed, but she fails to find Val. Perhaps the girl is out to market. Nyssa checks in on Khonnir. "I guess he needs more sleep." She frowns. "That girl better not have run off. Someone needs to tend her dad till he gets better." Nyssa makes the rounds, to the rooms of anyone who also stayed at the Foundry Tavern. "Time to get up! The Torch ain't gonna light itself. Val's gone, so we're on our own for breakfast."
Nyssa collects her gear, and starts on her way toward the Weeping Pond. As she goes she asks passersby if they have seen Val about this morning, and also where's a good place to get a hot breakfast.
Nortmog tags along with Nyssa. He is still wearing the red dragon leather suit. The goblin waddles along.
Walking along the roads, Nyssa finds a passerby. It is an old man with a fringe of gray hair, though his body seems fit and muscular.
"Khonnir's girl? I saw her heading to the warehouse district following some man in a cloak. She looked awfully upset. Any tavern or inn should do it, the Copper Coin's over yonder. Or you could try eating something from the Market Square. They usually have peddlers with food."
Valt takes its time after the meal to identify and categorize the gadgets and devices they found. For some reason, some of them looks familiar to him.
Once finishes, Val goes to visit Dolga, and asks for the reward, as he knows they will need some expensive items now that Aurusk is gone.
After that, Valt goes to rest at the foundry. At the morning, he planed to do some shopping if there is cash available, but he finds strange that Val is not with them, so he goes with Nyssa, trying to find the girl.
She was really worried about his father, so its strange she left without warning, and now that strange cloacked man. That looks like problems. -Says the magic man with a concerned tone.
Dolga gives Valt several bags of gold. She also throws in a scroll.
"Since we didn't need to use it, you all can have it. Thanks again for finding Khonnir. Hopefully, he'll be back up and about fixing the town."
The dwarven councilor gives her best smile, which is awkward and hurried. The ground rumbles for several seconds, and she frowns again.
"It's almost like something's trying to come up from underground." Then she laughs.
"We don't know for sure that she's in some kind of trouble..." Nyssa has a worried expression on her face. "Should we go after her, or continue to hunt for a way to re-light the Torch. I vote Torch first. If Val's not back when we return, we can make looking for her the top priority."
Nyssa darts into the Copper Coin and orders a breakfast sandwich with bacon, fried egg and melted cheese on toast. And coffee. To go.
Kraig sleeps long and hard, and awakes feeling fully refreshed. In the morning he refills his wineskin with mead, and grabs a keg of his finest to leave for the color-changers for letting them pass through their camp. He finds a place on his belt for his baby sun, finding it very useful even if it's untrustworthy technology. "Stopping by the warehouses won't take very long. I'm worried about her. She's just a little girl, after all."
I wonder what made her so upset. I agree to take a look, just in case. If she is fine, we must ask her to look after his father, as we will depart again.
Kraig leads you to the warehouse district. He has been here several times often gathering extra kegs of ale, mead and beer to bring back to his tavern. There are a lot of townsfolk moving around several buildings. Most are smiths or merchants collecting or storing goods and metal. Nothing looks suspicious.
Nyssa goes along with Kraig and Valt. She munches on the sandwich as she walks. In the warehouse district she starts asking around for Val's whereabouts. She makes no mention of the cloak man that the girl is rumored to be with.
A young woman with broad shoulders and muscles, carrying a hammer at her side, answers Nyssa.
"I think I saw a girl heading towards the abandoned warehouse. But I don't know why she'd go there. Its been boarded up for a while now, and no one goes there. I think it belongs to Garmen Ulreth."
Uh? the one from the gambling place? Thats getting weird.
I guess we must take a look, and be cautious.
Kraig recalls where Garmen's warehouse is, and leads the party there.
You find a boarded up warehouse. Its exterior looks like it hasn't been used in a while. Thick wooden boards cover the doors and windows, including a second floor door. There are doors on each side of the large, dilapidated structure.
"If Val went in there, it should be pretty obvious." Nyssa goes around the building, looking for a door or window that has had the boards pulled off.
None of the boards are pulled off. After a few minutes, Nyssa pulls at a door and realizes that the boards don't stop it from being opened. She opens the door.
The two floors of the warehouse are mostly visible. There are several crates and a humming sound that is affecting your brains. In the dim light you can see a figure lying down in the center of the first floor, unconscious. It is Val Baine.
The humming reminds Nyssa of that obnoxious plant. Red Food. She draws her sword and heads toward Val. It's probably a trap, but there is little choice in the matter.
Nyssa does not see anything in the dark warehouse except for crates and Val Baine. She reaches her side and the girl is still unconscious.
Valt goes with Nyssa to attend the passed girl.
Val, Val! Can you hear me?
Says the man, while shaking her a bit. Then he looks for any obvious wound on her.
Valt does not see any wounds on the girl. He does hear a strange humming as he enters deeper into the warehouse.
Kraig gently lifts the girl. "Let's take her outside. There isn't supposed to be anything in here."
"Agreed. Lets get her home, or maybe to the priest."
Nyssa keeps watch, with drawn sword, over Kraig as he carries the girl.
The four doors suddenly burst open as Kraig lifts the girl. Out of the doors enters six cloaked figures, one each from the north, east and west, and two from the south. They remove their cloaks, revealing fists wrapped with ropes. The leader at the south removes his cloak. It is Garmen Ulreth.
"Well, I'm not quite sure why you are here. But it is quite unfortunate. I believe Torch will be saddened that another expedition was lost in the caves beneath the town."
He flicks out his rapier. Glancing around, Garmen notices the girl. "Ah, I see. Someone has placed her here to incriminate us. Unfortunate, indeed."
"You should have let us go, we were just going to take her back home." Nyssa shifts her shield onto her arm."I have no interest in whatever you are doing here, I just want the Torch burning so I can work my trade."
Nyssa draws a circle in the air with the tip of her blade. "My sword is called Death. Can you hear her calling?"
Oh, Mr Ulreth, I have been told that you are a smart person. We have been asking about this place and the girl all around the town. Even the dumbest of them will focus all the atention here if we and the girl went missing.
As my partner has said, your bussines are the least of our problems, we want to recover Torch's flame. Even you will get profit of that, because you know that the town will became abandoned without the flame, and you invested a lot on that gambling local.
"Do you think I am a fool?" Garmen Ultreth snarls. His normally friendly countenance is broken and his hands shake with rage. He points, following his rapier's direction you notice a very large crate that is broken revealing a large machine with spiky bits, a dish and several panels with Androffan writing.
"My time in this town is done. I have taken enough money from its residents, killed those that would stand against me, and now I must leave. But first, I will dispose of you pesky nuisances."
1.
2.
3.
1. Alexis, Nortmog, Valt, Kraig
2. Enemy
3. Nyssa
Valt quickly rips the barriers betwen planes, bringing a roughly humanoid creature made of dirt and stones, with two glowing eyes at the south door. Then, the summoner speaks deep and slow words to the creature.
The creature follows Valt orders, hitting with his entire body at Garmen henchman.
The earth elemental crashes into the thug. She spits out blood and remains standing, though wobbles and has trouble keeping her stance.
Nortmog fires his musket at the ropefist thug to the west. The bullet punctures a hole in the stomach of the henchman.
Kraig sets Val back down. "Now what's all this about? What'd the little girl ever do to you? I warn you, I have the power of the sun at the tips of my fingers."
Garmen yells. "Nothing! We didn't bring this damned girl here. Why the hell would we?" His eyes focus on Kraig.
Alexis grins. one of us is in for a very bad day.
Drawing her blade she starts to sing a stirring ballad, while eying for a clean hit.
(+1 to hit and damage to the party)
The thugs move in closer. Thug A moves to Alexis, Thug B moves to Nyssa, Thug C goes to Kraig, Thug D and Thug E flank the earth elemental. They swing their fists at their opponents. Thug B catches Nyssa off guard and punches her in an exposed part of her armor. She feels something break.
Garmen remains behind and drinks a potion. He suddenly disappears.
Nyssa grunts in pain, then counter strikes.
With some luck, Nyssa strikes the thug with her longsword. The Suli's blade tears through leather armor and leaves a bloody gash. The ropefist grunts.
Nortmog drops his musket, takes a step back and takes out his horsechopper, and swings it at the thug.
"Take my dragon claw, you bandit!"
"No way I actually hit!" Nortmog says as Thug B collapses to the ground.
Valt looks at the nearest thug, and makes some quick gestures and chanting, drawing something from his components pouch.
Who brought her then? And what interests had him in reveal this place or Garmen business?
Clearly someone duped you, Mr Ultreth. Someone wants you out of business, and he dragged us here to achieve it.
The elemental continues his relentless pumeling.
Thug C shakes off whatever spell Valt cast on her.
The elemental slams into the ropefist thug, and she crumbles to the ground.
"This is a great start to proving your organizations innocence. You're off to a wonderful start." One of Kraigs fists connects with the heathen next to him.
Kraig's fist strikes the thug in the gut, knocking the air from her. She nearly doubles over, then rights herself and puts her fists up in a boxer's stance.
Alexis moves forward to attack garmen, triggering her arcane strike.
Alexis decides to attack the thug adjacent to her, instead of charging at Garmen Ulreth, who has become invisible.
With some luck, she strikes the wounded thug in the throat with her rapier. The ropefist clutches at her throat and falls dead.
Thugs C and D attack Kraig and the earth elemental. They swing their fists. Thug C punches, but Kraig sways back at the right moment. Thug D's punch doesn't dent the stone.
Garmen appears behind Nyssa and strikes at her with his rapier. It stabs through the center of her chest.
"Funny," he whispers in Nyssa's ear, "my rapier has the same name. They must be twins."
Valt sees with worry the deadly attack that Garmen inflicted to Nyssa with his sharp blade, so he decides to try to disarm him.
With a quick move and some gestures, Valt picks a bit of butter from his pouch, that dissapears from his hand after a short recitation. Then, Garmen'w rapier got covered in butter, making it slippery.
Kraig leaves his unskilled opponent to engage the leader. "Face me, coward!"
Bloodied, but not down just yet, Nyssa strikes back at Garmen.
'It's a common name... For a sword!"