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Tybain continues to make unintelligible sounds as he lays on the ground, and his bleeding does not stop.
Ledford continues to make no noise, and the blood pooling from his ear would be disconcerting, if not for Tybain’s unconscious body covering it up.
Deandre shrieks her frustration at the flying pathfinders, and the fact that only one of them is down so far on her perfectly planned ambush. She is starting to get worried though, and decides that now may be a good time to close up some of her wounds, if she hopes to last in this fight.
Her frustration mounts as the spell fizzles in her hand. "Curse you idiotic pathfinders! And curse my filthy luck!" she spits. Closing her eyes, she takes a gamble, hoping to give her a slight edge.
With her eyes closed, Deandre cannot hope to see what is coming. Bugdip and Valore, magus working in perfect harmony, each strike impossibly quick when she isn't paying attention. The red-head falls to the ground in a crumpled heap. "Fie! Curse you Norborger you fickle dick! And curse the pathfin...." Blackness washes over her.
Larkin, who was suddenly intent on attacking Deandre, turns to the blonde behind him instead, at the behest of the absent minded oddball.
for
His blade strikes true, and the blonde girl screws her face up in confusion.
”What the F&$* was that for you idiot!” She steps back to give herself some space, and waggles her fingers. A rainbow of sparkling lights erupts from her hands, washing over Edgar, Bugdip, and Larkin, the man who just stuck her with his rapier.
The light show ends up just being a light show, however, and no one is affected.
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The youth watches as one of the thugs turns and attacks one of his own. In the confusion sown by this act, the youth's eyes narrow and he sees a possible chance to improve their position on these criminals. He hopes this as he begins to sprint forward, at the same time a brief fear that he will end up dead and bleeding also passes through his mind.
Edgar lunges forward between the two, and circles around behind the woman. As he moves, he readies his rapier, hoping to lash out with a quick block and strike should they swing at him.
[dice=attack roll #1: party attempt]1d20+6[/dice
[dice=attack roll #2: if parry successful and opponent within melee range of Edgar]1d20+6[/dice
[dice=damage, if parry successful]1d6+4[/dice
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"ZZZZZzzzzZZZZZ" Tybain breathes heavy but steady, Ifran's spell having stopped the bleeding. As he lays there, his limbs twitch unconsciously, perhaps due to restless dreams.
...To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come
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Nugats breathes a sigh of relief as he sees the tides of battle turning. Rather than risk a errant crossbow bolt into the group of friends and enemies, he devises a devious plan.
"Fools, you think that we are the only Pathfinders here. More approach from behindyou and we will crushyoulikea vice!"
The excited gnome quickly fires off a cantrip, hoping to fool the remaining gang members.
Ghost Sound allows you to create a volume of sound that rises, recedes, approaches, or remains at a fixed place. You choose what type of sound ghost sound creates when casting it and cannot thereafter change the sound's basic character.
The volume of sound created depends on your level. You can produce as much noise as four normal humans per caster level (maximum 40 humans). Thus, talking, singing, shouting, walking, marching, or running sounds can be created. The noise a ghost sound spell produces can be virtually any type of sound within the volume limit. A horde of rats running and squeaking is about the same volume as eight humans running and shouting. A roaring lion is equal to the noise from 16 humans, while a roaring dragon is equal to the noise from 32 humans. Anyone who hears a ghost sound receives a Will save to disbelieve.
From behind they can hear four human sized people coming, shouting and marching towards them.
After casting his spell, not waiting to see if they believe him or not, he grabs a crossbow bolt. Quickly deducing the point end, he places the blunt end next to the catch and sets the latchs. He hope he does not have to fire this thing next round.
Deandre's last breath excapes from her lips. The cleric and budding crime-boss wannabe is no more, her dreams of running an unholy crime circuit in Absalom pooling beneath her in a crimson stain.
Ledford's blood continues to trickle out of his ears and nose, mingling with that of his dearly departed boss.
"That stupid red-head didn't say anything about reinforcements! We didn't see any when we stalked these fools all day? What is this?!" Larkin screams out.
"Yaay!!! More idiots to kill!" Halli giggles. It appears she may be touched in the head... "Kill them with me Larkin, and I'll finally give you that special night you have been begging me for!" she squeals in full on battle lust.
"But its a trick!" Larkin shouts, as he hears the nuances in the sounds. Halli is to far gone in her excitement to care.
Edgar flashes by the two thugs, and with visions of a naked blonde in his head, Larkin takes a chance at an apparent opening.
Edgar's plan is turned on him this time as he cannot turn the enemy rapier away. His own attack on Halli goes wide as well.
Backed into a corner, he flashes out at Valore, hoping to create some room for him to get back to back with his suddenly spunky blonde.
His mind is clearly on using a different pointy weapon, as his attack goes well wide of its mark.
Halli continues to giggle and steps back from the dashing swashbuckler in front of her. She waggles her fingers, dousing Edgar in the shiny lights again.
Edgar's luck seems to have run out already, and he drops to the ground in a deep slumber.
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Not paying attention to the risk , Ifran moves up, calling upon his elemental heritage to add flames to his morningstar. "You are not a very nice person. I don't think I like you." he says very matter-of-factly to the woman. "I think you are lying about sharing a night with Larkin, too."
He attacks with the morningstar.
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'Edgar!" Bugdip cries out in concern as another of his companions falls to the cobbled ground of this alleyway. He is confused about why Ifran is interposing himself between Halli and the companion who is intent upon killing her, but figures he may as well lend his aid.
Bugdip then picks himself up the wall to allow Larkin a path to his new quarry.
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The swirling kaleidoscope of mixing and fractal colors envelops the youth, and he immediately begins to lose perspective of his surrounding and whether he is even standing upright. A sense of vertigo overtakes him and the sudden lurching feeling as if he were falling grips the back of his neck. His muscles tense as the shroud of chaotic, whirring colors still blocks all sight, and Edgar feels like he might be toppling end over end, though his sight cannot pierce the veil of multi-pigmented light, and so he cannot make out which way is up, nor down, nor where his limbs end and the sickening rainbow begins. His mind twirls and feels that he might vomit from the confusion and rolling sensation twisting his stomach into knots. It feels to him as if he were spending hours tossed in a wild and turbulent sea, unable to gain bearings because the steadying perspective of land remains unseen.
Edgar topples ungracefully to the ground and his head strikes the street with a sickening bounce, but the cocoon of bewildering color remains trapping this mind.
Ifran boldly moves forward, and Larkin takes his shot when the Suli leaves an opening.
but misses wide. His enemies falling around him have clearly rattled the man.
Ifran's attack on the sorceress deflects off of some invisible shield of force, but Bugdip's is much more precise. Going low, he sticks his rapier in the woman's leg.
"Haaaahahahahhehehehehe I'm going to burn you.... waaaa?" She laughs maniacally right up until her face goes pale. A fountain of blood begins to spurt from the femoral artery in her leg. The blood loss is so sudden, she hardly has time to register her fate before passing out on the cold cobblestone of the narrow, dark alley.
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Oh dear I had hoped that would have worked better. How do I work this thing?
"Ohmygosh!"
Pulling the trigger, Nugats is not prepared for the recoil. With a loud 'Twang' the bolt shoots towards the surviving member of the street gang.
Without looking at whether it hits or not, he fumbles for a second bolt should he need it.
"AAAAAOOOOW! F#%& this!" the woozy, rapier weilding assailaint barks as the bolt digs and sticks deep in the man's hip. Surrounded and vastly outnumbered, Larkin decides that today is not a good day to die. There are plenty more blondes in the world. Sorry I'm not sorry Halli!
Gritting his teeth and saying a quick prayer to whatever god will listen, he makes a break for the opening that the grippli left.
for
The man dodges Valore and Ifran's swing. With the frog on the wall, he sees a pathway out of the alley and towards freedom from the group he just tried to ambush. Unfortunately for him, his lack of attention on the rapier weilding Grippli is his doom. The rapier point pierces Larkin's shoulder, causing him to stumble. The bolt in his hip prevents his leg from responding the way it should have, and the result is his face crashing to the ground in a sickening splat.
Larkin's breathing is shallow, but steady as he lays relatively motionless on the ground.
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"We did it!" cries Bugdip, ecstatic. He rushes over to his fallen comrades and looks up at Ifran, "You can heal them, can't you? Do you have the technology? Can you make them better? Better, stronger, faster? No, just better. Please!"
When all is cleared up, Bugdip searches through the bodies for clues as to why these ambushers were attacking them. "Surely they weren't just after easy gold... six armed adventurers aren't the best marks."
The aftermath of the ambush was bloody. The whole fight didn’t even last half a minute, but in that flurry four would-be brigands were slain, and at least one pathfinder nearly saw his career cut short before it could hardly begin. The screams scatters the people in the streets within minutes, and a few minutes after that the foreign quarter law enforcement shows up and takes over the area. Statements are given, identities verified, and soon the six intrepid pathfinders are shooed along to report back to the grand lodge.
”You’ve returned alive I see?” A decidedly less sour looking Ambrus Valsin asks the pathfinders as they assemble back in his Spartan office well after the sun has set. While he appears far less grumpy, it is clear by his face and body language that he seems tired.
”Simple tasks, to be sure, but necessary. I have received reports already from each of the venture captains whom you have met, but I would like to hear it from the horse’s mouth, as it were. I also see that you were ambushed near here?” Valsin pauses for a moment, making a strange clicking noise as he sucks on his teeth, deep in thought.
”I’m not surprised you were assaulted. For every ally the pathfinder society has, it has two enemies. There are many who wouldn’t hesitate to strike out at one of our agents. Take this as a lesson as you are awarded more missions with increasing risk and importance to the decemvirate. Not everyone out there wants to be our friends.” Valsin continues, not seeming to care that he asked the pathfinders to report only a moment ago.
”I took the liberty of having someone look into the assault. Despite what you might think of me, I don’t take an attack like that on any of my agents lightly. I was particularly concerned it was a brash move by our sworn enemies, the Aspis Consortium. Turns out it was a rogue band of thugs. Deandre, the red-head, had recently split off from the nearby underground church of Norborger. Noogie? Nerber… Never mind. She was trying to launch her own criminal endeavor, and you were supposed to be her first big score. Well, all of your equipment and gold anyways. You did well, defending yourselves, and establishing the strength of pathfinders in cooperation as a lesson to any other foolish thugs in the area. Just do not make the mistake that this will be the last time in your career something like this will happen. For if you do, instead of listening to me, I will be putting your name on the wall.” Valsin turns back to his desk abruptly.
”So, explore, report, cooperate. You got the cooperate down.” Valsin sits back down at his desk and looks up at the group, leaning back in his chair. ”Lets see if you can manage the report part. Tell me about the tasks I assigned to you.”
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"What we may think of you?" Bugdip is surprised, "Well, you are efficient and spend a lot of time pushing papers and you smell a little too strongly of mustache oil... but I never thought you didn't care about your agents."
The grippli thinks a while, and then pulls out his journal to report:
"Our first mission for Uncle Guaril was a complete success. We went down to the pelican (which is not a bird) on the docks for him and retrieved a box. <Here is a list of its contents.> The place was infested with massive rats, but we took care of them.
"Our second mission was for the Sapphire Sage, and it was quite a tricky puzzle he set for us. We had to retrieve the plans to his family vault and exit the room by gradually solving puzzle boxes and retrieving a series of keys. I got the last one by leaping off the wall to grab it. I don't think he saw, though, which is a shame. His servant seemed impressed - in a subdued kind of way.
"Our third mission was for Zarta Dralneen and was much more... distasteful. Can I take this moment to say that she has a flippant disregard for the dangers involved in summoning the evil creatures she does. While she claims to have them under control, she couldn't even get an imp to give a lockbox back to her. <It is here, by the way.> I think that she and any of her faction who refuse to stop summoning devils should be removed from the Pathfinder Society forthwith. I don't know much about the Pathfinders, but I thought they were a force for good. Letting such an evil fester within the ranks is not a good idea.
"Which brings me to our fourth mission. Much more satisfying, but somewhat disturbing. Mistress Zadrian wanted us to investigate a woman running a house of the sick for orphans to see if she was worth of receiving the Silver Crusade's aid. Not only was the woman unworthy, but she was gambling, drinking and using the healed children for free labor. Oh, and she possessed healing magics of a kind and was selling the medicines for financial benefit at the expense of a faster recovery for those in her aid. She then had the nerve to defend her actions, as though forcing children to be sick for longer while selling the medicine that would cure them for your own gain has any justification in this world.
"And then we were ambushed, and you definitely know more about that than we do. Norgorber, eh? Sounds almost as unsavory as Zarta Dralneen." Bugdip licks his eyes nervously, realizing for the first time that he had been speaking for an awfully long time.
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"The Paracountess was very nice." muses Ifran. "She was not unsavory! We are meeting again later to discuss the Dark Archives. I like her." Ifran has a far-away look on his face, one that is now familiar to the group.
"The old lady at the orphanage was not nice. She takes advantage of her kids, though she does slowly heal them. I liked the challenge of the puzzles. I didn't understand them, though. The acid didn't hurt at all..."
"An excellent report indeed." Valsin huffs as Bugdip delivers the highly detailed account. "I expect each of your written reports are at least that detailed, to be reviewed by your superiors? Good." Valsin shuffles some papers on his desk before continuing, nodding quickly to acknowledge Ifran's additions.
"You will be pleased to know that upon your recommendation, the Lady Baltwin was arrested on several unsavory charges, stemming from your investigation. She was a major supplier of medicines to the black market, from the donations given to her. While the children interviewed all seemed to be happy about going off to work in other people's homes in order to pay their "rent", the rates she charged were exorbitant. A tragic hero, that woman." he finishes with a sigh.
"The box you recovered for me from the Paracountess contained some material components for summoning imps, just to sate your curiosity. The society, particularly the Dark Archives, are very interested in cataloging artifacts such as those, even if they have dark and nefarious purposes. While the Paracountess and her ways may seem at odds to your views, Bugdip, keep in mind that the Pathfinder society is a force for knowledge. The moral compass of our agents and leaders is not something we meddle with, unless it becomes a detriment to our search for artifacts, history, and knowledge. Remember, Explore, Report, Cooperate! Sometimes a deal with the devil might be all we need to get the job done." He smirks, thinking back on the lovely Dralneen.
All in all, a job well done, for new recruits. Don't worry, not all your assignments will be so mundane and drab. I suggest you take some time to decompress. This will not be the last time you are forced to take a life in the service of the society, but it does not weigh on your soul any less each time. Rest, recover, and keep checking the lodge for new assignments with your name on them. Dismissed."