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Maaarv straightens out his Hellnight garb. And he slicks his hair back.
"Yeah, no big deal... just a golem." Maaarv kind of shrugs his shoulders and struts, clearly pleased to have delivered the final blows to save the day.
"Don't pay attention to my friend here. He's a powerful fellow, but not so much in the noggin' - know what I mean? But yes, we're here to check out Rachikan. Don't know why, but you know - the bosses say 'jump' and we need to say 'how high'."
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Alie yells down her subordinates. "You two. Leave the Paralictor alone. He doesn't have time for your prattling! Please sir, come with me, so we may discuss our business outside the ears of the underlings."
Once Alie gets him alone she tells her yarn. "We have heard you are guarding important ruins, and the lift that takes you down to them. Our job is to figure out what is going on down there, and eliminate any trouble that might present itself. Once we have done so, then you can get back on your way for more important tasks than mere guard duty and beating up morlocks. I trust we'll have your cooperation and silence? We shall return directly. If you assist, I will note to my superiors how much you and the rest of the Rack helped the mission."
Diplomacy
Alie gives her speech and gives her the traditional Hellknight of the Rack greeting as well. It seems to remind you of the grip of the rack on your wrist. The Paralictor smiles at her clear dominance of the group as Maarv grovels and Jaggar stands to attention.
The Paralictor meets Jarlgur the same way and shrugs. "Same old, same old. Ain't the first trouble. Won't be the last. Morlocks breed like rabbits and endlessly attack, but it looks like we might in for a break if the Order has sent you."
"Let us talk more inside." he offers.
The Paralictor leads you into their base of operations. The Hellknight camp is surrounded by a wooden palisade that stands 15 feet high. At each corner of the palisade are 20-foot square watchtowers, each armed with catapults. There’s one entrance through the palisade—a 30-foot-wide wooden gate.
As you walk through the yard, you see a lift that is being worked on by the Hellknights. Paralictor Bane leads you to his room. The comforts found in this room stand in stark contrast with the other parts of the fort.
"What business do you have?" the Paralictor states.
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The Paralictor laughs. "I mean that I must see your orders for your mission, but you will have to wait for a few hours either way. Lift is broken. "
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Of course... of course..." the Paralictor states as he shuffles through the paperwork.
"Everything is in order." Bane concludes. "Have your man here aid the engineers at the lift and send the small one to the relic storage room. He can aid Thrune in cataloguing what we have received so far. The rest of you should either find work until the lift is fixed or visit the mess hall, if you have not eaten."
"We are receiving a shipment of parts in two days to fix the lift. Aid us here in the mean time." he commands Alie.
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He opens a crate and a dust cloud erupts. Cough... cough... "The dust in this place will be the death of me." He mentions off-handedly. "What is it that you do? These book-bindings are the worst in all of Golarion. Handle them with care." He slams a logbook down on a nearby crate with a quill and ink, indicating you should get to work.
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Alie turns to the others. "You heard the Paralictor. Get to work, and make yourselves useful. When the lift is fixed and operational, I will send for you. Work well...do not embarrass me."
Instead of saying she would send for them, Alie directs her friends to meet her in the mess hall at a respectable time for supper. She still uses the rest of the conversation, however.
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Maaarv acts shocked but then looks around at his fellow companions, "Well, I guess I am the small one..." He heads dutifully to the storage room.
Upon being presented with quill and ink, Maaarv only has confusion. He first answers the man's question. "Like you, I take orders and try not to get the tar beat out of me."
But after staring at the quill and ink for a moment, Maaarv admints his confusion. "Um, what is it that I'm expected to do, exaclty? What am I writing down - is it a simply inventory?"
***********
Once given direction on what is expected, Maaarv dutifully jots down notes in the ledgers. Occasionally, he takes a look around at the items in the stock room, hoping to spot something interesting or valuable.
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A few minutes into this work, Maaarv grows restless. To alleviate his boredom, he decides to try and copy the handwriting of whoever had been making notes previously. He whispers to himself, "I bet I could match this..."
As he works to mimic the stunted, rigid handwriting of the previous clerk, Maaarv then starts to make notations in the margins of the ledger, being careful not to be noticed. "Let's have some fun."
"The Paralictor smells like a horse's hindquarters."
"Nails rule, Racks drool!"
"Aram Zey wuz here."
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The large bear of a man notices Mathais come up and offer to help as well. "Takes two of you? Not today. Head to the walls, paladin. Keep lookout."
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Mathais meets a disheveled man on the walls. He sips from a streaming mug while watching the area in front of him.
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Maaarv's task seems simple and the wizard seems to ignore him after hearing his answer.
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-Posted with Wayfinder
"Worry about your work and less about the goings-on of higher-ups, alchemist." the wizard says snidely.
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Mathais offers his hand to the man on the walls and the human looks up at the paladin and shows a big, toothy smile. "Well met, brother. Put on watch duty, too? Name's Lurconarr Baradin. Friends call me Connor, enemies too I guess. With a name like Lurconarr, I guess everyone want to avoid it."
The man offers a steaming mug to Mathais and winks at the paladin before resuming his own imbibing.
"What brought another round of reinforcements to our humble camp?" the man asks.
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Jaggar moves to work with the hellknight at the forge, but the grizzled war veteran seems uninterested in any actual aid. He sends the half orc to get food and ale from the mess hall.
As Jaggar is carrying two sets of rations and two mugs of ale, a sultry voice echoes up behind him. "I've never seen you around here, darlin'. Where'd such a muscular man come from?" the voice states before a set of lacquered nails runs along Jaggar's bicep.
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Alie moves to the courtyard to oversee the unloading of a supply run on the second day at the behest of Paralictor Bane, when a woman seems to glance at her funny. A scar across her eye and her blonde hair tied in a loose bun gives this woman a stern demeanor. She scowls before moving off and unloading a crate into the storehouse. Oddly enough, she seems to disappear from Alie's view after a few minutes and the sorceress can't seem to find her again.
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Jarlgur attempts to examine the lift, but finds that his area of expertise to the opposite of what is needed. The large man notices this too. "Better at breaking than fixing, huh? Of course, they send me a useless engineer. You got some muscles on you, so stay here and do any of the heavy lifting for the real engineers."
The man leaves shortly thereafter and moves in the direction of the Paralictor's room. Another man whispers to Jarlgur. "That's Primo Ambusta. Heard he was supposed to be Paralictor, but the higher ups at the Rack promoted Bane, but none of us had heard of him before. Supposedly, he just came back from the front at the Worldwound."
The man looks around before issuing a final warning. "Stay on his good side..."
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Maaarv offers a placating smile, "Yes sir. Very good sir." And lowers his head to concentrate back on his work.
Despite overhearing the wizard's cutting remark, the alchemist keeps his head down. "Not a real pursuit? Just because I don't spend my days with my nose in a book and a stick up my..." Maaarv mutters under his breath.
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Once the group has the opportunity to gather for dinner, Alie tells them about what she saw. "There was this woman. She looked at me funny like. A scar across her eye and her blonde hair tied in a loose bun were her distinguishing features. She scowled before moving off and unloading a crate into the storehouse. Oddly enough, she seemed to disappear after that. No sign of her since. If she's a sneaky type, be aware for her peeking in on the rest of you, just to be safe."
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"Well that was interesting, I think some strange woman tried to seduce me. I uttered not a word and removed myself from presence. This Hellknight business is no fun."
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"Well met, Lurconarr, and thank you for the drink. My name is Mathais and they brought me around because they needed someone who is a specialist at breaking things." Mathais takes another sip of the mug before continuing. "After all, who needs to tell the hired help what we're after when all they need us for is to hurt the forces of chaos?"
Changing gears, Mathais starts questioning Lurconarr, "How long have they had you stuck in this miserable excuse for a base? I fear just looking over this base that if more of those damned golems appear, we'd be forced to abandon this camp with undue haste."
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As his duties wind down, Maaarv takes a little bit of time to study over the figures he's been entering, hoping to reason out some bit of useful information.
After the day's work, Maaarv sinks down into a chair, running his hands through his head. "I got stuck doing bookwork. The old coot they have in the records room wouldn't give me anything. I tried asking about the archaeologists that went missing? The guy shot my question down." He leans back and stretches himself out.
Mathais drinks the swill and finds it extremely alcoholic. The man smiles and resumes drinking with his new-found friend.
After eight hours, their stomachs begin to rumble. "Perhaps, we should find our relief and head to dinner."
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In the middle of dinner, the woman that Jaggar had seen strides boldly through the rows of tables in the mess hall. She walks up to him and slaps him across the face. "How dare you treat me as you did, you peasant! I shall have you hung within the fortnight, you meathead."
People at other tables begin to snicker as she finishes her tirade and dumps a glass of water over the half-orc's head.
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-Next Day-
Maaarv shows up for work the next day and the wizard is already there, hard at work. "I was going over some of your notes and it seems that you have a penchant for graffiti. Care to explain?" the half-elf states.
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Mathais returns to the wall the next day to find Connor. "Well met, friend." he beams. "I have brought a little something to keep us nice and warm up here." the guard states as he shows a bottle of rum.
He pours some into a pot of coffee and fills his cup before offering the pot to Mathais.
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Maaarv flusters a bit, "I... well I'm sorry. I saw that in there, but it's clearly not my handwriting. Look..." Maaarv then points out that the graffiti matches the previous writing and not his own.
"I've not been in the Hellknights long, and I thought that perhaps the markings were some sort of important notation - perhaps in code - that I'm not familiar with and so I didn't want to cause trouble. You know - just keep my head down and," he gives a half-hearted fistpump, "do a good job." Maaarv offers the wizard his best placating smile.
The wizard goes over the books again, analyzing the handwriting. "Hmm... I'll investigate this more thoroughly, but you appear to be right. Perhaps it was that dolt from before your time. I'll have to report this to the Paralictor."
He shuffles out of the room and remains gone for the rest of the day.
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Jaggar 'aids' the blacksmith some more and, during his menial errands, he inquires about the woman in the mess hall. "That's Rulla Krumpt, quite the enchantress. Surprised you fended her off. She's more trouble than she's worth, but the higher-ups value her emotional manipulation skills more than they hate her personality. Makes her a great gatherer of information and infiltrator, but a poor teammate." The man reveals.
Connor shrugs, clearly uninterested in Mathais if he is unwilling to be sociable. He doesn't speak to the Paladin for the rest of the day.
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Jarlgur looks at the winch once more but is unable to provide any insight into the contraption. Primo Ambustus does not come to the lift area on this day, but the rage prophet can see him in the mess hall.
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Alie is directing lesser hellknights-in-training when the woman she saw before taps her on the shoulder. "Who are you and why have we let you into the camp?" she asks with a clearly fake sweetness to her voice.
"Hmm... Perhaps you fooled the Paralictor, but your chaotic aura means you aren't a Hellknight. You would have never made it through the interview, much less been put into a position of power." the woman says as her hand rubs the pommel of her sword.
"Oh really? Let's go to the Paralictor with this, then. I'm sure that he would love to hear your lies, wench." the blonde woman spits out. "Perhaps I will get to be the one to interrogate you and figure out your true intentions."
The loud argument between the two women is drawing the attention of anyone outside.