"A decoy? A ruse? Remain on your guards" Osslend says as he draws his weapon.
Kayla watches the fighter dragging the enchantress off. Brynn had best be watching his back for that one. Like as not we'll be seeing him again. It need not be a decoy. The book could simply be magical and difficult to destroy. If fire strengthens the book, try soaking it in the water and see what happens. Surely we can find something to destroy it.
Wanting to make sure the dwarf is ok since he is not awake yet, Kayla bends over him and cast another spell.
Maedoc focuses on the book, frowning as he considers the possibilities. Read it? No, probably too dangerous. Dispel? Not an option again. Mundane means? Perhaps, but they will not be terribly effective. Perhaps Kayla is correct... Seeing no harm in at least trying, he lowers the book into the stream as he considers the possibilities.
Meanwhile, high in the air a ways away, Garrick starts preening himself.
Know(Arcana) check to see if he picks anything up:
Maedoc lowers the tome into the water.
Motioning for Raleigh to stand close guard over the the dwarf, Osslend says, "Stillness and calm all your allies here, friend. Hostility or sudden movements will garner you no friends."
Taking on last look at the dwarf, At least he will be alright, though I wish I could have done something for that poor halfling. Rising to her feet, Kayla walks over to where Maedoc has submerged the book and observes the result. Well, that seemed to have an effect on the book. But how do we destroy it?
"I am sure that Maedoc and Kayla will think of something shortly. Can you cut the bindings while it is under water?". Or stab it with silver, or cold iron... or a basilisk fang?
Clearing his throat and speaking softly, "Did you try to just rip it apart?"
Maedoc nods to himself as the others talk to him. "It appears that water does weaken the tome while fire strengthens it--excellent call by Kayla. Perhaps your dogs would like to do the honors, Osslend? I *think* that most any method will work as long as it is submerged, but I could be wrong." He makes a sweeping gesture toward the tome before glancing over at the dogs. Anything that works is most welcome... but it appears that we will be successful as long as we destroy this promptly. Might as well see what the others' preference is.
or a basilisk fang?
Osslend smiles and nods in gratitude toward Maedoc. "They might enjoy that."
Once the book is submerged, Osslend waves to the dogs, who happily splash into the water and each take a cover of the book into their mouths and tug excitedly.
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The book tears to pieces!
Immediately, trumpets rend the air and Thobir emerges from a door in the cliff face. He ushers you down a dark stone coridoor and leads you into a wide, collumned room. Without a word, Thobir bows and exits.
The five of you now stand facing a pair of elves: one male and one female.
The female is dressed in the formal armor of the royal gaurd.
"Congratulations! You have proven yourselves marvelously. Unfortunately, your real work must commence almost immediately. My associate, Shinami Genbu, will be joining your number as envoy to the crown."
"Tonight, rest easy. Shinami will show you to your apartments where you can get to know each other better. Tomorrow you will be briefed on your mission and given access to the market. The day after that, you depart."
"Gods bless you!"
Bryce favors each of the two royal guards with a shallow bow, "The honor was all ours, I am sure. Shinami, a pleasure."
"Congratulations on your victory. Please, let me escort you to the apartments so that you may rest and prepare for tomorrow's mission."
Shinami gives a slight bow, gestures toward the arena's gates and leads the victorious party to their apartments amidst applause from viewers in the arena halls.
So these are the winners who won over the prince's hand picked crew.... This should be fun.
As they follow Shinami to their apartments, Kayla's head is filled with thoughts of the days events and of what may come. Well, we actually won. Still feel bad about the halfling, I wonder if they would care if they had killed any of us? I wonder if we will run into any of them again in between our missions while we stay here? Will we meet the royal family at some point, if so I wonder how upset the prince is at us? I wonder what it is exactly that Shinami does. What I'd really like is a chance to clean up and change clothes, my side is still soaked with blood.
Kayla finally settles on some questions to actually ask aloud, Excuse me Shinami, but do you know anything about the mission that is planned for us? Will it be near the city or will we be traveling for a while?
"My apologies Lady Kayla, I know not the details of the mission tomorrow. For that we will have to wait for details from Thobir. Is there anything else that I could assist you with? If not, please take the time to rest up now that we have arrived at the apartments."
Shinami pushes open the doors to the apartments and holds the doors open for the rest of the party to enter.
"Please, rest well and tend to any wounds. We will have time to get acquainted after you have cleaned up."
Osslend's face wrinkles a bit before he paces several steps back and forth. Finally, nodding to himself, he says, "Please, forgive my rudeness Master Genbu, but I must ask a question. Given that we all just endured a life and death trial together, trusting to one another... Well, I find myself wondering about your -- again I don't mean to be rude -- but your...qualifications to join us, I guess is what I mean."
Maedoc nods thankfully to Thobir as he returns the scroll to the dwarf, glad that Garrick has returned to him safe and sound. "Did you have fun with this?" he asks in the strange clucking language he uses with the bird. Garrick doesn't deign to respond, instead preening himself idly as he sits on Maedoc's hawking glove.
Maedoc joins in as the others introduce themselves to Shinami, nodding distractedly and entering the apartments the others talk to the new crewmember. Hrrm. Of course they will give an assignment tomorrow. Need to plan spell choices now, though. Divinations? Yes, some should be prepared--not sure what though. Perhaps another Dispel as well... the energy resistance did nothing. Or invisibility? That is always handy, and Garrick could do with some more scouting; he needs to fly more. Personal defence? Of course; the guards will not be pleased that we killed one of them, and this prince sounds likely to be a vengeful individual. He jerks his head up as Osslend questions Shinami, suddenly attentive. "Ah, yes. Any news on your capabilities would be most welcome. I have spells to prepare and, well..." he spreads his hands helplessly, making Garrick squawk and hop to the ground. It's best if I know what I'mm working with, so to speak."
"I can understand your worry, good sir, but please know that I WAS chosen by the king to be his envoy. That alone should carry enough weight about my... qualifications. But if need be, I'd be more than happy to demonstrate my qualifications."
"I've been trained since a child to handle all manners of traps and magical devices, to help aid me in my errands for the king. I can dissolve into the shadows and trick foes in order to escape or infiltrate. I've been raised with knowledge of martial arts, but I am but a child in combat in comparison to the barbarian there."
Shinami points over to Brynn with a grin.
Brynn looks at Shinami with a question in mind, only to find himself caught off-guard by the grin. Brynn nods back with a half grin. "Thanks, I guess, but after what I've seen of Bryce, here, I don't know that I can claim much except for hitting stuff hard."
Brynn looks the man up and down, silently judging every piece of his equipment.
Shinami is clad in a Mithral shirt, dyed dark to match the rest of his garbs. He is armed with exotic weapons sheathed on all parts of his body. A katana's handle pokes up from between his shoulder blades, a sai and nunchaku are tucked into his belt at the small of his back. Roped up and tied neatly to his side hangs a kusarigama next to a bundled rope. Various bottles and pouches are tied to parts of his sheaths and the glint of shuriken can be seen reflecting the candle light. A single wand is tied adjacent to his katana sheath, out of place, but easily reachable.
"I meant no harm, just that I do not possess the sheer strength that you have. I'm prefer subtlety in combat so that I might stay intact."
Osslend listens to the man carefully and eyes his attire. "Oh...right. Well then...welcome aboard."
With that, he begins removing his armor and finds a comfortable place to sit down with the dogs out of the way of the others. Anyone paying attention would notice that he runs them through silent drills, eliciting behaviors with simple hand gestures. For each successful attempt, the hounds are rewarded with great affection. Unsuccessful attempts receive no attention, though ignoring the offending hound clearly pains Osslend.
Kayla will find her a room to leave her things in and will take a few minutes to clean up a bit and remove her armor, then returns to the common area between the apartments just wearing her clerical robes.
In response to Maedoc's comment about preparing spells, I should also give some thought on what to prepare, though without knowing what we are to be doing, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to pick. Aside from healing spells of course, those are always handy to have.
Placing a hand on the hilt of his sword on his back, Brynn steps to the door. "Who is it?"
Osslend springs to his feet and begins strapping his armor on. Raleigh remains at Osslend's side, while Virgil joins Brynn, body tensed and ready.
"The Prince's men? That's not good," Osslend says.
Shinami shakes his head in worry.
"I was not aware of any visitors besides Thobir with our mission status. The Prince's men..... Something's not right."
Shinami edges toward the shadows to lie in wait.
Noticing Brynn's movement to his sword and Osslend's concern, Surely we need not worry about attack here? Kayla will go to open the door.
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Kayla pulls the door open to reveal a tall, fopish man. He wears particolored hoes, blue and gold. his doublet is very ornate and expensive looking. He regards you all with dripping disdain, his hooked nose upturned in appartent disgust. He reads from a scroll.
"You are hereby commanded, according to the imperial right of succession, by the Lord Prince to tender the sum of 10,000 gold soverigns for the ressurection of the halfling known as Dango. You will have a span of three and one half months to collect this sum. Failure to do so will result in your collective peril."
Finished speaking, the sour messenger turns sharply on his heel and stalks away.
Blinking a bit in surprise, "Well, that wasn't an attack." Turning back to the group, "Does he seriously expect us to pay? While I am glad the poor little halfling could be brought back to life, why does the Prince think we ought to pay? After all he was the one who put them in the position of harm to begin with when he tampered with the original quest and turned it into a contest."
Kayla looks over to Shinami and addresses him, "You're our envoy to the King, perhaps you can ask if we are actually expected to pay this amount?
Osslend, pauses in his armor-donning for a moment before beginning to remove it all once again. "I might laugh if that request weren't so utterly ridiculous that I suspect it is genuine," he says.
Shinami shrugs.
"I can write to the king to verify the request from the Prince.... but, in terms such as these, the Prince has the same power as the King. This is most likely a genuine demand made by a pouting Prince." he tells Kayla, shaking his head with utter contempt for the Prince.
"This is utterly ridiculous. Also, what exactly does he mean by "collective peril"? Does he plan to imprison us, throw his personal guards at us again or what?" Kayla moves over to couch and sits down with a loud sigh and puts her feet up on a footstool. "I think I would rather just worry about a surprise attack by them then deal with this."
Shinami slinks back from the shadows and plops himself onto an adjacent chair and sighs heavily.
"The Prince can't openly imprison you since you DID win favor in the eyes of the king due to this tournament, but there's no telling what our "beloved" Crown Prince wouldn't do without his father's knowledge. The Prince has hated losing ever since birth and won't let this go lightly."
I've been the envoy for less than a day and already the Prince is making this a nightmare....
"Someone please tell me never to say such things again!" Kayla will try to move from the couch to stand with her back to a wall and will raise her hands to cast as soon as there is something to attack.
"Seriously? I didn't expect an assassination attempt THIS soon!"
Shinami springs up and summons his Ki.
"Nin!"
A puff of smoke and Shinami suddenly multiplies!
Quickly shifting his hand to the shield on his back instead, and simultaneously pulling his warhammer to his right hand, Brynn hunkers down, expecting an attack from any angle. "Wizard! Any more glitterdust today?!" Brynn shouts as more of a command than a question.
Standard action: Assume Total Defense (+4 AC)
Free action: Perception on the crazy chance I can see any of the assassins.
Osslend draws his flail and assumes a defensive stance.
"Virgil, guard Brynn. Raleigh with me. Who sees them? Talk, everyone, talk! Our silence only gives them power," he shouts.
Virgil stands at the ready to defend Brynn should the need arise. Raleigh, beside Osslend, hunkers down and begins to growl.
Osslend and both hounds assume Total Defense (+4 AC) after Osslend uses a move action to draw his flail.
I don't see anything yet.
Maedoc, terrified by the sudden attack, doesn't answer the ninja, but instead fumbles a piece of leather from his spell pouch and wraps it around his index finger. With a quickly whispered word, the leather fuses together into a single ring, and a shimmering shield of force surrounds the wizard. He carefully backs away from where the ninjas appeared, mentally wishing that Garrick would flee.
Garrick, getting the terrified emotions from Maedoc, refuses to leave, instead flying to perch on the falconry glove that Maedoc has.
Standard Action: Maedoc casts Mage Armor on himself. His AC is now 17.
Concentration check to cast defensively (DC17):
Success.
Move Action: 5-ft step back if the ninjas appeared near Maedoc, movement behind the others if not.
Garrick flaps his little wings to get over to Maedoc.
Bryce immediately backs himself into a corner and draws his greatsword. "Not quite the hero's welcome I'd hoped for."
And they are but three - which means they're either foolish or very dangerous. Pick dangerous, hope for foolish. The lean ranger's eyes roam the room, and he listens acutely for any half-heard footfall.
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The party hunkers down in a defensive posture, waiting, willing the assassins to show themselves.
As if from no where, the shadowy fighters appear at G5, J5, and F6.
Two slash at Kayla's unprotected skin!
Kayla is able to dodge one arcing blade, but the other rips deap!
The ninja at J5 swings out at Raleigh!
The warrior cleaves a deep, ugly cut into the poor animal. It nearly kills him.
Clutching the deep gash in her side, trying to staunch the flow of blood, Kayla takes a step away from both ninjas and heals herself. Guess I cleaned up for nothing. Taking a deep breath she manages to say, If they kill me you lot had best be billing the Prince for my resurrection.