Sarya climbs up and sweeps the area for a non obvious way to escape...
perception
Johnathan nods to Falko before climbing up.
As soon as Angus gets down he will take point (with a light spell if needed)
If this leads outside not too far we can always try to assault those killer but there isn't much we can do for the Old woman i am very sorry too.
survival
"there's a slight chance they will be busy searching for us and not kill her, and try to use her again. But. It is slight."
Johnathan nods, his expression blank.
"The mage is powerful on his own, maybe a match for all of us--but he isn't on his own, he has an assortment of thugs and those dark creeper things. We need to get the Doc and his papers secured with the RHC. Our own lives and the lives of our... our lives be damned."
Your group meanders its way through the Cloudwood trying not to be seen by the enemy. So you go deeper in it. Punctual to the second, in the distance you can hear an extremely loud explosion, must have been because you could hear it so deep in the forest. After three hours of meandering you finally make it out of the forest into the city in the southern suburbs. You are finally able to hail a carriage.
If this is the obvious course of action i would advice against going straight to the RHC HQ as they will be waiting for us. I suggest we see to the doctor's safety first.
"They were certain we couldn't escape. It will take them some time to check the rubble for bodies," Johnathan says with a shrug, looking distantly in the direction of the explosion.
My advice is to seek safety with my fellow Dream Merchants... Those Bleak Gate bastards know that if we get our hands on them that we won't hesitate to squeeze...
You all jump in the carriage and take it back to RHC HQ in the Central District. On your trip you do find a large stack of Flint Times newspapers that you think you can put in a bundles to look somewhat like the bundle of documents.
You come into the HQ and you see Delft pacing around the room obviously distraught. His eyes perk up at the sight of you and he says, "Gods be damned, you are all alive!!!! The Nettles police precinct reported to us that all of you had been killed in an explosion three hours ago."
He then sees the Doctor, and says, "Is that the witness?"
Sarya sees Stover and recognizes that despite not knowing the hostages personally that they may well matter to the man... Now is the time to soothe...and politic.
I have bad news, the man who set up those explosives also had hostages. He said that he would kill them if we did not hand over the doctor and the documents. I tried to lure him into an oathbinding to secure the release of the hostages but the bleakgate bastard refused. We escaped but the fate of the hostages is unknown, I am sorry sir but I suspect that they are dead.
I didn't know them personally but from what I gathered they mattered to the RHC perhaps to you as well, your own investigators can you who they are. The Dream Merchants will assist you in this matter, if this bleakgate bastard is who I truly think he is then the Dream Merchants have a vested interest in his sudden, violent removal from this world.
diplomacy (sooth the boss)
Delft looks at Sarya and says, "In Risur, both the Bleak Gate and the Dreaming are important and should be revered. Hmmm, I did hear that some other were killed in the explosion. Who were they?"
He then thinks "The documents, we should probably get cracking on deciphering them. These people seem to think you are dead, this can be a good thing."
Johnathan doesn't speak since their return, following quietly and going through the motions. He doesn't seem particularly sad, just blank. He nods or shakes his head when appropriate.
Delft sits and thinks, "Quital, hmmm Chryssilir is not my realm of experience. But if he is a player we should definitely have some information in the archives. Do you happen to have a first name?"
He then responds to the second question: "After the explosion was reported to the police precinct they sent over some police to take statements and some eyewitnesses said there was some sort of altercation with a sorceror and the RHC, and they found Chretien's carriage near the scene. There was a dead old woman with the stem of a wine glass through her eye socket... fairly gruesome. The witnesses were scared, cannot really blame them with the shadow carriage being pulled by shadow horses from the Bleak Gate."
Delft takes the documents from Angus and looks at an extensive pile and says, "Best option, would be to let us handle it. By the way Nevard the skyseer has sent you a message that arrived shortly after you left this morning."
Wincing and covering his ears like a child, Johnathan paces a moment then goes outside for some fresh air.
"eh, the boy was attached to the old woman..."
Delft scratches his head and says,"I didn't know that was someone close to him, Nettles hasn't forwarded the identity of the woman to us yet."
Delft then follows Johnathan outside and comes up behind him and pats him on the shoulder and says, "Jon, I didn't know she was close to you. It is a shame, really."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Outside, Johnathan sits slumped against the wall, staring up at the sky. He doesn't seem to notice Falko at first, but eventually speaks up, his voice soft and monotone.
"On my first big mission for the RHC, we were part of a raid on Axis Island. An infiltration team of experienced commandos was to sneak in and hold the sea-gates open for the navy to enter. Our job was to come in after and help them maintain control, and capture some VIP."
"They never even made it to the island. A magical trap sent a rock-slide down on them underwater and crushed or drowned the whole team. We... managed to save one of them, through no small effort, but he was too injured to continue the mission--Burton was his name--which meant it was in our hands. Mithas, Cretien, Joseph, Merle, Wintry, and me."
He shakes his head, "That island was...a jungle, but shifting, illusory...Fae. Fortified and dangerous. We sustained a lot of injuries trying to make it inland--thinking back, I'm surprised we survived to make it to the lighthouse, but we did. We had no choice, we were all there was."
"We took the lighthouse and seagate through guile and planning, and a bit of rushed improvisation. There was a mage inside, and a young dragon. It wasn't easy, by any means."
Johnathan idly formed little magical constructs from thin air, shaping a crude little dragon and making it hover, slowly flapping its angular wings.
"Very young. A thing of Fae, I believe."
The figure crumbled and dissolved.
"We signaled the fleet with a firework scroll, fortified the lighthouse as best we could, set magical wards, barricaded windows and doors. It wasn't long until a small army marched on us, the six of us."
"Jospeh and Wintry went out, while the rest of us tried to sound and appear like we weren't just a few, but many. Shouting orders to no one, bustling past windows. Joseph faced the army and put on a brave voice, trying to delay them, put some doubt in their steps, while Wintry secured the outside of the lighthouse. It worked, for awhile, but more troops kept gathering and it emboldened them. Finally, they loosed arrows on Joseph and Wintry."
Johnathan sighed, not sadly, just resigned. "Cretien sabotaged the gate controls, so when we were all dead the gates might stay open long enough for the fleet to get through."
"Wintry and Joseph survived the arrows, barely, and the enemy forces took them hostage, threatening to finish them off if we didn't surrender. We attacked, surprising them, but we couldn't push them back enough to save our friends. Enemies had broken in through our barricades and we would be overrun in moments. There was some sort of magic, out in the ocean, a giant amber...flash, and a massive wave hit, washing enemies and our friends alike out to sea--and then our fleet arrived."
"If Joseph and Wintry hadn't stalled for those precious minutes, we would have all been dead and they may have found a way to close the seagates in time to block our fleet. Maybe there was a way we could have saved them, something, but the mission was more important."
After a silent moment, Jonathan says quietly, "Joseph was the same age as I, at the time. We were both seventeen. He was charming and courageous--I looked up to him, a bit. I wasn't either of those. Seventeen and sacrificed his life to buy us a little more time. Wintry was always...selfless, and too caring to be a soldier."
He shrugs, exhausted by the retelling, "It takes courage to sacrifice your own life, but it's something else to sacrifice a friend. I think I'm beginning to understand that."
Johnathan stares up at the night sky a moment longer before he's startled by Delft's hand.
"Liria was my mentor. A sort of grandma-aunt-mother all in one. I barely remember my real mother. Anyway, we succeeded and she was collateral. No RHC downed."
He takes a heavy breath and stands, wandering off to his quarters, "Perhaps I'll dream tonight."
Cretien waited inside, thinking it inappropriate to crowd the boy outside. Inside, his mind spun at possibilities of treachery.
These have been indeed some very hard mission with death all around and more and more people that are taking a very distinct dislike of us?
Says Angus
So how about opening the message the sky seer has left for us ?
Delft hands over the message to Angus.
Message
Sarya reclines against the wall and looks out, she considers her options and what these bleak gate bastards would do next...
Angus will fold back the message.
So anyone still wants to do a few things today or shall we call it and go rest ?
I think I will retire to the Dream Merchant compound for the night, time to use that fancy spa they just finished installing...
Johnathan tries for a full night's rest, regardless of what the rest of the party does.
Delft says, "I have heard that they make a good white wine. Ok, I will get the boys to do some research on him. We can put out an APB on him if you would like but if he has a way into the Bleak Gate it will be difficult to follow him there."
"disguises?"
Delft says, "That could be a good idea. "
We will never know if we don't go falko he says smiling