Sundr cuts into the hyena! As Kalendir moves away, the dog snaps at him but Kalendir is too fast! As it dodges from Kalendir's arrow, Naiar stabs into its side, allowing Xerance to finish it off!
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Naiar hurries over to the cages (to the North?) and looks for Boots between the bars. He finds his furry buddy and checks the lock on the cage (assuming it’s locked) and gives it a few weak kicks before coming up with a better idea. ”COME Boots! COME here!”
Boots hunches over in the cage and refuses to listen to Naiar, curling up into a big ball in the corner while the frustrated Oracle starts hitting his longspear against the lock. ”UGH, BOOOOOOOOTS.”
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Earlier
Knowing that his mates would likely be trying to escape in the near future, Graz tries to ingratiate himself with the repugnant gnoll slavers. He makes disparaging jokes about the humans, and commiserates with the living conditions.
Once in the barracks, he tries to draw up interest in a card game, wrestling match, etc trying to draw the attention of the guards to anything besides the actual slaves themselves.
"Anyone got any liquor to drink? Watching those dregs is thirsty work,and the night would go much better with some fire whiskey, yeah?"
"Can't all be gettin' drunk now, though," Farug, who seems to be the leader, notes. The two other gnolls nod at him but they all accept just one drink anyways. One of the gnolls is on guard duty but Farug and the off-duty gnoll are happy to chat with Graz and start up a game of cards.
Farug furrows his brow and looks up from the cards when he hears the hyeanodon growling but goes back to the game for a minute. After a while though, when he doesn't hear the beast anymore, Farug puts down his cards in frustration and says, "Better make sure everything's all right in there."
Despite Graz's best efforts, the gnolls eventually insist on checking on the noises coming from inside the fort.
The leader, Farug , doesn't see anything wrong at first, but his two cronies shout, "Look! They've killed the hyena and raided the chest!"
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Naiar hears the two at the sides of the more important-looking one, shout out, seeing through the Skald's clever illusion. He gets the lock off at the last second and swings open the door to Boots' cage, his fingers going to his mouth so he can give a large whistle.
Boots heeds his Attack command and goes for the nearest tasty treat. Boots gets into a small gallop, enjoying the feeling of freedom especially from his normal medium barding, as he took his entire turn running over to the gnolls.
Naiar wouldn't let his best friend run into battle unaided, lifting his hand to his forehead and spilling out his overflowing river of knowledge directly into the mind of Farug.
Naiar is an Oracle Spirit Guide and has access to the shamanistic spirit of Lore, tapping into more knowledge than just what his Lore mystery provides.
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Her grin growing even wider, Sündr steps briskly toward the gnolls, axe raised high. At the last moment she breaks concentration on the spell, and all of the images vanish--revealing a mousy Ulfen showing teeth from ear to ear about to split a gnoll's skull. "For Rilla!!!" she bellows, the axehead smashing into gnoll face-flesh.
Naiar curses the gnoll leader with further confusion while Sundr moves in and bashes one of the gnolls! Ruprecht and Xerance then finish him off!
Kalendir's arrow flies past harmlessly and Graz's sudden betrayal unfortunately does not grant him any luck in tripping the gnoll. The leader senselessly babbles to himself as the gnoll turns on Graz and says something in gnoll "Et tu, Graz!"
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Boots takes a small step towards the babbling gnoll and stands on his hind legs, giving out a loud roar indicating it's about to put extra power behind its attacks, then slashing twice with his claws and ending with a large bite!
Naiar watches Boots pounce on a confused gnoll and tear its face apart with two giant hands and teeth going through its eye, a little disturbed and scared since he hasn't properly learned to handle Boots that well yet. "Boots, get the other one!" He shouts as he runs past Boots and points to the remaining one, wanting to make sure it doesn't get away as he tries to thrust his longspear through his allies to the remaining gnoll.....
....and doesn't manage to hit him.
Xerance puts a pair of arrows into the gnoll but Ruprecht's aim is off. Sundr finishes off the gnoll as Boots, Graz, and Kalendir work together to take down Farug!
The slaves rejoice!
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"Fine work, everyone! Let's finish the job before the other gnolls get back!" Sündr also throws on her armor and does a quick running circuit of the areas they've encountered already, looking for anything obvious of interest. "Ru, want to check out the door?" The skald points at the unopened door opposite the shrine to Lamashtu.
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Naiar pounces on Boots and gives him a wrestle, happy to see him out of that awful cage. "That's a good boy, did ya like your gnoll treat?" Boots grabs the gnoll's corpse by the leg with his beak and picks it up off the ground, offering it to Naiar like a treat. "I'm okay, thanks Boots. Heel!"
vs DC 10
Boots ignores Naiar's command, continuing to pick up the gnoll's body and throw it about, playing with it and pecking it with its beak. Naiar makes his way over to the chest to get his armor out of the secret compartment. "BOOTS, HEEL."
vs DC 10
Boots continues to ignore him, as he begins to tear apart the corpse and plays with random body parts, flinging blood around on the floor. "BOOTS, STOP YOU'RE MAKING A MESS! HEEL!"
vs DC 10
Boots finally perks up and runs over to Naiar as he slides into his +1 mithril breastplate and takes his time to strap everything into place, knowing that armor needs to be worn properly to be effective, a lesson he learned in one of his many books on swordplay in the mental collection resting in his vast mind. Armor strapped on properly, Naiar joins the rest of his freedom fighters and stands valiantly among them, his armor and longspear glowing faintly with magic along with the circlet he wore on his head. "Ugh, he can be a pest sometimes, but I'm finally ready to go!"
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Kalendir takes a bit more time to fix his armor that he had quickly thrown on. Making sure to adjust it properly as he gathers the rest of his items from secret compartment in the chest.
Is everyone alright?
Kalendir looks around as he inspects the rest of the slaves. Grab the gnoll's weapons and arm yourselves for protection.
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Xerance grabs the rest of her gear and stands ready with the rest.
"Might it not be better for the others to wait back until we cleared the way for them?"
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The other now-freed-slaves start pulling the armor and weapons off the gnolls and preparing to defend the fort. They offer to stand guard and alert you if anyone shows up.
Looking about the room, you start scanning the wood and paper debris strewn about the kennels.
Ru checks the door and the party makes their way in. The decor in this room is an abrupt change from the dusty and unfinished slave quarters. The room includes many of the trappings of a noble household: a table laid with fancy place settings, a vanity and wardrobe that would be at home in a lady's boudoir, oversized oil paintings of stuffy nobles, a grand staircase and balcony, and even a chandelier suspended from the ceiling.
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Naiar sees the scraps of paper converge in his mind, spelling out words, ”-orn Desimire”, “M. Sloan”, “Jacquo Dals-“, opening his eyes when he’s finished. ”Those names were written on those pieces of scrap paper.”
Naiar points to the two portraits, ”And those two are Aglorn and Tancred Desimire, two brothers the Society killed during the clash with the Aspis and demonic forces from the Worldwound”.
He puts two pieces of information together almost immediately, ”It seems Aglorn Desimire’s signature was on these documents, I wonder what for.”
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Sündr puts Rima in charge of defending the fort, making certain that they send someone to get us if the other gnolls arrive. She asks Korshad to accompany the party and if he has any knowledge of the rooms ahead--and promises to protect him with her life.
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"Muhlia must have been working with the Desimires!" A look of surprise flashes across the skald's face. "Not sure about this Sloan character, but Jacquo refers undoubtedly to Jacquo Dalsine, the former head of the Taldan faction within the Society. Muhlia slew him in a duel while breaking into his brother's home in Oppara several years ago. Then she vanished."
Sündr's expression turns grim. "Until now. Ru, I believe you're up again." She nods in the direction of the next door.
Before Ru can get to the next door, a blue humanoid figure appears out of thin air standing on the balcony. He stands twice as tall as a human, ahtough his lower torso trails away into a vortex of mist and wind.
"Welcome, welcome all to the not-so-aptly-named Fort Stonejaws! Have you enjoyed your stay? By the blood splatters on your garments I would say that's either a resounding yes or a resounding no, not really much in between when blood is involved is there? And I don't sense any awe or reverence in your voice when you speak of the Desimires, and my opinion on the matter you will not receive, but I hope that, perhaps, you can have a bit more respect for myself, your host, for I am Jairo the Enlightener. And at this point it would be well and proper to know who you are and exactly why you have broken out only to raid my master's quarters."