Silverdisk Hall looks very similar to the rest of the construction in Torch with the exception of a large painting of a Silverdisk on the side and a couple of everyburning lanterns hung outside. Inside no one would mistake it for anything other than what it is, a seedy gambling hall and bar.
As the party minus James enter the tavern, their arrival is noted by some of the regulars, who yell a cheer for the group who brought back Khonnir. Already, their success has been noted and they’ve gained a sort of fame in the town. A balding middle aged magic user is sitting beside the door and a casual glance by anyone with knowledge will see that he is casting detect magic from time to tiem on the gamers. Within moments, they are greeted by a garrulous man with a full beard and sparkling eyes wearing a suit of studded leather armor and a rapier strapped to his belt.
”Ah, the heroes themselves! You folks should come up wiht a name for your group! Welcome, welcome to the Silverdisk Hall! I am none other than Garmen Ulreth , proprietor here! I had heard of your exploits in rescuing our dear Councilman Baine. The entire town thanks you for that. Of course, we’re all still awaiting the town’s namesake to be rekindled, but I’m sure you can handle that as well! To thank you for what you’ve done so far for our town, I wanted to personally offer you a small token of esteem; One-hundred gold pieces worth of tokens for you to relax with!”
He pulls out XXXX pieces of paper and hands them to each person. The certificates are good for one-hundred gp worth of tokens that can be redeemed here at the Silverdisk Hall. Naturally the hall accepts other currency as well.
”Alas, were I able to join you and play some games myself, but I have business to attend to. I do hope you enjoy yourselves though!”
Map Updated
"Thank you for your generosity." She takes the credit, and waits to see what the rest of the group will do. She glances at the gaming tables waiting for a chance to play.
Xandar also takes one and offers his arm for Vedia "Would you care to play a few games with me Vedia? See what this hall is all about." he asks gesturing towards a table.
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Uronzeer smiles with a strong sense of companionship as so many join his cause.
"Thank you all. Thank you Vedia, but becoming giant could kill some town folk."
At the lodge Zeer takes note of the many beings in the room and while suspicious, feels more comfortable than expected.
He holds the paper in his gauntlet thinking. ?This is't anything
Zeer replies to Augars statement.
"I'll show you how, games work." He takes a wad of paper and puts it on the closest table with his un-gautleted hand.
"see, you will always lose"
I'll go with you Xander." She moves to a table and puts down 25 credits. "I think that's a win for me. Uronzeer I believe you won."
"Alright let's enjoy the night. I'll place a 25 credits aswell. Xandar says rolling the dice.
Uronzer +6gp
The man running the game looks at you oddly when you talk about always loosing as he slides over your winnings. He shrugs, assuming you are drunk.
Vedia +13gp
Xander -13gp
Vedia and Xander basically cancel each other out.
The room has returned to normal and is a bit quiter then you would have expected. There is not the normal din that accompanies a normal tavern.
Elkin while the others are gambling you pay some attention to the other patrons in the bar. Two fellows at the bar appear to be members of the ropefists gang who Garmen is known to associate with. The two have glanced in the direction of the group once or twice as they talk and sip their beers.
Elkin pockets the scrip he was given, absent-mindedly, as he instead begins scanning the hall. He lets Vedia know that he intends to get a drink, then approaches the bar.
As you approach the bar you here the word "warehouse" and "relax <inaudible> don't know" but when the one further form you spots you and shifts the conversation to a woman with big teeth that he is seeing. Their actions are clearly suspicious and you suspect it relates to you though how you are not sure.
Not one for such games, Ivar puts 5 gold on a game.
After losing his whole stake, Ivar grimaces and shakes his head. Looking around, he sees Elkin at the bar and saunters over. "Many dwarves like gambling, but I have never been as enamored of gold as many of my brethren. Are the drinks better than the games?" Not waiting for an answer, he flags down a bartender and orders an ale.
"Looks like I don't have a gamblers soul, perhaps I should just offer a drink to the winner, before you rip me off." Xandar says smiling at Vedia.
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"Take another stab at it Xander"
Uronzeer takes his winnings plus some and puts it on the table in front of xander.
He walks away before seeing Xander's game and heads towards the back of the room and tries to get better feel for those around him. He tries to blend in and places another bet paying attention more to the locals than his bet.
Though his teeth and scares suggest not to, he attempts to make small talk with the dealer. "nice hall you have here?"
"If you say so Uronzeer, I'll give it another go. But I should also get back to rest so I can replenish my energy to cast spells again tomorrow when we go back underground." Xandar says placing another bet on the dice.
"See I certainly doesn't have Desna's luck on my side."
You guys have spent a chunk of time gambling and watching. Seems you are losing more then you are winning but the room seems to be warming to you.
Uronzeer has managed to strike up a conversation with his dealer who thanks him for the compliment to the establishment and after some talk has even told him about his young daughter, Ruby.
Elkin glances around the room after getting his drink. He turns to Ivar. "I don't think gambling is my thing either. Never did it, anyway. Let's go find Uronzeer; I think I have something to tell him."
Finding the half-orc in the gambling hall is not hard. Elkin walks up casually, leaning in to whisper in the half-orc's ear. "Zeer--is Zeer a good name for you?--anyway, there are two people at the bar that I'm sure are in the Ropefist Gang. We definitely drew their attention. I overheard them say something about a warehouse, but couldn't get much more. They shifted their conversation when I got close."
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Uronzeer nods to Elkin and stands up immediatly on hearing Elkins Whisper.
"thank you and luck to you and Ruby"
He walks directly to the two at the bar nd tries his best to be diplomatic to the two gang members.
"Hello, I am Uronzeer. I heard there is a group around these parts. Perhaps you can tell me some about the ropefists?"
The folks at the bar are clearly suprised but this line of questioning, the blue one responds:
Huuhh the wha.. Yes, we help out around town. Protection and what not. What you need?"
His friend eyes you wearily, not sure as to your intentions.
Surprised at Uronzeer's very direct strategy, Elkin is left standing for a few beats before he sees the barbarian's intent. He quickly tries to catch the eye of any of his other companions that he can before he follows the half-orc to the bar.
Elkin isn't calling anyone to action; go ahead and keep gambling, etc. With a nod of his head after he catches your eye, he's indicating that he just wants you to pay attention to what happens with Uronzeer at the bar, and be ready to react if necessary. I.e. act normal, but keep your eyes up.
"Well third times the charm, here goes nothing." Xandar says while listen to the people around him.
“Ahh. I knew here. One of the best of us, they went in the water to try and help the town, well and probably make some money. I am sad to hear what happened to her.” he takes a breath and leads in to tell you something.
“Look friend, you seem a decent short…”
A rage filled yell comes from the back, sounding like Garmen Ulreth, as his office door slams and he rushes back into the bar. He points at the closest member of the group, a slip of paper in his hand.
With that he chugs a potion and is gone. You hear his voice. “Get them guys protest the ware… the job.”
Several guests scatter as a few patrons and employees stand up, more then a bit confused, but adopt some form of fighting stance regardless. More than one of them shrugs to the others as they move.
Bold May Act
Round 1
Party
Thugs
When the goon squad stands up, Ivar glances around, quickly taking stock of the situation. Seeing the door wizard as the greatest threat, he hurriedly shuffles toward the man, uncoiling his dorn-dergar for a quick strike against the man.
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Augar saw how the gambling worked and shook his head. Instead, he went over to get drinks with the chips. As the others. He begins to drink some of the frothy goodness and sighs as he is left holding a beer in one hand.
Augar looks at the situation and his drink and takes a big wig as he shakes his head." Well there goes a good night of drinking." He says as he begins to set down her ale and slipped his shield on his one hand with his cestus covered fist ready to pummel those who came his way. NO need to get the hammer out.
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James hopes his friends are staying out of trouble as he continues to tinker.
Feeling exposed and vulnerable, Elkin quickly steps between Augar and Xandar. "There are suddenly a lot of them; let's be careful here." He glances over his shoulder and gives the man across the table from him a wicked glare, almost immediately followed by an equally wicked laugh.
Evil Eye: The witch can cause doubt to creep into the mind of a foe within 30 feet that she can see. The target takes a –2 penalty on one of the following (witch's choice): AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. This hex lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the witch's Intelligence modifier. A Will save reduces this to just 1 round. This is a mind-affecting effect.
Cackle: A witch can cackle madly as a move action. Any creature that is within 30 feet that is under the effects of an agony hex, charm hex, evil eye hex, fortune hex, or misfortune hex caused by the witch has the duration of that hex extended by 1 round.
"Seriously? I was hoping to gable more, and I DON'T know anything." she yells. She fires a Ray of Frost at the Red tinted guard.
"Well that was a surprising turn of events, should we see if we can't contain the situation a little giving us the advantage." Xandar says as he eyes the staring brawl looking for the place he can make the biggest inpact.
Setteling his eyes on the two in front of him (green and magenta) he casts a ball of grease under thier feet.
As Garmen vanish Ivar acts very fast, surveys the room, and decides to smash the portly mage that has fallen to the ground, hands over his head. [u] The dorn-dergar flys true and hard smashing both the hands covering the head and the head into an unpleasant paste! [/u]
As the other prepare for battle Uronzeer rises to his full height and screems a command at the thug who blanches, throws his hands in front of his face and yells “Don’t Hurt Me!!’”
At the same time a puddle of grease appears under two of the thugs who are too started to resist, they tumble to the ground as they grab each other for stability.
As this is taking place you hear the door to the bar close, clearly someone has left without being seen.
The thugs are clearly shaken by seeing the prone magic user executed with such hate and the fight has gone out of them. One of them in the back starts talking… fast.
“He has a warehouse. We use to smuggle drugs but that ended. There is something there, it buzzes a lot, gives people headaches. Don’t kill me, we are just muscle!”
The one near Uronzeer finds his voice again. “We surrender, we didn’t do anything to you. The warehouse is down the hill.”
"Let's go to the warehouse. Something that buzzes and gives headaches is not a good thing to have in town." Vedia moves to the door patting Ivar on the back. "In a fight things like that happen sometimes."
"I agree let's take care of whatever is down at the warehouse, but are we all ready to go now? We must be low on spellcasting as we haven't rested and we could use the aid of James also. Maybe at least pop by the forge and have him come along also?" Xandar says before going over to the two men who knocked prone to offer them a hand to get back up.
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As patrons and gangmembers flee and run in panic slipping on ice AND grease Uronzeer regains his composure and takes a breath.
Zeer feels bad for instigting the scene and looks to Vedia for approval after remembering her exclamation. "I will go now but would we be better off in the morning during the day?"
Amidst the chaos of fleeing patrons and surrendering gang member, Elkin interrupts, with urgency in his voice.
"I know this isn't ideal, but whoever was running this place--what was his name? G-someing?--he drank that potion and disappeared. I think we want to hustle to the warehouse; he's probably on his way there now, and who knows what he'll do when he gets there. I don't think we have time to rest up."
"But we could use James' help, especially since some of us are a little depleted on spells. One of us should go back and get him to meet us there."
The thief that Uronzeer scared the wits out of speaks up one more time.
"Umm, you will let us go right? If it helps I can tell you there are a few guys over there but, well.... um. If could not kill them maybe? There good guys, we.. well we all need to eat right?"
Elkin and Xander as you leave the bar you spot some blood on the ground and follow it around the corner to a body of Garmin, the guy who runs silverdisk hall. His weapons are gone but a check of his pockets shows the note he was carrying.
You can see that he was killed by a bolt of heat. There are multiple round burn marks on his body.
"Elkin do you think he was killed by magic or technology?" Xandar says casting Detect magic to see if there is any trace left to investigate his death. "Give me sight to see the trace of magic."
As his weapon streaks in, Ivar has a split second to realize that the man wasn't, in fact, trying to fight. Too late to do anything, he looks around with growing dismay as the others quickly surrender. He was a mage. He should've been more threat than the dumb muscle. Ivar thinks, even as it gnaws at his insides that the man wasn't fighting. He staggers outside, almost in a daze, nearly tripping over the body of the Hall's owner. As the others look at the body Ivar, untrained in the healer's ways, stands off to the side, feeling a little sick.
Elkin shakes his head when he looks at the wounds. "I don't know. I can't make any sense of it." He eyes Ivar across the way, seeking his own solace. Elkin gives him space to process this his own way, and starts planning their next move--perhaps a little loudly--so as to give Ivar a distraction to focus on, should he want it.
"If the warehouse is that way," he points down the hill, "then we have to pass the Foundry anyway. We can pick up James on our way." He waits for anyone else to examine Garmin's corpse, but then starts hustling people to get moving. "We still don't know what is in the warehouse, nor if a messenger is on the way or if they've had any warning through other means. I think we should move now."
Once they're on their way, Elkin asks for the note. "...blasted mage... ...she... ...S... I'd bet that one of these is the person the skulks saw coming through the indoor desert we found."
"Let's get going we don't want to let whatever it is get away." Vedia studies the note. "I wonder who S is. Do we know anyone whose name starts with S?" she asks as she jogs along with the rest of the group to grab James.
The outside of the warehouse looks like nothing so much as an abandoned building with boarded windows. There appears to be multiple entrances, 2 on the north, 2 on the west and 1 on the south.
Inside this large rooms are several piles of boxes and a loud, annoying humming that makes everyone at least slightly uncomfortable.
There are also five ropefist guards who you dispose of quickly.
As you search the warehouse you notice that the hum grows much louder by a certain crate. Following the sound and opening the crate reveals a strange device. The device is a Power Relay {handily labeled} drawing power from a nearby generator and sending it elsewhere.
A power relay is a valuable device that allows the long-distance transmission of energy from a nearby generator to a device that can make use of it. Every power generator has a built-in power transmitter that allows for the transmission of power to a nearby power receiver, but an external power relay is required to send this energy beyond the generator's limitations. A power relay consumes 10 charges when it is activated (this is a full-round action), after which it automatically links to the closest generator within 1,000 feet that has an available yield.
This distance is halved for every 5 feet of metal or 20 feet of solid stone between the generator and the power relay. The power relay consumes 1 charge of the generator's available yield per hour to maintain its own power supplies, and can be programmed to transmit any remaining charges of available yield to any object capable of receiving broadcast power, to a maximum distance of 150 miles. This distance is halved for every 5 feet of metal or 20 feet of solid stone between the generator and the power relay.
Power transmitted by this device is lost unless the device is programmed to transmit to a specific target capable of accepting a charge in range. Before a power relay can transmit, it must be linked to the target of its transmission to establish the transmission protocols. This consumes 10 charges and takes 1 minute to complete. Once completed, the distance between the power relay and the target of its transmissions can vary up to its maximum range. A small screen on the side of the power relay provides constant updates on the link, including bearings, distances, and the nature of the object to which it is linked.
This device essentially functions as a power generator that provides an hourly yield of charges to its target. For example, if a power relay that provided a yield of 40 charges was linked to a laser pistol, that laser pistol could be fired 40 times per hour without needing an additional charge.
Power relays can only function a limited number of times before their delicate internal mechanisms burn out. Each time a power relay is used to initiate a new energy transfer, there's a cumulative 20% chance it burns out and becomes useless.
Once a new transfer begins, a power relay can maintain that link between the generator and its target indefinitely (as long as there's always an available yield of at least 1 charge from the generator to keep itself powered).
The only settlement in range and to the east is the wild area of wreckage named Scrapwall. Overrun with gangs fighting over the technology, and the bizarre creatures that live in the area.
Vedia climbs around and through the crates until she finds the one that hums. She points it out to the group. "This power is going somewhere. The only other place nearby is Scrapwall. It's not a nice place. It's overrun with gangs fighting over technology."
"Well, Uronzeer, let me tell you, this is quite a find! Quite a find indeed. Did you notice those silverdisks I was putting in those strange guns I found? Well, this is like that - a power source, but can be used for a large area of coverage."
James continues to lecture on what he has been able to discover (go ahead and read the spoiler).
"The real question is, 'Who is running this, and for what purpose?'"