When she has a chance, Fiona uses another healing spell to fix Thaddeus up.
Mutt decides to take the wererat with them. When they get to safety, Mutt drops the creature onto the ground.
While they are talking, Mutt works on yanking out the remainder of the arrow in his chest.
When she has a chance, Fiona uses another healing spell to fix Thaddeus up.
"Whoa, 'dere. Much obliged, milady, but is annyone else hurt? Ah'm okay, mostly. Jus' not used t'bein' shot wit' arrows, 'sall. Make sure everyone else is fine, first!"
Bofur gives the others a chance to heal up, while doing as they suggested, grabbing what looks useful from the fallen ratmen, looking especially for any clues as to why they were there. He collects his crossbow and makes a suggestion.
"What if their attackin' the Gold Goblin while we're away? Should we get back right quick?"
Then he really takes note of the newcomer for the first time and rolls his eyes. Of course it has to be another elf.
As the last rat goes down, Variel nods to the other elf. He does a quick search over the dead bodies for identification or anything of use, then follows the group to whatever safe spot their guide has in mind. Casting a quick spell, he keeps a close eye out the entire time.
Of course it has to be another elf.
With the unconscious wererat in tow, the group quickly hastens after the elf, who finally leads them to a copse of trees. He quickly downs a healing potion before turning to them with relieved expression. The wererats carry a note on them, written in what appears to be thieves' cant.
My trust old trout Stumpy's sending provenders up Boneyard. They'll be dunny lie at tomorrow's darkman. Give them all the crash. Don't try to grab any for your birds. Keep the dummees. The rest of the iron on earnest of the hush and you'll be the kin.
The elf begins speaking.
"Good, we are away from that swarm. I have a lot to explain, please, set your prisoner down and relax. I have healing potions if you need them."
He leans down to a firepit in the copse, and starts relighting a fire. As he works on the fire, a hawk soars in from above, landing beside him. He lights the fire, and stands, speaking in his strange accent.
"I am Kwava of the Ekujae. We have a mutual enemy, I am afraid. Saul Vancaskerkin. I apologize for not contacting you earlier. Let me explain my story and why I am here. Then we can consider what to do about Saul."
With the fire crackling, he settles down, inviting you all to sit.
Fiona takes a seat across from Kwava, wincing and rubbing her belly. "Well met, sir. I am Fiona, of the Shriikirri-Quah."
She looks over the note the wererats had on them...
Seems legit.
Mutt plops down next to Fiona. Looking at Kwava, he merely says, "I'm Mutt." When the elf brings up Saul, Mutt snorts. "Consider what to do about Saul? Simple. We go over there and take off his head. Then, we mount it on the wall as a warning."
He looks over the note.
Thaddeus puzzles over the note, but can't figure out why the wererat figured grandma's cookies are in the bottom basement.
Thaddeus takes a seat around the fire, enjoying the opportunity to dry off his boots. At least, the outside.
Old Horn snorts on seeing the hawk fly down beside Kuava, then bleats quietly.
"Whaddere you jealous 'bout? Ah cain't fly, either!"
Thaddeus is a bit conflicted to hear about Saul, though at least now Mutt's anger is justified. He was a little worried that Mutt seemed awfully eager to blame Saul for everything bad that was happening.
"Well met, Kwava. I am Variel Duardlon, late of Kyonin, in her majesty's service. You seem to have the advantage on us: you are aware of our relationship to Saul. What is yours?"
Bofur peers at the note over Variel's shoulder (while he's sitting obviously. It wouldn't be possible otherwise).
+2 if writer human (type)
The strange words of the note seem to fall into place.
"I ken guess who Stumpy refers to."
"Ahem. Bofur," he introduces himself in his usual laconic manner.
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Variel manages to translate the note with a bit of help from Bofur:
My ally Saul Vancaskerkin is sending a group of victims to the Boneyard. They'll be at the old rendevous tomorrow night. Kill them all, we don't want to induct them into our gang. Feel free to keep whatever valuables they have in their purses. When I see proof that they are all dead, you'll be paid and I'll consider you a part of my family.
Kwava warms his hands and stands, his hawk flying up to perch on his shoulder. Bofur dimly recalls hearing of a tribe of wild elves from the Mwangi Expense, a very, very old tribe.
"Whatever has happened at the Gold Goblin has already happened, we must not rush but instead think. First, you must understand who I am, and why what is happening is far more important than the casino. My people predate the Earthfall; when that disaster struck, we were left to survive the Age of Darkness - a thousand years without the sun. To this day we tell stories of the time, the legends being a warning of a potential return. A fear of a second darkness defines who we are."
He paces as he speaks.
"I travelled for years over GOlarion before coming to the Meirani forest. There, I encountered the Shin'Rekorath. The Shin'Rekorath is a secret group of elves who keep watch on things around Golarion, fearing a return of the Age of Darkness. My direct superior in the company ordered me to the human city of Riddleport where it was rumored a renegade elf from Mierani was said to have fled and taken up with one of the ciy's notorious crimelords.
"My assignment was to scout the city's crime bosses for any evidence of elven associates. The Blotting of the sun, and many odd occurrences only makes me more certain that I am in the right place. Being from far in the Mwangi, I am unsure and wary around human settlements and have only investigated under cover of darkness, listening to criminal conversations, and gleaning what information I can. Recently, my investigations have begun to bear fruit. I believe your benefactor, Saul Vancaskerkin, is in league with this mysterious elf, but I have no proof and therefore cannot confront the man.
"During my observations of Vancaskerkin, I, of course, saw you in partnership with the man, but the more I saw, the more I knew you had not discovered his association with the renegade elf. I had even noticed two of you following him. And when I saw him leave his abode last night, presumably whilst you slept, I followed him. Instead of an elf, he met with the were-rat boss Ziphras. I overheard them plotting against you, and so I chose to ambush the ambush in order to secure your aid."
He spreads his arms to you, bowing his head.
"This is my story. I ask that you allow me to accompany you to the Gold Goblin. We shall right the wrongs done by Vancaskerkin, and if you will, discover this renegade elf I have been sent to investigate."
Variel listens intently, watching Kwava for any sign of deception or dissembling.
He nods at the story, and when the other elf finishes, he says, "It sounds as if you and I are on similar missions. I was sent to investigate the blot, fearing demonic influence. My people know nothing of this elf you speak of, but if there is such a one, we will want to know. As you have noticed, we have become more and more suspicious of Saul. I have long been curious about his motives, as he hired all of us, strangers to the city. He has paid us well, but I have found it hard to trust him."
"Then it appears Saul was even more bent than I thought." Fiona folds her arms. "By the way, may I ask who this renegade is that you've been sent to investigate?"
Thaddeus listens, a bit lost on the history lesson. He'll have to ask later.
"So what does Saul have t'gain by betrayin' us? By what'cher mentionin', we must'a been gettin' a little too close to his ben-ee-fac-tor, who ordered us taken out. Pr'bably don' say much about dere plan if dey decided we couldn't be trusted."
"Also wonderin' about Zincher 'n Croat. Bet dose two pro'bly ain't fans of ours, even if we ain't workin' wit' Saul anymore."
Bofur listens to Kwava's story with growing amazement, but no surprise that there's an elf behind the shenanigans.
When Variel mentions his search for demonic influence behind the blot, Bofur's jaw involuntarily drops. W"ha? But that's what I was lookin' fer? Kinda."
"So ol' Saulie was jess usin' us to do his dirty work, was he? And now we're expendable. Maybe even a threat. We've got good people on the inside there. They might be at risk even now."
An idea occurs to him. "Could we use this piece o' garbage upright rat to fake our deaths and sneak in?"
Kwava shrugs, the hawk on his shoulder bobbing with the movement. His speech and manners are simple, Variel doesn't get the impression he'd be very good at lying if he tried.
"I have been given precious little information about this elf, just that the Shin'Rakorath consider a 'renegade' one who has turned to the ways of evil and has been cooperating with crime lords."
He then turns to Thaddeus.
"Saul did not give his reasons to Ziphras. That said, if I was to make an educated guess, it is that you were getting close to learning something you should not have. He also made it clear he considered you all mighty in combat or 'too tough' as he put it. As for this blot - my sincere hope is that whatever is going on with Saul and the renegade will give us some answers."
Mutt stays silent as Kwava explains the situation. As the others give their thoughts, Mutt snorts. "I'm not really interested about renegade elves or the affairs of elves. Nor do I care about spots in the sky and birds flying into buildings. If this elf had a hand in trying to kill us, then they will die as well. All I care about is getting revenge on Saul." He then has a thought. "Maybe we can get the bouncers to help us out. Try to get them away from the Goblin for a meeting. I'll be damned if that worm gets my friends to turn on us." He looks at the wererat. "Maybe this rat can aid us. And if not..." He leaves the threat hang in the air.
Kwava looks to all of you.
"You have your business with Saul. I will assist you with it, if you will help me uncover what Saul has been up to. I'm sure you are interested in why he has betrayed you, Mr. Mutt."
Mutt snorts. "True. I do want to know."
"What're we gonna do 'bout this guy, though?" Thaddeus says, gesturing to the large, unconscious rat-man. "Did we wanna have a chat wit'im first? If'n yer outta healin', dere, Fiona, Ah've still got a few scrolls yeh gave me."
Kwava makes a weird sort of clicking noise of surprise.
"I had forgotten the rat-man, allow me. I have some potions!"
He quickly produces some silk rope and binds the wererat before he dumps a potion down its throat. The wererat coughs violently and rolls to a seated position where he sees six very unhappy-looking people with big weapons. Kwava nocks a silver arrow and points it at the wererat's face.
"Aww crap."
Where were ye supposed to meet yeer boss after offin' us?
What evidence did he want that we were dead?
How'd ye catch yeer filthy disease?
"Indeed, sir." Fiona smirks as she eyes the captured wererat. "I'll admit, your ambush almost worked. Almost."
Her demeanour turns serious and she leans on her earthbreaker. "Let's get to the point--you and your comrades sought to kill us, and at our boss' behest, no less. Our new elf friend has offered us an explanation why. I'm SURE you'd love to tell us your side of things, though. Don't you?"
Mutt gets up and presses his foot on the bound wererat's chest. He places his greataxe on his throat. He waits for Fiona to negotiate before he adds to it. "All right, rat-man! Here's the deal! You're going to answer all of her questions! And if you don't..." He presses his boot further on the rat's chest for emphasis.
"Look! Look!" cries the wererat as Mutt starts some less-than-medical chest compressions.
"Okay, okay, settle down." He turns to Fiona. "Right, lady. So here's the deal. We meet with Ziphras under the city, in the sewers, right? I'd recommend you not go down there. Spoil your good looks - heh heh. As for evidence, we don't need no evidence 'cause our word is good when we do a job. And I got initiated into the gang like the rest. They thought I was useful, so they gave me this here gift."
The hideous rat-man offers a weird smile.
"And as for your last question, we got hired to do a job. You got a hit put out on you, we're the hit-rats. If your boss put the hit on you why should I care? I got my orders, and you got yours - apparently from a real jerk too."
Mutt growls as the rat-man shares his information. "And this hit... it came from Saul himself? Or did Ziphras mention some elf running around with him?"
An idea slowly forms in his head. It's a bit rough, but the others could help work out the kinks.
When everyone has asked their question, Mutt growls out, "Alright, rat-man. Here's the deal. You are to go to Saul or Ziphras or whoever and tell them that you killed us. We're dead and everything. If you tell them otherwise, I will storm the sewers just to find you!"
When his teammates look at him in confusion, Mutt simply says, "Just trust me. I know what I'm doing."
The wererat scowls, looking at Mutt.
"I ain't betraying my boss. But Saulie is another matter. I'll tell him whatever you want if it saves my skin. You just gotta promise to get rid of him in turn. If he's a dead man walking then I'll do whatcha want."
"Stumpy's days're numbered." Bofur states emphatically.
Seeing that the wererat is trussed like a pig, he signals for the others to join him away from the failed hit-rat.
"Seems to me, that Bojask fellow maight know a tad mure about Saul's goings-ons. If Saul thinks we're dead, maybe we could capture the irascible second-in-command and squeeze 'im for info. Or do we just storm in and clean house?"
Mutt watches as the others gather in a group. He turns to Kwava. "Watch him. Make sure he doesn't try to run." He glares at the rat-man before joining the others. He speaks to them, making sure that the rat-man doesn't hear. "What I had in mind was this: we get the wererat to tell Saul that they killed us. Then, we secretly get the bouncers and Samaritha back on our side and surprise Saul with a raid of our own with our friends on the inside." He turns to Bofur. "We can also try nabbing Bojask. Never liked that guy."
"Hmm... So, we's lets 'em think we're dead, have 'em report a job well done. Use th'opportunity to sneak in 'n get th'element o'surprise? Ah think we could work wit'this."
"Dere was one rat that got'way, though. Meebe we need a cover story fer this guy. Maybe somethin' like.... say, he was able to convince us he were just an'unfortunate soul, we took 'em in, and he killed us in our sleep? May have t'wait a bit for that t'work."
Variel listens to everyone, nodding in agreement. Those who have come to know him can tell he is seething. "If Saul did indeed order his loyal employees to be killed, he has forfeit his life and his property. "
Fiona nods. "I don't see anything wrong with that. The only question is... where do we lay low while we put everything into place?"
She winces and puts a hand over the bleeding scratch on her belly.
"Perhaps one of th'churches? Ah believe Ah joined ye guys when you were doin' a favour fer th'Church of Cayden. Maybe we kin ask dere. Ah guess dere's Calistria's temple, too, since Variel kin' vouch fer'us an'all, but, ah... well... dat place is... kinda.... bit much fer'me."
"You alright dere, Fiona? Cut ain't poisoned r'anything, issit?"
Kwava quietly presses a healing potion into Fiona's hand, the wild elf electing not to say anything as the group interrogates the wererat.
The wererat looks at the group, licking his lips. His eyes dart back and forth before he speaks. He is obviously still quite scared.
"L-look fellas. The other fella who ran off, he ain't going back to the boss, he's gonna lick his wounds and think of a clever story about why we failed. So if you let me go now, I'll go deliver the message to Saulie and you do whatever you want. The longer I sit here tied up, the less your plan works, right?"
Bofur turns and bores holes into the captive with his frown, trying to ascertain whether it means to betray them.
As the group watches the wererat, it becomes fairly clear that he's only cooperative because he's scared and so may not be agreeable for long. He doesn't appear to be lying about his willingness to betray Saul, though.
When Thaddeus brings up possible locations, Mutt says, "Either one works for me. As long as we let our friends know we're alive."
Mutt stares at the wererat before moving over to him. He grabs him by the scruff his neck and unties him. He gives him a shove. "Go! And you better not betray us!"
Fiona takes the potion with a nod of thanks towards Kwava.
"You alright dere, Fiona? Cut ain't poisoned r'anything, issit?"
"No, it just stung. It wasn't as bad as it felt, actually." She says to Thaddeus once her wound is healed. "Thank you for your concern, though."
"Let us go to the Calistrian temple. I assure you that the high priestess will appreciate our mission of vengeance, and won't pressure anyone into anything they clearly prefer not to participate in." He smirks before adding. "Well, not too much."
To the wererat he says, "Deliver the message, then become lost for a while."
Thaddeus visibly looks a little uncomfortable at mention of going back to the Calistrian temple, Variel's assurance they won't be pressured bringing only slight comfort.
"Welp, if dat's where we gotta go, dat's where we gotta go. Mutt, Ah'd love t'warn yer boys, but Ah ain't sure how we kin tell 'em we're alive wit'out tippin' our hand t'Saul 'n his bodyguards. Of course, dat all depends on how long we intend t'lay low. Ah don't think too long, jus' long enough t'refresh. Day at most, ah'd say. Hopefully dat'll be long enough fer th'news to get t'Saul, before he kin really act on it."
Mutt turns to Thaddeus. "Well, I can get in contact with Michal's family and have his wife tell Michal to meet us. Fredrick is dating a priestess of Cayden, so we can have her pass a message to meet us. Finally, Michal has a cousin who's a priestess of Calistria. Sam was a former priest of Calistria. That covers him and the rest of them."
"Huh, yeh got's a handle on things! Ah'm impressed." Thaddeus nods and looks at the ex-gladiator wide-eyed and impressed.
"Not shore 'bout any of you, but Ah can't say Ah have any friends outside of our crew here, so Ah'm okay wit' stayin' out o'sight for a while. How 'bout the rest of you?
"Don't feel baid. People in this city ounly have friends until they ken get more advantage by stabbin' them in the back," Bofur states categorically. "I'd prefer to watch the Goblin frum outside, but I don't want to risk spoilin' our game."
Kwava looks as unsure about the temple as Thaddeus, but he acquiesces to your decision and heads along silently. It's very late at night by the time you reach the House of the Silken Veil. Upon arrival, the priest greeting people takes a look you and your strange ally, before silently bringing you to a sparse room far in the back of the Temple. He instructs you to wait there, where you spend at least an hour on the verge of nodding off, until the door opens and Shorafa Pamodae steps in. The tiefling looks tired and irritable, but pleased with herself.
"I do not wake up for almost anyone, but you're just anyone. Perhaps next time come back in the early evening, I'm at my best then. Still, I am pleased to see you, and that my prediction of the raid, and its consequences came true. So why are you here, and who is your friend?"
"We are here because we are dead. At least, that is what we want Saul to believe. After we foiled the raid on the casino, he sent us out on a pretext of catching his enemies at a meeting, but actually hired were-rat goons to kill us. Our new associate became aware of it in the course of his own investigations, and helped us to avoid the ambush."
"We let one of the rats go to tell Saul the job is done. We now plan to see what he does next. We will most likely be killing him ourselves soon, though one reason I wanted to come here was to hear your thoughts and find out if you have heard anything new since our last conversation."