THADDEUS:
Thaddeus runs ahead, though finds it's a bit hard to get around the bushes, the fences, and the crates. And he's not too eager to end up surrounded by Akron's thugs, even if they're supposedly on the same side.
For now, he simply moves up as close as he can.
Old Horn moves a little closer, mostly wanting to make sure nothing can sneak up on him easily.
Mutt readily accepts the song and moves as fast as he can, moving past Fiona, Thaddeus, and Variel.
Ellesbeth declines the song, and casts a defensive spell. She braces herself for a run, waiting to see what her new companions are set to do.
With Fiona singing at the top of her lungs, the various men in the camp turn to stare at the group slack-jawed for a moment as you charge forwards towards the void zombies. Akron Elix seems to recognize a few of you and looks slack-jawed.
"Uh... boss, you're not gonna believe this!"
"GET THE DAMN ZOMBIES!" a voice roars from within the pavilion. As Mutt rushes past, a man steps forward. He stops, and locks eyes with Mutt.
Clegg Zincher is here.
Clegg Zincher is a broad-shouldered man. He has short gray hair and the leathery, wrinkled face of a man who spent most of his youth working under the sun. His beard is short and stubbly, almost an afterthought. He wears a large amulet with an image of a two-headed roc. He wears a leather cord on one shoulder, on which are threaded several dried goblin ears. A huge pickaxe is slung over his shoulder.
He steps out of the tent, just feet away from Mutt. He blinks as he stares at the enormous barbarian before he grins.
"How about we sort things out between us after this fight? We have business to discuss."
Zinchers men rush for the zombies, with a few standing back hesitantly while others move in. They miss badly. The void zombies retaliate as they rush in, overwhelming Zincher's men. One goes down screaming as he is ripped apart by the zombies. Akron fights with his bare hands, keeping one of the zombies back.
Variel
Mutt
Fiona
Ellesbeth
Thaddeus
---
Zincher's Men:
Green
Red
Grey
Purple (dead)
Plain
Brown
Akron
Zincher
---
Zombies:
Plain
Purple
Red
Green
Yellow
Blue
"How about we sort things out between us after this fight? We have business to discuss."
As Variel comes around the corner, he scowls at Zincher and merely says, "Indeed."
He runs past the man, around the tents to try to draw some attacks from the less well-armed men.
Lash flies alongside, pausing momentarily to look at Zincher. "Is this the one Mutt was wanting to kill? He does have a shifty look to him. I could sting him for you." Variel smiles briefly and replies, "Not yet, but we'll keep it as an option."
Ellesbeth runs into the fray, trying to keep pace with her allies. She rusn up behind Thaddeus, and gives him a friendly nod.
"Let's set them up, so I can knock them down, eh?"
Mutt sees Zincher step out of the tent and freezes. To him, it's like time has frozen. He stares at the man, gripping his weapon even tighter. He hears what the man says, but doesn't acknowledge it. After what feels like hours, he points his greataxe at the incoming zombies. "Them first." He then points it at Zincher. "After that... you're next." He then runs forward to the zombies. He decides to attack the zombie in front of him. He brings down his greataxe on it!
""Let's set them up, so I can knock them down, eh?"
"Ah'll, uh, Ah'll see what Ah kin'do."
Thaddeus finishes hustling around the tent, only aware too late that this puts him rather uncomfortably close to Clegg. Though, he can't seem to recall why the group has it in for the man. At least, not to the degree that Mutt usually shows it, always tensing up and ready to explode at the mere mention of the name. There was something about an attack at the Gold Goblin (Now the Lucky Dog), but still, such anger seems awfully personal...
Worry later. Zombies Now.
"ANYBODY KNOW HOW T'HANDLE 'DEM AXE BEAKS!? WE KIN USE ALL TH'HELP WE KIN GET 'HERE, ASSUMIN' DEY'RE TRAINED T'FIGHT!"
The tents continue to get in Thaddeus' way, as well as distance. He settles for preparing to use a spell in the near future, popping a slug of chewing tobacco in his mouth while muttering an incantation.
Old Horn finds a slightly more secure place away from the fighting, and any potential ambush spots.
Fiona keeps singing, cringing inwardly as Mutt threatens Zincher.
Please, Mutt, not now.
She hurries around the side of the tent.
Mutt roars, charging in and slashing down a void zombie with his axe. little creepy larvae scatter the ground as what was once a human dies for good. Zincher's men rally as they see Zincher approve of the newcomers, and the men become motivated by Fiona's song! Newly motivated, several of the zombies are cut down until only three remain with Zincher's men working with short swords, and Akron caving in one's head with his foot.
Zincher slaps his hands as he sees the zombies go down, and he starts stalking his way southwards towards one, his pick-axe in hand.
"The birds will just run from the zombies. I've tried," he barks back at Thaddeus.
Variel
Mutt
Fiona
Ellesbeth
Thaddeus
---
Zincher's Men:
Green
Red
Grey (5 dmg)
Purple (dead)
Plain
Brown
Akron
Zincher
---
Zombies:
Red
Green
Yellow
Variel winces slightly as a zombie with an eery yellow tinge to its skin approaches. Remembering his training about undead, he aims for the weakest spot he can find as Fiona's music flows through him.
"Mutt, that one already has damage to its neck! Hit it there!"
Thaddeus maneuvers around to where two of Zincher's hired hands are fending off one of the zombies. Seems Fiona's song is helping them rally quite thoroughly. None of his larger effects seem to be needed, so he settles for using what he's already prepared for.
As Variel yells that he's damaged a void zombie, he realizes that he basically cut it in half. The totem spirit then pounds its corpse into goo. Thaddeus' nasty spell binds the green zombie to the delight of the two men facing it.
Mutt nods at Variel's advice and runs around the tent. Seeing the red tinted zombie, Mutt runs up to it and attacks!
The wisp of spirit energy tries to crash into the zombie!
Fiona keeps singing and moving, bringing her hammer to bear as she runs at the nearest zombie!
The totem spirit around her strikes at the zombie as she approaches!
Ellesbeth continues to run after her allies, and runs past the line of tents. She sees another zombie set up Mutt, and runs to aid her ally.
Fiona charges for a zombie and sends it flying into the air with an upwards swing of her enormous earthbreaker. While in mid-air, it gets punted back to the ground by one of her totem spirits.
Mutt then heads for the final zombie, slashing down. He does some good damage, but not quite enough. Ellesbeth rushes up beside him.
Akron Elix looks at Mutt, smirks, and promptly snaps the void zombie's neck. It crumples to the ground.
End of Combat
Zincher grimaces as he sees the torn apart body of one of his men before he looks over to the rest of you.
"Someone clean him up. You lot - let's go talk in my tent. We have business to discuss."
He turns to stalk away from you into the tent.
Fiona lets her song end and puts her earthbreaker away. When Zincher invites the team into his tent, she slips a little drop of honey onto her tongue while humming a little tune.
She then starts walking over to his tent.
Ellesbeth watches her companions. She isn't familiar with this Zincher, but it is apparent everyone else is. She follows Fiona, with her eyes on Zincher's men.
Variel starts to speak up at Zincher's curt words, then notices Fiona humming. He's not sure what spell she is casting, but decides to let the singer take lead.
He hurries up to Mutt's side and says quietly, "Despite our past problems with the man, don't forget we're in his camp, among his people. Let's hear what he has to say, and let Fiona speak first. If it looks like he still needs killing when it's done, you have my word that you'll get the first swing. "
Before stepping into Zincher's tent, he speaks to Lash. "Find a perch on the tent or in a tree and keep an eye on things out here. I trust that man as far as I can throw him. Let me know if you see anything alarming or unusual while we're in there."
Mutt watches as Zincher heads back to his tent. He doesn't sheathe his greataxe, gripping it tighter. However, he doesn't look like he's going to attack. He follows Fiona and Ellesbeth to Zincher's tent.
When Variel talks to him about staying his hand, Mutt nods. "Deal. I'll keep my cool."
Zincher stalks into the tent. One of the thugs look at Mutt and starts to ask him for his weapon but is silenced by Zincher.
"Look at that big fella, nobody takes his weapon less he wants them to. We'll be fine. Watch for more akata!"
You all walk into Zincher's pavilion, where he gestures for you to take a seat.
A bizarre place of opulence despite its isolation, the inside of this pavilion is divided by a curtain that runs from roof to floor. In the open front half, a massive, iron-banded wooden trunk rests along the north wall while a row of boxes lines the south wall. Four heavily cushioned leather chairs sit in the middle of the open space in pairs. A tall, wrought-iron candelabra stands in the center of the area, its twelve evenly spaced candles burning merrily and giving off a mixture of pleasant aromas.
As you sit, Zincher notices Mutt's expression. "Mutt, any past bad blood was business. You worked for a rival of mine. Now you don't. In fact, you killed him; couldn't ask for a better present than to see that old snake in the ground. Let's get to the fact we're on the worst island in the world. What madness made you come out here?"
"Hmm." Fiona takes a seat and neatly folds her hands. "Would you believe it has something to do with Saul? Or rather, an associate of his?"
Fiona clears her throat. "It's a long story in the telling... see, Saul apparently believed we became too successful for his own good. He arranged to have us killed by a pack of wererats, presumably on the orders of his associate. One of our contacts explained to us that not only was Saul the man responsible for trying to have us killed, but his associate was the one really pulling his strings."
"Saul wasn't very forthcoming with information, and left us with no choice but to kill him. We ventured underneath the Gold Goblin to find his boss, and... well, we found her. A black-skinned elf with stark white hair and eyes. She attempted to kill us, and when that failed, attempted to escape. She almost did, but the efforts of escaping apparently exhausted her." She gives Thaddeus a knowing smirk. "She fell from the Cyphergate and split her skull open on the street."
"But that was not the end of things. As it turns out, the elf was in contact with more of her people out here on this island. Apparently, they're responsible for the skymetal falling to the island. We're here to find them and root them out."
Thaddeus takes a moment to collect himself, realizing most of his companions are already on the way into Clegg's tent. He quickly hustles to catch up, though he shares a quick conversation with Old Horn.
"Beeeh! Baaah!"
"Baaahhh?"
"Beeehhh."
"Baaahh!"
At this, Old Horn quickly makes his way around the fence, and stands right by Thaddeus' side.
"Coward."
Thaddeus walks inside. Seeing most of the chairs taken, he grabs a box from along the wall and sits on that. Not having much to add or contribute, he simply listens in as Fiona talks.
The group watches Zincher fairly strongly, and Fiona and Variel immediately notice Zincher react strongly at the mention of the drow.
"I... I..." he seems to struggle. "I'm shocked! Can't believe something like that could be here. So you say you're here for skymetal too, eh? Well I've got two things I want to look at. First, if you can help find any skymetal I can buy it right off your hands, no fuss. Second, these akata - the blue creatures, I want one captured alive and brought to me. We need to study and understand these things."
Zincher is lying about the drow in some way. His behaviour indicates that he is being magically forced to not speak about them, perhaps through a charm or compulsion of some kind.
Variel watches and listens carefully as Zincher speaks. He raises an eyebrow as the man claims ignorance of the drow, but waits for the man to finish.
"He knows more about the dark elves than he lets on, but something is preventing him from speaking directly. We shall have to address that. "
The elf speaks a word of magic, and his eyes shine.
After gazing at and around Zincher, he casts another spell and touches the man on the shoulder.
Fiona arches an eyebrow. "Sir, I... eh, never mind."
I never said anything about wanting skymetal.
"Capturing an akata alive might be easier said than done--they're vicious little things and they dissolve in salt water. I'm not entirely certain what you can hope to learn about them."
Something's up here. Did the drow get to him first?
"He knows more about the dark elves than he lets on, but something is preventing him from speaking directly. We shall have to address that. "
"Blunt as ever, Variel. Howd'yamean? Like 'dey're threatenin' him, 'r somethin'?"
Thaddeus looks confused as Variel casts his spells.
"Ahh, y'mean like 'dey enchanted him? Might be able t'help if 'dat's th'case."
Fiona cringes on the inside as Variel speaks so candidly before Zincher.
If he's not allowed to speak of them directly, what else will he do now that we've tipped our hand?
Ellebeth has been watching quietly from the back, and she winces visibly. Her feet shuffle nervously, and she coughs into her hand awkwardly.
"I believe they have some sort of magical hold over him. Do you have a way of breaking it, Thaddeus?"
Variel watches Zincher's response to what he says, trying to gauge the man's attitude. Perhaps we can sway him to work with us if we can rid him of the influence over him. If we have a common enemy, he may be of use.
As you sit, Zincher notices Mutt's expression. "Mutt, any past bad blood was business. You worked for a rival of mine. Now you don't. In fact, you killed him; couldn't ask for a better present than to see that old snake in the ground. Let's get to the fact we're on the worst island in the world. What madness made you come out here?"
Mutt's frown deepens. "That may be. But, you still tried to kill me and my friends. You also told the thugs at the docks to attack any ships that were leaving. They attacked us." He leans in closer. "I worked for a man who did unspeakable things to me and said that it was only business. I think you can figure out what happened to him." He then stands up straight. "However, I won't attack you now. I will listen to what you have to say."
Mutt stays silent as Fiona explains the situation. He whispers to her, "Do you really want to tell him all of this? We may wind up regretting it."
When Zincher offers to buy skymetal from the team, Mutt frowns. "And why would we sell it to you? What if we want it?" When Zincher says that he wants an akata, Mutt is shocked. "And why the hell would you want one of those things?! Because I doubt it's for research!"
When Variel says that Zincher probably knows something about the drow, Mutt turns to Zincher and growls a bit. However, he doesn't go to attack the man. He holds and waits to see how things turn out.
A strange struggle seems to take place over Zincher as Variel speaks in front of him openly about the possibility of the dark elves having enchanted him. He ignores Mutt's words and obvious threat for the moment as he finally snaps, shouting out.
"ENOUGH! I will not be insulted. There are none of these elves and no such thing as a spell on me. Get me some noqual or akatas or get out. You can deal with my underlings from now on; get out of my pavilion before I grant Mutt's wish and leave some corpses here. I saw some akatas near the cliffs south of here, go look for those. AKRON! GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"
Akron pokes his head in the pavilion while Zincher clenches and unclenches his hands in rage.
Zincher appears to be dealing with some sort of major internal conflict that's causing him to anger. However, there's a certain kind of hopeful desperation in his speech and he may be trying to hint towards something he can't say.
Variel listens to the outburst and nods knowingly at Thaddeus.
Fiona arches an eyebrow. "Very well, then."
She gets up and starts to leave. "Shall we be off, folks?"
Ellesbeth nods as if she knows what is going on, though she has no idea.
Mutt is surprised by the outburst. He felt like he didn't threaten Zincher. Just stated something. He sees Variel nod to Thaddeus. The bloodrager waits for whatever to happen to happen.
Thaddeus leans towards Variel, and whispers in a rather accented and unpracticed, but still understandable elven dialect.
"ฉันจะ พยายามที่จะเอา คาถา บนเขา แต่ดูเหมือนว่า มีพลังมากเกินไป ฉัน มีแนวโน้ม ที่จะล้มเหลว และ อาจจะ เพียงแค่ให้ เขามีเหตุผล ที่จะโจมตี"
Variel listens to Thaddeus and whispers back, "รู้ ข้อ จำกัด ของคุณ เป็นสิ่งสำคัญ ใน สถานการณ์เช่นนี้ เราก็ จะ ต้อง เก็บตาบน เขา."
To everyone, he says, "Very well, it seems I was mistaken. You have my apologies, Zincher."
With that he bows slightly, and turns to leave.
Once the team has left Zincher's tent, Fiona turns to Variel.
"คุณคิด Zincher ได้พยายามที่จะบอกใบ้ว่าที่ชั่วลูกชั่วหลานจะผ่านการสะกด?" She asks, scratching her head.
Thaddeus tips his hat to Zincher and moves to leave as well.
Variel replies to Fiona, "มันเป็นไปได้. มัน ดูเหมือน ว่าเขากำลังพยายาม ที่จะเอาชนะ อิทธิพลของ."
In common, he says to everyone. "Let us be away, then. We have no further business for now."