Smacked around by the fire blast and several rapier swipes, Pip is then healed by Oso's mojo.
"Brandobaris' big toe that smarts!" He yells, casting a dirty look at Xever.
"The Church of Kord says hello. Now, where's Dagbarr's heart? We would be most..." Altai loses his calm demeanor as the elemental collapses into a pile of soggy gravel. "You thrice-damned hag-spawned cockroach! I'll have your head for that!" His hands whip through a series of arcane gestures.
"Church of Kord? I don't owe them any money, do I? Huh,...
What is a Dagbarr's Heart, is it an item?"
Smacked around by the fire blast and several rapier swipes, Pip is then healed by Oso's mojo.
"Brandobaris' big toe that smarts!" He yells, casting a dirty look at Xever.
He looks like he is;.....he's put his hands down by his side.
"Funny, Xever, real funny. They found your witch-knife on his body." Altai pulls out the Witchwarden blade. "Now, where is his heart?"
Elgan gives a loud screech, and the small thunderhead rumbles ominously following Altai's questions,...
"Funny, Xever, real funny. They found your witch-knife on his body." Altai pulls out the Witchwarden blade. "Now, where is his heart?"
His face goes white, when he sees his blade. Then,
"whose body? I didn't have that blade in my possession."He breathes in and out.
"I gave that dagger to Hamfist. I don't know what the did with it...see, I'm working off a debt to him.
He's got a lot of my stuff."
He laughs a little, somewhere between laughter an hyperventilation.
"So...., so now somebody is dead with my dagger. Great,....just great.
I've really stuck my head in it this time."
He looks around;
"Well, shyat. I got something from Hamfist,...it's upstairs. I might have to show you guys, long as you're in the investigation-of-f%+@ed-up-stuff business."
Altai walks into the courtyard while sheathing the Witchwarden knife. "Sure. Lead the way. Drop the fire shield first, though." Altai nods at Gittik. "If he tries anything funny... Well, you know what to do."
"It's not a spell, it's a cloak. A salamander cloak. I look pretty sharp in it,....I know.....okay, I'll drop it. Here, I don't want to drop it on the ground though; it's okay....it's okay; it won't go off unless you stab me or something."
He takes it off, holds it out; then leads you guys up the stairs.
"Come on in; make yourself at home....."
He leads you into a main room;
"I got it in the other room here."
he brings out a spider in a glass jar.
"You guys know what this is?"
It's a tiny normal sized spider.
"Huh. Nice cloak. Did you make it yourself? I..." Altai catches himself. "Ahem... Hmmm.... A spider in a glass jar. I have two guesses. Either the bug does something unusual when you open the jar, or Hamfist is wildly arachnophobic?"
"Uh, I don't think Hamfist is afraid of anything save good oral hygeine. Oh, yeah....it does something allright. We Jas! It does something. It's a nasty nasty Pett.....a hastendeath...I got a book here; Great Kingdom Almanac...."
he pages to a page,
"here it is.....they find helpless humanoids, crawl down their throats, and lay thousands of eggs....when they hatch, they consume the victim from within.
My buddy Hamfist gave me this thing to identify."
He snaps out of 'serious time;'
"Oh, no; I didn't make it...I got it when I was a Witchwarden. Before....my unfortunate streak of.....bad luck."
"Did he... Did he say what he wanted to use it for?" Altai suddenly seems very concerned. "If one can spawn thousands, the reproduction rate would be astronomical! This town would be overrun with little creepy-crawlies in no time at all."
"No; he just wanted me to tell him what it was for a friend. That's all I know. Man, I don't know if I want to know stuff he knows..."
aside.....end of combat....3,500 xp each (I said egad, till I realized you go from 50k to 71k at 10th level....)
The dogmen had loot too;
Keitel had full plate, a +2 spiked chain
Buscemi's had four +1 rapiers
Total of 8,000 g.p. in coin as well.
"Why, what are you guys going after Hamfist? Man,.....that'd be great. One less person I owe, oh....he's a pretty sick individual too.
He was a "ship's doctor" on one of the ships from the Crimson Fleet, before they got taken out in the whole Demogorgon thing. He's....not right. I seriously doubt that he's human."
"Well, we gotta get that heart back..."
"What's this about a heart, anyway?" he asks, somewhat uncomfortably.
"Ah, you know, poor Dagbarr had his heart cut out. With your knife, I might add. So, since the corpse lacks a vital part, the Kordites can't revive him." Altai shakes his head in mock sadness. "They're very, very unhappy about that, the priests of Kord. Actually, I'd go as far as to describe them as incoherent with splittle-flecked rage. Someone must pay."
"F~~!!
Dagbarr, he's in the 'Horns, right? Recruiting for the Champion's Belt?
Dudes. I had nothing to do with that.
Who the hell would kill him?
Can any of you detect lie? I can straighten that much out, here and now anyway."
"Sadly, we don't. So here's what we'll do. First, you'll tell us about Hamfist, his henchmen and his hangouts. Then, you'll head over to the temple of Kord and give yourself up to the priests. Ask for Torgamal Gred and tell him we sent you. They know the truth spells, so you can tell them your story."
"We'll go back there once we've finished off Hamfist and recovered Dagbarr's heart. If we find out you were a no-show, I'll just make up some story about how you killed Dagbarr, used magic to control Hamfist and this whole 'Xever is Hamfist's debt slave' was just a clever ruse and how you barely escaped us. Then you'll have every Kordite south of the Nyv Dyr looking for your hide. Questions?" Altai leans back. "Oh, and I'll take that spider. It is too dangerous to leave alive."
"Sadly, we don't. So here's what we'll do. First, you'll tell us about Hamfist, his henchmen and his hangouts. Then, you'll head over to the temple of Kord and give yourself up to the priests. Ask for Torgamal Gred and tell him we sent you. They know the truth spells, so you can tell them your story."
"We'll go back there once we've finished off Hamfist and recovered Dagbarr's heart. If we find out you were a no-show, I'll just make up some story about how you killed Dagbarr, used magic to control Hamfist and this whole 'Xever is Hamfist's debt slave' was just a clever ruse and how you barely escaped us. Then you'll have every Kordite south of the Nyv Dyr looking for your hide. Questions?" Altai leans back. "Oh, and I'll take that spider. It is too dangerous to leave alive."
"What do you want to know?
He hangs out at the barber shop down on the west end of the docks. He's usually got a few guys hanging around, no more than 10 if that....unless he's making his rounds.
He's skinny but don't let that fool you. He's not human. I saw him brutalize this guy name of Kuurgz one time. Kuurgz was stealing from him out of the kitty, but Kuurgz wasn't too damn smart...half orc, damn near 7 foot tall, must've been 320 pounds.
Hamfist picked Kuurgz up in the air by his neck and choked him out, held him up there with one arm, straight-armed, for a good minute. Kuurgz kicked him, punched him; nothing. Then Kuurgz went slack.
He's got a buddy named Tatcher, a wizard....eerie old guy. Always got a young chick with him; I don't understand it. I don't know if Tatcher's around all the time though; they work on stuff together. Bad stuff. I didn't want to know; it involved corpses though.
Man, I don't know much about corpses, except I don't want to be one.
I'll head over there, though, to the Church of Kord. I swear I will. Anything to vindicate myself, I'll do. Just....take care of Hamfist, man."
"So ... we go and beat up this Xever guy now?" Beldan asks the others, having sort of missed the interegation what with searching (and being horribly fascinated by) the odd corpses.
"Oh, Hamfist I mean. Not Xever. You're Xever. My mistake..."
"f@@#!
Dagbarr, he's in the 'Horns, right? Recruiting for the Champion's Belt?
Dudes. I had nothing to do with that.
Who the hell would kill him?
Can any of you detect lie? I can straighten that much out, here and now anyway."
"Me can detect lie. Me cut off one ball to show me serious, and you lie to me me cut off other ball - that do for you?"
<kinda grumpy about being fireballed>
"And I'll take away the blindness in your eyes if you co-operate. Now what about your spellbook and any spare scrolls you may have for Altai here. You made him use up some good stuff killing those guards. Come on, you want to see again?"
Oso looks around to see who is still wounded.
"Man, I don't have a spellbook. I'm not one of those book mages. My magic flows, like, from my aura. Here's some scrolls though."
Meh,...Altai; pick 1x4, 1x3, and 1x2 lvl spell; 9th level caster on the spells.
"f@@#!
Dagbarr, he's in the 'Horns, right? Recruiting for the Champion's Belt?
Dudes. I had nothing to do with that.
Who the hell would kill him?
Can any of you detect lie? I can straighten that much out, here and now anyway.""Me can detect lie. Me cut off one ball to show me serious, and you lie to me me cut off other ball - that do for you?"
<kinda grumpy about being fireballed>
He's kinda whining;
"man, I'm sorry....I'm sorry for fireballing you guys! Okay? There it is. I'm sorry. But you came bursting in here, with this damn earth elemental frozen dude,.....I don't know who you are! Right?"
He looks at Altai, the one he's been talking to the most; for some kind of sympatico:
"Aw, come on, guy! Keep that crazy little man off of me! I told you everything I know!
That....that elemental was cold, man! I'm gonna lose a toe to frostbite, I just know it. Oh, man; moving to Sasserine, only to get frostbitten....that's cruel irony, right? Isn't that cruel enough to be squared up? I'd say that's cruel.
Don't let him jab my jewels; it's about all I have left. Huh? Buddies?"
"You talk too much. Since you know nothing, maybe me just kill you for be useless. We then go find Hamfist."
"No. Don't. Do. It. I won't....I don't want to see you go down that dark path, little guy. Little.....well, your spirit is titanic. It's immense! You're full of fiery magestic stuff. I wish I was; it's the will of the gods I suppose. Some of us are the heroes. Some of us are the losers. But,....sometimes the losers get lucky. I got to meet you, Gittik; that's a lucky thing, right?
No, you don't want to live that way. I can see it in your eyes, Gittik; underneath all that bluff and bluster you've got the heart of an archon, huh?" he holds out his hand; "we buddies?"
<exasperated>
"You know why Hamfist want to kill Kord priest or no? You say now or me cut you in half!"
"I have no idea! If I did, I'd tell you! Honest. Man, I feel like we're on the same side of this thing, now more than ever. I'm here to help you....help me help you! A mind is like, well.....like Altai over here's spellbook....it only works when it's....open...."
<narrows eyes, wondering whether to go in via the solar plexus or the groin>
"OK, so why you here for Hamfist? And who these doggies?"
"I'm essentailly a pearl necklace...I can identify magic items. He keeps me around for that. I think I've about worked off my debt to him though.....those guys, he set them here to guard me, in case I take off, and guard loot...that sort of thing...so nobody tries to run up in here on me.
Pfft...you see how well that worked out....you guys are simply amazing.
Have I told you that? Gittik...you. areamazing."
"Yeah, me know.
"So maybe you know how we get to Hamfist, get in easy?"
"I don't know about easy...he's got lookouts though. He usually has a guy up on the roof a building over from his place, watching for trouble. I'd say you take him out(?) Man, I never was much for all this "doing jobs on people...."
"I know he's got a front door to his shop; I bet he has a secret way out, knowing him, but damned if I know where it is. Hamfist doesn't tell me all of his dirty secrets, and I don't want to know them. I know he's not human, though. He can't be. He's too inhuman. I've met inhuman humans, but there's a difference.
His evil is just too natural, too nonchalant, like a leopard killing a little antelope."
"See? I knew we'd get along, Gittik. Gittik and Xever: BBFE."
"Hey, me no decide if me kill you anyway, so no get too comfy."
He looks worriedly at Gittik; then smiles.....shakes his finger mock chidingly at him...
"there it is, that dry sarcastic delivery that's starting to endear me to you, Gittik....you had me going there."
He looks around;
"anything else you want to know? I think I've pretty much exhausted my knowledge of this scene, but anything I can do to help, let me know.
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
"Well, I think this is good, Xever, at least for now. We'll see you at the temple of Kord." As Xever takes off, Altai drops a candle into the spider jar and watches the little monster burn and shrivel up with some relief.
"So, we've completed step one. Step two is to wipe out this Hamfist and his cronies and then recover Dagbarr's heart." He looks over at Gittik and Beldan. "Do you think you'd be up for some rooftop sneaking to take care of that lookout the sorcerer was talking about?"
After brushing off his singed cowboy hat, Pip lights a cigarillo and strums a tune on Lucille:
"See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me ..."
Elgan, having shifted back into his normal, handsome, self, examines the strange jackalrats with extreme distaste. He also listens in to the interrogation, but Altai and Gittik seem to have everything under control, so he's mostly just hanging out. Although he DOES make ab-so-lute-ly certain that the creepy crawlie is dead before they leave it. He has heard of them and they are FAR too dangerous to let live!
"Kin we burn dese bodies chere'?" he asks Altai once the interrogation is over.
"Dey ain't natur'al, an ah don' wan' dem mixing back intah deh circle o' lahf. Dey ain' no tellin' whut dat maht cause!"
When they begin making plans to 'visit' Hamfist, Elgan pipes up once more.
"Ah'll go wit dem too chere. Be closer tah pull dem out if'n dis Hamhand is as bad az dis Xever t'inks he is!"
for (not so distant) future reference....
a-n top1-14 side
description of Hamfist's Barber Shop and immediate vicinity;
a-e 1-2 is water.
h-k 1-3 is water.
k-m 6-8 is water.
a-g 12 is a channel of water, bridge at d12.
h 11-12, i 11-12, j-n 11-14, as well as all of rank "n" are water.
There's a boat at j-l 11-12, everything else is boardwalk above or buildings.
E-H 6-9 is Hamfist's barber shop; it's two storys tall.
AB 5-10 and cd 8-10 is a warehouse owned by Hamfist; the guy on the roof is on this two story building at b9.
ab4 is the door to this warehouse.
g5 is the door to the barber shop.
any and all questions to me and/or Xever this brings up, please feel free to let me know; the party's approach vector is from the dock f-g1 area.....
That's cool; I feel guilt when somebody else plugs the map in for me, but I'll have to wait a while or a month before I can kick for another printer. I just recently went to Just Brakes, and now I'm just broke.
It was bad. I was prepared for a big bang, but it was "OMG I'm in shock" bad. I contemplated stepping in front of a truck.
"So, we've completed step one. Step two is to wipe out this Hamfist and his cronies and then recover Dagbarr's heart." He looks over at Gittik and Beldan. "Do you think you'd be up for some rooftop sneaking to take care of that lookout the sorcerer was talking about?"
"Meh, whatever, just keep talky man quiet.
"Oh, so we get back heart for Kord priest. OK, now me know why we do this. Me still no care, but me do anyway - me have nothing else to do today."