What say you young Berrin? Will we litter the streets with the bodies of shadow beasts together?
Janiven's hopeful face opens up in a tentative smile. "Well, I must say, I wasn't prepared for such an enthusiastic response. Arael will be so pleased that you're going to join us." Again her gaze becomes distracted, before she recovers her train of thought.
"However, I must stress again that we must be very careful. Our plan revolves around helping the people of Westcrown rather than hindering or upsetting the government. It will still involve a lot of dangerous work, tackling bandits and shadowbeasts among other things, but we don't want to give the vassals of House Thrune reason to hunt us down and scatter us."
She turns to Berrin. "What about you, young lion? Do you have anything to say?"
Janiven nods her head as Berrin adds his heartfelt pledge to everyone else's. "Wonderful! I can't wait for you to meet the rest of the folks I have gathered, although none of them are trained or... well, blooded, frankly."
Janiven opens her mouth to continue, only to be interrupted by a sudden loud banging at the front door. Her eyes wide, the young woman puts her hand on the hilt of her longsword and drops into a crouch. She moves swiftly towards a window next to the door.
A toothy grin crawls across the face of Attris as he stands and says in a loud thunderous tone.
We're closed go sleep it off somewhere else
Attris turns toward the door and drops his body weight in to Tremab Dorr (Terror Boar)stance.
What a shame I've already eaten. I suppose there's always room for dessert
Bark moves swiftly between the door opening and the window. His tail shifts gracefully from behind him and unsheathes his great sword bringing it to his chest where his hands were awaiting it. It is done with such precision that the blade doesn't even catch a glimpse of light.
The tension in the room lessens a little as Janiven looks through the boards of the window and exclaims, "Morosino!" She hurriedly unlocks the door, admitting the orange glow of the now-setting sun, and pulls inside a young, dark-haired teenaged boy, who is red-cheeked and holding his chest.
The boy sputters, "Arael! They've got him..." before doubling over in a fit of coughing. Janiven pats the boy's back, and wide-eyed tells him, "You're alright now, relax and tell me what's happened."
The boy recovers momentarily, then gasps, "The dottari nabbed Arael, and now the Hellknights of the Rack are trying to get custody of him. There's a bunch of Hellknights on the way here now! I only just made it; I think they've already surrounded us! What will we do, Janni?"
Her face grim, Janiven locks the front portal and turns to the door behind the bar. "Now now, they haven't got us yet. Remember the trapdoor in the kitchen? Arael and I scouted it out for just this purpose - it leads right to the hideout. Come on!"
Dragging the still-coughing boy towards the kitchen, she looks over her shoulder at you all. "I'm sorry, it's unfair that you've been caught up in this, but there's nothing for it now but to flee. The Hellknights won't have any mercy - if they suspect Arael, that's pretty much the same as him being guilty - which means we all are too. We must flee, now!" She motions urgently for you to follow.
"Right behind you, Janiven. Right, lads, let's make ourselves disappear - stage left!"
Benni's bare feet are a blur as he scampers across the floor after Janiven and Morosino.
Bark pears through the boarded up windows. He then helps Janiven with the young boy through the trapdoor.
Bark: Through the dying afternoon's lengthening shadows you see a large group of men - at least ten of them, some in ornate plate mail and horned helms - marching quickly towards Vizio's. As you turn and hurry after Janiven, the door shakes under heavy, mailed blows. "Open this door! the Order of the Rack requires all inside to lay down arms and submit!"
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr, this is not ideal.
Surely they know that we are in here. If all of a sudden we disappear down a trapdoor to a 'secret' hideout then they will turn this place upside down, they will find the trap door and they will kill us all and put an end to our plans before they begin.
I must create a diversion
Attris looks to Berrin and whispers in a hushed tone.
Berrin come with me we will lead them away from here and return when it is safe. Never met a Hell Knight I couldn't run from.
Attris looks to Berrin and whispers in a hushed tone.
Berrin come with me we will lead them away from here and return when it is safe. Never met a Hell Knight I couldn't run from.
Janiven hears Attris's words to Berrin from the doorway, and spins around to face him. "You mustn't! If they take you, your lives will be forfeit! We will be fine going through the sewers - Arael and I have marked the way, subtly of course. I beg you, don't face them!" She seems genuinely worried.
Attris stands straight and lowers his claws.
Grrrrrr...As you wish my lady.
He turns to Berrin.
Looks like we'll have to have our fun another time hey Berrin?
Attris moves at full speed to follow Janiven and Benni.
Arael? Who the f**! is Arael anyway?
Bark makes his way through the trapdoor relieving Janiven of carrying the boy so she can move a little faster and lead the way.
"Here let me carry him" Bark says in an authoritative tone. "You lead the way, we must get away from these hell knights"
The thumps on the door grow louder, as do the demands from the Hellknights, as you all rush through the kitchen door. Janiven points to the heavy wooden trapdoor behind the floating bench while she releases Morosino to Bark's guidance and bolts the kitchen door, then drags some shelving and leftover building supplies in front of it. She waits until everyone is past the bench, then unleashes a tanglefoot bag on the door and the adjacent floor space. "That should slow them down a bit," she mutters with a grim smile.
She turns to see Bark and Attris hoisting up the trapdoor, and rushes around the bench. "Quickly now, someone take Morosino down, I'll come last."
Attris stands straight and lowers his claws.
Grrrrrr...As you wish my lady.
He turns to Berrin.
Looks like we'll have to have our fun another time hey Berrin?
Attris moves at full speed to follow Janiven and Benni.
Arael? Who the f$%@ is Arael anyway?
Berrin without saying a word moves to take Morosino down and hoists the boy on his shoulder without a care.
Strength check
"Running is cowardly!"
"And dying is both stupid and pointless," Janiven retorts as Berrin clambers down the ladder with the feebly protesting teenager over his shoulder.
"Who said anything about dying Janiven, If your grand idea to take back the city of Westcrown has already fallen into a heap as we flee from our first ever meeting place,
you would forgive me in thinking that your ideas are shaky at best!"
Berrin grabs Janiven's arm with his free hand.
"And one more thing Janiven, How did the Hell knights know that we were here in the first place ?"Berrin asks in an angry monotonal voice.
Berrin releases her arm.
"I think you have some questions to answer when we get to this hideout of yours"
Janiven neither flinches nor pulls her arm away from Berrin's strong grip. By the time he he finishes speaking, her face is beet red, and her response makes it clear why.
"There are only two reasons why I'm not grinding your face into the floor this second, boy," she states with barely repressed fury. "One: we're running for our lives from our common, and more numerous enemy, and two: you're just a pup that hasn't learnt his manners yet. Right now, we need to work together. Later, you can do whatever you please. But I tell you, handle me like that again, and you'll be tying your bootlaces one-handed for a month. Now get down that manhole before I kick you in yours."
"Now is not the time to let our emotions get the better of us. We need to work together here to make sure we get out of this alive. So how about everyone pulls their heads in and moves on. I don't feel like being cut up by hell knights this night!" bark snaps with disgust over the bickering.
" we have bigger fish to fry and there is much work to be done if we are to save our city so we all better start learning to get along or we will all perish"
Bark says in a calmer more emotive tone.
"Janiven. What marks are we looking for? I will move ahead. "
Come Berrin!
I am not at ease with this decision either but it is made and we must move swiftly. If your still itching for a fight later tonight we can go knick knock on their front door.
Attris laughs at his own joke and catches the eye of Bark as he passes.
Perhaps he's smarter than he looks...and he looks like a tree. I'm beginning to like these misfits.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Benni can't suppress a chuckle.
"He-he ... manhole."
Later, you see him scribbling in his notebook.
1d20-3
Berrin laughs off the womans ridiculous statements and begins to travel down the manhole.
He says in a sly but calm voice.
"Kicking me would be the last thing you ever did Janiven"
Intimidate roll
You don't know when to shut your maw young lion!
Attris gives Berrin an intimidating glare as if to say enough is enough
I like this kids passion but that woman would have spread his little 'humey'nose all over his face. He could be a great pit fighter one day...if he lives long enough to become powerful.
Janiven clenches her jaw and holds her tongue at Berrin's last words, but gives a grateful smile to Bark and Attris, then motions you to all to quickly get down the shaft. The noise of the Hellknight's abuse of the front door grows ever louder, and it sounds like it may be starting to splinter under their blows.
Which way Janiven? I have heard horrid stories of what lies in under Westcrown. Never in my life have i thrown myself in the bowels of it all. You notice a small ammount of concern in Barks tone but he is doing well to hide it.
What are we doing under Westcrown? Being caught down here alone could mean certain death!Let alone what fowl beasts reside here!
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As you all reach the bottom of the shaft, you find yourselves in a five-foot high tunnel in utter darkness. As you hear Janiven step off the ladder, you hear the ringing sound of metal on stone. Shortly thereafter, a warm, bright light suffuses the tunnel. Janiven holds a sunrod in her hand, an iron rod with a bright glowing tip. Her jaw still clenched in anger from Berrin’s rude treatment, she motions the party forward with the sunrod.
Some twenty feet down the narrow rough-hewn stone hallway you can see a simple wooden door. As you all pass through it, stooped (but for Benni) and wary, you see what is obviously a sewer tunnel running to the left and right. You emerge onto a walkway beside a sluggishly flowing stream of mostly liquid waste. Ten feet wide, and still only a little over five feet high, you can see that the tunnel is dark once it stretches past the radius of Janiven’s sunrod, but is punctuated by shafts of dim light that filter down from above at regular intervals. There are constant dripping noises emanating from both the left and right, and the smell is (as to be expected) putrid.
Janiven is last through the door, and as she shuts it you see a heavy wooden bar on this side, which she uses to fasten the door closed. She immediately bends down to the left of the door and pushes aside a medium-sized rock away from the bottom of the stone wall to reveal a hollow in the wall. She sighs in relief.
”Thank Desna, they’re still here,” she says breathily. She retrieves a hessian bag from the hollow, and you hear the clinking of glass. She pulls out a small glass vial filled with sapphire-blue liquid, then looks around the small group.
”We won’t have time to stop and rest once we get going – the Hellknights will make short work of this door, then they’ll be swarming through these tunnels after us. Then there’s the shadow beasts. I have enough healing potions for all here. Who would like a couple?”
Aye my lady I will be on the front lines of battle I will accept your generous offer
Attris holds out a clawed palm.
Hopefully I wont need them
Janiven nods as if Attris has spoken a simple truth. "Here you are, brave Attris."
I think we all could do with the safety of a couple of potions on our belts, It'd be easier to administer them to ourselves than to try to aid others if we are caught in battle. Bark steps up to collect his and begins to 'pass them round' making sure there is enough for Janiven.
S~%~s just got real, Healing potions....Hell Knights....Come on Bark, pull yourself together. Do you want to help this city or not? Yhar
"I expect you brave fellows to be much closer to the blood-spilling than I, but I would hate to get injured and be a burden to the group so maybe I'll just take one, just in case."
I don't like the way this is going. Halflings don't belong in sewers being chased by Hell Knights and swigging healing potions. Oh we'll, at least it will make a good story.
"I have a good supply, Benni," says Janiven. "Here, quickly, take these". She hands Benni three potions. She also gives three to Morosino, telling him, "Just in case." She then looks expectantly at Berrin, her face taking on a displeased cast.
I can scout ahead for danger if you'd like? bark questions as he pulls his bow
point me in the right direction with a determined look in his eye lining up an arrow in his sights.
Janiven nods and points at the far wall of the sewer tunnel. "See that small sword symbol drawn in chalk, pointing to the left? Arael and I scouted these tunnels some months ago, in preparation for a disaster such as this. The swords point us to the safe house. I'll tell you more about Arael as we travel." She turns to Bark. "We all need to travel quickly, but if you want to scout, say, forty feet ahead of us, we're less likely to foil your attempts at stealth. Let's go. Lead the way Bark."
As you all take off down the passage, Janiven says quietly to Benni, "Remember the chalk swords, in case we get separated. They lead to the old temple of Aroden, now a shrine to Iomedae."
As you creep swiftly along the sewer tunnel after Bark, Janiven begins talking quietly, almost whispering. ”Arael is a priest of Iomedae (link), and he and I have been working together on this plan for months. As you heard just after Morosino’s untimely entrance, the dottari (link), with the Hellknights' assistance, have taken him into custody. I know Arael was meeting with another anti-Asmodean group today, so they must have got him while he was in their company.
"In any event, we have gathered a small amount of folks to become the core of our cause, and now that we have such capable people as yourselves to help train them and lead them, we are just about ready to begin. Unfortunately, it seems that Morosino escaped and unwittingly led the Hellknights to Vizio’s – it’s alright Morosino, but you must learn from this mistake,” she says to the boy as he hangs his head in shame. ”Morosino is Arael’s assistant and acolyte, and will make a fine follower of Iomedae one day.
”So. Do you have any questions for me? So long as we whisper, we shouldn’t be heard even where Bark is.” She glances around the group questioningly.
No questions here my lady. Lets press on.