Seeing the man go down Sau're'!K knows he has to do something. He quickly drops his scimitar and moves towards the fallen man. While he moves there he tells Re'!k'th to follow and then gives him a new target. As he arrives at the man he pulls out a handful of Good-berries.
Re'kth is momentarily annoyed when told to follow and attack the new man, but he does what he has been trained to do.
Sulia will try to land a hit on #2.
Trem's spell covers the ground with slippery grease but it doesn't hinder the two thugs, who continue to stand firmly. Moreover, the second thug manages to land a solid strike on Saurek, who is distracted by the dying man.
The "guards" flanking Sulia attack her one last time and, seeing as their associate has almost killed the bleeding man, run away.
The third guards finishes the bleeding man with a strike to the neck and joins the escape.
[dice= "Guard" 2 Reflex save DC 15]1d20+5[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 3 Reflex save DC 15]1d20+5[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 1 AoO (Rekth)]1d20+4[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 2 AoO (Saurek)]1d20+4[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 1 Attack]1d20+4[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 2 Attack]1d20+4[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 3 Attack]1d20+4[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 2 Reflex save DC 10]1d20+5[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 3 Reflex save DC 10]1d20+5[/dice]
[dice= "Guard" 1 Reflex save DC 10]1d20+5[/dice]
As the thug near her start running away, Sarari takes a swing at him. Sadly, he moved to fast and she was unable to connect. Seeing the other two also running away, she charges one of them. She slices her sword across his back hoping to stop him in his track.
Moving toward the thug that is leaving in the other direction, Trem fire his crossbow. The bolt passes over the thug's shoulder. "That's it! You run away you coward, better hope I never see you again!"
Seeing that the man has been finished off Sau're'!K goes after the men who are fleeing. He moves 30 ft. drawing a spear and throwing it.
But throws wide...
Re'!k'th takes a quick swipe after the running man and then seeing him drop chases after the second man.
Visruþ then chases 'guard' 2 and tries attacking with his rapier again:
With two others killed, the third one surrenders and drops his weapon.
"Don't kill me!"
Visruþ sees the last guard surrender and points his rapier toward him and says
"On the ground, face down, and don't move."
as he walks toward the guard
Once the man is on the ground, Trem walks toward him. "You surrender? We should show you the same mercy you showed the man over there."[b] He points to the dead man they couldn't save. [b]"I should have your head cut off and install on a pike!!" He's getting visibly more angry as he speak. "Or even better, maybe I should some of the punishment they do to murderer from where I come from. Your soul will never get to the other side!" He bends down to be closer to the man's face. "Tell us everything now! Who was this man and why did you assassinate him??"
Sau're'!K begins to retrieve his weapons, and dropped berries. Then he begins to search the bodies of the three dead men looking especially for clues as to who they were and why the two killed the third. While all of this is going on he keeps a sensitive ear tuned to the man that Trem is questioning... trying to put it all together into a cohesive story.
Sulia goes to the fallen person she had tried to save, dropping to her knees and checking if there was anything she could do to save him. She couldn't. Sighing, she turns to the rest of the group. "Why? Why would they do this?" she demanded. "What's was so important that they gave their lives to kill this man? Tried to kill us?"
The "guard" drops down on the ground, but Visruþ can see that he knows that the tiefling can't hear a thing.
"No need to be so angry, I like my life very much, that's why I surrender," he snickers at Trem, but starts answering his question nevertheless. "We're not just murdering people left and right, you know. We were paid - by Hamsa Gadd - to kill this youth, Kanjo Arram. No questions asked."
When you search assassins, aside from their equipment you find a sketch of Kanjo and a note. "Make it look like he left town."
"You like your life? Maybe you should have thought about that before taking one." Trem looks over the note. "Could someone get Adaela and also tie that waste of life up before I change my mind about being a good guy?" He gives a nod at Sarari who then position herself over the thug so that there is no chance of him escaping. Hamsa Gadd? She's going to be trouble... Political battle is harder than physical one, and here I though I could have a simpler life here.
"It's my job," he answers indignantly. "I don't enjoy it like some psychopath. It pays well."
After one of you ran to Adaela's house and recounted everything, she soon appears at the scene.
"By Gods," she sighs. "That's awful."
She then asks that someone accompany her to the jail where she will write a report and order to clean up the bodies.
"It's a pity you didn't manage to save the poor man, but you did a great job nevertheless. You caught one of them. I'll interrogate him once more and decide what do with all of this tomorrow. You should rest now."
After a good night's sleep you meet Adaela to learn what her interrogation revealed.
"I'm afraid nothing more than he's already told you. And I'm afraid I' can't do anything at this point. Hamsa is the Count's close friend, I can't just accuse her without any evidence. Even with this assassin's testimony," she shakes her head.
Glad he can hear again, Visruþ asks Adaela:
"Do we know anything about the victim?"
"Not much, I'm afraid. I only know that Kanjo Arram was the apprentice of a cleric named Magdi Kukoyi who vanished during the recent expedition. The poor guy was penniless, away from home."
"Anything known about Magdi Kukoyi?"
"Was there anything unusual in Kanjo's personal affects?"
"I didn't speak to Magdi much, but he was friendly and helpful," she remembers and ansewrs the second question. "Nothing. Just his usual things - clothes, an amulet, what little money he made."
"Could we see the amulet? It might be nothing, but it doesn't hurt to look."
She shows his amulet, in which Sulia immediately recognizes a holy symbol of Gozreh.
Sulia's eyes narrow, and she looks more troubled than upset. "I..." she closes her mouth and her eyes, thinking about the poor man she couldn't save.
Listening to Adaela, Trem isn't very happy. "How much evidence do you need to be able to make a move against her? I don't really care about what friend she has in this town. Someone like that isn't good for the long term benefit of the city." He pauses for a second to reflect on the previous conversation they had with the woman. "When you say that Magdi Kukoyi disappeared during a recent expedition, was that the one that Hamsa was the sole survivor of? If that's the case, then I get a feeling that she trying might be guilty of a lot more the just this murder."
Visruþ tries to examine the dead man's amulet, on the off chance it's a
container (like a locket), or has any other unusual features.
It is a simple holy symbol, there is nothing unusual about it.
"I like it no more than you, but what are the proofs? Gossips and words of an assassin - nothing more. And the note can be easily forged," Adaela helplessly shakes her head. "Yes, that was Hamsa's expedition."
"She has a point. If those assassins were telling the truth they might have been given false information."
"Out of curiosity, who does the count report too? Just trying to get a bigger picture of the hierarchy layers here."
"Officially he answers to Baron Utilinus. But that is just a formality, since nobody really cares about Pridon's Hearth for now."
You finally leave Pridon's Hearth and Muhdzuzi takes the lead as soon as you enter the jungle. Rain and wind are less severe inside the jungle, in exchange for damp, bugs and beasts. None of which luckily took interest in two-legged prey, except for the usual mosquitoes - but you got used to those.
Mdiway, ate least according to Muhdzuzi, you encountered a group of Song'o trappers, who at first didn't want to even talk to you and shot a couple of arrows at your feet, but after Muhdzuzi went ahead, they settled down and agreed to come along.
The settlement is built upon a particularly deep wetland, and you see that all of the huts are built atop bamboo stilts. Halflings living here seem to already know about you. They don't hide and welcome you, but nevertheless are suspicious of outsiders.
"Enkosi! Ndiza kubuya!" Muhdzuzi runs away into the village and returns in a ten or so minutes. "Mhlawumbi bekuya kuba ufile ukuba wena, ngoko ke nceda uthathe ezi."
He then thanks you once more and reunites with his friends, disappearing inside the village.
In about half an hour after your visit you see an elder halfling woman walking to you, accompanied by five warriors.
"Welcome, strangers. I see you've already made friends," she greets you in Common with a thick accent. "What brings you here?"
"I probably would be dead if not for you, so please take these."
"You're welcome!" Sulia exclaims, trying to be cheerful.
"Some lizard-folk are killing settlers."
"They tried killing us too."
"They try to blame Song'o for the killing."
"They are dangerous. And strange."
"Greeting Elder. The main reason we had was to honor a promise made to Muhdzuzi. Then, as we learned more about the region, another reason like curiosity and gathering information about our neighbor were added to the list. But where are our manners. Let me introduce us first. The two over here that talked with you are Sulia," Trem points them out as he name them. "and Visruþ. Over here is Sau're'! K and is friend Re'!kit. As for me, I am Trem and my companion over here is Sarari." He bows a bit as he says his name. "What my colleague Visruþ said is truth, we've had a problem with a local tribe of lizardfolk, but this is probably better discussed elsewhere than in the middle of the street. There seems to be some dark force that would like to see both our people come to blows. I would like to avoid such situation. If there are any other elders you would like to gather before we get into more details, now might be the time." Trem pause there, giving the woman time to process everything he said.
Sau're'!K nods when his name is said by Trem. Thank you for your welcome. For the most part he stays out of the way of those who are more skilled in social graces.
"I am Zaahku, the elder of this tribe. There is no one else," the elder introduces herself.
"Well, that is terrible," she continues. "And I am grateful for your bringing Muhdzuzi back, but the lizardfolk problem is outsiders' problem, not the Song'o. We survived alongside the Mireborn for centuries."
Trem listens to the elder and it sadden him when she mentions that it's not a Song'O problem. He looks at her for a moment while thinking and then address her once more. "I understand that you don't want to involve your people in a conflict, but the lizardfolk don't seem to share your point of view. While Muhdzuzi made it home, the others that were traveling with them did not. They were slaughtered by the lizardfolk at Fort Breakthrough with all of our people living there. They didn't get a better treatment then the outsider. In fact, the lizardfolk even went out of their way to pin those deaths on your people. We saw through the ruse, others might have not." Pausing for a second, Trem's look around, trying to see if there is any sign of damage to the village by the recent storm.
"Their second attacks on our village was more direct. You saw the last storm that hit the region. Well, they used magic to augment its destructive power. Luckily for us, we were able to stop them before anyone got killed, but we did suffer material losses." He looks straight in her eyes with almost a pleading look. "What we need for now is not a war declaration on the lizardfolk from the Song'O, but rather an open line of communication between your people and mine. Share some knowledges of the region, and trade some resources. With time, maybe both our villages could prosper from such exchange and see each other as friends."
"Communication between our people?" she scoffs. "Not a single time when outsiders promised us something we benefited from it. Only lost. And Song'o heard many promises and bargains for decades."
There is however a thoughtful look in her eyes when she continues.
"But you did save Muhdzuzi. And, if what you're saying is true, uncovered the truth of this attack on your fort."
"Perhaps if you offer concrete help, so I know that I can trust you, I might be willing to help you," she pauses. "Can you help me with a problem our tribe has?"
Sulia will nod.
"If we can help, I will." she says.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"That seems reasonable. Muhdzuzi did help us. And he is our friend.
Satisfied with the answer, Zaahku nods.
"A tojanida lives upriver, beneath a grand waterfall," she begins. "She is a... strange outsider - adores coral capuchin eggs that nest to the north, for some reason. She calls herself Guughwa and while she is wise and knowledgeable, when she settled she demanded a toll from us. In exchange for letting us live in "her" river, she claimed my cauldron of brewing. Can you bring it back? I can't face her myself. But please, do not kill her. Since Guughwa settled there we haven't seen any dangerous predators around here."
The path to the waterfall takes almost five hours and by the time you arrive the sun begins to set. You do not face any serious threat on your way to the Guughwa - which seem to confirm Zaahku's words about dangerous predators.
Five breathtaking cascades of water tumble over the twenty-foot-high, vegetation-covered cliffs surrounding the pristine pool. A mist clings to the water’s surface, thick with the scent of a dozen flowering plants. A pastel rainbow of eggshells litters one side of the pool.
Adult tojanidas are roughly 6 feet long and weigh several hundred pounds. When threatened, a tojanida can retract its limbs most of the way into its shell, which is an irremovable part of its body. The ring of eyes completely encircling the tojanida's shell along its rim makes the creature extremely difficult to catch by surprise. While tojanidas adore eating, as they find flavor and texture to be two of the most fascinating senses, they don't actually need to consume food, instead drawing sustenance directly from the currents of arcane energy all around them via the magic of their shells.
Blessed (some might say cursed) with extremely long racial memories, tojanidas wander the oceans and lakes of innumerable worlds, attempting to find unusual physical pleasures or conversation capable of distracting them from the insufferable ennui and apathy born of remembering their ancestors' experiences. Though the tojanidas themselves may not appreciate the burden of memory, adventurers and scholars often seek the use of a tojanida's recalled lore.
Sulia gasps, enjoying the beauty of the view.
"Coral capuchins?" she says, observing the many different shells. "Be careful not to disturb these, they've been set aside for a reason, and I don't want to disrespect them."