Darian’s head bolts up from the crook of Isabel’s neck as he hears a strange voice using words of magic outside his door. He lifts a finger to Isabel’s lips to quiet her and points to the door.
Freya just manages to shake off the effects of the half-elf's spell.
Cocking her head slightly she incredulously (and rhetorically) asks, "Did you really just try to charm me?"
"Bad decision." She says as she conjures a ball of ice and hurls it at the man.
vs. Touch AC
Following the throw she simply says "Attack!" as Fenrir strides out of the room and launches himself at the half-elf.
Lisl looks up for a moment, then goes back to reading scripture.
Jory snaps his book closed, hearing a disturbance of some kind in the common hallway. He moves to the door and tugs it open.
Freya casts but misses with her spell.
Fenrir launches himself at the man, who curses loudly as his leg is torn and he tumbles to the floor.
The Half-elf casts a spell on himself.
Mirror Image
There are now several images of the man in the same place, making it hard to pinpoint his location exactly.
The Party may now act.
The moment Isabel throws open the door, Darian, minus any clothing from the waist up, leaps out brandishing his weapon. He quickly takes stock of the situation, and points his weapon at the man on the ground. His blade, as do the fangs and weapons of his allies in the hall within sight, begin glowing with white radiance. His eyes, however, burn with anger and frustration!
________
"Mirror image!" Freya calls out. The witch ever-so-briefly considers casting a burning hands spell, before opting for her slumber hex.
Meanwhile, Fenrir continues to bite at the half-elf.
(inspire, vs. prone AC)
(inspire)
Fenrir growls in anger as his bite finds only the illusion.
The Charm worked, currently the strange mage is under your spell. What are you doing?
Darian keeps his weapon leveled on the man, just in case some other tricks remain up his sleeve, especially as his intentions were unclear but appeared hostile...
Freya nods.
"Fenrir, to me." she says, keeping a wary eye on the half-elf.
Jory leaps out of the doorway to find the intruder already subdued by Isabel. "What? Fun's over already? Who's our new friend?"
The Half-Elf gets slowly to his feet, dismissing the Mirror image spell and blinking a bit in confusion. "Ah yes. I'm here to kill you or your husband, or both of you if possible." He tells you. "Actually I feel kind of bad about that now."
He goes on tiptoes as an arrow slams into his back, then slumps bonelessly to the ground. Spinning you see a female Hobgoblin at the end of the hall, already drawing another arrow.
What are you doing now
Darian watches the man slump tot he ground with a bolt in his back and jumps with a start. He peeks around the door and spots the hobgoblin and clenches his teeth as he tightens the grip on his blade. He bolts out into the hall and surges past Jory as he darts towards the hobgoblin, moving both hands to his sword as he closes into melee...
__________
Lisl emerges from her room in her nightgown with her book in hand, ready to give an annoying tirade about making too much noise, then takes in the scene, moves to the fallen half-elf, and immediately stabilizes him.
Freya steps out into the hallway, unable to do much against the hobgoblin archer, but does send Fenrir along with Darian as back-up.
Isabel throws her spell and the Hobgoblin hisses in frustration as she goes rigid in the arcane bindings.
What are you doing now?
Darian steps up and swings the flat of his blade at the hobgoblin’s cranium hard with both hands!
: Darian steps up and swings his blade for the murderer’s throat, attempting to cleave her head from her shoulders!
Darian takes careful aim and slams the flat of his heavy blade into the Hobgoblins head. She spins around and collapses bonelessly to the floor, blood trickling from her nose.
Despite Lisl casting Stabilize on the Half-elf he seems to grow paler and his condition worsens?
He has been poisoned with Deathblade poison and is losing con every round.
What are you doing now?
Lisl looks over the half-elf as he continues to gasp and wheeze, and her brow furrows. "Something's wrong. He's still dying."
|
"Poison I imagine." Isabel responds as she re-emerges into the hallway. "Darian, Jory - take her weapons and bind her. I can't hold her for long."
She kneels by Lisl and with practised hands removes the man's spell components pouch and anything resembling a spellbook. "Do you have any more magic Lisl. It would be good if we could save him - even if he did admit to wanting to kill us..."
"I can heal his wounds, but if he's poisoned, I can't stop that from killing him."
|
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"Do what you can then. If we can't save him ourselves then it is in the gods hands."
With the elf stripped of spell paraphernalia and getting the best care they have available Isabel heads down the corridor towards the unconscious hobgoblin. "Are we ready to try and wake her? I'll see if I can charm her and we can learn what's going on here."
"Poison you say?" Freya asks. "Let me at him, I might be able to help with that."
In addition, herb witches are adept at brewing thick herbal cure-alls called remedies. An herb witch prepares her remedies while communing with her familiar and can prepare a number of remedies equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier (minimum 1 remedy). A remedy becomes inert if it leaves the herb witch’s possession, reactivating as soon as it returns to her keeping. A witch can never have more remedies than 3 + her Intelligence modifier. As a standard action, the herb witch can administer a remedy to herself or a creature within reach. This consumes the remedy, and the herb witch attempts a Profession (herbalist) check against the save DC of any one disease or poison currently afflicting the consumer. If the check is successful, the effect immediately ends. If the disease or poison doesn’t allow saving throws, the remedy is ineffective. An herb witch can also use a remedy to attempt to end the blinded, deafened, fatigued, nauseated, or sickened conditions. This requires a Profession (herbalist) check with a DC equal to the spell or effect that caused the condition, or a DC 25 check if the condition was caused by an effect that doesn’t allow for a saving throw. If successful, the condition ends. Only a single condition, disease, or poison can be removed with each application of a remedy. This replaces the witch’s hex gained at 1st level.
Freya then begins to reach into various pouches, pulling out different herbs and mixing them with water to form a paste which she administers to the half-elf.
(spending inspiration) vs. DC of the poision.
Darian ties the hobgoblin up and lifts her up by the back of the neck of her armor and her belt loop and carries her back to the others. Once there, he makes certain to remove every bit of weaponry and tool these murderers have on their possession as he sighs and says "Surely this isn't more of Thrune's thugs out for our heads. Who could be looking to kill us now?"
Once the assassins have been stabilized and divulged of anything they could put to use against them should they escape their bonds, he lifts them up and puts them into chairs. He then looks to his wife and snickers, "Um...darling...you might want to join me in putting a little bit more suitable attire on..."
He then steps back into his bedchambers and grabs his shirt, sliding it over his head as he walks back out into the hall of the upper floor.
Freya quickly mixes a remedy that she forces down the Half-elves throat. He chokes for a second or two, then sighs and slumps back, his skin regaining a healthier tone.
while he is still unconscious he is now stable and no longer dying.
From the Hobgoblin:
Potion of cure moderate wounds,
Alchemist's fire (2),
Hide armor +1,
long bow with 19 arrows,
MW sickles (2),
Cloak of resistance +1,
57gp.
From the Half-elf:
Potion of cure moderate wounds,
Potion of invisibility,
Scrolls of levitate (2),
Scroll of ray of exhaustion,
Scroll of silent image,
Wand of entangle (20 charges),
Smokestick,
MW light crossbow with 10 bolts,
MW light mace,
Cloak of resistance +1,
190gp
Both of the mystery assailants have a badge pinned to the inside of their cloaks. A round disk of obsidian crossed by a green talon. None of you have ever seen this before, or heard anything about it?
What are you doing now?
Darian takes the pins and looks them over, handing one to Jory. ”You ever seen anything like this before?” he asks.
|
|
Isabel considers her state of comparative undress for a minute, and then ducks back inside the bedroom to pull on a robe.
She emerges, with the robe securely fastened, and considers the two unconscious assailants. "Let's split them up. Freya, Lisl and I can take the elf in here." She gestures to the unoccupied room, "Freya saved his life and Lisl will check that he's not lying. You boys take her downstairs, maybe play the 'scary male' cards. I'll come down and be good cop once we've spoken to our spell-casting friend here."
Darian smiles and nods at his wife. ”Alright you,” he says to the hobgoblin as he picks her up again. ”Lets go. Jory, you want to take the lead in this interrogation?” he asks as he heads down the stairs.
"I don't think this badge is a religious symbol," says Lisl. "But if you're a spy for a secret organization it seems kinda dumb to wear an insignia."
She stands and says, "I won't be able to use my truth-telling spell until the morrow, when I can pray to Abadar for different spells."
Freya shrugs.
"Probably best to wait until then, but then again I'm not above a bit of aggressive interrogation either." she says, glancing toward Fenrir.
|
|
"Let's see what we can get now. Worse comes to worse I can try to charm him and he should answer because he wants to."
Once the elf is placed in a chair and bound (especially his hands), Isabel nods to Lisl and takes up position in front of the elf.
"My apologies Sir, for these precautions but I feel that, given the circumstances, they are warranted. You have admitted to planning my death but when we prevented your plans you were shot by your accomplice and poisoned. It is only thanks to the efforts of these ladies that you are still alive. If you speak now, and truthfully, then I will grant you some leniency. Please be sensible about this."
Darian will place the hobgoblin into a corner seat of the inn’s common room. Once they are secured in their seat, he seeks out the owner and apologizes for the inconvenience and explains what has happened. He then returns to Jory and the assassin.
If necessary, he will use some of his curative magic to bring her around, but prefers to let her deal with the pain if they can wake her without magic intervention. ”I suppose it is painfully obvious to you at this point that you have absolutely zero options beyond cooperation, right?”
"Someone should check on the rest of the team and make sure everyone's all right and there aren't assassins elsewhere," mentions Lisl.
Jory takes the strange badge from Darian, eyeing it closely. "Can't say that I do. Didn't hear anything from our Sootscale friends about bandits in the area wearing a sigil like this."
Settling down with their captive, Jory considers his options. As an aside to Darian: "I know a few tricks that may help us. Let's leave off of the blades for now, eh?"
Turning to the hobgoblin, Jory offers her a winning smile and introduces himself in Common and Goblin. "Care to explain why you're trying to kill me and my friends? I'm not sure I can keep Darian here in check for long. As you can tell, he is quite wroth with you."
The Ladies.
The Half-elf blinks and looks around himself in some confusion, wincing as his movements seem to jar some inner strain. "Ah!" He says blankly when Isabel says her piece.
He looks around again , not seeing whatever he was looking for. "So Maka tried to stop me talking did she? That woman is really a little too much of a believer."
He explains that he is a new member of a group calling themselves The Green Guard. More specifically the part of the group which deals with threats to their goals. Which in this case is no Human settlements in the stolen lands. Especially the Narlmarches. The mission to kill the leaders of the new settlement was given him as a test of his skills and resolve.
What else do you wish to ask him?
The boys.
The female Hobgoblin slowly stirs back from unconsciousness, Groaning in pain and blinking to clear her vision. She struggles with her bonds and finding them unbreakable settles back and glares at you with hatred in her eyes.
When Jory asks his question she spits at him in contempt. Snarling something unpleasant at him.
Eat s&%~ you lousy Slip!
What are you doing now?
Darian grinds his teeth at the hobgoblins continued hostile attitude and demeanor. "Keep an eye on her, Jory. And see if she is going to come to her senses before she is sentenced. I'm gonna check what the girls have learned."
He then heads back upstairs and knocks on the door to the room where the women are interrogating their prisoner. "Any luck?" he asks when the door is opened.
Being the middle of the night, Josef tries to be quiet as he opens the front door to the inn and starts working his way up to his room.
Wherever he's been it seems to have involved some relaxing drinks, as he's not as attentive as he would normally be. He can't be. If he was, he would have noticed the hobgoblin tied to a chair long before he stopped on the stairs and turned back around to see if he really saw what he thought he had. He should have recognized Jory sitting there watching her, too.
"Jory, man, you've got it all wrong. Yer supposed ta tie her up in yer bed . . .."
The girls must have been too engrossed with their questioning to notice Darian’s question. So when he heard Josef return downstairs he closed the door and made his way back down. Seeing him no worse for wear aside from some spirits, he sighed in relief and said ”Thank the Gods you are alright, Josef. A pair of assassins just made an attempt on us. We don’t know who else besides myself and Isabel were targets. You not being here had me concerned.”