Map
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Second Round Recap
Juliet fights to stay in the light! Jiang's sword strikes true against Balston. Not one second later, Roakkard unleashes flame and shadow at the ruffian!
Eldritch might and Jiang's swordplay are gaining the upper hand against this dastardly adversary!
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Third Round
Order: Tybalt, Thug, Jiang, Roakkard, Juliet.
Ongoing Effects: Juliet (Life/Death Saves 1:1), Roakkard's Hex [Round 3/10]
The bag is my inventory. Product and a decent amount of sails and crowns. I'm a businessman of sorts and this was my store. That alarm went off and was making up my mind if the coast is clear or start looking for greener pastures. Then you showed up.
The ruffian strikes at Jiang.
The advantage gained, once again lost with a decisive strike by the formidable foe.
If he's got a shop here, he probably knows something of Lamm. We'll come back for him after the mission is ours. Tybalt briefly considers leading the pauper downstairs as a hostage, but he has no experience with such things, and isn't sure that he's important enough for the thugs to care. Far more sure in himself than any social obligations.
Without warning, Tybalt slams the pommel into the man's head.
Tybalt ignores the bag as the man slumps, then stealthily heads back down.
Jiang collapses to the floor he, also, bleeding to death...
If his allies falling around him unnerves Roakkard, he does not show it. He simply takes out his spear and holds it at the ready with his staff in his other hand.
He murmurs arcane words, conjuring a curtain of fire from another dimension as he waves both his spear and red crystal staff in small circles.
+
Actually, he won't. Already used my 1st-level spell slot to cast hex. Somehow I forgot about that. :( He will, however, use his reaction to parry, and decrease the damage by
Map!
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Third Round Summary
Tybalt knocks out the "Pauper" on top of the balcony. A crudely spaced ladder leads down ~20ft from the belfry into the lower level of the bell tower. You can make out how below you is a small, octagonal room has open beams and unfinished walls. The room is quite drafty, with scatterings of rat droppings about the corners. It is unoccupied.
The Thug wickedly dispatched our monk! The adversary defined mortality in a single, well-placed strike.
Jiang, unconscious, stays to the light!
Ouch. Juliet sees the light fading! Darkness is approaching! Is that....Malcomb?
Roakkard's occultish arcane energy (and a bit of spear) is the last line against our foe!
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Fourth Round
Order: Tybalt, Thug, Jiang, Roakkard, Juliet.
Ongoing Effects: Juliet (Life/Death Saves 1:2), Jiang (Life/Death Saves: 1:0), Roakkard's Hex [Round 4/10]
Balston the thug, covered in blood, silently comes towards Roakkard. His sunken eyes do not deviate from his target.
Tybalt! It's up to you!
Tybalt climbs down carefully, quietly. If he can follow a rafter beam towards the location of the second floor balcony, he will. Else he'll sneak on the ground.
Juliet coughs, and turns on her side, and lays still, the last moments of her consciousness focused on what her feverish mind thinks must be Gaedren Lamm's corpse, lying bloody on the floor. She stands over it, and wipes Spite on her breeches, cleaning the blood from her blade. Looking up, she sees a bright tunnel, and shapes moving beyond it, and the young woman smiles, her mind at peace having avenged her husband, and everything is---
Clutching at the bleeding wound in his side, Roakkard makes his way back to the diviner's storefront. His mind somehow fails to register the pain, however, and he walks in a rapid fugue state. His eyes and ears turned inward as though some other force controlled his motions.
The rapidness with which he returned to the fortune teller's home was beyond human; he spoke to no one; stopped nowhere, and slipped unseen through shadows in the blink of an eye.
As the door closes behind him, he leans heavily on the door, now gasping in pain. "Curse the villain! Two fallen... beyond my help!" For a moment, there is surprise in his voice, as though he had no idea he wanted to help those who fell. "Well, woman! What now?" He grits his teeth against the pain of his injury as he storms into the receiving room.
Roakkard rummages through the apartment, looking for rags or some cloth he can use as bondages, finally doing what he can to bind his own wounds.
Zellara rushes out from the back of the shop. "Desna! What happened to you child!? You're bleeding! Here lay down."
Roakkard, she helps you get comfortable for you to dress your wounds.
"Let me see if I have something in the back for you."
She comes back with some herbal tea and some bandages. She offers to aid you in your state to get comfortable and your grievous wounds healed.
"Rest. Rest is what we do now."
"We were... ambushed is not quite the right word. We were overtaken. Juliet, and Jiang both fell. I was forced to flee for my life and could not go back and save them. I am sure they are both <cough> dead now."
Roakkard wipes the blood he has just coughed up on a scrap of bandage he had remaining. He looks up to the ceiling with a pleading look in his eyes. "Forgive me!", but it is not clear at all who or what he is talking to.
With a great, ragged gasp, Juliet sits up on the cold marble slab.. Next to her sits an assortment of tools on a table - scalpels, embalming fluid, and other, more grisly instruments. Instruments used to sew the eyes shut, remove the brain, and preserve a corpse for the sealing in the earth - or in the case of her family, in the Tanlasel crypt. Where apparently I was to be interred alive? Drugged perhaps, my body secured for final passage and then the marble top put on my slab?
Shifting off the slab, the young woman pulled up her funerary gown and traced the puncture wounds in her stomach, where Balston and his henchman had both stabbed her. Scarred over, as if the wounds happened years ago? But that can't be - I'd be long stuck in that marble coffin...
One thing was for sure - regardless of how long she'd been on the slab, Juliet had to get the hells out of her family's crypt. Looking around, she spied her belongings, most of them from her person, the things she had last carried - except for Spite and her buckler. Instead of the shield, resting on top of her leather armor (now with puncture holes), was a new buckler, shiny and steel, lightweight and easy to maneuver. Grabbing it and her gear, Juliet dressed quickly, and sighed as she strapped her hand axes to her waist. They'll have to do, until I split Balston's head and take my fencing blade back. Unbidden, a thought came into Juliet's head. Well not a thought exactly. Images, quick and piercing, like a sword's thrust, but pleasurable too, like fingers on lightly tracing the back of her neck. Images of a stinger, bearing down on flesh. Then a woman's voice, sultry, almost a purr. The savored sting is twice as sweet with anticipation.
Juliet didn't know what it meant, and didn't care. She needed to find her brother - first she'd check his flat, and then the fortune teller's. Perhaps the others were there if they made it out of Balston's alive. And if not, she'd need to take payment for their souls out of his hide as well...
But actually, first she needed to eat something. She was starving.
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Cracking open the door, hand on the hilt of her axe in case the thugs had made their way to Zellara's, Juliet spies her brother and Roakkard, the Shaonti human looking grimmer than usual. Letting go a deep sigh of relief, Juliet swings the door open, and sees sitting with them an elven man, pleasant enough looking. "Jiang?" is all she says, her voice coming flat.
Roakkard sits up suddenly at the sound of Juliet's voice, coughing once again as his wound reopens. "Wha-how?! Juliet, I saw you fall! I was tempted to save you, but I had to flee the place. Balston's swords were hard pressed against me next, and I barely had time to parry his strike and flee." His words rushed and jumbled, it is obvious that Juliet's reappearance has a dramatic effect on Roakkard.
Finally, the fact that she had asked about Jiang dawned on him. He grimly shook his head. "Jiang will be remembered in the songs of his descendants. Unless he too is getting up from the grave soon." Roakkard.
"Juliet? My child! Roakkard said you fell in combat! How can this be?"
You can easily tell from her expression and tone how surprised she is to see you!
"Perhaps a prayer in the name of the Great Dreamer is in order? One of solemn remembrance of our fallen comrade and one of joy of the return of Juliet."
Zellara begins to pray in Varisian. .
Somewhere, in the sky Jiang and his wife are reunited. Jiang is playing his favorite flute tune for her.
At the conclusion of the prayer, the door to the shop opens once more. A hooded elf with soft golden white hair sticking out from the hoods edges comes in. His cloak and traveling clothes swirl with colors similar to Varisian styles. Small embroiders outline the garbs with symbols of Desna. How providential!
Ever since finding the Harrow card with the odd instructions Zaladrel had found himself utterly lost. New to Korvosa and two decades since his last true stay in a real city the elf had found himself down blind alleys, through roundabout quarters and dead end streets. Finally amidst modest shop fronts and packed up stalls the ckeric gave a quick sign to Desna and pushed through the doors.
The intense faces that greeted him bearing a great deal of recent emotion paused Zal and offering a sort of half cough the elf spoke, "Um hello, i was..er...invited?" He pulls the Harrow card from his pocket to prove his point.
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Roakkard looks over the newcomer. "I shall pray to Gods, Spirits, or Ancestors, that you are a cleric of one of them. And someone at least versed in the healing arts?"
"I am Roakkard... Red-Feather for the time being. And if you have your mind set on revenge against Gaedren, you are in the right place."
Juliet stands, stunned, but only for a minute. Strange things happen in this world, and the singer was never one much for reflection. "I... I am sorry for Jiang. It seems I'm still here, how it is, I don't know. But, I do know this feeling that burns in my breast - hatred, pure and simple, for Lamm, for his men. I want to send them all to judgement. Every. Last. One."
Sighing, she smiles wanly at her brother. "Ty, could I trade you an axe for a dagger, until I get Spite back from Balston's corpse? I was always better suited with a blade."
Turning to the new elf, Juliet stands, and holds out her hand. "Well met. I am Juliet D'Artengan. You may have heard of me, if you're a fan of the opera." Nodding her head to Red-Feather, and then to the others, Juliet continues. "He's an outlander. She's a fortune teller. My brother, he's an... opportunist. We all have in common that we've been wronged by Lamm. I assume you have as well. Luckily for you, we know of a rock some of his men have crawled under."
Tybalt clearly hasn't slept - tranced - all night.
After keeping watch on the Mission , he prowled the streets without purpose, walking until he reached Zellara's home. Feeling compelled to complain, he enters, but finds the Shoanti is already there, recovering.
He's shocked when Juliet enters, and startles to full attention from the tired way he was leaning against the wall.
"How can this be!" He exclaims, a mixture of outrage and fear in his voice.
"I saw you and Jiang on the ground, floor painted red. Are you a spectre come to haunt me?"
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Ty hesitates when Juliet asks for a dagger.
He detaches the sheathed blade from his belt, and holds it out to her, but doesn't release his grip.
"This isn't a fencing blade. It's not for showing off." Then he lets go. He doesn't take the hand axe offered in exchange.
He scowls at being referred to as an "opportunist". He turns to the elf to clarify:
"I am the true scion of the Tanlasel family." He declares proudly, as if that explains everything. Maybe it does.
Zal nods slowly and bows slightly in response, I am Zaladrel Orain, cleric of Desna and wanderer. Many of the names you mention I do not know but I do seek to stem the tide of this drug "Shiver" that has wounded a member of my caravan family.
Zal approaches and slides the Harrow card on the table between them all, I can heal and I know my way around a blade. It sounds as though you have already forayed into the darkness against these criminals and been dealt a blow... The elf offers an easy smile, Like the swallowtail I go where Desna guides me and here I am. If I can be of aid, let me accompany you.
Juliet takes the dagger with both hands, and tucks it into her belt, nodding in gratitude. "Many thanks, Ty. I'm not planning on showing off. Just going in, putting this dagger in Balston's back, and taking Spite off his corpse. Theatrics did no one any good last time."
Turning to Zal, Juliet bears a grim countenance. "Swallowtail, eh? Desna will guide you into some dark places in the upcoming days, I fear. But you've come to the right shopfront if you're wanting to stem the Shiver outbreak in Korvosa. There's a mission - an orphanage really, watched over by a doddering old priest and his acolyte, who may or may not be up to no good. Upstairs of the mission, there's men with swords, a dead dog, and Shiver. You're welcome to come with us - but know this. We aim to misbehave."
Approaching the mission
Down a short way on Splithog Alley is St. Caspieran's Salvation. The mission's light near the front doors is out this evening. A bum is huddled in the doorway trying to sleep. A light breeze is in the air carrying the smell of garbage, refuse, and that stale vanilla.
Before the party heads out, Tybalt is sure to brief them on the elven archer watching the back. He disappears for a half hour, recovering his own stashed shortbow.
This time he sticks with the group as they approach. He inhales deeply, letting the scents of the street settle in him as he tries to let go of his fears and anxieties.
Juliet hangs back, letting the others take the lead, Tybalt's dagger gripped tightly in her hand, ready to run to the front in the event of a fight. This time there will be no talking, no show.
"We stay together this time. And use tactical advantage if we can."
It may be surprising to some of you to hear the word "tactical" from a Shoanti.
"If we get caught in a corridor again, lead our enemy to an open location. Tight quarters are only ideal for some."
I could try to approach at a small distance from you and see if there is anyone inside? Knock on the door I mean. The Mission light is out, are you certain there is anyone here anymore?
The graffitied doors that flank the main entrance still read, “Flophouse: upstairs and take a left HIKE.”
The mainstair doors are unlocked. You quietly climb the staircase into the dark second floor. The sound of hushed talking can be heard coming from somewhere in the back rooms.
As the cleric climbs the stairs he tilts his head. Waving a hand at the others Zal pulls on his ear and then makes a motion to signal that he hears talking...
Juliet stops by Zaladrel, and strains her ears, trying to listen to the conversation, but also get an idea of how many people are having the conversation.
After a few seconds, she creeps down the hall, putting herself between the two southernmost doors. Nodding to the others, she cocks an eyebrow and points to the two doors, as if to say, Which one?
Tybalt doesn't expect any new faces, nor does he care if there are. The match is struck, and he's committed to this path. Again he nods to the door the whispers are coming from, and draws the arrow.
Juliet peers through the keyhole of the door that Tybalt nods towards, gripping her brother's dagger tightly.
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Roakkard holds his staff at the ready, preparing for anything at this point.
Zaladrel pulls no weapons but pulls a shield and signals he is ready...
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With our heroes do-gooders ok-ish people on a revenge streak at the ready, Juliett swings open the door, catching a man and elf in discussion! While both are armed, their weapons aren't drawn. The large human is clearly Balston, but this elf... this elf has a pale white, expressionless mask on half of his face. Juliet's rapier, Sting, rests against the wall in the far back of the room.
It appears you caught these two mid-negotiation. Papers and money are strewn about on top of a dresser near an old bed.
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Map
Order: (Surprise Round! They didn't hear you coming.)Zaladrel, Roakkard, Juliet, Tybalt, (1st Round) Zaladrel, Brigands, Roakkard, Juliet
Status effects/duration counter: n/a
Tybalt doesn't hesitate, no battle cry escapes his lips, he simply lets loose the arrow he had drawn, straight at the human that had hurt Juliet the night before.
Zaladrel brushes .his hand against his holy symbol and casts an intense look at the elf with the mask. An unearthly tone emanates from within the cleric's voice, amplifying his supernatural command,
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With ourheroesdo-goodersok-ish people
Juliet stands frozen - for just a moment - as she sees her blade behind Balston. Then, like a mule's kick, the adrenaline comes on, and anger too - a wagon's worth, hot and buzzing in her ears, like an insect swarm. Stepping up to Balston, the singer shanks the man in the gut with the dagger, whispering in his ear, "the wasp sends her regards!" Stepping back around the corner, Juliet flattens her body against the wall, to gain some cover from any counterattack. Wasp sends her regards? What the hells was that?
An arrow slams into Balston sticking him in the back followed by a solid dagger strike by Juliet. He turns to his attackers surprised to see your all faces!
The masked elf shakes off Zaladrel's order.
The elf mutters in common, "How about you deal with these guests and we'll talk about a contract." The elf dodges attacks heading for the backside window.
Balston groans at the attacks. He turns and draws his sword. He devilishly grins and taunts Juliet. "Didn't I kill you last night? You're more a cockroach than a wasp, kid. No matter- I'll crush you just the same!"
He returns the stab in this dance of blades!
A tremendous blow! Balston is looking gravely injured at this assault.
Zal winces that the other elf so easily shakes off Desna's command so the cleric nods to himself and throws back his hand whispering words from his youth. As his hand arcs back fire erupts around his long fingers and as fast as he can the elf throws the flame at the escaping masked criminal...
The fire flickers wide and collides with the side of the room missing the other elf. Anxious to not let him get away Zaladrel moves as close as he can to the escaping elf after he throws....