After divulging the information she promised you, Undrella looks out through the hatch, her eyes widening slightly with surprise.
"Oh, is it that time already? I'm expected to be at Kardy's side this time of the day. He might suspect something if I don't show up," she explains with a pout. "Don't worry, doves - I would not think of betraying you. We had a deal, after all. Speaking of..."
Swooping down, the harpy plunges a talon into one of her cauldrons. When she pulls it out, there are two dripping keys in its grasp. She tosses them at your feet, before shaking her talon dry.
"One is to unlock the northern entrance of the battle market; the southern entrance is open to visitors, but you might favor a more subtle approach. The other key should open any locked doors within the market. Like say, a path to Kardy himself?"
After blowing you all a kiss, she flaps her wings, rising off the ground and leaving the tannery through the hatch. Her Bird follows her soon after, squawking one last time before leaving. "Toodles!"
You are left undisturbed until midnight, when the Howl of the Carrion King fills the air, far louder here than it had been at the monastery. After a second, more distant Howl - the reply from the Brazen Peaks - the rest of the night is peaceful.
As day breaks, you waken to the sound of squawking. Bird sits on the rafters alone, preening its feathers. Undrella however, is absent.
Narkû wakes and begins his day by checking his wounds for any signs of infection before applying clean dressings.
He continues his morning ritual with a series of katas, using both his falchion and scimitar in turn.
Sweat still running down his face, he says, "Narkû ready for another day. Where does Narkû start to once more make name for Narkû?"
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
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Sarala wakes up early in the morning, completing her own morning exercises, despite not feeling one hundred percent. She spends much of the time up in the rafters if she can find a way up, for no other reason than because she usually trained high up in the trees in her youth.
This allows her to easily notice that the squawking bird is Bird. She looks down from up in the rafters and says, "Hey, this guy is here. The toodles bird. Isn't this Undrella's familiar or something? If he's here, where is she at?"
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Julius does his morning exercises as well. He works extra hard at holding the contraction of his eyelids in the shut position. When the grunting of Narkû's katas begins to interfere in the accomplishment of his own regimen, Julius sighs and flings his eyes open. Sitting up he pulls his pack over and digs out his spellbook. Using the pack as a pillow, he spends the next hour reading and going over the sigils and diagrams written within.
In response to Sarala's observation, Julius yawns. "Have you checked the furious one's bedroll?"
Just before sleeping, Thurrios would use his last CLW on Narku, since he appears to be the most beat up.
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Sarala hangs off one of the posts in the rafters, still looking down at the others because she can. She scrunches her face at Julius, "Gross."
To Narkû she says, "Not sure where we're going to be getting started, Narks. Maybe we'll find another patrol with a goat, that would be something. What happened to the goat anyhow?"
Noticing that everyone in the room is up and active, and perhaps responding to Sarala's question, Undrella's bustard familiar abruptly speaks up.
"Squawk! Master is with Kardy, Will be back later! Stop by again if it pleases you! Squawk! Toodles!"
Having spoken its piece, the bird takes flight, leaving you all once more.
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At the particular wording and tone in which the familiar speaks, Sarala says, "Aaaugh, double gross!" She climbs back down from the rafters, dropping down when she can easily do so safely.
"Well, aside from the mysterious missing goat... Didn't the rangers say that some gnolls offered up meat on the southern end of the village?" She pulls her wayfinder from her pocket with her tail, peering at it for a few moments. "There were six gnolls we fought there... so there should be another patrol of four still wandering. We might want to show those guys the drink, too, if we can catch them away from others. We may want to avoid the cranky winged thing in the old mill for a bit." She looks towards Narkû and adds, remembering his strange words before, "Unless we can somehow get them to fight each other. I can hide and observe if we did that, we may have an idea of what the winged thing is capable of that way. As it is, we have a guess at best."
Narkû wads up the few cloths he uses for his head at night, back into his pack. Looks to the others and declares to the group, "Narkû is ready to go." Then moves to the door ready for another day of 'Infiltrationing' and killin'.
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
Narku opens the tannery door, letting in more of the morning sun. A glance outside is enough to tell than nothing substantial has happened near the building since yesterday.
"On to our next task my friends?"
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"I think I'm ready to do some gnoll hunting. You two feeling up for this?" Julius asks Sarala and the half-orc. "I know you took some bad hits yesterday. We may want to consider reporting our progress to Almah after we take out that other patrol. After all, we are supposed to be skirmishing. If we stick around, they're bound to catch on and come looking for us. And let's be honest, I don't think the Harpy of Pretty thinks Thurrios is cute enough to not sell us out if we get caught here."
Julius winks in the inquisitor's direction. "I sure that breaks your heart, but it would be best not to test her agreement with us if we can avoid it."
"Narkû took some good hits, but Narkû gave good ones back. Narkû ready for more," Narkû says, obviously ready to get moving.
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
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"I'm feeling good enough to kick a gnoll in the jaw, and that's what really counts," says Sarala, "If I start feeling worse for wear, I'll stand back and ninja from afar." She spins one of her shuriken in her fingers demonstratively.
She steps outside, trying to be non-obvious to any would-be observers.
Narkû moves out with Sarala stealthily toward the mill to verify that it is free of any hostile situations before they head over the bridge into Kelmarane. He maintains his high alertiveness for any approaching or hidden dangers as he moves.
Obviously the effort of doing two tasks at once still presents a problem for Narkû, his efforts do show some improvement from yesterday.
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
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"Hold up you two." Julius says raising his hand, his voice tinged with concern. "Undrella specifically called out the creature in the old mill as being particularly dangerous. Considering both of you are far from being one hundred percent, it seems we should take on one of the simpler tasks, gain a little more intel, and then return to base. Once we have told Almah what Undrella has shared and her arrangement with us, we can rest up, resupply, and come back to take this monster out when we are better prepared."
Julius turns to Thurrios and gestures at the overeager pair traipsing towards the mill. "Help me out here, Forgiving Redeemer of Sarenrae. Surely you hear the sense of that plan?"
Narkû looks back at Julius with utter frustration on his face.
"Narkû has been awake and ready to 'infiltration', for what seems like almost a week now. Narkû can never provide information to Almah, if Narkû never leaves this smelly tannery."
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
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"Well, let's just skip the mill then, if you feel strongly about it, and check these other buildings on a search to catch the patrol," says Sarala to Julius, "I need a bit of fresh air myself, and don't worry too much, me and Narkû are tough. And like I said, if things get hairy, I've got a pretty diverse shuriken collection that I can show off. Once the patrol is all dead, then we can toss them into the water and head back for supplies and all that stuff."
"Fine, fine, more gnolls then! Narku, find us the gnolls, and let's go get them.". Thurrios looks the group over, "I intend to give no quarter to gnolls, or their ilk who follow the a Rough Beast. Is everyone ok with that?" He looks inquiringly at Anapa.
Having more or less come to a consensus, the party leaves the tannery, exercising the usual precautions. You approach the bridge, keeping your distance from the mill, but otherwise keeping an eye on it. Asides from some splatters of blood, nothing remains of the disposed gnoll corpses. You cross the bridge once more, this time following the main road. Two tangents branch off the road, one leading to a wharf along the river, and the other leading to the first building in line ().
The building is a handsome, three-story mansion, in remarkably good shape compared to many of the other buildings in the village. You are able to enter without any problems, finding that the mansion is more or less empty, filled only with dusty furniture that has deteriorated from disuse. There is nothing of value to be found within, but from the top floor you do find that you have a splendid view of the northeastern part of the village - the wharf and the tannery, as well as the old mill.
"Is it too early to call dibs on this place, for once people move back in I mean?" Thurrios gives a wry look to Julius, "Do you think I'd be close enough to Undrella the Deceitful?"
Narkû goes back to the entrance and then to the top floor looking for tracks or other signs that gnolls may use this building.
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
"I agree." he speaks up. Looking over the place
"But if noone claims it. I am sure we can make a base of operations here while we work in this area?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Sarala carefully steps out onto the third floor balcony, looking down at the wharf. With the limited (but fantastic) view, there is little to be seen in the way of troop movements.
Meanwhile, Narku inspects the mansion, looking through its numerous hallways and bedrooms for signs of past gnoll activity. From what he can tell, no gnolls have been in the building, at least recently.
"Narkû, beinging a masterful tracker, has not found any signs that gnolls have been in this building."
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Julius grins at Thurrios and winks.
In response to Sarala, Julius strikes a scholarly pose. "Given what I know of them...which is sure to be nothing compared to what Thurrios will learn...yes, hatching should be exactly what they do."
"Ah, thank you for being so diligent, Narkû. I admit, I was so taken with the views, I wasn't nearly as thorough with my own searching," Julius says to the large half-orc.
"Yes, Anapa, this looks like it would be an excellent location for a guerilla base. Too bad we didn't find it last night, eh?"
Julius will proceed to do his own search using detect magic to see if he can help determine why it has remain so unmolested.
Anapa nods. It was not the best. But it could be a good place to fall back to if needed. He takes point. Just in case things get out of control. Gnolls are not the nicest of adversaries
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Let us then hunt some gnolls," Thurrios adds and falls in on Anapa's flank.
Narkû looks at Sarala and Julius after he sees the other two head back out onto the street, shrugs his shoulders as if to say, 'Hmph, whatever.', then follows them out.
Once more Narkû keeps a keen eye scanning the area, looking for dangers.
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
Julius does not pick up any traces of magic in the mansion. The results of his inspection are otherwise similar to Narku's; the gnolls have not actively searched the interior of this structure in some time. There is no apparent reason for this, however. With the mansion thoroughly examined, the party takes to the streets once more.
Beside the mansion are some intact stables () that appear to be connected to the building after (), yet another comparatively intact building.
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Julius comes out of the mansion with a puzzled look on his face.
"Nothing special going on here," he tells the others with a shrug. "Despite this being a big pretty building that should draw the attention of any invaders and squatters...there's nothing special keeping anyone at bay that I can tell. Your guesses are as good as mine."
He thinks for a second and then says, "Well, maybe not as educated, but surely just as good."
Having not seen the movement Sarala saw, but having begun to trust the lithe Vanara statements, Narkû follows Sarala's example and begins 'Infiltrationing' toward the stables.
Slow and steady, quiet as a temple mouse," Narkû thinks to himself as he moves closer.
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Current Effects: Whetstone edge on falchion and scimitar, +1 damage on next successful hit;
Recognizing the concern in his companions faces, Thurrios brings his blade up into a ready position and moves to provide support.
The only evident point of entry into the stables is a large set of battered double doors. Much like everything else made of wood in the village, they have mostly rotted away, hanging precariously off rusted hinges. One of the doors appears to have been pushed open slightly, leaving just enough room for someone to slip into the building.
The stables are dimly by filtered sunbeams, courtesy of the damaged rooftop. Sarala's eyes are quick to adjust to these conditions, but peering in through the doorway, her field of view is limited. Deciding to take an even closer look, she attempts to slips past the doors. As she moves through the opening however, she brushes against one of the doors ever so slightly, causing its rusty hinges to whine ever so briefly. But despite its brevity, the sound is more than enough to alert the denizen of the stables.
With a battle cry more resembling a panicked shout, an armored, mustachioed man hops out from behind one of the stables, brandishing a spear. He takes a single step toward Sarala.
"Ahhhhh!" he shouts at her desperately, holding the spear over his head with both hands and pumping it up and down repeatedly. It does not take a practiced eye to see that his weapon is covered with rust, that his worn leather helmet is far too big for his head, and that his leather breastplate is barely holding together.
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"Auuugh!" says Sarala back in surprise, "I'm a Pathfinder, not a gnoll! Put down that spear or you'll poke someone's eye out and give them tetanus!" She calls back, taking up a defensive stance just in case. "Julius, it's one of your kind, one of the subspecies that grows a caterpillar from their lips!"