With her petite back to the wall, the gnome reflects on the cascade of events which led her here. Here being standing in an underground Tiefling hideout, participating in a raid which nearly ended their own lives and most certainly the Tieflings. Her crewmates seemingly oblivious or rather carefree in their own pursuit of Valhalla. But who is she kidding? This is the most fun she has had since, well... Choking up and regripping her spear, days long past. Those big two-legs need me. Focus. Hippa readies herself to rush in on Brannock's and Tram's heels.
Sorry for the delay folks had a nightmare weekend!!
The door opens and an armored tie fling stands there, he finishes muttering some incantation.
Heroes go
Audi follows Brannock and Tram, charging in and attempting to use his club to help Tram sweep the tiefling off his feet.
Rushing behind the others, not so much to fight as much as provide another set of eyes and a bit of daylight. She sidles off to the side to survey the room for other tieflings taking advantage of the chaos. A thought occurs to her that she could help as she watches the boys fight for their lives. "Guys! We've found another one! Come have some fun!
The tie fling falls under the attack, but still lives, seeing himself surrounded and wounded he grabs a symbol around his neck and a burst of unholy energy flies from him
damage to all of you DC 11 for half
GO
"He's not going peacefully!" Audi tries to bring his club down on the now prone tiefling.
"OUCH! Ooohhhh, shiny....
Seeing the Tiefling laid out on the ground and all parts fully within reach of the petite gnome,
Guess we are waiting on Brannock! Can he drop him or will our heroes fall in a blaze of negative channellling
oh thats true.
The dog pulls free of Hippa and attempts to bite the cleric
it does, dealing
DC 11 for half
Another channel of energy flies from the surrounded cleric
the dog yelps in pain, but seems to be up still
In desperation, knowing this cannot go on, Audi tries once again to bring the club down hard on the cleric's head.
I thought you were down Bannock?
for the dog latches his jaws onto the cleric again
Then Audi's club comes down on the cleric's head and the light goes out of his eyes.
Here is the gear
potion of disguise self, wand of cure light wounds (11
charges); Other Gear MW breastplate, +MW morningstar, iron unholy
symbol, treasure chest key, 165 gp
The large chest to the north is locked. Palaveen
carries the key, or it can be picked with a DC 30 Disable
Device check. The chest contains all of the non-coin
loot from the Bastards’ string of burglaries, along with
a leather sack that contains 50 of the wooden Mammon
coins the Bastards use to mark the places they’ve robbed
and people they’ve killed. The stolen treasures include
300 gp worth of small gems (including one 50 gp pearl),
jewelry worth 300 gp, a masterwork dagger, a masterwork
rapier, and a jeweled non-masterwork short sword worth
75 gp. The weapons were stolen from the weaponsmith,
who was murdered along with his family, and as he has
no heirs, the PCs can keep those items guilt-free, as there
is nobody to whom to return them.
The notes on the table contain itemized lists of things
the Bastards have stolen as well as some cryptic notes
written in Infernal. Among these notes is a request for
more skeletal wolves to help protect their base and a
half-finished angry letter in which the writer seems to
be frustrated at not being granted further audience with
something called “the Council.”
Palaveen’s latest rejection note from the Council lies
in a crumpled heap at the foot of his bed,
The note reads
Pavleen, While we appreciate the work of your bastards, the council never intended our association to be anything more than that. We shouldn't need to remind you that if your tiring application continue we will be forced to solve the matter in a manner less concerned with your good health.
"Hear that? That is the sound of reinforcements and impending doom." Hippa glances at the door, then follows through with another thrust of the spear. attack dmg . Ghost sound round 2:3, louder noises of approaching backup.
Asmodeous
"That was a close call. Let's make sure Brannock is all right." Audi tears a cloth off the tiefling's robes and uses it to staunch Brannock's bleeding. [b]"We know who the Bastards are. Who do you suppose this Council is that is threatening them?
|
Again, the wave of pain lashed out, though this time he seemed a bit better prepared for it, even if he was well, close to spent. He drew himself up to make one final hack at the man, but gladly took a deep breath instead when Audi finished the man.
Good boy!
He said dropping to a knee to tousle the dogs ears. AS they began to... well clear the place up he frowned thinking about Audi's question.
If uh, none of you object I would like to see if that bastards armor fits me, I well... I think my clothes are now missing more cloth than they have left. But a council? That can't be good... especially if they are hiring groups like these bastards... Perhaps the others might have some clue?
He said looking for a place to sit down while they revived Brannock
"I don't know if we would have made it without that dog. He's earned a nice juicy bone and a soft bed for sure. Go ahead with that armor Tram. You could definitely use it." Audi takes the key from the tiefling and opens the chest. "Wow, these Bastards had a pretty successful operation going until we stopped them. Look at all of these coins. They definitely had plans for more attacks. And look, more notes about this 'Council'. We'd better see about getting back to the others. Maybe Arael or Janivan can revive Brannock."
All is silent. After a bit the heroes emerge victorious. They meet up with the other Torchbearers and learn that all of the other buildings were manned, and they had been connected to the main building via underground passages. Amazingly everyone acquitted themselves well and no one was slain, though Ms. Tarvi has a nasty looking bruise.
Arael smiles warmly and speaks to the heroes. Well done let us take a day or two to rest and recover. I will leave it you as what you wish to do with the stolen goods. I suspect you can sell them or you can return them to the rightful owners.
[b]Before long the city will learn of the deed the Torcherbearers have done. The city itself will likely not give us credit but the people will know.
Once again, Hippa is surprised at how they barely survived. True, she wasn't as hurt as the others but she still spent too much time up close and personal with sharp and pointy things. Never encountered darkness like that before... She pauses as she casts a simple "Light" upon her spearhead again. "I'd like to learn how to write those beautiful scrolls or some other way to augment ourselves.
Rummaging through a lot of stuff, "We should return any identifiable items back to their rightful owners. I'd rather let Ms.Tarvi do that. I prefer to keep my profile at a minimum. I owe some folks money, prefer to do it on my schedule not theirs.
I agree, that Tram could use some armor. I will also invest in a crossbow. They are handy things.
"Tram? Do you think you could see who is behind this compound? Someone put a lot of money into it. It must have some history. Follow the money as my late husband always said. Perhaps Ms.Tarvi could make this an orphanage or one heck of a brewery with all this storage."
And, of course, Hippa offers to tend to the wounds of Tram and Brannock in a discrete way. She feels the gods have approved of the actions this team takes not to mention the results. Two days would be enough to heal them up to full strength, possibly with minimal scars as well.
"I think Arael mentioned it was an old temple of Erastil." Looking around he sweeps a hand across the ruined buildings. "Can you imagine? This whole area was once bustling city. All mostly abandoned, but for thugs, monsters and the rundottari. Be pretty amazing if we could turn things around here. It would make a good brewery if we could get supplies from the city and beer back to the taverns. Dangerous though."
|
|
Miss Tarvi? just grand.
He said clearly not fully looking forward to speaking with the maiden who had made it quite clear the last they had spoke that he was some... ill lout. Hippa's thoughts werent half bad. Perhaps indeed he could fish around his ... social circle and disretely see if any knew. Though it sounded very much something secretive.
At the sight of miss Tarvi's bruise his blood boiled just a bit, it was probably just as well they had split off from the group, that would have no doubt riled him into foolish endevors. He wondered if he looked as bad as he felt, his fine clothing no doubt gashed torn and bloody.
You know Audi, that might not be half a bad idea, perhaps my father would consider investing into a future business here, I will have to look into the actual owner, if there is one, of these place. Might be something there. He said thoughtfully frowning at himself as he kept glancing torwards the pretty young woman.
Tram doesn't know who owns it but he is confident that greasing the right wheel, whether that be financial or other, it could be obtained. One name keeps coming up over and over, that strange man Boneyard Pike.
Tarvi gives Tram a slight smile then goes about her business.
ready to move on when you guys are
|
I think it might be a good idea to purchase and possibly relocate to this place. It would be very fitting for us to use the former hideout of people who terrorized the locals. It also would remove heat and suspicion from the owner of our current hideout.
I would like to purchase some items if I may. Also do we have access to any low level magical items?
I would love to declare this facility ours for the taking. I find it hard to believe the owner would not be aware of this or possibly was knowledgable and intimidated not to do anything or even more sinister, the owner was being paid off or offered free use. Boneyard Pike seems to have his fingers in a lot of pies.
But you bring up an excellent point of removing suspicion from our current hideout. Let this one be a sacrificial place, with us ready to bug out. In the meantime, I still prefer we return much of these goods to their rightful owner and if not possible perhaps as a suitable replacement for what these folks stole. Perhaps the local law enforcement keep reports of theft... Hippa snorts in derision, Actually we could probably hang out at a couple of taverns or the marketplace and simply complain of our apartment being broken into and that should open up a few mouths for us to hear tales of loss and destruction. Maybe we could gift them out via Ms.Tarvi and her crew.
She starts mumbling about where to put an alchemy bench and how best to accessorize it, her kitties are going to love all this new space, some kind of animal rescue in one of the outbuildings....
|
|
Glancing torwards Miss Tarvi, probably unaware that he was even doing so he absently traced along his slashed and torn clothing.
Do we try to keep it run down and hidden? Or would cleaning it up to provide some sort of bastion of hope and good be a better idea? I am entitely unsure. It seems for the most part no matter what option I have chosen lately turns out for ill.
He scratched behind the ears of the dog idly, unsure what they should be looking into next. A few days off and some healing poultices certainly wouldnt be a terrible idea at the least.
"I think we still stay hidden for now. The Hellknight are less likely to trouble us here, but let's not attract too much attention from those in the ruins until we have proven ourselves. I think we should also seek friends among the rundottari. They will make it easier for us to come and go and may provide unexpected aid."