Dregg chuckles as he looks back to Isabella, ”Heh. Can you imagine if it’d gone into the barrel clean? Sploosh! Heh heh. Would’ve been great.” He then points to the falchion in Garrivek’s hands and asks, ”Whoa. What do have there, Beltbuckle? Mind if I give it a swing or two?”
The half-orc gives the blade a few broad, sweeping swings then bounces it in one hand before tossing it to the other and back again. ”Hey, this is pretty nice. Can I keep this?”
Glancing to Arryn, he chuckles. ”Let’s save that little maneuver for the ugly cuss’ dad.”
"Not much for two-handers m'self. Not gonna stake a claim if y'want it," Isabella says, shrugging.
One area remains unsearched on this side of the fortress, the top of the third tower. Making your way there, you find something seems to be blocking the door. It takes some effort but Dregg's finally able to push it open, revealing a heavy cabinet seems to have been moved in front of it, blocking access to the tower room.
Arrow slits in the western, southern, and eastern walls look over the surrounding forest. A descending staircase in the northeastern corner ends suddenly, sealed over with stone a few steps down, and a large trap door in the ceiling is open. A cabinet leans against a wooden door in the northern wall. Several circular targets have been painted on the walls in vivid blue paint, but the room contains only a few chairs, a small desk piled with empty wine cups, and four large braziers.
As you enter and start to look around, you hear a high-pitched voice cry out, "What, what?"
Another responds, "Trespass most vile, brother!"
"This cannot stand!" the first voice replies, and you see two minuscule, green-skinned humanoids wielding a needle-thin rapier come flying down from through the trapdoor, held aloft on a pair of dragonfly wings.
Two others follow them.
"Well, do you wish to answer for yourselves?" the say, eying you balefully -- though they seem to have a little trouble hovering, bobbing up and down drunkenly.
Garrivek nods. "All yours. Figure you could put it to good use."
"Look out!" Garrivek exclaims.
"Answer? What's the question, pipsqueak? Best I've seen, you fey tresspassed against the first set of tresspassers and we're here to take these halls back."
Aramis' eyes widen. "Oh, didn't you hear? Halk and the other korred left. They said something about a party! Didn't they invite you? I'm sure they meant to. If you're quick you might catch up to them before they drink all the booze!"
Isabella just growls: "Stand down unless you want to get splatted, Fey" -- as she swings around her heavy crossbow and takes aim!
Isabella and Garrivek easily recognize the creatures as atomies, fey that perceive themselves as larger than they actually are. Like pups standing up to a full-grown cur, atomies never back down from aggression, and take tremendous pride in defeating and humiliating foes larger than themselves. Atomies find great pleasure in shoring up the odds in a fight against larger foes.
"An insult!" one of them cries.
"Indeed, insult most foul!"
"Varlet!"
"Well," the first one picks up again as the other continues to mutter curses. "You have now trespassed and insulted us! We demand satisfaction, sirs!"
"Satisfaction!" "Yes, satisfaction" "Tell him, Arpellion!"
"Are you cowardly knaves too," the one apparently called Arpellion continues, "or will one of you accept my challenge, your champion vs. mine?!"
”Are these guys evil in nature or just annoying?” Arryn asks those who know what they are.
"Don't care," Isabella sums up her feelings on the matter as she fires a bolt at Arpellion and immediately reloads. "Annoying is enough."
"No duel today! Bugger off!" Garrivek exclaims as Isabella fights the fey. He adjusts his positioning and swings his dorn-dergar at a different atomie, hoping to prevent them all from swarming Isabella.
Aramis sighs as this devolves into violence. She drinks her potion of protection from chaos and draws her nearly spent wand of magic missile.
”Okay, at this point, can we all stop accusing me of being the bloodthirsty one?”
Arryn flings his hand forwards and an empty wine mug flies at the same target as Isabella’s bolt.
x 1.5 = 30
"Wait!" Aramis says, holding Garrivek and Arryn back. "We agree to your duel."
The thought of momentary mass battle passes as Aramis speaks up, delaying the conflict.
"Very well!" the atomie named Arpellion replies. "Give us a moment to choose our champion. You may do the same."
They fly in a circle, occasionally casting glances back toward you. You can vaguely hear noncomplimentary terms drifting out of their circle: "blackguard" "giant" "knave" "unjust!"
Finally, they turn back to you.
"Very well, Gulber will be our champion, and shall make quick work of you. This shall be until you yield, or he has rendered you unconscious!"
Dregg shakes his head and chuckles softly to his group as they circle up to choose their champion. ”Heh. Dumb pipsqueaks. Half those names they’re calling us aren’t even real words. Nave? Blaggard? Psssh. Idiots.” He then exhales heavily out of his nose before asking, ”So which one of us wants to dance with this Gulber?”
"Haven't been right useful all day. Willing to give it a go."
”I spent the last fight either slicing up fake Halks or rolling around in a puddle of grease, Goggles. Doesn’t matter. Halk’s dead, we aren’t. Now, you think you can take this fairy down without killing ‘im?”
"Willing to give it a go. Leastwise, if not killing is on the table. Oy! Arpellion! This duel to first blood or what? Or is it even with fighting? We could dice. Arm-wrestle. Tell riddles."
...This shall be until you yield, or he has rendered you unconscious!
"Well, this should be interesting." Garrivek chuckles. He stows his dorn-dergar and settles in to watch the fight.
"Be careful," Aramis tells Isabella.
"Dice? Outrageous!" Gulber, the champion, calls out. "If you are too scared to face me, pick another champion!"
The two whose names you've not yet learned start laughing. "Cowardice! Rank cowardice" one chirps.
"She's scared, Brooten," the other replies. "The bigger they are the harder they fall!"
"Dart's right!" Arpellian interjects. "You are much bigger! That's not fair! Will you accept being reduced to a reasonable size for this duel? It's hardly a fair fight, one of us against a grotesque giant who's so big!"
"Or tie one arm behind her back! Make it fair!"
"Unfair!"
"Immoral!"
"Improper!"
"Nah. I like having both my arms free," Isabella says. "Shrink away. Y'got no fuss with me casting a spell o' my own when we start? Brave man like you'll pro'lly shrug it right off, but I won't fight yer shrinkin'. Sound good?"
"If you're going to use magic, that's not fair!" Brooten calls out.
Arpellion agrees.
"Yes, a blindfold! A blindfold to be fair!"
"Why's it not fair? I'm prepared ta let you cast on me so I'm not too big for ya. An' no blindfolding. Not 'less you're wearing one as well. Otherwise, it definitely ain't fair."
Isabella unlimbers her arms. "Come on. This is a duel, right? Two warriors enter the ring and slug it out on equal ground. So let's be on equal ground. Let's be fair and punch it out."
"OK, fine!" the Arpellion agrees. "We will note that you refuse a fair fight!"
He flies closer, "But you can at least be closer to the proper size!" and casts a spell, shrinking Isabella so she's about Cirieo's size .
He flies back as Bulder waits across the room from you, 30 feet away though it now strangely looks much farther. The other atomies usher the rest of the group of the way, as Dart and Brooten threaten implacable vengeance if any of you cheat (any more than you already are by being so much bigger)! Arpellion flies to the center of the room and holds aloft a silken cloth. "When this hits the floor, the duel begins!" he calls out. He flies up to the roof and then drops it, racing toward a wall as it flutters to the ground.
As it touches, Isabella reacts more quickly than Gulber!
"You know, I once witnessed a duel between two men on the Storval Stairs. One of them accused the other of murdering his father. The other denied doing any such thing. Quite a sight, that was! Why but he time the..." Garrivek continues to ramble on as the duel starts.
"Shhh," Aramis cuts in, watching the duel a little warily.
”Ha! Show this little pipsqueak how it’s done, Goggles! Get ‘im!”
Arryn keeps an eye out for any situation where some unseen telekinesis could tip the balance in Isabella’s favour. He also watches the other fey for signs of cheating. And no, he doesn’t consider that at all hypocritical.
Isabella drows her longsword-and-shortsword-combo; magical demonbane steel and masterfully forged cold iron gleam as she charges the atomie!
"C'mon then, let's duel!" she snarls as she slashes at her opponent.
While the longsword whizzes harmlessly over Gulber's head, the shortsword looks to connect rather nastily.
"Wanna give up yet?" Isabella asks, almost casually. "Just askin'."
The duel ends almost as quickly as it begins, as Isabella spits the atomie with her second blade.
"Gulber!" Dart squeals rushing over to the dying fairy. Despite the bloodshed, it doesn't look like the others are preparing to attack.
"Healing over here!" Isabella calls to the others. "It's a duel, after all, not a killing."
Arryn, surprised at the suddenness of it all, and the fey’s apparent intentions to honour the terms of the duel, actually goes over, hands held out empty, and says, ”I’m a medic. I can try to save him.”
If they let him, Arryn will easily stabilize the creature, dressing the wound with bandages and some of their booze to clean the wound.. ”He’ll need rest but he’ll recover.”
Arryn stands up, still holding the bottle of alcohol. He gives a start at the sight of it in his hand and passes it quickly back to the atomies.
"Well, that's that, then. Fastest duel I've ever witnessed." Garrivek says. "He alright?" Garrivek pulls out his wand and taps the fey with it. He tells the other atomie, "Now keep these bandages on and clean. Might take him a bit to recover."
"Whoa!" Aramis exclaims, looking surprised at how quick the battle ended. She must really hate fey...
Aramis nods to see the others healing the fey's wounds. "Nice duel."
"Your man never flinched," Isabella says to Dart. "Respect. I wouldn't mind dueling him again sometime, if he wants."
You manage to revive Gulber, who seems to forgive you ... mostly.
"Well, clearly, she was too big!" he complains. "We said it was unfair. But we at least are not varlets, and will admit you have bested us ... this time!"
The others agree, and Arpellion gestures around.
"You are welcome to join us, for you are almost as good as fairies. If you wish to share some of our wine?"
"Well, that's awfully nice of you. Thank you. No hard feelings, then?"
Garrivek accepts the offered wine.
Dregg claps Isabella on the back. ”Things could’ve got hairy there. You did good, Goggles. In more ways than one.” He then strides over to the atomies and accepts a little wine. Turning to Arpellion, he grins, ”Thanks, pipsqueak. You aren’t so bad for being so tiny.” His grin and tone betray the joke for what it is, but his eyes suggest he’s eager for some good insults in return.
"I'll share a cup. And any time you want another duel, just you come see me and we'll make arrangements."
Aramis grabs Arryn by the arm and takes a step away from the enabling fey. "Thank you, but no thanks. Arryn and I don't drink. You go ahead and enjoy your spoils." If Arryn moves to approach, Aramis holds him back and shakes her head. "Don't you dare."
"No hard feelings," Dart replies. "You fought as far as you can. It's not your fault that you're bigger but still scared! It makes sense since our courage is more concentrated in our normal-sized forms."
They seem happy enough at Aramis' refusal.
"More for the rest of us then!"
Arryn smirks. ”Wouldn’t dream of it,” he replies, then almost licks a bit of the wine from tending the wounds that splashed on his hand before he shakes himself and wipes it on his coat.
"So, where ya' from, fellows? You're new to this fort, right? You got a family back there waiting for you in the woods?" Garrivek takes a deep drink of his wine, enjoying the bit of a break.
"Outrageous!" Arpellion cries, leaping to his feet at Garrivek's question, "Are you implying we are not rightfully here? Are you invade our home?!"
Fortunately, eventually you're able to calm him again without having to resort to another duel. It turns out the atomies are from the area, having moved in apparently after Halk dealt with the hobgoblins who were here briefly. None has a family outside, as they are clearly much too important to settle down, what with having to defend their honor and their homes.
Dregg shrugs, "We took our caves from those stinkmouths, they took this place from the hobgoblins. Unless Cirieo's really wanting to stake a claim, I say let's get anything else worth getting then let this lot have the place. Too much work to fix up at this point anyhow."