Malavarius
Hektir
Tsin
Quinn
Antagonist
As Mal searches for a dagger and Hektir searches for his breath and Pems searches for his consciousness, Tsin swings again at the man, who dances back with a sharp burst of laughter at her miss. The move throws off Quinn's aim and the bolt thuds into the wall between the two of them.
Stepping back into the door, the man seems to concentrate and a second duplicate reappears to replace the illusion Tsin destroyed, both of them trying to scrape the ick from the half-orc's bag off of themselves.
As he does that, the half-orc pulls out a hand crossbow, loading a bolt into it.
Rohkar: Entangled
Round 5
AC = 16
HP = 5/14
Weapon Equipped = Falchion
Condition(s) = Enraged by Rohkar's laughter
"That's it!! Prostrate yourself, face down, and you'll live to see the next sunrise." A blood vessel bursts in Tsin's left eye, producing a lower red crescent moon.
Round 5
Realizing that he needs to fight, Hektir moves 15' closer, slowly going up the stairs.
C'mon Hektir. They are counting on you!
Tsin steps forward and, guessing correctly with her swing, feels a jarring blow up her arm as her blade lands in the man's chest. His eyes grow wide for a moment as blood begins pouring out of the gaping wound and he collapses to his knees before slumping to the ground as his eyes roll back into his head.
Hektir moves up the stairs to check on Tsin after he hears a body drop, his head swimming.
"Tsin, I'm coming."
"He's down!! But is he?? I mean, really down?? Does his magic allow him to come back??" Tsin's voice is still raised in a panic. She grips the hilt, adrenaline bringing a subtle shake to her arms as she raises the blade up again, preparing for another blow.
Hearing Hektir's voice, Tsin steadies. Still up. That's good. Quinn will know what to do. Good.
Hektir moves closer, nearly losing his balance in his rush to help Tsin.
"Hit him again, Tsin! This one is a master of undeath!"
Tsin nods at Hektir's hunched form as it crosses the doorway. She steps towards Rohkar's head and neck. This isn't lamb we have here. The skeleton above the shoulders... now where to hack?
The first swing produces a cracking sound, as the blade connects with a vertebral bone, preventing smooth passage. The second swing manages to separate the sinew, and the head rolls from the body.
The third swing waits, until Tsin can place her foot squarely on the skull. Not as much accuracy is required when the blade comes down. Tsin looks for a moment, stoops, then stands, a single tooth between her fingers.
"He... he stirred murder in me, against Quinn. He imposed his will on me. Made me do it. I was as good as the zombie that nearly took your life, Hektir." A single tear breaks from Tsin's eye, and down her cheek. She wipes the tooth clean, and tucks it away. She wipes her blade clean, and sheathes it away. She wipes the tear from her cheek and tamps the hate down, away.
Hektir summons the energy to spit on the man's headless corpse, a mixture of blood and saliva hitting the chest in a happy splatter.
"Good work, Girl!" Hektir says between death rales.
"C'mon, let's secure this place and get to resting," Hektir heads down the stairs, his entire body leaning against the wall on his way down, staining the wall as he walks down.
"Quinn, can you help...lock this place up good? So we can rest?"
The half-orc looks warily at you as you move into action.
Tsin quietly moves to Hektir's side, and takes up an arm, helping him down the rest of the stairs. "Stop moving so much. It only makes the blood quicken, and find the exits more readily. Sit down."
Tsin hovers, until Hektir stops shuffling around. She walks over to the half-orc, pauses, and slowly extends her non-dominant hand in a peaceful attempt to shake hands. "I'm glad you hit him."
Tsin looks to Mal and Quinn for further instructions.
"I'm glad I could help," she says as she takes your hand. "They weren't what I expected when I ended up here. I'm called Ten-Penny Tacey."
Hektir stumbles to the red bed to the north of the map and collapses.
"Hey nymphie baby! Why *mumble*t you turn me *mumble* to wood...I'll *mumble* *mumble*..."
"I think I'll call you 'Sight-for-sore-eyes'. Well met, Ten-Penny. My name is Tsin Windscarter. It looks like we might finally find some rest here tonight, above all this madness. The cold drove us here, in search of that hostage you mentioned. How did you end up here, if you don't mind me asking?"
Tsin starts looking for wood that will keep the abominable snow from creeping in.
"Oh bother and... and... oh dear. Hektir, what is that utterly silly and senseless word you use when angry? No, not 'Quinn'. Hmm? Yes, yes! That's the one, 'Piddle-spot'! Oh bother and piddle-spot, there's nothing to throw at that crude ruffian. No matter, I'll just have to rely on the classics - fisticuffs!" Malavarius emerges from the room gripping his quarter staff like a bat, ready to storm up the stairs just as Tsin and Hektir descend.
"I had a bit of trouble in Demgazi and had to leave town. I met up with Rohkar's Raiders in the Border Wood and he convinced me to stick around. It wasn't my best choice, but especially once the snow started, I didn't have a whole lot of choice, I guess."
"What would you choose now? You've shown your worth to us, and Quinn speaks for us all, regarding first pick of the loot here. If you feel safe enough, knowing better than we how many actual Raiders there are, then keep us company for the rest of the night."
Tsin stands up quickly. "There is one lock that requires immediate attention." She walks back to the padlock on the trapdoor. She then bounds back up the stairs to Rohkar's body, and searches it for the key, among other things.
He does indeed have a ring of keys on him.
He also has a couple vials of some sort of oil, very nice studded leather armor, a dagger, a light crossbow with 10 bolts, a very nice short sword, a heavy cloak made of some sort of shaggy white fur, a leather bundle of wire tools and picks, a leather-bound book, a palm-sized wooden mask with a star engraved on it, and 15 gp.
The wooden mask is in fact an unholy symbol of Norgorber, the Reaper of Reputation, god of greed, murder, secrets, and poison.
Tsin takes the keys, and leaves the rest, for now.
Remembering Hektir's blood smear, Tsin tries her best not to touch the wall on the way back down.
Kneeling down to the padlock, Tsin begins to try all keys on the ring, hoping they're not too late.
"*mumble* No don't *mumble* tickles! Oh nymphie! *mumble mumble* sure...bring in the halfli...*mumble*"
Doing his best to ignore Hektir's ramblings, Quinn gets everyone settled comfortably and then joins Twin as she unlocks the trapdoor.
Tsin fumbles with the keys a bit when Quinn joins her. "I'm... uh... glad I didn't hit you. It wasn't very accurate, that swing, but I don't think I was holding anything back." Tsin pauses, then continues.
"There was nothing personal, Healer. I hope that it doesn't present a problem. I intend to find ways of resisting that kind of magic in the future. Please know that I would never willingly turn against you like that." I'd be a fool to anger someone who stands to keep us all alive through the power of his god. For that, he's much too precious.
"Would you be so kind as to ready your crossbow? I'm not wholly sure that we've seen the last of Rohkar's evil tonight. If he's managed to turn the Lady into something... other, I'd feel better knowing that we're ready for it when this lock works its way open." Tsin continues to try the keys.
Malavarius lowers his staff as Tsin helps Hektir stagger into an adjacent room. "Oh, well I say. I was rather warming up to the idea of physical violence. Ah well. Onward and upward, as they say." He turns to the half orc as she introduces herself, "Pleased to at last make your acquaintance, Ten Penny Tacey. These others keep changing their names on me, but I'm onto their plot. Shhh! Don't tell them!" His blue eyes shine brightly with mischief. He gives her a conspiratorial wink before he heads up the stairs to survey the carnage.
He comes back downstairs with the book in hand, muttering to himself, "Norgorber! As black and vile a god as there ever was. Norgorber! Of all blasted things." He looks up then and pokes the brim of his hat with his staff, "Zeno? Zeno? Are you up there? Where have you gotten to, you perpetually absent albatross? Hmm?!" The wizard trundles over to the door then and opens it a crack, peering out into the falling snow. Zeno blasts through the opening like a bolt of lightning and lands before the fire, hopping about frantically and glaring angrily at all the people in the room.
"Oh calm down, Zeno. It wasn't me. It was Tsin. Or Quinn. Oh blast it, it was whatever his name is. For once, I am completely innocent."
Zeno narrows his gaze,
Malavarius assumes a mock wounded tone, "Is that anyway to talk to someone who just saved you, hmm? Now behave, Zeno. We have company." He gestures to Ten Penny Tacey, "Zeno, say hello to... to... oh dear. What was your name again, girl? One Silver Stacey?"
Opening the trap-door leads to a 10-foot-ladder down to an underground cellar mostly filled with a half-dozen boxes and barrels. A rough blanket lies spread on the floor in the southeast corner next to a bowl of half-eaten food.
As the trapdoor opens, a woman, bruised and scraped, looks up angrily from where she's sitting on the blanket.
"Lady Argentea, I presume? We were sent by the Ulfen called Yuln."
Tsin unslings the captain's breastplate, and waves it at the woman.
"Please. Come up and take warmth from the fire."
"Hmm, well, that certainly is a pleasant surprise," she says as she stands up in a voice that registers most haughty arrogance than pleasant surprise.
Climbing the stairs, she looks around, her face expressing surprise as she takes in Mal, Tsin and Quinn. Just the three of you rescued me? You're braver than I thought."
Zeno coughs loudly by the fire,
Malavarius casually knocks Zeno aside with the trailing tip of his staff "Hush, you!" as he strides forward to greet the noble lady, "There are two others, dear, but I'm afraid these brigands nearly did them both in. The halfing has yet to regain consciousness while the smelly one mumbles and moans about nymphs and halflings and all manner of unspeakable things over that way." He points to the door to Hektir's room with the lower end of his staff.
"Three others, as we count Ten-Penny an ally against Rohkar himself." Tsin nods to the half-orc.
"Yuln made it as far as Heldren, our hometown. He was badly injured, otherwise he'd be among our numbers as well."
"Well, my thanks. Perhaps we should rest -- I've been up for some time and could use a night in a real bed and then we can talk in the morning."
The rest of the night passes uneventfully and you wake in the morning feeling warm at least, if still sore from your journey and the fight.
The strange white hare that had snuggled up on Pemsworth outside seems to be back, sleeping soundly on his chest when you awaken.
HP -5/17
Hektir is pleased to be awake.
Hektir is *really* pleased to not be dead...because dead isn't nearly as good as being alive. And, after last night, Hektir wasn't sure he'd wake up again.
Hektir rawrs triumphantly as he rolls out of bed, not-dead.
"RAWR!! I CAN TASTE THE MORNING AGAIN! HA!"
And with that shout of aliveness, Hektir finds the nearest bedpan and does his squatty-manliness.
* * *
"Anyone got any food? I'm famished." Hektir still walks with a limp, but some of his wounds have healed overnight and he seems in good cheer.
First looking to the kitchen (or whatever food the bandits had around), then to his backpack for food, Hektir will wander the cabin surveying the damage until he comes across the princess.
"Hey, who are you? Where did you come from?"
Still full of vigor at being alive and at seeing Pems stirring, Hektir comes over and picks up the halfling, squishing him with a loaf of bread and some hard cheese.
"Pems! You're alive! Great! Hey! Have you seen the chests?! There are lots of them...probably trapped! Take a looksee!"
* * *
At some point in the morning, Hektir will find an hour to relax and meditate.
"Ow ow ow ow ow! Still...injured....Hektir..." Pems manages to squeak out in between squeezings. "I assure you, I'm alive. And I seem to have acquired a rabbit. And it seems to feel self-satisfied and somewhat superior. What happened while I was out, exactly?" Pems stares confusedly at the rabbit, which sits up on its hind legs and does indeed look smug.
Malavarius pokes his head in the room as Hektir greets Pemsworth anew, "Ah HA! You're in for it now, lad! I only hope for your sake yours can't yap all day long!"
From the other side of the lodge,
"Oh hush, you! Why don't you go and eat some worms or something?!" Malavarius turns back to the people before him, chuckling softly, "It is good to see you both pulled through. I'm glad I was able to talk Tsin... or is it Quinn? Blast it, I can't ever keep them and their rhyming names straight it seems! What was I saying? Oh yes! I'm glad I managed to talk them out of eating you both for dinner." He turns then, walking back across the main room of the lodge toward the fire place. He calls out loudly after only going a few steps, "Zeno? I say, Zeno! Did you hear that! Have them thinking we were going to cook them for dinner! HA! Simple as squash, those two. What fun! I say, have you made my tea yet? I would love a cup of tea, don't you know."
"I assure you, I'm alive. And I seem to have acquired a rabbit. "
Hektir puts Pems down. He will take a moment to explain what he remembers of the fight in detail as he remembers it. It only slightly inflates his own contributions (and severity of his wounds). He then turns his attention to the smug rabbit.
"Ah...he's a cutie!" Hektir reaches down to pet the rabbit. "So...how did you want me to cook him up? He'll make a fine stew or a limited amount of nice satay if I can find some skewers. And his fur might make some nice gloves for you." Hektir pets the rabbit cheerfully.
"Yeah, you're a cutie, but we all gotta eat."
* * *After Mal's soliloquy. * * *
Hektir just smiles and plays along, smirking to Pems.
"Oh yeah, sure...going to eat you. Ha," Hektir agrees playfully, but still focuses on business.
"We got chests to open and stew to make. I figure we're here for the day at least. Might as well eat well. Let me take this rabbit into the kitchen...then we'll open those chests, huh? Then maybe I'll ask Tsin and Quinn to help me search them bodies outside. We might want to move them away from the cabin and burn them. Not going to easy work, but might be necessary."
The bunny hisses and bares its teeth. Pems looks somewhat shocked and horrified. "No! I think it's with me, Hektir. There'll be no eating of this one. It's... I don't know. It's like it's a part of me or something. Does that make sense? Well, even if it doesn't, this rabbit is off limits!"
Hektir jerks his hand back, confused.
"I didn't mean to offend...it's just rabbit, right? I eat them all the time. How was I supposed to know this one is special?" Hektir spits to punctuate his point.
"So...you're saying this one is like Zeno? Does he talk and do tricks like Zeno?" Hektir eyeballs the rabbit as if waiting for it to fly and speak.
Hektir has another thought...which comes out far too quickly.
"Where it come from? And why you? Do you suppose it's working with *them*?" Hektir doesn't know who *them* is, but it's a placeholder for whatever is making it snow here in Taldor at this time of year.
Ten-Penny Tacey looks baffled by Malavarius, seemingly not knowing what to make of the old man. Still, as morning comes, she looks dolefully around at the talk of food. "I suppose I was preparing meals for the others, so I guess I can do it for you as well. Give me a little time in the kitchen and I'll see what we have available."
Lady Argentea -- who looks far more attractive once her bruises and scrapes disappear along with the rest of your wounds -- greets Hektir's questions with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm Lady Argentea Malassene, of Oppara. I was returning home, when I was attacked by these ... brigands ... and brought and kept here in entirely unsatisfactorily conditions. It's not that I mind that they wanted a ransom for me, you understand, but there are certain ... expectations in such a situation. You can be sure these murderous louts didn't understand that, of course. So, I certainly can't thank you enough for rescuing me."
"Now, can you do something about this beastly weather?"
Spending the day, you take your time searching the lodge. Most of the chests you can open with keys taken from Rohkar's body, though Ten Penny tells you one of them is hers.
A crossbow on the porch set up to shoot at anyone who trips a wire at the trailhead.
A few shovels, axes, and hammers hanging from the walls of an attached tool shed.
A chest containing a gold ingot engraved with the Taldan royal seal (worth 50 gp), a spyglass, a silver lady’s ring (worth 25 gp), three shards of tiger’s eye gemstones taken (worth 10 gp each), a fine pair of leather riding boots of elven make (worth 15 gp), a silver dagger, and a leather portfolio containing several pieces of parchment .
The dagger has a hidden compartment in the hilt containing some sort of liquid.
In the room where you found the bandit leader, you also find a large map on the wall. It has a number of sites marked, seeming radiating out from a mark in the Somir Valley.
The last door leads into a small musty storeroom filed with dozens of small boxes, bottles, and papers. A small iron cage sits on the top shelf, emanating a flickering light like that of a candle.
A closer look inside reveals a small blue-skinned, winged figure, who looks up as you open the door. His eyes grow wider when he sees you enter. "Please, are you here to free me?"
Three scrolls of lesser animate dead (2 HD), 2 doses of a greenish oil, a small lockbox containing 25 pp, 150 gp, 180 sp, and a blue quartz “ice diamond” worth 100 gp, 3 vials marked as oils of enchantment and 10 flasks of alchemist’s fire.
Tsin jumps back, and eyes the creature with suspicion.
Another captive of these thugs, it seems. Tsin reaches up to grab the cage, and if manageable, brings the cage to the main table in the second floor room, for all to see.
"But you are caged. What led to your being trapped like this, little one?"
"Now, can you do something about this beastly weather?"
Hektir looks the woman up and down, having no appreciation for 'royalty' (and not willing to bow his head to anyone), imagines things for what they could be.
"No, of course, they didn't recognize how things should be, your majesty. They probably didn't think about that at all...which is why they are dead." Hektir spits on the ground in the cabin, making a point.
"My first order of business is to see that I recover nicely. I took more than a few severe wounds trying to save you," Hektir, ever the charmer, lifts away his wooden armor to show the spot where the zombie slammed him, a purplish welt on his chest that nearly killed him.
"My second order of business will be getting you and the half-orc back to town safely. I can't imagine that will be easy either...what with the cold and all. Not sure how we are all going to survive," Hektir spits again, this time narrowly missing his own foot.
"Then, maybe, I'll see to the this dang weather. Because it ain't right!! It's against Gozreh, I tells yeah! It ain't right at all." Hektir spits again, this time hitting his foot.
"That's the plan. Another day to get healthy here, then back we go."
* * *
Perception
Fort Save
Hektir enjoins Tsin as she messes with imprisoned smurf.
"Say Tsin, you see this dagger? It has liquid in it. Weird, huh?"
Hektir examines the liquid more closely: Know (Nature)
And the greenish oil: Know (Nature)
"Hit him again, Tsin! This one is a master of undeath!"
Quinn echos the statement, "Cut his head from his shoulders before he can gurgle another curse."
she killed him! with a single hack from her blade! that could have been me she gashed wide open! Relief floods through Quinn as the last foe falls, now to heal his companions and find the lady.
"There was nothing personal, Healer. I hope that it doesn't present a problem. I intend to find ways of resisting that kind of magic in the future. Please know that I would never willingly turn against you like that."
"Not a problem at all, that was a dastardly trick played on the both of us, I just Thank Cayden that your blade didn't catch me."
"They wouldn't have gotten half way here with me!"
Quinn confirms the possibly audacious statement from their avian companion, "It's true, m'lady, each and every one of us each played a part in this grand rescue attempt. We're very pleased to see you are alive and well."
Quinn gathers the group in Pemsworth's room in the morning and radiates healing energy.
"It's very good to see you awake, Pems, I had feared the worst for you yesterday. Quite a bit of excitement you missed. Tsin was marvelous, hacked the bandit leader into pieces after shaking off his enchantment."
Seeing that Pems still has unhealed wounds, Quinn provides some extra healing.
"That should help with the worst of them, though perhaps another surge of divine energy is on order." Gathering anyone that still has injury, Quinn expels another burst of healing.
"Say Tsin, you see this dagger? It has liquid in it. Weird, huh?"
Tsin looks the blade over in Hektir's hands. "Be careful with that. What am I saying, of course you know that. It's just that it looks like something meant to participate in injury. Glaze on the meat, if you will."
For the desperation of battle and near death, Tsin quietly joins in for every healing channel provided by Quinn. It calms her.
Tsin tries to join Ten-Penny in the kitchen when she can. Should any meats need preparing, Tsin does what comes natural. She is more concerned with a too-soon level of trust in food preparation by a stranger, and watches over Ten-Penny as best she can, trying not to be obvious.
Oh yeah, that's the stuff!
Hektir spreads his arms wide to take in all of Quinn's divine spark.
"Oh yeah! QUINN!" Hektir tests his arms and pokes at his chest where the zombie slammed him for tenderness.
"Feeling much better now. Ain't no doubt. Feeling good enough to take care of them bodies outside."
Hektir stretches and tests his body.
* * *
Not sure when this is going to happen, but at some point Hektir will grab Quinn, Tsin, and a few shovels, axes, and picks, and goes outside and collects the dead for a funeral pyre.
Tsin refuses to bury any of the Raiders' bodies.
"Let them become food for the crows, Hektir. They deserve nothing more than to give back, in this lifetime."
Always trying to be helpful, Quinn volunteers a solution for the corpses, "We could just throw the corpses down the outhouse hole? It would be quick and easy and help keep them trapped in case anyone turns them into undead."
Hektir looks at Tsin and tries to explain.
"It ain't for them, Tsin. I'd just as soon kill them again if I could. But we gotta bury these bodies. It's about disease and the people that come here next," Hektir spits to emphasize his point.
"Lookee here, we burn...many people burn corpses to prevent disease from spreading. Those bodies, come thaw, them bodies are going to be exploding with pestilence. It ain't proper. We should either burn them or burn down this cabin. Take your pick."
Hektir takes a shovel and goes to work.