Bear hisses and whispers, "Back off!"
He looks around, "What did that thing just say?" He says as he readies his blade.
Freddie says sharply to Bear, "He said 'Speak my name'. Let me think here..."
Freddie says sharply to Bear, "He said 'Speak my name'. Let me think here..."
UU watches the warrior cautiously, "Hopefully, this isn't one of those smartass traps where you have to say 'My Name' in whatever language you were just speaking. I'm thinking maybe we're better off not saying anything at all at this point."
Fredrik nods at the stunningly beautiful warrior, "Yer right, let's back off for now, I think if we return to Allustan, he can shed some light on this mystery. Actually I am supposed to see him today anyway. Unless you want to risk it..."
"Shorty, how about you back down real slow and we can hope our mystery man steps back into that painting without triggering any nasty surprises."
UU glances over at Flash, "Maybe we just need a historian who can give us the name of the Wind Sock's greatest leader. I'm thinking Sarcophagus Boy here wasn't Joe Average... And I'm hoping like Hell that this whole room isn't a trap and that air funnel doesn't reverse direction in a real nasty way."
Freddie mutters a curse and shoots an irritated glance at Udaya. "Yeah, way to be optimistic there. Shoulda thought of that before we came up here."
Dara backs away slowly and says, "Hey Freddie, Legs ain't packin' a pair o' crystal balls in 'er shirt ya know."
She glances at Bear keeping her gaze level, "Don't look like Bear's packin' any either."
Bear grabs his crotch, "Well, they aint crystal, but… wait, what were we talkin' about?"
As Dara backs away down the stairs, the bas-relief returns to normal.
UU breathes a sigh of relief as the warrior image fades and says "Bears got a pair of brass ones, though... almost as big as yours Shorty."
Freddie glances at Vene, and says quietly, "I guess I know what material mine are made of."
"Bears got a pair of brass ones, though... almost as big as yours Shorty."
"Oh those?" she pats the pouch on her left hip, "Yeah well, so I like ta keep souvenirs. Besides... ne'er know when one o' the lads will need a new pair, right?"
UU looks at Dara seriously then turns to Bear, her hand out. "OK, hand'em over. Apparently all the fashionable women keep a pair in case of emergencies."
As Bear looks around for the exit, he laughs, "Hey, you can come over and play with'em anytime you want, but I'm afraid they stay where they are."
A search of the room does not turn up any hidden exits.
Venedictus is fine with heading back to town and returning later.
You step back into the column of air and find that it does, indeed, take you back down to the platform below. From there, you make your way back across the bridge over the room of iron sphere, along the corridor where the face is when the lanterns aren't lit, and back into the lantern chamber. You collect your candles from the lanterns and then head out.
As they pass back through the halls of the mysterious place, Bear speaks up from his usual place at the back, "I don't think it's a good idea to split up when we get near town. We're starting to gain some real enemies. The half-orc has probably told his boss about our questions regarding the Necro. And since Smenk and the necro were friends, I'm pretty sure he's not gonna be happy with us. Plus, you saw how easy it was for us to take down that half-orc when he was alone… I don't fancy what kind of trouble we'd get into if one or two of us got caught alone and unprepared by his crew. That's actually why I wanted to stop in on him first - and unannounced. Ask him directly if he's squealed on us. Maybe he'll be able to give us a heads up on what's waiting for us from Smenk." He pauses and looks at you all while you walk, "What do yall think?"
"Works fer me."
Fredrik listens to the speech given by Bear, and is struck by a sense of kinship with these compatriots. He had never been close to anyone before, due to his upbringing, and he realized he liked being a part of this group. Strange, that it took a lust for gold to bring this about. He discovered then, while Bear was correct in all respect, he finds himself agreeing with his fellow mage for different reasons.
Friendship.
"Yeah, I think we should stick together, Allustan can wait."
"Then perhaps, if I may suggest, as eager as I am to sit my bones down in a comfortable inn with a hot meal and good drink, perhaps it would be smart to wait till nightfall before returning, sneaking into Baslwief and Cullen's house, and laying in wait for him to return from his night of drinking. It should freak him out a bit and his tongue should be well-loosened from drink."
"Then perhaps, if I may suggest, as eager as I am to sit my bones down in a comfortable inn with a hot meal and good drink, perhaps it would be smart to wait till nightfall before returning, sneaking into Baslwief and Cullen's house, and laying in wait for him to return from his night of drinking. It should freak him out a bit and his tongue should be well-loosened from drink."
You wait by the entrance of the Whispering Cairn until nightfall. Since you had a late start to this day, it's not actually that long of a wait. Once the sun has set, you wait a bit longer and then make your way back into Baslwief.
It's not too difficult moving about the streets unseen since most of the populace is indoors (either in the taverns or their homes), and you can use the darkness to your advantage for those people who are outdoors. Even Venedictus, easily the least stealthy member of your group has no difficulty being stealthy tonight.
You reach Kullen's home and sneak up to the entrance, where Dara works on the lock.
After a couple agonizing minutes while the others look furtively about hoping that no one notices them, Dara gets the door open and you all head inside. You set up there in wait for Kullen.
They'll need some means of ascertaining whether or not Kullen is alone when he returns home, so perhaps somebody by the front windows/wall cracks?
Dara is short and has good perception and darkvision so she'll stay where she can see who approaches and how many.
Freddie hangs in the middle of the room, to be sure he supports either Dara or Udaya/Bear (who I guess are guarding the rear of the house).
With the plan set, you wait. The hours drag by slowly, but finally, a couple of hours past midnight you first hear Kullen returning. You hear his loud laughing voice well before he comes into range of Dara's darkvision. When he does, Dara and can see that he's walking with his arm draped drunkenly around a young woman. She's one of the barmaids from the Feral Dog--Alayna you think her name is. The two of them stumble to the door as Kullen tells her in quite graphic detail what he's intending to do once they get inside. He fumbles with his key for quite some time trying to get it into the lock. He finally gets the door open and the two of them step inside. His wide grin is immediately wiped from his face when he sees the party waiting for him.
"Oh!" Alayna gasps.
"Kullen" Bear smiles, "if we'da known you were bringin' a girl home, we'd have dressed up." He shakes his head, "Though I gotta say, it's not nice to make your guests wait. Mind if we have a chat?"
Kullen scowls. "Why you no good..." He turns to Alayna and points to his "bed". "Why don't you go wait for me over there, babe? I won't be long. Just got a little business to take care of."
Alayna shrugs and slips away from him. She eyes Bear noticeably as she passes him and smiles coyly.
"What do you want?" Kullen asks the group.
Man, some guys just have all the luck... Fredrik thinks to himself.
"Sorry to interrupt your, umm, date, but we just needed to make sure no promises made before have been...broken"
Kullen snorts. "Don't worry. I haven't told anybody you went to off that creep, Filge. I take it by the fact that you're still alive, you might even have managed it. Ha! Just wait till Smenk finds out. He'll roast you all if he learns you did it. So I reckon that keeping the secret could be somewhat valuable for me, if you catch my drift." He chuckles.
"Yeah, and Smenk might also like to know WHO told us about Filge in the first place... if you catch MY drift."
Kullen scowls. "Fine, I won't tell Smenk about you. Satisfied? Now, if you don't mind, I have a little..." He motions towards Alayna. "...business to kept back to, if you catch my drift." He eyes Udaya appreciatively. "Of course, if you wanted to join us, I wouldn't object. Heh."
Fredrik snorts in disgust at the lewdness of Kullen, although there was a part of him who could go along with that.
"It would be more reasuring if you could show your good intentions for us in a more substantial way...words have a tendency to be...mistaken."
He eyes Udaya appreciatively. "Of course, if you wanted to join us, I wouldn't object. Heh."
UU gazes at him neutrally, "You're really sweeping me off my feet, chief... but I'll pass."
Bear laughs at Kullen's offer to Hellcat. "I don't think you know what you're asking for, bud. Thanks for holding up your end of the bargain, Kullen. Always good to have dependable people to work with." With that, he takes a look over at Freddie. "You think our other friend is still awake this time of night? Or should we wait til the morning?"
This guy is going to get so paranoid about coming home each night, now. Perhaps he'll realize that if he keeps coming home drunk every night, one of these times he'll really end up in hot water, and so he'll swear off the booze and become an honest, upstanding member of society.
Either that, or he'll start coming home with his entire crew as backup. That'll work wonders for his rep, having to have his buddies help him check for bad guys under his bed.
Freddie responds, "Heh, I suspect he likes to sleep in as much as I do. Best to not disturb him."
"I guess there's nothing for it, then." Bear cuts his eyes over to where the girl waits and shakes his head, "Well.. uh.. have fun, you two… I guess."
Kullen smirks. "Oh, we will, we will." He smiles at the girl as he waits for you to leave.
Venedictus whispers to Bear to distract Kullen for a moment, and then goes up to the girl and whispers to her, "Before we go, I just wanted to make sure...you did come here willingly, right? We wouldn't allow him to do anything you didn't want. You needn't fear him."
Alayna looks at Venedictus in surprise. "It's what I do," she says. "What, you think the Feral Dog employs me just to wait tables? He paid the price; he gets the goods."
Over by the door, Kullen looks away from Bear. "Hey, what you doing over there? She's my girl!"
Seeing Venedictus head into the bedroom, Dara keeps down a smirk and then growls, "V! Get yer fat-ass over here ya cheatin' bastard! Ain't you puttin' yer mitts on no gal t'nite but the one ya walked in here with, ya scamp!"
UU tries her best not to smile...
"Honestly, you'd think a priest would know a little bit more about fidelity! Sheesh - a 'pillar of the community'. Yeah, he's got a pillar alright..."
Freddie bends over to stroke Pup's hair, trying not to burst out laughing, and murmers, "Who's a good boy, yes you are."
"I know right? You think I've got a temper? Sh1t, that boy's luck my Daddy isn't here to see this crap!"