Eitylen shouts a command to mercenary 1 -You!, don't let the crossbowman there to cast or sto shot that thing! - As a friendly remainder that they suck at basic tactics.
Cyrus' wave of anti-life fells the crossbowman once and for all, draining whatever little vital energy he had left in his body. He never had a chance...
The man with the scimitar also takes the full impact of the attack, but he still stands. This time, though, he doesn't seem so sure of his victory...
He whispers arcane words and moves his hand across his own shoulder and chest as if he were removing a cloak. Once he's done, the man disappears from sight, though you can still hear his steps, as he walks away from you.
His last living ally, the enlarged man who seemed to be the leader of their group, rolls his eyes, exhales some hot air... And climbs the wall of the building next to him with inhuman agility. He moves up to 60ft in a mere moment, almost reaching the top, but not quite...
The two mercenaries stand aside, not sure what to do...
Eitylen try to finish the big guy
The enlarged man turns around block the dagger, but Eitylen's knife is a fraction of a second faster than the man's fist, and the blade digs into the enlarged warrior's throat.
He dies and plummets from the top of the building... Almost squashing one of the mercenaries who fought him alongside your group.
His body crashes with a loud "SPLART!", and leaves a huge stain of blood and bone on the ground.
I loot the bodies while Cyrus is making his con checks.
"So the fight's over then?" Frederick asks, a bit disoriented from his meditative fighting trance being broken.
Eitylen administers a potion of CMW to Cyrus
TO the mercenaries - We have just saved your life, be honest because more assassins could come looking for you. Where is Ayren?, What are you really doing here?
"I have no idea who these guys were! We didn't even know Ayren before 5 or 6 days ago, when he hired us to be his bodyguards during the convoy's travel and his stay at Stonybrook... When we got here, he said he had a few businesses to take care of, but most people don't like having a whole group of armed men in their house, so he took two of our companions and left. We waiting for them in the tavern."
"Did he say how long he'd be? Or any of the place he might go?"
"He did mention something about visiting "The Duchess"... One of our friends went with Ayren, simply because he had been here a bunch of times and never got to see her. I didnt even know there were nobles living in this hole!"
"You know, I've never met a noble before. This should be an experience."
I doubt the duchess is an actual duchess but I guess we will find that out soon
"Why wouldn't she be a real duchess? Can't you get executed for impersonating a noble?" Frederick says, looking confused.
After you ask around, you do find the woman called The Duchess. Or, more precisely, the place where she lives: A simple-looking but very large house that looks more like an office than a home.
There are miners and sellswords moving about, talking mostly about business form what you can hear. When you enter the place, there are a few people making deposits and withdraws of gold, precious rocks and all sorts of documents.
Asking about the Duchess always causes your listener to look surprised. No one seems capable of telling you where exactly to find her... But after a few minutes, six guards come to you.
"So... You're the outsiders asking about the boss, huh? Como with me! And don't even think about touching those fancy weapons of yours!"
"Very well." Cyrus acquiesces.
"Of course."
The guards lead you to an empty room where there is nothing but a simple wooden table and two iron doors (including the one you use to enter the room).
"Leave your weapons on the table and you get to see the captain. Don't worry, they'll be returned to you when you leave. If you want, one of you can stay here with them..."
You can't detect any hint of deception in their voices.
The apparent leader of the guards opens the second iron door, leading you to a much ampler and better lit room. There is pretty big window on the wall straight ahead of you, illuminating 2 separate desks. One of them is empty, the other one is occupied by a man in full plate. He has no hair on his head, but his face is covered by thick grey-colored beard and mustache. An eye-patch hides his left eye and a small part of a grizzly looking scar that runs from the middle of his forehead to the bottom his left cheek.
Standing next to him there are two other guards. A half-elf man and a human woman, the former carries a scimitar in his belt, the latter a silversheen sabre. Their armor is finer than your escorts', but not as impressive as the one donned by the one-eyed captain.
"So... You're the ones, huh..." says the man as he twirls his grey-colored mustache. "I'm captain Solomon. My men tell me you're looking for the Duchess and that you arrived in town with the Goldsmith convoy... What exactly is your business in Stonybrook?"
The guards let you go peacefully, though they are very clearly suspicious of your attitude, and accompany you all the way to the building's front door. You move on without further incident, but there is an air of suspicion everywhere you go, and you can't help but notice a few passerby's staring at you.
Fine - Eitylen leaves his arsenal of daggers on the table.
==================================================================
We are here employed by a half-ef named Ayren looking got a medicine or something like that...but we lost track of Ayren and we hope the duchess could help us with that since the information we have is that they were suppose to meet
The bald man is hears Eitylen's words with undivided attention, and groans a bit when the elf is done speaking.
"So you ARE working with Ayren..." he doesn't seem even a little bit surprised by it. "We have been waiting for him for a while now, but he never showed up. This confirms our worst fears... Ayren has been captured."
The man stands turns to the window behind him, observing the world beyond its glass. He then takes a quick glance at one of his lieutenants... Who slowly nods at him.
The one-eyed captain takes a deep breath and turns back to you.
"Very well. We have no time to waste. Our enemies are aware of our plans, and I dare not imagine how much they may know. We have a rescue mission to perform." he says with a commanding voice. "You three. I offer you a chance to aid us. As outsiders, you can move unnoticed. My men and I will cause a few distractions to force the enemy to split its attentions, but the most important role shall be yours. If you choose to join us, you'll be required to infiltrate one of the enemy's headquarters and release Ayren. He shouldn't have spilled his guts yet, but gods know how much longer he can hold it..." he gesticulates with his left arm, causing his lieutenant to take a step forward. "Lorena here will guide you. You'd be wise to follow her instructions."
He sits heavily on his chair and places his arm on his desk. "If you decide to help us, wait for Lorena at exit number 4. My men will lead you there." he then adds the following sentence with a suggestive tone in his voice "I remind you that this is a good chance to make some very important friends..."
"What do you say?"
Frederick leaves his Falcata, though hangs onto his gauntlets unless someone calls him on it.
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"Eitylen has the right of it, sir."
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"Could we get some details first, sir? We were not informed of any 'enemy'."
"Lieutenant Lorena will explain it to you." he says calmly as he rises from his chair. "Now, if you will excuse... I must inform my superior immediately."
With that said, he walks out of the room without bothering to check if anyone protests his decision.
The girl with the silver sabre speaks to you
"The captain is being a bit over-dramatic..." she says with a friendly tone. "The 'enemy' in question is more of a business rival, though an relentless one." she says. "There are very few people in this town who would dare to harm a member of the Forge Union, but Ayren is more of an... 'unofficial agent', that makes him fair game." she removes her helmet, revealing light grey eyes and light brown locks of curly hair. "Truth be told... We don't know if they are after Ayren because of whatever job he is current doing, or if they are after information about us... But that stupid half-elf has this annoying little tendency of knowing too much for his own good, he worked for us enough times to know quite a bit." she gracefully walks towards the door, but continues to speak "I'll tell you more on the way, if you decide to help us." her voice suddenly changes into a decisive tone. "Look... I WILL find him. And if you help me, we can probably do it before it's too late and your list of allies will grow a little bit longer." then she adds with a more humorous voice: "...And you'll be closer to being paid for whatever insanity Ayren roped you into."
The woman removes her gauntlets before speaking again
"Anyway... I have to change into something more subtle. This armor is bound to attract too much attention. If you're interested in the job, meet me in 10 minutes. See you soon... Or not. It's your choice."
"I think we should help. Even though you were right about Ayren's jobs becoming complicated, Eitylen."
Brother Cyrus gestures outwards with his hands.
"Not a question of helping or not for me. Ayren is a good man even if his quirks might make one think of him as a dastardly individual."
Fine - Eitylen will follow for now, but not knowing exactly who are these guys and who they are fighting make him very uncomfortable.
You follow your escort guards to the exit mentioned by Captain Solomon. and wait there a few minutes before you are joined by Lieutenant Lorena, now donning a simple chain shirt tracking pants and boots. She still carries her silver saber, though.
"Ah... Glad to see you decided to join me. Here's the quick rundown... Seen the place where Ayren was last seen, there are only three possible rival hideouts to where he might have been taken, anywhere else and at least one of our agents would have seen him." she says with a collected tone. "This one we can safely ignore, as it has been under control of a friend of Captain Solomon for the past few weeks... The second possibility is a storage deposit closer to the mines, but no one working around that place has reported anything strange. The third place is a little woodwork shop at the outskirts of the city. It's in a desert enough area to hide a prisoner without fear of prying eyes and it's not a place often visited by our men... That's where we are going first."
She leads you to a mostly desert street, nearing the woods that surround most of the city. There is an woodwork shop here, but its windows are boarded and its doors seems to be locked. The place is complete silent.
"This can't be right..." says Lorena, visibly astonished by your findings. "This place may be a cover, but there should still be someone around. Anyone! We should check its inside."
As expected, the door is locked.
"Can any of you open this? lock-picking has never been my forte. There is a backdoor as well and probably an skylight too, if you prefer."
I take 10 for 23 in disable device.
After listening to the soft "click" that indicates the lock was successfully picked, Eitylen slowly opens the front door of the woodwork shop.
The scene in front of him is appalling. There are workers everywhere, but the reason there was no sound to be heard is the fact that all of them are dead, violently murdered by an obviously merciless enemy.
There are signs of battle everywhere, but whoever did this didn't bother to grab their weapons or armor.
"By the gods..." gasps Lt. Lorena. "Who could have done this?! And why?!"
- Eitylen start wondering if the god of this land like the scenes of violently murdered peasants.
Brother Cyrus takes a knee and begins quietly uttering prayers.
Eitylen notices a small trapdoor that seem to exhale a faint but consistent greenish vapor. It's the one door in this place that isn't broken down or wide open...
The elf is about to take a step to take a closer look when Brother Cyrus prayer seem to disturb the room's atmosphere... A feeling of nausea goes through you for a moment, but no harm is done. Yet.
You quickly realized that while this place may be dead silent, it's not fully dead... The corpses twitch in agony and slowly rise to their feet... They move rigidly, with limbs going at odd angles, like marionettes being pulled by invisible strings...
But even this clumsy movement is far more than what dead men should do... Hopefully, Brother Cyrus still has a few surges of positive energy left in him.
EDIT: I forgot to roll Lt. Lorena's initiative
Brother Cyrus
Eitylen
Dead Man 4
Frederick
Dead Man 5
Dead Man 2
Lt. Lorena
Dead Man 1
Dead Man 3
Brother Cyrus' eyes open as he notices the dead men rising. Without uttering a word, he closes his eyes again staying in his kneeling stance.
A pulse of warm light ushers forth.
The vile creatures take the fulls power of Brother Cyrus' wave of positive energy, they still shamble on their feet, but it's clearly visible that the unholy energy animating them is almost completely gone...