|
The stench hits the unsuspecting man square in the face. Reeling back from the odor, he frowns. "Really? Gorram beasties needin a shower!"
Barreling into the room, he leaps on the cot. "Aint nothin in the verse as foul as you! Gots an awful smell bout ya. Now git!"
Leveling his gun at the troglodyte before him, he squeezes the trigger. Suddenly, a shimmering colorful light envelopes the gun and a faint *Ploop* rings out, instead of the normal explosion. Streamers and confetti sail forward out of the barrel, coating two of the foes.
|
Seeing the one in front of her engaged, Maria swaps targets and slips across the room. The quick movement appears to upset her stomach, though she powers through and attempts to put the pointy end of an arrow into the gut of one of their enemies.
for
|
|
Stepping around the fool, he points his weapon at the beast covered in streamers that remained standing. "Ya shudda went down."
Sighting in the beast, he slowly gives the trigger a slight tug. *KaBLAMMO*
The familiar flare of the rifle combined with a sickening 'Shunk' as the projectile makes contact, Bob shakes his head. "Well...warned 'em."
Turning to Sparks opponent, he smiles. Softly blowing the smoke from his barrel, the man readies to reload.
|
Gahlethea comes rushing into the room and is immediately overcome by the smell. She loses the "morsels" she had partaken of earlier onto the floor. Looking up with a twisted face, she says, "Ugh... That... *spit*... funk... I think we found the rest of the students."
Turning to the nearest troglodyte, she says, "You students had better ... *spit*... put down your weapons and help us find Professor Chemy... *spit*... NOW! Or else my companions here will make sure that you FAIL this class or, possibly even... *spit* *spit* *spit*... die."
|
Sparks Steps up but the wee troglodyte just ducks under his blade.
Maria repositions but is not able to get a clear shot and her arrow goes wide.
The High Fool steps up, but is still unable to connect as well.
Bob's musket sound strikes the red tinted trog and it explodes in a burst of stinky guts.
The remaining Troglodyte is scared but not standing down. It steps over and opens the door to the south while shouting in Troglodyte. It then makes a quick swipe at Sparks
From the other room you see a larger Troglodyte start moving towards you.
|
|
Maria slips into the middle of the group to get a view into the other room. More confident now with allies between her and the smelly threats she looses an arrow at the hulking trog lumbering their way.
for
She rolls her eyes and adds sarcastically, "that must be the teacher then."
|
|
Realizing that the witch had left without it, the rabbit shrugs, if such a thing is possible, before racing out of the stairway and into the room.
Crinkling its nose at the awful smell, but otherwise feeling quite well, the rabbit continues to hop rapidly towards the witch before making a running leap into the witch's basket.
Once inside the basket, it then promptly "loses" its "carrots".
|
|
It steps over and opens the door to the south while shouting in Troglodyte. It then makes a quick swipe at Sparks. From the other room you see a larger Troglodyte start moving towards you.
What are they saying? wonders Gahlethea. They must be foreign students.
She rolls her eyes and adds sarcastically, "that must be the teacher then."
Catching the shape of the lumbering creature through the light haze that permeating her brain due to the stench, which simply adds to the dense fog that permeates her brain normally, and hearing Maria’s statement, Gahlethea concludes, That MUST be him! Professor Chemy! Elphie must be right! I mean, she is usually right about most things.... except for choices of fashion... oh, yeah, and that dreadful hairstyle... and, then, there was also when she went into the secret monkey room...boy, that turned out to be a bad idea...
And how to wear her hair. Oh, and going into the secret monkey room, that turned out to be a bad idea…[/i]
”Professor…*spit*! Oh, Professor …*spit*… *spit*… This has got to stop! You need to tell your foreign students that this is NOT what we mean by ‘going clubbing’ in this country and, furthermore…*spit*… they need to take a bath!” the witch cries out. ”If you don’t join us in reeling these outcast students in, then I am going straight to the Dean and then you are REALLY GOING TO GET IT! And then your career won't be worth...*spit*... much at all... *spit*!”
She squints in the direction of the newer, larger troglodyte. ”I’ve got my EYE on you!”
|
|
Maria, not willing to lose any advantage, darts forward. Expecting an attack she attempts to roll below it. Coming back up she gains a bit of space and carefully fires another arrow at the Hulking Trog.
for
|
|
Gahlethea rushes through the door after Maria.
"Elphie! That is no way to treat a professor! You can’t go around shooting faculty members with that thing!” the witch points to the bow.
"There will be no firing here!” she shouts. ”After all, this man likely has tenure!”
The witch next turns her ire on the newer, larger troglodyte. ”And you, “Professor”, if that is indeed your REAL NAME…” She points her finger at the monster. "If you’re going to be swinging that stick around, you had better not hurt MY roommate… or... those... other people back there... I suppose."
The witch glares at him intently.
|
|
Already off his game from Gahletha's first curse, Maria's arrow hit the troglodyte in the arm.
Once again Gahletha's curse weakens him some more.
Then The High Fool Steps in and in a flourish finishes off the brute. It is really most sincerely dead.
A brazier of glowing coals sits in the center of this room, its acrid smoke mixing with the ever-present troglodyte stench. A few knives, pokers, and other metal implements lie atop a rusty iron box nearby.
There is a rusty iron chest that holds: a suit of masterwork studded leather armor, a masterwork buckler, a masterwork rapier, a shortbow with 15 arrows, a scroll of cure moderate wounds, a scroll of invisibility, a wayfinder, and a climber’s kit.
The brute Troglodyte also carries some keys. One looks like it would have opened some of the earlier doors, but the rest are unknown.
Opening the remaining door you find a human manacled to the wall. He looks up to you. "Are you from the Society? I am Balenar Forsend, agent of the Pathfinders. Please let me free!"
|
|
Then The High Fool Steps in and in a flourish finishes off the brute. It is really most sincerely dead.]
"I guess he didn't have tenure." says Gahlethea as she checks the creature's corpse for a pulse. When she finds the keys on the brute's corpse, she cries out. ”Oh!” she says, as if having a revelation. “He wasn’t the professor, he was clearly the janitor!”
Suddenly, she stops and starts to breath heavily as she looks around at the disheveled living quarters made worse so by the chaos of battle. ”But…” she says slowly, ”if he was the janitor…then….” She looks over at the other dead bodies and accompanying blood and gore. ”Who is going to clean up this place?” she asks in horror.
Attempting to straighten things up, she picks up the keys and begins rearranging items in the room, including those in the metal box. Unless someone stops her, the witch helps herself to the remaining items, including the scrolls, wayfinder, and climber's kit.
Opening the remaining door you find a human manacled to the wall. He looks up to you. "Are you from the Society? I am Balenar Forsend, agent of the Pathfinders. Please let me free!"
Relieved to find a human for a change, Gahlethea breathes a sigh of relief. We found him! The Professor was here all along! The witch thinks. Although, he does have a funny accent. He pronounced the word “Professors” more like “Pathfinders”. (He asked you a question.) Oh, yes, I was so excited that I forgot my manners for a second. (By my estimates, you have been without manners for must longer than tha….)
“Of course, we are from the Society.” she responds, cutting off any other thoughts and froofing her dress to make her gown look more presentable. ”We aren’t the Barbarians.” She looks at the manacles on the wall. ”Gee, Prof. You must be into some weird stuff.” Hmmm. Gahlethea ponders. I may have just recovered some blackmail or incriminating evidence against this guy.
And that name “Forsend”, it sounds almost vulgar when you think about it. She pauses again, as if in thought. Oh, and what else did he say, again? “Please let me be”? An odd request, but then, if he doesn't want anyone to now about his activities, then I guess it makes sense.(Does it?) Okay, request granted!
Gahlethea gives Balenar a friendly wave. Then, she promptly shuts the door.
|
|
Maria just stares wantonly at the leather armor as it gets grabbed up, um... I think I'll just let the others fight that battle.
She watches in amusement as Sir Forsend is treated... pretty well all things considered. When she sees her chance she takes it.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I think I am supposed to be the understudy for the janitor. If you'll just let me... grab those..." She snatches the keys away from the witch, "then I'll get started right away on cleanup!"
Moving around and whistling while pretending to pick things up, she ends up by the door, unlocking it. "I'm sorry Sir, I think she took a strike to the head at some point in her life. Anyway, let me get you out of that. How did you come about shackled up here?" She tries to find a key that works on the shackles.
|
|
Putting his powder away, he turns to help with the remaining beast. "Ah, ya got 'em. Well done, well done indeed!" he commends his friends, stowing the musket over his shoulder.
Watching the others flit about the room, he raises a hand as the witch shuts the door on the shackled man. "Uh...Ms..." but seeing Maria has it handled, he lets it drop. Glancing over the stack of goods in Gahlathea's arms, he raises his hand again. "Dear, I believe that one there be betta wit me." With a smile, he points to the scroll of invisibility.
"Ya can keep t'otha one."
|
|
After Maria opens the door again, Balenar nods to both Maria and Sparks as he is let go. "Thank you. I am a bit drained from what those troglodytes have done. I see you have taken care of Tulok, but what of the leader, Tasskar? If you have yet to deal with her, I would be willing to offer what inspiration I can, though I would not be much direct use in any combat."
|
|
"Oh yes please, is she in the next room over or somewhere else? And why were you here again?"
Maria moves back into the first room. If the unconscious trogg hasn't been tied up yet she goes ahead and does that with her rope. Once done she will caution Sir Forsend to stand back and will check the door for traps, waiting for her allies to assemble.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Gahlethea pokes at the unconscious troglodyte until it revives. Though she speaks in common, her words most likely cannot be understood by the troglodyte . Nevertheless, the troglodyte can tell something of what Gahlethea is communicating through her gestures and physical clues.
The witch first points to the dead bodies of the other troglodyte companions of her audience. She next growls and bears her teeth, before drawing a line with a finger across her neck in a manner resembling the common sign for “death”. She repeats this sign two more times across her neck, before then drawing the sign for “death” with her finger across the neck of the troglodyte.
The women next jumps to her feet, screams, and grabs the seat of gown. She reaches down into the climber’s kit and removes a piece of rope. After a few moments of manipulation, she forms a circle at the end of it, resembling a noose. She tosses the rope to the side.
Gahlethea again points to the corpses of the other troglodytes. She repeats the sign for “death” across her own neck and then again across that of the troglodyte. Next, she purses her lips, in a manner resembling a “kiss of death”. The witch’s face then contorts into an expression of immense pain and she waves her hand about rapidly, almost as if it were on fire.
The witch then reaches into her basket, first removing a tindertwig, which she promptly places into the troglodyte’s mouth, and then a vial of acid. She holds the vial of acid over the head of the troglodyte and allows a small drop to fall on the troglodyte’s skin. She then waves the vial of acid in front of the troglodyte’s face, then points to the dead bodies of his companions.
Gahlethea next grabs hold of both of the troglodyte’s wrists and squeezes them. She next turns, gives a friendly wave to Maria, then once again signs “death” with her finger across her own neck before repeating it across the neck of her apparent prisoner.
Finally, Gahlethea asks in
“So, taking into account all that I have shown you and told you, don’t you agree that it is best to stop following the one who you thought was in charge – the one who you followed to this place--- and instead help us get everyone out of here? Otherwise, you too are almost certainly going to end up chained in a closet, if not worse. What do you think?’
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Gahlethea pokes at the unconscious troglodyte until it revives. Though she speaks in common, her words most likely cannot be understood by the troglodyte . Nevertheless, the troglodyte can tell something of what Gahlethea is communicating through her gestures and physical clues.
Gahlethea pokes at the unconscious troglodyte until it revives. ”Oh good, you’re awake. So, I heard about this field trip to the Tower of Nexus that you and your fellow students over there came here for.” She points to the dead bodies of the other troglodytes. ”As soon as we got here, we were attacked by dogs.” She growls and bears her teeth. “Then, once the puppies were… uh… put to sleep… That’s just a euphemenolloquialism for death.”[b] She draws a line with her finger across her neck, signing death. [b]“You do understand what an euphemenolloquialism is don’t you? I was trying to say that “put to sleep” is just a polite way to say ‘death’.” She signs death with her finger again across her neck a second time. “I know that its just a euphemenolloquialism for death.” She signs death again across her neck a third time. “But do you know that its just a euphemenolloquialism for death?” She draws a line with her finger across the neck of the troglodyte, again as a sign for “death”.
“Anyways, not long after that, I thought I had grown a tail and was turning into a…. *shutter*… monkey! And I yelled, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Gahleteha jumps to her feet, grabbing the seat of her gown as she screams. [b]”So, then we climbed up to the top of the tower here.” She opens the climber’s kit and pulls out a piece of rope ”We used rope to get to the top of the tower. It had to be tied first, kind of like…. kind of like….” She struggles to form the rope into a knot, but manages only a large loop at the end. ”Like this, I suppose.”
Well, anyways,” she continues, tossing the rope aside. ”Once at the top, we encountered a lizard, more stinky guys—but before I figured out that they must be students…” She points to the troglodyte corpses. “I discovered that they had been ‘put to sleep’.” She signs death again across her neck. ”Remember that euphemenolloquialism?” She signs death again across the troglodyte’s neck. ”So, then we encountered these hot students, well not hot like … you know… hot…” She purses her lips as if about to give a kiss. ”But hot like… ouch, hot… that’s enflammerated! … I am burning!... type-hot.” Gahlethea contorts her facial expression into one of immense pain and shakes her hand back-and-forth as if it were on fire.
So, remembering my manners, I offered them a morsel.” She opens up her basket and pulls out a tindertwig. ”Here, have a bite.” She places it into the troglodytes mouth, then pulls out a vial of brown liquid. ”Since they were hot, I offered them a drink.” She holds the flask over the troglodyte’s head. When a drop of the liquid falls on the troglodyte’s skin, she apologizes, ”Oops, wrong vial. It would be silly to use this on anyone.” She brandishes the bottle in front of troglodyte’s face before placing it on the ground. ”Then we came up the steps and met you guys.” She points to the corpses of the troglodytes. “And I thought that the janitor was the professor, but he actually turned out to have locked himself into the closet.” She grabs hold of both of the troglodyte’s wrists and squeezes them to imitate manacles. ”My friend, Elphie, is the acting janitor now!” She gives a friendly wave to Maria across the room. ”Anyways, as I was saying, the Professor locked himself up, cause, well... I think he is into some weird stuff. In this case, ‘stuff’ is another use of an euphemenolloquialism, like ‘put to sleep’ is. Remember ‘put to sleep’?” She makes the sign for “death” again across her own neck. “You got it now, right? ‘Put to sleep’?” She repeats the sign across the neck of the troglodyte.
The witch starts looking at the troglodyte, then has a revelation. “I bet you don’t understand a single word that I am saying, do you. Say, you look draconian.” She says picking up one of the troglodyte’s javelins and points at the troglodytes tail. “Maybe you’d understand me better if I spoke Draconian!”
Gahlethea then speaks in draconian Draconic.
|
|
The troglodyte, is very moved by Gahlethea's show and then fully understands. It mutters in Draconic but the words, "Mack, Fin, and Guff" are uttered a few times while pointing up the stairs and at himself and Gahlethea.
"Yes! Mother Tasskar has holy Mack, Fin, and Guff! Use to keep tower. Says is by devine right of Guff, Mack, and Fin. Bah'ab" pointing to himself, "Now can follow you! No longer for Mother Tasskar! You be Mother now!
The Rabbit looks inquisitively then signs to Maria, if such a thing were possible, that the door is free of traps.
|
|
Gahlethea carefully considers the troglodyte's words.
He wants me to treat him like a mother. The witch ponders. If I’m going to do that I suppose I should take the time to learn his name. Buuuuuut… he DID use a lot of words. Which one must have been his name? Oh, yeah. I think I got it! (I don't think you do.)
"Hey guys!" Gahleteha shouts out to the rest of the party."I'm now one Fin Mother!"
She turns to Bah'ab. "Fin – now that we’re friends, I’ve decided to make you my new project.” She looks at the troglodyte for a moment, then shakes her head. “Oh, yeah. You still don’t speak Common, do you… poor thing… Well, that’s one of the first things that we’ve got to fix!”
”Well, okay, the second thing.” Gahlethea says as she reaches into her basket. ”This is for the first.” She says as she hands him a bar of soap.
|
|
Gahlethea realizes that, with all the added items she has acquired that she is now rather encumbered. She shouts to Bah'ab. "Hey, Fin! Will you be a dear and please come and carry my stuff for me?"
Then, remembering that the troglodyte doesn't speak Common, she does what she has seen other visitors to foreign countries do when faced with a language barrier, she repeats her request again in Common, only LOUDER and more slllooooowllyyyyyyy, until the creature complies.
|
|
Eyeing the woman with intrigue, though missing large chunks of the discussion as his eyes go out of focus, he smiles 'Powerful smart woman dere. Convincin beasty to join us even...'
Glancing towards the freed man, he adds "Ah, yeah. More ta merrier."
Turning towards the previous room, he follows Maria as she heads out.