"Thank you," Rakushu mutters as you escort her out of her cell. "My comrades... Where are they?"
Aeris is able to solve that question by opening two more cells, in which you find the other dwarven diplomats. The doors of these cells produce the same loud screech as the previous cell doors Aeris opened, but there's no hostile response this time. The other dwarves look just as exhausted as Rakushu, but luckily one of them has a very big, epic mustache.
|
"Seems to me we should look around a bit more here, see just what these folks were up to," Aeris replies reasonably. "The Everbloom wouldn't stand for me leaving these folks to just do this to someone else. If we can find out who's behind this, we can stop them doing it again and tell the Society what's going on here. We can have our dwarven friends wait here while we check out what's past that secret door we found."
Aeris hears nothing on the other side of the secret door, and opens it.
A number of wooden chairs and other furniture are stacked in this large room, as well as a few casks. A door lies to the west, while a corridor heads southward.
|
|
Reminded of his injuries by the Captain's thoughtful (and pleasantly spiced!) healing, Aeris gets out his healing wand and almost finishes the job.
Once he's done with that, he makes a point of distracting Mads from the casks he’s found. ”Looks like that door heads back where we already were. Hey, Mads, let’s go take a look down this hallway!”
He leads the way down the hall to the south, keeping his eyes and ears peeled.
|
|
Aeris lays a hand on the cask Mads is rolling down the hall and says, "Making a hell of a racket there, Caydenite. Maybe you could leave the ale here and come back for it, so we don't wake the sleeping ladies and that big mute fellow? As I recall, we didn't really want them to know we'd come down here. "
A wooden ladder in the southeast corner descends from above into this untidy chamber. Some pieces of broken furniture lie scattered across the floor, along with some soiled clothing. An oaken door is to the west and a corridor leads north.
|
|
"Well, it looks like we've found little else of interest," Aeris comments, "contrary to my hopes. I'd love to know why the smiling old ladies lock dwarves in the cells they have in the cellar. But our task is to get the envoys out and to Mendev safely, so we'd best set to it."
As the dwarves get dressed, he glances quickly at the ladder in the corner of the room, then says, "I say we go up the way we came down, we know what's there and it's unlikely anyone will have decided to take a bath in the middle of the night. Should we check the stables or anywhere else before we leave?"
He moves back through the basement the way they've come and heads up the ladder to the bathing room.
The dwarf with the huge mustache shrugs. "I need no clothes to cover my body. My mustache offers me all the protection I need."
His colleagues decide to don their clothes.
The party decides to climb up the ladder, and opens the trap door on top. You see that you'll end up in the stall of an unbroken mare that snorts, whinnies, and stamps its hooves restlessly.
Kaddok and Aeris move up first, taking care to not anger the horse while they squeeze past it. There isn't much more space in the stall with the horse also there, and Kaddok moves to open the stall's door.
Aeris puts a hand on Kaddok's shoulder, stopping him. He then points out that the stall's door is trapped. Debris will fall down when the door's opened.
Mads pokes his head out of the trap door, and is kicked in the face by the horse. He notices no pain, and realizes the horse is an illusion. This he shares with the others, who are then also able to see through the illusion.
|
|
"The horse isn't real?" asks Aeris incredulously, "Weird. What a strange place."
He then asks his companions, "So, do we go back down the ladder and out the other way, through the bathing room? Or can someone get this deadfall sorted out so we don't hurt ourselves and alarm our hostesses trying to get out of here?"
|
Kaddok? is that okay? , Morgan whispers up. rather than set off the trap, moving to another stall? If so, then Morgan will eventually be in line to climb. i'll assist everyone else through first
and then try and climb myself
|
|
Aeris clambers over the dividing wall into the next stall and steps into the hall as everyone else comes over.
"Let's get out of here and back to the boat, before our hosts wake up, eh?" he says quietly, leading the way to the main door of the stables.
He takes a look at the door for any surprises like the one in the stall.
Morgan tries to help everyone climb over the walls, but has a bit of trouble supporting some. With the help of Kaddok, he manages to get everyone on the other side. Mads faith compels him to quickly retrieve the ale, and the cask is also lifted over the wall. At last, Morgan and Aeris climb over the wall as well.
Aeris and Kaddok take point again, and push open the stable's double doors. Their arrival in the courtyard was expected.
A Razmiri priest, wearing gray robes and an iron mask, carries an ivory wand as she leans against the courtyard’s well. She straightens and exclaims, "In the name of the most holy living god, drop your weapons! I am Holy Ahendile, ordained priest of Razmir and arbiter of your fates. Submit to my authority, and you may well earn more merciful treatment."
Holy Ahendile has two enforcers who stand near her, slap weapons against gloved hands, and sneer menacingly.
"Wrong answer!" Holly Ahendile shouts. "Men, attack!"
However, Aeris is able to act faster than the thugs.
Turn progression - round 1:
Aeris
Thug (Blue square)
Capt. Morgan
Inira
Kaddok
Moumoku
Hole Ahendile
Thug (Red circle)
Mads