Sword in hand, Juma stalks over to the prone guard and wraps his huge hand around the man's neck. Easily lifting the terrified guard, Juma slightly shifts his grip to the front of the man's neck. Holding him at arm's length as the guard vainly tries to break the iron grip and his legs scrabble in the air, the giant Kushite walks over to the edge of the pit, holding the hapless guard over it. With a smile he speaks "So, you are in a mood to answer some questions now, yes?"
"Ask him something more practical, like what's waiting for us outside."
Temur also crosses the plank, takes up the other bow and quiver, and starts up the tunnel, quietly and cautiously, stopping before the end or at any sign of life.
The guard's eyes are rife with fear, as Juma and Bran start intimidating him.
He stammers, You were were were intended to be sacrifices to mighty Azoth. He must favour you to allow you to have lived. If you follow the tunnel you can escape into the desert.
"You were running for the other guards: how many are there and where? How far from Shadizar are we now and in what direction does the city lie? If this Azoth lies behind our abduction, who is his priest? Give me a human name!"
Temur is still headed up the tunnel to keep watch, as stated earlier.
"You were running for the other guards: how many are there and where? How far from Shadizar are we now and in what direction does the city lie? If this Azoth lies behind our abduction, who is his priest? Give me a human name!"
You get the sense that although the guard is intimidated, part of the reason that he has so much to say is that he holds you in awe for having survived the sacred beasts and the labyrinth.
There are more guards up above, and there is the camp outside. There are plenty of guards and slaves out there. If you walk due west through the desert you will be at the gates of Shadizar in about 6 hours.
Temur you move down the tunnel a ways. You can see that it does open up to the outside. It seems as though the opening is partway up a hill or mountainside, but you'd have to move all the way up the entrance to be sure. You also notice a spiral stair case that can be accessed from a doorway about half way down the tunnel. The staircase looks as though it goes up.
"And our possessions, where would they be held?"
Possessions? I know nothing of where any of your former trinkets would be
Bran makes a grunt in the back of his throat, looking to his fellow prisoners if they have any questions of their own.
Ardeth will gather up his long hair and wrap it in one of the dead men's turbans. He will also steal whatever footgear and clothes they were wearing. If no one is interested in the third leather girdle, he will wear that as well. Once no longer naked, and appearing surprisingly like one of the guards, Ardeth will say "I'm gonna go have a look with Temur, I am used to scouting. Wait here, I'll come right back." before slinking off quietly down the tunnel.
He will lay down and army crawl up to the edge of the opening to get a better view of their surroundings, ignoring the staircase up for now.
Temur was going to attempt that himself, but when Ardeth slips by him, he turns to check out the stair instead.
Looking from the door way, he'll only go up if there's no noise or light from above.
Figuring the question and answer session is over, Bran knocks the guard unconscious with the pommel of his sword and leans against the wall to catch his breath.
Clothing consists of baggy linen, drawstring pantaloons and leather sandals, as well as the studded leather girdles, and yes Ardeth does look remarkably like on the guards once he's geared up.
After taking some water, sorting out equipment and such, you proceed. It doesn't seem like the guard's cries for help attracted any attention.
Bran is able to take a bit of rest
Ardeth creeps up to the end of the tunnel. There it opens up completely to the night air. You feel a cool, strong, fresh breeze blowing in. A breeze the makes the flames of the torches flicker. It is dark out, but you can tell that you are high up on a steep, rocky hillside, and there is a winding pathway that leads down to a relatively flat valley below. In the valley, not far from the base of the hill, perhaps a couple of hundred yards away, you can see a large camp. You can make out the dark silhouettes of about a dozen tents set up in a circle around a trio of cooking fires that shed a little light. The camp seems fairly quiet right now. Beside the camp must be some sort of pasture because you can make out additional silhouettes of animals-goats and horses from the looks of it.
Temur the staircase is indeed a spiral staircase that leads upward. You can't hear any noise from up above. As far as spiral staircases go, it is fairly wide; you could almost go up it two at a time. There is no light in it, and you can't tell how far up it goes.
Ardeth you detect the faintest smell of Lotus smoke. You think it is wafting from the spiral stairs.
Ardeth's eyes narrow when he smells the smoke, and he immediately rolls away from the edge before popping up into a running crouch back to the others. "We're inside a hill, camp is down below. A lot of them, they have horses." His eyes have a manic furtive look as he turns away and begins lurching up the stairs sniffing constantly like a blood hound. He draws the dagger, and holds it up the inside of his sleeve with a slightly cocked hand, flat against his arm where it is well hidden.
Azoth?
Brother
The horn will wake him... The horn will slay him...
I have ever marveled at how profoundly unoriginal your kind are...
Speaking aloud to no one in particular, Xanos mused. "Azoth is a powerful demon of madness and blood. We would be doing the world a service to destroy his followers."
Bran just looks as Xanos for a moment before answering.
"Yeah, might as well do that. While we're in the area. We'll just throw rocks at them and smother them with our loincloths in their sleep."
Ardeth, the stairs are dark without a torch, so you have difficulty seeing as you make your way up.
For Ardeth
There doesn't appear to be anyone in this hall.
Juma drops the unconscious guard and then takes a girdle and the scimitar, not bothering with the pants or sandals as they would be unlikely to fit. As the others announce that they will be scouting ahead, he indicates that he will spend some time searching behind. Taking two torches, he puts one out and then goes back to thoroughly search the monster's den and the cave-in area.
Temur will follow up the stairs, giving Ardeth a little lead thinking he's quieter, though starting to wonder about the lurching and sniffing.
He'll motion to others to stay at the bottom if he sees them following.
Bran stays put, cutting up the cleaner bits of a guard's pants to bind the wounds on his chest and side.
Ardeth smelling that his beloved Lotus is near will streak forward through the curtain like a cat pouncing after a mouse. Sorry to interrupt your fun time boys. He thinks as he bursts through.
You are more comfortable than most navigating a tunnel in complete darkness, but you wouldn't be able to see anything.
For Juma
For Ardeth
Unfortunately, between you and your desire there is a wooden table in the center of the room. 5 guards sit on stools at the table. They are in the midst of a dice game when you burst into the room, and they seem shocked to see you. They are looking at you as if trying to figure out who you are.
For Temur
There doesn't appear to be anyone in this hall, except Ardeth who you see hastily but fairly silently move up to the hide flap and then suddenly pounce through. You hear what sounds like shouts of surprise from the other side of the flap as Ardeth enters the room. The voices sound male.
Bran and Xanos. The two of you are currently down in the main hall. Bran is tending to his wounds. Juma has grabbed a torch and wandered back to the lair of the creatures and Temur and Ardeth have gone off up the spiral staircase.
Temur
Then he turns to race down the hall.
Bran and Xanos
For Ardeth
PH and Xanos
"Rouse Juma. I'll aid them until you and the Kushite arrive.", he says stiffly to the sorcerer before running up the stairs, scimitar at the ready.
(I assume he found nothing of interest in the Den of the creatures? Was thinking perhaps some of their victims might have had items of interest that the monsters themselves would have overlooked. He also looks for scraps of cloth that me might be able to make a third torch with, should that be necessary.)
Juma glances back down the hallway towards the others, briefly considering going back for Ardeth or Temur. But not knowing precisely where the smaller men are at the moment, he simply hollers out "Temur! Ardeth! One of you come here!" and then carefully sets down his two torches, the lit and unlit one, and begins to haul away rocks to make the hole bigger, thinking that, with his strength, it shouldn't take too long.
"We are needed." he rumbles loudly.
Xanos
Juma
Having delivered his message, Xanos returned to where Bran was headed.
"Oi, rouse your asses! The camp's under attack!" Ardeth says quickly, before ducking back through the curtain out into the hall where Temur is (hoping they didn't have time to recognize him). As soon as he gets there, he will lock eyes with Temur, hold up 5 fingers and then flatten himself against the wall a few feet to the right of the door flap, ready to backstab whoever comes through.
Ardeth and Temur
Hold fast curs! It is our sacred duty to defend the sanctum. The camp will need to fend for itself. Malik bring word to the I'dallah. Rageed go see what's going on.
The curtain then flings open, and one guard comes out with a scimitar in hand. Temur is standing in middle of the hall, which gives the guard a surprise, but Ardeth is against the wall ready to jump him.
Ardeth Stealth: Agility + Assassin
[ooc]As for switching weapons- it generally does take your turn. If you drop a weapon and draw another weapon you could still make an attack on a turn, but if you are sheathing a weapon and then drawing another weapon you'd need a turn. A bow could be even more involved if it isn't strung, but the bow you have is strung, and you are pretty competent with it from your nomad training, so you could ready it as easily as a melee weapon.
He'll feint in to keep the guard's attention focused and then strike for real once Ardeth attacks.
Ardeth will attempt to clap his hand over Rageed's mouth before he has time to shout, and then slit his throat.
After this, as quickly as possible he will drag the body to the right side of the hall, grab any torches there and fling them down to the far end of the hall creating an area of dimness near the door. He will then sheathe his dagger, draw his bow and hide again in the now darkened corner. Signaling Temur to do the same on the opposite side.
Temur and Ardeth
Well done Ardeth. You pull it off, slitting the Rageeds throat, and then completing the rest of your actions as you described- tossing the torches down the hall and readying your bow, while giving Temur directions to stay quiet.
About the time you finish getting your bow out, you notice Bran arrive at the top of the stairs.
For Bran
When you reach the top of the stairs, you find they open up into another hallway. Peering into the hall, you can see that it is dimly illuminated by a few torches two of which are on the ground at near your feet. It is even longer than the hall you were just in down below, and you suspect that it is running back deeper into the hillside. The hall is also much narrower than the one down below; it is only about 5' wide and Juma's head would likely scrape on the ceiling. You detect the smell of Lotus smoke up here. The far end of the hall is dark because the torches that you presume were lighting it are now on the ground burning at your feet. In the darkness at the end of the hall you can make out two shadowy figures and possibly a third one on the ground.
When he sees Bran enter the hall, Ardeth will hold up his hand palm out as is to say "Stop." Then he will hold a finger to his lips for silence, hoping that Bran can make out the gestures through the darkness.
Moving markedly up the staircase, Xanos stops a short ways behind Bran and Temur, patiently waiting.