"If you must break the door to get in, that is a small cost to make sure he is alright."
"Might I humbly suggest that Morgrom would make an effective means of access as a... battering ram of sorts?"
"If he has merely locked the door, I may be able to open it quietly and quickly. If not, I will step out of Morgrom's way."
Petronicus goes outside and casts a spell near the boarded up window, covering the sound of Haer Kul starting to pick the lock. Scuttles scales the wall and continues making noise, while Petronicus tries to join the others.
The door opens, and Thorthal and Prahd burst in next to a man armed with a halberd who was facing the window. The others move up to be in reserve...
Morgrom is going to wait to see just how this plan will unfold. It's just like a cowardly wizard to hide around a corner and let the real men do the work. Besides, he's curious to know if his companions have been duped by the woman into doing her dirty work.
"Sir, we are here to take you into protective custody. Drop your weapon and come with us." As he speaks, Prahd tries to smack the Halberd from the mans hands with his morningstar.
Prahd then moves past the man to the corner of the room, providing a flank for Thorthal
"Let's do this the easy way, and no one gets hurt."
The warrior is too strong for Thorthal's quick grab to hold him.
Before Prahd can act, the warrior growls and swings his halberd at Prahd.
The sudden intrusion has caught him unprepared, however, and his swing is easily turned aside.
He gets another chance as Prahd leaves himself exposed during an attempt to disarm the mercenary.
This time he gashes Prahd's leg, foiling the disarm. The crossbowman then limps around him to the corner.
Bardos casts a spell on Prahd, chanting and holding his holy symbol.
"A got him. Help keep him doon sae he cannae gae free."
Petronicus joins the rest of the group in the hall, while Haer Kul unleashes a spell on Vorthad.
EDIT: Bardos heals Petronicus as the wizard joins the group.
"Grab him, Morgrom! Dogpile!" Prahd calls, letting his enthusiasm get the better of him.
"What in tha hells is dog pile?" Morgrom states as he roughly pushes the gnome out of the way on his way into the room, "Outta tha way gnome!"
"Hey, ugly human! Look a' tha sexy orc! You wanna piece don'cha. All you humans want tha sexy orcs!" Morgrom cheekily grunts at Vorthad, trying to distract him from the dwarf.
Vorthad pays no attention to Morgrom, but Thorthal grabs hold of him regardless. He struggles against the dwarf, as he cannot attack with his halberd while Thorthad holds his arm.
He struggles in vain.
Prahd drops his morningstar and helps to restrain Vorthad.
"There's rope in my backpack, someone tie him up!"
"I am woeful ill-suited to wrestling and the pugilistic arts, I'm afraid."
Petronicus moves to the window and uses his walking stick to knock out a board, giving scuttles a chance to squeeze into the room.
These are the various actions that Haer Kul is considering. He will do the first on that is possible:
Haer Kul scurries into the room under the table, and stretches up to retrieve the rope from Prahd's pack.
"I have the rope, if someone wants to start binding him."
"The mair ye struggle, the mair this is gonnae hurt."
On my turn I will:
Yes, Morgrom will wait and see what happens with Thorthal. If Thorthal pins him, then Morgrom will tie up Vorthad.
Thorthal manages to shift his hold so Vorthad's arms are completely immobile, which allows Morgrom to grab the rope from Haer Kul and quickly loop it around the ex-mercenary. In a few seconds, Vorthad is disarmed and bound. He continues to rage, howling incoherently.
"Excellent teamwork, everyone! That went better than I expected. Let's check this fellow out."
Prahd does a quick examination for medical symptoms.
Prahd can only see that Vorthad is obviously highly enraged, and that he has obviously isolated himself from good food, waste disposal, and soap.
Haer Kul will examine the contents of the room, avoiding anything particularly unhygienic. Specifically, he's going to see if Vorthad has written down anything anywhere that might give us more of a clue what's going on, or whether he has anything interesting in his possession.
Bardos moves to examine Vorthad:
How could Prahd have missed this? Inflamed membranes in the nostrils and ears, coated tongue, slight tinge to the whites of the eyes,... obviously Vorthad has been suffering from some sort of disease.
As well as his halberd, Vorthad has a heavy flail, a heavy crossbow (with ammo), and a sap. He is wearing half-plate. There is nothing of particular note in his room except for a couple of small vials of a liquid with a medicinal odour.
Haer Kul will use his alchemical knowledge try to identify the contents of the vials (as Detect Magic). Do they have the same smell?
Vial 1:
Vial 2:
They certainly give off a similar aroma. Definitely the second one is another potion of cure light wounds. If Haer Kul had to guess, the odds are good the other is as well.
Morgrom sticks his head out the door and yells, "Right, woman, he's tied up!"
"He's tied up an' uninjured, but A'm nae sure those ropes can haud him forever."
The proprietress goes upstairs. Looking at Vorthad, she shakes her head sadly.
"Poor man. He's got the sickness alright. He will calm down in a few minutes, at least for a while. May as well come down and finish your meal. Bring him and we can keep an eye on him."
She descends to the common room again, ready to serve more food.
Morgrom grabs Vorthad by collar and drags him downstairs, dumping him in a chair not far from the table. He sits down, slaps a silver down on the table like he is playing dominos, and says, "A'right. We got him safe 'n sound, no tells us more 'bout what is goin' on." He takes a big swig of the ale and waits expectantly.
Vorthad struggles all the way down, even trying to bite at Morgrom.
The innkeeper raises an eyebrow at Morgrom.
"Not so rough, please. What do you still want to know? You're obviously familiar with the disease... I don't suppose you have any magic that can cure it?"
"Ah! The reward."
She disappears back towards the kitchen for a moment, and puts a polished bloodstone on the bar when she returns.
"Been saving that for a while, but I suppose this is the time to spend it. As I said, you're welcome to stay here without charge. Food still costs, though."
"We don't know vey much about the illness. I have many questions, in fact. You say Vorthad will calm down. How long does the madness usually last? How long until it returns? Who was the first to get it? How does it spread? Has anyone proven immune? What happened to the sherrif? Has anyone recovered fully? Is the disease deadly, other than the results of acts of madness? Who locally can cure or treat the afflicted? Who is left who holds authority? How do we get into the temple? Why are the priests hanging people?"
"Don't know who got it first. 'Bout 2 weeks ago, folks started getting sick. Then they went crazy. Started hurting others, or themselves, or just destroying things. Usually in short fits, maybe 5 minutes, maybe half an hour. It would go away, then come back. Both temples tried to cure folks, but no luck. Probly half the folks here got it, maybe more. Three days of fighting and madness, then things settled down. Folks either died or left. Maybe 1 in 10 are still around. Those that are left stay to themselves, either sick or scared of getting sick. Lots of folks didn't catch it, but most healthy folks left."
"I don't think anybody new has caught the disease in the last week, except maybe Vorthad."
"I never got sick, and people stayed here during the bad time. I never saw anyone die from the disease lest they killed themselves."
"Onessa, the sheriff, was still around after the bad time, and never got sick, but I haven't seen her around in a few days. Been a few folks go missing since things calmed down."
"You could try knocking at the temple, but you know what I said about them priests. Don't know if they're the only ones doing the hanging, but I saw them hang the Mulnarins that one night."
"Eat your turnips afore they all get cold."