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Seeing the hyena fall and unable to gain anymore room with the monks continuing to enter the room. Agaban attempts to hit the closest one while praying that the group in the maze will succeed soon before him and Lo are overrun.
Afterwards he will take a 5ft step back and if he gets a moment will attempt to summon another creature with the wand he is clasping in he hand behind the shield.
<Let us hope this is indeed the end of this madness.
If this goes bad for me...
Please, try to save the monastery. Try to save the Al'Fahd order.
While the monks are at fault for letting their guard down,
against such powerful and foul magic ...
who could hope to resist.>
Without waiting for any reply, the black skinned man assumes a stable stance and grips at the chain link ... then heaves.
Amari reaches in quickly and pulls out the pin holding the entire clasp together, his hand jerking hard and moving as fast as possible out from the giant clasp as it moves apart, the great chains getting pulled back into their holes in the wall. Soon, everything goes blurry for you then you find yourselves scattered about the floor of the Taldan's room back in the monastery!
Lo'laan lands several heavy blows then Agaban follows up with one of his own, downing another monk. But there are just far too many monks in this monastery and they keep pressing into the tight quarters. There is a strange flash of light, however, and you see Amari, Hadha, and Zaza re-appear in the room. The monks pause at this and also seem to be shaking their heads in confusion, trying to clear some fog from their minds. They turn and look at each other "What is happening here? Why are we attacking these ones?" One monk pipes up "Amari... what are you doing here? We have a new elder... but somehow... I don't know why we have listened to him. He goes against our old ways..."
You turn to the elder mentioned and find the handsome blond Taldane man is gone. Where he lay and wearing his robes is a male drow with a long scar running down the left side of his face.
Hadha moans as he works his way back to his feet, his side wet with blood. The ruse is over, I guess.
As Amari appears, he seems to struggle to keep his balance as if he had just pulled at something with all his strength - which disappeared at the next moment.
He does look burned and his left arm is badly bruised.
As the monks address him, he lets go of his breath and sinks to his knees, glaring daggers at the dark elf.
Looking around, he takes in the carnage that happened in the room.
Seeing many of his brethren lying on the ground in pools of their own blood, he shouts a cry of frustration, loss and anger.
Groaning to his feet, he staggers over from one to the other, checking if any of them could be saved while signing hastily the remaining monks.
<The darkest time of our order is finally over.
This 'elder' used powerful mind tricks to control all of you.
Help me look to our brothers and see if we can yet save any of them from a pointless death!
And then ... we have a lot amends to make and only the gods know if we will ever be forgiven for what happened here...>
(each +11)
There are many legends that speak of a powerful conclave of dark elves living in a realm known as the "Darklands" under Avistan. Most of these legends warn that the dark elves would return to the surface some day in an attempt to seize power for themselves. It seems there must be some truth to these legends...
With some help from the monks, Amari manages to stabilize three monks but three of them are too far gone to be helped. They are already dead. The monks are distraught and are full of questions but eventually understand the enchantment that they have come under. The original elders of the monastery enter and discuss matters in detail with Amari. Unsure how to make amends, they vow to redouble their training and be prepared to defend their region of Qadira with more vigilance than ever.
Yes, please... Hadah grunts.
Lo uses his own wand to ensure Serenity's safety while the others converse with the confused monks.
The healing magic barely manages to bring Serenity back from the brink of death. The noble beast rises slowly to her feet and limps over toward Lo'laan.
The dark elf wakes up with a jerk then, seeing himself bound and surrounded by enemies, sneers. "I have no reason to speak to you."
Amari bows before the rightful Elders and offers advice.
<You should meet with the elders of the villages nearby and explain what has happened to them.
They stand under our protection and we failed them serenely.
Other than that ... I fear we can indeed not do anything but return to our duties with renewed vigour and determination, hoping that the people of the desert will forgive us in time.>
With trembling hands of anger and grim face Amari turns to the Shadows and signs:
<No one here is an interrogation expert, except Zaza and she is more of the friendly kind.
This one, does not deserve kindness.
Let us bring him back to the Shadows and let him figure out whether or not there are things worse than betrayal of your masters hideous plans followed by a quick death.>
<Agreed>
Hadha takes a few more taps to heal. That bite was truly savage.
Your work at the monastery finished, you bind your prisoner and take him back with you to toward your base, traveling at night to maintain strictest secrecy.
As you travel, it occurs to you now that those wines you found labeled as Taldane were likely some dark elf specialties, thus they struck you as odd.
Searching the Drow, you find a veritable trove of valuables. He wears a pair of magical rings, one inscribed with a small curved shield and the other with an extremmely sharp-looking arrow. In addition, he wears a belt with strange-looking cats inscribed on it, a headband with eagles stitched into it, and a dark burgundy cloak under his rich robes. The cloak seems able to shift hues to help it blend into its surroundings.
You take him back into the desert cave and drag him before your superior.
When you pull the hood off the dark elf, Shalazat's brow rises almost imperceptibly, an uncharacteristic earthquake on the normally impassive terrain of her face. "What is this you have brought me?" she asks in an extremely calm voice.
<The reason for the ... temporary disablement of the Al'Fahd monastery.
This man worked evil magick to befuddle the mind of my brethren.
Forcibly moved them away from our path.
Shadow Zatinya proposed the theory that it was his intention ...
Or mission, to provoke a war between Taldan and Quadira by blackmailing his actions on Taldan.
We were - barely - able to end his foul trickery.
The Al'Fahd order is as loyal to Quadira as ever.>
This mission was difficult. This scheming piece of... He stops himself before things get unprofessional. Sorry. Don't underestimate, is all I'm saying. He's caused a lot of pain.
Shalazat nods slightly. "We will do what is required." She grips the bound dark elf by the collar and drags him away into a separate part of the cave.
You find yourselves with time to breathe, eat, and sleep after your mission.
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Seeming to have come to terms with his death as the monks continued to rush forward Agaban seems to be in a daze for days afterwards going through the motions of healing who he can with the spells that weren't used but not really responding to the rest of the Shadows as he makes peace with the loss of life that was unavoidable and the fact that he didn't end up following in the path of the monks that payed with their lives for the treachery.
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Excited after returning to HQ. Agaban rushes towards his room and gathers up the golds he had stashed before heading towards the quartermaster...almost bouncing as he looks to get the new armor he commissioned before heading off to the monastery.
Where is it...it is done right...please say you were able to get the materials and finish forging it.
During the travel, Amari tends to his wounds the old-fashioned way, friendly rejecting the offer of magical healing.
It seems as if he wants the wounds to remain with him for some time.
As soon as they are dismissed by Shalazat, Amari turns to one of the secluded chambers, deep within the Shadow's cave, and spends two days and nights contemplating the loss of so many brothers, while allowing his pain-ridden body to naturally heal.
After these two days, Amari surfaces again and meets up with the other Shadows. He seems to be a bit more grim and determined in his training regimes, but otherwise he appears to be 'as always'.
He takes the offered ring from Zaza with curious eyes and seems thrilled at the boosted performance of his bow while wearing the ring.
<This will be useful in future fights.
It sure will ...>
Shalazat finds you after you've rested for several hours. Serenely, she states "You're going to Taldor."
*blink-blink*
We're what...
Amari does not show any reaction whatsoever, waiting for their mistress to continue.
We probably hunt another dark elf, who trys the same trick but on the Taldor-side of things ...
Shalazat inclines her head coolly at Zaza's joke. "Unfortunately, Shadows rest only when the shadowed does." She recites the secret proverb that you all learned early in the days of your training. "The dark elf broke much faster than he expected. An arrogant fool. They have a route from the Darklands up into Taldor and have been infiltrating both our countries through it. You will find it and collapse it."
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Ah...this...this I can get behind...did he provide any additional information about the area of Taldor that we will need to reach...or any extra information about defenses...I guess lastly are we going to attempt to stop the agent currently working in Taldor or just stop any additional assets entering either country?
The experienced shadow turns to Agaban "We are heading to a small border town, Alton, where we will both find their agent in Taldor and put an end to their infiltrations."
This explantion catches Amari off guard and he quickly signs a question.
<We? Will you accompany us, master?>
"I do not believe any of us possess the means to collapse such a tunnel." Lo'Laan says briefly.
I certainly don't. Hadha readily confesses. I guess that means sneaking a rather large bomb into Taldor.
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Thinking back to his and Zaza's first mission.
It can take significantly less to collapse a tunnel depending on the construction of it...and they might have their own collapse system in place to cover their tracks if discovered.
Turning back to Shalazat.
A cover story would be beneficial...and...umm...are you joining us for this mission?
Shalazat nods calmly. "Yes I will be accompanying you. This mission is of utmost importance to high command. We will take a scroll with us that is certainly capable of collapsing the tunnel. As for a cover story, we will pose as merchants."
Your leader nods. "Indeed. That will work well. We leave tomorrow night."
After night falls the next day, you load camels, headed to a nearby town to purchase your spices and find some pesh, as Zaza expected. As you begin heading across the desert, Shalazat explains "Our functions will be somewhat... different. I will be present at times but where my assistance is not needed, I will observe. At other times, I will need to be absent fulfilling a simultaneous objective."
Hadha shows a side of himself that the party has not yet seen while in town. He helps with the disguises, assists in the negotiations, and even Knows a Guy in town that'll get them the "good stuff".
Generally he's pretty savvy around town and even comes away with a large, 4 pound bag of extra "supplies" that no one saw him procure.
Not being talkative (literally) in the best of times, Amari is especially quiet during the teams time in town.
He tries to read the faces of the merchants his comrades are haggling with, hoping to find indications whether their prices are set way to high - but his mind is far from focused and he is no great help - instead falling into the hired muscle routine quickly.
Every merchant group would have one of those after all.
Lo'Laan falls back to his usual stoic self as he takes on the role of a merchant guard while in public.
Hadha manages to procure some valuable... substances... for the group to use as it's back-up cover for the mission to Taldor while Zaza struggles to come up with ideas and Amari is mostly distracted and Lo just stands stoically. Agaban sorts out the majority of the trade goods, procuring a sufficiently attractive deal on some local spices to ship to the Taldane town of Alton.
To Zaza's question, Shalazat smiles "My mission is to determine the number of Drow agents that have come through the tunnel and eliminate any that are in the immediate area of Alton. There will be significant room for cooperation between us." She hands Zaza a scroll. "This will prove useful to you for collapsing the tunnel. Be careful with it."
It is a scroll of disintegrate.
You finish procuring supplies and head out across the desert sands to the north, toward Taldor, your old enemy. But perhaps not as big of an enemy as you once thought. After many nights of travel, your caravan pulls into the Taldane border town of Alton, a growing town of about 500 with a large central market. There you are greeted by somewhat suspicious border guards who search you. One states in a bored tone "What's your business in Taldor?"
Hadha hangs out near the merchandise looking like an assistant to the real merchants.