After making a few more adjustments to the bandolier for comfort's sake, Beleste would dive into the chest once more to find the meanest looking sheath he could find. Settling on a mithral sheath, with adamantine inlays, he would pull his greatsword sized longsword from his back and touch it against the sheath. In quiet admiration, he would watch it grow to accomodate his weapon.
Feeling the sheath hum with magic, he would give it a moment to complete its work before pulling part of his sword free of its confines to see the sheen's handiwork...
...while nothing about the blade had seemed to change visually, he could feel the power that now thrummed within it.
The boy looks grateful for the trinket, and shyly inquires, "I found some armor, I don't know where from. Would you like it?"
Beleste's eyes would wander over the armor that his companion had acquired. Having over heard the others discussing the capabilities of what they had found, he thought it could be of use to him.
"If you do not wish to make use of it, I would appreciate it. I do believe it will provide more protection than what I wear now," he would respond while giving his breastplate a quick rap with his knuckles.
Jethop hands over the armor.
Beleste would take the armor with a stuttered, "Than..nk you." It had been so long since he had said such words that he found difficulty in remembering them.
Then, placing the armor in front of him, he would start to remove his breastplate.
Jethop sighs with contentment as Aren heals him with his wand.
Once Faeleen has managed to lift her jaw back up from where it had dropped at the sight of the multitede of creatures swarming between the colossal buildings like ants on an anthill, she follows Beleste's example and takes one of the sheaths; a midnight-black one, covered in strage runes that glow faintly in the dim light.
After a moment, she retrieves her weapon from the sheath's depths and finds that it has been covered with the same strange runes that the sheath bears. The bard looks at it with furrowed brows and mutters a few acrane words...
"Yeah, no idea what this does. Not even what school it is. Anyone else want to take a look?"
"Well, there's this small voice at the back of my head telling me that it stores spells or something like that, but I don't know if it's magic or if I'm just going crazy. Or both."
Jokum listens carefully to the trading of gear and, after considering, says, "I believe these may be of some use as well." Holding up the brooches that he recovered, he continues, "These brooches allow us to fly, but there is a magical trigger that prevents them being used by non-drow for too long. They'll destroy themselves after a time." Having said that, he'll pocket one of the brooches and will offer the other to anyone who may wish to use it. Jokum also asks Aren to heal the damage he took from the fall.
Upon completely his removal of his breastplate, Beleste would start to reequip himself with the newly acquired half-plate. As he did such, he would respond to Jokum, "The ability to fly could be useful in hunting down any Drow trying to escape, but it another would prefer to have the brooch to use, I'll hold off for now."
Your journey takes you alongside the outer wall of Chaulnazeen. It seems the coliseum is near the border of the city's cavern, so the buggy is sometimes sideways as it moves along.
After about 10 minutes of riding, you come to a tall stalagmite rising out of the cavern floor. You see drow bat riders nod to Doctor Khan as her transport approaches, still spitting steam out of its abdomen and clicking as it moves its eight legs with dizzying efficiency and complexity. Your buggy climbs almost straight up the rough outer wall of the stone tower until you reach a large circular platform that has been formed out of the rock and projects 20 meters out, away from the tower and over open air. When you reach the platform, you see two drow females of lesser rank bow deeply before the Doctor, who barely even acknowledges them. One of them tosses a scrollcase to her, and the Doctor catches it without slowing down.
Before you lies a portal carved from stone. Green mists swirl around the opening, but never seem to flow down the four steps that lead up to the threshold. You can't see through the mists. Before you can even fully take it all in, however, the Doctor drives the buggy through the mists.
None of you can see, and breathing is difficult - for the space of two breaths' time. When your vision clears, you see that...you're on the surface?! In a forest of some kind, temperate climate. It's night, with no stars. The temperature is comfortable and for the first time in what feels like years you feel a true, honest-to-Desna breeze.
Doctor Khan doesn't take the time to enjoy it, however. She points off into the distance, toward a light you can pretty clearly make out in the trees. "Go toward the light and waste no time," she commands hastily. "The half-orc who lives in that cabin is expecting you, and is waiting to guide you on the trail of our quarry."
She hands Jokum a scrollcase. "Here. I had the images of those you seek imprinted on parchment for reference. There are seven of them, and our last report indicates they're sticking together. Five of them are formidable fighters, but the other two...won't pose a problem for you. Now go. When your task is complete, bring evidence of their deaths here and press that button on the scrollcase." she points it out - being the only button on the damn thing, it's hard to miss. "It's a tracking spell. I will know your job is complete and bring you back. You will be well-rewarded for this task, tieflings. Do NOT disappoint me."
Without another word, she presses a button - ejecting your chest of loot from the rear trunk compartment. Your collars force you to climb out of the buggy, and she presses another button on the dashboard. An oscillating whirr sound comes from deep within the spider's engines, and in a blink, she's gone again.
Jethop looks around at his companions. "A-a-a half orc?" he queries querulously, "Do you think he is dangerous?"
Grrazz for a moment just sits upon their haunches and looks and sniffs about...Possibly waiting for the rest to work out what to do with the box the machine almost pooped on them in retaliation for Grrazz earlier actions.
Grrazz gives the floaty thing only the occasional snap, slowly getting used having the thing about their head.
Still in awe of the what he had seen of Chaulnazeen, Jokum barely has time to feel giddy at being on the surface before Doctor Khan thrusts the scrollcase into his hands. Listening carefully to her instructions, he nods his acknowledgement grimly. More deaths at my hands. That's all I can expect from here out. This damned collar must come off somehow...
Frowning as curiosity overwhelms his melancholy, he glances over the scrollcase before opening it. Removing the parchment, he says, "We should try and memorize these targets. I don't want to die and with these collars, there's little else we can do but obey." The tiefling wizard glances over each sheet in turn and memorizes the targets given to him. If I am to be a weapon, perhaps being a good weapon can earn me the inch I need to slip free... Contented that he has some information on the targets, he hands the sheets around and replies to Jethop, "Even if he is, he is to assist us. I doubt we'll be in any significant danger until we start hunting down these creatures."
Faeleen spends a moment admiring the surface world she hadn't seen in a far too long time, but then forces her eyes off from the beauty of the trees and sky onto the light shining out from the cabin. "Let's not waste time," she says as she begins walking towards the light. "The faster we find our quarry, the more time we'll have to search for a way to remove these collars before they'll start getting suspicious down there."
The eclectic party of tieflings makes their way through the woods. Overhead, the sky is cloudy, blocking out the stars' light - only your darkvision allows you to see, reducing everything beyond 60 feet to an inky blackness, except, of course, for the cabin itself. The forest floor is covered in a bed of dead leaves that crunch noisily underfoot as you walk. All around you, the noises of nighttime insects and animals surround you and fill your ears. You had almost forgotten how much background noise existed in the surface, as the underground labs of Doctor Khan were always deathly quiet.
You arrive at the door to the cabin. There's one window on the front, but the curtains within are drawn, only allowing the light to shine through underneath the curtains and underneath the door itself. Inside, you can hear faint singing.
Grrazz begins to circle the cabin, looking for other doors and windows....
There are none.
"Hello? Hello? Is there anybody home?"
The singing stops abruptly, and the light below the curtains dims. A wooden panel slides open in the door and a pair of deeply suspicious eyes peers out at you. They widen briefly when they take in the group before them, and the panel slides quickly shut again.
After a few disconcerting moments, the door bangs open and a burly half-orc stands before you, his crossbow loaded but not aimed directly at you. "You lot? I was notified by the damn drow you were comin'. Just give me a minute, I'll be right out."
Grrazz returns from a circuit of the hut and sits down besides the others.
Curious, Jokum studies the cabin for a moment and tries to make sense of the song he can hear. Allowing others to take further charge, the tiefling studies the area around them with a sense of trepidation. Why would drow flee to the surface of choice? It seems a truly odd choice. Still perplexed by their target's choice, Jokum barely acknowledges the voice.
Jokum: your quarry is a party of seven - three males and two females of adult age, an old female, and a male drow child, you'd guess about age 9 or 10.
The song is not one you recognize. It sounded like a folk song, for what little time you could hear it before he was interrupted.
A few moments after the door closes, the half-orc emerges again, his tusked face half-painted with dark facepaint so that he blends in more easily with the shadows. He looks all of you over. "So, ye're the slavesquad she mentioned, huh?" his eyes travel over your strange modifications and you see him repress a shudder. He bears a small, hooded lantern and his crossbow is slung across his back.
"Ugh. Let's get this over with, tieflings," he says, shouldering his pack. "T'escapees left the Darklands from a cave exit not far from here and headed toward the Sellen River. The nearest town to here is Daggermark, and that's where they're headed. If they make it there, it'll be harder to track them. We should move quickly."
"Indeed. I would prefer to have this over with sooner than later," Beleste would say, finally breaking the silence he had been keeping. Ever since the good doctor had started explaining their next assignment to them, Beleste had had the feeling they would be engaging in something even less honorable then what they had done so far. While he did not mind the task ahead of them all that much, it did bother him that they were going after a child. Something he had suspected ever since the doctor has mentioned there would be members among those hunted that would not pose much of a challenge.
"Daggermark? What a lovely name. Though at least it is easier to pronounce than Chaulnazeen."
"The sooner the better I suppose." After considering what he knows of the area, Jokum inquires thoughtfully,"Is there a way we can cut them off or will this be a simple chase?" Jokum gives his gear a quick once over before loading his crossbow.
The half-orc winces when Faeleen speaks of the drow city. "Best not be bandyin' around that word too freely, miss," he says, taking a hat from behind the doorframe and resting it on his head. "Invites bad luck, and we're needin' none of that. As for cutting them off, you have the right of it, wizard. I know of a gorge, runs along the Sellen about 2 miles from here. If we hustle, we should be able to set up an ambush, take 'em out nice and clean." As he talks, he checks a few of the blades on his person, some of them in obvious sheathes, others cunningly hidden on his person. He pulls one blade out, runs his thumb along the edge, and slips it back in again, repeating the routine dizzingly quickly for the six knives you count on him.
He seems like a bad man. Jethop doesn't trust this half-orc, but he does feel a strange hunger welling up inside of him.
I want their blood . . .
Grrazz sits where they came to a stop seeming completely uniterested, or not understanding, the actions and words spoken by those around them.
Though once the group does ztDt to move, the bestial teifling quickly proves able to out pace every body.
The ranger finishes checking his gear and sheathes his final blade. "Let's go."
Your group hustles through the dark woods by the faint light of the half-orc's hooded lantern. "Call me Cid," he mutters over his shoulder at the lot of you. "Like you, I'm 'fortunate' enough to be able to assist the drow on occasion. Better than my cabin getting burned down."
He leaps over a tree root and glances around him, then waves all of you forward as you progress through the forest. It's hard to see very far around you for the trees, and the constant background noise of the animals that inhabit the forest assault your hearing, making you uncomfortable after the long silences of the underground Darklands.
Your unnatural speed helps you keep up with the cautious ranger easily, and you're still brimming with energy by the time he brings the group to a stop almost an hour later. You can hear the sound of rushing water coming from somewhere up ahead. He points forward. "That's the Sellen you can hear. Most trails of the region lead down to the riverbanks, it's easiest to go that way. There's a ridge that overlooks the river not far from here, and the Balish Bridge is not far from that. They cross that bridge and they enter more open country, far easier for them to avoid pursuit. We catch them at the ridge, or not at all."
Jokum wastes no time in moving through the forest after Cid as quickly as he can. Unused to the surface after his lengthy imprisonment, the tiefling struggles to move quietly while fighting a growing sense of enormity. Even now that I'm free of the terrible confines of the drow city they have hooks set deep into my mind. I must be free of them somehow. Lost in thought, he pays little mind to the passage of time as he makes his way through the forest.
Hearing the gurgling noise of a stream ahead, he pauses, looking to the ranger for guidance. Jokum nods absentmindedly as he mulls over what he's being told. "It seems that we need to ambush them immediately before the bridge. They can't be allowed to jump into the river to escape. Is there cover available along the path they would most likely take to approach this bridge? Perhaps we can set an ambush?"
A deeper voice emerges from Jethop, one that has not been heard in many hours. "Destroy the bridge. Then they are trapped."
Beleste would agree with his companion. "Indeed. Destroying the bridge would prevent them from crossing through conventional means. What is the bridge constructed from Cid? And how deep does the river run?"
"That's true I suppose. I would suggest we don't destroy the bridge until they are close or else they may suspect a trap. If it's out of sight, then this is a moot point, of course. Let's make our way to this bridge and take a quick lay of the land. Unless you have some other suggestion of course, Cid." Jokum muses out loud as a voice at the back of his mind begins outlining tactical options. He has the unsettling feeling that he's been in a similar situation before, but that's crazy... isn't it?
Cid glances at the pig boy who made the suggestion. You see him swallow uncomfortably at the sound of the unexpectedly deep voice coming from the young lad.
"And how are we going to destroy the bridge? You going to tear it apart with your bare hands? Did ye bring tools with ye, dynamite perhaps? Or is your wizard in possession of a spell that would do it?" he glances at Jokum.
The half-orc rubs the back of his head. "Honestly the idea never occurred to me, because I don't see that I could even if I tried. To answer your question, minotaur, the bridge is constructed from stone. You can see it, there, down the river just over that rise." he points. "The gorge next to the river that they have to walk past would be an ideal ambush spot, which was going to be my plan..." he glances nervously at Jethop again.
Grrazz stands taller on their 'haunches' for a moment as Cid waves off into the distance at...something...
Then the muzzled head sniffs the air...before simply turning in a tight circle and plonking their furry butt back down again.
"Wfff..."
"The only tool I need to bring that bridge down in my sword, Beleste would reply simply. "Someone will need to hold my shield though."
"Then we do both. Ambush. Destroy Bridge."
Turning to Aren, he says, "Silence the Beleste so that his blows do not alert them."
"This should be a sight to see..." Cid mutters under his breath. He leads all of you up the rise to the lip of the cliff overlooking the gorge below. The gorge runs alongside the river, creating a narrow path between the cliff face and the rushing waters.
About thirty feet below you and a quick sprint to the left, you see the bridge that Cid mentioned. It reaches across the entire river and looks old, but sturdy.
Beleste would take a moment to study the bridge before giving his thoughts.
"If we wish for the bridge to come done, it would need to happen before hand. The stone make of it will require some time to compromise even with my sword. So if we wish to drop it, I need to know now so I can get to work so as not to find our targets upon us while I am at work."