Nothing that won't be dealt with in the conclusion post. I'm eager to get you through your paperwork and downtimes so we can get on with the sadistic second book. I'll be starting a new thread for that one. With a new title.
As Asmodia informs the Haloran League of the success down below they flood into the tunnels amazed at the elaborate network the bandits created for themselves. Within a few minutes torches are brought below and the place is lit up more to the liking of those without darkvision. The other buildings are quickly searched and any remaining creatures are ruthlessly dispatched. It takes the whole rest of the day for the bodies to be stripped, cleaned and properly burned in a funeral pyre that takes a long time to turn the infernal blooded corpses into ash and bone. The piles are divided up between the people who still live to claim them and those who are dead. All the while theirs an air of excitement, of accomplishment, as if this is the first step to a brighter future.
The task takes so long that you end up spending the night in the temple. But by noon the next day you manage to clean out the tunnels of bodies and belongings. You head home for a well deserved rest and a long bath.
In the morning you gather again to discuss what to do about the stuff and how best to deal with it. Eventually you settle on giving the stuff back to their owners with a note attached.
The bag of wodden Mammon coins gets a special treatment though. Janiven sneaks it into the plaza of flowers with a note attached guaranteeing that it would be found and read. Before long it is found and town criers all around the city start to scream it across the city before the Order of the Rack and Dottari move in and mercilessly repress the information. But by then the damage is done and the whole city knows. Soon the criers words are heard in every tavern, bar, market, home, and hearth in Westcrown and the leter is this;
Hear us people of Westcrown! Cheliax once embraced an age of enlightenment and righteousness! We once had life, love, freedom, culture and prosperity without the twisted words and dark powers of devils or the fear of the beasts that stalk the night! Know that the evil that was put down this day was neither dark sorcerer, devil, hallknight, or dog of House Thrune! Know that this act was performed by your brothers, your sons, your daughters and your wives adn husbands! We are the Haloran League! And we will light the path out of shadow!
Within only a few days the rumor mill cranks hard in no small part to the tales of a girl stolen from her home in the middle of the night by Tieflings and the elderly Halfling slave who tried to protect her. Soon bards write a small tale detailing the rescue and descent into darkness, the defeat of the tiefling called Palaveen.
With such attention both good and bad Arael adn JAniven decide to have the League stay low for a good while and as far as they and the rest of the gorup is concerned anything you found of the dead families (whom had no heirs) in those dark tunnels beneath the church of Erastil is yours.
And so you retire to your homes, go back to your day jobs and try your damndest not to brage whenever you hear tales of the mysterious LeVash, the fierce White Hunter, the Fierce Krupt, the lethal Calla the Blade, and Asmodia the daughter of the devil himself.
So you now have 4, count them, 4 weeks of downtime to do with as you will.
The following are merely rumors, hearsay, and whatnot you hear throughout the city if you feel inclined to follow them. A Knowledge (Local) or Diplomacy check to gather information is the check needed.
~The Order of the Rack will be performing a special event in honor of those armigers who fell in the pursuit of terrorists and malcontents at the site of Vizio's tavern where confiscated contraband and the site of a gathering itself will all be burned.
~As if the Order of the Rack's own even wasn't enough there will be a special public execution of numerous criminals by impaling at the Plaza of Flowers on the same day.
~ It seems that the Order of the Scourge has expressed interest and made inquiries into the Haloran league but it does not appear to be entirely hostile...yet.
~The first play to be performed at the soon to be finished Night Shade theatre has been revealed! The Six Trials of Lazarod
~It seems the all too gruesome sport of hunting commoners for sport has taken a twisted turn. Now a minor noble has taken the twisted sport with a sick new twist. The hunting of children.
So, same as last time.
Asmodia spends her off time restoring the temple, if there is no other employment for her. She will be preparing consecrate and going over the dungeon area thoroughly. She will be living in the temple, essentially, to minimize costs, and because she doesn't believe that Erastil will judge her for her drinking on the job.
Diplomacy
Bloodless isn't much of a builder, but spends part of his time helping out the League when not looking for bounties to collect (on two and/or four legged creatures) or animals in need of training (again, ones with two or four legs).
He also has an eye out for minor nobles off engaging in sport; the hunter may soon find himself the hunted.
He will also enquire about tickets to a play.
(Not going to put him in the firing line until AFTER we have a gear split :p)
So...how will you guys go about drumming up support to rebuild the temple?
Couple of things to note.
1. It'll cost money you'll need some.
2. None of the Wiscrani with you worship Erastil believe it or not. Most actually worship Desna, Iomedae or Abadar so you can't hook them in based purely on faith.
3. Even though many of the Haloran League would like to help most have normal lives and many are already putting time into restoring the shrine of Aroden at the temple hideout.
Not meaning to discourage you just letting you know the facts so you can deal with them.
Is it possible to get an appraisal of the cash value of the items in Calla's party treasure list?
In any case, 110gp will go to upkeep of the lifestyles of Pavo Wintrish and Kuda.
In addition, Pavo/LeVash will investigate the details of these 'commoner hunts'. Are they held within the city? On an estate? On a preserve outside of the city?
@LeVash: The gems adn jewelry recovered from the lair is about 1,400gp
Hunting "the most dangerous game" is an ugly business that predates the death of Aroden. Back then it was only a rumor, a story spread by rabble rousers and trouble makers to make the nobility look like demons. Unfortunately the stories sometimes prove true. With Aroden's death and the rise of House Thrune there was very little preventing these twisted minds from taking advantage of the weak and downtrodden for their own entertainment. Bejis can already tell you about the gladiator pits of Egorian where such entertainment is much more common than Westcrown.
Here such hunts occur in the open but thankfully very rarely and usually discreetly and with slaves. However one noble in particular, a man by the name of Draven Eravengio, has taken to making a sport of the desperation found in orphans.
The set up is simple and diabolical; he visits orphanages and slave kennels across the city and offers orphaned children a simple contract. If they can evade his dogs, his crossbow and his own not inconsiderable tracking skill by nightfall he grants them a purse of five hundred gold. More than enough to sustain them into adulthood, enter them into a school or any number of things that would improve the child's life immensely. Failure means death. A simple contract that's abominable but also perfectly legal and some argue not the worst fate the child could face. After all what future is there in the child of a slave or the devil spawn tiefling child abandoned by shamed parents? Soem would say it is better to endure the ordeal for the promise of a bright future or at least a quick end. He holds the hunts in the ruins of westcrown in an area spacious enough to allow for his horses, dogs, and bodyguards room to maneuver but plenty of hiding spaces to allow a frightened child
places to hide.
@Bloodless: The question is what play? Theatre is a heavily embraced tradition in Westcrown. You're spoiled for choice. The Limehouse is a famous venue, both for its owner and its crowd if you're looking to sample its best and worst in one go. The owner is a famous director known for squeezing the best performances out of his actors. The crowd itself is one of the roughest imaginable with many of the normal patrons being actors and theatre workers themselves and is infamous for its antics during live performances and dress rehearsals.
In the case of checking for nobles you find out very quickly that even with clever planning it would be suicidal to attempt alone. The nobility here is a hardened if decadent lot used to knives in the dakr and poisons in there coffee. You'd never catch one out alone on a hunt without packs of dogs, bodyguards, and some of the wealthier ones can afford to have a mage or cleric with them as well. Perhaps one of your allies might be interested?
In terms of bounties there's not much to go on. The recent trouble between the League and the Bastards put the Dottari in a state of crackdown on all criminals. The smart bounties have already left town and the rest are laying low like the Haloran League.
As to animal training there's plenty of work to be found if you're willing to make the rolls. One place in particular that you avoid however is a place called Kargan's Black Breed's a place that specializes in breeding and training Fiendish Horses. You visited there once purely out of curiosity and found that the local horses can smell your heritage and something in their blood drove them into a killing frenzy for you. Best to avoid it for now.
Calla will return to her home, and resume her life as a semi-pampered noble, training with sword and spell during much of her free time. At night, she will attend whatever social events she is invited to. Should anyone ask her, she's willing to help restore the temple -- she agrees it could be a good base of operations for the group.
Diplomacy:
Understanding that it is a given that it's impossible to get to the Nobles, how about their Kennels? LeVash is thinking about using Wild Empathy and Speak with Animals to convince his dogs to track a specific scent (preferably from an item swiped from a Hellknight who is posted to the area, but that's the ideal...anything that will spike the hunt will do...)
If it doesn't look like a complete impossibility, LeVash will bring the rest of the group into it, and likely a few of the League as well. This would be an 'off-book', non-League goal.
Understanding that it is a given that it's impossible to get to the Nobles, how about their Kennels? LeVash is thinking about using Wild Empathy and Speak with Animals to convince his dogs to track a specific scent (preferably from an item swiped from a Hellknight who is posted to the area, but that's the ideal...anything that will spike the hunt will do...)
If it doesn't look like a complete impossibility, LeVash will bring the rest of the group into it, and likely a few of the League as well. This would be an 'off-book', non-League goal.
For you? Their kennels would be child's play to get to. As to getting into a position to actually train the dogs yourself that's trickier.
Also by the end of this another full month will pass. LeVash has already paid his monthly dues. The rest of you will have to as well.
In this case, LeVash is not thinking of full training, more of a one-time favor (supplemented with treats and Speak with Animals) requested shortly before the next hunt, and then possibly repeated.
LeVash will approach the rest of the League (together or separately, and including the NPC members).
"While the League itself is laying low, I plan on continuing my work outside of the League. My current target is this Draven Eravengio and his 'orphan hunts'."
"I don't think I can get to him, but I plan on getting to his hounds, and putting a spike into his next hunt." (LeVash explains his plan as it stands above)
"I'm open to better ideas, so if anyone has another option to ruining this practice for Draven, I'm listening"
You'd need ot make a wild empathy or diplomacy check.
In terms of NPC's Janiven seems interested...at first. When prposed to Arael he seems willing at first but then becomes torn. He eventually decides against it and manages to convince Janiven against it as well. Simply put, what the man is doing is not against the law of westcrown. However screwing with the noble would be disastrous if anyone was identified or captured. The Haloran League can't take credit for it right now with all the heat that it already attracts. And if someoen was caught and marked as one of the league it wouldn't take long to reverse the work that has already been done.
That being said, two NPC's are up for it. Yakupulio who seems all too keen on killing a noble (even if that isn't the plan), Vitti who seems to go along more because of curiosity about yourself.
Bloodless is living a little better, having found a suitable appartment to live in whilst he continues working and keeping an ear out for any bounties..
Knowing Asmodia is sleeping a little rough, he invites her to stay with him. He works days, she is out most nights, so they wouldn't bother each other much.
He spends the eight weeks working with his beast handling and tracking skills. he relaxes a little on the weekends, probably hanging out with Asmodia.
Animal Handling 7
Week 1
91 = 45.5sp
Week 2
80 = 40sp
98 = 49sp
102 = 51sp
First 4 weeks - 18.55gp - 10/Rent = 8.55gp
Week 1
79 = 39.5sp
Week 2
106 = 53sp
Week 3
86 = 43sp
Week 4
93 = 46.5sp
Second 4 weeks - 18.2gp - 10/Rent = 8.2gp
16.75gp total profit
"While the League itself is laying low, I plan on continuing my work outside of the League. My current target is this Draven Eravengio and his 'orphan hunts'."
"I don't think I can get to him, but I plan on getting to his hounds, and putting a spike into his next hunt." (LeVash explains his plan as it stands above)
"I'm open to better ideas, so if anyone has another option to ruining this practice for Draven, I'm listening"
"While I'm all for a change in the balance of power, and empowering the slave class, I don't see how this is going to help. If he is worthy of assassination, there are more direct methods that have many fewer witnesses."
"What's needed is to bring embarrassment to this man. Perhaps spreading a story about how it takes him and his score of men to finish off an orphan. Plus some graffiti and the like."As he now has some more money, Bejis would upgrade to an apartment/room with better living conditions, and has some minimal kind of security.
As for the Temple of Erastil, Bejis would help in restoring it if there were new clergy to be found. It won't help if there is no one to run it. He will make regular prayers to Gorum in his apartment, He will pay his respects to Iomadae/Aroden while at the hideout.
"Embarassment is part of the goal. I'd like him to be spectacularly unsuccessful during his next several hunts. Hopefully he'll give it up, or at least restrict himself to adults."
LeVash turns to Yakupulio, "Powerful men can get better from being dead. Embarassment lasts."
Asmodia licks her lips. "Aye, if it is impact we seek, embarrassing the man is the greatest value. Training another batch of hounds to take a human life will cost money, and take a good deal of time, I expect," she adds.
"I will lend my lord's magics to this cause," Asmodia offers, knowing that Caiden's particular fondness for orphans, and hers for children and good will not allow her decline.
Okay, you've mentioned elsewhere that there are no priests of Erastil to man this place and turn it into a proper temple and that the league is trying to restore the shrine to Aroden and will not be able to help with this project.
I have not actually been able to track down my copy of Faiths of Purity (sadly) but temples of Erastil have never been one purpose buildings. I am not certain, but I think Old Deadeye would not be too upset if his former temple were used to house and hold masses and meetings of other good deities in a town where evil reigns, and if so... well, then I suppose you could have a paladin of Erastil walk up and smite Asmodia for trying to do right by the community by doing a poor job of restoring the temple.
For now, I imagine that she will be putting in a few hours a week attempting to restore the building and making it a hideout of a much different sort, a sort of underground for revolutionaries such as herself to gather and disseminate information between each other.
Essentially, the long game plan is to lure some Lawful Good priests, or even just acolytes to the place to get it up and running as a proper temple, even if she has to recruit them herself (with her new bonuses to diplomacy, eventually it should work). As Asmodia is NG herself, she would not have too much of a problem working with Lawful persons, but they most certainly would with her behavior, etc.
@Bejis: Well now that you have one, your apartment. Or the temple isn't a bad place since it is technically your hideout. Or the temple of Erastil. As to Gorum? Gorum is wherever there is battle and there is battle aplenty to be found in Westcrown. Unfortunately his fatihful must keep silent and speak their prayers through the clash of steel and blood to avoid unwanted attentions from the servant dogs of Asmodeus. Not that he wouldn't prefer it that way anyway.
Erastil clergy are very hard to find. They tend towards villages and rural areas both of which Westcrown is not. Most of the commonfolk give worship to Asmodeus at least in lip service if nothing else out of fear.
The rest openly worship Abadar because they own banks or businesses vital to Westcrowns function and even the Prince of Tyrants knows the Keeper of the Vault is unmatched in the battlefield of economics.
However just as you get the stench of devil out of the place and manage to board back up and seal all but two of the tunnels from the former Bastard's lair. You get a surprise visit from a pair of Abadarian clergy. One is a large man with a goatee and a ponytail. He's quite charismatic as he details a number of thigns to you with the aid of illusion magic providing charts and graphs by his blonde adn silent gnomish companion. He goes at length about the potential of the area and how he plans on rebuilding the temple into an Abadarian palace that will serve as an anchor for the spreading of westcrown back into the ruined area around the temple. He bedazzles with big words and ling flowery descriptions. Eventually you get the idea that he actually wants to buy the temple from you.
Bejis isn't too interested in interfering with the hunt, as we will be severally outnumbered. He thinks social trickery sounds like the answer here, but that's outside his specialty.
The money from selling the temple sounds nice, but Bejis doesn't know how the gods will take it.
To the group, Bejis asks, "How did the Abadarians knew to find us... Do they have a connection with the Bastards?"
Outside of the group, LeVash's plan was to bribe a laundress for some undergarments from the nearest Hellknight or Dottari posting to the area where he hunts, then pick up some steaks and sneak in to the vicitm's kennels and use Wild Empathy+Steak+Speak with Animals to bribe the dogs to track that scent the next day (that part to be done the night before the hunt).
I'm hoping that others may have different perspectives to offer...ways to make this more embarrassing without making ourselves noticeable, more sure ways of messing up the hunt, etc. Since the hunts are in daytime (from what I can tell), direct interference may well be tricky.
"Ah think doing something is called for, whether the League wants to or not," Calla says when approached by LeVash. "I think Calistria would call for us to hunt this so-called noble while he is hunting an innocent child. And let us see who the best hunter is. Maybe Whitey can show off his skills."
Concerning the Church of Abadar proposal
As Bloodless works with animals all day, his plan would be to take urine from one of the b$&@$es in heat and place it around various areas of the hunting course to drive the dogs wild and problematic. Similarly the scent of predatory creatures could also be used to make the dogs nervous and hard to handle, also a good idea in case the dogs are spayed.
He would be happy to obtain said urine/scent, but if he was going to ambush the course he would plan it out with few moving parts and fewer people.
On the chance he finds out about the sale, he would be curious 'how much'?.
The priests are easy enough to identify. They're entertainers. They put on a traveling show for nobility and common man alike featuring illusions, comedy and a bit of satire when they can get away with it (without a summary execution afterwards). When not working they try to spread the word of Abadar and a philosophy of honest business practice across the Chelaxian empire. They're not rebels or loyalists in any traditional sense.
If asked how they found out about the place they explain in elaborate terms that they ere simply looking for a place to start a new chuch of Abadar and this abandoned temple of Erastil seemed appropriate. They had already purchsed the land from the previous owners when they discovered a nest of vagabonds and tieflings here. They were going to simply buy them off. "A fair trade all things considered. They get to retire to comfortable lives. We get a church. And Westcrown is free of the Bastards of Erebus no bloodshed involved! Everyone wins! Abadar would be pleased!"
Unfortunately it seemed the Bastards died of a bad case of adventurers. They were simply going to move in and hire some people to clean out the tiefling corpses but it seemed you were already here. While they were in the legal right they didn't want to turn this into a whole deal involving Dottari and Hellknights and mostly wanted to please their god with a fair business exchange.
You don't believe they know you were the ones who killed the Bastards. In fact you're not entirely sure they care.
@Bloodless: Easy enough. Even without actually dealing with dogs you train theres enough stray dogs in westcrown to keep local restaraunts going for years.
@LeVash: Getting a Dottari's underwear is easy. You'll need to make me a stealth check plus a wild empathy check to sneak into the kennels.
"Yesss...much simpler than what I was thinking, with less risk. If we could get to the child when he or she was out of sight, we might also be able to spirit them away safely."
"The key in my mind is that he should never know he's been interfered with, but the hunt should be embarrassing and unenjoyable...and of course unsuccessful"
With LeVash also raising his concerns about the plight of the children, Bloodless feels he has to do at least something to spoil the hunt of the noble, and settles on the 'beatch in heat'/nasty predator remedy.
After getting an idea of when the next hunt is due, Bloodless starts collecting the necessary urine for the event, as well as collecting rats in two carry cages.
Planning to get to the hunting ground several hours before the hunt is planned (hopefully not the middle of the night so he has to go after Shadowbeasts, preferrably in the dawn darkness) Bloodless intends to move onto the hunting grounds to release the urine soaked rats in several locations. The hope is that the rats will not only stink up the grounds and distract the dogs, but that they will lay trails all over the place.
Similarly there is no clear evidence of any wrongdoing.
"I am not sure we could steal the child quite so easily, but their hounds will be so troublesome to handle that the child has every chance to get free. Should we be more overt then the chance of our sabotage being noticed would increase significantly"
Now of course you just need to find out when the next hunt is. Diplomacy is more than enough to gather information about it. But you'll need a Disguise or a Stealth check to make sure you don't get caught.
Now of course you just need to find out when the next hunt is. Diplomacy is more than enough to gather information about it. But you'll need a Disguise or a Stealth check to make sure you don't get caught.
Bloodless keeps his ears well and truly open around the hunting animal community during his time at work. Asking questions from time to time, as well as using a lot of red herrings.
Confident he has the details he needs, and a workable plan that he can explain away if he gets caught (Hes collecting rats to use as bait for training ratting terriers), he slips out into the cool dawn air to ruin the hunting grounds...
Is there anything else the group would like to do to ruin the hunt? Simply distracting the dogs might not be enough.
Concerning the sale of the temple, Asmodia would not feel comfortable with taking money from lawful authorities when she has, as you pointed out, has been squatting. She will ask for what she spent consecrating the grounds (I forgot about that part to the spell, it required holy water to consecrate and... that is quite a bit of an expenditure), but beyond that, she's ready to say goodbye to the project. She will offer the handsome human to partake of the crude pornography and love letters if he feels entitled to them.
If we're going to be leading the hounds away with the smell of b$&*~es in heat, we could set up at least one trap with Asmodia and her amazing and now augmented summons. Asmodia would not be comfortable just leading these things afoul of the hunt, she wants to put them down.
"Why would you put down hounds that are only doing as they have been trained and commanded? The hunter is at fault here, and I don't think we can directly attack him, at lest not without bringing down more significant difficulty on the League."
Does House Eravengio have any significant enemies/rivals?
Knowledge (Nobility):
Knowledge (Local):
Diplomacy:
"Because they have a taste for human blood. Would you allow a known rabid dog to continue to stalk the streets as well?" Asmodia inquires. "Why go to this effort simply to allow the beasts to continue to exist?"
Bloodless discovered that the hunts typically start an our after dawn. He prefers to give his prey a head start. The are is essentially the same stretch of ruins in westcrown though the hunts have been known to span farther should the child decide to run that way.
"It is possible they'll need to be put down, but I have no evidence one way or the other that they 'have a taste for human blood'. He hunts with dogs...I'd be surprised if he has the dogs make the kill; I expect they are there to track and clush out the child."
"Given my preferences, Eravengio is the monster I'd prefer to put down, but I see no way to practically do so without implicating the League. My goal is to make the hunt unsuccessful and embarrasing. Having your hounds killed is not embarrasing, it is infuriating."
"It we can distract the hunters long enough to intercept the orphan ourselves, I can make him untrackable for the next several hours, but that's about the best I can do on the subtle side. It's not much, but maybe it's enough."
Asmodia gives a frustrated sigh. "Lure them to one spot, and I can make it so that the hounds calm. If..." Asmodia pauses, considering the limits of the spell. "If ye be gentle-like, and are lookin' to embarrass only, you might slip a bit of ribbon and some bells about their necks while I maintain the spell. Provided all of them are affected.
"I would say few things would be more embarrassing than having your prized hound trot out on the street tarted a desperate trick."
Some other details now that I have a moment of peace.
He does his hunts monthly essentially as a treat to a guest he has.
He typically goes hunting with two bodyguards, a hired tracker (though it is rumored he's no an incompetent hunter himself and merely has the tracker around so he can spend time entertainign his guest) and typically one guest of his that would appreciate the show.
This months treat is going to a mysterious fellow by the name of Eccardian Drovenge. You know little of him except he is a tiefling (scandalous among noble families) and set to take on the mantle as head of the Drovenge family when his grandfather finally dies. It seems Eravengio is attempting to get into the tieflings good graces before that time comes.
As for the two npc's that expressed interest.
Yakupulio expresses a number of different plans. Most involving murder, some involving threat, another involving passing on a nasty vanerial disease to the noble. So far the only plan she's proposed so far is simply replacing the child mid-hunt with someone more capable of evading death.
Vitti is mostly quiet during this process as he carves a horse from a piece of fallen oak before he pipes in and says. "I've gathered about two hundred Torbles. Do you think they could be useful?"
Asmodia will gladly accept Bloodless's offer of spending some time at his digs on the off chance she doesn't get so pissed she forgets her own name and stumbles into a gutter somewhere.
Occasionally, she'll rail against some Banker who was completely disinterested in her charms over a pint, and mention that her pornography was taken away by some thievin' gnome. She'll also giggle like a school girl reciting some of the choicer lines from the love letters, after breakfast, if Bloodless is interested.
Of course he is interested, as he reads the content you note it is half in amusement, and half as though he is mentally filing away how Tieflings think and operate...
"Vitti, when you say you've 'gathered' two-hundred torbles...what exactly do you mean? Can you get them to swarm on command? Torbles boiling up out of the sewers at the outset might give us the deniable distraction that we need to pull off some of the other plans."
Vitti looks oddly. "Make them swarm? Not really. They're easy to attract and they behave once they're in the sack." Vitti lifts up the sack of torbles that coos and moans in protest to the movement. "They've been a nuisance at the shrine and Arael asked me to take care of them. Just don't have the heart to kill them."
Bejis looks a bit disturbed at Vitti and her Torble collection.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Far be it for me to not desire appearing silly," Asmodia begins, her tone and smile suggesting a wanton drunk and philanderer, "but what, exactly is a torble, and how does one call them into sacks? If they are to provide a distraction, perhaps I could take a night off work," Asmodia pauses and flushes slightly, "and gather more."
Pulling out a pair of tongs Vitti gently opens the top of the bag and reaches in as the cooing gets louder and more insistent. He eventually pulls out what appaers to be an ooze with two pairs of legs wiggling in vain to gain purchase on something. Two snail like eyestalks scan the immediate area. The creature is gelatinous and colored a gray almost clear color. He smiles and runs a hand through his green dyed hair nervously. "Rat corpses. If you can keep them from getting to the bait they'll pile into whatever trap you have set up. They're really not that smart. But bite hard."
Asmodia's eyes widen. "Industrious," she congratulates, honestly impressed, though not for any good reason. Aside to Bloodless she whispers "It appears that your title is up for grabs, Great Hunter," and laughs softly.
"Unfortunately, unless we will use these things to keep others away from the dogs, them attacking while the dogs are under the effect of the spell will nullify it. Shade," she says to the second hunter, "I heard that you've command of a smattering of divine magics. Know you Calm Emotions? Or would you prefer I prepare multiples to accomplish this task?
"I've done my part to create subtle diversions and give the fleeing participant an advantage that will not likely be discovered and the bufoon leading the hunt may well be so bedevilled by his protesting hounds he will either have to resign himself to the loss of the quarry, or redouble his efforts as a hunter and disregard the guest he is trying to entertain. Either way he will have issues, and there will be nothing for him to put it down to but bad luck."
"As much as I am disguted by this man and his practices I can't but help think that his open depravity is just a small public display of the unseemly underbelly of this place, and that vile practices continue on such as this regardless of whether we were so blatant as to just go kill them man or not, no I need to remind myself that the true Evil lies in the pillars of society that allow such barbarism within their walls, and in this case I leave it to what I have done to settle my feeling of dismay and anger"
"No I now await the League to plan another piece of righteousness, and keep my blades sharp for the day"