Captain Irontooth takes a step forward, noticing that Trissae seemed to be allowing him to hear the word "Darkshank". With interest, he clearly listened in on the conversation, his attention steady and appraising.
Grellik: "You must be Captain Irontooth. I am Grellik. I am in nominal control of this operation, on the Bogshark side. We had come to help your group, but it appears as though that was unnecessary. Still, we intend to take back this citadel, so I think our interests coincide for the moment. the only thing we want, from all this, is to find Caira. We will be taking her out of here, after this is all over. I hope none of this seems unacceptable, given the circumstances"
"You need your arsonist, aye." Irontooth says, having formed a clear opinion on the halfling sorceress already, his eyebrows furrowed so deep they nearly touched. "Same with the other prisoner, same with us. If you don't mind, I will join you on that errand, but the rest of my men will toss the rest of the offices and the kitchens. I want no civilians or survivors under my watch to be left here. She had takes some hostages, you see, to keep us away. That awful little woman has threatened to burn them if we so much as made a move to their rescue."
He grits his teeth and everyone can hear the metallic scraping. "It had made me VERY tense the last several days. I wish to see that situation resolved to my standards!"
"Caira is all talk, UrrukurKK! She can't stand the smell of burning hair!" Splotz chuckles at the expense of the captain.
"She doesn't like being caged." Giant says, shouldering his weapon. "I don't think we're going to find a stable person when we go to rescue her. Be on your guard, all. She might fry you before she makes sure whose coming in."
"Ah yes, bringing the captain of the prison with us will reassure the crazy arsonist that we're definitely trustworthy. Good call Ironflank, those hostages are as good as safe thanks to your ingenious plan," He starts walking.
"Well, seeing as the Captain knows where specifically Caira is hold up it'll be useful to have him along. Which, by the way, Captain.. when is Wen likely to get here? should we be worried?" She says only half concerned. She gives Adrien an eyeroll then fixes herself up.
She gives a few smiles to the Shields as she steps past to follow up when the group gets moving.
Grellik says "Arsonist? Well, that's an ugly word captain. Who among us hasn't set fire to a building or two? Perhaps, distraught captive might be more accurate. In any case, just make sure you are in the back when we go in to see her. I can't be held responsible for anything she does to her captors in an 'unstable' moment."
He turns to the Sharks. "I will be the first. I will ask no one else to take that risk. If she burns me, well, then I trust the smell of burning fur will give enough pause to talk sense into her. And yes, I would waste no time searching, where Irontooth can simply lead the way."
"Well, captain, after you, then. I would prefer speedy, though we are not afraid of bloodying a few Bullywugs, if it is most efficient."
Captain Irontooth nods to Grellik. "Aye, that fits me fine." he says, narrowing his eyes at Adrien's back as the insulting swordsman begins walking back out toward the main corridors. Then, he turns and shouts orders to his soldiers who stop their chatter and fall into attention at the sound of his raised voice.
"Alright men. Sweep the offices and the kitchen. The barracks are cleared already, as are the dungeons... And, I suppose, as is the gallery, now. I'm expecting 17 heads to be found, whether they be livin' or dead, not counting those these Bogsharks and I will recover from the Lambart Offices."
The group, now larger than ever before, exits back out into the main corridor with the wagons, where the bullywugs had surrounded the group when they tried to get IN past the barricaded door. The remaining bullywugs notice the reinforced group, and with bugging eyes high-tail it out of the citadel through the disintegrated door and out into the storm, preferring that to any more violence from the combined might of the Bogsharks and Shields. One takes the tarnished crown off the of corpse of the trampled king, croaks triumphantly, and hops out as apparently the new ruler of the lot.
Shields scatter, searching rooms and forcing off any straggling bullywugs, and Irontooth leads the Bogsharks to a door set into the wall near the portcullis the Bogsharks entered the citadel through. "This is where she's been. Act in a way to protect the lives of ALL within, and I'll do what I can for you when we are reunited with Captain Wen." He says, narrowing his eyes with resolve while looking into the faces of the bogsharks. "I'll follow your lead and let you talk the halfling menace into reason."
The door itself is open a crack, and as the group appraises it, Caira's fearful shriek can be heard within. Her shriek is of sudden, surprised pain, and seems to be behind at least another set of doors.
Within the room (once entered) is a smallish sitting room with three separate offices separated by their own door, one on the left wall, one on the right wall, and one straight ahead.
Tied to the couch in the center of the room, facing the door, are three human men, looking fatigued and starved. A potted plant stands dying in the corner. It is not immediately clear which door the shriek came from.
Trissae chuckles and glances back at Grellick, "He he, you really do try to see the best in people don't you Bear? You have to admit though that if you involve Gate's Head brew, Cherry fire, or Yatarian ale then arsonist is just one of a few apt descriptors for Caira." She smiled to herself remembering a fond memory of a crazy night.
"Careful captain... they say when a halfling is called a menace, a beholder devours-" her quip is cut short by Caira's shriek.
Trissae darts forward, stepping between two of them men on the couch and then up and over, and charges the center door. She attempts to, in a single motion, use the door handle while also pushing the door with her shoulder to either force it open. Otherwise she'll simply throw the door open with the momentum.
(+1 if it's considered a skill check)
"Triss, let Grellik--oh hells.."
Cavell will follow Trissae if she is able to go ahead.
Grellik ignores the discrepancy in Irontooth's plan and his, namely that once they have Caira, they are going to leave the citadel and track down the vessel of chaos, regardless of what he or Wen decides. And then they are going to leave this accursed city, and not come back for, hopefully, some time.
he smiles at Triss. "If we do not show understanding towards arsonists, then what will my fate be, who has, in recent memory, set a building on fire?"
Grellik is on high alert, especially so given the scream. He attempts to grab Trissae before she rushes in.
as Trissae slips from his grasp"Trissae, wait!" He curses under his breath, as he rushes after her to at least meet any threat with her, rather than her being the only target.
Grellik grabs Trissae by the upper arm. "Wait! form up, behind me. We'll go together!"
Either way he summons his sword to his hand, and proceeds quickly toward the scream, watching for hidden threats.
Ozz moves into the room, staying on Adrien's heels and watching the back of the party.
Grellik stops Trissae from rushing forward, and instead forms her up into rank right behind him and moves forward, summoning his massive sword to his hand.
Moving forward, Grellik keeps his guard up, looking around for danger and the way forward. He is puzzled for just a moment at which of the three doors leads to Caira, but a muffled sound of pain behind the right-most door lets him know where to proceed. One of the tied human's watching the door fearfully confirms this.
The group of four bogsharks enter the room, quickly filling up the available space. Captain Irontooth stays back with Giant and Splotz, watching from the doorway, and keeping an eye on the rear, as not every Bullywug and giant toad has yet fled. The Shields head through the offices, fighting off any stubborn 'wugs and searching for others.
The three human men tied in the central sofa in the room watch the group warily. They seem sufficiently frightened at this new threat, and at the sound of the screams. One of them, a gagged man in his greying years, makes some muffled talking sounds around his gag, but his words are incomprehensible with the cloth tied around his head to gag him.
Cavell looks around, wary, and ungags the man trying to talk.
"Hurk!.." Triss only manages a step up on the couch before Grellick's meaty arm corralled her back in line. She only figits a bit, but Adrien's weary glance and Grell's commanding voice subdue her into reason.
She draws her lute, on guard, and waits for his motion to move.
Grellik grabs Trissae by the upper arm. "Wait! form up, behind me. We'll go together!"
Grellik moves in, motioning for the sharks in his command to follow. He prepares to enter the room, but calls to Caira and waits to hear what the man Adrien untied has to say, though he fears that cost hius inaction will have if Grimgar is in there with her. Caira! Its Grellik. We've come to get you out of here!"
When the gag is pulled free, the older man looks up at Cavell before side-eyeing the rest of the gang. "Who..." he says, before shaking his head. "Are... the bullywugs gone? Are you hear to rescue us..?" he asks, clearly exhausted.
When Grellik cries out to Caira, the door bursts open with the little halfling woman standing in the frame.
One hand is wreathed in magical fire, and she's wearing an oversized dress that looks to be something more fashionable than her prisoner's garb, probably taken from a human clerk. "Grellik...? what the..?" she asks, her eyes glassy and vague. On her other arm, a long, bleeding cut can be seen.
"Where is..." she looks around, confused. "He was just here... thought I heard him... Just in my imagination? No no... He... he CUT me..!" he looks at her arm, as if needing to remind herself of what she just experienced. Her manner is unusual, affected by something to confuse her.
"Have you... Have you seen Grimgar?!" she asks, almost affronted. "I think he just tried to stab me! but... No, I never saw him." she looks to one of the stone walls of the little office, scrutinizing that. She points at it. "Maybe he went through there?" It appears as a solid stoneworked wall with no door.
Seeing Caira bleeding and senselessly talking about Grimgar, he swears in orcish and rushes over to the wall to inspect it.
"Are you okay?!" he says, looking back at her, his gaze failing to notice anything odd about the wall.
"Dizzy... I think-" she says, nearly collapsing. She shakes her head and leans up against a wall for support. "I'm not bleeding that bad... Is... Is this poison? Is this what poison feels like?!"
She looks at her bleeding arm with vacant horror. "this pisses me off! she shrieks, shrilly, the magical fire on one hand growing brighter.
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Cavell slowly re-gags the prisoner as he speaks, fully cutting him off around 'rescue'. He gives his cheek a pat and turns his attention to Caira and Grellik.
He gives her a little wave. "We're your dashing rescue, love. Grellik's in charge for now, direct all complaints and flames his way please."
Grellik puts his hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her, and, if that fails, to get her to do exactly what Adrien suggested. "That I am, Caira. We will defend you from your assailant, whomever they may be. Why do you think it is Grimgar?"he calls back to Splotz "Splotz! I have need of your ministrations. Caira has been poisoned, and we have a potentially invisible foe!" back to the rest, "Stay away from the walls, and circle around Caira and I. if you have anyway to detect them or make them visible, then do it!"
Trissae falls back from the group, keeping an eye out.
"Someone should check inside the room..." Her response seems halfhearted and distracted. She's made her way to the couch and drawn a dagger. Carefully she cuts free the bound men and points them back toward the door.
"Irontooth and some of our backup are back there, be careful." She says in hushed tones as she releases them.
Grellik shows no reaction
At Grellik's orders, Splotz enters the room and approaches Caira.
Adrien begins to interrogate a captive, but upon hearing his initial words the rogue silences him once more.
Trissae begins to begins cutting the men free from their bondage on the central couch. With one free and heading out toward the door and the Sentries of Giant and Irontooth to greet him, only two remain to be freed which Trissae sets her mind to while keeping an eye on the doors.
Ozz is near the wall still inside the room with Caira, looking around for any sign of Grellik.
Splotz begins to cast a spell to heal Caira of her affliction.
...
And as Grellik looks at Splotz to see him working his magic, his gaze drifts over his froggy head to the couch behind, where Trissae and Adrien are standing over the captive clerks. Grellik's attentiveness makes him uncannily aware of the area around him, and his height allows him to see over everyone's heads.
Behind both of them is a stone wall. Grellik nearly missed it, but he just barely catches the form of something moving out THROUGH the wall, approaching Adrien while simultaniously using the human Bogshark as cover FROM Grellik, Splotz and Trissae.
No one else sees it. No one else is even aware of it, as Grimgar, clad in his usual cloak phases through the solid stone wall. His body is encrusted with dull grey stone, small growths of rock emerging from his normal silhouette.
In one hand is his deadly short sword, still dripping with possible poison as he stealth's his way up behind Adrien, his eyes locked on the human, wide and desperate.
...
[dice=Initiative with disadv (assuming it counts as "Ability check")]1d20+4[/dice]
Grimgar reaches out toward the top of Adrien's head with his free hand, as he brings his sword up with his other toward his throat, literally as thunder crashes in from outside.
The Bogshark blackscale sits on the stone floor of the little basement hideout, now far less cramped than it had been before her companions departed to storm the castle. Up the stairs, the door emerging out into the ally bangs and rattles against the force of the storm.
Thunder crashes more regularly now, and Feng realizes that she can hear it on BOTH sides. Still affected by the plague to a certain degree (Though it's affects are currently FAR less fatal than they had been before her lightning surgery), her vision seemed to fade in and out of this world and that of the Elemental Chaos. But, in either world she can hear the thunder.
She concentrates on her Invisibility Spell as she whistles to herself, her draconic jaw making the sound eerie and obviously not the sound of a human whistle.
Suddenly, her whistling stops, and her eyes open. She focuses more on the material world, the room coming into her vision. She finds herself staring at the wall she drew on before, of the giant form with many eyes.
"Ozz..." she says to herself, feeling the touch of the half-orc's life force as the spell she was maintaining on him fades, her burden of concentration lessened.
"Becoming visible again, all on your own? ... ... Why? Thissss might not be good..."
Moments later, she suddenly feels a great weight, like her body is huge, powerful, and swinging a mighty sword. Somewhere, Grellik is fighting.
"Hrmm... You boysss are getting into Trouble!"
A bit of time passes when she feels more of her invisibility spell end. She feels words in her mind, the shape and sounds of a feminine voice casting a spell, and echo of what ended the invisibility.
"Trissae... Are you helping out your brothers? Good. Good... Pleassseee see them sssafe..."
Almost at the same time, Feng is surprised by a sharp flash and the sickening image of a froggy head wearing a mottled hood doing a bloody somersault in the air, two blades passing beneath it, closing their swing.
"Adrien... Did... You just murder a bullywug jester? What isss going on?!"
Then, she waits, and nothing elses changes. She feels out the last strand of her spell, continuing to maintain her concentration on it.
"Grimgar... You're still invisssible... Waiting for the right moment, or off to do other work?"
Feng waits a bit longer, and begins humming again, the room fading out of the stone worked basement and back into the great stone hallways built for some kind of giants. The chalk drawing of the being with many eyes fades into a massive, dark tunnel winding ever forward.
A feeling of overwhelming rage suddenly bleeds into her mind, and the last bit of her spell fades entirely. She's pulled back into the basement, the chalk drawing of the Being she made her deal with appearing once more in front of her.
She can still taste the rage in her mouth, and she spits out the hate onto the stone floor. Feng pulls herself onto the small bed, seeking comfort.
"Grimgar!" she cries out, surprised at being able to feel his emotion. It's powerful, fierce, and stone solid. It feels old, years old maybe, as if he's been nursing this feeling of hatred until it became a unyielding wall. "Who! Who are you killing?!"
Staring at the wall, she trembles, letting the emotion bleed away. Shortly after, she feels something else. A power channels through her which brings the Elemental Chaos back into partial focus. It's an uncommonly stable half and half split between the material world and the real world, the chalk drawing hanging in the air of the dark tunnel before her.
She can feel EARTH tremble through her, out of the darkness of the otherwordly plane and into the material world, using her body as a focus.
And Feng realizes that she knows the taste of this power. She had been afflicted horribly by it. This feeling of raw, alien, earthern force. But it's more than just that. Like a person would have a voice you could recognize them from, this power was unique as well.
The feeling she feels now as she channels the Investiture of Stone into Grimgar is exactly the same as the energy that filled her near to bursting before her family dragged her out into the storm so she could get struck a whole bunch by lightning.
Her Benefactor, the Being she earlier questioned and who had given the Bogsharks many powerful boons to help them to stop the bearer of the Vessel of Chaos is the same Being that the Vessel drew power from.
"Sssssszatchur!!" She cries as she channels the Being's energy.
Almost as if in response to Its name, she sees the eyes appearing in the dark tunnel before her. These eyes are more than just chalk drawings. She sees eyes burning with elemental fire. She sees more dripping with hissing acid. More and more eyes open up and look down upon her as she channels Its power into her brother, each brimming with elemental power.
She looks upon the one who stole power from every corner of the Elemental Chaos, growing stronger from it, and binding it into the mortal world. Szatchur. The Maker of the Bowl. The Conqueror of Chaos.
Cavell crosses his arms and sighs at everyone's panic and paranoia. "I don't know what you're so afraid of. We're basically all legends--Triss' just shouted a dragon to death one on one--and what's Grimgar done? He's just a mediocre thief. He couldn't beat a desk chair in a fight or sneak up on a sleeping child!"
Seeing what is transpiring, but unable, to stop it, Grellik screams, all artifice or care of appearance gone, "ADRIEN! MOVE, YOU FOOL!"
"...Whispered..."
Grimgar's blade is already moving as Grellik shouts, Trissae's correction lost in the bugbear's panicked scream.
A rough hand pulls Adrien's head sharply back, and the sharp blade draws blood. Deeply.
Adrien just barely stays conscious and unpoisoned.
As a hand grabs Adrien's head from behind, pulling him back, his quick reflexes kick in and he twists aside out of the grip with a dancer's grace. The dagger gouges from near his adam's apple diagonally up over his jaw. It'll leave a nasty scar but doesn't seem life threatening.
"F&#%ing c$!$! Coward!" Cavell shouts in pain and anger, drawing his sabers and readying an attack for the next time any enemy gets close enough to hit. Blood runs down his face and neck.
Grellik wants to tell Grimgar to stop, to stand down, but his former comrade is already using Fengs gift to fade into the wall. As his anger rises into a boiling rage, he hears the echo of Feng's words in his mind. "I urge you to use it before any potential traitor can hurt usss again! Kill"
Grellik contorts his mouth as he speaks a word, hideous and terrible. Some forgotten curse, some sharp remnant from the chaos at the heart of creation. A sickening power engulfs him for a moment as Szatchur's gift releases.
He feels shaken to the core, at having done such a thing, and to a comrade--or at least one he had called such. "I did not want this, Grimgar! But I must stop you. No more! No more..."
And regardless of the results, he is rushing to Adrien's side, worried that he has failed his brash friend, and lost another life to this accursed place.
Feng bolts to her feet, feeling a new energy draw out from the creature with many eyes, watching her from one of two worlds.
She is drawn further and further into the elemental chaos, the room around her all but gone, before a powerful force takes her and sends her tumbling to the bed in a heap. Feng blinks her eyes, seeing herself in the Mortal World once again.
But now, the power of earth she was channeling is gone, as was whatever it was that just channeled through her like a fire bolt from a crossbow.
"Grimgar?" She says, hissing nervously to herself, her tail thrashing anxiously back and forth. She can't feel him at ALL anymore. The magic is gone, but so is the hate, the anger, the focus of purpose.
And so is the love, the years of companionship, even if course and hard.
Still weak and afflicted with exhaustion from her long time spent infected by Szatchur's power, Feng has no tears to shed.
She sobs, knowing what must have happened. That Grimgar had grown too hardened by the walls of the City of Yartar, and of the life he had to live, that he gave Grellik no alternative.
"Foolish!" She sobs to herself, clutching Trissae's bogshark mask. "Stupid boy! Stupid -hic-! Stupid boy!"
She insults Grimgar to herself, knowing that he made his brother be forced to kill him. "If you just saw Adrien for who he is -hic!-... If you just bothered to LOOK at him! To SEE him -Hic!-"
"You cruel brother! Making your sister -hic- feel like this! AAahhhh!!"
Tearless, she cries into the storm, letting her wailing join the crashing lightning as she forces herself to relive the moment she felt Grellik kill Grimgar, over and over again.
It's the only way she can think to survive the pain, by facing it, confronting it. It's the only way of honoring the sacrifice of what was taken, and what was lost, by both of her brothers.
Adrien's duelist's experiences, forged by a lifetime in dangerous groups like thieves' guilds, and further enhanced by the turmoil in Yartar, turns what could have been a decapitation into something much less fatal.
Yet the threat of a second sweep still presents itself, as Grimgar turns to retreat through a wall, clearly intending to use his advantage for hit and run tactics.
It's immediately clear what he can do in a situation like this, stone walls all around, with many doors to hide behind. Using stealth and speed, he'd be able to approach the battle with a advantage of a positioning, able to come out of any wall, hide in any room.
It would take splitting up to keep an eye on anywhere he could BE, and any vulnerability could be exploited by Grimgar's own training as an assassin.
He murdered a Zhentarim officer in his own base> Being able to phase through walls, to be enhanced with stone as powerful defensive tool, clearly able to deflect the worst of any blow with his rocky exterior, would just make matters for the bogsharks dangerous going forward.
So, his intentions are clear, as he hurries toward the wall to disappear, potentially winding up in any of the rooms by the time the others could react.
He looks back, seeing the less-than-fatal gash spilling with blood at Adrien's neck, and knowing he missed the mark.
Well, there is always next try. Adrien looked like just a little bit more would break him, to finally shut his arrogant mouth and prevent him from even being able to betray any of his family. He will keep them all safe, he will protec-
Grimgar's body never makes it through the wall.
Grellik speaks a speaks a Word, and all can hear as it looses. No amount of tension or noise can possibly conceal it, the Word is all anyone can experience as it passes through the room.
And then Grimgar's body crumples and slams into the wall.
'Cl-ang-tinnggggg~!' The sound of metal as his short sword clatters and slides to a stop, dropped from the half-orc's lifeless hand.
No wound marks his death. His body, while weathered by recent hardship, bares no sign of what separated his spirit from his body. He lies still. Utterly still. Grellik had spoken, so Grimgar was gone. Destroyed.
It is obvious to everyone what has happened, the finality of the Word is indisputable, leaving no argument or alternate interpretation valid to any who witnessed it.
Grellik spoke a word, and Grimgar died. It is as obvious as breathing, as self explanatory, and as unavoidable. As people have to breath, so too must Grimgar be dead.
Trissae had already dropped the dagger into the hand of the guard she had been cutting free, and was lunging to run toward Adrien.
As the pulse of divine energies washed over the room it caused her to stumble, stagger stepping into Adrien.
"Athae.."
Light energies of emerald and gold whisped from Trissae's lips and circled Adrien's throat, fading beneath the skin and sealing the wound.
Her body is rigid in defiance of the urge to look toward Grimgar, forcing her eyes on Adrien's face.
"I've seen you cut yourself worse trimming your beard.." she forces out, placing a hand on his cheek. She had nothing to contend with the emotions she was feeling and hoped emulating Adrien's with would work... It wasn't.
Her hand trembled and eyes began to well, looking to Adrien for help, as her demeanor started to crumble.
Adrien's swords lower to his sides as his expression of pain and anger fades, just staring blankly at Grimgar's unmoving body as Trissae and Grellik rush up to him. Blood covers Adrien's neck and shoulder and runs down his right hand, clasping the hilt of Sapphire's Saber. He must have used that hand to partially block the throat-cut as he twisted free. He doesn't seem to hear Trissae. The bleeding stops as her magic runs across the wounds, but Adrien still stands there, staring in shock. A held breath finally escapes his lungs, "That's what Feng whispered to you..."
He steps quickly over to Grimgar's corpse, sheathing his blades and crouching there. His voice shakes, "I--I didn't want that. I didn't want you to do that. Let him fight and we'll--we'll drag him out unconscious and talk sense into him later. Just let him fight. I'm fine. Just let him fight. F$!!ing dumb bastard, why couldn't we just have fought and shook hands after. You couldn't see I'd f*$*ing die to save Mornak? Gods, I'm sorry Mornak...Splotz, Splotz help him. We have to...maybe Feng can undo it. She did it, right? She can--can get more gifts and...Splotz just...try. Anything," his voice is broken and ragged. He starts to reach for Grimgar's hand but stops halfway, clenching his fists in his lap instead.
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Grellik walks to his comrades, to stand over the man he just killed. One of their own, driven to paranoia by the burden he bore.
He does not say anything for a time, he does not have any will with which to speak. he takes Cavells anger--he has earned it-- as Adrien's outpouring of pain magnifies his own. One better would have seen what was coming, would have stopped this. But it is done, he did not, and this is what it came to. They must press on.
When he speaks his voice seems smaller than his friends have ever heard it. he tries to look at them, but finds it hard, his gaze often trailing to rest on Grimgar's body. "I am sorry. This was what she whispered to me, that no other among us be hurt. We will bring his body back--I will carry it--and see if the Trickster can cheat death, or see what price may be paid for his revival."And I will pay it.
He steels his voice with resolve and continues, though grief still threatens to choke him. "Now, we must take Caira and leave. We must stop Brundon, and we have little time left. If not for Yartar, then for Feng."
Trissae stands there looking at the spot where Adrien had been standing. She watches a pair of tear drops splash against the floor, and she can feel fire spark to life inside her. This wasn't like the other fires, this was born of something else besides anger.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and stepped past Grellick to kneel next to Adrien.
"Adrien.. Adrien look at me.." she attempted to direct his gaze to hers.
"Andien hun.... Grimgar already had that fight along time ago, he lost to those inner demons. That's how we got to this point."
She reaches across Grimgar's body and takes his short sword, beginning to wipe it clean with her cloak.
"This was no longer about what you wanted, or what we did, this was about he wanted... He couldn't come to terms with the fact that we'd chosen you, to trust you, that Ozz trusted you. Ozz was -his- brother, not yours."
She finished cleaning the blade and flipped it in her hand so the handle points toward Adrien.
"Ultimately, he just wanted to protect his family, and he didn't know any other way. Take the blade, help your brother do what he could not. We need you Adrien." She leans forward after and just to him whispers, "I, need you."
She waits a moment for his response.
Afterward, she rises and turns back to Grellick, stepping to him she rubs his arm and gives him a look that says "This will be alright." Then will assist him when he goes to recover Grimgar's body.
Adrien resists looking at Trissae for a moment but relents. He listens, still in shock.
Finally, he answers quietly, "Sure...not out of this yet," and reluctantly takes Grimgar's blade. "Sorry, Triss. I'm here. Still here."
Ozz stands in the room behind Grellik, stunned. Grimgar lying dead. So... Suddenly! Ozz had witness Grimgar fight for most of his life. There was none of his usual manner of defending himself like a maniac, jumping one way, spinning, and then thrusting with his impossibly sharp blade. He simply stopped working, defeated with hardly even time for a look of surprise to take his features.
And that power that came suddenly from Grellik, defeating Grimgar in an instant, without and room for defense or retaliation.
It was like the hand of god just stopped his friend's heart right in his chest.
Horrified, Ozz can't even blink. In his mind wars emotions. He wouldn't have believe that Grimgar could be capable of what now seems likely is true, yet over the last day...
... Ozz always considered him and Grimgar to be the same. They had similar s**%ty childhoods, just of different flavors. They were both half-orcs, the fate of their parents unknown to either. All Ozz had of his parents, of his life before he started to be on the run, were unremarkable memories of safety and peace, and a broken toy soldier, and Grimgar had less than even that.
For a long time, Ozz had thought that he was as much of a killer as Ozz was, but after being Bogsharks together, he started to notice some differences, and their implications took a long time for Ozz to process.
Ozz was a killer, true, but he was at his most dangerous when he was defending a home, walking his swamps for threats from the city. From EITHER city. He was most likely to kill when defending his home from the predators of civilization. To send them a message. "Do. Not. Come. Here."
Grimgar wasn't like that. Grimgar didn't wait for trespassers. He sought them out before trespass could even happen. That was how he knew how to defend his home, stopping problems at the throat while Ozz just chopped away at the reaching hands.
Ozz had began to realize that he disagreed with Grimgar about that. Ozz would prefer to be left alone, for the predators to just stay away. Grimgar wasn't content letting people form plans about their family, not when he could stop them from ever forming.
Grimgar was also a planner. He always had been the one with ideas between the two. Ozz would follow Grimgar's lead, for whatever fight or mischief they might have been up to.
When Grimgar whispered to Ozz in the citadel when they were all invisible, Ozz realized that the Bogshark assassin had a plan. That he might have had this plan for some time now.
"He whispered to me..." Ozz says as everyone gathers around Grimgar's body. He takes a couple of steps forward, his eyes locked to Grimgar's unmoving body, tears starting to pour over the sides of his eyelids. "He told me, 'Be ready, when things turn. I'm acting tonight.' I didn't know what he meant! Not until..."
He had started guarding Adrien after a certain point, being more proactive in looking out for... Anything. Anything Grimgar might try to do. Arrows? Throwing daggers? F%+&, did he have some magic trinket that could cause harm?! Ozz finally realized that Grimgar meant to kill another Bogshark, he believed it at last, and the outline of Grimgar's plan suddenly crystalized in his mind. It was HIS fault they were all here in Yartar! Somehow! And it was for the purpose of killing Adrien, and probably Caira as well.
Ozz tries to steel himself, the screw his face up to hide his sorrow. He understood why this happened now, why most of this had happened. He understood Grellik had little choice but to kill what Ozz had considered to be his best friend for years. Maybe even, his only TRUE friend. He fails, though, and his forcefully stern visage just pushed more tears out over his cheeks and twisting his lip in a way to cause a small tremor to run through one corner of his mouth.
He places a hand on Grellik, and on Adrien.
"Maybe once you fought..." He says to Adrien. "... Maybe then he'd finally know he wouldn't have to kill you. Maybe... He never fights fare though."
"You did what you had to." Ozz says to Grellik.
He places a hand on Trissae, clearly wishing to help with Grimgar's body as well. He nods to the sword as it is passed off to the duelist. Grimgar's Trollsplitter. The assassin's short sword to join a cursed blade of Sapphire in Adrien's skilled hands. Ozz's gaze turns to take in Splotz, Giant and Caira as well.
"This is right. Like... a title of death, Grimgar cannot be our assassin anymore. We are far too far from home to not have this edge, the Bogsharks need an assassin to get through this. Until we are safely returned to our Evermoors, you must be our Darkshank." He looks to Grimgar's body. "Until we can restore him to his office, and bring him back, and bring him to account for what he has done here."