Oh good, now they are recruiting new team members without even identifying their skill levels... I suppose survival will be the test here.
"There are three locations we need to reach, which gives three opportunities for you to prove yourselves as resourceful guides." Leon says, speaking to the goblin for the first time. "We are paying you to get us through the jungle to those destinations. That is the ten gold per day wage Kroxav mentioned. Once there, if you come inside with us, risk your lives alongside ours while we reclaim what we seek, then you may be able to earn a share of what we find. One half share, split between the two of you, per ruin. If you enter all three with us that will make one and one half shares, plus your ten gold per day guide and portage wages, for the two of you to split however you see fit."
It is clear that Leon is not interested in haggling and believes his offer is fair.
Looking pointedly to Krovax, he continues, "Any potential continuation of employment will be discussed upon completion of this contract, and not before."
"Its ten gold EACH per day sir Whatever you call yourself. Not a copper less. We help you inside these three ruins and you give us a half share each time we can deal with that. I'm guessing you want to leave as soon as possible? If so we'll need supplies for the trip unless you plan on eating bugs, bark and slime for two months. Hmm eight people for two months, plus probably five barrels of fresh water, two hundred and fifty gold will cover basics then we want our advance of one hundred each for the first ten days out there so you better have four hundred and fifty gold ready to go. If that's all, I better go make arrangements for those supplies, that's a lot to get on short notice. There's a warehouse out by the edge of the river on the west side of town. Its painted green, kinda, meet us there when your ready to head out"
Bigzy waits to see if there are any disagreements before heading off out into the street while Grim waits with you while he finishes his drink and continues his chat with Aluria.
Leon removes five platinum coins from a small bag before tossing it to the goblin.
Krovax stays silent as Leon speaks to the Goblin. Well, the man may have been a fine warrior, but it must have been only to men assigned to him. He has no tact when it comes to convincing people to join a cause. I'll have to have words with him later.
"Yes, perhaps next time you'll know better than to do something without asking permission first."
As the goblin begins to leave, Krovax remarks to him after Leon drops the coins, "We will meet you there."
Mordecai's brow relaxes at the fellow speaks. A high price means they know what their services are worth and expect it in return. One too low and I would suspect they would take the money and run.
I need to find out what I can about these two before we go gallivanting in to the jungle together.
"I need to go look in to some things, should I meet you back here or at the green warehouse?"
Spending an hour moving through other taverns and listening to gossip and asking the locals questions regarding guides in general and when they get brought up, Grim and Bigzy. You learn that there are several guides in the city but only one other guide is known to have travelled as deep as those two. The guide unfortunately only works under contract with merchants and his prices are unbelievable. Bigzy and Grim have a mixed reputation, they are willing to take almost any job, slavers, scalpers, raiders, adventurers, scholars, basically anyone except military groups. They know what they're doing and most often return with their charges, except for those that die and one popular story about a pretentious group of adventurers that made the mistake of trying to steal their boat and leaving them out in the Mwangi without supplies 'Its nothing personal, just business' the adventurers told them. Several days later when the boat was sank on some hidden rocks and they were trying to hike back to the city they missed the signs of quicksand and Bigzy and Grim were waiting for them. They took everything the adventurers had and left them to sink, 'Its nothing personal, just business' they said as they hiked back to the city less than a kilometer away.
The fetchling meets back with the group at the designated location.
He tells everyone, "It sounds like we stumbled upon the best option for guides we could get for where we are going. They do not have a reputation for being concerned with the agendas of those they lead through the wilderness but tend to return with most they take out."
When Shadow returns to the inn, Sir Leon is relaxing in the bar with a mug of something amber in color.
"Good." he replied to Shadow's report. "No doubt this endeavor will force them to earn every coin we are paying them. Let us make to the meeting point."
Just before leaving, Sir Leon pulls Shadow aside. "I think it is unlikely that there are any who are looking for us directly, however someone will be paying attention to us and will likely attempt to tail us in order to sell information later. I would like you to keep separate from us and watch for anyone keeping eyes on us. Assess the professionalism of anyone you see. If they are simply local urchins, ignore them. If they seem to be more than amateurs it may be best if they were eliminated before they cause us trouble."
Catching the bag and simply shaking it to gauge the weight Bigzy seems satisfied when he leaves.
The next morning you all head in the direction that the goblin gave you and without much difficulty find a rough looking building with chipping green paint on the outskirts of the city almost swallowed up by the jungle. Standing in front of the building is a sign B AND G TOURS in large blocky letters. A wide receiving door is swung open on the far side of warehouse and you can see Grim walking with two barrels over his shoulders around the back. As you follow him you get a chance to look into the warehouse and an interesting sight, the inside looks like an apothecaries with rows of chemicals, herbs, jars, bottles, boxes and urns taking up on wall and the other side is dominated by racks adorned with weapons and trophies.
Around back Grim is lashing down the barrels onto the deck of a river barge alongside other barrels and boxes the. Covering the whole stack with a thick tarp. The boat is roughly thirty feet long and and fifteen feet wide with the back half holding a rough hut-like structure that Bigzy is sitting atop of and seemingly checking off items on a list while yelling down at Grim.
Ezra orders a small glass of wine, tipping the barmaid a silver.
On their way to the caravan, Krovax rides alongside Leon, talking to him about their guides.
"I make no pretenses about these men we have hired, they could be worth the gold we are paying them, they may not. If they are as capable as they claim, we could put men like them to use. Particularly myself, as a good scout and man of the wilds is a valuable asset. However, if they are not capable of what they claim, I will have no hesitation to be rid of them as soon as our contract is complete."
Pausing a moment to take in his surroundings, Krovax continues, "I know not what you plan on doing once our service to our benefactor is complete, but I intend to finish what I started before, be it in Lastwall or elsewhere, and to do that, I need men. Anyone who plays a significant part in this will be fairly compensated, but if that is not to anyone in this parties liking, so be it. But I know that we are stronger working together than we are working against one another."
Krovax then drops a pouch in Leon's hand before they enter the warehouse, "The majority of the party fund, which we agreed was to be used for just this sort of thing. Once it can acquire the rest, you will be reimbursed."
Leon nods and slips the pouch away. "I have found that it is never wise to offer extended employment to those who have not proven themselves. If the survive this, and are as resourceful as they seem to think they are, then it may be worth discussing."
"Frankly, I find mortal, living servants to be trying. On such matters Mordecai and I are of similar minds."
They barely notice you all arrive until you are standing there waiting at the edge of the dock. It appears that everything has been gathered and lashed together. "Ah, ye made it. Good, we can leave whenever you're ready." They wait for everyone to settle themselves on board and then push off down the river towards the Mwangi with Grim pulling at the oars until the current is strong enough to push the barge itself. The first three days are uneventful as you meander through the many rivers that crisscorss through the Mwangi. On the fourth day both you wake to find Grim slowly and methodically cleaning and laying out a dozen barbed harpoons in a line out at the front of the barge while Bigzy sits at the back by the wheel with several small, heavy crossbows primed and leaning against the railings. when Bigzy sees you all beginning to stir he places a finger to his lips and shooshes you. in a quite voice,"Be very quiet, see those scratches and gouges on the trees? it means we are passing through drake territory. As long as we keep quiet we should be able to slip right though."
Ezra, Aluria, Krovax, Dreadmaul , Grim and Bigzy take every effort to move as little as possible and keep quiet while Mordecai and Leon scoff at the necessity of silence while all alone on the river in a boat.
Aluria notices that the normal sounds of the jungle have been subdued for the last few moments which puts her on the alert, enough so that she notices a dark form in the water below the boat in time to step away from the railing as four winged reptilian burst out of the water all around the boat and spit sizzling globs of acid at you as they rear up and take flight around you.
They're highly resistant to acid damage
They're both amphibious and can fly
They're ambush predators and will flee if they feel overly threatened
Leaning back, Mordecai stifles an oath as acid sizzles past him. Perking up at Aluria's words, he gives a tight grin. "Let us hope!"
"Acid is about useless, in case you were considering that option. Oh how I wish we had a stack of tangle foot bags right about now."
As four different blasts of acid bathe the boat Grim and Leon are hit full force everyone else avoids most of the acid and takes half. Ezra begins summoning a creature while one of the drakes lands and lashes out at Grim tearing flesh with its sharp teeth and breaking bones with with its tail.
Its Dreadmaul's turn
Dreadmaul's skeletal tail flicks excitedly back and forth as he lunges forward into the air, charging the nearest airborn drake. As his talons leave the barge deck, a roar echoes from his flaming jaws.
Dreadmaul flies up and tears into one of the drakes savagely ripping the lesser dragonkin to pieces and letting the corpse crash to the water below. While the two 'dragons' battle in the air above, Bigzy aims and fires on of his heavy crossbows at one of the drakes as it flies behind the boat. The quarrel bites into the beast and it roars in anger.
Mordecai throws a hand out and a thin strand of silver light wraps around everyone before disappearing.
"Damn you, dragon! Wait for my command!"
Krovax quickly mutters a spell, and suddenly everything seems to be moving slower in comparison to those affected.
Mordecai pulls out an amulet and begins chanting, soon silvery strands of unholy energy wrap around everyone Bless. Then Aluria begins singing an ulfen song remembered by all the northern regions as the precursor to many bloody raids which bolsters your fighting spirits and instills in everyone a thirst for bloodshed. A second drake lands precariously on the edge of the boat, its maw closes down on Leon's shoulder as its rancid breath almost makes Leon's eyes water but its tails slaps uselessly against the armour of his thighs. The third drake crashes to the deck behind Aluria but despite its advantage it cannot penetrate her defences. Leon wiping spittle and the stench out of his face swings at the beast but it pulls its head away before his axe can connect but moves it back right into Leon's back swing which nearly takes it from its shoulders. Then His hasted attack finishes it off as it falls into the water with its left wing severed. Meanwhile at the front of the boat Grim drops the harpoon he had in hand and grabs his religion from his back sheath, snarls as veins bulge out all across his exposed flesh then with a roar swings his falchion strait up and carves a deep red gash across the drakes chest, his hasted second attack is a downward swing that starts at one side above the collar bone and coming out deep in the drake's leg as the entire body is cut in half. Above Ezra three small tornadoes coalesced and move to assist Aluria.
Leon spits back and answers with his axe.
Ezra speaks a couple words in a quick whisky language.
Her trio of elementals fly off at rapid speed towards the last remaining drake.
"You think these insults to Dragonkin deserve the use of strategy? Ha!"
Dreadmaul turns and adjusts his angle to that of the final drake, charging to it in a streak of green flame.
As the elemental creatures harass and nip at the drake it manages to bite Aluria before Dreadmaul crashes down on it and tears it to pieces while the barge shakes and rocks violently.
"If you want to check their lair, it is likely under the water here, or near here. Elsewise, we should continue on."
Still in the heat of battle, Dreadmaul whips his head around towards Aluria.
"You doubt how well I fight, puny mortal? Lets see how well you do without a throat!"
Dreadmaul makes a quick lunge towards Aluria, when the rune on his skull flares bright and he balks in place, like a dog at the end of a chain.
"DREADMAUL, ENOUGH!" Krovax yells at the dragon, his rune similarly alight.
He then calmly walks over to the dragon, continuing in an angered tone, "You forget your place, dragon. Perhaps once you were a mighty terror, but now you are bound to me. ME! And you will cease this hostility at once. Lest i remind you of how much pain I can make you endure."
He then turns to Aluria, "My apologies, m'lady. There will be no more such outbursts from him, I assure you. I must disagree, however. If there are artifacts to be found, we may well need them for what's to come. I say we send in a search party at once, and I think I can help with that..."
He then turns to everyone, a gleam in his eye. "Anyone speak the language of Water Elementals?"
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No offense Lord Krovax, though I cannot guarantee if he does that again will I retaliate in kind. A decent suggestion, using water elementals will help us locate the lair and I can cast sift to check out the lair without exposing ourselves to too much dangers.
Aluria keeps her whip scoffing at Dreadmaul.
Play nice....Pet.
Dreadmaul growls and glares menacingly at Aluria before being dismissed back to the realm of The Lord of Mirrors.
The fetchling returns from below deck and looks around.
After surveying the area and reconciling it with the sounds he heard, he says, "I stepped away to use the head and you guys start stirring up trouble without me."