While many would not be able to see them, Morbak immediately picks on the presence of vermin in the area, but cannot pinpoint the source, although they all seem to be leaving the area from some central location, probably underground.
Not much of a strategist, Sritaro votes for the direct approach; head to the tavern they were warned not to head to. "I imagine we can find someone willing to part some useful information about the Tower, no?"
On phone sorry for no formatting.
"Burning Stables was my suggestion, and I suggest avoiding the seedy tavern of people who will likely try to kill us. Unless you want to open a chain of taverns?"
"Since most vermin have their lairs underground, let us see if we can find any kind of tunnel network near by." Looks around the area for any indication as to the best place to start.
Ha'el ponders Zhiyo's words and then says ... Well, the business we are in means we face things that will likely try to kill us every day. I don't think that should be the reason we choose our path or we would wind up as farmers or some such profession. Turns to Morbak and says ... Can you track them back to their den? What vermin exactly is it we are talking about anyway? Spiders? Rats? Or what have you? I should like to get my hands on some venom if possible. I can brew up something to give our blades a little more bite if we do come across some.
Sritaro is a bit leery of handling Morbak's side quest of slaying vermin, especially with such a broad word. Still, he knows the half-orc to be a good person (he does worship Pelina after all), and hesitantly follows along with the hunter's instincts.
Looking around for a possible source of vermin, Morbak locates a small cave opening, and goes inside. Turning a corner he suddenly finds himself facing a group of half a dozen dirty looking pirates carousing with an equal number of dirty looking ladies. The pirates immediately grab their scimitars and advance on the party, their drunken smirks enough of an indication of how they feel about the unexpected intrusion.
"Well I guess we found vermin after all."
Pulls spear and gets into a defensive stance.
"Morbak, you are not gonna make a habit out of this, are you?"
Zhiyo casts shield then takes a defensive position next to Morbak, ready to cover him with a longspear.
Holding his holy symbol necklace of Pelina in his buckler hand, Sritaro takes lead in front of Morbak. The nagaji, sensing that things are going to go sour quickly, does his best to bring his bulk and holy righteousness to bear. "Stand down! Sssurrender now, and you have my word as a paladin of Pelina no harm shall come to you!" He continues, letting go of his necklace and Quick Drawing Serpent's Tail from his waist and pointing it at the closest bandit (action point part). "Resssist and we will bring Pelina's holy wrath upon you!
Ha'el quickly mixes and drinks a "shield" extract. Next turn I will prepare a bomb to throw.
The pirates just mock the paladin when he presents his holy symbol, "We're not afraid of some so-called "goddess" that no one has ever seen and we certainly ain't afraid of a delusional idiot who thinks he is her servant." The two closest to you charge from either side, attacking Morbak and Sritaro. Morbak almost takes a solid blow, but is able to parry it away at the last second with his spear. The attack on Sritaro bounces off the wall next to him, the man's drink overtaking his ability to react quickly. A couple of them try to shoot arrows, but they bounce harmlessly off the walls and ceiling. Two others stumble about, trying to secure their leather armor that had been loosened to allow them to enjoy the company of the harlots, all of whom are shrinking back into the shadows as much as possible.
Deflecting the blow Morbak says, "My turn." And uses the momentum of the parry to spin full circle and thrust with the spear.
Shocked at the blasphemy brought to his ears, Sritaro lashes out angrily with his weapon yelling, "Pelina, forgive me for ssstriking down these heathens!"
Zhiyo follows Morbak's thrust with a thrust from his own longspear,
Crispin looks up from his spot where he was "checking the shoes" of one of the halfling waitress's wondering where his group went to. He makes a quick inquiry from Big Mama where his friends went, and with a stern look and short lecture about "checking the Shoes" of her Wait staff sends him on his way.
Crispin runs as fast as he can to find his companions, running west he catches a glimpse of Ha'el heading into a small cave. He continues inside coming across the fight with the pirates. catching his breath "Sorry I am late to the party I was checking out some shoes, but I am just in time for some dancing."
Crispin flips his wrists making his putting his blades in his hands finding the nearest unoccupied dance partner he attacks.
Attack
Damage
attack
damage
looking up at his pirate "See what a good dancer I am."
Ha'el looks over his shoulder at Crispin and says Glad you could join us lad
Then he seeks a cluster of pirates to toss a bomb at. If any of them are standing in a group of 2 or more he tosses the bomb at the one in the middle to maximize efficiency.
Ranged Touch Attk:
Damage: to main target and 5 to each of the adjacent bad guys.
The pirates don't have time to react before the back of the cave collapses and a bunch of spiders burst out as if desperate to escape something. As the spiders fight everyone else, and the pirates fight everyone else, the chaos is now complete. The harlots are playing dead in a bid to avoid attracting attention. Amongst the party, the hits taken are limited, but strong; Sritaro takes 8 points of damage from the pirate's scimitar.
Zhiyo says just loud enough for the party to hear, "Lets back out and let the spiders flush them out, anyone left inside can be dealt with after they are done fighting each other, not to mention whatever the spiders are running from."
Zhiyo will stay at reach and try to cover the others what ever they choose.
The now mass confusion as spiders and pirates fill the cave almost overwhelms Sritaro, leaving him open to the new would across his chest. He quickly closes his eyes to press his buckler hand over the would, sealing part of it with holy energy before turning to his pirate foe. "Perhaps we ssslay these beasts before we're ssspider food, then worry about each other!", before lashing his weapon at the spider between him and the pirate.
At the sight of the spiders, Morbak's eyes seem to glow a crimson and he screech's something in Orc.
Turns his attention to the nearest spider and thrust's forward his spear with abandon.
Morbak misses due to his hatred clouding his accuracy.
Ha'el tossed his bomb and then watched in confusion as the wall explodes behind the target. He thinks to himself There is no way I did that ... right?. Then a mass of new enemies pours through the breach. Spiders?! The whole mess of them start attacking the pirates.
Crispin catches the plan and tumbles back out of the cave with ease. The pirate on Morbak decides that the spiders are indeed a bigger threat, dealing a solid blow to the one attacking him. while the pirate attacking Sritaro is apparently too drunk to care, as he once more slashes at the paladin, this time bouncing the hilt of his scimitar off the armor. The pell mell continues as two of the spiders are killed. Morbak and Sritaro continue to hold the front line as the pirate on Sritaro continues to assault the paladin for some reason known only to himself and the other pirates turn their attention to the spiders.
A couple rounds later, the pirates, Morbak, and Sritaro have defeated the spiders and are for the most part watching the party warily as they are rather beat up. One pirate remains untouched and charges Morbak, annoyed at the lack of help, and the one on Sritaro is still trying to swing (unsuccessfully since his first blow) on the paladin.
Seeing the Pirate come at him, Morbak thrusts his spear forward again.
Crispin glad he got out of the cave before being overrun with spiders readies himself to help with the pirates heading next to Morback attacking the pirate.
Attack
Damage
Crit Confirm
Crit Damage
Crispin, seeing the chaos calming down, is able to get behind the pirate attacking Morbak, and they double team the poor sap, bringing him to his knees in a howl of pain.
Sritaro, surprised at the pirate's inebriated rage, can't help but feel pity for him, and decides to simply knock him out instead of mortally wounding his assailant. "It is not fitting that I ssslay such a pitiful man."
The man slumps to the ground out cold. The remaining pirates, along with the harlots, continue to watch warily, unsure of how to deal with the situation.
Sensing a pause in the hostilities, Sritaro snaps Serpent's Tail around his waist before speaking out to the wary crowd. "Lay down your weapons and I will treat the injured."
"Hmm, look at that, I barely had to do anything." mumbling more to himself then anyone else. Then he eyes the collapse more warily, sure that the spiders are probably not the last of the worries.
Watching the pirates and the harlots, you get the impression they really don't trust the paladin and are not likely to let anybody in the party get close. As you stare each other down, a couple of the harlots start to tend to the wounds of the pirates as best they can as they give you a look that makes it clear they just want you to leave, sooner rather than later.
Puts his hand on Sritaro's shoulder and comments, "I believe they just refused your offer my friend." Looks at the hole they spiders came from.
The spiders seemed to be trying to escape something down below, but you can't tell what, and there are no other real caves around here that you know of. However, there are rumors floating about that the current "owners" of the tavern may have found something related to The Tower in their basement, and were trying to find out more.
Shaking his head that these people wish not to be healed, Sritaro turns to the party for guidance. "Well, what should we do here?"
Assuming you choose to back out of the cave, how do you wish to proceed? It's getting a bit later in the evening so you'll want to either check out the tavern (which might not be as dangerous this time of night with most patrons most likely drunk, passed out, or seeking pleasures in other parts of the building) or set up camp nearby.
"Well, we can continue down the hole or we can move on. I vote for the hole myself. Unless you all feel tired already? Though, I would rather camp inside then out."
Zhiyo looks at the others for their response, while keeping an eye on the others nearby..
"I for one wish to see what drove these creatures to a frenzy."
To continue down the hole, you would have go past the pirates and do a lot of digging. The spiders didn't come up in one big tunnel, but individually popped out at various parts of the cave.
Falling back behind a ridge, the party sets up camp and a watch. The night is uneventful until a little after midnight when Morbak hears a great commotion from the tavern. Looking over the ridge, he can clearly see a crowd starting to pour out of the front door and small huddles forming in the area immediately in front of the rickety building. Lights are starting to come on in some of the upstairs windows, and he sees a flurry of panicked activity there as well.
"AWAKE my friends! Something seems to be going on."
"What, what Crispin wakes up rubbing his eyes "something happening in the cave" Crispin yawns as he gets up and starts to get dressed.
"Look!" Points at the tavern.
"Well, well, what have these pirates been up to?" Zhiyo gives a yawn. "Well should go check it out or should we go back to sleep till the morning? As always I am for the former suggestion."
Morbak grabs his spear and starts heading for the tavern.