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In a very annoyed voice, Gilfroy replies, "No, I think I'm good. If you want your slaves in good, marketable condition, you shouldn't work them too hard before sale. You can get the next one."
Some of the anger on his features would seem to be genuine. He stalks over to sit in the shade with the gnolls. "So tell me more about our new mistress," he asks. "I want to be sure to impress her, to help improve your standing for bringing her such a good slave."
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Wary of not wanting to appear too soft on slaves and blow their cover, Vrald causally backhands the lippy gnome.
"Slaves that cannot work have even less value than those that are tired. You have not daddies soliders to protect you now. Another master would remove you tongue for that."
<- he is putting no skill or strength into the blow
Satisfied with the result, he points to the water bucket again.
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While the gnolls rest and Gilfroy carries buckets of water from a nearby oasis, Gima uses improvised lockpicks made from small animal bones and pesh cactus spines to remove her slave collar and starts running away from the gnolls.
The hyena wakes the gnolls with a strange laughing noise, the gnolls get up, rush over to the slaves and check your collars to make sure only one is escaping, then they order Snapper to fetch the fleeing halfling.
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Gilfroy glares at Vrald for a moment, casually and coldly wiping the blood from his lip. After a moment of glaring, Gilfroy shrugs, smirks sardonically, then says to the gnolls, "I guess some guys can only feel like men when they're tying up and beating defenceless gnomes!" with a laugh.
He heads to the water source, cursing Vrald as he fills the bucket. Under the cover of his muttering a, he casts message. Vrald hears Gilfroy whisper,
Gilfroy brings the bucket back and sets it at his feet, offering a mock bow of servility.
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Vrald thwacks the upstart Gilfroy around the ear as he does his mock bow.
When Gima makes a break for it Vrald sighs. As the Snapper takes off after her, his sigh turns to worry.
Taking out a sling, he fires a stone at the fleeing halfing, but the jackle seems to get in the way at just the wrong time.
"Stupid animal." he snarls. "I had her before your beast got in the way."
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"Well, we don't know much about Al'Jakri, we are too low in the rank of our pack, we never met her personally. We get our orders from Chau, our pack leader." the gnoll answers. Suddenly he jumps up and orders the hyena "Get that halfling back!"
While the hyena chases after Gima Vrald takes his sling and shoots a sling stone which hits the animal. The hyena yelps, falls over but gets up and continues to chase the halfling.
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should balance how much to risk revealing their skills,
powers, and equipment to the gnolls. If any of the PCs are
posing as slavers, they can offer to recapture Gima for the
gnolls, though purposefully failing to catch her requires
a successful DC 20 Bluff. If the gnolls aren’t convinced,
they accuse the PCs of being liars and attack. If the PCs are
slaves, they can distract the gnolls or Snapper long enough
to give Gima a commanding head start by succeeding at
a DC 18 Bluff, Handle Animal, or wild empathy check (or
another appropriate skill check at the GM’s discretion).
The PCs may also simply abandon their ruse and fight
their gnoll escorts.
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Jaegar will actively chase Gima. He wants to avoid directly confronting the gnolls as a slaver.
If the gnolls are indeed divination focuses for the slave master, and Jaegar and Vrald are seen fighting against them the ruse is over.
If the slaves overtake the gnolls, but are subdued by Jaegar and Vrald, the ruse can continue.
If the gnolls are not slain, but are left behind, then Jaegar and Vrald are exposed but the slaves may not be.
Furthermore, Jaegar is not 100% sure where we are going. That leaves us underequipped and lost in the desert with a handful of slaves and potentially 2 dead gnolls. While the gnolls may be slavers, they are essential to helping us infiltrate the slave network.
Jaegar takes a single move toward Gima and fires an arrow at the Hyena.
He calls out as he moves: "Where are you going, little lady? You will be very alone and very thirsty, very soon!"
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Tori picks up a rock and throws it at the hyena. She hits the animal and a laceration opens on its head. The hyena lets go Gima and turns around to see who shot the stone and attacks but Tori is aware of the danger and doges.
Jaegar tries to keep up the ruse and chases Gima and to keep her alive and unharmed to get a good price. He shoots at the hyena and hits. The animal is badly hurt, but is still able to move and bite.
Tori
Hyena -12HP
Vrald
Gima
Gilfroy
Molos
Jaegar
Gnoll blue -10HP blind/stunned 1R, stunned 1R
Gnoll red blind/stunned 3R, stunned 1R
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Vrald also continues with the ruse and swings his sword at the hyena which attacked Tori. The hyena yelps and drops into the sand, sucking it with blood. Gima stops to run away and turns around. Molos fires another missile at a gnoll, but hits only the ruin wall behind the creature.
Tori
Hyena -23HP defeated
Vrald
Gima
Gilfroy
Molos
Jaegar
Gnoll blue -10HP blind/stunned 1R, stunned 1R
Gnoll red blind/stunned 3R, stunned 1R
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Jaegar will trot toward Gima without nocking an arrow, and call back over his shoulder, "Hey slaves! Do any of you know where you're going?"
He looks to take the Halfling under his arm, placing his hand on her back for comfort. He whispers to her paternally, "If you need food or drink, we will help you. This is not the time or place to flee."
- Are there tracks or a trail we're following?
- Have the gnolls discussed it?
- Have we heard rumors of the specific location?
- Are there any specific natural features that we could navigate?
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"No, sir! We've never been here. Sorry." the slaves answer to Jaegar's question. But remembering the gnoll's discussions and following the trails in the dessert Jaegar is pretty sure he can find the way to the meeting place on his own.
He trots toward Gima, picks her up and carries her back to the group. "Ok, I'm sorry for that, I thought it's the right time to get away when the gnolls are sleeping. Please, don't kill me and I may help you as well." Gima says. "Although I don't look strong I can pick locks for you."
Tori
Vrald
Gima
Gilfroy + Round 1 action
Molos
Jaegar
Gnoll blue -10HP stunned 1R
Gnoll red blind/stunned 2R, stunned 1R
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Gilfroy hurls two orbs of acid at the gnolls, hitting the blue one twice. Molos throws his last magic missile at the same gnoll, hitting it as well. Vrald is able to finish the gnoll off with his sword.
Tori delay
Vrald
Gima carried by Jaegar
Gilfroy
Molos
Jaegar
Gnoll blue -31HP defeated
Gnoll red blind/stunned 2R, stunned 1R
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Vrald knocks the remaining gnoll unconscious.
"Whats going on? You say you are slavers, but you knock out your customer's forces. Is that the normal behavior where you come from?" Gima asks.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"We are not slavers." says Vrald as he releases Molos from his shackles.
"We are here to put a stop to a particular group of unsavoury individuals who use this horrible trade to further...their strategic goals."
He looks around the group of slaves.
"Unfortunately you have been caught in the middle of this. This is bad - if you 'escape' you will be hunted down. I understand that slaves who revolt and kill their captors are dealt with harshly."
The warrior contemplates options.
"I think the best way to continue is probably to continue the 'ploy', and head on to our eventual destination. There we will put a stop to what is going on, and rescue those who are enslaved there. At that stage you are all welcome to come with us back to Absalom - although I cannot promise a safe trip. Once back there you will have no legal master and thus be free."
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Gilfroy, firmly back in chains, spits and growls curses, glaring from puffy eyes beneath a swollen brow.
"New slaves? New slaves?! You worthless mongrel of a one-eyed lapb!+$@, I am Lord Gilfroy of the exalted House of Fezziwig, and just because my lord father's soldiers were only able to slay a pair of pathetic gnolls and their filthy pet before this scum," he pauses to spit at Vrald and Jaeger, "cut them down, doesn't mean that he won't send more, and more upon more, until this wretched island is covered in my father's knights and your wretched and mutilated corpses! Free me now and give these...these...vile...things unto my will, and I will ensure your lives are spared."
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Vrald backhands Gilfroy, again with a tired almost resigned swipe
"Yes, these are the slaves. Apparently the wordy one is actually well connected. Not sure he'll ever learn to be a good servant though. Maybe you'll get a ransom for him before you grow tired of his mouth. Speaking of tired, I am. We need some rest and some water."
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The gnolls eyes widen when he hears Gilfroy's story but after Vrald slapped the gnome in the face he says with a grin "Well, there is a high request on noble slaves as I've heard. Don't worry, most of the slaves who come here will shut up sooner or later. If not, it means more meat for the pack." The gnoll turns around and shouts "Open the gate!" and the gate opens.
A wall of ochre bricks bristles at its base with sharp stakes, barring entrance to a deep round hollow in the red rocky cliff. The wall curves at a small watchtower with a leather tent roof. Beyond the wall, the cliff rises over a hundred feet, its lower reaches dotted with shallow caves. The masonry wall is 10 feet high, 2 feet thick, and composed of the same reddish stone that makes up the cliff. Sharpened wood stakes around the base of the wall. An iron portcullis over the cave entrance is attached to a winch by a thick rope, and a lever release inside the entrance can cause the gate to close quickly. The gnolls have also attached a block and tackle that they can use from the courtyard to lift the portcullis more easily. The cliff above the fort is 110 feet high. A freestanding structure serves as a barracks for most of the gnolls. Its doors are in poor repair.
Once inside you meet another gnoll "You missed it! Chief finally ran the veiled lady off! We’re gonna celebrate tonight with her best wine!"
The gnolls order you to leave the chest on the floor in the center of the kennels. They then lead the slaves past the guard hyenas to the slave pen and tell Vrald and Jaegar to wait outside the kennels until the chief is ready to see them.
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"The veiled lady is responsible for the slaves, but she shows up only occasionally. You make business with the chief. Wait here." the gnoll says while leaving Vrald and Jaegar alone after telling a younger gnoll to get some wine.
The gnolls are very lazy. Most of them are sleeping or playing dice games in the training hall.
A stone dais painted with a hyena-like face occupies the center of the kennels. A wide, eight-foot-high ledge runs around the perimeter of the room with a crude ladder to the east connecting the floor and elevated area. Several shallow caves with wooden gates and floors covered in straw open into this room from the north. A door to the east and a door with a barred grille to the west lead to other parts of the stronghold. A shattered wooden box and several dozen scraps of sodden, torn paper lie scattered across the floor. The gnolls allow their hyenas to roam the fort freely but use the shallow gated caves as kennels to lock up other useful animals like camels, jackals, or the occasional trollhound. Two hyenadons, mutated in a ritual involving trollhound blood, are usually left here to guard the slaves during the day. These beasts, as large as horses, are especially well suited to guard duty by the extra eyes in the center of their foreheads and behind their ears.
The slave quarters consist of a single long room with several bunk beds against the back wall, a pair of buckets in the corner, and a heavy wood door that can be barred from outside. A Kelishite man wearing a pale linen scarf about his head and an excessively wide grin on his face, resides here with two other slaves.
"Welcome! I am Korshad, overseer for our masters. Though I wear a collar, you’ll find it’s best to do as I say! Now, they lock us in at night when they go hunting, but mostly we have the run of the place, nearly as much liberty as the hyenas. You’ll be trained to be excellent house slaves, then taken back to the ships to be sold to nice noble families. It may seem harsh, but if you take to it, it’s probably a better life than you were used to before. Meanwhile you should get some rest and we can begin your lessons in the morning. As the proverb says, ‘When the day is hottest, even the busy must rest and wait.’" the man says and grins. You can see a gap between his teeth.