"Blackish armor you say? Never heard of soldier types with black armor. Janiven, what are they?" Auriona stands up quickly, looking out at the entrance. I did not sign up for this... she thinks to herself, fiddling with her wayfinder again.
Hellknights... Kareta says quietly.
"That sounds... intimidating." Auriona responds dryly.
"That's hardly news these days. The hellknights are the law. At least they come up with a pretence for the their arrests, as flimsy as they are. "
"The Hellknights are a law, and that's where part of the problem with the city lies. The Hellknights don't truly answer to her Infernal Majestrix, and so they may do things that would violate normal city law without reprisal."
"That sounds like a load of bull, and something that should not have happened here. I hate to admit it, but I would like to hear more of what you want us to do. I'll... I'll fight to free this place, as much as I hate getting involved."
"I would like to here more as well, before I chose a course of action that may lead me to rebel against the local establishment. Abadar certainly does not promote rebellion. On the contrary, he stands for order. But it is neccessary to investigate the source of the local plights."
Janiven walks over to the door, opens it and looks outside, then locks it. She steps to the window, looks around outside again, then closes the shutters. "We don't want any more visitors at this point."
Walking back to the table, Janiven takes a deep breath. "What we want, what my partner and I are aiming for, is a free Westcrown the way she was free of old. Glorious, honorable, traditional, the way things used to be under Aroden. He believes the Inheritor should be our new patron, not Asmodeus. But we can't reform the country entire, so we're starting with just this one city, the former capital city. We're trying to set up a citizen's watch to begin with, to keep people safe in the streets from the shadow beasts, and then ..."
Her speech is interrupted by a frantic pounding at the door. She drops into a crouch, sword drawn, then peers out the window through the shutters. She unlocks the door, and in tumbles a teenage boy winded from running. She quickly locks the door behind him.
He looks up at her, "They've got Arael!" He collapses in a fit of coughing.
"Not Arael!" Lyall says in disbelief before adding, "Who's Arael?" The look of disbelief quickly leaving his face. "And who has her? The beasts, the hellknights?" Lyall looks at the young boy questioningly, though not sure if he would be able to answer these questions.
"That's not good. Were you followed?" Auriona nearly whispers to the boy. She puts her hand to the hilt of her greatsword, looking to the rest of the people around her and looking towards the door. "If one of those 'Hellknights' saw you, heard you, or even followed your movement, we are in some deep s---. We should prepare ourselves for the worst." Auriona moves deeper into the shadows, greatsword at hand and the rest of her gear packed and ready to go.
Janiven's face turns white. She turns and glances out the window, then quickly checks the lock on the door. "Shit!"
The boy manages to recover enough breath to gasp out, "Dottari ... nabbed Arael. Hellknights ... Rack trying to get him ... on their way here! We're surrounded!" The sound of clanking footsteps begins to intrude from the street.
Janiven turns to the group. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you're involved now. Come on, we should be able to escape this way." She grabs the boy and half-drags him behind the bar, where they begin emptying one of the cupboards. "This leads to the sewers. Morosino will lead the way down. We should be able to escape them if we move quickly."
"I concur, let’s leave this place. Getting caught here is not wise for any of us, don’t you agree?" Harkon looks expectantly to the other would-be conspirators. "We may finish the conversation somewhere safer."
Sewers, hmm. I am not exactly excited about the prospect. But certainly healthier than facing these Hellknights.
He hastens to push one of the heavy tables to the door. "This might slow them a bit."
Kareta grabs her gear, then helps Harkon push the table. You take the front! She cries, pointing to Lyall as she reaches into a pouch, drawing out a good-sized brass bell. I'll hold the rear! She begins ringing the bell violently, the sound quickly filling the room and drowning out the sound of Janiven and Morisino's shuffling. GO!
"Right!" Lyall says knocking down a few chairs and allowing his more bestial abilities to come to the surface, knowing full well it may be too dark to see in the sewers. Upon finishing his transformation Lyall quickly rushes to the backside of the bar.
Auriona sighs and heads toward Janiven. "This had better be worth it!" With that, she helps Janiven.
Sewer it is then." Ignatius descends, trying to stay in the middle of the group.
Cantrips: Detect magic, Acid splash, prestidigitation
Level 1: Grease x 2, Obscuring Mist
Over the sound of Kareta's bell, you begin to hear sounds of a male voice booming, calling for those within to come out and surrender. Morosino, once enough of the things in the cabinet are pulled out, reaches into the cabinet, then dives through the back of it. Thumps are heard as he disappears from view.
Lyall bounds across the room, then follows Morosino through the back of the cabinet.
He's followed through the cabinet by Auriona and Ignatius. Janiven vaults over the bar and moves to take the rearguard as the Hellknights begin to pound on the door and smash the windows. "Get down there. They clearly think we're all guilty. Better to get out before we're killed! Go!"
At the end of the tunnel is a short hallway, 20 ft. long and narrow, ending in a wooden door. Morosino stands at the end of it, scraped and bruised, gesturing you all to hurry. Beyond him is mortared stone.
After ensuring the others are down, Kareta knocks several bottles down to the floor before climbing down herself and closing the hatch behind her. Okay, now what?
"We need to get the F@#^ out of here. That trapdoor will not keep them for long." Auriona says dryly. "Ugh, it smells and I cannot see a damned thing!"
Ignatius follows along keeping a hand on one wall.
"Ugh. Did not prepare for this. Anyone have a torch?"
Harkon follows swiftly not bothered by darkness.
"Afraid not, my friend," he whispers.
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"Interesting, so he is not entirely human."
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[dice=Perception]1d20+8
Harkon follows swiftly not bothered by darkness.
"Afraid not, my friend," he whispers.-Posted with Wayfinder
But I do have some candles. Harkon lights one of them and gives it to Potter.
Harkon follows the others down the hole at Janiven's prompting, followed by Kareta and lastly Janiven. Janiven stays behind an extra minute, pulling the bar and shelves down to create chaos before pulling the cabinet door closed behind her and closing the secret panel. When she reaches the small cellar room, she pulls out an iron rod and smacks one end against the wall. It begins to shed light from a small piece of gold material at the end. She then follows Kareta and Harkon down the tunnel to the hallway and joins up with the others.
You stand in a sewer tunnel. On your side of the tunnel is a ledge, about 5 feet wide, with the ceiling another 5 feet overhead. The other half of the sewer tunnel is a trench a few feet deep, currently half-full of slowly moving fluid.
"Well, I'm sorry for how this has turned out. It was never my intention that the Hellknights get involved. We'll have to move quickly to escape them." She points to a mark on the ground. It looks like a sword, pointing down the left passage of the sewer. "Arael and I made these marks a few months ago when we explored the sewers. We marked all the intersections so our people could find their way through the sewers to our hideout. The sword always points home." She then walks a short way down the tunnel that direction and pulls a loose brick from the wall. "Good, they're still here. Each of you, take these in case we get separated."
Ugh! Kareta grunted, stooping to fit into the low tunnel. Who do they hire to run this place, Halflings? Come on, let's make some distance.
Ignatius takes the potions with a murmur of thanks.
"Lead on then. This isn't the most pleasant of environs and those hellknights might stumble on the entrance at any moment."
"I may be able to find these things to keep us from getting lost, as well as using this beat up wayfinder that I have. I'll take point if you all don't mind." Auriona says, pulling out her wayfinder and waving for some light source.
I'm holding the rear in case the Hellknights catch up. Kareta said as the other moved along. Casting a somewhat anxious and disgusted look at the flowing water, she moved on with them.
Auriona takes point, leading the group single-file down the short tunnel, followed closely by Morosino. The others trail along, with Kareta bringing up the rear of the group. Janiven takes up a position in the middle where she'll be able to respond to distractions from either side. "We won't have time to rest when they do come after us. They may take a few minutes to search the tavern, but they'll be down here once they have light. If we were surrounded as thoroughly as Morosino thought, they may try and send people down ahead of us. Come on, let's move!"
Auriona shakes the wayfinder, cursing under her breath. It suddenly comes to life and casts a glow, allowing her to see better. I forgot that this thing could do that, she grumbles to herself.
Lyall takes the potions and then asks, "So are we following the swords then? Because I'm not too sure that the Hellknights won't figure it out once they get down here. Is there an exit aside from the way the swords lead?"
There are plenty of exits in the sewers Kareta replies softly, problem is, soon most of the ones nearby might have Dottari or Hellknigts waiting on the other side. We need to get far enough so that there are too many possible ways for them to easily cover. With that, she notes the direction the sword on the wall points before pulling out a flask of acid and pouring a little of it over the mark, destroying it.
Janiven shrugs at the question. "There are other exits, but whoever designed this made it very efficient. Even the little folk can't squeeze through the run-off grates, and the whole rarely needs cleaning. I think most of the access points from the streets are locked."
Auriona waves to the rest of the group behind her. She whispers into Morosino's ear that she notices a partial collapse up ahead, and to pass it down the group. "And I hope I can find us another way around this, or even through it." she says gruffly.
Auriona turns to the party, "We could try to move this rubble or cross on the other side. I would prefer to not get dirty so soon, but we need to do what is faster for all of us."
Then our fastest route...Kareta grimaced in the direction of the flowing current, ...is to go around. Oh Shelyn preserve me, this is gonna stink... Using her hammer to help steady herself, she slides down into the water. On the bright side, I can stand up now! she says as she moves towards the blockage.
"It might be faster to just go around the rubble, although I do not appreciate walking through the smelly liquid"
Harkon turns to Janiven "And thank you for the potions, I almost forgot to thank you in all the haste."
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Auriona grimaces in disgust as she slips into the foul water, gagging. She moves swiftly to the blockage and climbs through it, greatsword at the ready. "Calistria, guide me against these damned hellknights." she mutters.
"You don't appreciate it? Imagine how I must feel." Lyall snarls, regretting his heightened senses right about now. "In any case, if we want to avoid the hellknights, I believe the fastest route is the safest."
Janiven chivvies the others to move quickly to climb the rubble pile. "Better that we stink and escape than that we get caught. I thought I heard armor rattling behind us."
After another couple of minutes of travel through the twisting sewers, you come to an intersection where another sewer line crosses yours. Several planks have been laid down across the sewage channels to form crude bridges.
"At this point, either of us will ambush the other. Who knows how much info they have about these sewers or even the switftness of their message relay, but we may be able to sneak up or around them."
"I'd say no." Kareta said. As she waited for the others to cross. Once they were all over, she picks up the planks and toss them down the connected channel. "We still need to make some more distance."
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"Where is the sign? Which way do we go?"
After crossing the first plank, Auriona spots the sword faintly scratched into the ledge pointing down the left passage. The group continues across as Kareta pulls up the planks behind them. A short time later, Ignatius, Kareta, and Lyall hear a crunch and a splash echo down the tunnel behind them, and a sound of voices. Janiven urges the group to greater speed, and then Auriona reaches another intersection. Like the one before, the path continues straight and turns left and right. Unlike that one, there are no planks here. Morosino puts a hand on Auriona's shoulder, tapping his ear and then holding a finger to his lips.
Harkon listens for any sounds not coming from our group.
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