Lyntel sits apart from the rest of the mercenaries as Dhice speaks, scribbling notes in her songbook.
There is much more to these men and women than I knew. More than they know, perhaps. But will it be enough? She watches Emma with a deep curiosity. She then sighs heavily, staring longingly at the nearby copse of trees, and returns to her spellbook.
Wicks had been sitting with his head bowed ever since he had awoken that morning, barely even registering Dhice's amazing new mastery over the air itself. But when he begins the ceremony in memory of the slain, he looks up. His expression is ashen, but during the ceremony he rises and tucks a small bit of folded-up cloth into the box for Morley.
"I wish I hadn't treated the thief so harshly," he mutters as he adds the token, which was one of the thief's spare masks he had left behind unknowingly when he ventured forth.
He's silent through Emma's display, until she bleeds herself. The woman is a stranger to the halfling, and he makes no move to cut himself. Yet, the force of her words seems to move the Company's leader. He stares at her without blinking. By the time her blood is soaking into the earth, he's nodding in silent agreement.
Grigor walks over to the possibly disappointed Dhice and watches Emma's display with him. He gently pats Dhice on the back and says, "Don't let her get to you Bierman. It takes all kinds to make it in this life of ours. I think it was an excellent gesture."
Grigor walks over to the possibly disappointed Dhice and watches Emma's display with him. He gently pats Dhice on the back and says, "Don't let her get to you Bierman. It takes all kinds to make it in this life of ours. I think it was an excellent gesture."
Knowing that Grigor in particular would be deeply familiar with the ritual and its importance, Dhice is humbled and profoundly honoured to be addressed as the Bierman. Still, he stands there a bit slack-jawed and bewildered by Emma's actions.
Turning to face Emma, he stammers, "but.. but I saw a light... felt a presence when you brought me back. You are no monster, and you have more to offer than curses!"
Despite his confusion at Emma's actions, he moves to retrieve the bier and turns to Wicks. "What would you have us do now, Captain Wicks? What will become of Mousetrap Company? Will you rebuild it?"
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It wasn't a diversion. That was a great scene.
As the group travels, Lyntel strikes up a conversation with Archepex.
So who are these sisters that Bathilda mentioned?
Dhice walks with Wicks en route to find the sisters, and asks him, "So, are you going to rebuild Moustrap comapany? What comes next for us, Captain?"
Wicks doesn't answer Dhice's questions right away, merely waving him off. In a low voice, he mutters, "Hadn't thought that far ahead yet. This time yesterday, I was hiding under Yorn's corpse, pretending to be among the dead. Grigor informed me what happened in the throne room down there, though. We have a Skaven queen, don't we?" A ghost of a smile touches his lips.
"That's gotta be worth something, even if we have to decapitate her before we can present her to President Coghammer. It was good thinking to keep her alive, for now. I have some questions for that witch, about the demons she helped bring here..." he bares his teeth briefly, in memory.
"Once we know all she's going to tell us, we'll turn her head in and collect on whatever Duke's Manor we've earned. A Queen's about the same level as a Warlord, I'd say. Coghammer will grant us what we've been seeking for a half-year now...a home base, a Central Operations. After that?"
The halfling stops marching toward Tollerhelm and stares off at the horizon. It's midday by now, and you're partway down the miner's road leading from the Mines to Tollerhelm proper.
He purses his lips. "I had always intended to make a proper private army out of the Company. Something even lords and kings had to respect. An independent authority that could set things right that the monarchy won't."
He gazes back at Dhice. "With so many of us dead in the pursuit of that goal...I'm not sure, now that we've achieved it, what can be done next. Rebuild? Yes," he turns back to the distant horizon, in the direction of Valetto, the Company's homeland. "Yes, I suppose we'll do that."
He purses his lips. "I had always intended to make a proper private army out of the Company. Something even lords and kings had to respect. An independent authority that could set things right that the monarchy won't."
Upon hearing Wicks' answer, Dhice retreats into a ponderous silence. He muses to himself, "Anything independent of the monarchy that acts on its own would be... some kind of vigilante group. Who would fund it? Is Wicks truly of noble purpose here, or is it a veneer of nobility smeared onto a desire for power?" Without voicing any of these concerns, Dhice vows to hold Wicks' actions up to much greater scrutiny going forward.
Bathilda, meanwhile, continues heading to the house they had meet the sisters at before.
Lyntel approaches Wicks with a disarming smile.
I'm Lyntel. I understand that I have you to thank for my life. Her smile falters. I'm sorry that the cost was so high.
After a moment, she brightens again, and pulls the jewel of holding from an interior pocket.
The witch is trapped in here. We should be careful when we interrogate her. She has many tricks.
------------
A few minutes later, still chatting with Wicks:
I would like to join your new army. I can serve as Chronicler, and I can sing. Point me towards a tavern and you'll have a fresh batch of recruits.
So tell me, how do you fund this company? I may be able to help with that as well.
"My mother was a smart and cunning wench. She whelped me using a nobleman that she worked for, and got evidence of him doing it. The family was embarrassed enough at the indiscretion to provide us with a huge settlement to go away and never claim the family name. When she died a few years ago, I became free to use it as I wished. I decided to fund the Mousetrap Company to do something about the encroaching Skaven from the world beneath the earth. The high life of richness and comfort's not for me, though I do feel like I could use a small vacation after this adventure..." He stretches and cracks his back.
"What about you? You say you're a simple scribe with a singing voice. How did you come by that special prison gem you're keeping the Queen in?"
Bathilda, as this conversation is taking place behind you, you've followed Archepex to the front of the Company, to point position. As you lead the way through the streets, the high, ruined buildings of Tollerhelm seem to close in around you. The streets are much more enclosed than the open mining road.
As Wicks poses Lyntel his question, you hear movement coming from around the corner of the building you're walking next to. What do you do?
Oh, I'm much more than a simple scribe. She looks around for a moment, then her eyes fall on Wicks filthy clothing. She bites her lip. If you'll just ... She puts a hand on Wicks shoulder.
Wicks' clothing begins to change, as dirt, grime, and dried blood fall off in flakes. In a flash, Wicks' clothing is as clean as the day he bought it.
At the same time a feeling of extreme confidence in Lyntel's abilities overcomes Wicks, and he finds her grinning at him.
The jewel is my mother's. Was my mother's. She was a mystic among our tribe, and always wanted me to follow in her path. Even sent me to the wizard school in Fenrir ... for a semester anyway. But real magic isn't a reading a dusty tome, you know? It is a song that moves a nation to greatness! Or a group of thugs to join your army. So do I get the job?
The young mercenary only half-listens to Lyntel and Wicks behind her. She was more concerned with what lay ahead. When she notices the noise, she holds back her impulse to charge around the bend and smash whoever it was. Instead, she looks around the corner as quietly as she can.
You manage to creep up rather quietly to the edge of the building, but when you press against the wall for cover, even a little lightly, the firebombed masonry gives way a little. Some of the siding of the building crumbles to the street, giving you away with sound. Behind you, Wicks and Lyntel have fallen silent for now, their conversation cut short.
When you glance around the corner of the ruined building, you see a Skaven gutter-runner that had been picking a lock that's attached to something on the ground. It's alert now, its ears twitching to and fro as the Skaven seeks out the source of the sound. The bard's magic spell continues to cloak you in invisibility, however, and it doesn't see you. Shuffling somewhat to the side and clearing away some rubbish in the street, the Skaven resumes its work...
At the camp, Archepex is moved by the service. He had been with the company since its inception and had experienced most of the stories Dhice tells. The company had never experienced a slaughter like this. Not even at Grillersward. He can't bring himself to become more involved than a silent shadow in the flickering of the campfire, his mask removed. It would not do to be invisible completely.
At the end, Archepex is forced to admit that Dhice is no longer a Beirson. He had earned that much.
He also had to admit that, just like Wicks, he had judged Morley too harshly. At his core he was a brave man. A worthy comrade. Even if he was a theif by trade.
By the time of Emma's display he is gone to take up first watch.
Who are these sisters?
Archepex tells get of the three seven sisters who managed to survive being overrun by Skaven. He even mentions how their ward helped in the battle.
When the skaven is spotted Archepex slides his mask down and disappears from view. He whispers to Bathilda, I'll be around and in front if him in 30 seconds. Don't strike until that box is open. and nothing more is heard as he ghosts away.
Bathilda nods, though no one can see, and continues watching the now alert Skaven.
Dhice pulls out his Witchmother gloves and his new magic hat. He clears his throat lightly to get Bathilda's attention and then dons the hat, changing his head to appear Skaven. Adopting a hunch, and with his hands covered, he appears very rat like in appearance.
"I'll wander out into its line of sight just enough to cover any noise you make. Get him before he gets to me, OK?"
As you all deliberate, the gutter-runner is sticking its tongue between its teeth in concentration, both hands occupied with lockpicking. Even around the corner of the building, you can hear an audible chunk as the gutter-runner finally succeeds at its task! Rather than opening some kind of container or box, however, the gutter-runner triumphantly begins to heave open some kind of manhole cover!
The weight of the steel hatch door appears to be giving the Skaven trouble, but it'll be open enough for the rat to slip inside any moment. What do you all do?
Archepex slowly skidded his sword from its sheath and lifts it over the rat. If Bahia doesn't appear and splatter the thing, he will kill it before it can leave.
Dhice lurches out into the street, acting as if he's injured. He looks furtively over his shoulder, as if he's being chased by something, as he staggers aimlessly into view. He's not really heading for the manhole cover, he's sort of moving in a diagonal path to try to leave a route clear for Bathilda to get at the skaven.
Keep to cover and be ready to charge if it attacks Dhice.
Lyntel cautiously approaches the building corner and crouches beside the wall out of sight.
With Archepex invisibly waiting behind it, the Gutter Runner looks up and notices Dhice walking around the corner. "Ahh, it's one of us!" he calls out in relief, waving in a furtive voice. "You scared the hell out of me, I thought you were that band of mercenaries that recently came through here! Give me a hand with this...ergughgh...thing!" he says, lifting up the hatch door a little higher.
Archepex, as you move into position, you make a nearly inaudible sound when your leathers move some dust particles below your boots. Skaven hearing, however, is legendary. The Gutter-Runner's ear perks in your exact direction and the suspicious Skaven peers off in your direction, staring intently at you without realizing it, his eyes roaming back and forth...the Skaven rogue edges closer to the hatch door nervously, glancing back in Dhice's direction....
Dhice breaks out into a coughing fit and reaches out towards the rat, then collapses to the ground as if he's too exhausted to continue. He tries to keep the coughing and wheezing up, to cover up any other sounds of his companions.
Bathilda rushes form her hiding place, even if the rat spotted the dust of her passing, he'd be too confused to react in time.
This oughta be worth some beers, is all Bathilda can think about as she feels herself grinning madly.
The Skaven hears her footsteps, and can see the puffs of dust, but it's not until a wildly grinning Bathilda appears as she flies towards him, her Sweetheart, in the shape of a maul, already swinging for his head that he truly comprehends his doom.
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As the attack begins, Lyntel pops around the corner and fires her slingshot at what remains of the rat.
As soon as Dhice hears the sounds of swinging blades he concentrates on the air around the skaven's head and tries to still it, muffling any sound it might try to make.
Grigor charges the skaven as soon as everyone else jumps. I'm sure they can take him out, so I'm try to rush and shield bash him off of the manhole cover, to keep him from escaping/alerting his friends.
Hack and Slash for damage with a complication, or I do no damage and pin him in/down in some way so there is no escape (Not really sure how I can exploit that 10+ roll, other than damage.)
"Wha-?" is all the gutter-runner can manage before Bathilda is on him. Even with her invisibility, the legendary Skaven reflexes kicked in, and the gutter-runner rolled with the worst of the punches. However, Bathilda's kiss from her Sweetheart left a little magic mark on the rat's fur, Leyla's arcane power, that explodes in a mini-explosion that blows the creature's arm clean off. Archepex finishes the rat off with a blow to the neck that doesn't completely sever the head due to his 7-9 roll. Grigor, not wanting to put away his weapon without hitting something at least once, smashes the entrance to the manhole cover and knocks the hatch door clean off.
Meanwhile, the magic that Dhice summoned to suffocate the rat coalesces around no living target, and forms into a slightly confused-looking Air Elemental.
Lyntel takes a moment to survey the scene, on the lookout for other threats nearby. Her finely tuned ears are sensitive for the slightest sound betraying the dead Skaven's comrades, yet she hears nothing.
Dhice feels the elemental connection come into being and, slightly surprised by the turn of events, completes the summoning. .
"Uhmm, hello? Pleased to, uh, meet you! Hopefully we'll be able to work together here..." he stammers at this new incarnation of Elemental Life energy.
"Well, might as well see what the rat was after," Bathilda says with a shrug before entering whatever it was the rat was trying to get to.
Dhice wave his new Elemental towards the sewer entrance and says, "Can't go too far wrong following Bathilda". He enters after the barbarian.
The air elemental seems to blink without having eyes or eyelids, but conveys a feeling of a flat "...What." to Dhice without needing words. The elemental lets out a gusty sigh and whirls around and around and around as you establish your Hold, before shuffling and adjusting itself.
All of your hairstyles are now a uniform "Windswept." Much of the debris and detritus of the surrounding street has been knocked away. In fact, a tin can gets spun up in the gale and smacks Lyntel clean in the face with a sharp edge. "Ow!" the elf girl shouts in surprise, clutching at her face - luckily, the can missed the bard's eye, striking her just above the right eyebrow and inflicting a nasty cut. Take 1d4 damage that ignores armor.
Unimpressed by the wind, Bathilda jumps down the hole that the Skaven had been trying to get into. She lands in a sewer, and gapes. There's a light source in front of her that illuminates the whole sewer. There's a walkway on either side of the sewer system, and the middle isn't sewage, or even water, but gold. Liquid gold.
The river of gold is flowing from your left to your right when you land. To your right is a T-intersection where the gold flows in both directions. To your left, where the river seems to be originating, there is a metal gate that spans the sewer. There's a door in the gate on the walkway, closed. The gold flows around the cage bars in the middle section. The bars appear to be iron, and are approximately a foot apart.
Dropped down next to Bathilda and watch her back.
Lyntel huddles back against the wall, clutching her forehead and awaiting orders from the soldiers.
Bathilda stands in the golden river, her mouth agape in awe.
When Grigor splashes down, she claps a hand to his mouth to still any words.
"Shush, gimme a moment," she says quietly, almost like a little girl seeing a giant stuffed bear or some other plush monstrosity and is too stunned to even be excited.
The moment passes as Bathilda lets out a whoop.
"Lyntel! Wicks! Dhice! Get your butts down here! We're rich! We're rich as kings!"
Lyntel drops into the sewer last. Looking up she attempts to conjure a thick fog to cover the ground around the hole, hoping to obscure it from prying eyes.
Focusing back on the river, her eyes narrow...
Archepex stands agape at the sight, but immediately questions what His eyes see. Shouldn't it be deadly hot in here?
"Lyntel! Wicks! Dhice! Get your butts down here! We're rich! We're rich as kings!"
"Whoa, I'm right here Bathilda!" Dhice says from his position immediately behind her.
"This is... crazy!" mutters the Channeler, too stunned to launch into the kind of analytical survey that Archipex is attempting. The lanky human just sort of stands there, stunned, for a few moments.
Technically Archepex, you're allowed to ask me three questions that I must answer honestly from the list on the SRD. However, I know the gist of what you're looking for, so we'll count my intuition as one of the questions you asked.
The river of gold appears, to all of your senses, to somehow be real. You know logically that what your senses are telling you is making no sense, but there it is. Even Mule acknowledges that the "river" looks very different, staring at it with wide bird eyes.
Wicks climbs down with the rest of you, and stares openmouthed at the river. You see him making mental calculations in his head, staring at the length and apparent width of the river, calculating volume, value of gold per ounce...his mouth never fully closes as his eyes twitch back and forth in rapid calculation.
This... this can't be real. But if it is ... If it is real we should fill my mother's jewel and find some other way to transport the rat witch.