One of the large men on the other end of the alley looked as though he was going to rush in until Uriah offers Tick’s remains. He then stops and holds a hand up to the two barbarians next to him.
Unfortunately, the action on the other side of the alley has drawn the barbarians from the other side and they seem quite ready to continue fighting.
The tendrils of necrotic energy dance around Anton and his challengees. The heavier wounded barbarian seems to grow paler where as Anton and the dim looking barbarian seem unaffected.
The dull looking barbarian grins at Anton, returning the monks smile. The other, bloodier barbarian continues his counter assault on the monk and brings his maul around for another swing at Anton. This time however Anton manages to side step the maul as it crashes into the ground.
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Scram doesn't hesitate to defend his friend, but with a slight twitch to his eye he pulls his swing at the last moment, clear that something is wrong...
...still, Scram has obviously been honing his silent take down skills and cold clocks the artic pirate square in the jaw with the dirtiest double strike of his rapier pommel you've ever seen. Anton's monk masters would vomit at the sight of such an undisciplined attack, no doubt.
Raiden moves up to what remains of the gate, looks at one end where the scuffle is going on, looks at the other end where folks appear to be just tensely standing at the ready, and waits to see what happens next.
Uriah rolls his eyes a bit and lets Scram and Anton have their fun.
Ravvek stands, but does not draw, Perhaps they need to blow off steam...
The young paladin glances around warily for Thayans though...
Sasha calmly walks over close to the fight, with a very unimpressed look on his face.
No retcon needed
@Scram sorry didn’t see that part. You would have run up right after Anton got chopped. Which means you can take Sentinel
Scram sees an opening as the wounded barbarian attacks Anton and drives blade home deep. Scram pays for his effort though as the dull barbarian yells ”Stay out of this halfman!”
for
Scram is clipped by a heavy weapon (5 points of damage) and his blade misses its mark.
Raiden tries to figure out what's going on, surmising that the scuffle is perhaps a misunderstanding and this zombie body is gonna get that pyre it needs if they can just figure out who's going to do that. His sword is still out though.
Keeping an eye out for Thayan threats, Ravvek calls out to Scram and Anton, Scram, let them fight. Keep too much pressure in and you break, they need to let this out. Anton, do not have much time. Finish it quickly, but please do not kill him. We are on the same side in this.
@Scram I’m sorry, you were correct, the reckless attacking barbarian was indeed granting adv. (smh)
Scram’s second blade slices deeply into the barbarian’s fleshy parts as well. He does quite a good job of maximizing pain while not hitting anything vital. The barbarian facing Anton looks in pretty bad shape.
The barbarian leader on the left looks at Uriah and says, ”You give us the gnome, we will leave peacefully. If no, we fight and take it.”
Soleil groans ”But his remains belong somewhere else. If we give them to you, Shiallia only knows what you’d do with it.”
”We will add his ashes to our war paint to give us strength in battle. Tick Tarry will live on in our victories!” the barbarians and continues.
"We are allies friends. Against the Thay. But we need to bring this back. Come with us. Help us finish our mission. Your people can make the request for Tarry's ashes from all those who wish to honor him. He was a hero to many people. Does spilling the blood of allies seeking to end the defiling of Tarry's memory honor him?" Zayless grips his spear a serious and tragic look comes over his face as he lets the weight of his words hit.
Well. You want some ashes to use in your paint. Why didn't you say so! Of course you can have some ashes, let's just bring ole Tappy Tip Tocker out of this war zone here. We wouldn't want some Red Robed bugger to get any more ideas about turning little Tricky into an undead again...oh did we mention he was undead? Do zombie ashes help or hurt the whole "Rawr I smash stuff" thing? I'd imagine they hurt, but you would know more than me. Tell you what, you guys come with us and we can find you all sorts of zombies to smash up and turn into ashes.
Raiden's not even sure what's being negotiated, ashes in paint or back in the urn, but he agrees with Uriah and Zayless.
Did you know Tanner, or merely know of?
The apparent leader, a stocky man with a braided beard, steps forward to respond to Ravvek’s question ”I am Beiggvimm of the honey badger tribe. This gnome had a barbarian’s heart. We honor him and all he stood for.”
It seems as though you have all been persuasive enough to brings things to an unsteady truce. The barbarians readjust to less aggressive stances save the barbarian who had been reacting to Anton’s assault. His compatriots move forward and grab him by the shoulders to drag him back away from the fight.
Sashah, seemingly bored with the conflict had returned to his note taking when he experiences something odd. The stone alley beneath the remains of Tick Tarry Tanner some how become translucent and then disapear all together. The body the falls into the newly opened hole into darkness below making a slight splashing noise as it seems to land in a low amount of water. Then, no sooner had it opened, the hole closes up and returns to the solid state it was before.
Gods damn it all! Ravvek swears aloud, Someone has stolen the body! Someone below!
The young paladin begins frantically looking for an entrance to the sewers!
EDIT:
Zayless facepalms.
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Satisfied that his show of prowess over the strongest of the barbarians has earned the tribe's respect, Anton turns and looks where the body had been and sighs.
Raiden looks at the hole, rather glad he didn't fall in it as well, but like Rav is now looking for a way down. What magic was that?! he asks of Sashah.
"There must be tunnels beneath us and a spellcaster."
Sashah scratches his beard as he examines the area. "I am not sure vhat magic vas used. Zough, Zayless' analysis is very likely correct."
At the mention of the body disappearing mysteriously, the barbarians become obviously annoyed. ”We are not at a truce more than moments before you try to pull tricks! Bring him back now! They all seem to be bristling at the precieved deception.
"It was stolen from us all. Join us. We will figure out how to get it back."
Surely you don't believe we can cause the earth to swallow something whole. Although...if we could. Uriah waggles his eyebrows a bit at the barbarians.
nope
Ravvek stands, Help us find the body. We will give you half of his ashes and we will take the other half to the Enclave.
Scram walks in to the spot the gnome disappeared to see for himself, noting the grate while there and smirking... "There's only one way down there, a grate a few blocks north of here. You could go down and then block the way behind you, that way you would know we wouldn't interfere. We don't want any more trouble." trying to position his body to conceal the real grate that is to the south...
Sasha stands up and regards the barbarians with brows furrowed. "I have little patience vis muscle filled brains. Zhe body vas dropped into sewers and ve vill go get. If jou like to join, jou can. Ozervise, stay out of vay," Sashah says loudly, clearly irritated by everything that the barbarians are.
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Zayless facepalms at the collapsing diplomatic overtures. "So close."
Anton walks over to the grate. Every moment wasted widens their lead. We can talk, or we can act.
Raiden mumbles I can't believe we're about to fight over a corpse. And probably kill this zombie again. He moves to follow Anton down, shrugging an apology to Scram as they reveal his cover-up.
The barbarian lead and another barbarian rush to the gate angrily and look into the pen where they knew the body to have been. He looks around quickly, stomping on the grounds and thrashing anything that looks like a container that could have a body hiding in it. Looking at Scram as the halfling tells the barbarian about the distant sewer grate, the brutish leader responds ”This is trickery, I know it. We will return for the promised ashes half-man.” With the open threat, he leads the other barbarians out of the alley calling for the raven that had watched it all transpire from inside the pen. ”Caaaawww” the bird bellows as it flaps it’s large wings to gain elevation.
No time to fret about it now. Let's find Tanner! Ravvek says, Let us go to this grate to the North, then...
Somewhat annoyed at his daft friend "Uh...Hold on Ravvek, there's a busty woman behind this awning over here...she needs you to stay alone with her a moment. She asked for you by name, said she couldnt find a staff or something. Its probably for the best, just let them go..."
Ravvek does catch on to Scram's joke and shoots a glance at Uriah, Gods damn it, Scram. It still stings, you know? Oh...
The young paladin stops when Scram moves aside, absently scratching about where his heart would be, as if that fiend still has an icy hand clutching his chest...
Sashah, obviously not amused by any of the antics at the moment goes down as soon as he has the chance.
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"Half-truths are always the funniest...you know what else that reminds me-OH GOD OLD MAN! Careful Sashah you're going to hurt yourself!" he runs to aid Sashah in his decent, trying to position himself to catch the rickety wizard in case of a footslip.
Once the coast is clear, he checks the south grate for any funny stuff...
...and if it seems safe enough, pops it open.
As the party climbs into the sewer grate, you are not surprised to find the sewers to be dark and dank. Getting your bearings, you move toward where the body disappeared finding the sewers to be empty.
After searching for a few moments, you find two waterlogged pieces of parchment with burnt lines scorched into the paper. They appear to be expended scrolls.
*pop*
You hear a little cork unstoppering itself from Scram's vicinity as he dumps the thick paraffin into his hooded lantern. As the light flashes alive from the strike of his flint, you note he has already secured his nostrils and mustache against the offending odors and fluids by snuggly wrapping a bandana there. It seems to give his voice an annoying, dorky, nasally quality "Well, nothing here. Two scrolls, maybe they went deeper still?"
Ravvek lowers himself into the sewer and checks around for ripples coming from one direction or another, looking for a sign as to the direction the caster went...