Your eyes gummy with sleep, you wake up in the dark.
Memories come flooding back--ringing laughter of a wild party, the heady joy of excess, the scents of rich stewed meat and perfume still lingering in your nostrils.
The pleasant memories are quickly replaced by a pounding headache, the sickly taste of cheap wine in your mouth, and an itchy straw pallet beneath you.
As you sit up, a door creaks open, and the harsh light of a lantern painfully spears your eyes.
A beautiful human woman flanked by four armored men carrying daggers enter the room. She frowns at the party, and starts talking.
“My master sends his apologies for your abduction. Each of you has been chosen for a singular purpose—everyone here, myself included, is going to be erased from existence. I have lived in these hinterlands my whole life, and although I love this land, it has seen more than its share of misery in recent years."
She walks over to a crate, opens the lid, and continues.
“The city of Cusp, once a legend, is now a real place. It winked into existence around the same time Sandpoint faced its last goblin raid. Since then, it's time-plague has spread into the surrounding countryside, and grows more intense every year.”
“My master needs to enter the lowest levels of the dungeon complex at the heart of the city, but he can't do it alone. He needs help. Your help."
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Draxia gets up and looks at this woman, eyeing her up and down before giving her a solid wink of appreciation."Interesting way to recruit us" She says resting her hand on her hip letting her toned greenish hued skin shine in the light.
Standing 6 feet the statuesque woman was in a dress obviously tailored for a woman with a more slender frame. It was thin material made of a purple color. a Feathered cloak of black feathers falls from her shoulders as she holds her spear, a clearly orcish made one with a falchion on her right hip. She would have a flawless body and face were it not for her elaborate tribal tattoos and scars. Her face seemed to be beautiful, even with the X like a scar across the front of her face.
"As for the mission will you be joining?" she says once more looking over the woman shifting her weight from one foot to the other as her tight black fur boots, while she smiled waiting for the others to rise.
What was frustrating was were that beautiful woman and her husky friends went to the other night. She needed a workout and she would have tested there stamina and then some.
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A man in dirty traveling clothes stirs, rising to his hands and knees and dry-heaving once. A faint but unpleasant film coats his mouth, tasting vaguely of nutmeg and poor decisions. His olive skin looks as if it might have held the audacious beauty of youth, were it not for the horrid cracks and pocked scars littering his face, and the pallid taint of sickness tingeing his cheeks. His long, raven-black hair is pulled into a messy ponytail, and his wide-shouldered frame slowly pushes him to his feet.
His age is nearly impossible to determine; he has some of the soft facial curves of youth still clinging to him, yet he bears the flesh of the very old and very ill.
He brushes the dust and straw from his clothing and adjusts the three colorful sashes wrapped jauntily about his torso: one shimmering purple, one midnight blue, and the last a very loud shade of orange.
He crosses his arms at the woman's words, closes his eyes, and sighs heavily. "By Pharasma, not again," he says in a thick Varisian accent. He offers no explanation for the statement, but simply opens his eyes and regards the woman and her retinue.
"If your master required assistance, he should have asked politely instead of kidnapping us. I'd have gladly helped." His scowl gives way to another sigh. "Be that as it may, allowing your erasure from existence seems excessive, as punishments go. May we speak at least speak to this master of yours?"
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The slightly heavy set man wakes up and massages his jaw."I haven't had a good brawl like that for an age."The half-elf stands up the light shinning off his clean shaven head."Wow"He says as he notices the woman standing in front of him."I mean this is not the sort of job i normally do but i never refuses a challenge from such an enchanting lady as your self. Spiller at your service my lady."He says as he bows."And of course if your master keeps the food and drinks coming we should be fine."He says with a big smirk on his youthful face.
As several big folk wake and respond to the lady and her guards Kubi scans the area and assesses herself. No 'damage' but she feels slightly sick from the consumption of the previous night. She also scans her person and the area around for her equipment.... and her familiar. She has her prepared magic from the previous day, but can't change anything if needed without her precious 'Bug'.
The young woman replies to each party member in turn, as they rouse themselves and become cognizant of their surroundings.
Draxia: She smiles at the female half-orc. ”An unfortunate misunderstanding among our members. I honestly hadn't expected such well-equipped commoners to be among us.”
Wandering over to the crate, she starts dispensing the party's gear.
”My place is here outside the city. Someone has to watch the troops.”
Dellan: ”I have arranged a meeting with Chan-Ona at the council hall.”
She passes him a sling and a small pouch of bullets.
”Once you're all ready, Rastin will take you inside the city,” indicating one of her guards.
Krusk: ”Luckily, we're at the base of the crater. A twenty minute walk will get you inside the city.”
Spiller: She blushes at your comment, and returns his slight bow.
”Valentina Yeris.” She gives you a crooked smile. ”I look forward to seeing your…prowess.”
Kubi: Valentina sees that you're searching for your belongings, and indicates the open crate. ”It should all be accounted for.”
Before the party can respond to Valentina, there is a rapid succession of loud knocks on the door.
Moving swiftly to a defensive posture, Valentina moves over to the closed door and opens a latched peephole. After a moment's hesitation, she throws the bolt and swings the door open.
”Pezi!”
In stumbles an out-of-breath teenager.
”They've got Chan!” he shouts, then doubles over in a fit of coughing.
Valentina's face grows grim as she comforts Pezi and asks him to explain himself. After a couple of lungfuls of air, the lad recovers enough to blurt out, “The scavengers nabbed Chan, and the Scarlet Vultures are trying to get custody of him! There's a bunch of Scarlet Vultures on their way here now! I only just made it in here; they've already surrounded us!”
Valentina leaves Pezi's side, and opens the shutters on a window. Cursing under her breath, she turns back to the party, a sly grin on her face.
”This just got complicated.”
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Dellan mounts the pouch on his belt and tucks the sling into it. He listens absently while gathering the rest of his things. He pulls a heavy leather coat out of the crate; dull, rectangular metal plates are riveted into the material in concentric rings at strategic locations. He slips it on, buttoning it quickly and hefting up a heavy steel shield emblazoned with the spiral flame of the Lady of Graves. Lastly, he takes a battered wooden necklace out, engraved with the same symbol as his shield, and places it reverently about his neck, letting it rest outside the coat. He whispers a prayer of thanks to Pharasma and lets out a small sigh of relief.
Just as he drops his mace through its belt loop and plucks out his sickle, the young man stumbles panting into the room. Dellan frowns; he can't be more than a couple years older than the boy, and already he's managed to get into more trouble than most full-fledged adults he's met; he hopes this doesn't bode ill for him. You go where the Lady needs you, he thinks, and is somewhat cheered by it. It is nice to be needed.
Sickle and shield ready, he turns to Valentina. "I take it these Vultures are not of the feathered variety?"
"See for yourself," she says, stepping away from the window.
"We don't really have time to get into it, but they're Chronomancer goons."
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The little ratfolk girl straps her equipment on and grabs a small spear. "Well, goons anywhere are usually the same. Hit them fast and hard is the best tactic...."
'The Rats right, just makes it a bit harder to get to the squishy bits" She says placing her weapons on her body as she chuckles.
"Gird yourselves as we will boil these goons in there own ovens" She says striding forward clutching her spear after she slid and strapped on her cesti.
'Come let us ask if they have this chan, and whether they want to live or die today" She says with strange confidence unafraid of this or these glowing men.
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Spiller gathers his gear and puts on his leather Lamellar armor and picks up his long curved sword."This isn't the first time I've woken up with heavily armored men surrounding me."He says looking out the window, he then moves himself in front facing door."But at at least I'm not alone this time."He looks around at his new comrades.These Vultures are probably not as unreasonable as they look right?He say with a half grin.
Valentina's eyes turn to circles, and she gasps, one hand flitting to her mouth.
"Y...you can't all be serious?"
She approaches Spiller, laying her hands on his forearm. "I beg of you, please don't fight them. We can escape," she says, pointing back to the doorway.
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Kubi stares at the lady, obviously surprised or confused if anyone could actually read the expression on her ratlike face. "We will follow your direction of course, but I thought you were to have us meet with your master, Chanel? But if he's been abducted won't we need to rescue him first?"
[ooc]Following along out the back if she's directing and someone is leading.[ooc]
"Thank the stone," Valentina says, ushering Spiller out the room, across a hallway and into another room.
A simple bed and cheap wooden furniture adorn the room.
Valentina moves to the bed, bends down, looks over her shoulder at Spiller. "Care to help a girl out?"
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A thunderous pounding comes from the opposite side of the house.
"This is Commander Lightcutter of the Blood Talons, demanding you open this door! You have one minute before I do it myself!"
"Fine I shall spare them my mystical wrath for now, but now this they shall face the mystical might of Draxia Drekarr!!" She says shaking her fist at the men before turning to follow the others her brow furrowed as her tattoos slightly come to life, glowing a faint purple.
Moving the bed to one side, you see a trapdoor, barely distinguishable.
Valentina stands, and turns back to the room where everyone woke up. "Popido, you'll have to stay behind to stall them, " she says to one of her guards, who nods his agreement.
"I'm sure we'll have only minutes before they figure out where we went."
She moves out of the way, "If you want to meet my master, we need to get out of here first. That trapdoor is rusty and heavy. Anyone have a crowbar?"
Kubi moves up close to the heavy, rusty door and waits for someone big and strong. She lightly touches whoever and nods, "Good luck."
Qilldar comes to. ”Well, it seems I’m still alive, I think.” He listens for any nearby movement before opening his eyes. ”Where am I and what happened to me last night? Ugh, my head is pounding,” he thinks, slowly moving his hand up to massage his temples.
Averting his eyes from the bright light, and his face, hoping no one recognizes him, he listens to the woman. ”Erased from existence? Well, not the death I was expecting.” As his eyes adjust, he looks around at the others in the room. ”Who are these people? I don’t recognize them. Luckily I don’t think I’ve robbed any of them.”
He gets up and grabs his equipment, moving over to the corner to get everything situated. He instinctively reaches for his sword at the loud knocking at the door and begins looking for an exit at the mention of being surrounded.
Concerned that many of the group want to fight an unknown adversary, he’s relieved to hear there is a way out. He follows the group out the trap door.
Spiller and Krusk easily open the trapdoor, and reveal a short 10-foot ladder leading down to a simple plank wooden door.
Popido leaves the room, and Valentina locks it from the inside. Turning around, she offers a small shrug. "Can't hurt.
Pevi deftly climbs down the rope ladder, opens the door and heads through.
"Whenever you're ready," she says, waiting on the party.
Kubi waits for one of the big folk to lead, preferably heavily armed and armored, and immediately follows.
Spiller climbs down the ladder and quickly follows Pevi through the door.
Spiller follows Pevi into a 20-foot long corridor, lined with shelves, knick-nacks, pottery, and other random detritus.
At the end of the corridor, Pevi lights a sunrod, and sets to opening another door.
In the room with the trapdoor, Valentina ushers the PCs through the hole as fast as they can move.
Once one of the big folk descends Kubi inserts herself. "If we run into any trouble I need to be close to use my hexes on them." She cringes when the sunrod is struck but understands that some of the big folk have weak eyes and need the light.
"I have spells at my disposal, but one must not rely on spells alone' She says tapping her staff on the ground as she chuckles through her two large teeth.
"What have I gotten into?" Qilldar thinks as he climbs down the ladder. Seeing the confined quarters of the passageway, he draws his short sword. Listening to the group's comments, he seems content to continue with them as they seem capable of the task at hand.
Pevi opens the door at the end of the short hallway, which leads into a brick and mortar tunnel. He drops his sunrod into an empty torch holder, and moves to grab a large piece of timber a little wider than the door itself.
He urges the party out, and Valentina drops a tanglefoot bag at the bottom of the ladder. As she makes her way down the hallway, she topples over the shelves, creating a barricade.
Once assembled in the tunnel, the party members hear a jingling sound, and realize that they now have a small bag attached to their clothing.
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Dellan blinks and pulls out the pair of gloves, looking over their craftsmanship and details. "What in the world...?" he mutters. He makes a quick, twisting gesture with his fingers and infuses an uttered word with the vibrating tones of magic power, whispering it to the Lady of Graves before drawing his fingers up to his eyes, pulling threads of magic from the air and into his pupils, to scan over the area for auras and, in particular, the gloves he holds.
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"Did anyone gust hear bells?"Spiller says looking puzzled, he looks down to find the small bag, he opens it and pulls out a stone shaped like a heart."What in the gods how did that get there."he says shrugging his shoulders"Well it might bring luck."he says giving it a quick kiss an puts back in the pouch. He then leaves the room.
Qilldar's body tenses up at the sound of the jingling, his eyes quickly darting around as he tries to locate the source of the sound. Noticing the new bag attached to his belt, he pauses to watch the others open their bags first. "Wow, this group is trusting, and careless. They don't even question where the bags came from." He watches in disbelief as the half-elf kisses the stone he removed from the bag. "Not very bright, huh. Must be from his human heritage. What if that was poisoned? These people have already drugged us once. I'll have to keep my eye on that one. Seems a bit gullible." Seeing no immediate ill effects from the items, he turns his attention to his own bag.
He carefully squeezes the bag in various directions to get a sense of the shape of the object inside. ”Hmm, something flat and rectangular.” He then slowly opens the bag, trying to peer inside with the bag still attached to his belt. Unable to see inside well enough to identify the object, he removes the bag from his belt. Holding the bag at arm’s length and leaning away from it, he turns the bag upside down and gives it a few shakes. A card falls from the bag, fluttering to the ground landing face down. Still not able to discern what it is but concerned about the picture of a black dragon, he uses his short sword to flip it over. He relaxes a bit when he sees that it’s a playing card. ”Not sure what that’s about. Let’s hope the dragon doesn’t mean anything,” he says quietly to the others as he scoops up the card with his sword and puts in back into the bag without touching it.
"Where does the tunnel lead?" he asks Pevi.
Draxia gingerly slips her hand into her pocket feels the object and pulls it back out. She shakes her head and continues going on.Something is casting some powerful magics here. Best be ready.
Her eyes dart about trying to see if anyone looks like they know something about the arcane. She suspects Kubi, noting she speaks of hexes. otherwise, she wonders.
Kubi notices the small pouch and pauses to check the contents. A small vial? She removes the stopper carefully just long enough to glance at the liquid and sniff it, then replaces it and puts it back in the pouch. "Strange, but if we need to cover our scent that might work."
"Bells?" Valentina asks. She moves over to a large rock in the wall. She tries rolling it to the side, then looks to Spiller for help.
Pevi kicks the door shut once everyone is through, then bars the door with his piece of timber.
"An old abandoned mine, a bit of sewer, and some city ruins...these tunnels will take us straight to our home inside The Sticks," Pevi explains.
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Dellan squints his eyes against the strength of the magic emanations, feeling dizzy for a moment and fighting down the urge to dry-heave again. He swallows hard, puts the gloves back into the pouch on his belt, and shakes his head. "There is strange magic here. These pouches, they have an aura I can't quite puzzle out. The same magic extends from there" he points to the right-hand tunnel "to there," he points to the left. He turns to Pevi and Valentina. "Out of curiosity, which direction are we headed?"
She gives you a quizical look, and gives you a slow-motion light punch on the arm. "Sure..."
She reaches into the small opening behind the rock and pulls out two handfuls of vials filled with blue liquid. "Was worried those foul goblins would have found them, but they're all still here."
She hands everyone 3 vials, explaining that they're potions of cure light wounds.
When she comes to Dellan, she informs him they're going to be heading in the direction that the magical aura was heading towards.
Pevi suddenly pipes up. "You see that sword etched into the wall? It points the way home."
Valentina continues, "Whenever we come to an intersection in this maze of tunnels, just follow the sword."
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Lady's fist
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Dellan, watching Spiller's interaction with Valentina, is suddenly overcome by a coughing fit. Once he "clears his throat," he looks down at the vials, then back to the others. "I will keep one of these in case of emergency, but Pharasma has graced me with quite a bounty of healing power. The other two should go to some who are likeliest to need them." He hands one to Spiller, and another to Qilldar. "In case I am not near enough to heal you." He offers a lopsided grin that might be charming, were it not for his disease-ruined face. "Or if I fall."
"Aww the Half-Elf is besotted' She says with a chuckle as she accepts the potions and slips them into her pouch.
"Agreed the magic is strange here, best be on guard" She says gripping her spear a bit tighter her knuckles going a bit white.
As they explain the sword she traces the symbol with her finger. She shakes her head and looks at those guiding them."What makes you sure that these swords' lead to safety? Couldn't one come around and make an identical mark to lead you astray?"
She then looks at the woman Valentina and smiles."Though speaking of besotted, I can see why he is. Still, beauty and allure aside I have many questions about why I was drugged and what this all has to do with you and your mysterious master"