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Orion stands and straightens up unhurried.
"'Stop' you ask. An' them you came with? They gonna stop? All we gotta do is ask an' they gonna say 'Ah well, since you put it that way. Ya, sure, we gonna turn 'round an' pack it in'."
Slowly he stalks forward, his hands automatically and with purpose replacing a bolt in the firing position.
"'Please' you say. An' that dragon up there, how's he gonna handle all the 'please' this town can muster? We just gotta get everyone together to say 'please' real loud an' he'll just grin an' nod and say 'whoops my bad' and fly away?"
He walks forward into the thick of the mud and muck, his boots eerily finding safe passage across the swampy grass and grasping nettles.
"'I'll leave' you promise. O! an' that one is th' richest of 'em all. Ain't a one here got a lick of sense that don't think you'll circle around and find the nearest boot to lick an' and say to them 'yous got a pack of fighters heading out by the stream. Go and grab a buncha guys and run 'em down and make sure to stab 'em twice!'
No, sir. No, we ain't gonna do that."
He brings up OrcDoom in a lazy grip.
"You shouldn't have come in the first place."
A heavy bolts rips the air between the two men.
As the cultist scrambles away, Orion taunts him before aiming and lodging a bolt in his skull, leaving only one kobold to fend for himself.
Seeing the cultist fall, Arianna turns and tries to plant an arrow into the last kobold's back.
Unfortunately, her foot slips and the arrow flies between its legs and sticks out of the mud a few feet from it.
As Rakuuze's bleeding stops, Arianna launches an arrow towards the kobold, but misses. The kobold looks back at her and begins running off away from the stream and towards town.
We can't let that kobold get away and bring down the whole army on us.
Navarre launches another Eldritch Blast, wishing he had something a bit more consistent in effectiveness.
"Don't let it get away!"
Brax looked down at Raakuze. Seeing the bleeding stop and the rise and fall of his chest, the dwarf takes a small sense of relief in knowing his companion isn't about to slough off his mortal coil.
It doesn't change his sense of detachment as he watches the remaining kobold attempt to flee from battle. This time, there are no exclamations of cursing, victory shouts, or praise to any god in any known pantheon as Brax brings up his crossbow and gets the fleeing creature in his sights. With no emotion, he squeezed the trigger. With a click and a sharp, hissing sound, the bolt flies through the air...
...and embeds itself in the kobold's upper back.
With the enemies dispatched or fleeing Eska looks down at the fallen Raakuze.
"Hey Dragonslayer, you still alive?" She nudges him with her foot. She thinks she hears a groan, a growl or something in-between.
"HEY! Navarre you've got the light-touch I think we could you use over here!" She calls out the the other half-elf concerned as he was with the fleeing enemy.
Arianna runs after the cowardly little runt and tries to add her arrow to the other's assault for good measure.
And huffs as the arrow sails over the thing's head.
"Didn't realize I was that out of practice," she mutters.
Navarre singes the back of the fleeing kobold with an eldritch blast, and Brax plants another bolt firmly through its back, causing the creature to topple over and gurgle something unintelligible as it bleeds out.
Navarre closes his eyes and concentrates. A soft golden light envelops him, and shortly thereafter the same sort of golden glow envelopes Rakuuze and Brax, their wounds closing somewhat - though not fully.
As the glow fades, Navarre sighs.
"That's it, friends. From here on out you are on your own for healing - until I can rest at least. I'm tapped out. I would advise a greater degree of caution in future fights."
Raakuzedu’lon’ros' eyes snap open and he looks about lifting his hands to eyes. A deep sorrow falls over his face soon replaced by ire. He stands picking up his sword from the ground.
Seeing the soft glow disappear from Navarre he nods his head, "You...HAVE...my...gratitude. Looking at the dead bodies of the cultists and the kobolds he nods with approval. "Where to...NEXT?"
As Raakuzedu’lon’ros waits for the answer to come he takes several deep breaths to gather himself.
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Orion looks around, pleased with their work. "We done a good thing here. 'Cept for one lucky blow, we got them an' didn't get us. Can't ask for much more'n that.
None got away, so they don't know we're comin' yet. That means we can take a moment to see if any of these dead'uns can talk, maybe they're carrying papers or such to explain what they're doing in this lonely stretch of swamp.
My guess? They were looking for what we just came out of. That they ain't ever gonna find it means we just saved us a whole keep full o' folk.
And, fo course," Orion says, ripping a bolt of a body, "More'a these never did hurt."
"Well," Brax rumbles as he surveys the carnage. "Th' tunnel is secure. May wanna move th' bodies away. More of 'em come along 'n see th' battle. Might start searchin' round and find 'th tunnel inta th' keep. Afta that," he adds. "We start searchin for folk who weren't able to get to th' keep in time an bring 'em back 'ere."
Raakuzedu’lon’ros ignores the bodies and stands guard looking for any signs of light that might indicate the arrival of more people.
Eska cleans her daggers using the tunic of one of the fallen foes. She pipes up as the team wonders where to go from here.
"Let's make for The Disarmed Ant. Should be a ways south of here. It's not much but we might be able to get a better grasp of the situation if we make contact with my associates. We can help whoever we come across and it gives us a place to regroup."
Arianna hides the bodies as the others go about their business. No sense in giving away the game, after all.
Navarre helps Arianna with the bodies. A little prudence could mean the difference between survival and death for everyone in the keep, not to mention the six of them.
"I disagree. We should go to the temple. The governor said that not all of the clerics had made it to the keep, and with more healing they might be able to organize another rescue party."
Eska makes a rude noise "You want to check on a stuffy cloister!? They're probably safe behind their own walls. What we need to find is the source of this. We're no army to be fighting kobolds and cultist till sun up. You want to beat your enemy to hit them where it hurts."
Raakuzedu’lon’ros looks the way of Navarre and Eska warning them with his eyes to lower their voices.
"You both...BRING...good choices. But if...ESKA...is correct about her sources, then they will...KNOW...more than the priests...MIGHT...be willing to tell us. Find Eska's people...THEY...will be more aware of...WHERE...people hide."
Navarre shrugs and looks to Brax and Arianna to decide. The worst possible choice would be to split up - better a sub-optimal destination than death.
"Eska," Brax spoke. "If ye have friends in town, they'll 'ave a lay a th' land."
"We find 'em," he says, thinking aloud, "an we might know wha we're dealin' with."
Brax and Orion take a moment to step through the corpse-littered stream bed and poke through the corpses' pockets. Unfortunately, none of the kobolds or cultists are alive to be able to interrogate. When Orion is done looting, he and Brax have collected a total of 60 gold pieces from the group of raiders.
As they finish counting up the gold, Arianna and Navarre hear a rustle in the bushes lining the stream. They watch as a disheveled man hobbles out, his leg clearly broken in two places. "Oi.. I thought I wuz a goner," he hiccups. "Thank ye kindly. They were probly gunna loot me, heh, not like I've hic got anythin' anyway! .... 'N kill me." His lips stretch to a gappy smile and he starts to limp towards the tunnel. "Where's 'at lead? To a bar, I hope! My buzz is wearin' off!"
"Your luck is good but not that good, old man. Follow the tunnel anyway it's a bad night to be out." Eska advises the newcommer.
"If they can help us end this, then we'll do more good going to Eska's friends. The best medicine is the one that prevents the injury, right?"
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~Friends might be a bit of a stretch~ The thought passes through but Eska wisely keeps her mouth shut. ~oh well we'll sort things when we get there~
"Alright new-friends, the die is cast. All hero-tales start in a tavern at any rate. We must have skipped that part and must make great haste lest we fail to seize the moment. Lady Twice-Quick the lead is yours, destiny awaits or some such." Eska declares with great enthusiasm.
The man hobbles forth into the tunnel, muttering something about how the local brand of ale just isn't what it used to be.
Then the party turns south from the stream and rejoin another road leading through Greenest. Corpses lie like litter strewn about the length of the road, and Rakuuze stomps through spilled blood, his plated boots now marred with swaths of red.
It would be possible to search through some of the corpses, but it would take some time.
The Disarmed Ant is found in between two of the homes. Strangely, it appears it hasn't been disturbed in any way. The windows and door are intact, and it isn't on fire. Out front, about thirty feet from the front door, are three dead kobolds and a dead woman and child with arrows jutting from their bodies. Other broken arrows lie scattered around the area. As Eska approaches, she hears the whizz of an arrow as it slips past her head. Staring ahead at the window of the bar, she sees the dark-skinned, white-haired shooter draw another arrow from her quiver.
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Eska continues to approach slowly "Impressive display you got here." Eska gestures to the corpses littering the street."As you can see we're no raiders, just fellow friends-in-the-night, here for a chat. Three-Dog, sent me this way to you Night-skins."
"Send one more of those twigs my way and you won't like my answer that that." She let's the threat linger in the air between her and the archer.
"Did he..." Arianna begins to ask as her face turns white and her eyes flash with the beginnings of fury.
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Orion is sorely tempted to intervene once the arrow flies, but he realizes that this must be some kind of secret ritual, and he can respect a fellow yew-twanger with at least three kills under her belt.
Instead he holds well back of where Eska is talking to her "friend" and busies himself seeing if there are any bodies nearby no longer needing their personal wealth.
Never can tell what'll come in handy; never can tell when your belly will be hungry.
"We not be leezards, nor dragun arsekissers," Brax calls out as he puts his battleaxe away and raises his hands. "So do na be makin' pincushions outta us. We be 'elpin folk trapped outside th' keep."
While Eska and Brax begin negotiating with the stealthy archer, Orion begins examining the bodies. He finds a variety of small items, including:
a stick of charcoal, a half-filled bottle of ale, a vial of a glimmering red liquid, and ten gold pieces
What luck! This is a potion of healing.
Back at The Disarmed Ant, the archer holds the arrow in her hand as she stops to observe Eska. Then the woman disappears from the window for a long moment. The door to the bar opens, and the archer is now joined by two huskier male drow. The three step out and shut the door behind them. "Three-Dog sent you, did he? I hope you've come to offer your proceeds of this... night of opportunity," the woman smiles.
The two men laugh. "You said it, Mayna. With all the guards up at the keep and the city on fire, we've found ourselves the perfect chance to, well, lighten the coffers of the populace," they snicker.
Mayna walks up to Eska, her piercing white eyes narrowed. The other two keep their bows aimed on the others. "So? What do you want?"
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Orion immidiately takes a long draught of the ale, savoring the mild burning. "Needed that," he muses while pocketing the limited amount of his finds, the coin most likely going to the celebration party...after.
The odd red bottle he holds up and gazes at it....
'You nipped this from RedRobe?'
'Right from under his nose,' she giggled. 'Said it was made from wolfsbane instead of Kingcrown. He told me t' toss it an' try again.'
'What's it do?'
'You'll see,' she whispered.
Orion smiled, the memory warm and cozy. He pocketed the vial, knowing its use.
Straightening, he caught the conversation. Annoyance at the robbers flowed over him, but he couldn't bring himself to anger. Can't say he wouldn't do the same, all told. However....
"You keep wavin' that deer-sticker at me, we're gonna find out which of us is faster on th' draw. You feelin' yur iron, tough guy?" he states at the drow aiming at him. He has only one hand on OrcDoom and he isn't facing the man. The drow should feel confident.
Of course.
"Did you kill the woman and her child," Arianna asks them in a blunt, cold voice, cutting through any of the other conversations.
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Thieves. This is who she calls 'friends'? This is getting us nowhere fast.
A fury takes hold of Navarre, and the caution he has been advocating gives way.
"Tell me, what makes you any different than the filth that has driven the guards to the keep? If you had a dragon at your back, and the numbers these cultists have, what would stop you from raiding a town this same way?"
He shakes his head.
"The people of this town work hard, and leeches like you disgust me."
Mayna snickers at Orion. "We could stand here all night threatening each other, but I'd much rather comb through the next row of empty homes," she spreads her arms to indicate the burning town for effect. "Our goals are not quite as ambitious as whatever that dragon wishes for. The more wealth we accumulate, the better, but we cannot have a steady stream of goods if everyone is dead."
"Did we kill the woman and child?" She calls back, glaring at the moon elf. "You aren't that different than us, you know. Anyway, did you hear what she asked, Elagun?"
"The light-skinned kid and woman? Collateral damage. ... Oops." The burlier drow laughs, oozing sarcasm.
"My apologies, my fingers slipped," Arianna says as she prayed her tone matched the drow's and masked that she'd actually missed by accident.
Steady, Arianna, steady. You get too hot-headed in times like this. there'll be a chance to deal with the scum later.
Eska frustration rises as Arianna Twice-Quick to action and to anger potentially ruins the tenuous cease-fire.
Eska holds up a hand sharply and casts a baleful look to her companions Navarre and Arianna. While disturbed by the dead woman and child she forestalls her anger, in the chaos that she's seen tonight she's willing to let herself believe they were indeed in the wrong place in the wrong time even if the drow was unrepentant. Scum was scum but still most have rules about these kinds of things "You're right Mayna we could, stand here threatening each other all night. So I'd appreciate if you kept your men in check. Their tongues are distasteful in the presence of Ladies."
"You will give me two things and we'll walk away and you can continue business as usual with whatever spoils you've claimed as bonus. Seeing as we intend to put the city straight and too much chaos is bad for business. Firstly the Keep isn't the target tonight I want to know what is. Word must travel even on nights like this. Secondly Frulam Mondath, Bog Luck, or Rezmir know where I can find them? Be particularly useful and the Greenest heroes might later make legitimate use of your services assuming you learn to behave."
"Ye know who they are?" Brax speaks as he moves closer to Eska, his voice a low but gruff. He's not happy with the fate of the woman and child and he understands all too well of the vultures and scavengers that battles inevitably attract. However, with the bigger picture at hand, these robbers might prove useful. "If ye are friends, tell 'em 'ey might wanna save their swords an' arrows fer th leezard men an' 'eir minders iffen they be of th' same mind ta take stuff that ain't their'n instead ah town folk that canna pratect 'emselves."
Raakuzedu’lon’ros looks upon the dead woman and her child while the conversation with the rogues continues to a reach a point where more blood is about to be spilt.
He does his best to maintain a tight grip on his shield strap and then watches as an errant arrow seems to fly from Arianna's bow. The poorly placed shot falls nowhere close to the leader of these rogues and Raakuzedu’lon’ros waits to see what the reaction of the bandits will be.
"This needs to end now. Enough death has occurred here and we are losing time. The elf is quick to act and thinks nothing of the consequences. She is young with her race but we outnumber these three and I doubt they will draw weapons if we do not provoke again. Fix this so we can move on."
Eska hopes her menacing aura keeps the conversation from falling apart.
She doesn't break eye contact with the leader as Raakuze whispers into her ear. But she does response tersely.
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'Huh. Shame the kid missed. I'm about to do the same,' Orion thought. Grabbing an un-minded gold piece was one thing. Shooting down innocents, quite another.
If this invasion gave them a chance to clean out the old rot from the inside, all the better.
He shifts both hands to his crossbow. Takes a firm grip.
The arrow leaves Arianna's bow and slings past Mayna's head before finding its way into the 'A' of the Disarmed Ant sign.
"HEY!" Both guards load bolts into their hand crossbows. "Someone's lookin' to die tonight!" ... And aim them at Arianna's head.
But Mayna steps in front, holding her arm out to block them. "Elagun, calm yourself. Let's see what this one has to say." She nods at Eska.
The bodyguards huff, and only slightly lower their bows. Then Mayna listens to Eska explain, shrugging when asked about the target. "If information is what you're after, fine. I'll indulge you with only that and nothing more. The lizard men kept talking about claiming gifts for Tiamat. Think they're the Cult of the Dragon, and all they've been doing is looting. You can imagine why that might... be a problem." She remarks, ice in her voice. "They seem intent on taking as much as they can, yet the keep remains off limits. Curious."
"The Greenest Heroes. HAH!" She mocks. "Never heard of those names. What kind of name is Bog Luck anyway?"
Then Mayna walks within inches of Eska. "If that will be all, why don't you turn around and continue your little... heroic campaign before your hot-tempered friend here makes what might be her final mistake?"
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Eska stands confidently even as Mayna postures for superiority.
"Come now Mayna you can do better than that. You're a woman of enterprise after all. If you had an army of cronies at your back what in this town is a worthy score to impress a dragon?"
She remembers the shady hunter Orion said he was town protector or some-such and turns to look his way. Her eyes narrow as she notices how tense he is; ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation ~just as bad as Twice-Quick, this one~
"Hunter, you're a local aren't you care to say a piece?"
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"If ye do na git ta steppin, yer names 'n descriptions 'll be given ta Guvna Nighthill as dragun lackeys an killers," Brax storms up next to Eska. "Either way, yer lootin 'n time in Greenest and th' lands surrounding it is over. Any more folk wind up dead from culaterul damage," he adds in a stone cold emotionless voice, "I'll know. An there'll be no rock ye can hide yer ugly faerie faces under than I won't turn over ta find ye."