Nyd carefully scopes out the interior of the building, making note of all the potential exits.
"Greetings gentlebeing. A quite table will do for a start. My companions will likely be interested in trying what your chef can do."
"Table for six, please. Then, we'll see what looks good on the dessert menu." Gilavar replies eloquently to the hostess.
"My. My. Veratash, you have particular tastes." The elven minstrel teases his companion.
He leads to a table and sits down waiting service.
Turn 073 – Definitely Not the Right Place
Read the OOC.
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?
Game on!
OOC: so far this has been your only lead. But you have only been here for a few hours and it is a city that is hard to get around in (all channels ala Venice).
Don't worry, I won't have you have here just sight-seeing but you do have to ask around a bit...
Questions?
Game on!
"You said this is NOT the place right, Veratash? I just want to make sure."
Once Veratash confirms, Artur says "Okay, so we should have a drink, pay, and leave. We still need to set up rooms for the night and this is probably not the best place for that, but you're all adults; we do still need to find the building, and I'd like to do so before we rest for the evening, as the longer we're here, the more likely our foes will know that we're here."
Artur orders a beer when the server comes over, and quietly let's the server know that they're not interested in "companionship for hire" from the house's services.
Briar seemed relieved that this was not the place Veratash had been describing, but then she looked confused again. She nods at Artur's words.
"Later on, Liti and I, we'll be fine bedding down in a common room somewhere, here will be pricey I expect and I already grow weary of warding off those that would offer themselves for coin. But for now perhaps those better suited to artful intrigue might find mingling here to be valuable?"
She took a sip of water and leaned back in her chair.
"There's limited danger here, bouncers lurking to drop on any threats. All I'd ask is that you stay within sight so I can help if anything occurs..."
After the meal, Gilavar will excuse himself and head to the gambling tables. He listens, charms and does a little gambling to blend.
He still carries his lute and uses it as a conversation piece. He attempts to develop enough interest for him to play, even for money. Primarily, it is a distraction for he real purpose to gather information. He is subtly listening for anything about dragonshards, Khyber lovers, Kalashtar, etc. He indirectly pulls on the information by telling a similar 'story' that he had heard, or using his new companions as props to aid him.
Veratash blushed when Tharivol teased him, but stayed silent.
After he ordered something to eat, Veratash took special note of the house owners. Perhaps these guys can be useful, he thought. He motioned to Gilavar/Tharivol and talked in a low voice saying "Thariv... I mean... Gilavar, this house is run by Tharashk. I've heard they can find people. I know the name of our quarry, Dah'mir. Say, would you know how to sit at their table for a talk?"
As the elf took in Veratash's word, the kalashtar measured the security of the place. He focused especially on the bouncers who were guarding the way up to the VIP tables. He concentrated hard to read their mind without showing that he was doing so.
"That's not a great idea veratash; if he's operating in this town, he likely has connections among the ruling body."
"Once it gets darker, I will direct Ansuz to scout from the air."
"Did we give him nightvision Nyd?" Artur asked quietly, honestly not able to remember the answer.
Artur considered the small Orc and said "That would be really helpful Jair. Can you tell me anything about them, even if it's just how many of them there are?"
Briar ushered Liti outside and gestured at the water. The weasel dove in and vanished.
"She fishes for her breakfast"
Briar grabbed a bowl of porridge and stared at it dubiously, eventually pushing it aside and taking two apples instead.
"So we need to hire a guide, or an urchin. Someone who travels the city and knows of more than one blue house..."
Briar sniffed at the orc boy, head tilting to better regard him.
"Who do you work for Jair?"
Veratash got quickly bored at the bouncer's thoughts and Artur's idea that it wasn't a good idea to barter with the owners dissuaded him. Artur was more experienced, after all.
Veratash ate well for breakfast. He was his usual joyful self, commenting on the food and weather.
Veratash observed the young orc trying to get a sense of how he was acting.
The orc boy shrugged looking at both Artur and Briar, "I don't know more sir, ma'am. My mother gave me the note and said to guide you if you want to come with me."
He added, "My mom said this is work good for me because I'm too young to work in a shard mine like my older brother."
He smiled, "My mom said I'm too scrawny yet but I am strong," said the boy while he flexed for them.
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OOC: the weather improved, not raining
The boy seems to be telling the truth.
"Fair enough. Lead us on, and I'll give you two of these when we get there without issue." said Artur as he held up a gold coin.
While breaking their fast, Gilavar shared the three bits of information that he discovered last night that 1) a certain Tharashk baron was desperately looking for help to exploit potentially new dragonshard field. 2) There was also talk of bringing in hired muscle from Drooam in the form of ogres, but the local orcs were discontent with that option. 3) There was also talk of another murder. The victim had been strangled but there were no finger marks on his throat but rather the work seemed to have been done by a snake. It as strange that the large snake, large enough to have strangled the man, did not take the victim back to its lair.
Gilavar shrugs and follows Artur.
OOC: I'll give Zdravko and Nyd some time to post but I intend to recap and move things along tomorrow morning.
Questions?
Game on!
OOC: time for a GM summary. I can't have PCs lost in the game. :)
Veratash fled from the Shadow Marches from a man named Dah'mir who has sent agents to track him down and bring him back.
You all defeated a couple of Dah'mir parties and came to the conclusion that Dah'mir is bad and needs to be defeated.
The only link to Dah'mir (other than the Dhakaani messenger) is Veratash's hazy recollection of a blue mansion in Zarash'ak since Veratash does not remember/cannot find this 'laboratory' where he was kept prisoner in the Shadow Marches.
You took an elemental galleon to Zarash'ak and started trying to find the location of this blue mansion. Two days passed and nothing has been found until a little orc boy showed you a piece of paper with a message.
This is present time in the campaign.
Is this clear? Anyone else have any other question?
WEALTH
I leave that up to you to RP as necessary/desired. If you want me to, I can assign money to each of you and start discounting for things like lodging/meals, etc. but I really don't want to take time for that.
Questions?
Game on!
OOC: What? me? I am offended! I mean I would never... OK, yes, maybe I would but only to set up an interesting RP opportunity. :)
Recapping now...
Game on!
Artur nodded sagely when Jair admonished him about showing money and said "that's good advice. Okay, I have an idea; once we get to the place, I'll bend down to tie my shoes, and drop the money, then push you on top of it. I will say some rather mean things, but to anyone who is looking, it will just appear that you led us here and then I treated you badly. You will need to hide your money someplace good though."
"Also, please keep in mind that I mean nothing of what I will say when we get there. I just want to make sure you are safe."
True to his word, Artur knelt to "retie" his boots and slipped a pair of gold coins onto the ground, half-kicked some dirt over them, then stood and walked towards the building, pausing about a few strides past the boy. He turned and said "So, this is the famous whorehouse you promised to show us? How many men are inside waiting to ambush us and steal our money, I wonder?"
Turning back to the boy, he snatched him up by the scruff of his neck and said "You filthy garbage rat, you set us up, didn't you?" before tossing the boy face down on top of the coins. "Get out of here, and don't come back."
Artur then turned and started back towards the building, apparently ignoring the boy, and said "Now, let's go kill your friends."
He then drew his rifle off his shoulder and walked up to the front door, and used the tip of his rifle's barrel to open the other door.
Nyd looks over at Artur. "She should have darkvision, or at least low-light, her chassis is based of an owl. However I suppose there could have been some consequences to the experimental nature of this ritual."
Nyd looks over at the little owl. "The fastest way to find out would be to ask."
Nyd winces at the mention of mines. "I believe it is appropriate to say that I am sorry to hear about your father. I hope he recovers completely as possible."
Nyd flips his hood back to expose his head. With a sharp whistle Ansuz settle onto Nyd's shoulder.
"If violence becomes necessary, call out targets before you attack."
"This so called snake... it did not hunt for food, so magic is involved somewhere. Either control of the snake or a man changing in to one, presuming it was a snake at all..."
She shrugged
"Too little information to do anything with, but thank you for collecting it all Gilavar. Local colour is important to absorb if we are to thrive here, however long we are here anyway"
Briar says nothihng, trusting in Artur to lead. She instead starts counting potential threats, avenues of escape, and subtly flexing her muscles to warm them in case sudden action was needed. Her glaive was held at her side, level with the floor and ready to bring up at a moment's notice.
Briar turned a full circle as the group approached the house, now would be a good time for an ambush, or at least one of the times she might have picked. Seeing nothing amiss, she ensured the more vulnerable members of the party were close at hand, nodded to Nyd in acknowledgement of his suggestion, then moved up to support Artur with Liti on her heels.
Veratash considered Gilavar's words. How quickly has he learned all those things!, he thought impressed. He hoped the murders had nothing to do with their already sinister dealings. I wonder if the orcs' discontent with the ogre hirings can be exploited, he wondered to himself, already starting to think tactically like Artur.
Veratash found Jair's conversation about money amusing. He would have never imagined exchanging money would be dangerous. He started imagining palming coins to pass them along and practiced a bit with an imaginary coin. He stopped once he realized the others were eyeing him oddly.
Walking among the wretched orcs there, Jair's words struck Veratash hard. He could never imagine such a hard life and thought about what he could do for those people. "There has to be some work that they can do, maybe something less physical? Wouldn't a trader hire them for, say, weighing goods?", the kalashtar asked Jair naively.
Veratash recognized the mansion and stood incredulous for a while. "This is the place", he said suddenly very scared. He really wanted to get back here, but now that he was, he was unsure what to do. Luckily, Artur took action and the others were ready. He didn't want to be caught by surprise, so he touched his forehead with both hands and opened them saying "I can see your thoughts" to no one in particular.
He moved to close to the mansion and focused on any sentient thought around. He knew this power of his was sometimes blocked by metal, but the rotten wood of the mansion walls would probably give way to his mind.
@Artur: go ahead and take inspiration.
That was a nice little scene with Jair.
I guess I'm back to giving inspiration and hope that people don't get pissed off if they don't get any for some time.
Game on!
Seeing that the group had not been noticed yet, Artur whispered "If you want to get into melee I'll give you til the count of 30; then I'm opening up on the leaders. Tharivol, you take the left group, Nyd, you get the right. Just start working your way through them as best you can."
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After giving the melee combatants a chance to get into position, Artur bellowed out "NO, THIS IS THE WAY!" as he fired a grenade from his rifle, centering between the two leaders.
Briar nodded at Zdravko's statement and Artur's warning, crouching over and padding off along the balcony like a cat, with Liti a pace behind.
They were just visible across the other side of the balcony, waiting for Artur's opening volley.
Briar jumped down to the central group, the smoke from Artur's weapon billowing away from her as she landed in a crouch. Snarling, she brought up her glaive and hewed left and right at the stunned cultists.
Liti leapt from the balcony after Briar, and landed on one of the cultists, her bite tearing at the hooded garment as she sought flesh beneath.
... I'll give you til the count of 30; then I'm opening up on the leaders. Tharivol, you take the left group, Nyd, you get the right. Just start working your way through them as best you can."[/b]
OOC: So I am assuming that Artur will give melee combatants (Briar/Liti and Zdravko) 5 rounds to get into position and then release ranged attacks.
Please let me know otherwise.
Game on!
Veratash wasn't sure why they were attacking the cultists without provocation, but he followed nonetheless. Since Artur had no plan for his participation, he decided to attack the leaders. First, he slowly walked down the stair, as he didn't want to be dropped by the poor state of the building. On the attack command, he focused on their muscles and two green beam left his hands towards them.
Both attacks hit making them tense up and get sick from muscle stress.
OOC: hey, don't look at me! I almost didn't get a chance to get to say, "This is the way..." :)
OOC: So I am assuming that Artur will give melee combatants (Briar/Liti and Zdravko) 5 rounds to get into position and then release ranged attacks.
Gilavar nodded to Artur and stepped back out of the slum, so he could cast a spell without being overheard. He wiped his eyes and said a few command words in Elven and Saw Invisibility.
He quietly returned to Artur's side with his longbow in hand. He readied a Faerie Fire on the group on the left.
Nyd shrugs and makes several gestures and then touches himself. Raising his defense against the communing struggle.
Read the OOC.
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?
Game on!
, taking off
, landing
OOC: I had you make two DC 10 DEX saves (one for take off and one for landing). Unfortunately, you rolled a 1 on the second save. You didn't take any damage on the fall though (15' fall into 4' of water).
Questions?
Game on!
Gilavar released his readied Faerie Fire at the group of cultists on the left. From his outstretched targeting index finger streaked a glowing line of purple to the creaking floor in the middle of the group. An explosion of riotous purple color erupted covering the group on the left in iridescent, sparkly violet dust.