"The Sheriff told you to stop!" Tariq says, half serious half joke, as he directs the flat part of the blade to the madman's neck.
Haleen joins the melee and keeps standing on the guy's toes.
Yasmeena places an attow in the guts of Madfang. Antarah and Tariq do an interesting dance with the guy, without hurting him. Haleen joins the team of those that draw blood.
Aith only just manages to jerk back enough to save her eyebrows (and the rest of her face) as the lunatic lobs some sort of explosive alchemical concoction at her that, even under the circumstances, she grudgingly has to admit is pretty impressive.
She answers with a burst of magic missiles and then tries to duck around the apparatus holding the gnoll for a bit of cover while she assesses just how much more magic she should throw at the situation – if she doesn’t get quickly flambéed first.
Madfang steps away to reduce the number of people attacking him for recklessly throwing another vial at Antarah.
Taking the offered opportunity Haleen stabs a few more times at the mad guy.
Some of the flames reach Tariq, who instinctively protects his face with his arm. Luckily, most of the danger is avoided."You!" he shouts in anger, reaching the madman and trying the same maneuver again.
As the others push the madman back, Aith steps around the horror of the surgical rack and takes another shot at him.
Haleen cuts the life string of the guy until it's only a thin thread. But the man is agile and not easily hit, and all other attacks are in vain.
Yasmeena draws, nocks, and fires twice in a smooth motion, almost showing off slightly as she weaves her inspiring martial gestures into her attacks.
And again it is Yasmeena who finishes the fight. With the arrow in his neck, Madfang topples over.
"<You wanna dance?>" The gnoll inquires as Antarah lifts him off the apparatus. His pupils are dilated and he talks with a slur. Taking a closer look at Antarah he steps back "<Ewww, you four are ugly. Where's your fur? You have mites?>" the gnoll starts scratching himself furiously.
Haleen snickers but resists the urge to make fun of the situation.
Haleen positions herself that the gnoll looking at her won't see the dead alchemist. "<The procedure to make him big failed. He lost all his fur. No mites. That's why your procedure is stopped for now.>"
As Haleen laughs, Aithaloessa decides that it’s probably good that she doesn’t speak Gnoll herself.
She wonders how long it will take whatever’s sedated the subject to work through his system. Although sedation only seems to be the half of what it's done to him: it sounds like it might be kind of fun, if one's the sort to enjoy being rather unmoored from reality.
It will probably be too much to hope for anything useful out of him before then, but she asks, “Could we ask him if that daft surgeon had any assistants? Or was he the one and only, er, gnoll-enlarger?”
She certainly hopes they’ve exhausted the temple’s cornucopia of horrors now. Maybe the surgeon left some notes somewhere?
After Haleen translates the question the gnoll shrugs and points to the door.
The door is not locked. The walls of this long vault are lined wth wide alcoves. In several are stored numerous crates, barrels, and containers. At the western end, three alcoves contain workbenches and tables strewn with complex alchemical equipment, while a fourth at this end contains a crude cot, several ratty blankets, and a chest. At the far west end of the room is an immense mound of bones and empty carapaces from enormous insects and spiders.
The chest in Madfang’s sleeping alcove is unlocked and holds a collection of anatomy scrolls containing detailed diagrams of a brain pictured in quarters, the inside of an eye, a bisected heart, and a bisected kidney, all labeled in Qadiran. The entire collection is worth 250 gp. Under these papers lie a score of crystal vials containing various astringents and antiseptics. They can be used to aid Heal checks, each providing a +2 circumstance bonus to a single treatment provided to a single individual. The chest also contains a potion of remove disease, a potion of neutralize poison, and a potion of tongues.
Also the alchemist's formula book is found there.
"Haleen, please, tell the Gnoll this" Tariq asks. "Tell him that we're the Knights of Kelmarane, and we've dealt with the Carrion King and scattered the Gnoll tribes. Tell him that we won't do further damage to the Gnolls as long as they stay in their place and don't mess with us or our lands. Tell him that if they do, we'll delete them from the lands as we did here today. And tell him to run and spread the word, that the Knights of Kelmarane saved his life today."
Of course, Tariq's future plans don't include genocide, but he thinks this is a good way of keeping things quiet for a while.
Haleen looks worried. "You're sure you want to spread that word? We're five guys who messed up this place pretty good. And the only person who knows who we are - Zayifid - is dead."
"I'm not sure if it will stay a secret, but as of now, if we simply leave, no gnoll will know what really happened here."
"If I tell him this - and his clouded brain doesn't mix it up - it's a challenge to all gnolls. And it only takes one gnoll chief with delusions of grandeur and we'll have an army attacking Kelmarane. You know, the one thing we wanted to avoid."
|
Antarah comments to Aithaloessa "This must be a dream for you." regarding the fully equipped alchemy lab. He wonders if she would be capable of making him permanently enlarged without messing with his mental capacity. But seeing what this did to the man they just vanquished, he wonders if that is a good idea.
Antarah says "I agree. Chances are things here will sort themselves out, especially with the troglodytes becoming the new force to contend."
Yasmeena smiles, listening to the others discuss the message they want to convey. "Perhaps it is enough to tell the troglodytes what we did? I believe they are likely to prevail in the struggle between their two tribes now."
Leading her new Gnoll buddy into the lab too Haleen suggests "Once we're done checking the remaining rooms, we could kick down the barricade to the troglodytes area and do a surprise visit."
"Or we do it more formally and invite both groups to a mediation."
Antarah comments to Aithaloessa "This must be a dream for you." regarding the fully equipped alchemy lab.
Aith nods with speechless excitement over the flasks and scrolls, helplessly distracted from anything else until she gets at least an idea of what-all’s in the room. That is going to have to go into the bag, and that – Oh, and what a novel way of introducing a serum! And those – did he work his transformation out from or test it on vermin? Is that where that thing in the pit came from?
Her thoughts slow, first a bit and then decisively to their usual pace, once the surgeon-alchemist’s workbook turns up. After a couple of fruitless minutes leafing through it, her brow furrows and nose wrinkles in scorn. Maybe it’s because he was mad, but the lunatic’s words are dead on the page to the elf, no trace of the connections between reagents that connect raw alchemy to true magic.
“Barbaric,” and then she heaves a dramatic sigh. “It’s like he’d never heard of basic principles before, and I'm the one who grew up in Alkenstar! Maybe Undrella can get something out of it.”
She blinks as she catches up to the others’ conversation. “Perhaps we could send him off with a stern talking to about harassing any of the civilized folk of Katapesh? For what it’s worth: until such time as some gnoll chief who won’t hear reason emerges, as you say.”
“Let this fellow even spread rumours of the wrath of Sarenrae, if we like,” she proposes, maybe a bit flippantly, but then the grace of the other knights’ goddess does seem to be with them.
Leading her new Gnoll buddy into the lab too Haleen suggests "Once we're done checking the remaining rooms, we could kick down the barricade to the troglodytes area and do a surprise visit."
"Or we do it more formally and invite both groups to a mediation."
“Why not both?” she asks delightedly. “Make a show of insisting that they come to the table together. Of course, they’ll probably be at each other’s throats the minute we’re gone, but that’s their problem, I imagine, and it will keep them out of anyone else’s hair.”
"With Rokova, the Carrion King and the Unchosen gone, it is only a numbers game. And I'd guess that is in the troglodytes favor now."
"If we didn't miss something!" Haleen adds and nods to the other exit of the room.
The gnoll comes along curiously. Like he doesn't know what to expect behind every door. He is genuinely happy and enjoys the company.
The double doors lead back to the maze like room. It is a geometric maze of hand-carved passages. Ancient writing covers the extent of the tunnels from floor to ceiling for as far as the eye can see.
But old texts in a language where even the letters make no sense are not of interest to Haleen and her gnoll friend. So on it goes to the next doors. One, two or three, which one will hold the prize and which ones the goat?
Well over a dozen nests of tattered blankets, straw, and furs cover the floor of this chamber. A pair of tables surrounded by rickety chairs stands in the middle of the room; each table is littered with half-empty bottles of wine and ale. The gnolls that would live in that mess are nowhere to be seen. But they might as well be dead.
So, onwards to the next door. The walls of this room are densely decorated with lines of scripture written in red, decorated here and there with images of fanged mouths ringed by nine spidery legs. Eight mounds of sleeping furs line the walls, and in the center of the room sits a low circular stone table with a slightly convex surface. Rancid-looking candles line the edges of this table, and its center is caked with dried blood and heaped with bones. But here also is no gnoll seen. But there were a lot of gnoll priests at the last fight, who are now also dead.
The last door leads to a filthy, reeking room without
decor — only a thick layer of vermin-infested moldy straw and lumpy sand covers the floor.
In the corner sits a broken old man with barely any teeth left in his mouth. On seeing Haleen and the gnoll he turns his eyes away, but as it becomes clear that she has power over the gnoll and not the other way around he calls out in excitement "After all these month a friendly face! Will you get me out of here? I don't look much, but I can make it worth your time back in Katapesh! I'm a rich man!"
The man gets up and grab Antarah's hand with both of his to shake it. "I'm Amwyr Yuseifah." he introduces himself. "I tried to establish trade with the Carrion King, but that went horribly wrong and I ended up in this s~~%hole. I haven't seen the sun in month."
"A lot of men who were with me here are missing a few days. Could be them, but I can't tell for sure."
"And you are?"
Yasmeena bows floridly and introduces the group as the Knights of Kelmarane.
Haleen gets curious and asks the gnoll "<What is with that man?>"
The gnoll starts snickering. "<That old goat!>" He can barely hold back the laughter. "<He brought half a dozen human females to sell to Ghartok for his harem! As if the king would f$%% those hairless things! Ghartok threw the guy into the slave pen just out of spite, and fed the ones he brought to Thkot Tal as a sacrifice.>" Which to the gnoll seems to be very funny.
"Ewwww." Haleen voices her disgust also showing clearly on her face, while she ponders if getting eaten was the better or the worse fate. Then she relays the story to her companions that don't speak gnoll.
"So he... did..." Tariq struggles to end the phrase. "May the Lady forgive his soul. I don't know if I'm ready to forgive his body." Tariq looks at the old man with disgust.
Aith’s gaze lingers on the inscribed maze for a few moments, just to see if she can get a sense for the markings for later, after they make sure that there are no other horrible things lurking about.
It looks promising, on the "all monsters put to flight or the sword" front, until the knights run into Amwyr.
"So he... did..." Tariq struggles to end the phrase. "May the Lady forgive his soul. I don't know if I'm ready to forgive his body." Tariq looks at the old man with disgust.
“I’m inclined to agree,” she says, nodding at Tariq’s words. It occurs to her that while they are far beyond the reach of any law, making oneself known as a representative of the forces of order might induce Amwyr to explain himself – either out of fear or the hope that they’re as venal as he is.
“A rich man, you say? The flesh trade treating you well in the big city, then?” she asks the foul wretch. “Thing is, the powers that be where we’re from don’t much like that, so ... what are we going to do with you, hmm?”
As she speaks, Aith makes sure to put on a show of both her most guard-ly demeanour and a willingness to hear Amwyr out. She wonders if he’s willing to convict himself by his own words.
Yasmeena stands straighter with a curious motion as her steps make her seem more knowledgeable and learned.
"What powers, where are you from? My business is totally legal in Katapesh!" Yuseifah defends himself.
"Legal doesn't mean morally acceptable" Tariq adds. "In any case, you're lucky we found you, but this place is still dangerous. Stock to us and don't do anything silly."
Haleen helps the old man up. "Where to? I remember this barricade, that was guarded when we came into the large hall above this level. Wait..."
She turns to (the) gnoll "<What is behind that make shift barricade upstairs?>
"What?" the gnoll replies as he is called back from his blissful mind trip. After some tries to convey the location the question is about, finally the gnoll tells the story.
"<The slaves revolted and fled. But they didn't get far. They are hiding somewhere there. I don't know why, but Garthok ordered to close the passage and let them rot.>"
"Those drugs are good. Do we have the recipe? Cause that makes interrogations so much easier." Haleen tells what the gnoll told.