Agatsu doesn't like to be in that situation - prone, with the assassin in top of him - and simply tries to stand up, even if this means being attacked. As he stands up, he pulls anything he can use as a weapon - even a chair! Adopting his shikigami style, as he stands up, he swings the improvised weapon against the assassin by him.
One of the assassins hits Agatsu as he stands up
two assassins attack Alistaire, the other attacks Agatsu.
Aistaire's defensive stance saves him from being hit again.
Ok, everyone can go, Alistaire needs to make another Fort sv vs poison. Also, if Agatsu fails his save, he needs to make another one too.
Kílien rolls quickly out of her bedroll and draws her elven longsword as she moves to the nearest assassin. She slices at them!
Yes, it is now on the campaign tab.
The sound of battle clearing his head, Sylvar get out of bed as quickly as he can. With a flick of his wrist, he has a dagger in his hand which he throws at the closest assassin.
"I have to remember to put a regular dagger in this," he thinks to himself as the dagger finds its mark.
Aradesh moves forward slightly, circling around the rear assassin, and attacks him from almost behind with the falchion!
"Murderers! Get out of my town!" she snarls.
Lialda chanted and getured then pointed at her prior target. A beam of blue light lept from her finger and flew across the distance between herself and her target .
Agatsu steps up to flank with Alistaire and attacks the enemy with his sledgehammer, already in Shikigami Style.
Aradesh and Agatsu cut down two more assassins, Sylvar and Lialda damage the last one, who then dives out of the window he just cam in from.
One of the assassins is dead, the other two are bleeding out.
Aradesh throws away the strange weapons of the assailants, then grabs the first bleeding assassin and quickly tourniquets proximal to the wound with a use of her healer's kit. The second assassin, however, seems to bleed out despite her best efforts.
"Hogtie this one for interrogation. Someone help me with the other one!" she says, just as she starts another attempts at bandaging the dying assassin's wounds.
Kílien sheathes her sword and bends to help the second assassin, her eyes hard.
Sylvar jumps over the bed to look out the window for the escaped assassin. Not being able to see enough in the dark of night, he turns back to look at their prisoner. Seeing his dagger on the floor, he bends down to pick it up, wiping some blood from it.
"It seems someone doesn't want us to continue our investigation."
"What, the earlier wolf attack didn't give it away?" Aradesh replies, then splashes some water in the first Assassin's face.
With the edge of her falchion on his throat, she growls at the man/woman. "You. Tell us everything. Who are you, and why are you here? Why did you kill Rodrik? Give us good reasons to keep you alive, or i'll feed your entrails to the fox while you watch."
She points at Hvita.
You manage to save one of the assassin. And he is easily interrogated as he has zero interest in dying. What you learn is that they are a gang from Freedom Town, and were hired several days ago by a half-orc with a heavily tattooed face. He doesn't know the name of the half-orc, or even why they were told to kill your group.
So, this hirer of yours just handed you the coins without any warranty you'd carry the job? - asked Agatsu, not too confident - You know, it'd be customary to get half the coins before, half after the job. The half-orc was such a trusting benefactor!
The large man approached the assassin menacingly.
Unless, of course, you still have the other half to receive... And a place to meet to receive the new bag of coins. Right?
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While the others worked on healing one of their attackers Lialda chanted and gestured casting a spell to stabilize the remaining one. They may have come to kill them but Lialda was not going to just let them die because of that. With the interrogation done Lialda considered how to prevent any further attacks on them and realized she had a way to do so, she just wasn't happy about using it.
When they were finished grilling their attacker Lialda rose and walked over to him with Hvita walking beside her. "Do you know who I am? More importantly do you know what I am?" She waited for his response to her words and then said, "Do you know what my ancestors in Irrisien would do to you for daring to attack one of the Jadwiga?" She again waited for his reaction and then said, "You had best be glad that I was not raised by them because I would leave you frozen for eternity in a block of ice, never dying, always aware, as madness consumed you."
Lialda gave him a moment to let her words sink in and then said, "However if you, or any others, attack myself or my companions again I will do to you and them what my mother did to that orc band before she arrived here. If you want to see exactly what your fate will be go see for yourself and then make sure that no one is willing to attack us again."
She gave him directions to where her mother had left an orcish war band frozen in perpetual ice and looked at her companions a moment before she said, "Let them go, if they are smart we'll not have to worry about this ever again."
Aradesh watches Agatsu and Lialda intimidate the living daylights out of the captive assassin, and waits for any forthcoming additional information. She looks at the witch in sympathy and pats her on the shoulder consolingly afterwards.
If no new information comes from him, she strips the attackers of gear and items and escorts the assassin out the front town gate, where she kicks him out the gate with his hands bound.
When she returns to the others, she heals the other party members with one of her remaining channels.
"All right. I think everyone is mostly fine, just a minor wound on Alistaire left. I used about half of my healing magic for the day. Shall we extend the rest a bit so that we go into the next day fully prepared? We'd lose a few hours, but it might be worth it."
I'll assume you all sleep late so as to get the full rest. So late the next morning, where do you want to go?
In the morning, Kílien wakes with a feeling of indignant resolve. How dare their enemies send assassins to murder them in their sleep? She thoughtfully chews her breakfast and then nods to the others as they proceed to the next place on their list of clues.
Late in the morning you head back to the Sanctuary. The confidant is probably the missing half-orc seer. Tyari Varvatos, the high priestess, again tells you the same thing, that Katrezra disappeared two days ago, after tidying up his space. She allows you to search the area, but you do not find a journal.
"Katrezra was fairly well liked, perhaps you should talk to some of the prominent merchants or people to see if he is hiding there. There is no way he left the city in his condition." Tyari tells you in hopes of giving you some lead.
"Back to Sarah Morninghawk, then? Though we could try her wife at the magic shop, too. I'm unsure which merchant to turn to, but at least they're prolific and might know more."
"I agree, she seemed willing to help our investigation. At least she already knows our intent."
Let's get moving. - says Agatsu, shaking his head in agreement.
Kílien nods, ready to depart, her thoughts occupied with the search for a half-orc with a heavily-tattooed face, who hired the assassins.
Sylvar makes sure to reset his wrist sheath with a normal dagger as the group trys to settle in for the remainder of the night. He felt somewhat confident that they would be safe to rest but was unsure what tomorrow would bring.
The next day, he seems more on edge than he had been before. Getting ambushed twice in one day will do that to a person. He looks at everyone he doesn't know suspiciously, wondering when the next attack will come.
"Yes, let's move on. We need to find him before the half-orcs do," he adds.
Lialda was glad they had made it through the night with no further attacks and felt well rested when she arose. Sadly their first stop failed to get them anywhere but she had hope that the Morninghawks would. "I think we should see Sarah as well, she seems our next best lead. If we have nothing better afterwards then we should go check out the old temple outside of town."
"I think we're in agreement, then. Let's start by paying Sara another visit."
Unless stopped or interrupted, she leads the party back to the local Forge. She knocks on the door a few times, calling for the blacksmith to see if she was there.
You head back to Clamor where you again meet Sara Morninghawk.
"Good morning. We were speaking with Tyari Varvatos at the Sanctuary. She indicated that Rodrik had been speaking to Katrezra over the last few weeks. We would like to speak with him to see what he knows about Rodrik's investigation but it seems he is gone, possibly in hiding. It's important that we keep him safe. Do you have any knowledge of his whereabouts?" the elf says.
Agatsu stays by Sylvar, shaking his head in agreement with the rogue - the brawler particularly liked the approach to say that it's important to keep him safe.
"They mentioned some sort of investigation that Rodrik was pursuing?"
At the mention of Katrezra, Sara relents.
"Yes, he is here. We were unsure of your intentions the first time you arrived, we worried that someone would also try to kill him."
You hear a rustle from behind, and on old, crippled half-orc comes out from a back room.
"I am Katrezra, what do you wish to know?"
Although it's absurd, Kílien quickly scans Katrezra's face for tattoos.
Although it's absurd, Kílien quickly scans Katrezra's face for tattoos.
He's not even close to matching the description of the half-orc the assassin gave you.
Sylvar smiles with relief that he is still alive. "We were hoping you could tell us what Rodick was investigating. Did he speak to you about it? And we've been told he kept a journal but have been unable to locate it. Do you know anything about it?"
A little embarrassed, Kílien tries to explain herself. "W-w-we were attacked in our b-b-beds last night, by assassins. They w-w-were hired by a t-t-tattooed half-orc man." Blushing slightly, she turns away while others question the old man, watching for danger.
“It is no great secret that I was cursed with preternatural visions many years ago, during my time with the Empty Hand. Since I left those savages, many have sought my counsel into matters ranging from the mundane to the dire, but I’m afraid the omens that assault my dreams are nigh indecipherable, even to me, and I have no means of directing them."
“Rodrik originally approached me to ask for advice while courting Brinya Kelver. The love-struck fool—bless his soul—thought I might have some special insights into the traditions of her people or visions of the couple’s everlasting happiness... but come now, do I look like the romantic type?” He smiles wryly, then shakes his head and moves on. “I couldn’t help him with his relationship, but we gradually became close friends. I’d been experiencing vivid hallucinations of white swords or crosses, and dreams of the Plague House outside town. When I told him of them, he seemed to think my dreams might help with his investigation. I told him about my visions as best I could, but the muse of my nightmares is as abstruse as she is unkind.”
“As for Rodrik's investigation, to be truthful, I don’t think even he knew exactly what he was looking for. Rodrik had run afoul of a flood troll in the Plague House not long ago, and the poor fellow was convinced it was not just an isolated incident. He came to me seeking guidance, and his curiosity was piqued by my visions. I told him that flood trolls are native to Belkzen, but they rarely roam this far south of the Flood Road. Since learning of his investigation, though, I have had nightmares unlike any before, and I fear that some greater evil may be at play within Trunau’s walls.”
At the mention of the journal, he pulls out a slim leather wrapped journal and hands it to you.
"I hope this is some assistance to your investigation. Rodrik doesn't deserve to be remembered as a suicide."
"A troll? Could it be in charge of the half-orcs that seemed to have killed Rodrick," Sylvar wonders out loud. "Can you tell us any more about your nightmares? Are the symbols in your dreams the same as those found in town?" he asks as he begins to look through the journal for any clues.
"There have been reports of white swords painted on buildings in town. You would have to talk to the Guard about that."
"As for my nightmares, I can't tell you anything specific, even I seldom understand them."
"Hmm." Sylvar seems a little disappointed in what Katrezra is able to tell them but hopes he can find something useful in the journal.
Lialda was glad they had found Ketraza and she listened intently to what he had to say. None of it was particularly clear but she felt one thing was sure from it, things were going to be bad and very soon she suspected. The fact that trolls had been seen nearby and the possible link between them and the half-orcs made Lialda even more nervous.
"Thank you Katreza, I don't know if what you've seen will help much but I have a very bad feeling what you have seen may come true before too long." She reached out one hand to place and his shoulder, "I'm glad Roderick confided in you and I have no intention of letting him be thought of as a suicide."
Sylvar looks through the journal while Lialda talks to the seer. His brow furrows at the potential implications of Rodrick's statements. He offers the journal to anyone else in the group, encouraging someone to read it. He then pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts before addressing Katrezra again. He does his best to keep his voice neutral and not sound accusatory but watches how the half-orc responds to see if he's hiding something.
"Have you read the journal?"
"Why did you suggest Rodrick give you the journal?"
"Why did you want him to end his investigation?"
"Why did you refer to the investigation as foolish?"
"What scheme was he investigating?"
"How is Brinya involved?"