Eallos, seeing Izzy drop to the ground, cries out and calls upon Milani to heal her.
Seeing Isabella go limp in the crocodile's jaws, Veccio darts around the creature, ducking under the thrashing tail, and stabs at it with a yell, trying to get its attention.
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Apparently surprised and suddenly worried by the unexpected turn of events Varro snaps ineffectively at the crocodile. At the same time Izzy starts to bleed profusely, her life's blood litterally slipping away from her fingers, when a sudden surge of energy knits her wounds shut, curtesy of Eallos invoking the power of the goddes Milani, but in doing so the cleric heals everyone in the vicinity... crocodille included!
Meanwhile Veccio moves and rushes once again into action stabbing the reptile. His rapier pierces through the crocodile's scales making it roar in anger. As a result the monster turns on itself and tries to put an end to the daring adventurer!
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Luckily for Veccio the creature's reaction is way too confused to be accurate and he easily sidesteps jaws and tail both.
Round 2 - Bold may post
Isabella -3 (-13) Prone, unconscious, stabilized
Crocodile -12
Eallos
Varro
Veccio
Abigail
Meliandri
"That's right, you scaly brute!" Veccio exclaims in giddy glee, leaping over the swishing tail. "Try getting a taste of this!" It's cocky talk, but through a combination of skill and sheer dumb luck, he drives his rapier into the crocodile's jaw before ripping it free with a grunt.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Meliandri gives the crocodile a couple tentative pokes with her rapier, half expecting it to be faking somehow. When it doesn't move, she grins and gives Veccio a one-armed hug. "Well done!"
Sheathing her blade, she begins to hurry back down the hallway toward the tengus before stopping to look at Izzy, worry in her eyes. "I 'ave to go. Corva Fushi needs to know zee situation out 'ere. You weel take care of 'er, yes?" She turns a walks away to her meeting with the birds.
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"'Ello? Corva?" Mel stops at the doorway, peeking her head through tentatively. "I 'ave good news and bad news. Zee good news eez zat zee crocodile eez dead. We lured eet out onto zee land and my friend Veccio killed eet. So zat problem eez over.
Zee bad news eez..." Meliandri wrings her hands together out of view of the tengus, struggling with whether or not to tell the truth. It'd be safer in the short run to lie about Chough's death, obviously, and with the crocodile around, it would be believable for a while. But then the living sisters would want to see the body, and the party hadn't taken her up on her suggestion to feed the croc.
"Zee bad news eez zat we killed...zat eez...Chough eez dead. I think. She attacked us, and we were defending outselves." Meliandri pulls her head back behind the doorframe, waiting a couple of seconds for the expected clatter of crossbow bolts, and then continues. "We 'ave 'er locket; would you like eet back?"
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"We heard the commotion... so what you say must be true, the white scaled devil breaths no more! You ahve avenged our fallen kin and saved us from the terror of the night!"
Corva and the others breath a collective sigh of relief as Meliandri explains how the party finally managed to slay the crocodile that was hunting down the sisters night after night. Then, as Mel also relates the fate of their sister, Cough Corva assumes a somewhat bittersweet expressions.
"It could not be helped. Cough had grown increasingly erratical and violent... enough that we had to banish her before we were forced to do something drastical. It's probably a kindness of some kind that you were forced to put her out of her misery. I know the Cough we knew was dead a long time ago"
Then Corva mutters something else to her sisters and they come out from their hiding places, weapons now residing in their holsters.
"We thank you for what you did for us, strangers. Take this meager recompense as a token of our gratitude" says Corva handing Mel a precious looking deck of cards, then the tengu continues with her speech:To be honest we were half convinced you were bounty hunters from Riddleport come to hunt us down after we fleed the city. We meant to escape to Westcrown... but our benefactor, Nan Comerivos was killed... by the white devil, of course before he could send us along to our destination. We don't want to go back in Riddleport but we also don't know how to move to Westcrown, and even then we are not really sure about what to do when we get there... On the other hand we don't know much about Kintargo either... maybe you can help with that problem as well?"
Eallos steps forward when they ask about Kintargo,
I'm afraid that this city isn't much of a safe haven either. We are actually working against the infernal forces that currently rule, and hope to make the Kintargo a place where people like yourselves can settle and thrive.
Eallos again turns his attention to Isabella, touching her gently with his fingertips and allowing divine energy to flow through him.
When this fails to revive her, he channels positive energy twice more.
Varro growls as Eallos approaches Izzy. He knows he is to guard his master, but this one is new. He doesn't know his scent as well as the others. But he helped his master and the others. He watches warily as He lays his hands on his master, a deep grow reverberating from inside, ready to strike should he need.
Izzy's eyes flashed open. She jolted half way up with a gasp before wincing and reaching for her mangled leg that the beast had grabbed. By the seven hells that hurts," she swears. She tries to focus her will to attempt to heal her wounds as well.
At least the bleeding's stopped. Gonna bruise like hell in the morning. "Thank you," Izzy said to Eallos with a genuine smile. She stood up testing how much weight she could put on the leg before going to join the others and listen to the exchanging of words.
"All will not be easy. My friends still seem like idealists. But I don't think they know the real Kintargo like you seem to know, the Kintargo that I know. That's the Kintargo we need to fight to bring the city my friends dream of. The city that everyone deserves to live in. We cannot do that ourselves. We'll need every spell, blade, and arrow we can find to save this city and everyone in it. We'll need people willing to do what needs to be done. If you don't wish to help us now that is find, we won't think any different of you. Putting your life on the line for a place that isn't even yours is a lot to ask. We simply ask that you consider it." Izzy says. When she finishes she notices the quiet in the room and everyone watching her she blushes and pulls the hood of her cloak over her head.
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As Abigail and Isabella finish their speeches Corva and the other tengus have a brief but intense exchange in their birdlike language. Then Corva uffs and nods:"You are our saviours and all things considered moving to Westcrown wouldn't be much different than staying here. Besides fighting tyranny is something we already did... it costed us dearly but we could say we are experts on the subject. So yes, we'll work with you to overthrow this tyrant. But we have some requests: first a safe place to stay. This could work for now but we'd really like to see the sky once again. Second we need you to promise you'll extend your protection to us, and look after us as a family... we have lost too many sisters already! And third, in order to be effective we need information about Kintargo and the situation. It wouldn't do for us to stumble on our enemies unprepared! If you agree to these conditions you can consider us your most loyal allies. All things considered we think this is for the best... a pity Nan didn't live to join us"
Edit:
"I'm glad to hear such news." Isabella said. "I would be honored to call you sisters," She added with a slight bow of her head. She then turned to gaze at the statue of the goddess and the body that still rested at it's base. "If you'll excuse me, we were sent here to retrieve info on that fellow over there."
Isabella stoopped by the water's edge and looked around to ensure nothing else waited for them.
Only when she was sure it was safe did she wade out into the water before swimming to Nan's body and bringing him back to shore.
"Well I'm already out here, Just toss me the rope," Izzie called from the water.
"That worked?" Veccio asks dumbly, pulling his rapier free of the roof of the crocodile's mouth with great effort. In his shock, he barely registers Mel's hug, only managing to turn to her with a broad grin after she's returned to the crow-people.
By the time he's managed to snap back into himself, Isabella's back on her feet and heading out to the remains under the statue, and the crow-people seem satisfied with the result of the pitched battle. Feeling somewhat lost, he cleans his rapier and watches Isabella work.
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Izzy half swims towards the statue of Callistria. The water reaches to her chin so it's not too difficult for her to move in position and dislodge what's left of poor Nan's body. The corpse is badly mangled and half eaten. In particular the crocodile ate Nan's left leg and foot, probably keeping the rest for later consumption.
If Izzy or someone else finds the secret drawer:
Meanwhile Abigail discusses things with the tengus who suddenly seem allarmed by her question about Nan:"Err... no, I wouldn't say we knew him well, no. We paid him to bring us out of Riddleport and all the way to Westcrown... but we bonded a lot while travelling togheter!"
As Izzy is about to start pulling Nan's bidy back to the shore line, she feels everyone judging her movements and takes one last look at the statue and notices a drawer at the base. She holds her breath for a mkme t before ducking underwater to grab whatever's held inside, pulling out a holy symbol and whip. She brings them along with Nan back to shore. Shivering slightly, she showss the found items to the others.
Meliandri takes a look at the contents of the box, shaking her head sadly. "I weel go talk to Laria. Per'aps she weel be understanding of 'er friend's condition." Sighing, she makes her way up into the Long Roads Coffeehouse and looks for the diminutive owner.
Once Laria is found and they're in a private place, Meliandri begins talking, words tumbling out of her mouth as she fingers her viola's bow nervously. "Well, we found zee problem. Actually, zee two problems. First, you 'ad a 'ell of a lizard infestation down zere. Big, white, and liked swimming. We took care of eet, zough eet ate Nan. We did recover zee body, or what was left of eet, so you can 'ave a funeral and mourn eef you want.
Second, and more pressing, are zee Fushi sisters. Zey, um, cut a deal with Nan to get passage from elsewhere to Westcrown. You know we want to be zee resistance against Barzilai. Well, zey are our first followers. 'Owever, zey were trapped down in zee Wasp's Nest for some time, and eet could be possible zey stole a bit of food from you. Also, at least one of zee sisters eez also dead." Grinning sheepishly, she waits a moment before continuing. "So, I 'ave two questions. First, are you interested in 'aving us as 'ouseguests below your coffee'ouse? And, second, do you 'ave a convenient place to put zee bodies of a giant lizard and an overgrown crow?"
Izzy watched Mel head up for the tough task of speaking to Laria while she did her best to wring out some of the water from her clothes. Varro helped as well as he licked the water off her exposed skin. She giggled slightly as Varro did this.
Once satisfied she was as dry as she was going to be for the moment she looked at the body of the beast. "Despite the hell it put us through, it truly is a magnificent beast." she said as she knelt beside it. She took out a skinning knife eyed the beast. "Be a shame to let it go to waste. I know a little leather work, perhaps i could craft us some trinkets and trophies from its hide."
she the slipped the blade behind the forearm of the beast and tugged to split the skin from the meat. It was harder to do than it is for a deer. "Veccio first," she said with a grunt. "he did kill it after all,"
Eallos looks at the items that Izzy retrieved, running his hands over them. He taps the holy symbol, This one looks valuable. The other one doesn't, but it never hurts to check...
With a brief look of intense concentration on his face, he closes his eyes and then nods, That whip is magic. So is the boot, but we don't have the other.
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Eallos successfully determines the value of the items found inside the Wasp's Nest and discovers the magical properties of both the whip and the boot. Yet he knows the second item works only in pairs and there's no trace of the other one anywhere. Fortunately the answer to the riddle is discovered by Izzy a bit later, when she decides to try making good use of the crocodile's scaly skin only to butcher the creature's corpse utterly. In so doing she opens its belly though... and there, among many unsavored things lays the second boot, miraculously preserved, no doubts thanks to its own inherent magic!
Meanwhile Mel joins Laria and gives her the details of what happened below. The halfling woman seems pained by the news about Nan:"He was a scoundrel all right... but he was my kind of scoundrel! Poor chap, this lizard must have slinked its way inside the wasp's nest somehow and ambushed him! Curse his damned luck! Thank you for retrieving his body though. We'll make sure he gets a proper burial at least"
While still mourning the death of his friend the notion of starting a resistance movement and the news about the tengus seems to help Laria forget about her worries for a moment:"Yes. You are right dear. You did your part and proved yourself capable and resourceful. You are of course welcom to stay and use the wasp's nest as you se fit. Same goes for these tengus. If you think them trustworthy we can't turn anyone who wants to help down after all! As for this sister of them... how did she die? But more importantly... wouldn't they like to bury her instead of disposing of the body? I know how to make that happen... of course, but if I were in them I wouldn't want to get rid of one of my loved ones body..."
The halfling gives Mel a small but sincere smile and adds:"It starts now. You still need to recover those documents and you need to do it soon. Rexus keeps walking up and down the common room muttering to himself and he's starting to scare the costumers... besides I believe him when he says you need them. If I understand correctly you need some help picking the lock on that strongbox, right? If needed I can ask around for someone with experience on such matters... but it could cost us a few gold coins I fear. After that you need to start thinking about how to proceed. Right now we can consider ourselves quite safe since we pose no threat to Thrune's rule whatsoever. But if we intend to oust him that will need to change... and with that change so will also change Thrune's attitude towards us. If I were in you I'd start by tracking down supporters and allies in Kintargo. Helping the downtrodden and seeking outspoken dissidents for support are our best bets at the moment. And keep your ears open. There's all sorts of rumors floating around... some might even help our cause!"
"Mmm" Meliandri looks at her feet once again. "Well, zee, uh, sister, she attacked us with no warnings. Almost killed zee dog Varro, she deed. So we 'ad to kill 'er. As for why not bury zee body...Do you know anywhere zat we can bury a large tengu in zee town? Because eef so, zat would be preferable."
As Laria begins her speech about the future, Meliandri stops, listens, and thinks. Rexus needs to be addressed first, she decides, then the lockbox. Everything else can wait. "'Ow much eez 'a few'?" She waits for the response, apprehensively.
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When her conversation with Laria is over, Meliandri finds Rexus in the common room and, without thinking about it, slides a hand into his to get his attention. She leans close to his ear and whispers a few words. "Eet eez over. Follow and we weel talk more." However, it's only once she's led him into the Wasp's Nest that she speaks freely, wrinkling her nose at the stench of the big reptile's stomach. "Why does everything we do 'ave to smell badly? Grimples, stinky reptiles..."
Once everyone's more or less assembled, she clears her throat and starts talking, waving her viola's bow around theatrically like a field marshal's baton. "So, erewe are, zee first een a brother'ood, and sister'ood..." She looks at Izzy, Abigail, and the tengus. "...Zat weel stand against zee oppressor Thrune. As I see eet, zough, 'is power is not something we can be addressing by conventional ways. Too many men with weapons, and too few Kintargans not scared. So, we must do some things.
First!" She swooshes her viola's bow through the air! "Let us recover zee strongbox from zee Fair Fortune Livery. Laria 'as provided a way for us to do zat, but eet eez not going to be cheap." Meliandri fills the assembled rebels in on the price discussed above. "Can we 'ave a vote on zis action?"
Once the vote, and any discussion about it, are finished, she continues. "Zee next thing we must do eez gather information. Zat means talking to people, 'anging out een bars and coffee'ouses, and zat kind of thing. When zee strongbox eez recovered, let us focus on doing zat. Are we een agreement?"
"huh," Izzy says as her skinning knife dug to deep and spilled the lizards innards onto the floor, including the second boot. When she noticed Mel coming back down she walked over to the water to wash her arms off as well as the boots.
"Well we left the box because we couldn't open it and needed Lara's help. Now that we have it, we should be able to bring it ourselves easy enough." Izzy suggest.
After telling the group what the items are, Eallos nods in approval of Mel's words, The strongbox should our first priority.
"Right," Veccio agrees, still glancing at the crocodile's corpse from time to time as if he can't believe what he's just done. "We've found a few trinkets as we've gone, maybe they'll be worth a bit of coin? We should get that box open, even if it'll cost us. Hopefully whoever Laria has in mind won't ask questions," he adds in a mutter.
"So this is happening, then?" he asks after a moment, apprehension and excitement fighting for dominance in his features. "We're actually going to stand against Thrune?"
Eallos nods, a small smile spreading across his face, It would seem so, at long last.
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Despite everything that went down recently Laria manages to give a small chuckle after hearing Meliandri's words:"As long as you stuff something into a coffin no one usually bothers to search the contents... believe me, this is as true and tested as knowledge can get. In other words I don't forsee any problems whatsoever in burying someone who'a actually really dead... Anyway there's a number of places outside the walls that can do nicely for this. As for the money don't worry overmuch, I have someone in mind for this job and I'll make sure he doesn't ask too much... he owes me, after all. Right... back to work then. Feel free to use the bunkroom while I set things in place..."
So saying, Laria leaves Mel and the backery. It's only in the late afternoon that she's back and she quickly asks the whole party, Rexus included to attend her in the upper floor:"I've found your "expert" and he's agreed to meet with you near Fair Fortune Livery. Make sure to be incospicious but things have calmed down considerably since yesterday and Thrune's dogs seem to be on a leash again, so you can move around with a modicum of security. Now go, the guy you are working with his willing to lend us his expertise for no less than 20 gold pieces, but pay him only after he's done his part. His name is Cugly, when you spot him just mention you are the people Laria mentioned and everything should be fine"
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Laria shrugs at Abigail's question:"You don't. He'll probably make contact with you himself once you are in the Livery vicinity"
It takes a while, but the group reaches the livery once again. The setting sun highlights the decrepit building's shape. No one else seems to be present at the moment besides the party.
Izzy stays towards the back of the group as they head back towards the livery, staying more towards the shadows of the buildings and making sure to not arouse any suspicion. She hopes to stay hidden in case something foul should befall their group, she could surprise whatever foe may try to harm them. When they reach the livery, she exhales softly and glances around for whomever they may be searching for.
She notices a halfling that both strikes out to her, and doesn't. She almost curses herself for not noticing him sooner. She stands on edge, eyes on him. He may be their contact, or he may be a member of some other force. Quietly, she brings his attention to the others.
"There's someone there. A halfling, dressed in somewhat bright colors. I almost didn't notice him." She says softly and strokes Varro's head.
Meliandri doesn't notice the halfling either, at least until Isabella points him out. Once she does, the half-elf grins and whispers, loudly enough for her friends to hear. "Back me up, just een case?"
"'Ello. Are you Cugly? Eef so, wonderful! We were sent to, um, talk to you for a bit." She reaches out a hand, holding at an easily reachable level as her aunt taught her, the better to make things comfortable for the halfling.
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For a brief moment the halfling looks truly shocked as he realizes the party has correctly guessed his position. Even so he takes things in stride:"Yep. That's me!" he answers Mel, shaking her hand with vigor while carefully checking her clothes before adding "And you are Laria's people. Good to see you have some decent manners about you... now if you would pay me we could proceed with this liberation you need. I believe me and Laria found an agreement for 50 gold paid upfront..."