I can pretend to be a thief after the egg. I'll put on a light show and you use the distraction to do your stuff Her devilish features take a mischievious look I do enjoy making a scene
That thief thing might be an idea... It would have to be well timed though. What's your plan?
I can watch from afar until the egg changes hands, then I'll shout something and attack.. 'Give me the egg!' or 'That's mine!' she shrugs I'll make something up
And I use the confusion to place the tracker on the seller right? Could work...
Eiravor thinks about this for a while.
That would need to happen while I'm close to him.
My concern is with the seller's own bodyguards (I'm assuming there will be some). If they attack you we step out of character to defend you and the s*!& hits the fan...
But if the transaction is done, it's more likely they'd step in to get the seller to safety and leave us alone to fend off the attack...
He thinks about it some more...
I'm on the fence. I like the edge the confusion gives us, but we pay for it with, well... confusion. Lots of s#~+ gan go wrong if we invite chaos to the party.
What do y'all think?, Eiravor asks turning to the rest of the group.
"The best plans are only great until the first arrow leaves the bow" - says Armantaro with a grin - anyway I think that we could pull it off but it has to be the seller to give the egg to Eiravor and they can't spot Kha'lessa until its done... any ideas in case the seller just has one of the bodyguards handing us the egg and getting the money?...
In that case maybe I could say I'd take care of Kha´lessa and you two get out of the scene with them. In the 2 minutes you're with them Ragnar pushes you in the direction of the seller, you put the tracker and go away also from them...
That's a fair question, but here's the thing... We don't even know the seller. How will we know if who's handing us the egg is him?
I say we just put the tracker on whoever does the trade and be done with it.
I'll be in the dark but it's possible that they spot me. If that happens I'll have to remove myself from the area so that the change may still happen. I'm not very worried about the guards, I'll just flee, their job is not to hunt thieves, it's just protection
I say we go with Eiravor's plan and put the tracker on whoever does the trade.
Kha'lessa you go in ahead of us and scan the area. We can give you some time before we go and if there is a trap you can warn us. If you don't show up we assume that all is normal and you're hiding waiting to show up right after the trade.
I'm not really the sneaking type so I'd prefer to remain near my new protectors - she winks at them - That'll be you. she says with a disarming smile
Why don't you go to the meeting and I'll remain behind. I'll give you 5 minutes and then do my thing, what do you say?
Sounds like we have a plan of sorts... Eiravor laughs and raises his mug to the group.
A toast to this new... partnership!
So, from the top...
We approach carefully but casually as a buyer and his goons would normally do.
Kha'lessa follows a bit behind, giving us some time to deal with pleasantries and do the trade.
After the trade, she causes a fuss by pretending to want to steal the egg.
We take advantage of the confusion to place the tracker and flee the scene to avoid the "thief".
Timing can get f@~~ed here so if Kha'lessa doesn't show, plan B would have to be to use the moment of the trade to slip in the gadget.
Is this about it?
You could also offer the pin "a token of good will for future profitable trades"... Just a thought if you think you can't put it in him with out being noticed
Ok, I say we go now, get there eirlier and see if we're not geting into a trap
Good idea Armantaro. In fact, why don't I just attach it to the money bag? Simpler than the simplest of things...
The lady left us a velvet pouch with the payment for the egg and the silver pin inside.
I take the pin out and attach it to the money bag in an ornamental fashion, maybe as a means to close the pouch.
The group gathers outside, greeted by a cool but pleasant late Autumn evening - the sky is clear and particularly starred.
The streets are calm at this time of night, even if martial law is not in full force this week - here and there you can see small groups of people going about their business, mostly silent or having conversations in hushed tones.
To one side, a woman hurries along with two children, scolding them for staring at the gathered group. Further down the street, four men walk slowly and unsteadily, exchanging opinions about something in slurred, but relatively loud voices, in contrast with the seemingly noiseless village.
As they wander off, another group comes into sight, not very distant from where you stand, at the entrance to Freona's - three men and a woman seem to be involved in some sort of altercation - they are keeping their voices down, but the words are spoken harshly.
Off we go to the meeting point.
Speaking low Armantaro says to his companions: We better take the right posions. Eiravor from now on you're in charge. Myself and Ragnar are your bodyguards. Kha'lessa is a strange to us and will go on herway. If we get there with some time we may check the place before we meet the vendor so we better not take more time then we need.
Armantaro will go checking for someone following us and scaning our surrondings for threats
So, do we still need the distraction? We can decide on some kind of sign and I'll know you need the distraction
Just scratch your head like you have lice and I'll do my thing As she moves to her position she adds If you have them anyway, just try to keep your hands busy with something else
Crap just hearing the plan made my head itch mutered Armantaro under his breath.
Sounds good. I'm glad I put on my lice ointment this morning...
I just need to take a leak first, hold on a sec.
Eiravor wants to pretend he's a bit drunk and take a leak not too far from where the arguing group is, to eavesdrop on their conversation.
To do this, Eiravor walks erratically, stumbling on his words as he greets people a bit too politely.
As he finds what would be a reasonable spot to relieve himself he goes toward it, excusing himself.
'scuse me I just... I wanna... just... sorry I... just a leak, sorry
Armantaro gives some room to Eiravor. He speaks to the priest whith a hand on a wall to support him and walking slowlly (so that Eiravor gains some space bettween them).
”Hey you idiot - do you need to do that here?!” - one of the men snarls. He has a leathery, sun tanned skin, deep set dark eyes and greasy black hair - ”Damned bums…” - he adds, urging the others to move along.
The woman seems to hesitate, but one of the men - a large, burly half-orc with a scar across his left milky eye, grabs her firmly and pulls her along.
Eeeesh no need to... erm... no need... burp... don't get mad... he says pleadingly.
Then Eiravor pretends to finish his business and stumbles along back to the party.
Aaaah all done
Then he waits until the party is ready to go, keeping a discrete eye on the arguing group.
When Armantaro and the priest catch up with Eiravor he says with a grin: All done and ready to go Boss?
The group continues moving away until they are out of sight, the woman being pulled along by the half-orc.
Kha'lessa kept her smile and pretended to ignore the situation but eventually, as the group starts to move away she sighs and mumbles Dear mommy was right all along
She winks at the group and moves to the guys dragging the woman speaking directly to her and ignoring the ones holding her. Hello my dear, is everything ok? If it's company you seek I'm much more pleasing to the eye than these brutes - she eyes the half orc up and down - And I can play rough too if thats your thing
The three men and the woman all pause staring for a moment at the tiefling. It seems as if the woman was about to say something, but she is cut short by a loud whistle from one of them - an ugly one, with a face like a weasel, greasy black hair and missing several teeth - ”I like this one” - he comments as the others chuckle - ”The lady here already has company” - he inches closer to Kha’lessa - ”But why don’t you join us then? T’seems you are looking for some fun?” - he narrows his eyes - ”Or… You could just run along, before you get your tail caught in… Something hard” - the repellent man finished with a wide, gapped grin.
The tiefling stares at the man with a disgusting look I was talking to the lady, scoundrel. Do learn some manners or I'll teach them to you
Armantaro redies his bow.
Boss I think someone's trying to impose on the pretty girl of the tavern
The thug hesitated and looked around - "Wha? Pffft... I would like to see you try that..." - he added, returning back to the others - "Lets get out of here before I lose my patience"
"You're an idiot Jack" - the half-orc growled at the greasy man - "And you're not giving any orders here" - he added - "Just shut the f*** up and let's go" - they all begin to move away, dragging the woman along again.
|
With my weapon in my hands, I move between Eiravor and the thugs.
Err mate, that no way ta treat a lady!
The way I see it ya got two options:
- ya leave the lady alone and call it a night
- ya decide to pick a fight with us and while we fight the lady flees and you still lose the lady!
I tell ya what, what if I pay yee some beers!
With my weapon in my hands, I move between Eiravor and the thugs.
"Sod off door stopper!" - one of the men replies - "Who the heck are you to tell us what my options are, you half keg of beer? Just mind your own business!" - the man replies as they continue moving away.
Kha'lessa's eyes flash with anger and she points at them with a grin. She suddenly aims to the floor instead and a burst of magic flies near the group exploding on the floor
Maybe I didn't make myself clear, the woman stays unless she tells me she wants to go with you - She explicity looks at her - Well, do you?
Armantaro locks an arrow to his bow redy to shoot (ready action) in case someone atacks. In case he can't attack anyone with a clear shot he repositions himself.
Speaking to Armantaro, I think the only one still around:
I'm gonna try an illusion, not sure what will happen. Just cover me and roll with it...
Eiravor moves so that Armantaro stands between him and the group of alleged bad guys, then discreetly casts Minor Illusion.
The illusion is a sound, originating from a side street behind the group of bad guys, out of sight.
The sound is loud, starts as the sound of armoured feet running, then stopping, then a voice:
You there, citizen! Did you spot a group of men dragging a woman around here?
Then a response, somewhat frightened:
Yes sir! Yes I did sir, they went over that way, to Freona's
Then the previous voice, shouting:
Alright men we got'em, let's go!
Then again the sound of armoured feet running, up the street.
Eiravor wants to drag this out over the full duration of the spell (1 minute), to ensure the bad guys hear it and also to be able to react to anything the bad guys do in that time.
Armantaro replaces the bow for his sword grinning while he casts a glace to the side street from where the noise is coming.
Between Kha'lessa's magically conjured fiery explosion, and the illusion created by Eiravor, the men run off leaving the woman behind.
The woman dashes toward the tiefling - "Thank you! Thank you! Huh... Miss..." - she stammers when given a chance to take a better look at your outfit - "They were going to..." - she bursts into crying - "Thank you again! I was so afraid to call for help"
Kha'lessa keeps the woman at bay with a grim face You should learn to defend yourself or else you'll always be a prey in a world full of predators - she turns and walks away, not even looking at her anymore - Now run along, we have work to do
Eiravor moves closer to address the woman.
Hey there. Don't mind Kha'lessa.
I mean she's right, but this is not the time for lessons...
He moves closer and tries to gently usher her from the middle of the street (I guess that's where we are) to a less conspicuous position.
Are you alright? Do you need anything?
I go along as to act like I'm protecting Eiravor.
Are you alright? Do you need anything?
"I... I am not sure... Do you think those men might come after me again?" - the woman looks around nervously, as she follows Eiravor out from the middle of the street - "I thought I heard the guard, but I must have been mistaken... Not that they would be much help anyway, those corrupt bastards"
When she realises the group wasn't following her, Kha'lessa speaks to no one in particular You know we have somewhere to be, right?
Then she just shrugs and stays in the distance with her back against the wall looking bored
Our friend is right, we do have to be somewhere, but we didn't pull you out of the pan just to throw you in the fire...
And don't worry about the guards, that was just a lil' trick
Eiravor thinks for a moment...
Look, we can get you lodged at Freona's, I think you'll be safe there until we get back. How's that?
"I thank you kind sir" - the girl seems hesitant, and blushes slightly - "But I cannot... Ma and Pa will be worrying about me, and I have to go back to the shop..." - she rubs her hands nervously.
Yeah of course. Is it far from here, your place?
"No... Not very far" - she explains - "A few minutes walking... Would you take me there?" - she beamed at Eiravor.