Penka keeps her crossbow in her off-hand, and draws the light mace tucked through her belt. She tries a swipe at one of the gremlins around Alyn, but does have an opening to really get at it.
Khoran continues calling on the spirits, again trying to entangle one of the gremlins in a silken snare...
Hekau attempts to Grapple one of the gremlins in Penka's space.
"I believe we will find it easier to grapple them than to strike them."
Hissing in surprise as the unblinded gremlin swipes at her legs, Alyn drops her jammed pistol and draws her machete from its sheath, taking a wild swing - to get it to back off, if nothing else.
The same gremlin avoids the silk nimbly once again, hoping to actually damage Grezzag as both of them attempt to coordinate a shift from one individual to another, but while doing so Grezzag successfully grapples the blinded gremlin. The unrestrained one, however, moves over to Hekau's foot, as he is just in reach.
As the blinded and grappled gremlin is practically hoisted up by Hekau, it attempts one last stab-bite combination. It, however, fails miserably. Seeing as the unrestrained one can no longer stab Alyn as her attention is entirely on the gremlin at their foot.
Hekau, distracted by holding the gremlin in front of him, does not have time to react to the tiny pinpricks at his feet. Two, to be exact, as the gremlin chomps down and stabs at his ankle.
Hekau will Pin the gremlin that he is grappling.
"I have found this approach effective," the android states.
Penka moves to the right, trying to get a better line of attack on the gremlin harassing Alyn.
"Great, you grabbed one", she replies to Hekau. "What do you do with it now?"
"I will hold it pinned while one of you run my cold iron dagger through its brain. This seems likelier to succeed than trying to strike them in motion."
Zelvin steps closer to Hekau and the pinned gremlin, holds his gun up to the side of the creature's head, and fires.
Creatures with a reach of 0 feet can’t flank an opponent.
Grezzag brings his axe down with a careful swipe on the one that Hekau has pinned down.
The bullet and bolt merely plinking off of the pinned and nearly-helpless Gremlin's head , the other unrestrained one cowers in fear as its comrade is sliced and diced by a double-axe, its lifeless body falling to the floor. They are clearly shaking, and look as if they're going to make a run for it.
Alyn and Khoran, what will you two do?
Khoran encourages Alyn: "Grab the bastard! Hekau's right", while he calls on the spirits again...
The bullet and bolt merely plinking off of the pinned and nearly-helpless Gremlin's head , the other unrestrained one cowers in fear as its comrade is sliced and diced by a double-axe, its lifeless body falling to the floor. They are clearly shaking, and look as if they're going to make a run for it.
Alyn and Khoran, what will you two do?
Alyn grabs at the cowering gremlin, hoping to restrain it before it can scuttle off.
In one final last ditch attempt, the grappled Gremlin stabs and bites at the android, knowing that the end is near and hoping to knock out at least one of the party. It does not seem to be effective, as everything against the six cave-delvers has been in the past.
Zelvin turns and in one smooth motion fires his revolver at the remaining gremlin.
Khoran waits, confident the youngsters can handle the last gremlin without him...
Grezzag moves around to the last gremlin and finishes it off with another swing of his axe.
"'Zat the last of 'em? Sounds like they all came out, but I reckon we oughta do a sweep just to be sure."
As Grezzag slices at the final creature, it falls to the floor with a wet, resounding thud as its shortsword falls from its grasp and Alyn releases the unconscious creature. As you make your sweep around the caves, you fomd that several different passageways converge on a narrow ledge overlooking a rubble-filled cavern. The far wall is made of a smooth, dark gray metal. A single circular door, tightly closed, sits on the metal wall just above the upper level of the rubble. Here, you find a collection of platinum and gold pieces that total about 1550gp, as well as the four Tiny shortswords you saw the Jinkin Gremlins use, as you lift them from their unconscious bodies.
Meanwhile, the skulks go around making sure the creatures you killed: the molds, the beetles, et cetera, are well and truly dead. Once they are confirmed as such, their leader, Sef approaches you.
"Normally... this would be the point where we backstab you surface dwellers. But you've made a decent enough service for us, and in return we will grant you some of our treasure and knowledge about... whatever it is somebody past that door wants," to which she pulls out a pouch, containing 49 silverdisks and five brown-striped cards made of a flexible, thin material. "Some purple-haired woman, who looked kind of like you," to which she points to the Android Hekau, "tatoos and all, asked if we had any at the time. I have zero idea what they're used for. But they seem valuable. You can also help yourself to a bit of the rest of our treasure. Those little menaces were impossible to nail down."
She then directs the party towards a small hoard of treasure containing:
- 3 Sets of Studded Leather Armor
- 1 Mwk Buckler
- 1 Short Bow w/ 11 arrows
- 1 Rapier
- 2 Shortswords
- 1 Mwk Sap
- 2 Potions of CMW
- 1 Sunrod
- 2 Sets of Mwk thieve's tools
- 1 Scroll of Shield
- 1 Scroll of Identify
- and 143gp.
"Besides the weapons we have on us," she mentions, "we haven't had much use for any of this." Near where you currently stand is a smooth wall of dark gray metal bisecting the cavern here, its expanse pitted and scorched but quite solid looking. A strange circular opening pierces the wall five feet off the ground, allowing access to some sort of hallway on the other side. The other skulks can be heard grumbling about "departure from custom" in Undercommon as Sef continues talking.
"I thank you for bequeathing to us these items that are useless to you," Hekau responds with a fair imitation of politeness.
He turns to the others.
"I can proceed if you wish. I have only minor injuries, which should heal rapidly. As well, my magical resources are not depleted at all."
Penka can't actually speak with the skulks, but she tries to indicate appreciation for the stuff they offer.
"We should go ahead and take the bodies back before they get any worse" she advises.
Zelvin scratches his nose. "Thanks, Sef. We'll gladly take this stuff off your hands, and we're not goin' to attack you either. It seems like our arrangement was mutually beneficial, and that bodes well for the future, I'd say. We'll soon be gone, leavin' you and your home unmolested any further. But, I got to ask, this purple-haired woman-- was she traveling with the man we asked you about? Or was this maybe before he arrived? Was she alone? What did her companions look like?"
To the party, he murmurs: "The bodies, and this pile of treasure, should weigh us all down a fair bit. I'm all for rushin' ahead, since Mr. Khonnir might be in trouble and waitin' for us to rescue him, but he was always tellin' me to slow down and act carefully, and I wouldn't want to run into something we were not properly prepared to deal with. Also, I'm almost out of bullets, but I reckon I should be able to make some more in Mr. Khonnir's workshop with my share of the proceeds we'll get for sellin' this stuff."
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"Yeah, heading back sounds good." Grezzag says, looking over the metal wall. "Better to be fresh to face whatever's in there."
To the skulks he asks "How many groups did you see go through here? There were a few others and I don't reckon we saw all of them in the caves."
As soon as Grezzag fells the gremlin, Alyn tosses it aside, searching for her pistol. Throughout the rest of their encounter with the skulks she's quietly toying with it, eventually sighing and holstering it.
"Should probably head back. If we do keep going, though, I'm stuck to just my blade. I don't want to risk this thing exploding in my face," She pats the holster in indication, "and it won't be a quick fix."
"Well, I don't see anything majorly wrong with your plan, youngster, so let's do it." Khoran is willing to follow Zelvin's lead on this.
But before we go, he does have a question for Sef (the skulk leader) "If we're going back up to town, is there anything you folks would want from town? We could perhaps come to a deal to bring some stuff down next trip..."
As they collect up their reward for fighting the gremlins, Zelvin notices Khoran's banner. "Hey Khoran, if you don't mind me askin', what's that flag you got attached to your spear? Is that something to do with where you come from?" The half-drow youth seems genuinely curious.
"My flag, that's the clan's banner. The grinning bear skull of the Bone Bear clan. I've been carrying this banner for more than a century. We got smashed in Kevoth Kul's rise to power, but the banner never fell; she's sanctified still, and the clan spirits still gather around lending their might to the folk and friends of the clan."
Zelvin purses his lips and looks again at the banner a bit apprehensively. "Are there many of your clan still around?" he asks, adding: "And how do we tell those spirits there that we're friends?" He makes a self-deprecating nervous chuckle.
He thinks a moment. "'Kevoth-Kul'-- that name sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?" He looks over at Hekau to see if his brother has any insight. "Hekau, do you know that name?"
The group of six adventurers steps over unconscious bodies as they maneuver and swim their way back up to the surface. They hold the still-warm illuminating organ, functioning as a torch, in hand.
Upon leaving you are greeted by Joram Kyte, who asks you what you have found, and if you are any closer. The cleric, however, is accompanied by a
nervous-looking courier, who states that he has a "m-message for the n-newest group entering the S-uh... no, that isn't right. Entering the c-caves down beneath. Y-you're uh... if you want to that is! Invited to j- join Torch's il-illustrious cavern and card room." He then hands whichever member of the group will take it a certificate for 100gp at the card house, one Silverdisk Hall, owned by one Garmen Ulreth.
Garmen Ulreth is one of the more influential people in Torch, which is an impressive quality, given the fact that he’s neither a councilor nor a legitimate merchant. Indeed, Garmen’s considerable pull in town stems from the fact that a number of Torch’s citizens owe him money in either small or large amounts.
Garmen is associated with what passes for Torch’s thieves’ guild—a gang of thugs and roughs called the Ropefists— and that the owner of Silverdisk Hall may even be the gang’s leader. He certainly employs enough of the Ropefists as bouncers and guards at his gaming hall.
Joram, after hearing what you've discovered underneath the town, hurries the courier off, adding that "The man... he wouldn't listen to my words to wait until you actually came up from there before wanting to give you the invitation..," before trailing off about debts of some kind.
"Zelvin, Kevoth-Kul is the Black Sovereign, the ruler of Numeria."
"Many residents of Torch owe money to Garmen Ulreth. This suggests that his gambling establishment is very successful at attracting business, and that the residents of Torch habitually over-estimate the probability of their success at gambling.
It is also probable that Garmen Ulreth is the leader of the Ropefists. Influence over such a group would be necessary to operate the card room, in my estimation."
There is no judgement or disapproval in Hekau's tone.
"We completed our initial excursion successfully, Master Kyte. We have not yet located Khonnir Baine, but to our knowledge he still lives.
We eliminated numerous threats, and negotiated passage with others, which should make the early stages of our next excursion proceed more rapidly."
Hekau is not very interested in gambling himself, but he will accompany the party if others wish to go.
"I don't mind gamblin', especially if it's with someone else cash." Grezzag remarks, peering at the certificate. "But you reckon it'd be safe to go? Doesn't make sense to me that Ulreth'd be behind turnin' off the fire - if he's running card tables, he'd want people to be makin' money so he can win it off 'em. But still, maybe there's something bigger down there." Grezzag shrugs.
"But speakin' of people making money, do you know a good smith in town? We need to sell off these weapons, and I want to use my share to improve my axe."
Zelvin looks at Khoran with new respect, to think that he is old enough to remember the Black Sovereign before he became the Black Sovereign.
"I don't trust Ulreth or his thugs, and I'd recommend if we're goin' to go to their hall, we don't take anything valuable with us. I wouldn't put it past 'em to steal it from us and say we lost it gamblin'. I'd guess that the offer is just to get us in the door-- I doubt they'd let any of us leave with it. But since I've got some work to do in the shop, I don't mind if you folks go without me. I'll even hold your treasures safe here, so you can be sure you don't lose 'em if things go bad."
He considers Grezzag's question, scratching his neck as he thinks. "I'm sure there must be lots of folks in town who would love the job," he decides. "With the Torch bein' out, all the smiths who work in skymetal have got nothin' to do, so I'm sure makin' your axe sharper would be well within their talents. I don't know anybody specific, unless you count Alyn here. You made that shiny necklace you wear, isn't that right?"
Zelvin purses his lips and looks again at the banner a bit apprehensively. "Are there many of your clan still around?" he asks, adding: "And how do we tell those spirits there that we're friends?" He makes a self-deprecating nervous chuckle.
...
"Well, I'm still around, but that's pretty much it. As far as making friends, we could swear an oath of kinship and friendship. "
...
Upon leaving you are greeted by Joram Kyte, who asks you what you have found, and if you are any closer. The cleric, however, is accompanied by a
nervous-looking courier, who states that he has a "m-message for the n-newest group entering the S-uh... no, that isn't right. Entering the c-caves down beneath. Y-you're uh... if you want to that is! Invited to j- join Torch's il-illustrious cavern and card room." He then hands whichever member of the group will take it a certificate for 100gp at the card house, one Silverdisk Hall, owned by one Garmen Ulreth.
+4 wis
Penka brings up the silverdisk's alternative purpose with the rest of the party.
"You know, those disks were originally used to power technological devices, machines and such. Mostly the power is gone from them and they're used as money now, but maybe we should go to Val's with them to see if we can check to see if any of them are still good. We might want to hold on to any that are in case we find useful things that need power down below."
"They're still worth just as much as money after we use them up, so we don't lose anything by using them first."
As for the gambling invitation, Penka isn't excited by the idea. She doesn't know much of anything about the place or its owner herself, but the general idea of gambling makes her uneasy. To her it only makes sense to have such a business if one knows the house will reliably win more than it loses. But even worse, what if she tried it and liked it so much she got hooked? It seems better to never try it.
"I'll go if the rest of you are, but I won't gamble myself. I'll just watch."
[spoiler=Khoran] The guy was thinking of the wrong thing. He seemed about to utter "Si," possibly mentioning silver disk hall. Anyways, time to roll a crap ton of dice to emulate cards. Paizo why![/ooc]
As the portion of you that wish to go gambling reach Silverdisk Hall, a man is standing right outside the relatively-glamorous entrance to the card room, with a few tables set up with a variety of differing games visible. "Ah, so it seems the most of you got my invitation! Do you have the invitations the courier gave to you?" Afterwards he holds out his hand for the certificate given to you earlier. He's surrounded by surly bouncers on both sides of him as he does this.
Assuming the group does give it to them, there's a spattering of three different types of variety of card-games available for you to use your certificate money at. One of the games is a poker variant the other being blackjack, and yet another being advertised by Garmen as "a pale imitation of an Alkenstari invention, using cards instead,"
Before you can enter, the man smiles and says "Thank you for your service to the town, I can't exactly make much money if everyone's leaving due to the torch going out. So, try not to spend too much time here."
The individuals who are not gambling at the moment are free to roam around town as they fit.
Hekau decides to try some gambling. Even though he knows logically that he is unlikely to come out ahead financially, he also knows that if the Thieves' Guild is running this establishment, they will be more favorably inclined to 'customers' who lose money here.
So, for the sake of maintaining good relations with one of the power bases in the town of Torch, he gambles. And he does so badly.
Hekau is lacking in interpersonal skills, but makes his best attempt to seem like he is genuinely trying to win.
The Bluff isn't crucial - if they think him intentionally throwing his money away rather than inadvertently throwing his money away, they would probably still like for him to remain around.
He keeps playing the "slot machine" until he has lost all of his share of the credit, and then another 20 gp besides.
"I thank you for entertaining pastime. Perhaps when I have some downtime, I can attempt to construct that Alkenstari invention. Should you have schematics or diagram, that endeavor would be more likely to succeed."
Grezzag opts in for visiting the gambling hall, although he takes Zelvin's advice and leaves most of his valuables at the Forge.
"Probably worth going just to check him out, if anyone's not playing then maybe poke around for anything suspicious. And if we get jumped, then I figure I can give as good as I get it. But if there's ends up nothin' sneaky about it, then no harm in takin' what reward we're given." he adds with a grin.
--
At the casino, Grezzag goes for poker as that seems to have most opportunity to chat to other people. He has a few drinks and plays raucously until a few hours have passed or he runs out of the free money.
Although Khoran is not interested in going gambling himself (he's canny enough that he has a pretty good idea of the odds you can expect at a crime families casino), he has some advice for any who do go "Keep your ears open. People have been here too long, so there has to be more known about what's under that hill than what the town council has been willing to tell us. You might hear all kind of interesting things in a dive like that."
Zelvin opens up the Baine family forge in order to work on his revolver, upgrading it with his newly-discovered martial magic powers, and also crafting additional ammunition. He also makes it available to Alyn. "If you need a place to do your repairs, there ain't no place in Torch as well-organized as Mr. Khonnir's workshop. Well, now that the robot ain't attacking folks any more," he smirks.
Penka just watches as the others gamble. She does keep her eyes and ears open to take in what's happening in the place. She's sure it's all rigged.