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I am once again playing catch-up.
All things considered, he's doing okay and got released Sunday but they just needed some extra help.
Dal squirmed at the continual mention of Jessica. “Is that really wise? I mean, what happens if one of the, uh, workers feels some sort of loyalty to Devargo and runs off to give him a heads-up like Elric said?” A weak argument, he knew. The stammering surely did not help Dal’s case either. Amusement Dal gave his familiar a little shove with his foot. “Think this is funny, huh?” Amusement Dal sighed and felt his shoulders sag. “I suppose you’re all correct. We really shouldn’t just head straight into Devargo’s webs. But don’t expect me to play nice with your ‘sister’, kid,” he addressed Audria specifically with the last bit.
I wanted to do more but at the same time, I really needed to get a post up. Year end/year beginning is )naturally) the busiest time of the year for my department and It's been a nightmare to juggle with the tasks I've picked up from the woman who left.
"If he is the King of Spiders, then what about those under him? Wouldn't they try to claim his throne if something, ah, unfortunate were to happen to Mister Bravasi? Do either of you, Mister Orsini or-- um-- Pava, know much about him, his organization, or Eel's End," she asks. “He’s right,” Dal said with a nod to Vencarlo. “It takes a certain set of…gifts to do what Devargo does. Someone might try to take over, if we were to remove Devargo but it’s unlikely that they’ll manage to keep a grasp for too long. They might run the organization into the ground.” Dal scratched his chin as he ran through the possible outcomes. “My personal theory though is that all of the goons on Devargo’s payroll would cannibalize each other as they all scramble to take control. And that means plenty of innocent people could, and probably would get caught up in the fighting.” Dal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. I know this might come as a bad first impression,” he offered a smile to Pava, Elric, and Vencarlo, “but I genuinely think it might be in everyone's best interest if work with Devargo.”
I can honestly say that I did not feel any sort of way about it.
I'm here! Yeah, so, the flu caused a sinus infection. And Wednesday morning the infection had travelled to both of my eyes in the form of bacterial conjunctivitis. I had plans to catch up while but both eyes hurt all day, even after starting antibiotic eye drops. Yesterday, I got back to work and found out that one of my coworkers quit while I was out sick. I spent all day yesterday playing catch-up at work. But I'm here.
“So, uh, Sergeant Rivers,” Dal said. It was an attempt to fill the silence during the walk to the Sanctuary. Audria and Shrike had been kind enough to leave Dal and Abella with their new friend and Dal had found himself suddenly reviewing everything he had done in the last ten years. Surely, the Marine assigned to be their liaison would not take Dal in for some blankets he took from a clothesline in east Shore six years ago. Right? Dal cleared his throat and started again. “Elric, what, uh, made you want to join up with our merry band?”
Just letting everyone know that I am recovering from the flu and playing catch-up. The 28th I felt unwell and on the 29th I struggled to get out of bed but I'm at the tail end of it so, I have a lot of catching up to do.
Here's wishing for a speedy recovery, Abella!
Dal held up a finger, “Uh, can we even get these contacts inside? Devargo’s people might not be keen on letting one of the illustrious marines walk into his establishment.” Whatever Dal had expected Kroft to mention, it had not been Eel’s End. It was not the sort of place Dal made a habit of visiting. Sure, he had gone a few times in his younger days. Chances were, if you pointed at a Korvosan who claimed to have never visited the King of Spiders’ “business,” you’d also be pointing at someone who would lose at one of the card tables. “Then again,” Dal slowly lowered his finger, “I suppose if you’re willing to ‘play dirty’ then you’ve thought of that already.” He chewed on his lip for a few moments as he mulled over the offer. Finally, Pockets slicked his tail back and forth in Dal’s face. Impatient “Fine. Yeah, I’m in. Devargo is a parasite but he’s one we know. If someone is actively trying to displace Korvosans for profit, I’m - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - I’m willing to try to make contact with Devargo. Ugh, I feel slimy just saying it.”
Despite the late bedtime, Dal appears to be in a better condition than usual. His clothes have been washed and pressed. The threadbare, wine-colored coat he normally wore had been replaced with the dark purple, embroidered one he had worn to Castle Korvosa. However, he still wore the rest of his more lived-in attire. Dal slipped into one of the seats offered by the Field Marshal and Pockets hopped up into his lap. The smell of honeysuckle followed the tabby - a nice change of pace from the usual scent of trash and musk. “I have to agree with my concealed compatriot, Marshal, I have some reservations about continuing any sort of long term working relationship here,” Dal said. He made a point to not look at the heavy purse sitting on the desk. His time with this group had done wonders for his urge to scrounge for every pinch he could find. “I have no problem helping out with issues like last night but, I’m not looking for employment. I mean - and no offense intended, Marshal - but the Guard doesn’t have the greatest reputation when it comes to helping the common people. Hell, I could probably walk through that door and meet a handful of guards who’ve arrested me for doing the right thing in the wrong place. That being said, if you have something that could pose a genuine threat and you need some unsanctioned assistance,” Dal gave each of his allies a glance before continuing, “I’m sure we could help in some way.”
Well, I feel like a jerk. Welcome to the game Elric & Pava!
I was just about to put something up and saw we moved on to the following day. I'll have something else up later too.
“You know,” he began. “I have genuine empathy for Verik. Sure, he abandoned his station but he was seeking to help the people when he felt like the system was failing them. And then, those he trusted to aid him, abused Verik’s trust and committed unspeakable crimes behind his back.” Dal squeezed his eyes shut then opened them wide in an effort to fight off sleep. Exhaustion Pockets flopped onto his side at Dal’s feet. “I know, bud. We’re about to head home,” Dal said to his familiar. Then, addressing the Guard once more, “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone his actions. No need to bust out the manacles,” he forced a chuckle. “I just mean that I think Verik thought he was doing the right thing.” Exhaustion Hunger “Alright, alright,” Dal muttered as he scooped up the feline. “Hopefully the rest of your night is quiet,” he called to the guard over his shoulder. In an unremarkable brown building somewhere in North Point: “I need a place to crash tonight,” Dal said. “Dalmano! It’s so late. And you’re filthy!” The elderly woman, Sister Aspexia Sorphus stuck her head out into the street, peering down both directions before ushering Dal inside and locking the door behind him. “Yeah, I was helping the Korvosan Guard clean up some of their spilled garbage.” The Priestess guided Dal through the halls to a room lined with double-stacked cots. “I’m sorry, the best I can do is set up a pallet for you. It’s been…” Aspexia gestured to the dozen or so sleeping bodies in the cots. Dall smiled and waved away her concerns, “I know. And I can do it. Are the blankets still in this closet?” “No, we had to move things around a bit recently. I’ll take care of it. You and the prince just go take a bath. I don’t need any of these poor souls waking up to the sight - and smell - of you,” Aspexia shooed the pair along. A short while later, a clean and very irritable Pockets set aside his negative feelings long enough to eat a small dish of baked fish. Aspexia had set the bowl on the floor beside the blankets and the pillow that was meant to act as his and Dalmano’s bed for the night. Dalmano had, of course, fallen asleep before eating anything. No worries, the thick stew would not go to waste. Terror Pockets shot a look to his sleeping partner. Dalmano was having one of his nightmares again. He gulped down the last of the fish then turned to start on the stew. Dalmano stirred again Pockets huffed at the stew -it would have to go to waste - then curled up in Dalmano’s armpit. “This whole business of taking care of a human is exhausting,” Pockets thought.
Cat Trapped!:
Dal watched as Tally floundered under Pockets. Then, just as the humor was becoming more dressing than funny, he scooped up the large cat
“Yeah, imagine waking up and that’s laying on your chest,” Dal said. On the way back:
[b]“She’s a good kid,”[/b] Dal said to Tally. He kept his eyes on the pair of “willing” prisoners as he spoke. “And it’s getting harder and harder to find good kids.”
I'm in agreeance with Shrike. Also, I'll have a post up shortly. This weekend took a toll on my family.
Two of my nieces and a nephew were in a pretty bad car wreck Saturday night too. And to top it all off, a hawk pooped on me yesterday.
Outside:
“That’s the thing about hateful people,” Dal began as he stepped back toward the door. His eye lingered on the strange pair of familiars. “They say hateful things. Best to just ignore them or feign ignorance. Really ruffles their feathers. No offense, Tally.”
At the mention of an animal or a wagon, Dal shook his head. “No such luck. Not at this time of night anyhow. I think we’re going to have to be our own workhorses. Though I can make things a little bit easier for a while, at least. Cast a spell to make one of us probably you a giant. Give that person some extra strength for a few minutes. Other than that, I think-” Dal pulled the door open. The doors to the outside pen creaked open. “-we’re just going to have to work together to cart this lot back.”
Anticipating a bit of a tongue lashing, Dal let himself be pulled through the doorway. Though he doubted he could have resisted much anyhow, Audria was surprisingly strong. “Right. Before you say-” Audria closed the door just as Pockets squeezed through. Outside: “-anything, I just wanted to make sure Verik understood the gravity of the situation.”
"I-I thought the worst people I'd ever run into were Lamm and H-Halvara. I-I-I w-was wrong. I was so wrong. I was so stupid," she says before crumpling and curling up at the base of the wall. Her body shakes as she silently sobs into her knees. “Hey, hey, hey.” Dal said as he lowered himself to his haunches. He had completely misread teh situation. He eyed half-elf Tally as if asking permission but did not wait for any confirmation. “You are not stupid to think that Lamm was as bad as it gets. You’re not. You’re a good person. And good people have a hard time understanding how people can do bad things, evil things. I wish I was more…more like you. I see the way you looked at these men, the way you’ve looked at all of the people who we’ve come up against. You have this…this compassion, this forgiveness that you seem so desperate to give to people who don’t want it. But they need it. They crave it even if they don’t realize it. I try to be that way. I think all of us try. Well, maybe not Abella,” Dal added with a smile. He placed a hand on Audria’s back. "But you don’t try, do you? You just are. You’re not stupid, Audria, you’re just setting the example for what we all should be. And you’ve set the bar pretty damn high.” Dal exhaled and slowly rose to his feet, eliciting a cracking sound from one knee. “Alright, you’re allowed two minutes to wallow. Then it’s back to work. Otherwise, Pockets is going to set up permanent residence in your lap and you’ll never get up. No matter how freakishly strong you are.” Pockets flicked his tail at Dal and bunted Audria’s chin with the top of his head. His rear somehow managing to place itself directly in front of Tally’s face.
Dal nodded absentmindedly to Audria, “Yeah, yeah I can help with that." “What did you find?” Dal thought as he knelt down by Pockets. Using a bit of cloth from his spell component pouch, Dal reached through the grate. “Gods, it smells terrible…almost…like…” Dal pulled the decaying finger from its hiding place, “...rotting corpses.” He stood and turned to face the group. “Hey, Verik. Found more proof!” Dal tossed the finger to the man.
Pockets arched his back and his pupils narrowed to a slit. But it was not fear or surprise Dal felt coming from the feline. It was… Pride Dal took a few steps forward, careful to avoid the unconscious man on the floor. “Karallo already confessed to everything. And, fortunately for you, he claimed that you were ignorant of the…” Dal paused as if the words had lodged themselves in his throat. “He claims that Parns and Malder came up with the idea to make extra coin while you weren’t paying attention.” Dal kept his eyes on the blubbering man but addressed Shrike and Audria, “Karallo also mentioned that they held onto the victims belongings, right? How’s about we make sure these two aren’t going anywhere then make our way back downstairs?”
Sleep is something I long for.
Dal pulled a small iron rod from his sleeve and focused his attention on the dazed Verik. He drew a sigil in the air around the piece of metal then rapped the iron on his closed fist before speaking a command. “Ne quoquam exsurgatis!”
Infernal:
“Do not move!”
Dal turned his gaze on the man facing Audria and uttered a single word. “HALT.” He felt the spell immediately try to take hold of the man’s will.
I feel like everyone is getting sick more and more nowadays. Take care!
He was good by Sunday evening. But I came back to a shitstorm at the office yesterday.
Dal struggled to stay focused as the revelation kept creeping its way back into the front of his mind. ”Feeding these people their own neighbors,” Dal kept thinking. “Monsters.” HATRED The emotion pulsed from Pockets into Dal, threatening to override his own emotions. Every time he had a dark thought about the men, the feeling stoked the fires until Dal had to focus on nothing but pushing the thought away. “Cut it out! Dal hissed at his familiar. “We have to focus on the task at hand.” Still, he moved along in a bit of a daze, following the others up a set of stairs. Stealth Just in Case:
Playing catch up. I had to pick my son up from school Friday morning. He tested positive for Strep Throat Saturday afternoon.
"Here we go." Dal rushed into to room, closing the gap just enough to be able to get off a spell or one of his hexes if needed.
I'm assuming those are a pair of vats or drums of some kind. Are they tall enough to block line of sight?
“Following your lead,” Dal whispered to Shrike. Then he slunk up behind the wagon.
“I doubt we’ll get through this without some sort of scuffle,” Dal whispered to Audria. “Probably best if you kept it on.” Dal squinted into the darkness where Shrike’s voice came from. “I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I’m basically blind at the moment. I’m willing to hold off on some light until absolutely necessary.” Dal pulled a wand from his pack and wiggled it, “Whatever happens, I can cloud their vision and make everything darker for them.”
The holiday took me. Yeah, Dal moved up to join Shrike and Abella by the door. I'll have a post up shortly.
The one you have is fine. I just can't see anything.
Not sure how I didn't catch it but I don't have access to the roll20 map
“Sorry, kiddo,” Dal said to Audria, “I don’t have anything to put someone to sleep or make you quieter. But I can hold one of them in place for a bit or get one of them to follow a single command I give. Now, if you want me to make you bigger or harder for someone to land a hit on you, that I can do. Pocks, let’s go, bud.” Before slinking into the shadows after the others, Dal added. “The worst that can happen is we get caught and brutally killed before being chopped up and our bits are handed out as tomorrow’s cutlets.” He stifled a laugh and left the alley.
Dal could feel Pockets watching as Tally flew away. Was that jealousy? He shook the cat's emotions from his mind and addressed the others. "Personally, I'd like to be done with this tonight. If we wait another day or two, that could someone else gets a chance to hire them for thug work." Pockets twisted his body between Dal's legs. Anxious "I know, I know," he bent and scratched the cat on one cheek. He stood up straight. "It's the middle of the night. Chances are, some of them, if not all, are asleep. If we're really going to do this while aiming for as few deaths as possible, we should go now."
"I dunno," Dal mused. “I think that's giving them too much credit. Most guards I've dealt with in my life had trouble adding two digit numbers together but even they would be smart enough to not mess with Abadar's people." He leaned against the alley wall and continued thinking out loud. "We've got ex-guards who have ingratiated themselves in a community by providing people with free meat. No, I think the mercenary bit is their plan. I mean, what’s the cost of a pig? Ten sails? Maybe less?” He was becoming more energetic as he worked through the gang’s possible scheme. “Think about it: ten, twenty sails for a couple of animals for butchering. You're not losing money by giving away the meat. You’re investing in potential customers for your real business. You hand out a few silver shields worth of ham to someone, they go home, get in a fight with a neighbor or a lover, and suddenly they’re thinking about the ex-guards who can rough someone up. They come back to you the next day, except now they’re handing you a small stack of sails. It’s not much to you, but it’s all they’ve got, and on top of that, you just covered the cost of one of the pigs you gave away. And they’re just the first of several people coming in. ” Dal bobbed his head from side to side, “Yeah, it could be slow work building enough wealth to leave Korvosa, if that was your goal. But, if you had the neighborhood on your side, you could do it slowly. Slowly and in relative safety. Unless, of course, the Field Marshal herself took an interest in your absence.”
“The money thing checks out,” Dal said. He thumbed over his shoulder at the street behind him, “Word is Verik and the others call themselves the Cow Hammer Boys. Not exactly the most creative name but it has a charm, I guess.” Dal eyed the blakjacks. “If we’re really going to try to take them in, we need to be prepared that they won’t give us the same courtesy. I kept hearing that the ‘Cow Hammer Boys’ have been hiring themselves out-” Dal snapped his fingers as if remembering something. He reached for a scroll case on his belt and pressed a hidden button. A moment later, a scroll shot into Dal’s hand. Dal slipped the scroll into his pack and rolled a different one into the scroll case. A few seconds, and a few wound gears later, he nodded and turned back to the others. “Sorry, I needed to do that before I forgot again. They’ve been hiring themselves out as bully-boys to do people’s dirty work. They have a code word and everything. Just ask for ‘the night’s special cut.’ I think that’s our way in.”
Oh dang. Yeah, take care.
Timeline wise, I think it looks like Audria & Pip (Not sure if Abella went as well) went to the shop while Dal was questioning the neighborhood. I wasn't sure if that Local check was going to work as a Gather Information roll, if so, here's how long it would take Dal.
"Midnight gives us plenty of time to ask around. No point in burning that scroll then,"[/] Dal said. He could feel the disappointment coming from Pockets. He knelt and scratched the cat behind both ears at once. [b]"It was a good idea. We just don't need it right now, bud." Dal stood up straight, his back cracking a bit as he did, and gave a halfhearted wave to Shrike. "See you in a bit. We'll see what we can find out before then."
For what it's worth, I do have Command and Hold Person prepared.
“Like I said before, helping the city guard bring in their own is not something I ever thought I would agree to,” Dal reiterated. “My concern is what they may end up resorting to for a few coins. You can’t exactly get a job slinging ale when you have Kroft and the rest of the city watch looking for you.” Dal looked up at the darkening sky before continuing. “I think you’re onto something though,” Dal said to Shrike. “If they are up to something, we probably would be best to wait until it’s fully dark out. That could give us some time to ask around, maybe see if anyone comes or goes from the shop they're hanging around.”
“I can honestly say that I never thought I’d be agreeing to help the watch wrangle their own,” Dal mused. “But, I get where you’re coming from, Marshal. Korvosa is still in a bad way and if the guards all start to disappear to form their own little gangs, things will only get worse.” Dal pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh, “Yeah…yeah, I’m in. Let’s head out to Northgate and find this butcher shop.”
My post from earlier got eaten with a 404 error from the site. I don't feel like typing it out again so, I'm good to go.
Though he was not sure how long his jaw had been hanging open, Dal knew it had been at least one or two eons. He pointed at Tally. The definitely not a bird Tally. The “had just become a near-clone of Audria” Tally. “That…is a neat trick,” he finally said. Unimpressed Dal looked at Pockets, still pointing at Tally. “C’mon. That’s impressive.” As if in response, the cat stretched one hind leg and began licking the spaces between its toes. Dal rolled his eyes and turned to go with the others.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time Tally's humanoid form has been revealed to everyone right? It happened in one of the "spoiler adventures," right?
Everything was moving so smoothly. The meeting with the field marshal. Grau’s “punishment.” Finding Tayce and Brienna. Heck, Dal had not even had to use that scroll of his. Everything was just working out. “Just don’t get comfortable,” Dal told himself. Noting the lack of available cups, Dal gave a polite smile and held one hand up. “Thank you for the offer but, tea and I have never been the best of friends,” he paused to flash a grin at the boys, “gives me a bad case of bubblegut.” “My name is Dalmano, this is Audria, Abella, Pip, and the one who looks like they eat children for pulling on cats’ tails is Shrike,” Dal said with another glance to the boys. “We recently met with Captain Sabina Merrin. She asked that we check on you.”
I am on the other side of the flu. Just dealing with some fatigue and congestion. Bear with me a bit to get caught up.
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