Orik's page

Orik punches Yod in the arm as he walks by, and with a sidelong glance in Sari's direction mumbles, "You should talk."

"This is where our ways part, friends. Your offer to split the treasure is an honorable one, but I have the wages Nualia paid me and my life, which you spared. That's enough for me. I'm for Magnimar and beyond that, ports unknown. If our paths cross again, we shall meet as friends."

He offers his hand to each of you, then shoulders his pack and takes the road east.

"Ummm, right. Hang on."

Orik disappears for a few moments then returns carrying a shield full of tattered hay from downstairs. "It was in with some cages. Most of it was used as dog bedding though."

He offers the hay to Cha. "That was Jagen's horse. At least he claimed it was his horse though it didn't seem to like him very much. After he died Nualia left it to the goblins. Maybe it was rent or something. I bet the little runts were terrified of it."

"Surely I would not part until we are all safely off this island. I just don't fancy going on to Sandpoint. Not with everything that Nualia was doing. Rather I'll strike out for Magnimar. Maybe sail to Korvosa from there. Maybe not. I'll see which way the wind is blowing when I get there."

Orik already wears a similar breastplate. "Add this thing to your loot. Once cleaned up it should fetch a pretty price at the market in Sandpoint. You'd be better off selling some of this stuff in a proper city, though."

Cha and Ishah find their way back to the group, followed eventually by a shaken Orik. He walks over to where Cha searches Nualia.

"Would you believe I have not killed a woman before? It's unsettling - even with one so vile." He stands guard at the door to the southern hall (14, 16) as the investigation of the room proceeds.

"I don't like the feel of this place at all. There's still something down here - whatever Nualia was after. Maybe the Pathfinders or the Order of the Nail would come look into it. Clean it up once and for all or something."

He pauses, "So what are you going to do with me? Does the deal with the dagger still stand if I choose not to return to Sandpoint?"

Orik squares up on the hall, raises his shield and lunges into combat with Nualia. The narrow passage is filled with giant lengths of lethal steel as the two go at one another with a bastard sword a piece.

"Have at ya, damned witch!" he cries as he plunges his blade home, cutting deep into he her thigh and creating a terrible wound.

SEC

"This was as far as I went. After Jagen got killed and Nualia did nothing to help him, I wasn't volunteering to find the next trap for her. So we all pulled back until Tsuto returned from wherever Nualia sent him."

"Later on, he told me he jumped the trigger stone and found a lever to lock down the trap somewhere beyond. He and Nualia snooped around down here after that. Then he split again and never came back. I guess you guys saw to that."

"It's actually a bit of a shame you had to kill him - though I have no doubt he did something to deserve it. He was just obsessed with Nualia. I think most of his sins can probably be laid at her feet."

As Yod stands there taking in the details of the new hall, the rest of the party enters the chamber behind him one at a time.

"Careful there! The hall beyond that door is where Jagen died. Bars dropped from the ceiling, trapping him there while the statues ran him through with those pole-arms. Then the floor dropped out and his body dropped down a chute."

"Tsuto jumped the trigger stone and found a disarming mechanism somewhere ahead I think. We should have waited for him before we ever came down here."

"Orik, what can you tell us about the rest of this level? I think Nualia's down the stairs we saw with the door propped open. Maybe we can finish exploring this area, slay the last of the demon dogs and get out of here...maybe block that door shut while we're at it. I think we stay clear of the tunnel leading to the bunyip."

Orik is down to 14 out of 27 hit points.

"Since the third mutt is not here she must have taken it downstairs with her."

"That door," pointing at the door Yod searched, "leads to a little jail with some devices to aid in questionings."

"And that other door doesn't lead to a bunyip. It's actually too far above sea level, even at high tide, for something like that to get in there. It's some tentacled thing that Lyrie thought was really interesting. She convinced Nualia to send some goblins in there once so she could watch how it killed and ate them. It's cave opens to the outside about half-way up the cliff face. I guess it normally snags sea-gulls out of the air for food."

"I would never have believed those things would be so hard to kill!" Orik says as he examines his wounds. "There's another of them around here somewhere, so look out. And there's the witch. She didn't come back up here so she's got to be in the lower tunnels still."

Orik takes advantage of the lack of allies to take a full swing at the monster. His arms register the shock of the blow and a hunk of demon flesh chips off the thing's shoulder.

Orik comes in with less power and more control, finally landing a shot but again doing no apparent damage to to the hound.

"It will not bleed!" he cries as he twists to defend himself.

Orik steps in with the long blade and takes a massive swipe at the remaining hound but the creature is very quick and dodges away from the blow. It snaps back at the fighter but he's agile enough to knock the attack back with his shield.

DMs rolling crappy tonight. Can't hit even with a flank bonus.

Yod's turn.

Orik commits fully to his killing stab but the nimble monster leaps over the blade and hovers there in the air as it returns the attack. Its jaws close on the fighter's outstretched arm, mauling his flesh and nearly tearing away the grieve.

'Damned witch-spawn mutt! Joker take thee back to hell!'

Orik charges through the doors and ducks through the columns to come up on Cha's left flank. His bastard sword is held high, poised for a killing thrust.

"Yes, Bruthazmus. I thought he was going to be trouble for awhile, and then he disappeared. I wasn't surprised that he left. He resented that Nualia was more powerful than him."

Orik leads you back to the room with the stairs and gestures to the northern door.

"This one is where my stuff is," he says, gesturing to the first on the right. "Just my pack in there. I can get it when we're done here."

"The next one down was Tsuto's room. Across the hall from Tsuto was Lyrie's room. Across from mine belonged to a bugbear that Nualia 'befriended', but we haven't seen him in awhile."

"At the end of the hall is Nualia's room, though as I said, she doesn't spend alot of time there."

Orik produces another small potion and drinks it. His flesh stitches back together as you talk and his eyes uncloud. He stands up and retrieves his sword to sheathe it at his back. He bends down and hefts the big shield then grins at you.

"Let's go find out what the crazy b!%@& is doing down there."

He looks to your lead. By the near stairs to the 'living quarters' or down the rear steps to the 'study'?

Yod is entitled to a knowledge(local) skill check.

"Right... of course. The door that you barred leads down to some old living quarters and a great hall where Nualia holds her 'services.' All of us took rooms there."

"There's a way into some tunnels where some kind of coastal predator lives. Nualia convinced the chief to send some of his boys into those tunnels to clear them out but they never came back."

"Then a little further on there's the ladies' study. That's right under the stairs we came up. The secret door down to the older tunnels is in that room as well."

"Yeah, I don't owe Nualia anything. Hells, for the last couple of weeks I've been worried I'd end up on the wrong end of her sacrificial knife. I'll help, but I don't expect her to be taken down easy."

"What about Lyrie?"

"How far gone is Nualia? The elf indicated she was transforming? Nothing good can come of that."

"No way, my friend. She's completely mad. She worships Lamashtu. She's actually transformed her arm into a demon's claw. When I met her in Magnimar she was stunning - and powerful. Now she's a monster.

"How far away was she when you left her? Should we be expecting her?"

"She's gone down to the lower chambers to do whatever it is that she does there. I think she passes every waking hour down there in the dark. But not by herself. She has a brood of demon hounds with her. Damned if I know where they came from."

As you're pressing Orik with your questions, Yod walks into the room from the yard and turns down the hall.

"How well do you know your companion? From what you've said, I get the feeling she's sworn herself to Nualia and is not wielding her magic for proffit alone."

"Lyrie? She's probably a nutter as well. I maybe should have left without her before now - though what chance would I have stood with this area so filled with goblins?"

"I don't think she was rutting with monsters and such, if that's what you mean though. I think she's a bit obsessed with the ruins around here and their secrets. I mentioned once that I thought she'd make a good Pathfinder, though, and I thought she was going to tear my throat out."

Yod returns a minute later walking back to the yard and carrying a mattress.

"Lastly, you owe us your life. How will you repay that debt?"

How would you have me repay it? I would give you all that I own, though common honor might permit me a blade to defend myself in the wilderness. I could swear to do the same by each of you if the occasion ever arises?"

"I could offer to carry your friend's mattress for him."

I look through her robes for whatever Cha thinks is hidden there. Although, I know more than most how to hide things where others won't see. I can cast detect magic on the lot of stuff, or Orik could just tell us what everything is; he's been traveling with her for 3 months, he should know.

"The cloak offers some magical protection and helps protect her from poisons and diseases and things. cloak of resistance +1.

"She shoots magic missiles from the wand."

"The scrolls are just... magics. I have no idea."

"Orik, where's the entrance to these tunnels?

"There's one across the yard, where we came up. I'm guessing you barred the door that leads to the other steps?"

"The last I saw Nualia was right before we came up here. She sent us to see if the goblins had gone yet. She probably has gone down to the old ruins."