“Be at peace Seann,” murmurs the priest. “This thing is now at rest, and we shall need your focus to help us through the trials to come.”
A difficult target at the best of times, there are also a number of his allies standing in the way of their remaining foe. Marius therefore opts to hold his position for now. "Surrender is an option, you know," he tells the rather heavily outnumbered man.
Startled, the man stops swatting at the butterflies for a moment, “Surrender? I was surrendered, you damn kids.”
“Look, just put your weapons back in their sheaths and calm your pet here and we’ll all go and see the Lady. You young folks might not know this yet, but it is not nice to keep a lady waiting!”
“How can we know you do not lead us into a trap?” asks Eldin, lowering his wand and hoping that his companions will follow his lead and choose to parlay … but knowing from past (recent) experience that he has no control over whether they do or do not.
Startled, the man stops swatting at the butterflies for a moment, “Surrender? I was surrendered, you damn kids.”
“Look, just put your weapons back in their sheaths and calm your pet here and we’ll all go and see the Lady. You young folks might not know this yet, but it is not nice to keep a lady waiting!”
"Hey, I'm not touching him. You calm him down."
"You will, I trust, forgive me if I am not disposed towards being nice to the lady," Marius says, fixing him with a glare, "Surrender - true surrender - also implies that we need not worry about fighting you in the future. However the negotiations might go. Have we that assurance?"
His tone of voice is ever so slightly cynical. No assurances at this point would persuade him to lower his guard, but wantonly killing everyone they run across will leave precious little incentive for anybody to surrender in the future. Not everybody in the guild is a vicious, treacherous bastard, and there are definitely people whose blood he'd rather not have on his hands.
The Beast becomes Terin again and raises his scimitar to the instructor's throat.
"You call me a 'pet' one more time or use your cruel animal treatment methods upon me one more time and I swear by all the Gods of the Natural Order that I shall end you."
Tyndal moves next to Eldin. "Hey Father, you mind fixing me up?"
He points to the spreading purple bruise on his ribs and his smashed nose.
Tyndal says, "I say we end him right now...he's just going to jump us when the deal with the Lady goes south. Convince us we need you old man, or you're going to end up with your dead dog right here"
“Not at all,” Eldin inclines his head, keeping a wary eye on the old man. He wipes the zombie g$%# off the end of the wand with the edge of his cloak and then touches it to Tyndal’s bruised flesh, evoking the healing energy.
The priest has been trained in diplomacy, and considers leading the parlay with the old man … but he sees little value in it, given the antagonistic attitude of some of his companions. He would feel uncomfortable in negotiating a truce only to have it broken by one of his companions. Eldin doesn’t get too caught up in concepts of honour and truth, but he tries to do the right thing – and that wouldn’t be right.
“How can we know you do not lead us into a trap?” asks Eldin, lowering his wand and hoping that his companions will follow his lead and choose to parlay … but knowing from past (recent) experience that he has no control over whether they do or do not.
The old man smirks a little as he replys, “You don’t, but I can tell you I won’t and we can all pretend I’m a thief with a heart of gold. Deal?”
"Have we that assurance?"
“See, now if you’d used that brain earlier, you wouldn’t have ended up tied to a chair.”
Indifferent, the elder trainer asks Terin to accompany him, “Two legs, if you don’t mind.”
Time permitting...
“Not at all,” Eldin inclines his head, keeping a wary eye on the old man. He wipes the zombie g~@~ ...
I'm here, and I have internet! WIN!
“Convince us we need you old man, or you're going to end up with your dead dog right here"
The man mulls over Tyndal’s comments, retrieving a small vial of iridescent blue liquid from his pocket as he does so. “Truth be told, young man, you probably don’t need me, and I most certainly would attack you again if you were impertinent enough to be rude to my mistress.”
With a mock toast in your direction, he quaffs the contents of the glass container, following up the drink with a loud, “Ah!,” and smacking his lips a bit. He continues, “That said, I’m not overeager to kill myself by throwing my body in front of your group a second time, so at least come with me and hear the Lady out. You might find what she has to say worth your while, and not having murdered me could result in a better offer!”
And when we turn her offer down? Then what? You and her gang up and attack us? You are surrendered. Allow us to bind your hands and tether your feet and I swear you shall live no matter what goes on between your master and us, otherwise I would rather deal with you now and that won't leave you living.
Make a choice.
*readies an action to attack if he looks to flee.*
The man sighs and claps his hand to his forehead, "You still don't get it, do you son? I train escape artists for a living."
“I learned a long time ago not to presume to speak for what the lady might or might not do. It’s why I’m still alive, unlike that Penkus fellow.”
Terin gives a vicious looking smile, "Are you sure about that Penkus part?.......
So what do we do to ensure you don't team up with your master against us?"
“Well, dead or run off, he ain’t been back for quite some time now,” he tells you. Exasperated, he says, “I can’t imagine how you young folks made it down this far.”
“It seems that we are at something of an impasse here,” speaks Eldin, stepping forward, “but our main quarrel is not with you nor your lady, but with one Vanthus Vanderboren. Perhaps your lady can help us find him. Now, you were heading to see her and we were heading to see her, so why do we not both proceed in this direction? We give an undertaking to talk with the lady rather than rush in with blades drawn, if you will undertake to allow us the chance to speak freely without being ambushed. Does that sound fair?” He looks at much as the rest of his group as the old man.
No doubt things will not be as simple as all that, but the fact remains that they will sooner or later need to face the Lady of the Lotus, and if they are to be ambushed he would rather it was within striking distance of her than not.
"Indeed, shall we see what she has to say? Questioning corpses is so much less informative..."
"But a lot more profitable, corpses tend not to care when you take their stuff."
Tyndal wipes the dried blood off his face and nods at Eldin with thanks.
"Let's just get this over with. Just kill him first if there's a doublecross"
Spot: 1d20+1=14, Listen: 1d20+1=17
"Insofar as I have a voice in the matter, he does raise valid points," Marius says, "I imagine how well the negotiations will go will depend very much on what the Lady thinks you have to offer her. And of course whether you're willing to offer it."
For his part, Marius continues to keep an eye out. The longer they stand about talking, the better the odds of reinforcements showing up. He somehow doubts that event would be greeted with peace and goodwill from anybody.
The grease dissipates, drying into a sticky resin.
Spot: 1d20+1=14, Listen: 1d20+1=17
Intent on the old man, you spot nothing out of place, though you have the sense of soft-soled shoes scuffing on stone from behind you. Three, maybe four people?
“As you don’t appear to be in any hurry to see my mistress, perhaps you can tell me how it is you came to be down here and how you made it past our defenses? That kind of information could prove valuable for strengthening the guild in the future.”
Sense Motive DC 16:
“Finally. Good to see someone making sense, I’m not getting younger you know. Are you ready to follow, or should I expect a knife in my back?“
“As much as my word is worth to you, I promise you will not be attacked until after you conclude your meeting with the lady.” Oddly enough, he raises his voice a bit for this comment, as if speaking to someone other than your group.
“Well, dead or run off, he ain’t been back for quite some time now,” he tells you. Exasperated, he says, “I can’t imagine how you young folks made it down this far.”
“Finally. Good to see someone making sense, I’m not getting younger you know. Are you ready to follow, or should I expect a knife in my back?““As much as my word is worth to you, I promise you will not be attacked until after you conclude your meeting with the lady.” Oddly enough, he raises his voice a bit for this comment, as if speaking to someone other than your group.
Who are you speaking to? You've made your choice I see...treachery!
Terin shifts into Beast form as a swift action and attacks.
1d20 6=18 attack, 1d6 5=8 damage.
/
The goings on ahead hold your rapt attention, and you hear nothing but the voices and the trickling of water farther down the cave system.
1d20 2=5 sense motive. Terin shifts into Beast form as a swift action and attacks.
/The goings on ahead hold your rapt attention, and you hear nothing but the voices and the trickling of water farther down the cave system.
1d20 2=5 sense motive. Terin shifts into Beast form as a swift action and attacks.
My sense motive was to sense him stalling.
“Finally. Good to see someone making sense, I’m not getting younger you know. Are you ready to follow, or should I expect a knife in my back?““As much as my word is worth to you, I promise you will not be attacked until after you conclude your meeting with the lady.” Oddly enough, he raises his voice a bit for this comment, as if speaking to someone other than your group.
Who are you speaking to? You've made your choice I see...treachery!
Terin shifts into Beast form as a swift action and attacks.
1d20 6=18 attack, 1d6 5=8 damage.
Seann is panicking.
"What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?! Are you TRYING to get us ALL KILLED!?"
As his agitation builds, a halo of green begins to surround him, and his eyes flash golden.
Making a note to himself that anything approaching reason is clearly a lost cause with Terin along, Marius moves to take cover from the expected attack from the rear, sighting his crossbow down the corridor.
"We're about to have company, people," he says.
"What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?! Are you TRYING to get us ALL KILLED!?"
ROARRRR!!!
If you speak Beast(which isn't possible)-
Eldin sighs and looks heavenwards, before preparing for battle. Yes, the old man was almost certainly stalling so that allies could move into favourable position, and yes, there would probably be an ambush prepared and waiting for them if they followed him to the Lady. But obscurely (perhaps naively), Eldin believed him when he said they would have a chance to say their piece, and he had hoped to at least have the chance to do this thing as bloodlessly as possible – either through diplomacy, or through a direct and sudden strike at the guild’s leader without having to fight through the entire guild to get to her … that chance now appeared to be gone.
*Beast is a very efficient language*
Frustrated to distraction, Terin leaps upon the trainer. The beast has had enough! Clawing and biting at the old man, the closer he comes the more it feels as if he’s attempting to attack through a thick haze as the air around the elder solidifies with physical force.
"Not this again. One way or another, you're going to meet the mistress!"
Marius whirls around to witness a trio of descending blackjacks. As the weighted clubs connect with his forehead, he discharges his crossbow at the lead rogue . The world goes dark.
Attack (Sap) (1d20+1=15, 1d20+1=13, 1d20+1=17) \ Nonlethal damage - saps; sneak attack (1d6+1=7, 1d6=1, 1d6+1=4, 1d6=4, 1d6+1=2, 1d6=3)
Made the will save to attack him-1d20 4=20
"What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?! Are you TRYING to get us ALL KILLED!?"
ROARRRR!!!
If you speak Beast(which isn't possible)-
** spoiler omitted **
"GAAAH! Hey, I'm not stopping you!"
Muttering angrily about choke chains, Ardan resumes his assault on the old man. 1d20+1=10
"What the..?!"
Initiative:
Ardan
Terin
Marius
Tyndal
Seann
Rogues
Trainer
Eldin
Spinning about, the priest is in time to see Marius fall to a trio of rogues. Fearing that they may take the opportunity to finish off the unconscious man, the priest's reflexes take over, and he quickly touches the healing want to Marius, sending a burst of positive energy to revive him.
The Beast lunges up at the Trainer's throat, trying to rip out his windpipe with The Beast's long, feline fangs. 1d20 6=26 natural 20, 1d6 5=9, 1d20 6=24 critical confirmation, 1d6 5=8 for 9 damage or 17! if the critical is confirmed.
If the trainer is dead, The Beast lets out a terrible roar that reverberates through the hall.
Marius
Tyndal
Seann
Up!
"Bloody hell!"
Seann whips around with his spear, but in his frenzy, misses by a mile.