"So, we're off to see these knights. I do hope they're not the type to hack and slash before listening."
"Hrm." I said intelligently. "I hadn't considered seeking allies against 'Shadowwise'. That's brilliant!" I smiled at Lucienne. "After all, if 'Shadowwise' is sending people willy-nilly into this realm to get them out of the way, how long before he tries to take over here too? That's a viable argument to present to a ruler."
"But I think, If the king's up there, don't we have to go through the knights to get to him?"
"Perhaps, we should ask around a bit about the king and his knights before meeting them. The right kind of information may give us the edge to come out ahead in any confrontation with them. At least, that's my opinion."
"And I happen to agree with your opinion my friend. This time at any rate. I for one happen to be tired of playing 'catch up' with figuring out whatever 'Shadowwise' throws at us. I think some 'thinking ahead' info is just what the physician ordered!"
"Hoy there lad! Don't be in such a hurry to run off! We mean you no harm! We were only calling his bluff. Be a lad and answer a few questions for some strangers lost in a new place?" Akallabeth asked the boy behind the counter edging toward the exit.
"Ain't got no quarrel wit' ye either, boy. Hell, I don't e'en know how to use this.", I say through a toothy grin while grinding my palm on the pommel of my sword in a circular motion.
I edge away from the counter and busy myself looking a the books or the chair or anything else.
Aerianna stays silent during the interrogation of the fat man, only speaking after he's fled "Allies could be helpful against your Shadowise. We should find out more about this 'king' before seeking his hel though, he might be one of Shadowise's pawns."
"Nothing dangerous or scary lad. We are genuinely turned around, and just need a friendly face to answer a few questions, that's all." Akallabeth answered with his most charming smile, holding up his hands to show that they were empty.
While Akallabeth has the lad distracted, I move to block the lad's line of retreat.
Seeing the boy is bordering on the brink of a panic attack, (easily recognizing the symptoms from his own experience immediately after the Mourning,) Akallabeth drops the charming smile and says calmly and gently, "At ease lad. Everyone, freeze. We're not going to get any info if he has a heart attack. Relax, please. We mean you no harm. I promise that not one of us will lay a hand on you. All we want is someone to answer a few, simple, questions. That's all. I promise." He finishes with his hands still held out empty.
Akallabeth then slowly takes a few steps back, and calmly pulls the chair the piggy-man had just recently vacated to face the boy, and slowly sinks into it. "There, better? Have a seat, or not, as you wish. If we gentlemen frighten you," ('And I know I frighten myself some days,...') He thinks to himself, "Then perhaps you wouldn't mind talking to one of the ladies? Just a few questions, and then we leave. That's all."
He looks to the two women with a quick but obvious plea for help in his eyes. 'All this power, and I can't convince a single boy to talk to me for 30 seconds!' He fumes helplessly behind his calm facade.
"Give the lad some food to convince him of our good intentions."
Lucienne gets down on one knee. "Son, we mean you no harm. My name's Lucienne, Can you tell me yours?"
Aerianna steps back and leans against the wall, watching the boy appraisingly. She mutters "Let them do the talking. For now." to no one in particular.
Aerianna steps back and leans against the wall, watching the boy appraisingly. She mutters "Let them do the talking. For now." to no one in particular.
Lucienne glances back at Aerianna and nods.
"See, that wasn't so hard, lad," I say in the most soothing tone of voice I can manage. "You may call me, Rom. My friends do."
Still sitting, I doff my wide brimmed hat and calmly say "I am Akallabeth, you may call me 'Al', if you wish." Smiling slightly.
"Rolando, my friends and I think that we might visit the king, but we're strangers here, and we don't know your customs, or how we're supposed to behave.
"We might accidentally give the King a present, and it might be something that we like a lot, but that everybody in this kingdom thinks is bad and stinky.
"We might decide to bow deeply when we meet him, or we might decide to dance a tango with him. We don't know what's polite here.
"Have you ever met the King?"
"Well, that makes two of us." Akallabeth responds with a grin. "We haven't met the King either. Perhaps you can tell us about your local customs in the castle then. What is considered polite when greeting someone on the street say, or what is considered a generous gift if your trying to impress someone important?" He asked.
The Lad who seems a little dumb seems to be catching on, " Hello and er ah money"
Lucienne nods and grins. "Good. That's fantastic. Rolando, one last question: do you know anyone who has seen the king?"
While the others are occupied with the boy, I browse the shelves for anything of interest pertaining to this Castle Stratos (history, geography, etc.)
The Lad shakes himself and his head again
"All right, and thank you. You can go now."
Lucienne straightens up. "Well, my friends, which is it to be? The nearest exit, or His Majesty's court in the sky?"
"Well," I said, waving cheerfully at the lad's retreating back, "Unless we plan on re-locating and robbing mr. Piggly-Wiggly, the Barkeep is likely to be no source of info. If you think we can piece together enough info to find and use the exit ourselves, I'm for that. Otherwise, I can't think of a better source of info than the top!"
"Of course, judging by our track record so far, we may just annoy or frighten him too. Not sure I want the head of this crazy place mad at me."
"Blast it all, I HATE playing the game without knowing all the rules!"
Akallabeth makes a visible effort to calm down. "OK, what does everyone else think? Personally, I think if this is just a 'castle', then it has to have an entrance and exit. maybe we can just find that. Otherwise, I'm with going to the 'King' and see if we can make an ally of him. IF he hasn't already chosen another side." He adds, nodding at the person who made that observation earlier.
"I know what you mean. I hate playing games with no apparent rules. If we go to the 'King' without any bargaining chip, we might end up worse than when we started. Perhaps a few choice stories about this 'King' will help us formulate a sort of profile from which we can develop a more tangible plan of action."
"We need to gather more informaiton about this king before we can act. Perhaps we can find something he wants or cares for?" Aerianna says, watching the boy flee.
Aerianna steps forward into the daylight and notice the mob menacing us from the Freehouse. "Its never easy." she says with a sigh, hefting her truncheon and looking around, trying to get a feel for the layout of the square and our opponents, as well as spot any hidden dangers.
Akallabeth looks at 'Piggly Wiggly', to the Burly barkeep, and returns the dandy's sneer. He rolls his eyes upwards.
"Oh ye gods, little fishies, and the magic to turn one into the other! These people obviously don't want us here, don't they realize if they'd just point the way, we'd be happy to do the work for them and leave?!?!"
He reaches for his crossbow, but it has become inexplicably tangled in his coat. He fumbles with it as the bullies close in,...
Akallabeth Initiative Roll: (1d20 3=6)
[i]Now it comes time to finish what we started...[i]
I look around feigning casual disinterest as I unsling my bow and ready an arrow. I look as though I could care less about the fat man's threats or the thugs set to bear down on us. Then as the order to attack is given, I quickly roll to the side and let fly with a pair of arrows targeting the nearest opponent.
Kegi, two attacks w/ rapid shot (1d20+10=12, 1d6+2=5, 1d20+10=23, 1d6+2=4, 1d6=4)
Lucienne turns towards the fat man, and she looks angrier than she has ever looked before. It's a cold, hard stare, that none of you want to be looking down.
Nine thousand years, the daelkyr writhe, imprisoned in their wrath,
Bewailing fate and choked by hate, and you now walk their path.
Now toss aside all hope, denied forever by your gods.
Make ready for your doom, devoid of fortune's sweet facade.
Seeing the bully boys take hits, but keep closing in, Akallabeth growls and gives up trying to untangle his crossbow from its strap. With a grin that looks positively gleeful, he lets the flame loose. Quickly weaving mystic patterns in the air, he slaps his flame covered hands against his chest, and the flames once more cover his entire body. This time, they do not fade from sight, but remain clearly visible surrounding him.
"Keep back Rom!" He growls, apparently unaware of the flames continued presence. "I've never regained the power spent in the cage battle, use the wands!)
Hearing Akallabeth's warning, I move back and away from the attacker then hurl a ball of acid at one of the attackers.
Ranged Touch Attack 1d20+4=16, Acid Splash Damage 1d3=1
Aerianna dashes forward a short ways, intent on clearing a path to the apparent leader of the thugs. She stops in front of a thug to swing her truncheon at him "First hurdle." she mutters as the truncheon slams into the man.
"Let's take as many with us as we can."
As the rabble closes in around me, I look one way, then the other, keeping my eyes on the two thugs. As they close, they score a lucky hit on my outstretched arm. Nevertheless, I draw them in, waiting until they think they have me surrounded. Then suddenly, I let loose, shifting and rolling away in one fluid motion
Springing to my feet, I fire a pair of arrows, one at each thug. Kegi arrow attack
(last # is skirmish damage) (1d20+10=22, 1d6+2=3, 1d20+10=13, 1d6+2=3,
1d6=3)
"Please don't hurt us! I surrender!" I scream as I cower into a ball, sobbing.
Lucienne turns to the bandaged man and manages a grim smile. "Rom, I don't think they're going to accept our surrender. As soon as it's convenient, would you kindly enfeeble someone?"
To Akallabeth: "If we get out of this alive, remind me never to let him live this down."
Akallabeth's Will Save: (1d20 6=22)
:P
Akallabeth sneers at the ones who have closed in on him, even as he glances nervously around at how everyone is suddenly surrounded.
"Not bad, as far as flanking maneuvers go," He admits nervously. "But Outnumbered is NOT outmaneuvered!"
Akallabeth's concentration Check (Cast spell w/OUT drawing AoO): (1d20+8=27-2=25)
Akallabeth eyes begin to smolder with his inner fire, and the flames of his mystic armor flare brighter. Casting cautiously to avoid drawing unexpected blows, his hands flare with flames and he paints a particular pattern in the air, turning at the last moment to shove his hand through the center of his pattern. From his hand the flames spread out in a scintillating rainbow of fiery sheets. The rainbow flames catch one of his attackers and one each of the attackers threatening Romulus and Lucienne, who were standing back to back.
He smiles as he sees the result of his handiwork. It isn't pleasant.
"Now", He says calmly to his other attacker, "What am I going to do with you?" He manages not to let his knees bang together while he says this.
Shamed at losing control, I urge the magic to come forth. Recklessly and without control the magic burst like a raging river from a broken dam. Fire spreads out of control directed at our assailants.
url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1475655/]Casting Defensively; Burning Hands Damage Reflex DC 16 (1d20+6=17, 2d4=7)[/url]
Aerianna tries to twist out of the blades way but it leaves a painful gash along her back. Looking around she feels an icy dread enter her as she realizes just how bad our situation is and start lookin for an opportunity for retreat. "Damn, damn, damn. Only fight a fight you can win." she mutters and sees an opportunity and takes it. Despite the agony caused by the bleeding slash she manages to dodge a few blows and finally makes it clear of the fight. She starts to assess the battle and find a way to turn the tide.
Lucienne looked back and forth between her assailants, uneasy.
Then the man to her left got hit by a riot of hues. Stikk sparkling reds and yellows, he slumped to his knees. She never took her eyes off her remaining foe, bus she smiled and called out "My thanks, Darkling. Once he recoveresand realizes that I didn't have to kill him, he'll thank you, too."
Attack Roll = 1d20 + 3 - 2 = 8
"My friends, this may not be (whoop) the best time to notice such (yikes) things, but the natives' habits since we arrived (whoulf) seem orchestrated. The barkeep first gave us a price in coppers, then switched (yow) to lead. He was cooperative (*clang*) and is now trying to kill us. The Fat Man may be (uhhn) the 'boss' here, but some intelligence (eek) is pulling everybody's strings."
"Agreed," Akallabeth calls to Luc as he warily circles with his remaining foe. "There is definitely something bigger we are missing here. Come on lad, don't be shy. I'll be perfectly happy to accept YOUR surrender." He covers his nervousness by flexing his fingers' grip on his staff, waiting for the attack he knows will come. "Otherwise you'd best make this shot count, because you won't get another,..." He growls.
Reassured by Lucienne's fairly calm speech during battle, Akallabeth takes a breath and tries an old meditative technique, almost forgotten from his previous life.
Will save PLUS action point; (1d20+6=26, 1d6=2)
With a breath Akallabeth's eyes focus, and his shaking stops, he looks his remaining assailant in the eyes. "Showtime. Move it or lose it. I have a date with the Fat Man."