Session One, Part Three - A Very Embarassing Fight
So, it's back to the Temple of Kherarditinos, where Di'Fier goes back to "research" his spell, and Dru gets bored and goes to find Brother Egil. Egil is aghast that she's shown up here and pretending to be his friend - he'd asked them to keep his involvement in the case a secret. Still, she gets some useful information out of him that they had forgotten to get before - namely, what exactly Lucius looks like.
After that it's mealtime, so they're off to the Rusty Hook to find Captain Scarbelly - and find him they do. Di'Fier buys his "friend"'s meal and drink, and the guardsmen head over to the pirate's table to ask about Lucius.
"Yeah, I 'member him. Bought me a drink, wanted to ask questions."
"What did he ask you about?" Dru wants to know.
"He bought me a drink," the captain repeats, "and then asked questions." The orc tears into his joint of meat.
Di'Fier raises his hand in a signal to the bartender: two more.
After the meal and the drinks, Scarbelly is a bit more forthcoming. "Yeah, he wanted to know about the time he spent on my ship. Damn strange, since he was there. He just wandered around taking notes all the time, but he stayed out of the way during fights, and his gold was as yellow as anyone else's. I dunno where he went after that."
That piece of information was duly noted, and the pair has just enough time to check in with Reed before their patrol. The warehouse was owned by Torsten Roth, head of the Merchant's Guild.
While on patrol, Dru and Di'Fier decide that: a) the notes Lucius was taking are probably the travel logs he referred to in his 'to do' list, and b) that they've got no chance of pinning anything on someone as powerful as Roth. Not much happens on patrol - quiet night! - so they head off to bed.
Day 2
Dru and Di'Fier meet for breakfast, and head to Lucius' place, thinking they may have missed something in their previous search. Another toss of the tiny house reveals nothing new, so they ponder the 'to do' list some more, especially the meaning of 'turnips'. Another check reveals that there are no turnips in the house - clearly this is important in some way and not just the librarian being out of vegetables.
Stumped and at a loss, they visit Di'Fier's father, a retired guardsman himself. As they sit around the kitchen table, he chops a turnip (turnips again!) as he listens to their investigation. "Well," he says, "seems to me like there's some folks you haven't talked to yet. How about that guy he worked for at the Temple? Sounds like they weren't having too good a time there at the end."
Following this sound advice (read: hint from the DM), Dru and Di'Fier meet their new best friend Norton at the Temple (he quakes with fear at the sight of them now), and ask to speak to Milos. They're taken to the office of the High Priest's assistant.
"Lucius? Yes, he has been missing for three days now. He is probably sleeping off the effects of an overindulgence in alcohol."
"Oh?" asks Di'Fier. "Did he have a drinking problem?"
"It would not surprise me to find that out. His behavior of late had become rather erratic. His personal hygeine suffered, as did his work."
"I see. Well, if you hear anything about him, leave word here." Like everyone else, they tell Milos the name of one of their usual hangouts. On their way out, they check the travel log section of the library, but find nothing. Frustrated, they ask for another librarian, and begin to quiz him on Lucius. One new fact emerges: he was readmitted to the temple because he brought with him a stack of rare books. They're still being cataloged and verified...very interesting.
Time once again for patrol, and Dru and Di'Fier spend their time walking the beat and speculating about the strange dreams Lucius talked about in his diary. Dru is of the opinion that the city is a place he visited. "I don't understand why he'd be dreaming about it, but it could be...mystical and sh-t." And is there a connection between the Temple and Lucius' quest for knowledge? Who knows?
At the end of their beat, dog-tired, the pair heads for home. At least, until Dru's back sprouts 6 inches of steel-tipped wood with fletching. Apparently somebody doesn't like the job their doing. Several somebodies, judging from the fact that two groups of men have just cut them off front and back. The battle is joined.
Warning: long battle scene ahead. Read on for incredibly poor rolls or skip ahead to avoid embarrassing my players.
Di'Fier is the first to react, arcane words flowing from his lips as he summons mage armor around himself. The apparent leader of these base varlets charges in, planting his battleaxe deep into the air between the two. Behind them, a robed man with a staff utters a word, and Di'Fier is turned into Di'Fear. Meanwhile, another of the soldiers charges up, slashing Dru brutally with his shortsword. The sniper on the roof fires into the melee, and misses, while Dru returns the blow of the man who attacked her, but with much less effect. A third attacker charges at Di'Fier but misses the panicked guardsman, as does the archer standing guard over the mage.
Di'Fier takes off in panic, dodging under sword-blows - except for one, which penetrates the mage armor and draws blood. The battleaxe-wielding leader trips over the crossbow bolt embedded in the ground, and his blow goes wild. The sorcerer chants, and a deep confusion settles over Dru as she forgets what she was about to do. Her opponent remembers, but even in this state Dru's reflexes are enough to turn the strike into the lightest of scratches. Another crossbow bolt flies down from above, but unless the man's target was the ground, he missed. Dru tries valiantly to remember what it was she ought to be doing, but fails. One of the mercenaries pursues the fleeing Di'Fier, but his cowardice in striking a man from behind bears no fruit.
The other one turns on the dazed Dru and viciously cuts her. Di'Fier gets control of himself, and he spins with bastard sword in a two-handed grip, only to have it bounce harmlessly off of his opponent's shield. Deciding that a double-team isn't good enough, Rittoro (leader of the band) makes it 3 on one...but still can't hit Dru. So much for his 2 levels of fighter. Belko the sorcerer beams a ray of frost past Di'Fier's ear, and one of the mercenaries shows up his boss by tagging the elven guardswoman. The sniper manages to land a bolt in Di'Fier's leg, and Dru hops backwards, giving her a chance to get out and drink her healing potion, restoring some health to her injured body. (This is where it starts to get sad.) Both remaining mercenaries connect with nothing.
Di'Fier heads back to take on the leader, but the leader isn't having any of that - he actually hits for the first time this battle...for a measly 3 points. Everyone starts missing everyone, except Dru, who drinks her potion of invisibility and vanishes from sight. Poor Di'Fier. Now he's the only target visible. Only one manages to hit him, though.
Next round: nobody hits except Dru. Belko panics when Dru goes invisible, guessing (and rightly so) that she's heading for him. He fires off a burning hands spell - too bad Dru isn't anywhere near the area off effect. After the flames die down, Dru walks calmly up to the wizard and spits him like a rotisserie chicken, becoming visible in the process. The startled guard next to the ex-mage drops his crossbow and draws a sword, but the guardswoman cleverly interposes Belko, and the guard hacks dead body, not Dru.
Di'Fier is unable (again) to hit Rittoro, continuing his string of below-7 rolls. Rittoro has no such problem, and opens another cut on Di'Fier's torso. One of the mercenaries heads towards Dru, and the sniper misses entirely. Dru throws a tanglefoot bag at the charging merc, but it's short and to the left. Nobody else lands a blow.
Tiring of missing Rittoro, Di'Fier takes a tiny slice out of the other merc on his backhand, while both of his opponents manage to miss him entirely. Dru's opponents fare no better, nor does the rooftop sniper. Dru drops the ex-mage and beats a retreat, pulling out another tanglefoot bag as she goes.
Once again, nobody lands a blow except Dru. As the merc pursues her, she smacks the tanglefoot bag dead center on his chest. Suddenly his pursuit slows greatly. The sniper sighs, sets down his crossbow, and goes to get a sandwich - he's not doing any good any more.
Di'Fier moves away from where he is being flanked (some tactics finally occurred to him, which is good because he was at 5 hit points...apparently all his luck was used up in making his opponents miss him!) but fails to connect with his sword.
Rittoro misses him, while the gummed-up merc pursues Dru, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Dru fails to connect thanks to her opponent's shield work, but the merc fighting Di'Fier (again showing his boss up) hits the guardsman for 4.
(For the rest of the fight - 8 more rounds - Di'Fier was at 1 hit point. He didn't realize it, which may account for his actions...)
For a third time, nobody hits except for Dru: the tangled soldier s-l-o-w-l-y chases Dru as she gives a solid poke to his friend.
Finally, Di'Fier's wild sword swings manage to connect, and he gives Rittoro a pretty slash across the chest. Not enough to bring him down, though - that 2nd level has to be good for something. This time, only Di'Fier connects, as everyone else rolls like they were using a d8 to hit.
Di'Fier tires of this, and he disarms the sword-wielding soldier. Thank goodness for Improved Disarm! (That reminds me...some of Di'Fier's awful combat might be due to his use of Expertise to boost his AC...but I don't recall when he was using it and when he wasn't.) The merc goes to retrieve it, and Di misses on his AoO (as does everybody else on their regular attacks).
Well, it worked once...Di'Fier disarms the guy again. Rittoro misses, the gummed-up soldier catches up with Dru...and misses, Dru stabs his partner through the chest and takes him down, the last merc retrieves his shortsword and Di'Fier blows the AoO again.
Now Di'Fier tries his luck with Rittoro. No good - the +4 modifier for having a larger weapon really helped vs. the shortsword. Fortunately, his opponents both miss. Dru ignores the gummed up soldier and runs to help her partner.
For a fourth time, the only person to land a blow: Dru, taking the shortsword-wielding mercenary out of the picture. With a weary sigh, the tangled mercenary starts trudging back towards the other fight, but it's over before he can get there.
Di'Fier manages to disarm Rittoro, and the mercenary (having seen his man do it twice) figures he can laugh off the guardsman's attack...so he goes for the axe. Unfortunately, Dru is the one who responds, and her rapier does what the bastard sword could not, putting poor Rittoro out of our misery. As an act of mercy, Di'Fier draws his wand of magic missile and puts the gummed merc down to exactly 0 hit points. The fellow sits down and begins to weep. "Please don't tell anyone...this is so embarrassing."
The other comment on the fight came from Di'Fier's familiar: "Funny. Do it again!"
Talking with the merc reveals that a guy named Enzo hired them, and Rittoro got an ivory-handled dagger as a down payment.
Dru retrieves the dagger and shows Di'Fier - the handle is monogrammed with the letter 'L'. There's also an address, where the mercs are supposed to pick up the rest of their payment.
Tomorrow is their day off. They rest, and pay for some healing spells to boot. On the other hand, somebody is trying to kill them. That must mean they're on the right track! Milos is a prime suspect, as this doesn't seem like Scarbelly's work, although Dru entertains the brief thought that maybe Lucius doesn't want to be found...
