Dark Days in Sion - Act 2: Scene 5

[Tellerian Hawke]

Billanverthorne: THE NINJA!

Bill sneers at the thug, returning his comments in kind: "Aww, don't get your feelings hurt, I saved a few arrows for you, too, sweetheart. Come over here, and we'll discuss it in private."

Bill zings two more arrows in Kong's direction, and then takes his move action (30') back around the corner of the building, where he will slip into the shadows to hide. ~If this brave lad wants to follow me around a blind corner, I'll have the drop on him. Besides, I don't need the town guard spotting me, either.~

 

[Aust Thale]

Aust Thale vs. Lycanthrope (Rat)

Aust: (Initiative Roll: = 21)

~Silver! By Archaeos, where did Jabbar put the silver?! A were-rat!! Of course! The Talisman!
You, my little one, are more than a lookout and amateur assassin. Much, much more.
However, I am not going to be your next chew-toy, silver or no.~ And with that thought, Aust draws his rapier. ~If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to move quickly to protect the others, even if she gets away. Let’s hope she still remains dazed! ~

Before she fully stirs awake, he strikes the transforming lycan through the back of her left shoulder blade with his rapier, coming down with his left boot to the back of her head and right knee/boot to her back hips in a Coup de Grace attack. The attack has three purposes: to keep her face-down and pinned to the floor with the rapier, to either kill her with the conventional hit, or knock the breath out of her, and to pin her to the floor such that she can’t move easily if she survives the initial hit. Aust is counting on the fact that she is dazed, weaponless, and if she survives the attack, she won’t be in any condition to fight back.

Aust: (Coup-de-Grace Critical Hit Damage: = 5)(Sneak Attack Damage: = 7)

 

[narayan]

Billanverthorne, Burrai, Elloral, Kong

__________________________________
<Round 3>

Bleeding Damage ( * )
Fire Damage ( # )
Cold Damage ( @ )
Spell Damage ( ^ )
Spell Healing ( ^ )
Poison Damage ( ! )

The order of initiative is:

(16) Billanverthorne
(12) Elloral
(10) Kong (-9,-9)(-8,-7)(Arrow stuck in right leg)(-5^)(-2)(+30^)(-12)(-7)(Arrow stuck in right arm)(-8)(-4,-9)(Blinded for right eye for 2 rounds)(Arrow stock in left Leg)(-2 for removing arrows)
(08) Burrai
(01) Thugs
- Thug 1 (-10^)
- Thug 2 (-5^)
- Thug 3 (-8)
- Thug 4 (-5^)
- Thug 5 (-5^)
- Thug 6 (-5^)
__________________________________

Elloral:

• (Spot Check, DC 14: =13, Fail)
• (Opposed Grapple Check: =11)

Thug 2: (Grapple Check: =10, Fail)

With a burst of strength, Elloral breaks Thug 2's grip on her quarterstaff and ducks about to strike him with it!

Elloral: (Attack w/Quarterstaff: =7, Miss)

Kong: (Spot Check, -2 for temporary blindness in one eye, DC 14: =20)

Kong: Roars with anger and pain as anoner one of Bill's arrow blinds his right eye, yet still manages to spot the approaching guards. Reluctantly, he shouts new orders. "Zhōngzhǐ! Nì tiān bījìn! Wǒmen bù xīwàng tāmen zhàohuàn Vulkyrie!" ...before reaching down to yank both arrows out of his legs! (Swift Action, -2 Damage) Meanwhile, the other thugs back off from Burrai and Elloral, indicating his orders essentially called for a cease-fire. (Early move action, 5 ft. step... they will not be able to move and attack again this round)

Grimacing while grinning, Kong regards Burrai with a recalcitrant-made-grisly-expression as blood drips in rivulets from multiple arrow-wounds to his skull and face. -Speaking common- "Much as i might enjoy sparring with you Burrai Steelborn, those guards approaching on the wall have horns to summon the Vulkyrie. If we let that happen, we're all dead! Let's stop this now while we still can. From one mercenary to another, you have my word there won't be another ambush by me or my men. I'll simply report to my client there was interference in the attack that forced me to withdraw... what say you?"

[Burrai: It is your turn, What do you do?]

 

[narayan]

Aletia

Once again you find yourself kneeling by the side of your old mentor, Vallio Delimrin, as he struggles to breath with bloody spittle on his lips. Poison! ...the favored weapon of the Drow he so often said. Holding him in your arms then, clear tears streaking down your pale cheeks, you realized it wasn't chance at all that he found you wandering on that dusky road so many years ago casting 'Light' spells on rabits and birds, laughing with delight as they fled casting eerie shadows through the trees.

His first words to you came back now, eerily clear, like a haunting memory. "Who goes there? An elf of the light, or the dark?!" Given your youth at the time, your response was appropriately bratty as you answered. "I am Aletia Moonborn, daughter of Athias-the-drow-slayer!" In response he bowed with charming respect, claiming to know more of the drow than you did. A claim he proved true a thousand times over, ...for all the good it did him in the end.

Long ago, after several catastrophes befell elven settlements who didn't react with enough urgency when rumors of Drow activities arose, descendents of the victims formed a secret network called the 'Moonblooded' to ensure someone was always watching; ready to react and warn the people whenever the drow were up to something.

Over the centuries, the Moonblooded earned themselves a clouded reputation. Many elves hail them as hero's and guardians, others chide them for fear-mongering and interfering in other's affairs. More often than not, their warnings have prevented (or at least prepared) many settlements against drow attacks. Yet still, many Moonblooded have found themselves imprisoned, exiled, or worse, trying to do that very thing.

Vallio explained all this to you, and more, on your journey through Vulkh several days ago before he also warned, in his usual half-joking way, how this might be his last journey by your side. After he admitted he was Moonblooded he also said that joining his network was a sure guarantee of loneliness and thankless sacrifice, but a necessary one. How he said it made it sound more like an apology than a warning. Perhaps he hated himself for not being there to save your father? Surely he never wanted you to adopt the path of the Moonblooded, but you can't ignore the possibility he might have expected you to follow in his footsteps.

Now once again, you feel the urge to say something as you watch the poison burn the last of the life out of his eyes, as if words might bring comfort to his pain-wracked final moments, yet something inside always keeps your tongue still before you wake up in in a cold-sweat!

________________________________________________________


Now you realize, with a start, that you must have made it through the gates of Cabarda before nightfall after all. The itchy hay-mattress beneath your back proves it as you glance around a shadowy room in an inn called The Red Sands. Taking a deep breath, you curse yourself for falling asleep in the first place, but the aches all over your body are an evident reminder of how hard you pushed yourself to get here. Outside the shutters, the silvery-light of a nearly full moon, partially concealed behind thick clouds, prompts you to murmur a low prayer to Sehanine Moonbow.

Your parents told you many times how you were born beneath a bright moon on a cloudless night. Vallio always said that was an omen you were meant to do the goddesses bidding. In a way it makes you sad thinking how well Vallio knew you, and how little you knew him. All those nights you spent by his side before a campfire, listening to his stories, you always felt you were meant to be up and awake. The night was when you and the moon rose together enjoying the sleeping world for yourselves.

As such you were rather rest-deprived and mischievous in your youth, but Vallio taught you to put your inquisitive mind to work investigating the mysteries and rumors all around you. Your beauty, wit and charm helped you in and out of many places you shouldn't have been in the first place... but Vallio, unlike your parents, always listened and laughed at your stories of adventures, misadventures and antics. He coached you rather than scolded you for it, offering advice and insight about how to go about uncovering secrets.

It helped that your family was often on the move to keep you out of too much trouble, traveling from place to place selling their wares of masterwork bows and fine jewelry. Your father taught you how to fletch arrows, shape a bow according to the wood it was made of, and hunt with cunning; always thinking ahead of your prey rather than merely chasing it. Whereas your mother was the best tutor you could have ever wanted on how to remain beautiful, charming and sharp-witted regardless of circumstance. The families future often depended on her salesmanship.

Nevertheless, wherever you travelled, Vallio was somehow close by, like an estranged grandfather. In many ways he was your closest friend and confidant, but more than anything he was a tutor, teaching you the ways of sorcery and a variety of different languages so you didn't have to imagine yourself as a humble fletcher or jeweler, forever. Their deaths of course were very hard on you. To this day they remain unexplained. No one knew what form of creature could tear apart your father with such strength and cruelty. No one except Vallio... who refused to tell you.

Vallio more or less adopted you after that, completing your training on the road, traveling abroad away from the elven lands for a change... encouraging you to accept work and pursue adventures whenever it pleased you. Always though, there was a hole in your heart that no one person or place could ever fill. Always there were the nightmares and the belief that wherever you went, something was hunting you, waiting to rip you apart limb-from-limb. And so you moved on, and kept moving on. You a heartbreaker, he a cynic, eventually overstayed your welcome everywhere you went.

At least now you understand the meaning of Vallio's life. You may not know yet if his sacrifices mattered, or how he felt when you remained silent as he died. Perhaps the touch of your tears falling on his face was enough.

[Aletia: What do you do?]

 

[narayan]

Aust Thale

Wererat: (initiative: =12, loss)

As quickly as you can manage, you roll the unconscious, bound and gagged prisoner unto her stomach, draw your rapier and strike down with all your weight in a brutal strike designed to do one thing... kill as assuredly and quickly as possible. As you commit your coupe-de-grace, you feel her ribs crack under your weight, along with a deep sucking sound as her lung collapses before the tip of your rapier stabs through her heart into the wooden floor itself. And then there is nothing... no sound.

The hair growth on her face, the claws forming on her fingertips, those things are gone as quickly as they appeared. All you see now is the most assuredly dead neferese woman, bleeding out unto your floor the same as she would if she were a not a wererat. The same as if she was simply how she looked, a defenseless woman murdered in cold blood.

[Aust: What do you do?]

 

[97mg]

Aletia Moonborn: Awake in the shadows

​

Shivering whilst sitting upright in the darkness, Aletia was overwhelmed with lingering resonant sorrow. A minor chord of unending sustain chimed between her pointed ears, a great bright blur between recollection of fact, and the ferociousness of wild youthful imagination. Nocturnal, venturing out under moonlit skies and avoiding the brutality of the daytime was nothing new, but this insomnia and sense of directionlessness churning with reverberant loss, it clung on like the poison had in Vallio’s veins.

He had told her to be free and embrace the world’s mysteries, but for the first time in years she was now without him, alone in a city filled with people. Random folk like the young gentleman who’d been downstairs when she came in, who had given up his room for her, all in exchange for just one moment longer staring into those bottomless emerald eyes. He must have known he'd have no chance with her, yet still he’d insisted on paying her board, before kissing her hand, bowing and taking off into the night. ~At least his dreams will be sweeter,~ she pondered.

“It’s just you and me Crez,” she whispered. No response tickled the back of her mind. Tucked away in a backpack the tiny silver-scaled viper must have been sleeping it off. The journey had taken it’s toll on everyone, and even her trusty familiar hadn’t been spared. The poor thing needed some “outdoor” time, a slither in the undergrowth perhaps to loosen his serpentine-self and a chance to down a mouse or two.

Lifting the silky silver hem of her skirt to rounded pale cheeks, the young elf wiped away the tears, sighed deeply, and wandered over to the shutters.

Creeeak.

Open just enough to see the moon, her moon, Aletia stared out at the heavens, almost naively hoping they might give her a sign or lead the way. Sadly, divination wasn’t her strong point, but as long as the white disc rose and fell, waned and waxed, she would try to put on a braver face, stay strong and try and make sense of a beautiful life now shrouded in tragedy and tears.

Vallio had mattered. Really mattered. He’d come here for a reason, even after unnervingly foretelling his own demise. It struck her that maybe… ~perhaps Vallio led us here, at his own peril, for me… and my future.~ Was this a selfish thing to think? He’d dedicated a good portion of his life to her. Maybe it was time to repay the debt? Yes. It certainly was.

~I will seek the man that Vallio needed so desperately, and do all I can to give his death meaning.~

“Meaning,” that was what she really desired, or even “understanding” could possibly do, because at the moment she had… nothing, except of course the memories, the wisdom he'd imparted, and the ring. She rubbed the emerald trinket on her finger a moment. “This will protect you,” he had said some years back. ~If only I could have protected my Vallio.~ Aletia forced herself to muster some of what little inner strength remained, a full moon helped, making the task just that little bit easier. She shook off the final and resilient strands of hay before wrapping a thin black belt around her fragile form. Then a dark cloak was whipped around her shoulders before a pack was wiggled onto her back. A quiver of arrows was placed to each side and a dark wooden longbow sat hung from her shoulder. Finally, she re-attached a pair of long earrings, faceted by her own hands from clear and beautiful stone, though really of no great value in gold. She wondered if she was the same, all appearances and otherwise insignificant.

“Let’s go Crez, we’ll find you some earth to slither on ok?” she whispered.

~No point staying here, we can sleep during the day. Let us hunt while we have an advantage.~

She looked back to the moon between the shutters and said “I’m coming Sehanine,” before graciously slipping out the door, planning to head to the exit, hopefully for a quiet departure. It would be one time perhaps, when she hoped not to light up the room.

---

ALETIA - Shining in the darkness Sheet: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=725599 Level 4 Sorceress Init 3, HP Max: 22 Current: 22, Speed 30ft AC 14, Touch 13, Flat-footed 11, Fort 3, Ref 4, Will 4, Base Attack Bonus 2 Longbow +5 to hit / D8 damage (+1 point blank +1 with magic arrows) Longsword +2 to hit / D8 damage Familiar Crez (Tiny silver viper) Init 3, HP Max: 11 Current: 11, Speed 15ft AC 19, Fort 2, Ref 2, Will 4, Base Attack Bonus 2 Poisonous Bite +2 to hit / D1 damage (+poison) Abilities: Deliver touch spells, Alertness, Improved evasion, Spare spells, Empathic link

 

[thisthingcantbedeleted]

Ersun

He listened carefully to the conversation. He does not know any of the names, other than Thiara's of course, but it seems like a good idea to start remembering them, for example: Noro, Jabbar, Shafi, Avar, and some not neccesarily diplomatic elf was mentioned as well. He likes to organise such things in his head, makes it way easier to get one's head around a new place.

"Involved?" he asks consideringly. "I am in no place as to make decisions about the ongoing affairs, or steer them in any way. On another hand however, I am here in good faith, as we may be of help to each other. I would not mind observing, if that is acceptable." he explains his cards calmly.

The Rhat, Ren, firmly venerating Rasul, he does not mind him looking or staring. He does note that not only his stature seem child-like, but so are some of his characteristics, but then again, it is often bad to judge a book by its cover.

 

[Hillsy7]

As the hail of blows abated, Burrai took a moment to step back and scan the battlefield. Elloral had extricated herself from the melee she was in and surprisingly the thugs, including Kong, had retreated slightly as well, regrouping. Burrai eased himself into a defensive stance, awaiting the charge.....Instead...

"Much as i might enjoy sparring with you Burrai Steelborn, those guards approaching on the wall have horns to summon the Vulkyrie. If we let that happen, we're all dead! Let's stop this now while we still can. From one mercenary to another, you have my word there won't be another ambush by me or my men. I'll simply report to my client there was interference in the attack that forced me to withdraw... what say you?"

The fight, it seemed, was over. Burrai himself had no interest in pressing it - especially considering the weight of numbers Kong's party had to their advantage. So he stood up straighter, lowering his shield.

"I can appreciate professionalism. We are then, after all, just two sellswords fighting because of how the coin has fallen. And," Burrai said, nodding to the swelling torchlight now clearly moving along the wall in their direction, "I agree that incurring the wrath of the Vulkyrie isn't how I wanted the night to end. So yes - I'll allow you to withdraw." With the casual movements of a seasoned soldier, he stowed his axe and shield on their clasps.

"However, it might be to your benefit if you were to let me know who your employer is. I mean, if they intend to send you again in future, it would certainly be of benefit to you - personally - if our disagreement was resolved before I had to carve you apart once again. So? A name to keep you away from the business end of my axe in the future?"

[Intimidation check: 13]

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Billanverthorne: Assessment Mode.

Still cloaked in shadow, kneeling, having just heard Kong shout an order, which caused the pursuing thug to retreat, Bill sees an opportunity to pause and assess things. He inches slowly (still crouching) toward the front (nearest) corner of the building, being careful to remain in the darkness, moving just far enough to be able to peer back at the porch where he knows (hopes?) Jabbar and Avar should still be waiting. If he sees his friends in their planned position, he will glance back to the wall, to see where the town guards are, and what they are doing. Then, if it's safe, Bill will turn back toward his friends, look at them, and try to catch their attention with gestures only (no noises, not even whispers.) If Jabbar and Avar are not in their planned position, Bill will shoulder his bow, stand up, and casually turn the corner, and re-enter the tavern through the front doors. ~From inside, it will be easy to open the back door, and allow Burrai and Elloral to step back inside, to safety.~

 

[narayan]

Aletia

As you emerge from your room it is quiet upstairs, the hallways largely deserted this late into the evening. You heard this inn was Cabarda's first mayoral manor some time ago, and then its first town hall. (Before the new one was built) Its an old building so everything creaks, but solidly built nonetheless. As you approach the broad stairwell leading into the common room you overhear the usual revelry of late-comers and the whining of the lingerers, delving deep into their flagons hoping to find escape without leaving.

Traveling abroad has given you a fair bit of experience at inns, yet next to none compared to Vallio. That old man put tracks across a large spread of Akhenaten investigating rumors... 'pulling on strands' he called it. Strands from 'the spider queens web' underground, brought up whenever her minions came up to do her bidding. He warned that pulling on strands was nearly the same thing as pulling yourself into the web. He cautioned to always be wary.

Vallio mentioned he preferred this place whenever he passed through Cabarda. He also said he planned to introduce you to the owner, an old Barossan friend of his named Burlock. You didn't get the impression Burlock was one of the Moonblooded (even though all surface races were permitted to be part of it) but their friendship must have significance beyond sharing cups, or else you're sure he wouldn't have mentioned the meeting. You thought about delivering the sad news as soon as you walked in, but the need to pass out was more prudent. Now at this late hour, you aren't sure Burlock would still be available?

As you descend the stairwell, your eyes glance around the spacious common room that seats about fifty at the tables, another dozen at the bar. Currently there are only a couple dozen patrons spread out around the place. Most of these are wealthier tradesman, mercenaries, self-made men (and women)... skilled or educated in some way or another.

Beggars don't come near this place and pickpockets learn quick to stay away as well. Ladies of the night are only permitted to wander the tables in the late hours. All in all, it's a decently classy place... yet also rough enough to welcome adventurers and travelers, so long as they behave themselves. Four bouncers posted at all hours keeps violence to a minimum.

One of these bouncers turns towards you with a certain look as you descend the stairs. A look like he was told to watch out for you, by someone here, in management most likely...

[Aletia: What do you do?]