House Millithor in the City of the Spider Queen

[Serpenteye]

The door to the shelter opens all by itself and the two remaining Illithids walk in.

She faces the Illithid Master with a pleasant enough expression on her face,

Ah, Master Klaxeon. I expected you to be here sooner, I hope the reason for the delay was not unpleasant. Do come in, we have much to discuss.
She waits for the illithids to come deeper into the room, where they would be easier surrounded by her warriors.

 

[Endur]

Master Klaxeon and his fellow Illithid walk into the middle of the room. Not at all concerned by the fact that they are now surrounded by the drow and the bugbear.

Master Klaxeon speaks,
"Ahhh, well, plane shifting is unpredictable at the best of times. Sometimes the plane you travel to is faster than this one. Sometimes it is slower. Sometimes you arrive where you expect. Sometimes you arrive far from where you expect.

"Ahhh, but enough of our traveling woes. We see that you have collected sizable winnings from the arena.

"Now, we would like what is coming to us as a part of the bargain we struck."

 

[Serpenteye]

Her expression remains polite, but there's a subtle mockery in her voice and her eyes glitter slightly with amusement.
Indeed? Your assistance was quite helpful, but surely you cannot claim to have fulfilled your part of the bargain. The exact wording of the agreement was, as you surely remember;

If he (the Illithid Master Klaxeon) or his associates uses their powers to assure that my son Dariel is victorious in his current battle against Endur I will give him the coin at no further cost after the battle is won.

Unfortunately it turned out Dariel was not victorious in his fight with Endur. On the contrary, he was quite obviously defeated. He fell unconscious before Endur was stunned, and was later rescued from certain death in the jaws of Endur's pet wolf by my daughter Carcelon, after you had already departed. The dwarf Endur is still alive and remains a potential threat to our security.
Your assistance was quite generous, and has helped our cause immensely. We are grateful for your heroic self-sacrifice for our sake. Yet, as beings of Law you must realise that your part of the bargain remains unfulfilled, and due to the temporal qualities of this plane it can never be fulfilled. It would seem that our previous agreement is null and void, and we are back to where we started.

You offered to buy the coin for 5000 gold. Hmm, no, that is not nearly enough. Make me a better offer, and perhaps we can come to a new agreement.

 

[Endur]

Master Klaxeon responds,
"Ahh, Matron Ki'Willis, but you have gained far more in platinum than you would have gained in wagers had Dariel won. Please do not try to deny me the coin I requested and the other matters we discussed.

"After all, it would be a shame if I was forced to transmute these wonderful bars of platinum into dust."


OOC: Those of you who make sense motive checks believe that he isn't bluffing (or, if he is bluffing, he is so good of a bluffer that you have no way of knowing when he is bluffing and when he isn't)

 

[Pyrex]

OOC: Sorry for the late reply. Random connectivity issues prevented me from posting sooner...

<rewind>
Before Carcelon rests for the evening she spends an hour in prayer, thinking that even if the drow as a whole are being tested by Lolth that today the priestesses of House Millithor are worthy of a response. She then picks one of the bunks in the Shelter and drifts into reverie.

OOC: I assume that between the matrons CCW and a nights rest I'm fully healed?

When she awakes she looks turns toward Quertus while looking through her pack for clothes that aren't torn & bloodstained,
"Quertus, next time you conjure one of these would it be too much trouble to build one with a proper bath? I stink of goblin."

<time passes, return to present>
As the illithids enter, Carcelon is sitting on one of the beds patching up her clothes, the Rod of Viscid Globs within easy reach.

 

[Thels]

"Thank you, sister. Two swords on my sides makes me feel more at ease."

As the Illithid enter, Dariel stays silent and just watches them from a corner, waiting for whatever the Matron decides.

 

[Serpenteye]

Master Klaxeon responds,
"Ahh, Matron Ki'Willis, but you have gained far more in platinum than you would have gained in wagers had Dariel won. Please do not try to deny me the coin I requested and the other matters we discussed.

"After all, it would be a shame if I was forced to transmute these wonderful bars of platinum into dust."

Oh, but my dear friend, that would be rather rash don't you think? If you attempted that it would most definately mean the end of our negotiations. I am not being unreasonable here, let us not resort to uncivilized behavior. There is still a deal to be made, and a mutual enemy to destroy.


ooc: Can he Disintegrate the contents of a closed chest? Can a single Disintegrate spell affect more than a single object (unles it's metamagiced)? Don't the chest and every single bar it contains count as separate objects?

 

[Endur]

Master Klaxeon responds to Matron Ki'Willis. His response takes the tone of a fanatic, or perhaps one under the effect of a geas.


"Yes, Syrzan must be destroyed! Do you know where Syrzan is?"


As Quertus listens to the discussions, his mind wanders and he remembers Trygon's last words.

Trygon's deep voice rumbles. "I smell Earth and Dust and Pain. Battle, Bloodshed, Fear, and Treachery are in the air! I smell Magic and Treachery... smells like Eilos, but not quite. Almost Eilos is nearby."

Quertus comes back to himself and focuses on the conversation between the Matron and the Mindflayer.

OOC:
One object can include contents. So, you can disintegrate a chest and what is inside it. So if you are disintegrated, your gear and what you had for lunch may be dust along with you.

 

[Serpenteye]

The snake-heads on her flail writhe lazily, one of them yawns widely, disdainfully showing its poisonous fangs to the world.
No, that I do not know. I have leared nothing about the Abomination since the last time we spoke, and I doubt that my dear Krecil knows either. As a token of my good will I will allow you to ask your one question to Krecil with your Mind Probe, as we agreed. She nods slightly, as if to hint that she includes herself too in that offer. Deviate from our agreement even the slightest and the consequences will be most unpleasant for you. Once you are certain that he is no traitor we can perhaps continue our negotiations in a more constructive manner.

Krecil, I want you to tell me exactly what they ask you and what reply you give. and if you have betrayed me, you are not too useful to be replaced.

 

[Endur]

Master Klaxeon responds to Matron Ki'Willis with a broad smile on his face.

"Excellent! I knew we could cooperate to accomplish great things!"

With a flourish of his hands, Klaxeon retrieves a circular metallic device from his belt.

Showing the device to Matron Ki'Willis and the other members of House Millithor, he explains almost as if he were trying to sell the device to you,
"Matron Ki'Willis Millithor, the esteemed patron of House Millithor Krecil, and other members of the great House Millithor, this device I hold in my hands is a Cephalometer. Once placed upon the head, this device can be used to probe the mind.

"There is no pain! The subject will feel a mental intrusion. A subject with a strong will can prevent the mind probe if he so chooses. If the subject chooses to prevent the mind probe, an observer will see little red, green, and blue lights around the Cephalometer. No lights means that the probe is proceeding correctly.

"If you wish, in order to prove our good will and that the device does not inflict pain, we would be happy to demonstrate the Cephalometer on another of your servants before using this device on your beloved patron. Matron, you can even choose the questions if you wish to test the loyalty of your new bugbear."