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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Caliber" data-source="post: 533679" data-attributes="member: 1310">The party was disheartened. Sure Colonel Antiphiphia had imprisoned them, but even then the situation hadn’t seemed so hopeless.Morosely sitting in the bar, Syd drank with Wang in solitude at a different table than the rest of his companions. Both felt the need to alone for their own reasons. Syd suspected Wang was still too embarrassed to sit with everyone after his display of martial prowess last night, but silently kept his reflection to himself.At another table across the bar …Nick took a small sip of ale and grimaced in distaste. Silently he wondered how anyone could drink such swill. More so, how could anyone be willing to travel with such a dangerous and deluded mad man as this Zoltan obviously was?Suddenly feeling inspired, Nick whispered a few words of power into his beer, nonchalantly drawing a small rune on the bar with his finger.All of a sudden, with a loud explosion, Zoltan’s boots exploded! Everyone at the table jumped back as they felt a flash of heat and force at their feet.Even more amazing, the remains of them began to give off an eerie sound that could only be described as … crying! Zoltan’s boots were crying in pain!“What is this!?! Who is using this magic crap against me! Who’s doing it!?!”Nick concealed a self-satisfied smile as everyone avowed innocence. Not knowing where to direct his anger, Zoltan stomped up to his room, leaving his ruined, crying boots to wail out their soles in the bar below.The next day was when it was first noticed they were missing. Dru and Skorg, the high elf and the half-orc, were missing. Even more importantly (so the drow claimed) one of their own was missing as well. Slowly it was worked out that each of the missing had left alone to investigate one thing or another. None of them had returned. Galvanized into action, everyone sat down to discuss what they knew, and what they had to do. In short order, it was realized that what everyone knew was next to nothing. Alahandra, Milo, G’Banrak, and Jhelai all volunteered to scout out the base, and despite vague apprehensions among everyone else, as soon as dark fell the four left.Outside they quickly separated to their tasks. Sensing that now was a time that Amio could be used, and not wanting to leave anyone alone, Milo had volunteered to go and fetch him back to the group. Earlier Amio’s bristling arsenal of weaponry made him to conspicuous to enter into the town peacefully, but at the suggestion of Orendil, Milo had borrowed Alahandra’s bag of holding in order to conceal Amio’s guns and sneak him in without incident.Alahandra herself was planning on flying about the Temple of the Frog’s complex, in order to get a general idea on defensive positions and possibly guard allocations and movements.Jhelai and G’Banrak both planned on investigating some of the other establishments in Frog Town, hoping to find some information on where the missing could be. Alahandra flittered up and was off in a blur, already scouting about. By the moonlight she made out heavily entrenched reinforcements. In fact, just north of Frog Town, past another guarded gate, was what seemed to be a large military base, at least double the size of Frog Town. Barracks were situated about, and Alahandra flew dangerously close to several windows hoping to get a rough estimate of the number of soldiers at the Temple of the Frogs command.More disheartening, it seemed that the military base was walled in, just like the Temple complex, the garden, and Frog City itself. Worse, all of the walls were studded with turrets, large and small. The hope that the turrets that destroyed the vans were the only ones here was quickly squashed.Meanwhile, sneaking about, Milo had rather quickly discovered that the blade barrier he had created was still in existence. Deciding that he would have to find another way to the garden, he briefly contemplated trying to swim across but quickly dismissed that idea. Instead, he slowly crept up to the other gate leading out of Frog Town, the one that (unknown to Milo) led to a military base teeming with soldiers. Hefting a small handful of rocks, Milo managed to distract the guards at the gate long enough to sneak past them and enter the base itself.Directly past the gate, Milo quickly began creeping to the other exit gate from this area, hoping it led to the garden complex. Suddenly, he stopped as he realized the pen in front of him contained the slaves of the Temple.Moving slowly into the moonlight, Milo tried to see if anyone he recognized lay within the slave pens, but the shifting slaves and scant light made it difficult to distinguish one slave from another. Moving forward, Milo called one of the slaves over to the bars. A young man approached, peering fearfully out at what must have been mostly shadow to him.“Who are you and what are you doing in there?”“I don’t know. I was walking outside when something hit me over the head. Next thing I know, I’m here with everyone else. Will you free us?”“I can’t free you now, but I will come back for you. Just wait patiently.”“Wait! You can’t just leave us! Free us! Free us now!”Attracted by the slaves’ shouts for freedom the other slaves quickly began crowding against the bars, likewise yelling for release. Surprised by their response, Milo quickly faded deeply into the shadows as several guards rushed over to silence the slaves. Brutally efficient, the slaves were quickly silenced and Milo sneaked off in the confusion. Back in Frog Town, Jhelai had already been to several of the bars and taverns that made up a large portion of Frog Town. Fearing his questions would fail to earn him any answers, when a waitress at the Flaming Manticore bent low and whispered in his ear.“When I walk upstairs, follow me up.”The waitress walked away and continued waiting tables, until eventually she found time for a break and moved upstairs to the guest rooms.Dropping some credits on the table, Jhelai followed after her and was soon dragged into her room. Hastily she slipped a ring into his palm, closing it about the strange circular piece of metal. “My father was left that ring by his father, who was a High Priest in the Temple of the Frog. My father told me that it was some kind of key before he sold me into slavery. If your friends have disappeared around here, they are at the Temple. I hope you can find them and escape this place.”Smiling slightly, the waitress quickly excused herself and left Jhelai wondering at his luck. If the other three fared as well as he, they would all be free in no time at all.Alahandra, however, was unfortunately not as lucky. Having been spotted by a patrolling guard as she peered into one of the barracks’ windows, Alahandra quickly took flight as several shots rang out behind her. Dodging away from the gunfire, Alahandra quickly flew back to the inn, no longer wishing to try her luck. Tired, exhausted, but not seriously hurt, Alahandra began to brief those who had remained behind on the layout of the entire complex.During this Milo had made his way through yet another gate, this one leading from the Temple’s military base to the garden. He stopped momentarily at the sound of gunfire behind him, but realizing there was nothing he could do, moved on.In the garden he paused. During the day, Milo had barely even paid attention the garden. But now, at night, he realized just how scary the garden really was, especially considering the all pervasive croaking of frogs. It sounded as if there were a thousand in the small pond in the center of the garden. Nonetheless, Milo had to retrieve Amio, and strode into the shadowed walkways of the garden.Moving towards Amio’s hiding space, Milo suddenly jumped back as something shot out from the small pond towards him. Drawing forth his blaster carbine, Milo sent a blast back at the source of the attack. The brief flash of light illuminated a large frog in the shape of a man, whose tongue was even now snapping back into his mouth. Even worse though, were the many others slowing rising from the pond around him.Realizing the odds were against him, Milo began to run, firing shots off behind him as he moved. Suddenly a rock shifted under his foot and Milo nearly lost his footing. Instead, he lost his blaster. Hearing it hit the ground and bounce once, Milo winced imagining the delicate internal electronics. Hearing it splash into the pond, Milo wondered whether he would make it back to his friends in the bar.Racing forward at full halfling speed, Milo still couldn’t outdistance the frogmen. Several began jumping after him, croaking in what Milo imagined was some kind of language. Suddenly, several leaped over Milo and blocked his way forward. More raced up behind him, blocking escape. Never being one to fear Wild Magic, Milo mentally activated his boots of jumping. Bending his knees Milo leaped for the heavens. And left his boots on the ground behind him. Milo had jumped over the frogmen, and surprised them in the process, but he had lost his boots of jumping. No time to worry about them now, however. Quickly Milo began running forward again. The frogs were fast behind him, ribbiting in fury. Not having time to thing overlong, Milo had completely forgotten about Amio. So he was completely shocked when the well-armored drow burst out of the bushes ahead of him and fired several rounds into the group of frogmen. Pulling Milo into the bushes, Amio and Milo hid as the other frogmen pasted by. Milo quickly learned that Amio had seen several of these frogmen in the past days. Apparently the guards occasionally brought slaves into the gardens to feed to the frogs. Figuring Milo for another slave, Amio had only stepped out on his behalf when he recognized the little halfling. Milo likewise explained the plan for getting Amio into Frog Town. Amio was very reluctant to let his guns go, although he would agree to it if Milo would give him the bag of holding. Deciding to stay in the garden for the rest of the night and catch the ferry first thing tomorrow, Amio and Milo laid back in the bushes and attempted to get what sleep they could.Next morning at the bar, everyone was in shambles. G’Banrak had never returned from the night before, nor had Milo. And much worse (so the drow claimed) Ao, one of their technicians, had wandered out looking to buy a pair of rabbit fur boots like Zoltan had recently purchased (in order to replace his destroyed ones.) Like G’Banrak and Milo, Ao had also seemingly vanished into thin air. Everyone was already preparing to storm out when Amio and Milo strolled in the doors. Gathering around one of the bigger tables, Milo explained what had happened, with Amio occasionally interjecting what had happened to him in the past couple of days. With G’Banrak and Ao still missing, Jhelai and Wang volunteered to look for them while everyone else tried to figure out what to do regarding the Temple and its considerable evil acts. Jhelai and Wang quickly began searching through Frog Town, asking if anyone had seen G’Banrak or Ao. Few leads were found regarding Ao, yet no one had apparently forgotten the very memorable G’Banrak.Jhelai and Wang followed her trail to a bordello by the docks of Frog Town. After lacing the barkeep’s hands with a few credits, he suggested that perhaps she had found a new life as a slave. Jhelai and Wang looked at one another, both forming the own conclusions. Discretely inquiring about fees and services available, both of them were directed to talk to the women upstairs. Moving upstairs, both were confronted by a small squat man. Eyeing them both up and down, he quickly began running down a list of services and their prices. Jhelai and Wang quickly felt themselves beginning to get flustered. Hastily stopping the man and the pair nearly stumbled over one another in the haste to ask for a girl of G’Banrak’s description. The man paused for a moment, then shook his head. “No girls like that up here.”Jhelai and Wang excused themselves before heading back downstairs. The man who ran the brothel denied having seen G’Banrak, yet the barkeep had told them she was a slave now. Surely she was upstairs. Deciding that they would have to make sure by themselves, Jhelai and Wang marched back upstairs and requested a room with one of the girls.Paying out several hundred credits, Jhelai and Wang were led to a room, wherein they found a scantily clad female. Approaching the pair, she eyed them up and down, and then asked what they wished to do.Stammering, Wang quickly excused himself and left Jhelai alone in the room. Moving away, Wang managed to find the entrance into the peepshow areas. Quickly moving through the shows, Wang paused to catch an eyeful here and there, just to make sure he wasn’t looking at G’Banrak. He had only managed to take in a few of the shows, however, when Jhelai raced from the room and caught him. “Your turn in there friend!” Jhelai said with a somewhat wild look in his eyes. Pushing Wang back into the room, the paladin gave a slight shiver as he began reluctantly looking through the peepshows, searching for G’Banrak. Finally, sickened at the sins he had witnessed, Jhelai strode back to Wang and pulled him out of the room they had both purchased. Tossing the squat pimp a few more credits, they hurried outside where Jhelai hastily breathed a faint prayer to his God.Moving back to the bar, the pair quickly recounted their story, leaving out the more embarrassing portions. When they mentioned that G’Banrak might be a slave, Milo quickly pointed out that she might be among the prisoners in the fenced in corral. While the info Wang and Jhelai found had been useful, it had really only confirmed suspicions and fears, rather than actually bringing any new information to light. And so the debate began about what to do in the Temple. Any chance of leaving peacefully, without the weapons was quickly eliminated by the kidnapping of G’Banrak and the others. However, exactly how to rescue the captured ones quickly turned into a full on argument, and slowly began escalating towards a shouting match. No resolution was being reached at all until Syd suggested appointing a leader. Quieting down everyone apparently agreed.“All this discussing is worthwhile, but G'Banrak may not have muchtime. We really need to decide QUICKLY on a single, coherent plan fortaking out the temple gang, AND have someone who calls the shots on the flywhen things start going wrong, as they always do. Syd's the genius here;why don't we let him lead this mission?” suggested Milo.Orendil quickly backed him up. “The situation demands immediate action, and I’ll defer to Syd’s planning skills.”Everyone turned to Zoltan, sensing that if anyone would object to Syd’s leadership it would be him.“I should lead! All you magical fools will do is get us in trouble!” But then Zoltan paused for a moment. If he led, he’d be responsible for commanding a number of magic users. He couldn’t have that …“On second thought, someone else can lead. But don’t think I'm gonna take any orders from ya! If I don’t agree with what you want to do, I’m doing my own thing!”Accepting that that was very likely the closest to a nice word he would ever hear from Zoltan, Syd quickly began devising a plan. But first, he wished to go see the officer who had visited just a few days ago. Marching to the gate, Syd and Orendil demanded entrance into the military compound and after a few moments, attained it.Going to the barracks, Syd was forced to continue alone as he walked through narrow corridors towards the officer's room. There he knocked and entered, only to be met by a somewhat blank faced officer. Seeing a lack of recognition, Syd explained who he was. Still the officer failed to remember anything about Syd or his companions. Mentioning the officer’s visit to the bar just a few days before, Syd continued to only get a blank faced stare. Finally mentioning the large creatures marauding across the countryside, Syd was disgusted that the officer remained steadfast in his claimed amnesia. Leaving the barracks, Syd walked back to everyone else. The officer would be no help. There were no other options available. “Its obvious the Temple means to leave us here and pick us off one by one. If we do nothing I doubt there will be one of us left by the end of the week. Obviously their barracks area is too well protected and staffed for any kind of assault. We have to hit the temple itself. I suggest we all enter and eliminate our guide in order to be able to roam the temple freely. We should go to pray, or perhaps receive healing again. Once inside we can try to find Saint Steven and find out what is really going on within the Temple.If they are truly feeding slaves to these frogmen, we cannot let them continue. At the most extreme we can use Zoltan's explosives to level a few buildings while we make our escape. We need to try to avoid taking on the entire base at once, however, so something a little less obvious would be preferred.” Quickly everyone set into discussing the actual tactical considerations for the battle to come. One thing was for certain. At dawn the Temple would burn.</blockquote>

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