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Message: <blockquote data-quote="neveryours" data-source="post: 1609316" data-attributes="member: 13424">The party was led to a pond in the middle of the Maze. Brother Noul drew a breath and then started to pray to his deity for the power he would need to send the party on their way.The party was transformed into insubstantial cloud-like figures that could speed across the landscape. Soon, they sighted the town of Pashin.Pashin was situated in the nation of Khur and was nominally under Khurish rule. It lay close to the ogre nation of Blode and the foul swamp of Onysablet. However, a legion of Dark Knights under General Dogah had now become the de-facto rulers. The Mayor of Pashin had been trying to send messengers to the Khurish monarchy; all of whom have been intercepted and slain by the Dark Knights.The party decided to be inconspicuous in their approach. Drawing the hoods of their travelling robes up, they attempted to disguise themselves as travel-worn sell swords for merchant caravans. Stark even smeared mud on her face in an attempt to hide her elven features, which would mark her for death in a town of Dark Knights.The sun was setting as the party arrived upon the outskirts of Pashin. They navigated the slums and found their way to the town’s gates. It was manned by the Knights. The adventurers elected to circumvent the gates, and enter the town through stealthier means, not wanting to test the effectiveness of their disguises against the detective abilities of the sentries at the gates.The wall seemed to be ill-maintained and even crumbling in some places. As they walked, they noticed a dark shadow observing them from the shanty town outside the walls. The party affected a brief chase only to lose the person in the cluttered shadows of the slum.Giving up, they returned to the walls, and saw a crack that appeared large enough for a person to squeeze through. As, the approached the cracks, three men stepped out of the shadows, leering and brandishing shortswords.The one in the middle, apparently their leader, stepped forward and snarled, “Hand over your belongings or else…” And he waved his sword menacingly. Stark’s hands began to instinctively reach for her bow. However, she restrained them. “I’ll so get them if this goes badly, in any other situation, they’d be dead by now.”Muttering darkly, she spotted 4 crossbows silhouetted in the dying light. Durgan had also noted the snipers on the roof the squalid house beside them. He strode forward and grinned. “Here, we want no trouble. Take this and have yourselves a good time.” He tossed them a bag clinking with steel pieces.The man went forward to pick up the bag, opening it, he squinted. “This ain’t even enough to cover our troubles. Now, I’m sure that you have more where that came from.” The men advanced on him. Out of the corner of his eyes, Durgan noticed the crossbows pointed his way.Grinning disarmingly, Durgan motioned for Debra to approach. “I’ll need that bag of steel that you have.” The dwarf grudgingly handed the bag over, scowling all the while. “That’s fifty steel pieces in there.” She grumbled audibly, stomping her feet in indignation.Durgan tossed the bag to the men. “That’s all we have.”The greed apparent in their eyes, the thugs grabbed the bag. “Come on! You must have more.” Stark narrowed her eyes and surreptitiously moved right hand to the quiver. Durgan shook his head. “That is all we have, truly. Now can we pass? You can go to your merry-making and we can be on our way. The only things we have left are our weapons.” Debra grinned wickedly and shrugged her shoulders, emphasising the dwarven waraxe upon her back.The hint was not lost upon the thugs who by all standards already had done a good night’s work. The leader bowed extravagantly. “We thank you for your gift and bid you a good time in Pashin.”Stark bristled. If they were not worried about alerting the town guards and thus the Dark Knights, the party would’ve killed the lot of those thugs. As they squeezed through the crack, Stark reminded herself that the restoration of the elven home came first and foremost.Karavas, who had remained quiet all this time, let out a sigh. "I'm glad we avoided any bloodshed."</blockquote>

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