Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 575230" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chinese Take-outChapter 73, “Picking up the pieces”, September 28, 1018, 2:00 A.M. Lannon begins checking the bodies of the deceased, stripping them of magic.  Barthrock, Narg and Serita approach the truck, finding that it is now empty.   Back by the river, Mark finally begins to breathe again on his own.   The irony of the situation now becomes apparent, as Mark was the only one of the ten present who had the ability to change into an aquatic form, and he was the one who nearly drown.  If any of them had thought of it Mark could have transformed and quickly saved them all, rather than having to have all of them work to save him.   “This just isn’t your day,” Fiona says to Mark, reminding him that it was only this morning that he had had his hands cut off.   Mojo approaches the truck.   Narg turns to him, points to the tire, and asks; “Can you fix it?”   Mojo finds the spare tire, and says “Well, on Carvel we just called triple-A when we had a flat, but I think I can take care of it.  If you help this shouldn’t take too long, maybe half-an-hour.”  Narg yells this back to the others, telling them to use the time to check the ship for more enemies or treasure, and to put the bodies in the bags of holding.  Mojo finds a toolbox in the truck-camper portion of the truck, and with assistance from Narg and Aradyn, manage to get the flat tire changed.   The two of them complain to Aradyn throughout the process, as it was his arrows that flattened the tire.   “Hey, somebody had to stop the Ragnors” the archer replies.      Narg comments about wanting to get more information from “Futureboy”.  Mojo comments “Don’t you mean Future Your-boy, he did have your sword.”  “That’s one of the things I’d like to determine,” Narg replies. Meanwhile, Lannon continues to rifle the bodies.  Barthrock states that when this is all said and done he wants Roger’s body.  The group inquires why, and he explains that “My team is from the Kingdom of Matharic, so is Roger.  Morgarth’s Journal it states that they were plotting to take over the kingdom.  My team has never gotten involved with politics, in fact we don’t even like our King, but being accomplices to treason is quite another thing entirely.   Unfortunately, if it came down to his word against ours we would lose, as Roger’s family are all prominent priests and politicians, whereas my team is perceived as a group of lowly mercenaries.   However, with the Journal, and Roger’s body to answer Speak with Dead questions, that will resolve the situation nicely.”Cassie tells Barthrock that they have the Journal, which he can have once she makes a copy of the full text.   Narg agrees to also give him the body, provided Barthrock promises that it will be permanently destroyed once the King is through questioning it.  Barthrock does not see this as a problem, as his King will most likely want it destroyed too.  He says that Roger’s family may want to resurrect him, but that if it first determined that he was a traitor they won’t raise any protest to the body’s destruction, not wanting to implicate themselves in his schemes. Once the tire is repaired everyone hops on board, and they drives back to the castle.  The bugbears guarding the gate tell Barthrock that a pair of the Ragnor monsters forced they way through about twenty rounds earlier, and headed to the castle.    Mojo floors the truck, getting back up the hill to the castle at record speed.   He drives into the Great Hall, where Barthrock’s cleric and dwarven fighter are waiting.   The dwarf Tokrah yells out “They went downstairs a few rounds ago, our monk L followed them.”    Most of the Silver Moon charge downs the stairs.  As they near the bottom they can hear the distinctive sounds of a helicopter's rotor blades.    They arrive in the large room just in time to see a helicopter exiting the far end of the tunnel.    The monk L explains how partway down the tunnel was a secret door, leading to a room where the helicopter was stored.  The party check out the room, seeing a wheeled ramp that the aircraft had set on, the room having been build only to store the one flying craft.    Discouraged that it got away, the party head back upstairs.  The members of Barthrock’s team tell the party that they have checked out the building, and it is secure from all enemies.   In a private conversation, the cleric Davvid tells Narg and Mojo "Thank you for grabbing Barthrock on your ride out, and finally making him declare whose side he was on.  Barthrock aspires to be a great hero, but his own personality always holds him back.  He never wants to commit to either side of a conflict, trying to appear to be an ally of both sides, until it is clear who the winning side will be."   “Well, he sure picked right this time,” is Mojo’s answer. Looking to Narg, Davvid continues "Last month, on your Island he was truly inspired by your example. You kept the terms of our truce even after it was no longer in your best interest.  You also negotiated the truce with him despite your anger at our holding your girl friend.  You even asked for the release of two hirelings rather than her, pointing out that they were civilians rather than combatants.   That said much about your character and integrity.   Your comment then to Barthrock of ‘You lie down with dogs, you get fleas’ truly shamed him.  He hoped that by protecting Li-Tak's daughters, and now assisting you here, you might forgive him for his prior actions.  Still, he continued to have Morgarth and Roger think he was their ally, until you finally made him commit.   This should make him realize that a true sign of a hero is the declaration of ones true beliefs from the onset.  I thank you for helping to make my best friend a better man."   Davvid also now complies with Narg’s earlier request, returning Alton’s handgun to him.  As it now nearing 4:00 A.M., and the group has been up for almost twenty-four hours, plus Aradyn, Lannon, Mark, Mojo and Narg are way down in hit points, so they decide to head back to the rear tower and get some sleep.    September 28, 1018, 12:00 P.M. The vast majority of the party sleeps until noon.   During this same time period Hiroshi returns to Li-Tak’s tomb to retrieve his daughter Kim-Sung, bringing her to the castle.  Duegar and Hiroshi are left to stand guard at the tomb with the Hengeyokai, which is primarily an excuse to help keep the Hengeyokai from nearing the castle until the party is ready for them to do so.  On the subject of Hengeyokai, Barthrock explains that he has had a conversation with Ebony Shadow, and asked her to negotiate their departure with the Hengeyokai elders.   In addition to the nearly two-hundred bugbears, Barthrock says that he now controls twelve of the elephant-footed giants, the nine that had been knocked unconscious by Cassie’s Fireball and the three that retreated from Fiona’s Fear spell.  He says that he would like to be able to take them with him when he leaves.    He convinced Ebony that without this monster army present to protect them, slavers would probably capture the half-Hengeyokai daughters of Li-Tak once they leave the anti-magic shell.  He also pointed out that it would also be safer for the Hengeyokai to let the monsters just walk away rather than having to fight them.  He has also asked Ebony to investigate the status of the ship, thinking that perhaps the giants could haul it out as a barge, to transport the contents of the castle. Li-Tak’s daughters prepare a fine meal for “their rescuers”, the prophesied Silver Moon and their other protector's, Barthrock's team.  The party sits down for the meal, and finally have a chance to talk.</blockquote>

Verification