Six Nights to Yearsend (Ptolus, Kareus' Solo Adventure)

[wysiwyg]

Calmly he sheathes his swords back into their scabbards. Walking over to Loraine, Kareus sits down besides her on the floor. “I’m not insane Loraine, it’s just that the world around me has gone insane. I wouldn’t of have killed the mage if he hadn’t tried to cast a spell on me in the first. I didn’t kill him out of hatred or malice. It was simply self preservation.”
“Loraine, I don’t have time to explain now, but you are in grave danger. We need to get out of here to a place of safety. Come with me now, I know of a place to go, my friends escaped and they are waiting for me there. Maybe we can get some answers. Quickly, pack a small bag and let’s get out of here before someone else comes here snooping for me.”
Kareus helps her pack a few belongings. He then climbs back down the way he came, surveys the streets for any onlookers and meets her (in disguise) 3 blocks away from her house. They will head towards the seer’s house, moving through a busy marketplace to lose their scent in the crowd.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

OOC: Which disguise will you use? Loraine suggests something like an adventurer or the follower of an adventurer may wear since she is planning to go armed herself. Sorry, I should have asked this yesterday.

 

[wysiwyg]

Kareus, heads out as an elven archer. The the bow he received is clearly seen, as well the quiver of arrows behind his back.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

OOC: Kareus received a dragon pistol and 12 rounds of ammunition, not a bow. We'll say you are dressed as an elven gunslinger.

You show Loraine the disguise and she nods as she keeps it in her memory and meets you a few blocks away. She seems wary as she readies her equipment and grabs some coin, but her trust in you has not been entirely severed. Because Loraine lives close to the border of Midtown you decide to go through their, cut north into Temple District and then North Market, and then back west into Rivergate. The trip would add only a little time to your journey, and it would also give you the opportunity to confuse any trackers.

As you come to an intersection just short of the North Gate Road Bridge leading to the Temple District you see something that makes you ponder fate. One hundred feet away there is a procession led by a half-elven gentleman you recognize as Cerrinthan "Cerry" Sanserra, a lawyer and diplomat for the Balacazar crime family. He is leading a group of rough-looking men who are pulling a stretcher that holds the body of Arkhall Vaugn, likely so that he can be raised in the Temple District. Several armed mercenaries surround the procession.

Two goggle-wearing women wearing leather coats stand near the crowded bridge leading to the Temple District. As Cerry notices them his walk begins to slow and the hairs on your neck begin to raise as the women raise their arms towards him. Instantly you realize they are Sorn assassins.

"Oh hell," you hear Cerry yell as he dives towards the ground and two fireballs erupt into the procession. There were five guards in the lead of the procession and holding the stretcher that are killed immediately, while the windows to a nearby building explode inwards causing the inside curtains to catch on fire.

The remaining four guards drop the stretcher and rush forward, but are stopped by two trolls that suddenly become visible just short of the Sorn spellcasters. Also, two human snipers begin firing rifles from the roof of the building right behind you, causing the guards to shout out in confusion. Cerry seems unscarred by the fireballs, and begins to fumble inside his bag for some unknown item.

Suddenly there is a shout inside the building whose curtains caught on fire and you see that the room has quickly gone up into a sheet of flame. Loraine gives you a worried look, then before you can either stop her or curse at her she starts to run forward and close the distance between herself and the fiery building. The fool girl seems intent on trying to help those inside.

 

[wysiwyg]

Looking up to the sky, he annunciates every cursed word: “CAN I NOT HAVE EVEN ONE MOMENT OF PEACE! Maybe just one little one, hey?” Looking around, for a bucket of water (we are near a bridge after all) or any other water source, Kareus will dose himself first before jumping into the inferno after Loraine.

He looks at the state of Arkhall’s body while dashing by. Has it been charred to a crisp?

OOC: He will not allow himself to spend more than five minutes in this heated scene.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Kareus runs and practically dives off the river bank, while being careful not to drink the polluted waters. He climbs back out using the stones that serve as the artificial enbankment to keep out floods. Running back up he notices several new developments. The fighters and trolls have fought themselves to a stand-still, although one of the five fighters has gone down in a pool of his own blood. Cerry is nowhere to be found, though there are several marks on the ground where he once stood from rounds fired from the two snipers. These two now seem to be aiming their weapons towards the four fighters, which is likely to turn the tide of the fight. The two female Sorn agents have flanked around the battle and have come to approach Arkhall's corpse. One takes out a scroll as she examines the slightly scorched remains, while the other looks out for trouble and takes particular notice of you as you quickly approach both them and the fiery house behind them.

 

[wysiwyg]

Kareus moves quickly towards the house. When he nears the assassin he tells her: “Not looking for any trouble madam, just minding my own business, but my friends are in there. Let me go my way, and I will advance the same courtesy to you.”
Kareus keeps at least a 15 foot distance between himself and the assassin, to show he means no threat to her. He tries to avoid unnecessary confrontation, but if he even smells a whiff of danger from her, he will attack furiously.

OOC: Diplomacy +16, Sense Motive +8

 

[Deuce Traveler]

You move past the Sorn assassin as she watches you warily. You doubt she can hear all of your words in the chaos, but something about your manner results in that she does not engage you as you slip past and towards the fiery house. The second Sorn assassin finishes reading from the scroll and touches Arkhall's body and both disappear without a trace. At that point the riflemen stop shooting and begin to withdraw, leaving the trolls to fight the last couple of remaining fighters.

You enter the hallway of the home and see two scared children at the top of the stairs. They do not seem to be in danger, but do seem frozen in place in fear. The doorway to the first room to the left is blocked by flame and inside the room is a scared elderly woman near a piano. Loraine was trying futilely to beat the flames with a table cloth that she found somewhere, but gives up and instead tears off a strip of it to create a mask that covers her nose and mouth. You see her familiar eyes and know that she looks determined, as if ready to try to jump past the flames and to the woman.

 

[wysiwyg]

"Get the children outside and I'll get her," Kareus says to Loraine while pointing to the old lady. Kareus looks for any large enough windows in the room where the lady is in that a person could fit though. If there are, he will grab something large enough to smash them from the outside, climb inside and take her out without going through the flames. If there is no such window (or it's barred), he will take the mask from Loraine, go to the kitchen, fetch a pale of water, and make a dash for it through the flames (at least he's soaked). He will dose the elderly lady, put her on his shoulder and run back through the flames outside.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Not seeing a way to get the elderly lady out by a window, Kareus grabs Loraine's makeshift mask and ties it around his nose and mouth. Scrambling into the kitchen he finds a large jug of milk and rushes frantically into the flaming room, stopping just long enough to pat down his smoldering pants and boots. Ignoring the paniced sputtering of the woman as he douses her with milk, Kareus then rushes out of the flaming room with her on her shoulder and then races out the now-flaming building as a growing crowd applauds his heroism. There are no signs of trolls or Sorn assassins, except for a few dead bodyguards behind the people.

Loraine flashes you a quick smile before turning back towards the children that she herself has rescued. "Is anyone else in there," she asks the children. They reply in the negative and the bard begins to organize the crowd into a sort of fire brigade. You argue about time, but she ignores your point as she puts you into the line and hands you a bucket of water that has come from the nearby river so that you may pass it to the next person who is throwing water on the flames of the house.

She whispers, "You know, when I heard about the man you killed I wasn't sure what to think. But the way you helped that woman..." She stops her comment and lowers her eyes to the next incoming bucket without saying more.