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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 670416" data-attributes="member: 1674">The bat and the dream, part 1The days after the attack were busy ones. The heroes helped saving trapped survivors from ruins, used their healing-powers in the make-shift hospitals and tried to fill gaps wherever they were needed. Meanwhile, they were informed that the opening of the book might take weeks, since the power that sealed is was indeed great, and they were treated to comfortable rooms in a wealthy inn.One afternoon, having spent his magical healing powers for the day, Ben went to a tanner, his slitheren hides strapped to the back of his horserat. After a short introduction, the tanner agreed to take a look at the hides to see whether he was able to do something with it, but once Ben had unrolled the bundle in the tanner’s shop, he grew clearly agitated: „What? Is this the skin of a slitheren?“.Ben shrugged: „Well, sure.“The short, lean tanner had been agitated before. The halfling’s calm didn’t do anything to calm him down in turn, though. Rather, his surprise was now turning into a feeling of insult: „You can hardly expect me to tan the hide of a being that had once been concious.“.„Why not“, Ben asked, irritated by the tanner’s emotional outburst: „They are your enemies. So, what’s the big deal?“„What the deal is? What the deal is? I will tell you what the deal is. The deal is, not even Calastians would take the skins of people from Vesh and make coats out of them“.„Well, obviously, you don’t have no fur like a slitheren, so there is no way anybody could make a furcoat out of that.“.Now the man was furious. His face was turning crimson red and he was frantically waving with his arms: „That is not the point. They are not using our skins to make boots out of them, either.“.Ben was unmoved: „Whatever. Listen good man, I am getting tired of this. Are you going to tan those furs now? I can see your angle, and I will give you a little extra for the work, as well.“.„Angle? No! I would never do something as terrible as tanning the skin of any sentient being, be it friend or foe! And now leave my store or I will call the guards!“„Your loss“, Ben said, wrapped up his furs and left the tanner.Back at his room, he removed the arms and legs from the skins, taking away their humanoid look. This way, he succeeded in convincing another tanner that he had been hunting giant rats, and once the skins were prepared he brought them to a tailor who made him boots, a coat and a cap out of them.On the evening after Ben had received his new, gray set of winter clothes, with which he was sufficiently content to tip the tailor rather lavishly, Torn was in his hotelroom, studying a new spell. As he sat hunched over a small table, reading the parchment scroll by candle-light, there was a light rap on the door.Not knowing who was coming, he rose from his chair, checking that his chain was in grasp’s reach and said: „It’s open!“.The door opened and a hooded female humanoid stood in the door. „May I enter?“, she asked with a chirping voice.Torn gestured, waving her in: „Sure.“.The woman entered and closed the door behind her. „I will remove this cloak now. Please, don’t be afraid.“, she said, and slowly she pulled back her hood, revealing the face of a mansized bat! She waited for a moment, making sure that Torn wouldn’t react in a hostile way, and removed the rest of her cloak.She was wearing the clothing of an adventurer: Sturdy materials that offered protection against the weather while sporting a lot of pockets to store away small items. But except for that, there wasn’t much normal about her: Her entire body was covered with fur, except for her face and her leathery wings, and her whole body looked like that of a humanoid bat. Her feet were bare, and they looked as agile as those of a monkey.„My name is Lithia“, she said with her high voice „and I would like to ask you for a favor, Torn.“.„How do you know my name.“.„A mutual friend of ours told me a lot about you. Nadezhda of Mithril told me that she was very impressed by your abilities“.Now that Lithia had mentioned Nadezhda, his suspicions were eased. If the bat-woman knew about the sorceress from Mithril, she was probably a member of the Scaled Ones as well. However, there was still one thing he had to know first: „I don’t want to be impolite, but I have never seen the likes of you...“.Lithia nodded, and answered pleasantly: „Well, I belong to a species that is called „Bat Devils“ in vulgar ledean. However we are no devils, but a species from this world, just like yours, humans or any other. I know that we look strange to most of the divine races, and so we got this rather unfriendly name.„Now“, she continued „I come to you because I would like to offer you the opportunity to join the guild. You would have to do one little task for the guild, and you will be one of us, with all the advantages this brings. What do you think?“„I would love to hear what the task is“, Torn answered noncommitingly.As far as Torn could read her bat-face, she was smiling now: „Of course. Tomorrow morning, a group of five will leave Mullis Town and head south on the road that leads them to Lave. Those five, two halflings, two halforcs and one elf, are all member of a group called „The Cult of the Ancients“. Are you familiar with them?“Torn nodded. After all his researches about the book „power of death“, he knew that they were a group of murderers and assassins.„Good. Then I don’t have to explain to you how dangerous they are. Anyway, we are fairly certain that they have a copy of a Slarecian book that was actually written in Ledean. This book allows anyone who reads it to gain the powers of an ultimate assassin. Now, we would like you to get it for us, and as a reward you may study it yourself and become a member of our guild.“She didn’t have to ask. Torn didn’t know whether for some reason the batdevil knew about his link to the book or whether it was just a fancy of Enkili that brought them together, but there was no question for him whether he wanted to get the book, hold it in his hands, and study it.Once he had agreed to do it, Lithia pulled a small crystal ball out of a small bag that she had carried over a shoulder. With it, she showed the five to Torn, explaining to him who was who: The male halforc, who looked good even if he had been a human, was a bard, while his female companion, clad in full plate even at the inn table at which all five of them were sitting right now, was a warrior. The female halfling wore a symbol of Belsameth around her shoulder- she was a priestess of the godess of murder, while her companion, a slick halfling with a sneer, was a sorcerer. The fifth person on the table was a tall elf- he was a thief, she told him, and the only one likely to have accepted the teachings of the book.While he could see the faces of the cultists in the milky crystal ball, he did his best to memorize each of them. Then, he thanked Lithia and once she was gone, he thought that he wouldn’t be able to make it alone. It would be best if he would get his friends to prepare an ambush at some part of the road where they would be by themselves. After all, the Vigils wouldn’t exactly like an unmotivated attack on anyone within their borders, no matter who the target was. They would have no right to attack the cultists as long as they commited no crime within Vesh... And since they were probably not totally stupid, they would keep a low profile, being couriers for their organization.No, it had to be an ambush at some isolated spot. That, however was possible- the road lead along many deserted hills and small woods. He would get his friends to help him too: Jan and Niklas would gladly help when it came to fighting evil, just like Trepat would, and Ben would probably enjoy the challenge of facing off against evil cultists, anyway.He was right. Getting his friends together was easy, and two days later around noon, they were setting up their ambush at a point where the road was flanked by a forest on one and by the river on the other side. As Jan and Niklas took up their position in the middle of the road, they had decided that they would give the cultists a chance to hand the book over without a fight, the other three had each found a hiding place in the bushes and on the trees.</blockquote>

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