Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 8004858" data-attributes="member: 7015827">Some minutes after the wizard had left, the others thought they heard something again, in the dark. Shanni advised Darrow to keep any light source doused, in order not to frighten away whatever it was. The voice in the dark suddenly began speaking again, asking if the adventurers would help it. In response to a question from Shanni, it explained - only partly coherently - that the slaves were its friends and that it was satisfied with the “bad men”. It described what had happened to it with a series of word images: movement, fear, blood, pain. After this terrifying experience, it had awoken in the dark, with a desire to hurt the bad men.The voice continued, saying that there was one in the slave pen with whom he had felt a connection. Before disappearing, the voice asked them to return that night. Shanni, Dermot and Darrow were somewhat taken aback by what appeared to be an offer of assistance against the slavers, not knowing what to think of the offer or whoever was behind it. As they made their way back through the cavern, they encountered a sopping wet Rahnee, who had found the underground stream entrance per Aerikoth’s instructions, and filled her in.The four then made their way to the slave pen, to see if they could identify the person of whom the voice had spoken. Once there, Dermot alertly spotted a male prisoner with his hands tied behind his back who had not been visible before. One of the guards ordered the man, a wizard called Kain Graves, to come to the fence and share anything of use that he knew with the adventurers. The two guards on duty, stomachs rumbling, then asked the adventurers if they would stand watch while the two got some lunch. Darrow was happy to agree to the idea on behalf of the group.Under questioning, Kain revealed that he had special knowledge of the undead, thanks to coming from a family of necromancers. He explained that he had been on his way to Candlekeep when he had been drugged and captured after spending the night at an inn. Shanni empathized with his situation. Kain mentioned that he had tried to come up with an escape plan, but one of the half-orc guards had taken his magic gem, which contained his familiar’s sleeping place.The four were satisfied that Kain was the one they were looking for, although they were split on how best to take him with them. Rahnee advocated simply spiriting him away, while Shanni thought it more prudent to ask permission of the slavers. Darrow agreed and volunteered to do the asking. When the two guards returned from lunch, he approached them and explained that the group wanted to use Kain as bait for whatever was hunting the slavers and would pay them back if he were damaged. The guards had no problem with this arrangement. A dark-haired female prisoner, the same one who had talked to Shanni before, walked up to Kain and briefly whispered to him, before he was let out of the slave pen.Once they were out of sight and earshot of the pen, Darrow sat down and gave Kain a quick intro to the group, also mentioning Aerikoth’s presence on the ship. Darrow next asked if any of the other prisoners were sailors. Kain said that he thought one was, having been picked up from a sailor’s tavern. The wizard also mentioned that when his spell books were taken, he heard something about them being taken to a lair in a deep forest, which Kain thought must mean somewhere on the island. He further described the magic gem, containing his familiar named Xorn, that had been seized.Dermot then informed Kain of how they were secretly working against the slavers, while having been hired to find whatever had been killing the guards on the island at night. Dermot commented that it might be a vengeful ghost, but they truly had no idea of what it was in reality, and could use Kain’s help. Kain in turn promised his assistance against the slavers, although he cautioned that he was limited to the spells he had memorized, without access to his spellbooks.The group asked Shanni to go back and query the guards at the slave pen about the spell books, given that she had what Rahnee termed the best rapport with the slavers. Kain pointed out that if the books were on the island, so was the lair he had heard them mention. The guards it turned out had no information for Shanni, but pointed her towards Pincer, who was with the main guard group by the boat landing.The five of them trooped over to the landing area, finding Pincer behind a group of guards. Leaving their companions a short distance away, Shanni and Dermot approached him and broached the topic of the spellbooks. Pincer indicated they could not be retrieved any time soon, since they had been sent away to “the lair”. However, he quite approved of their stated plan to use Kain as bait. The two then returned and informed the others.</blockquote>

Verification