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Story Hour
Way of the Wicked Playthrough - Updated 2023/03/28
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<blockquote data-quote="rchodges" data-source="post: 8332340" data-attributes="member: 7031385"><p><strong>Part 1:</strong> Knot of Thorns</p><p><strong>Act 1: </strong>Prison Break!</p><p><strong>Session 2:</strong> Getting a Blackerly Eye</p><p></p><p>“We’re going to have more company.”, Bebop called out from the hallway where the bodies of guards were scattered about.</p><p>Donovan looked around the area near the kitchen, now strewn with the bodies of guards and sighed, “Do we really need to kill every single one of these people? Most of these idiots are barely trained for combat, much less trained to handle us.”</p><p>Bebop sneered, “They didn’t seem to have any problem beating us while we were chained up.”</p><p>About that time, Tamsen walked out of the kitchen, smiling brightly.</p><p>Donovan looked over at her, “If you’re finished with your fun, could you please heal the last guard that’s bleeding out? Apparently, Lucius decided he’s the one we’re going to save.”</p><p>Tamsen kissed Donovan on the cheek, then walked over to the injured guard. Most of his right arm had been torn away in combat with Bebop, GrumbleJack, and Lucius’ Eidolon.</p><p>She giggled at the guard, “This is going to sting a bit.”</p><p>Tamsen bit into her finger, drawing a slight bit of blood. She then pressed her finger against the wounded guard’s shoulder. A sizzling sound occurred as the wound began to close. The guard winced in even more pain, if such was possible to imagine. Bebop roughly helped the man to his feet, as Donovan approached him, smiling.</p><p>“Good evening soldier. As you can certainly ascertain by now, my friends and I are attempting to leave the facility this evening. It should be obvious to you that you are in no condition to fight us, and as my friend Lucius has selected you to survive this evening, I would very much like that to be the outcome for you. So, I’m going to ask you a series of questions. If you answer those questions honestly and provide no other resistance to us, I promise to bring no further harm to you, and you will live to see the sunrise. However, be assured that if you lie to me, or attempt to draw your comrades in arms to aid you, I will absolutely have you killed.”, Donovan said to the guard, without any malice or passion, as if he was simply explaining weather patterns.</p><p>Bebop snorted at the guard when Donovan invoked the word “killed”.</p><p>Donovan continued, “Do you understand what I am saying to you?”</p><p>The guard nodded, almost in a panic as he held his hand against the stump that was formerly his right arm.</p><p>Donovan smiled wide, “Excellent. Then let’s start with something simple: what is your name?”</p><p>And with that, Donovan began interrogating the guard, discovering information about the nearby rooms, the location of Blackerly, and the passwords used to move unmolested through the guard stations. Upon learning about the nearby presence of the Armory, Donovan flashed a quick glance over to Lucius, who nodded and took his Eidolon over to investigate further.</p><p></p><p>Bebop watched intently as Donovan interrogated the guard further. Bebop’s relationship with Donovan was always an interesting one. Donovan had literally pulled Bebop off the streets and took him to Donovan’s family estate to work as “muscle” and “clerk” for the shops that Donovan’s father owned. Yet, Bebop was rarely required to actually be “muscle”, due in no small part to the way Donovan would defuse situations with his words. Bebop was deceptively intelligent, which he used to his advantage when people assumed that his strength meant he lacked intellect. But, even with that, Bebop saw that Donovan was able to see into situations that others would miss. Of course, Bebop didn’t care about all of Donovan’s planning and scheming, as it simply meant more free time between him and Tamsen. Ever since their first encounter, Tamsen had found in Bebop a kindred spirit, and had often shown him her skill with physical pleasures. As a creature who some would call ugly, having the attention of such a beautiful woman was quite a boon to Bebop. But, to have Tamsen, Bebop would have to accept Donovan, so he did as such.</p><p>“See Connor, you’re doing so very well. I’m very proud of you.”, Donovan spoke to the guard, with an absolute sense of accomplishment in having stripped out all the information the guard could possess.</p><p></p><p>“Donovan, come check this out.”, Lucius called out.</p><p>The Eidolon had accessed the Armory, and there was quite a bit to discover. The group grabbed the guard named Connor, and walked over to the door where the Armory was located. Beyond a wide variety of weapons and outfits, they also found a fair amount of unused lantern oil, that could easily be employed to create a fire in an opportune location. Best of all, a collection of the brands that had been used to mark the party when they first arrived were located here.</p><p>“Excellent work!”, Donovan smiled at the Eidolon.</p><p>Bebop was very excited about the potential of the fire spreading chemicals. “We can burn the warden out of his tower!”, he said excitedly.</p><p>“Perhaps.”, Donovan tapped his lips in thought. “Let’s see what else is here to discover in these rooms.”</p><p>With that, the party grabbed some items they found interesting from the Armory, and proceeded to Blackerly’s office. Following some skillful lock undoing by the Eidolon, the group entered what was easily one of the largest rooms they had encountered in the whole of the prison.</p><p>“Of course you needed all this space for yourself, Blackerly. Meanwhile your men sleep within inches of each other.”, Donovan sighed, utterly nonplussed at the whole event.</p><p>“Trash the room, please.”, Donovan instructed the group, while he circled over a large desk, and the Sergeant’s logs, which rested on top.</p><p>Bebop especially enjoyed this part, an opportunity to let himself be aggressive and true to his animal nature. It wasn’t long before Bebop discovered a large chest like object near the floor. Picking it up, Bebop could feel the weight of it. He set it down on the desk next to Donovan, beaming with pride at his discovery. Donovan looked up at Bebop and nodded as if impressed, then made the all too familiar gesture to Lucius’ Eidolon. The Eidolon began working on this lock. Incredibly, she found herself stopped by the sheer complexity of it.</p><p>“Take your time, good lady.”, Donovan said to the Eidolon, mostly distracted in the information he was reading. “I haven’t finished going through this yet.”</p><p>Rosters, hiring forms, shift changes, accounting updates. All of the information led Donovan to one simple and obvious truth: Blackerly had been defrauding the prison system to line his own pockets. It was a very clever system, given the limited funds he had to work with. But in the end, Blackerly wouldn’t consider accounting to be the best part of his work; yet researching money was second nature to the son of a wealthy merchant.</p><p>Donovan pressed his finger against the page of the ledger, and laughed, “I told you my love, he is dirty! I knew someone in this prison was corrupt, there was no way a system this size couldn’t have a corrupt person in it.”</p><p>Donovan smiled at Tamsen, and Tamsen walked over to the desk to look at what Donovan was pointing at. Unsurprisingly, Donovan was pointing at a long row of numbers. Tamsen never had much interest in accounting or bookkeeping; but she knew that it made Donovan happy to hunt down secrets in books, so she merely smiled and scratched the back of Donovan’s head, “You were right, love!”</p><p>Finally, the Eidolon was able to access the chest, showing the extent of Blackerly’s efforts. There was easily over thirteen hundred gold in the chest, which excited Bebop to no end; but seemed less interesting to Donovan. Donovan drew the other knife taken from the veil across a specific set of pages from Blackerly’s ledger, then folded those pages up and held it in his hand.</p><p>“Damn, if only this client hadn’t come calling so soon. Think what we could have done with a few more days of being able to work the staff over instead of kill them!”, Donovan seemed disappointed at that statement.</p><p>For all his cleverness, he had failed to account for a time change at the prison, reducing his weeks of stay to mere days. Now, all of this research was effectively nullified, as Branderscar would be seeing a massive staff and policy change, following the discovery of all the bodies that the team had strewn through the prison.</p><p></p><p>Bebop was already annoyed at having to wait so long for Donovan to read through the material, so he pressed on to the next door, finding it locked as well. Bebop began pushing and pulling the door, as if he would tear it off its hinges. Lucius, seeing this, also moved into the hallway where Bebop was, and had his Eidolon open the lock barring access to the room. Compared to the chest, the door was a far simpler task. As the door swung open, Bebop found what appeared to be Blackerly’s bedroom. Without hesitation, Bebop anticipated what Donovan was going to ask the group to do, and began trashing this room as he had the previous one. Moments such as these, moments where he could revel in chaos and destruction, were brief opportunities that brought him happiness.</p><p>Donovan waved the folded papers at Tamsen, “Now that we have this, and his profits, I believe that we are ready to take our meeting with the Sergeant.”</p><p>Tamsen cooed, “Ooh, can we burn his balls off?”</p><p>“Now, now, my love”, Donovan retorted playfully, “We need him alive. I have plans for him.”</p><p>Donovan’s hands slid around Tamsen’s waist, as she pouted. “Boo, I wanted him to suffer like he made us suffer.”</p><p>“Oh, Tamsen, he will most certainly suffer tonight.”, Donovan said in a reassuring voice.</p><p></p><p>With that, Donovan stood up, making his way towards Blackerly’s bedroom. The team had gathered several baubles and trophies from this room. Bebop was smiling about the sudden influx of alcohol, but Donovan remained uninterested.</p><p>“If we’re done here, we should talk about how we’re going to get over to the poker game that Blackerly is currently holding.”</p><p>Bebop chimed up, an almost childlike grin crossing his face, “I have a plan.”</p><p>Donovan stared at Bebop for a while, listening to the details of his plan. Finally, he responded with a look of near exasperation, “Bebop, this is, without a doubt, one of the worst plans we have ever discussed.” Bebop continued to nod excitedly, and Donovan realized that this was important for Bebop to feel as though he was contributing.</p><p>Sighing, Donovan resigned himself to the outcome. “Ok, let’s go back to the Armory and get some guard uniforms.”</p><p></p><p>A short while later, Bebop, Donovan, and Lucius with his Eidolon were all wearing guard uniforms. GrumbleJack had manacles placed around his wrists in an unlocked position, and Tamsen was still adorned in the civilian attire she had originally gained from the veil. The group began walking over, with the intention of appearing to perform a “prisoner transfer” of GrumbleJack. As explained by Bebop, this would allow them to get closer to Blackerly, in order to surprise the guards inside the main tower. The group opened up the main doors leading into the guard tower. It was not lost on them the number of arrow slits that were located on the walls of this room.</p><p>The guards called down, “Who goes there?”</p><p>Donovan replied to the call with the password that he had extracted from Connor, stalling for time.</p><p>The guards, now clearly seeing the visage of GrumbleJack, responded in an obviously concerned tone, “What is that thing doing out of its cage?”</p><p>Donovan, still not making direct eye contact with any of the guards watching through the arrow slits, responded in what he hoped would appear as a disinterested tone, “Prisoner transfer.”</p><p>The guards called out to the Sergeant in confused, terrified voices. “Sergeant! The monster is up here!”</p><p>Blackerly, sounding incredulous, was dismissive to the guards at first; but when they invoked the word “monster”, his attention was focused in the moment.</p><p>“What the naughty word are you talking about?”, Blackerly roared.</p><p>Looking down from the upper area where he and the others were playing their poker game, Blackerly’s eyes grew wide. “Holy gods! What the fück is going on? Who the fück let that thing out? Connor, is that you, you incompetent buffoon?!”</p><p>“Yes sir”, Donovan replied, “I’ll take him back right now, sir!”</p><p>Blackerly began to scream even louder, “You don’t fücking move, you idiot! I’m going to come down there right now, and we’re going to get this sorted out! Gods damn it all!”</p><p>Donovan looked to the ground, his face barely able to hold back the sheer joy at watching Blackerly give up every advantage without a second thought. With that, Donovan decided to agitate the Sergeant even further, “You heard the Sergeant, we need to get this big guy back to his cell. Can’t believe the prisoner transfer was so screwed up.”</p><p>Donovan reached out to Tamsen through her telepathic ability, asking her to tell Bebop and Lucius’ Eidolon to move up closer to the guards that were now beginning to mill about near GrumbleJack.</p><p>Blackerly began screaming so loud, it sounded as though he would have a heart attack shortly, “I said don’t move you fücking idiots! Fücking stay right there, gods damnit!” Blackerly finally arrived at the bottom of the guard tower, nearly panting from all the screaming and shouting he had done on his way to the team. Accompanying him were four other guards, the majority of all the guards left in the complex by Donovan’s count.</p><p>Once Blackerly arrived and had a chance to get his bearings, he noticed the Tiefling. “And what in the nine hells is she doing here?!” Donovan continued to press into Blackerly by saying things that would frustrate him even more, “Entertainment, sir?”</p><p>Tamsen giggled and blew a kiss at Blackerly.</p><p></p><p>Then Donovan looked into Blackerly’s face and saw the one thing he wasn’t hoping to find: recognition. Blackerly was beginning to recognize the faces, the individuals who he had visited in their cells only a few hours prior.</p><p>Sensing there was no time to lose, Donovan seized on the window of opportunity, “Attack!”</p><p>In a moment, Tamsen applied her Slumber Hex ability to one of the guards, who began passing out just in time to be fully gored by Bebop. The guard next to that unfortunate victim was unable to do much of anything before Lucius’ Eidolon severed his head from his shoulders. GrumbleJack viciously attacked Blackerly, who was only able to withstand the assault because of his years of training.</p><p>Donovan cried out, “Lucius, Grease up that ladder, they are not getting away from us now!”</p><p>Lucius applied the spell to the narrow ladder that led up to the second floor of the Guard House. With this escape route gone, the two guards arriving right after Blackerly were effectively trapped in the adjoining Guard Room. Tamsen then applied her Slumber power to the Sergeant, and he passed out forward onto the ground. The other guards, seeing their leader pass out next to these vicious combatants, grabbed him and began dragging him into the Guard Tower, further trapping themselves. One of the guards attempted to push the door to this tower closed, but GrumbleJack effortlessly held the door open. Attacks continued to come in against the guards from the team, as Donovan flailed on his armor to get his helmet off.</p><p>Donovan drew his blade, pointing it at Blackerly and his guards, and shouted in a forceful tone, “Drop your weapons and I will call back my monsters. Otherwise, you die tonight!”</p><p>The guard closest to the door shouted back with resolve to Donovan, “The servants of Mitra will never yield to fiends such as you!”</p><p>The guard then looked back on Blackerly and the other guard, who have already thrown down their weapons and raised their hands above their heads.</p><p>The guard managed to stumble out, “What the…” before the Eidolon bisected his skull where he stood.</p><p></p><p>Bebop walked into the Guard Tower where the fearful men were standing, shaking in anticipation of what would happen next. He gathered their weapons, then moved slightly back.</p><p>“The brand, Bebop.” Bebop heard Donovan’s voice call out, and knew what he was asking for. He took the brand that had been recovered from the Armory, and moved to a fire source to begin heating it up.</p><p>“Lucius, have your Eidolon accompany Tamsen around the patrol area of the wall, and restrain all the remaining guards.”, Donovan requested of Lucian.</p><p>Lucius responded, “I’ll have her toss them off the wall.”</p><p>Donovan smiled and nodded at Lucius, “Very clever!”</p><p>Tamsen and Lucius Eidolon began working their way around the wall patrol area, taking advantage of their superior vision in the dark to get the drop on the few still standing guards. Donovan then approached the guard standing next to Blackerly. The guard was clearly panicked, as Bebop continued to snort and growl as he looked in the direction of the two individuals.</p><p>Donovan spoke directly to the guard. “Alright jobber, where are you going after you leave this area?”</p><p>The guard, confused and afraid of punishment, stuttered to get out an answer, “I… I don’t… where should…”</p><p>Donovan cut him off, “You’re going to walk across this yard over to that building.” Donovan pointed to the area where they had discovered the Armory. “Once inside, you are going to go into the dining area, and be seated. You will not leave that area until help arrives. If I find you outside the dining area, I will have Bebop kill you.”</p><p>Bebop smiled with anticipation to drive home the point, then Donovan continued. “Do we understand each other?” The guard nodded, seeing that his “safe place” was a short distance away. “Now, leave behind your keys, and go.” Donovan dismissed the guard with his hand. The guard, unwilling to take any chances, removed the belt that his keys were attached to, and let it drop to the ground. The guard then ran over to the building containing the dining area, his hands raised in the air the whole time.</p><p>Lucius approached Donovan, “I think I have a plan for dealing with the Warden. I’ll need to take GrumbleJack with me to move some of these bodies.”</p><p>Donovan nodded at Lucius, “Sounds interesting, I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned.” With that underway, Donovan focused his attention on Blackerly. A malevolent smile crossed Donovan’s face.</p><p>Blackerly began to protest, “You said you would let me live.”</p><p>Donovan attempted to reassure him, “I have no intention of killing you Blackerly. On the contrary, I like you. You’re like me: corrupt. You robbed the prison system, replacing better paying jobs with worse paying ones, and pocketing the difference. You get your guards drunk so you can steal the remainder of the coin from your poorly trained force.”</p><p>Blackerly was about to say something, but Donovan immediately cut him off, “Save your lies and excuses, Blackerly, as I’m not interested in hearing them. I already have the pages from your journal that show all of your corrupt ways at this prison. And you know what? I don’t care! I think what you are doing here is great; and I hope that, assuming you somehow survive the investigation that is most assuredly coming to this prison, you and I can work together in the future.”</p><p>Donovan sighed, then looked toward Blackerly with an angry gleam in his eye. “However, you hurt my family, and that’s something I can’t simply abide. So now, we have to set things even."</p><p>Donovan paused to let the realization of his words set in, then shouted, "Bebop!” With that, Bebop took the “F” brand that was used by Blackerly on all the members of the family, and drove it forcefully into Blackerly’s cheek, directly below his right eye. Blackerly howled out in pain, shrieking and flailing about after the brand was removed from his face. For some time after, Blackerly laid on the floor of the guard tower, blubbering and crying.</p><p>“Alright Blackerly, it’s time to talk about the Warden.”, Donovan attempted to question the Sergeant.</p><p>Blackerly cried out an answer, “I don’t know anything. You burned my face!”</p><p>Donovan, looking annoyed at Blackerly, responded flatly, “I’ve been on play dates with Tamsen that involved more pain than what you just went through, Sergeant. Toughen up. Tell me about the Warden.”</p><p></p><p>At Lucius' instructions, GrumbleJack continued to carry the corpses of the former guards of Branderscar up the stairs to the living area of the Warden. GrumbleJack thought such things were odd; but this group of people had, up to this point, had amazing success with overcoming the challenges presented to them. Even with the members of the team spread out across the prison, it was apparent that they were in complete control of the compound. GrumbleJack was pleased that the fates had brought him in contact with a group who could make such quick and efficient progress. Once a sufficient pile of corpses had been brought to this place, Lucius thanked GrumbleJack for his help, and told him to wait until the rest of the team returned.</p><p>Donovan beheld the scope of what Lucius had put together. “You weren’t kidding about making a scene, I see.”</p><p>"Fitting that the guards will be the ones to kill the Warden, don’t you think?”, Lucius smirked.</p><p>Soon after, Tamsen and the Eidolon returned. As Tamsen walked up the stairs, her pace quickened. “I feel him, Donovan! Pooky is close now! He’s up there!” Tamsen pointed to the floor just past the circular staircase on the top floor of the tower.</p><p>Donovan nodded, then pulled the veil out of the sack he had been keeping it in. He placed the veil in Tamsen’s hand, guiding her fingers to a specific patch.</p><p>“Take this patch off, and set it against the floor beneath where you feel him. This will place a window that you can crawl into to get to Pooky.” Donovan then looked over at GrumbleJack. “GrumbleJack, please push Tamsen up to that ceiling, so she can crawl in.”</p><p>With that in place, Donovan instructed Lucius to begin, “Lucius, execute your plan, please. Time to take back what belongs to us.”</p><p>Lucius shared a moment in thought with his Eidolon, then returned her from whence she came. Once complete, Lucius made gestures at the pile of bodies on the floor. The first skeleton, peeled itself out of the damaged flesh husk that was holding it, then grabbed the blade the guard owned before moving into the Warden’s bedroom. At the same time, Bebop began bounding up the stairs, slamming himself into the Warden’s bedroom door. Before the Wizard could even fully prepare himself, Bebop rushed up to him in his bed and gored him through the stomach. Even as the first skeleton began attacking the Warden, Lucius was already raising the second one. Screaming and yelling came from the confused Warden, an old man poorly prepared to suddenly be attacked in such a vicious manner. Tamsen, having heard the commotion in the next area, pulled away the patch and placed it against the ceiling above her. A window appeared, which she opened before having GrumbleJack push her further up to look around the office. Sitting on the desk inside the office was a wire mesh cage, where her Pooky was waiting for her excitedly. Tamsen squealed, overjoyed at seeing her pet and familiar again. Looking around the room, Tamsen discovered to her horror that an owl was also present in the room, most likely the Warden’s retainer. Tamsen considered taking Pooky in the cage and fleeing back through the window, but she saw assorted arcane objects that drew her attention.</p><p>“Donovan would like these.”, Tamsen thought to herself.</p><p>Back in the Warden's bedroom, the sounds of growling and screaming continued, as the Warden's form was flung about the room from the force of attacks applied to him. Meanwhile, Donovan was captivated by the discovery of a nearby library of books, his mind completely drawn to them, ignoring the battle altogether. A few tomes caught his eye, which he scurried away into his hands, leaving the rest behind. The screaming and pleading of the Warden ended soon enough. Between the ruthlessness of Bebop and the nonstop assault of the undead skeletons, there was little he would have been able to do to prevent his demise. Before the life of the Warden had fully drained away, Bebop was already tearing through the rooms, looking for trinkets and baubles that caught his eye or that he thought Donovan would approve of. Impressively, he came across a portable Alchemist Lab, which he rightfully assumed Donovan would be thankful to see. For her part, Tamsen found the spell book of the Mage, as well as some other magic trinkets the individual owned. These things would indeed have value. Bebop even found a ring with a gaudy gem in its center. Donovan could tell with a glance that it had little arcane or magic value, but it made Bebop feel that much more removed from the days he grew up on the streets.</p><p></p><p>After dispatching the last two guards at the gatehouse in front of Branderscar, Donovan stopped to have a conversation with GrumbleJack.</p><p>“Well, here we are sir, as good as my word. I have delivered you outside of the prison that would be your tomb, in no small part due to your efforts. So, do you wish to part ways here, or would you like to keep traveling with me and my family?”</p><p>GrumbleJack thought on the half-elf’s words. Here was a man who seemed to be always on top of his environment. GrumbleJack could be free of this man, but he would never be superior to him.</p><p>“There is no place I can safely go, where they won’t eventually catch up with me. I will continue to work with you.”, GrumbleJack responded.</p><p>Donovan smiled, “That’s fine with me, I always appreciate finding new talent.”</p><p></p><p>Donovan pointed out in a direction overlooking a large moor, "Time to meet our benefactor."</p><p></p><p>Session 2 Ends</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rchodges, post: 8332340, member: 7031385"] [B]Part 1:[/B] Knot of Thorns [B]Act 1: [/B]Prison Break! [B]Session 2:[/B] Getting a Blackerly Eye “We’re going to have more company.”, Bebop called out from the hallway where the bodies of guards were scattered about. Donovan looked around the area near the kitchen, now strewn with the bodies of guards and sighed, “Do we really need to kill every single one of these people? Most of these idiots are barely trained for combat, much less trained to handle us.” Bebop sneered, “They didn’t seem to have any problem beating us while we were chained up.” About that time, Tamsen walked out of the kitchen, smiling brightly. Donovan looked over at her, “If you’re finished with your fun, could you please heal the last guard that’s bleeding out? Apparently, Lucius decided he’s the one we’re going to save.” Tamsen kissed Donovan on the cheek, then walked over to the injured guard. Most of his right arm had been torn away in combat with Bebop, GrumbleJack, and Lucius’ Eidolon. She giggled at the guard, “This is going to sting a bit.” Tamsen bit into her finger, drawing a slight bit of blood. She then pressed her finger against the wounded guard’s shoulder. A sizzling sound occurred as the wound began to close. The guard winced in even more pain, if such was possible to imagine. Bebop roughly helped the man to his feet, as Donovan approached him, smiling. “Good evening soldier. As you can certainly ascertain by now, my friends and I are attempting to leave the facility this evening. It should be obvious to you that you are in no condition to fight us, and as my friend Lucius has selected you to survive this evening, I would very much like that to be the outcome for you. So, I’m going to ask you a series of questions. If you answer those questions honestly and provide no other resistance to us, I promise to bring no further harm to you, and you will live to see the sunrise. However, be assured that if you lie to me, or attempt to draw your comrades in arms to aid you, I will absolutely have you killed.”, Donovan said to the guard, without any malice or passion, as if he was simply explaining weather patterns. Bebop snorted at the guard when Donovan invoked the word “killed”. Donovan continued, “Do you understand what I am saying to you?” The guard nodded, almost in a panic as he held his hand against the stump that was formerly his right arm. Donovan smiled wide, “Excellent. Then let’s start with something simple: what is your name?” And with that, Donovan began interrogating the guard, discovering information about the nearby rooms, the location of Blackerly, and the passwords used to move unmolested through the guard stations. Upon learning about the nearby presence of the Armory, Donovan flashed a quick glance over to Lucius, who nodded and took his Eidolon over to investigate further. Bebop watched intently as Donovan interrogated the guard further. Bebop’s relationship with Donovan was always an interesting one. Donovan had literally pulled Bebop off the streets and took him to Donovan’s family estate to work as “muscle” and “clerk” for the shops that Donovan’s father owned. Yet, Bebop was rarely required to actually be “muscle”, due in no small part to the way Donovan would defuse situations with his words. Bebop was deceptively intelligent, which he used to his advantage when people assumed that his strength meant he lacked intellect. But, even with that, Bebop saw that Donovan was able to see into situations that others would miss. Of course, Bebop didn’t care about all of Donovan’s planning and scheming, as it simply meant more free time between him and Tamsen. Ever since their first encounter, Tamsen had found in Bebop a kindred spirit, and had often shown him her skill with physical pleasures. As a creature who some would call ugly, having the attention of such a beautiful woman was quite a boon to Bebop. But, to have Tamsen, Bebop would have to accept Donovan, so he did as such. “See Connor, you’re doing so very well. I’m very proud of you.”, Donovan spoke to the guard, with an absolute sense of accomplishment in having stripped out all the information the guard could possess. “Donovan, come check this out.”, Lucius called out. The Eidolon had accessed the Armory, and there was quite a bit to discover. The group grabbed the guard named Connor, and walked over to the door where the Armory was located. Beyond a wide variety of weapons and outfits, they also found a fair amount of unused lantern oil, that could easily be employed to create a fire in an opportune location. Best of all, a collection of the brands that had been used to mark the party when they first arrived were located here. “Excellent work!”, Donovan smiled at the Eidolon. Bebop was very excited about the potential of the fire spreading chemicals. “We can burn the warden out of his tower!”, he said excitedly. “Perhaps.”, Donovan tapped his lips in thought. “Let’s see what else is here to discover in these rooms.” With that, the party grabbed some items they found interesting from the Armory, and proceeded to Blackerly’s office. Following some skillful lock undoing by the Eidolon, the group entered what was easily one of the largest rooms they had encountered in the whole of the prison. “Of course you needed all this space for yourself, Blackerly. Meanwhile your men sleep within inches of each other.”, Donovan sighed, utterly nonplussed at the whole event. “Trash the room, please.”, Donovan instructed the group, while he circled over a large desk, and the Sergeant’s logs, which rested on top. Bebop especially enjoyed this part, an opportunity to let himself be aggressive and true to his animal nature. It wasn’t long before Bebop discovered a large chest like object near the floor. Picking it up, Bebop could feel the weight of it. He set it down on the desk next to Donovan, beaming with pride at his discovery. Donovan looked up at Bebop and nodded as if impressed, then made the all too familiar gesture to Lucius’ Eidolon. The Eidolon began working on this lock. Incredibly, she found herself stopped by the sheer complexity of it. “Take your time, good lady.”, Donovan said to the Eidolon, mostly distracted in the information he was reading. “I haven’t finished going through this yet.” Rosters, hiring forms, shift changes, accounting updates. All of the information led Donovan to one simple and obvious truth: Blackerly had been defrauding the prison system to line his own pockets. It was a very clever system, given the limited funds he had to work with. But in the end, Blackerly wouldn’t consider accounting to be the best part of his work; yet researching money was second nature to the son of a wealthy merchant. Donovan pressed his finger against the page of the ledger, and laughed, “I told you my love, he is dirty! I knew someone in this prison was corrupt, there was no way a system this size couldn’t have a corrupt person in it.” Donovan smiled at Tamsen, and Tamsen walked over to the desk to look at what Donovan was pointing at. Unsurprisingly, Donovan was pointing at a long row of numbers. Tamsen never had much interest in accounting or bookkeeping; but she knew that it made Donovan happy to hunt down secrets in books, so she merely smiled and scratched the back of Donovan’s head, “You were right, love!” Finally, the Eidolon was able to access the chest, showing the extent of Blackerly’s efforts. There was easily over thirteen hundred gold in the chest, which excited Bebop to no end; but seemed less interesting to Donovan. Donovan drew the other knife taken from the veil across a specific set of pages from Blackerly’s ledger, then folded those pages up and held it in his hand. “Damn, if only this client hadn’t come calling so soon. Think what we could have done with a few more days of being able to work the staff over instead of kill them!”, Donovan seemed disappointed at that statement. For all his cleverness, he had failed to account for a time change at the prison, reducing his weeks of stay to mere days. Now, all of this research was effectively nullified, as Branderscar would be seeing a massive staff and policy change, following the discovery of all the bodies that the team had strewn through the prison. Bebop was already annoyed at having to wait so long for Donovan to read through the material, so he pressed on to the next door, finding it locked as well. Bebop began pushing and pulling the door, as if he would tear it off its hinges. Lucius, seeing this, also moved into the hallway where Bebop was, and had his Eidolon open the lock barring access to the room. Compared to the chest, the door was a far simpler task. As the door swung open, Bebop found what appeared to be Blackerly’s bedroom. Without hesitation, Bebop anticipated what Donovan was going to ask the group to do, and began trashing this room as he had the previous one. Moments such as these, moments where he could revel in chaos and destruction, were brief opportunities that brought him happiness. Donovan waved the folded papers at Tamsen, “Now that we have this, and his profits, I believe that we are ready to take our meeting with the Sergeant.” Tamsen cooed, “Ooh, can we burn his balls off?” “Now, now, my love”, Donovan retorted playfully, “We need him alive. I have plans for him.” Donovan’s hands slid around Tamsen’s waist, as she pouted. “Boo, I wanted him to suffer like he made us suffer.” “Oh, Tamsen, he will most certainly suffer tonight.”, Donovan said in a reassuring voice. With that, Donovan stood up, making his way towards Blackerly’s bedroom. The team had gathered several baubles and trophies from this room. Bebop was smiling about the sudden influx of alcohol, but Donovan remained uninterested. “If we’re done here, we should talk about how we’re going to get over to the poker game that Blackerly is currently holding.” Bebop chimed up, an almost childlike grin crossing his face, “I have a plan.” Donovan stared at Bebop for a while, listening to the details of his plan. Finally, he responded with a look of near exasperation, “Bebop, this is, without a doubt, one of the worst plans we have ever discussed.” Bebop continued to nod excitedly, and Donovan realized that this was important for Bebop to feel as though he was contributing. Sighing, Donovan resigned himself to the outcome. “Ok, let’s go back to the Armory and get some guard uniforms.” A short while later, Bebop, Donovan, and Lucius with his Eidolon were all wearing guard uniforms. GrumbleJack had manacles placed around his wrists in an unlocked position, and Tamsen was still adorned in the civilian attire she had originally gained from the veil. The group began walking over, with the intention of appearing to perform a “prisoner transfer” of GrumbleJack. As explained by Bebop, this would allow them to get closer to Blackerly, in order to surprise the guards inside the main tower. The group opened up the main doors leading into the guard tower. It was not lost on them the number of arrow slits that were located on the walls of this room. The guards called down, “Who goes there?” Donovan replied to the call with the password that he had extracted from Connor, stalling for time. The guards, now clearly seeing the visage of GrumbleJack, responded in an obviously concerned tone, “What is that thing doing out of its cage?” Donovan, still not making direct eye contact with any of the guards watching through the arrow slits, responded in what he hoped would appear as a disinterested tone, “Prisoner transfer.” The guards called out to the Sergeant in confused, terrified voices. “Sergeant! The monster is up here!” Blackerly, sounding incredulous, was dismissive to the guards at first; but when they invoked the word “monster”, his attention was focused in the moment. “What the naughty word are you talking about?”, Blackerly roared. Looking down from the upper area where he and the others were playing their poker game, Blackerly’s eyes grew wide. “Holy gods! What the fück is going on? Who the fück let that thing out? Connor, is that you, you incompetent buffoon?!” “Yes sir”, Donovan replied, “I’ll take him back right now, sir!” Blackerly began to scream even louder, “You don’t fücking move, you idiot! I’m going to come down there right now, and we’re going to get this sorted out! Gods damn it all!” Donovan looked to the ground, his face barely able to hold back the sheer joy at watching Blackerly give up every advantage without a second thought. With that, Donovan decided to agitate the Sergeant even further, “You heard the Sergeant, we need to get this big guy back to his cell. Can’t believe the prisoner transfer was so screwed up.” Donovan reached out to Tamsen through her telepathic ability, asking her to tell Bebop and Lucius’ Eidolon to move up closer to the guards that were now beginning to mill about near GrumbleJack. Blackerly began screaming so loud, it sounded as though he would have a heart attack shortly, “I said don’t move you fücking idiots! Fücking stay right there, gods damnit!” Blackerly finally arrived at the bottom of the guard tower, nearly panting from all the screaming and shouting he had done on his way to the team. Accompanying him were four other guards, the majority of all the guards left in the complex by Donovan’s count. Once Blackerly arrived and had a chance to get his bearings, he noticed the Tiefling. “And what in the nine hells is she doing here?!” Donovan continued to press into Blackerly by saying things that would frustrate him even more, “Entertainment, sir?” Tamsen giggled and blew a kiss at Blackerly. Then Donovan looked into Blackerly’s face and saw the one thing he wasn’t hoping to find: recognition. Blackerly was beginning to recognize the faces, the individuals who he had visited in their cells only a few hours prior. Sensing there was no time to lose, Donovan seized on the window of opportunity, “Attack!” In a moment, Tamsen applied her Slumber Hex ability to one of the guards, who began passing out just in time to be fully gored by Bebop. The guard next to that unfortunate victim was unable to do much of anything before Lucius’ Eidolon severed his head from his shoulders. GrumbleJack viciously attacked Blackerly, who was only able to withstand the assault because of his years of training. Donovan cried out, “Lucius, Grease up that ladder, they are not getting away from us now!” Lucius applied the spell to the narrow ladder that led up to the second floor of the Guard House. With this escape route gone, the two guards arriving right after Blackerly were effectively trapped in the adjoining Guard Room. Tamsen then applied her Slumber power to the Sergeant, and he passed out forward onto the ground. The other guards, seeing their leader pass out next to these vicious combatants, grabbed him and began dragging him into the Guard Tower, further trapping themselves. One of the guards attempted to push the door to this tower closed, but GrumbleJack effortlessly held the door open. Attacks continued to come in against the guards from the team, as Donovan flailed on his armor to get his helmet off. Donovan drew his blade, pointing it at Blackerly and his guards, and shouted in a forceful tone, “Drop your weapons and I will call back my monsters. Otherwise, you die tonight!” The guard closest to the door shouted back with resolve to Donovan, “The servants of Mitra will never yield to fiends such as you!” The guard then looked back on Blackerly and the other guard, who have already thrown down their weapons and raised their hands above their heads. The guard managed to stumble out, “What the…” before the Eidolon bisected his skull where he stood. Bebop walked into the Guard Tower where the fearful men were standing, shaking in anticipation of what would happen next. He gathered their weapons, then moved slightly back. “The brand, Bebop.” Bebop heard Donovan’s voice call out, and knew what he was asking for. He took the brand that had been recovered from the Armory, and moved to a fire source to begin heating it up. “Lucius, have your Eidolon accompany Tamsen around the patrol area of the wall, and restrain all the remaining guards.”, Donovan requested of Lucian. Lucius responded, “I’ll have her toss them off the wall.” Donovan smiled and nodded at Lucius, “Very clever!” Tamsen and Lucius Eidolon began working their way around the wall patrol area, taking advantage of their superior vision in the dark to get the drop on the few still standing guards. Donovan then approached the guard standing next to Blackerly. The guard was clearly panicked, as Bebop continued to snort and growl as he looked in the direction of the two individuals. Donovan spoke directly to the guard. “Alright jobber, where are you going after you leave this area?” The guard, confused and afraid of punishment, stuttered to get out an answer, “I… I don’t… where should…” Donovan cut him off, “You’re going to walk across this yard over to that building.” Donovan pointed to the area where they had discovered the Armory. “Once inside, you are going to go into the dining area, and be seated. You will not leave that area until help arrives. If I find you outside the dining area, I will have Bebop kill you.” Bebop smiled with anticipation to drive home the point, then Donovan continued. “Do we understand each other?” The guard nodded, seeing that his “safe place” was a short distance away. “Now, leave behind your keys, and go.” Donovan dismissed the guard with his hand. The guard, unwilling to take any chances, removed the belt that his keys were attached to, and let it drop to the ground. The guard then ran over to the building containing the dining area, his hands raised in the air the whole time. Lucius approached Donovan, “I think I have a plan for dealing with the Warden. I’ll need to take GrumbleJack with me to move some of these bodies.” Donovan nodded at Lucius, “Sounds interesting, I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned.” With that underway, Donovan focused his attention on Blackerly. A malevolent smile crossed Donovan’s face. Blackerly began to protest, “You said you would let me live.” Donovan attempted to reassure him, “I have no intention of killing you Blackerly. On the contrary, I like you. You’re like me: corrupt. You robbed the prison system, replacing better paying jobs with worse paying ones, and pocketing the difference. You get your guards drunk so you can steal the remainder of the coin from your poorly trained force.” Blackerly was about to say something, but Donovan immediately cut him off, “Save your lies and excuses, Blackerly, as I’m not interested in hearing them. I already have the pages from your journal that show all of your corrupt ways at this prison. And you know what? I don’t care! I think what you are doing here is great; and I hope that, assuming you somehow survive the investigation that is most assuredly coming to this prison, you and I can work together in the future.” Donovan sighed, then looked toward Blackerly with an angry gleam in his eye. “However, you hurt my family, and that’s something I can’t simply abide. So now, we have to set things even." Donovan paused to let the realization of his words set in, then shouted, "Bebop!” With that, Bebop took the “F” brand that was used by Blackerly on all the members of the family, and drove it forcefully into Blackerly’s cheek, directly below his right eye. Blackerly howled out in pain, shrieking and flailing about after the brand was removed from his face. For some time after, Blackerly laid on the floor of the guard tower, blubbering and crying. “Alright Blackerly, it’s time to talk about the Warden.”, Donovan attempted to question the Sergeant. Blackerly cried out an answer, “I don’t know anything. You burned my face!” Donovan, looking annoyed at Blackerly, responded flatly, “I’ve been on play dates with Tamsen that involved more pain than what you just went through, Sergeant. Toughen up. Tell me about the Warden.” At Lucius' instructions, GrumbleJack continued to carry the corpses of the former guards of Branderscar up the stairs to the living area of the Warden. GrumbleJack thought such things were odd; but this group of people had, up to this point, had amazing success with overcoming the challenges presented to them. Even with the members of the team spread out across the prison, it was apparent that they were in complete control of the compound. GrumbleJack was pleased that the fates had brought him in contact with a group who could make such quick and efficient progress. Once a sufficient pile of corpses had been brought to this place, Lucius thanked GrumbleJack for his help, and told him to wait until the rest of the team returned. Donovan beheld the scope of what Lucius had put together. “You weren’t kidding about making a scene, I see.” "Fitting that the guards will be the ones to kill the Warden, don’t you think?”, Lucius smirked. Soon after, Tamsen and the Eidolon returned. As Tamsen walked up the stairs, her pace quickened. “I feel him, Donovan! Pooky is close now! He’s up there!” Tamsen pointed to the floor just past the circular staircase on the top floor of the tower. Donovan nodded, then pulled the veil out of the sack he had been keeping it in. He placed the veil in Tamsen’s hand, guiding her fingers to a specific patch. “Take this patch off, and set it against the floor beneath where you feel him. This will place a window that you can crawl into to get to Pooky.” Donovan then looked over at GrumbleJack. “GrumbleJack, please push Tamsen up to that ceiling, so she can crawl in.” With that in place, Donovan instructed Lucius to begin, “Lucius, execute your plan, please. Time to take back what belongs to us.” Lucius shared a moment in thought with his Eidolon, then returned her from whence she came. Once complete, Lucius made gestures at the pile of bodies on the floor. The first skeleton, peeled itself out of the damaged flesh husk that was holding it, then grabbed the blade the guard owned before moving into the Warden’s bedroom. At the same time, Bebop began bounding up the stairs, slamming himself into the Warden’s bedroom door. Before the Wizard could even fully prepare himself, Bebop rushed up to him in his bed and gored him through the stomach. Even as the first skeleton began attacking the Warden, Lucius was already raising the second one. Screaming and yelling came from the confused Warden, an old man poorly prepared to suddenly be attacked in such a vicious manner. Tamsen, having heard the commotion in the next area, pulled away the patch and placed it against the ceiling above her. A window appeared, which she opened before having GrumbleJack push her further up to look around the office. Sitting on the desk inside the office was a wire mesh cage, where her Pooky was waiting for her excitedly. Tamsen squealed, overjoyed at seeing her pet and familiar again. Looking around the room, Tamsen discovered to her horror that an owl was also present in the room, most likely the Warden’s retainer. Tamsen considered taking Pooky in the cage and fleeing back through the window, but she saw assorted arcane objects that drew her attention. “Donovan would like these.”, Tamsen thought to herself. Back in the Warden's bedroom, the sounds of growling and screaming continued, as the Warden's form was flung about the room from the force of attacks applied to him. Meanwhile, Donovan was captivated by the discovery of a nearby library of books, his mind completely drawn to them, ignoring the battle altogether. A few tomes caught his eye, which he scurried away into his hands, leaving the rest behind. The screaming and pleading of the Warden ended soon enough. Between the ruthlessness of Bebop and the nonstop assault of the undead skeletons, there was little he would have been able to do to prevent his demise. Before the life of the Warden had fully drained away, Bebop was already tearing through the rooms, looking for trinkets and baubles that caught his eye or that he thought Donovan would approve of. Impressively, he came across a portable Alchemist Lab, which he rightfully assumed Donovan would be thankful to see. For her part, Tamsen found the spell book of the Mage, as well as some other magic trinkets the individual owned. These things would indeed have value. Bebop even found a ring with a gaudy gem in its center. Donovan could tell with a glance that it had little arcane or magic value, but it made Bebop feel that much more removed from the days he grew up on the streets. After dispatching the last two guards at the gatehouse in front of Branderscar, Donovan stopped to have a conversation with GrumbleJack. “Well, here we are sir, as good as my word. I have delivered you outside of the prison that would be your tomb, in no small part due to your efforts. So, do you wish to part ways here, or would you like to keep traveling with me and my family?” GrumbleJack thought on the half-elf’s words. Here was a man who seemed to be always on top of his environment. GrumbleJack could be free of this man, but he would never be superior to him. “There is no place I can safely go, where they won’t eventually catch up with me. I will continue to work with you.”, GrumbleJack responded. Donovan smiled, “That’s fine with me, I always appreciate finding new talent.” Donovan pointed out in a direction overlooking a large moor, "Time to meet our benefactor." Session 2 Ends [/QUOTE]
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Way of the Wicked Playthrough - Updated 2023/03/28
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