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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steev42" data-source="post: 1533532" data-attributes="member: 17162">The Tipped Tankard Tavern was serving as a decent meeting place for the moment, and it was there that Isaura, Crunch, Gryffth, and Owen were reunited. Comparing notes, it was determined that both groups had made progress; Gryffth and Owen in tracking the thug and meeting with Jil, and Isaura and Crunch in finding out about Starbrow. Isaura related the information about the 'tall ones' and the 'short ones'.Owen spoke up. "Perhaps if we invited ourselves into the lair of the Last Laugh, we could find some answers, and perhaps some allies as well." Gryffth agreed, pointing out that their hiring Patch to watch over Terrem was not an unaltruistic act. The other two readily agreed with this idea, and after paying for their breakfast, the four of them moved out to the alley that Gryffth and Owen had been in not two hours ago.Gryffth led the group, wondering if any of the three would be trustworthy in the long run. He was keeping his thoughts to himself, looking ahead, when he caught sight of someone standing at the end of the alley to which he was heading. The man looked in Gryffth's direction, and darted back into the alley. Running to catch up, Gryffth found the alley empty, and the opposite entrance leading to a street full of people. Obviously, whoever it was had made good their escape. Returning to the three others, he moved to point out the harlequin chalk marking that he had seen earlier, and was surprised to discover that it was gone. Nevertheless, he expressed his confidence that this is where he and Owen had been earlier, and the wizard agreed with him.Isaura merely nodded, and set about searching for the undoubtedly well hidden entrance. Eventually, she was able to find a small door, one which was sized so that people in armor would be unable to enter, making a good hidey-hold from any patrolling city-guardsman. Pointing out the door to the others, she was only slightly startled when Crunch attempted to make the entrance bigger...and succeeded remarkably. Unfortunately for the half-orc, an arrow flew out from the opposite wall, striking him heavily in the back. A quick check revealed no hidden menace, and it was determined that the arrow had been a trap. Isaura looked around, and realized that she was the obvious person to enter first. The door was still too small, so there was only one thing left to do. With a grin, she started taking off her armor, making sure to do it in as seductive manner as possible. Rewarded by a blush creeping into Owen's cheeks, she grabbed her dagger and set about crawling in.Owen followed Isaura, still feeling the heat rising. Soon, however, he found himself plunged into complete darkness as Crunch moved to the entrance of the hole. Sensing open space above him after a while, he drew upon his magical training to illuminate the room with dancing lights. It was a small room, no more than fifteen foot square, and a quick examination revealed a single table upon which rested a domino mask, and a crowbar set up so as to prevent the rigged ceiling from falling. Or at least, that's what Isaura said it did. After she complained about feeling slow. Whatever that meant. The other two made it into the room, and Gryffth examined the mask while Isaura made sure that the ceiling truly wasn't going to fall down on them."So you've discovered the safehouse. You may begin to be more trouble than you're worth. J." Gryffth read the note on the back of the mask. The others making their way out, he decided to leave a return note behind. "No trouble, no trouble at all. Give Patch our regards, and Kerlen...hopefully we can be on the same side with this orphan business. -Gryffth, Cleric of Fharlanghn." He then followed the others back out into glorious daylight."I think it's time we follow up on Crunch and my lead." Isaura was a little miffed now. A thief within the radar of a guild of theives was never a good thing. Owen suggested rest--wizards always seemed to want to rest, even though it was barely noon. Fortunately, the others did the convincing, and the four of them moved off to Ghelve's Locks.---------------------------------------------------------------------------Oct 28, 9713---------------------------------------------------------------------------Owen just stared dumbfounded at the gnome. For some reason, he was pretending not to know them at all, not even Isaura or Crunch. Oh, sure, he had been polite enough when they entered, all "Mistress and Masters", but every attempt at convincing him to allow them to return at night as they wished was failing. He would not open the door at night, he said, because he feared setting a trend which would force him to continue to do so in the future. Not even the mention of the man's familiar (he was a wizard, this gnome?) spurred a change in the response. Finally, apparently exasperated with the gnome, Gryffth said that they would come back in the morning. The cleric was obviously used to being a take-charge kind of fellow, and that was perfectly fine with Owen at the moment. The four of them left, determing that Crunch would stay behind to watch the building through the night. They returned to their respective sleeping locations, and Owen got a good nights rest, though the idea of the children being scared ate at him the entire night.Dawn's first light found our foursome back at Ghelve's. Subtlety escaped them as they offered to "clean out the dust bunnies". Isaura knew something was back there from her earlier encounter with Keygan Ghelve, and led the group into the back after cursory pleasantries with the gnome. Seeing nothing on the first floor, as had been the case earlier, she moved towards the stairs. Before she even had time to react, a humanoid with grey skin, no clothes, and black eyes with no pupils had landed beside her. Two pokes of his needle sharp rapier later, she saw darkness closing in...Outraged at the rapid way that Isaura had fallen, Crunch took a might swing, bouncing the creature off the wall, and directly into Owen's quarterstaff. That apparently was enough to drop their attacker. Gryffth took the opportunity to call upon the grace of Fharlanghn, healing enough of the rogue's damage to prevent her from dying. Turning to the creature that had attacked them, he discovered that its healing powers were apparently a bit better than usual, as it had stabilized itself somehow. Crunch ties up the creature, and Gryffth again calls upon Fharlanghn, this time asking for stronger healing on the hapless Isaura.Isaura coughed and sat up, sure that she was on the other side. Cursing silently to herself when she saw that Gryffth had been the one to bring her back, she forced herself to her feet, pleased that other than the poison currently coursing through her body, she seemed to be in excellent shape. The cleric was tending to the...thing...that had attacked her, healing it. After he touched the creature, it woke up slowly, and looked at its captors. Attempting to question the thing seemed to be getting nowhere, as everyone tried language after language that they knew, and no response coming from it. Exasperated, Isaura moved back through the curtain gingerly. "Ghelve, do you know what language these things speak?"Ghelve shook his head sadly. "I've never heard it before. They always mimed what they wanted...it was enough to get their point across, I think." He went back to work on his lack as she returned. The others had taken the creature's equipment away, and had set about searching for the entrance to this thing below Ghelve's shop he had claimed existed. They went upstairs, finding some locks that were beyond Isaura's ability to open...she inwardly admired the work. In the kitchen, the pantry was locked, but not as tightly, and she pocketed some chocolate she found in it. The gnome would never miss it. Having now exhausted the upstairs, they moved back down, and conducted the most thorough job they could, finally finding the door close to the curtain to the actual shop. As they opened it, Ghelve came to the back. "Oh wait! I just remembered something..." He darted upstairs, and returned a moment later, handing them a small piece of parchment. "My father's map of Jzadirune. Perhaps it'll be of use where you are going."Then Gryffth had to interfere. The man actually told the gnome that she had taken chocolate from him. Fortunately, he seemed scatterbrained enough to not remember that he owned any, and she followed Crunch into the darkness. A few moments later, Ghelve had closed the door upstairs, leaving them in pure darkness. A moment later, Gryffth lit a torch...perhaps he was useful for something. The proceeded down the stairs slowly, as they began to hear some noises as if voices below them. Finally, they arrived in a room with a corridor at the opposite end, two doors shaped like gears (one of which was partially open), and a bunch of masks on the wall. Apparently the voices were coming from the masks; she tuned them out eventually. Comparing where they were to the map Ghelve had given them, they quickly discovered that they had basically arrived in the center of Jzadirune. The two doors to their south were dead ends, so they decided to explore them first.Owen stood in the back as they moved to explore. So it was that he nearly missed the entire thing...suddenly Isaura had backed up and whipped her chain forward, and the clatter of metal on stone rang throughout. Gryffth was casting a spell, and Crunch was swinging his weapon too. Realizing he had to do something, he darted forward to see another one of those things from upstairs (hrm...they had just left him tied up up there he remembered) who had already lost his weapon. Nevertheless, he swing the staff in a wide arc, which the creature ducked...as Owen recovered from the swing, he saw the think vanishing around the corner of a crude tunnel in the wall in front of him, and heard Crunch cry out behind him. Turning around, he saw the half-orc pulling at a crossbow bolt imbedded in his thigh as another creature vanished through yet another tunnel."Huh...chests and cobwebs." That was all he saw. Of course, this finally drew Isaura into the room, and she was sorely disappointed to find that the chests were long since looted and empty. A sunrod was found on the floor though, which Owen picked up. He'd always wanted one of these, but they tended to be more expensive than simple candles. "Let's uh...try the other door before we go through the tunnels." Something about them unnerved him. The others agreed.Crunch was pleased. Isaura had been unable to pick the lock on this other door, which meant he got to break it down. He could crunch things with the best of them, and that's just what he did. Isaura continued to work on the lock, just in case, but he was bashing through the door at a regular pace...when suddenly he found himself coughing up blood as a cloud of acidic vapors poured out of the door. He vaguely saw Isaura crumple to the floor bleeding, but was barely able to hold himself up to help her. Fortunately, the vapors vanished quickly, and Gryffth was able to come to the rescue. 'This Fharlanghn character was pretty nice', he thought as the healing powers poured into Isaura, stopping her bleeding. 'But this place sure isn't.' So he didn't protest when Gryffth and Owen decided to beat a hasty retreat, and he held Isaura all the way back to the Tipped Tankard.Isaura woke up in a bed with a splitting headache. She felt like she had been burned all over, and she didn't know why. Gryffth was nearby, preparing some sort of concoction, which he poured down her throat nearly forcibly. "Rest," he said, and she felt herself falling back asleep. Curse the man! As she fell back asleep, she heard him saying something else, and Crunch responding, and the rest was darkness again.---------------------------------------------------------------------------Oct 31, 9713---------------------------------------------------------------------------Gryffth was worried about the children. Their first foray into what he guessed was Jzadirune had been a dismal failure, and Isaura and Crunch had both been nearly killed. They were in bed now, as he was watching over them. The innkeeper of the Tankard hadn't even cut them a break on the price, insisting that "This is a tavern and an inn, not a hospital." He had been treating the acid burns that were all over their body, and the poison in Isaura's veins. He felt that they would be back to full strength today, after three days of bed rest. Hopefully they could still go downstairs and rescue the children before the dwarf lost them.Elsewhere, Owen put the finishing touches on the new spells. He had been researching these for a while, and though he felt guilty at using the delay to finish his research, he felt that the new knowledge would benefit their quest.</blockquote>

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