An Unchanging Reality (Take two)

[meemaas]

Dromet's attack knocks Burt upside the head with the flat of his greatsword, and Burt groans, falling to his knees and then facefirst and unconscious on the ground, but still stable. As he falls, you can see people watching you from the streets and and windows, awestruck.

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You knocked him out. Nice hit.

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

She sighs in relief, then says "I'm going to get the captain."

Running back to the office she looks for the captain of the guard. "We have a problem, the soldier guarding our prisoner killed him. We wanted to bring him to you but he ran off into the night. DO you know who he was. He had tattoos and ..." she continued to describe him as best she could.

[meemaas]

The captain looks thoughtfully for a second, then bolts to his feet and grabbed his weapon. "Deladion was under clear orders. What's going on?" Stopping for a second, he'd grab a few potions from one of his cabinets and then turn to Eophyn. "Lead the way, lets see if we can catch up to him. He's got a place just outside the city."

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

"So what do you know about Deladion?" she asks hoping that the captain already knows of his powers.

[meemaas]

"He's always working with Burt. The two of them are almost inseperable. I tend to assign them as a team because Burt couldn't figure his way out of an empty room if his life depended on it, while Deladion, he's damn near a genius. Smartest guy i've ever had work for me."

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

"Yeah, we had to knock Burt out," she says following behind. "So you don't know about his magical tattoos..." Eophyn frowns as she explains, "When I was younger my family met a man, bald with the same kind of tattoos that Deladion has. He carried a staff with a gem in it. He did amazing tricks. His magic wasn't like the arcanists or the devoted. He didn't pull the power from the environment into him nor was he a conduit to a higher power. His magic came from within him. And tonight I saw the same magic when Deladion's tattoos glowed."

[meemaas]

"I've heard about that before. Brain magic or some such. Follow me, we might be able to head him off at his house before he can get out of town." The captain points down one of the streets and takes off, going in the opposite direction from which Eophyn had come.

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

She whistles and signals for Serph and Dromet to follow. She knew this would require all of them.

[stanleyindraven]

"Sorry," Dromet says to the unconscious guard, then hearing E's signal, took off down the street.

[meemaas]

As the party and the captain weave their way through the streets, they reach a house, somewhat out of the way outside of the city walls, that is pitch black inside, the lack of light making it somewhat harder to see. The captain draws his sword and starts to advance, then stops. He turns to the party and nods. "As much as i'd like to put him in his place myself, i believe you would be better suited to do so. Please, take the lead, especially if you have some kind of light. If you're right about him, he would be able to easily take us in an environment like that."

[Man on Fire]

"The let me go foward. He might have prepared something nasty for us." Serph says and moves ahead, carefully looking for any traps or hidden assailants. He turns back to others and shows them his pointing finger at his mouth, indication they should be very quiet.

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Stealth (1d20+9)[16]
Perception (1d20+9)[25]

[meemaas]

As Serp sneaks up to the door, he finds that the door is slightly open, and peering into the door carefully, he finds a tripwire set up against the door, the wire just a few inches away from the door, not far enough to be able to open the door and get in without setting it off.

[Man on Fire]

Carefully Serph kneels and reaches his hand to see if he can disable this trap. it's probably some sort of alarm, but it's better not to take unnecessary risk

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(1d20+9)[28] Disable Device

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

She nods as Serp does his work. Whispering to the others, "I'm going to go around back," she moves quietly around the house.

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(1d20+8)[25] stealth

[meemaas]

Serp

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You quickly recognize the trigger condition for this type of tripwire, and snipping it, you are confident you have disarmed the mechanism

Eophyn

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As you circle around the building, keeping to the shadows, you notice on the far side a horse, saddled up with a bag strapped to it. It hasn't noticed you yet, and there appears to be nobody else nearby yet.

[stanleyindraven]

Dromet waits patiently and quietly with the captain.

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

She take a brief amount of time to check if she sees him.

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(1d20+8)[11] perception

If the way is clear she'll approach the horse and check the bag.

[meemaas]

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Lucky you

Eophyn

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As you sneak up to the bag, you rifle through it, having not noticed anyone but the horse, which appears to be very well trained. Going through it, you find the basic traveling supplies, a few days worth of rations, some seemingly valuable jewelry, a few sealed letters, one of which is labeled to Dendu Vigorn, and an unsealed letter, labeled to Deladion Inch. There's also a very nice looking ring in the bag, at the very bottom.

Should you read the unsealed letter

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The letter reaffirms the suspicions that the gnoll attacks were in fact ordered by Dendu Vigorn, giving Deladion orders to arrange the gnoll attacks to be random, and to ensure the guard of the town is not given enough warning to prepare for them properly when they come.

At the end of the letter, Dendu Vigorn warns Deladion that if he is exposed, to destroy all references to their correspondence, because he will not be able to protect Deladion from any repercussions for his capture.

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

Scanning the open letter she smiles and then pockets all the letters. Then one more check to see if anyone is around; if the cost is clear she unbuckles the saddle and leaves.

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(1d20+8)[25] perception

[meemaas]

Eophyn

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You find nobody else around, but this time, which you didn't note last time, you see the wide open back door to the house. Other than that, there is nothing of interest.

[Man on Fire]

Serph carefully and quetly opens the door and then sneaks inside, remembering to both look for more traps and to be as quiet as possible.

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(1d20+9)[19] stealth
(1d20+9)[21] perception

[meemaas]

Serp

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As the door opens further, you hear a voice and a slow clap. Looking up at the stairs that are visible as you've entered the room, you find the same man you were chasing before sitting at the top, clapping his hands carefully. "You found me pretty fast, i see. Where's your friends? Don't they want a part in this game of cat and mouse that we are playing?" As he speaks, he lights a torch, bringing a degree of light to the room. A quick glance around the room shows a few barrels on either side of the door, presumably what the tripwire was attached to, along with general furniture. The man however, has a very devious smile on his face, as though he had this all planned out.

Dromet

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After you watch Serp sneak inside, you see a light inside the house go on, but due to the distance between you and the house, you cannot see any details of the inside with any amount of clarity.

The captain reacts in surprise, and carefully draws his sword, but defers to you for the decision on what to do.

[stanleyindraven]

Dromet will move forward, about 5 feet from the door and look around.

[meemaas]

Dromet

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As you step up to the door, you hear a voice talking. It appears to have just finished it sentence, saying "...game of cat and mouse we are playing?" Bending just right, you can see through the door to see Deladion sitting on the stairs, holding a torch, with Serp presently just inside the door, lit up by the light from the torch.

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

Carefully she moves to the open door. Looking in she tries to check for any traps.

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(1d20+8)[15] perception

[Man on Fire]

"Cat knows he's chasing a mouse and mouse knows a cat is chasing it. I don't have the pleasure to know you." Serph ramains calm and tries to look very relaxed. He needs to stall for time, until Dromet and Eophyn will get in here. He isn't good at talking, but maybe he will provoke the man to gloat. "So, who the hell are you again?"

[meemaas]

Serp and Dromet

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The man smiles, thinks for a second and then begins to talk. "Oh, right. I guess we never were introduced, were we? The name is Deladion Inch. I guess that's about all about me you don't already know or need to know. Better question is, where are your friends? We can't have our party if all the guests aren't here." He laughs hysterically at his little pun, and stands up slowly.

Serp

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Perception check please

[stanleyindraven]

Dromet will try to creep up and hide behind the door, so the guy cannot see him outside.

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Stealth (1d20-1)[5]

[Man on Fire]

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(1d20+9)[25] Perception

"Behind you." Serph says calmly. Small chance it will suprise the man, but worth trying anyway
If Deladion will turn around, Serph will quickly pick up his bow and fire an arrow at him.

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Diplomacy to bluff (1d20-2)[10]
Attack (1d20+5)[11] dmg (1d6)[4]

[shugyosha]

Eophyn

Guessing that he wouldn't trap his exit she carefully enters the room.