[Pathfinder] Old Enemies, New Alliances (IC)

[Angstrom]

"Don't even try it," Heather's layered voice booms in the bandit's ear, "Submit if you value your life."

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Ready an action to pin him again if he doesn't cooperate.

[Stormwind]

Continuing his assault on the highwayman, Ilmarinen casts, causing arcane currents to engulf his black blade and again he strikes swiftly ... twice ... against the next fellow. This time, when his blade touches the fellow before him the dwarven rune inscribed on the fellow's forehead glows again, brighter ...

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Round 5

• (swift action) Arcane strike (+2 damage; 1 round)
• (full attack action) Spell combat/Spellstrike vs Highwayman at (B,8)
  (Spellstrike) Cast Arcane mark; Concentration (1d20+12)[22] vs DC 15 for casting defensively
  (Spellstrike attack) Black blade (1d20+14)[33](confirm 22) melee (1d6+13)[16](confirm 16) (crit 15-20) + Arcane mark(overlaying the previous mark)
  (Attack) Black blade (1d20+14)[29](confirm 32) melee (1d6+13)[17](confirm 19) (crit 15-20)

Arcane pool [2/7]

Effects

• Ablative barrier (7 hours)
• Enhance weapon [Black blade +3 keen] (8 rounds)
• Arcane strike [+2 dam] (1 round)
  ...
• Blur [20% concealment] (7 minutes)
• Inspire courage [+2 att/dam/...]

[Cleavon]

Amalody dashes in against the last bandit, and her thinblade finds purchase in the mans armor. A couple of Gorms arrows soon sprout from his torso, and he falls to the ground dead at Jasper and Ilmarinens feet.

Heather has the remaining man manacled securely, and he is no way able to escape for the moment. Gorm begins piling the corpses, and soon after takes out a shovel from his pack and begins to dig. He is surprisingly efficient at clearing a big enough hole in the soft loam of the forest floor.

After they are stripped of anything of value he buries them, gathering rocks to make a small pyre atop the mass grave site.

"Better than they deserve"

While Gorm does his digging, Khrona and Jasper look through the wagon. In the back of the wagon are casks of potent ale. They are all marked "The Wandering Flumpf Inn" with a burned in mark on the bottom that they came from Crenshaws Wine and Spirits. Under Crenshaws mark are in smaller words "Not for individual sale".

Jasper

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While searching the back of the wagon you also find a ledger book much like the one you obtained at the hunters guild. Inside are a set of counterfeit stamps and a pad of ink. One Hunters Guild Stamp, one City Watch Stamp, one Merchants Guild Stamp. There are several forged documents in the ledger, but the names are all obvious fakes.

Amalody and Ilmarinen take a look at what the men had on them. Only a modest haul, but still the spoils of their victory.

Treasure

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2 Masterwork Daggers
1 Battleaxe
17 Gold
1 Platinum ring with a Skull design

[Angstrom]

Once her prisoner has accepted his fate, she carries him over to the wagon and leaves him under the watchful gaze of Jasper and Khrona. Without a shovel of her own all she can do to help Gorm with the bodies is to gather rocks for the cairn.

"A shame to see people waste their lives like that. Is it strange to see bandit groups of both hobgoblins and humans? I suppose seeing bandits in these parts is a surprise in itself."

[Gamblerjoe]

Jasper

After the conclusion of the battle and burial Jasper is brimming with satisfaction.

"That certainly was a pointless endeavor for them. It does in deed seem strange that there would be such moderately competent and equipped bandits in this area. How common are attacks like these, Gorm?"

[Stormwind]

Once the bodies are stripped of any valuables, Ilmarinen piles the valuables to the side and proceeds to help Gorm, having picked up a fair share of pragmatism from his time with the dwarves of Hammerlund. Although he lacks a shovel, Ilmarinen makes good use of prestigitation to assist in moving loose dirt as Gorm digs, and then he assists him in the moving and laying of the bodies before finally placing rocks atop in a simple cairn.

Once the bodies are buried, Ilmarinen stands silent for a moment before touching his hand to a stone atop the cairn. A moment later a single glowing rune appears on the stone, the dwarven rune for death.

That done he turns to Gorm and asks, "And their effects? How are they to be disposed of?"

[Cleavon]

Gorm thinks on the question posed to him for a moment as he works.

"Well, most of the time bandits like these flee, or at the least are better set up for ambush. Though I've never seen a group with a wagon...and especially not one laden with what seems to be stolen ale. Crenshaws barrels fetch a tidy sum in other parts of the kingdom. Usually we just have small reports, but this group seems a little odd actually."

Once the burying was truly complete he turned to Ilmarinen and shrugged at the man.

"Anything not stolen is fair game for us as spoils. I'd gather it all up and we can have it checked in with the city watch. They'll do some checking and make sure the items don't belong to any other rightful party and then return what is left to us. The money I believe will be given over to us at the gate. Not much they can do to prove who it belongs to so it defaults to us as owner."

He looked in the back of the wagon for a few moments and then seemed rather thoughtful.

"I do wonder though...this would be a pretty big haul for such a small group. They were probably trying to defend it with their lives...that isn't normal behavior that I've seen out of the local bandits."

[Stormwind]

After listening to Gorm's comments on legality of items, Ilmarinen simply stashes the collected valuables in the front of the wagon.

He then joins Gorm in musing, ".. Stranger yet is that if they had simply declined our help, we would've continued onwards, none the wiser, and there would have been no need for violence, let alone their deaths."

"Still, we do have someone who might shed light on this", and Ilmarinen turns to their trussed captive. "Do you wish to add anything to our discussion, perhaps even explain yourself and your comrades actions?"

As he listens to anything their captive might have to say, Ilmarinen relies on his knowledge of people to assess the veracity of their captives words.

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• Sense motive: (1d20+9)[17]

[Cleavon]

The man in chains spits at Ilmarinens feet.

"Oy, yah think I'd jus tell yah the whole bit eh? We 'ad our reasons. If'n you hadn't seen thems in the bushes we'd be countin' up your valuables."

He does not seem the smartest of fellows.

Ilmarinen

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He seems to speak truthfully, that he does feel the ambush would have worked if they had carried it off properly.

Gorm explains further that the ale in their wagon is quite expensive, and they may have been defending the very cargo with their lives.

[Stormwind]

"Well, I'd say you've not got much for choices now, either you speak to us, or you speak to the authorities once we get to the city. From what I understand of local law, the authorities have somewhat hefty penalties associated with banditry, so you stand to lose you head for this. If you speak to us, I will give my word that I will do my best to convince the authorities to spare your life. I can give no guarantees other than that."

Ilmarinen watches the bandit's face closely for any reaction as he waits for a response.

[Cleavon]

The man snorts a derisive laugh as he looks up at Ilmarinen.

"Oh how I bet yah would. Plead on yer knees for my safety. Listen here. All I know is that me, Gren, Shamus, and Doffer got picked up in town and asked to protect this here load. You done killed the two guys who hired us. Big feller there near the wagon and the one who was putting the other wheel back on. Idiot rode right into a rut and damaged it so bad we had to stop to change it. I don't know who thems worked for, and I don't rightly care. I just know that we were to be payed well and we thought we could take you by surprise...we weren't to be seen for some reason. They didn't explain that either. We weren't askin' too many questions for the price we were gettin'. Seems stupid now."

[Angstrom]

"I can't say I understand why a cart of stolen ale is worth dying over, but perhaps if the authorities in Brindol are interested we could tell them where we laid the fallen to rest and they can investigate for themselves." Heather suggests from where she is crouched amid the barrels in the back of the wagon.

She lifts the casks one by one, turning them over for anything that would explain the bandits dying for their loot. Absentmindedly rapping her knuckles on the sides of the casks to check their contents she looks at the sun getting low on the horizon, "Perhaps its best to get this mess back to Brindol and sort things out with the authorities. We still need to report to Davros as well."

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There are enough corpses there that Heather believes getting a cleric to use speak with dead on them is the easiest way of figuring out what was going on. That said, she doesn't suspect a conspiracy.

Perception: (1d20+14)[17]

[Gorthok]

Khrona, Mistress of Time

While digging through the cart knocking around on boards for hollow spots, Khrona hears that the "interragation" is going poorly. She gets up and walks to the shackled bandit.

"Perhaps, Sirs, I may be of some help in this matter. With the flow of time comes knowledge and wisdom that many disregard." Khrona begins humming and places her fingers upon her temples, "Please step back, Sirs."

With the last word slipping from her tongue, a greenish hue flows from Khrona's eyes into that of the bandit.

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Perception Check while in the Cart: (1d20+5)[20]

Cast Detect Thoughts on the Bandit.

[Cleavon]

Khrona

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After a bit of concentration you are able to determine the bandits surface thoughts.

He is terrified of two things. One, that when he is returned to Brindol he will be beheaded for banditry. Two, that whoever employed the men that were in charge knows who he is and even if he manages to escape they will find him and kill him for losing a valuable score.

[Cleavon]

Soon enough the Wagon is able to travel again, and everyone is ready to be on their way. The bandit in manacles seems resigned to his fate and doesn't speak unless spoken to for the rest of the way back.

At the gate the guards immediately stop you, upon seeing a man in chains. Upon hearing your story they put forth a summons, and ask that you stay here at the gate for a short while. A hobgoblin man appears some while later, his leather armor tooled and worked in a fine fashion. He seems a little older, but his movements are still sharp. He addresses the gathering in a stately manner.

"Well met, I am Ribal Tennem. I came as quickly as I could when word of your troubles on the road reached me. I am the Emperors Justice here in Brindol, and all disregard for it's law is brought before me. I am glad you were able to recover this merchandise here...we'll be looking into how it was acquired and who might be ultimately responsible for trying to smuggle these fine wares out of the city."

His men take the bandit into their custody, and are happy to return Heather her manacles. Ribal Tennem then makes a gracious offer.

"I have had the pleasure of meeting your friends, the diplomats from the south. The man Wilt Badger and I have been speaking at length over dinner some nights, and I believe it would be most splendid if you would all join us for the nightly meal. If you so accept I'll send for you when night falls and we can speak more about your time here in Brindol. For now I must take care of this bandit business."

[Angstrom]

Heather thanks the guards for returning her manacles and tells them everything they wish to know about the bandits, but sticks to the hunting trip story for why they were in the swamp to begin with.

"Well met Ribal Tennem, I am Heather Pauwher of Saltmire. I expect we would all be delighted to take you up on your offer." Heather's diction is more forman usual. Though the flowery language always left a bad aftertaste, her desire to ingratiate herself with the Hobgoblin elite and the Hunters Guild made it worthwhile.

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Sorry to speak for the party, but it seems based on the nature of our contract with Wilt and Tella we should be going anyways. Is heading back to Davros the next thing we want to do?

[Stormwind]

"Well met Ribal Tennem. I am Ilmarinen Brujah. I must confess to a certain amount of ignorance regarding the intricacies of your legal system here, specifically regarding leniency. The reason behind my inquiry here is actually fairly simple: After having defended ourselves against these bandits, I spoke with our prisoner here.." Ilmarinen nods towards the bandit, "..and asked him to disclose the details of their purpose. In return I gave my word that I would speak on behalf of his life once we handed him over to the authorities, namely your good selves." Ilmarinen pauses, and then looking the older hobgoblin, he continues, "He did indeed speak of their purpose, and so I would keep my word and thus speak for this bandits life. I understand that under your laws the penalty for banditry is death, but is a lighter sentence possible?"

Ilmarinen awaits Ribal's response before adding, "I would of course be happy to accompany your good selves and give what information we have gathered on this matter at your convenience."

[Cleavon]

Hearing Ilmarinen's careful words and his plea on behalf of the bandit the older hobgoblin put a thoughtful hand to his chin.

"Hmm. If he continues to give up what information he can to us, something may be done. We shall leave his fate in his own hands, and bring him in for questioning. We shall speak more on this at dinner I believe. Thank you for your help in this matter."

Gorm spoke up as Ribal Tennem took his leave.

"Should probably get all of this frog back and get it processed...I'm sure one of the local butcher shops would give you decent coin for it if you don't to eat it yourselves."

[Gamblerjoe]

Jasper

"Indeed I will accompany you to the butcher. Lets do so before the meat begins to spoil. I wouldn't mind a few cuts for myself, how about the rest of you?"

[Stormwind]

Ilmarinen considers Gorm and Jasper's words for the barest of moments before he suggests, "Perhaps we might take a few choice cuts to the inn and let their excellent chef prepare the frogs as the succulent morsel it is reputed to be. I'm sure he could do it justice in the tradition of the best of local cuisine."

That said, Ilmarinen looks set to accompany Gorm to the butchers and he gestures that Gorm should take the lead.

[Angstrom]

"Let's be off then. I certainly wouldn't mind trying some of your catch either. Perhaps next time I'll be able to help more on the hunt."

"We should report to Davros before dinner as well. If he wants to organize another expedition to look for his son he'll appreciate hearing of our trip as soon as possible."

[Cleavon]

Gorm hefts the sack of frog pieces over his shoulder and leads the party back to the hunters guild. Once back inside the confines of the guild area he takes you all to a small series of butcher stalls. Most are not being used at the moment and once he has gotten the meat ready he sends for Davros.

Gorm has gone about preparing the meat, a small sharp knife and a large cleaver his instruments as he expertly separates meat from bone and preserves the best cuts.

The older hobgoblin appears then, wearing plain leather armor, but with a cloak that is pinned with a hunters guild token. It shows his station as an instructor. He seems in fairly good spirits at the moment.

"Ah, welcome back my friends. I see Gorm has found you some particularly plump looking toads. I'm sure that whatever you don't want from the haul the guild will buy from you for provisions. Toad makes excellent salted jerky for long travels. Enough of that though. one of our scouts mentioned some trouble on the road, or echoes of it from the gate guards, please tell me...have you found anything about who may have killed my son?"

[Stormwind]

Ilmarinen looks towards Davros and nods, "The trouble on the road was incidental, as far as we can tell. With regards to the swamp, aside from the wildlife, we visited a small village of Vegepygmies, and Mongrelmen in ruins of wizard tower, and from both we got essentially the same message. The lizardfolk of the deep swamp are apparently both numerous and active and have been engaged in capturing many slaves. I suspect it was this that your son and his companions ran across during their patrol, but as yet I have no definite proof of this."

Ilmarinen pauses before continuing, "In order to find such proof we would need to locate the lizardfolk in the deep swamp and then hope that luck is on our side as we attempt to locate any personal items of your sons companions. If we are to pursue this angle, then a list of such items as your son and his companions carried would definitely be useful."

[Cleavon]

Davros seems rather intrigued by the idea that the lizardmen are more than just a passing nuisance. He paces back and forth as he speaks, and Gorm gets an almost excited gleam in his eye, the prospect of adventure always exciting the younger Hobgoblin.

"This news may be more dire than expected. If the Lizardmen are truly becoming more active, that may mean that their number is growing back towards dangerous levels. I can provide you with a short list of items my son and his friends had carried with them. I am sorry to ask that you risk your safety again, but my son have have stumbled upon something important here. Our armies are heavily devoted to the battles in the northern plains against the nation of Orcs...if the Lizardmen are truly a threat we may find our forces stretched thin protecting our land."

Davros seems contemplative as he rubs his chin and thinks, being drawn back into thought of the war with the Lizardmen and how much force it took to drive them back and defeat them.

"We can only hope that this is not as big as I fear it is. In the coming days I will have Gorm send for you, with a five day hunting pass to the deeper swamp. Hunting Catoblepas should be a decent cover, they wander the deep swamp and are highly sought after for their succulent meat. I'll be sure to have a list of my sons effects ready for your journey. You have my thanks, many would not risk themselves in such a way...a trait I have always admired in you southerners. Be warned though, not all here in the Empire feel the same unfortunately."

[Angstrom]

Silent through Ilmarinen's response, Heather smiles as she recognizes the gleam in Gorm's eyes as the same shining in hers.

"The reemergence of the lizardfolk as a threat is something neither of our nations want. To that end, I expect that the Councilmen would give us leave if informed of our reason for going."

"The sooner we can leave the better. Whatever your son found, haste seems prudent. Gorm, your help in preparing for this trip would be appreciated as would assistance locating a source of reagents I can use to prepare alchemical aids for the journey ahead."

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Knowledge Arcana: (1d20+7)[25] for information about Catoblepas
Knowledge Nature: (1d20+7)[21] for information about the deep swamp and lizardfolk.

I assume from that result she knows about Catoblepas death rays and so will be able to prepare accordingly.

Also, do we make money from the frogs? I'd like to buy some new formulae before setting out again.

[Gamblerjoe]

Jasper

"Davros my friend, this is what I live for. Our last trip proved to be a most enriching experience. We will be sure to prepare ourselves well while we are in town. After seeing these warriors in action, I believe we can handle any dangers the deeper jungle throws at us."

...

"If its any consolation; when this is said and done, I will compose a ballad for your brave son."

While in town Jasper visits some local shops grabbing what stationary and supplies he needs.

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10 sheets of the correct paper/parchment
1 oz vial of the correct ink
extra quills of various fineness

[Stormwind]

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Checking whether Ilmarinen knows anything additional about Catoblepas:

• Knowledge(arcana): (1d20+15)[22]
• Knowledge(planes): (1d20+9)[15]

As Davros speaks, Ilmarinen gets a contemplative look on his face, as he contemplates what he knows of the Catoblepas. Then with a wry grin he comments, "Succulent ... I would never have guessed. It seems that these hunting trips will indeed be educational, at the very least gastronomically"
His expression then becomes a little more serious, although there is still a twinkle in his eyes as he speaks, "If there is indeed going to be renewed problems with the lizardfolk, then it affects us all. I at least feel it would be irresponsible and shortsighted not to investigate, and I've never been accused of being shortsighted."

[Cleavon]

Davros thanks you all for your dedication, and soon enough he and Gorm are called to other duties at the Hunters Guild. Your cuts of frog meat are ready, and Gorm had them packaged so they would not turn before your dinner. Fresh frog meat of course cooking up the best.

A carriage escorts you from your Inn to Ribal Tennems humble manor. The house is squat but well appointed. A stately looking Hobgoblin dressed in dark clothing greets you. He speaks with a dry tone and leads you inside where Ribal Tennem and Wilt Badger sit sipping brandy and discussing politics.

When you are seen to arrive they both rise happily you. Ribal has the package of Frog cuts taken to the kitchen and while he is in the back of the house Wilt takes the time to speak for a moment.

"Och, good to see you back from the swamp! I hope the cuts you've brought are as good as Ribal claims they can be. I 'ave to let you know though, he's asked you here to seek a favor of you."

Wilt gestures towards the sitting room and once you are all inside he leans against the edge of one of the chairs and swirls his glass of brandy.

"He's got some trouble with the thieves organizing themselves. They've got this war with the orcs in the north and it's left the guard thin around Brindol. I think he aims to ask for your help, seeing you made such easy work of those brigands on the road. They for certain came from the city. So don't be surprised if you get asked to do some sleuthing concerning them."

[Angstrom]

Heather looks uneasy at Wilt's announcement. Folk generally didn't appreciate having foreigners snooping around, if they were to do this they'd have to be careful. If they did this. They had been perhaps been too hasty in offering aid to Davros; a mission of justice on behalf of the local government would likely take precedence.

"Thank you for the warning sir," speaking more formally to Wilt than she had on the journey to Brindol she continues, "We will listen to whatever Master Tennem asks, though I do not want any unsavoury attention from criminals putting your mission or your safety in jeopardy. We're here to protect you and Ms. Viron after all."

[Gamblerjoe]

Jasper

"Why a little sleuthing would be right up my alley. Ill keep my ear to the ground for any information."