Yours For The Taking Thread A [D&D 3.5] (IC)

[Heart]

Bob has his elbows propped on the table and his hands clasped together. "I think I may know a thing or two about this group. The guy, have green eyes?"

Eranna begins to shake her head, "One green eye, actually. The other one was blue."

Bob smacks his hands down onto the table, "Aha! His name's Joffer. I had a run in wit' 'im and his gang once or twice before I was locked up. Well, not his gang, strictly speaking, he's just more of a figurehead." Bob scoots his chair back and throws his arms behind his head, "Not the kinda people you wanna be fightin'. There's a lot of them."

[hoverfrog]

A figurehead, Bob?" Mink has heard of power behind a throne and the phrase behind every successful man in a woman but to use one in a criminal organisation denotes intelligence. "Any idea who the real leader is? Oh and how many is 'a lot', roughly? A dozen, a score, a hundred?"

[Heart]

Eranna looks a little embarrassed at Eric's outburst, but lets Bob continue. "Apparently the real leader is some wild sorceress who's been hanging out in the woods her whole life. Dunno how powerful she is, but people throw around a lot of theories 'bout Joffer thinkin' he's actually in control, and that she has his mind a complete blank state and does what she wants wit' 'im. Far as their numbers goes, I don't have it on paper or anything, but it's more like a camp of bandits then a gang. So yeah, a lot of 'em.

[hoverfrog]

"I imagine that they'd collapse without their leader though."

[Heart]

"Cut the head off the snake, yeah," he leans back on the table and crosses his arms, "though, what are the rest of them going to do, quit being bandits and find a day job? I'd say either Joffer would assume command, or they'd break off into smaller groups," he brings a hand to his mouth and clears his throat, "though there is a tribe of wood elves in the area that the camp has caused problems for, they could be willing to do the mop up."

[Medic!]

Eric

Obviously still very agitated at the prospect of his mother being "shaken down," a slow but steady breeze of air off a glacier leaves his mouth. "Then treat it like a hydra, take all the heads and burn the rest."

[hoverfrog]

"Why don't we approach these wood elves? They are unlikely to be unmolested by the bandits and may be willing to collaborate in a joint venture." Mink likes the idea of getting others to do the fighting much better than getting involved herself.

[Heart]

A cool bit of air rushes the house, causing a window shutters to rattle hard against the walls. Eranna gets up to go and close them throughout the house, blocking out a lot of the sun and giving it the look of a dark tavern. As she gets to the last window, she pauses a moment before closing them.

"Mink, my dear, did you say you lot escaped from prison?" She asks

[hoverfrog]

"Yes, it was a daring break out. I expect it will be in all the papers tomorrow and town criers will be announcing our names throughout the land in a few days. Why?" she stands and walks over to Mother Eranna and looks out of the window, half expecting to see a dozen town guards walking down the path. After all they've hardly covered their tracks well.

[Heart]

About a hundred yards down the path, amidst the up swirl of leaves and small debris, three men stand and two set atop horses. Four of them look like guards from the town, and the man not in uniform, wearing a fall colored cloak with a bow in his hand, points to the house.

"Oh my, this isn't good! Quickly, the each of you, you have to hide or go or something! There's a cellar door under a mat in the kitchen or you can try sneakin' out the back. Go on now, I'll stall them, they've got nothin' against me so don't worry a thing."

[hoverfrog]

Mink moves as directed and climbs into the cellar.

[Heart]

Bob heads to the cellar with Mink, while the other two dash out towards the back door. Eranna looks to Erik and says, "Boy, you better get down there, they're heading for the door!"

As Mink and Bob descend the stairs, they can see many streams of light shining through the cracks from up above. Many barrels and various sacks lie around, and each step on the stairs comes with a loud groan.

[hoverfrog]

"How delightful," Mink looks around at the mess, "Everyone over there please. I can hide us, I think. If we're all together."

Positioning themselves in one corner of the room Mink quickly casts a spell and draws together an illusion of a wall. It matches the bare stone and earth of the other walls, roughly carved but functional and sturdy. Against it she weaves the image of sacks and barrels just like in the real room so that the join looks natural. Hiding behind the illusion should fool the casual observer as long as they remain quiet.

Spoiler

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Silent Image of a wall. Duration: Concentration

[Medic!]

Eric the Red

Eric begins gripping the hilt of his borrowed sword and squeezing the leather wrap at the sighting of the posse approaching his home. He darts to the corner with the others and tries to slow his breathing and calm his nerves behind the illusionary wall as his blood reaches its boiling point.

Spoiler

Show

Hide - (1d20+1)[16] Move Silently - (1d20+1)[20]