Adventures in Aklor IC (5e)

[Arzanyos]

"Wait, we was the ones with the crossb-" "Oh, shut up." The other bandit interrupts, rolling his eyes. "You know, now that I think of it, me and my pal here do need some help moving things. Here, let me show it to you guys, so you can decide if you want some of the cut." The two start moving towards the supply closetish building, strafing so as to keep their eyes on the group.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Jezean turns to the others with a wink and a thumbs up before gesturing for the others to follow. "I might be utterly worthless outside of combat in terms of my skillset, but I would be a shame to my family if I was a clear as day liar," she whispers. "Infiltration successful." She follows after the two, all carefree-like and wide open.

[whiteflash]

She and I could take this whole continent for everything it has.

Silence nods in thanks and approval.

[WhismurWanders]

Kaladan follows, his eyes rolling slightly at the false bravado being presented by both sides. At least Jezean had delivered the desired result.

[Arzanyos]

The bandits reach the side wall of the supply closet, and the whiny one starts fiddling with it. The other keeps his crossbow trained on the party, starting to grin. "Hey, gentle giants, here's the deal. We need help moving these valuables..." The side wall swings inward from hidden hinges, revealing a secret passage leading underground. And three more bandits. "Off your corpses! Hahahaha!"

Spoiler: New Bandit Initiatives

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I'm honestly surprised that worked.
Bandit 1*(1d20+1)[4]
Bandit 2(1d20)[20]
Bandit 3(1d20)[4]

[Arzanyos]

A bit more on the new bandits. From what you can see, one of them looks much like the first two you've met. The other two are a bit larger, not another race, just clearly a cut above in musculature. One is dressed like the other bandits, while the last lacks the purple accessories, instead interspersing a pattern of white scales into their clothing. His eyes glint murderously, and he's clearly itching for a fight. The other two, meanwhile, look like they just got interrupted from a card game. They're less inclined to attack right now.

[Lioslaith]

Kal stands to his full height and snorts as only a minotaur can, gripping his great axe.

[whiteflash]

"Hm. Are you sure you have us outnumbered badly enough? Maybe you should wait for your guard drake to get back." Silence pauses. "Hm, no, after what we did when we found it, maybe not."

[Arzanyos]

The Rough and Whiny bandits look shocked at this news, and start shuffling quietly away from the party. "They took out a drake? How?" they mutter to each other. By contrast, the Bloodthirsty Bandit is more annoyed than fearful. "What? You're meddling in things you don't understand! We barely got to keep enough of them as it is. Hardly enough to secure the treasure, even without you fools roughing one of them up. Very well, your bones will serve as replacement!" He draws a mace, looking ready to advance on Silence. Regardless of the other bandits' opinions, you're going to have to fight at least him.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Jezean rummages in one of her pockets, before pulling out her hand in a fist. She unfurls her hand one finger at a time, slowly releasing all of the scales. "Fine then," she says in the lowest growl she can manage, "Maybe dismantling you will be some fun."

Spoiler: Roll

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Intimidate: (1d20)[7]

[Arzanyos]

As combat seems imminent, Feanir casts Sleep, focusing in on the bandit in white.

Sleep Roll: (5d8)[26]

Unfortunately, the bandits seems to shrug off the spell, and the energy instead sends the Rough and Whiny bandits into a deep slumber. Seems this guy's tougher than the others.

The Bloodthirsty Bandit takes the opportunity provided by the party's shock to close the gap, striking twice with brutal force, once against Silence, and once against Jezean.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Silence: (1d20+4)[10] for (1d6+2)[6]
Jezean: (1d20+4)[11] for (1d6+2)[5]

Neither attack amounts to anything.

[Lioslaith]

Kal snarls at the still standing bandit and takes a swing with his great axe

Spoiler: Rollz

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Attack - (1d20+6)[19]
Damage - (1d12+4)[7]

[Arzanyos]

Kal's axe finds a home, ripping a nice wound into the Bloodthirsty Bandit's armor. It will take several hits like that to put him down, though.

At initiative count 13, two arrows whistle through the sky behind you, aimed at Kaladan's back. It seems the bandits had a sweeper in the group making the rounds, that you failed to notice.

Spoiler: Rolls

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(1d20+4)[8] for (1d8+2)[10] Piercing.
(1d20+4)[18] for (1d8+2)[6] Piercing

The first arrow flies wide, missing the dragonborn entirely, but the second buries itself in the dragonborn's shoulder. A slightly elven voices calls out from the trees, about 100 feet away. "Don't worry about not trying to fight. I've plenty of arrows for the deserters."

[WhismurWanders]

Kaladan grunts as the arrow slams into his shoulder, whipping around to face the ranged attacker. "Do not think yourself outside of our range," he growls, mostly to himself, as he speaks the incantations which send a dark, pulsing energy towards the archer. He prepared his shield to intercept any more arrows, trusting the others could handle the ruffians now behind him.

Spoiler

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Casting Chill Touch at the archer. (1d20+5)[6] for (1d8)[7] necrotic damage.

[whiteflash]

Silence turns toward the bandits playing cards. "Don't worry, we'll stop the archer from hitting you if you decide to sit this one out. We'd still rather talk this out with you two."

Silence looks down. "And with the two sleepyheads on the ground. Don't worry, that was just an accident," Silence says, hoping he isn't lying. "I saw where he was aiming. He wanted to put down the berserker here."

[Arzanyos]

Kaladan's chill touch comes nowhere even close to hitting the archer.

Upon hearing Silence's offer, the cardplaying bandits look at each other, and then go back to there game. The larger one seems apprehensive, though. It would still be best to avoid hurting his comrades, if you want him to stay passive.

[Arzanyos]

"Hey! You're fighting me, not some Cormixian dog!" rumbles the Bloodthirsty Bandit. Evidently he has no love for the interloping archer. Regardless of targets, though, with the purple bandits either out of commission or sitting out of the fight, Jezean, Silence, and Feanir can all enter the fray before the either the bloodthirsty bandit or the archer are able to attack again.

[whiteflash]

"Why don't you tell him to cut it out? He's not going to listen to us!"

[Arzanyos]

The bandit shrugs. "Well, you're right. He won't listen to you. On the other hand, I guess it wouldn't hurt if he softened you up, as long as he doesn't steal my kills." "Plus, he's afraid of becoming a pincushion too." Interjects the cardplaying bandit.

OOC: GM, it's your turn.

[Arzanyos]

In the interest of moving things along, I will run the autojezean.exe for the round. Feel free to correct me if you disapprove of anything.

"Well then, guess we have to fight before we talk. Doesn't make much sense." She obliging swings her axes at the bloodthirsty bandit.

Spoiler: Rolls

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(1d20+4)[11] for (1d6+2)[7]
(1d20+4)[20] for (1d6+2)[7]

Both blades strike home, carving deep rents into the bandit. He's tough, still on his feet, but is clearly suffering from his injuries.

[whiteflash]

"Missed a spot."

Silence moves in to put his rapier through the Bloodthirsty Bandit.

(1d20+5)[13] and (1d8+3)[6]

Edit: Okay, you said Jezean's 11 hit, so my 13 would too. And if that doesn't kill him outright Silence would respond by asking the Bloodthirsty Bandit "Have we made our point?" (If it does kill the Bloodthirsty Bandit I think Silence'd turn around and ask the archer that.)

[Arzanyos]

Silence's rapier lodges itself firmly in the bandit's side. Although it could be withdrawn normally, the tiefling could also twist the blade(apply the sneak attack damage you're entitled to), a maneuver almost guaranteed to slay the bandit. Being impaled and at the edge of his life, the Bloodthirsty Bandit's confidence finally begins to fade. But not much. "Your point? What point? You haven't the first idea what is going on here. You may take us all out, burn the whole operation to the ground, but it won't matter." He chokes a little from over exertion. "We have already fulfilled our purpose. Soon, Johr will be recalled, and we will join the full host. You can't stem this tide!"

As the words sink in, a different set issue forth from the other side of the party, this time in Elvish. Quietly, and away from the bandits, Feanir translates to the party. "The archer says he's willing to cooperate. If we... "cut away the chaff", that is. His words, not mine. I assume he means the other bandits."

[whiteflash]

Silence's hand shakes very slightly as he remembers the Bloodthirsty Bandit's previous assertion that the party didn't fully understand what they'd stepped in. "I assume nobody's going to particularly miss the zealot?"

He doesn't bother to give anyone a chance to correct him. (2d6)[7]

"Are you sure the guy with the bow wants his entire team cut down?" Silence asks quietly. "Not just the zealot?"

[Arzanyos]

The assumption was a correct one. A muttered "never liked him anyway." was the only note of the bandit's passing. In fact, with him dead, and the party blocking the path of the archer's arrows, the two cardplaying bandits are markedly more relaxed, and would probably be open to talking.

Feanir makes an unsure gesture as he responds. "It's conjecture, yes, but didn't he threaten to shoot them when he first attacked? I imagine there's no love lost between these different bandit factions. Which makes me wonder, why are they all working together, then?"

[Gluteus_Maximus]

"These men don't need to die. They're just here playing cards... I'll go in for a hand, by the way. As I said before, if we can get to know each other we can help each other."

(Playing a hand of cards with the card-playing bandits. How should we do this?)

[Arzanyos]

The bandits shrug and deal Jezean in. "One more makes an even four. Anyone else want in?" One of them says. Meanwhile, the archer seems to have halted his shooting for now, but is watching the party intently.

OOC: Okay, how do we do this? Let's go with a check of the mental stat of your choice, adding proficiency in cards if you have it. Alternately, you could try sleight of hand to cheat, but if they notice, it probably won't go over well.

Spoiler: Bandit Card rolls

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(1d20+2)[3]
Large: (1d20+2)[14]

[whiteflash]

Silence looks around for any cover they could move behind, in case the archer decides to act. "We should try to find something we can hide behind, just in case," he whispers to the party as a whole, minus Jezean who's a bit close to the other bandits for that.

He turns to Feanir. "If we find a good position and manage to get behind it, do you think you could try to talk the archer into coming out and joining the conversation? If we find good enough cover, he'll have to come out and find us if he wants to fight. I don't think he wants that. As far as I can tell there's only one of him."

[Gluteus_Maximus]

All righty.

(1d20+4)[14]

A tie with large, it would appear.

[Arzanyos]

Ain't no ties in baseball. Roll again.
The smaller of the bandits folds, with an annoyed sigh. "Well, today's just a pile a bad luck. First the whole operation probably going down, and now this sorry excuse for a hand."

Spoiler: Card Roll tiebreaker

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(1d20+2)[18]

Feanir nods. "I think I'd be able to. Although an appeal to his better nature is probably out, surely he will see the reasoning in backing down from a vast numbers deficit. But, nonetheless, we should probably find cover first."

[WhismurWanders]

Kaladan found himself growing a bit impatient at the sudden shift in mood. One moment he was being impaled by an arrow, and now the group seemed calm enough to join in a hand of cards. He whispers to the others within earshot, "How long will the sleepers remain somnolent? We may not have numbers on our side for long."