Eberron: Merylsward Exhumed

[King Tius]

VII Dazed and Confused

Aesop digs into his pouch and extracts a pinch of wool. Shifting his weight to view the boss thug, he blows the wool towards him and casts daze. The thug chief stops running and stands still, looking at the ground. Orestes hops out of the cart and fires his crossbow at one of the sitting archers. The bolt strikes the man in the chest and he falls over, going limp as he hits the ground. (OOG: I’m going to interpret ‘protect’ here) Rhyn charges the remaining forward archer and plants his quarterstaff to deliver a flying kick to the man that knocks him backwards. The archer drops his bow as he falls. After floundering a bit, the archer clambers to his feet and draws a knife. Delan turns to peer inside the cart of the Cleric. He finds the man unconscious and bleeding. The young girl is curled up around the man’s feet, sobbing. The boy places his hands over his father and closes his eyes. Light begins to radiate from his touch and seep into the father’s chest. The burnt swordsman disappears from view as he sprints away. The final awake archer finally gets to a crouch and loads his crossbow. Wrex glances quickly around the scene, shouts out “Keep the boss alive!” and rushes after the burned swordsman. Bin drives his knife into the neck of his prey, killing the archer in a spray of blood. He begins to stalk towards the boss, keeping low to the ground in a very cat-like way.

OOG: Gary Gygax died today. A moment of silence for the father of DnD, please.

[Elysium]

Rhyn
Rhyn is tired of playing games with these thugs... if they can't recognize when they are beaten and back down then they deserve what they get. Using his staff as a weapon for the first time, Rhyn attempts to sweep away the archer's legs and then plant a crushing blow on his head.

[Loquacius]

Aesop

Aesop hears Wrex's order, notices Bin sneaking over to the chief, and sighs. "You can just run there, y'know, he's not going anywhere!" Of course, in just a few seconds that will no longer be the case, so it falls to Aesop to keep him where he is until Bin arrives. Such is the lot of the artist. He pulls out another pinch of wool, murmurs an incantation, and blows it once more in the boss's direction.

[Zoobity]

Orestes loads another bolt and points his weapon at the boss. "You're outnumbered and you have no idea who we are or what you're dealing with. You'd be best off dropping everything and placing your hands in the air."

[King Tius]

VIII Fight, then Speech

Rhyn sweeps his quarterstaff and manages to knock out the archer’s legs. He once again falls backwards and hits the ground, this time not getting up so quickly. Aesop draws another piece of wool and once again puts the boss man in a trance. Orestes reloads his crossbow and shouts at the lead thug, but the man is still under Aesop’s spell and does not move or respond. Delan moves back towards Aesop to serve as a shield. The conscious rear archer fires his crossbow bolt at Orestes, hitting him in the lower back for a whopping 7 damage. The other archer continues to sleep. Bin makes his way to the leader and quickly slashes both his calf muscles. The man wakes from his daze with a scream and falls to the ground, feebly clutching his legs. From the woods to the party’s right another scream is heard. The scream is definitively human, not hobgoblin.

[Loquacius]

Aesop

Aesop winces at Orestes' misfortune and, reclaiming his bow, returns fire against the conscious archer.

[Zoobity]

Orestes cries out in pain as the bolt sinks in. The half elf whips around and closes the distance between himself and his attacker before returning fire. If he manages to pull that off he looks about to see who's left alive before finding cover and reloading his crossbow again.

[captain_decadence]

Delan

Delan continues acting as a shield for Aesop, though he currently is worried about the little kobold. He thinks to himself that as soon as the bolts stop flying, he is going to try to save it.

[Elysium]

Rhyn
Rhyn smashes his opponent's face with his staff, hoping to knock him out of the fight for good.

[King Tius]

IX Shhhhh, He’s Sleeping!

Aesop lets loose on the lone awake archer. His arrow flies true and strikes the man. Orestes also fires and manages to drop the archer with his bolt. Rhyn jams his quarterstaff into the man’s face, freeing his mortal coil. Everyone looks around for bogies and sees that the sleeping archer and the slashed bossman are the only ones still alive. Delan moves to Slave and finds that the little kobold is dead and beyond anyone’s power to revive. Barley and his cousins peak up from their wagons and begin looking around. The Cleric’s daughter has stopped crying, though all three of that wagon are still hiding. Bin rolls the boss over onto his back and hops onto his chest. Sticking the point of his dagger on the man’s Adam’s apple, he sits and waits patiently for someone to come deal with him. Wrex appears from the woods, his great sword sheathed, and carrying a throwing hatchet. He is dragging the swordsman’s body along behind him by the collar. He enters the clearing and looks around. “Any of the runts left?”

[Loquacius]

As Wrex returns, Aesop, who is in the process of reclaiming his arrow from the other archer, raises a finger to his lips and indicates the sleeping one. He Moves Silently over to the man, with the intention of relieving him of his crossbow, but if he should wake up before Aesop can get there, Aesop draws his bow, pointing at his face an arrow still red with the blood of the man's ally. He makes an (untrained) Intimidate check: "You're the only one left, buddy. Drop your crossbow and get down on the ground with your hands behind your head and this might not have to get ugly." If the check fails and the man does something drastic, Aesop fires.

[captain_decadence]

Delan

Delan looks down at the tiny creature in his hand. He never really got to now him but he still regrets its death.

Looking over at the drama near the final archer, lets his companions deal with the man. He has no desire to interrogate the man even if he does want to know what all this was about. He waits until the man is either dead or surrendered and then he puts down the Kobold.

Moving over to the wagon with the priest and his family, Delan peeks over the edge. "The danger is over, thank the Host. Are you all fine?"

[Zoobity]

Orestes looks around for a moment and catches his breath. He sets down his crossbow and leans over the side of the nearest wagon, trying to keep any weight off the wound in his back. "A little help here, please," he calls out to no one in particular. "Delan, could you perhaps at least check the injury for me?"

[King Tius]

X Post Game

Aesop creeps over to the magically sleeping man and removes him of his crossbow. He flips it around and trains it on the man, though he does not wake him. Delan moves towards the wagon and finds that the Cleric is now lying in the back of his wagon, his head resting on his daughter’s lap. “We’re fine, Servant of the Host, thanks to you and your friends.” Orestes calls out to the group and the priest coughs a bit before continuing. “Take my son to see your wounded friend. He can help bandage the wound till I can provide healing. Bring him to me once he’s bandaged and I shall heal him as best I can.” Wrex comes over to Aesop near the back of the wagon. He looks down at the sleeping archer and hefts his throwing ax. “Back up, Pointy, I’m gonna put this one out. Go help Bin tie up the boss.” Wrex takes a knee and raises his ax, ready to chop the sleeping archer’s head off. Delan and the Cleric’s son, who looks about eighteen years old, go begin to care for Orestes. “Lay down on your stomach so we can get this bolt out” says the young man. “Easy now, let me help you down.” Barley and his cousins hop out of the wagon and move over towards Bin and the boss man. They have all grabbed makeshift clubs. Rhyn moves back towards his companions to see how everyone has faired.

[Loquacius]

OOG: Sometimes it's hard being Chaotic Good.

Aesop bristles at being called "Pointy." "Hold it, Fuzzy. He can't do us any harm now; his buddies are dead and I've got his weapon. Let's just leave him to his little nap and get out of here." Should Wrex argue, Aesop persists with one of his patented Diplomacy checks: "What's he gonna do, glare at us? He doesn't even know where we're headed! This Baron Moss sounds like a class-A jerk, but one soldier won't make a difference to him. If he wants to give us trouble, he'll do it whether we let this runt live or not. So save your ax the wear and tear and let's just leave him."

Before the party leaves, though, Aesop takes the liberty of inspecting the dead half-orc's equipment, and also the boss's. You never know what you might find.

[Zoobity]

Orestes listens to the boy and lays down on his stomach so that his wound can be bandaged. When/if that finishes he'll walk over to Aesop and stands next to him as he questions his captive.

[captain_decadence]

Delan

Delan helps the young boy take the bolt out (Heal Check) of the wizard. "Did your father teach you the healing arts?" He inquires of the boy.

[King Tius]

XI End of the Intro

Wrex glares at Aesop and grips his ax tightly. After a moment of staring hard at the elf, the hobgoblin relents. “You’re right about one thing. Whether we kill him or not this Baron Moss will hear about us. If you want to let him live, make sure you sing him a lullaby before we leave.” Wrex gets up and moves back to your wagon, whistling something garish and dissonant. A scream is heard from the boss’s direction as Barley and his cousins move back to the cart. Bin stays by the corpse a moment to clean his dagger before climbing back to his sleeping spot. Wrex picks up Slave’s body and looks at it for a moment. Grabbing the small totem stick that the kobold carried, Wrex tosses it to Bin and unceremoniously hurls the kobold’s corpse into the woods. His whistling begins again. Delan assists the lad in removing the quarrel from Orestes’ back. He grits his teeth in pain but manages not to cry out. After it has been bandaged the Cleric feebly comes out of the cart and places his hands on Orestes’ back. In a loud, clear voice he delivers a brief prayer of healing to the Silver Flame. As he does so Orestes feels warmth flood into his wound and his pain subsides. Though the damage is repaired, he is still sore from having a bolt in his side. The young boy answers Delan “I am learning the way of Silver Light from my father. The other priests back in Thrane started to teach me, but my father has decided to take me and my sister to this new town. I suppose I’ll train under him for now.” Rhyn continues to do nothing. Aesop finds nothing on the half-orc of interest but does manage to find the coin purse which held the “tolls” collected from the road. A later count of the purse reveals that it holds 600 gp. Aesop also finds a key on a lanyard around the boss’s neck, though without searching for this group’s woodland hideout, the key is probably useless. As everyone is preparing to leave you glance back and notice that the sleeping archer is gone.

OOG: well, I’m off to California. Unless you go looking for the hideout or chase down that archer, the next post when I return will bring us to Merylsward. GET PUMPED! I’ll be home on the 23rd and will hopefully be able to post that night.

[Loquacius]

Aesop

Upon finding the gold, Aesop breaks into a grin. Ahh, the first big find of the job. Just smell that gold! Smells like... victory! He takes advantage of the job description's treasure clause and keeps it at his discretion, but of course he keeps in mind that everyone else who helped in the fight deserves some too. If they want to use any of it (but not too much of it of course), he'll gladly fork some over.

When they find that the archer is gone: "Good. One less thing for us to worry about. Remember, he doesn't know where we're going. We've seen the last of him. Maybe not the last of the good Baron's men, but definitely the last of him."

[Zoobity]

Orestes rubs his back with his left hand, "That bastard better not show up again here any time soon. I've got a few tricks that I meant to show him." He rubs the inside of his left arm with his right hand. "Perhaps we'd be best off moving all the bodies into the woods. In my experience there's nothing like stench and vultures to get the message out to your enemies. I say we clean up and then get out of here." He walks around to make sure their numbers haven't dwindled too far, and while he makes sure everyone is healthy and of sound mind he doesn't try to talk much unless someone insists, in which case he rolls with it. After that Orestes hauls his sore body into the cart and spins his finger around in the air, "Hoist anchor, unfurl the sails, kick the elementals, place your hand on the lever, your foot on the pedal..." until his voice trails off into sleep.

[captain_decadence]

Delan

Delan helps bandage anybody that needs healing and, if need be, hauling the bodies off. He wonders why people would do things like this, especially when it was (apparently) just as dangerous to them as to others.

While on the road, he tries to speak to the priest and his children. While not directly addressing their faith, he does ask them lots of different questions about their lives and opinions on many different topics. If he can work around to it, he asks them how they feel, as followers of the Silver Flame, about the Sovereign Host. He wants to get along well with all of the new inhabitants of the town and needs to make sure that he won't have any conflict with these two.

[King Tius]

XII A Night’s Roost

OOG: Sorry for the D-lay, we are losing Rhyn and I wanted to make sure I had a replacement in line before I missed the opportunity to drop him in nice and easy.

The bodies of the brigands are dragged off the road and put under cover. Your wagon train slowly begins moving again, leaving the little battle scene behind. While en route Delan converses with the Silver Flame family and finds them to be pleasant, though a bit haughty. The father does most of the talking, as expected, and says that almost all worshipers of The Flame acknowledge the Sovereign Host and respect them. “After all, in the war against darkness only a fool would shun his allies.” The remaining day of travel passes without incident and you arrive in the small town of Owl’s Perch. The town consists of a small tic-tac-toe board of roads with a simple wooden wall erected around the outside. The guards at the gate nod at Barley as he leads the wagons in. “Alright lads, we’ll be staying here till the day after tomorrow. I’ve got some business to take care of for the Baron. We’ll be leaving at dawn with or without you. If you wouldn’t mind, could you go tack this by the local pub?” He pulls out a roll of parchment. “Might as well keep advertising, seeing as we need all the help we can get.” He hands the document to one of you and begins taking the horses to be stabled. Upon examining the parchment, you find that it closely resembles the note you found outside the Sivis station, except that it directs those interested to find Barley directly. The cleric and his children begin stabling their horse before heading towards the inn. Wrex walks up to the group and says gruffly “Let’s go get some ale. Maybe we’ll find something interesting in this fart of a town at the tavern.” He grabs Bin by the back of the shirt and picks him up like a briefcase as he walks away. Bin tolerates the abuse just long enough to clear him from the wagon before kicking Wrex square in the side, freeing himself and landing nimbly on the ground.

[Zoobity]

Orestes stretches his back out as he steps off the wagon and receives the poster. Once the rest of the small group (three now?) is ready, Orestes walks the streets until he finds the pub. Before tacking up the poster he goes inside the bar and asks the first employee he finds to point him to the owner or manager of the establishment.

[captain_decadence]

Delan

To the cleric: "I agree and that's why I have never seen why there is a problem between our groups. We are all warriors in the fight against the darkness of the world." Delan likes the man, even if he is a little pompous. He finds the children interesting as well; he has never had a lot of interaction with the young of any race.

Once they get to town:
Delan helps everyone unload who needs it. He is used to this kind of mindless labor and it keeps him occupied. He thanks Wrex and the rest of the wagon crew for getting them to the settlement. When Orestes goes into the bar, he follows him so they can find out what their new job is.

[King Tius]

XIII That's Some Bouncer

Orestes, Delan, and Aesop follow Wrex and Bin as they head to the pub. Rhyn nods politely to everyone and says “I’m going to stroll the town a bit, I will meet up with you later.” Upon entering the pub the few people populating the place look up and stare at you. The bartender (human) stereotypically cleaning out an ale mug, watches you enter and asks what you want to drink. A seven foot tall gnoll sits on a stool at the end of the bar nearest to the door. He stands up when you walk in and eyes you up and down before returning to his drink, clearly the bouncer of the establishment. Wrex and Bin both nod to the gnoll and move to an empty table in the middle of the room. “Come on, first round is on Bin, he lost our bet” chuckles Wrex as he waves down the barmaid, a rather pleasant looking half-elf. A group of three shifters sit huddled in a corner scowling at the rest of the place like caged animals. Two humans sit at the bar shouting loudly and drunkenly hitting each-other in the arm. Two dwarves and another two humans sit at a table nearby. Their conversation stops and they glance at one another as your group enters. Orestes approaches the barman and asks for the management. “You’re looking at him” replies the bartender. “What can I get you?”

[Zoobity]

"I've received an order from my employer to tack a 'for hire' sign outside your establishment and I just wanted to clear that with you." Orestes nods towards the gnoll, "You don't seem like the kind of man I want to piss off." If the bartender gives him the go-ahead, Orestes tacks the sign up outside. If not then he rolls the sheet into his belt and orders the weakest drink they offer that's not water. He tries not to look towards the group that fell silent at their entrance.

[FrereSebastian]

After gazing around the pub making sure the two up front don't begin to throw punches at any other patrons, Ajaba notices the group walk into the place. Standing, he quickly notices that they have no violent intentions so sits back down. When the half elf speaks Ajaba grins showing long canine teeth and replies, "as long as you keep to yourselves pointy ears, you wont have to."
If Orestes puts up the sign Ajaba goes and looks at it out of curiosity, if not then he goes over to with the Hobgoblin and the Goblin that had just sat down and tries to speak with them in Goblin.

[Loquacius]

Aesop

To the barman, after Orestes has made his request: "And if you'd be willing to let us put up our little sign, and also give us our night's refreshments free of charge, I'd be willing to provide you and your patrons a night's entertainment in exchange." He takes a bow. "Aesop Wynde, storyteller by trade, and one of the finest in Aundair if I do say so, although I've been trying to kick the habit."

Aesop knows he doesn't have to do this sort of thing anymore, but it's been a while since he's seen a place like this without being "on duty," so to speak, and his instincts just kind of kicked in. At least it's for a good cause now.

Should the barman take Aesop's offer, he puts a chair on top of an empty table and places on the table an empty mug and a sign reading "Donations graciously accepted! All proceeds directly benefit the Baron ir'Kusk's Initiative to Rebuild Merylsward. (Employment offered! See sign outside for details!)" The prep work done, Aesop gets a full mug of ale for himself, takes a swig, and clambers onto the table. He gives himself a spotlight of sorts with a quick Dancing Lights spell. "Friends! Eldeens! Inebriates! Lend me your ears, minds, and feeble attention spans, and for the benefit of the once great town of Merylsward I'll brighten your evening with the tale of the clever gnome Drongo's sojourn in the land of the Giants! Our story begins in the tiny hamlet of Littleroot, many years ago, where a certain young gnome lived in one room with his seven sisters and seven brothers..."

Should the barman turn Aesop down, he just shrugs. Probably for the best anyway. I don't do this for a living anymore. "In that case, my good man, all I want is a tall mug of ale." He sits down with the group and subtly eavesdrops on Bin and Wrex's Goblin conversation with the bouncer.

[captain_decadence]

Delan

Delan sits at a table and slowly looks around the establishment. Nothing seems to be happening so he takes out his tools and begins to widdle. It passes the time, especially because he doesn't need to sleep.

[King Tius]

XIV Some Local Color

“Yeah sure, go and post it up by the door if you’d like, long as it don’t stir up any trouble” says that barkeep to Orestes. Ajaba heads to the table and tries to pick up a conversation with Wrex and Bin. Wrex looks up at him but doesn’t speak. Bin glances over at Wrex before turning to the gnoll and speaking, in common for some reason, “what is a gnoll doing out here in these lands? Didn’t think we’d see any others from Darguun out here. What were you doing during the war? Sit down.” Aesop pries the barman for a job and gets the following in reply: “How about you play first and we’ll see if it’s worth a night’s stay.” As you sit the waitress comes around and brings you all pints of ale. Throughout the night she keeps your glasses filled.

Over the course of the night as Aesop serenades the small establishment the group sits around talking. At one point, Wrex finally speaks up from his relative silence. “I can’t believe of all the people we have to guard on our little caravan it’s a bunch of Flame worshipers. If I wasn’t gettin’ paid I’d give them something to pray to their little torch about.” The group sitting next to you, who have been drinking much faster and heavier than you have, catch wind of Wrex’s statement. One of them stands up and turns to your group (the bad spelling is meant to reflect the drunkenness). “Houw dare you be talken bout zuh fff…fffflame that way. I outa put darm animals in yer place!” The others at the table stand up and shout in approval, some having a little trouble standing up so quickly. Wrex grins and stands up, cracking his knuckles. “About time. You want to say that again to my face you little runt?”