Airship B-38: All Quiet on Darguun Front (IC V1)

[Admiral Squish]

"No message. The events here are all I need him to know." She explained to the homunculus as she began to pick small chunks of flesh from her chain's points, crossing in front of the gnoll's cage, blood splattered across her armor. "Though I'm curious what he suggests I should do with all the bodies..." she added, making sure to let the gnoll hear before leaving the room. "You don't really have to ask him that. Just scaring the gnoll a bit." She explained once the door was closed. Before heading to the helm, she paused to pick up her boomerang from it's resting place on the deck, wiping it off as she headed for the helm. She opened the door and stepped inside. "You called?" She asked the helmsman as she stepped in. "How are your injuries doing? I'm sorry I didn't show up faster. I might have spared you some wounds, if I had been paying more attention."

[Morituri]

[Kleris is a Druid. They're allowed to strike down unarmed helpless defenders in cold blood. Encourages Natural Selection .]

Airship

The Gnoll's ears perk up and its tail starts fervently wagging at the mention of bodies, cutting immediately through the low growl it had been emitting up to that point. "Ha! You bring bodies to me, I show you good use for them, yes!" It half turns, raising an arm to show you a fresh gash across it as you leave the room, "See what pinkie do to me? He no like what I do to him when he do to me, and now he mine food mate, bad for him, good for me!"

The Helmsman is intent about his job as you approach and speak to him, barely looking up from his final preparations as he replies. "And if I had been paying more attention, they wouldn't have gotten on in the first place, or at least not as far. There; let's go." Gripping the Dragonshards with all his strength, Helmsman Bostwick jerks the Airship back into life and sends it away from the docking ramp. The sound of splintering boards and angry shouts tells you that he may have been slightly lax about untying the riggings before departure, but the ship isn't scratched, and his face is a mean smile. Taking the ship into a slow circular path around the tower, the Helmsman relaxes and sags, breathing heavily. “My wounds are not bad; not anymore, anyway. I am rather looking forward to resting tonight, I must say.” A sweaty hand swipes his raw brow, “The others, Sir. Where are they?”

Mansion

As the Cleric attends to the dying man and the room stares on in shock, Kleris seizes the opportunity to attack the servant who attacked his master. The wolf strikes, ripping a strip of flesh from the man’s leg and sending him prone to the floor with a cry of pain. He props himself up, though, staring hard at the adventurers around him and muttering murderously. “Damn you all. And the idiot was right; you’re too late to stop us. For Cyre.”

Swiftly, the man sucks the wad of tobacco back between his teeth, and as he bites down hard you hear the soft sound of something breaking. Monty’s head explodes that very instant, in a bright expanding fireball that engulfs him, the body of Le Chidle, and any unfortunate soul who happens to be nearby.

[Roll a save if you’re within 10’ of Monthy, DC 16 Reflex Half.

(4d6)[12].]

[ArmorArmadillo]

"Huh..." Kleris deadpans, in a moment before the brunt of the explosion hits him. He grabs his wolf as it attempts to jump them both out of the way.

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Reflex - (1d20+4)[17] (More if you think the wolf provides cover.[/roll] I'd roll for the wolf, but it has plenty of hp and unless you think there's more danger in the fight it's excess bookkeeping.

Brushing ashes out of his eyes, Kleris mutters. "Today has not been particularly great, fire-wise."

[Admiral Squish]

"They said they were going to go talk to a rich merchant in town. Le-something. Orien can give you directions." Curra explained. She winces at the splintering sound. That was not going to be conductive towards getting those reinforcements, and was very likely to be coming out of her paycheck. "I don't suppose you're going to explain our sudden departure?" She asked the helmsman. "I admit, I'm curious as to what the big rush is."

[Asmodeus]

Orien

The homunculus points towards where his master is, in a very general direction. "That way."

Fibin

{OOC: I think i'm out of the blast range. Correct me if I'm wrong.}

"Well, that was a bit of a wasted effort, it seems. But now that things have calmed down, you should all know that Curra has seen some action of her own back at the ship." Fibin gives a brief explanation of what happened.

"They are on their way here to pick us up."

[GimliFett]

Methvinharath

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HP: 27/44; Init: 10
AC: 25 (t14/ff24)

The heavily armored man wheels away from the explosion, trying to avoid the brunt of the damage, doing a passable job of it.

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I'm assuming that if it gets LeChidle, it'll get me.
[roll0]
AC Bonus: 4th round of 6

[GimliFett]

OOC:

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Grrr... This's gettin' annoying!
Reflex - (1d20+3)[20]

[Colvin Arenios]

Arinon
HP:51/51
AC:24

What he witnessed pained him. The loyalty they had shown to a cause that seemed despicable made him frown as the explosion had done its damage and he could feel the innards of Monthy slide across the floor and stain his boots. The explosion itself startled Omega but the steed remained right near Fibin as Arinon walked up near him. It was a sad affair but it was one the Silver Flame had arranged for both Monthy and Le Chidle. As Fibin explained about what was going on at the airship, he slid his sword back and then spoke.

"Truly a waste. I pray that we do not have to endure such things in the future."

He sighed audibly and then patted Omega as he watched.

[ArmorArmadillo]

"Demon spit!" Kleris curses as he pulls a painful looking metal fragment out of his shoulder and shakes the remaining ash off of himself. "Damn fanatics, we could have gotten something out of him. This has been more or less a waste, at least we found out that someone's above him on this. Hopefully Curra's getting something from that Gnoll she's so fond of."

[Asmodeus]

Fibin

"Or the other fellow she captured."

Fibin moves towards the door/window and scans the sky for the airship.

[ArmorArmadillo]

"Yes Fibin, or the other fellow." Kleris blinks. "Fibin, who is this other fellow?"

[Morituri]

Airship

Half shrugging at Curra's question, the Helmsman says, "There's never just four, and they knew where we were parked." Glancing at Orien, Bostwick arches an eyebrow, saying, "Lead on, sir," and steering the Airship towards the Le Chidle mansion at a relatively quick pace. The air whistles past, and you can begin to see a growing speck on the outskirts of town surrounded by lush green and brown fields...

[It will take about 15 minutes at the pace you're flying to reach the mansion. Let me know if you want to do anything before you meet up.]

Mansion

[Meth: Yep, I'd assumed you were in the blast. The only person I wasn't sure of was Arinon.]

The corpses lying around you continue to simmer and smoke as the general mood in the room returns to one of calm control. None of the small fires around the room look like they'll catch anything, but the sheer smell that's hitting you square in the face nevertheless makes you want to exit this place as soon as humanly possible. In the far, far distance through shattered glass Fibin can begin to see a glowing speck of an Airship headed towards you; it looks like it's proceeding slower than normal, but will be there in not too long.

A wavering voice comes from the hallway suddenly, barely audible through the thick closed wooden doors of the study. "Sir...? Is everything alright in there sir...? Do... do you need any help, sir?"

[Colvin Arenios]

Arinon

The audible sound through the wooden doors catches Arinon's attention and he sees it as a blessing. Perhaps some questions can be answered now. He is ill-equipped to catch the man if he cares to run but after witnessing this battle, he looks at Kleris and then suggests something in a low voice.

"There is someone coming toward us. Perhaps we can extract something out of that person and gain some benefit from this whole exchange"

[Asmodeus]

Fibin

"One of the attackers I mentioned. She managed to get another captive."


{OOC: In case you missed it, I glossed over but Fibin told everyone what happened on the ship.}

[ArmorArmadillo]

"Well, doesn't that just make us all feel inadequate." Kleris shrugs. "Maybe whoever's coming now will have something to say."

[GimliFett]

Methvinharath

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HP: 27/44; Init: 10
AC: 25 (t14/ff24)

Meth shakes his head as he stands. "I doubt it. Listen to the voice, that person has no clue his lord is dead. Please, let's not add to the toll this day?"

[ArmorArmadillo]

"I was thinking he might have seen something helpful. But I suppose you are right. I'll go see if Curra is okay after her scuffle." Kleris walks outside and whistles sharply. A large bat dives and takes Kleris onto his back before it rises again, turning toward the airship.

[Morituri]

Mansion

Tentative knocks come at the door. "Sir...? We... we noises sir... Are you alright? Should we get the guard? Sir?"

[Reminder that I'm gone all of tomorrow and most of Saturday, but may be able to post late Saturday night.]

[GimliFett]

Methvinharath

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HP: 27/44; Init: 10
AC: 25 (t14/ff24)

Shaking his head slowly, Meth moves towards the door. "Does he often go off like that?" he inquires of his companions with a nod toward the departing half-elf.

He opens the door to the servant. "Good man! We were accosted by these hounds and just as the battle was won, the manservant Monthy shot your lord with his crossbow and...exploded himself! Do you know what enemies your lord may have had to purchase so trusted a companion? Perhaps there is some clue in his office or the like?"

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Diplomacy - (1d20+12)[28]

[Asmodeus]

Fibin

Lacking any aerial transport of his own, he'll wait until the ship arrives and lowers the later before he climbs aboard. In the meantime, he just listens to the cleric talk with the servant.

[ArmorArmadillo]

Kleris
Neru flies above the ship and Kleris hops onto the deck. Quickly taking stock of the situation, he yells out. "Curra! Where are you?"

[Admiral Squish]

Curra steps out of the navigator's deck and gives a brief wave to Kleris. "I suspected you'd get here faster than the rest. Helmsman says we still have a ways to go before we arrive." She said as she walked down the stairs to the main deck, which was still littered with bodies.

[ArmorArmadillo]

Kleris

Neru sniffs at the corpses while Kleris looks around and scratches the back of his neck. "I'd heard you got into a bit of a scrape up here." He looks back and forth, a bit awkwardly. "I was going to see if you were all right, but I guess you handled yourself better than I expected."

[Admiral Squish]

Curra shrugged. "Nothing big. I wasn't even scratched." She explained. "I don't really know what I'm supposed to do with the corpses, though. I can't dump them over the side, we're in a city, and they'll smell if we leave them here. And with Bostwick's... hasty departure, I'm not sure the law will be entirely grateful to take them off our hands." She added, casting a glance back to the helm. "And what of youself? I heard there was quit the tussle down at LeChindle's."

[ArmorArmadillo]

Kleris closes his eyes and sighs deeply. "It went badly, very badly. Remember what I said about things getting worse? They are. Le Chidle definitely was involved in whatever's happening, and worse than simply being a criminal, he was somehow trafficking with dark beasts." Kleris takes a seat on a railing. "Of course, none of this information is really going to do us any good...I made a tactical decision in interviewing him that was poorly chosen. Fighting broke out, and Le Chidle's butler killed the the merchant and himself. The only survivors are going to be some household hands that will unlikely have any very helpful information."
Kleris stands up and brushes back his loose hair with both hands. "Of course, aside from not finding any useful information, we'll have to deal with the political fallout of individuals employed by the Brellish military, including an envoy of House Lyrandar, walking into the house of a prominent Old Cyrean figure and walking out of a bloodbath." Again, he sighs, looking up to the clouds. [color="sienna]"And, somehow, even once it's out that Le Chidle trafficed with demons, I don't think it'll matter much to the people to whom he represented the pride of Old Cyre. This is getting worse by the moment Curra."[/COLOR]
He lowers his head, looks around, and his chain of thought seems to be broken. "Oh, and I'm not really sure what to do with the corpses...brightness be, all these people attacked you and you took them on alone?"

[Admiral Squish]

Curra grimaced. "I'm not sure if you spotted it on the way in, but our helmsman decide to rip the last foot of the airship dock off rather than take time for a proper cast-off." She added to their list of problems. "Orien delivered a brief overview of how it all went down. Hopefully our new prisoner will have something to say that we can actually use." She added with a sigh. That would be just about the only thing to salvage this mess...

He broke the line of thought along with the druid. "Yeah, but I have a sneaking suspicion luck was on my side this time. Besides, they weren't expecting resistance, either."