Eberron: The Secrets of War Group A IC

[Deathslayer7]

Mortimus

He will step over to the thug leader the moment they decide to heal him, and point his sword above the thug leader's chest.

He will only glare at Aelton.

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

"You've only just figured it out, haven't you?" inquires Arturo apologetically towards Aelton, shaking his head and turning away.

Facing the runaway thug, Arturo laughs. "Psh. Kids? Gimme a break! You're making it all up. Well not all of it. You knew all these beatnicks. A lot better than you'd have us know, don't you?"

And at Gabe's comment, Arturo fights to hold back laughter. "Ifit weren't for MY 'condition', I woulda single-handedly killed all of 'em, halfling! Three bodies laid at my feet by the end, and a third of one by yours! Although, that one third was about as big as you anyways, but that's not here nor there." he spits out at Gabe, pausing every now and again to regain focus on his train of thought.

"And it doesn't matter anyhow. We're all alive. We're in no serious physical distress, so let's deal with that alley-rat over there and figure out what we're going to do with the sleeping beauty here and be on our way." he adds, awaiting to be further berated by the halfling.

[Phantom.exe]

Zalivane

Zalivane drags the unconscious body over to the heavily injured body of the thug leader.

"It does not matter how many men you laid waste to. If you had killed them all; which, in retrospect, would have circumvented all this additional work, we would be on our way already."

"Regardless, my only motivation for now is to discover the reasoning behind our assault. For now. Do not bother bragging."

"It does not matter."

[Hyozo]

Gabe

"The conditions favored the combat style of a drunken oaf." Comments Gabe, attempting to avoid the issue.

"As for you," he begins, indicating the retreating thug, "perhaps you should stop thiking about your own family for a moment," He stops for a moment and gestures to the fallen thugs, "and think of theirs. You made it through this job all right, but what makes you think that luck will stick. The little you could do for your family with a legit job is still much more than your co-workers will ever be able to do for theirs."

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

"It does matter if he's going to go blaming this on me. They obviously knew about our half-elf friend here and his pocketful of gold. They intended to attack him all along. We just got in the way." Atruro says to Zalivane, clearly irritated that anyone could possibly blame this incident on him.

"And don't bother listening to his sob story about a family. He definitely is lying about that. Maybe I'm wrong, and in your perfect world, Gabe, I always would be, but I don't think there's a considerable attraction to beatnicks and thieves by the women of this fair town."

[Hyozo]

Gabe

"The only thng I blame on you is that there was a threat to begin with. If we had had a chance to think things through in the bar we could have avoided this ambush altogether." replies, Gabe, finally putting his dagger away "Your shouting did keep them from attacking us at the time of their choosing, and I thank you for that, but there were better options you denied us a chance to take."

[Mantid]

Garome

Garome retrieves his spear and joins the others around the thug leader. The halfling tsk's at Gabe and Arturo bickering. "Let's just get what we can out of this vuiligheid and get moving," he spits. "I'm in no mood for pointless delays."

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

"Now there's an idea..." Artuto responds to Gerome's comment.

[Darkantra]

The thug, still backing away, starts to look very nervous when Arturo says he's lying.

"You ain't seem 'em, how would you know, huh?" he starts puffing out his chest, "I'll 'ave you know-" and then takes off runnning up the street.

In the momentary silence you can all see people poking their heads through tavern doors and windows. While you all take a moment to search the bodies you can see several people watching you closely but not making any movements. Once you leave the corpses several men and kobolds start dragging the the bodies away. Strangely, no one seems overly concerned with the carnage.

Aelton meanwhile, looks at you all sadly.

"Arturo may be right my friends, I truly hope that he isn't but..." he sighs and pinches the top of his nose, "I couldn't call myself a scholar if I rejected possibilities out of hand. Until I sent the letters off to you all, I didn't even know where to meet either, I just happened to have heard some students talking about some of the horrible dives they'd been to. Naturally, you wouldn't expect someone like me to be there, so I thought that it would be the best location for a clandestine meeting. I digress, you six were the only people that I told of the location excepting one person. A colleague of mine, Sebastion Orvis, invited me to have a couple of drinks with him tonight, but I declined, telling him that I was meeting a friend at another bar. He asked which one, and I thought he was just curious so I told him."

Aelton gives Arturo a plaintive look.

"Sebastion has been my friend for years but..." he slumps again, "He's the only person besides yourselves who knew where I was going to be."

As Aelton finishes, Fierna's spell seeps into the now bound thug. His wounds close only a little while the spell works to heal his jaw, and once the blue-white energy stops to flow from her he groans and tries to sit up.

"Guhhh... Wha' the bloody hell?" Brunt struggles against the bonds for a moment before he comes completely into his senses and stares up at you all, "Oh, you lot. Thought I was dead there," he pauses a moment and spits a tooth out from his mouth onto the street, "So, you gonna toss me to the guards or leave me to the vultures there?"

He nods over at the men dragging the bodies away.

Loot and XP

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You loot through the bodies of the fallen thugs and add a few more things to the list of findings. Of particular interest are two things.

One of the men that had backed up Brunt was carrying what you all thought were a bag of caltrops, until the bag started to squirm in your hand. The caltrops seem to have their own energy about them and make little hops only an inch high as you look into the bag at them.

The unconscious skirmisher had a long and cracked piece of wood slipped into his right boot. Along the side are a series of small runes in a light green ink and a single word in elvish, "Bondrys" or in common, "Vigor".

Money: 10 gold galifers, 15 silver and about 30 copper coins in all of the purses that you take off the thugs.

Mundane: Each of the club wielders only had their weapons and a tattered set of leather armor. The skirmishers each carried a club, a light crossbow, 15 bolts and wore well-worn leather armor. The bruisers had longswords and well-worn leather armor.

I'm always going to assume that you're taking everything except the mundane items, but if you want one of them say that you're taking it in a post.

Each of you also gains 500 experience from the fight! *fanfare*

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

"Then we'll have to pay this Sebastion Ovis a visit sooner or later then." Arturo says to Aelton. There was no doubt in his mind that this Ovis guy had something to do with the attack.

Turning his attention to Brunt, Arturo sees the others have it under control and doesn't bother to interfere.

[Phantom.exe]

"We could see Sebastien. Or we could investigate your original task, your apartment. I am unsure if they are related or not.
I am not a stickler for payment or monetary wealth. It brings no comfort in the afterlife. However, I require wealth to sustain my fleeting time in this life.

Will traveling to investigate your friend result in a docking of pay?"

[Mantid]

((Oh, btw, with whom or where did that small shield with the faded raptor end up?))

[Madmal]

Fierna

She looks down to Brunt, holding the small steel shield "For now, i care for information only, and i'll start small..." she apused to takes a breath "this shield belongs to The Raptor's teeth, one of Breland companies during the last war, alo known as the 8th brigade, and officially disbanded at the end of the war. Know for leading a "fantastic" slaughter against Dhakaani raiders five years ago and rumors of a possible close relations with the Drane family in Wroat, possibly founded because of their leader, a noble from that house. So, i suppose this shield is yours?, or you got it somewhere else?"

she turns at Mortimus "somebody else ask him the reasons of this...struggle. I won't be asking more."

[Deathslayer7]

Mortimus

You seem well informed Fierna. He then turns to the man. He places his sword point on the man's chest. Care to explain?

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intimidate: (1d20+1)[5]

[Darkantra]

Aelton shakes his head at Zalivane's query.

"No, the parameters of our original agreement just state that you have to get my notes and the book back, nothing else. If you feel that investigating in other areas will benefit the search the I bow to your experience. Though if you confront Sebastian... I want to be there."

Brunt looks at Mortimus' sword and smirks at the knight.

"So, you save me from dyin' and you expect me to shake at the sight of yer sword?" he chuckles darkly, "I've been close to dyin' too many times to count, just go ahead and use that sword if you can, but I wager you can't, knight boy. As for you girl," he looks at Fierna, "You got a good head, know as much about my old unit as anyone I've met yet, and yeah it's mine. But I ain't got a reason, just saw the gold flash through your hands at the bar and thought me and the boys could take you lot. Guess I was wrong."

Sense motive checks again!

[Deathslayer7]

Mortimus

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SM: (1d20+2)[16]

Mortimus eyes the thug, and thinks back about his past. He is tempted to just stab the man to prove a point, but it wouldn't do any good, espcially when they needed information from him.

I do not kill unarmed men so willingly he says to the thug. The Church of the Silver Flame has taught me better than that, and I will not put my morality on the line because of your taunt. You willtell us what we need to know, and I'm sure in the end, you will talk.

He smiles slightly.

Your lieing. I don't like it when people lie to me.

I will slide my sword in a little into his side, drawing blood. Dealing 1 damage if possible. If not then i wont do it.

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

There's no way THIS one will be any more honest than the last. thinks Arturo to himself as he crosses his arms about his chest, waiting for this false charade of questioning and intimidation to stop.

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Sense Motive - (1d20+4)[10]

[Hyozo]

Gabe

Gabe isn't quite satisfied with Brunt's claim to not have a reason, but he takes a moment to think of the assorted problems with it before he responds.

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sense motive - (1d20+2)[11]

would the result of my first spot check (seeing them looking at Gabe in the bar BEFORE the money was passed) give a bonus to this check? Honestly, between that and the fact they were already set up for an ambush, this seems pretty hard to believe.

"I find that incredibly hard to believe. "Your boys" were set up perfectly for an ambush here. Even in Stormreach thugs rarely do that before deciding ona mark." Gabe states definitively, "Besides, I saw you in the bar. You were sizing us up before the money came out. I'd tell you to tell us what really happenned, but honestly, I think I would have a harder time believing the truth if I heard it from you."

[Darkantra]

Gritting his teeth against Mortimus' sword inching into his side, the thug glares levelly at Gabe.

"Maybe I were... an' maybe I weren't..." he let's out a short gasp as the greatsword breaks his skin, "Naw... If I'm gonna talk... I want some kinda..."

Unable to bear any more pain, Brunt passes out.

OOC: That 1 point of damage dropped him to 0.

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

"Oh hell! We're wasting our time! We need get on with the task at hand. This fool won't give us any helpful information. But if we must." snaps Arturo, walking up to the out cold thug, feeding him a potion off of his belt, and being ready to inquisition the thug.

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CLW - (1d8+2)[6]
Gather Information - (1d20+3)[13]

Through his frustration, Arturo does little to assist in the inquisition, however, he changes his demeanor to better accomodate the Thug.

"Look. We're not going to kill you. That'd be pointless and reckless, and I take much more joy in watching you suffer. So what we're going to do if you don't fill us in on everything is not only turn you over to the vultures, but we'll be sure they know all about those rubies you've swallowed to protect them from us. They'll tear you apart. So what's it going to be?" Arturo asks, leaning closer to the thug.

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[roll=Intimidate]1d20+3[/roll]
[roll=Gather Information]1d20+3[/roll]

[Hlaine Larkin]

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I can't edit in rolls.

Intimidate - (1d20+3)[21]
Gather Information - (1d20+3)[5]

[Deathslayer7]

Mortimus

He will lift his sword for now, but still keep it pointed at the man.

ooc:

Spoiler

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+2 to aide another if you can aide in intimidation.

[Darkantra]

Brunt is resuscitated once again by healing energies and though he looks like he's about to start mouthing off again, Arturo's threat to leave him for the scavengers brings him into focus.

Two kobolds are watching your group from a short distance, making motions towards Brunt with their clawed hands that are anything if not disturbing. They seem to be waiting for you to leave.

"All right, but I want my shield back for talkin', 's the only thing I got that's worth anythin' to me. See, about two hours ago this berk walks into the Manky Goblin and says he's got a deal for me, says that in a couple of hours some idiot'll come into the bar with a few friends and that he wants me to the half-elf," he nods to Aelton, "and the rest of you if we can manage it. He gave me a fat purse and said that I should send him a Sivis message tomorrow tellin' him that we should meet so he can give me the other half of the payment for the half-elf's ears."

He takes a moment to shift uncomfortably on the flagstones before continuing.

"He never showed his face or said his name, just gave me an address to send the Sivis messenger to. Look, you might not believe me but I got the note at my gang's safehouse. The rest of the payment should be there, and that key there," he nods towards the old key you found on him, "Will get the door open. It's just a block east of here."

He looks at you all plaintively, a strange look for his scar-crossed and bearded face.

"That enough to get ya to let me live?"

[Madmal]

Fierna

Fierna absent-mindedly hands back the shield, and returns to the point were she dropped her crossbow, picking it up, and cleaning it a little.

[Deathslayer7]

Mortimus

It is. But what is the address? he says to the thug.

He will lift the point of his sword from the mans chest, and but still not fully put away his sword.

[Darkantra]

"Address? Heh heh, what do you think this is, the high towers? It's just a space between two buildings that some guy made into a home a while back, and when the guy there died I moved in. I'll have to point you right to it."

He begins to stand up, an incredibly complicated maneuver what with most of him tied up, and his shield simply falls off of his lap and onto the street.

"Can one of you just put that on me belt, it's not like I can carry anything," He shrugs through his bonds.

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

"Sure." Arturo says, hanging the shield on the man's belt as he requested. Drawing his shortsword and pressing it with just enough pressure for Brunt to be aware of a blade's presence on his neck, Arturo frog-marches Brunt to where they're going to be.

"I'm seeing where this fool is talking about, coming?" he calls over his shoulder at the rest of the group.

[Deathslayer7]

Mortimus

Might as well. But put away your sword Arturo. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves. Just keep close to the man with me and we shall be fine.

He moves up beside the thug and says, Any tricks and you will not live to see the morning.

[Hlaine Larkin]

Arturo

Tossing the blade up, flipping it in the air, Arturo calmly and smoothly sheathes the blade, giving a slight frown. "Are you going to be that guy, Morty?" he asks Mortimus over his shoulder, more for jest than concern in not being able to publicly use his blade.

Getting Brunt's attention by kicking him not too hard on the heels, Arturo questions, "How far?"

[Deathslayer7]

Mortimus

Do not insult my pride Arturo. I fought just as well in this battle as you.

He frowns slightly at Arturo calling him Morty but decides to let it go. He motions the thug forward, and follows closely on his heels.