Adventures in the Forgotten Realms [IC]

[Xanyo]

"The Ratking exists in the collective consciousness of the wererats, yes?" Yzara relaxes her stance, watching as the remaining rats scatter. "To do so, their psyches must necessarily be constantly interconnected through the Weave. I have merely obfuscated that connection. Without the ability to communicate across the Weave, or at all, I suspect the Ratking cannot access its power."

She walks down towards the group, surveying the rout.

"With only a handful of them left now, I suspect there isn't much power left to access. Good work, Kelveroth. Even so, the effect will not last long, so if you care to press the advantage now is the time to do it."

[Chromascope3D]

"Indeed," Arae loosens the grip on her sword, silently thankful she had not had to use it herself. She nods to Yzara, and smiles, "It does this heart good to see followers of the Lady are as shrewd in this Era as in were ages past."

She grimaces at the agony of the remaining rats, and asks, "This 'Rat King' condition, will their own minds recover in time? As they are beaten, I would as like allow them to choose to submit to justice if they are able."

Spoiler: OOC

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No specific action yet, once everyone gathers together she'll start channeling to get everyone back up to full HP.

[Athaleon]

Kelveroth considered loosing a third blast of lightning at the scattered and fleeing wererats. Electricity still flared about his gauntleted hand.

"If they've hope for redemption, let them flee. If not, then mercy now could cost someone else their life."

Spoiler

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Not sure what the Knowledge check would be. Kel's knowledge is pretty specialized anyways. Could be Arcana if the name implies a Lycanthropic curse: (1d20+17)[23]

If Kel doesn't know, and no one else can tell him, he'll refrain from pursuing them.

[Chambers]

The Prince lets his guard down as he watches the rats yell and writhe in pain and confusion. "Submit? Not likely." He says, frowning at the prospect of murdering their temporarily helpless foes. "I suppose we could tie them up and - " His words and solution is cut short as the twins jump up from their cover and each throw a bomb that lands right in the middle of the deck. The explosion blasts a hole in the deck and distributes the now dead wererats remains over those nearby and the water below.

Prince Jonlen glances at Orlando quickly to check the paladin's reaction and then glares at the murderous twins who ignore him and begin checking the pockets of the dead. When the ringing of the explosion fades the absence of screaming rats is a welcome silence. "That settles that problem I suppose. You've a deadly blade." He says to Kelveroth across the bow of the ship. "And a strong shieldarm." He says this to Ordyn, holding up his blade in salute.

"Ho, the ship!" Kip calls out as he stabs one nearly dead rat and wipes his knive clean. "Only rats 'round this side are the unliving ones." He says and climbs up the outside of the ship to stand on the top deck. "What a mess!" He says, seeing the carnage on the deck for the first time. He takes a hard swallow and steadies himself. "More chum for the sea queen." He says in a much quieter voice.

"Seems like she's still seaworthy. Kip, think we can reach Secomber by next nightfall?" Prince Jonlen says to Kip who turns back to the east to watch the course of the river. Jonlen turns to those on the deck. "Never did catch where you're headed to. What brings you out this far out of Daggerford? Must be a solid days march ahead of you til you hit the city."

Spoiler

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Combat is officially over, all enemies dead or routed.

Spoiler: Sense Motive 20

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Something about the distances and directions that Jonlen is mentioned seem off. Either he's confused about where he is or you did not teleport to your intended location outside of Loudwater.

[Xanyo]

Yzara watches the annihilation of the survivors with only idle curiosity. She is never eager to spill blood, but nor does the sight bother her. Life and death simply are. The wererats are dead now - no more, no less - and a Prince impressed. That's what matters.

"Our course is set for Greypeak Mountains, and through the Zhentarim forces plaguing the pass. You wouldn't happen to know anything of what we might expect to find in our way, would you?"

Information is everything in warfare. What you know, who you share it with. The Prince and his party, with their stated motivations, will probably keep this particular information safe long enough for us to act. If, in turn, he can share anything about the resistance we'll be facing, all the better.

With the immediate emergency out of the way, Yzara is already planning for how to deal with the Zhentarim. She'd scout ahead under the cloak of her ring, being wary of mages that could spot her. Tamsin would scout by air. Once they knew what to expect, a plan could be formulated to eliminate opposition. The language barrier trick she had just pulled could come in handy for splitting up enemy forces that Ordyn cuts off. Take them one group at a time; pen them in, blast them up, find the next target. Possibly attack under the cloak of darkness, but too many enemy mages makes for an unreliability in mundane tactics. No chance of persuading the illusionist, Sage, to come along, is there? Unlikely, she has her own affairs to worry about.

[Athaleon]

After a moment, Kel lowered his weapons and left the wererats to their flight. He teleported down next to Prince Jonlen, just in time to get away from the bombs thrown onto the deck, and joined him in frowning at the twins.

"I need to speak with you about Sage," he whispered. "She is not what she seems. How long has she been part of your company?"

[Chromascope3D]

Arae's breath catches in her throat as she watches the remaining rats go up in flame. She stands watching the blaze for a moment, sighing, "Perhaps, it was for the best to put them out of their misery, then..."

She kneels by one of the many corpses, closing its eyelids and delivering a quick eulogy, though pauses for a moment, as she processes the Prince's word. Suddenly, she stands and turns back to the group, startled, "Daggerford? No, that can't be, Erendiel was to take us to Loudwater, his aim could not truly have been so far off course!"

[Chambers]

Prince Jonlen smiles at Kelveroth, taking a small delight in knowing something that the elf doesn't know. "As it turns out, it's her company. And her secrets are her own. We're the hired help. Except for her dad and bodyguard, I suppose." He says to Kel in a low voice, motioning his head towards Kip and then Yassarn.

The Prince doesn't bother to waste time checking the bodies for coins, instead simply grabbing up dead rats and throwing them overboard. He stops mid-hurl when he puts two and two together and you can see the dawning realization come over him. "Ohhhh, that's why you showed up in our camp. It was pure dumb luck. Wrong place at the wrong time."

Kip answers Yzara without turning around. "Between here and the Graypeaks are Secomber and Loudwater - which sounds is where you folk wanted to be. You could be in Secomber before next nightfall, and Loudwater the day after, if you had a swift boat and hands who know their way around one." He turns around and smiles. "Wouldn't you know it? I just happen to know some folks with a boat. Got a bit of battle damage, though." He says and tests the railing to see if it still holds. "I normally charge fair price for room and board, but seein as how you're out for some Zhent-slaying I think I can convince Sage for a friends of the road discount. Whatya think about that?" The last question seems not directed at you but towards the empty air.

"Waylaid by elven Art?" Sages voice comes from an empty space next to Kip. "How unusual." The air shimmers for a moment and the mage appears, cowl thrown back and showing her pale face and a shock of long, blonde hair. "Ferrying misplaced travellers is not normally the type of contracts the Blue Bells take on..." She says with the barest of smiles. "...but you have aided us and I would not be in your debt." As soon as she reappeared Yassarn climbed aboard the ship and took a place nearby her, watching you all as you watch Sage. "We can take you to Loudwater. Will that suffice?"

[Chromascope3D]

Arae beams, "You are too kind, to aid we strangers as such. I would hate to trouble you but I'm afraid we really have no other choice in the matter."

She turns to the others for affirmation.

[rypt]

Ordyn rubs his beard as he steps clear of the wererat remains. "As I recall, Lady Morgwaise did mention the disruption of teleportation magics in the area around Evereska. Perhaps the reach of that effect is larger than Erendriel expected. In any event, we'd welcome any help in hastening our arrival in Loudwater." He moves then to the far side railing and looks towards the end of the ship that struck the rock face. "You're certain she's still sea-worthy?"