CH. 15 - Before the Dawn

[Chris1234]

Shima remains nursing, watching and listening.

[TristenC]

Gobax finishes his drink and heads up, knocking. He delivers the password

[JadedDM]

Kendra and Tulbas (High Hand Inn, Kitchen)
"I will," Nora volunteers. She heads back into the common room.

The old woman's eyes dart around to the half-ogre, dwarf, two dark mages, and the three women. "I don't know what you mean. There are no rebels. That's just a myth."

Gobax (Masked Dragon Inn)
Gobax heads upstairs, not looking or caring if he's being followed. He knows on the door to room 6. A young human male opens the door, with blond hair and a square jaw. He doesn't look familiar at all to Gobax. Looking the goblin up and down, the man says nothing but waits expectantly. After Gobax gives the password, he glances down the hall to make sure nobody is there, then moves to let Gobax enter.

Aside from the man, there's a woman here, too. Gobax doesn't know her, either. She has short hair and is wearing a patch over one eye. "Have a seat," she says, gesturing to a chair. She is sitting on the bed. The man closes the door and stands guard by it. "A mutual friend, Arulia, says we can trust you and that you might be an asset. She says you are no friend to the Dragonarmy."

"It's alright," the man says. He pulls out a pendant from under his shirt, revealing an emblem that resembles a platinum dragon. "We cannot be overheard here." The dragon glows slightly with an unnatural light. "Not even by the Dragon Queen."

Shima Longfoot (High Hand Inn, Common Room)
There is nothing more for Shima to watch or listen to. The group and the innkeeper have gone into the back kitchen. He cannot see or hear them any longer.

After a moment, one of the people wearing black robes, the woman, comes back out. She seems to be silently standing guard at the kitchen door.

[Chris1234]

'Well, that was exciting,' thinks Shima, who continues to nurse his glasses until lunchtime or something else turns up first.

[Haahque]

Haahqae is a bit unimpressed by this display. Sure he wasn't expecting much; but the last non-quite-abandoned building in the harbor district he visited had a full fledged multi-room well populated rebellious cult in it with full precautions of anti-dragonarmy scrying installed. This place sort of looks... like a sorry excuse for a few weary folk to play cards and exchange gloomy greetings while failing to escape from the cold.

"Is this it? Or are we going to somewhere warmer to exchange stories soon? I'm not much one for working without a good idea of what I'm doing."

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra pulls out her more sinister looking sword, and looks it over almost lovingly. "God's were nothing more than a myth until just recently," she points out. "Would you like to try again?" she asks.

[BishGada]

Tulbas steps near Kendra, removes the hood and show himself. "You know me already. You know I'm friend of some of your residents." he tells the old plainswoman. "There is no need for threats or pretends. The attacks on the army and on Kendra herself proves there are some rebels in the city, and the prefect suspects they have connection to this inn. If you help us either find them or makes it easy to us to prove you have no connection to it, you will save a lot of lives and sorrow." Tulbas tries to put some sense to it.

[TristenC]

Arulia... she... told you about me? Oh, that i can be trusted, yes... He looks the man over, and the woman... a warrior perhaps? Looking back to the young man he nods, Paladine? He asks, nor really expecting or needing an answer. The platinum dragon could be no other. He thought about the situation, and his own current circumstances. He hadn't seen her in some time, How is she? I haven't heard from her in... well over a month now...

After theh answer, or decline to, he presses on. Since this is about resisting the Dragon Queen, I;m in. Whatever it is, i want in. I presume you brought me here for that, and that there is some kind of plan. His hand tightens into a fist, dirty nails digging into the flesh of his hand. In a deadly-cold voice he mutters, She has taken away someone very important to me, but even before that I knew her rot needed to be burned out of this city... this land...

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Abandoned Building?)
One of the humans chuckles. "Not much for patience, are you?" she asks. "I've seen more folk killed from impatience than anything else, you know."

There's a sudden thump beneath the rug. "Ah, well, there you go," she adds. She and one of her companions lifts up the rug to reveal a trap door. They unlock and pull it open, and a figure emerges. Haahqae recognizes her right away, although he has not seen the hobgoblin in months now. "Ah, hello, Haahqae," Coroccoco says. "It is good to see you again."

Kendra and Tulbas (High Hand Inn, Kitchen)
The old woman looks down at the sword, then back up to Kendra. "I don't know anything." She looks to Tulbas. "Your army burned down my village and slaughtered my people. If you are going to kill me, then do it. But don't tell me you are looking to save lives. Killing is all you people do. I may be a 'savage' but I know full well what those black robes mean."

"Whoa, whoa," Raena says, stepping forward. "Nobody said anything about killing. There are lots of ways to inflict massive amount of pain without death. I happen to know at least a couple of dozen."

Gobax (Masked Dragon Inn)
The woman may be a warrior, although she is not wearing armor or carrying a weapon that Gobax can see. Certainly she's not as muscular as the red haired woman who told him to come up here.

The man seems surprised when Gobax recognizes Paladine's name. "You...know of him? That's...unexpected. Especially for a goblin." He adds, "Yes, Arulia is...safe. She and what is left of her family had to go into hiding."

The woman nods at what Gobax says. "We've all lost someone important to us by this point. Are you sure you understand the risks, though? If we fail...well, I'm sure you can imagine what the army and the church will do to us if we're caught."

[Chris1234]

Putting the nursed drinks down, Shima wanders over to the bar, listening to the previous group (baaz), and asks the barkeep, "Would you mind telling me, roughly how long until lunchtime?"

[Haahque]

“Co… You’re alive? Where have you been? Wait… weren’t you the one who lied to me and told me all my questions would be answered months ago? Still waiting on the answers. Is whatzhisname… Kynaston still alive? What’s he up to? And what about that weird guy that you were hanging out with? Ya know, that old hobgoblin guy who couldn’t say a sentence without some sort of vague foreshadowing? He said we’d be seeing more draconians. Well that turned out to be a lot of fun.”

[BishGada]

Tulbas frowns at the woman reaction, "I understand you suffered. Many of us did. It is pity your stubbornness will make lot of patrons in this inn to suffer too. Unless you can give us a different lead. Will you consider cooperating?"

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra lets out a sigh as this was not going as she was hoping it would go. She was hoping the woman would be so scared with the idea of torture that she would just give up the information, but apparently that wasn't going to work. She didn't want to get her hands even more dirty than they were either. "The people of Haven have suffered enough," she finally said. "Rebels means more suffering on both sides, and I would much rather have a peaceful Haven than a suffering Haven," she explains. "So, I'm still being nice at this point. This is your last chance," she says. "Otherwise, Rena is going to practice some of her pain infliction techniques." All the while, she is mentally begging this woman to just give up the information.

[TristenC]

Recognize him? Yes... yes I recognize Paladine.... I suppose it is odd for my kind, but frankly; I'm quite odd for my kind. He says wryly. But i'm glad to hear Arulia is safe... she was one of the few i could trust. He hesitates as an urge interrupts his thoughts. The fact he was here, that Arulia had 'shared' her situation... and this new man... he was more calculating than most of his kind, than most of his faith, and certainly more than his mentor... but...

Oh I know what's at stake... everything. He says quietly, fishing out his own holy symbol; knowing it might not be as comforting to them as theirs had been to him. The Dwarf that was executed was my teacher.... my mentor... my friend. A stinging sensation wells up, but his body had poured out so much raw emotion he felt numb despite the reaction. I'm... a little more careful with collateral damage than he was, but... She must be stopped. And I'll gladly turn myself to ash if it means i can burn it all down around her twisted heads in the process. he says grimly.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Abandoned Building?)
Coroccoco says, "I have been traveling the rivers of time, and learning much from my god, Zivilyn. But I have returned to what you consider the present, to aid the people of Haven in their time of need. The world is going through a difficult change, and nothing will be the same when it is over. It is exciting to be part of history, no?" She adds, "I never told you that all of your questions would be answered. That was the old man, who I now understand to be the World Tree himself. And he never specified when your questions would be answered, only that some day they would be. You'll have to forgive him for not being precise. Zivilyn views time much differently than mortals do. I have learned much since that day."

Shrugging, she says, "I know not the fate of Kynaston. He returned to the city with the rest of you, last I saw him. You would know better than I what became of him after that. In any case, I have been asked to show you around, now that you have joined us." She gestures to the trap door. A ladder descends down into what smells like the sewers beneath the city.

Kendra and Tulbas (High Hand Inn, Kitchen)
"You will kill me no matter what I do." The old woman looks between Kendra and Tulbas. "Both of you are traitors, but I am not. I would not tell you anything even if I knew. Do your worst. I do not fear death."

Gobax (Masked Dragon Inn)
Both the man and woman seem surprised by this revelation and share a look. "Your mentor was the mad cleric of Sirrion?" the man asks.

"The one who set loose a fire elemental in the marketplace?" adds the woman, sounding both impressed and perhaps a bit worried.

Shima Longfoot (High Hand Inn, Common Room)
The barkeep is currently in the kitchen, being interrogated by the group that entered earlier. So instead, Shima asks his question of one of the servers. "Lunch is in about an hour," she says.

Shima tries to eavesdrop on the baaz again, but one of them notices him and barks at him to get lost.

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Shima makes a Detect Noise check [DN 45%] (1d100): 83, fail.