CH. 10: Hard Choices

[Haahque]

"Pretty horrible." Haahqae answers matter-of-factually. He's never understood this not answering that question correctly thing that people seemed to do sometimes. Why say everything's good when it's not? They asked you how things were going so they want to know how things are going...

"I haven't found any evil clerics, I haven't found any sign of the thieves that stole from us, I tried performing at the steel tankard every day, but on my most profitable day I earned 3 coppers. Ismene is mad at me, I don't have any leads on where Belzor might be. I did manage to read a couple good books. What have you been up to?"

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so Haahqae takes that step, and another, and another on his journey to the old fort.

[Chris1234]

"I can, and I don't. What's up?" Shima replies.

[TristenC]

Grubnick shrugs, Wishful thinking, I guess... most Goblins are evil, but you found a decent one. he gives his mentor a lopsided grin. So far there are maybe 3 dragons in the city, but if we cause the different factions to hinder each other we won't be contending with dragons anyway... There is this one old abandoned building with a hidden complex under the basement that is slotted to become an old brothel. If we can destroy it, it would take time and money for them to find a new place. In addition,the troops might be more high-strung without it as an 'outlet' for their aggression... What do you think?

After a pause, he muses; I wonder if we could just destroy the upper portion and still use the underground area as a base of operations...

[JadedDM]

Haahqae and Tulbas (Old Keep)
Haahqae and Tulbas arrive at the old keep, a large fortress that stands on a hill in the middle of the city, at around Fourth Watch. It used to be where the Holy Guard were stationed. Now it belongs to the dragonarmy. It's an impressive structure and quite old, but still very sturdy. Both have seen red dragons land on the roof and it even holds their weight. It's completely different from any other architecture in Haven.

The fortress is protected by a stone wall with only a single entrance--on the north side. The entrance is a well guarded gate that leads into the courtyard. The gate is guarded by a dozen baaz soldiers.

Kendra Greylock (2527 Market Street, Greylock's Gorgeous Gems)
Kendra hurries home as quickly as she can, arriving at around Fourth Watch. Norris is surprised to see her back so soon. "Did you forget something?" he asks. "I wasn't expecting you back until tonight."

Gregeddin (Prefect's Mansion)
Tethys stands at his full height, which is a couple of inches taller than Gregeddin. The bard hears a 'clicking' sound come from the draconian and realizes it's the sound of his scales clicking together. "Quite brave, aren't you?" he asks. "Or perhaps very foolish." He holds up the note. "According to this, the Trade Guild chose you for their representative. This means anything you say or do is representative of the guild. Hence the term 'representative.' So either they are traitors or fools, but either way, I cannot allow this to go unpunished. I will learn, in due time, through pain and magic if necessary, what you know and what the people on this list know." He gestures. "Take him away."

The baaz begin dragging Gregeddin, forcefully if necessary, out of the room.

Arulia Seroth (Thoron's Blacksmithy)
"A kender? Whew, Paladine help us, indeed!" the young man jokes. "Well then, I suppose the first step would be to scope the place out. Once we know the lay of the land, so to speak, we'll have a better idea of what kind of damage we can do and where we can hit them hardest and most efficiently."

Grubnick (High Hand Inn, Room 16)
Delharn nods. "I saw for myself what one of those dragons can do on my way here. Their breath is nearly as hot as Sirrion's flame! I certainly wouldn't want to tangle with one, much less three. So yeah, let's focus on the smaller beasties."

He adds, "But yeah, I'm all for destroying some buildings, or even just one. Whether we can protect the basement depends on how it's set up, though. The real danger isn't it catching fire so much as the top part collapsing on top of it, crushing the whole thing."

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (High Hand Inn, Common Room)
While the three of them talk, Green Tears continues to bring the baaz more ale.

[TristenC]

We can take a look now, if you like. I was going to try to track someone down, but they're probably about other business by now. Grubnick will relate the details of the forays into Belzor's hideout as they go (quietly when necessary); and the little he learned of Belzor and followers. He will also briefly mention the rest of the party involved.

[mgbevan]

"So desperate to tell the city how vulnerable you are, interesting..." Gregeddin muses aloud to Tethys as he is pulled backwards by the soldiers, dragging his heels so he can keep eye contact for just that second longer. Eventually he carries his own weight and complies with the Baaz.

"Don't wan't to keep me around to find out right now?" The bard calls back playfully as he walks off in the arms of the Baaz soldiers, "When you get bored of the same story a dozen times come down and see me for a chat, you can tell me all about Pax Tharkasssss...." That place name dragging out the 's' in a reptilian manner to mock the draconian and his scales.

[chese780]

Felran turns to Green Tears, "So... mind if I ask you a few questions?" he says, looking around and making sure that -no one- is listening in, except Ne-Chanz. "Mainly about this whole 'seasonal' change."

[HorizonsDream]

"No I was given the day off," Kendra says. "So, uh, I came here to change my clothing. I wanted to go visit Arulia."

[spyguy1503]

"Someone requested a meeting with me, and I want backup in case things go wrong." He grabs Felran after he finished talking to the bartender. They head just outside the Grinning Goat. He sends Felran in, then Shima five minutes later, than enters five minutes after that. They all sit separately.

[chese780]

Felran looks at him before he gets pushed there, "Fine, but you better be willing to listen to something after."

Felran sits down in there, looking around at the patrons of said inn. He would look for the bar tender specifically.

[Haahque]

Trying to assess who's in charage, Haahqae walks up to the baaz soldiers and introduces himself. "Hello, I'm Haahqae the awesome, travelling juggler and all around good guy. I was thinking there would be some soldiers here in need of some cheering up that I could provide my means of a performance. Would you be able to point me in the direction of some such soldiers?"

[djhyland]

Arulia shakes her head. "He's a good man," she says defensively. "Most kender I've met are. They can be frustrating and infuriating, but so can children, and I've put up with worse from my younger sisters than I have from any of them."

Arulia gives the man's shield a few more strikes with her hammer and holds it up to inspect her work. "I think that I've done as much as I can for your shield. If you want, I can get my sister to repaint it for you...Niniva is good at that sort of thing. Otherwise, once my father gets back, we may as well start looking at how to stop the brothel. I can show you where the building is, or we can go and look for Pen." After a moment of silence, she adds, "If we're to work together, what should I call you? You seem to know me, but I don't know your name yet."

(OOC: If you wish to roll for Arulia's success in repairing the man's shield, JadedDM, her blacksmithing score is 14. Hopefully, she won't make too much of a fool of herself.)

[JadedDM]

Haahqae and Tulbas (Old Keep)
"Juggling?" asks one of the baaz, a bit confused. "Ain't that just throwing stuff in the air and then catching it?" He glances at Tulbas. "Who's this, your lovely assistant then?"

Kendra Greylock (2527 Market Street, Greylock's Gorgeous Gems)
"Oh, I see," Norris replies. "Well, that's good then. You've worked over seven days in a row now, you could use a day off. Please tell Miss Arulia I send my regards."

Gregeddin (Prefect's Mansion)
The Baaz escort Gregeddin back into the entry hall. From there, they take him north, into the kitchen of all places. Servants scurry out of the way, avoiding meeting his or the draconians' gazes. There is a descending staircase back here, and they take Gregeddin down it. This brings them to some kind of storage room for foodstuffs. The guards then escort him west, into a much larger storage room. Then south and east, into some kind of prison area. There are three cells and what looks like a torture room, based on the torture rack within.

None of the cells are currently occupied. They choose the middle one and after relieving the bard of his backpack, sacks and pouches, shove him inside. Then they slam the cell door and lock it.

The cell is dirty and unkempt. It's about 10 feet wide and 15 feet long. In the northwest corner there are manacles attached to the wall, presumably to chain up the more dangerous prisoners. There's nothing else inside, not even a chamber pot to piss in or a stone bench to lie on. The two baaz then depart, with his things, slamming the door behind them. They don't bother lighting any candles or torches, so Gregeddin is left in the absolute darkness. He hears the scratching of a rat in another cell.

Grubnick (Deserted Building)
When Grubnick and Delharn get downstairs, they see that Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima have left. They head outside themselves, with the goblin leading the way to the deserted building near the brothel where Belzor and his cultists hid.

"Huh. Belzor, eh?" asks Delharn after hearing the story. "Boy, humans will believe some stupid things, won't they?"

They arrive at the building, which looks much like how Grubnick remembers it. It looks deserted, with peeling paint and small holes in the ceiling. The door still hangs open from last time the party was here, and looking inside, they can see the bookcase still stands aside, revealing the staircase leading into the basement.

Arulia Seroth (Thoron's Blacksmithy)
"What?" asks the young man as he is handed the shield. "Oh, sorry. I guess I forgot my manners. My name is William." He moves his shield to his other hand, then offers his right hand to her to shake. "And thanks, the shield looks great. Like I said, it doesn't have to be pretty. It just needs to turn away a blade."

William.jpg (209.86 KiB) Viewed 6145 times

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

Just then, the door opens and Thoron steps back in. "Well, that was refreshing," he says, looking a bit cleaner. "I trust everything here is going, uh, smoothly?" he asks, looking between the two young people.

(Arulia makes a blacksmith check [TN 14] (1d20): 5, pass.)

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Grinning Goat Tavern)
Felran is the first to enter the tavern. Looking around, he sees there is a goblin soldier at a table, passed out drunk. A blonde woman in leathers sits at the bar; he recognizes her as the one who seemed to be listening in on their conversation a week ago with the bartender. The bartender himself, the man with the eye patch, tends to the bar, serving the woman drinks.

Shima enters next, five minutes later. The place looks exactly as it did when he left a few hours ago. The bartender, the man with the eye patch, is still tending bar. At the bar sits 'Jane,' the woman he spoke to earlier. And the same goblin soldier is passed out at a table in the corner.

Ne-Chanz enters last, five minutes after that. Looking around, he sees there is a goblin soldier at a table, passed out drunk. A blonde woman in leathers sits at the bar. The bartender himself, the man with the eye patch, tends to the bar, serving the woman drinks.

[BishGada]

"Pretty horrible." Haahqae answers matter-of-factually. He's never understood this not answering that question correctly thing that people seemed to do sometimes. Why say everything's good when it's not? They asked you how things were going so they want to know how things are going...

"I haven't found any evil clerics, I haven't found any sign of the thieves that stole from us, I tried performing at the steel tankard every day, but on my most profitable day I earned 3 coppers. Ismene is mad at me, I don't have any leads on where Belzor might be. I did manage to read a couple good books. What have you been up to?"

Tulbas listens carefully to Haaques answers and reply in the same seriousness. "Hmm... and I thought I had a bad week. So let's prioritize things... First, why Ismene is angry at you? I had a feeling you are liking each other. I think if you fix THIS, your week will improve considerably." He says a little bit concerned. After they walk for minutes he asks, "Why are we going to the fortress?"

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(OOC: Sorry to be a little bit back in the time line. Will catch up in the next post after Haaques answers)

[Chris1234]

Shima looks at Felran and gestures 'after you', on the basis that Felran might actually know why they're here and might also have some coin to buy stuff.