Chapter 4 : El Scorcho

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: everyones exp is at the end of the last capter, i'll do the exp for varidiir and collin this time, unless i get a very quick response from a new player]

The Door closes behind the group leaving them in the Corridor of the academy.
Today is the 26th of Hammer. It is Midafternoon, around the academy there is a buzz of activity before the Midwinter Feasts and a number of rumours about the invasion of Dauthim that is said to be taking place somewhere in the next month or so.
The group has been granted until the 5th of Aluriak off-duty.

[ooc: so get anything bought you want, and update your sheets with your new exp. I think you all gained a level as most of you where fairly close last time]

[Gnarsh]

"See you guys later, I'm off to enjoy my vacation. If I'm needed, I'll either be in the academy, in a tavern, or in the market," Lynores says as he walks off from the group. He heads to town, and stops in the nearest tavern, where he gets an ale and plucks out a song or two on his lute.

[WhoNAN]

Tolven retrieves payment for the well accomplished mission so that he may set to stock up on some new equipment.

((BRR: Do we get paid in full?))

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: you havent recieved any money yet]

[BigRedRod]

Today is the 5th of Aluriak, the team has assembled before comander Sacorn once gain.

"You have impressed me a great deal. The Jack will be arriving shortly to meet with the Emperor and hopefully this will put out great Empire in a position where we can invade Dauthim wthout opposition and take out first step towards a unified Ku'Zul. Here..."
The chief throws a bag to each of the team members
"You have been paid in full"
Each of the bags contains 100 pieces of platinum

"Now, as you know these talks may take a rather long while, and until we know that we have the Jack on our side, or at least that he will not involve himself, we can take no direct military action against Dauthim."

"As you know, the other special forces team has been in Dauthim since their formation. They have worked steadily to undermine the defences of the desert Empire, this will be invaluable during the initial assault as it will allow them to significantly hamper their ability to fight back."
The Commander pauses and walks towards a large map on his wall
"Now with the invasion as close as it is, you are ordered to head into Dauthim into the trade town of Djen, head to the trader tavern known as the Giant's noose, ask the landlord "Where can I find passage to Oran?", speak in Llandish, he will respond, in Llandish, "You should try the main square tomorrow morning, for a small amount a caravan may be able to take you with them". This will let him know that you are and he will direct you to Field Commander Roscoe, who has been co-ordinating the other team. Follow his orders, he will sort our your pay depending on what he needs to have done."
The comander indicates the location of Djen on the map, it is around 85 miles south of Remanse on the edge of the border with Vodalia

"You are dismissed"

[ooc: i'll npc Collin for now. Don't expect him to do mch though unless you ask him.]

[BigRedRod]

From Vodan the fastest way to Djen is again using the Seran-Kheel ferry system and then onwards towards the Ruby Sands.
The journey will take you around 22 days at your normal marching speed

[WhoNAN]

OOC: BRR: I need to do some quick buying and selling... will work it out today....

Tolven stops back into the Mages lab before heading out to gather some information and to talk to Crusad.

"Hello there... hows the research going? I needed to also gather one of the items we have left with you."

Speaking with the young mage, he asks to gather the ring from the item stored.

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: feel free to buy/sell anything, just let me know what you have done. As unlike ezboard the sheets won't fly to the top of the board when you edit them]

[ooc: do you mean the swimming and free action ring?]

Crusad locates the ring from a locked cupboard and gives it the elf, he looks very tired and his red hair is messy, he doesnt look to have slept or bathed in several days.
"I thought it would be simple, but as the alloy protects from all elements simultaneously it is causing me problems, I think I can increase the protection from energy fairly easily, but the energy build up in the armour could kill the wearer as it stands. I would like to meet the mage who created this, still there is no way to track him down."
"Still I was hoping to have created a bar or two of improved alloy by the time you got back, I wanted to use it for Beld's..."
The mage shakes his head
"I'm sorry , I was rambling. Still it's good to see you again. Hopefully you can bring me back some interesting articles from your travels in the near future"
The mage gives a brief grin

[Cadrius]

Varidiir basks in the morning sunlight the flames from his head flickering upward intertwined and dancing with itself. He holds a small but brilliantly blue gem hin his hands and waits for the rest of the party to arrive.

[BigRedRod]

The group heads over familiar territory towards Seran, the days pass rather slowly but the group is making good time
In the late afternoon on the 15th on Aluriak (5 days travel from Seran) the group find themselves following a road between some rather low hills.
Something humanoid walks down towards the group from a hill in front of them, he stops around 30ft from the group and begins to speak in Vodalian
"You have two choices, you can either give us all of your money and other valuable possessions, or we can kill you and then take all of your money and valuables. The choice is yours"
The figure turns out to be a man, he has a short sword at his side and wears studded black leather armour. Another figure slowly reaches the side of him, he looks much like an orc but is shorter stockier and lookes like the taint of the abyss runs through its veins.
The group notices a number of other bandits surrounding them, most look human but it is difficult to tell

[ooc: Most of you are mounted, except for varidiir and Charir, Charir is in the cart]

Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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[Beidamon]

With a slight half smile on his face the dark figure sits up to his full hight in his saddle and flares out his wings in a dramatic fasion.

"I have a counter offer for you, you turn around now, and run like you have never ran before, and maybe well let you live"

With this the dark figure will slide out a wand long enough to summon up armor of force around himself before putting it away again.

(OOC: threaten the guys then use wand of mage armor)

[BigRedRod]

The man laughs
"You aren't the only one to have a little devilish blood running through their veins"
He pats the orc-creature on the back

"I'm suprised you didn't know, I'm told we are getting quite famous around here now. Maybe we aren't as infamous as we would like to be"
He chuckles once more

"Do you speak for your entire group or do they want to live?"

[Cadrius]

The azer remains silent but walks up to Unknown and stands beside him, his muscular arms crossed over his chest, his flames burning brighter.

Glaring with all his burning dwarf might Varidiir remains silent, waiting for violence to erupt.

[WhoNAN]

Tolven rolls his eyes underneath his cloak while muttering a few things underneath his breath.

((Cast Charm Person on the other one ))

"Simple banditry, seriously though you must be above that... a group of your alleged imfamy indeed should have graduated to kidnapping at the least.... Come now, by what name should I grow affraid of.... so much so that we will surrender to its greatness."

((Does Diplomacy work with Sarcasm???))

[Gnarsh]

"You think you're famous? If anything, we should be considered famous. Ah well, enough banter. If you're so infamous, the price on your heads should be fairly large indeed." With that, he pulls out a scroll from his backpack and begins trying to harness its magical power.

(pull out Scroll of Melf's Acid Arrow, Web, and some other spell, and attempt to cast web with a use magic device check, centered on the two apparent leaders.)

[BigRedRod]

"Simple banditry? I think not. I am Zardoz, or that is what I have people call me at any rate. And yes I do have a bit of a gold on my head"



The small yellwish ball flies from Lynores and lands between the man and the orc. The strands of sticky yellow webbing spread out, the leader manages to avoid becoming tangled, the orc is not so lucky and is covered in the webbing.

"How very impolite, you had your chance. KILL THEM ALL!"

Initiative

Leader (LB) armed with a short sword / studded leather
Lynores
Unknown
Orc thing (OB) armed with a battle axe /none (webbed)
Tolven
Collin
Varidiir
Half orc (HOB) armed with a Falchion / hide
Hob-goblin (HGB) armed with a longbow / leather
Human 1 (HB1) armed with a light crossbow /leather
Charir
Human 2 (HB2) armed with a heavy crossbow /leather

[ooc: hoho webs are big]
[ooc: post actions as soon as you can, i'll prolly do a round or two tomorrow afternoon]

Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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@5w 4o 7g 48 *s -3 cx 53 rs 0 WEB
*END -ezus78

[Gnarsh]

Lynores draws his rapier, dismounts, and readies an action to attack the next enemy that comes into melee range.

[Beidamon]

The dark figure suddenly turns halfway around and muttering a few arcane words sends two balls of energy hurling at the Hob-Goblin behind him

OOC: (Yay level 3, better magic missile!)

[Cadrius]

Varidiir rushes forward to the nearby hobgoblin and launches into a fury of punches and kicks, attempting to bring the fiend down.

((OOC: move, attack))

[WhoNAN]

Tolven with the quickness of a fox has his bow in hand and an aroow flying straight at the leaders vital organs.

"Don't listen to reason then."

((Quick Draw Shortbow + MW Arrow fire at leader.))

[BigRedRod]

From the dense thicket of webs you can hear an angry shouting, but you can't quite make out the words. Through the tiny gaps in the webs you can make out the lead bandit attempting to help out the orc with a small dagger

Lynores draws his rapier and awaits an attack from any of the nearby bandits

The unknown one turns slightly on his mount and with a few short words and a quick rune drawn in the air two small bolts of force fly towards the hobgoblin. Both impact on it's torso and cause the humanoid to grimace

In the large web the orc can seen hacking through the webbing that has caught him with his battleaxe. With the help of the leader he frees himself, but both are still stuck in the centre of a large sticky mess

The drow notches an arrows and fires it towards the bandit leader, it is quickly stopped however by the thick webbing

Collin takes a step fowards , deep in prayer, laying his hands on the shoulders of the azer he feels no heat but the azer is granted increased strength from Tempus

Varidiir charges towards the hobgoblin and attempts to strike him, however running up the side of the hill slightly off balances the flaming monk and the impact and heat of his blow is absorbed by the armour of the hobgoblin

The half orc shouts a crude insult in orchish and charges down towards the drow, he brings his falchion down with immense power on the rogue who takes considerable damage

The hobgoblin attempts to back away from the enslaught and makes it to the very top of the northern most hill

The first human aims his crossbow and fires at Varidiir, the bolt strikes the monk in the back and the human sets about loading another bolt

The half-dragon emerges from his cart and whips his chain towards the large half-orc, it tears a fairly large section of its shoulder and leaves a gap in the rough hide-armour

The human bearing the heavy crossbow takes a brief few steps fowards and fires at the azer, the bolt narrowly misses him and lands in the grass by the monk.


updated map :

Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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@WEB
*END 32waqs

[ooc: as you all seem to be posting pretty often i wont rush this combat. Has anyone heard from Xere? he hasnt posted in a good while]

[Gnarsh]

Lynores cancels the readied action, and moves to flank the half-orc with tolven, tumbling if he has to to avoid an attack of oppurtunity, and sneak attacks(+2d6 damage).

[WhoNAN]

Tolven discards his bow to appear with two daggers in hand ready to take his good old time hacking into the bandit nearest him.

((Drop Bow, Quick Draw Daggers, Full Attack on flanked baddy))

[Cadrius]

Varidiir grunts in surprise as the crossbow bolt strikes him from behind. He turns his head and scowls at the offending human before launching into more kicks, punches, knees, and headbuts.

((OOC: Full attack on the one in front of me. Eat burning dwarven wrath!))

[BigRedRod]

Although you can see little through the jungle of webbing, you can see the bandit leader carefully move through the strnads of webbing taking care not to touch any of them

Lynores nimbly weaves around the half orc and it's massive blade. His rapier pierces deeply into the raider and he let's pout a howl of agony

The unknown one continues to weave his arms in mystic runes and unleashes another pair of force bolts, both sail towards the hobgoblin and they impact again causing a fair measure of lasting damage against the creature

With a roar the webs begins to voilently shake and move as the strange orc forces it's way through the webbing

The bow Tolven held falls downwards and before it touches the ground daggers appear in his hands and he proceeds to attack the half-orc. The knives cut deeply and the half-orc falls sideways into the webbing. His body suspended in the thick sticky strands

Collin shouts to the heavens for the support of his master and Tolven is bathed in a golden light that heals the servere damage he had taken

[ooc: cad, there is none near enough for you to full-attack, your the V on the map. So i'll presume you wanted to chase the hobgoblin]
Varidiir ignores the bolts that are being fired at him and proceeds towards the fleeing hobgoblin, he manages to strike the creature in the chest with a running headbut but the damage to the bandit seems minor

The hobgoblin realises he cannot flee and draws a short sword, droppping his bow to the gorund. In a smooth movement he brings the sword upwards but the azer manages to dodge the blow

The man armed with the light crossbow takes aim once more and manages to strike the flaming monk once again.

Charir charges off the path towards the man armed with the heavy crossbow, he swings his spiked chain but becomes entangled and falls to the ground
[ooc: ha, its about time you people had a critical miss]

The man who had just been charged by the half-dragon, re-examines the combat around him

New initiative order

Leader (LB) armed with a short sword / studded leather
Lynores
Human 2 (HB2) armed with a heavy crossbow /leather
Unknown
Orc thing (OB) armed with a battle axe /none
Tolven
Collin
Varidiir
Half orc (HOB) armed with a Falchion / hide
Hob-goblin (HGB) armed with a longbow / leather
Human 1 (HB1) armed with a light crossbow /leather
Charir


Updated map

Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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@3w 5g 3g
*END fz9h46

[Gnarsh]

Lynores readies an action to attack anyone who comes into melee range with him.

[Beidamon]

Finished calling upon his arcane powers and hoping to finish this fight quicker this way, the dark figure moves his horse closer to the leader of the bandits and will strike out with his whip. If the bandit closes in on the Unknown one then he will begin to fight with his horse as well, having his horse strike out with its powerful hooves

[BigRedRod]

The bandit leader emerges from the webbing and walks up to Lynores, as he half turns to look at the bandit his short sword moves from his belt into the tiefling's chest in a smooth flick of the wrist. Although it causes a large amount of pain the wound hardly bleeds. Lynores falls onto the ground and the world around him becomes a warm darkness
[ooc: subdued, don't worry you aren't dying. Still gotta love those sneak attack criticals]

The man armed with the heavy crossbow loads a bolt into his crossbow and steps backwards

The Unknown one rides towards the body of his fallen comrade and lashes at the bandit leader. The bandit easily avoids the blow

The orc creature emerges from the webbing and looks for a worthy opponent

Tolven dashes into the webbing and strikes at the bandit leader from the cover it provides, one of his attacks catches the bandit leader on the back of an arm. The webbing in this area is now splattered with a large amount of blood

Collin sees that his allies are having problems striking the bandit leader and asks his god to aid them. A golden wave of energy rolls outwards from Collin and covers Charir, Tolven, Lynores and the Unknown one
[ooc: casts bless]

Varidiir performs a rather complex attack that results in his elbow sharply connecting with the neck of the Hobgoblin. There is a dinstinct crack and the hobgoblin falls lifelessly to the ground

The human with the light crossbow fires again at Varidiir, the bolt strikes him in the back the leg but the damage is not too severe. The man laughs and reloads

Charir runs down the hill and swings out his chain. It leaves a deep red line down the arm of the bandit.


Updated map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
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@9y6tc 1o o 10 1c
*END 2bi0rx

[Cadrius]

Scowling as the second bolt pierces his leg Varidiir bellows and runs at the offending bandit attempting to deliver a sharp blow to his knee with a well placed dwarven boot.

"Why won't you stop shooting me?!" he says as he propels himself into his attack.

[BigRedRod]

The Bandit leader turns around and thrusts his short sword into the webbing. Tolven narrowly avoids the strike

The man armed with the heavy crossbow fires a bolt at the half-dragon, it strikes him in the chest causing heavy damage. The man drops his crossbow and moves as far from the dwarf as he can.

Unknown lashes again at the bandit leader with his powerful whipe dagger, it just catches his left shoulder but it still terars into his armour and laves a deep cut

The orc begins to move quite quickly and reaches the edge of the cart

Tolven swipes at the leader from his cover with both of his daggers, the first hits and stabds quite deeply into the bandit's upper leg and the second misses completely, the webbing hindering the attempt to attack.

Collin says another prayer to the War God. A violent wave of red light is produced from Collin's holy symbol.
[ooc: cast prayer]

Varidiir charges down towards the other crossbow bearing human and strikes at him with a complex series of blows, however the bandit manages to avoid a vast majority of the attacks, the few that do connect are absorbed by his armour

The charged bandit drops his crossbow and pulls out a belt knife, despite his valient attempts to injure the azer he fails

Seeing the human flee Charir turns his attentions to the hulking orc beast. However it's thick hide deflects any damage that otherwise might have been caused by his spiked chain

Updated Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
*BEGIN 0 0 rs 0
*s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 8b 36 rs 0 V *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 8o 3s rs 0 HB1 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0
@ *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s
@-1 y 3o rs 0 9zabk z 3o -11 3o *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs
@0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -1 7g 3o rs 0 9zabk -5g 3o -44 2c 38 2c
@3w 1o 58 1o 7g 1o *s -1 5n 4z rs 0 9zabk -5o 50 -3o 50 -2c 3w 50
@3w 5o 30 *s -1 7d 40 rs 0 9zabk 41 41 7d 41 *s -1 77 40 t4 -f
@9zabk 70 40 78 40 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 be 8h rs 0 T *s -3 a8
@8g rs 0 L *s -3 9h 6g rs 0 CB *s -3 9m 8h rs 0 U *s -3 6p 7s rs
@0 CT *s -1 4g 40 rs 0 0 2w 2p 2w 41 48 41 4g 3d 48 2p 48 2p *s
@-1 4c 3c rs 0 0 30 3c 4c 3c *s 7 9b 7b rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s
@-3 as 8f rs 0 BL *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 6u 6h rs 0 OB *s -3 ab
@7r rs 0 HOB *s -3 n 5s rs 0 HB2 *s -3 2o 2h rs 0 HGB *s -1 6o 4o
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@o 7g 14 *s -1 7g 4o rs 0 1edc 5w 4o 7g 48 *s -3 cx 53 rs 0 WEB *s
@-1 5g 3w rs 0 9y6tc 50 3o 5g 3w *s -1 5g 3w rs 0 9y6tc 50 3w 5g
@3g *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50 40 58 48 *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50 48 58
@40 *s -1 1o 1c rs 0 9y6tc 10 o 1o 1c *s -1 1o 1c rs 0 9y6tc 1o o
@10 1c
*END dvxdzk

[Cadrius]

Varidiir pauses in the middle of the melee with the brigand and points to the crossbow bolt sticking out of his calf, "do you see that?" he asks, "Time for a little payback!"

With that he redoubles his assault attempting to pummel the knife wielding man.

((OOC: full attack))

[WhoNAN]

Tolven edges back through the web... coxing the Bandit leader to come back in.... chucking both daggers at the man.

((Ok Tolven is trying to lure the bandit back into the edge of the webs ('5 back)... just enough for him to get entangled but not far enough to eliminate Unknown's ability to flank (He does have a reac weapon)

[BigRedRod]

The bandit leader watches the webbing carefully and suddenly pushes his short sword into them, he just catches the drow on the arm but tiredness begins to flood through him.

The human, who is now without a crossbow , heads towards the southern hill at a fair rate

The nameless one attempts to strike the bandit again but he somehow senses the incoming whip dagger and dodges the blow

The orc rounds the corner of the cart and charges at Charir, the lashes with his chain at the orc and scores a hit across his chest, however the orc keeps moving and strikes the dwarf with an insanely powerful blow that cleaves him in two.
[ooc: brought him from 21 to -12, damn powerful critical from a damn strong creature]

Tolven begins to taught the bandit in an attempt to lure him into the webbing, as he backs off he hurls his daggers, the first is caught in the webbing and the second hits the bandit with a glancing blow to the chest

Collin prepares himself in case the hulking creature turns towards him, at the same time he says a short prayer to the God or War that Charir's soul be honoured for the brave life it led

Varidiir strikes the man in the upper chest with an open handed strike, the blow clearly causes some internal injuries as along with the man's breath that is knocked out of him comes a splatter of blood. The man falls to the ground and rolls slightly down the hill

Updated Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
*BEGIN 0 0 rs 0
*s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 8b 36 rs 0 V *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 9f 4h rs 0 HB1 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0
@ *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s
@-1 y 3o rs 0 9zabk z 3o -11 3o *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs
@0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -1 7g 3o rs 0 9zabk -5g 3o -44 2c 38 2c
@3w 1o 58 1o 7g 1o *s -1 5n 4z rs 0 9zabk -5o 50 -3o 50 -2c 3w 50
@3w 5o 30 *s -1 7d 40 rs 0 9zabk 41 41 7d 41 *s -1 77 40 t4 -e
@9zabk 70 40 78 40 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 c3 8g rs 0 T *s -3 a8
@8g rs 0 L *s -3 9h 6g rs 0 CB *s -3 9m 8h rs 0 U *s -3 6p 7s rs
@0 CT *s -1 4g 40 rs 0 0 2w 2p 2w 41 48 41 4g 3d 48 2p 48 2p *s
@-1 4c 3c rs 0 0 30 3c 4c 3c *s 7 9b 7b rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s
@-3 as 8f rs 0 BL *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 6s 76 rs 0 OB *s -3 ab
@7r rs 0 HOB *s -3 2o bu rs 0 HB2 *s -3 2o 2h rs 0 HGB *s -1 6o
@4o rs 0 1edc 40 20 4o 40 6o 4o *s -1 7g 3c rs 0 1edc 38 3c 3w 1c
@5w o 7g 14 *s -1 7g 4o rs 0 1edc 5w 4o 7g 48 *s -3 cx 53 rs 0
@WEB *s -1 5g 3w rs 0 9y6tc 50 3o 5g 3w *s -1 5g 3w rs 0 9y6tc 50
@3w 5g 3g *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50 40 58 48 *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50
@48 58 40 *s -1 1o 1c rs 0 9y6tc 10 o 1o 1c *s -1 1o 1c rs 0
@9y6tc 1o o 10 1c *s -1 3o 40 rs 0 9y6tc 30 3c 3o 40 *s -1 3o 40
@rs 0 9y6tc 30 40 3o 3c *s -1 50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 1o 50 2c *s -1
@50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 2c 50 1o
*END -q25faj

[WhoNAN]

Tolven feeling the affects of the tainted sword blow only can focus on his job... and mission... reaching deep into his being for the fortitude that he had trained for so long to build up. Continuing to taunt the bandit he produces two more daggers that fly at the over-zealous human like a single-motion.

[Cadrius]

Sighing as the human falls down the hill the burning dwarf looks around for more fun to be had. Spotting an enemy he runs after him yelling an Azerian battlecry.

"Come 'ere you!"

((OOC: should be obvious, move/attack [if within range] otherwise just move up))

[Beidamon]

Stepping back 5 feet and making sure he is out of range of the bandit leader, the Unknown one will fire point blank a pair of magic missiles at the bandit leader.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Hearing the death cries from Charir, Collin takes a hesitant step towards him but realizes it must be too late. With the heat of battle raging around him, he keeps his head and begins a prayer to Tempus. "Tempus, hear my call and bring forth your might to the field of battle!" In a mock swing of his axe the mystical energies are released as a ghostly image of his own axe springs to life. "For Charir! Smite my foe!"

(OOC - Collin casts Spiritual Weapon and directs it at OB, aka. Orc Bastard)

*Edit - Will cast Defensively if threatened.

[BigRedRod]

The Bandit leader watches the dark elf slink away into the webbing and turns his attention to the fiendish mage. The mage lashes at him with his whip dagger and scores a glancing blow to the side of his neck. The bandit leader brings his sword around in an arc that easily catches the half-fiend, the blow leaves a deep wound across the nameless one's left leg, however the wound itself seems to refuse to bleed but an intense tiredness spreads from the wound filling the mage's entire body.

The human atop the hill stops runnning and looks back to see how his masters are fareing

Despite the frenzy of battle the nameless one manages to retain control over his horse and move it away from the bandit. As he moves a short distance backwards the mage begins to weave his hands in complex shapes and with a short word two bolts of pure force strike the bandit.

The orc creature stops to admire his work, tearing off one of the half-dragon's arms he starts to eat

Again Tolven selects a pair of daggers from his Bandoleer and lauches them towards the bandit, however the thick webbing manages to stop both of them before they left the area of the web spell

Collin calls out to Tempus and creates a battleaxe of pure divine force that he directs to kill the orc that is now feasting on the remains of Charir. The weapon swings at the orc and cataches him in the back. The orc howls and drops the partially eaten arm.

Varidiir rushes down the hill towards Charir's killer and takes position next to Battle Prowess, the weapon composed of Tempus's strength. He strikes the orc with a swift blow to the face but the damage seems minimal

Updated Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
*BEGIN 0 0 rs 0
*s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 6a 6h rs 0 V *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 9f 4h rs 0 HB1 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0
@ *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s
@-1 y 3o rs 0 9zabk z 3o -11 3o *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs
@0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -1 7g 3o rs 0 9zabk -5g 3o -44 2c 38 2c
@3w 1o 58 1o 7g 1o *s -1 5n 4z rs 0 9zabk -5o 50 -3o 50 -2c 3w 50
@3w 5o 30 *s -1 7d 40 rs 0 9zabk 41 41 7d 41 *s -1 77 40 t4 -d
@9zabk 70 40 78 40 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 c3 8g rs 0 T *s -3 a8
@8g rs 0 L *s -3 9h 6g rs 0 CB *s -3 8w 8h rs 0 U *s -3 6p 7s rs
@0 CT *s -1 4g 40 rs 0 0 2w 2p 2w 41 48 41 4g 3d 48 2p 48 2p *s
@-1 4c 3c rs 0 0 30 3c 4c 3c *s 7 9b 7b rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s
@-3 9y 8f rs 0 BL *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 6s 76 rs 0 OB *s -3 ab
@7r rs 0 HOB *s -3 2o bu rs 0 HB2 *s -3 2o 2h rs 0 HGB *s -1 6o
@4o rs 0 1edc 40 20 4o 40 6o 4o *s -1 7g 3c rs 0 1edc 38 3c 3w 1c
@5w o 7g 14 *s -1 7g 4o rs 0 1edc 5w 4o 7g 48 *s -3 cx 53 rs 0
@WEB *s -1 5g 3w rs 0 9y6tc 50 3o 5g 3w *s -1 5g 3w rs 0 9y6tc 50
@3w 5g 3g *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50 40 58 48 *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50
@48 58 40 *s -1 1o 1c rs 0 9y6tc 10 o 1o 1c *s -1 1o 1c rs 0
@9y6tc 1o o 10 1c *s -1 3o 40 rs 0 9y6tc 30 3c 3o 40 *s -1 3o 40
@rs 0 9y6tc 30 40 3o 3c *s -1 50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 1o 50 2c *s -1
@50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 2c 50 1o *s -3 6s 6i rs 0 SW
*END -bln0q2

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

His fiendish friend now in trouble, Collin issues forth a mighty battle bellow. "With the might Tempus we shall be victorious!" He thumps his chest in a battle salute at the same time divine energies channel into his armor. "Now come and get me!"

(OOC - Casts Magic Vestment on his breastplate. Adds +2 to his AC. And will be cast on the defensive if threatened.)

*edit OOC - Is Collin on a horse? If he is, he'll get off as his move-equivalent. Also don't delete Shadow Monkey's Collin. I'm using the spells off of that character sheet since I haven't had time to pray for a new assortment of spells.

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: damn sorry. It's a little late for that now, i already "cleaned up" that thread]

[ooc: everyone but charir and varidiir were mounted, but i think we can presume that everyone dismounted, except unknown that is, i'll remember to make that a little clearer in future]

[BigRedRod]

The bandit leader glares at the fiendish mage and charges forwards, he narrowly dodges the whip dagger that the mage lashes at him, and strikes the fiend. The namless one feels exhaustion flowing throw his body and falls off his horse onto the ground.
[ooc: your subdued]


The human who was armed with the heavy crossbow dissapears over the top of the hill

The orc creature grunts and starts to edge backwards, but slowly to prevent creating an opening for either of his attackers

Tolven aims once again and throws a further two daggers at the Bandit leader, the first just misses his shoulder and lodges itself in the cart ,the second strikes him in the arm

Collin focuses on his God and his brestplate begins to glow with golden flames

The spiritual weapon glides towards the orc but its blow is blocked by the axe of the creature

Varidiir moves with the orc, unrelenting with his constant attacks, he manages to land a punch on the creature's chest but the orc seems hardly injured


Updated Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
*BEGIN 0 0 rs 0
*s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 69 95 rs 0 V *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 9f 4h rs 0 HB1 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0
@ *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s
@-1 y 3o rs 0 9zabk z 3o -11 3o *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs
@0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -1 7g 3o rs 0 9zabk -5g 3o -44 2c 38 2c
@3w 1o 58 1o 7g 1o *s -1 5n 4z rs 0 9zabk -5o 50 -3o 50 -2c 3w 50
@3w 5o 30 *s -1 7d 40 rs 0 9zabk 41 41 7d 41 *s -1 77 40 t4 -c
@9zabk 70 40 78 40 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 c3 8g rs 0 T *s -3 a8
@8g rs 0 L *s -3 9h 6g rs 0 CB *s -3 8w 8h rs 0 U *s -3 6p 7s rs
@0 CT *s -1 4g 40 rs 0 0 2w 2p 2w 41 48 41 4g 3d 48 2p 48 2p *s
@-1 4c 3c rs 0 0 30 3c 4c 3c *s 7 9b 7b rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s
@-3 9f 8h rs 0 BL *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 6t 9t rs 0 OB *s -3 ab
@7r rs 0 HOB *s -3 2o 2h rs 0 HGB *s -1 6o 4o rs 0 1edc 40 20 4o
@40 6o 4o *s -1 7g 3c rs 0 1edc 38 3c 3w 1c 5w o 7g 14 *s -1 7g
@4o rs 0 1edc 5w 4o 7g 48 *s -3 cx 53 rs 0 WEB *s -1 5g 3w rs 0
@9y6tc 50 3o 5g 3w *s -1 5g 3w rs 0 9y6tc 50 3w 5g 3g *s -1 58 48
@rs 0 73 50 40 58 48 *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50 48 58 40 *s -1 1o 1c
@rs 0 9y6tc 10 o 1o 1c *s -1 1o 1c rs 0 9y6tc 1o o 10 1c *s -1 3o
@40 rs 0 9y6tc 30 3c 3o 40 *s -1 3o 40 rs 0 9y6tc 30 40 3o 3c *s
@-1 50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 1o 50 2c *s -1 50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 2c 50
@1o *s -3 6r 93 rs 0 SW *s -3 9c 81 rs 0 *s -1 4o 4c rs 0 73 40
@4c 4o 3o *s -1 4o 4c rs 0 73 4o 4c 40 3o
*END mhv7sj

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

With three friends down, and one feebly attempting to attack the bandit leader from the webs, Collin seems to have but two options, engage the so-called bandit leader or flee from battle. In his all consuming passion for vengeance and Tempus' need for bloodshed in battle, Collin charges forth, shield before him and axe cocked back to inflict severe damage. "May Tempus favor me as I smite you for your cowardly actions!" He bellows at the top of his lungs while charging.

(OOC - The bandit leader goes first so if I can't charge because he moves towards me, a normal attack will do. If the bandit moves away so that I can't charge (moves around the wagon), Collin casts guidance and then moves around the wagon.)

[Cadrius]

Varidiir looks down at his fist as if he at betrayed him. Glaring at the orc in question he attempts to deprive the beast of any weapons that might continue to harm his companions.

((OOC: Double-handed disarm as per Sword and Fist, if you'll allow it. Basically he uses both hands to disarm and thus it counts as if he's using a medium weapon rather than a tiny one.

Unless of course he doesn't have a weapon in which case he'll have to suffer more azer fury))

((Edit: I am a dumbass, had to fix a couple things.))

[BigRedRod]

The bandit leader looks at the fallen fiend, and then turns his attention towards the cleric, he wipes the blood from his face and charges into the man of Tempus. However the divine armour of Collin defelcts the blow

The orc creature reaches to his necklace and snaps one of the small bones, a strange white mist emerges from the break and covers the orc. It enters his wounds and binds them

Tolven emerges from the webbing and charges the bandit, his first dagger punches firmly into the bandits back, as does his second. The bandit yelps with pain

Collin brings his battleaxe around in a large sweeping arc that cuts deeply into the bandit. The bandit staggers sidways a step and falls to the ground.
Collin's spiritual weapon slices at the orc and just misses him

Varidiir feints slightly throwing the orc off-guard and lunges at his battleaxe, after an intense struggle Varidiir pulls the battleaxe free from the orc's grasp
[ooc: you're now the proud owner of the orc's battle axe. You may want to put it down before you carry on though]

Updated Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
*BEGIN 0 0 rs 0
*s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 69 95 rs 0 V *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 9f 4h rs 0 HB1 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0
@ *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s
@-1 y 3o rs 0 9zabk z 3o -11 3o *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs
@0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -1 7g 3o rs 0 9zabk -5g 3o -44 2c 38 2c
@3w 1o 58 1o 7g 1o *s -1 5n 4z rs 0 9zabk -5o 50 -3o 50 -2c 3w 50
@3w 5o 30 *s -1 7d 40 rs 0 9zabk 41 41 7d 41 *s -1 77 40 t4 -b
@9zabk 70 40 78 40 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 9j 7u rs 0 T *s -3 a8
@8g rs 0 L *s -3 9h 6g rs 0 CB *s -3 8w 8h rs 0 U *s -3 6p 7s rs
@0 CT *s -1 4g 40 rs 0 0 2w 2p 2w 41 48 41 4g 3d 48 2p 48 2p *s
@-1 4c 3c rs 0 0 30 3c 4c 3c *s 7 9b 7b rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s
@-3 9h 74 rs 0 BL *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 6t 9t rs 0 OB *s -3 ab
@7r rs 0 HOB *s -3 2o 2h rs 0 HGB *s -1 6o 4o rs 0 1edc 40 20 4o
@40 6o 4o *s -1 7g 3c rs 0 1edc 38 3c 3w 1c 5w o 7g 14 *s -1 7g
@4o rs 0 1edc 5w 4o 7g 48 *s -3 cx 53 rs 0 WEB *s -1 5g 3w rs 0
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@rs 0 73 50 40 58 48 *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50 48 58 40 *s -1 1o 1c
@rs 0 9y6tc 10 o 1o 1c *s -1 1o 1c rs 0 9y6tc 1o o 10 1c *s -1 3o
@40 rs 0 9y6tc 30 3c 3o 40 *s -1 3o 40 rs 0 9y6tc 30 40 3o 3c *s
@-1 50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 1o 50 2c *s -1 50 2c rs 0 9y6tc 4c 2c 50
@1o *s -3 6r 93 rs 0 SW *s -3 9c 81 rs 0 *s -1 4o 4c rs 0 73 40
@4c 4o 3o *s -1 4o 4c rs 0 73 4o 4c 40 3o *s -1 50 3o rs 0 9y6tc
@50 30 4c 3o *s -1 50 3o rs 0 9y6tc 4c 30 50 3o
*END b589h9

[WhoNAN]

Tolven looks at the fallen Leader with indifference...as it was only natural for his fate to be such... showing neither pleasure nore pain he prepares to strike the final blow to the human preffereably with his own sword.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir grins and says, "Aw, no axe for you my friend," with that he tosses the weapon over his shoulder and begins pummeling the orc.

((OOC: drop weapon, punch orc in face))

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Thanks be to Tempus for favoring me on this day!" The sounds of stuggle between Varidiir and the remaining humanoid cause Collin to focus on the battle. Seeing that Tolven has the Bandit Leader covered, he begins to make his way towards remaining combatants. "Oh stinky one, I've felled your leader and ask that you surrender yourself or be destroyed! If you give yourself up you can be sure that I will treat you as prisoner of war with all rights being granted. Continue this barbarianism and may whatever gods you worship be merciful as my friends and will not!"

(OOC - Now don't you see why charisma is a good thing to have? This speech will probably be worth nothing because Collin has a completely average charisma. As for the action, I don't think Collin has enough movement from his armor to get around the cart to attack this round so he moves as close as he can with a readied action to attack the orcish creature.)

[BigRedRod]

The orc growls at the monk who wrestled his axe away. He attempts to strike the flaming azer but misses, as he lurches forwards to strike varidiir strikes him on the back of the neck with his elbow

Tolven reaches to the ground and picks up the short sword that the leader fought with. Focusing on the body he delivers a death blow,

Collin shouts at the orc and moves as close as possible
His divine battle axe swings again at the orc and causes a great deal of damage

Varidiir drops the axe behind him and in a smooth connecting motion strikes the orc in the face with his opened palm.


Map
Drop this text at http://www.irony.com/java/mmee
*BEGIN 0 0 rs 0
*s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 69 95 rs 0 V *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 9f 4h rs 0 HB1 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0
@ *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw
@68 rs 0 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s -3 cw 68 rs 0 *s
@-1 y 3o rs 0 9zabk z 3o -11 3o *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs
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@9zabk 70 40 78 40 *s -3 5h 7w rs 0 *s -3 9j 7u rs 0 T *s -3 a8
@8g rs 0 L *s -3 85 95 rs 0 CB *s -3 8w 8h rs 0 U *s -3 6p 7s rs
@0 CT *s -1 4g 40 rs 0 0 2w 2p 2w 41 48 41 4g 3d 48 2p 48 2p *s
@-1 4c 3c rs 0 0 30 3c 4c 3c *s 7 9b 7b rs 0 *s -3 cx 6y rs 0 *s
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@7r rs 0 HOB *s -3 2o 2h rs 0 HGB *s -1 6o 4o rs 0 1edc 40 20 4o
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@4o rs 0 1edc 5w 4o 7g 48 *s -3 cx 53 rs 0 WEB *s -1 5g 3w rs 0
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@rs 0 73 50 40 58 48 *s -1 58 48 rs 0 73 50 48 58 40 *s -1 1o 1c
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@1o *s -3 6r 93 rs 0 SW *s -3 9c 81 rs 0 *s -1 4o 4c rs 0 73 40
@4c 4o 3o *s -1 4o 4c rs 0 73 4o 4c 40 3o *s -1 50 3o rs 0 9y6tc
@50 30 4c 3o *s -1 50 3o rs 0 9y6tc 4c 30 50 3o
*END v1olkf

[WhoNAN]

Tolven eyes the motionless body assessing the damage done... and the chance of any further activities from the bandit leader. Once satisfied that he will move no further... the dark elf will fall in behind the Orc-Thing to relieve some of the melee preasure... and attempt to put it down as well, right along side the others of its fallen comrades.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir chuckles as the orc attempts to clumsily strike out at him. He spends a moment toying with the brute, barely dodging aside from the wild swings.

"Bah, you hit like a flamebrother," the burning dwarf says using an insult that noone outside the Elemental Plane of Fire would understand, "now THIS is how you do it," with that he continues to kick, punch, headbutt, knee, elbow, and bite the poor orc.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

This time in Orcish, Collin screams out to the Orc creature, "Tell me you'll give up and thus live, or fight and die with your friends!" He then cocks his battle axe to one side, preparing to make good on his ultimatum.

(OOC - a simple move and attack.)

[BigRedRod]

Hearing the words of Collin the orc roars and launches itself towards Varidiir. Varidiir manages to sidestep the attack and strikes with a powerful blow to the back of the creature's neck. It falls to the floor in a heap,

[WhoNAN]

Tolven turns to the Cleric after the last bandit falls...

"Looks like you have your work cut out for you." He states in his general matter of fact tone. Before he sets off to loot the looters, sheathing the sword in his hand in its scabbard from the lead bandit... "tossing" any gems Vandiir's way... and collecting everything but the sword in a pile for field examination and alotment.

If Collin needs any additional help with healing Tolven will donate any Curative potions to the Cleric, and returnto his work.

[Cadrius]

Sighing and shaking his head Varidiir says, "So sad that he became useless as soon as his axe was taken from him. Ah well."

Nodding to the drow and the cleric he says, "Good fight you two, too bad our friends weren't conscious for it."

The Azer walks past the cleric, clapping him on the back with one warm hand as he passes by. He then eagerly begins searching the bodies for any precious gems available. However as he kneels down he feels a sharp pain in his calf.

Turning his head to see his reddish skin he notices a crossbow bolt sticking out of his leg. "Ow," he says as if just remembering he had been shot twice. Gritting his teeth he reaches down and yanks out the bolt. Wincing slightly at the pain he manages to say, "Well, I guess these bandits weren't expectin' us."

Should he need them Varidiir will produce some potions of cure light to help lighten his burden of healing.

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: *cough* Charir is dead *cough*]

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

With combat over, the adrenaline ebbs from his body. Surverying the injured, starting with the most severly wounded (Charir), Collin can only shake his head and say a swift prayer that his soul be at rest with Tempus. "You fought well, now rest in peace." He then hurries over the rest, begining with The Dark One (Unknown) he surveys the damage and comes up with the proper diagnosis (subdued IIRC). This brings him over to Lynores who was also subdued. "Hmmm...What in the name of Tempus could knock them out so? Where is that bandit's weapon?" He retrieves the Bandit Leader's weapon and looks at it. "What an amazing blade to have left so little a mark on our friends but hit them hard enough to pacify them."

Returning to Lynores, he calls upon Tempus for his divine energy. "Hear me Tempus! Heal my friend so that he may make war on my enemies, for my enemies are your enemies and together we shall shed much blood in your name. Perhaps his injuries will show him the faults of his hesitation in battle. May he learn to take the battle to his enemies when they are at a disadvantage." Mystic energy is channeled into Lynores, healing some of his injuries. Once cured, Collin proceeds to The Dark One. Kneeling on the ground next to his fiendish friend, he sneers at the unconscious form. "Perhaps an undeserving creature in your eyes, he has threatened your servant and placed us in danger but in our dark times the Dark One has never waivered. For that loyalty, grace him with your divine gift of life." Again the healing powers flow from his god into the injured.

Finished healing the unconscious, Collin turns his attention towards the mobile. The crossbow injury Varidiir sustained peaks his interest. "I'm sure that Tempus favors you for your battle prowess. Let him ease your pain at the same he closes the wound." His final healing spell for the moment helps to seal the hole caused by the bolt.

With his tasks complete, exhaustion finally overcomes the priest as he sits on the ground, resting. With slumping shoulders and a drooped head, his eyes remain focused on Charir. "What will we do with him? I'm afraid that it is beyond my ability to bring him back from where Death holds him. Do we return? I can ask Tempus to preserve his body but know this, as the days go by it becomes more difficult to bring back his soul."

(OOC - BRR use your best judgement on converting prepared spells into healing ones. My spell count for convertable spells is at 5-zero, 3-1st, 3-2nd, and 2-3rd. I'm counting my domain spells which may not be converted. For storytelling purposes, one prayer in a non-combative situation counts for as many spells it takes to patch up the injured.)

OOC2 - The prayers are quite serious, but since the two unconscious ones couldn't hear the prayers as they were being said maybe they won't learn from their mistakes. I came to the two in character conclusions after reading all the back posts. The ill use of readied actions might have cost one life in this battle. And the Unknown character being all twitchy about his name is simply bothersome. It may have led to one combat which could have been avoided. Not to mention it's bad for morale.

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: take away two level 3s, 2 level 2s and a 1st, that should be everyone on respectable health. So your all awake again now, except Charir]

[WhoNAN]

Upon.... Collin's queries in regards to the weapon Tolven seems a bit bothered to take a moment from his tasks to unsheath and show the blade to the Cleric but does so none the less.

"I shall require more time to study the weapon... but from what I felt of it, there is a venom to the blade."

He returns it to the sheath and continues to deal with the Bandits in the most timely fashion possible.

"As far as Charir, we shall perform whatever actions are necessary." Again stated dryly... with no apparent hint of emotion.

"It may not be prudent to arrive with a corpse in our possession."

((BRR: whats the ETA to our destination? And if it wasn't apparent in my last post I am searching the bodies))

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: i know you're searching, I was just giving other people time to post. I'll give you a booty list tomorrow. And you are currently 5 days from Seran and then another 7 days to Djen]

[Cadrius]

As he hears Charir proclaimed dead the burning dwarf pauses a moment and looks over his shoulder to the fallen comrade. He sighs and shakes his head as he approaches the body.

Kneeling by the fallen dwarf he speaks to the corpse saying, "You were almost like kin," managing a weak smile he says, "all we'd have to do is get some oil and light it."

He reaches out gently and pats the torn body and says, "Don't worry, we'll get you back, if you want to be gotten that is."

He stands again and pauses for a moment. Silently looking down at Charir he almost doesn't hear the words spoken by the preist of war.

He looks up suddenly as the healing magic flows into him. He winces slightly, he never much liked healing magics, they made him feel all funny inside.

He nods wearily as the mention of Tempus saying, "Aye, perhaps he does, but it was not enough to save him," he says gesturing to the fallen dwarf.

"Yes Tolven, we will do what is necessary. This is one I'd rather not lose to the Great Beyond."

[Beidamon]

As soon as the energy flows into the Unknown one his eyes open calmly, as if nothing had even happened to him, and as he gets room he sits up, and flaring out his wings for a second with a mighty flap is suddenly standing up, disdainfully rubing dust off his robes. Hearing talk of the sword he steps forward and bluntly says "You are wrong, if it was mearly a toxin or venom I would be uneffected by it. It is more likely to be magic in origin, I have heard of weapons enchanted to subdue people instead of killing them. Maybe this person was a slaver or a kindnapper as well, or maybe he was just eccentric and didnt like killing people" the unknown figure says with a half smile. "I shall soon find out"

With that the dark figure begins muttering a few arcane words, then stares at the sword for a few seconds before slowly turning to look at all the loot that they have collected, taking note of which ones glow.

After detecting which of the items glow he will begin moving towards the pile, stopping for a second to turn his head slightly to Collin and replies "And as for you, I have never endangered the group, I have never threatened you, and your god is blind to me, so I do not care what he tries to see me as" He will then proceed to the pile and seperate it into mundane items and magic items

(OOC: Detect magic, use on sword to see if its magic then turn it on the loot to see what magic is there, then put them into magic and non-magic piles)

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Shaking his head, Collin replies to Unknown, "Dark One, you may have forgotten the words you spoke during assassination but I haven't. Between then and now, there have been several instances where relations with strangers have been strained by your incessant lack of trust. From now on if asked, I will introduce you as Daja-onae*. And why may I ask, didn't you use your abilities to their fullest? I've seen you drop globes of darkness in order to hide. Why didn't you use the tools at your disposal when fighting a man who seconds before, dropped one of our own? If at the very least, the darkness might have confused this Ofu*, given you time to weave another spell, or just delayed him enough to allow the rest of us to aid you. And for Tempus' sake, you were mounted! Why not use your whip from a distance?"

Collin let's his words sink in for a moment before saying, "Perhaps living in the shadows has clouded your mind? One cannot live in the darkness all the time. At some point you're going to need to trust someone. Why not us with all that we've been through? It's fine that you wish to keep your identity a secret, but keep an open mind, Dark One." Knowing that the Dark One will retort, Collin snaps at him, "Before you spout off and again disrespect my God and I, allow me to remind you that without Tempus, it's quite possible that you'd be the one bleeding out your life's blood."

-----------
*The words with the '*' by them are my own made up words for the Orc language. Figure them to be the equivalent of "Dark One" and that "S" word which shouldn't be said, aka. excrement.
(OOC - Did BRR say that the city we're going to was something like 85-90 miles away? A light horse with rider moves around 40 miles a day. It should have taken us 2-3 days to get there. Now according to the calendar, we're in the middle of winter? If that's the case we might be moving half speed, meaning 4-6 days travel. Just something for our DM to think about.)

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: who forgot the cart? what do i have under control? EDIT :oh i see, I have everything taken into account about the journey, don't worry]
[ooc: remembver this is IC bitching so dont take it personally]

The group sets about collecting the items from the deceased Bandits and then the fiend proceeds to check the equipment for any signs of magic

From the various money pouches the group finds 120gp 50sp and 97cp
The bandit leader was wearing a suit of rather fine quality black studded leather armour (magic), a strange vest under his armour woven from a fine purple silk (magic), and a signet ring (it's difficult to identift the exact marking on the ring due to the fact that is has a deep corss engraved into it, but it would appear to be from Dauthim)
The bandit leader's sword (now held by Tolven) is also magical

The Orc creature has nothing of value but his necklace that consists of 3 finger bones joined on a string(magic) and his mighty battleaxe (that looks very much like an over-sized meat cleaver) (magic)

From the other slain bandits there is a little that is of high quality or has any magic about it (suit of hide, 2 suits leather, falcion, crossbow, 11 arrows, 12 bolts). However there is a masterwork composite longbow and a masterwork heavy crossbow, and 4 masterwork arrows, there is also a collection(6) of strangely carved arrows with blunt stone ends (magic)

[Gnarsh]

Lynores sits up from the ground, rubbing the spot on his chest where he was hit. "Ow....so, I guess we won?" He says as he rises to his feet, then glances around the battlefield. "Whoa..looks like they got one of us. Ah well, there is magic that can bring him back." He says as he glances at Charir's body. "Well, let's head to town, there's a chance that a powerful priest will be there, and hopefully these bandits were worth something dead."

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Grabbing hold of Charir, Collin struggles with the body. Giving up momentarily, he calls to Lynores, "Lynores, can you give me a hand with Charir? Let's get him into the cart and be off before he starts to smell. If needed, I'll donate some funds to have him raised, if that is at all possible."

[Beidamon]

"There have never been these cases of strain you talk about, its your overactive imagination. In all this time it has not been a problem except, it seems, to you. I didn't use my darkness ability because I was to busy fighting the bandit leader, if I did drop the darkness on him however it would also inhibit the people fighting him, and when he got out he would be able to charge from a unknown place and maybe drop anouther of us. I will not explain my tactics to you since you seem to lack the understanding for them. I have never shown distrust. Although I am by nature a distrustful being I have never done anything but trust this group and fight along side it, if this is the reward for such trust then so be it, but you seem to all to quickly forget the fact that it was because of me that we were so easily able to carry out our first job, which we might not of if it had not been for me, and that in fighting I was always willing to risk my life fighting with the group even though I could easily have stayed back. Let me also remind you, that the reason that I was bleeding was because I was fighting to defend the group, and doing my part, if you then decided not to heal me then it would be you who was showing the distrust, besides, the wounds were superficial, i would of recovered in a very short time. If this is what you call distrust, then all I can say is your a fool, if you judge me as you judge me now because of my ancestory and not my action then your a racist, and if you continue to banter trying to insist that I dont trust you people and how ive been nothing but a burder on this group then you are just plain stupid." The dark figure turns away for a second, then turns back "Oh yes, and if you even try to name me" His wings flare out, his eyes glow a bright red, he bears his long sharp fangs and claws, he raises up to his full hight a dominating presence, his face contours in rage for the first time youve ever seen emotion other then mild amusement and in a booming voice he says "ILL KILL YOU"

After the worlds sink in, just as fast as it happened he is back to his normal self, with a slight smile on his face. "Does that answer all your questions? Now if you dont mind I have more important matters to attend to."

The unknown figure will then load the magic items onto the cart after they finish putting Charir's body there. He will take the vest for himself, and if he can on a mild portion of the journey he will cast identify on it from horseback as they travel

[Gnarsh]

"And Collin," Lynores says after the Unknown One's speech, "If you insult his ancestry, you insult mine. Though I am indebted to you for the healing, demons never were particularly fervored followers of honor. If you so much as say ONE WORD against those with the blood of demons in their veins, it very well may be your last." With that, he walks over to Collin and helps him load Charir's...parts into the cart, as though nothing had happened.

Once Charir is all loaded up, he takes the armor that was worn by the bandit leader, removes his current armor and throws it into the cart, and dons the new armor.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir rolls his eyes and says, "Yes, yes, we get it Noname. Don't give you a name, don't insult your heritage, don't tell you what to do. Those are your rules? Fine, here's mine: don't kill the guy who keeps us in one living, breathing piece," the dwarf pauses a moment trying to figure out if infact Unknown does breathe and apparently decides that he does before continuing, "he's a priest of war. That probably means he's knows a thing or two about tactics. If I were you I would suck up your pride and at least pay him heed. It sounded to me like it was trying to give you advice. Sounds more like your ego was wounded rather than anything else. You went down helping the rest of us, good, I would've gladly done the same. Yet I would not snap at the priest who brought me back up, whether his comments are warranted or not, you at least owe him thanks.

"And what's this about him insulting you? I don't know when he remarked about either of your heritages, but then again, what does it matter? You think you have it bad? Take a gander at the dwarf whose head is on fire. At least you can reasonably blend in at a bar," the dwarf grumbles and emphasizes his point by sticking his hand in his burning mane for a moment before resuming, "you want to take pride in who your parents are? Good, you should, but you also damn well better expect that you will be judged on it. Need I point to our friend," the dwarf asks referring to Tolven, "I'm certain he knows what it is like. It might not be right, but it happens. Especially with the religious types, they're whole thing is based on judging so don't be surprised if you aren't always exempt."

He pauses a moment and steadies himself, attempting to calm down. The fire atop his head dies down a little before he says, "Listen, all I know is that we got jumped, and Charir's dead, and now everyone's threatening murder. Great. Nothing makes a team pull together like threats of violence," he says in his barritone voice dripping with sarcasm. He stops a moment and looks at the three of them saying, "finish this without threats or we'll never accomplish our mission."

With that the dwarf turns on his heel and stalks to the top of the hill, looking for the human crossbowman who got away.

He paints an odd picture, the flare of his hair rising up a bit over the hill. Crossing his arms over his chest he paces a bit, and faint muttering can be heard from time to time.

Great, first no gems, and now this. What next?

[Beidamon]

Before he can get away the unknown one responds

"You are a pathetic fool, he may be a cleric of a war god, but that does not make him a expert tactition, ive lived my whole life with my powers and know how and when I should use them. Second, he did not offer advice, he offered critisism on something he did not understand, those are very difrent things. I owe him no thanks for healing me because that is the part he plays in the group, I do not ask for thanks for casting spells or attacking enemies, why should he be any difrent? You also talk of my heratige, but you do not understand. I am proud of my heritage, I am proud of what I am, I merely state that after we have worked together as a group as we have I would assume someone should judge you on your actions, not on their puny misconseptions of your race. Last, you are a fool because you pick small points and make them big, while missing the overall point of the entire thing. For these things you are a fool and should be quite next time you open your mouth to speak on such as this."

[Gnarsh]

"Look, everyone," Lynores says as the Unknown One finishes speaking. "Can't we all just leave this behind us? Or at least argue while we're on the road. The more time we spend talking, the more time we have to spend with a bunch of decomposing bodies. I think none of us want to spend too much time with that." He begins heaping the bodies onto the cart, and mounts his horse when he finishes, beginning to trot down the road if the others follow or not.

[Beidamon]

The Unknown one will get on his horse and begin riding ahead, casting a identify spell on the vest as they ride if able

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Nearly dropping Charir during their heated argument, Collin regains his composure and settles down. Looking up at Unknown, it looks as if he'll retort but he ends up biting his tongue (not literally). He turns back to his work. With a grunt he finishes loading the body and gear. Finished with that task, he drags the stripped enemy bodies off to the side of the road, tying his best to conceal them. But before leaving he brings out a knife and cuts the ears off the orcs. Job accomplished, he looks at the cart, "Think it would be possible to hitch my horse to the cart? It could ease the burden and allow for faster movement." Once off and on their way, Collin simply bows his head in silence, contemplating the recent encounter.

[Cadrius]

Rolling his eyes and waving his hand dismissingly Varidiir says, "Yes, yes, you always need to have the last word, don't you? You call me a fool, I call you arrogant. You think I don't know the situation? Fine, go ahead and think that. I'll not waste my time trying to change your mind. However sometimes the best advice, or criticism, or however you perceive it comes from someone who has not lived so intimately with the situation."

He pauses a moment while walking and turns around to speak again, "I won't presume to tell you how to use your powers, just as you will not tell me how to use mine, but really, do you think reacting so explosively is going to solve things? Do you think threatening one party member and berating another is going to help in any manner? Or are you too concerned with yourself and your pride," he asks as he shakes his head almost sadly, "aye, let us be off on the road. We have work to do."

I might forgive, but I'll never forget. Keep pushing me Noname. I'll suffer it for a while...for a while.

[Beidamon]

"Says greed to pride, replies pride to greed, no one's innocent, does that count as the last word" the dark figure says with a half smile then moves on

[BigRedRod]

The crossbowman who fled is nowhere to be seen, even from the top of the hill

[ooc: i'm not gonna let you cast identify on the horse, afterall you need to focus for 8 hours and its not ideal conditions]

[WhoNAN]

DUring the extent of the discussion Tolven remains busy collecting and organizing the nearby situation... retaining the sword and the arrows, as well as collecting the coin and dividing it 5 ways.

When the argument settles down and his work is done, he rides by each person in the group, and tosses them a pouch with their share of gold.

And silently rides up about a 100 yards off and waits.

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: ok each person gets 24gp, 10sp, and 19cp. This gives 2 leftover copper pieces]

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

When loading the body of Chariri, Collin appears confused. "Did you want to take the others with us? If you did, perhaps only the one who spoke since he was the leader of this band of thieves. The others, I don't want to haul dead orcs, just the ears will do." After sorting out the dead body issue, Collin hops up on the cart and moves out.

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: there were no actual orcs, there was a half-orc and a strnage orc-like creature that the leader informed you had a little hellish blood in it. The other bandits were a hobgoblin and a pair of humans and the leader who was also human]

[Cadrius]

Varidiir says nothing at the fiend's comment and shrugs helplessly before turning his gaze back down the road. The flames atop his head flicker and dance as he moves alongside the cart. The brass-skinned dwarf leaves small indentations in the road that smolder somewhat when a leaf or stick is stepped upon. Whisps of smoke occasionally rise up out of these depressions, curling upward into the sky behind him.

I suppose we all must be guilty of something. Yet if I must meet my end, I think I might do so with a clear conscience. When I stand before the Master in the great Monastery in the sky, I think I'll be able to hold my own. I cannot say the same for him, he thinks as his gaze shifts over to Unknown for a moment before continuing onto the slain dwarf in the cart, Ah, Charir, I'm sorry for all of this.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Charir's body is laid out in the cart, his cloak acting as a shroud, protecting him from the elements even in death. Whils his body and possessions are arranged in a neat orderly fashion, the body of the bandit leader is unceremoniously dumped on the other side of the cart in an effort to stablilze the weight. In his dead lap sits a bag, containing the ears of his fallen thieves. The rest of the scavenged treasure is bundled between them.

As the cart moves forward, the Special Forces unit stares straight ahead, not looking back as a column of smoke rises towards the heavens. The bodies of the dead, burnt and gone won't attract the carrion and scavengers, not that many would eat the flesh of orc and goblinkind. Like the hill where they encountered the highwaymen, this meeting was just another bump in the road as they move on to their next assignment.

(OOC - BRR wanted something to close this out. I hope this works.)

[BigRedRod]

The clouds above start to turn black as the hours pass and a light drizzle begins to fall. Collin sits alone driving the cart onwards while the others (except Varidiir) ride in front and behind.

Collin looks down at the road below them and watches as it slowly becomes waterlogged, he hears a strange shuffle behind him in the cart and as he turns around he feels a knife press against his throat, a voice speaks into his ear, it is clearly the bandit leader and he is clearly injured
"Move and you join the dragon-thing on the eternal serpent"
Then he shouts
"Everyone! Give me a horse and allow me to leave, otherwise the priest here meets his master"

The others look at the cart and see the bandit leader, covered in blood but still alive. He is holding a knife at Collin's throat and making demands

[Gnarsh]

"What!? How in the..." Lynores says as he turns his horse to the leader. "Look, I recommend that you put that knife down and let go of Collin. Your life could be so much more productive than this, and if you let us take you to the nearest jail, you can give up your life of crime and live legitimately. What do you say?" These word seem to have some kind of power as he speaks them, seeming much more persuasive than usual.

(use suggestion power on the leader.)

[BigRedRod]

"NO!"
The closes his eyes and shakes his head
"You get one more chance, no tricks just bring a horse over here back away then me go. I'll let him go as soon as I'm away"

[Beidamon]

The dark figure will slowly take his whip out, but keep it mostly conceeled. He will take careful aim and if the bandit leader cant be reasoned with and looks to be about to slit out companions throat he will use the whip in both hands and make a ranged disarm attempt to get the knife from the bandits hand

(Opposed attack roll, +7 melee +4 for size catagory +2 for using a whip, means a +13 for my opposed attack roll, this is only if all else fails as a ready action if he is about to slit our clerics throat)

[WhoNAN]

Tolven flips his cloak out for a second repositioning as to prepare to change directions with his horse to bring it to the cart....

Go hidden and follow him...
The dark elf speaks silently with Grakus.... as the invisble lizard leaves from underneath his cloak.

And Tolven begins to ride slowly closer to the cart while speaking.

"If you kill him, you will follow shortly thereafter, with one exception.... there will be no one to bring you back, no additional chance for life. That I'm sure you would agree would not be an optimal course of action."

Blast that sword.... blast it.... and the knife, since when would I miss anything on a corpse.... an incredible error... I just can't think with this horrid daylight about.


He stops about 10 feet away from the bandit... remaining mounted at the moment.... however ready to flick two daggers directly at the arrogant human.... and pauses briefly to see what reaction is raised from the bandit if any.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

The suddenness of the attack catches Colling completely off guard. He stuggles for a brief moment but feeling the prick of the knife against his throat causes him to surrender. Fearful of making any sudden moves or even speaking, he bites his tongue, giving the assassin no doubt that he's harmless. Hearing the demands of the bandit, he shifts his eyes back and forth between his comrads, pleading for some kind of help. After a brief moment, studying the looks on his friends' faces, he simply lets out a sigh and begins to speak in whispers.

"Killing me won't save you. If you knew what kind of creatures I journey with, you'd know that your life is forfit since they will not deal. They have a particular bloodlust that I have limited control over. However, all of your options are not cut off. If all you request is your freedom, then I'll allow it. No tricks, a simple deal, just take my horse and be off in the other direction. If you attempt to stray from this path, I won't be able to stop my minions from tearing your limbs from your body. As a show of my powers, allow me to demonstrate." He waves his hands down in a slow gentle manner, signaling the others to lower their weapons (if there are weapons at the ready, Collin can only see straight ahead of him). "You see, they should have lowered their weapons and will not attack unless I am wounded, dead or commanded. This is the best and only offer I can provide you. While you ride off, I'll control my demons and keep them away from you. This is your only chance at escaping. I give you my word as I swear to Tempus on all things sacred that if you leave right now, my minions won't attack."

(OOC - Is this the biggest bluff ever? Then again, it isn't like I'm trying to sell the guy the Brooklyn Bridge. Yet again the drawback of having a low charisma character. Maybe a circumstance bonus for the events?)

[Cadrius]

Varidiir's flaming eyebrows raise in surprise as the formerly dead bandit rises to life again, only this time his dagger is at Collin's throat. The burning dwarf clenches his fists in anger as he had wanted to burn the lot of them rather than let one body travel with Charir.

Blast! They should've let me burn him with the rest. Just taken a head or something. Damn it.

He manages to keep a straight face while the priest refers to them as his minions, but then again, it wasn't that hard of a lie to believe. He looked to his left and right at the various people mounted on horses, and then down at his own bronze feet before saying, "Aye...lord, I won't hit that one. Not if he just leaves."

With that the Azer relaxes his fists and stands neutrally with his arms crossed over his chest. Eyeing the bandit leader the flames about his head flicker a little bit higher and brighter than before.

Can't say that I'll hold my promise tomorrow though.

[Beidamon]

The Unknown one ignores the collins words and keeps his weapon ready, and continues to try to keep it somewhat hidden. Hearing Collins assuring the bandit that his horse could be tooken the unknown one prepares anouther action. If the bandit leader looks to kill collin the unknown one will use his whip in a disarm attempt. If however the bandit leaves collin and tries to make it for his horse, the Unknown one will cast sleep on the horse. If somehow the leader gets away then the unknown one will take to the air and persue him (Since he will be hampered by terrain I should be able to move faster then him)

[BigRedRod]

"Fine then"
He looks over at the others
"One of you, unhitch his horse and leave it by the cart, then all of you back and away and turn around."
The dagger starts to press into Collin's throat but it manages not to cut into his throat

[Beidamon]

The unknown one will slowly reach up his sleave slightly and rub a pearl hidden there, suddenly the knowledge of magic missile comes flooding back into his brain and a slight half smile crosses the unknown ones face as he wonders just how much the bandit could of recovered

(OOC: How injured does the bandit leader look, does he look just about ready to collapse? Did we leave any potions or anything in the back?)

[BigRedRod]

The bandit leader is covered in dried blood, he looks fairly injured
[ooc: there were no potions or anything in the pile of magic items, of course you havent identifed anything so some of it could well heal]

[Gnarsh]

Lynores dismounts and walks over to the horse, unhitching it. He then leads the horse around to the bandit leader, while slowly reaching up his sleeve for the dagger hidden there. "Yes, sir. Let him go, I let you go. sounds like a fair trade." When the leader drops Collin, he walks away about 5 feet, his back turned to the leader. When he hears the leader mount the horse, he uses a readied action to throw his dagger at him.

[Cadrius]

The Azer shrugs and does as he's told, turning his back to the leader, waiting for the man to get on his horse and leave. He sighs slightly, and scratches his burning cranium. Thus he is unable to see the various people getting ready to unleash their fury upon the bandit leader.

Oh, I bet Noname is getting ready to shoot that guy, maybe Tolven too. I don't see what the big deal is, we give him a horse, he leaves, end of story. Yeah he could come back to try and kill us, but we'll just beat him again, and next time, I'll make sure to burn his corpse personally, Varidiir thinks, beginning to grin at his thoughts.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin tries to swallow, but the knife digging into his throat makes that task nearly impossible. Seeing the horse brought around he finally manages to dislodge the lump in his throat. "See, there you go," he croaks. "My life for yours, it's a fair deal. Now jump on leave and don't look back. We'll do the same." Not being in control is starting to unnerve Collin as sweat rolls down his forehead, stinging his eyes. He doesn't shake it away with the knife being where it is.

Thinking to himself, Collin begins to wonder...Mental reminder, buy a chain coif, throat guard, and decent helmet when we get to our destination. Gee, I could go for some cheese right about now. I'm feeling a bit peckish for cheese. Wait a second, there's a knife at my throat, what in the name of the Gods am doing, thinking about cheese at a time like this? Get back in the game, and think. Blindness, I should blind this guy, or have Tempus freeze in place. But what's this? I can't feel his presence. Have I been forsaken? What am I going to do? Do I really have to rely on these, my so called friends? No, I will not doubt my God or my friends. We will prevail! After I eat a bit of cheese...

[Beidamon]

Seeing that there is not much time and he must act before the pledge is fulfilled, but not really caring if the cleric lives, the Unknown takes drastic actions.

With a bad coughing noise loud enough to grab everyones attention and delay them the dark one will stumble a further away, clutching at his chest and sinking to one knee

"ARRHHH Acursed Sunlight!!"

Then falling down, and as he does innacting a globe of darkness around him, after which he will spring back up, and cast invisibility on himself, and then will carefully move out from the dark globe keeping silent and will creep up on the rogue, and while he is distracted he will attempt to join the grapple, and if he can, will try to break the opponents pin on the cleric.

(OOC: Since hes grappled he gets no AoO and since hes grappled he doesn't get his dex bonus when I try to start the grapple it shouldn't be to hard to land a touch attack, since has also pining the cleric I get +4 on my touch attack to initiate grapple and since he doesn't know im here that might add +2 as well, Remember, unless im mistaken, if i get a hold of him my "unarmed attack" would probably count as my claw (1d4+5 damage), also if i do get hold of him the cleric will probably aid me in it lending +2 to all my rolls, /me hopes this works)

[BigRedRod]

As Lynores finishes untieing the horse there is a cry of pain from behind him
The Bandit looks at the creature which dissapears in a cloud of blackness
"What... What is it doing?"
He waits for a few seconds watching the area of darkness
"This had better not be a trick"
Suddenly the half-fiend appears beside him, wrenches his arm away from the clerics throat and dives onto him claws first. The dagger drops to the ground by the cart
After a brief struggle the bandit stops moving as he falls into unconciousness

[ooc: well done, Collin just made it]

[Beidamon]

The fiend looks at his vanquished foe, looks over to Collin

"If you would channel your most minor healing magic into him to stop him from dieing, and if you dont mind may i borrow that rope?"

The fiend will then go and get the sword from the theifling, promising to return it when he is done

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

With the dagger gone from his vulnerable throat, Collin heaves a sigh of relief. Unknown speaking to him brings him out of his haze. "Rope? Check my pack. There should be a coil of rope in there."

He turns around, facing the bandit. Taking out his holy symbol he hesitates for a moment, before praying. Doubt washes across his face. I cannot believe this. In all my years since my youth, I'm questioning my faith. To heal an enemy or let him die again? I suppose it isn't in my power to choose, that is for the Gods to decide. "Tempus if it be thy will, heal this dying man. Staunch the wounds and show me a sign." He lays a hand on the bandit's forehead, allowing his body to channel the divine energy to flow through him.

Bound and healed, Collin looks down on the rogue. "Didn't you say his armor is magical? Maybe that's how he was healed? We could strip him down and make sure he isn't hiding anything. And now that we have a prisoner, maybe he can lead us to his lair where his thieves store their booty?"

(OOC - Casting a Cure Minor Wounds, healing 1 point of damage to stop the guy from dying. If his prayers aren't answered, use normal healing skill. Collin has silk rope listed in his inventory. He won't tie the guy up since his rope use is a -2. He makes knots that come apart when you breathe on them. Good thing he wears boots without laces and armor that uses buckes.)

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: the bandit isn't wearing his armour, it was stripped from his body. He is just in his undergarments]

The divine energy of Tempus flows through the bandit's body but he remains unconcious
[ooc: the spell worked but he is still below 0]

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

A look of ease and contentment washes over Collin. Thrilled that despite his temporary wavering faith, he's overjoyed Tempus hasn't abandoned him. Checking the injured man he shakes his head. "His wounds are more severe than I first realized. He's hurt bad, but not dying. Maybe I should use that wand of healing on him?" He looks for approval from the rest of the group.

[Beidamon]

With the man stablised the unknown one will toss him into the cart, beside the dead body of collin. He will then tie him up with one limb going to each corner of teh cart, and place a blanket nearby over his feat so he can be hidden (in which case the dark one will cover his mouth) With this done, the darkone will give him a few light slaps and try to rouse him untill he comes about, getting the cleric to use some better healing if need be, when get does come around the unknown one gives a half smile.

"Well hello, welcome back to the world of the living. Now, before you start worrying im going to make this very simple for you, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU." The figure says with a stern, voice (as in spacing the words out to add enphasise). "Now" The unknown figure holds up the dagger "I could kill you with this weapon, the dagger you were going to kill the cleric with, or...." The dark figure holds up the sword in his other hand "I could kill you with this weapon, and I think you know the properties of this weapon and how long that will take" The unknown one says with a intense look in his eyes. "Ill even be generous, and give you a third option, a chance to live, take us to your lair, where you keep all the treasure you have collected and, I will be generous and let you go in exchange for it, and to show im not such a bad guy ill even let you keep a little of the money to get yourself reestablished. If not however, then it comes down to this, the dagger you will get when you tell us what these magic items do, and we make sure your not lieing, the sword however you get if you decide to be foolish and refuse, make up your mind quickly, I love the smell of rotting flesh, but our good friend here, a victum of your handywork, might make things a little more uncomfortable for you after a few hours in the sun." The dark one will do this while they travel untill he reveals the location of his lair, what the magic items do (and there tested), or he will continue using the sword until they get to close to town to risk it

(gotta love evil alignment and 0 accountability)

[Cadrius]

Varidiir snaps his head to his right as Unknown falls to the ground and then shakes his head as the sphere of darkness suddenly appears around the fiend's body.

Muttering to himself he says, "He's up to somethin' all right. Hope it doesn't get Collin killed, we could use him."

He turns around and waits for whatever is coming, fortunately he is not idle for long. A moment later the three are engaged in a struggle amidst the wagon.

The battle seems to have been won, and the cleric also seems to have his throat intact.

Good for him, the Azer thinks, now let's get on with this.

[BigRedRod]

Once more the groups set off, the nameless one and Collin ride in the cart along with Charir's body and a tied up Bandit.
The horse of the namless one keeps pace with the cart and stands at one side of it loyally, while the others ride on ahead or behind keeping an eye out for trouble.

The sky turns black despite their being a good few hours of "daytime" left, and rain purs from the sky. The road ahead becomes thick with mud and Collin is forced to slow the cart to avoid damaging it.

Inside the cart the nameless one begins his grizzly task, for a few minutes the bandit holds out but the small cuts from his own sword cause so much pain that he breaks down into tears
"Please *sob* , don't kill me. You don't understand, how they treated us *sob*. Marked us *sob* like animals."
Looking at the man's now exposed chest the nameless one can clearly see a large tatoo, without a doubt it is the mark of a slave
The man takes a deep breath
"I managed to kill my master, and I freed his other slaves, some didn't make it but alot did. We set offf away from our prison looking for somewhere we could settle and plan how to free out brothers and sisters. Yes, we raided but so what, we tried to avoid killing where we could? They treated us like animals! LIKE ANIMALS!"
The man starts to cough violently spraying little blobs of blood acorss himself and the half-fiend
"We ended up here in this country after following a slave caravan. You people claim you don't have slaves here *hack*. So we destroyed their caravan and set them free, there are at least two hundred of us now. Many are doing quite well or at least they were. I am their leader, their saviour I cannot die , not now."
He goes into another coughing fit
"Those men you killed, they were the best I had. They wanted to hurt those that had hurt me. And we needed more money..."
A cracked smile appears on his face
"...you wouldn't know how hard it is and how much it costs to set up a community, and how hard it is to hide it from the rest of the world that would take us back and force us into mines and on the fields"
The man breaks down again
"And thats it, thats why we attacked you. Wy didn't you do as *sob* I said? Your friend *sob* wouldn't have died and neither would *sob* my *sob* men."
The man falls back into the inky black world of the unconcious

[ooc: slavery in Vodalia is illegal. However many members of the high classes wish to have to legalise it as they believe vodalia is faling behind the other countries and that with slave labour they could produce so much more. Many of the larger households now have some very obedient servants with interesting tatoos, and there are rumours that some are using slave labour. However the Emperor seems to be avoided the issue, perhaps he is unsure of what to do, perhaps he is waiting until there is a clear majority.]

[Beidamon]

The Unknown figure leans back for a second and looks thoughtful. He then waits for the robber to awaken again.

"Hmmm, maybe something could be worked out, first, tell me what these magic items do and what their powers are. Now I represent a group that has certain interests a country that condones slavery, and I imagine that you want to free slaves everywhere. I will let you go, but only one one condition. You are to go into this country with your followers, raid for what you need, keep hidden, steal mroe money and free more slave followers make your army larger to free even more slaves, and as you free more slaves steal from their masters grow stronger and stronger and make the country grow weaker and weaker, keep this up long enough, ans salvation will come. Soon the whole country will become free of slavery, keep this up long enough and you will no longer need to run, to hide, and it also might just help to keep anouther country free. Swear you will do this, swear it with your soul as coladeral, swear you will do this, and if you do not, then your soul is mine. Swear you will do this and I shall let you live."

(OOC: The Unknown one is talking about the country were trying to invade, the one were trying to cause unrest in and weaken at this time, he figures this is as good a way as any to do it ;), and even if it doesn't work, at least the unknown one will get a shiny new soul)

[BigRedRod]

The bandit re-awakens as the group are considering setting up camp, he looks at the half-fiend and closes his eyes as it offers him a chance to live
"What country is this? You wish me to uproot my people and move them? why?"
The bandit leader reopens his eyes but looks deeply puzzled by the half-fiends proposition

[Beidamon]

"Uproot? Why I think slaves such as yourself would jump at the chance to free more slaves, and finally to free all slaves in a entire country, know only that this will help your people, and since your in no position to negotiate, you must swear you will do these things in Dauthim and tell me what these magic items do, then not only will you have your freedom in your hands, but possibly the freedom of countless other people just like you. With a offer like that, how can you refuse?"

[BigRedRod]

Hatred wells up in the man's eyes and blood trickles from the corner of is mouth
"WE ARE NOT SLAVES ANY LONGER *hack*, do not call us that"
The bandit coughs up more blood
His anger vanishes when he hears the word Dauthim
"Dauthim? Go back to Dauthim? Yes, now there are enough of us, we will go, we will strike back at the slavers. But ... my best men are dead, there are only two other groups of warriors, the others are farmers and the like now. I would not want to risk their lives."
He pauses
"I will take one group of my warriors, we will build up our numbers from those that are willing to fight. But I cannot travel back to my village like this, I wouldn't last."
The unknown one starts to pick up various items and ask what they do
"My armour ... offered me a good deal of protection while being loose as thick cloth. You can hardly feel it when you wear it"

"Ah my vest, I took that from my master's cold dead body *cough*, it let's you take more damage than you would think possible"

"That sword ... the first caravan we assaulted, it was the slave master's he would use it to hurt the slaves without leaving any lasting damage so he could still sell them. *hack* *hack* *cough* It subdues opponents rather than hurting them and it seems to guide itself"

"Ah Teni's necklace, an orc back at the village made it for him. He said the spirits lived in the bones, when he snapped them they healed his wounds"

"Teni's axe, *sob* why did I let them die *sob* WHY!? His axe, he found it while we escaped from our master's home, it made him lose his temper more when he held it but it seemed a fair trade, it gave him amazing strength and it was capable of such destruction"

"Those arrows, Grimeln took them from a guard when we attacked his slave caravan. They didn't work like normal arrows they caused a strange energy ripple when they struck a target, using them he could subdue *cough* *hack* *cough*small clusters of guards alone before they came anywhere near him..."
The bandit leader's eyes close and he looks to have lapsed back into unconciousness

[ooc: you can have a full description of each item when you have them identified. For now his general ramblings will have to do]

[Beidamon]

The unknown figure will draw forth a wand and will get anyone who could use it to use 3 charges on the man to seal the deal.

(OOC: For speeds sake you can probably just assume the unknown one can get someone to heal the guy with it)

[BigRedRod]

The namless hands the wand to Collin, who half turns and channels healing into the bandit and then turns back to look at the road which is deep in mud
[ooc: i know what i can assume :) ]

The bandit reopens his eyes for a moment and then falls into a deep sleep. He was clearly exhausted from the events of the past day

[ooc: remember to take 3 charges off your wand in your character sheet]

[Beidamon]

The unknown one will speak to the others

"When he wakes up tell him to stay, If all goes well I will have a boon for him." The unknown one will then collect the magic items (for identifying) and ride his warhorse horse ahead of the others towards town

(OOC: I should be able to get there in half the time it takes them, be able to buy and identify the stuff i need, and meet them near town before they enter, hell also see if he can't get a raise dead ready for as soon as our friend gets into town and hell contact our, well, contact and let them know were coming and what im planning on doing with the slave)

EDIT: Nevermind about part of it, forgot its the other town our contact is in hehe

[WhoNAN]

Tolven simply guides the group as the darkness falls, he releases his white hair from underneath themassive black hood of his cloak. While the Unknown one continues with his interogations Tolven focuses steadily on riding ahead without a distraction.

I will not let an error like that happen again.

He does not feel sorry for the man, however he is not void of compassion... more than once he glances at the sword.

It is not appropriate for me to retain the possessions of one that is living.

But the massacre they inflicted upon his men, was necessary, and provoked. He remains silent beyond this however.

[Cadrius]

Like the drow, Varidiir remains mostly silent. He frowns at the idea of slavery as it compromises the spirit and thus strays from enlightenment. However he firmly believes that even a slave could ascend given enough determination.

Shrugging he nods at the fiend's plan. If the man and the other former slaves struck into the same land, it would make their job easier.

Drifting closer to the wagon as the day wears on he speaks to the human from time to time. Understanding that he did not attack out of sheer greed casts doubt on his original opinion of the brigand.

Speaking in a gruff tone he says, "So what's yer name? That was a clever trap you set up back there, I'll admit that," he pauses for a moment, hesitant to say the next bit, "It's too bad things had to turn out the way they did. I'm sorry about your friends, but I do think one of them got away. Some bastard with a crossbow," he grins and gestures to the light scar left upon his calf.

[BigRedRod]

The bandit glances at the azer
"I never knew what my parents called me, the others gave me the name Zardoz. And that is the name I go by now. And I expected the ambush to work, it always had done in the past, normally we didn't even have to fight"
He sighs as the dwarf continues to speak
"Good, at least I didn't lose them all."
An uneasy silence falls between the two

[Gnarsh]

Lynores leads his horse up next to the wagon. "If you wish to strike back at Dauthim, we are fairly influential, and could talk to some higher-ups, possibly get you some more men and supplies. I'm sure the request wouldn't be ignored, as any damage to Dauthim we could cause would be helpful"

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

*Assuming that Beidamon's character has left, I'll just go along with it.

Sitting in silence, deep in thought but still partially listening to what Zardoz says, Collin turns towards him and says, "While I?m sorry that you had to endure your captivity and enslavement, I ask that you think about your actions. You say that you?ve assaulted others before us. Did you kill them or just rob them of their possessions? Either way how do you think they felt after their encounter? Taking away everything they have, leaving them destitute and poor. I?m not sure which would be worse, robbing them or killing them. Without a means for survival, what chance do they have to live life from that point on? But to kill a man, that?s a hell of a thing to do. You take everything away for them, not just their possessions, but everything that life has to offer. Even as slave, I?d be willing to bet you held out some hope for escape. Dead men have no such hopes. Why strike at the travelers, why not focus your energy on freeing the others like yourself? If you think about it, you could end up leading an entire army of freed slaves.?

He let?s that sink in a while before continuing, ?With enough men at your command, you could develop a network of spies and intelligence gatherers. If you had taken the time to look at us for example, you should have come to the conclusion that we?re not your average road merchant or traveler. The man who rode off, just one look at him would be enough for most men to think twice about fighting on nearly equal footing. And our friend you managed to slay, he?s of dragon-kin. There aren?t many who?d tangle with anything that had dragon blood running through their veins. Think about this, if you hadn?t engaged us, you?d be in your lair right now, alive and kicking with plans for your future. I?d assume that future has you getting back at your captors. What you must realize is that warfare should be directed, not just applied randomly. We, who were not your enemies, were favored by the Gods to defeat you. By surviving our onslaught, you?ll need to learn to pick your fights with more care. Maybe you should set your sights on those slavers whom you know instead of every traveler who comes down the road.? With a stiff warning, he says to Zardoz, ?Now play it smart, be nice to us and maybe you?ll live to see those slavers at your feet. I?d be willing to guess that even my heartless friend may aid your cause if you don?t give us any headaches.?

(OOC ? ?Zardoz??!?!? I hope you don?t mean the Zardoz from that really bad Sean Connery movie. When I read the name, I immediately started to think of that chant, ?The gun is good! The penis is evil!? Made me laugh and nearly blow my soda through my nose.)

[BigRedRod]

Zardoz stares at the tiefling
"If you want to try and help then feel free, you have spared my life and I ask nothing more"
The sky above is black now but the rain has stopped. The the party has started preparing camp, gentle hills continue on either side of the group
[ooc: make a decision about what you want to do with Zardoz, is he "free" but travelling with you, or tied up and left in a sack overnight?]

As the cleric talks Zardoz listens
"I apologize for attempting to hold you hostage."
He gives a long silent pause
"I was desperate, I did not lknow you would give me a chance at life after I had slain one of your band. I am glad you managed to look over the price on my head and see the need for my cause"

[ooc: Zardoz was a rocking film, and yeah It is where i plucked the name from don't worry there is no plot connection]

******
The nameless one rides his steed hard into the night but after three of four hours his mount is exhausted and he is forced to stop for the night. The area around is fairly flat and there is no sign of any life except a few trees growing in a random pattern beside the rode.
[ooc: do you want to go faster? you could doa forced march, its gonna take another two days for at your current speed (assuming no problems) at 8 hours a day. Feel free to push it but you may hurt your horse]

[WhoNAN]

The drow simply sits off in a shadow listening to the others talk with the man.... growing a bit discomforted with their openess.... He walks leans forward out of the shadow a moment.

"Thats enough." He says calmly, withhout affect. "Get some rest, I'll wake you for your shift." He says to the human.

And Tolven simply sits with the man taking the first shift, and allowing the others in the group to sleep.... keeping a hawks eye on the man, with a bit of distaste in the necessity to do so.

((We're taking shifts tonight, Tolven will not allow the man tobe unattended. We are a team, and while the fiendish one may be of personal gain, he has committed to the group as we all have, betraying the group, is betraying Vodalia, and having a country against you is not something that any of our characters with their inteligence would do.))

[Beidamon]

Ill just keep going on at a regular pace

[BigRedRod]

The night slowly passes with each team member watching the human for some point, Zardoz largely ignores this and goes to sleep for the night.
The next day the sky above is clear and there is no sign of any bad weather. The group manages a good day of travel

The next day allows at least the same distance to be covered by the group and the weather gradually worsens, the sky is a deep grey and there is a light rain for most of the afternoon
[ooc: 3 more days should get you there]

Zardoz is very quiet during the travel, he sits in the cart and keeps to himself

*****

The Half-fiend awakens and sets off at a far faster rate than would have been possible if he had stayed with the group. The weather gradually gets worse as the day progresses and as it seems like time to let his steed rest a light drizzle has started

During the next day the rain fails to stop and Unknown is accompanied by a constant drizzle
As he horse begins to tire he sees the familiar site of Seran in the distance. However the sky is growing dark and it looks like a large part of the town is closed for the day

[Beidamon]

The dark figure will find a nice peice of ground, will squate down and wrap his wings around himself, protecting him from the rain, and in that position he will go to sleep, leaving his horse to roam and find some food and a good place to sleep. He will start early in the morning the next day so that he might get all the stuff he needs to do acomplished

(When in town he will buy some spells (List to come), get the items identified, and see if there is anyone in town who might help us with our dead dwarf problem)

[Cadrius]

Varidiir grumbles to himself as he notices the worstening weather. He never enjoyed rain, especially not a cold one, he hoped he would at least be spared that much. He was a creature of fire, not steam, and his bride would not suffer such abuse.

He sighs to himself understanding that no matter how much he glares or shakes his fist, he cannot change the weather. He merely frowns and tries to accept his fate.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Acursed weather, can't tell when highsun is. I hope it clears, wouldn't want to walk into another ambush..." Collin smiles meekly at Zardoz.

At around highsun, Collin pulls the cart to a halt and gathers together a few belongings. Rummaging through his pack, he tosses a canteen and some rations to Zardoz. Fishing out a blanket, he walks off to the side of the road kneels down and begins to pray. With his prayers finished, he rolls up the blanket and replaces in the cart. Gently placing his hands on Charir's forehead the utters a prayer to Tempus, preserving the body from decay. With prayers completed, he mounts back up on the cart and makes ready to continue down the road, eating his lunch along the way.

(OOC - Cast Gentle Repose on Charir.)

[Beidamon]

First my guy will look for a mage guild, magic shop, or any other place in town where magic items and services are sold

He will buy the spells

-Erase (level 1 spell)
-Icebolt (level 2 spell)
-Mark of Air (level 2 spell)

Next, the items he shall get identified, if he doesn't have enough left over money it will go in this order of priority

-Vest
-Armor
-Axe
-Sword

And I wont bother identifying the other stuff

Then he will find a cleric and see how much it would take to bring the guy back to life, being careful to not give anything away and say only it was a bandit attack that caused it (If you dont think you'll replace the dwarf then dont bother with this)

Then if he has any time he will wander around town a bit just listening to others and trying to see if there are any interesting rumors of anything going on in the area or overall in their country.

Near the end of the day he will set out again and when he gets a few hours out from town he'll make camp and rest. After he wakes up he'll record his new spells in his spellbook, then memorize his spells, then set out to join with the others as they head to town

(OOC: Sorry for not roleplaying very well but this is just a minor stop so im just trying to get this stuff out of the way and back to you guys quickly)

[Cadrius]

As Collin brings their caravan to a halt Varidiir is grateful for the brief respite. The priest of Tempus begins his prayers Varidiir finds a comfortable spot underneath a tree. He kneels beneath the great oak and closes his eyes beginning to meditate.

Listening to the rain drizzle downward among the leaves and grass grants him a sense of tranquility. He feels peace surge through him and his mind drifts away despite the sizzling that occurs whenever a drop lands upon him.

The burning dwarf's mind wanders thinking of everything and nothing at once. Images come and go, some are memories, others are fantasies conjured up by his mind. Brief bits of his childhood on the Plane of Fire flit about, others are of his monastery. Another involves him standing triumphant atop a pile of foes so high that for once he is the tallest thing around.

Varidiir! a voice hisses in his mind.

Almost startled out of his meditation Varidiir's mind races about in his conscious plane seeking the intruder.

What? Who? his mind fumbles trying to grasp a hold on the idea that someone could invade his consciousness.

What're you doing dragging my body around?

What in the bloody hell are you talking about? What are you? One of those slaves? Or, former slaves?

From within his consciousness he hears, or rather he feels an exasperated sigh.

You always were a bit slow, weren't you? Too much time staring at your precious gems.

Eh?

A moment goes by, then two before the other voice finally responds sounding more and more frustrated.

It's Charir you idiot!

Oh Charir! How are you lad?

I'm dead you dolt, and don't call me lad.

Oh...right. How is it? Being dead that is.

Not bad actually.

Yeah? So what's heaven like?

It's a big room full of people who are all beating eachother.

Really?!

No.

Oh. So, um, why are you in my head?

Right. I wanted to tell you that I don't want to be brought back.

What? Why not? There's plenty of fun down here.

Yeah, that may be, but I think I'd rather stay up here.

Oh...but what about our mission? You're the only other dwarf here. Noname keeps getting bossy and likes to stab stuff, Tolven skulks about, and Collin is quiet but bursts out with random bits of arguing.

Bah, that's what you get. 'sides I think I like it much better up here. You'll get over it, lad

With that the connection is gone and Varidiir's eyes open. Two trails of steam rise off of each cheek as he makes his way back to the wagon.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

The unexpected occurs when Collin, prays to Tempus to preserve Charir. Instead of preserving the half-dragon dwarf, keeping the flesh from rotting, the reverse takes place. Charir's body begins to shrivel. First the skin begins to shrink. His eyelids open up, staring up into the heavens. The mussles atrophy and whither, causing Charir to become a skeletal mass of skin and bones. As this happens, a hissing sound is heard coming from within the chest cavity. Internal organs boil away into nothingness, not harming the the rest of the body. With the mummification complete, Charir whispers as the interal gas escapes, "Good-bye..."

Collin looks on in stunned silence until Zardoz speaks, "Whatever you did, don't do it to me."

The cart rattles, spooking the horses, but not enough to make them bolt. The body of Charir sinks into itself as the bones dissolve. Finally with only the skin left, it too disappears in a flash, leaving a scorch mark embedded in the back of the cart.

"By Tempus' holy axe, I ment to keep him preserved, ready for a return. The Gods have spoken as has our friend. Did you hear himi? He's said his final good-bye." Colin begins to trace the outline where Charir sat. "I suppose it wasn't ment to be, good-bye Charir, rest in peace." He bows his head in prayer, wishing him only the best.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir approaches as Collin is murmering his final prayer for the draconic dwarf. He is initially surprised at the disappearance of Charir, but he rapidly recovers and only offers a stoic shrug a the loss of the other dwarf.

"Don't worry about Charir," is all he offers to the priest.

He walks off a distance and gazes back where he had been meditating. He grows introspective, but sets off again whistling a tune to himself apparently the happiest he had been in days.

[WhoNAN]

Tolven gives only a momentary bow of his head, more of respect then morning. He has seen too many already die in his lifetime, and he knows there will most likely be many more to come, before he parishes also, that he must let go of.

[BigRedRod]

The group continues to move at a steady pace despite the strange events. The rain steadily worsens making it harder for the horses to move quite so fast without slipping

******

The namless one walks into Seran through the main gate, both of the posted gate guards turn their gazes away from the half-fiend as he enters, neither wishing to ask him his business
After a few minutes he manages to find a large ornate building which can only be a Mage guildhouse
As he enters a short middle-aged man with a scruffy beard and very ornate robes (these possibly signify his rank but it's hard to tell). After a brief discussion the mage leaves the nameless one at a table
Moments later the mage returns holding a number of Scrolls

Erase - 62 gold pieces
Ice Bolt - 312 gold pieces
Mark of Air - 291 gold pieces

Idenitification - 650 gold pieces per item
[ooc: this is for full identification]

[ooc: so let me know what you are willing to buy]

The namless one leaves the guildhouse after concluding his business, (which seems to have taken far longer than he expected). He heads towards the largest temple, which turns out to be a temple to the Water Brother, Cynthrax
After a brief discussion, the Clerics tell the unknown one that they will be happy to restore his friend to life, but it will require a sizable donation of at least 1300 gold pieces

[ooc: are you heading back to the group after you sort this out or are you waiting at an inn?]

[Beidamon]

(OOC: Isn't all that stuff a little expensive?)

Ill buy the erase and ice bolt spell (even if they do cost a lot) and get the vest fully identified (should take all my money, i only have 1000 gold listed but I had a little more then that, just didnt record my money total so wasn't sure exactly how much I had :()

Then he will leave town and begin heading back to the others

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: yes it's expensive, but identification always is and in future keep track of your money ;) ]

The vest is a Vest of False Life (from s&f)

Then Unknown slips out of the town and sets off towards the others making good time in the remainer of the day

****

On the morning of the 19th of Aluriak the Unknown one rejoins the main group. The weather has cleared up considerably now, the sky is clear and blue but it is fairly cold

[BigRedRod]

The group can clearly see the bustling town of Seran under an hour away on the road ahead.
There is a cold wind blowing across the group as they stop to prepare before entering the town

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Before reaching Seran, or as it comes into view from afar, Collin stops the cart and checks on the prisoner. Pulling the man out, he leads him to a tree or something large enough that he won't be able to break and run. Securing him tightly to the immovable object he gathers the group away from Zardoz and asks, "Well, we've waited until now to decide on what to do with Zardoz. Should we let him go, or turn him in? I'd be willing to let him go, because by the sounds of it, he has other provisions and arms to deal a blow against the slavers who imprissoned him. For taking me hostage, I'll just take that which he and his friends had as payment for placing my life in danger. The goods were magical weren't they? (He addesses that question to Unknown.) I'm guessing that he'll turn his attention away from extracting any revenge against us since we beat him twice. He is afterall just a bully, and bullies typically pick on weaker victims. I am asking this because we can't take him into town, he might be recognized. That is unless we plan on turning him over to his former master who is probably dead since he escaped in a violent manner. Or maybe the authorities?"

He waits a whille as the others discuss how they want to handle the prisoner before stating his wish, "I'd let him go. Maybe point him in a direction where he can focus his energies. Tell him to free more of those illegal slaves and recruit from the freed slaves to free even more. Such a task may seem grand and out of his league, but it would keep him out of our hair and may end up helping us in the long run."


(OOC - BRR, I think we have to deal with this before going into town. From what you led on about Zardoz, he can't or won't go into town. If it's wrong to assume this, ignore the post and I'll delete it later.)

[Cadrius]

The monk nods feeling a touch guilty for slaying a few of the man's friends. He had even laughed as the one with the axe attempted to strike at him with his bare hands. The memory of humiliating the former slave before killing him flashes across his mind. The guilt increases.

"Let him go and do as he pleases. If he truly wishes to strike back at those responsible then he'll do so. If not then he knows well enough to stay away from us," the burning dwarf bows his head for a moment still feeling responsible for the deaths of desperate men. They had been wrong to waylay travelers, but perhaps things could have turned out differently, somehow.

He clenches one fist as he deals with his personal demons before taking the man aside and saying, "As I said, at least one got away. Lad if I were you, I'd do one of two things. Devote my life to making those who enslaved me pay, or accept your fate and not harm others. Living as a brigand won't solve anything."

From his sporran he produces 40 gold pieces and says, "Here, maybe this will help you get on your way. It isn't a lot, but it's something."

Hoping that he will somehow be able to assuage his guilt the monk quickly walks back to the wagon and awaits entrance to the town.

[BigRedRod]

It is mid-afternoon on the 20th of Aluriak and the group are stood near the gates of Seran, the town is full of life (much for so than the last time the group was in the town)
A guard notices the group and approaches,
"State your business in Seran, we have had alot of trouble recently and we don't want anymore thankyou"

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin looks down at the guard from atop the cart and says, "Tell us about it, we were ambushed by orcs." He spits on the ground and continues, "Tell me is there a bounty on orc ears? I've got a small bag here with their ears." Bringing out the bag he holds it away from his nose. "Foul smelling things aren't they? If they were as smart as they are stinky, the world would be in some kind of danger, eh? Now how about letting us in. We could all use a little rest, a good meal and a hot bath. Know any decent launderers?"

[BigRedRod]

"Orcs? In these parts? Hmmmm"
He pauses for a moment
"Well you may take the ears to the guardhouse. Follow this road into the market square, it is the large building on your left hand-side"
The guard turns and points down the central road that passes through the town and goes towards the waterfront
"There are several inns throughout the city. A good honest inn with a bathhouse is The Split Bail, from the market square you follow a small side street next to smithy for a short time. You can't miss it"
The guard nods
"Good Day to you"
And walks into the crowd to stop any other suspicious characters

[Cadrius]

Varidiir shrugs helplessly before saying, "You know, I wouldn't mind having a bath." Apparently the thought had not occurred to the Azer that a bath with him would quickly turn into a hot tub, followed by a sauna.

He shrugs and wonders how a guard could be baffled by orcs out in the wilderness, but not by a burning dwarf, a dark-skinned elf, and a tall and gloomy fiend.

Bah, he doesn't have his priorities straight.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"And a good day to you, Sir." Collin kicks the cart into motion, navigating the city streets the best he can.

Priorities, he thinks...make a donation to help Charir's soul. Turn in ears for a reward. Bathe, followed by prayers. There's something else, maybe it will come to me after I've said my prayers. Something important, was it mission specific? Maybe if I don't think so hard I'll remember."

[Gnarsh]

"I'll head to the inn now, and secure some rooms for us, if you guys don't mind. Meet you there." Lynores says as he spurs his horse towards the inn. When he arrives, he'll get enough rooms to house the group for the night and get himself a bath.

[BigRedRod]

The town would seem to be without a Temple to Tempus. After a fairly extensive search it would seem that the central Temple is devoted to Cynthrax, the God of Water. There are two also two smaller temples, one devoted to Flett, God of the winds, and the other devoted to Horus, God of Day.

******

Lynores, Varidiir, Tolven and the Namless one proceed towards The Split Bail , the guard's directions allow it to be found without too much trouble. As the group reach the doorway a young boy greets them (after a slight pauses as the boy stares at the group) and speaks to Lynores
"... Afternoon ... Master, the stable is just down by the side"
The boy indicates the stable but he cannot help but stare at Lynores
"There is no charge for the stable providing you stay with us for the night."
"Single rooms are three gold pieces per night. Three-bedded rooms are eight silver pieces, per night, per person. Use of the bath house is included in the cost."
"So Master, what do you and your ... associates require?"

[ooc: About the guard earlier : When a collection of "freaks" arrive with a blood stained cart and act as if nothing is wrong its going to throw him off-balance. So he just blanks it out as it's too strange. Looking back I could have made this far more clear]

[WhoNAN]

Tolven with his black hood pulled far over his face in an attempt to shut out the day around him drop the money in the boys hand without a word.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Realizing that no temple to his god or Charir's will be found here, Collin elects to do the next best thing, get another clergyman to perform rites on concerated land. Charir was half red dragon, who would best fit protecting him on his journey? Flett, God of Air. Collin moves off to find the temple of Flett. He does his best to locate a priest and asks him to pray for Charir's soul. He also inquires about purchasing an empty grave in order to mark the passing of his friend, despite the lack of a body.

Following the stop at the temple, Collin then proceeds to deposit the orc ears, collect the bounty and make any necessary reports.

All tasks done, he heads towards the inn. "Eight silver for a room, and bath for me and two of my friends? That's a done deal."

(OOC - BRR if you want to roleplay this out that's fine by me. I know you're pressed for time right now so if you don't that too is fine. Whatever the cost for a gravemarker for Charir, Collin will pay it, writing it off as a worthy donation in an attempt to free his soulr, Charir's that is. Just le me know what the cost is and how much of a bounty the orc ears fetch. I'll update the character sheet when I get the information.)

[Gnarsh]

"I'll take a single room," Lynores says as he digs out three gold and gives it to the boy. He then takes his horse to the stables and gets himself washed.

[BigRedRod]

The cleric dressed in the blue and white robes of a Priest of Flett nods and listens to Collin's Story
"I see, the loss of a friend is never easy, but as a servant of the gods you must know that he is in a better place now. A grave will cost 10 silver pieces. As for a marker, we can arrange for a simple stone headstone to be engraved and placed for only 5 silver pieces, if you feel something else would be more fitting I can send for Beon, he is the mason that makes most of the markers for our graveyard"
[ooc: Just name what type of marker you want and i'll name the price]

Collin enters the guardhouse. It is a grey stone building, with barred windows. The enterance hall contains two benches and a large desk behind which there are several doors
As Collin enters he sees a guard pushing a young human through one of the doors, beyond the door is a staircase, no doubt it leads to the cells.
After making his intentions known to the guard sat behind the large desk, he responds
"Well I have no reason to doubt a Cleric of Tempus, we have had some problems with a few bandit groups recently. Hopefully you have put a stop to some of them. I will give you five silver pieces for each ear"

The Cleric then meets up with his Colleagues at the inn

[ooc: deduct your money for staying at the inn, and it is either 3gp each or 8sp each, depending on your room type]

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin thinks about what Charir would want in order for his remembrance. "Nothing too extravigant, but it should be able to withstand the test of time. Perhaps a a small granite headstone with his name and date of death etched on the surface. It needs to be made with some decent stone, afterall he was a dwarf. How's about a 10 gold piece donation to cover all the costs, the plot, headstone and engraving. Anything extra is to be donated to your temple in Charir's name."

At the guardhouse Collin hands over a bag with the ears taken from one half-orc, the fiendish orc and one hobgoblin (hey, they're close enough). "That's rather strange, the guards at the gate said that there hasn't been any trouble with orcs or men. In fact when I mentioned the orcs they seemed rather shocked. It could be that we met with a random wandering band instead of a gathering force, still is there any word that the surrounding county is moblizing for war or any confict of any kind? If there is, this could just be the beginning."

[Cadrius]

Varidiir travels with Collin to make certain that Charir is suitably taken care of, and he nods approvingly as the priest of Tempus makes the arrangements. His attention slowly begins to slide as the day wears on and he quickly finds himself wishing he had gone with the others to the inn.

However once Collin mentions war his attention is refocused.

I wonder if that was the best idea. Ask too many questions and we'll seem a little too interested in a war...

[BigRedRod]

The guard looks at Collin and leans closer and speaks quietly
"I hear that there are quite a few soldiers moving down towards the desert. As far as I can tell nothing has been announced but I wouldn't be suprised if some of the guards from our fine town weren't called up."
The Guard leans back and continues
"As for orcs in the countryside, we get all types. I suppose orcs could have arrived some how, saying that we don't get all that many near towns and it's been a good while since I heard of a tribe or anything in the Empire."

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Well rest assured, there are three fewer orcs roaming the countryside. At the very least they don't breed like kobolds or goblins. Those creatures breed faster than rabbits and rats. If I run into any more hostile orcs I'll be sure to bring their ears back here." Collin takes his silver and departs to the inn. To Varidiir he says, "Look here, we've probably made enough to pay for our rooms for a while."

[Cadrius]

Varidiir nods in agreement, the money would likely cover some of their fees. He only wished they had received it in another manner. The idea of cashing in on former slaves fighting for survival did not appeal to the Azer.

He walks in silence for a while, content to mull over his thoughts and observe the town.

"You did a good thing for Charir, I think he would've liked it," he says as they head toward the inn.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin nods in agreement, "It's the least we could do. None of us knew his real family. For all we know, we could have been the only family he had. We'll go see him before leaving. Maybe leave a bottle of dwarf spirits at his grave despite it being empty."

When alone or semi-alone where none are likely to be listening, Collin says to Varidiir, "Back at the guardhouse I noticed your shock, but if anything comes from it, I wouldn't worry. What's wrong or out of place when a priest of a war diety asks about a possible war? There is none. And if you didn't hear the sergeant's comment," Collin looks around to be sure nobody's prying, "By the sounds of it something may be brewing down south." Returning to normal he continues, "You shouldn't feel sorry about killing orcs. Chances are that they weren't slaves or anything other than bullies who cowed beneath the leader. Discipline by force isn't the way to run your military units. That's why men make better soldiers than orcs, even though orcs are a heartier species. Men can be disciplined without force. It might be why we work fairly well together, no orcs."

[Cadrius]

Varidiir shakes his head causing the flames that flicker and dance to weave back and forth for a moment.

"I merely seemed surprised because I thought we might to try and not attract attention to ourselves. If you had asked that alone, I would not have thought anything of it, yet I am keenly aware how much we stick out...particularly those of us with burning craniums."

He nods and says, "Perhaps. It isn't the killing that I mind so much as the fact that they seemed to have been former slaves, much like that man. Zardoz was it? There were other ways, but they seemed driven to do so. I suppose they picked the wrong people to rob."

[BigRedRod]

The afternoon quickly fades, as Collin and Varidiir reach the inn it is starting to get dark.
The common room is filling up slightly with small groups of people, although it remains alot quieter than most inns with this number of people would be
The boy looks expectantly at Varidiir and Collin after explaining the room charges

[ooc: edited ads i realied i had jumped too far ahead, ah well problem solved now]

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin removes some of the silver he was given for the Orc ears to pay for a three person room for himself, Varidiir and one other person (doesn't really matter). He inquires about when the bath will be drawn and having dinner brought to the room. With the innkeeper off making the necessary preparations, he asks his companions to join him up in the room. "I think we need to talk without the extra ears."

Up in the room he shucks his armor and neatly places his gear at the foot of his bed. When all who agreed to come to the room are present, he informs them about the conversation he had with the desk sergeant and the priest of Flett. He also tells them that he'll take part of one day in prayer to Charir when his gravestone is complete. Finally he asks them what if anything they have heard since arriving in town. "Has anyone found out where our contact is? And do we remember the code phrase? For I don't know it, being unfamiliar with the language."

[Cadrius]

Varidiir shakes his head and says, "Nah, I think I remember it, but I'm not sure. This language isn't exactly my native tongue either. Is there anyone here who speaks it a bit better than this poor Azer?"

The burning dwarf makes his way upstairs, seeking a bath.

[BigRedRod]

After confirming that your group contains at least one person who can speak code phrase the group clean themselves up and enjoy a night in a comfortable bed
Early the next morning the group meet in the inn common room. It contains a few people sat in groups eating and talking, but there are a good number of empty tables and a number of serving boys milling about.
A common theme in the conversation of those in the common room seems to be that of the latest event in the Ferry guild rivalry, a group of young men who claimed to be working for the Seran Ferry Guild attempted to set light to the Kheel Ferry Guild's Building in Seran. The Seran guild is denying that the group was involved, but the guard are investigating for a possible connection. So far this hasn't stopped any ferry journey's however.

[WhoNAN]

Tolvens anxiety is only in there safe passage, after last trip, he would feel more comfortable with a little more concrete evidance one way or the other.... but for noww he simply sits and takes a moment to re-nurish himself with fresh food.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir makes his way down the stairs and nods to Tolven as he takes his seat. Careful not to set any nearby waiters on fire he stretches and yawns a prodigious yawn, one that would make a giant proud.

He listens to the talk and grunts to Tolven, "Y'know, if I were the guard, the first person I'd look for after the opposing guild would be the dwarf that's permanently on fire. You'd be amazed how often I get blamed when something burns down."

He shrugs his copper shoulders and continues, "All I know is that I don't want to be on that ferry if it sinks. I'm not that great of a swimmer."

[Gnarsh]

"Well, if it did sink, I sure wouldn't want to be next to you. There'd be a fair chance I'd be boiled." Lynores says to the azer while plucking a few songs on his lute.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin tramps down the stairs and takes a seat for breakfast. His tardiness is the result of caring for his armor and weapon. Still scratched and dented a little, the breastplate is at least clean of dirt and any dried blood. Grabbing bread and drinking water or milk, he says to his friends, "I regretfully have some other matters to attend to later today, but you're all welcome to come with me to give thanks to our fallen friend, Charir. Before then, we might find passage on a boat. We'll need a fairly large one since we've got horses to worry about. Speaking of which, I plan on selling that cart, which should ease our needs. And what shall we do with the rest of Charir's gear? Shall I just hold on to his belt and cloak and sell the rest? He's got his armor, weapons, gear and horse. Maybe we'll keep his horse and use it as a pack animal."


(OOC - I think I brought this up somewhere else, but Charir's gear consists of the following (more comments following the list):
Equipment:
Light Horse and Cart
Masterwork Spiked Chain
Adamantine Chain Shirt
Cloak of Resistance +1
Masterwork Heavy Crossbow
10 Masterwork Bolts
10 Silvered Bolts
Masterwork Dagger (In right boot)
Weaponsmiths tools, Masterwork
Backpack
Flint and Steel
MW Potion Belt
Potion of Alter Self (x2)
Potion of Cure Light Wounds (x4)
Potion of Levitate
Potion of Reduce
Potion of Enlarge
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds

Currency:
219gp, 55pp

I would suggest someone with bad saving throws use the cloak (collin, lynores, or tolven). Maybe someone who uses light armor could use the armor (need to be medium sized but stout, AC +5 for the armor), the potions be held by someone who doesn't already have a banoleer of potions. Nobody uses a spiked chain, and everyone I think already has a missile weapon. The cart will be sold, the horse used as a pack beast. Not sure about the masterworked smithing tools. The rest of the money divided up or pooled for group use, maybe to pay for the ferry trip? )

[Gnarsh]

"I'll take the cloak, unless it's needed more by someone else." Lynores says after Collin goes over the equipment.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Done," says Collin. "The cloak is upstairs with the rest of the gear." He then directs his next comment to the group, "Remember, we're not here to get involved with a guild war. We book passage across and get there as quick as we can. The sooner the better. By the sounds of it traveling by boat is going to get more dangerous the longer we wait."

*edit - at high sun, Collin prays for his spells. A few changes until the group gets over the water (I just read what happened the last time). He'll swap out curse for a water breathing (just in case), The domain spell for 3rd level will change from Magic Vestment to Protection from elements. The 1st level domain spell will also be switched to Sanctuary.

[WhoNAN]

"I suggest we used the Ferry that was recently attacked... Mainly for the purpose that it is now time for retalliation. And they will be the ones doing so, presumably not to themselves."

Tolven ponders the gear of the fallen teamate for a moment.

((Sorry all, was out of town for the weekend.))

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Done eating? Let's grab our gear and be on our way then. We can probably find someone willing to buy the rest of Charir's gear. The cart, chain, and armor, is that all that we're going to leave behind? I suppose though we could carry it with us. I plan on keeping his horse to carry some parishables. It can also carry what's left of his gear." Collin then excuses himself and goes upstairs to pack his gear. He also fetches the cloak for Lynores.

*edit - Lynores should add a +1 cloak of resistance and adjust his saving throws acordingly.

[BigRedRod]

The group stand up and leave the inn, once outside they head toward the main square of the town.

The market is full of people selling various things, shouting, and wandering between the fairly spaced out stalls.
The group stroll down the centre of the market , heading to what looks like a shop where they can sell the cart.

The shop has an open front that leads to a wide area with a few cart and wagons, on the far side there is also a line of occupied stables.
An old man limps up to the group, staring in disbelief at the azer and Unknown, he adresses Collin
"Welcome, welcome. What can I do for you? Is your cart broken? Need some new horses? We 'ave the finest in the area, very reasonable too."
Collin explains that he wishes to sell the cart
The man nods and hobbles up to the cart, and sees the blood stains across the cart
"...erm.. What exactly 'ave you used this cart for? Nevermind, forget I asked none of my business..."
He kicks the cart in a few seemingly random places, then whistles
"Whoever made this was a skilled man, but on the other hand you have got alot of use out of it and it shows. Hmmmmmmm .... Shall we say 7 gold coins and 4 silver?"

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Not knowing anything about carts other than they're used to haul stuff, Collin quickly agrees to the price, "Done," he says, shaking the man's hand. "It's all yours for said amount, seven gold and 4 silver and not a copper less. Ah, no receipt is necessary. But have no fear, it isn?t stolen, there was no foul play involved with the cart and it is in perfect working order. Now if you don?t mind, could you pay us the sum you offered. We?re in a bit of a hurry. The day's nearly half over and we've much to do.?

As they head off towards the water, Collin asks his friends, "Do you remember which guild we used before? I have no desire to become fish food. Did I ever tell you I hate squid? Slimy creatures and their eyes, soulless."

[Cadrius]

Varidiir swallows hard as they approach the water. He really was leery of being on boats, especially when said boats were in water. For a moment he thinks about riding on a boat through a sea of fire and lava. He smiles as he daydreams, now that would be a boat he'd like to ride on.

Unfortunately the ferries around here did not seem to be equipped for that sort of travel. He sighs heavily and trudges along with the party.

[BigRedRod]

The group walk toward the waterside and emerge before the two Ferry Service Buildings. The price boards attached next to the open doors show the prices remain unchanged (passage is 2sp per person, 4sp per pack-animal and 10sp per cart)

The area in front of the buildings is very crowded, a large number of traders seem to be taking carts of goods across to Kheel and beyond. There are a number of guards stood around the front of the building, occasionally stopping someone to ask a few questions.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Uh, which one do we take? Do you recall which service was recently hit by the sabotage? Or should we go with the same one we used the last time?" Asks Collin when the two buildings appear. Upon uttering his last question his face turns white, "Uh, maybe it would be best if we avoid the one we used last time."

[Cadrius]

Varidiir shrugs and says, "Beats me. Maybe we should ask someone."

The Azer whips his head around looking for someone to question. Finding a nearby commoner the burning dwarf stomps his way over to them. He is fully prepared to give them a little nudge if the sight of an immoliated dwarf does not catch their attention, fortunately his ignited cranium does the trick.

"Excuse me," he says, "I heard there was some sabotage on one of those ferries. Know which one it was?"

Hmm, hope they don't work for either guild. That could be bad.

[WhoNAN]

Tolven nudges Vandiir. and speaks lowly.

"Rumor be, the Seran Guild attacked the Kheel.... best be taking the Kheel, as it is their turn for a strike.. aye."

[BigRedRod]

Varidiir stops a middle-aged man and aks him about the sabotage
The man stares at the strange-dwarf for a good few minutes and then slowly and quietly replys,
"Noting happened, just some kids ... I think ... stirring up trouble ... said they worked for Seran guild tried to burn down the main building of the Kheel guild ..."
The slowly backs away from the Azer and then walks into the nearest tavern

[Cadrius]

The Azer nods and says, "Thanks pal," as the man slowly retreats backward.

He looks at Tolven and says, "Looks like you were right. We'd be better off on the Kheel. Unless of course Seran wants to hit it again."

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin looks at the Azer and says, "I wonder if they'll take us? When they see you coming, they may think it's in retaliation or some pervese trick, you decide which." Collin shrugs his shoulders. "Best to get this over with as quick as possible." He leads his horse towards the guildhouse.

[Cadrius]

The Azer spits, sending out a bit of spittle that proceeds to sizzle on a the ground. Clearly he does not welcome the idea of being turned away for something so minor as being on fire.

"Bah, they'll let us on unless of course you can think of a good way of sneaking me in."

[WhoNAN]

Tolven waves his hand quickly, and the flames seem to dissappear from the azer leaving him resembling a normal dwarf with bronzish skin.

"Now we may proceed." The dark elf says quickly and shortly, not out of displeasure but just normal for his nature.

((Change Self if allowed on others.... don't have my book and don't remember whether it is self only or not))

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: It's self only, so it looks like your gonna try and hide him or something. I suppose he doesnt look that different from a distance...]

The group approach the Kheel Ferry Service building and keeping Varidiir out of direct site pay their passage and walk onto the raft-like ferry (it is very similar to the last two you used). The ferry quickly fills up, far more than it has done on any of your crossings before. The people keep themselves to themselves, either standing around with their pack animals, looking into the water, or talking in small groups. No one gives a second glance at the group stood at the front of the ferry.
[ooc: everyone deduct the cost of travel for them and their horse, except varidiir who doesnt have a horse : 2sp per person, 4sp per horse/pack-animal]

The journey is fairly swift and takes under half and hour, the ferry arrives at Kheel and people begin to unload and walk out into the town itself.

It is the 21st of Aluriak and somewhere in the region of mid-morning, you guess that Djen is around four days away from Kheel

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Need we bother going into town? Or shall we stretch our horses' legs and get a move on?" Collin looks down at Varidiir and says, "If you'd like to rest your feet, you may ride Chariir's horse for a while."

[Cadrius]

The Azer shakes his head as he watches the people in Kheel move about.

"Nah, I've been walking all of my life. No sense in changing that now. Thanks for the offer though."

He resumes his observation of the town. It was quaint enough and they likely didn't need to receive a visit from a brawl-enducing burning dwarf anytime soon. Varidiir chuckles, it had been a while since he had gotten drunk and started a fight. He makes a mental note to do so during the downtime after this mission.

[BigRedRod]

The group sets off following the road that will take them towards Dauthim.

The weather is not as harsh as it was further north, for most of the time there is a warm breeze from the south and the sky remains cloudy but free from rain.
The terrain gradually changes from fairly flat grasslands with small clusters of trees to the beginnings of a desert, the only vegetation in the bare dry earth are a few clumps of grass and groups of trees which look to be dead.

Today is the 25th of Aluriak, after four days of following a well travelled road the group emerges at the high-walled town of Djen on the outskirts of the ruby sands,. Beyond the town itself you can see the strange colours of the ruby sands. The walls are plastered and are a colour not too different from the surrounding sand, the walls are in very good condition, the town appears to take pride in it's appearance and it's location makes it a fairly wealthly town. Atop the walls you can see several guards patrolling.
The gate in the city wall allowing access from the north seems fairly free from traffic, the day is almost at an end and the gate-keepers seem to be making preperations to shut the gate for the evening

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin sees the town ready to enter its evening slumber and says to Lynores, "Want to stretch your legs? I'll race you to the gates. Winner buys dinner."[/i]

[Gnarsh]

"You're on." Lynores responds to Collin, and begins to run as quickly as he can to the gate.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin spurs his horse into a run. "No fair! You got a head start!"

[BigRedRod]

Collin's horse gallops after Lynores', after twenty feet or so with Collin making up the distance from the head-start his horse trips slightly. As Collin wrestles to recover control of his steed Lynores arrives at the gate.
A gate-keeper approaches Lynores and looks him over with clear distaste,
"Your friends had best hurry, we will be closing the town gates shortly. If you do wish to enter then you must pay the gate-toll..."
The Gate-keeper stops is sentence short as Collin arrives at the gate, the gate-keeper looks him over briefly and glances over at the rest of the team as they approach the gate
"The gate-toll is one piece of gold per person."
The rest of the group arrive at the gate and find themselves to be the only people seeking to pass through the gate this late in the day

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin fishes out a gold and a silver from his belt. "Another silver if you can direct us to a good quality inn. My friend here has a healthy appetite and I could also go for a good hot meal."

[WhoNAN]

Tolvens gloved hand retrieves and drops the toll in the hand of the guard, the silloutte that is the dark elf in the twilight sun saying nothing from under his deep hood, and black apparel.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir waits while the others pay, holding a gold piece in his hand and letting his body's heat warm it up. He then tosses to the man and chuckles as the guard shouts in surprise at the hot gold piece.

Bah, I bet I coulda beet the both of them here.

[BigRedRod]

The gatekeeper smiles as Collin hands him the pair of coins and begins making vague movements with his arms to convey the direction that the group should head
"Of course, head up into the main square and the road on your left. There are three or four taverns down there. They all welcome travellers, some are better than others. In my opinion you would be safe in choosing The Raven for a hearty meal and a rest."
The gatekeeper relieves each member of the toll in turn, as the Azer passes through the gate he hears the gatekeeper yelp in pain as the hot coin burns his hand

The town is mainly low buildings all covered in plaster, the colours vary but most are the same sandy colour as the outer walls. The streets are fairly empty, it looks like the town more or less comes to a stop when the sun goes down and the temperature drops. It is still fairly warm but less so than it was an hour previous. The people that are on the streets look to be merchants finished for the day and heading home, the barely glance at the group of special forces members as they enter the town.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin turns to Lynores and asks, "Well, do you think you can eat your weight in gold my friend? I know I can choke down a good meal after all this traveling. So take your pick, dive number one, two, three or the guard's suggestion, The Raven." Collin steers his horse towards The Raven, already knowing the answer.

[Gnarsh]

"To the Raven, then. A good meal shall be nice after all this travel. Especially since you're buying."

[Cadrius]

"Eh? Someone's buying dinner? Sounds good to me," rumbles the Azer as he walks down the street. He peers into nearby shops but does not find much of interest. Varidiir sighs contentedly as they stroll through the sun's dying light. The wound in his calf had healed nicely and he no longer felt any sort of pain when he walked.

"The Raven huh?" he asks while making an expression with his face. It seems that if he had eyebrows he would have raised one at the mention of the title, "sounds a bit dark to me."

[BigRedRod]

The group follows the directions and easily finds a street which seems fairly alive, small groups of people wander into taverns, a few stagger out and a number of people who would appear to be travellers by their dress look at the choice of inns in the area.
The Raven itself is a building which has it's front slightly recessed from the edge of the street, there are two wooden tables in this recess. One is currently occupied by a man slumped over while his friend quietly speaks to him. The doors are open and the hospitable atmosphere can be seen, it is quite noisy and fairly full but it contains a couple of empty tables. A young girl places two mugs on the table with the two men, she glances over at the group and smiles,
"The stable is there," She points down to one side of the inn
"Find yourself a table and I'll be along shortly"
The girl heads back inside the inn

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Smiling at Lynores, Collin says, "Lynores, since I'm buying, I think it's fitting that you tend to the horses. Maybe it will feed your appetite." He dismounts, gathers a small pack and hands the reins to Lynores. "Don't be too long, the food might begin to get cold!"

[WhoNAN]

Tolven dismounts and heads straight for the stables, setting his mount to rest there, with the appropriate sustanence.

Upon returning he sits down with the others, still in typical fashion without a word, or even a facial expression to give hint at what he's thinking for the moment.

[BigRedRod]

The group find themselves an empty table and sit down. The rest of the inn-patrons hardly looks over at them, and those that do don't seem to stare as much as they did back in Vodalia.
Despite te noise and large mount of people the atmosphere is fairly civilised and not quite as rough as many of the other traveller inns that you have experienced

After a short wait the girl who showed you in walks up to your table with a cheery smile on her face
"And what can I get for you gentlemen?"
[ooc: Food and lodging is as the PHB]

[Cadrius]

"This is pretty nice," Varidiir says as he kicks up his feet on a nearby empty chair, "too bad there aren't any brawls going on though."

He snaps his fingers wistfully and then orders an ale as well as some food.

"So, we stayin' here tonight?"

[Gnarsh]

Lynores walks in and sits down with the group after taking care of the horses.

"I'll have a glass of wine and whatever food you recommend."

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: deduct the money for food and lodging]
The serving girl quickly brings the group a round of drinks and a meal
The food is fairly varied but most is heavily spiced (as is traditional in tis region). Still the portions are large, tasty and the price is reasonable.
The hours slowly pass and the room slowly emptys as people home or up tp their rooms. Under half the tables are now occupied and it is quite a good deal less noisy

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

A hot hearty meal and brief digestive period, Collin performs an after dinner stretch. He stares into his money pouch and says, "Well, that was three gold pieces well spent. Good food, enough for three people and a room for the night. We'll have to sample some of the other establishments. I hear that the Giant's Noose has a wonderful ale." Collin smiles at his friends. "I take it we're off early in the morning? And Lynores, you took care of the horses, I got your meal and room. We may have to do this again, only next time I'll win!" He smiles as he gets up from the table to leave. "I'll see you in the morning when we go take care of business."

(OOC - BRR, deducting 3 GP for two large meals (read as four normal sized meals) and two rooms.)

[WhoNAN]

Tolven continues to sit for the most part quietly at the table... in some random deep thought it would be to assume. He generally never speaks at meals, and socializes very little in general... cloak, and hood almost always concealling his face.

Although from under the hood, he is kind and curtious while short replying to the serving girl... and others when engaged.

The dark elf sits at the table long into the night, slowly sipping at his drink... and merely starring off into the room.

[Gnarsh]

Lynores sits at the table with Tolven for awhile.

"Hey Tolven, a silver for your thoughts."

[Cadrius]

Varidiir yawns. The tavern was simply too quiet and Tolven wasn't helping matters.

Blasted dark elf is always quiet.

For a moment he stops and considers the startling differences between Tolven and himself. He was an elf, or at least looked like an elf, Varidiir never had been too sure what a drow was. His skin was dark, while Varidiir's was on fire. The Azer loves bar fights, the drow loves quiet. He shakes his head, unable to comprehend the thought of not liking bar fights. Strange. Yet despite his flaws he was a good companion and he fought tooth and nail against the bandits, and for that he respected him.

He emits another yawn of titanic proportions before saying, "Yeah? Where're we going tomorrow?"

[WhoNAN]

"My thoughts are free to you, although they are few and many interchangeably... the few... work, our upcoming missions, the serving girl...." after a pause and the closest thing any of the team members has ever heard from Tolven resemble a laugh.

"The many...... the many, I have watched many things.... many things, even before you were born..." he says to Lynores....

"Sometimes I wonder what it all comes down to.... " His factual affectless tone of voice subsides.... and he removes his hood to look at the others.

"I envy my kin at times, for their conviction of hatred.... it is passion.... furious, glorious passion.... but in the end for what. My cousins, their desire for love, and the moment, its fleeting.... a dicotemy, a perfect opposite they are, and somewhere.... somewhere.... I am stuck in between. It is all so petty, this love and hatred.... where has it gotten either of them, but eventually the same place... dead.... for that is where we all end up is it not... even us.... even I, will too die someday.... for some reason." He pauses.... and sits back quietly.... still even in his editorializing rant, stating things as fact.

"..... as for the moment, we continue tomorrow, we will soon have new instructions and we continue on.... simple."

[Cadrius]

The Azer turns his head away from the drow and rolls his eyes as Tolven speaks. While it is nice to hear the elf open his mouth, what comes out leaves Varidiir largely unimpressed. His overly morose and pessimistic view on life would not solve anything and while he did have some interesting points Varidiir still found himself bored. Yet he says nothing and merely stretches before excusing himself for the evening.

He exhales a few times in the night air before going for a brief walk to stretch out the muscles in his legs. His burning head bobs as he makes a slow circuit around the block.

Returning late he collapses in his room and sleeps in a sitting position. He is careful to keep his burning cranium away from the sheets of the nearby bed.

[BigRedRod]

The group spend much of the evening in conversation and thought...

The following morning (26th of Aluriak) the group awaken in the warm glow of the sun, the beds were a little hard for most tastes but it was better than sleeping outdoors by far.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Having not partaken in any of the evening's festivities, Collin wakes up rested and in good spirits. "Ah, there's nothing like waking up without rocks in you back." He proceeds to so some minor stretching, followed by a quick washing. Cleaned and ready, he straps his breastplate back on and stows his gear. He walks into the hall and looks around for his friends. Not seeing anyone he knocks on Lynores' door.

"Lynores? Are you awake? Get up, we've got work to do."

He proceeds to do the same for everyone, knocking on their doors until he hears the groans of sleep escaping from their mouths. Happy that everyone's awake, he travels downstairs to orders breakfast and await his friends.

[WhoNAN]

As Collin comes downstairs he finds Tolven already quite awake and sitting at one of the tables, with a ample sized breakfast meal infront of him.

[Gnarsh]

The door opens to Lynores' room, and out steps one of the barmaids, hurrying to get to work. Lynores follows soon after, rubbing his head from a hangover. Still half asleep, he sits down at the table with the others for breakfast. "Morning, boys. How did you sleep?"

[Cadrius]

Varidiir stretches and yawns. He stands from his cross-legged position on the floor and begins to bend and twist, warming his muscles up for the day to come. The Azer closes his eyes as he moves about his room, falling into a brief series of slow punches and kicks.

Coming downstairs he yawns again and seats himself with the others.

"All right boys, what's the plan for today?"

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin looks at his friends and says after analyzing their faces, "I take it you gentlemen had a pleasant evening. While you were drinking the night away I've heard of a watering hole that some of your need to visit, the Giant's Noose. I heard they have an ale that will knock a grown dwarf on his back." He smiles at the Azer with his last comment.

[WhoNAN]

"May I remind you we have a job to do." Tolven states blankly.

[Cadrius]

The Azer rolls his eyes and says, "Bah, sounds more like a challenge than a statement. It might knock one of these terrestrial dwarves down, but how about one that's on fire?"

He repeats the eye rolling when Tolven speaks, "Yes, yes, we do. Let's get on with it then. I'll have to remember to try that ale sometime though."

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin stares back at Tolven equally hard, "Yes, and that business requires us to visit the Giant's Noose to sample their ale. Maybe while we're there we can also check out what's going on around here. Good hard ale has a tongue loosening effect. Who knows, maybe tongues will loosen up to the point that all the different languages will come together in a great drinking song. We are afterall in a trading town."

[WhoNAN]

"Indeed.... but my mind isn't on ale... Partake if you wish... but I'll feel more comfortable once we've taken care of what we need to do...."

[BigRedRod]

The entire team now awake and ready for action set out to find the Giant's Noose. The street outside the Raven is quiet but contains a fair number of people, most seem to be attempting to rech their places of business before the sun is fully risen and the temperature becomes a little too high.
Looking around it would appear that a vast majority of the town's Inns, Taverns and suchlike are are in the local area
The Sky is clear and blue, but tinged with orange.
[ooc: are you going to fetch your horses? or leave them in the stable while you find the Noose?]

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin negotiates for an additional night for his room and his horse's stabling. He's willing to pay the inn's proprietor for the services at the same time he pays for his breakfast. Finished paying, he returns to his room to retrieve his armor and axe. Comfortable encased in his breastplate, with his arms and holy symbol presented on his chest, he goes back down to meet with his friends.

[Gnarsh]

"Well, shall we get going then, boys? Let's get to the mission!" Lynores says to the others. He then goes upstairs, grabs his gear, comes downstairs, and gets another night for himself and his horse.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir sees the others paying for an additional night and follows suit. When questioned about stabling his horse for another evening he merely glares at the innkeeper before moving out the door with the others.

Seeing that the majority of the taverns are located within the same general area of the town the Azer says, "Perhaps we should split up and look for it? We can agree to meet up back here once the sun is about halfway between the horizon and noon."

[WhoNAN]

Tolven hears this and holds his hand up for a moment... and then stops the first person passing by.

"Excuse me, could you be so kind as to direct me to the Giants Nose inn."

((Diplomacy to avoid this person from freaking out that there is a completely black clad dark elf with no visible face asking for directions.))

[BigRedRod]

Tolven stops a man who is trying to hurry by
The man barely glances at the dark elf, he is clearly in a rush and just sees Tolven as another traveller with weird foreign clothing
"What? The Noose? Why can't you people just look for what you need, it's just down the road, keep walking that way and it's on your right. Now I have things to do and places to be, so goodbye."
The man points one way and strides off in the other direction

[WhoNAN]

Tolven now lowers his hand and gestures the direction the man mentioned....

"Gentlemen, I'd rather not have to look for everyone after a minutes search."

And proceeds with a hint of enjoyment.

[Cadrius]

The Azer shrugs, it didn't much matter to him. They knew where the place was and it only cost the ire of one townsfolk to find out. Not a bad trade, not a bad trade at all. He whips his head around causing the flames to dance and sway and makes a beckoning motion with his hand.

"Come on now, the sooner we get there the sooner I can try some of this ale they talk about."

[BigRedRod]

The group walk down the road, looking at the variety of buildings they pass, some seem to houses, others look like shops of one type or another and there are a fair amount of Inns and Taverns.
Eventually the group find what can only be the Giant's Noose, the sign is an oversized noose hanging from a post high on the building.
The road is less travelled in this area of the town, and it is not as well-kept as the other regions you saw on your enterance
The double doors of the building are wide open, but it is hard to make much out of the insides due to the intense light outside, it is also a little warmer than when the group left the Raven barely five minutes ago.

[WhoNAN]

Tolven waits but only a second before entering, favoring the darkness to the unbearable sunlight outside. He proceeds to look for the owner of the establishment... and proceeds to approach him, and using his best judgement whether everything is safe or not will ask where he can find passage to oran... in his best Llandish of course.

((If its not obvious Tolven will do what he normally does, and ask someone.))

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin stares grimly at the Giant's Noose. "That's the last time I'll listen to an Oranish merchant. This place is an absolute dive." In a mocking high pitched voice he recites a saying, "The Giant's Noose has the best ale on the southern end of the Blood Marsh." He then spits on the ground and says in his normal voice, "Well let's get this over with." And he proceeds inside.

[Gnarsh]

"A bar is a bar. So long as there are reasonably good looking barmaids, it's fine by me." Lynores says to Collin, following the others inside.

[BigRedRod]

The group head inside and out of the glare of the sun, the interior isn't as bad as expected but it is fairly run-down and it seems to have an aura of despression
The tavern is sparsely populated, a few people are slumped over tables and the one or two that seem conscious tend to be sat in the corners and drinking alone
As the group enter the bartender looks over at them and nods a greeting, the bartender is a short, slightly overweight man with dark skin, he seems a little too jolly for his surroundings.

[BigRedRod]

Tolven approaches the barman, and in Llandish, sasks the question given to him by Sacorn,
"Where can I find passage to Oran?"
The barman leans forward over the bar and looks at Tolven's face, his face becomes rather more serious and he says, again in Llandish, in a quiet voice,
"You should try the main square tomorrow morning, for a small amount a caravan may be able to take you with them"
After this the barman stands up fully and turns around to continue the constant task of cleaning mugs and the like which faces a landlord.
On the bar, where the landlord was leaning, there is now a small piece of folded paper, although it looks to fairly damp as it was placed touching a small pool of what you would guess is ale

[occ: I've been feeling pretty ill for the past few days, so don't blame me if there are a few mistakes]

[WhoNAN]

Tolven's eyes venture downward to see if anything can be read off the paper, if nothing visible... he skillfully grabs it unnoticed turning around this time with nothing in his hands when he returns facing the rest of the group.... walking diliberatly towards the door

Unbenownced to anyone else, he quickly casts a spell underneath his cloak to dry the paper, as to not allow its contents to smudge any further than they might have.

"Our business is finished here." He says blankly.... Pausing a moment when reaching the group.... he somewhat seems to pause afterthis, as to hesitate before leaving.... although his posture changes, and words once again flow from his mouth. "....so.... someone mentioned something about getting some ale?" he says almost awkwardly, before letting out a bit of a chuckle, and smile from underneath his hood.

((Pick Pocket to grab the paper unnoticed, Prestidigitation to dry.))

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin looks around the tavern and shakes his head. "I think you're right. Maybe it would be best if we returned when the giant awakens from last night's slumber." The laugh dies on his lips before he even begins to chuckle. He clears his throat, "Ahem, instead of ale I think I'll go try to sell our wares. I'm sure that suit of mail will fetch a good price."

[Gnarsh]

"I'm going to head into town also, I want to find somewhere where I can get this armor fully identified. I'll meet you guys back at <insert name of tavern we stayed at last night> later. See yas." And he heads out the door, looking for a temple or wizards guild or somewhere that would be able to identify magic items.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin runs after Lynores, "Wait up, I'll go with you. I'm sure that the local merchants will be able to guide us. Besides by the sounds of it, we both need to return to the inn."

[WhoNAN]

As the various members of the team start to dissintegrate around him, he internally withdraws his kind gesture and a bit of a scowl appears on his face.... slipping the piece of paper into his glove he finds a nice dark place to read its contents covertly.

[BigRedRod]

Tolven smoothly takes the paper and magically dries it, no one in the room seems to have noticed.

*****

Lynores and Collin set out to conduct their business in the town, the hot sun is now beating down, and the streets are empty. After gathering a number of items from the inn then set out into the merchant quarter.
Despite the heat the area is bustling with activity, people are noisly haggling and accusing one another of being dishonest. Goods from most of Ku'zul seem to be on sale here. Around the edge of the central market are several large important looking buildings. These would appear to be the more exclusive sources of anything you can ask for.
One of these exclusive buildings is named "The Arcane Hammer" and seems to be a specialised Mage/Blacksmith Guild, the guildhouse also doubles up as a shop, primarily selling very high quality weapons and armour but they seem more than capable of item identification, for a small charge

[ooc: as it's a trade town, you can sell anything for half the given value. Identification is 500gold pieces per item]

****

Tolven finds a quiet moment to himself and casually unfolds the paper. It contains neatly written vodalian text, the smudging is minor and the words can still be clearly made out,

Xaemar is missing. A note was found in his quarters, it explained that he did not feel the teams were adressing the real issues that faced Ku'Zul. He had been talking alot about what his "voices" told him, mainly concerning something called Pandora and invisible demon lords that control the world. His gift for prophecy is very useful to the Vodalian Empire. We have tracked him to a cavern in a sudden rock outcrop, it appears much like a huge spine sticking through the deserts, it is just short of half a days ride south of Djen, it can be seen for a fair distance around and is formed from a red-black rock. You should have no problems finding it. Find Xaemar, he does not trust his ex-team members, persuade him to resume working for the Empire or kill him, his powers and knowledge are both too great to allow to slip in the hands of a rival power.
After this, return to Djen, with Xaemar if possible, and proceed down the alley next to the Giant's Noose. Behind a collection of crates and barrels you will find a passagway leading downwards. Ensure you are not seen entering the passagway.
After you have read and fully understood these instructions, burn this paper

[Gnarsh]

Lynores enters the Arcane Hammer, and asks the first wizardy-looking person he sees, "Excuse me, but could you possibly be so kind as to tell me where I could get a suit of armor identified? Money is no object."

[BigRedRod]

[ooc: erm I already answered this in the ooc in my last post, but i'm happy to go through the whole conversation if you are feeling the need to haggle or somesuch]

The Arcane Hammer doesn't contain what might be considered "wizardy-looking" people, the guildmembers are fairly well built and typically men (at least half would appear to dwarves). A giant of a man greets Lynores and laughs heartily,
"Yes, we provide that service, most of our members have some knack for the arcane, the sage Ketrix should be able to help you. He is sat other there"
The man points to a dwarf who is sat on a bench examining an axe. The axe is covered in runes and it is easy to tell that the weapon is master-crafted, however the dwarf seems to be looking for something deeper than that
The dwarf has a long grey beard, filled with more ornamentation than would seem possible to attach to a beard, he carefully places
the axe on the table and looks up at Lynores
"Identification? Yes, it is my area of expertise but it is not a cheap service and it will take me some time. Let's call it an hour and five hundred pieces of gold shall we?"

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin's with Lynores so when the merchant begins to discuss the price, he steps forward to assist in the negotiation. "Five Hundred gold pieces you say? Well what if we were to negotiate a barter for some goods? It so happens that I've a fine set of smithing tools here along with a suit of armor made of a unique alloy and some perfectly balanced weapons that I was going sell in the market. Perhaps you'd be interesting in obtaining them and as part of the exchange you could include with the sale the cost of identifying my friend's item?"

( OOC - BRR, I just don't want to have to drag 1455 gold pieces around with me. If Collin can negotiate a sightly better price for Chariir's gear, MW Blacksmithing tools, Adamantine Chain Shirt, MW Spike Chain, MW Heavy Crossbow, 10 MW Hvy X-bow Bolts, 10 Silvered Hvy X-bow Bolts. Collin's going to keep the MW dagger. Maybe 1500 gold pieces minus the 500 gold to identify the item for a take home pay of 1000 gold? We'll take platinum, or gold trade bars, something that's portable or if there's something that might catch Lynores or Collin's eye, maybe we'll take a trade of some sort. If we do trade for an item, I think we'll have to get better than 50% in value, more like 60%. )

[Gnarsh]

"Alright, that seems like a fair price. I'll be back in a little while." Lynores hands over the gold, gives him the armor, and waits for Collin.

[Cadrius]

Varidiir shrugs as the others filter out of the tavern. The contact had been found, good, now they'll pretend as if every person in town wasn't staring as they walked down the street. He chuckles, perhaps the best hiding spot was in plain sight.

He inclines his head toward the bartender and waves him over.

"Say, I heard this place has some ale strong enough to knock a dwarf on his back, think it could do the trick for me," he asks as he orders the drink.

[BigRedRod]

The man smiles and pauses for a minute
"My Vodalian isn't good" he says in a slow careful voice
He holds up five of his fingers and says "Copper"
He gives another smile and places a wooden mug of brown ale down in front of the firey dwarf
The man suddenly shouts something, but Varidiir can't understand, another man has entered the tavern, he is tall but looks to lack any real muscle, he has a long scar down his face and only a single eye, the other is covered by an eye-patch of brown leather. The man shouts something back and walks up to the bar, the men shake hands and begin a loud conversation involving a great deal of hand motion and mugs of ale

The ale is a thick brown colour and a rather odd smell. It is not as strong as promised, Varidiir easily remains standing at the counter while he drinks, but it is a step up from the traditional watery ale served in most taverns

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Before Lynores finishes his deal, Collin steps forward and places his hand on his arm. "Excuse me good sir, but about the cost for identifying items, could we instead barter a deal? Like I said before, I've got this wonderful shirt of mail made of a unique alloy. Tougher than steel, and forged by a master smith. We also have a set of masterful smithing tools, which I believe were used in the construction of the fine weapons." Collin displays Chariir's remaining belongings to the dealer.

"Could you find it in your heart to trade the services of identifying my friend's possessions for these goods, and possibly grant us a small sum of gold in return for these wonderful items?"

[Cadrius]

Varidiir sighs in disappointment. He had been hoping that the ale truly would have knocked him off the bar stool. Still, it was better than most other taverns. He smiles and nods at the bartender as he lays the five copperp pieces down on the bar.

He glances over at the scarred man with a raised eyebrow. They certainly seem animated enough in their conversation, yet what was it about? The Azer kicks himself for knowing so few languages. The bartender did help them out though, so this newcomer couldn't be all bad.

Varidiir continues to sip his ale as he surveys the bar.

[BigRedRod]

The dwarf gasps
"Adamantite!"
He pauses as he touches the shirt, to make sure it is real. Then he continues in a more sedate voice
"Yes this will be sufficent. A most rare metal. It's value is around the same as the charge for identification. Is this acceptable? A straight trade of the tongs and shirt for the identification then?"

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Collin extends his hand, "Done!"

He looks to his friend and says, "We can thank Chariir once again. Do you want to stay here and wait for the identification or shall we wait together?"

[Gnarsh]

"I would rather head back to the Giant's Noose and try some of that ale. I'll meet you back here in an hour, if you don't mind." Lynores says to Collin, and heads over to the Giant's Noose unless Collin has any objections.

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

"Not a problem. If they're done sooner, I'll catch up with you there or back at the inn." Replies Collin who then looks for a seat while he waits.

[BigRedRod]

The private world inside in the Arcane Hammer is fascinating, there is little talking, each smith seems perfectly involved in their craft. The dwarf studies the items, again near silence. Still the noise of the forge is present, as is the heat

****

The duscussion between the man and the batender contines up until when Lynores enters. The Barman gives him a nod and leaves his other customer for a second

--several hours pass--

The dwarf sits up
"I am finished"
"Some very interesting items indeed, I'll explain the function of each to you"

"This leather armour is so flexable and offers suprising protection"
[+1 studded leather armour but treat as padded armopur for Max dex bonus, ACP and arcane spell failure]

"The blade is a cruel weapon indeed, it gives so much pain but does no actual damage. I suppose it could be an act of mercy or torture, depending on who uses it"
[+1 merciful short sword]

"This 'necklace' is a grizzly item, but it is a useful item, each bone can be used only once. It activate it's magic just snap a bone and it cures a small amount of your wounds"
[each cures 2d8+4 damage, 3 bones left. Radiates a faint aura of evil]

"This battle axe gives it's weilder strength but steals some of the mind"
[+2 battleaxe, gives +2 strength and -2 to charisma, wisdom and intelligence]

"I can see great potential in the use of these arrows. They do not function as a normal arrow, instead when they strike they give a burst of energy that subdues those around where the arrow struck"
[ 6 subdual burst arrows, i'll add the description to custom rules]

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

During the several hours it takes for the dwarf to identify the items, Collin wanders about the marketplace in search of a buyer for the finely crafted weapons which once belonged to their fallen friend Chariir. He bargins for a reasonable price, knowing full well that he won't take home more than the weapon's actual worth. Still he tries his best to spin stories about where the chain and crossbow have been and who and what the owner had done with it. Settling for a fair price he returns to the mage's workshop to await the results.

Collin and Lynores both thank the dwarf for the information as they pack away their newly identified magic items. Before leaving, Collin asks the spellcaster, "Excuse me, but I have one more question to ask, do you know where I might find a jeweler? I've still got a few items to sell and I'd rather carry a few semi-precious stones than a bag of silver or gold."

( OOC - BRR if it's all right with you, Collin will attempt to find the jeweler in order to get Beidamon's fiend some peals so we don't have to deal with this painful way of iding items. I think Beidamon spoke about needing a peal. If not, ignore that last part. )

[BigRedRod]

Collin manages to get fairly good deals on the remainer of the equipment. The haggling takes a good while but the tales behind the equipment adds to the value of the items, no doubt in future the stories will be embelished and continue to grow as they wait in the marketplace
[ooc: you can get 60% of the price rather than 50%]

****

The dwarf nods,
"Head down the alley that leads behind this building, you should see a jeweler after a short walk. Malta is the owner, she is friendly enough but she drives a very hard bargain indeed"

[Beidamon]

The unknown will take his share of the money and save it. If he he gets enough money, and they are spending enough time here, he will get his whip enchanted to +1. If he doesn't though he will simply save up his money for latter

(There, I posted, I hope you happy, now wheres... ummm that bonus exp, ya thats it, wheres that bonus exp you promised me :))