The carriage driver leads the way into a large stone ceremonial hall. Inside, the party sees a large chair sitting on an elevated platform. Before anyone has a chance to stop him, Wet Wizard saunters directly up the stairs leading to the chair and sits down on it. He puts his hands down on the arms of the chair and looks over the room. "What are you doing in my chair?" A tall lord stares down the dragonborn encroaching on the intruder. The driver clears his throat, causing the dragonborn to step down and join the rest of the party before introducing the lord as the King. He takes the package, opening it slowly and after inspecting its contents, hands it to Artimus and directs him to leave through a secret door. "I am grateful for your effort in bringing this to me. I will make sure you are fairly compensated for your time. However, I also have heard from my sources in Brass Wood that you are the cause for the changes I have had to make to my plans for that town." "Frederick never told us that you were in control of the lord and his manor..." Ignoring the interruption he continues, "Similar to Brass Wood, I have thieves and spies hidden all throughout the country but there is a particular lord that has been causing me trouble. I have tried to have him killed several times but he has fled to eastern border of Broajan. He is staying in a human stronghold in the dwarvish territory. If you can solve this problem for me, all will be forgiven." "And if we refuse?" asks Wet Wizard. "I will have you executed." "But you are not royalty, are you? Who are you exactly and what gives you the authority to be judge, jury and executioner?" "I am the King of Night. I am the head of a secret global organization and it is the influence that we hold that would give me that power. Do you accept my terms?" The party looks at one another silently and all nod in agreement. "These rings will help identify you as friends to any members of our organization. The driver will give you the rest of the details for your mission at the tavern in which you have been staying and Atticus Rantier will report on your progress as well as accompany you on your mission. Now get out of my house." Another human noble steps out of the shadows and comes up to the driver, greeting one another like old friends. "Great. Another rogue to join the party," remarks Wet Wizard in disgust.
The party discusses their plans as they are driven back to the tavern and find a small chest of gold in their room. They divvy up the payment and discuss their various needs and weapons they would require to accomplish their mission. They all decide to head to a nearby apothecary and to the blacksmith shop they met before. When they arrive at the apothecary, they replenish their stocks of health potions and as they talk to the chemists, they about many other herbs and poisons. "It is not legal to sell those kinds of elixirs so do not ask," the chemists warn. "We are simply looking for antidotes so we can heal any one that we might find in our adventures that may have been attacked by a poisonous beast. We are not looking for anything deadly but only potions that would cause disorientation or paralysis." One of the shopkeepers motions him closer, "We do have some potions that you might be interested in. I would be happy to trade." They exchange some money and the assassin is able to purchase 5 vials of basilik venom and 5 vials of boggle venom.
As they move on, they find a huntsmen and blacksmith. The monk heads to the blacksmith and starts looking among the apprentices and sees the man he had fought the night before. "Where are my gauntlets boy?" he growls. The young man seeing the half-orc towering above him makes a small yelp and before running away replies, "I will go find them in the back! I made sure to make the adjustments just as you requested." As quickly as he disappeared, he came scampering back with the gauntlets in hand. Thokk inspects his purchase, noting the improved craftsmanship and the strong adamantium metal. His companions are a few shops away. As Thokk finds his party, he sees the tiefling trying on a pair of fingerless leather gloves as he grips his boomerang, "Much better. No damage whatsoever!" he remarks as he stabs his weapon into a wooden wall. Nearby, their new companion Atticus and Wet Wizard are haggling with the huntsman. They again replenish their ammunition and then suddenly the huntsman goes back into the storage area and returns with two crossbows. "The cost for these crossbows will be quite large. Magical weapons are hard to come by. I will be selling the only ones I have left in stock." "What are their magical properties?" "They both fire magical bolts. One produces magical fire damage and the other produces cold damage," replies the merchant. "We will purchase them both," says Atticus. The party takes their new acquisitions back to the tavern as they wait for the driver to arrive. Once the carriage pulls in front, the group piles in and within the hour the driver has passed through the front gates of Shurdrax on his way to Broajan. The driver presses on both through the day and through the night. The forest grows thinner as they near the dwarven lands. The mountains rise up out of the earth and the plant life changes from full leafy trees to tall strong pines the deeper they go.
As the next day begins to end, the carriage slows. The driver knocks on the roof and says, "Where do you want me to leave you? We are close to the stronghold. Do you want to be left at their front gate or a little ways away in the forest?" "We want some distance so we can scout out the area and find our best approach." "That is wise. I will pick you up here as well. When do you want me to return?" "Give us two days time and we will find you here." "Very well," replies the driver as the party leaves the carriage gathering their supplies. The party makes their way through the forest until they near a small clearing. In the center, they can see the lord's stronghold. It has tall strong walls of timber and ramparts and towers atop the perimeter walls. There are a few guards patrolling and watching from above. Karr walks forward, "I will go and see what we are up against. Do not leave. I will back." With that, the druid changes into an owl and flies off into the night. The druid is gone for hours as the rogues stealthfully patrol the woods looking for different ways to enter into the building. Then as quietly as he left, the druid returns with a rat in its mouth. As he changes back into his original form, he does his best to calm the rat in his hands whispering into its ears. "What did you find?" "Not much," replies the druid. "There are a few patrols on top of the walls so you will have to approach with stealth or find some other way inside." "Well that's not a lot of new information. We were able to spot a small grate on the outside wall. It doesn't seem well guarded but it looks like it's still a way in." Before Wet Wizard and Shireling can go investigate the grate from the shadows, there is a call from the towers of the stronghold, "Who goes there? What business do you have here?"
Atticus walks out of the trees and approaches the walls, "Oh merciful and honorable lords, I am a noble and these men are part of my household. We were traveling in the woods when our carriage was attacked. We fought off the raiding party but we need assistance. Can your house provide us shelter and food?" "How many of you are there?" "It is myself Atticus Rantier and my four associates." "I can only see three. Where is the fourth?" "He must of have gotten lost in the woods. Spare us some torches and we will go search for him." The guards leave for a moment and then there is a creaking sound as the front gate opens just wide enough for a single man to walk through. A guard approaches and gives the party a few torches. "We will be back shortly. Can you go get your lord for us? We would like to request him to extend his hospitality to our party." "I can tell you already that I just returned from him now and he will allow you to sleep outside of the walls with some tents that I will fetch for you but no one will be permitted to sleep inside the stronghold." "This is outrageous! I am a nobleman! I must be received and be given audience with your lord," replies Atticus. The soldier is taken slightly aback and Atticus continues to walk right through the front gate. The soldier looks at the rest of party and then back at this stranger walking into the stronghold, back at his party and then goes running after Atticus. "Let's go find Karr real quick," murmurs Thokk.
They reach the edge of the woods and find their druid friend trying to comfort his new pet rat. Apparently during the yelling over the ramparts, it had scurried out of his bag and fled back to the wood but he had found it once again (or at least it appeared to be the same rodent). "Well what happened? Where is Atticus?" "He walked inside after trying to talk his way out of getting us all captured. Apparently we are his entourage lost in the woods after being set upon by a small raiding party." "So he is inside! Why are you here? Let's go follow him!" The monk sighs and looks at his keg, "I need to be more drunk to do this..." The party reaches the walls as they can hear Atticus talking with a few guards inside the walls.
He soon is escorted outside to meet the rest of the group. "Now what happened?" "I was allowed to go to the restroom. I saw the main hall and noticed a few guards here and there but the servant went up the hall and ran up some stairs. I think the lord is there. They aren't going to budge on the sleeping outside thing," as he shows the tents he is now carrying. A soldier comes to the gate to shut the door as Thokk quickly approaches and puts his hand on it keeping it open for a moment. "We have been on a long journey. Is there any way we can be given some whiskey or ale? With the events from the raid, it has been a long day and we need to calm our nerves," he stares intimidatingly down at the small human. The half-orc is sobering up and the human can hear the danger in his voice and clearly calculating that the immediate benefits would outweigh the costs of complying with the request he disappears to fetch a small keg. He gets back as Atticus finishes reporting on his findings, "The guards also said that the grate is a poor place to set up camp as it is a drain for the kitchen and attracts animals due to the smell. The only other things I noticed was that this lord appears to be wealthy but I didn't notice anything of actual value in the entry hall - nothing but poor looking tapestries and old rusting suits of armor - there was a candlestick or two and some china farther in near the dining hall that looked like they could be scalped for a few pieces of coin. This must be simply an outpost or the valuables are farther inside," he says as he rubs his hands together. They set up their tents and even make a small fire. The soldier comes back with the half-orc's keg of fire whiskey. He drops the barrel on the edge of the circle, clearing his throat and then runs back inside and closing the front gate so quickly that bangs open ever so slightly.
The dragonborn, tiefling and half-orc grab the barrel and start to pour themselves drinks. The druid and human get a small glass. They stay seated by the fire as the the dragonborn and tiefling start walking away announcing their presence loudly and appearing to be drunk too as they make their way around the front wall. The half-orc not wanting to miss any action leaves his two colleagues by the fire and follows after leaking whiskey as he walks all in front of the front gate. At first the draining looks completely unintentional until Thokk passes the door and proceeds to take the container and shake it all over, soaking the door before continuing around the corner. He finds them sitting with their backs on the grate and motion him over. As he arrives, they motion him to start making some noise as the dragonborn steps away from the grate and turns facing it as he takes off his cloak. He clears his throat and takes a deep breath and then leans forward to target the grate as he breathes acid all over the iron grate drenching it and making it melt. He takes his claws and begins to wipe off the melted iron clearing out an open hole large enough for one person to climb through at a time. The tiefling and orc are amazed because they hadn't seen dragonbreath performed before but quickly, Shireling's look of surprise turns into a mischievous smirk as he carefully begins to crawl down the pipe into the stronghold, "The noble is too prim and perfect to come this way; he will have to think his own way inside." Wet Wizard dons his cloak again and begins to follow the tiefling inside. Shireling's comment had reminded Thokk of his own plan. He starts to walk back to their little camp reaching into his pocket and finding a small tinderbox. He starts lighting small pieces of tinder and throwing them haphazardly in all directions, catching his trail of whiskey on fire. He starts heading out the forest continuing to use the alcohol and fire to cause as much havoc as he can.
When the small group had first slipped past the corner of the front gate out of sight, Karr and Atticus stand up and head back to the open gate. They both hide in the shadows next to the door, "Do you feel wet?" asks Atticus confusingly. They shake their hands that have been covered by the fire whiskey that has drenched the front door. They slowly sneak inside through the opening and hide up against the wall as they hear clanking metal approaching. It is at this time that they hear guards come running past as they head up to the ramparts. "Something must be happening," Karr whispers as they begin to feel heat from the door edge closer to them. Thokk has at this point lit the entire forest and front walls on fire. The stone doesn't burn but the large wooden door does. With no way out, the pair continue onward heading to the second set of doors out of the entry hall. Atticus is halfway there when from behind him he hears Karr cry out and as he does he hear his voice change into a growl as he turns to watch him turn into a large bear. He sees from behind him a large suit of armor with blade drawn reaching up above its head to strike him again, "I really do hate magic so much," as he turns and fires an icy bolt from his enchanted crossbow striking and slowing the creature.
Some creaking and ruffled movement is heard in the center of the kitchen floor as the tiefling rogue opens the grate and climbs out of the drain hole. He looks quickly around the room and seeing light coming from under the nearby doorway, slides across the floor under a table. He takes some basilik venom and wipes it across a dagger preparing himself for any hostilities he could encounter. As he leans up against the table legs he feels almost like a furry cushion and a small growl. The kitchen dog looks back at him as the assassin instinctively strikes with his blade. Stabbing it once, the poor hound bays out in pain and then bites its attacker in the shoulder causing him to bleed. A voice from outside the door yells for the dog to be quiet before Shireling strikes again, this time silencing the animal for good with a small yelp. The voice is joined by a more urgent one in the distance, this is followed by the footsteps rushing away. Wet Wizard climbs out of the hole and sees his injured companion and the dead animal. He smiles at his companion's misfortune and says, "Pass it to me. I can leave it in the hole so Thokk can cook it later. If you survive, maybe you can have some." The rogue gives him a death stare and shakes his head towards the door as the two quietly move across the room after disposing of the body. The reach the door and listen inside not hearing any sounds any more except for a flickering of a fire. They silently open the door and peer into the room. It is large open room with tapestries and the like and across the way there are two doors. One leading back to the main part of the stronghold and in another direction. They begin to head to the second door but it is slightly opened. They look inside and hear what the wizard recognizes as the chanting of spells and incantations in what appears to be some kind of ritual. There is a man on his knees praying with his back to the door. Shireling looks at Wet Wizard as he draws his crossbow causing his colleague to mimic his actions. They both take a small breath and exhale as they take aim through the narrow gap. The air makes a small whistling sound as two bolts cut through the room diving deep into the man's back killing him instantly and knocking his body prone. From inside the room, they hear the chant stop moments later and two more voices and they see one priest coming running up to his friend's corpse and another acolyte stand up in clear view both now looking at the cracked yet open doorway.
The dire predicament in the front hall has not gotten better as the fire rages on and Thokk returning to the gate door can hear swords against plate metal inside. He kicks it open and runs inside to find Atticus and the bear that he recognizes as Karr in mortal combat with two animated suits of armor. Swords strike the armor and metal fists are thrown as the two are beaten back. Thokk comes running towards them and Atticus seeing his friend charging to their rescue turns to try to work on unlocking the door that has had them trapped. The bear crunches down on the helm of one of the magical creatures causing it to scream before shuddering and having it fall apart into pieces on the ground. The bleeding animal seeing the orc running its way also turns and starts to charge the door that Atticus is desperately working on. He turns to see the beast coming his direction and rolls out of danger as it slams into the large locked doors. He can hear the lock break as the door cracks in different places from the impact but does not open. "Damn it," he exclaims as he walks up to the disoriented animal looking at the lock. They turn and face the sole suit of armor remaining and Atticus fires another frozen bolt into the eye slits of its helm. It continues to fight Thokk and in desperation he wraps it around the middle, lifting it off the ground and falls backward, causing the helm of the animated armor to hit the ground first and snap off as it would have if the head of a soldier had been broken from its spine from the unnatural impact of landing head first into the stone floor. Atticus strolls up and retrieves his bolts from the creatures as Thokk staggers to his feet. "Can you help us with the door?" asks the noble. Thokk sighs and then after a brief moment nods as he readies himself and goes charging at the door. "That is not what I meant..." This time the door breaks open as the orc barrels through it collapsing on the ground. "But that will work I guess."
As Shireling and Wet Wizard reload their crossbows, the tiefling face lights up and gets the dragonborn's attention as he steps back into the shadows, dropping his crossbow and drawing his rapier. Wet Wizard steps forward and pushes the door open to see an acolyte and priest coming to the doorway. The priest draws his weapon and comes charging toward the killer as the acolyte makes a quick motion and speaks an enchantment. Wet Wizard is a mage and his mind is strong enough to deflect the magic but the other attacker strikes true with his dagger. Out of the shadows, darts a blade quickly stabbing the unsuspecting priest in the neck. His throat pours blood as he leans on the dragonborn until he falls unconsciously to the ground. "Now charm him," whispers the tiefling. Wet Wizard focuses all his arcane power and with his complete control moves his claws through the air as if it was water until he swiftly pulls them together and clenches his fists in a single motion. "You're mine," he calls out. The acolyte stops standing in his pose readied for another enchantment and dusts his shoulders off and stands perfectly tall and begins to walk forward calmly. The dragonborn draws a dagger ready to assassinate his newly created pawn but the tiefling calls out after looting the dead priest's body, "Don't kill him yet. He will have information that we could use first." Shireling takes a small pair of rings that are connected to a chain and bracelet from the priest's hand and puts them on his own wrist and then starts looking through its cloak for a coin purse. An evil look crawls across the wizard's face of excitement as he pulls his spellbook from his bag and puts his arm around the acolyte, "You are going to tell me everything you know and I mean everything..." They sit down next to the alter at which they were praying beforehand and the acolyte begins to outline the stronghold as the assassin drags the dead body back into the small room and closes the door behind them.
Thokk, Karr and Atticus hustle down a small hallway and pass a few small doors as Atticus says, "Those are the bathrooms. We should find a place to regroup. Where did the other two go?" They see a short hallway with stairs leading upwards and another door off to their right. He points in that direction and just as they reach the doors, Thokk sees them open and an acolyte appears. He quickly reacts and tackles him to the ground and before smashing his face into a pulp the tiefling reappears underneath the orc with hands over his face, "It's me you idiot! Get off me! Where did you go?" The orc confused stands up and pulls his friend to his feet. Realizing it was in fact Shireling gives him a hug and turns to tell his companions of what he found. "I was using the rune ring I found on the captain. It allows me to, in this case, waste a minor illusion spell. Wet Wizard charged it for me. We are back here. Follow me but quietly." The party once again reunited returns to the alter room and close the door. They see the wizard with the acolyte on the ground writing spells into his spellbook. "Did you get any more new information out of him?" asks Shireling. "Nothing you didn't already hear. I am busy learning spells. You tell them." As Shireling recounts the floor plans of the stronghold and magical rune traps that have been placed on the stairways to the second floor and on the doors themselves, Thokk begins to circle the alter. Uninterested in details, he studies this religious symbol and looks round until he sees the body of one of the dead priests. He pulls it near and starts chopping it into pieces. He begins to desecrate the holy sanctum with the blood and body of its disciples. The candles flicker and a small ghostly breeze swirls in the room. The party begins to watch him as the orc continues like an artist that only works in red and then he stops studies his work and kneels down to begin offering a prayer up to the Drunken Lord of Brawling.
"My Lord, we have defeated these fanatics of Pelor, desecrated their unholy alter, and now I ask that you give me power to not just defeat my enemies but to be imbued with your strength. I do this only to please you and so I can become your avatar and prophet here in this land." From the darkness comes a voice. "I am pleased." Thokk is startled and rises to his feet. "I will not give you this power. You are not strong enough to possess it. Build me a religion and I will help you in your path as my prophet and in time I might grant you what you seek." The candles return to their natural glow as Thokk looks around the room gleefully looking from companion to companion not really noticing their shocked expressions but looking for approval. "What in holy hell was that?" Karr says.
It is then that Shireling hears again the sound of approaching metal footsteps. He stands up and touches his ring. A shimmer passes across his body as he transforms into one of the acolytes. He clears his throat grabbing his party's attention and then motions for silence as he walks to the door of the sanctum and slips outside. As he closes the door, a small patrol of guards jog over to his position, "Have you seen them? There are intruders in the stronghold!" Shireling turns closing the door behind him and looks up into the face of his enemies.
The Blacksmith's Blight: Session 5 - THE PACKAGE
Well that was just super. Remind me to let you negotiate everything for us next time," said Xanaphina. "Seriously just shut up," said Shireling "It was a lot of pressure in the moment plus the best way to figure out what someone wants is to spring the trap." The party was being escorted to the Lord's manor. There was no other way out of the barracks. The only way to survive was to surrender. Of course the halfling was completely gone. No one knew where he disappeared to. Probably off spending his gold somewhere. He mentioned something about an elephant but whoever knows what that is. Still, as they approached the manor surrounded by about a dozen guards they were greeted by some kind of herald. He and the main guard spoke a few moments as the party stood in the front room scoping out their surroundings. A few different doors leading to different places, a window or two and some tapestries hanging from the walls. The herald beckoned to the group to follow him and they pressed forward through two large double doors into a large and long meeting hall.
There were columns heading up a carpeted path to a raised seating area where a fat old man that was balding was sitting. Next to him was a tall cloaked figure and again many guards in the room. The party approached again noting the windows behind the lord and a few doors to either side. The herald bowed and left the room. The lord sat there and watched the party as they nervously stood waiting. This continued for a few minutes that felt like hours. Finally the lord motioned with his hand and said, "Are you going to tell me what happened at the barracks or will I have to have my advisor cast a spell on you to loosen your tongues? Why are you all covered in blood? Who are you? Where is my captain and his guards?"
"My lord, we are simple adventurers who were reporting to the captain of the guard about a recent mishap. As we were in conversation, there was breakout in the cells and when the fighting arose, the captain was unfortunately killed. We were fighting for our lives and luckily survived. Some of us are wounded but a few people died. It was tragic and we are here to ask for your assistance in helping us leave the town and be on our way." "That is an excellent tale my tiefling friend however Brass Wood is small so I know who are in my cells and what were their crimes and it appears you have one of those individuals with you. Since you are obviously not telling the whole truth I have to ask my guards to leave us while my adviser and I interrogate you thoroughly." He motions for the guards to leave and they march quickly from the room.
As the party prepares themselves, the Lord stands up and he and the hooded figure shuffle slowly down the stairs and he chuckles as he says, "The captain of the guard is dead... That is very interesting." From a side wall, a secret door opens and Frederick walks in almost on command, surprising the party and confusing them. "Is this the group that you gave the information to?" "Yes, it is. I am surprised they got caught so quickly after dealing with my goblin problem. I am not sure you want to use them to be honest," replies Frederick. "Well the captain of the guard was always sniffing around and he wasn't a weak fellow so they saved me the trouble of killing him myself so they will have to do," says the lord as he stops a few paces short of the bewildered group. He waves his hand across his face and a shimmer flows over his body as his personage changes to show a tiefling with arms crossed and a small pseudodragon on his shoulder.
"Wait. What just happened? Are you the lord? What is going on?" responds the party. "The lord has been dealt with and you have taken care of another one of my problems but that's all you need to know. Since clearly you killed the captain I will have to imprison you however I will reward you with a choice. I will tell the townsfolk that you have been executed for killing the captain and the blacksmith. The choice is this: Be imprisoned forever in isolation so no one knows of my lie or accompany my adviser to Shurdrax to deliver a package for me. What say you?" Quick glances are exchanged and a few heads nod in agreement. "Will you give us supplies and our weapons returned to us?" "Of course." "How about transport?" "No, you will be escorted discretely out of town and that will be it." "I am not going," says the elf. "I won't be a pawn and I didn't even get any real reward from this last endeavor. I will stay in your dungeon unless you can find some other use for me." The rest of the party is dumbfounded but before they can protest, the druid and wizard readily accept the offer in unison. Frederick calls out to them to follow him and they are lead down to the cells through the secret passage. Once reaching the dungeon, he takes Xanaphina off on her own after locking the party into a large open room. Moments later he comes back and says, "Be ready later tonight," and leaves. Everyone pans out and finds a comfortable spot in the cell and begins to make bedrolls and take off their bloodied armor.
As the party is about to go to sleep, an unseen door in the wall begins to creek open and the hooded figure reappears. He extends his hands revealing the party's weapons and puts a finger up and makes a shushing sound. Everyone prepares to leave and Karr kicks Thokk to rouse him to his feet. They make their way through darkened passages and begin talking amongst themselves. The druid introduces himself as Karr and explains his friend who was imprisoned at the barracks and that the bear transformation was part of being part of the Order of the Moon. The dragonborn is only interested in talking with Thokk in draconic and later the orc relays that his name is Wet Wizard. It was probably not his name but a poor translation for something else however the wizard does speak common and didn't correct Thokk so the name sticks. He had been arrested but not convicted for breaking into the apothecary's shop. Far ahead they see Frederick standing by a small gate. He hands the hooded figure a small engraven wooden box and says, "Artimus, keep this safe. Remember to deliver it to King in 5 days time in Shurdrax. He trusts you. Stay safe and try not to spend too much time on the roads. You're wanted in Brass Wood so please don't come back unless you are disguised." He waves them farewell and they start down the trail into the woods.
The road is dusty and long and the group is tired. As they progress farther they find a nice place to set up camp a day's journey from the town. They found a small stream and wash up. Hunt some game and prepare a meal. Everyone has begun to settle in but there is still suspicion surrounding the hooded figure. Karr can sense magic surrounding and emanating from him. Karr and Shireling discuss near the fire their interest in exploring the package he carries and who or what he is.
The next day as they are walking, Shireling decides to start up a conversation with the new adventurer, "So I heard Frederick call you Artemis. That is a name typical of elves and wizards. Where are you from?" "None of your concern. I just need an escort to help me with protecting the package," he replies in a deep gruff voice. "Well it would be easier to protect if we didn't have to carry it out in the open. You could always have Karr keep it safe for you," motioning to his open bag. "It is safest on my person but I am grateful for your concern," responding sarcastically. "All on the same team here..." replies Shireling as he tries to use his tail to lift the cloak of his comrade from behind him. "Hello there travelers!!" Shireling's tail straightens as he is surprised by the sudden shout. The party had wandered into a traveling merchant.
There is a small caravan of carKts with a small little man at the front. He introduces himself as the leader of the party. "You appear to be coming from Brass Wood. I hope you are well equipped! The woods are always dangerous in this season." "We have the weapons that we need. Do you have any health potions, armor or ammunition to sell?" "I do indeed." He begins searching the carts and a worker comes forward with a small trolley full of supplies. Money and goods are exchanged. "One more thing. I hate to inquire about these items for a man that is traveling because I feel they may be somewhat rare." "No issues here friend, I have all SORTS of items to sell. What are you looking for exactly." "I am unusually cautious and I worry for myself and my comrades in the woods. Do you have a disguise kit so we can help our hooded figure to seem less ominous and perhaps a poisoner's kit so I can prepare our weapons in case of an attack?" "Those are hard to come by but I do have one of each. They will cost you though." Thokk approaches, "Do you have any fire whiskey? We will trade information and some gold for the kits and the whiskey." "What information do you have to offer someone like myself?" "The old blacksmith has left town and one of our friends replaced him. If you are looking to have a connection in the community you just have to mention my name, Thokk, and she will help you." "Connections are excellent! Would there be anyone else that would help as well." "No. No one in connection to us. The tavern owner seems amiable but please mention our name to no one else," emphasizes Shireling. "Interesting. Well I will sell these to you for the standard price. You information has limited value so I appreciate it but that will be all. Is there anything else?" "No. Thank you and safe travels." "You as well." The party reassesses their armor and continues onward toward the town only a day or two away.
The following afternoon they are continuing down the path when Karr motions them to be silent and approaching stealthfully. As they approach his position they notice a few yards down the path there is a large bear-like creature sleeping in the middle of the road. They can see its body moving as it lay on the earth breathing heavily. "Oh it's cute and furry! We should pet it!" says Arty uncharacteristically. Shireling jumps up onto his back to grapple and silence him. Arty dodges slightly and Shireling gives him a death stare. "You don't want to wake it. We don't even know what it is. It could be a trap!" And this is when out of the shadows of a nearby bush, another large bugbear appears right over Thokk's shoulder.
The large creature surprises the monk and attacks him with incredible power using its morningstar. Before the party can react, it swings a second time again hitting Thokk, knocking him prone but not unconscious. At this point, the party springs into action. Karr changes into bear mode, Shireling circles behind the enemy preparing to strike, but the other two party members do the most unusual things. Wet Wizard decides to watch. He moves slightly out of sight of either creature, sits down and casts disguise self, turning himself into a rock. He clearly isn't too worried though because if anyone listened hard enough you could hear him whistling a small tune and could envision him twiddling his thumbs. Artimus however moves his hands in some kind of conjuration motion and directly in front of the attacker another bear appears. It is large, furry but the reason it catches the bugbears attention is that it is bright pink. This illusion distracts the bugbear long enough that the rest of the party are able to revive Thokk while Shireling takes aim with his boomerang. He throws the weapon and it soars across the wooded clearing landing in the bugbear's upper thigh, cutting veins as it flew across. The creature is squirting blood out in all directions from its leg and groin. As it crumples to the earth dead, the group turn to find the other bugbear has vanished. It appears from out of the trees above them landing on the party. Karr and the bugbear battle one another exchanging blows. As his health drops low enough, Karr resumes his human form, yelling out, "I need fire! Someone cast something on fire!" Thokk pulls his keg out and takes two quick swigs, swallowing the first and then blowing the rest at the bugbear. He pulls out a light and throws it at the wet creature. As the creature catches flame, it screams out in pain and quickly begins to pat it out. Karr focuses his mind on the animal's morningstar and the heat from the fire goes out as it transfers from the bear to the metallic weapon. It is so hot that it burns the creatures hand, dropping it instantly. Realizing he is surrounded, it reaches down again to pick it up and swing it at its now attackers preparing to back away but the heat from the metal is so hot and it is so exhausted and bloody from battle that it falls fainting and burning from the heat. The party reassesses their situation and looks over their wounds. Thokk continues to drink, regaining some of his vigor and strength as they inspect the brush and woods around the path.
This battle was a trap set by the bugbear raiding party. The pair had obviously done it many times before to unwary travelers. So as the party licked their wounds and tried to recover, the tiefling begins to look for their tracks. Artimus offers Thokk some candy to help him feel better and they are able to get Wet Wizard to turn back into his normal appearance. "It is getting late. We need to set up camp. Should we keep on going and find a secluded spot in the forest?" explains Karr. "I think we should find the lair for these bugbears. They probably live in a cave nearby and they will have shelter and loot from their attacks. It is highly unlikely that any creatures that know they live there will avoid it and we will be safe for the night," replies Shireling. Too tired to really care, Karr agrees and turns into an ox. The rest of the party help the wounded Thokk onto Karr's back and the party begins to track the bugbears trail back to their home. Before arriving at the cave, they can smell it from a little way off. It stinks of rotting and burnt flesh and fecal matter. Artimus refuses to go inside. He has been acting unusual for his size, as he had been picking flowers along the way and feeds them to the ox. Suddenly Karr resumes his normal form and begins coughing and then is crushed under the weight of the half-orc on top of him. "What were those flowers?" Arty looks more closely at them and replies, "Oh! I thought they were something else. These appear to be slightly poisonous. My mistake! I will go find some more." "What???" Thokk gets up and follows Shireling into the cave. They begin to explore its contents more extensively.
They find a small cooking area with rotting flesh nearby. The possessions of the murdered travelers is in a pile by a fire and some of the things are covered by other carcasses of animals the bugbears had killed. Wet Wizard performs another spell generating a broom and begins to sweep out the cave, cleaning it for places to sleep and eat. Thokk rummages through the dead finding animals that would be salvageable if cooked properly for food. He also finds some coin purses and starts sifting through them discovering gold. Shireling recognizes the glitter of the treasure and joins him saying, "If we find anything we should share it with the rest of the party. We are too weak right now to fight over something so small." Karr hears the conversation and also joins in looting the purses. They find a relatively good size of gold and start to split it up when Shireling opens his last bag and finds a peculiar amulet. He quickly pockets it so he can investigate it more thoroughly later.
Arty returns and Wet Wizard finish cleaning the cave and they all split the booty they have found. Artimus again offers candy to all the party members and after Karr was poisoned, only Thokk and Wet Wizard decide to take a piece. They finish eating and finish setting up camp and their bedrolls. Thokk, Wet Wizard, and Artimus are the first ones to fall fast asleep. After waiting a short time to make sure they are out, Shireling sits up and Karr still upset from earlier follows him. The tiefling motions to the bag near Artimus. He carefully pulls it open and with practiced hands steals the package away from its protector. He and Karr move out of the cave into the moonlight to better inspect the item. Karr looks over the markings on the box and makes some incantations, studying it for any magical properties. "There is a trap on the container. It needs a key to open otherwise a defensive spell will shoot us with a firebolt if we open it." Shireling motions him to be quiet and takes the box back inside and stows it back into the bag. He returns empty handed to discuss it further with the druid.
"He is acting really odd. We still don't know what HE is." Karr responds, "I know what you mean. Plus I am only just now having the poison run through my system. We should try and get someone to open the box tomorrow. We can't charm them otherwise the damage will break the spell so we have to convince them to do it willingly." "It would be more fun if they were charmed though. Do you want to charm Thokk?" Laughs and replies, "I'd rather not have him angry at me and I don't think he would care what's in the box anyways." "Patience it is then."
The party wakes in the morning and makes their way back to the road and finish their journey to the city. As they approach Shurdrax, the size of it dwarfs Brass Wood many times over. The gate into it is large and a wall surrounds the entire city. Before they enter the town, Shireling decides to disguise himself using his disguise kit. Not many people trust tieflings so it is better to have a less conspicuous appearance. He does his best work but because he is still new to the craft and didn't have the best sleep in a bugbear lair, his attempts to look like a half-elf were spotty at best. As they approach, the guards question them about where are they coming from, why are they here, that sort of thing. They give the ugliest elf they have ever seen a sideways glance but the dragonborn is able to get them to focus. Wet Wizard lies through his teeth and they quickly make it through the gate but not before getting information on where they could find several shops and a good tavern to stay at inside Shurdrax.
The party decides to split up. Wet Wizard heads directly to the tavern to await the contact for the box, procure some lodgings and drink away the afternoon. The rest of the party proceeds to the apothecary to find some health potions. Once they have refilled their stock, Thokk and Artimus get bored and head off to the blacksmith. Thokk needs some work done on his gauntlets. He is looking to upgrade the metal and damage that they do and afterwards he and Arty were going to go look for a fight club. Shireling and Karr continue to explore the apothecary finding different herbs and mixtures for remedies and antidotes as well as components to make various poisons. Once completed they discuss how they want to spend the rest of the afternoon and they decide it would take too much work to find out what is in the package so they head to a library to search for various pieces of rare knowledge that might help them in their quest.
"You with the wheelbarrow! Where can I find a fight club in this city?" the half-orc demands after cornering a poor merchant. The man is clearly terrified after being surrounded by this beast and his tall hooded companion. He gives them the information they need and he runs away crashing his cart once or twice. "It's so hard to get good directions nowadays." They struggle for a while longer until they are able to locate the fight club. Artimus and Thokk talk about their plan. Arty is going to figure out how the gambling pools work and Thokk is going to either enter one of the fights or simply start one - which ever is easier. As the orc watches the fighters he sees them disarm themselves and enter the ring. This is bare knuckle fighting focusing on a combination of both technique and strength. Thokk adds his name to the lists and waits for his turn in the ring. When his name is announced, he sees another fighter, a young human in the opposite corner. He is young and fit, moves like a boxer, quick and agile. Thokk feels like this will be another short win. From behind him he hears Artimus calling out the odds and collecting money. As they step to the center of the ring, the young man raises a hand and motions to Thokk's hands, "You need to make this a fair fight. You have to leave those behind," speaking to the half-orc's gauntlets. "Even without these I would have to leave more behind to make it a fair fight," mutters the drunken monk. "I will take a trophy from you when I win," he warns the man as he hands his gauntlets off to a small boy and returns to the center of the ring. They each take their fighting stances and after taking a deep breath, they both move in unison. The young man is extremely quick, dodging a blow and coming in to clock the orc across the face. Thokk spits blood to the side and turns and smiles. This wasn't going to be fun. They continue to exchange blows back and forth, the young man doing his best to stay out of reach. Thokk takes hit after hit and Artimus getting nervous about losing his bets, makes a small incantation and a small mist begins to rise from the floor of the ring. Thokk reaches forward and grabs the shoulder of his disoriented opponent, pulling him in close and headbutts the fighter. Dazed, the young man staggers back and Thokk swings with a haymaker knocking the young man both prone and unconscious. As the mist clears, the crowd makes an audible cry for foul play as the orc stands over in triumph and looks down respectfully before reaching down with his large hand into the unconscious man's mouth, pulling out a tooth. Artimus comes running into the ring with a fistful of coin purses high above his head.
On the other side of Shurdrax, Karr and Shireling approach a tall marble building. As they push open the solid stone door, the pair see a large open room with a single individual at a desk far away. The two approach talking quietly as the dragonborn librarian looks up from his books and speaking in draconic, "How can I help you fine gentlemen?" Karr responds, "Well my friend and I are looking for books that outline the following subjects: druidcraft, herbalism..." "Remember to find out about magical items and poisons," whispers the tiefling. "And anything about enchanting items with magic as well as poisonous creatures and plants in the region." "We have various scrolls from scholars that have written extensively on their years of observations and experiments." "If you can write down the areas here that we can find that information, we would both be extremely grateful." Once the librarian finishes the note, he hands it down to the druid and asks in Common, "In order to be permitted into the library, all I need is your names to record into our entry log. What are your names?" "My name is Karunungan." The tiefling quickly responds, "I am Saeros Turgon." The scholar waits and looks at the rogue in disbelief. After several moments, he eventually concedes, "It's Shireling." They are brought back and led to several stacks of books. They are able to identify many different species of poisonous plants and herbs that will help with both curing different diseases and conditions. There are diagrams of how to use the plants to create both poisons and antidotes. Druidcraft however is briefly mentioned and it explains that it is typically passed down from pupil to pupil.
"Karr! Can you read this?" Shireling looks all over for his friend. Unable to read the elvish script, the tiefling continues to try to read the scroll he found. Two words he recognized from the scroll were weapon and magic. He tries to find anything else in the scroll that he can read but when he is so unsuccessful he looks back at the beginning of the scholar notes and finds a few items that give him hope. The name of the scholar appears to be Theta Oakshade from Heletha Woods. Karr finds Shireling and he inspects the scroll. He is able to ascertain from the writings the process from which enchanted items are crafted. He explains that in order to create a magical item, the craftsman must have the magical and technical skills to build it along with the necessary physical components of both the metal and relics. The pair begin to scour maps and charts to find the location of the forest within a far away elvish nation. The longer they study, the more they find out about how elves and dwarves are expert craftsmen and the various kinds of magical items that have been made throughout time. Within a hour or two, the pair have digested as much information as they could retain and leave the library to head to the tavern to create a plan with the rest of their party.
As the sun rose and the group gathered to discuss the night before, there came a knock at their door. "Do you have the package?" The party readies their weapons as Arty cracks the door so a rogue can enter the room slowly. "I am the driver. Do you have the package from Brass Wood, Artimus?" The wooden engraven box is presented to the visitor. He asks, "Did you open it?" Karr responds, "We only did what was asked. We brought it here and awaited for your arrival." "Good. If you had opened it, you would have had a nasty surprise." Shireling and the druid look to each other nodding slightly remembering the firebolt charm that was placed on the box. "If you are all here, the King is ready for you. I will have the carriage out in front of the tavern." The party begins to discuss their next move as their hooded companion heads to the door. They all concede to follow the rogue's instructions. The carriage begins moving through the Shurdrax but instead of heading to the castle at the center of the city, it heads to a manor on the outskirts of town. The carriage comes to a standstill and Karr asks aloud, "What kind of king is this?"
There were columns heading up a carpeted path to a raised seating area where a fat old man that was balding was sitting. Next to him was a tall cloaked figure and again many guards in the room. The party approached again noting the windows behind the lord and a few doors to either side. The herald bowed and left the room. The lord sat there and watched the party as they nervously stood waiting. This continued for a few minutes that felt like hours. Finally the lord motioned with his hand and said, "Are you going to tell me what happened at the barracks or will I have to have my advisor cast a spell on you to loosen your tongues? Why are you all covered in blood? Who are you? Where is my captain and his guards?"
"My lord, we are simple adventurers who were reporting to the captain of the guard about a recent mishap. As we were in conversation, there was breakout in the cells and when the fighting arose, the captain was unfortunately killed. We were fighting for our lives and luckily survived. Some of us are wounded but a few people died. It was tragic and we are here to ask for your assistance in helping us leave the town and be on our way." "That is an excellent tale my tiefling friend however Brass Wood is small so I know who are in my cells and what were their crimes and it appears you have one of those individuals with you. Since you are obviously not telling the whole truth I have to ask my guards to leave us while my adviser and I interrogate you thoroughly." He motions for the guards to leave and they march quickly from the room.
As the party prepares themselves, the Lord stands up and he and the hooded figure shuffle slowly down the stairs and he chuckles as he says, "The captain of the guard is dead... That is very interesting." From a side wall, a secret door opens and Frederick walks in almost on command, surprising the party and confusing them. "Is this the group that you gave the information to?" "Yes, it is. I am surprised they got caught so quickly after dealing with my goblin problem. I am not sure you want to use them to be honest," replies Frederick. "Well the captain of the guard was always sniffing around and he wasn't a weak fellow so they saved me the trouble of killing him myself so they will have to do," says the lord as he stops a few paces short of the bewildered group. He waves his hand across his face and a shimmer flows over his body as his personage changes to show a tiefling with arms crossed and a small pseudodragon on his shoulder.
"Wait. What just happened? Are you the lord? What is going on?" responds the party. "The lord has been dealt with and you have taken care of another one of my problems but that's all you need to know. Since clearly you killed the captain I will have to imprison you however I will reward you with a choice. I will tell the townsfolk that you have been executed for killing the captain and the blacksmith. The choice is this: Be imprisoned forever in isolation so no one knows of my lie or accompany my adviser to Shurdrax to deliver a package for me. What say you?" Quick glances are exchanged and a few heads nod in agreement. "Will you give us supplies and our weapons returned to us?" "Of course." "How about transport?" "No, you will be escorted discretely out of town and that will be it." "I am not going," says the elf. "I won't be a pawn and I didn't even get any real reward from this last endeavor. I will stay in your dungeon unless you can find some other use for me." The rest of the party is dumbfounded but before they can protest, the druid and wizard readily accept the offer in unison. Frederick calls out to them to follow him and they are lead down to the cells through the secret passage. Once reaching the dungeon, he takes Xanaphina off on her own after locking the party into a large open room. Moments later he comes back and says, "Be ready later tonight," and leaves. Everyone pans out and finds a comfortable spot in the cell and begins to make bedrolls and take off their bloodied armor.
As the party is about to go to sleep, an unseen door in the wall begins to creek open and the hooded figure reappears. He extends his hands revealing the party's weapons and puts a finger up and makes a shushing sound. Everyone prepares to leave and Karr kicks Thokk to rouse him to his feet. They make their way through darkened passages and begin talking amongst themselves. The druid introduces himself as Karr and explains his friend who was imprisoned at the barracks and that the bear transformation was part of being part of the Order of the Moon. The dragonborn is only interested in talking with Thokk in draconic and later the orc relays that his name is Wet Wizard. It was probably not his name but a poor translation for something else however the wizard does speak common and didn't correct Thokk so the name sticks. He had been arrested but not convicted for breaking into the apothecary's shop. Far ahead they see Frederick standing by a small gate. He hands the hooded figure a small engraven wooden box and says, "Artimus, keep this safe. Remember to deliver it to King in 5 days time in Shurdrax. He trusts you. Stay safe and try not to spend too much time on the roads. You're wanted in Brass Wood so please don't come back unless you are disguised." He waves them farewell and they start down the trail into the woods.
The road is dusty and long and the group is tired. As they progress farther they find a nice place to set up camp a day's journey from the town. They found a small stream and wash up. Hunt some game and prepare a meal. Everyone has begun to settle in but there is still suspicion surrounding the hooded figure. Karr can sense magic surrounding and emanating from him. Karr and Shireling discuss near the fire their interest in exploring the package he carries and who or what he is.
The next day as they are walking, Shireling decides to start up a conversation with the new adventurer, "So I heard Frederick call you Artemis. That is a name typical of elves and wizards. Where are you from?" "None of your concern. I just need an escort to help me with protecting the package," he replies in a deep gruff voice. "Well it would be easier to protect if we didn't have to carry it out in the open. You could always have Karr keep it safe for you," motioning to his open bag. "It is safest on my person but I am grateful for your concern," responding sarcastically. "All on the same team here..." replies Shireling as he tries to use his tail to lift the cloak of his comrade from behind him. "Hello there travelers!!" Shireling's tail straightens as he is surprised by the sudden shout. The party had wandered into a traveling merchant.
There is a small caravan of carKts with a small little man at the front. He introduces himself as the leader of the party. "You appear to be coming from Brass Wood. I hope you are well equipped! The woods are always dangerous in this season." "We have the weapons that we need. Do you have any health potions, armor or ammunition to sell?" "I do indeed." He begins searching the carts and a worker comes forward with a small trolley full of supplies. Money and goods are exchanged. "One more thing. I hate to inquire about these items for a man that is traveling because I feel they may be somewhat rare." "No issues here friend, I have all SORTS of items to sell. What are you looking for exactly." "I am unusually cautious and I worry for myself and my comrades in the woods. Do you have a disguise kit so we can help our hooded figure to seem less ominous and perhaps a poisoner's kit so I can prepare our weapons in case of an attack?" "Those are hard to come by but I do have one of each. They will cost you though." Thokk approaches, "Do you have any fire whiskey? We will trade information and some gold for the kits and the whiskey." "What information do you have to offer someone like myself?" "The old blacksmith has left town and one of our friends replaced him. If you are looking to have a connection in the community you just have to mention my name, Thokk, and she will help you." "Connections are excellent! Would there be anyone else that would help as well." "No. No one in connection to us. The tavern owner seems amiable but please mention our name to no one else," emphasizes Shireling. "Interesting. Well I will sell these to you for the standard price. You information has limited value so I appreciate it but that will be all. Is there anything else?" "No. Thank you and safe travels." "You as well." The party reassesses their armor and continues onward toward the town only a day or two away.
The following afternoon they are continuing down the path when Karr motions them to be silent and approaching stealthfully. As they approach his position they notice a few yards down the path there is a large bear-like creature sleeping in the middle of the road. They can see its body moving as it lay on the earth breathing heavily. "Oh it's cute and furry! We should pet it!" says Arty uncharacteristically. Shireling jumps up onto his back to grapple and silence him. Arty dodges slightly and Shireling gives him a death stare. "You don't want to wake it. We don't even know what it is. It could be a trap!" And this is when out of the shadows of a nearby bush, another large bugbear appears right over Thokk's shoulder.
The large creature surprises the monk and attacks him with incredible power using its morningstar. Before the party can react, it swings a second time again hitting Thokk, knocking him prone but not unconscious. At this point, the party springs into action. Karr changes into bear mode, Shireling circles behind the enemy preparing to strike, but the other two party members do the most unusual things. Wet Wizard decides to watch. He moves slightly out of sight of either creature, sits down and casts disguise self, turning himself into a rock. He clearly isn't too worried though because if anyone listened hard enough you could hear him whistling a small tune and could envision him twiddling his thumbs. Artimus however moves his hands in some kind of conjuration motion and directly in front of the attacker another bear appears. It is large, furry but the reason it catches the bugbears attention is that it is bright pink. This illusion distracts the bugbear long enough that the rest of the party are able to revive Thokk while Shireling takes aim with his boomerang. He throws the weapon and it soars across the wooded clearing landing in the bugbear's upper thigh, cutting veins as it flew across. The creature is squirting blood out in all directions from its leg and groin. As it crumples to the earth dead, the group turn to find the other bugbear has vanished. It appears from out of the trees above them landing on the party. Karr and the bugbear battle one another exchanging blows. As his health drops low enough, Karr resumes his human form, yelling out, "I need fire! Someone cast something on fire!" Thokk pulls his keg out and takes two quick swigs, swallowing the first and then blowing the rest at the bugbear. He pulls out a light and throws it at the wet creature. As the creature catches flame, it screams out in pain and quickly begins to pat it out. Karr focuses his mind on the animal's morningstar and the heat from the fire goes out as it transfers from the bear to the metallic weapon. It is so hot that it burns the creatures hand, dropping it instantly. Realizing he is surrounded, it reaches down again to pick it up and swing it at its now attackers preparing to back away but the heat from the metal is so hot and it is so exhausted and bloody from battle that it falls fainting and burning from the heat. The party reassesses their situation and looks over their wounds. Thokk continues to drink, regaining some of his vigor and strength as they inspect the brush and woods around the path.
This battle was a trap set by the bugbear raiding party. The pair had obviously done it many times before to unwary travelers. So as the party licked their wounds and tried to recover, the tiefling begins to look for their tracks. Artimus offers Thokk some candy to help him feel better and they are able to get Wet Wizard to turn back into his normal appearance. "It is getting late. We need to set up camp. Should we keep on going and find a secluded spot in the forest?" explains Karr. "I think we should find the lair for these bugbears. They probably live in a cave nearby and they will have shelter and loot from their attacks. It is highly unlikely that any creatures that know they live there will avoid it and we will be safe for the night," replies Shireling. Too tired to really care, Karr agrees and turns into an ox. The rest of the party help the wounded Thokk onto Karr's back and the party begins to track the bugbears trail back to their home. Before arriving at the cave, they can smell it from a little way off. It stinks of rotting and burnt flesh and fecal matter. Artimus refuses to go inside. He has been acting unusual for his size, as he had been picking flowers along the way and feeds them to the ox. Suddenly Karr resumes his normal form and begins coughing and then is crushed under the weight of the half-orc on top of him. "What were those flowers?" Arty looks more closely at them and replies, "Oh! I thought they were something else. These appear to be slightly poisonous. My mistake! I will go find some more." "What???" Thokk gets up and follows Shireling into the cave. They begin to explore its contents more extensively.
They find a small cooking area with rotting flesh nearby. The possessions of the murdered travelers is in a pile by a fire and some of the things are covered by other carcasses of animals the bugbears had killed. Wet Wizard performs another spell generating a broom and begins to sweep out the cave, cleaning it for places to sleep and eat. Thokk rummages through the dead finding animals that would be salvageable if cooked properly for food. He also finds some coin purses and starts sifting through them discovering gold. Shireling recognizes the glitter of the treasure and joins him saying, "If we find anything we should share it with the rest of the party. We are too weak right now to fight over something so small." Karr hears the conversation and also joins in looting the purses. They find a relatively good size of gold and start to split it up when Shireling opens his last bag and finds a peculiar amulet. He quickly pockets it so he can investigate it more thoroughly later.
Arty returns and Wet Wizard finish cleaning the cave and they all split the booty they have found. Artimus again offers candy to all the party members and after Karr was poisoned, only Thokk and Wet Wizard decide to take a piece. They finish eating and finish setting up camp and their bedrolls. Thokk, Wet Wizard, and Artimus are the first ones to fall fast asleep. After waiting a short time to make sure they are out, Shireling sits up and Karr still upset from earlier follows him. The tiefling motions to the bag near Artimus. He carefully pulls it open and with practiced hands steals the package away from its protector. He and Karr move out of the cave into the moonlight to better inspect the item. Karr looks over the markings on the box and makes some incantations, studying it for any magical properties. "There is a trap on the container. It needs a key to open otherwise a defensive spell will shoot us with a firebolt if we open it." Shireling motions him to be quiet and takes the box back inside and stows it back into the bag. He returns empty handed to discuss it further with the druid.
"He is acting really odd. We still don't know what HE is." Karr responds, "I know what you mean. Plus I am only just now having the poison run through my system. We should try and get someone to open the box tomorrow. We can't charm them otherwise the damage will break the spell so we have to convince them to do it willingly." "It would be more fun if they were charmed though. Do you want to charm Thokk?" Laughs and replies, "I'd rather not have him angry at me and I don't think he would care what's in the box anyways." "Patience it is then."
The party wakes in the morning and makes their way back to the road and finish their journey to the city. As they approach Shurdrax, the size of it dwarfs Brass Wood many times over. The gate into it is large and a wall surrounds the entire city. Before they enter the town, Shireling decides to disguise himself using his disguise kit. Not many people trust tieflings so it is better to have a less conspicuous appearance. He does his best work but because he is still new to the craft and didn't have the best sleep in a bugbear lair, his attempts to look like a half-elf were spotty at best. As they approach, the guards question them about where are they coming from, why are they here, that sort of thing. They give the ugliest elf they have ever seen a sideways glance but the dragonborn is able to get them to focus. Wet Wizard lies through his teeth and they quickly make it through the gate but not before getting information on where they could find several shops and a good tavern to stay at inside Shurdrax.
The party decides to split up. Wet Wizard heads directly to the tavern to await the contact for the box, procure some lodgings and drink away the afternoon. The rest of the party proceeds to the apothecary to find some health potions. Once they have refilled their stock, Thokk and Artimus get bored and head off to the blacksmith. Thokk needs some work done on his gauntlets. He is looking to upgrade the metal and damage that they do and afterwards he and Arty were going to go look for a fight club. Shireling and Karr continue to explore the apothecary finding different herbs and mixtures for remedies and antidotes as well as components to make various poisons. Once completed they discuss how they want to spend the rest of the afternoon and they decide it would take too much work to find out what is in the package so they head to a library to search for various pieces of rare knowledge that might help them in their quest.
"You with the wheelbarrow! Where can I find a fight club in this city?" the half-orc demands after cornering a poor merchant. The man is clearly terrified after being surrounded by this beast and his tall hooded companion. He gives them the information they need and he runs away crashing his cart once or twice. "It's so hard to get good directions nowadays." They struggle for a while longer until they are able to locate the fight club. Artimus and Thokk talk about their plan. Arty is going to figure out how the gambling pools work and Thokk is going to either enter one of the fights or simply start one - which ever is easier. As the orc watches the fighters he sees them disarm themselves and enter the ring. This is bare knuckle fighting focusing on a combination of both technique and strength. Thokk adds his name to the lists and waits for his turn in the ring. When his name is announced, he sees another fighter, a young human in the opposite corner. He is young and fit, moves like a boxer, quick and agile. Thokk feels like this will be another short win. From behind him he hears Artimus calling out the odds and collecting money. As they step to the center of the ring, the young man raises a hand and motions to Thokk's hands, "You need to make this a fair fight. You have to leave those behind," speaking to the half-orc's gauntlets. "Even without these I would have to leave more behind to make it a fair fight," mutters the drunken monk. "I will take a trophy from you when I win," he warns the man as he hands his gauntlets off to a small boy and returns to the center of the ring. They each take their fighting stances and after taking a deep breath, they both move in unison. The young man is extremely quick, dodging a blow and coming in to clock the orc across the face. Thokk spits blood to the side and turns and smiles. This wasn't going to be fun. They continue to exchange blows back and forth, the young man doing his best to stay out of reach. Thokk takes hit after hit and Artimus getting nervous about losing his bets, makes a small incantation and a small mist begins to rise from the floor of the ring. Thokk reaches forward and grabs the shoulder of his disoriented opponent, pulling him in close and headbutts the fighter. Dazed, the young man staggers back and Thokk swings with a haymaker knocking the young man both prone and unconscious. As the mist clears, the crowd makes an audible cry for foul play as the orc stands over in triumph and looks down respectfully before reaching down with his large hand into the unconscious man's mouth, pulling out a tooth. Artimus comes running into the ring with a fistful of coin purses high above his head.
On the other side of Shurdrax, Karr and Shireling approach a tall marble building. As they push open the solid stone door, the pair see a large open room with a single individual at a desk far away. The two approach talking quietly as the dragonborn librarian looks up from his books and speaking in draconic, "How can I help you fine gentlemen?" Karr responds, "Well my friend and I are looking for books that outline the following subjects: druidcraft, herbalism..." "Remember to find out about magical items and poisons," whispers the tiefling. "And anything about enchanting items with magic as well as poisonous creatures and plants in the region." "We have various scrolls from scholars that have written extensively on their years of observations and experiments." "If you can write down the areas here that we can find that information, we would both be extremely grateful." Once the librarian finishes the note, he hands it down to the druid and asks in Common, "In order to be permitted into the library, all I need is your names to record into our entry log. What are your names?" "My name is Karunungan." The tiefling quickly responds, "I am Saeros Turgon." The scholar waits and looks at the rogue in disbelief. After several moments, he eventually concedes, "It's Shireling." They are brought back and led to several stacks of books. They are able to identify many different species of poisonous plants and herbs that will help with both curing different diseases and conditions. There are diagrams of how to use the plants to create both poisons and antidotes. Druidcraft however is briefly mentioned and it explains that it is typically passed down from pupil to pupil.
"Karr! Can you read this?" Shireling looks all over for his friend. Unable to read the elvish script, the tiefling continues to try to read the scroll he found. Two words he recognized from the scroll were weapon and magic. He tries to find anything else in the scroll that he can read but when he is so unsuccessful he looks back at the beginning of the scholar notes and finds a few items that give him hope. The name of the scholar appears to be Theta Oakshade from Heletha Woods. Karr finds Shireling and he inspects the scroll. He is able to ascertain from the writings the process from which enchanted items are crafted. He explains that in order to create a magical item, the craftsman must have the magical and technical skills to build it along with the necessary physical components of both the metal and relics. The pair begin to scour maps and charts to find the location of the forest within a far away elvish nation. The longer they study, the more they find out about how elves and dwarves are expert craftsmen and the various kinds of magical items that have been made throughout time. Within a hour or two, the pair have digested as much information as they could retain and leave the library to head to the tavern to create a plan with the rest of their party.
As the sun rose and the group gathered to discuss the night before, there came a knock at their door. "Do you have the package?" The party readies their weapons as Arty cracks the door so a rogue can enter the room slowly. "I am the driver. Do you have the package from Brass Wood, Artimus?" The wooden engraven box is presented to the visitor. He asks, "Did you open it?" Karr responds, "We only did what was asked. We brought it here and awaited for your arrival." "Good. If you had opened it, you would have had a nasty surprise." Shireling and the druid look to each other nodding slightly remembering the firebolt charm that was placed on the box. "If you are all here, the King is ready for you. I will have the carriage out in front of the tavern." The party begins to discuss their next move as their hooded companion heads to the door. They all concede to follow the rogue's instructions. The carriage begins moving through the Shurdrax but instead of heading to the castle at the center of the city, it heads to a manor on the outskirts of town. The carriage comes to a standstill and Karr asks aloud, "What kind of king is this?"
The Blacksmith's Blight: Session 4 - THE PUNISHMENT
Pounding on the door rouses Frederick and opens it to see his guards standing with the elf from before. "Where is the rogue?" "Detained at the moment. I came to get the information you promised us." "Where is your proof?" "I am sure you heard about the state of things in the town with the blacksmith and heard of the goblin head that was with my blood-stained comrades. What again is this information?" Seeing there was no give in the elf, the master thief begins to outline the lord's manor. He brings forth a map and discusses how there are 50 guards in the town with 2 accompanying the lord at all times. Xanaphina satisfied with the information thanks him and leaves.
Back at the tavern, Temmie is helping clean Shireling of the goblin blood with a bath. Thokk is drinking and tries to persuade the guard to join him however he is intent on keeping an eye on all of the party members. After many futile attempts to get information out of him, Xanaphina finally arrives and the group prepares to follow the guard to the barracks. As they step out into the street another patrol of guards has arrived to help escort the motley crew. Shireling readies his crossbow as they walk to the barracks getting the guards attention. This however is a distraction while Xanaphina quickly flashes the map to the party. Once they arrive, they are greeted by the captain and he invites them into the building. Their weapons are requested and all but the rogue's are begrudgingly handed over. The tiefling skillfully pulls out his rapier and hands it to the guards while also rotating his belt so the rest of his daggers and boomerang are hidden beneath his cloak. They look around the room and realize there is only one way in or out of this building and it is through the barred and locked door they just entered. Inside they see more guards, in total there were 2 posted at the entrance and another 6 inside, along with the captain and the lieutenant.
"Please follow me," the captain motions them through the dining hall back to a long conference room before they reach a hall of cells. From the last cell, they can hear a voice yelling in a strange and ancient language. Thokk gets excited and tries to hurry past all the guards down the hall but is stopped. He yells down the hall in the same foreign language causing the prisoner to cease his commotion. A moment or two passes and a deep voice yells, "I want to talk to him" "Who?" "The captain. I want to talk to the captain." The captain brings the lieutenant over and gives him some instructions and then motions the rest of the party into the conference room. The captain moves to the head of the table facing the door, Temmie runs down and sits directly on his right, Thokk sits across from the captain at the other end of the long table and Shireling pulls out a chair for Xanaphina a few down on the left hand side and then sits on her left using his tail to try to pull her chair a little closer. The rest of the guards except one go back to the dining hall and they close the door.
The lieutenant looks up from the fumbling keys in his hand as he struggles to pick the right one to open the cell. Inside of it, there is a large dragonborn. He is a copper color almost 6'6" and basically 300 lbs of pure scales and muscles. He asks, "Where did the captain go? I heard a door. I want to speak to the captain." "He told me you were too much trouble to continue to hold here, he wants me to take a patrol and escort you to the edge of the town and have you leave. We don't have enough evidence to make anything stick so we just need you to go." "On the one condition, that I speak with the captain first." "He is in the middle of an interrogation so I will only give you a few seconds but only if you come quietly." "Fine." The dragonborn turns and gathers his cloak from the corner, "I will need my book back. Where did you take it?" "I have it with me and will return it to you if you come quietly at the edge of the town." The dragonborn with his back still to the lieutenant grins as he puts on his cloak.
"For the last time, I don't want to hear any more lies. No more from you," the captain points to the halfling. "And nothing from you. I remember you from the tavern," he says as he looks at the tiefling. "You have been been quiet the whole time," speaking at the elf. "What about you, half-orc? Let's start with your name. Maybe we will eventually get to the truth." "Thokk." "What do you do?" "I am a monk from the order of the Drunken God of Brawling." "Explains your gear at least... What can you tell..." There is a knock and the guard pushes the door open slightly and says loudly, "The prisoner wanted to say one last thing before we escort him out of the town, sir. I told him to be quick." The dragonborn sticks his head through the door and talks in a deep harsh tongue that no one except the Thokk recognizes as draconic, "What are you in for?" Thokk replies in kind, "There will be bloodshed soon." The captain waves them away not understanding anything but suspicious to the purpose of the intrusion, "What did he say?" "He asked what we did." "And?" "I told him that we killed a man." The whole party looks at Thokk stunned.
"You see I normally am a drunken brawler and I go looking for a fight. The men and creatures that I destroy are fighters and brawlers too. The blacksmith however was not. It haunts me to think of him naked, tied to the tree, swinging that axe at him. It felt like splitting a new pine stump. Sticking inside his head and the blood oozing out like sap from wood. It's hard to know what I should feel in that moment..." The captain interrupts him, "So you were one that killed him? Why?" The monk looked up from his hands and down the table into the eyes of the captain and began to recount the tale of the blacksmith's blight.
As the dragonborn neared the door to the barracks, he took a moment to look around. There were 6 guards in this room, filled with tables, the kitchen just off to the side, he saw some locks on the door that led to the cells but outside of that there were only a few other people that were coming and going that he had noticed since he had been held here. As they reached the door and the bolts and locks came off, he readied a spell to perform as soon as he was motioned through the open doorway. The lieutenant approached him from behind and beckoned him through. The dragonborn wizard spoke the incantation in just a few short words and in a moment vanished from view causing all the guards nearby to draw their swords and yell for everyone to be on their guard. Both doors were slammed shut and immediately locked and one of the standing guards outside ran to the manor for reinforcements. Grabbing their swords, spears, and shields the remaining guards spread out in formation near the front door preparing to sweep the room until they found the dragonborn. Appearing in the center of the room, he reappeared as he was reciting another spell. Suddenly a thick cold mist appeared in the air as the natural water vapor began to thicken obstructing the guards view. "Alright men. Be on your guard, he is a large creature so he should be easy to find. Keep an ear out and move forward carefully. Stay together. This will be over quick."
The commotion from the dining hall was loud enough and the monk had told the captain everything he needed to know. The captain stands and leans forward with both hands on the table, "I am going to put you all in prison for being the accomplices and murderers of the blacksmith. We will have to interrogate your other tiefling friend that is playing the part currently of our local blacksmith and figure out what to do with her. You will all be tried and most likely executed before the lord's son arrives home. Do you have anything more to say for yourselves?" "I don't plan on dying today!" yells Shireling as his whole party springs into action. The first thing that occurs is the rogue pulls his hidden boomerang out and throws it around the elf at the captain. The spinning weapons grazes his companion and as the tiefling rolls across the table he hears the captain yell out in pain as it slashes his shoulder. However the elf upset with how closely she is to being cut returns the favor and hurls an axe at the tiefling purposefully missing him. The halfling isn't so lucky because after being attacked the captain swings his sword at the closest target and nearly cuts Temmie in two. Bleeding, he runs beneath the table to cover so he can heal and prepare an attack. Thokk decides he is going to try to pin the captain to the wall using the long table. He bellows out a drunken roar and is able to move the table but not by much. Frustrated, he too tries to rush around to attack. The other guard moves up to assist the captain shield at the ready.
Back in the dining hall, the guards not knowing where to look continue advancing slowly. Like a cat stalking its quarry they move however little did they know that the predator was about to become the prey. The lieutenant had been cursed in the confusion and was being stalked. He was deaf and blind and was struggling to find his friends or foe. His companions sensing his confusion prepared for the unexpected and out of the darkness came a soft voice saying, "It's time for you to die." The wizard appeared next to the lieutenant blade in hand, stuffing it up through the man's throat. As he fell to the floor bleeding the killer again fled into the darkness. One man rushes to the fallen officer's aid and the rest regroup and continue to press forward.
Temmie recognizes that Shireling is without his boomerang and focuses on it. He reaches out with magic and an invisible hand retrieves the boomerang and returns it to him. The rogue is shocked but relieved that he is once again armed. Without his rapier, he dashes forward using the boomerang as a dagger this time, once again slashing the captain but the blade injures him in the process. The other guard again moves to assist and the rogue disengages. An arrow flies from the elf's direction and is deflected off the waiting shield. Thokk decides to charge the pair and leaps over the table however, he is not as athletic or acrobatic in his drunken state and his foot catches an edge and falls right at the captain's feet. Seizing the opportunity, the captain stabs down into the half-orc's leg burying the weapon deep into the bone. Thokk screams out in pain but grabs the weapon.
Now that the barracks is in complete chaos, there is a druid near the cells that sees kitchen staff rush past him back to the bunker. He hears yelling from the dining hall and the sound of steel on steel from the conference room. He quickly runs to the cells. One of the prisoners comes to the bars and they begin to converse, "Karr, why are you here?" "I came to free you but clearly now is not the right time. How did you get put in here?" "The captain of the guard had me arrested. I got caught so I have no excuse. He may still have the keys on him! I saw him go into the conference room over there!" The druid leaves his friend after assuring him he would do his best to survive and runs to the locked door. Unable to break it open, he begins casting a spell on the door. There is an explosion of sound near his open hand damaging the door but not breaking it. He repeats it again with more damage. Again, a third time - finally, it blasts off its hinges and flies into the room.
Shireling was lucky and ducked at just the right time sensing danger. The door flies across the room, slamming the guard assisting the captain into the wall. Temmie grants Shireling bardic inspiration causing him to run to Thokk's aid. The tiefling jumps onto the back of the captain, grappling him and wrapping his tail around an unrestrained wrist, exposing him even further. The elf also runs to aid Thokk and seeing this bravery, brandishes her sword and stabs at the captain. It was not a clean hit and bounces off his armor. The captain attacks the rogue, missing any vitals but does manage to slice his tail. Karr realizing that the enemy of my enemy is my friend decides to ignore the captain for now and focuses again on the other guard. From out of the air, he materializes two ice knives and hurls that at his target striking him. The guard ignores the pain and does make it to his feet fast enough to give a hard blow to Shireling's back. Because of the damage, he releases the captain, disengages and moves around the fight to hide and down a quick healing potion in the shadows. Thokk is able to regain his footing as Xanaphina takes another swing at the captain with her sword. Karr decides to repeat his trick with the door again but on the guard directly and runs up and tries to thunderclap his head. The force is strong enough to pop off the guard's helmet exposing his head. The group prepares for their final attacks.
Not liking his odds of fighting 5 armed guards alone, the wizard raced to the locked door leading to the cells. Deciding he didn't have any other choice, he uses his dragon breath shooting acid at the lock melting it completely. Instead of rushing through it, he casts another spell and this time a shimmer falls across the wizard as he transforms into a guard. Moving back around and meeting one unsuspecting and nervous soldier, he persuades him to move forward and shows him the lock saying that the prisoner must of fled deeper into the cells. They venture forward while the other three guards continue to creep on. The last guard realizes that there is really nothing he can do to save the dying lieutenant and moves on to follow his friends.
Thokk is tired of getting cut and beaten by the captain and this time just wraps his burly orc arms around the captain lifting him into the air only to slam him into the ground. He hears a snap of his neck and Thokk rolls on top of the captain and starts beating his head into a bloody pulp going fist, elbow, elbow fist. The druid has grown to an enormous size, his body covered with a dark thick fur and large paws with dagger-like claws bursting from them. Before the guard has a chance to scream, this huge bear bites down on his head crushing it instantly. This is the same moment that two new guards come through the door to the conference hall and look up in shock to see the back of the half-orc as he beats the captain's mangled body and a bear eating another guard like it is a big cookie.
"We've got company!" yells Shireling as he dashes forward to stab the nearest guard from the shadows. He jumps back as the rest of the party adjust their gaze and Xanaphina her aim. She looses two arrows at once at the injured guard, burying them deep into his eye sockets. To their surprise, the other guard fades away and the wizard reappears, says something in draconic and begins to loot the guard's body. "He said that there are four more coming. We should charge them now!" interprets Thokk for the rest of the party. The bear starts to hurtle forward and Thokk chases after it. As they get to the doorway, three guards enter into their view. Combining their shields they absorb the charge of the lumbering bear and prod it with their spears and swords injuring it. Thokk mounts the beast and with a large swig of his keg breathes fire in their faces roasting the middle guard. The survivors yell to the trailing guard still making his way through the dining hall to go back and get reinforcements. The bear roars and with Thokk on top its body, they barrel after the guard running to the entrance.
Meanwhile, Temmie realizing he has an opportunity to escape quickly runs to the captain's body and begins looting it. "Hey! I almost died for that! Come here!" yells the tiefling. Temmie b-lines for the open doorway and nearly makes it dodging a swing from the two guards alive and still standing. Shireling loots the rest of the captain's body finding two rings - one gold signet ring and another plain silvery ring and pockets both of them. Xanaphina takes careful aim and timing her arrow just right let's it fly past the little halfling into one of the guards as Temmie desperately stabs the door frame mistakenly with his rapier. If he wasn't about to die, it would have been funny. Upset to find all the gold gone, Shireling turns and hurls his boomerang at the thief, missing the halfling but hitting one of the guards instead.
From the other room, the bear lets out a huge roar and tramples the running guard. Turning he reels back and begins to maul the poor man. Thokk hops off the bear, realizing that there is nothing left to do runs all the way back to the other guards. He runs up behind the closest and once again wraps his arms around the guard and does another suplex like he had performed on the captain with the same result. Temmie immediately disappears behind Thokk and is gone. Shireling runs forward again in pursuit. The remaining guard turns and runs down the hallway past the cells. Shireling takes his boomerang from the corpse by the door and expertly pins it into the back of the fleeing guard, dropping him instantly. With that, the barracks is silent.
The party catches their breath and begins to check the bodies for more loot and weapons. They examine the armor to see if any of it is at all usable. Then they start to realize that they just got saved by a half-elf druid that changed into a bear and a dragonborn wizard plus their bard has completely vanished and is gone! Before they can do introductions, there is pounding on the front door. And they all realize that the soldier reinforcements must have finally arrived. "Quick! Go check for other exits! You go to the kitchen and you go check the back! I saw people run that way before!" "Hey! What is the status in there? Are we coming in or are you coming out? How many are still alive?" The party splits and the rogue runs to the door with the elf, trying to come up with a plan. "All of this because of a stupid blacksmith," Shireling mutters under his breath.
Back at the tavern, Temmie is helping clean Shireling of the goblin blood with a bath. Thokk is drinking and tries to persuade the guard to join him however he is intent on keeping an eye on all of the party members. After many futile attempts to get information out of him, Xanaphina finally arrives and the group prepares to follow the guard to the barracks. As they step out into the street another patrol of guards has arrived to help escort the motley crew. Shireling readies his crossbow as they walk to the barracks getting the guards attention. This however is a distraction while Xanaphina quickly flashes the map to the party. Once they arrive, they are greeted by the captain and he invites them into the building. Their weapons are requested and all but the rogue's are begrudgingly handed over. The tiefling skillfully pulls out his rapier and hands it to the guards while also rotating his belt so the rest of his daggers and boomerang are hidden beneath his cloak. They look around the room and realize there is only one way in or out of this building and it is through the barred and locked door they just entered. Inside they see more guards, in total there were 2 posted at the entrance and another 6 inside, along with the captain and the lieutenant.
"Please follow me," the captain motions them through the dining hall back to a long conference room before they reach a hall of cells. From the last cell, they can hear a voice yelling in a strange and ancient language. Thokk gets excited and tries to hurry past all the guards down the hall but is stopped. He yells down the hall in the same foreign language causing the prisoner to cease his commotion. A moment or two passes and a deep voice yells, "I want to talk to him" "Who?" "The captain. I want to talk to the captain." The captain brings the lieutenant over and gives him some instructions and then motions the rest of the party into the conference room. The captain moves to the head of the table facing the door, Temmie runs down and sits directly on his right, Thokk sits across from the captain at the other end of the long table and Shireling pulls out a chair for Xanaphina a few down on the left hand side and then sits on her left using his tail to try to pull her chair a little closer. The rest of the guards except one go back to the dining hall and they close the door.
The lieutenant looks up from the fumbling keys in his hand as he struggles to pick the right one to open the cell. Inside of it, there is a large dragonborn. He is a copper color almost 6'6" and basically 300 lbs of pure scales and muscles. He asks, "Where did the captain go? I heard a door. I want to speak to the captain." "He told me you were too much trouble to continue to hold here, he wants me to take a patrol and escort you to the edge of the town and have you leave. We don't have enough evidence to make anything stick so we just need you to go." "On the one condition, that I speak with the captain first." "He is in the middle of an interrogation so I will only give you a few seconds but only if you come quietly." "Fine." The dragonborn turns and gathers his cloak from the corner, "I will need my book back. Where did you take it?" "I have it with me and will return it to you if you come quietly at the edge of the town." The dragonborn with his back still to the lieutenant grins as he puts on his cloak.
"For the last time, I don't want to hear any more lies. No more from you," the captain points to the halfling. "And nothing from you. I remember you from the tavern," he says as he looks at the tiefling. "You have been been quiet the whole time," speaking at the elf. "What about you, half-orc? Let's start with your name. Maybe we will eventually get to the truth." "Thokk." "What do you do?" "I am a monk from the order of the Drunken God of Brawling." "Explains your gear at least... What can you tell..." There is a knock and the guard pushes the door open slightly and says loudly, "The prisoner wanted to say one last thing before we escort him out of the town, sir. I told him to be quick." The dragonborn sticks his head through the door and talks in a deep harsh tongue that no one except the Thokk recognizes as draconic, "What are you in for?" Thokk replies in kind, "There will be bloodshed soon." The captain waves them away not understanding anything but suspicious to the purpose of the intrusion, "What did he say?" "He asked what we did." "And?" "I told him that we killed a man." The whole party looks at Thokk stunned.
"You see I normally am a drunken brawler and I go looking for a fight. The men and creatures that I destroy are fighters and brawlers too. The blacksmith however was not. It haunts me to think of him naked, tied to the tree, swinging that axe at him. It felt like splitting a new pine stump. Sticking inside his head and the blood oozing out like sap from wood. It's hard to know what I should feel in that moment..." The captain interrupts him, "So you were one that killed him? Why?" The monk looked up from his hands and down the table into the eyes of the captain and began to recount the tale of the blacksmith's blight.
As the dragonborn neared the door to the barracks, he took a moment to look around. There were 6 guards in this room, filled with tables, the kitchen just off to the side, he saw some locks on the door that led to the cells but outside of that there were only a few other people that were coming and going that he had noticed since he had been held here. As they reached the door and the bolts and locks came off, he readied a spell to perform as soon as he was motioned through the open doorway. The lieutenant approached him from behind and beckoned him through. The dragonborn wizard spoke the incantation in just a few short words and in a moment vanished from view causing all the guards nearby to draw their swords and yell for everyone to be on their guard. Both doors were slammed shut and immediately locked and one of the standing guards outside ran to the manor for reinforcements. Grabbing their swords, spears, and shields the remaining guards spread out in formation near the front door preparing to sweep the room until they found the dragonborn. Appearing in the center of the room, he reappeared as he was reciting another spell. Suddenly a thick cold mist appeared in the air as the natural water vapor began to thicken obstructing the guards view. "Alright men. Be on your guard, he is a large creature so he should be easy to find. Keep an ear out and move forward carefully. Stay together. This will be over quick."
The commotion from the dining hall was loud enough and the monk had told the captain everything he needed to know. The captain stands and leans forward with both hands on the table, "I am going to put you all in prison for being the accomplices and murderers of the blacksmith. We will have to interrogate your other tiefling friend that is playing the part currently of our local blacksmith and figure out what to do with her. You will all be tried and most likely executed before the lord's son arrives home. Do you have anything more to say for yourselves?" "I don't plan on dying today!" yells Shireling as his whole party springs into action. The first thing that occurs is the rogue pulls his hidden boomerang out and throws it around the elf at the captain. The spinning weapons grazes his companion and as the tiefling rolls across the table he hears the captain yell out in pain as it slashes his shoulder. However the elf upset with how closely she is to being cut returns the favor and hurls an axe at the tiefling purposefully missing him. The halfling isn't so lucky because after being attacked the captain swings his sword at the closest target and nearly cuts Temmie in two. Bleeding, he runs beneath the table to cover so he can heal and prepare an attack. Thokk decides he is going to try to pin the captain to the wall using the long table. He bellows out a drunken roar and is able to move the table but not by much. Frustrated, he too tries to rush around to attack. The other guard moves up to assist the captain shield at the ready.
Back in the dining hall, the guards not knowing where to look continue advancing slowly. Like a cat stalking its quarry they move however little did they know that the predator was about to become the prey. The lieutenant had been cursed in the confusion and was being stalked. He was deaf and blind and was struggling to find his friends or foe. His companions sensing his confusion prepared for the unexpected and out of the darkness came a soft voice saying, "It's time for you to die." The wizard appeared next to the lieutenant blade in hand, stuffing it up through the man's throat. As he fell to the floor bleeding the killer again fled into the darkness. One man rushes to the fallen officer's aid and the rest regroup and continue to press forward.
Temmie recognizes that Shireling is without his boomerang and focuses on it. He reaches out with magic and an invisible hand retrieves the boomerang and returns it to him. The rogue is shocked but relieved that he is once again armed. Without his rapier, he dashes forward using the boomerang as a dagger this time, once again slashing the captain but the blade injures him in the process. The other guard again moves to assist and the rogue disengages. An arrow flies from the elf's direction and is deflected off the waiting shield. Thokk decides to charge the pair and leaps over the table however, he is not as athletic or acrobatic in his drunken state and his foot catches an edge and falls right at the captain's feet. Seizing the opportunity, the captain stabs down into the half-orc's leg burying the weapon deep into the bone. Thokk screams out in pain but grabs the weapon.
Now that the barracks is in complete chaos, there is a druid near the cells that sees kitchen staff rush past him back to the bunker. He hears yelling from the dining hall and the sound of steel on steel from the conference room. He quickly runs to the cells. One of the prisoners comes to the bars and they begin to converse, "Karr, why are you here?" "I came to free you but clearly now is not the right time. How did you get put in here?" "The captain of the guard had me arrested. I got caught so I have no excuse. He may still have the keys on him! I saw him go into the conference room over there!" The druid leaves his friend after assuring him he would do his best to survive and runs to the locked door. Unable to break it open, he begins casting a spell on the door. There is an explosion of sound near his open hand damaging the door but not breaking it. He repeats it again with more damage. Again, a third time - finally, it blasts off its hinges and flies into the room.
Not liking his odds of fighting 5 armed guards alone, the wizard raced to the locked door leading to the cells. Deciding he didn't have any other choice, he uses his dragon breath shooting acid at the lock melting it completely. Instead of rushing through it, he casts another spell and this time a shimmer falls across the wizard as he transforms into a guard. Moving back around and meeting one unsuspecting and nervous soldier, he persuades him to move forward and shows him the lock saying that the prisoner must of fled deeper into the cells. They venture forward while the other three guards continue to creep on. The last guard realizes that there is really nothing he can do to save the dying lieutenant and moves on to follow his friends.
"We've got company!" yells Shireling as he dashes forward to stab the nearest guard from the shadows. He jumps back as the rest of the party adjust their gaze and Xanaphina her aim. She looses two arrows at once at the injured guard, burying them deep into his eye sockets. To their surprise, the other guard fades away and the wizard reappears, says something in draconic and begins to loot the guard's body. "He said that there are four more coming. We should charge them now!" interprets Thokk for the rest of the party. The bear starts to hurtle forward and Thokk chases after it. As they get to the doorway, three guards enter into their view. Combining their shields they absorb the charge of the lumbering bear and prod it with their spears and swords injuring it. Thokk mounts the beast and with a large swig of his keg breathes fire in their faces roasting the middle guard. The survivors yell to the trailing guard still making his way through the dining hall to go back and get reinforcements. The bear roars and with Thokk on top its body, they barrel after the guard running to the entrance.
Meanwhile, Temmie realizing he has an opportunity to escape quickly runs to the captain's body and begins looting it. "Hey! I almost died for that! Come here!" yells the tiefling. Temmie b-lines for the open doorway and nearly makes it dodging a swing from the two guards alive and still standing. Shireling loots the rest of the captain's body finding two rings - one gold signet ring and another plain silvery ring and pockets both of them. Xanaphina takes careful aim and timing her arrow just right let's it fly past the little halfling into one of the guards as Temmie desperately stabs the door frame mistakenly with his rapier. If he wasn't about to die, it would have been funny. Upset to find all the gold gone, Shireling turns and hurls his boomerang at the thief, missing the halfling but hitting one of the guards instead.
From the other room, the bear lets out a huge roar and tramples the running guard. Turning he reels back and begins to maul the poor man. Thokk hops off the bear, realizing that there is nothing left to do runs all the way back to the other guards. He runs up behind the closest and once again wraps his arms around the guard and does another suplex like he had performed on the captain with the same result. Temmie immediately disappears behind Thokk and is gone. Shireling runs forward again in pursuit. The remaining guard turns and runs down the hallway past the cells. Shireling takes his boomerang from the corpse by the door and expertly pins it into the back of the fleeing guard, dropping him instantly. With that, the barracks is silent.
The party catches their breath and begins to check the bodies for more loot and weapons. They examine the armor to see if any of it is at all usable. Then they start to realize that they just got saved by a half-elf druid that changed into a bear and a dragonborn wizard plus their bard has completely vanished and is gone! Before they can do introductions, there is pounding on the front door. And they all realize that the soldier reinforcements must have finally arrived. "Quick! Go check for other exits! You go to the kitchen and you go check the back! I saw people run that way before!" "Hey! What is the status in there? Are we coming in or are you coming out? How many are still alive?" The party splits and the rogue runs to the door with the elf, trying to come up with a plan. "All of this because of a stupid blacksmith," Shireling mutters under his breath.
The Blacksmith's Blight: Session 3 - THE PATSY
As Shireling tests the edge of one of the boomerangs he asks, "So how does this work again?" "You throw it just like a throwing knife but you have to keep an eye on it because if you don't hit your target it will come flying back to you." "Seriously?" "Yes. That's why I wanted it! I don't run very fast so in case I miss I want it to find me not the other way around," says Temmie. "Makes sense." "So do you like them or what?" asks the impatient blacksmith as he eyes the growing party. "A few more test throws," says Shireling. "The halfling holds the coin for the party so you have to negotiate with him." "We already agreed on a price yesterday. No more deals! I already took one bribe to move your order to the top. Now where is my money?"
The problem with halflings, especially lightfoots, is that they can vanish very easily. In fact, Temmie just had to hide behind any one of his colleagues for a second and he was able to disappear. This was calculated though. Before the blacksmith realized it, there was the halfling. He had changed costumes into what seemed to be some kind of swimwear... banana boat I believe they are called. Due to his size, his garment could have come from any number of other party members including the eye patch of a fallen enemy. The surprise musical attack that came from the halfling was again being produced from his saxophone. This time the little man had pulled out all the stops and swayed with the music, closing his eyes as he leaned in to savor ever note. As it hit the blacksmith, you could tell he tried to resist but the halfling won him over so deeply that the blacksmith was their prisoner for the day. Similar to the love potions, any damage would release the blacksmith from this spell so they made sure that Thokk stayed with him at all times. Next, they raided his store, signed away the deed and work to Urza and had him write a note saying that he was off to seek adventure in the forest. In essence, he was their prisoner. The party left behind Urza but ventured off heavily equipped and with part of the wealth that the blacksmith had accumulated from his work. This was okay with most of the party because she seemed to not mirror their chaotic nature as much and there was only room for one tiefling in this party.
It took our adventurers not long to make their way through the town and into the forest that morning. It was still early so no one to really worry about. As they made their way, Xanaphina took lead along with Shireling. They made sure to look for the traps made by the huntsman and to look for clues as to where the goblins may be. After a hour or two, they arrived at the cave. Temmie riding on the blacksmith's shoulder was assigned to be lookout along with Thokk on the southside of the cave as the hunters inspected the stash. Following Frederick's specific instructions to not open it, they looked at the cave and the entrance and while Xanaphina watched to the north, Shireling prepared himself.
Shireling was still frustrated with the bell alarm he had tripped at the thief's hut but it was a good design and he planned to mirror it here. He studied the entrance to the cave and found a young willow tree. It was still small so it was pliable and had some nice bend to it. There was a strong stump across on the other side as well. He took out his supplies and decided to wrap the string around the stump, cross the path and then up the tree so he could hide the bell above, disorienting whoever would spring the trap. It was a good plan. It was poorly executed. With all his preparations he couldn't remember what knots to use or how to tie them so eventually he picked at least the three he could muster up and combined them into from what a practiced eye like the elf's could see - or anyone for that matter - was an utter mess. Functional was what he was going for, he said to himself. However, what he couldn't do with the string, he made up for with his ability to hide it. He gathered fallen leaves to cover the knot, took mud and wiped it along the thread so it wouldn't shine when the light hit it and took every precaution necessary so that if Xanaphina hadn't watched him build his contraption, she certainly wouldn't have seen it now that it was hid. To be frank, she was actually impressed.
Now with the first step of the plan completed, he walked out of the cave and looked above it. There was a spot there that they could lie in wait but how to get there... He looked in his bag again and this time pulled out his hammer, rope and pitons. He hated heights but in front of the elf, he had to show his skills and athleticism. He found the path he wanted to take, placed his pack at the base of a tree and took a few steps back. He ran at the wall and pushed up off the edge reaching for his grip. Hanging by only a few fingers he continued to climb higher but the weight of the rope and hammer was something he wasn't used to. In cities, there was natural handholds and so much easier. He looked down to examine how high he had gotten but by distracting himself, lost grip of the wall and fell backwards towards the ground.
The elf laughed which caught the attention of the rest of the party. Apparently for all that effort, the tiefling had only climbed maybe 5 feet off the ground and had another 15 or so to go. Humiliated and not determined to make a greater fool of himself he handed Xanaphina his gear which she gladly took and then slowly turned and returned to his pack. Confused he watched as she carefully walked around the cave and disappeared from view. A few moments later, he heard a small birdcall from above him and looked up to see her atop the cave. He smiled and took out a small bag and tied it to a bolt for his hand crossbow and fired it up into a nearby tree so she could retrieve it and throw the bolt back down. He quickly rearmed the weapon and gave a thumbs up to the rest of the party. Before he could find a good place to hide, he saw the other two waving their arms wildly, pointing to the north while the blacksmith spun in circles and twiddled his thumbs. The goblins had finally arrived.
Frederick's information was good. There were four goblins. Two small scouts, a large bruiser and one that appeared to be the leader was riding atop a warg - a large wild dog the size of a lion with fangs to boot. They had come to inspect the cave. As they approached all of the party found places to hide behind trees and whatever cover they could find, doing their best to disappear into their surroundings. Xanaphina crept closer to the edge opening the small bag revealing ball bearings that she hoped to drop onto her targets below. At the entrance to the cave, the leader started to bark commands and the bruiser stood guard while the other two looked around and then slowly entered the cave.
Tripping the alarm, the bell startled the goblins not knowing where it came from and out of nowhere the party attacked! The ball bearings did their job, raining down onto the two scouts below, one moved slowly so not to trip and fall prone but the other still scared from the bell was not so cautious. He fell and collided with his colleague making both tumble down into a pile. At the same time, Shireling fired his hand crossbow hitting the bruiser high in the chest near the armpit where his armor was lightest and out of the air came a screaming halfling that had been flung by Thokk yards away. As he landed near this group, the two goblins outside the cave sprung back defensively which saved the lead goblin as Xanaphina fired an arrow just missing him from above. Temmie sprang to his feet, smile spread across his face as he jumped up and performed a thunderwave! From his small body burst a large clap of thunderous sound and the vibrations decimated the surrounding area from the explosion. One of the goblins just inside the entrance died instantaneously. The lead goblin and bruiser reacted instinctively heading towards the most dangerous and obvious targets - the half-orc and the elf.
Temmie tried to disappear quickly but the goblin scout scurried after him injured and enraged. Goblins are not large creatures but to a halfling, everything is a big. As his pursurer knocked him to the ground and reached with both hands on his weapon above his head to deliver a killing blow, the creature froze and a sharp point suddenly protruded from his open mouth. The goblin's foot twitched right before his body was pushed to the ground by the tiefling who cleaned his rapier quickly from the assassination causing the halfling to burst into giggling as he scurried away. So much blood. So much fun.
Above the elf had knocked her third arrow that she fired at the goblin leader as he and his mount bounded up to the top of the cave. He had found the deer path on the northeastern side so quickly that he must have used it before. Her arrow sliced past the goblin pounding into the warg's back leg. She leaped from her perch rolling into a somersault as she hit the ground below, chased by the vengeful leader. As he and his pet fell, they landed on top of the unsuspecting hero below, clawing Shireling with its hindquarters. The halfling was not hit because he had scurried round to observe his mentor and companion the half-orc.
Thokk did not have it easy either. The bruiser was an experienced fighter and both dodged expertly not being able to land a blow, the goblin with his axe and the half-orc with his gauntlets. The goblin would swing a horizontal blow making Thokk spring back unable to close the gap, jabbing when he could to screw up the goblin's concentration. What took both fighters by surprise was a whipping and slashing sound that came through the air as Temmie's boomerang soared around the trees they were fighting next to and back to the halfling hidden in the brush far away. The goblin followed the arc of the weapon to locate his next target but should have known not to allow himself to become so easily distracted. Thokk punched hard into his abdomen knocking the wind out of the beast but not causing it to fall. In an immediate reaction, the goblin again took a fast swing with his axe at his large opponent who dodged causing the axe to lodge itself into the nearby tree. In one fluid motion, Thokk used his momentum and swung round with a haymaker to the goblin's face. The spikes on his gloves caught both the cheek of his enemy and slicing its throat as the half-orc powered through the blow. The enemy's lifeless body fell to the ground nearly decapitated as the blood began to pool. Again, from the bushes came the roaring laughter of the little evil halfling.
By this time, the lead goblin watching his band die one by one heard the familiar ping of the elfin bow but this time felt the arrow as it pierced his side. Reaching round to steady himself atop his mount he barked in pain and looked back to find the arrow just below his ribs. Shireling, still bleeding from his chest, seized this moment. Dropping his weapons, he jumped up behind goblin onto the warg, drawing two daggers while in the air. As he landed onto the beast he stabbed both knives high and deep into the goblin's back, removing one and twisting the other only to reach round and slice the leader's throat, pushing him off and onto the ground. The tiefling now covered in blood only had a second to exhale and catch his breathe before the wild dog bucked him off. Now free from all its tormentors it started to bolt for the woods. "I want to keep him! I want to ride him!" screamed the orc, looking up now that he finished taking the bruiser's head from its body. As he ran to intercept the animal, all the rest of the party made one last ditch effort to capture or slow the beast. The elf loosed an arrow. The tiefling rolled onto his feet and reached for his weapon while he ran forwards. The halfling sprang into action and readied his boomerang, throwing it with all his might! But again, he was not skilled with this new weapon and it whipped through the air barely missing Shireling's head as he ducked for cover missing his opportunity to capture the beast as well. A pointed glare was sent the tiny man's way as he again giggled in glee.
With all the chaos ended, there was but one last thing to do. Thokk took the head of the bruiser and tied it to his keg to bring Frederick proof that the deed was done . This is when light singing brought the blacksmith back to everyone's memory. He was still sitting there humming a nice little diddy as the halfling approached the man who he believed had gotten the better of him before. "Remove your clothes and sit next to that tree," instructed Temmie. He sat patiently as they took some rope they recovered from the goblins and tied him to the tree. "Do it Thokk." The monk paused for the moment not knowing what to do with a helpless victim. He was a brawler and enjoyed fighting when there was a challenge and when danger loomed but not like this. Still, he lifted the goblin's axe and made one swift strike downwards with both hands. As they made their way back into town, he knew that decision would haunt him for many moons to come. He only needed now was some fire whiskey so he could forget the guilt.
By the time they neared the town, the sun was starting to set and they began to feel tired. It was a long day goblin slaying and as they past a few of the shops they could see a crowd gathered near Urza's new shop. Business must be good they thought but still curiosity made them venture closer. The rogue stealthfully made his way through the crowd to see multiple guards investigating the shop and a very frightened and upset tiefling yelling back at them. That is deja vu for you, thought Shireling. He crept back to his associates telling them the trouble that Urza was in and they discussed how this will probably create havoc for them with their plan to rob the lord by drawing so much attention to their interactions with the tradesmen in the town. Plus, they would be hard pressed to get to Frederick's hut with these guards running around.
At this moment, a recognizable voice asked, "Where have you been and what have you been up to?" It was the guard from the tavern and this time he was fully dressed wearing his captain's uniform accompanied by two more pairs of guards. It was hard to not be noticeable when your party is trashed and when it comes to the half-orc and the tiefling, covered in blood. Temmie, never being afraid, confronts the guard not realizing that they had met before, "Sir, we just returned from a tragic afternoon in the woods. We left to go on a short hunting expedition and brought plenty of rations for our party when we were set upon by a band of goblins. As you can see, we defeated our foes but not without some trouble," as he motioned to Thokk who proudly displayed his trophy. "That does sound like a terrible time my tiny friend however survival would mean your whole party would have returned. Where is the blacksmith?" "The blacksmith?" replied Temmie. "Yes. There was a note in his shop saying that he left with your band to go adventuring which is odd. He is a strong man and used to be a great warrior. He has no family so it is interesting that he would give up his lifelong dream of settling down with his very successful store and leave with your party especially when he could have been armed to the teeth. Goblins would not have given him any trouble yet where is he?"
Shireling seeing that the halfling didn't recognize the captain of the guard tried to help, "Well captain, the blacksmith was providing us information like a guide and eventually he decided that instead of getting us lost that it would have been best to just join us instead." "Still, which weapons did he take? I checked his inventory and none are missing? Why sell his shop? I don't think I really understand..." Temmie responded, "It was like I said before. We were ambushed and unfortunately in our surprise, they were able to kidnap the blacksmith. We tried to save him but it was too late. He is dead in the woods. We killed most of his captors but some got away." "Your story has changed again my small friend. How about your group comes with me and we can sort this out at the barracks." The party watches as the guards close in with their hands on the pommels of their swords ready to draw them at any moment. Shireling weighs the gravity of the situation and sensing Temmie's excitement for more blood intercedes, "We accept your offer but could you do us one small kindness. I hate to draw so much attention to myself. Can we go back to the tavern to clean ourselves up and gather the rest of our supplies? We left some on the edge of the forest." The captain contemplates this briefly and nods in approval and motions for one guard to stay behind as their escort and then the rest of his patrol returns to the shop for further investigation. "Perfect. Xanaphina if you would be so kind to return and get our supplies that would be greatly appreciated. Return the items we borrowed to our friend that gave us the intel. He does get impatient." Xanaphina understands and separates from the group, heading to Frederick's hut while the rest of the party size up the guard as he waits for them to lead him to the tavern. "This is going to be interesting."
The problem with halflings, especially lightfoots, is that they can vanish very easily. In fact, Temmie just had to hide behind any one of his colleagues for a second and he was able to disappear. This was calculated though. Before the blacksmith realized it, there was the halfling. He had changed costumes into what seemed to be some kind of swimwear... banana boat I believe they are called. Due to his size, his garment could have come from any number of other party members including the eye patch of a fallen enemy. The surprise musical attack that came from the halfling was again being produced from his saxophone. This time the little man had pulled out all the stops and swayed with the music, closing his eyes as he leaned in to savor ever note. As it hit the blacksmith, you could tell he tried to resist but the halfling won him over so deeply that the blacksmith was their prisoner for the day. Similar to the love potions, any damage would release the blacksmith from this spell so they made sure that Thokk stayed with him at all times. Next, they raided his store, signed away the deed and work to Urza and had him write a note saying that he was off to seek adventure in the forest. In essence, he was their prisoner. The party left behind Urza but ventured off heavily equipped and with part of the wealth that the blacksmith had accumulated from his work. This was okay with most of the party because she seemed to not mirror their chaotic nature as much and there was only room for one tiefling in this party.
It took our adventurers not long to make their way through the town and into the forest that morning. It was still early so no one to really worry about. As they made their way, Xanaphina took lead along with Shireling. They made sure to look for the traps made by the huntsman and to look for clues as to where the goblins may be. After a hour or two, they arrived at the cave. Temmie riding on the blacksmith's shoulder was assigned to be lookout along with Thokk on the southside of the cave as the hunters inspected the stash. Following Frederick's specific instructions to not open it, they looked at the cave and the entrance and while Xanaphina watched to the north, Shireling prepared himself.
Shireling was still frustrated with the bell alarm he had tripped at the thief's hut but it was a good design and he planned to mirror it here. He studied the entrance to the cave and found a young willow tree. It was still small so it was pliable and had some nice bend to it. There was a strong stump across on the other side as well. He took out his supplies and decided to wrap the string around the stump, cross the path and then up the tree so he could hide the bell above, disorienting whoever would spring the trap. It was a good plan. It was poorly executed. With all his preparations he couldn't remember what knots to use or how to tie them so eventually he picked at least the three he could muster up and combined them into from what a practiced eye like the elf's could see - or anyone for that matter - was an utter mess. Functional was what he was going for, he said to himself. However, what he couldn't do with the string, he made up for with his ability to hide it. He gathered fallen leaves to cover the knot, took mud and wiped it along the thread so it wouldn't shine when the light hit it and took every precaution necessary so that if Xanaphina hadn't watched him build his contraption, she certainly wouldn't have seen it now that it was hid. To be frank, she was actually impressed.
Now with the first step of the plan completed, he walked out of the cave and looked above it. There was a spot there that they could lie in wait but how to get there... He looked in his bag again and this time pulled out his hammer, rope and pitons. He hated heights but in front of the elf, he had to show his skills and athleticism. He found the path he wanted to take, placed his pack at the base of a tree and took a few steps back. He ran at the wall and pushed up off the edge reaching for his grip. Hanging by only a few fingers he continued to climb higher but the weight of the rope and hammer was something he wasn't used to. In cities, there was natural handholds and so much easier. He looked down to examine how high he had gotten but by distracting himself, lost grip of the wall and fell backwards towards the ground.
The elf laughed which caught the attention of the rest of the party. Apparently for all that effort, the tiefling had only climbed maybe 5 feet off the ground and had another 15 or so to go. Humiliated and not determined to make a greater fool of himself he handed Xanaphina his gear which she gladly took and then slowly turned and returned to his pack. Confused he watched as she carefully walked around the cave and disappeared from view. A few moments later, he heard a small birdcall from above him and looked up to see her atop the cave. He smiled and took out a small bag and tied it to a bolt for his hand crossbow and fired it up into a nearby tree so she could retrieve it and throw the bolt back down. He quickly rearmed the weapon and gave a thumbs up to the rest of the party. Before he could find a good place to hide, he saw the other two waving their arms wildly, pointing to the north while the blacksmith spun in circles and twiddled his thumbs. The goblins had finally arrived.
Frederick's information was good. There were four goblins. Two small scouts, a large bruiser and one that appeared to be the leader was riding atop a warg - a large wild dog the size of a lion with fangs to boot. They had come to inspect the cave. As they approached all of the party found places to hide behind trees and whatever cover they could find, doing their best to disappear into their surroundings. Xanaphina crept closer to the edge opening the small bag revealing ball bearings that she hoped to drop onto her targets below. At the entrance to the cave, the leader started to bark commands and the bruiser stood guard while the other two looked around and then slowly entered the cave.
Tripping the alarm, the bell startled the goblins not knowing where it came from and out of nowhere the party attacked! The ball bearings did their job, raining down onto the two scouts below, one moved slowly so not to trip and fall prone but the other still scared from the bell was not so cautious. He fell and collided with his colleague making both tumble down into a pile. At the same time, Shireling fired his hand crossbow hitting the bruiser high in the chest near the armpit where his armor was lightest and out of the air came a screaming halfling that had been flung by Thokk yards away. As he landed near this group, the two goblins outside the cave sprung back defensively which saved the lead goblin as Xanaphina fired an arrow just missing him from above. Temmie sprang to his feet, smile spread across his face as he jumped up and performed a thunderwave! From his small body burst a large clap of thunderous sound and the vibrations decimated the surrounding area from the explosion. One of the goblins just inside the entrance died instantaneously. The lead goblin and bruiser reacted instinctively heading towards the most dangerous and obvious targets - the half-orc and the elf.
Temmie tried to disappear quickly but the goblin scout scurried after him injured and enraged. Goblins are not large creatures but to a halfling, everything is a big. As his pursurer knocked him to the ground and reached with both hands on his weapon above his head to deliver a killing blow, the creature froze and a sharp point suddenly protruded from his open mouth. The goblin's foot twitched right before his body was pushed to the ground by the tiefling who cleaned his rapier quickly from the assassination causing the halfling to burst into giggling as he scurried away. So much blood. So much fun.
Above the elf had knocked her third arrow that she fired at the goblin leader as he and his mount bounded up to the top of the cave. He had found the deer path on the northeastern side so quickly that he must have used it before. Her arrow sliced past the goblin pounding into the warg's back leg. She leaped from her perch rolling into a somersault as she hit the ground below, chased by the vengeful leader. As he and his pet fell, they landed on top of the unsuspecting hero below, clawing Shireling with its hindquarters. The halfling was not hit because he had scurried round to observe his mentor and companion the half-orc.
Thokk did not have it easy either. The bruiser was an experienced fighter and both dodged expertly not being able to land a blow, the goblin with his axe and the half-orc with his gauntlets. The goblin would swing a horizontal blow making Thokk spring back unable to close the gap, jabbing when he could to screw up the goblin's concentration. What took both fighters by surprise was a whipping and slashing sound that came through the air as Temmie's boomerang soared around the trees they were fighting next to and back to the halfling hidden in the brush far away. The goblin followed the arc of the weapon to locate his next target but should have known not to allow himself to become so easily distracted. Thokk punched hard into his abdomen knocking the wind out of the beast but not causing it to fall. In an immediate reaction, the goblin again took a fast swing with his axe at his large opponent who dodged causing the axe to lodge itself into the nearby tree. In one fluid motion, Thokk used his momentum and swung round with a haymaker to the goblin's face. The spikes on his gloves caught both the cheek of his enemy and slicing its throat as the half-orc powered through the blow. The enemy's lifeless body fell to the ground nearly decapitated as the blood began to pool. Again, from the bushes came the roaring laughter of the little evil halfling.
By this time, the lead goblin watching his band die one by one heard the familiar ping of the elfin bow but this time felt the arrow as it pierced his side. Reaching round to steady himself atop his mount he barked in pain and looked back to find the arrow just below his ribs. Shireling, still bleeding from his chest, seized this moment. Dropping his weapons, he jumped up behind goblin onto the warg, drawing two daggers while in the air. As he landed onto the beast he stabbed both knives high and deep into the goblin's back, removing one and twisting the other only to reach round and slice the leader's throat, pushing him off and onto the ground. The tiefling now covered in blood only had a second to exhale and catch his breathe before the wild dog bucked him off. Now free from all its tormentors it started to bolt for the woods. "I want to keep him! I want to ride him!" screamed the orc, looking up now that he finished taking the bruiser's head from its body. As he ran to intercept the animal, all the rest of the party made one last ditch effort to capture or slow the beast. The elf loosed an arrow. The tiefling rolled onto his feet and reached for his weapon while he ran forwards. The halfling sprang into action and readied his boomerang, throwing it with all his might! But again, he was not skilled with this new weapon and it whipped through the air barely missing Shireling's head as he ducked for cover missing his opportunity to capture the beast as well. A pointed glare was sent the tiny man's way as he again giggled in glee.
With all the chaos ended, there was but one last thing to do. Thokk took the head of the bruiser and tied it to his keg to bring Frederick proof that the deed was done . This is when light singing brought the blacksmith back to everyone's memory. He was still sitting there humming a nice little diddy as the halfling approached the man who he believed had gotten the better of him before. "Remove your clothes and sit next to that tree," instructed Temmie. He sat patiently as they took some rope they recovered from the goblins and tied him to the tree. "Do it Thokk." The monk paused for the moment not knowing what to do with a helpless victim. He was a brawler and enjoyed fighting when there was a challenge and when danger loomed but not like this. Still, he lifted the goblin's axe and made one swift strike downwards with both hands. As they made their way back into town, he knew that decision would haunt him for many moons to come. He only needed now was some fire whiskey so he could forget the guilt.
By the time they neared the town, the sun was starting to set and they began to feel tired. It was a long day goblin slaying and as they past a few of the shops they could see a crowd gathered near Urza's new shop. Business must be good they thought but still curiosity made them venture closer. The rogue stealthfully made his way through the crowd to see multiple guards investigating the shop and a very frightened and upset tiefling yelling back at them. That is deja vu for you, thought Shireling. He crept back to his associates telling them the trouble that Urza was in and they discussed how this will probably create havoc for them with their plan to rob the lord by drawing so much attention to their interactions with the tradesmen in the town. Plus, they would be hard pressed to get to Frederick's hut with these guards running around.
At this moment, a recognizable voice asked, "Where have you been and what have you been up to?" It was the guard from the tavern and this time he was fully dressed wearing his captain's uniform accompanied by two more pairs of guards. It was hard to not be noticeable when your party is trashed and when it comes to the half-orc and the tiefling, covered in blood. Temmie, never being afraid, confronts the guard not realizing that they had met before, "Sir, we just returned from a tragic afternoon in the woods. We left to go on a short hunting expedition and brought plenty of rations for our party when we were set upon by a band of goblins. As you can see, we defeated our foes but not without some trouble," as he motioned to Thokk who proudly displayed his trophy. "That does sound like a terrible time my tiny friend however survival would mean your whole party would have returned. Where is the blacksmith?" "The blacksmith?" replied Temmie. "Yes. There was a note in his shop saying that he left with your band to go adventuring which is odd. He is a strong man and used to be a great warrior. He has no family so it is interesting that he would give up his lifelong dream of settling down with his very successful store and leave with your party especially when he could have been armed to the teeth. Goblins would not have given him any trouble yet where is he?"
Shireling seeing that the halfling didn't recognize the captain of the guard tried to help, "Well captain, the blacksmith was providing us information like a guide and eventually he decided that instead of getting us lost that it would have been best to just join us instead." "Still, which weapons did he take? I checked his inventory and none are missing? Why sell his shop? I don't think I really understand..." Temmie responded, "It was like I said before. We were ambushed and unfortunately in our surprise, they were able to kidnap the blacksmith. We tried to save him but it was too late. He is dead in the woods. We killed most of his captors but some got away." "Your story has changed again my small friend. How about your group comes with me and we can sort this out at the barracks." The party watches as the guards close in with their hands on the pommels of their swords ready to draw them at any moment. Shireling weighs the gravity of the situation and sensing Temmie's excitement for more blood intercedes, "We accept your offer but could you do us one small kindness. I hate to draw so much attention to myself. Can we go back to the tavern to clean ourselves up and gather the rest of our supplies? We left some on the edge of the forest." The captain contemplates this briefly and nods in approval and motions for one guard to stay behind as their escort and then the rest of his patrol returns to the shop for further investigation. "Perfect. Xanaphina if you would be so kind to return and get our supplies that would be greatly appreciated. Return the items we borrowed to our friend that gave us the intel. He does get impatient." Xanaphina understands and separates from the group, heading to Frederick's hut while the rest of the party size up the guard as he waits for them to lead him to the tavern. "This is going to be interesting."
The Blacksmith's Blight: Session 2 - THE PLAN
As the morning rises, our party leaves the tavern after eating a small meal and drinking a little to Thokk's delight. "A sober Thokk is a bad Thokk," the half-orc mumbles. "I have heard something similar before and I am sure both are true," Shireling winks at Xanaphina. Temmie giggles and the elf rolls her eyes. "Let's get going. We need to get rations and weapons as well as visit the apothecary and the huntsman." As they head through town many of the townsfolk give them a large berth. It is clear they are afraid of this crazy and ominous group.
The tiefling slows from time to time and stops once they arrive at the apothecary. "What have you been doing?" remarks Xanaphina. "I am reading the thieves cant. It is the small symbols written on the shops. We should do our best to not steal anything from the apothecary. He is well-armed and has guards." "Okay. Temmie and Thokk stay out here and don't cause any trouble. We are trying to keep a low profile." Thokk hands over some gold and replies, "Only if you buy me some health potions and some fire whiskey... If they have any!" As the pair walk into the shop they see many vials of liquid around the store in all shapes and colors. A white-haired old man slowly reading aloud a massive book with his glasses down on the end of his long pointed nose looks up once the pair get close enough to notice them. It was clearly the store inventory by the sound of it. "Excuse me. Can you help me find my spectacles? Then, I would be happy to help you with whatever you need." The pair in surprise begin to look around the room and then slowly the elf steps forward and pushes the glasses up the brim of the man's nose. "Oh! Thank you! I am so forgetful. So what can I do for you?"
"We are looking for health potions. About 8 of them if you have that much in stock." "Of course I do! One second while I hop down here and grab them for you." The little old man disappears behind the counter and to their surprise it is another halfling! The man comes around the corner to a storage of blue vials and shakes them briefly and they begin to shine brighter. "Still good potency. Excellent! You said 8, correct?" "Yes but out of curiosity, what else do you have to sell?" asks Shireling. "I have lots of different potions. What might you be interested in?" "Love potions." "REALLY?" say the apothecary and Xanaphina as they look back and forth at each other in shock. The halfling shrugs and turns around to sift through his cupboards and says, "Well, I do have some love potions. There are ones that are incredibly potent that are very valuable and then there is a smaller vial I can sell that is more temporary and probably more in your price range." "Ridiculous," Xanaphina mutters aloud, "Let's get one of the smaller ones then." Shireling steps closer and whispers, "It is so Thokk can put it on darts and stun or immobilize the goblins." "That is surprisingly strategic. I think Temmie will go along with it as long as he can kill them." The apothecary locates a vial and inspects the label and continues talking as he approaches the counter, "The potion works so that once consumed or injected, the subject will fall in love with the first thing it sees but if they get hurt at all, the spell wears off immediately." "Perfect. That is everything we are looking for." Goods and money are exchanged and off the party goes again.
They just finish explaining to Thokk and Temmie their plan to inject the goblins and throw Temmie like a missile into them so he can cast thunderwave and kill them all when they arrive to hear a large commotion in the blacksmith shop. As the party ducks through the doorway into the expansive shop the loud voices echo from the near the forge, "I have already been waiting for a week and a half and the armor's quality is questionable at best! I need this done soon and done right!" "As I told you before, I am the only blacksmith in town and the lord has me outfitting the garrison. I barely have time to work on your order. It won't be done until next week." As the group rounds the corner, they feel the blast of heat from the forge and furnace and the shadow of a man that fills the doorway to the practice yard behind the house. The blacksmith is one of the biggest humans many of these adventurers have ever seen. Next to him stands a tiefling. Her aggressive stance and complaints heard all the way from the street remind Shireling of a common phrase: the stubbornness of dwarves. This is not another rogue but a soldier. "You told me that you would have it done by now. It's not done. You are either lazy or a liar. Which is it?"
As the tiefling and elf pay close attention to the confrontation with the blacksmith, Temmie and Thokk explore the shop. Drunken Monks are natural brawlers and Thokk finds himself examining a few different options but settles on a pair of gauntlets, basically metal boxing gloves with spikes. The only reason why it is even necessary to draw the analogy was as Thokk is trying to fit himself with the gloves, Temmie is shadow boxing on the table providing whatever encouragement he can muster. It is also at this moment that he spots Shireling sizing up the blacksmith. Temmie loves a good brawl so he comes over to ask the tiefling what he was thinking, "I chose to be a rogue and a mercenary not because I was strong but because I have cunning and finesse. I am curious if he could melt down my shortsword to make something else that would better play to my strengths." "How are you with throwing knives?" "I can hold my own. Why do you ask?" "In my travels, I once saw a blade that was bent so that when you threw it, it would turn in the air and will come back to you. I couldn't steal it but you have enough metal that I bet I could talk the blacksmith into making two of them from your sword..." "Give it a shot." "I get one of them of course." "Fine but you pay your portion and we will need them for tomorrow," passing him some gold.
They are about to attempt to talk to the blacksmith when the other customer gives up her attempts to get her items quickly and storms out of the shop. Thokk passes her like two ships in the night coming up to the blacksmith with hands outstretched and asks, "Do you have any fire whiskey?" "No but you have to pay to keep these," reaching for the gauntlets. Thokk recoils quickley and looks to Temmie. The halfling smiles as he is in his element. Shireling motions Xanaphina to follow the other customer while he works to calm Thokk, reminding him that he carries his own keg. For all the bravery and charisma the little halfling has, his overconfidence failed to realize the subtlety of timing. He never really had to work hard in negotiations because many things were given to him as a performer but the blacksmith was as hard of a negotiator or he was a man. After fighting with the tiefling, he didn't have time for halflings however business was business and the halfling did have gold.
Outside, Xanaphina was exhausted. She didn't deal with people well to begin with so her ability to not only empathize but care about what had just happened was a struggle. Unless she had to ask questions, she only got bits and pieces of what someone said, "Shireling! This is Urza Mulaga. She is a tiefling like you and I feel like she would make a good member of our team." "I think she will too. Temmie wants to murder the blacksmith but we got our order of weapons expedited for tomorrow by offering to pay him a little extra so we ought to hurry up and go find the huntsman before things get even more out of hand." "TOMORROW!! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR WEEKS!" "Calm down! We will explain on the way..."
Temmie explains how he described the curved flying daggers to the blacksmith in great detail - how they worked, their design, how dangerous they were and the more he talked and acted out the flight of it with his hands, the more excited he got. Then the halfling's persona changed to pure rage as he began to describe how the blacksmith ignored the halfling's requests for using the value of the sword and it's exceeding craftsmanship to discount the work required to make the boomerangs. Honestly, the halfling was trying to have the blacksmith pay him for the new and innovative designs and the old soldier wouldn't have it. The blacksmith's rationale was this was an unproven weapon and would probably not be as effective as a traditional sword. "I wanted to thunderwave him right then and there! I couldn't though. Shireling told me that we needed him to make our boomerangs and then promised me that we could kill him tomorrow when we come back and pick them up." "I did NOT... However there is some potential profit in that idea." And then the tiefling mumbles, "We could dart him with the love potion and then use him as bait for the goblins." "Can I thunderwave him then?" "Taking damage would cancel out the spell though... How strong is your charming ability that you used before on the men in the tavern?" "I could be the new blacksmith if he was to die," Urza interjected. "I was support staff to the army back when I served in the war." Xanaphina sighs and shakes her head saying, "Not this again..." "You were right! She is a perfect addition to our party! Let's kill the blacksmith!"
A hour or two pass when they finally arrive back at the tavern with the huntsman's shop across the way. By this time, Thokk has proceeded to become more irritable with a hangover beginning to ensue. Fortunately for the rest of the party, it makes their shopping quick. They restock Xanaphina's quiver and prod the huntsman for information. They discuss the area around the stash, which is easily recognizable by caves near a large rock formation not far from town, traps in the forest, and different predators or monsters out in the forest that they need to be careful of. "Maybe we can feed him to a pack of wolves..." "He will wake up the moment he is injured so forget it." "Not if I charm him multiple times..." The elf interrupts and motions back to the tavern, "We need a plan and we should discuss it in private. Plus, we should get some food and drink in Thokk. Let's go." They all nod and head to the library inside the tavern to design a plan for the goblins and the blacksmith. As they walk in Temmie begins to inspect the health potions and love potions more. He realizes that if he shakes them, they brighten in color. This is fun and exciting so as the party discusses the plan, he jumps from one piece of furniture to the next shaking the vials like maracas dancing about.
Later that night, the party splits up to prepare to go to sleep. Temmie offers to share his room at the tavern with the elf and the tiefling which the half-demon wholeheartedly accepts with the idea of what that might mean. Unfortunately, any foreplay he attempted was quickly shutdown by the elf and he wasn't really interested in the halfling. Still, this gave him time to prepare the half-orc's darts. He slowly began meticulously adding the love potion like a poison to each dart one by one. Below their open window, Thokk and Urza have prepared their bedrolls for a long rest on either side of a large tree. Thokk has begun his nighttime ritual prayers. Sitting cross-legged behind his keg and swaying the barrel in rhythm with his body, he recites a silent prayer. As his lips and barrel moves, the sloshing of alcohol from within continues to become less turbulent. His prayers have been accepted and the keg is beginning to be filled by the power of the Drunken God. After a long day, Urza also is relaxing and has begun to play an ancient and forgotten musical instrument. Temmie can't sleep with that sound so he crawls out from where he had cuddled up next to Xanaphina to the window, stirring the rogue as well. He looks out and sees Urza and decides to curse Thokk from the window. He hopes by doing so, the half-orc will attack the tiefling not sensing the halfling was the real attacker above him. Shireling does sense what Temmie is doing and runs to stop Thokk. Still tired from the days events, he unfortunately stumbles and trips straight out the window and with a large thud falls flat on his face in front of the upset Thokk. Shocked from the unexpected surprise, both Temmie and Thokk burst out in laughter breaking the curse. Luckily, tieflings are acrobatic so though the fall was far and the landing wasn't perfect minimal damage was taken. Shireling picks himself up and dusts himself off while glaring at Temmie. He walks over to Thokk and convinces him to go inside and have a drink with him, averting another potential disruption to their plans. Soon everyone returns and goes to sleep.
With the sunrise comes the unusual sound of steel smacking into wood followed by a large bang! The Drunken Monk eager to test out his new gauntlets had awoken early, totally forgetting about Urza sleeping just on the other side and was practicing his punches on the tree. The startled tiefling reacted out of survival instinct and had attempted to deflect and counterattack the blow using one of her hand axes but had luckily missed. Once the rest of the party stopped the two from killing each other and pulled the weapons from the tree, they quickly reminded them that they were allies and that they needed to prepare for the goblins later today. They shook off the shock and went inside for food and preparations for the long hunt ahead of them.
The tiefling slows from time to time and stops once they arrive at the apothecary. "What have you been doing?" remarks Xanaphina. "I am reading the thieves cant. It is the small symbols written on the shops. We should do our best to not steal anything from the apothecary. He is well-armed and has guards." "Okay. Temmie and Thokk stay out here and don't cause any trouble. We are trying to keep a low profile." Thokk hands over some gold and replies, "Only if you buy me some health potions and some fire whiskey... If they have any!" As the pair walk into the shop they see many vials of liquid around the store in all shapes and colors. A white-haired old man slowly reading aloud a massive book with his glasses down on the end of his long pointed nose looks up once the pair get close enough to notice them. It was clearly the store inventory by the sound of it. "Excuse me. Can you help me find my spectacles? Then, I would be happy to help you with whatever you need." The pair in surprise begin to look around the room and then slowly the elf steps forward and pushes the glasses up the brim of the man's nose. "Oh! Thank you! I am so forgetful. So what can I do for you?"
"We are looking for health potions. About 8 of them if you have that much in stock." "Of course I do! One second while I hop down here and grab them for you." The little old man disappears behind the counter and to their surprise it is another halfling! The man comes around the corner to a storage of blue vials and shakes them briefly and they begin to shine brighter. "Still good potency. Excellent! You said 8, correct?" "Yes but out of curiosity, what else do you have to sell?" asks Shireling. "I have lots of different potions. What might you be interested in?" "Love potions." "REALLY?" say the apothecary and Xanaphina as they look back and forth at each other in shock. The halfling shrugs and turns around to sift through his cupboards and says, "Well, I do have some love potions. There are ones that are incredibly potent that are very valuable and then there is a smaller vial I can sell that is more temporary and probably more in your price range." "Ridiculous," Xanaphina mutters aloud, "Let's get one of the smaller ones then." Shireling steps closer and whispers, "It is so Thokk can put it on darts and stun or immobilize the goblins." "That is surprisingly strategic. I think Temmie will go along with it as long as he can kill them." The apothecary locates a vial and inspects the label and continues talking as he approaches the counter, "The potion works so that once consumed or injected, the subject will fall in love with the first thing it sees but if they get hurt at all, the spell wears off immediately." "Perfect. That is everything we are looking for." Goods and money are exchanged and off the party goes again.
They just finish explaining to Thokk and Temmie their plan to inject the goblins and throw Temmie like a missile into them so he can cast thunderwave and kill them all when they arrive to hear a large commotion in the blacksmith shop. As the party ducks through the doorway into the expansive shop the loud voices echo from the near the forge, "I have already been waiting for a week and a half and the armor's quality is questionable at best! I need this done soon and done right!" "As I told you before, I am the only blacksmith in town and the lord has me outfitting the garrison. I barely have time to work on your order. It won't be done until next week." As the group rounds the corner, they feel the blast of heat from the forge and furnace and the shadow of a man that fills the doorway to the practice yard behind the house. The blacksmith is one of the biggest humans many of these adventurers have ever seen. Next to him stands a tiefling. Her aggressive stance and complaints heard all the way from the street remind Shireling of a common phrase: the stubbornness of dwarves. This is not another rogue but a soldier. "You told me that you would have it done by now. It's not done. You are either lazy or a liar. Which is it?"
As the tiefling and elf pay close attention to the confrontation with the blacksmith, Temmie and Thokk explore the shop. Drunken Monks are natural brawlers and Thokk finds himself examining a few different options but settles on a pair of gauntlets, basically metal boxing gloves with spikes. The only reason why it is even necessary to draw the analogy was as Thokk is trying to fit himself with the gloves, Temmie is shadow boxing on the table providing whatever encouragement he can muster. It is also at this moment that he spots Shireling sizing up the blacksmith. Temmie loves a good brawl so he comes over to ask the tiefling what he was thinking, "I chose to be a rogue and a mercenary not because I was strong but because I have cunning and finesse. I am curious if he could melt down my shortsword to make something else that would better play to my strengths." "How are you with throwing knives?" "I can hold my own. Why do you ask?" "In my travels, I once saw a blade that was bent so that when you threw it, it would turn in the air and will come back to you. I couldn't steal it but you have enough metal that I bet I could talk the blacksmith into making two of them from your sword..." "Give it a shot." "I get one of them of course." "Fine but you pay your portion and we will need them for tomorrow," passing him some gold.
They are about to attempt to talk to the blacksmith when the other customer gives up her attempts to get her items quickly and storms out of the shop. Thokk passes her like two ships in the night coming up to the blacksmith with hands outstretched and asks, "Do you have any fire whiskey?" "No but you have to pay to keep these," reaching for the gauntlets. Thokk recoils quickley and looks to Temmie. The halfling smiles as he is in his element. Shireling motions Xanaphina to follow the other customer while he works to calm Thokk, reminding him that he carries his own keg. For all the bravery and charisma the little halfling has, his overconfidence failed to realize the subtlety of timing. He never really had to work hard in negotiations because many things were given to him as a performer but the blacksmith was as hard of a negotiator or he was a man. After fighting with the tiefling, he didn't have time for halflings however business was business and the halfling did have gold.
Outside, Xanaphina was exhausted. She didn't deal with people well to begin with so her ability to not only empathize but care about what had just happened was a struggle. Unless she had to ask questions, she only got bits and pieces of what someone said, "Shireling! This is Urza Mulaga. She is a tiefling like you and I feel like she would make a good member of our team." "I think she will too. Temmie wants to murder the blacksmith but we got our order of weapons expedited for tomorrow by offering to pay him a little extra so we ought to hurry up and go find the huntsman before things get even more out of hand." "TOMORROW!! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR WEEKS!" "Calm down! We will explain on the way..."
Temmie explains how he described the curved flying daggers to the blacksmith in great detail - how they worked, their design, how dangerous they were and the more he talked and acted out the flight of it with his hands, the more excited he got. Then the halfling's persona changed to pure rage as he began to describe how the blacksmith ignored the halfling's requests for using the value of the sword and it's exceeding craftsmanship to discount the work required to make the boomerangs. Honestly, the halfling was trying to have the blacksmith pay him for the new and innovative designs and the old soldier wouldn't have it. The blacksmith's rationale was this was an unproven weapon and would probably not be as effective as a traditional sword. "I wanted to thunderwave him right then and there! I couldn't though. Shireling told me that we needed him to make our boomerangs and then promised me that we could kill him tomorrow when we come back and pick them up." "I did NOT... However there is some potential profit in that idea." And then the tiefling mumbles, "We could dart him with the love potion and then use him as bait for the goblins." "Can I thunderwave him then?" "Taking damage would cancel out the spell though... How strong is your charming ability that you used before on the men in the tavern?" "I could be the new blacksmith if he was to die," Urza interjected. "I was support staff to the army back when I served in the war." Xanaphina sighs and shakes her head saying, "Not this again..." "You were right! She is a perfect addition to our party! Let's kill the blacksmith!"
A hour or two pass when they finally arrive back at the tavern with the huntsman's shop across the way. By this time, Thokk has proceeded to become more irritable with a hangover beginning to ensue. Fortunately for the rest of the party, it makes their shopping quick. They restock Xanaphina's quiver and prod the huntsman for information. They discuss the area around the stash, which is easily recognizable by caves near a large rock formation not far from town, traps in the forest, and different predators or monsters out in the forest that they need to be careful of. "Maybe we can feed him to a pack of wolves..." "He will wake up the moment he is injured so forget it." "Not if I charm him multiple times..." The elf interrupts and motions back to the tavern, "We need a plan and we should discuss it in private. Plus, we should get some food and drink in Thokk. Let's go." They all nod and head to the library inside the tavern to design a plan for the goblins and the blacksmith. As they walk in Temmie begins to inspect the health potions and love potions more. He realizes that if he shakes them, they brighten in color. This is fun and exciting so as the party discusses the plan, he jumps from one piece of furniture to the next shaking the vials like maracas dancing about.
Later that night, the party splits up to prepare to go to sleep. Temmie offers to share his room at the tavern with the elf and the tiefling which the half-demon wholeheartedly accepts with the idea of what that might mean. Unfortunately, any foreplay he attempted was quickly shutdown by the elf and he wasn't really interested in the halfling. Still, this gave him time to prepare the half-orc's darts. He slowly began meticulously adding the love potion like a poison to each dart one by one. Below their open window, Thokk and Urza have prepared their bedrolls for a long rest on either side of a large tree. Thokk has begun his nighttime ritual prayers. Sitting cross-legged behind his keg and swaying the barrel in rhythm with his body, he recites a silent prayer. As his lips and barrel moves, the sloshing of alcohol from within continues to become less turbulent. His prayers have been accepted and the keg is beginning to be filled by the power of the Drunken God. After a long day, Urza also is relaxing and has begun to play an ancient and forgotten musical instrument. Temmie can't sleep with that sound so he crawls out from where he had cuddled up next to Xanaphina to the window, stirring the rogue as well. He looks out and sees Urza and decides to curse Thokk from the window. He hopes by doing so, the half-orc will attack the tiefling not sensing the halfling was the real attacker above him. Shireling does sense what Temmie is doing and runs to stop Thokk. Still tired from the days events, he unfortunately stumbles and trips straight out the window and with a large thud falls flat on his face in front of the upset Thokk. Shocked from the unexpected surprise, both Temmie and Thokk burst out in laughter breaking the curse. Luckily, tieflings are acrobatic so though the fall was far and the landing wasn't perfect minimal damage was taken. Shireling picks himself up and dusts himself off while glaring at Temmie. He walks over to Thokk and convinces him to go inside and have a drink with him, averting another potential disruption to their plans. Soon everyone returns and goes to sleep.
With the sunrise comes the unusual sound of steel smacking into wood followed by a large bang! The Drunken Monk eager to test out his new gauntlets had awoken early, totally forgetting about Urza sleeping just on the other side and was practicing his punches on the tree. The startled tiefling reacted out of survival instinct and had attempted to deflect and counterattack the blow using one of her hand axes but had luckily missed. Once the rest of the party stopped the two from killing each other and pulled the weapons from the tree, they quickly reminded them that they were allies and that they needed to prepare for the goblins later today. They shook off the shock and went inside for food and preparations for the long hunt ahead of them.
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