CH. 12: Testing Grounds

[djhyland]

Arulia nods slowly. "Is...is it that bad?" She looks around. "I suppose you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But, uh, I'll listen if you want, and I'm good at keeping secrets if you do.

[HorizonsDream]

"I have my rounds to finish," Kendra says. "Thanks for the help," she adds before she exits the sewers.

Kendra finishes mapping out the parade route before she returns to the prefect's mansion.

[TristenC]

Grubnick takes a place at the bar a little down from the ogre-man. He wants to be close enough to overhear the conversation, but not so close it seems he is trying to eavesdrop.

=====
[Ooc: Does the goblin recognize ever having seen the ogre-person before?
"I ain't been droppin' no eaves, sir! honest!"

[Haahque]

Given the girl’s words, Haahqae follows the train of thought to its logical conclusion. Or, with Haahqae it’s less of a train of thought and more of a bus of thought. His ideas aren’t really confined to a single set of rails, depending on his mood and the information he thinks he has before him, his thoughts can arrive at nearly any destination that he feels would be a good fit for the end of the journey.

“Well of course the other old gods have clerics too, probably even in the city. In truth, I’ve been looking for them as well, although I haven’t been having much luck lately. Having one’s show attacked by a giant fire being isn’t something that happens when someone’s on a lucky streak. As for the creature who attacked the soldiers? It seems much more likely to me that there’s someone who doesn’t like me and can cast some magic to summon such a creature. Both conjuration and summoning are schools of magic, while I’ve never heard anything about clerics casting such spells. They’re supposed to have divine healing powers or something. And if someone’s trying to take out the occupation why would they start with a huge group of soldiers? Doesn’t that sound like the most likely place for them to fail? But if their goal was just to ruin my show, good job, job well done. Jerk.”

“Actually, given the origin of divine magic, I suppose conjuring up a fire creature should theoretically be possible. But it still doesn’t add up, why would clerics of the old gods be targeting me? I mean the Balzorites have their reasons to hate me, but Balzor never ascended to become a true god, so his clerics wouldn’t have such power would they? Or maybe they would. I think one of the few who escaped was a powerful magic user.”

“Oh damn, this could be bad, what if he finds me when I don’t have two score soldiers to protect me?”

[Chris1234]

Shima runs back, north, east and south through the door, looking for Ne-Chanz and calls, "Ne-Chanz! Incoming giant rats. Meet me at the last web T-junction."
Unless the rat-pack catches up with him first, he continues 25' south, repeating, "Ne-Chanz! Incoming giant rats. Meet me at the last web T-junction," and round the comer and north 20' before turning to face the rats, with 15' of corridor north of him and the fork to the east of him.
If Ne-Chanz appears, ready, in the corridor fork immediately to the east, Shima will fall back 5' to allow then both to strike the same rat(s). If all goes to plan. If.

{OOC: Was there enough left of the spider-prey to possibly interest a hungry rat for a round or so?}

[spyguy1503]

As soon as Ne-Chanz hears him, he heads to the proper position, weapons ready.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Steel Tankard Inn)
"Uh...I see," the young woman says, trying to follow his train, or rather, bus of logic. "I have heard there are clerics who can command flame like that. They say one god, Sirrion, is particularly fond of creatures made of fire. Some say there is a cleric of Sirrion somewhere in the city...perhaps more than one. Likely, they are responsible for attacking your show."

Kendra Greylock (Market Street)
Kendra leaves the sewers, and then finishes her patrol of Market Street. Her final conclusion is that there are a thousand different places ambushers might hide at anywhere on the route to the parade. But probably the best place to set an attack would be at the grand market, since she will be stationary for a good period of time while giving her speech.

Arulia Seroth (Market Square)
"We're...like a family," Aaron says, choosing his words carefully. "We look after each other and teach each other what we need to know to survive. When the war is over, things will go back to normal. And then we won't have to worry as much anymore. That's what I was told."

Grubnick (High Hand Inn)
Grubnick takes a seat at the bar, not far from the half-ogre. He doesn't recognize him at all.

"--with red hair and a beard, of course," the half-ogre is saying to Green Tears.

"No, haven't seen anyone like that," the bartender responds.

The half-ogre nods. He fishes out a couple of coins from his pouch and hands them to Green Tears. Grubnick only catches a glimpse of them, but they look platinum. "Be sure to send word if you do. Thanks for your time." He then turns and heads out while Green Tear puts the coins away.

Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Haven Sewers)
Shima jogs all the way back, yelling for Ne-Chanz's help. His yells echo in all directions of the sewer, likely alerting anything else down here to their presence. However, he makes it to the intersection in time, as does Ne-Chanz. The minotaur readies a sword in one hand and a torch in the other. A few minutes later, the swarm of giant rats turn the corner and move toward the two, squeaking and hissing.

(OOC: Possibly so. Anyway, actions for Round 1?)

[Chris1234]

With buckler ready, use the longsword to thump a rat that moves into range. "Wait 'til they can to us and we can both get at them."

{OOC: Well if Ne-Chanz couldn't hear from 100' away then hopefully anything down here with normal hearing won't be able to hear it from that distance too.}

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra walks back into the mansion while shaking her head. She forgot to ask Pen about the dwarf that they were looking for. "I can ask him another time," she mutters to herself as she makes her way back to the prefect.

[BishGada]

"Oh... my master is one of them, that's for sure... But I don't share his views and so I got no special warning." He tries to straighten his back then sit on the bed resting for a minute. After catching his breath he looks at her leg... "That looks bad. I'm going to search for more survivals and then try to see if I can help the Master of the Tower to defend against the attack. Will you manage here? Or would you prefer we will fix you a walking stick and you join me?"

==============================================================
(OOC: Can the healing and Herbalism be of any help to her? If so before moving on to the other rooms in the hall Tulbas will try to bandage/sterilize or fix her leg.)

[TristenC]

Grubnick gets Green Tears' attention once the ogre has gone off. How is everything, trouble brewing? he asks quietly.

[Ooc: about what time is it? If it is nearing dinner he will order food and water]

[djhyland]

Given Aaron's obvious reluctance to discuss the matter, Arulia suspects that she knows what "knowing where to look for coin" is. She supposes, however, that if it keeps Aaron fed, she can look the other way...and maybe it could help her.

"Aaron," Arulia says, "I'm looking for a couple of women. I've asked around with other people, but nobody's been able to help me yet, but I hope that you might..." She describes Yvette and Xyleena to the boy, but only from her memory--she doesn't mention anything about trappers or black mages.

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz attacks the rats as soon as he can without moving foward.

[Haahque]

For a girl of her age, this woman seems to know a lot about the old gods. Now where has he heard that Sirrion name before? Was it? No, can’t be, maybe… Yeah! It was mentioned in a book he read from a small library somewhere on Southern Ergoth. That… really isn’t that helpful.

“But no, or hmm…”

“Yeah, I think I see what you’re getting at, but why would Sirrion be working with Belzor? I thought most of the old gods didn’t really like Belzor because he was new and also not a god yet. On the other hand, Belzor’s been known to use renegade mages, he’s probably one himself, and a wizard is also capable of summoning a being of pure fire if they’re strong enough.”

“Have you had any luck trying to find these clerics of Sirrion? If you do I might want to ask them a few heated questions to verify if they were associated with the attack. It sounds to me like you haven’t met any clerics of Belzor, so I guess I’ll have to pursue that possibility myself.”

Like… for information that Haahqae had been digging to find for years, at her age she’s managed to learn the name and a number of traits of an old god that seems rather pertinent to the situation, that would suggest she knows more, which can only mean one thing. She’s obviously got a better method to learn about the old gods then Haahqae. No wait… it could mean that she’s actually in disguise and is much older than she looks. There’s rumors that the old gods liked to walk amongst people and test them long ago, maybe she’s a deity incarnate herself? Or, maybe she’s not. You can never really tell. But what is obvious is that she knows a lot about the old gods.

“Do you know of any other deities that might have priests in the city? If both of these leads runs dry we might need some more to pick up on. Perhaps there’s a god of destroying revelry or something like that.”

[JadedDM]

Haahqae (Steel Tankard Inn)
"Uh...I don't know anything about Belzor. I was only five when the Belzorites were in power," the young woman admits. "I don't know any true clerics, except the Takhisians...I was hoping you did. I would very much like to speak with them. I have many questions about their deities and their faith. Have you witnessed anyone causing miracles, such as magical healing, other than the Takhisians?"

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion)
Kendra makes her way from the Merchant District to the Noble District, is allowed entry from the guards and then heads for the prefect's mansion. Again, the guards allow her entry and Tethys' elderly butler escorts her to his office, where he is working on some paperwork.

Tulbas Erogund (Tower of Wayreth)
"You're saying you didn't know anything about this?" she asks. She attempts to stand on her bad leg, but immediately collapses and hisses in pain. She cannot walk on it at all.

Tulbas scrounges the room for anything that would suffice for medical supplies and bandages up the bad leg for her. She finds that she can now walk on it, although running or anything strenuous is probably out of the question. "Thank you," she says. "I would rather accompany you. Seems better than waiting here for someone to come and kill me."

Tulbas makes a healing check [TN 12] (1d20): 7, pass.

Arulia Seroth (Market Square)
Aaron nods. "I've seen them before. I think they work with my family. Not really sure what they do, but they meet with them sometimes. Us little kids aren't allowed to listen in on what they are saying. But I think they help us get coin to pay for things. We always get treats after they visit."

Grubnick (High Hand Inn)
Green Tears shakes her head. "Nothing to worry about. Just looking for someone. Actually, had a lot of folks looking for other folks today."

(OOC: It's just about Evening Watch, so about an hour until curfew begins.)

Ne-Chanz and Shima (North Haven Sewers)
As the two planned, the giant rats scurry toward them and find themselves bottlenecked in the narrow tunnel. They are still tiny enough, however, that they can squeeze in two at a time. But at least they don't have to face all five at once. While the two in front attack, the three in the back are forced to wait.

One rat goes for Shima, the other for Ne-Chanz. Shima blocks his opponent with his shield, while Ne-Chanz's opponent nips at his ankle, just barely drawing blood. Ne-Chanz counterattacks, but misses due to the cramped quarters. Shima scores a hit on his rat, nearly killing it in the process.

Initiative
Ne-Chanz (1d10+5): 7+5 = 12
Shima (1d10+5): 8+5 = 13
Giant Rats (1d10+3): 4+3 = 7

Round 1!

Giant Rat 01 bites at Shima in leather armor (+2 hit) while he is carrying his masterwork buckler (-2 hit) [TN 15] (1d20): 9, miss.
Giant Rat 02 bites at Ne-Chanz [TN 14] (1d20): 19, hit for (1d3): 1 damage.
Ne-Chanz swings his long sword with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) and strength (+1 dmg) at Giant Rat 02 [TN 10] (1d20+1): 8+1 = 9, miss.
Shima swings his long sword at Giant Rat 01 [TN 11] (1d20): 17, hit for (1d8): 3 damage. Giant Rat 01 is near death.

(OOC: Actions for Round 2?)