CH. 8: Proving Worth

[Haahque]

With all of Pan's self-proclaimed greatness, Haahqae feels a pang of jealousy. He's also a hero of the people, seeker of knowledge and all around good guy, but he's never saved any princesses and he's still a little bit unsure of this concept people call justice. He does fight evil and help the helpless at least. "Yes, it went quite well thank you. We cleared out the mine, the owner was very happy and it restarted the flow of iron to the city so that the blacksmiths here would be happy too. Did you not hear the daring stories of our exploits yet? Hmm, maybe I should get a traveling bard to go around with, we could have a song and joggling routine and the people probably never would believe half of the stories we told them, but it would be grand."

[HorizonsDream]

(She would take her +2 long sword and one of her masterwork swords)

"Krup," Kendra repeats the nods. "Got it," she says. She turns to head into the courtyard, and looks for Krup. After asking around, she reports to him as order. "Kendra Greylock, reporting for duty," she says once she finds him.

[djhyland]

"You...you are a healer as well?" asks Arulia. "Yes, it will be good to have someone who can stitch me up if needs be. I confess, though, I'm not very practiced at it. I learned to sew wounds and such when I was part of the Guard. Where did you learn the craft?"

Still not comfortable with the idea of wearing her armor through town--especially since it's obviously elven-crafted--Arulia sets it down on the table next to the goblin. She doesn't put it on, but she does keep a protective hand on it.

[TristenC]

Well, I've always found it a useful skill. We'll keep an eye on each other, eh? He smiles, extending his hand to shake.

Glancing at the armor as she sets it down, he notes her mace. I wonder... I see you favor the mace and shield too... we may have more in common than I thought...

[djhyland]

Arulia shrugs dismissively. "It was a gift left for me by my father...well, the one that made me, not the one that raised me. It's the only thing he left for me when he left my mother, before I was even born."

[TristenC]

Grubnick nods, slowly filing away each new bit of information about the group. Glancing at the armor again, he changes the subject. Then it must be a comfort to you. Well, what do the rest pf you think? Shall we get going? And, Pen was it? he turns to the Kender, If the others agree, are you keen to come along?

[Ooc: would he be able to tell what type of armor it is?]

[djhyland]

"It's just the arms that I have," says Arulia, somewhat defensively. "Buying a new set of arms is expensive."

(OOC: Grubnick can see the armor well enough, but the face of the shield is facing down to hide the arms. The mace, the chain mail, and the medium shield all appear to be well-made and of Qualinesti make, but are otherwise unexceptional.)

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Arulia, Gobax, Felran and Ne-Chanz (High Hand Inn, Common room)
Pen nods and listens to Haahqae's story. "So...you helped restart the iron flow? But the Evil Army of Evilness are the ones using that iron to forge weapons and armor now, right? So...that's bad," he points out.

He then considers Gobax's offer. "You seem to have a pretty big group, but...if you need my help, and it's for a just cause, I can help you."

Kendra Greylock (Old Keep)
Kendra finds Krup in the courtyard, drilling a handful of other Baaz soldiers. Krup is around Kendra's height, and just as broad-shouldered as Tez was, but he's wearing an eye patch over his left eye. There's also a nasty bone white scar cutting through the eye; Kendra can see the edges of it as the patch isn't large enough to cover the whole scar. Krup turns his head to look at Kendra with his good eye.

"Ah, so you're the woman who killed Tez in a training bout," he notes. "Don't know if that means you're incredibly hardcore or just an idiot, but I suppose the truth will reveal itself soon enough. Just note, as the new leader of this division, I don't tolerate killing fellow soldiers." He offers her a toothy grin. "Now then, I saw you fight. Interesting style. I don't think I've ever seen someone fight with two long swords at once. Where did you learn it?" he asks.

[Haahque]

Pen's response leaves Haahqae puzzled for a bit. He always does good things for people, what he did couldn't be bad. After a few seconds he starts working out exactly how what he did was a good thing in the long run. "Not so, the evil army of evilness already had weapons when they arrived. Which means that they have an iron flow from somewhere else. If we hadn't restarted the iron flow here, they would still have everything they need to make weapons and armour for whatever nefarious purpose they think of. But the people of the city here didn't have iron before, now they can make tools so they can feed themselves. So, it's a good thing."

"Our cause is just, it always is. I don't go around getting the title of all around nice guy by doing bad things. Today we embark on a mission to rescue one of my friends from the clutches of a secretive cult."

[HorizonsDream]

"That seems to be a popular question," Kendra says with a sigh. "I had a mentor that taught me," she said. "And then the rest of my training came when I was with the Holy Guard."

[BishGada]

As the attack on the soldiers begin Tulbas sees his father coordinating few fellows to knock down the door. Tulbas joins them and with the adrenaline rush the door is broken after two massive knocks. One guard turns on them but they quickly tackle him and beat him unconscious. Suddenly Tulbas feels lost. 'What now?' he thinks to himself. He looks around, some of his people start running away to all directions, it seemed some wagons caought fire and some are still holding people inside. For a moment he can see his father and mother going toward such a wagon, trying to convince few others to help them, but they disagree and from their motions it seems they urge his father to save himself. Tulbas takes few steps toward his father. 'We can help this wagon and then flee.' he thinks to himself, but then it occurs to him Maelana is missing. He looks around but can't find her.
The scene becomes a chaos, full of screams, fire, smoke and gore. Tulbas sees people butchered. He runs to his parents, eventually few others joined them and together they managed to open one wagon which caught fire and saved the people. To his amazement Tulbas sees they were human. All his life he was taught to mistrust humans. Even by his father who was tolerant to almost any situation. He turns his shocked look at his father and with tired face his father quotes an ancient elvish phrase which it's most close translate is "Mother nature cherishes all." At that moment the humans who start running in panic push his mother who was close to the wagon and knocks her to the floor. Tulbas is filled with anger but his father quickly runs to help her up. He does so but then another guard arrives and with little effort stab them from behind and kills them both in front of his eyes.
Tulbas stands there frozen. All the noise around him vanishes. His eyes are wide open and his body paralyzed. 'No! It can not be!' he thinks to himself and then the only sound he can hear is his own screams.
Tulbas feels his heart crushing. His parents presented all he ever loved and appreciated. What just happened is impossible for him to comprehend. It couldn't be real. His world fell apart.
He just stands there... All movement around him is in slow motion. He can see a guard coming at him. It seems it takes him very long time to reach him. To kill him. 'I embrace this death.' Tulbas thinks to himself. Suddenly someone put a hand on his chest from behind and he is yanked back. Immediately the battle around him comes back to life.
"Your uncle arranged the rescue. We will deliver you to him. If only your parents could think of themselves for once." Tulbas can hear the figure who carries him grumbles. "My parents... Wait! Maelana... do you know where is she? Did you rescue her?" Tulbas asks. "I haven't seen her." The warrior answers and then manages to catch another refugee and carry him. Tulbas can see some of the refugees gathered behind the warrior and follows them and then passes out.

===================================================
(OOC: Sorry for the delay. I caught flu.)

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Arulia, Gobax, Felran and Ne-Chanz (Deserted Building, Harbor District)
"If you say so," Pen answers with a shrug. "I have never heard of you or your reputation as a good guy, but I know Arulia and I know she's good, so I'll help if she's helping." The kender shrugs off his pack and starts digging through it. He pulls out some kender-sized chain mail and begins putting it on, and also retrieves a long sword that he straps to his back. Once he's finished, he looks like a little warrior. "Let's go kick evil in the butt!"

With that, the party of ten set off to the harbor district. Suffice to say, they draw quite a few stares from the locals and are carefully inspected at every checkpoint. They are, after all, two half-elves, two gnomes, a minotaur, a kender, a goblin, and three humans and all armed to the teeth.

They head to the building next to the closed down brothel. It doesn't look terribly impressive. In fact, it looks abandoned with paint peeling and holes in the roof. The door is open and so they enter to find a single room. Immediately to the right is a nook that may have once been a living space for squatters before the army shipped away all of the homeless. There is a rope tied from one side of the nook to the other with old, smelly furs hanging from it, perhaps to provide a slight bit of privacy.

Immediately to the left is a sort of kitchen area. There's a table with a bench next to it. Flies buzz around the remains of rotted food on the table. There are a couple of barrels near the table that hold small amounts of brackish water. Further down is a fireplace, cold, dark and empty of wood; a couple of old chairs sit before it. At the far end of the left side is a double bed, its sheets removed and the mattress stained and odoriferous.

At the far, back end of the room--directly across from the entrance, stand a couple of bookcases against the wall. One is completely empty. The other has a few book covers on it, the pages themselves having been torn out.



Kendra Greylock (Old Keep)
Krup chuckles. "If you get asked that question so much, why give such a vague and evasive answer?" He shakes his head. "If I asked you why you were here, would you tell me because your parents had sex? This way, Greylock." He gestures for her to follow as he approaches the other Baaz that are training. Kendra notes more than a few dirty looks as she passes by.

"We know already you can handle a sword--two of them, in fact," Krup explains, "but I have a series of training exercises in other areas to test stamina, agility and strength, among other things. We'll also be testing your--"

Krup stops talking and halts moving when he sees a goblin rushing toward him. The goblin runs right up to Krup, salutes, and starts panting at the exertion. "Lieutenant, sir, I have a message from command."

"Well, out with it then," Krup demands testily.

The goblin opens his mouth to speak, then hesitates when he sees Kendra.

"Go on," Krup urges. "She's one of mine, it's fine."

The goblin nods and speaks. "We got intel that there is a group of elves camped outside the city. Fire Snakes have been asked to send a group out to look for 'em, and slaughter 'em all if they are there."

"Elves, eh?" Krup asks. He rubs the scales on his neck thoughtfully. "What are they up to? Alright, I'll get my best men on it." He turns back to Kendra. "Well, guess you'll have to train under someone else then. I'm not going to have time today."

Tulbas Erogund (Unknown location)
When Tulbas comes to, he finds himself lying on the ground by a campfire. It is night, and the star-filled sky stares down at him clearly, with no canopy to cover them. He realizes he is not in the forest; he had never left it before, and to not be surrounded by trees is unnerving at first.

Looking around, he can see the Silvanesti wood to the east. But it looks strange: Dark, twisted and even nightmarish. He could swear he could hear screams coming from it, but it might just be his ears ringing. To the distant north are mountains. "Relax," the warrior says. "You're safe. For now. But the trip to Haven will be long. We're in the lowlands of Blode now. Ogre country, so keep a sharp eye out."

Tulbas notes the two are not alone around the fire, but there are a few others, as well. "Something happened to the forest," the warrior continues. "Magic like I've never seen before. The army was routed and suffered a terrible loss. But...it doesn't look like the elves will be able to reclaim that land ever again. It's like the Abyss in there."

[TristenC]

They'll be expecting us, and may have laid traps. Anyone who is skilled with such things should probably check our path before we progress. Haahque, would you like to show the others the entrance? Grubnick asks, readying his mace and shield. We should probably be as quiet ss possible at first, too. There is a guard room just down the first set of stairs. They may be waiting to send word deeper into the complex...

[Haahque]

Haahqae strides forwards into the building to get back to the bookcase he had moved yesterday. His ankle was still hurting back then and he had been able to move it. Today he's in better shape, but why waste strength when there's a minotaur on your side? "Ah right, I've dealt with a couple traps in my day. I wouldn't say I'm an expert, like I am at most things, but I should find any non-deviously laid traps. Now if I can get someone strong to help me move this bookcase, there was a door hidden behind it that we went through yesterday."

Near the bookcase he searches to see if anything is amiss, anything different since last time he searched. Was that patch of blood still there?

Haahqae searches for traps[25%]: Invisible castle is down.

[HorizonsDream]

"If you are wanting to test me, this sounds like a good opportunity to do so," Kendra points out. "And as a resident of Haven, I know the area pretty well."