CH. 7: The Viper's Nest

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz stands up, stretches, and heads downstairs, looking around as he reaches the common room.

[HorizonsDream]

"Which is the best unit?" Kendra asks curiously.

[BishGada]

'Well, that was easy enough.' Tulbas thinks to himself. He stands up and looks at Leota, "So, Leota, what do you usually do here? Can I help? Maybe you can show me the priests who create the serum so I can start thinking how to create its variant?" Tulbas suggests.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Gobax (Deserted Building, Guard Lounge)
Now it is Haahqae's turn to suddenly wake up, coughing and sputtering. The bard watches the goblin heal him, but he keeps his face neutral, betraying no reaction. However he decides to use this information later, is unknown. For now, he focuses on the present.

The archer doesn't move as Gobax surrounds him with oil, but he should be able to understand him nevertheless. The Histachii continue to watch, apparently having not yet interpreted anything Gobax has done as hostile yet.

(OOC: Gobax casts Cure Light Wounds on Haahqae, restoring him automatically to 1 HP. Haahqae regains consciousness.

Casting the spell took one round and emptying the oil around the archer took another. So he has three rounds left.)

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Kendra Greylock (Temple of Takhisis)
"I wouldn't know one unit from another," the priestess replies. She gestures to the blue lights. "They shall lead you back to the entrance."

Tulbas Erogund (Unknown location)
Leota sighs and turns to Tulbas. "You wish to meet the priests? Very well. I will take you to them." She and the three Histachii escort Tulbas back into the hall and they head further south, to the next door down.

This room is a gruesome sight. A circle of flaming braziers illuminates the carnage. A man...or what remains of a man lies on the ground in the middle of the room. He looks like he was turned inside out. Blood is splattered all around him. To the east is a statue of a large snake behind a stone altar, the latter of which is also covered in blood. To the west are some bookshelves. To the north is a very long table, covered with open books. To the far northeast corner is a large, ornate chest.

There are three 'men' in the room, but none are really quite 'men.' They are further along in their transformations than Leota but not quite as far as Belzor. All wear brown robes. One looks human, but instead of legs he has a snake tail and instead of arms, he has two writhing snakes. The second one, the only woman, appears to be human save for her head, which is that of a giant snake's and she is covered in scales instead of skin. The third one has legs and a tail, and his torso seems to slither back and forth like a snake.

"What's this?" asks the man with snakes for arms. "A new sacrifice?"

"I'm afraid not," Leota replies. "He has volunteered to assist in creating a serum that will transform elves."

Arulia Seroth (Harbor District)
"Oh, come on," the man calls at her. "You did ask!"

But despite his protests, he makes no move to follow her. Arulia moves even further away from the temple, finding herself walking down Blade Street. There are enough people about that she doesn't have to worry about being cornered by any one individual.

As she walks, she spots none other than her own mother walking down the same street, heading toward their home. This is odd, because she should be at work right now; it's only Fifth Watch.

Ne-Chanz (High Hand Inn, Common room)
Ne-Chanz says nothing to his partner, and just does some stretching and then heads downstairs alone.

There are fourteen people currently in the common area. Three of them are off-duty soldiers (two Baaz, sitting together at a table and a Kapak on the other side of the room, alone). The others give them a wide berth. There are six humans and one dwarf all sitting near each other by the fire, warming themselves, talking and drinking. A human and another dwarf sit at the bar. The bar is tended by an elderly plainswoman. Finally, there is a human server, moving from table to table.

It's a chilly morning, but Ne-Chanz's tough hide and fur keep him warm enough for now. Having grown up in the tropical islands to the north, the cold was strange to him, but not a difficulty so far. He had seen frost and ice before, but only coming from white dragons' breaths. He had never seen natural snow.

It was not quite lunch time, but it would be soon, and the place would probably get more crowded then. The smell of mutton wafts in from the kitchen. As soon as he walks in, everyone takes notice. Being a minotaur, he was used to that reaction. Most didn't linger on him. The city crawling with draconians and goblins desensitized the people to strange sights. Most thought he was a soldier, so avoided eye contact with him out of fear.

The Baaz, already quite drunk, don't pay him any mind. The kapak eyes him, though. Baaz were pretty stupid, around the same level as goblins, but kapaks were more clever and therefore dangerous.

[TristenC]

The goblin empties the remainder of the oil around the Histachii, careful not to make any threatening moves. In doing so, he avoids getting any on himself or his allies. You two should probably try to ‘disappear’ before you go if you can… There is no telling whether or not those two will attack when you try to leave. I’ll find some way to get your friend out.

Grubnick takes the torch from the wall opposite the rogue before moving to stand next to the held man. Remember, he says with a meaningful look at the bard, I’m counting on you two to keep this secret until tonight. He digs out and uncorks the bottle from his performance last night, then prepares to light up the histachii if they move to attack the two.

[Haahque]

"Disappear? Hmm.. it seems like today is a figurative speech, all that steal for memory stuff. Now if I remember correctly, Disappear is figurative for get the heck outta here quickly. Not sure why I would get the heck outta here before I go, but hey who am I to argue with a goblin who removed an arrow from my chest recently. Come Gregeddin, I've talked long enough, let's beet it. See what I did there, figurative speech."

Haahqae will approach the nearer Histachii, smiling and offer him a bow and a handshake. Cherefully he'll follow with a cheerful "Pleasure to make your acquaintance," while inching past them, then once he's made it to the staircase he'll make a break for the exit (hoping that Gregeddin does the same).

There was something the woman had said earlier that makes him confident that this plan will work -> the Histachii aren't allowed outside. If he can make it to the top of the stairs before they can catch up to him, he's sure that he will be safe.

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz sits down at a table, near the humans and dwarf, near enough to hear, but far enough to not make them uncomfortable.

[djhyland]

Arulia is surprised to see her mother out and about at this time of day--was she running an errand for the cobbler's shop? She starts toward her, thinking to offer her help or at least her companionship, but her curiosity draws her up short. Instead of going to her mother, she hangs back and follows her from a distance, hoping to find out what's drawn her mother away from work at this time of day.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra bows her head to the priestess, and then walks out of the temple. She was all ready thinking to herself how awful it was going to be for those girls that were forced to work there. Though, really, she didn't know if she would be of any help if she was the one running the place. She didn't really have any business sense to speak of. ~My best bet is to join the army,~ she thought to herself as she made her way back home.

[chese780]

"It seems like money is an issue now, better do something about it," Felran says to himself. "Maybe I can go down and find some work."

*Go downstairs and look around for a moment*

[BishGada]

"Hi" Tulbas says simply and waves his hand. "Indeed I offered my help to research a variant of the serum that will work on other species, but its up to you if you accept the offer or not. I won't be insulted if you would prefer to keep the recipe to yourself." Tulbas says. Human sacrifice? Why would any sane person would create his own god who is so brutal and blood thirsty... It could turn back on them at any time... Tulbas thinks to himself but says nothing at the moment.
During all his time with Leota Tulbas keep coughing and once in the room with the priests he asks if they have some herbs that can ease breathing.

==========================================================================
(OOC: Tulbas tries to memorize the way from where he woke up, to Belzor's room and now to the priests room.
Tulbas takes note of the books and boxes in the room, also looking on the shelves for herbs, minerals, and other liquids one might find in mages laboratory.)

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Gobax (Deserted Building, Guard Lounge)
Haahqae moves past the Histachii, reaching the stairs and ascending them. The Histachii hiss at him, but make no move against him. Rather, they keep looking to the still archer, waiting for new commands. They seem puzzled that they are not receiving new orders.

Gregeddin groggily follows after the gnome. They reach the top and make it to the front door, leaving Gobax alone with them.

Kendra Greylock (2527 Market Street, Gorgeous Greylock's Gems)
Kendra follows the lights back to the entrance. The sudden light of the outside is almost blinding at first, but she adjusts. The temple guards close the doors once she is back out. She then starts making her way back home.

Kendra finds Norris manning the store, although there are no customers as usual these days. "Ah, you're back from your errands," he notes. "How did that new cloak work out?"

Tulbas Erogund (Unknown location)
"Ah, I see," says the man with the snake arms. "Without a serum, he will be killed. At least he is smart enough to recognize that. But first, we'll need a sample of his elven blood." He picks up a dagger, his snakehead hand 'biting' the dagger hilt to pick it up.

The woman with the snakehead gives him some lungwort. Having trained in the art of herbalism, Tulbas recognizes this is often used to treat respiratory problems in patients.

Tulbas mentally maps out the places he has been so far. There is the barracks, with all the bunkbeds to the northeast. This opens up into a large hallway with some snake statues placed in nooks along the wall. The hallway has two doors on the east side. The upper one leads to the room with Belzor, half of it too dark to see anything. The lower door is what brought him to this room, where the priests are. There is also one door on the west side of the hall and one door to the south, but Tulbas hasn't seen where either of them go yet.

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There are a number of bookshelves on the west wall of this room. At a glance, they mostly appear to be books on anatomy, biology, herbalism, and such. There's a long table to the north covered in open books, but there are also vials of liquid, jars of strange items and other miscellaneous bric-a-brac one might expect to see in a lab.

Arulia Seroth (Harbor District)
Arulia tails her mother. It seems she is heading home, but taking the longest, most roundabout route she can think of. She stops multiple times, as if hesitating. Then she seems to steel herself and begins moving on again.

Eventually they reach home, but she doesn't go in. She just stares at it sullenly, as if unsure how to proceed.

Felran (High Hand Inn, Common room)
Felran steps downstairs into the common area. There are fifteen people currently in the common area. Three of them are off-duty soldiers (two Baaz, sitting together at a table and a Kapak on the other side of the room, alone). The others give them a wide berth. There are six humans and one dwarf all sitting near each other by the fire, warming themselves, talking and drinking. Felran sees that Ne-Chanz has sat down near them, although not too close. There is also a human and another dwarf sit at the bar. The bar is tended by an elderly plainswoman. Finally, there is a human server, moving from table to table.

It's a chilly morning, and Felran shivers involuntarily. He is dressed for warmer times, wearing a tunic, shorts and sandals and the temperature has been dropping steadily since he arrived in the city. Soon winter would arrive, and he'd need warmer clothes then.

It was not quite lunch time, but it would be soon, and the place would probably get more crowded then. The smell of mutton wafts in from the kitchen. As Felran appears to be just a half-elf at first glance, nobody pays him any particular attention. It's easy enough to blend in with the groundlings, as long as he doesn't draw attention to himself.

Ne-Chanz (High Hand Inn, Common room)
Ne-Chanz sits down close to the humans and dwarf to listen in on them without being overly conspicuous. "This new tax is killing us," one human says. "I sure hope that messenger the trade guild is sending to speak with the new prefect has a silver tongue, because I don't know how much more of this we can take. What does he need so much money for anyway?"

"The military, I'd wager," says another. "Did you hear about that squadron of ogre berserkers that arrived this morning? I think the army is planning a big attack and soon. Rumor is, it's probably going to be the Qualinesti elves."

"Maybe things will get easier here if they're focused on the elves," intones a third. "Takes some of the pressure off on us, I hope."

[TristenC]

Grubnick shakes his head at the gnome’s words as they leave. At least they got out… now for the hard part… Turning back to the rogue the goblin speaks. I will release you unharmed in a moment. If you don’t drop that weapon immediately when I do… he raises the torch so the firelight glitters in his eyes. I’ll light you up like a bonfire. He says coldly. That goes for those two… servants of yours as well. If they make any threatening move towards me, there will be three more snake-like corpses in this room before I’m done.

Those two that just left are mercenaries, not members of The Church… Grubnick’s tone implies that he is. I’m sure you heard me order them not to report the location of this place. My reasons for that are my own, but they will heed my words. They came here looking for a friend of theirs… an Elf. Here is the proposition I want you to take to Belzor. Tell him what happened here today in general. Tell him that if their friend is released, then we will not reveal the location of your hideout. There can’t be that many elves left, so I’m certain he’ll be able to figure out who they mean. The Church is still looking for you, and they are obviously getting close. You will have to move before long, but this will buy you some time.

You also probably heard me tell them that if I don’t return tonight, they are to make this place a smoking crater… It will be done if I’m detained; I assure you. Whether or not you think it worth the risk to attack me, I promise you one thing: You’ll be first to die. Additionally, I don’t think your friends by the stairs will be able to explain the mess here to your… master.

Finally the goblin moves to the stairs by the Histachii. He stands by the bottom step and turns to face them. Taking a large mouthful of oil, he prepares to fire-blast them should they move to attack. He begins to back away from them up the stairs, simultaneously releasing the rogue from his hold (that way if the rogue’s final orders were not to let Grubnick leave, he can rescind them now without the goblin having to fight… hopefully…)

[ooc: talking is a free-action right
Some explanations of Grubnick’s behavior for Jaded:
Warning the cultist is just a stab at saving the misled followers, not an effort to help or promote Belzor. Perhaps with belzor gone, it is possible to convert them to the old gods. A long shot, but one worth taking. His implications at being a member of the Dragon Church are merely so they won’t come looking for a heretic or put word out about him.

Welp, here goes nothing! Time to roll the dice!]

[HorizonsDream]

"It's very warm," Kendra says to her husband as she pulls the cloak off her shoulders now that she is back home. "Thank you," she adds. She didn't want to appear ungrateful for what he got for her. "Looks like another slow day," she says with a sigh. "Listen, there is something I should run by you. I've been looking into jobs. You aren't going to like either one, but they are really the only options. One is joining the army that has taken over, and the other is...being the manager of the brothel that the temple is opening."

[chese780]

*Go to the table and sit with Ne-Chanz*

"We need to work out a way to get some more money, got any ideas?" Felran says, "We have about enough for a few weeks at best."