CH. 10: Hard Choices

[BishGada]

"So..." Tulbas rubs his hands and asks, "Since you are in a hurry, you want to loan me the book? And in the evening you can come to the mageware shop and I'll show you our library and loan you whatever book you find interesting." Tulbas says happily to Haaque. "I'm so glad you see the benefit in sharing resources the way I do."

[mgbevan]

The bard pauses tapping his chin in thought. He was feeling rather confident in his sneakiness or the incompetence of the Baaz so far, however there was a nagging feeling that once those two got their hands on him he would die regretting it. He decides that the best way to get his things back would be to try and lure the guards into the cell room. Maybe there is enough junk in here he could block the door behind them. But first, getting them into to cell room... The old 'sick prisoner' routine probably won't work, maybe if they thought I was free they'd check on the cell. Staying next to the 'door to freedom' as it was in Gregeddin's mind, he prepares to throw his voice so that it sounds like it's coming from the cell room. He makes a soft and faint yelling sound of celebrations, "Ya Haa! Freedom! It'll take more than bars to keep me locked away!"

[JadedDM]

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion, Guest room)
"You won't fail," Norris assures her, taking her hands into his own. "I believe in you. Besides, it won't come to that. Hopefully, once Gregeddin's guilt is revealed, I and the other members of the guild will be released and things will go back to normal again."

Gregeddin (Prefect's basement)
In a flash, both Baaz jump to their feet and draw their swords. Gregeddin's ventriloquism ability does not allow him to literally throw his voice across the room, but there is enough of an echo down here that they can't seem to pinpoint exactly where the voice came from. "Go check his cell," says the first one.

The second one lights a second candle and heads for the prison door, leaving his companion behind. He checks the door. "Unlocked," he says, surprised. Swinging the door open, he steps inside while the first baaz looks around, trying to spot anything suspicious.

Prefect's Basement 04.jpg (140.74 KiB) Viewed 5466 times

Grubnick (Haven Arms, Delharn's room)
Delharn chuckles. "Heh, they must be pretty desperate to offer such a big reward. I guess they can afford it, though, yeah?" He scratches his beard. "We'll have to be careful then. Especially with how the prefect is squeezing this city dry, even decent folk would be sorely tempted to turn us in for such a big prize. It's probably a good idea to not rely overly on anyone other than each other. Anyone else could turn on us."

(OOC: Yes, I just forgot to update the description.)

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Warehouse C)
Shima moves ahead of the group, opening the door to the warehouse. It creaks loudly, having not been oiled in some time. Stepping inside, he finds it is large and empty, for the most part. No cargo is being held here, and judging from the dust on the ground, the warehouse has not been used in awhile. However, there are signs that people lived here at some point. There are moldy old bedrolls, small piles of refuse and circles made of stones with charred wood and ash in the middle--likely former campfires. The refugees must have used this place for shelter, before the occupation swept in and shipped them all south.

[HorizonsDream]

"You are a lot more optimistic than I am about this situation," Kendra says. "As far as the perfect is concerned, you are all guilty. Not only that, but there was a fire started somewhere in the city right after all of this happened which doesn't help matters at all." She gives his hands a little squeeze. "But I'll do what I can until the time comes that you are released." She smiles slightly to her husband before she turns from him to face Tethys. "Is it possible to see Gregeddin?"

[Chris1234]

Shima beckons the others in, and then nips inside for a fuller look around. {OOC: Move Silently}

If there's any significant stonework, he'll pause to examine that for any sliding/moving bits.

[mgbevan]

"It worked!" The bard thought, though one Baaz was still in this room, stopping him from obtaining his possessions. They were still on the floor but maybe he could grab them. Just need to make sure that the Baaz can't get their hands on him at the same time. He makes a mental note of where his possessions are, then trains his eye on the remaining Baaz and the candle that he is holding. They must need it to see, since the other one lit a candle. Gregeddin takes his own candle and as precisely as he can, throws is directly at the Baaz's candle, hoping to extinguish it so that he can grab his things.

[spyguy1503]

Ne-Chanz gently pushes Shima aside. "I'll take point." he says, carefully opening the door.

[djhyland]

Arulia smiles at the kindness in William's words. "Thank you," she says. "I know that this isn't why you came to Haven, and I know that I'm supposed to be helping you rather than the other way around. But it is good to have someone here with me."

Despite her reservations on deliberately putting herself into contact with the Dragon Army, Arulia sets out for the fort and prays that she'll only be dealing with soldiers.

(OOC: Are prisoners usually held at the fort? If they're usually held elsewhere, and if Arulia thinks she'd be more likely to get an answer there, she'll go there instead. I know from reading Kendra's posts that Thoron is at the Prefect's mansion, but Arulia doesn't know that, so she'll go where she thinks he is.)

[Haahque]

"Yes, yes, sure borrow the book." Haahqae replies, rummaging around his room to find Sekla's spellbook. "Would you be willing to help with my show on Monday? Since you got a bunch of mumbo jumbo magic stuff I'm sure there's tricks you could help me do. I need to find someone to collect the entrance fee while I perform and I might also need help hunting down some good jokes to tell the baaz while I perform. That's something to do before the performance. As you could probably tell from the jokes I told earlier, they seem to like being called big and strong. Well most people do, but these creatures seem to like it and they don't like most things, so keeping them on topic of baaz are awesome would be a good idea. Oh, and they're pretty stupid, so don't use any intricate terms with them. Crudeness is fine, I don't think they have any qualms about that. What do you think you can help with?"

(OoC: Does the venue come with chairs? How about a fence? Stage? Haahqae will plan the performance for around 90 guests (given how large the city is and how little time he has to advertise, he doubts he can get above 10% marketshare.)

[JadedDM]

Haahqae and Tulbas (Steel Tankard, Room 15)
Haahqae hands Sekla's spellbook over to Tulbas.

(OOC: We can assume the 1d4 silver for each person covers the cost of chairs, fence, and stage. So that's 90d4 SP, which I rolled to get 237 SP, or 24 STP rounded up. If you charge 5 silver and at least 90 of them show up, that's 45 STP so you'll cover your expenses and have about 21 STP in profit.)

Kendra Greylock (Prefect's Mansion, Guest hall)
Norris pales considerably when Kendra bluntly tells him he's probably doomed. Kendra steps out of the room and the guards close and lock it up behind her.

"The spy?" Tethys asks. "I suppose. As a citizen, perhaps he'll be more open with you. Anything you can get out of him would be appreciated, before I have to resort to more extreme interrogation methods." He starts heading toward the kitchen. "This way."

Gregeddin (Prefect's basement)
Gregeddin chucks his candle at the baaz, hoping to hit the draconian's candle, knock it out of his hands, and that it will extinguish when it hits the ground. Instead, the candle simply hits the baaz's chest, bouncing off and then landing on the ground. "What the?" the baaz, asks. He starts to move toward Gregeddin, long sword in one hand, candle in the other.

Meanwhile, the bard hears the other baaz call out, "He's gone! Bent the bars somehow!"

(Gregeddin attempts to throw his candle at the baaz's candle [TN 15] (1d20): 13, miss.)

Arulia Seroth (Old Fort, front gate)
Arulia and William head to the old fort. Once, it was occupied by the Holy Guard, which means this is where Arulia used to report to work every day. Now, though, it has become a barracks for the army.

They arrive at the front gate where Arulia's mother, Vera, is pleading with the guards. Finally, she turns away from them defeated. Spotting Arulia, she walks over to her. "Did you have any luck with your friend?" she asks. "I've spoken to the guards, but they insist they have no idea what I'm talking about. They say no prisoners have been brought in at all..."

(OOC: Yes, usually prisoners are kept in the fort. The reason the prefect had them taken to his mansion is he's trying to keep things quiet for now until he can learn the extend of the conspiracy.)

Felran, Ne-Chanz and Shima (Warehouse C)
There is no significant stonework, of course. It's just an empty warehouse. Shima tries to sneak in quietly, but Ne-Chanz shoves him aside and steps in boldly, his hooves clamping loudly on the stone floor.

On the far southwest corner of the warehouse, a panel on the floor slides open, revealing a hole in the ground. The woman they spoke to before climbs out and dusts herself off. She gestures for them to approach. "It's down here," she says. "Access to the old sewers. They've been abandoned for decades...centuries, even. This is your job. Clear them out of every living thing. Lots of monsters down there. I left the equipment you asked for down there. If you aren't back by curfew, I'll assume you were all killed."

[Chris1234]

Shima says, "Thanks. Gotit. Any idea what sorts of monsters?" and pauses for any answer before getting re-equipped.

{OOC1: Spear, Long Sword, Staff Sling + bullets?}

While the group re-equip, the dwarf asks, "Ne-Chanz, can you see in the dark? Or do you have a light source?"

Having gone down the hole, bucker equipped and spear readied, he moves out from any light from above and has a look around.
{OOC2: Is a relevant bit of map available?}

[mgbevan]

"That didn't go like you planned it did it now?" A voice in his head mocks. The bard panics, grabs the door handle, flings it open then sprints back towards where he came from.

[chese780]

*Take a peak at the sky positioning*
(OOC: I assume I can tell what the approx time is.)

"Any way we'll be able to tell what the time is down there?" he says.

[HorizonsDream]

"Hmm, maybe," Kendra says as she follows after Tethys. She is considering choking Gregeddin when she sees him.

[BishGada]

"Sure I'll help." Tulbas says. "I'd like all these Baaz cramped together in one place. Imagine if someone could attack them while they are there. Of curse, after you get your money that is." Tulbas smiles, his eyes following every item under Haaque's hands.

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(OOC: JadedDM. Does Tulbas know the exact day of The Test? Hopefully it is not Monday
Can you tell me what's in the book?
)