The Sundered Lands of Palladium
Session 22.1July 18-31, 2016
Trouble with the Taxidermist
Saturday October 28
Where'd He Go?
As Arn swings at the Master Taxidermist, he disappears. “W-w-w-what????” Arn mutters as Silver opens the front door and starts waving to where she hopes Fortis and Seeker should be stationed. She does not immediately see either of them.
Arn wonders what kind of magic the crafty Nemien Roblarch used to evade him. Was it some sort of cool teleportation or just a really good illusion like Fortis can cast. Arn knows he often has a hard time telling the difference between Fortis’s illusions and the real thing. A closed door stands a mere 3 feet in front of Arn. It is painted red and has ornate moulding on it. A nice door, the Dwarf thinks to himself. Where in the hell is the rest of his team? Silver is somewhere behind him but where is Seeker and Fortis and that blasted Kankoran Druid? Off digging through some horses droppings more than likely!
Arn looks back at Silver, “What do you think, girl? Press on and follow this obviously evil mage and kill him for trying to get away from us for confronting him in his own shop or fall back and regroup with our companions?”
Not waiting for an answer, Arn charges forward holding his spiked shield in front of him. He is still a bit woozy from the colorful light spray a moment ago but he hits the door with full force and disappears into the hallway beyond.
Splitting the Party… Again
Silver becomes increasingly concerned in the doorway to the Taxidermist Hall when she cannot spot her friends. Seeker should be over there somewhere and Fortis was in gull form, but she sees about 100 different gulls. She waves frantically for another moment before turning back into the shop and closing the door.
Arn finds himself crashing into a wall just past the destroyed door. A quick scan reveals that he is in a hallway. Immediately to his left is a door and the hallway extends to his right then turns a corner. Two more doors are in the wall in front of him, off to the right a little. There are no signs of the fleeing taxidermist-mage.
Arn takes a second to listen for any signs of movement. Hearing sounds to his right, he takes off down the hallway as fast as his stout legs can take him.
Arn rounds the corner and sees that the hallway doesn’t go far before ending. Another door sits in the lefthand wall at the end of the hall
Oh Rats!
Hoping her friends out front saw her waves calling for backup, Silver rushes across the room to follow the rampaging Dwarf. As she crosses the chamber, she sees a little brown rat scurry across a display table in front of her. It was the same table that the taxidermist, Nemien Roblarch had been standing near before Arn assaulted him. The rat crawls around a stuffed bat and over
the top of a stuffed monkey. It looks at Silver, wrinkles its nose and then disappears over the far side of the table heading toward the open doorway.
Silver continues up through the room, keeping an eye out for the rat. As she gets to the doorway she sees it squeezing under a doorway immediately to her left at the end of the little hallway. Off to her right, from around a corner, she hears Arn bellow and what sounds like another door being smashed through.
Still a bit dazed, Arn barrels through the next door, blowing it completely off its hinges. He finds himself in a narrow area that opens up into some kind of work room. Two burly Humans with knobbed clubs are approaching from the room. They take pause for a moment then square up and ready themselves for battle. Though he cannot see the entire workroom area, he can see another closed door on the far wall past the two men.
Meanwhile, back in the showroom, a cute little harbor rat climbs into the room through a partially open window. This rat has quite an intelligent gleam in it’s eye. It looks around the room and sees Silver, standing in a busted doorway to the left, looking into a hallway beyond. To the right, the rat, Rattis, hears the front door handle rattling as if someone were opening the door.
‘Rattis’ takes a moment to observe and assess the situation. Silver appears unhurt, There is a loud thumping noise somewhere nearby… that could be Arn, or an epileptic stone golem, If I listen for a moment and hear heavily accented cursing I should be able to figure it out… but there don’t seem to be and enemies in view… Perhaps Silver panicked and I’m not needed? But then what about the banging?
Fortis and Silver both hear some loud voices coming from out in front of the Guildhall and are pretty sure one of them sounds like Seeker. Silver hesitates in the hallway, deciding if she should follow Arn or follow the first little rat.
More Taxidermists
In another part of the Guildhall, Arn steps up and bangs his magical mace loudly against his shield, planting his feet in a solid, fighting stance. “Now you boys tell me where this coward Nemien Roblarch is right now, and ye won’t be getting hurt. Take one step closer and it’ll be the last step you take, Dwarves honor.”
The two men stop their forward advance and look at each other quickly then back to the intruding Dwarf. “Who are you and what do you want with Nemien? What are you doing in the Guildhouse anyway?” Neither men approach, but neither back down either. “Nemien went out to see about some customers a few minutes ago. He’s not back here. You should probably go,” the other man says. Sizing them up quickly, Arn senses that they know how to use the clubs in their hands and thinks their shirts and aprons look a bit bulky, probably wearing some sort of armor underneath.
Arn looks at the men, and casts a quick glance behind him. “I asked Nemien about the Sea Harpies and he attacked me with magic. Now he’s gotta answer fer that!” the Dour dwarf spits out to the 2 men in front of him. “If ye know something, this is the time to start tellin’. I don’t want to hurt anyone if I don’t have to, but I need to know what’s going on now!”
The first man grits his teeth and readies his weapon but the other man straightens up, smiles a bit and looks over Arn’s shoulder. “There he is. Master Roblarch, what is going on here?” he says. With his full helm on, Arn can’t see the doorway behind him, nor can he clearly hear what is going on back there without turning around and letting these two out of his sight. But if there is a nasty mage back there, he needs to know it.
Arn’s face turns into a scowl, not that the men before him can tell that. He growls, and takes a half-step back with his right foot, turning his shield side to the men behind him and casts a look behind him. Then he thinks to himself, ‘I know how to handle this…’ and continues the turn to face the way he came, hoping the men behind him take the bait of his exposed back. As Arn hears their footsteps close up on him, he takes a step back and does an overhead reverse-stroke swing with his enchanted mace, hoping to catch one of the men closing in on him unawares.
As Arn turns to check his back, he quickly sees that the other “taxidermist” was trying to pull a fast one on him. He feels his mace swing wide of the opponent he suspects is behind him, but his shield impacts the approaching goon on his left, just barely visible out of the corner of his eye. Before he can turn back to face them, he is smashed in the back of the head by one of the large clubs. It rattles his brain a bit though it seems to start to shake the previous rainbow blindness from his head.
‘Ratius’ scurries up besides Silver. “What are we doing Silver” the gossamered Ellyl addresses his companion in his own hushed voice.”I saw you waving and hear … angry dwarf.”
Silver looks down at Fortis and does a double take at the rat, “Fortis? But I just saw another rat, was that you? Scurried under this door here? Whoa, sounds like Arn has his hands full around the corner, should we go help him?” she says as the sounds of raging combat come from down the hall and around the corner.
Turn Around
The dwarf warrior shakes his head after the impact of the club, grins angrily inside his help and yells out. “Strike me from behind coward! Don’t ye know never to strike a dwarf in his head?” And with that, Arn executes a spinning attack, roughly about where the men’s thigh should be, directing his attack into the leg. One attacker down on the ground will even the odds of the fight.
The man is able to defend against Arn’s spinning attack, first by deftly parrying the mace strike to his torso and then dodging the attack on his leg. These fellas are good, Arn thinks to himself, but not good enough!
Back in the main room, the front door flies open and there stands a soaking wet Seeker, quickly scanning the showroom of the Taxidermist Guildhall. He sees Silver past an open doorway on the far side of the room. Silver and Rattis see Seeker enter the Taxidermist Hall as well. It looks as if Silver is talking to a little brown rat on the floor. As he steps in, the overwhelming smells of dead animal skins and nasty chemical concoctions fills his sensitive canine nose.
“What rat? It went over there?” ‘Ratis’ points with his whiskered nose in the direction of the door before scurrying over to investigate. “I’m following that “rat”. Declares the multiformed Ellyl before attempting to squeeze under the crack in the door.
Eyes watering from the fumes, Seeker leans back out the door and heads to the fallen body. Can’t leave this lying around. Keeping his voice casual as he kneels to grab the Human’s ankle, he says “Brother, things are getting interesting inside. Get down here.”
Since Seeker is now on the scene here, Silver decides to follow Arn further into the building and moves off down the hallway. The space under the door would be a tight squeeze for a rat, but Fortis is no rat and he slips easily under the door. He finds himself in what looks like a storage room of some kind. There are barrels stacked against the far wall under a shuttered window, the one he must have seen further down in the alley earlier. Some boxes are stacked to the right with what appears to be several bolts of fabric sitting on top. Almost immediately, Fortis spies the rat across the room, crouching in the corner near one of the barrels. It turns to him and hisses, baring its long, yellow teeth. Suddenly, Fortis feels the tingle of magical danger and he feels a bright flash in his head. Then, well, hmm, what then? Fortis isn’t exactly sure.
Back down the hallway, the two men facing Arn seem like no slouches. They move well together. One steps past Arn and gets behind him, smashing him in the back with his club while the other moves to square off with him and brings his club down, trying to hit the Dwarf in the head again. To make matters worse, the door that Arn could see on the far side of the next room opens and another similarly dressed punk enters the room holding a nasty looking cudgel! “Somethin’s goin down out, oh, I see! In here too!” he says and hefts his club.
These guys hit hard, Arn thinks as he throws his shield over his head in an attempt to block the blow he knows is coming. His Spin Smash move had taken him just a bit off center and he does not get his shield into position in time. He feels the club smack across his back, fortunately his armor absorbs most of the impact, still, he feels the hit.
Wanting to get the body out of sight quickly, Seeker grabs on with both hands and quickly moves back to the door to the Taxidermist’s Hall.
Arn steps back and shifts to put his back against the wall, cutting off retreat options but preventing these guys from flanking him again. Testing the waters, he swings out with his mace, just looking to connect with the nearest guy’s center of mass.
Arn’s strike is true but his opponent brings his stout club up to parry it at the last second. “You’re outnumbered Dwarf!” he sneers just as Silver comes around the corner. She stops a few paces away and surveys the scene. The other man engaged with Arn laughs, “Oh no, we're in trouble now Dren, the Dwarf’s got himself a pretty little Elf girlfriend!” The two men press their attack as the third man rushes toward the fray. Both men swing their clubs with accuracy and Arn must defend against a strike against his side and his head.
Arn brings his shield up to block the first strike then slides back a step and raises his mace to parry the head blow. “Hey there Silver, so nice of ye to join us, but I’ve got these three, not sure what yer ta do.”
Arn brings his shield up with just a little extra force, causing the strike to go wide and nearly knocking the club out of the man’s hand. As he steps back, parrying the second strike, he feels the splintered wood of the broken door beneath his heavy boots.
Thinking he needs to try something a bit trickier, Arn decides to try an off plane attack to catch them off guard. Starting high, then swinging low for the leg, Arn tries to take one of his opponents out.
Once again, the man maneuvers his long club to intercept Arn’s strike. He smiles and prepares for a counter strike. Behind him, Arn can hear Silver quietly chanting a spell. When she is done with her incantation, he thinks he notices a slight twinge of fear on the faces of his two closest combatants.
Seeker slams the door shut and charges across the room, not even noticing the nicely stuffed baby black dragon. “Silver? Arn? Where are you guys?” he calls out.
Seeker easily follows the sound of fighting coming from somewhere around the corner to his right. He steps into the hallway over a broken and battered door, obviously Arn’s handiwork. He sees several nicely painted doors in the hallway, all closed.
Back in the workroom, the first two men continue their assault on Arn while the newcomer pushes his way past to engage Silver. He takes a wild swing at her head, clearly telegraphing the strike. His club misses its mark and hits the wall next to Silver. Arn, concerned with the thug that ran past him to engage with Silver gets a little aggressive with his parry, forcing the man’s club down, making him strike himself in the leg.
Realizing that his tactics are not working, Arn switches to a torso strike, while still retaining a bit of the deceptiveness that naturally has. The man tries to parry and fails miserably. Arn’s mace smashes into his chest, sending him backward and slamming into the wall behind him. Stunned, the man stumbles and falls to the floor, dropping his club in the process.
Seeker follows the sound of battle and comes careening around a corner to find himself behind one of three thugs attacking Arn and Silver.
Silver moves to duck around behind Seeker. “He’s all yours, big guy!” She takes up a position right behind Seeker so nobody can get in right behind him, and keeps an eye out down the hall to the south.
The newest entry to the fight spins and launches a ferocious attack right at Seeker’s snarling face, trying his hardest to bash it in before taking a step back away from the huge Wolfen. The swing misses and crashes into the paneled wall of the Taxidermist Hall.
His partner across the hall tries a similar tactic and swings his club at the faceplate of Arn’s Demonhunter helm. His strike also misses and smashes into the ornate wood on the walls. He too takes a step back, away from Arn and his companions.
Seeing one opponent stunned, and help arriving, Arn gets more aggressive with the second opponent. He steps up and decides to perform a dual-attack Mace & shield bash and see if his opponent can handle that kind of flurry of blows. If he can knock this guy off balance, he may be able to finish off the first guy, or help Silver.
Frantically, the Human stumbles backward, away from Arn’s dual attack. Somehow he manages to avoid both of the blows and get himself closer to the door.
Try and bash me in the face, why don’t you? Seeker seems to be exhibiting less restraint than usual. Perhaps he’s envisioning the thug with butterfly wings? He steps in and roars, cutting loose on the Human who tried to bash him in the face.
Now You See Him...
The man stumbles backward, a terrified look on his face as he defends the swift and deadly attack from the Wolfen. He manages to to parry and dodge both strikes as he moves away from Seeker.
Both of the “taxidermists” thrown down their weapons and turn and run for the door at the other end of the room as fast as they can while the third man still lies stunned on the floor.
Silver’s attention is drawn away from the melee and back down the hallway where they had just come from. She sees one of the doors there fly open and Nemien Roblarch, the Master Taxidermist, rushes out, heading back toward the front of the building, disappearing from her sight quickly.
Silver points at Nemien “Seeker, he’s over there, going back out the front!” She then gets out of the way of the big guy, which she knows is much faster on foot than herself.
It seems that the opposition is fleeing the battle. Even the Master Taxidermist, Nemien Roblarch, has revealed himself in his flight.
Arn laughs to himself as the men throw down their arms. Still not wanting to let one get away before they have to chase down the Mage. However, Arn is angry at the men who attacked him from the rear, and can’t pass up the opportunity to deliver some revenge of his own. Lining up the stunned man, Arn prepares to deliver the dreaded Dwarven-Drop-Kick.
Arn takes a step back then launches himself at the dazed man. The force of the Dwarf’s incoming boots and the unforgiving wall behind him prove to be too much for the helpless man and he is plunged into unconsciousness. Arn thumps to the floor next to him with a grunt.
Seeing the thugs throw down their weapons and flee, and, hearing Silver’s outcry, Seeker spins and sprints after the fleeing mage. “All right, come on!” He rounds the corner a bit too noisily and hopes he has almost caught up with him! Okay, so he’ll probably try and take me out with magic. Hopefully, that will leave him a little less prepared when Silver gets here.
...Now You Don’t
Seeker skids around the corner and scans the room but sees no sight of anyone but the dead body near the closed front door. He does notice, however, the open door just outside of the main room, in the hallway. It is only open a little but it's more open than the perceptive Wolfen remembers it being when he came through here a minute ago.
Seeing the two disarmed fellows fleeing through the far door into some alley way or something and feeling confident that Arn has things taken care of with the unconscious Human, Silver follows Seeker around the corner after the Mage, though not as quickly as the long legged Wolfen.
Arn, satisfied with his “fancy footwork”, starts pulling himself back up to his feet. He heard Silver and Seeker go off about the mage. Dammit! Arn let his impetus get the better of him again, and he went head-long into battle, instead of trying to find the mage. Hopefully he isn’t too late to help out. Clearly leads to the Sea Harpies like here and with the Mage Nemien.
Seeker whirls and slams the door open! He quickly scans the room, looking for a foe. I hope he’s still hiding in here. Maybe even behind the door. This might rattle him enough to give me time to subdue him.
Even as he acts, his brain is ticking off alternatives. The door was open slightly more than before. Silver said she saw him making a break for it. If so, where did he go? The windows are closed, and I’m pretty sure I’m faster than most Humans. He should be in sight, somewhere.
Seeker finds himself in what looks like a storage room of some kind. The smell of dust and treated animal skin is strong in here, making his eyes water and his nose run. He spits to try to clear the nasty taste from his mouth. There are barrels stacked against the far wall under a shuttered window. Some boxes are stacked to the right with what appears to be several bolts of fabric sitting on top. Immediately under foot, Seeker sees a small, round, purple hat box of some type on the floor. It is completely quiet in here though he can hear Silver behind him in the hall and Arn grunting and cursing quietly to Lefty back in the other room. No mages or taxidermists can be seen anywhere in this room but forcing himself to take in a whiff of the tainted air he gets the scents of Fortis, a rat and several Human scents, the same he has smelled in different areas of the building. The smell of Fortis is the strongest though the rat smell is strong as well.
Silver steps up behind Seeker in the hallway, “This is the room where Fortis followed the little rat. He was a rat too, not a seagull. Is he in here?” the Elf/Dragon asks, trying to look past the massive Wolfen in the doorway. “Where did the Taxidermist go?”
Eyes watering, Seeker swears to himself. Gods! Why would people subject themselves to this? Must be why taxidermy never caught on in the Empire.
Still trying to track the foe, Seeker slams the door to the storeroom closed again. “That room’s clear.” He makes his way to the front door. “I’ll secure this room - make sure he doesn’t get out through this door. Silver, search for other exits and connect up with Arn.” We came to find a connection with the Sea Harpies. I don’t see anything here to do that yet. Maybe a secret door?
Seeker rechecks the front door, making sure it is still as he left it. Then he calms himself and closes his eyes, taking a moment to listen for anything out of place - heavy breathing, footsteps, muttered spellcasting, maybe a scuffle on the roof?
Seeker listens to the sounds around him, but all he can hear is Silver shuffling on the other side of the room and an occasional Dwarvish grunt or curse from the other side of the building as Arn gets to his feet and makes sure the unconscious man is unarmed and secured.
Arn shouts from the back that there is another door to another room off the workroom where the melee just took place and Silver points out that there are still two unexplored doors in the main hallway, one of which was where Roblarch recently fled from.
Finally catching up with his companions, Arn looks around at the situation at hand. “I’m sure this git has some secret passage or something set up here. Things are way too shady. Let’s check the other doors and make sure he didn’t double back on us.
Seeker moves back to the hallway and, listening to the doughty Dwarf, nods. “You got it, Arn. I’ll take this one. You get that one. Silver, keep watch. He could still be hiding somewhere behind us.”
What’s Behind Door #1?
Seeker moves into the room that Roblarch had recently run from, checking the area to make sure the tricky mage had not doubled back on his trail. Seeker finds what appears to be a meeting room of some kind. The room is decorated well and has many animal and small monster heads mounted and hanging from the walls. The four chairs are ornately carved and look quite comfortable, though Seeker is quite sure he would not fit well in any of them. A shuttered window sits in the lefthand wall and a closed door is straight across the room. The room smells like cured leather and the scent of Human is strong in here.
From out in the hallway, Seeker hears another door open followed by colorful cursing and yelling by Arn. “This one’s just a shitter dammit!”
Seeker says “This is a meeting room. Looks empty, but there’s another door. Checking that now!” Seeker crosses the room and opens the door on the far side. Dammit, we’re wasting time. If he’s gone, we should be leaving, too. He or one of those thugs could return with the guard, and we won’t have a legal leg to stand on.
As he checks the door, Seeker says “I got this. Do a quick sweep - see if you can find some secret door or stairs to a basement. I don’t see anything on this floor that we’re looking for!”
The handle does not turn when Seeker grabs it. Locked.
Seeker puts his shoulder to the door and tries to force it open.
The lock must be of better quality than Seeker thought as it does not give at all when he leans into it.
“Locked tight. If he went out that way, he’s long gone.” Seeker scans the room for any odd sign, then asks, “Arn, Silver, any other exits? Or stairs? Or secret doors?” He keeps looking around, nervous that he’s missed something.
Arn replies, “Yea, there’s that other door off the workroom, and then the back door where several of the pansies fled, I’m hoping that Talks got them, or at least tracked where they went. Come on, lets go check this last door back here then decide what to do with Sleepy that I’ve got tied up back there.” Arn leads the way to the other door. Seeker and Silver follow.
Seeker follows Arn into the workroom. He pauses as he enters, then goes back into the hallway. “Silver, I thought that last door led outside, but I think there’s another room in here. We’ll check this one, then maybe Arn and I can work together and get through that one.” Seeker tries to get the door in the workroom to open.
Seeker’s broad shoulder proves to be just enough to break the lock on this door. It swings open and Seeker is once again assaulted by a disgusting blend of smells. Arn feels a bit of the eye 
watering irritation that his Wolfen friend has experienced, though his insensitive nose is not nearly as affected. This room appears to be another storage room but instead of boxes and bolts of fabric, it has numerous shelves of jars lining the walls. Two work tables are to the left and two large barrels sit at the far end of the room. Seeker cannot read their markings but Arn indicates that one is “water” and the other is “arsenic solution.”
As Seeker steps out of the odor filled supply room, he hears what sounds like three owl hoots from outside the open back door of the Taxidermist shop. Silver gives him an odd look as she hears the hooting as well. Seeker knows enough about Essanos and owls in general to know that most wouldn’t be hooting in the middle of the day like this. The seasoned Wolfen realizes it must be the Kankoran Druid signalling from outside. Seeker wracks his brain trying to think what three owl hoots means though.
Seeker quickly makes up his mind, since he was leaning this way anyways. “Okay, guys, time to bug out. Arn, if you can keep up with Sleepy over your shoulder, we can bring him with us.” He crosses the room. “This looks like a back door,” (since if he recalls correctly, it was where the two apprentice taxidermists fled, “so let’s get going before the guard shows up. Move out!” He sticks his head out the door, quickly glances left and right. The alley only heads left, away from the street. Since he believes that the two thugs did go this way, he moves cautiously, ready for an ambush. But anticipating a brush with the local gendarmes, he puts Charnag Velve back into its scabbard.
Get a little distance from the site, debrief, figure out our next move. See what Silver and Arn noticed. Maybe something will come to them after they get a chance to think. Seeker runs through his head his tally of the opposing forces. ‘Sleepy’ and his fellow thugs, er, apprentices, the guy with the sword out front, the guildmaster. Guy on the roof, but he’s already out - thanks, Brother! So, five targets so far. Bet that’s not all.
Arn throws the unconscious man over his shoulder and follows Seeker out. Silver brings up the rear, glancing over her shoulder looking for the missing Fortis. After a moment the three companions emerge from the dim alleyway into the afternoon sunlight in a little plaza and find Moonscar skulking about, trying to look into doors and windows. He has a large brown rat clinging to his shoulder. He explains that he had taken out a sentry on the roof of the Taxidermist Guildhall and watched two pairs of men run and jump down a well just behind the guildhouse. He also introduces his smoke friend Rat and shares the info he provided about the people who hang out here and their “warren” below the plaza. The three from inside quickly share their experience from inside.
Seeker nods to Moonscar and his friend. “You hooted? Is there trouble coming?” He listens to the Kankoran’s report. “Ah, got it.” He turns, then turns back. “Oh, and thanks. Glad you had my back with that sniper, Tamm.”
The gears in Seeker’s brain start turning. Okay, so big underground complex. Plenty of foes, if Moonscar’s little rat-friend is to be believed. Pushing into their home turf - plenty of chances to get ambushed. Traps - gotta remember to check for traps. So, slow and steady or dash and slash. Seems like we’ll want to stay pretty tight for this - too much chance one of them gets isolated, they could get overwhelmed. Wish Val was here - she always adds a twist with her ability to pull out just the right spell when we need it. Sounds like there are ways down in some of these other buildings. Or we could go back in the Taxidermists Guildhall and see if with a little more time Arn and I could get through that last door. Way down is probably in there. He eyes the well in the center of the courtyard. So some of them went down the well, eh? Possible, possible. Have to check to see if there’s a ladder, or if it was an emergency exit for them. Hmmm, not a bad idea - have an easy retreat nearby a secure facility. He ponders the logistics of navigating the maze below. Probably best to do the ‘Right hand on the wall’ thing in case we get separated. Could be easy for some to get lost, and it would make for an easy rule to follow back to the entrance.
Seeker peers down the well. It is only about 4 feet across and made of cobbled stone. A rotted rope and unusable bucket sits on the ground next to it. Peering down into the well, Seeker realizes that he cannot see through the darkness that seems to hover about 10 feet down despite the fact that the sun is high in the sky and the well is not that shadowed. There is no ladder but the uneven walls seem to say “climb me!”
Thinking about the possibilities, Seeker realizes that no matter what, the next step should be tackled at full strength, and that means gathering up Valinya and finding Fortis. Alerting the Watch to the location of the Sea Harpy’s lair might not be a bad idea either, though there could be complications from that route as well. Striking soon would be the best approach to catch them off guard before too many additional defenses can be put into place might be the way to go as well. Sadly, several of these options seem to be at odds with each other, and there is no way that all of them can be put into play at once.
The Kankoran glances about in concern, “Did anyone grab my arrow? I don’t want to leave that lying about. Even without the fletching it’s pretty unique and we know which way the benefit of the doubt goes in this city. Not that I didn’t do anything he wasn’t going to, but they really seem to resent it when we’re better at it. . .”
Seeker looks down, a bit sheepishly. “Sorry, man, we were kinda in a hurry. I got the body off the street. It’s probably still in the Taxidermists.”
Moonscar nods, “That’s one thing I like about the other ones - I don’t have to worry about leaving them behind since they just disappear. I’m kind of surprised they’re legal! I was about to use one but I didn’t want to have to shoot him twice. Anyway, Let me go grab my evidence and I’ll pull rear guard. No one’s going to pay me any mind.” He taps his glowing Obscurement mark as he trots off.
After just a few moments, Moonscar returns with his broken arrow in hand. The group prepares to leave the quiet plaza behind the Taxidermist Guildhall when Arn says, “Um, how are we gonna get this punk back to the manor? It’s gonna look mighty suspicions carrying a tied up fellow across my shoulders all through the city.” As they ponder that question, Silver adds, “If only Fortis were here, I’m sure he could use an illusion disguise on it to make it look like a carpet or something else innocent.”
Moonscar thinks for a moment, “If there’s some way I can manage to carry him it won’t matter. Even if people do see the unconscious guy, they’ll see me as someone who aught to be carrying an unconscious guy and ignore us.”
After finding out how heavy the unconscious man is, Moonscar changes his mind and nods to Arn to let him know he can carry him after all. Silver finds a ratty tarp covering a pile of old firewood and she and Seeker take a moment to wrap the body up in. “That should do the trick. We’ll just say it’s a carpet for Lavinia’s manor house if anyone asks,” she says.
Silver looks around the plaza one more time, hoping to see Fortis flutter out from some hidden location, but the diminutive Ellyl does not appear. The four companions, with taxidermist thug in tow, head out across the Sunrise District toward Vanderboren Manor just a few bridges away.
Seeker grins, “Good job, Silver. Let’s get Sleepy back to the manor and find out more about what we’re up against.” I hope Sleepy is one of those guys who pays attention to details, and is easily persuaded.
Cast of Characters:
+Arne Jamtgaard plays Seeker, a teenage Wolfen Warlord
+Ben Zittere plays Fortis, an Ellyl trickster and Mage
+Mike Biancone plays Arn, a surly Dwarven Warrior
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