CH. 8: Proving Worth

[BishGada]

This train of words quickly reminds Tulbas the downside of knowing Haaque. "Hmm.. Well... I'm glad you came to rescue me." As Haaque mentioned his coming here alone Tulbas flinches but contiinues, "It seems like soon you will need to be rescued too. Let's discuss the rest after we are safely back in the city." Tulbas smiles at Haaque tiredly for a moment, nods to Ismene, Pen and raises an eyebrow when nodding to the goblin, but then quickly goes to Gregeddin.
"Hi. We need to quickly decide what to do next. Are you here to finish Belzor off? Cause if you do then his room is behind the northern east door. Behind the door to its south are his favored 'would be priests' which are not priest nor wizrds. But since you are here and their door is open, I guess Belzor is all by his own. I've been in his room. It is very dark. I mean really, really dark. Maybe it's magical darkness. The room is about the size of the priests room and half of it is darkened so he might have bodyguards hidden there. I see many of you are in bad shape, that includes me, but if you made it this far maybe we can pull it through. By the way, Belzor is a powerful mage. I'd guess he is equal to Magnus, and I fear Magnus barely scratched his surface abilities in the expedition to kill the giant." Tulbas says with obvious hatred.

[TristenC]

Once he sees the newcomer is not a threat, Grubnick relaxes a bit and begins to tend Ismene’s wound with his bandages. Let me help you with that… you have been a very valuable help to us, thank you. He says to her as he makes his ministrations. Speaking to the Haahque and the man the Gnome called Tulbas, Be careful, there is a trap in the hallway starting between those statues and stretching almost across the hall. The five feet closest to the wall where the priests were is clear, though. Call me Gobax, I’m something of a hireling but I’m looking to get into the mercenary trade like you three.

He listens closely to Tulbas’ words as he works. Once done treating Ismene, he takes a peek into the room to the south to see if the hirelings had retreated there or fallen into a trap. He turns back to the hall before speaking again, Our main goal was to find you, Tulbas. After fighting the last two ‘priests’ I’m not so sure how well we’d do against Belzor, but I’m game. We defeated four partially transformed people and an Histacii, then a pack of eight Histachii and a priest, then a pair of priests… You might know, how many cultists do you suspect are left here? He waits for Tulbas’ response before saying, At any rate, you three could always alert the church that sent you to investigate the Belzorites in the first place. Once they know where he is, they’ll send enough forces down here to wipe him out for good. …and they can waste their resources doing it… wish I could have used them to clear the whole place, but who knows what would have happened to Tulbas here… he thinks to himself bitterly.

[djhyland]

As the others seem to know this new figure, Arulia relaxes and lowers her mace and steps away from the doorway. "This is who we came to rescue, then? Now that we have him, let us leave this place before we get into any more fights. There will be enough time to speak when we are all safe at the inn." She scowls before continuing in a darker tone. "And, if we are fast enough, we can find Xyleena and Yvette before they lose themselves in the city."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Tulbas, Arulia, Gobax, Felran and Ne-Chanz (Deserted Building)
Gregeddin steps out of the lab, having heard Tulbas' voice. "Ah, Tulbas. You're still alive. Good, Magnus will be pleased to hear that. Can you still fight?" He turns to the others. "The job is not done yet. If what Tulbas says is true, there is still the matter of this so-called 'Belzor' who leads them. Sure, we could go to the church, tails tucked between our legs, begging for their help to do our job for us...but then the church gets all the glory, the credit and whatever remaining valuables are down here."

After treating Ismene, Gobax looks in the dining room but sees no sign of Xyleena or Yvette.

==========

Gobax makes a healing check on Ismene [TN 14] (1d20): 11, pass. He restores (1d3): 2 HP to her. Ismene's condition improves from near death to critically wounded.

Kendra Greylock (Old Fort)
Mouna nods. "If you're going to stay, I'll leave orders for you. City patrol or checkpoint guard duty, something light like that until you recover."

Shima Longfoot (Steel Tankard Inn)
Shima sits there, staring at the glass the pregnant woman is holding. Clearly unnerved by this, she stands up. "Uh, excuse me...I am going to retire for the night." She makes a brisk pace to the stairs, looking over her shoulder several times to make sure he isn't following her.

Shima listens in on the two women talking. "You should be the one in charge," the younger one objects.

"They have the manpower, the resources and the base for now. It's his game," the older woman replies. "For now, our goals align. Sometimes you have to take the hand dealt to you."

"Well, I don't trust him," the younger woman says.

"Nor should you, and neither do I. But we can work with him without trust. We just need to stay on our toes..."

"Curfew in an hour," the bartender announces. "Time to decide if you're staying or not."

The draconians boo and hiss but make no move to get up or pay their tabs. The man at the bar pays his tab and gets up to leave, as does the older man and the young man sitting alone. The man in the cloak approaches the bar to ask for a room. The two women get up, as well. "We'll talk more tomorrow," says the older one.

[Chris1234]

Shima Longfoot (Steel Tankard Inn)
Shima heads back to where he's already paid for the night.

Shima thinks ~A rat's butt is nicer than this city.~

[TristenC]

I'm all for finishing the job if everyone agrees, but many of us are very torn up. It would only take one well-aimed area-spell to cut our party in half, and your friend says 'Belzor' is highly skilled... Tulbas, based on what we've told you, how many do you think are likely left? Haahque, we should search the chest in the sacrifice room. It may have something we can use...

[BishGada]

Tulbas looks at the goblin appraising him and considering for a moment. 'Hmm... This is a strange sight. A Goblin patches and heals humans... Father always was more tolerant to strangers. On the other hand humans betrayed him in the most crucial moment...' Tulbas lower his eyes and then breaths deeply. "So, Gregeddin, as to your question, I'm able to fight, but I'm severely wounded. They kept me on the brink of death all night long." Then he turns to the goblin, "Gobax was the name right. Well no need to introduce myself." He says with a weak smile lacking any humor. "I've met Belzor, which is fully transformed to a snake form and is highly skilled mage, Leota which is a wizard apprentice, she had some scales and grinnish eyes but pretty much looked human, three semi-transformed 'priests', at least two or three humans very slightly transformed. I think one of name was called Sigbert or something like that. I find it hard to recall the exact details of the last few days. All is mixed up. And there were more than a few Histachi. I think I saw four in the barracks and one was going with Leota all the time and later they locked me in the storage room and there were few Histachi guarding there... so I can't tell for sure. In the storage room I found a chest with a pile of coins and few potions, but hearing you I understand you had more companions that took it and ran off right?" Tulbas waits for a second. "In order to defeat Belzor we need to plan. We might need distraction and some tactics. I bet he is aware all his priests are down and preparing for us, so maybe we could chase these two women for a short while since in the current situation it seems like suicide to go in without preparing ourselves. We only need to make sure Belzor won't sneak away."

[HorizonsDream]

"All right," Kendra says as she stands up. She bows her head in respect to Mouna, and then leaves. She doesn't want to be in there longer than she has to be. At this point, going home sounds pretty amazing.

[djhyland]

Arulia shakes her head at Greggedin's statement. "I don't care about glory, and money won't do us any good if we die trying to get it. And I think that getting our money back from Yvette and Xyleena is much less likely to kill us than going into yet another fight in our current condition and ignorance of what we face."

[TristenC]

Arulia is right. We did what we came here to do, rescue your friend. Your employer only wanted the location, right? Lets check that chest in the sacrifice room and go. We need to catch those two before they get away.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Tulbas, Arulia, Gobax, Felran and Ne-Chanz (Deserted Building)
Gregeddin frowns. "If you care naught for glory or money, then what of doing the right thing? If we leave this snakeman unchecked, can you sleep well at night knowing that any future victims will be on your head?" he asks with a dramatic gesture. "They say evil is produced by good men who do nothing. Shall we do nothing then, turn away, and leave things unfinished?"

(OOC: Ismene is a gnome, by the way, not a human.)

Kendra Greylock (Old Fort)
Kendra makes it as far as the courtyard before she hears someone behind her hiss her name. "Greylock!"

It's the priestess, the same one who witnessed her interrogation. When she catches up to her, she looks around to ensure nobody is listening, then removes her hood. She has dark red hair and rather pale skin. "You lied," she states. "You lied about most of what you said. I know it, and you know it. But the captain does not. But she can easily find out. Do you understand? You are mine now. Mine to command." She grins darkly. "You will be my little spy on the side. Unless, of course, you'd rather I tell Mouna you are a traitor? You'll be tortured and executed, as will anyone you are close to; family, friends, even passing acquaintances."

Kendra cannot help but recall the final words of the draconians from her unit. Is this what they meant by Takhisis avenging them? By blackmailing her into serving the Dragon Queen against her will?

Shima Longfoot (High Hand Inn)
Shima makes his way back to the High Hand uneventfully; the streets are fairly empty now (except for patrols and checkpoint guards), and most of the people out are hurrying to get home before curfew goes into effect.

The High Hand seems even nicer now, having spent some time in the Steel Tankard. There are only a handful of people remaining; most have left or gone up to their rooms. But the bar is still open for a short time. Raena is not present.

[TristenC]

Big talk from someone whose life I saved yesterday and I had to convince to even join Haahque's plan to rescue Tulbas this morning... the goblin says, flatly. Do all humans have such short memories? he asks no-one in particular. I said i'd go on if the group agrees.

[Chris1234]

Shima Longfoot (High Hand Inn)
Shima waits for a while, in case the gnome turns up. ~This little bu99er had better hurry up. I hate waiting.~

[HorizonsDream]

"Did you all ready decide you wanted a spy when you were called upon?" Kendra asks.

[BishGada]

Tulbas looks at the goblin, then Arulia, and then Gregeddin. "Well, we should hurry up. It won't do us any good to fight Belzor if we are not all united in determination to have this fight. Let's go after the two quickly. If THEY inform the curch of the Belzorites location we will be suspected as rebels. Later we can come and finish Belzor or alert the church ourselves and gain an influence inside it's hierarchy. Which might by the way help us with the taxes issue you wanted to pull off." He looks at the other companions his eyes linger on the Minotaur, "You sure made us a lot of new interesting friends in the past two days... Two of them already double crosses us."