CH. 15 - Before the Dawn

[BishGada]

To William's question if they still serve the Red Army, Tulbas shakes his head. When Haaque mistakes his uncle to his dad Tulbas heart falls. Raetmal was more than a dad to him in the last few years. He took him in, loved him, educated him and was his mentor. The ties between them was above blood relationship.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra, for the moment, decides to take Haahqae at his word about the potion. "You don't have enough for everyone here at this point though," she points out to him before she turns to William. "My life is forfeit no matter what I do," she admits to William. "In all honesty, I think I would prefer to die by their hands." She has been almost expecting to die by the prefect's hands at some point anyway. Not only that, but she feels as if that is the type of death she pretty much deserves. These so called good guys would eventually show her mercy.

[Haahque]

"You're quite right, I haven't enough of the potion left to give some to everyone. Which is one of the reasons why I really need to talk about these plans here, because I think they could use some serious improvements."

"I have been inside the mansion before. Stealthily scouted it out some, and I did discover the entrance to the sewers that the group here seems to have found from the other side. However, it's not a simple entrance into the manor at any rate. The long climb up steep slippery walls was enough to deter me from trying that entrance before, and must be accounted for. Then; there's a locked door on the other side. I've picked the lock from the celler-side before, it might not be as easy from the other side. But most importantly is that the room on the other side was guarded when I went there before. Even if we all managed to go invisible and learned to be as quiet as I can be, we're going to stink like a dead skunk after clambering through the sewers, so someone is likely going to alarm the guard rather quickly."

"Which comes to my main concern. Alarming the guard. I have it on good athority and theory that there is most definitely a dragon in the prefect's manor. I have no idea how it gets into the manor, as the roof doesn't have any dragon-sized entrances, nor any of the walls. Again, I've scouted the building, I would know this. But somehow; some way; the dragon manages to get inside the building. And if we trigger the alarm, there's a chance that we come face to face with the lizard. Now..."

"Call me a coward if you wish, but all the stories of dragons that I've heard, from the burning of the inn during this occupation to the stories of old, have led me to believe that I am certainly no match for a fully grown dragon by any stretch of the imagination. And while I've heard of these fabled dragonlances, we neither have any here, nor any ability to produce them."

"So I want to know what the plan is that will prevent us from setting off the alarm immediately when we enter the mansion. Or how we could possibly survive fighting a dragon once the alarm is set off."

This whole talk of the city being a heroic sacrifice to show people that they can stand up to the dragonarmy is a bit worrisome. But Haahqae is pretty sure that he'd be able to leave town before the dragonarmy could retaliate. Ismene is already safely out of the way of any retaliation and if he should decide others are worth saving, he can likely convince them to skip town as well...

As for Kendra's other statement, was she trying to actually side with them? It seemed strange that she would turn sides so quickly; although Haahqae's assessment before was that she was just doing what she was told to do; if her life was forfeit anyways, then there's not much holding her to continue doing that so it would make sense. But on the other hand if she had a marriage proposal as she claimed, then perhaps her life wasn't forfeit and... Well Haahqae's been burned by having deceptive people attempting to join his groups before.

Perhaps Miracle could have some insight. She's starting to be able to grasp these concepts. Not fully, but at least she's someone Haahqae knows he can trust.

This group seemed a little more stringent in who they'll recruit, so if they decide Kendra is safe then she probably is. Although the seeming lack of a plan for taking the city or dealing with the repercussions does have me wondering their general competency.

It would be good to fight alongside Kendra again. Last time I did that was some of the best adventuring I've done since coming to this forsaken city.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Kendra and Tulbas (Secret Passage)
"I know how the dragon gets inside the mansion," William says. "It can change its shape and size at will. In fact, it often poses as the prefect's butler--a seemingly old man."

He adds, "As for the plan, the simplest solution is to send you to scout ahead, Haahqae. After all you are, by your own admission, a 'hero extraordinaire and expert scout.' That way we aren't likely to run into a patrol unprepared. Or the dragon."

As for Miracle, she thinks over things before answering. 'Competent or not, we don't have a whole lot of options. If we go back to the surface, you'll be arrested. And even if we could leave town, where would we go? The war has spread to all of Ansalon, they said. There is nowhere safe to go. This war is for survival, isn't it? It's not something a person can just skip out on. Especially a hero.'

Gobax and Shima (Secret Passage)
Once the two are through the door, it seals shut behind them. They are now in a pitch black tunnel, but luckily both can see in the dark so this isn't too hindering.

They follow the path for awhile, but eventually they start to hear voices up ahead. Gobax recognizes one of them as Haahqae.

[TristenC]

[If 'for a while' means he can be reasonably certain anyone back at the area of the hidden door couldnt hear then...]

Presuming the others are with Haahque and safe enough to be conversing, Grubnick calls out ahead in a slightly above conversational tone so it will hopefully carry but not shouting, Haahque, is William with you? I was delayed by the mage.


[If not that far from the hidden passage, in order to not cast his voice...]
Grubnick skips a stone ahead down the hall so hopefully the others ahead hear it. He will proceed cautiously (hopefully with shima) and speak the same in quieter tones.

[Chris1234]

The dwarf remains quiet.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra lets out a sigh as she listens to the plan that they have. She knows that sooner or later they will be caught in the mansion. There was no way around that with how paranoid the prefect is. "This mansion plan is suicide," she says again. "Use me to lure him out," she says. "He will come." Kendra was pretty sure of the fact that Tethys would show up for her.

[BishGada]

Tulbas considers Kendra's idea but disagree. The prefect will smell the danger and send his dogs. 'On the other hand, if they pretend Kendra had the upper hand and managed to capture William, the head of the resistance, that might have lured the prefect out. He would like to make an example of how he deals with rebel leaders.' he thinks to himself knowing they will never remove his gag.
The information about the dragon ability to alter his shape at will is astonishing, but unfortunately his life of study, experimenting and exploring the wonders of the world, dragons included, seems to be nearing its end.

[JadedDM]

"Haahque, is William with you? I was delayed by the mage."

Everyone grabs their weapons at the sound of the goblin's voice.

"Shit, we were followed!" Fiona says, pointing her bow in their direction. "Come forward, slowly, hands in the air!" she warns. "Wait...that's the goblin that betrayed us to the imperials."

"Betrayed?" asks William, not following.

"Think about it. You invited him to join us and told him where to go. But he never showed up, like the gnome did. He disappeared, and then a short time later, the imperials somehow knew where our base was and invaded. Do the math, William. This goblin betrayed us."

William frowns, and then looks over to Shima. "I know you. You're the dwarf who agreed to murder Arulia's little sister. She told me all about it."

"See?" Fiona says. "This only proves my point. Both are probably working for the imperials."

[TristenC]

Grubnick glares at Fiona, And i guess that priestess they had just murdered herself and Magnus decided not to take part at all. We spotted them following you. Rather than suicidally attack them alone or try to intercept you and be seen we joined in when the shit hit the wind. There was some kind of magical silence separating us, but before that you must have heard Magnus bellowing about other magic. And in case you didnt notice, that dwarf refused to kill Arulia's sister. He spares a fresh glare for Kendra, What in the abyss is that one still doing alive? he growls.

[JadedDM]

"I told you to head to the safehouse," William says. "But you didn't show. I sent Pen after you, to keep an eye on you. Pen?" He turns to the kender present.

Pen blinks and says, "Oh, right! In all the confusion, I never got to tell you. He went to the High Hand, not the safehouse. A few minutes later, Kendra and her group came out of the High Hand and went straight to the safehouse. I ran here to warn everyone they were coming, and lost track of him after that."

"You can see how that looks bad, yes?" asks William. "Then you show up here with an assassin dwarf who has sold his soul to the Dragon Queen." He frowns. "And you say you fought Magnus? With magic? What sort of magic? You never said anything about being a spellcaster."

[TristenC]

Never said anything about...? Grubnick stares incredulously. Priestly magic. Prayers, divine magic. I told you i was a a priest, just like i told Arulia a while back. I told you i was the one who tried to free Delharn. I certanly didnt do that without divine aid. And you ddint say go to the safehouse immediately. I told Shima i'd meet him after i ran an errend. When we got back she he invests the word with a mountain of scorn, gesturing to Kendra and her 'band of murderers' came in and killed the %*^@ inkeeper!!! I can only assume whil trying to find us! Grubnick has to visibly force himself to calm, practically shaking with anger. So when they left, we followed them. We saw them heading to the sewers, he contimues coldly. And when they started attacking you we took our chance to help. I tried to hold them with spells but it wasnt working. I healed Shima a few times and i used a sword of flame to drive Magnus off. Shima hit him once but it didnt do anyhing, i guess he was protected. And as for the dwarf, he didn't assassinate anyone, instead he TOLD ARULIA.

[BishGada]

When hearing the accusations of Gobax telling on the rebellions Tulbas makes sounds of disagreement and shakes his head, hopping he will be let to speak.

[Chris1234]

Shima just looks grim until Gobax stands up for him, "Thank you for standing up for me."
Turning to the others he confirms, "He speaks truth," and just lets it go at that. No need to mention his curse of -20 or whatever.

[HorizonsDream]

"He wasn't the one who told us where you were," Kendra says. "Though, he was there when we got the information out of the innkeeper along with the dwarf." She ignores the glares because she has become rather use to them at this point.