Sapphire:Sessions:20180825
After a long, busy day, Neville takes it into his head to find out what his new friends are up to. When he reaches Envoy Manor, Jeeves informs him that, regrettably, Chalker had just left for the Brilliant Light Inn. Helpfully, Jeeves calls around for a very sturdy steed and a man-at-arms to accompany Neville to the inn. Shawna sees Neville approaching and intercepts him a couple of blocks away, bidding the man-at-arms to wait in reserve.
Chalker sketches out the plan: Neville, Alastor, and Chalker will go in through the front door, and Ahn-Lee and Shawna will enter through the back windows when appropriate.
Approaching the suite, Chalker spots one of the deadly spiders above one door. He TKs a dagger along the ceiling in such a way that it doesn't alert the spider. Listening carefully at the suite's door, they hear at least four voices discussing PDG's plans.
Neville forces his way in, the door breaking off of its hinges, while simultaneously Chalker kills the spider. Before Neville, three men standing around a table dive out of the way of the door, which flies into the table and scatters a number of papers and books. Off to the left, four more men seated around another table start to react. To the right, his chair tilted back onto two legs, sits a goblin (Cal Lindross) cleaning his nails with a dagger. Shawna removes a Watchdog spell from a window before Ahn-Lee slips through it into an empty bedroom, then Shawna teleports behind the door of the opposite bedroom.
A blunt object hits Chalker in the back of the head, raising a knot. "Ow! Who did that?" Alastor throws a knife, but his target dodges and the knife hits a wall. Ahn-Lee opens the bedroom door and sees, a few feet away, the back of a pointy-eared male (LG) dressed in green leather; Ahn-Lee fast-draws and throws two daggers, but both miss. Chalker steps around Neville and slams hard into an opponent who is reaching for a crossbow, knocking the guy into the next man's sword arm. Iron-tipped arrows scatter across the table. LG forms a Fireball in each hand. Neville vaults over the table, crushes a chair, and wobbles forward.
LG steps to his right in front of a window; the air around him appears to glow. N2 hits Alastor in the chest, barely getting through his leathers. Chalker dodges a sword swing. A bowman (B1) nocks an arrow and aims at Neville. The goblin (CL) leaps over a table, throwing a dagger at Ahn-Lee but missing. Ahn-Lee jams two daggers into the back of B1's neck; B1 drops his arrow. Chalker hooks a bolt and tries to push it into LG, who burns up the bolt with one of his Fireballs. Ahn-Lee draws a knife and, gripping the hilt, delivers an unexpected uppercut to an opponent's jaw. Neville recovers his balance and tries jumping onto LG with both feet, but the mage dodges; Neville's feet smash through the window and Neville is obliged to spread his arms wide to grab the window frame to keep from flying out. Shawna, sword drawn, runs toward LG.
Shawna swings and LG dodges, drawing his own sword. CL fast-draws and throws at Ahn-Lee; Ahn-Lee lets go of the hilts of his knives and, left-handed, snatches the thrown dagger out of the air. CL utters an appreciative "Wow!" B1 turns around, draws his sword, and menaces Ahn-Lee. Chalker dodges a sword swing. Alastor is struck. Someone swings a sword at Ahn-Lee, who acrobatically dodges in a 'matador move.' Two men charge, swinging at Neville; one strikes him on his left arm but doesn't get through his scale mail. LG smiles and steps back into a corner, Fireball in one hand and sword in the other. Ahn-Lee throws two daggers at CL who dodges both. Chalker hooks onto Neville's armor and pulls as hard as he can to keep Neville from falling out the window; the effort costs Chalker a stutter-step forward and -1 fatigue. Alastor, demonstrating his knife mastery, nearly eviscerates N2. Neville begins singing a stirring battle song while whipping his legs up and flipping over onto his feet.
Shawna parries LG's sword. B1 collapses from his injuries. Chalker fast-draws his sword and parries a thrust, and is struck by another sword that doesn't get through his enhanced armor. N2 falls down. One of the men attacking Ahn-Lee abruptly throws away his sword. Neville is struck with one sword that bounces off his mail; the other attacker, trying for a weak spot in Neville's armor, misses. CL charges and dives over Neville (who tries to "parry" him out of the air) and out the window. Ahn-Lee turns a cartwheel, grasping and pulling his daggers out of B1. Shawna swings and LG parries. Alastor draws another knife and runs toward Chalker. Neville throws N6 out the window. Chalker releases his TK on Neville, swings his sword, and is parried.
LG swings at Shawna and misses. Chalker parries. Ahn-Lee dodges by leaping over his attacker. Alastor's attacker misses. Neville parries a sword with his arm. A bedroom door opens and out steps another man (N3) armed with sword and knife. Chalker hooks Magekiller and pushes it toward LG, whose eyes widen; the magic dagger misses. Ahn-Lee throws twice at LG, who dodges both. Alastor stabs a man in the vitals. Shawna throws Lightning and LG dodges. Neville swings and his opponent dodges.
Uttering a prayer to Delsa, Shawna swings and hits LG hard. Chalker turns Magekiller and drives the dagger into LG's foot; LG falls. Neville's fist crushes an opponent. Ahn-Lee shrugs, turns, and throws two daggers into the guy he'd vaulted over. From outside come the sounds of two bodies thudding into the ground. Alastor stabs an opponent twice in the vitals. N3 runs toward the front door. N4 swings at Chalker and misses, and Chalker parries N5.
Chalker hooks N5's sword and snatches it away. Shawna beheads LG. Neville runs up and swings at Chalker's other attacker N4 (the one that still has a sword). Alastor stabs N4 twice. Ahn-Lee heads for the window.
Neville slips on spilled blood, falls on his butt, and bites his tongue. N3 runs out the door into the hallway. N5 closes his eyes, raises his empty hands, and says, "Make it quick." Chalker obligingly stabs him to death.
Before Ahn-Lee can jump out the window, Chalker directs him to chase down N3. Chalker and Neville look out the window; the body of N6, his neck obviously broken, pins the goblin, who is struggling to get out from beneath. Neville vaults out the second-story window, twisting his ankle slightly when he lands, kneels on N6's back and punches CL in the head until the goblin goes limp, then ties him up.
Chalker gathers up all the papers. From one bedroom Shawna takes a document pouch, two scrolls, a purse containing 10g, and a small bag of diamonds. Chalker shows her five rings he has found; she takes the two that are magic to be identified. Shawna identifies the elf as Laas Grart. On his chest she finds a mark that looks like wavy lines. She takes his sword and knife. Chalker collects various objects that appear to merely be knick-knacks, but he thinks they might have some other significance.
Neville sees Ahn-Lee emerge from the stairway and signals him (by holding up the goblin) that N3 had not come that way. It occurs to Ahn-Lee that N3 could still be on the second floor. Followed by Neville (carrying CL), he goes back upstairs and finds a drop of fresh blood in front of a locked door. He tries kicking the door open to no avail, so Neville hands him the goblin and forces the door open. Inside is a man on a chair, unconscious, gagged, and bleeding; a woman unconscious on a bed; an open window. Neville takes back CL and Ahn-Lee goes to the window and swings up onto the roof. He glimpses N3 fleeing and takes off in pursuit. Neville first-aids the woman (popping her dislocated jaw back in place) and bandages the bleeding man.
Alastor, Shawna, and Chalker head out the door toward the back stairs. On the way they see and kill four more spiders. Chalker kills his with a knife he'd found in his back waistband, wondering aloud over and over (and over and over) where that knife came from and why the back of his head has a bump.
Shawna's falcon companion Berenel swoops down into N3's face. N3 breaks stride to knock the bird away, and Ahn-Lee quickly closes on him. N3 stabs Ahn-Lee, drawing blood; he smiles and says, "I might live!" But Ahn-Lee attacks; N3 seems almost to step into the blow and Ahn-Lee hits hard. N3 at first brushes away the needle in Ahn-Lee's other hand, but then Ahn-Lee changes his angle of attack, the needle sinks into N3's skin, and N3 keels over. Ahn-Lee pats him down and takes his valuables, including a garrote and some poison. Ahn-Lee tries to bandage the knife wound but it continues to drip blood, so Ahn-Lee staps him awake. "Do you know first aid? If you don't, you'll die." Instead of stopping the bleeding, N3 makes it worse. "Are you sure you want to do that?" Finally N3 rips the wound open and bleeds out.
Chalker hands over the goblin and the one remaining human to his man-at-arms, instructing him to take them to Envoy Manor. "If the goblin stirs, kill him. Keep the other one knocked out."
Chalker decides that after the fight they all deserve a round or two at the Boar's Head. Even at this hour (half-past midnight) the place is almost full. Neville is curious as to why we attacked the inn, and Chalker explains that Pandemonium Dagger Guild is both expanding the cult of the Mother of Night in Sapphire and out to get Chalker. "I am tachnically one of her children. She told me to call her Mother, which I do to avoid being eaten. I try not to kill her children. But my assumed affection for the Mother of Night shouldn't affect your killing them." Bajeeter makes their Bajeeter Specials "extra special", and afterwards calls a carriage for them. Chalker: "Let's go outside and see who tries to kill Alastor. ...Oh, did I say that in my outside-the-head voice?"
Ahn-Lee and Shawna arrive at Envoy Manor at practically the same time as Neville, Alastor, and Chalker. Jeeves has secured Cal Lindross (the goblin) and the human in separate rooms. Chalker calls for food and for his "special" lantern.
Shawna steps out and goes to a station some distance away to report the crime scene to the city guard; "Inform the innkeeper to submit the bill for cleanup and repair to the Imperial treasury. My regards to Captain Harlock."
The same man-at-arms who transported the "guests" is standing guard over the human. Chalker tells him, "Go bring back a helper." Chalker slaps the prisoner twice. "How's your chest?" "It hurts... he's a man mountain!" He claims his name is "Sten Gibson, from Glenson's Glade in Larson" (a country in the Troubled Lands). "Tate had to plan out our chess game against the city guard and your group... I have no incentive to talk to you since I'm going to die anyway." Chalker floats a coin out of his lantern, saying, "I'm going to put the mark of the Emperor upon you," and presses the burning-hot coin against Sten's bare skin. Sten admits that he belongs to PDG. "Our game is to muck with the Empire.... The Empire is an obstacle to chaos.... Even Yasseph imposes order... Tate is the boss." "Was Tate in the room?" "He was to my left... he got thrown out of the window." But the sudden tension in Sten's neck muscles indicates he's lying, and Chalker recalls that Tate Patel is said to be a master of disguise. Chalker says, "Oh, we've got Tate in another room."
Neville says "I'm a mage!" He waves his hands in the air, then gestures dramatically at Sten. "Sleep!" Ahn-Lee knocks Sten out with a blow to the back of the head. Chalker to Ahn-Lee: "Your magic is really painful!" Neville: "I'm so going to practice my Sleep spell!"
The interrogation shifts to the room where the goblin, Cal Lindross, is being held. Chalker taps him awake. "That was a hell of a throw, wasn't it?" CL: "That guy, he caught a thrown knife!" "Why did you accept this assignment, knowing that the elven warrior is here?" "I was paid a heckuva lot.... My clan followed High Lord Bajeeter, who's now in hiding [Chalker interjects, "Where is Hiding?"] in Fayet near the Lavinia border.... They have some grand scheme to disrupt the empire.... I think they're stupid for bringing in the Mother of Night." Cal says he is a "procurement specialist and intelligence gatherer." Chalker: "You mean 'thief and spy'. ... I might let you work for me, but for tonight you're tied up." Cal: "They called that one guy 'Tate' but he didn't sound like Tate. I'd have recognized Tate Patel's voice." Alastor asks, "How many spiders were there?" Cal: "I saw several crawling around that elf mage who was controlling them. He was scary." Chalker checks the goblin's Aura and finds Greed, Low Empathy, and Magery 0. He tells the goblin, "Contemplate your situation. Either I own you now, or you're dead."
Back in the dining room, the group examines some of the objects taken from the hotel suite. There is a deer figurine made by a Gateway artisan, and a dog figurine made in Sapphire. The whitish lump that might be a carved ivory tooth emanates religious/spiritual chaos that Shawna says makes her feel queasy. It didn't bother Chalker before, but now to him it feels 'grimy' and 'evil'. Neville remarks that it feels like a shark tooth. Chalker gives the ivory pebble to Shawna, who says the symbol might represent either vengeance or chaos. Alastor opens a bag of mixed herbs, some of which he recognizes.
Since the hour has grown very late, most of the group stays the rest of the night at Envoy Manor. Shawna prays to Delsa and gets a feeling of approval. Chalker informs Relinda, "We have guests -- and prisoners."
Ahn-Lee wakes earliest; he goes out at 7:00am to check his drops. Chalker wakes at 8:30, tells Jeeves to have Cal Lindross, the goblin, cleaned up "and put two guards on him." Neville pays a Copper Kid to find him a carpenter; "The whole building's gonna have to come down and be rebuilt, but for now it just needs to be made safe." Alastor takes eight swords and seven knives (acquired from various opponents) to a shady dealer he knows named Mack, who pays him 12g 8s. Alastor keeps a fine knife and four throwing knives. He goes to his laboratory and extracts the poison from five dead spiders. Shawna visits Lady Thire, leaves her the head of Laas Grart, and relates what she had learned about PDG. Shawna then takes the magic rings and the deer and dog figurines to Branamin, whose expression lights up at the opportunity to analyze the objects.
Chalker takes Cal to the Temple of Aaoo. Cal is skittish and doesn't want to enter, but Chalker sits him down in the first pew. Chalker starts walking and a scrawny priestess in tattered robes sidles up to him; she grimaces when he takes her hand. "Hey, sweetie. Have you ever been to high school? Ever been in a gymnasium?" The priestess speaks mostly gibberish, but among her more lucid remarks are: "I like Asseraah. He has good ideas to steer the world when we are able.... I approve of the Apothecary Conspiracy.... I don't understand Yasseph's sense of humor [a reference to Shawna]...." When Chalker lets go her hand, the priestess falls to the floor, screaming. As they leave the temple, Chalker says to Cal, "You see what's waiting for you...." They head for the Temple of Aakbarath.