"Nadia's a muscle-bound bruiser, probably of uthgard blood. Pale skin, shaggy hair. Wields a large axe and loves a fight, so she's prone to try to rush at you the moment she smells trouble. I'm sure recklessness and hunger for blood served her well in the guild, but it makes her predictable. If you heard magic, I'd hazard a guess that it was the beholder zombie."
Rizzeryl raises an eyebrow at ArneK. "If you've taken care of the ones up the stairs, I'm afraid not."
A snort emerges from the wererat direction at Pisgahs question. Rizzeryl remains unperturbed. "I shouldn't think we do, no.", he says. You do see a couple of sacks in the room, but they're all either occupied, or of decidedly inadequate size.
Turning to ArdneK, the drow says: "Skullport is currently under control of the Xanathar, so if they learn of your presence and your deeds, you'd be killed." He takes a sip, letting you draw your own conclusions from that.
"It's a busy town, a few hundred feet below Waterdeep. Good trade to be made there, if you don't let yourself get pushed around. That being said, it lies beside the path, so to speak. It does not belong to Undermountain, but it is connected to it." The drow makes a horizontal hand motion. "Located laterally to the third level, it lies along the underground river Sargauth. If your aim is simply to go deeper, you can pass by without notice."
"Let us confer together for a few moments. We will step outside, if you don't mind."
Pisgah motions for the others to step outside of the wererat den. Once we're outside and the door is closed "What do you think? I have something that can help to sneak us past the beholder. Nikk, could you drop another fireball into the room where Nadia is and then blast the beholder?"
"Someone should sneak in and see what the rust monsters accomplished, if anything," Canti offers. "With any luck, they've crippled those who fight with weapons, and we'll only have to deal with the zombie."
"We could also try and use the password to get by them, we know her name now, that could help. Avoid more conflict with the guild? If things go bad we fight?" ArdneK says. "We don't have to mention our meeting with Rizzeryl and the others here. Just guild business, and we're heading to Skullport?"
"Unless, they are there specifically to block people from getting to Skullport. Wonder if Rizzeryl would honestly tell us. Also, once a day, I can help move quietly, even the big guy here (motioning at Steel), it is not a sure thing but more a boost to moving quietly. So, we could just try to slip on by and see what happens."
" If we try to talk we lose the option for stealth but we could try it. According Rizzeryl, the beholder is old and nearly blind and his people sneak by all the time. Then again, we haven't seen them moving so they may be really hard to detect. We could try sneaking by and if we get caught use a line like 'Oh, we were told to head down without delay so we were bypassing the check-in process.' and see if that would get us past. If anyone asks about checking in at Shunn's we could let them know he wasn't there when we passed by. I think the only way we form an alliance with Rizzeryl and his team is by taking out the Dead Eyes post. I don't think he would be willing to help with the effort. "
ArdneK is fine with the sneaking approach, talk if it fails, fight if that fails. He can even go out a bit ahead if you like to check the door, he is very stealthy!
" Okay, let's tell Rizzeryl that we are going on ahead but that we will be back. We don't have to make any commitment to them yet. If things go pear shaped and we have to take out Nadia's group too, then we can bring them back and see what we can salvage in the way of an alliance. "
[Theoretically yes, but haven't heard anything from the player in a while.]
You're currently all together, out of earshot of the room with Rizzeryls group.
[Also, the party earned 1400 XP for defusing the situation from before and learning what the drow told them. This, as always, is equivalent to the XP they'd have gotten if they had fought instead. Good job!]
Pisgah looks toward ArdneK and Canti, " You two seem to be pretty persuasive. Would one of you want to let Rizzeryl know that we are going to the Dead Eyes Watchpost and that we will return when we can? That gives us an out if we decide that we want to just sneak on by and keep going since we didn't specify when we would be back. Also, if we have to fight, we can come back here if we win and make the alliance before we head further down. Does anyone need a short rest before we go? "
"Sure" says Ardnek, and turns back into the room, walks up to the drink he left, and drinks it down. "Lovely" he adds, turning to Rizzeryl.
"Thanks for the drink, and the information. We are going to make our way towards this Dead Eyes post as it is, as you said, between us and level three. Not sure what will happen, but if we return, you can trust that it will be to formalize the alliance as you laid it out, and not as enemies."
[Let me know if you want any specific roll, I'll give a persuasion as it seems the most appropriate]
Canti smiles and looks up at Pisgah. "You know how to make an old gnome blush." She follows ArdneK into the room, but the kobold says all that needs to be said, so she simply smiles at the wererats.
Rizzeryl nods pleasantly at ArdneK's remark. "Of course. I look forward to hearing from you."
The wererat kin give you the general side-eye, looking from the drow to the party at any exchange. Living down here seemed to have instilled in them an abundance of mistrust, yet one of them returns a careful smile to the gnome.
"Any idea where we can find more rust monsters?" he asks with a straight face.
"Nadia's a muscle-bound bruiser, probably of uthgard blood. Pale skin, shaggy hair. Wields a large axe and loves a fight, so she's prone to try to rush at you the moment she smells trouble. I'm sure recklessness and hunger for blood served her well in the guild, but it makes her predictable. If you heard magic, I'd hazard a guess that it was the beholder zombie."
Rizzeryl raises an eyebrow at ArneK. "If you've taken care of the ones up the stairs, I'm afraid not."
"You don't happen to have a big sack we could drop over the beholder by any chance? Blind it so it can't see to fight."
"What else can you tell us about Skullport? If we take out Nadia and her guards, will that effect what we can do there?"
A snort emerges from the wererat direction at Pisgahs question. Rizzeryl remains unperturbed. "I shouldn't think we do, no.", he says.
You do see a couple of sacks in the room, but they're all either occupied, or of decidedly inadequate size.
Turning to ArdneK, the drow says: "Skullport is currently under control of the Xanathar, so if they learn of your presence and your deeds, you'd be killed." He takes a sip, letting you draw your own conclusions from that.
"It's a busy town, a few hundred feet below Waterdeep. Good trade to be made there, if you don't let yourself get pushed around. That being said, it lies beside the path, so to speak. It does not belong to Undermountain, but it is connected to it."
The drow makes a horizontal hand motion.
"Located laterally to the third level, it lies along the underground river Sargauth. If your aim is simply to go deeper, you can pass by without notice."
"Let us confer together for a few moments. We will step outside, if you don't mind."
Pisgah motions for the others to step outside of the wererat den. Once we're outside and the door is closed "What do you think? I have something that can help to sneak us past the beholder. Nikk, could you drop another fireball into the room where Nadia is and then blast the beholder?"
"Someone should sneak in and see what the rust monsters accomplished, if anything," Canti offers. "With any luck, they've crippled those who fight with weapons, and we'll only have to deal with the zombie."
"We could also try and use the password to get by them, we know her name now, that could help. Avoid more conflict with the guild? If things go bad we fight?" ArdneK says. "We don't have to mention our meeting with Rizzeryl and the others here. Just guild business, and we're heading to Skullport?"
"Unless, they are there specifically to block people from getting to Skullport. Wonder if Rizzeryl would honestly tell us. Also, once a day, I can help move quietly, even the big guy here (motioning at Steel), it is not a sure thing but more a boost to moving quietly. So, we could just try to slip on by and see what happens."
So it sounds like our options are
1. Try to Stealth close get the jump on them in a fight.
2. Try to sneak pass. (I think this will be hard without Invisibility, We have to walk right pass the beholder, and the door could be locked.)
3. Try to talk pass them.
Thoughts? I'd vote 3, 1, 2 in that order.
" If we try to talk we lose the option for stealth but we could try it. According Rizzeryl, the beholder is old and nearly blind and his people sneak by all the time. Then again, we haven't seen them moving so they may be really hard to detect. We could try sneaking by and if we get caught use a line like 'Oh, we were told to head down without delay so we were bypassing the check-in process.' and see if that would get us past. If anyone asks about checking in at Shunn's we could let them know he wasn't there when we passed by. I think the only way we form an alliance with Rizzeryl and his team is by taking out the Dead Eyes post. I don't think he would be willing to help with the effort. "
ArdneK is fine with the sneaking approach, talk if it fails, fight if that fails. He can even go out a bit ahead if you like to check the door, he is very stealthy!
" Okay, let's tell Rizzeryl that we are going on ahead but that we will be back. We don't have to make any commitment to them yet. If things go pear shaped and we have to take out Nadia's group too, then we can bring them back and see what we can salvage in the way of an alliance. "
OOC: Is Nikk still with us?
[Theoretically yes, but haven't heard anything from the player in a while.]
You're currently all together, out of earshot of the room with Rizzeryls group.
[Also, the party earned 1400 XP for defusing the situation from before and learning what the drow told them. This, as always, is equivalent to the XP they'd have gotten if they had fought instead. Good job!]
Pisgah looks toward ArdneK and Canti, " You two seem to be pretty persuasive. Would one of you want to let Rizzeryl know that we are going to the Dead Eyes Watchpost and that we will return when we can? That gives us an out if we decide that we want to just sneak on by and keep going since we didn't specify when we would be back. Also, if we have to fight, we can come back here if we win and make the alliance before we head further down. Does anyone need a short rest before we go? "
Rico replies, "Steel and I are ready to go."
"Sure" says Ardnek, and turns back into the room, walks up to the drink he left, and drinks it down. "Lovely" he adds, turning to Rizzeryl.
"Thanks for the drink, and the information. We are going to make our way towards this Dead Eyes post as it is, as you said, between us and level three. Not sure what will happen, but if we return, you can trust that it will be to formalize the alliance as you laid it out, and not as enemies."
[Let me know if you want any specific roll, I'll give a persuasion as it seems the most appropriate]
Persuasion: 25
Canti smiles and looks up at Pisgah. "You know how to make an old gnome blush." She follows ArdneK into the room, but the kobold says all that needs to be said, so she simply smiles at the wererats.
[The roll is appropriate.]
Rizzeryl nods pleasantly at ArdneK's remark. "Of course. I look forward to hearing from you."
The wererat kin give you the general side-eye, looking from the drow to the party at any exchange. Living down here seemed to have instilled in them an abundance of mistrust, yet one of them returns a careful smile to the gnome.
Once back out of the room and away from the were-rat den, Pisgah casts Pass without Trace on the group.
Everyone gets +10 to your Stealth rolls for an hour.
STEALTH 28
OOC: We are leaving to go camping this weekend later this morning. Not sure how long I will have signal or phone battery.