The Undying Dragons - Campaign Thread

Jan or Marrin releases the orc she may or may not have, against all odds, managed to grapple.

"You heard Haguur. Kill the chicken."

She gestures the orc in that direction.

"The tiny brained thing will be dead before you get there."

Vicious mockery: 2

(DC 14 Wis save)

Ula’s escape from grapple (athletics): 12

Ula almost finds herself engulfed in large orc arms, but just before the orc can lock his hands and get her in a strong hold, Ula flexes and twists away. 

The crowd gives a mix of cheers and groans when Ula blocks the hold. Some appreciate her athleticism but others definitely want to see blood.

Assuming the vicious mockery is directed at the chicken - Chicken Save: 15  

The last chicken spasms briefly in the orc's arms before falling limp, dead.

"No, no, no," Gertrude says, barely audible above the laughter from the crowd.

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Jan (the real Jan) is up - though the orcs don't look overly interested in continuing on.

"HALF PRICE DRINKS! HALF PRICE DRINKS! HALF PRICE DRINKS!", Jarrin calls out, throwing her arms up on 'drinks', trying to get the crowd chanting in unison.

Performance: 6

"Har-grove stinks. Har-grove stinks.", she continues at a volume pitched for her nearby companions and any orcs.

Cheers go up in the arena viewing area. As you look up, you can tell that your audience has grown over the course of the contest, likely at the prospect of cheap drinks. 

Jan's enthusiasm and steady rhythm of her voice gets the crowd clapping and stomping along with her.

"Half price drinks. Half price drinks."

Gertrude waves her hand in the air then shouts only one word "Draw." 

She quickly leaves your sightline, and the audience quickly starts to leave as well.

Avaria and Ula catch sight of one straggler near the back, one who's sly, jovial smile is familiar. Harry Dodds, the merchant, gambler, provider of what you might need, sends a quick salute in your direction before heading off to join he others.

Haguur nods at Ula, barks at the other orcs and then heads to the gateway they entered through. It opens just as they arrive.

Your own portcullis gate creaks upwards and you catch sight of the hobgoblin archers in the arena viewing area gesturing for you to enter.

Jan decides against trying to get the crowd to switch over to "Har-grove stinks, and will join the others in heading towards the gateway.

"I imagine we're gonna get a right talking to."

"Yes, but with any luck Trudy will be the one taking the brunt of it and she doesn't seem the vengeful type."

To the rest of the group,

"Great job everyone! We tied with aplomb. I hope Haguur got the message, it would be easier to have them not actively opposing us."

Avaria rubs her nose as she walks with the rest of the girls towards their gateway.  "Yeah, after getting hit squarely in my nose, it was real hard not to really fight them.  but yeah, hopefully this has actually been to our advantage."

She smiles as they cross through the portcullis, "Was fun getting the audience to cheer with us and against the Hargroves.  Too bad they weren't chanting your real cheer, Jan"

Ula is looking rather chipper again, more like her original self from the boat, and less like the Ula that has been kept cooped up for the past few days.

To the party, she confides, “Haguur seemed keen to help if we wanted a direct attack on the Hargroves… or even just as a distraction, I guess, if we wanted to start something a little more subtle ourselves…”.

”Oh and The Merchant Guy, from the docks, seemed pleased with today’s result… Might be worth touching base with him when we’re back working that rota”.

”Hmmm…. Haguur on-side… The crowd on-side… … Wouldn’t be surprised if the hobgoblin guards come around to liking us, what with cheap beer thanks to us too!”.

She positively bounces back towards their cavern.

"I doubt we have done anything today to make the guards like us more, unfortunately. Good to hear that Haguur was receptive though."

“Nice work, everyone,” Ethel praises her comrades before they return to the tunnels.  “We may suffer some for this, but people like the Hargroves will burn over the loss of coin.  And don’t feel bad for sweet Gertrude.  She may seem like the most humane of the Hargroves… but the best member of a family of killers and slavers is still human garbage.  Maybe the family will throw her in the arena next…”.

Jan grins at Ava. "Well, at least we know what 'Half Price Drinks' really means."

You make your way, escorted by hobgoblin guards who don’t appear to be treating you any differently than from before you had your great chicken adventure, back through the tunnels and stairwells of the underground fortress. Doors are unlocked and locked, grates clang open and closed, and finally you find yourselves back in your home cavern. You saw no sign of the orcs on your travels.

When the doors lock behind you, Xanthe looks up, looks closely at your faces and arms, then sighs, and nods, seemingly relieved to find you unharmed.

“When Haguur and the others came back looking unharmed, I was worried about what had happened to you.” She says.

Even before you’re able to settle down to contemplate your next moves, the door bangs back open and the four large food bins are pushed into the room.

Xanthe looks around, confusion on her face.

“This is early,” she says.

The hobgoblin guard looks at her and shrugs. Then he points at the five of you.

“They can explain.”

The guards don’t even wait for empty bins to be brought forth or for the ‘tribes’ from the other caverns to show up before they slam the door shut and locks can be heard clicking into place.

For the moment all is quiet.

"Half price drinks.", Jan says with a grin.

"Any chicken in there? I have a hankering."

"Hopefully not Ethel's..."

Ula moves closer to the food bins and takes an initial look inside…

Ula sees that while the general mix of food looks similar, the bins look about half as full as they did yesterday. And there is definitely some new additions. There's one dead chicken in each one, including the ones that Ethel encouraged into the after life.

Xanthe stands next to Ula looking into the bins and takes a long, deep breath.

"What happened?" she asks.

Avaria notices what sounds like a bin being dragged from the goblin area, and Ethel catches sight of two orcs coming out of the entrance to their cavern with a bin being carried between them. You recognize Orc 3, the former sleeping beauty, and Orc 4. No sign of the hobgoblins yet.