Cy's world fades in and out of focus, a swirling kaleidoscope of pain and confusion. The white-hot searing agony that had consumed him is replaced by a dull throb, a constant reminder of the violation his body has suffered. He feels himself being lifted, carried through a darkness that seems to press in on him from all sides. Then, an impossible face swims into view. A familiar elven face, ageless and serene, framed by a cascade of silver hair untouched by time. Recognition flickers in Cy's muddled mind, How? She should be... older. Much older. Yet, is it really her, unchanged by the decades that have passed since we last met at the academy? The unnatural high-pitched and unceasing whine brings him back to the present moment - Hupperdook, the explosion, the sword. He locks eyes with the healer, thanking her with a nod.
Instinct takes over. Quickly rising to his feet, Cy thrusts his hand out in front of him, muttering a quick incantation. His voice, rough and dry, rasps in the stale air. Mage Armor A faint blue shimmer emanates from his hand, spreading outwards and enveloping his entire body. It feels like a cool breeze, a tingling sensation that settles over his skin like an invisible suit of armor. A meager defense, perhaps, but it is better than nothing. Cy stands there, the spectral armor a faint outline against his body, the constant whine still ringing in the darkness. A growing unease settles in his gut, What is that sound?
As Xintris collapses to the ground, the kobold yells a cry of victory, the “No witnesses!” it shouts to the sky something close to a promise — or, it might have been, if not for Nemira weaving her way closer, finding the perfect opening to catch the kobold off balance; he crumples to the ground in a heap, the blow so measured as to make the fall nearly quiet.
Jojo's frustration is not on his side; instead, it's just enough to make him lose focus, and this time the powerful swing of his greatsword misses the kobold by only a hair. But the kobold seems to have registered the fall of his comrades at last, the strange whine of the corpse perhaps bringing him back to himself. He looks around, increasingly frantic, at the bodies -- unconscious and otherwise -- littering the streets, and some desperate self-preservation seems to kick in: he ducks away carefully, even gracefully, from Jojo's sword, and from the threat of Nemira's rapier to his south, and begins rushing eastward.
Which is just about the moment the whine of the corpse stops, and the body, quite abruptly, explodes. It's not nearly as dizzying as the massive explosion of only minutes prior, but it's certainly jarring, jostling everyone in the vicinity as pieces of the unfortunate creature litter the nearby street. Xintris, still recovering from their own too-close brush with death, their skin beginning to knit itself slowly back together by way of Nemira's magic, bears the brunt of it, finding themself closer to the body-turned-bomb than any of the others.
Meanwhile, Harliblith leaps over the barrels with ease, racing through the backs of buildings at top speed in an effort to catch the cloaked figure vanishing on the other side. But by the time she makes it back to the main street waiting on the other side, the figure seems to have vanished; her lack of familiarity with the alleys -- with the city -- has made orienting herself more difficult than it otherwise might have been, and as she looks back and forth, what she finds instead is a figure or two beginning to emerge curiously from the largely quiet buildings, likely stirred by a combination of the explosion and the outbreak of violence in the street.
(K2 takes the disengage action and will head 30 feet northeast. And just for the record, I'm combining resolving this round with his next turn for the sake of ease as we wrap this up here, but Cy or Luma could definitely catch him before he even begins to run, if either if them are interested in doing so! And @Reko, go ahead and make a dex save for Xintris. And that'll bring us to the top of the next round, so everyone's welcome to jump back in again!)
Xintris can't help but glance over when one of the strangers fighting the kobolds with them rushes to Cy's side, and unfortunately it's enough of a distraction that the next second their breath gets stuck in in their throat when cold steel finds a home in their flesh. They can feel steel scraping bone, and as their vision gets crowded with black spots they fall to the ground it feels like plunging into the deep end of a dark and chilling lake.
The pain feels paralyzing and everything sounds muted and distorted . Xintris isn’t sure which of the strangers speaks but her voice feels like a soothing blanket, something to stop the worst pf the bleeding and make the pain a bit more manageable- and just in time for the noise from the dead kobold to register, and they have just enough time to look over before they’re covered in pieces of the body and left stunned on the ground. Going back to the Underdark and never leaving again does actually sound like a fairly good idea to them, at the moment .
Jojo would be disappointed about the kobold currently fleeing from him, but doesn't have the time to process that as he flinches from the sudden explosion, and in the aftermath, is left feeling grateful that he just knocked around the other few lest they would have blown up in his face. He doesn't make any inferences or attempt to understand why his group has encountered a brand new species of explo-bolds, though. Knocked back to his senses, Jojo sees the pools of blood at the feet of the two strangers to his south, and realizes that he wasn't quite as quick on the draw as he had hoped. He sheathes his greatsword, and though still a little beastly looking, moves to check up on them, and makes a mental note to tie up the unconscious kobolds later before they wake up.
"I am so sorry," Jojo starts as he approaches Cy and Xintris. This is partially addressed to Luma and Nemira too. "I thought they might be dangerous, and I'm glad to see I was right on that part, but I didn't expect them to be quite so deadly. I can forget I'm a little sturdier than your average bear. Or boar."
Jojo then crouches and makes a move to start brushing off the kobold-bits from Xintris's shoulders as Xintris is still laying prone, if he permits. "Well, at least you're in one piece."
Xintris, in their stunned state, manages to flinch away from the explosion just in time to withstand the worst of it; the impact of it is certainly not lost on them, aggravating their still partially open wounds, but — they’re alive, at least. (Everyone seems, apparently, alive. Kobold carnage aside.)
Luma startles and instinctively covers her head as the body explodes. For a heart-stopping moment, she fears more strangers might be coming, but as she lifts her head and sees the final kobold fleeing into the distance, a wave of relief washes over her.
Seeing Nemira standing nearby and Jojo walking closer, she feels a surge of relief that her companions are okay. Then Luma's attention shifts back to the person she just healed. She watches his face closely, recognition slowly dawning on her.
Could it be him? It had only been 20 years, but humans aged so quickly, it was hard to tell. As she stares, memories begin to surface, and she’s nearly certain she recognizes him. “Cy? Is that you?”
Peeking from between her fingers, Nemira finds the post-battle quiet disconcerting. She slowly stands from where she'd instinctually dropped for cover from the explosion to look around at what remains. Several injured, including a handful of unconscious kobold, and one noticeably exploded body that rained down as viscera.
It's all a bit too much for someone who hasn't seen much fighting. Or blood, for that matter. Oh light, is that brain matter? Suddenly paling in color, Nemira promptly looks away from the aftermath to find something not tinted pink or red. "Is everyone okay," she manages to squeak out.
Harliblith curses silently when she darts through the alleyway, emerging to no trace of the cloaked figure. She turns back, wondering if there are any kobolds she can interrogate, but shrinks back when she notices other people emerging, curious about the noise and the altercation. She hides as best as she can, heading back to where the battle had commenced.
As the group begins to recover from the battle — and as Harliblith returns to the battlefield — civilians emerge from the buildings surrounding the scene, looking baffled. One gnome, weathered and beady-eyed and practically caked in soot, offers a "What the hell?" from the steps to a nearby factor, and another stocky gnome rushes out from the building opposite, hammer clutched in hand, as if preparing for the fight of her life. But it's only moments later that members of the Crownsguard -- most of them gnomish, though you count at least one human and dwarf among their number as well -- begin to flood the street, staring between the unconscious kobolds, the exploded parts of kobold, and the strangers with weapons drawn, a couple looking decidedly worse for the wear.
Before any of them has the chance to speak, however, another gnome emerges through them and into the post-battle clearing; the others step aside in what can only be construed as deference, and the rather grizzled man, jaw set, approaches the group. His sturdy silver armor gleans in the moonlight, though it's clearly seen action in its time; remnants of dents removed -- more than once -- appear in the breastplate, and lingering stains fleck the sides, barely visible, a whisper of a memory. The gnome stares up at the rest of you, brown eyes narrowed, meeting each of your gazes, one after another, as he demands: "What's going on here?" Half a heartbeat later, he glances behind the group, looking straight at the distant figure of Harliblith as she attempts to sneak back toward her hiding spot — she nearly does, too, but for the fresh debris she misjudges, and the unmistakable noise it makes beneath her feet, impossible for any of the group to miss: "You, too."
If Nem had gold pieces for how many times she'd been taken away by guards for just being in the wrong place, she'd have at least 2 gold by now. Maybe she should start making a side-hustle out of it.
Despite the gnomes being smaller than her, the half-drow puts her hands up in an innocent gesture. "We're just some bystanders, I swear! The mountain exploded, then some kobolds came running and tried to kill us, so we fought back, but then one of the kobolds exploded and it's just all a mess right now." The distress is clear in her voice, and Nemira does her best to intone the mere chance of fate that had brought the current situation to two seemingly disconnected groups.
She startles when the gnome yells out to someone else, thinking that they were the only people really in the street. But then Nemira catches sight of who the gnome was corralling, and she shouts in excitement. "Harley? Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Forgetting that they may be in trouble, Nem waves vigorously at the bugbear.
Luma is about to confirm her companion’s claims when she is distracted by Nemira’s sudden reaction to seeing the bugbear. Despite the tense moment, Luma chuckles at Nemira’s excitement.
However, soon enough, Luma returns her attention to the guard and explains, "What she said is true. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We had no choice but to defend ourselves when they attacked."
She gestures to the scene around them, trying to convey the chaos they had just endured. "We meant no harm, we were just trying to stay safe."
Jojo makes sure his greatsword is properly stowed beforehand, then saunters over to the authoritative looking gnome, hoping to corroborate his companions' tellings of the events. Using lots of hand movements to mimic the outline of the blast, he first gestures towards the giant hole in the mountainside and says, "The evidence is right there, where these lousy lizards came running from. I was worried they would try to pick a fight in their escape and tried to scare them stiff, hoping mere kobolds would live up to their cowardly stereotypes when faced with Jojo Tuffin, the Ruffest, Tuffest Man in the West..." and he flexes a bicep to flamboyant effect as he says this. "...But they pressed on anyways and attacked those two innocent men over there," he says while jerking his head in the direction of Cy and Xintris.
Jojo then points one-by-one to the three unconscious, intact kobolds. "Based on their garb and their shortly stature, they look like the bandits that were responsible for attacking my troupe and I earlier today. You can talk with the ringmaster or any of the visiting entertainers and they'd back me up, I'm sure." He crosses his arms and lets out an indignant huff from his nostrils. "If anything, they should be tied up and questioned, before they explode too. Though they hopefully don't."
He notices Nemira trying to catch the attention of the fuzzy newcomer in his peripheral, and gives a quizzical look, but doesn't say anything quite yet.
“Since when do they explode?” Xintris mutters as they try to shakily pick and wipe off bits and pieces of kobolt from themselves, especially around the still open wounds that had thankfully been healed enough to just hurt like hell instead of being life-threatening. They let the newcomer help, although begrudgingly. It would’ve been much more preferable to just bail as soon as there was signs of an upcoming fight, and maybe they wouldn’t be covered in this much blood- some their own, and some not.
They nod to the person who had healed the worst of their injuries, but before getting a chance to properly thank her there are Crownsguard members approaching them. They watch on with a blank expression when the same stranger that had started fighting back declares his name as Jojo, along with several accompanying titles. Xintris isn’t quite sure of everything that happened or how to handle the situation so they stay quiet and focus on pressing some extra cloth from their bag against the worst of the open wounds they still have, although they do look around curiously for the person who had apparently been sneaking around during everything, and that looks vaguely familiar to them.
The gnome observes them for several moments, nodding at each in turn as they freely share the information; his expression is grave, more serious than suspicious, and as they finish, he breathes a long sigh. "Exploding kobolds, eh?" he says, apparently half to himself -- but he shakes his head a moment later, seemingly more concerned with other aspects of this particular evening rampage. "Listen, I'm grateful to you all for the effort you made to stop them. Looks like you put up a hell of a fight," he says, gaze returning to examine the unconscious kobolds; he gestures toward a few of the Crownsguard in attendance, some of whom immediately begin to cuff the unconscious bodies of the kobolds. "Did you all see someone with them? A genasi woman? It seems these kobolds may have gone to great lengths to free her from her cell."
Only a beat later, before the others have answered him, he calls back, "And you?" in the direction of the stranger, as if abruptly remember she's still there; he can't quite make her out beneath her cloak, but the skulking clearly has him on edge, and he peers unblinkingly her way, staring her down. "Did you play some part in this?"
(Everybody, go ahead and roll a perception check.)
Harliblith tries not to flinch at Nem's enthusiastic greeting and reluctantly takes the hood off her cloak. "Not at all," she says. "I just saw some of it happen." Now is her chance to get more information, but she's been taught to be careful about revealing her motivations, so she doesn't tell them that she's here precisely to investigate the kobold situation. "Who is this genasi woman they freed?"
Jojo tries to recall all the players involved in their recent scuffle, placing a hand to his chin and appearing deep in thought. Yes, that's right, he had almost forgotten about the tall one who was head and shoulders above the kobolds. Was she a genasi? He didn't get the best look, but the cloaked figure's frame could befit one, the color of the flesh peeking out from beneath the cloak could too.
"I think we may have seen her," Jojo pipes up. "These kobolds had a noticeably taller character among them, and seemed to be running ahead of her."
Luma watches as the guards cuff the kobolds while keeping an ear on the interactions around her. She is about to comment on the taler figure that escaped when she spots some unusual mud on the kobold closest to her. She approaches the guards and asks them to wait."Hold on a moment,"she says, pointing to the mud."Look at that,"she points at the reddish mud on the kobold’s shoes."That’s a strange color. Could it have come from anywhere around town?"
Realizing these kobolds might hold some clues, she takes a closer look. That's when she notices a metallic glint around another kobold's neck. "There's something around this one's neck,"she adds, pointing it out."It looks like a... key?
The gnome stares at Harliblith for several long moments, the briefest flicker of surprise appearing across his face as she lowers her hood: it's obvious that bugbears don't make a habit of routine visits to Hupperdook. He glances from Harliblith to Nemira, eyeing the exchange with slightly raised eyebrows, clearly attempting to discern the practicality of revealing anything further. Nevertheless, after a moment, and after acknowledging Jojo's comment with a nod, he answers: "She goes by Onyx. She's a thief, and a smuggler, and she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty -- seems like she's been leaving a trail of destruction all across the Empire. Maybe even farther than that. Her escape doesn't spell good news for any of us." He sighs, looking suddenly more haggard than he had before -- a glimpse into what is clearly a rather exhausted man, run ragged by later and later nights, and a war circling ever closer.
The guard Luma approaches pauses, having just finished cuffing the still-unconscious figure at her feet. "Huh," she offers, tilting her head curiously; her partner -- who it seems had been preparing to help lift the creature -- breathes a long-suffering sigh, but the first looks genuinely curious, and reaches around the kobold's neck, lifting up what seems to be a lead key tied around it. Luma's seen this Crownsguard before, more than once, in the few months since she's been working as a healer in Hupperdook: she's a sturdy gnomish woman everyone calls Bash, prone to being on the first line in any fight, but equally willing to lend an ear. "Good catch, Luma. Watchmaster, have a look at this."
The gnome who's been addressing them -- the city's Watchmaster, apparently; Luma knows of the man, though their direct interaction has been extremely limited -- turns to inspect it, brow furrowed. "Right, then," he says, under his breath, as if talking himself into something. "Let's give this another go, shall we? I'm Bram Gulchswattle, Hupperdook's Watchmaster. Seeing as you all seem quite capable of taking care of yourself, I've a bit of a proposition for the lot of you. If you'd be willing to help us track down our escaped criminal, I'd be glad to offer you all a bit of gold -- including an advance, if you're willing to accept the job." He sighs, looking between each of them in turn, before admitting: "Frankly, we just don't have a lot of spare hands, these days, especially not ones that know their way around a sword. And I know I haven't seen many of you around here before," he pauses, turning to face Luma, "but I hear you've been making quite a habit of patching up more than a few of us these last few months, and we're all grateful for it. So if you're willing to speak on their behalf, then -- well, like I said, we could use what help we can get."
Luma's heart swells with excitement as she realizes she's made a meaningful contribution, even if just by pointing out a clue or two. When Watchmaster Bram addresses the group, outlining his proposition, Luma listens intently, her anticipation growing at the prospect of being an asset to the town she’s grown to love.
As the Watchmaster continues to speak, and acknowledges her role in helping the community as a healer, Luma feels a surge of pride. Yet, said pride is dimmed ever so slightly as she realizes that even though taking this job promises lots of exciting moments, it also means that her patients would have to make do without her as it would be impossible to balance both commitments.
Deep in thought, Luma considers the group gathered around her. From new and old friends like Jojo, Nemira, and Cy, whose abilities and character she knows well enough to trust their judgment, to their acquaintances Harliblith and Xintris, who are unfamiliar to her, personally, but whose links to her companions give her confidence in their reliability.
"I may not know everyone here personally," Luma begins, her voice steady with resolve, "but I've seen firsthand the courage and skill they possess. So, if they're willing to take on this responsibility, then so am I."
She looks around at her companions, a small smile tugging at her lips, as she waits for their decisions.
A slow grin tugs at the corners of Cy's lips. Time, it seems, had not dulled Luma’s spirit. The determined glint in her eyes, the unwavering set of her jaw – these were echoes of the fiery young elf he'd known at the academy. A pang of nostalgia strikes him, quickly eclipsed by a warm fondness. He'd always admired Luma’s independence and her unwavering sense of justice. There would be time for reminiscing later, but for now... Cy takes a confident step forward, his voice booming through the tense atmosphere. "Watchmaster," he declares, his gaze fixed on the official, "count me in. I stand with her." His pronouncement hangs in the air, a challenge and a statement of solidarity. It is clear Cy isn’t just offering empty words. His posture radiates a quiet strength, his mage armor shimmering faintly in the dim light, a subtle reminder of his magical prowess.
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Cy's world fades in and out of focus, a swirling kaleidoscope of pain and confusion. The white-hot searing agony that had consumed him is replaced by a dull throb, a constant reminder of the violation his body has suffered. He feels himself being lifted, carried through a darkness that seems to press in on him from all sides. Then, an impossible face swims into view. A familiar elven face, ageless and serene, framed by a cascade of silver hair untouched by time. Recognition flickers in Cy's muddled mind, How? She should be... older. Much older. Yet, is it really her, unchanged by the decades that have passed since we last met at the academy? The unnatural high-pitched and unceasing whine brings him back to the present moment - Hupperdook, the explosion, the sword. He locks eyes with the healer, thanking her with a nod.
Instinct takes over. Quickly rising to his feet, Cy thrusts his hand out in front of him, muttering a quick incantation. His voice, rough and dry, rasps in the stale air. Mage Armor A faint blue shimmer emanates from his hand, spreading outwards and enveloping his entire body. It feels like a cool breeze, a tingling sensation that settles over his skin like an invisible suit of armor. A meager defense, perhaps, but it is better than nothing. Cy stands there, the spectral armor a faint outline against his body, the constant whine still ringing in the darkness. A growing unease settles in his gut, What is that sound?
As Xintris collapses to the ground, the kobold yells a cry of victory, the “No witnesses!” it shouts to the sky something close to a promise — or, it might have been, if not for Nemira weaving her way closer, finding the perfect opening to catch the kobold off balance; he crumples to the ground in a heap, the blow so measured as to make the fall nearly quiet.
Jojo's frustration is not on his side; instead, it's just enough to make him lose focus, and this time the powerful swing of his greatsword misses the kobold by only a hair. But the kobold seems to have registered the fall of his comrades at last, the strange whine of the corpse perhaps bringing him back to himself. He looks around, increasingly frantic, at the bodies -- unconscious and otherwise -- littering the streets, and some desperate self-preservation seems to kick in: he ducks away carefully, even gracefully, from Jojo's sword, and from the threat of Nemira's rapier to his south, and begins rushing eastward.
Which is just about the moment the whine of the corpse stops, and the body, quite abruptly, explodes. It's not nearly as dizzying as the massive explosion of only minutes prior, but it's certainly jarring, jostling everyone in the vicinity as pieces of the unfortunate creature litter the nearby street. Xintris, still recovering from their own too-close brush with death, their skin beginning to knit itself slowly back together by way of Nemira's magic, bears the brunt of it, finding themself closer to the body-turned-bomb than any of the others.
Meanwhile, Harliblith leaps over the barrels with ease, racing through the backs of buildings at top speed in an effort to catch the cloaked figure vanishing on the other side. But by the time she makes it back to the main street waiting on the other side, the figure seems to have vanished; her lack of familiarity with the alleys -- with the city -- has made orienting herself more difficult than it otherwise might have been, and as she looks back and forth, what she finds instead is a figure or two beginning to emerge curiously from the largely quiet buildings, likely stirred by a combination of the explosion and the outbreak of violence in the street.
(K2 takes the disengage action and will head 30 feet northeast. And just for the record, I'm combining resolving this round with his next turn for the sake of ease as we wrap this up here, but Cy or Luma could definitely catch him before he even begins to run, if either if them are interested in doing so!
And @Reko, go ahead and make a dex save for Xintris.
And that'll bring us to the top of the next round, so everyone's welcome to jump back in again!)
Xintris can't help but glance over when one of the strangers fighting the kobolds with them rushes to Cy's side, and unfortunately it's enough of a distraction that the next second their breath gets stuck in in their throat when cold steel finds a home in their flesh. They can feel steel scraping bone, and as their vision gets crowded with black spots they fall to the ground it feels like plunging into the deep end of a dark and chilling lake.
The pain feels paralyzing and everything sounds muted and distorted . Xintris isn’t sure which of the strangers speaks but her voice feels like a soothing blanket, something to stop the worst pf the bleeding and make the pain a bit more manageable- and just in time for the noise from the dead kobold to register, and they have just enough time to look over before they’re covered in pieces of the body and left stunned on the ground. Going back to the Underdark and never leaving again does actually sound like a fairly good idea to them, at the moment .
Dex save: 18
Jojo would be disappointed about the kobold currently fleeing from him, but doesn't have the time to process that as he flinches from the sudden explosion, and in the aftermath, is left feeling grateful that he just knocked around the other few lest they would have blown up in his face. He doesn't make any inferences or attempt to understand why his group has encountered a brand new species of explo-bolds, though. Knocked back to his senses, Jojo sees the pools of blood at the feet of the two strangers to his south, and realizes that he wasn't quite as quick on the draw as he had hoped. He sheathes his greatsword, and though still a little beastly looking, moves to check up on them, and makes a mental note to tie up the unconscious kobolds later before they wake up.
"I am so sorry," Jojo starts as he approaches Cy and Xintris. This is partially addressed to Luma and Nemira too. "I thought they might be dangerous, and I'm glad to see I was right on that part, but I didn't expect them to be quite so deadly. I can forget I'm a little sturdier than your average bear. Or boar."
Jojo then crouches and makes a move to start brushing off the kobold-bits from Xintris's shoulders as Xintris is still laying prone, if he permits. "Well, at least you're in one piece."
Xintris, in their stunned state, manages to flinch away from the explosion just in time to withstand the worst of it; the impact of it is certainly not lost on them, aggravating their still partially open wounds, but — they’re alive, at least. (Everyone seems, apparently, alive. Kobold carnage aside.)
(Xintris takes 2 points of damage.)
Luma startles and instinctively covers her head as the body explodes. For a heart-stopping moment, she fears more strangers might be coming, but as she lifts her head and sees the final kobold fleeing into the distance, a wave of relief washes over her.
Seeing Nemira standing nearby and Jojo walking closer, she feels a surge of relief that her companions are okay. Then Luma's attention shifts back to the person she just healed. She watches his face closely, recognition slowly dawning on her.
Could it be him? It had only been 20 years, but humans aged so quickly, it was hard to tell. As she stares, memories begin to surface, and she’s nearly certain she recognizes him. “Cy? Is that you?”
Peeking from between her fingers, Nemira finds the post-battle quiet disconcerting. She slowly stands from where she'd instinctually dropped for cover from the explosion to look around at what remains. Several injured, including a handful of unconscious kobold, and one noticeably exploded body that rained down as viscera.
It's all a bit too much for someone who hasn't seen much fighting. Or blood, for that matter. Oh light, is that brain matter? Suddenly paling in color, Nemira promptly looks away from the aftermath to find something not tinted pink or red. "Is everyone okay," she manages to squeak out.
Harliblith curses silently when she darts through the alleyway, emerging to no trace of the cloaked figure. She turns back, wondering if there are any kobolds she can interrogate, but shrinks back when she notices other people emerging, curious about the noise and the altercation. She hides as best as she can, heading back to where the battle had commenced.
(Stealth: 7)
As the group begins to recover from the battle — and as Harliblith returns to the battlefield — civilians emerge from the buildings surrounding the scene, looking baffled. One gnome, weathered and beady-eyed and practically caked in soot, offers a "What the hell?" from the steps to a nearby factor, and another stocky gnome rushes out from the building opposite, hammer clutched in hand, as if preparing for the fight of her life. But it's only moments later that members of the Crownsguard -- most of them gnomish, though you count at least one human and dwarf among their number as well -- begin to flood the street, staring between the unconscious kobolds, the exploded parts of kobold, and the strangers with weapons drawn, a couple looking decidedly worse for the wear.
Before any of them has the chance to speak, however, another gnome emerges through them and into the post-battle clearing; the others step aside in what can only be construed as deference, and the rather grizzled man, jaw set, approaches the group. His sturdy silver armor gleans in the moonlight, though it's clearly seen action in its time; remnants of dents removed -- more than once -- appear in the breastplate, and lingering stains fleck the sides, barely visible, a whisper of a memory. The gnome stares up at the rest of you, brown eyes narrowed, meeting each of your gazes, one after another, as he demands: "What's going on here?" Half a heartbeat later, he glances behind the group, looking straight at the distant figure of Harliblith as she attempts to sneak back toward her hiding spot — she nearly does, too, but for the fresh debris she misjudges, and the unmistakable noise it makes beneath her feet, impossible for any of the group to miss: "You, too."
If Nem had gold pieces for how many times she'd been taken away by guards for just being in the wrong place, she'd have at least 2 gold by now. Maybe she should start making a side-hustle out of it.
Despite the gnomes being smaller than her, the half-drow puts her hands up in an innocent gesture. "We're just some bystanders, I swear! The mountain exploded, then some kobolds came running and tried to kill us, so we fought back, but then one of the kobolds exploded and it's just all a mess right now." The distress is clear in her voice, and Nemira does her best to intone the mere chance of fate that had brought the current situation to two seemingly disconnected groups.
She startles when the gnome yells out to someone else, thinking that they were the only people really in the street. But then Nemira catches sight of who the gnome was corralling, and she shouts in excitement. "Harley? Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Forgetting that they may be in trouble, Nem waves vigorously at the bugbear.
Luma is about to confirm her companion’s claims when she is distracted by Nemira’s sudden reaction to seeing the bugbear. Despite the tense moment, Luma chuckles at Nemira’s excitement.
However, soon enough, Luma returns her attention to the guard and explains, "What she said is true. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We had no choice but to defend ourselves when they attacked."
She gestures to the scene around them, trying to convey the chaos they had just endured. "We meant no harm, we were just trying to stay safe."
Jojo makes sure his greatsword is properly stowed beforehand, then saunters over to the authoritative looking gnome, hoping to corroborate his companions' tellings of the events. Using lots of hand movements to mimic the outline of the blast, he first gestures towards the giant hole in the mountainside and says, "The evidence is right there, where these lousy lizards came running from. I was worried they would try to pick a fight in their escape and tried to scare them stiff, hoping mere kobolds would live up to their cowardly stereotypes when faced with Jojo Tuffin, the Ruffest, Tuffest Man in the West..." and he flexes a bicep to flamboyant effect as he says this. "...But they pressed on anyways and attacked those two innocent men over there," he says while jerking his head in the direction of Cy and Xintris.
Jojo then points one-by-one to the three unconscious, intact kobolds. "Based on their garb and their shortly stature, they look like the bandits that were responsible for attacking my troupe and I earlier today. You can talk with the ringmaster or any of the visiting entertainers and they'd back me up, I'm sure." He crosses his arms and lets out an indignant huff from his nostrils. "If anything, they should be tied up and questioned, before they explode too. Though they hopefully don't."
He notices Nemira trying to catch the attention of the fuzzy newcomer in his peripheral, and gives a quizzical look, but doesn't say anything quite yet.
“Since when do they explode?” Xintris mutters as they try to shakily pick and wipe off bits and pieces of kobolt from themselves, especially around the still open wounds that had thankfully been healed enough to just hurt like hell instead of being life-threatening. They let the newcomer help, although begrudgingly. It would’ve been much more preferable to just bail as soon as there was signs of an upcoming fight, and maybe they wouldn’t be covered in this much blood- some their own, and some not.
They nod to the person who had healed the worst of their injuries, but before getting a chance to properly thank her there are Crownsguard members approaching them. They watch on with a blank expression when the same stranger that had started fighting back declares his name as Jojo, along with several accompanying titles. Xintris isn’t quite sure of everything that happened or how to handle the situation so they stay quiet and focus on pressing some extra cloth from their bag against the worst of the open wounds they still have, although they do look around curiously for the person who had apparently been sneaking around during everything, and that looks vaguely familiar to them.
The gnome observes them for several moments, nodding at each in turn as they freely share the information; his expression is grave, more serious than suspicious, and as they finish, he breathes a long sigh. "Exploding kobolds, eh?" he says, apparently half to himself -- but he shakes his head a moment later, seemingly more concerned with other aspects of this particular evening rampage. "Listen, I'm grateful to you all for the effort you made to stop them. Looks like you put up a hell of a fight," he says, gaze returning to examine the unconscious kobolds; he gestures toward a few of the Crownsguard in attendance, some of whom immediately begin to cuff the unconscious bodies of the kobolds. "Did you all see someone with them? A genasi woman? It seems these kobolds may have gone to great lengths to free her from her cell."
Only a beat later, before the others have answered him, he calls back, "And you?" in the direction of the stranger, as if abruptly remember she's still there; he can't quite make her out beneath her cloak, but the skulking clearly has him on edge, and he peers unblinkingly her way, staring her down. "Did you play some part in this?"
(Everybody, go ahead and roll a perception check.)
Harliblith tries not to flinch at Nem's enthusiastic greeting and reluctantly takes the hood off her cloak. "Not at all," she says. "I just saw some of it happen." Now is her chance to get more information, but she's been taught to be careful about revealing her motivations, so she doesn't tell them that she's here precisely to investigate the kobold situation. "Who is this genasi woman they freed?"
Jojo tries to recall all the players involved in their recent scuffle, placing a hand to his chin and appearing deep in thought. Yes, that's right, he had almost forgotten about the tall one who was head and shoulders above the kobolds. Was she a genasi? He didn't get the best look, but the cloaked figure's frame could befit one, the color of the flesh peeking out from beneath the cloak could too.
"I think we may have seen her," Jojo pipes up. "These kobolds had a noticeably taller character among them, and seemed to be running ahead of her."
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OOC: 20 on Perception
Luma watches as the guards cuff the kobolds while keeping an ear on the interactions around her. She is about to comment on the taler figure that escaped when she spots some unusual mud on the kobold closest to her. She approaches the guards and asks them to wait. "Hold on a moment," she says, pointing to the mud. "Look at that," she points at the reddish mud on the kobold’s shoes. "That’s a strange color. Could it have come from anywhere around town?"
Realizing these kobolds might hold some clues, she takes a closer look. That's when she notices a metallic glint around another kobold's neck. "There's something around this one's neck," she adds, pointing it out. "It looks like a... key?
The gnome stares at Harliblith for several long moments, the briefest flicker of surprise appearing across his face as she lowers her hood: it's obvious that bugbears don't make a habit of routine visits to Hupperdook. He glances from Harliblith to Nemira, eyeing the exchange with slightly raised eyebrows, clearly attempting to discern the practicality of revealing anything further. Nevertheless, after a moment, and after acknowledging Jojo's comment with a nod, he answers: "She goes by Onyx. She's a thief, and a smuggler, and she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty -- seems like she's been leaving a trail of destruction all across the Empire. Maybe even farther than that. Her escape doesn't spell good news for any of us." He sighs, looking suddenly more haggard than he had before -- a glimpse into what is clearly a rather exhausted man, run ragged by later and later nights, and a war circling ever closer.
The guard Luma approaches pauses, having just finished cuffing the still-unconscious figure at her feet. "Huh," she offers, tilting her head curiously; her partner -- who it seems had been preparing to help lift the creature -- breathes a long-suffering sigh, but the first looks genuinely curious, and reaches around the kobold's neck, lifting up what seems to be a lead key tied around it. Luma's seen this Crownsguard before, more than once, in the few months since she's been working as a healer in Hupperdook: she's a sturdy gnomish woman everyone calls Bash, prone to being on the first line in any fight, but equally willing to lend an ear. "Good catch, Luma. Watchmaster, have a look at this."
The gnome who's been addressing them -- the city's Watchmaster, apparently; Luma knows of the man, though their direct interaction has been extremely limited -- turns to inspect it, brow furrowed. "Right, then," he says, under his breath, as if talking himself into something. "Let's give this another go, shall we? I'm Bram Gulchswattle, Hupperdook's Watchmaster. Seeing as you all seem quite capable of taking care of yourself, I've a bit of a proposition for the lot of you. If you'd be willing to help us track down our escaped criminal, I'd be glad to offer you all a bit of gold -- including an advance, if you're willing to accept the job." He sighs, looking between each of them in turn, before admitting: "Frankly, we just don't have a lot of spare hands, these days, especially not ones that know their way around a sword. And I know I haven't seen many of you around here before," he pauses, turning to face Luma, "but I hear you've been making quite a habit of patching up more than a few of us these last few months, and we're all grateful for it. So if you're willing to speak on their behalf, then -- well, like I said, we could use what help we can get."
Luma's heart swells with excitement as she realizes she's made a meaningful contribution, even if just by pointing out a clue or two. When Watchmaster Bram addresses the group, outlining his proposition, Luma listens intently, her anticipation growing at the prospect of being an asset to the town she’s grown to love.
As the Watchmaster continues to speak, and acknowledges her role in helping the community as a healer, Luma feels a surge of pride. Yet, said pride is dimmed ever so slightly as she realizes that even though taking this job promises lots of exciting moments, it also means that her patients would have to make do without her as it would be impossible to balance both commitments.
Deep in thought, Luma considers the group gathered around her. From new and old friends like Jojo, Nemira, and Cy, whose abilities and character she knows well enough to trust their judgment, to their acquaintances Harliblith and Xintris, who are unfamiliar to her, personally, but whose links to her companions give her confidence in their reliability.
"I may not know everyone here personally," Luma begins, her voice steady with resolve, "but I've seen firsthand the courage and skill they possess. So, if they're willing to take on this responsibility, then so am I."
She looks around at her companions, a small smile tugging at her lips, as she waits for their decisions.
A slow grin tugs at the corners of Cy's lips. Time, it seems, had not dulled Luma’s spirit. The determined glint in her eyes, the unwavering set of her jaw – these were echoes of the fiery young elf he'd known at the academy. A pang of nostalgia strikes him, quickly eclipsed by a warm fondness. He'd always admired Luma’s independence and her unwavering sense of justice. There would be time for reminiscing later, but for now... Cy takes a confident step forward, his voice booming through the tense atmosphere. "Watchmaster," he declares, his gaze fixed on the official, "count me in. I stand with her." His pronouncement hangs in the air, a challenge and a statement of solidarity. It is clear Cy isn’t just offering empty words. His posture radiates a quiet strength, his mage armor shimmering faintly in the dim light, a subtle reminder of his magical prowess.