Mister_Whisker Presents: Chronicles of the Accursed

The mage's staff clatters to the ground. You can see the fabric of his pants getting wet with sheer terror at the carnage that was just wrought.

The remaining thug, realizing that he is now alone, turns tail and runs back into the town, nearly tripping over himself as he flees, taking the Dash action to get as far away from you as he can.

And... combat over. The mage is at the party's mercy. He kneels on the ground, looking up at you in terror.

"What do you people want?" he demands shakily. "Listen... I can tell you everything... just... don't hurt me..."

Brynja smiles as she overcomes her fear. Though her smile wasn't likely to reassure the mage since she was still holding the warhammer. "Then start talking. Tell us everything.'

She had no clue what this was about, so she kept her request vague.

The mage swallows, taking a moment to steady himself, before he speaks.

"See... 'bout a fortnight ago, war took damn near all the fightin' men away from this here town," he explains. "That was when the boss man said 'look here, chaps, we're bout to be rich. Just gotta get through the gates of Redford!' And it was just like that we took a merchant caravan and walked right through the gates an' we took the town just like the boss said..."

He glances over his shoulder at the town, clearly weighing the prospect of what his boss will do to him for talking vs. what you will do to him if he doesn't.

"...an' we took the manor house. Baron Ryder leadin' the men in battle is a bit too busy to do a thing 'bout it. But we 'ad no idea what the boss done got us into. Somethin's under the Baron's mansion... caves that be burnin' like the flames o' the Nine Hells. An' the boss is sendin' men down there to look 'ore somethin' he says 'ill make us rich as kings. But he won't tell a soul what we be searchin' for."

Brynja looks to the others, "Looks like we have some cleaning up to do in this town."

Turning back to the mage, Brynja asks, "How many more men does the boss have? And how many more mages?"

Dhamila isn't very pleased with what she's hearing... She doesn't like the fact that an entire city has been taken hostage by bandits. And even though the brave dwarf seems to think she can defeat them (when a single spellcasting bandit had managed to corner her), Dhamila knows it won't be a walk in the park.

Of course, the "though boys," as the Runaway Tiefling collectively calls the party, made short work of this first group of bandits. But they weren't expecting such a strong resistance. One survivor managed to escape—and will surely alert the rest of the gang, who will therefore be much better prepared next time, unless they invent something to surprise them.

Just in case, Creepy Girl, taking advantage of being out of sight, hides again and sneaks up, from wagon to wagon, to keep an eye on the situation—but at least retaining the advantage of having remained unseen by the bandits so far. Not knowing how dangerous the gang can be, she doesn't want to waste any of her advantages.

Stealth: 15

Quote from Painted_Beyond >>

Stealth: 24

Lol! Really like a shadow...

The mage takes a deep breath.

"When we arrived there was damn near 30 of us," he says. "But... we lost us some boys here an' there in the caverns. Now we got 'bout fifteen an' four more mages."

He pauses and looks at you hopefully.

"So... we square, then? I told you all 'ere is to tell."

The massive heavily tattooed goliath huffs and puffs over not having anything more to beat into a pulp, not quite catching the finer details in the magician's story but understanding that there were more baddies to beat up in town. "YOU RUN FAR AWAY PUNY HUMAN AND NEVER COME BACK OR THORGATH WILL SQUASH YOU LIKE...LIKE SOMETHING THAT COULD BE SQUASHED." He roars angrily at the mage, then seeming quite pleased with his way with words.

"Thorgath will clean up town now, and those caves." He then tells the other accursed as-a-matter-of-factly, starting to stride inside, turning briefly at the gate to call out to the others. "You coming?"

Balthathar exhales a sigh of relief . At least this time, he doesn’t have to kill the man.

The cursed blade writhes in his grip, like a cat denied its prey. He tightens his hand around the haft.

“Not now… Queen. Not yet…”

While his companions question the mage, Balthathar moves to the small caravan.

“This city is under bandit control. Leave. Warn the others. Inform the baron, if you can.”

Then he turns to the Goliath.

“…Fine. I’m ready to go now.”

Brynja frowns hearing that there are 4 more mages. Her armor would let her take on a ridiculous number of physical attackers, but its weakness was magic. Well the solution to that was target mages first. 

She thought of adding some parting words to the mage, but Thorgath had said more or less what she had wanted to say, and more emphatically as well. So instead, she responds to Thorgath, "I'm coming. Ready to start cleaning."

Dhamila stays close to the group, but without betraying her position—if even the others don't know where she is, they can't inadvertently reveal it to their enemies by glancing too obviously in her direction. Besides, the others (if not all of them, then certainly at least Brynja) couldn't have failed to notice the arrow fired from the cart that instantly killed the bandit near the dwarf—so they know they have someone covering their backs.

The Creepy Girl thus moves from one corner of the house to the next, never leaving a hiding place before finding the next. A shadow among the shadows—watching over those who have come to bring a little light.

Abishai nods, more to himself as the bandit flees while the mage surrenders. Reclipping the rod to his belt, the Red Dragonborn walks over to the posted sign and pries it off the wall of the gatehouse. holding it in one hand, the other hand picks up the staff dropped by the mage as the mage tells the group the town's story. "Hmm... must be some war if the Baron would leave the town and even his own manor house unguarded against brigands." He mutters to himself.

Moving back to his trusty horse and wagon, Abishai places the staff and signage next to him and snaps the reins. "Onward, Bucephalus. Let's go find you some water."

OOC:  DM—might be a bit late, but can Balthathar grab the mage’s focus and spellbook so he can’t turn on us later?

Quote from Gaiou >>

OOC:  DM—might be a bit late, but can Balthathar grab the mage’s focus and spellbook so he can’t turn on us later?

OOC: Yes, that's fine

The party enters town, as the beaten mage scampers away into the trees. Redford is a small town, with a relatively small population, mostly women, children, and the elderly.

As you walk through the town, there is no bustle. The few who are out and about are going quickly from one place to another, without stopping in between. Seeing a bandit running by before you, several pairs of eyes turn towards you. Some look at you with hope. Others with fear at the thought of how the bandits might retaliate for what happened.

The only location that still seems to be alive is the tavern. There, you can hear laughter that is too loud. You can guess what is likely inside:

Bandits throwing their weight around. Tavern wenches fearfully serving them drinks for free. Old men who don't care whether they live or die, drinking their troubles away...

@Dhamila

Balthathar whispers into the air.

“Hey… tiefling girl. Are you here? Can you drug these bandits with… something else?”

He knows Dhamila is here. At least, he hopes she is. Speaking to an invisible person feels… strange.

A whisper replies from... from somewhere nearby: "Of course I can! And I'd love to, but... do you have any useful substances? I don't, unfortunately..."

Abishai pulls his wagon up to the tavern while having a one sided conversation with Bucephalus and waves at the townsfolk as he passes by. "Yes, yes... I'm sure they have apples for you. Don't worry about it. Yes, yes... I'll get you some."

Hopping down from the wagon, Abishai waits for the others to gather. "Quant little town, don't you think?" Talk of poison causes the dragonborn to frown, but he says nothing. He does look around to spot the Creepy girl from where she replied, but sees nothing.

Perception: 12