Lost Mine of Phandelver

"m..maybe if you w..were n..nicer to Isolde and o..other you will still h..have your body" considers Garet "or at l..least head"

Garet's comments fall on deaf ears insofar as Malachai is concerned, who is completely self-absorbed in his ranting at least for the time being.

Ronk looks down at the ring, trying to answer as evasively as possible. "Um... It was given to me...." He looks to the others and shrugs, as the brain keeps ranting. "Did... Did we break him?"

Marcon for the most part took the tirade in stride. For so long as the 'genius' was focused on him, the less he'd be concerned about anything else. Even still, the gritting of teeth and clenching of fist in response to it all wasn't solely apart of some act. Taking his own deep breaths after things calm, Marcon regarded the others with an apologetic look. "Eh... uh... There's probably some technicalities with that question. But suffice to say-..." He glances back over to the headless body and floating head, trying to judge if they too were distracted by the grumbling. "Opportunities still abound? As Helm as my witness, all I know is that I'm tired."

Rigel grins at the rising level of irritation in Malachai's voice. If they keep this up the dullahan should be ushering them out at any moment. He mentally prepares himself by going over the plan in his head once more. Lead the headless man out of the tent, as soon as Ronk puts the djinn in the doorway to block the return he grabs the jar and disappears out the back. He continues his slow creep forward. His goal is to end with his back against the stage at the base of the stairs just below sight line for any on stage.

The dullahan and floating head seem to be in some sort of "standby" mode, neither moving nor seeming very aware while Malachai experiences his tantrum.

Rigel judges from looking at Malachai's glass jar, that it weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 pounds, taking into account it's size, thickness and the volume of the fluid contained therein.

Ronk scratches his head. "I think we did break him..." He starts making his way slowly towards the Dullahan again, waving his hands a bit as though that might get the headless being's attention. "Um. Hello? Do you know any dances? I've never seen someone with no head dance. At least not someone alive..."

Marcon can only watch, as he was spent both far too mentally and physically to add more chaos to the mix. If hostilities began of course, then he could rely on adrenaline to help pull him through in a pinch. But as things stood with him glancing around looking for a chair to sit in, the next part would be on the rest as far as he was concerned at the moment.

When Ronk approaches the stage (especially if he begins to climb up on to it) the dullahan springs to life and charges at him with his axe held out horizontally as if to block him from coming any closer.

Rigel takes note of the size of the jar and begins to reevaluate the plan. He realizes that moving the jar will be beyond his ability so smashing it in place is probably his only option. He looks about the room for another way to distract the guard. 

Perception:  9

Seeing across to the other side of the stage through a break in the curtains, Rigel spots a medium-sized metal box with switches on it and tubes coming out of the front. The side of the box is labeled “SMOKE GENERATOR”

Next to the contraption is a smaller cardboard container labeled “PYROTECHNIC CHARGES”

The ranger can’t help it as a wry smile begins to spread across his face…

Ronk drops into a defensive stance as the dullahan charges. Once it looks like the being is just trying to block him from getting closer to the stage, Ronk starts to slowly step left and right, watching to see of the dullahan follows him.

The dullahan follows Ronk’s moves left and right like a palace guard barring the entry of a peasant, but stops short of attacking the bugbear outright.

Although at first Marcon's attention was drawn back to the stage by the sound of the Dullahan moving about, seeing some weird dance being performed by it and ronk, he'd scratch his head. "Ugh... Either of you two know what's that about? Fraid I zoned out fer a bit there try'na find a chair." He both asks of Vanzaren and Garet, before frankly making the admission after, regardless of whether or not the spell  still had a hold on the man.

As the dullahan came closer to the stage, somthing caught Garet's eye....something familiar....a maker's mark burned into the shaft of the dullahan's massive axe...

He couldn't quite place it at first, and his thoughts began racing through his memories trying to match the strangely-familiar symbol. Then, he reflected back on one of the last times he saw his father (who was a travelling merchant) and he remembered his father had recently made a business arrangement with a new supplier....whose weapons and armor all bore the same mark that he now saw on the dullahan's axe...

Only weeks after that encounter, Garet's father had dissappeared without a trace, and had never to been seen since...

"w..where did you g..get this from ?!" says Garet totally forgetting about any of the plans. "w..when?" he continuous pointing at the axe and moving slowly towards it 

Vanzaren gets up, going to stop Garet, "Garet, back up right now."

 Ignore SPoiler:

Marcon remained very much half distracted looking for a freaking chair. Yet just as he's about wandered all the way to the mouth of the tent, forgetting the mission almost entirely in favor of his mahogany reward, Val's words cut through the mental haze enough to give even the ex-farmhand pause long enough to glance back.

If Garet stopped as bade, then Marcon would shrug and carry on with his original objective. But if not, or even worse, the brain in the jar finally took back notice of the group, then he'd at least seem to focus up and watch with greater concern on events unfolding in the tent. Perhaps he might even rush forward, warhammer probably drawn in anticipating needing to ward off the headless body. But, only if hostility truly seemed to be underway.

The headless dullahan did not render a response to Garet, other than to continue to try and ward off the firbolg (and Ronk) from approaching closer to Malachai. The massive brute became somewhat frantically indecisive over which of the towering adventurers to focus on, both of them equally as tall as he at full height. As one inched closer, the bodyguard would pull away from the other and rush the advancing party member, and thrust his battle axe at them with the shaft held sideways across his body - still in an apparent defensive stance, but his posturing would suggest that the sentry was quickly pivoting to a more aggressive approach, bordering on a possible offensive strike.

It appeared to Rigel that the others had developed quite a distraction for the strange group of adversaries, and set his sights on the other side of the stage as he began to plot a plan to get there unnoticed...

Utilizing the distraction provided by his compatriots Rigel slips up the stairs and ducks behind the curtains in the wings. As the ruckus unfolds out front he investigates whether or not he'll be able slip to the other side behind the rear curtain.

Stealth:  27