The Exploits of Misfit Company

Yvan gives a mere grunt at the thank you and continues working on their binds. At the question though, the barbarian looks over to their dinomorphed druid, then to the older man and says nonchalantly, "Don't give her a reason to and you'll be fine." 

After another minute or so he finishes up unbinding and ungagging the family, stowing away his sword afterwards. "I'm going to assume you all are Faras' family...? None of you are hurt too badly, right...? 

"Yes" The elder man says. "I am Izek Avdol, Faras is my oldest son. You arrived just in time to stop Garabad from slaying us, yes."

Alys would have to close her eyes. All her senses were on hyperdrive and she was filled with a lot of conflicting emotions. She’d inhale deeply through her nose and as she exhaled, she would sink down onto the ground where she was. She’d focus on her breathing, clutching her staff in one hand, hugging her shield to herself in the other as she’d try to disconnect her mind from the sensory overload. Whether she was in the way, or even sitting in a pool of blood and guts from Kasha’s eating, the elf would stay there. She wouldn’t move for a while, locking herself into a meditative state.

Instead, Hoodini would circle from above a few times as if taking a birds eye assessment of the group. Eventually he would come to land on Vastra’s shoulder. His talons would begin to glow as Alys’ magic would flow to her, hoping to sooth some of her more severe wounds. The familiar would let out a soft hoot before taking flight lazily over to Bixby, hovering over his shoulders as he investigated the scene. Sensing he has cleared the area, the owl would eventually make his way over to perch on Yvan’s shoulder as the gentle giant would take on the responsibility of checking in on the prisoners. Hoodini’s eyes would fall over the prisoners to inspect their overall wellness.

Cure Wounds on Vastra: 18  

Stella wipes her blades clean and keeps watch near the door while the others take care of the prisoners and the more heavily wounded.

Yvan gives Izek a nod in acknowledgment. “Good. We’re the Misfits. Your son hired us to save you all from Garabad. We might not have been able to stop him from getting away, but we got what we came for. Your son misses you all very much.” 

When Hoodini perches on his shoulder, he lifts a hand to give the familiar a good scritch on the cheek with his index finger. “You did good out there.”

He then looks back to the family. “Let’s get you all out of here. The desert isn’t a safe place and we’re all relatively spent so I hope you don’t mind giving us some time to rest.”

After licking the floor clean, Kasha could sniff the ground and make sure she didn't miss anything. She would slowly thunder around the room like a dog looking for something, snoot to the ground, sniffing. Softly growling. Looking for another bit to eat. Maybe scent of "Garabad". Nothing. Just companions and these new people. Don't eat those, "Vastra" command. No mention of not eating new people. Can't see very well. Vision based on movement.

The Kashasaurus lumbered towards the new people, sniffing them, drooling.

Vastra very quickly pulls out the flashcards and gets to doodling again. She shows Kasha some images.

The first image is of her eating monsters and bad people. Vastra makes it incredibly obvious that they're bad people, as they have mean expressions on their face and look scary. There's a little Vastra in the corner, smiling and giving a thumbs up to Kashasaurus.

The second image is of her eating innocent people, made obvious by the fact that they don't look scary and are very sad as Kashasaurus eats them. The little Vastra in the corner does not look happy and is giving Kashasaurus a thumbs down. 

She looks at Obsidian and shrugs as if she's asking the cat what else was she going to do.

Obsidian sits up from the nap he was taking while Kasha ate and flicks his tail against Kasha's back, meowing loudly.

More pictures. Kashasaurus lowered and cocked her head to the side to watch the one called Vastra doodle and hold up pictures. Her huge green eye took a gander at the illustrations, since Kashasaurus and Kasha had various levels of comprehension and reading skills. First picture "Vastra" happy. Second picture "Vastra" sad. So, no eat sad people. But Kashasaurus still hungry!! Me Kashasaurus queen! 

She raised her head and was about to emit a terrible roar at Vastra in protest, especially since food was so close, but her limited intelligence curbed her primal instinct at that moment and she rumbled in protest instead.

She lumbered off, sniffing the ground. She found a spot nearby while sniffing, circled tightly around it, and laid down flat with her head on the ground, like a dog sleeping, and waited and gave a final snort, indicating that she would wait.

 Throughout the whole display of Kasha-ness, Bixby is double and triple checking the site for any signs of his original pursuit. By the end of which he mutters the word "Sloppy", shook his head, and then finally would turn take in everything and one else. Just in time to catch the tail end of Kashasaurus disgruntlement (not that her roar wasn't clue enough this time), and watch quietly until she laid down to rest. Though he half-hoped she would sleep truly and lose concentration of the spell, another half had him inching a hand towards the instrument on his back; only to hesitate for too long, and give up on the motion.

'No.... no more' He thought, clenching his teeth behind closed lips. "Search complete. It seemed there are no substantial traces of the ritual. I will go ahead and make sure they way yet remained clear." He said aloud calmly yet stiffly, but would not wait for answer before making for they entered the room. While not at his best, it would still take the most perceptive or insightful to notice a clear intent on putting on a strong front, if but for the sake of the recently rescued.

Stella glances over at Bixby. "Good idea. I'll tag along." The rogue stretches slightly before heading out of the room with Bixby to scout the way back.

The way back is clear. It appears that without Garabad's influence, the pyramid has now entered into a dormant state.

You spend three days getting back to the city and reunite Faras with his family and his wife. (And Stella spends three more days teaching Aryn Common and Kasha how to read. The Avdols are overjoyed to be back together after almost getting killed. Faras gives each of you 10,000 gold pieces and you all gain a level, as well as a new high-level enemy who has immortality, incredible power, and the mental capacity to plot his revenge.

During one of the days back, Kasha is holding a very early picture book with lots of bright colors and huge letters. She's doing her best to read a story to Obsidian and Aryn. Aryn is hanging on by tooth and nail as to what would happen next, but Obsidian is doing his best to appear interested as his eyelids droop in boredom. Each time Kasha looks at him he jerks to attention as if he wasn't falling asleep.

At some point during the return trip, any shadows around Bixby start to seem deeper than usual, and anyone that happen to draw nearer than five feet feel the temperature unnaturally drop several degrees. The experiment himself doesn't appear to notice, and merely occupied any free time tinkering with the old, magical gauntlet picked up now months ago. It is only upon the final day before their return that he quietly inquires of Faras' family about details regarding Garabad(namely places of interest), the method of their abduction, and plans for the future. While he tries at least to keep from affecting a clinical atmosphere at this time, he inevitably fails at the effort. But at least at the first sign of genuine discomfort, he backs off altogether, and went back to his tinkering.

Before departing company with Faras, he tries again with the man, repeating the same line of questioning, as well offering the 'Misfits' future aid... for a reasonable price.  He also oddly inquires into local artificers, wondermakers, mages, and magical artificat merchants alike that might be around. "Also... just what is the name of this metropolis, by the way? I do not believe caught that." He asked of their client.

The Avdols tell you that they were abducted while on the road and that Faras only escaped because he happened to have business that proved to be more time consuming than it originally was. As for Garabad, they tell you that while they themselves do not have too much knowledge about him, their ancestor's writings might have something and that they'd be willing to give you access to their library if needed. They then tell you that the city is named Umaad.

"With or without future jobs involved, I would indeed very much like to see these writings. If for no other reason than to be more prepared  in the future." Bixby replied. While Faras or perhaps a family servant is seeing to arrangements, Bixby takes the time to make notes in a journal and generally staying out of anyone's direct hair as much as possible. A few odd ideas float in mind, but they are soon set aside to at least begin research. Whether the group are eager to return home or not...

"Another inquiry... it is in regards to the local mages. I do not suppose any you know might have access to a teleporation circle? Even if rumored, I would hear of them."

"Is there a reason that you ask if we have a teleportation circle?"

"Not you persay, but someone in the city." Bixby clarifies. "In the event that this Garabad finds reason enough to ensure your family yet has a thus far forgotten means to foil future plans, being able to get to you or the city at least faster than even an... air ship would be most ideal. Though of course if we have made you uncomfortable with such measures being taken on any front..." He trails off there giving Faras a somewhat quizzical look. "Of course if need be, perhaps we even arrange for a device to be purchase or made to help ease communications, at the very least. I have heard rumor that some people have even condensed a sort of long range messaging spell into a stone, in fact."

Stella decides to spend her time in the city mostly teaching Aryn and Kasha to read. At one point, she does slip off for some alone time, during which she does some checking up on people from her past (see spoiler, Sassy).

Who is Stella the equivalent of internet stalking?

Books is still dumb.

Stella will go to a spa or something during her alone time. Like I want to do.