"Down there?"Morthos grimaces. The tiefling had jumped down the cathedral as well, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Dakara may still yet be alive. Morthos continues his concentration on his Heat Metal spell to ensure that Dakara will cease to be a threat.
Then, he says, "No, I don't think you're going anywhere. Tell us, what does this chalice do? Who hired you to kidnap Caelia? And if you're not an elf, what are you?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral-Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries;Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
As the green elf woman surrendered Morgan felt the rage lift from him. The spectral warriors around him disipating with the ebbing of that vital force inside of him. He noticed the woman wince as his greatsword became heavier in his hand, leaning harder against her shoulder. Lifting it away, he stepped back, giving the woman a nod of respect. "Answer my companions questions and I am sure you will be allowed to leave here." He gives a grim smile. "Bug-smashing might be a good next hobby for you to undertake." He turns his gray eyes to his companions. "We dare not take her prisoner, as we still have to get the baron's daughter. I say, if she answers your questions, then allow her to go. It may come back to bite us one day, but, for now, we have bigger things to take care of."
As the others question the green elf Lilandra starts changing back to her normal form again, dropping her body to the ground as her legs shrink. All but four legs shrink rapidly and wither within a moment. Her skin changing color again and her hair growing back.
She slowly gets up to her feet. Taking a moment to breath, as the battle and the shapechanging clearly took its toll on her body. Her thoughts are with Caelia, unsure why they would want to take her and what they could be doing to her now.
Lilandra will await the answers from the creature. Meanwhile she will readjust her top as her chain shirt peaks out beneath it.
Thad looks to Morgan, incredulous confusion on his face. "Yer no serious 'bout lettin' this one go are ya? She broke the law, an' as such should pay fer her crimes." With that he moves forward to put the manacles on the green elf-like woman. He then looks towards the cathedral entrance. "We'd best get Caelia soon. But I'm no interested in freein' this one even if she wishes ta hunt her previous partner. No offence elf hater, but yer just as likely ta team up again as ya are ta kill him," Thad says as he looks back to their captive.
Like any good mercenary, the green-skinned creature seamed quick in adapting to new situations. Despite her hostile relationship with everyone until mere moments ago, for the most part it wasn’t personal and she now appeared to respond warmly to Morgan’s display of respect. She initially remained apprehensive as he lifted his sword off her, but her ears perked up when he smiled in approval of her bug-hunting ambitions.
She opened her mouth to speak, eager enough to cooperate with the prospect of being sent along her merry homicidal way, only to be cut off by Thad’s moral interjection. She sighed heavily.
“Should have known a free pass would be too good to be true…”
Nevertheless, she did reluctantly hold out her hide-wrapped arms and peacefully allowed Thad to cuff her, but not before looking to Morgan for reassurance first.
As Thad secured the manacles, she replied, “Team up again? With that cowardly, traitorous grub? Hmph! Hell no! He left me to die the instant things started looking bad! Grrrr… If I get my hands on that six-legged freak, I’ll--”
Remembering her position and the imperative to play nice, she quickly composed herself with another sigh and directed her attention to Morthos. “…Anyway, back to your questions. That thing your lawful friend here has is called the Chalice of Memnon’s Blessing, according to Dakara. To be honest I don’t know what all those words mean, but Dakara said it’s a powerful magic item offered by our client, something about ‘receiving the power of an archdevil to exceed mortal limits,’ if I remember right. By the way, we’ve never actually met this unknown mystery client – Dakara sort of acts as a go-between, passing along messages and stuff. As for me…”
She paused for effect, flashing Morthos one of her typical feral grins. “…Ain’t ya ever seen a goblin before?”
As she snickered at her own cryptic remark, some details certainly lined up. The green skin, the rudimentary, scavenged clothing and equipment, and especially the black eyes with yellow pupils all strongly evoked a goblinoid correlation. Yet the tall, lithe, agile elven body remained unexplained, not to mention she was far more eloquent and intelligent than any mere goblin could hope to be. Obviously there was something else going on.
Morgan sighed and glanced to Thad. "I understand your desire to see her brought to justice, but explain how you plan to make that happen." He waves a powerful arm in a circle around them. "We are here in the center of a forest, with no way to get her somewhere, or the time to do so even if we wished to." he then nodded to the hole Thad and the spider had just climbed out of. "We have to go in there, and do what we came for." Glancing back to Thad, "Unless you plan to stay up here, while the rest of us face that tiefling without you... I really don't see how you plan on keeping her captive. Either we leave her up here, which I frankly doubt your cuffs there will hold her for more than a minute, we bring her with, which I would not be party to, or we kill her, and you will frankly have to go through me to do that." He shakes his head. "Do you have another option?" He shoved his greatsword back into its sheath. "Make up your mind though, as I am heading down, who knows what that tiefling might do if we don't get there soon..." He starts walking towards the hole.
Seeing Morgan as her primary source of protection at the moment, the self-proclaimed goblin-creature moved to stay close to the nobleman’s side as he approached the pit at the top of the ancient hill.
“Well said, milord. Couldn’t agree more.” She said. A blatant attempt at flattery. “You are a lord, are you not? Your finely crafted regalia and powerful presence would suggest as much. May I have your name? If such a lowly, degenerate creature such as myself is worthy of hearing it, of course.”
"I respect you as a warrior and someone who knows when to stand firm, but also knows when doing so would be foolish." Morgan tells the goblin-elf. "We are not friends, and I do not like simpering flatterers, and, frankly, it does not become you." He shrugs. "My name is Morgan Amcathra." He nods to the hole. "How do we get down without jumping? Is there some sort of controls or something?"
The creature chuckled. It was a low, vaguely malicious laugh of self-satisfaction befitting her wild, predatory nature. "Well Morgan Amcathra, glad to hear it. Figured it was at least worth a shot. I've learned long ago that you've got to do anything it takes to survive. Can you blame me? Doesn't look like I've got too many fans around here..."
She turned and gave a knowing wink in Thad and Morthos'sdirection.
With a glance into the dark gaping abyss, she continued, "Damn. That's one helluva hole. I have to say, me and Crik have never been down there. Dakara would go alone and have us wait up here. I do remember him saying that the presence of fiendish blood activates the monolith and the floating platform. As a tiefling, I guess he's got that covered. He did also mention that there are a bunch of human hermits living in these woods who are former loyalists to some dark mage whatchamacallit, exiled from town after a rebellion years ago. Apparently they drank fiends' blood and can get into the cathedral too. Bet you probably passed some of those guys along the way here."
She then looked over at Lilandra and tilted her head. "What about her? That spider form looked like it came in handy."
Lilandra will listen to what the others and the goblin creature have said and respond. I can n.. i cannot carry all of us. Not wanting to tell the creature the wildshape took to much toll on her body and she would need to rest before being able to handle the strain of it again.
Having little respect for one that takes money to kidnap children she turns around. This is a waste of time, we need to get to Caelia. Lilandra will stand at the edge of the hole and look around. What about ropes. I have a rope, perhaps if we can tie several together we could get to the bottom.
She unties the rope on her belt and holds it up in her hands. Unless her blood is fiendish, its all we have time for.
Morgan nods to the goblin-elf. "You and I are much alike I think, rage fueling us." He says with a slow, grim, smile. "Maybe one day we can see how such as us could do working together, but not today." He held her eyes with his own gray ones. Then he turned his attention back to the hole.
"That may be our only option." Morgan said with a nod to the rope, when that was mentioned. He glanced to Morthos's though. "Any chance you can use that magic you used earlier? Allow us to fall safely to the bottom?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Morthos allowed himself a breath of relief as the fight concluded. The battle was won, and one of his enemies was capture. A very talkative enemy. He jabs his rapier closer to her throat.
"Quit your buttered words. We aren't going to let you weasel out of this one. Is there somewhere we can tie her up so she can't escape?"
He thinks for a moment about her nature. A goblin-elf? Perhaps there's something in the old tales or poems of yore that mention such a thing...
History: 4
Advantage: 10
Then, he listens to his companions discuss their next course of action. "Dakara was roasting last time we saw him. Perhaps the platform will rise up on it's own. Otherwise, if you trust me enough, let's go and jump in. I promise you won't end up as a splatter on the ground."
He says that last part with a laugh. Once everyone is prepared, he will cast Feather fall and slow their descent to the bottom of the monolith.
"I have a rope too Lilandra. Perhaps tying some knots in it to aid in our climb might be worth doing also," Thad says as he removes it from his pack then turns to Morgan, "Are you so certain you would just release this criminal back into the wilds? Are you not concerned for our safety, that releasing it may end up with a blade in your back? Tie it to a tree and we return later."
An old legend did come to the bard’s mind as he rummaged through tales of his own heritage.
Long before colonizing the material plane, the ancient ancestors of the elves lived exclusively in the vibrant, mystical realm known as the feywild. For reasons lost to time, a dispute arose between two groups of these ancient elves, and in retribution one group transformed the other into the first goblins. However, the act only resulted in escalating the conflict rather than solve it, and as the goblins multiplied like pests they became a plague upon the feywild that spilled out like an invasive species into the material plane as well. To this day goblins still bitterly despise elves, and the story now serves as a cautionary tale to young ones about how not to handle disagreements.
“It? Now you’re just being hurtful,” the tattooed creature retorted to Thad’s comment with no small amount of sas. “I have a name, you know. It’s Kithri’va. In goblin that means ‘don’t steal my lunch or I’ll stab you in the eye.’ More or less.”
Tilting her head over at Morgan now, she asked seriously, “Alright lord Amcathra, what’ll it be? You gonna tie me up to some tree like a dog?”
Morgan just shakes his head. “As I said multiple times now, if you have an option you wish to try, to keep her captive, then do so.” He shrugs massive shoulders. Glancing to the goblin-elf he gives her a raised eyebrow. “I have no doubts you will get free of any rope they tie you to a tree with. I won’t waste my time in doing so myself. If any of hte ohters wish to do so then they can waste their time as they wish.” He glances to the group. “We ready to jump and see what is below?”
Morthos sighs as he listens to the exchange. He says to Morgan, “Don’t you remember? This foul woman and her comrades killed many people when they kidnapped Caelia. We can’t just let her leave, and I know especially Thaedren won’t let her leave. If she had captured us, do you think she would let us go?”
He thinks for a moment, and then smiles as he comes up with a devious plan. “All of us are carrying rope, yes? We tie the rope from a tree and dangle her into the pit. If she tries to escape...it’s a long way to the bottom. Otherwise, the only alternative if for us to kill her.”
To be honest, Morthos had never killed before. Tonight was the first time his ornate rapier drew blood. Yet, he knew that out of everyone, this “goblin” was deserving of such a fate.
(Cool story! I like the lore of how goblins came into existence)
“Urk--!!!” the anomaly named Kithri’va physically recoiled at Morthos’s suggestion. Her ears flattened and her pupils shrunk into quivering dots.
“Wait!” she blurted out, shaking her head, sending her unruly mane of spiky black hair swishing wildly. “Wait wait wait! Please, not that! Before those Vel Wizards made me like this, I remember a time when heights of any size were treacherous! I never really got over that. Yes, I’ve killed… a lot… of people. And personally, I don’t see why that’s so bad! You call it a crime, I call it nature. But if you want me to face this justice of yours, then fine! So here we go, counter offer…”
With that, the adversary who not long ago crossed blades against them turned to squarely face Morgan and drew herself to her full height. Despite being bound in manacles, she boldly locked eyes with him, and without a hint of sarcasm, deceit, or facetiousness, said…
“Hire me.”
After letting that sink in for a moment, she went on in a quiet tone, “You… did say that perhaps one day you might like to work together, did you not? This life of violence, of hunt and be hunted… it’s really hard. I took this job because Dakara offered the power to never be scarred or threatened again, enough power to leave this life of struggle and hardship behind. I’ll admit, part of me loves the thrill of snuffing out the lives of my enemies. But for every moment of that thrill, there’s ten others of pain and misery. But maybe… you can show me another way? If you enlist me as one of your retainers, my payment could be getting to keep my life in spite of what I’ve done. You said you respected me. Nobody’s ever treated me with respect before.”
She offered Morgana bashful smile. “It’s kind of nice.”
Kithri’va then surveyed the party, trying to judge their individual reactions before concluding, “This way everybody wins. You get a free servant. I get to not die. And the rest of you can keep your consciences clear knowing I’m working to repay my debt to your society. To prove I’m not full of shit, I’ll wait right here for you to get back. Leave the manacles on if you want. Even though I could leave at any time never to be seen again, I’ll stay on my own accord. No ropes or pit-dangling required.”
She then waited trepidatiously for their response.
Morgan held the woman's eyes with his own for a long moment as she made her offer. His mind ran through the possibilities for a moment then, as he glanced to the others to take in their own reactions.
"I will not be party to torturing another, it would make us little better than those we hunt." He eventually says. "Hanging this woman from ropes seems torture to me, and I can not believe any of us would wish to torture another being, no matter what they might have done." He pauses as he looks back to the hole, desperatly wishing to get on with this and be done with all of this politicking, as his father called it. Turning back to the goblin-elf he sighs again, broad chest flexing powerfully with the motion. "I would be willing to give you that chance, but I worry my companions would always worry for their safety. I do believe your words, and also feel you would honor your offer, but the others most likely don't feel that way."
Turning back to the rest. "I say let her show herself as willing to keep her word." He says to them, doubting they will be willing to do this, but making the offer all the same. "We will not torture her, by hanging her from ropes, so either tie her up to a tree, or let her stand here and prove herself. Either way, this conversation needs to be done, we have a child down there in need of our aid."
While tying the ropes together for their decent Lilandra looks at the others decide on what to do.
She cannot be trusted. She took coin to kidnap an innocent child. She shakes her head No morals and loyal only to the highest bidder. We do not know what we will encounter below, she will likely turn against us or even lead us into a trap.
Lilandra continues to tie the rope to the nearest tree or heavy rock as an anchor. When she is done and satisfied the rope will hold them she will look back a last time.If she wishes to prove herself she will be here when we return, we cannot risk bringing another enemy down there.
With those words she will begin her descend, to impatient and worried Caelia might be harmed further every passing moment.
"Down there?" Morthos grimaces. The tiefling had jumped down the cathedral as well, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Dakara may still yet be alive. Morthos continues his concentration on his Heat Metal spell to ensure that Dakara will cease to be a threat.
Then, he says, "No, I don't think you're going anywhere. Tell us, what does this chalice do? Who hired you to kidnap Caelia? And if you're not an elf, what are you?"
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
As the green elf woman surrendered Morgan felt the rage lift from him. The spectral warriors around him disipating with the ebbing of that vital force inside of him. He noticed the woman wince as his greatsword became heavier in his hand, leaning harder against her shoulder. Lifting it away, he stepped back, giving the woman a nod of respect. "Answer my companions questions and I am sure you will be allowed to leave here." He gives a grim smile. "Bug-smashing might be a good next hobby for you to undertake." He turns his gray eyes to his companions. "We dare not take her prisoner, as we still have to get the baron's daughter. I say, if she answers your questions, then allow her to go. It may come back to bite us one day, but, for now, we have bigger things to take care of."
As the others question the green elf Lilandra starts changing back to her normal form again, dropping her body to the ground as her legs shrink. All but four legs shrink rapidly and wither within a moment. Her skin changing color again and her hair growing back.
She slowly gets up to her feet. Taking a moment to breath, as the battle and the shapechanging clearly took its toll on her body. Her thoughts are with Caelia, unsure why they would want to take her and what they could be doing to her now.
Lilandra will await the answers from the creature. Meanwhile she will readjust her top as her chain shirt peaks out beneath it.
Thad looks to Morgan, incredulous confusion on his face. "Yer no serious 'bout lettin' this one go are ya? She broke the law, an' as such should pay fer her crimes." With that he moves forward to put the manacles on the green elf-like woman. He then looks towards the cathedral entrance. "We'd best get Caelia soon. But I'm no interested in freein' this one even if she wishes ta hunt her previous partner. No offence elf hater, but yer just as likely ta team up again as ya are ta kill him," Thad says as he looks back to their captive.
Like any good mercenary, the green-skinned creature seamed quick in adapting to new situations. Despite her hostile relationship with everyone until mere moments ago, for the most part it wasn’t personal and she now appeared to respond warmly to Morgan’s display of respect. She initially remained apprehensive as he lifted his sword off her, but her ears perked up when he smiled in approval of her bug-hunting ambitions.
She opened her mouth to speak, eager enough to cooperate with the prospect of being sent along her merry homicidal way, only to be cut off by Thad’s moral interjection. She sighed heavily.
“Should have known a free pass would be too good to be true…”
Nevertheless, she did reluctantly hold out her hide-wrapped arms and peacefully allowed Thad to cuff her, but not before looking to Morgan for reassurance first.
As Thad secured the manacles, she replied, “Team up again? With that cowardly, traitorous grub? Hmph! Hell no! He left me to die the instant things started looking bad! Grrrr… If I get my hands on that six-legged freak, I’ll--”
Remembering her position and the imperative to play nice, she quickly composed herself with another sigh and directed her attention to Morthos. “…Anyway, back to your questions. That thing your lawful friend here has is called the Chalice of Memnon’s Blessing, according to Dakara. To be honest I don’t know what all those words mean, but Dakara said it’s a powerful magic item offered by our client, something about ‘receiving the power of an archdevil to exceed mortal limits,’ if I remember right. By the way, we’ve never actually met this unknown mystery client – Dakara sort of acts as a go-between, passing along messages and stuff. As for me…”
She paused for effect, flashing Morthos one of her typical feral grins. “…Ain’t ya ever seen a goblin before?”
As she snickered at her own cryptic remark, some details certainly lined up. The green skin, the rudimentary, scavenged clothing and equipment, and especially the black eyes with yellow pupils all strongly evoked a goblinoid correlation. Yet the tall, lithe, agile elven body remained unexplained, not to mention she was far more eloquent and intelligent than any mere goblin could hope to be. Obviously there was something else going on.
Morgan sighed and glanced to Thad. "I understand your desire to see her brought to justice, but explain how you plan to make that happen." He waves a powerful arm in a circle around them. "We are here in the center of a forest, with no way to get her somewhere, or the time to do so even if we wished to." he then nodded to the hole Thad and the spider had just climbed out of. "We have to go in there, and do what we came for." Glancing back to Thad, "Unless you plan to stay up here, while the rest of us face that tiefling without you... I really don't see how you plan on keeping her captive. Either we leave her up here, which I frankly doubt your cuffs there will hold her for more than a minute, we bring her with, which I would not be party to, or we kill her, and you will frankly have to go through me to do that." He shakes his head. "Do you have another option?" He shoved his greatsword back into its sheath. "Make up your mind though, as I am heading down, who knows what that tiefling might do if we don't get there soon..." He starts walking towards the hole.
Seeing Morgan as her primary source of protection at the moment, the self-proclaimed goblin-creature moved to stay close to the nobleman’s side as he approached the pit at the top of the ancient hill.
“Well said, milord. Couldn’t agree more.” She said. A blatant attempt at flattery. “You are a lord, are you not? Your finely crafted regalia and powerful presence would suggest as much. May I have your name? If such a lowly, degenerate creature such as myself is worthy of hearing it, of course.”
"I respect you as a warrior and someone who knows when to stand firm, but also knows when doing so would be foolish." Morgan tells the goblin-elf. "We are not friends, and I do not like simpering flatterers, and, frankly, it does not become you." He shrugs. "My name is Morgan Amcathra." He nods to the hole. "How do we get down without jumping? Is there some sort of controls or something?"
The creature chuckled. It was a low, vaguely malicious laugh of self-satisfaction befitting her wild, predatory nature. "Well Morgan Amcathra, glad to hear it. Figured it was at least worth a shot. I've learned long ago that you've got to do anything it takes to survive. Can you blame me? Doesn't look like I've got too many fans around here..."
She turned and gave a knowing wink in Thad and Morthos's direction.
With a glance into the dark gaping abyss, she continued, "Damn. That's one helluva hole. I have to say, me and Crik have never been down there. Dakara would go alone and have us wait up here. I do remember him saying that the presence of fiendish blood activates the monolith and the floating platform. As a tiefling, I guess he's got that covered. He did also mention that there are a bunch of human hermits living in these woods who are former loyalists to some dark mage whatchamacallit, exiled from town after a rebellion years ago. Apparently they drank fiends' blood and can get into the cathedral too. Bet you probably passed some of those guys along the way here."
She then looked over at Lilandra and tilted her head. "What about her? That spider form looked like it came in handy."
Lilandra will listen to what the others and the goblin creature have said and respond. I can n.. i cannot carry all of us. Not wanting to tell the creature the wildshape took to much toll on her body and she would need to rest before being able to handle the strain of it again.
Having little respect for one that takes money to kidnap children she turns around. This is a waste of time, we need to get to Caelia.
Lilandra will stand at the edge of the hole and look around. What about ropes. I have a rope, perhaps if we can tie several together we could get to the bottom.
She unties the rope on her belt and holds it up in her hands. Unless her blood is fiendish, its all we have time for.
Morgan nods to the goblin-elf. "You and I are much alike I think, rage fueling us." He says with a slow, grim, smile. "Maybe one day we can see how such as us could do working together, but not today." He held her eyes with his own gray ones. Then he turned his attention back to the hole.
"That may be our only option." Morgan said with a nod to the rope, when that was mentioned. He glanced to Morthos's though. "Any chance you can use that magic you used earlier? Allow us to fall safely to the bottom?"
Morthos allowed himself a breath of relief as the fight concluded. The battle was won, and one of his enemies was capture. A very talkative enemy. He jabs his rapier closer to her throat.
"Quit your buttered words. We aren't going to let you weasel out of this one. Is there somewhere we can tie her up so she can't escape?"
He thinks for a moment about her nature. A goblin-elf? Perhaps there's something in the old tales or poems of yore that mention such a thing...
History: 4
Advantage: 10
Then, he listens to his companions discuss their next course of action. "Dakara was roasting last time we saw him. Perhaps the platform will rise up on it's own. Otherwise, if you trust me enough, let's go and jump in. I promise you won't end up as a splatter on the ground."
He says that last part with a laugh. Once everyone is prepared, he will cast Feather fall and slow their descent to the bottom of the monolith.
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
[You can make that roll with Advantage due to your own elven ties.]
"I have a rope too Lilandra. Perhaps tying some knots in it to aid in our climb might be worth doing also," Thad says as he removes it from his pack then turns to Morgan, "Are you so certain you would just release this criminal back into the wilds? Are you not concerned for our safety, that releasing it may end up with a blade in your back? Tie it to a tree and we return later."
An old legend did come to the bard’s mind as he rummaged through tales of his own heritage.
Long before colonizing the material plane, the ancient ancestors of the elves lived exclusively in the vibrant, mystical realm known as the feywild. For reasons lost to time, a dispute arose between two groups of these ancient elves, and in retribution one group transformed the other into the first goblins. However, the act only resulted in escalating the conflict rather than solve it, and as the goblins multiplied like pests they became a plague upon the feywild that spilled out like an invasive species into the material plane as well. To this day goblins still bitterly despise elves, and the story now serves as a cautionary tale to young ones about how not to handle disagreements.
“It? Now you’re just being hurtful,” the tattooed creature retorted to Thad’s comment with no small amount of sas. “I have a name, you know. It’s Kithri’va. In goblin that means ‘don’t steal my lunch or I’ll stab you in the eye.’ More or less.”
Tilting her head over at Morgan now, she asked seriously, “Alright lord Amcathra, what’ll it be? You gonna tie me up to some tree like a dog?”
Morgan just shakes his head. “As I said multiple times now, if you have an option you wish to try, to keep her captive, then do so.” He shrugs massive shoulders. Glancing to the goblin-elf he gives her a raised eyebrow. “I have no doubts you will get free of any rope they tie you to a tree with. I won’t waste my time in doing so myself. If any of hte ohters wish to do so then they can waste their time as they wish.” He glances to the group. “We ready to jump and see what is below?”
Morthos sighs as he listens to the exchange. He says to Morgan, “Don’t you remember? This foul woman and her comrades killed many people when they kidnapped Caelia. We can’t just let her leave, and I know especially Thaedren won’t let her leave. If she had captured us, do you think she would let us go?”
He thinks for a moment, and then smiles as he comes up with a devious plan. “All of us are carrying rope, yes? We tie the rope from a tree and dangle her into the pit. If she tries to escape...it’s a long way to the bottom. Otherwise, the only alternative if for us to kill her.”
To be honest, Morthos had never killed before. Tonight was the first time his ornate rapier drew blood. Yet, he knew that out of everyone, this “goblin” was deserving of such a fate.
(Cool story! I like the lore of how goblins came into existence)
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
[ Thanks! :) ]
“Urk--!!!” the anomaly named Kithri’va physically recoiled at Morthos’s suggestion. Her ears flattened and her pupils shrunk into quivering dots.
“Wait!” she blurted out, shaking her head, sending her unruly mane of spiky black hair swishing wildly. “Wait wait wait! Please, not that! Before those Vel Wizards made me like this, I remember a time when heights of any size were treacherous! I never really got over that. Yes, I’ve killed… a lot… of people. And personally, I don’t see why that’s so bad! You call it a crime, I call it nature. But if you want me to face this justice of yours, then fine! So here we go, counter offer…”
With that, the adversary who not long ago crossed blades against them turned to squarely face Morgan and drew herself to her full height. Despite being bound in manacles, she boldly locked eyes with him, and without a hint of sarcasm, deceit, or facetiousness, said…
“Hire me.”
After letting that sink in for a moment, she went on in a quiet tone, “You… did say that perhaps one day you might like to work together, did you not? This life of violence, of hunt and be hunted… it’s really hard. I took this job because Dakara offered the power to never be scarred or threatened again, enough power to leave this life of struggle and hardship behind. I’ll admit, part of me loves the thrill of snuffing out the lives of my enemies. But for every moment of that thrill, there’s ten others of pain and misery. But maybe… you can show me another way? If you enlist me as one of your retainers, my payment could be getting to keep my life in spite of what I’ve done. You said you respected me. Nobody’s ever treated me with respect before.”
She offered Morgan a bashful smile. “It’s kind of nice.”
Kithri’va then surveyed the party, trying to judge their individual reactions before concluding, “This way everybody wins. You get a free servant. I get to not die. And the rest of you can keep your consciences clear knowing I’m working to repay my debt to your society. To prove I’m not full of shit, I’ll wait right here for you to get back. Leave the manacles on if you want. Even though I could leave at any time never to be seen again, I’ll stay on my own accord. No ropes or pit-dangling required.”
She then waited trepidatiously for their response.
Morgan held the woman's eyes with his own for a long moment as she made her offer. His mind ran through the possibilities for a moment then, as he glanced to the others to take in their own reactions.
"I will not be party to torturing another, it would make us little better than those we hunt." He eventually says. "Hanging this woman from ropes seems torture to me, and I can not believe any of us would wish to torture another being, no matter what they might have done." He pauses as he looks back to the hole, desperatly wishing to get on with this and be done with all of this politicking, as his father called it. Turning back to the goblin-elf he sighs again, broad chest flexing powerfully with the motion. "I would be willing to give you that chance, but I worry my companions would always worry for their safety. I do believe your words, and also feel you would honor your offer, but the others most likely don't feel that way."
Turning back to the rest. "I say let her show herself as willing to keep her word." He says to them, doubting they will be willing to do this, but making the offer all the same. "We will not torture her, by hanging her from ropes, so either tie her up to a tree, or let her stand here and prove herself. Either way, this conversation needs to be done, we have a child down there in need of our aid."
While tying the ropes together for their decent Lilandra looks at the others decide on what to do.
She cannot be trusted. She took coin to kidnap an innocent child. She shakes her head No morals and loyal only to the highest bidder. We do not know what we will encounter below, she will likely turn against us or even lead us into a trap.
Lilandra continues to tie the rope to the nearest tree or heavy rock as an anchor. When she is done and satisfied the rope will hold them she will look back a last time. If she wishes to prove herself she will be here when we return, we cannot risk bringing another enemy down there.
With those words she will begin her descend, to impatient and worried Caelia might be harmed further every passing moment.