In reply to Mario Crowfoot (msg # 27):

"The slings and arrows of aggression! The vicissitudes of fate!"

Mario looks toward the gate grill, eyes wide.

"Jareth?  Is Otty a lot smarter than he sounded at first, or was that like a parrot, just repeating things it's heard?"

Jareth shrugs and continues to focus on the Otyugh, "So, how 'bout it eh?  Ya go back to t'e pen an we bring ya two meals, yah?"

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 31):

"Otty get two food if go back to pen?"

"Yes, two foods.  Ya go back to t'e pen an we bring t'em."

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 33):

The creature uncoils it's tentacles from the gate.
"For two foods Otty goes to pen, for two foods today, and tomorrow
And tomorrow and tomorrow."

"How many do we still need to dispose of?" Nodwin very quietly asks Mario.

In an answering whisper, "I think just two."

Continuing to face the Otyugh, Jareth speaks calmly over his shoulder back to Nodwin and Mario as though t his has nothing to do with Otty, "Sold twenty-two maces, two captives, an t'e necromancers didn't want any of t'e remainder.  T'e math be simple."

Then Jareth's voice brighten's, "Oh, Nodwin, I did find a buyer for t'em zombies upstairs an Brodak's worm in t'e barrel."


OOC:  In case the Players are just being forgetful, I doubt the Characters could miss the pile of bodies they've kept having to walk past (17 corpses, plus the two the Laborers had on the wheelbarrow they just brought back from the necromancers).  No doubt the smell of the bodies is what brought this wandering young Otyugh to the lower gate.

"Well, I guess the other Otyugh that stay at the pit will get the meals, since they are at the pit where the meals will be delivered."

In reply to Nodwin Zideqick (msg # 38):

A distant clang of metal can be heard past the gate.

"Thanks Nodwin, that's t'e spirit.  Now to answer Mario's question; some Otyugh are sharp, smart as you, or maybe even me, an others are little better than t'e parrot.  I suspect it's about what t'ey eat growin up.  Better fed Otyugh groes up smarter Otyugh... an t'ese have been bred down here for centuries.  This one seems to be a bit inbetween, probably learned some of it's Araliase listenin to t'em cultists makin with t'e anti-aristocracy rhetoric."

Jareth sighs.

"I'd a warned ya all about t'em... but didnay expect 'em to be out.  Is a bit worrisome.  If'n one be out, did t'e others get out?  T'e adults can be very dangerous.  Some o' t'e sewer workers swear t'ey can read minds.  I suspect t'ey is just smarter than t'e workers, but... ya never know with beasties like this."

He pauses.

"An gots maybe a problem.  Need to get t'e worm to t'e Undercroft in a short bit, get t'e zombies to t'e buyer just after dark... an now we gotta haul at least two corpses to Otty.  An probably t'e other ones, if t'ey ain't all loose."

He sighs again.

"An I forgot about findin a buyer fer t'e dead cultists.  Well, first things first, I say we haul a pair of cultists to Otty an see what t'e damage is.  Hopefully someone just left it's pen unlocked."

So these are just kept to clean up corpses left laying around?

"Let's start hauling then."  Nodwin looks at the gate with Otty beyond it.  "Maybe we should go via the streets to the pit, just in case there are others wandering about."

Jareth responds to Jocelyn, "An other garbage, an waste.  basically everything in t'e sewer.  But ya, t'ere's a brisk trade takin bodies an makin 'em disappear."

Then to Nodwin, "Not t'e good idea.  I'n not so sure on how to get t'ere from up t'ere.  From here we know Otty's pen just right down t'ere.  We keep a lookout here, an Brodak with us, an we be safe.  Besides, no matter how sneaky t'e Otyugh think t'ey is, or even if t'ey is really sneaky like, ya can smell 'em long before t'ey get up on ya.  Even though Otyugh got's t'e keen sense of smell, t'ey never notice how bad t'ey is smellin."

Jareth laughs for a second.  "Course if one of t'em figured out to bathe, we be in trouble.  But seriously, most of t'em are content wallowin in t'ey pens, eatin what t'ey is brought.  Every know an t'en one get's ideas, but t'ey is usually young like this one an not as dangerous or cunning."

Taking another look through the gate's grid to be sure the "little" otyugh is out of sight, Mario speaks softly to Jareth.

"Just in case, where would I shoot one of those for best effect?  Humans and pretty much anything that looks like 'em, animals shaped like a dog, horse, or bull, I know.  Even dragons, though I've never seen one -- every archery book has a diagram, where the heart is and where their armor is thinnest.

"But I've never seen anything like that.  It has to have a heart -- doesn't it?  And a brain?"

Just use fire and don't worry about it...

"Never cut one up, never had a need.  But I'd say go for t'e eyestalk an leg joints.  If ya can make shot down it's open mouth, take it.  Otherwise I dunno."

Jareth nods to the Laborers, "Go get those two brought back from t'e necromancer, we'll take 'em to Otty right quick an see about it's pen gate.  Mario, I suggest you stay here.  If we gots a run back here, good have you gaurdin t'e door.  An I'll leave ya Akimbo, I can hear him pretty far away an he'll make a racket if he smells any Otyughs coming.  An he can understand ya fine, even if likes to pretend he can't."

Jareth pulls the sleepy ferret out of his coat pocket, "Oy, look alive.  Mario needs ya as backup.  You smell any of them nasty beasties coming up on ya, make with the noise."

Jareth hands the sleepily protesting ferret over to Mario, "A pocket or your pouch, or even your shoulder, he can hang on fine."

Mario accepts the furry creature, holding it as he would a cat.  "Hello, Akimbo.  Since I don't really trust you with my coin, I'll let you ride on my shoulder for now."  He drapes the animal across his shoulders like a stole, and lets him get his feet under him before releasing him.  "Comfy?"

In reply to Mario Crowfoot (msg # 47):

Upon examining the gate, Jareth discovers that the key he has might not open the gate...

Jareth will try his key, if it fails he'll pull out the alternate keys, his lockpicks and get to work on it.



OOC:
11:58, Today: Jareth Mooncalled rolled 15 using 3d6.  Observation 11 Traps 14, checking the Cultist gate for tampering.

11:55, Today: Jareth Mooncalled rolled 11 using 3d6.  Lockpicking 12, the Cultist gate into the Sewers.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 49):

The lock springs easily, suggesting this particular lock has been well oiled. Likewise, the hinges are almost silent. Someone has been treating this gate.

"Gate be well maintianed.  Suggests t'e cultists went this way frequently.  T'ere might be anot'er cell down here."

"Sure you don't want me to come along?  We've got Jocelyn and Mellarill to guard the gate, and Nodwin with them."  Mario's right hand creeps up to stroke Akimbo.

In reply to Mario Crowfoot (msg # 52):

OCC entering a strange area underground seems like a bad time to split the party. This is juniors, not the solo adventures of Jareth