Zuni, Izzick, and Chandanar

Rumors lead you to a small section of the sewers not far from where Pig had his original headquarters.  That area has been leveled.  It appears one of the dragons paid Pig a visit at one point.  So he took his crew underground.  Literally.

Checking around, you learn there's two ways to find them usually.

Zuni, apparently one of his old pickpockets still works for him.  A greasy little gnome named Beatrix.  She's posing as an orphan...she's good with illusions and short enough to pass for a human kid.  She's making rounds as a beggar, apparently doing recon work for Pig.  You know her decently.  She's conniving. But you can trust her.  Or at least her greed and sense of self preservation.

The other avenue is to simply try to walk in.  If Pig is set up where you think he is, there's an entrance under an old church.  You should be able to access his HQ that way.

Yeah.  You should be able to.

"Okay, so yeah...sewers..." Zuni said, holding a cloth against the lower half of her face.  "I...probably should have mentioned the sewers...sorry about this."

"Let's get out of here and head to the church entrance.  No sense in wasting time, the direct approach is best.  I think."  She looked over to Izzick and Chandanar.  "What do you guys think?  Direct or dealing with Beatrix?  Not that I don't trust her...."

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 2):

"Awww...you always take us to the nicest places, Zuni."  Chandanar pokes at a patch of slime with the butt of his mace and then wipes it clean on a towel he comes up with from somewhere.

"You know these folks the best.  I'm fine following your lead."

---

Just to give you options

You check out the church from a distance.  Only one wall is still standing.  The other three look to have been blown out.  There's a set of stairs heading down to the crypt at one part.

A couple of large dwarfs sit in a what's left of an old pew.  They act like their drunks, but you know better.  Pig's guards.  You don't recognize either of them.

If it's Thursday...Beatrix would probably be at the soup kitchens.  The problem is finding which one of the dirty children frolicing about is her.  But you have a history with Beatrix.  If you loudly mention that you saw that gargoyle naked, she should zero in on you.

Yeah.  The naked gargoyle.  Long story.

It was a tough choice.  Zuni didn't recognize these guards so they might not believe that she is who she says that she is.  On the other hand, dealing with Beatrix would be a pain in the backside.  So what to do?

Sighing, Zuni shook her head.  "Well...we are here already.  Be a waste not to try.  You guys going to come?"

Stepping out from where they were watching the guards, Zuni strode towards the dwarves.  The direct approach would probably be the best.  "Hey!  You two." she called out to the dwarves.  "Tell King Pig that Zuni Runesong is looking for a meeting."

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 4):

The two glance up at you.

The first one looks away, trying to be cool.  "Piss off.  No one's singin' your song whoever-the-hell you are."

"Hold on now..." says the second one.  Second one looks you over.  He looks vaguely familiar, though it's been a while.  "Yeah.  I remember you.  You ran point on some of Pig's scouting parties, didn't ya?  Where the hell you been?  Thought you had gotten whacked or snackered off."

He stands.  "Wait here."

He disappears down the stairs.  The first one looks you over again Zuni, then shrugs.

Second comes back and waves you to come.  He leads you down.

The stairs lead to an old crypt.  Some of Pig's crew are lounging around, playing craps on top of some of the sarcophagi.  They study you then lose interest.  You don't recall any of them.

At the back of the crypt, someone broke open a large hole in the wall.  A heavy is on guard here.  Looks like an ogre.  The ogre nods at second dwarf and gives you the steely eye.

The hole leads onto what looks like an old sewer line.  Second takes you down a bit and then stops at a side room.  Another heavy, this time a rather intimidating half orc, is loitering outside.  Another new one.

Inside, Pig has decorated the room with old rugs and tapestries he must have pillaged from abandonded houses.  He's moved an old, battered oak desk which was probably grand back in the day in and is seated behind it, cleaning his always filthy fingernails with the tip of a dagger.  A couple of gnomes are languishing around on cushions, high on who knows what.

Pig always like the little folk.

Pig gives you a smirk.  "Wel well well.  Zuni Runesong.  What hole did you slink outta?"

"....a place very similar to this..." Zuni muttered under her breath as she glanced around yet another sewer hideout.  The crypt seemed like it would have been a nicer upgrade, although a creepy one.  She turned back to face King Pig and gave a shrug of her shoulders.  "Well, you know how things go.  I went hunting down those guys that tried to kill you and things just got out of control after that.  I mean, once you're invited to a party hosted by were tigers, you never really look back."

"It's good to see that you've managed to survive.  I've heard that things have been rough in the city since I've been gone although it looks like you haven't done so badly for yourself."  It felt strange being back in King Pigs court after having been away for so long.  If she hadn't joined up with Izzick, Selvin and Chandanar, Zuni would probably have ended up living underground as well.  It was funny how one decision had changed her fortunes so much.

"I need some information.  I'm looking for a friend of mine, fellow named Tarrov.  You might remember him.  You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 6):

Pig barks a laugh.  "If I did, probably woulda turned him in for the bounty.  It'd be enough to get all my crew outta this damn place."

You remember Pig has a tell.  He smirks in such a way that one side of his mouth lifts higher than the other.  He's doing that now.  He knows something.

"How 'bout a drink?"  he glances at Chandanar and Izzick.  "Four glasses then."

One of the gnomes scampers up with a tray.  Four chipped cups and bottle of cheap whisky.  Something never change with Pig.

He pours shots.  "So why you lookin' for Tarrov?  Gonna turn him in?"

Zuni bit her lower lip as she watched King Pig pour the shots.  She probably should have passed on the drink, she was on the job after all, but a far too persuasive part of her convinced the rest that it would be rude to refuse.

"I need to talk to him.  He has some information that I need."  She reached down to take one of the cups and lifted it to her nose to take a sniff.  Zuni had tasted better whiskey than what King Pig was offering but considering the state of Korvosa, this was probably as good as King Pig had.

King Pig knew something but what?  Maybe she could bait him a bit.  "We've got something big in the works, something that might change the balance of power in Korvosa, which is why I'm looking for Tarrov...but I've probably said too much as it is.  I thought to see if you had something to bring in to our organization, since we used to have a good working relationship, but....."  Zuni let her words hang in the air as she raised the cup to the King in a gesture of respect before she downed its contents.

OOC:
Bluff -> 26

A crypt - that had been where this had all started for the half-orc, but he let Zuni take point. She seemed to have better in with the Pig than he did and that suited him just fine. Never really liked the guy anyway even if he'd likely be a lot happier to see them than the queen's knights ever again. Especially if he had any hint what their plans entailed. Zuni's story was a good one and Izzick backed it up, "Well seems like we'll need to find our friend elsewhere then. We were hoping this might be our way of getting back in touch." After all, who better to put in a good word than Tarrov's former companions.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 9):

Pig chuckles, eyeing you first Zuni and then you Izzick.  He downs his shot and then pours another round.

"I never said I couldn't get in touch with 'im.  Just wanted to know your intentions."

He shrugs.  "The rebs got spanked pretty hard recently.  They started tryin' to take on the dragons.  Queenie don't like that.  See, your boy Tarrov is too..."

He picks up his shot, waving his hand as if searching for a word.  He then downs the shot, smacking his lips.

"...flashy.  He don' know how to be subtle.  And it's gonna get him in trouble."

He waggles his eyebrows.  "Very, very soon kinda trouble.  Maybe 'fore even the sun goes down."  He sighs.  "I wouldn' mind talkin' about what's about to go down with your dear ol' friend.  But you know what they say..."

He looks at you all very pointedly.

"Time is money."

Zuni picked up her refilled mug and brought it to her lips, her gaze not leaving King Pig.  There it was.  He wanted money for information because of course he does.

Zuni downed the contents of the mug.  "After all that I've done for you..." she said in a low toned placed her mug back on the table.  "...well I suppose that honour among thieves is an outdated idea anyways."  She reached into a pouch and pulled out a single sparkling gem.  "Here's payment for the information.  Now before you even start, I'm not paying the entire thing up front without making sure that you are not playing me, so I'm giving you a down payment now and more if...IF...your information is accurate."

She put the gem on the table, out of reach of everyone but herself.  Knowing King Pig, he might try to grab for the thing.  "So...deal?"

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 11):

He holds out a hand.  "Depends on how that gem looks.  Lemme see."

Pig appraises it with a practiced eye.  The man lives up to his namesake, but King Pig knows his valuables.  He grins and pockets the gem.

"Tarrov's group got spanked not too long ago.  They hadda scatter.  One of his top ops is in jail.  Gettin' herself tortuted as we speak.

"Or she was.  They already got the info outta her."

He shrugs.  "They're gonna hit the base she told 'em about.  Like soon.  If not already.  Don't know if your boy Tarrov is there or not.  But a lot of his remaining people are."

He scratches his stubbled chin. "You remember the neighborhood Milky Pete used ta run his crew outta?"

You do.  It's near the center of the city.

"There was an old bakery there.  Used to make really good sweet rolls."

You know that place.  Or, at least, you know where it used to be.

"It's gotta basement.  The basement leads out into a sewer line.  Turn left.  Left again.  Right.  See some stairs.  Up them stairs and into an old service tunnel.  Tarrov's people are takin' shelter there."

He refills his shot. "Funny seein' you bein' one o the good guys."

"Any other information you can offer?" Izzick asked. It wasn't that they needed or expected more than that, but he had an offer of his own. A certain 'wedding ring' he'd picked up who knows where. Looked nice, looked expensive, looked magical. "Anything we need to watch out for or keep an eye out for? We've been through a lot and we want this to be nice and simple if we can keep it that way." Izzick kept the ring in his hands - Pig could appraise if from there if he wanted, last thing he needed was the guy putting it on a little too early. "No clue what this is worth, picked it up in the bad lands. But it's all I got at the moment as a cherry on top."

21:14, Today: Izzick rolled 24 using 1d20+11.  Bluff.

Bluff if needed to convince him the ring needs it.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 13):

Pig takes the ring and gives it a long look.  He finally grins, larger then he had previously, and drops the ring into a pocket.

"Tarrov's gotta mole in his organization.  Lady named Sabrina.  She came to me and asked if I could get her in touch with Queenie's agents.  Even I don't do that.  So she moved on.

"I would reckon that Sabrina is offerin' to serve Tarrov's head up on a platter.  Just a guess mind."

"Pleasure doing business." Izzick said, glad to be rid of it and hoping Pig was a man who'd soon be happily married. The type of dirt he fed people? He deserved it after all. "Zuni, got anything else to ask him?" If Tarrov had any reason to distrust them for whatever reason in this new Queen-damned world, well, they had a way to help an old friend out as well. "The faster we can get there, the better."

In reply to Izzick (msg # 15):

It will take about a half hour to get there by foot.  Faster if you use other means of transportation.  Up to you guys what that 'other means' is

I think by foot for now. Save on spells and avoid bringing a carriage over to the hide away.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 17):

The three of you arrive at the square the bakery is on.

The first thing you notice is how abandonded this area is.  Even for a city in the middle of being reduced to ruins by a possessed Queen, this area seems very, very quiet.

There doesn't seem to be anyone around.  Really.  You don't see hide nor hair of Queenie's troops.

Zuni glanced around the area for the umpteenth time before sucking air between her teeth.  "I was really expecting much more of the Queen and her cronies around." she said to Izzick and Chandanar.  "Or maybe we just beat them all here."

Zuni crept towards the shadows of a nearby building and started to make her way around the area towards the bakery.  Shekept an eye out for anything, or anyone, that seemed to be out of the ordinary for such a quiet place.

OOC:
Stealth -> 19

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 19):

You creep like starvation through an orphanage, heading across the square.  The door to the bakery is open.  It looks like someone forced it open.

The inside of the shop is bare, but in the dust, you can see what looks like two sets of recent footprints.  They are heading in the way you want to head.

Following King Pig's instructions, you find the break in the basement wall that leads to the sewer line.  You make the turns and find the stairs.

But as you start to ascend the stairs, you can hear the sounds of fighting.  Well.  Massacring really.  There's lots of screaming.  The agonized kind.

As you come around the bend, you can see what looks to be the rebels last stand.

There are two large women.  Very large women.  Maybe nine or ten feet tall.  They have kind of a bluish green skin and sport horns on various parts of their heads.  They both wield glaives and do so with formidable accuracy.

There are already a large number of bodies.  The survivors seem to be bunching up at the far end of the hall, on the opposite side where you are.

They seem to be trying to form a meat shield wall between the two ladies...you think they're ogre magi...and a small tent that's set at one end.

Unless the ogre magi slip on the pools of blood and crack open their heads, the most these rebels are doing are delaying the inevitable.

And you are behind the ogre magi.

"...aw hells..."  Zuni muttered, looking back at Izzick and Chandanar.  "Any ideas before I go and do something really stupid?"

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 21):

Chandanar shakes his head.  <royalred>"I don't know if we can do anything that isn't stupid here.  I'm gonna quiet them up with a silence charm in case they lob spells.  That okay?</Purple>

You may proceed with any actions.  I don't see any way out of this other than combat.

Izzy?  Ideas?

"Ideas? Not much besides this," Izzick said, drawing out the wand forsome quick blasting, hoping he could get both of the two ogre women in one go. The tip charged up until it was glowing then discharged as a massive burst of electricity - a single chain that struck straight forward from where they were. If Zuni got to do something stupid than so did he after all. "Unless you think your idea was better." Taking the initiative, he kept the wand pointed at both, calling out, "I'd take a few steps away if I were you. This areas got protection from the likes of you." _{If it helped, Izzick knows Orc and Abyssal as well.}

Reflex DC17 for half
21:38, Today: Izzick rolled 14 using 5d6.  Elec Damage.

Of course a crummy roll.

In reply to Izzick (msg # 23):

One of the Ogre Magi shrieks, though doesn't seem too burnt up.

The other one turns, and looks back at you.  That one turns and starts running at you...


One of the ogre magi is running towards ya'll.  The other is standing there.


Your moves.  Thanks

"I'm all full of stupid ideas."  Zuni said, glancing over at Izzick and Chandanar as she drew her duelling sword.  "I guess we'll see whose is the worst."

Zuni surged forward at the ogre that was charging towards them.  She weaved and spun, looking to avoid the reach of the glaives that the two were using.  When she was close enough, the much shorter woman would try and halt the charge with a thrust of her blade.

OOC:
Acrobatics -> 20
Attack -> 32
Damage ->18

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 25):

Izzick, the ogre you fried is opening his mouth...and nothing comes out.  Chandanar is chanting at him, but gives you a sideways grin.  Your pernicious priest seems to have silenced the onerous ogre.

Zuni, you sail in, charging like a ballerina who moonlights as an assassin.

You stab into the charging Ogre Magi and mangae to gracefully avoid his counter swing.

He wiggles his fingers.  Like he's about to throw some hoodoo your way...

Your guys go.

Izzick kept the wand in hand but this time, his chanting was his own, conjuring magic from inside his soul. "Well I tried to warn ya'," he gave before he finished calling forth the spark of fire in his hands. That flame soon pushed fforward, a dragonic appearance forming across the serpentine burst. It twisted around Zuni, frying the first ogre and then opening it's jaws wide as it extended towards the second one as well.

Casting Fire Snake

DC22 Reflex for half damage
10:34, Today: Izzick rolled 47 using 12d6+1 ((3,3,6,1,5,6,1,3,5,3,4,6)).

Zuni paused only for a moment to give Izzick a wide eyed look of astonishment.  She had seen him throw around some spells before but a fiery snake was something else.  It was only a moment though and then Zuni turned back around went on the attack, her blade slashing through the space between her and the Ogre.

OOC:
Zuni will attack the Ogre mage in from of her but if Izzicks spell ends her, she will shift to the other Ogre.
Attacks -> 20,25,16,14
Damage -> 19,24,20,24

In reply to Izzick (msg # 27):

Land O Goshen.  You are your fire snakes.

What the snake doesn't char up, Zuni slashes up.  The first magi goes down with no further whimper.

The second one is still hanging in there, though he seems to be screaming from the pain.  Since Chandanar silenced him, it's hard to tell.

So instead he pulls out a potion flask...

One more.  Go for it guys

As one ogre fell, Zuni turned towards the other.  It looked as though it was about to down a potion.  Zuni closed the distance and thrust upward with her blade hoping to knock the potion out of the ogres hand.

OOC:
Disarm attempt -> 24

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 30):

The potion goes up...up...up...

Gonna try to catch it?

It took Zuni a second to realize that her blade had knocked the potion out of the ogres hands, but as soon as she had, the smaller woman knew that she wanted it.  If the Ogre was going to drink it then it must be valuable and something that would go to waste shattering against the floor stones.

Tracking the potions arc, Zuni chased after it, stretching out her free hand to snag it from the air.

OOC:
Acrobatics to catch the bottle -> 24

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 32):

You snatch the potion from midair O zephyrous Zuni

It is a potion of Barkskin +5

"Mine." Zuni said, whirling about to bring her sword point back towards the ogre.  "I haven't forgotten about you."

Zuni continued her move, thrusting her blade at the ogres ample flesh.

OOC:
Attack -> 33
Damage -> 21

In reply to Zuni Runesong (msg # 34):

You officially off the onerous ogre magi.