He hesitated, he had hoped to be the one who avoided close combat, but he didn't have any ranged weapons. Or aremor, for that matter. Damn.

"Sure, whatever you say."

He headed downstairs.

__________________________________________

Hewney came down the stairs alone.

"Pathwyn has taken over the watch. She is going to roll a ball of rope down the stairs if we need to rush out and help the others."

Pathwyn peeked out at the docks to see how their new friends were doing.  She ducked back down, scooted to the other side of the tower, and took a quick, careful look over Farnworth, particularly the inn.

She'd been the lookout on ships before, but you never had to cower stealthily in a crow's nest.  That part of it wasn't very fun.  One time a Naut captain put her up in the crow's nest on a moonless night because he had been told elves could see in the dark.  She tried to explain to him that her infravision had a short range and all she could see in the dark was the very ship she was on.  It wasn't a very pleasant place to be all night.  The nest was windy and chilly even wrapped in a blanket, and it swayed around like you wouldn't believe, which was twice as disorienting in the dark.  At least she had the stars to look at.

Dak found a window, from which he could watch downhill toward the inn, seeing no one about on the main street of town.  Alvador and Hewney had the time to make certain that their preparations were complete, as well as checking through the things that had been left behind in the back rooms of the church--most of that had gone without investigation as they had first been fighting and then moving quickly out of town after Hewney had been wounded.

Diligently searching, Hewney hopes to find something, anything of use in the upcoming fight. Or to fill his pockets, of course...
This message was last edited by the player at 01:14, Sun 23 May 2021.

Dak thought dropping a ball down the stairs was a bit elaborate for a signal to attack, but it would probably work.  He kept an eye on the inn and town.  Things were going to get crazy pretty soon now.

He slid his sword out a few inches and let it drop back down.  Why couldn't everybody just get along?

The smaller room with the stairs to the bell tower and to the basement crypt had contained a bed and a footlocker.  The bed itself was unremarkable, as was the bedding upon it.  The footlocker contained some clothing and a ring and some coins.

The other room, which held two cots and footlockers in the back, as well as the stuffed chairs and table.  On their prior visit, there had been an ornate box and pipe sitting on the table, but that was not present now.  One footlocker here was empty.  The second contained some clothing and a few coins.

Pocketing his findings, Hewney tells anyone else in the room that he will toss it into the pot when they get chance, and drop it all in his pouch.

---

Despite nothing much of interest happening, Pathwyn stayed diligent in sneaking peeks at the boats and the town.

As Pathwyn kept watch in the bell tower, while Dak watched from a window, it seemed the closest to an opportune time to count and divide the coins that they had gathered over the course of their travels.

The large, heavy bag from Gwysol's tower proved to hold a total of 215 asil and 400 griel.  The pouch that had been taken from Eliphas' place now held 888 asil.  Finally, the coins taken from the hidden chest of the church basement proved to hold 2960 asil.

Dak continued his watch from the window, looking out over the town toward the inn.  No one seemed to be moving from the inn to the church--or toward the stables.

Pathwyn wondered what she was seeing.  Was it magic?  Certainly nothing she'd ever seen before.

---

02:49, Today: Pathwyn na'Sylviis rolled 18 using 1d20.  Spellcraft (10 or under).

---

"All clear in town," Dak said over his shoulder to whomever was nearby.  "I don't see anyone coming this way on my side."

He was thinking about the people from the boat.  He used to travel with them and they seemed to have been concerned for him, but he knew what they'd tried to do to Eliphas and his men.  That just wasn't right.  You don't go into someone's house and take what's theirs.

And although he didn't always agree with the elven blood priestess' mode of worship, she at least wasn't always on the lookout for evil to smite without cause.  Storm was always looking for a reason to kill something.  How he rationalized that as a priestly action, Dak didn't know.  Perhaps it was just some religious zeal shared by all priests and priestesses, be they human or elf.

At least the elf wasn't all self righteous about it.

Having long ago learned to take maximum advantage of the time at hand, Hewney falls into a gentle, light doze, napping on the edge of consciousness, but ready to wake up at a moments notice.

Dak slid his sword out a few inches with his thumb and let it slide back in again.  Was he a grave robber?  He'd been thinking it for some time, now.  Even though it would have all been destroyed, it had been meant for someone to have in their afterlife.

Although, since it was still there with no family to care about what happened to it, he supposed the dead had already gotten all the use they wanted out of it.  He'd have to ask the Blood Priestess about it.  Whether the dead really needed it anymore.

Alvador scans the area, waiting for those in the boat or docking, or debarking....

From their positions, finally the group waiting in the church for the others could see the group that they had met at the old house arriving.  However, as the group started to ascend the hill the church sat upon, a group of five men came out of the inn.

One of the men the group would recognize as Cannibal.  The four men behind him seemed to be wearing leather tunics over their clothing, two of them armed with long swords, one with what appeared to be an old, battered scimitar, and another with a battle axe.

Dak looked over to see if anything had been thrown down the stairs of the bell tower.  In the meantime, he began to warm up with some knee bends and swinging his arms back and forth.

"Looks like we're going to get into it now," he said quietly as he looked over to see Hewney sleeping.

---

It looked like the crew of the Ananke wasn't going to make it to the church in secret as she had hoped, but that wasn't all bad.  Now they got to put Alvador's plan into action and Veja gave her a fine chance to fill bad guys full of arrows.

Pathwyn gave the ball of rope a good kick to send it down the stairs to signal the attack.  If Cannibal was within 210 yards of her she'd fire two surprise shots at him.  (It's good to be an elf.)  If he was within 100 yards she'd use sheaf arrows, otherwise she'd use flight arrows.

---

23:07, Today: Pathwyn na'Sylviis rolled 5 using 1d20+4.  Surprise arrow 1 to hit.
23:08, Today: Pathwyn na'Sylviis rolled 20 using 1d20+4.  Surprise arrow 2 to hit (maybe).

OOC: A natural 1 and an unnatural 20.  Lots of room for DM judgement!  If anything hits please roll Pathwyn's d6 or d8 damage for her.

From the window, the rest of the party can see that the group met at the house was ascending the hill to the church when a group of five, including Cannibal, came out of the inn.  What was being said could not be heard, but it looked like a challenge of some sort had been issued, and a tall armored man had stepped away from the group to make a salute to Cannibal.  From inside the church, what was being said could not be heard.

"This should get interesting," Dak said as he watched the presumptive holy man approach Cannibal for parley.  Though his cue just thumped down the stairs, he was tempted to see how it turned out.

He nudged the dozing half elf with his boot and nodded to Alvador.  "Let's see if we can get out of here without being spotted," he proposed as he moved to the front door to see how far they were from the meeting of the minds.

Rising, fully alert, Hewney checked his surroundings, and stretched.

"What's happening?"

Alvador follows Dak's lead.