A smirk arises on Delta's face at the comments of Matthias. Stealth would have been nice, but you can't always get what you want.

Opening the lantern hood wider, to allow for increased speed, the little gnome moves ahead as fast as the movement of those before her allows.

Kellen dashes forward and swings his sword but his target is quicker than he looks and dodges the attack.

The two men with swords are confronted by the ranger, the closer one returns a swing of weapons with the same results as the ranger had, swinging at air!  The other man turns and leaves the room by the far exit.



Human fighter:   AC:7  Hp's:  x/x

PC       Class        Level    HP      AC   THAC 6

Vala     Fighter         3    22/22     2     12
Tanyl    Mage/Thief     2/3   13/13     4     15
Delta    Fghtr/Illnst   2/2   14/14     2     13
Matthias Cleric          2    17/17     6     14

In reply to DM Bard (msg # 23):

Careful to stay out of the way of the front line fighters, Delta slides to the left flank, and stabs out with her short-sword. Apparently she had the element of surprise, perhaps due to her small size, but her blade slid in deep. She gave it a twist before pulling it back, in hopes of doing more damage!

13:02, Today: Delta rolled 20 using 1d20 ((20)).
Max damage is 6.

Vala gives a Northern war cry and runs after the retreating guard, determined to chase him down before he gets far.

As Vala disappears chasing after the second man, Kellen swings twice, connecting each time with moderate damage.

Matthias enters the room with his mace and shield drawn. Hoping to avoid pointless bloodshed and perhaps take the man alive, the cleric raises channels the divine power of his deity and commands the man with the sword to "HALT!"

Then, as an aside to his companions, and assuming the man is compelled to comply, he quickly says, "Quickly. Bind him. Take him as prisoner!"

OOC: Cast command.

Command
Range: 10 ft
Duration: 1 round
Area of Effect: 1 living creature
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 segment
Saving Throw: See below
By speaking a single word of command with the force of divine power behind it,
the cleric may force a creature to obey an order. The creature must be able
to hear the cleric and understand the language in which he or she utters the
command. The command may be only one word, must be a verb, and must be completely
unambiguous. “Halt,” “Flee,” and “Sleep” are typical commands, but many others
are possible. The effects may not extend beyond a single round, and the command
“Die” has the same effect as the command to “Sleep”.

Creatures with intelligence of 13+ and/or hit dice of 6+ gain a saving throw
against the spell’s influence.

Tanyl also sprints after the fleeing man.

If Mathias's spell works, he will bind the man as he suggested and say to Vala: "Help Kellen."

The injured man suddenly stops his counterattack and stands rather still as Tanyl binds him up, he is bloodied from two smaller wounds delivered by Kellen, and one much worse delivered by Delta.

Vala rushes after the other man, taking the stair up two or three at a time, and then nearly knocks him over as she rounds the corner to the hallway.   He is standing there, leaning against the wall and holding his head, he looks unsteady but has dropped his sword.

In reply to DM Bard (msg # 29):

Delta will leaving the binding of the man to Kellen and Matthias, and quickly search the room, wiping the blood off of her sword and returning it to it's sheath.

If need be, she had magics that she thought could make questioning the man more effective, but Tanyl seemed to have that ability as well. She would save her scant few opportunities at magic for now.

A quick search of the room reveals personal items likely belonging to the two men, each has a chest with extra clothes, boots, sacks, and a handful of coins.  The table has pieces of paper laid out and one is the drawing of a small town you don't recognize, it appears some plotting is going on.

If any of the clothes seem new or nice, she will take them, as well as the coins. Most importantly she will take the papers, carefully rolling them up. They might come in handy. She will also check for any spices or food stores they might have.

Are they human, is the room lit? If she can find oil flasks she will take a few of those as well.

"I accept your surrender," Vala says. The barbarian warrioress grins at the man, takes his sword for her own and escorts him back to the others. "He came peacefully!"

The room is lit by a single large brazier.

The surrendered man looks relieved his compatriot is still alive.

"May I bind that wound so he doesn't bleed to death. Look, we aren't really big fans of Tegroth, just picked up a few small jobs, if its all the same to you, can we just leave, take our stuff, we'll just make a run for it and you'll never see us again."

"Nobody is going to bleed to death," Matthias reponds, annoyed, to sellsword.

As soon as Tanyl has secured the man, Matthias will direct his attention to the wounded mercenary and bind his wounds as best as he is able. While dressing the man's wounds, he continues, "the terms of your release are entirely dependent on what information you have that is of use to," he cinches off a bandage with a little more pressure than necessary to make a point, "Us"

"We are looking for two sisters of Ehlonna," he remarks. "Kidnapped by Tegroth. What do you know of it?"

"Speak now and speak true," he says with irritation.

Things had gone easier than Delta had expected, and she was doubly glad to see Vala return safe and with the fleeing man. It appeared he hadn't been able to set off an alarm, thank the gods.

"After he tells us about the sisters, I have a few more questions for the men. Like when are they expecting relief or food. And what was this map all about."

She shows the paper she found that they had been drawing or studying.

"Yes, yes, of course. The women are mere steps away, through that corridor, each in her own cell, unmolested though frightened.  Tegroth ordered us to that duty, to make sure they remained, unharmed, he could not rely on the hobs or dogs for such.  It was more than just our lives if we failed and we did not.  Just beyond their cells is a door with four more guards, they hold the keys to the cells"

The corridor he indicates is to the east.

Matthias carefully listens to the sellsword's words while studying his demeanor to look for any possible signs of deception--shifty eyes, hesitation providing info, excessive blinking, and the like.

"Know this, if you are found to be lying, there will be consequences."

"And what of these guards? Are their loyalties to Tegroth the same as yours?" he says quicker now, his voice somewhat lower.

The man appears to be genuinely trying to be helpful enough to earn his freedom.

"Black-hearted elves, they hate everyone, but are loyal to Tegroth.  If you pass the first door to their room, go to the corner and take a left, you'll see a second door, it is the only other entrance, if you attacked from both sides, they'd have no way to run."

Looking to Delta,

"Tegroth's crews come and go, there are still a few crews out on missions but when they'll return we don't know.   The maps we've been looking at are a few towns, Tegroth is trying to capture someone and he thinks they live in one of the places we are studying.  The person is a member of a Blood Cult who might know where their headquarters is hidden in the City of Stormhaven.  I don't know the details being low in ranks, but it has something to with magic weapons, its all he thinks about.  I mean, he's got enough treasure to buy an island, he should just retire".

"Very well," Matthias. "If what you say is true, you will have been very helpful and will have acquitted yourself quite well, despite poor employment decisions."

"But here it is, your chance to redeem yourselves in the eyes of Erathis," he says, summoning his most earnest tone. "Join swords with us, help us defeat these black-hearted elves, vanquish Tegroth, and reclaim the pure-hearted sisters, and you will have earned your redemption through action, not words."


"To sweeten the deal, and induce your full-hearted support, I will also offer each of you a sum of 20 gold pieces, each, from my own coffers. Paid in full when we've seen to the sisters' safety."

"Pledge your loyalty, here, before the gods, and I promise you will have earned your freedom," he says, making eye contact with both men.

"I warn you, make no false promises, before the eyes and ears of the Gods!" he cautions.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:52, Thu 20 May 2021.

The man lowers his eyes, "Can't we just go now...?"

"No. You cannot," Matthias sternly responds.

Turning now back to Vala and Tanyl, "Bind them both. Gag and bound them, since they seem unwilling to do the right thing and we can't trust them to not betray us later."

As far as Matthias is concerned, the issue is settled, but of course he will listen to his companions' counsel on the issue and is in no way trying to assert leadership over any other. He is just frustrated by the situation.

"A blood cult? Perhaps we should try and find out who that person is as well, sounds like things might get more complicated that we thought."

She examined the map, though there was little to no hope of learning much from the scribbling at this point.

She watches Matthias have the two men bound and gagged, and approved. She didn't mind letting them go, if they were reasonably innocent of harming Unicorns, but now was not the time.

After they are bound, she crouches down next to them and ungags them for the moment. She gives them both some water, and hopes a bit of kindness might loosen their lips.

"Do you know anything about why Tegroth was hunting the Unicorns? Was that the sole reason for attacking the sisterhood, or was there more?"

Tanyl helps bind and gag the men as Matthias advised.

The men, having apparently missed their chance at freedom, refuse to answer any more questions but do not resist being bound.