Arc 8 Post 17: Thieves' Turnabout
Thieves' Turnabout
3rd of Neth 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
"Tie them up," you say. Seeing the slinger about to argue, you add. "Our dwarf companion whom you stole from, Urgor, will be less likely to want to take your heads if he sees you look proper beaten by the time he wakes up."
"Well then mate, you'd best keep him asleep then, cause that poison only lasts about a minute. Long enough that we'd planned to tie you up," Gavis shrugs, the smile pulling at the markings on his face into new and oddly mesmerizing patterns.
Gorok isn't arguing with him, he had already started to tie up 'Legs' as Mina leaned down to heal the clawed woman, an elf of some forest kith by the shape of the ears pocking through her mane of red hair. Her eyes snap open to the sight of Cob's dagger an inch or so above them.
"Well fuck," she groans, from more than just the pain you'd wager. "My name's Triss-Three-Souls and I'm the leader of this band. I'll be doing any negotiating... shut up, Gavis," she doesn't even look at him as he says that, like it's part of their natural rhythm of speech. "We don't recognize the legitimacy of Andoran law, nor any law derived from the Old Taldan codes. We will stand for our deeds before the Keth of Mog-Tor."
"Woodsfolk, that last bit means woodsfolk," the scoundrel adds, undaunted. "Just to be clear, she isn't really talking about laws and other scribblin'. She's saying if you try to send us back to Carpenden, unless the whole lot of you decide to try to turn around there'll be a keth war-band springing us within the day."
"Are you trying to get us killed?" the halfling, Ellie, throws quite the impressive glare despite her stature.
"I wouldn't advise it. Make that three war-bands dogging your steps, waking or sleepin'..."
"Gavis, I swear to the Three I'm going to gag you myself if you don't shut up," Triss says in a tone that would elicit sympathy if your chest weren't still a bloody mess from those claws.
"On account of our glorious leader being the apprentice of Uroth himself, grandson of the Grove Keeper, she'd be like a princess if..." The words cut off as Gorok actually does gag him, earning a giggle from Cob.
"He said you are the leader, none of the others argued. You said to be silent so that we can talk," the iruxi explains bluntly as he starts to tie up the wounded elf as Mina lends you a healing hand to add to your own efforts. Still a bit sore, but that will pass on its own. This bunch may have been beaten, but you are still keenly aware of the alien shadows under the trees.
Alas, there is no gentle way to pull an arrow out of someone to heal them, but it definitely does wake Urgor to the sight of four bound and one gagged thief.... and to you making the point about their prospects clear.
"I don't want to hold a grudge and there is already too much blood on my hands, unlike my good friend Master Urgor here, who nurses grudges like they're his own kin and would gladly decorate the forest with your entrails for the wrong you've committed against him."
The resulting tirade from said dwarf makes it rather hard to get a word in edgewise for a few minutes, as well as upsetting the poor bat. Truth be told you feel a little guilty for tying it up, but you've spent enough time around Warty to know it would be foolish not to. Thankfully the expedition's prospects of crossing the forest safely, but especially for the prospects of the thieves, Sirim manages to get through to him, oddly enough by being as humorless as a weights inspectors on market day and just as insistent.
"What do you think that does to our odds? Is it truly worth it to your clan?" The same questions asked again and again and again with every irate suggestion.
So at last it comes back to you. "Looks like you get a chance to live, let bygones be bygones." The words are so heavy with magic you're surprised the breath in them does not stain the air with the hues of unreality. "All you have to do is answer our questions truthfully. If you lie... well, there's no reason to assume you've told the truth about it being any trouble to kill you now is there?"
As you pace around the four very nervous thieves you speak words for truth that that almost seem to sizzle on the tongue. That's not what this power is for, something deep inside insists, but you you brush is aside. This is your will, so this is the shape that it shall take.
They are not, as it turns out lying. Not even their thoughts betray it. Of the Keth, the Primordial Ones, not many can walk abroad in the cities of Andoran, to trade and gather rumors. Triss has always been one of them, thanks in no part due to the influence of her elven mother, a traveling bard from Kyonin. So over the years she had built up contacts in the border regions and among the traders, including among the shape-changer community. When Tobyn had shown up in Carpenden with his stories of a bounty from the Almas shape-changers on Gorok's head it had seemed too good to be true. She and her merry band would have less trouble claiming it than most, and it would be a source of silver that even the most curmudgeonly of druid elders would struggle to argue against.
That is not to say they did not discover the bounty was a lie. 'Legs', or as he is more properly called, 'Strong-Legs-Leaps-into-Danger', had heard you talking about that around the campfire, but by then Ellie had already made the calculations of just how much Mina's staff or your sword and pendant might be worth. The halfling gives you a vaguely apologetic look. Somehow you are not surprised to find that Gavis had goaded the others into continuing with the plan since 'you can't know for sure they aren't lying about the bounty being bunk'.
"Just to be clear?" you ask solicitously. "The idea was that we were lying for the benefit of a hidden listener we did not know was there?"
"...yes," comes the sullen answer from Three-Souls.
Even Mina has to hide a smile behind her hand.
And somehow it gets worse.
The Court of Veils is real as they come and is a real problem to the Keth and their fey allies. If you had followed Gavis' directions you would have ended up in a confrontation with a fey lord banished from the Court of Ether and newly established in this part of the Verduran though 'fucking fey politics.' They couldn't just kill him themselves, but if he happened to be killed by strangers with no association with the Primordial Ones that would have worth more than the goods they had already taken.
"So you were planning to rob us blind and then use us to fight your battles?" you press.
"Or you could have died," Gavis shrugged as he is ungagged to further explain. "You wouldn't give up the trail." He motions to Gorok. "Legs and Triss said there was nothing they could do to shut up the birds. If you didn't die we'd have given you the dwarf's gems and rune gate back, claiming we had tracked down the 'real' thieves."
Urgor is changing colors at an alarming speed... and then he finds his voice: "Ye were going to use the treasures of my clan as tokens of treachery, play 'em in yer slimy games?"
"Cob would like you to know he thinks it was a clever-cunning plan, and he'd like to still 'shank and rob' the fey lord since he 'doesn't have friends 'round here'," you can hear the migraine in Sirim's mind voice, which is quite the achievement seeing as he doesn't have a physical head.
After you are positive you can keep your laugh in you give both of them an understanding look before turning back to the questioning, cutting off the furious dwarf. "Did you have anything to do with the guard going missing yesterday?"
"No," Triss answers instantly. "Must've been a river snake. They've been acting strange lately, migrating south in greater numbers since the start of summer, mid-Sarenith by the Absalom Reckoning. Just be glad none of their elders have started moving yet." Admitedly, you could have done without the mental image of a sixty foot snake, even if the one in her memory is dead.
In addition to the ring gate, the other side of which reveal's a bleak chamber arrayed with the tombs and statues of long dead dwarfs, some of which turn their heads at the change in lighting from their side of the gate, and the stolen bag of gems, your captives have about five hundred pieces of Andoran Gold on them, but the real treasure is in things they tried to beat, stab, and generally pummel you into unconsciousness with.
'Legs' was, alas, entirely out of the damn fey poison that had put Urgor to sleep, but Ellie's magic cloak is still filled with vials of the sort that make Cob's eyes light up dangerously. The bow from which those arrows had been launched is also subtly enchanted, grown from an ancient tree of the First World, whose kin could never thrive under the thin sun of the mortal realm. By far the most interesting weapon of the lot was one that had not even drawn blood, Gavis' sword.
Mina recognizes the pummel as not just a dragon, but a linnorm, the mark of a would-be king.
"How...?" she looks up in confusion.
There's a flash of anger from the thief, though not at her, at least not mostly. You glimpse an old warrior, his cheek marked with a ragged scar poorly healed, dead and laid out on a his pyre. It's edged with rage and sorrow, with fear and spite, and in the midst of the riot of feelings is a single word: father.
Nothing of that shows in his devil-may-care wink. "The way you get most things in life, love. I took it. The cloak has trick pockets too, see?" Tied up as he is he can only wiggle in its direction.
Is this how Click could have ended up if he remained with his Chelish kin? you wonder grimly.
Mina Knowledge (Nobility) (DC 18/23): 1d20+14 = 25 (Full Success)
"You won't get much use out of my leathers unless one of you has the beast in them," Triss interrupts, trying to offer a distraction you know, especially when she adds. "I won that amulet off a monk in a bet, saying he could do with his own two hands what I did with a tiger's claws. It was close, but close doesn't get you dinner, though it might get you made into dinner at least." Her laugh's a little bitter, likely thinking of how close they'd been to winning and walking off with what's yours.
"The beast-mage makes a better point than perhaps she knows," Sirim muses. "We have less use for some of these enchantments than others, though of course we could sell them off. Perhaps the goodwill of this druid, Uroth, is worth more."
Alchemical Items:
Alchemist's Fire x3
Fungal Stun Vial x1
Liquid Ice x3
Shard Gel x5
Magical Items:
Cloak of the Hedge Wizard
Description: Patched together from dozens of different materials and inscribed with snippets of spells in almost as many tongues. Drawing the cloak over one's head allows simple mage-sight, which can be briefly sharpened to look for more particular treasures.
Ability: Cloak of the Hedge Wizard (Divination)
Lantern's Eye Bow
Description: Grown from sun-wood which, according to legend, was planted and then promptly forgotten about by the Lantern King himself. This bow draws ever the eye of the archer to targets they have struck before.
Ability: +1 Designating Composite Longbow (Small)
Druidcraft Talisman:
Description: This simple wooden bangle carved in the shape of a spiral looks to have been carved with simple stone tools, or perhaps even claws.
Ability: Only functions within Forest or Swamp areas. While in those areas, the wearer gains a +1 Resistance bonus on all saves and animals, even trained ones, have to make a DC 11 Willsave to attack user, unless they attack the animal first.
Lizardmarked Blade
Description: Forged by Ulfen smiths for the heir of a king or a warrior of great daring who would challenge the linnorms, in whose likeness the pummel was forged, this blade is likely to draw trouble if worn openly by a non-Ulfen.
Abilities:
Description: This dark burgundy cloak shifts its hue and pattern to blend in against its surroundings
Abilities:
Description: Forged of humble tin this amulet bears the mark of Iori, usually found in the possession of those who take up the path of the wandering sage in his image. According to Triss it's hollow, containing prayer scrolls written in an imposibily fine hand, though she has never tried to take them out.
Ability: Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists +1
Leathers of Instinct
Description: Though at first glance these leathers seem like common wraps, closer inspection reveal they cling to the body almost like living thing, no matter what shape one wears.
Ability: These leathers are a useful tool for Druids and Shapeshifters. It grants a +2 Armor Bonus without counting as armor for the purpose of any class features, and while Wildshaped the bonus is converted into additional Natural Armor that stacks with the NA-bonus from the transformation. Additionally, they grant a +4 Resistance bonus against any spells that would only affect Humanoid targets (such as Charm Person), by allowing the wearer to be mentally closer to their Wildshaped form for a moment, regardless of their actual form.
Alchemist's Fire x3
Fungal Stun Vial x1
Liquid Ice x3
Shard Gel x5
Magical Items:
Cloak of the Hedge Wizard
Description: Patched together from dozens of different materials and inscribed with snippets of spells in almost as many tongues. Drawing the cloak over one's head allows simple mage-sight, which can be briefly sharpened to look for more particular treasures.
Ability: Cloak of the Hedge Wizard (Divination)
Lantern's Eye Bow
Description: Grown from sun-wood which, according to legend, was planted and then promptly forgotten about by the Lantern King himself. This bow draws ever the eye of the archer to targets they have struck before.
Ability: +1 Designating Composite Longbow (Small)
Druidcraft Talisman:
Description: This simple wooden bangle carved in the shape of a spiral looks to have been carved with simple stone tools, or perhaps even claws.
Ability: Only functions within Forest or Swamp areas. While in those areas, the wearer gains a +1 Resistance bonus on all saves and animals, even trained ones, have to make a DC 11 Willsave to attack user, unless they attack the animal first.
Lizardmarked Blade
Description: Forged by Ulfen smiths for the heir of a king or a warrior of great daring who would challenge the linnorms, in whose likeness the pummel was forged, this blade is likely to draw trouble if worn openly by a non-Ulfen.
Abilities:
- +1 Shocking Shortsword
- The wielder automatically detects any electrical discharges within 100 feet, and as a move action can concentrate on a creature within 60 feet to determine whether it has a resistance or immunity to electricity damage.
- Once per day, the wielder can speak the lizardmarked blade's command word to cause the weapon to deal damage as if it's one size category larger than it actually is (effectively increasing the gladius's damage die from 1d6 to 1d8). This lasts for 10 minutes.
Description: This dark burgundy cloak shifts its hue and pattern to blend in against its surroundings
Abilities:
- Grants the wearer a +5 competence bonus on Stealth checks. The cloak holds a concealed scabbard in which a light blade (as defined in the fighter weapon group) can be hidden.
- The wearer can draw the blade as if from a normal scabbard, but anyone searching the wearer for the item must succeed at a DC 20 Perception check, as if they were looking for a secret door.
- If a swashbuckler is wearing the cloak, they can spend 1 panache point to vanish, just like the spell.
Description: Forged of humble tin this amulet bears the mark of Iori, usually found in the possession of those who take up the path of the wandering sage in his image. According to Triss it's hollow, containing prayer scrolls written in an imposibily fine hand, though she has never tried to take them out.
Ability: Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists +1
Leathers of Instinct
Description: Though at first glance these leathers seem like common wraps, closer inspection reveal they cling to the body almost like living thing, no matter what shape one wears.
Ability: These leathers are a useful tool for Druids and Shapeshifters. It grants a +2 Armor Bonus without counting as armor for the purpose of any class features, and while Wildshaped the bonus is converted into additional Natural Armor that stacks with the NA-bonus from the transformation. Additionally, they grant a +4 Resistance bonus against any spells that would only affect Humanoid targets (such as Charm Person), by allowing the wearer to be mentally closer to their Wildshaped form for a moment, regardless of their actual form.
What do you do?
[] Take all the magic items
[] Leave Triss her items
-[] The Pendant
-[] The Leathers
-[] Both
[] Write in
OOC: Enjoy.
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