Council of Thieves [Bastards of Erebus] (IC)

[Blackhawk101]

With practiced ease, Gabrielle undoes the clasp on the neck of dress and wiggles out of the form fitting garment leaving her clothed in her lacy pale green lingerie. She slips off her shoes and wraps them quickly in the dress to form a compact bundle.
“what? This dress cost a fortune!”
With that she quickly climbs down the shaft.

[digiman619]

Aldo drops character. He'd tried playing it cool, even after what was supposed to be a business dinner turned dangerously political, But now he was out of options. Between their active attempt to knock the door down and Janiven calling him by name (Which obviously a way to weaken his position; there was no way anyone with enough talent in espionage to set this up would make that mistake), he really had no option. "Cer o 'ma! Ni ddylwn fod wedi gadael fy rôl fel llygoden erioed!" he swore in Halfling as he began running towards the trapdoor. He pulled at his sleeve as hid did so, a translucent pair of sleeves coming off as the fine courtier's clothes revealing themselves to be a simple entertainer's outfit, though the ring and necklace that seemed part and parcel of the fancy get-up still remained. As he approached the trapdoor, he'd adjusted the sleeves and now he was wearing a more practical adventurer's outfit, putting the jewelry away before heading down the ramp, glaring daggers at Janiven as he did so.

Spoiler: Halfling

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F*ck off! I should have never left my role as a rat!

[lostsole31]

The man, whose alcoholic state must have made him pliant on the landing, is a little bruised, but none the worse for wear. He grabs his starknife and crawls out of the way of the ladder and Tia.

When Tia came to around the bar, she found Janiven opening a small secret door in the back of a floor-level cupboard. A small crawlspace leads to a trap down. It was not a long climb, but a mere 6' drop - 1' for the floor, and a five-foot tall sewer. Of course, since Tia is 4'10", she is comfortable. The sewer is 10' wide, 5' tall, but with a 3-foot-deep trench for sewage. Obviously, it is pitch black down here, which is no bother for the dhampir.

---

Back above, Janiven directs Morosino through the trap. She yells through the opening, but also for the benefit of the people still in the tavern. "Morosino knows the way." Turning around she says, "Go down. I will slow the Hellknights from finding the exit. Go now!"

Meijen Gim stands and looks to Aldo and Folco. "Come. There is no more beauty to be had in life if you stay." He then goes over by Janiven. "I will go last of us, but I shall honor Janiven's covering our exit."

[meemaas]

Tia follows after the drunkard, unsure if she can trust him, but at least happy to know that he didn't bite the dust after his headfirst dive. She starts to move through the sewer, keeping her pace slower than she can manage, to allow the drunkard to lead the way. After everything else that has happened, she is now more interested in the drunkard than before, knowing that he is clearly more involved than it previously appeared.

[lostsole31]

Morosino sees Tia disappear in the darkness. The drunkard stands, but doesn't advance. "We wait for the others," says the boy, to Tia and the drunk "so we can all stay together in the dark and not lose anyone."

"Blashht, itsh dark down heeerre," says the drunk as a lingerie-clad Gabriella comes down with a her clothes in a bundle. The man takes out a candle from a satchel he carries. Despite slurring his words, the candle wick sparks alight, providing very weak light.

Aldo now comes down the ladder, seeing the stranger and sewer wanly illuminating himself, Gabriella, Tia, and Morosino. Folco and Meijin have yet to come down, with Janiven coming a relative unknown since she told Morosino to take you safely out of here.

[ClockworkCorvid]

"You two are suicidal. Come on, we should be able to outrun a bunch of armored fools. Better than throwing your life away." He stands and starts heading for the ladder, not willing to wait for an answer. He does an unnecessary vault over the bar and makes his way down the ladder. At the bottom, he steps away from the landing and draws his sword, regarding the others. "Lets not dawdle. Our host means to make herself a hero."

[lostsole31]

"Oh, believe me," says Janiven before Folco disappears from sight, "I'm doing no such thing. I just have a few tricks to buy us time."

---

Meijen and Folco head down. Meanwhile, above, Janiven closes the kitchen door, pulls down the shelves to create obstacles ... a sound horrendously loud enough to be heard in the sewers ... and uses a tanglefoot bag to further complicate things, just before following Meijen heads down.

[CORR to prior dimensions:] The secret tunnel under Vizio's Tavern is rough-hewn and leads down along a 20-foot-long, 5-foot wide hallway to a simple door. The opposite side of the door has a wooden bar; as the PCs and their guides pass through, Janiven bars the door to help slow the sure-to-be-following Hellknights. Since the PCs need light, since that candle just won't work for the group, Janiven lights her sunrod - which has a 30' radius of normal light (dim light to 60', and low-light vision out to 90').

On the other side of the door is a sewer tunnel running to the left and right—Janiven quickly points out the mark they left on their previous scouting of the tunnels, indicating they should flee to the left. They tell the PCs to look for these marks at every intersection, should they get separated from the group—the sword always points in the direction of the safe house.

Before Janiven and the PCs begin their flight through the sewers, she pushes aside a rock near the entrance to reveal a small hollow in the wall and sighs in relief. “Good,” she says, “They’re still here.” She stashed a small cache of healing potions here a few weeks ago in the event of an emergency just like this one. Janiven explains that they won’t have time to stop and rest as long as the Hellknights are after them, and splits the potions up among the six "guests"—there are enough potions of cure light wounds so that each person gets three (including the new guy, who has to be convinced it's not a delicious spirit to drink now).

While they walk, Janiven explains, “Arael and I made these marks a few months ago when we explored the sewers. We marked all the intersections so our people could find their way through the sewers to our hideout.”

As they travel, the noise of the Hellknights back at Vizio’s Tavern diminishes, but Janiven is sure they’ll follow. “They might take a few minutes to search in the tavern, but some are going to follow us down here after they grab a lantern or make torches. They might even try to infiltrate the sewers ahead of us if they can guess our route. We need to keep moving. I will help this drunken fool walk in the back, and Morosino will hold the sunrod in the middle of the group and direct you.”

Light is an important issue in the sewers, since the PCs are using light, the Hellknights have a greater chance of noticing them in the long, dark sewer tunnels, and Janiven wants to travel fast to get at least a couple of turns and zig-zags between themselves and Vizio’s to prevent this. As far as speed, the drunken man has trouble moving, but with Janiven's help there is no slowdown. At that point, it is Aldo's small legs that define the pace of the party (20').

It is in the main part of the sewer that you find the ceiling is 5' high, so everyone taller than that has to stoop (Tia and Aldo and Morosino are fine), but that provides no mechanical penalties. The passage is 10' wide with a 3' deep sewage trench on the side.

Only 30' down there is an intersection which, including the tunnel you are on, includes four other paths, and Morosino guides the group to the right. 30' down there is a junction, and Morosino guides the group down that side junction. Soon, there is another junction split that you take that leads you to a cesspit. This large, oddly shaped room has four exit tunnels and multiple sewer channels. One part of a channel connects to a long cesspit. Several large wooden planks form a simple bridge over another section of the channel. The cesspit is only a few inches deeper than the main channel, as a deep cesspit would become clogged with waste and would have to be manually emptied; it mainly serves as an emergency overflow for the channel in times of heavy rain.

As you come in from the east into the cesspit, there are large fungi here that give out an incredible, ear-piercing noise. Janiven shouts something that you can't hear.

Begin Round One ...

R1T26: Janiven, with amazing reflexes, leaves the drunken man to his own devices and moves forth towards the sound. As she passes into the cesspit room, she sees the mushrooms to the north and takes out her slightly curved short sword and hops the short channel, hacking down a fungus as tall as the passage that is purple.

R1T18: Tia, what do you do? If you try to say anything, even shout anything, nobody will hear you, and you won't even really hear yourself.

Meijen on deck, Folco in the hole ...

[ClockworkCorvid]

Folco retrieves a vial from his bag and spins it in his offhand, making sure Janiven and Meijen don't see the look of relief on his face. He starts making his way to the front of the group, giving the mushrooms a twitchy eyed look of annoyance. He looks to the west... his darkvision is rather good.

Spoiler: OOC

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Ready Shield extract in offhand, move 30 feet west, or until I run into someone with a higher init.

[digiman619]

Aldo closed his fist, a swirl of electric blue energy gathering therein. As his fingertips hit his palms, the energy had coalesced into the form of a machete, still slightly glowing. He stepped across the board next to Janiven and sliced at the eastern plant. He may or may not have still been cursing in Halfling, but the noise of the fungus drowned it out if he did.

[meemaas]

Tia leaps into action, leaping across the divide. She trails one hand behind her, a pitch black Scythe forming into its grip, as she maneuvers between the two plants, taking a decisive slash at the eastern one as she does. She spins the Scythe as she turns around, facing the remaining one with a flourish.

Spoiler

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Move action: Move to the space that is north of the eastern plant.
Swift action: Reallocate Essence to my Scythe
Standard action: Attack the plant to the east.

Attack roll (1d20+6)[10]
Damage (2d4+4)[9]

[lostsole31]

R1T18: Tia leaps into action, leaping across the divide. She trails one hand behind her, a pitch black Scythe forming into its grip, as she maneuvers between the two plants, taking a decisive slash at the eastern one as she does. She spins the Scythe as she turns around, facing the remaining one with a flourish. The one she slashed isn't cut like a real scythe. Rather, it seems as if all the water was sucked out of it and it falls in upon itself, destroyed in a horrible way. Imagine if that scythe struck a living being!

R1T17: Meijen is next to cross into the northern part of the cesspit, drawing his strange, two-handed, curving sword and cutting down the last of the tall plants.

The Shrieking Noise Ends ...

Alco and Folco are both mentally ready, having thought of how to deal with the threat, before realizing that the ringing in their ears is there own and that they never even drew their swords.

Aldo, Folco Gabriella, what do you each do/ say now that the threat seems to have passed already?

[digiman619]

Aldo let the mind blade he was forming dissipate. What was with that mind blade she's summoned? He'd never seen one like it. "Okay, as impressive as that was, we still need to get yr uffern out of here. Janiven, you're in charge of this mess, lead the way."

Spoiler: Halfling

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the hell

[Blackhawk101]

Rubbing her abused hearing holes (ears), Gabrielle smirks;
“Way to defeat those viscous mushrooms!”

[ClockworkCorvid]

"Huh. Interesting technique. You'll have to show me how its done sometime." He keeps the vial in hand, looking like hes ready for an ambush."So which direction gets us out of this muck? I much preffered the tavern."

[lostsole31]

The assumption is that to actually see the scythe, Folco moves into the cesspit room. The drunk stumbles forward behind Morosino so as not to be left behind.

There are noises coming from the northern east passageway.

Begin Round One ...

R1T26: "Morosino," Janiven says while putting away her sword, "Get that light over this way." She steps a few feet to the west and takes out her longbow. "If they are Hellknights, do not kill them. Assault in the sewer can be explained away, but killing a Hellknight might bring in a signifier with magical divination. If you want to get out of here ... Morosino, guide them to the west, looking for the signs."

R1T19: Gabriella, what do you do? Are you going to stay and encounter whatever is coming from the north? or, go west to try and find the rebel redoubt?

[Blackhawk101]

Gabriella will consider her lack of armor, or clothing for that matter and quickly follow Morosino to the West.
“I hope you know where you’re going!”

[lostsole31]

R1T19: Gabriella will consider her lack of armor, or clothing for that matter and quickly follow Morosino to the West. “I hope you know where you’re going!”

(Gabriella is off-map and out of initiative...)

R1T18: Meijen moves up shoulder-to-shoulder with Tia and readies himself.

R1T17: The drunk, still holding his candle in one hand, moves up to block the breech. "I will hold 'em off! Come at me, cretins!"

R1T16: Aldo, what do you do? Stay to deal with whatever comes, or make sure Gabriella and a young boy don't die alone in a sewer (once Morosino moves)?

[digiman619]

Aldo did not sign up to be a hero. Once they were somewhere relatively safe, he could regroup and figure out what the hell it was he supposed to do now. "Wait up!" he called after the fleeing duo, not out of worry, but rather because his smaller stride would have trouble doing so if he didn't.

[lostsole31]

R1T16: Aldo did not sign up to be a hero. Once they were somewhere relatively safe, he could regroup and figure out what the hell it was he supposed to do now. "Wait up!" he called after the fleeing duo, not out of worry, but rather because his smaller stride would have trouble doing so if he didn't.

(Aldo is now off-map and out of initiative...)

R1T15: The first assailant comes charging at the only one it sees - the drunkard. But the drunk is ready for it, and grazes it along the neck for 6. It's not enough to stop it though, and it likewise grazes the inebriate in the left foot with its blade for 2.

R1T10: Tia, it is not a Hellknight you see, or even a human, but a small creature with an oversized head, dressed in muck-covered leather and wielding two, broken short blades of an unknown type. What do you do? Stay or go?

[meemaas]

Tia breathes a quick sigh of relief. It's not a Hellknight, so she has much less to be afraid of. Considering her options, she spins her scythe with marvelous dexterity as she shifts her fighting stance into an almost supernatural state, making a quick attack with her excessively large weapon that explodes with light and the sound of glass shattering. As she pulls her blade back to her, she calls out to the drunk. "I won't let you die here alone!!"

Spoiler

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Swift action: Enter Aura of Misfortune Stance
Standard action: Breaking Glass Strike

Attack roll (1d20+6)[21]
Damage (2d4+4)[11] + (1d8)[5] + 1 for fighting adjacent to an ally.
If successful, target must make a DC 18 Will Save or be dazed for 1 round, and is dazzled for 5 rounds regardless of save

[lostsole31]

R1T10: Tia breathes a quick sigh of relief. It's not a Hellknight, so she has much less to be afraid of. Considering her options, she spins her scythe with marvelous dexterity as she shifts her fighting stance into an almost supernatural state, making a quick attack with her excessively large weapon that explodes with light and the sound of glass shattering, but with the wall in her way, her scythe is caught against the wall and hits the thing hard ... but its poop-covered armor stops the blow. As she pulls her blade back to her, she calls out to the drunk. "I won't let you die here alone!!"

R1T9: Another of the little warriors comes down the hallway behind the other.

R1T8: Little Morosino bolts to the west, calling for the other two to wait up. Meanwhile, in the cesspit, the only light now is in the drunkard's hand.

(Morosino is now off-map and out of initiative...)

R1T7: A third warrior thing is heard tramping down the hallway.

R1T6: Folco, you see the sunrod heading west with two of the possibly weaker members of the party and a boy, while the more martial types are holding off a force of small-sized creatures. But the heroes here have only a candle to help them. What do you do?

Janiven on deck, Meijen in the hole ...

[ClockworkCorvid]

Folco spits out a curse in some crackling, primal language. "I've no room to fight, so I'm watching after the others... bring the foe to the fork if you can, otherwise I'm making sure the they don't get themselves killed." He looks between the two groups, putting his vial away... and taking out another.

Spoiler: OOC

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Putting Shield back in satchel... and pulling out Expeditious Retreat.

[lostsole31]

R1T6: Folco spits out a curse in some crackling, primal language. "I've no room to fight, so I'm watching after the others... bring the foe to the fork if you can, otherwise I'm making sure the they don't get themselves killed." He looks between the two groups, putting his vial away... and taking out another.

End Round 1, Begin Round 2 ...

R2T26: Janiven doesn't look to Folco, but says, "Meijen and this stranger and I will take care of these sewer goblins. You and Tia fall back to protect the others." She shoots, and the arrow clatters off the corner. "You with the starknife, fall back so more of us can get to the goblins!"

R2T18: Meijen, who was the one who magically cleaned everyone, does the unthinkable: he jumps into the muck behind the Carefree Carouser and casts a spell. A tiny bead of green sails down the hallway out of view, having missed its target. Considering that elves are not known for their stamina, that might have been a poor tactical choice to jump into possibly disease-ridden filth.

R2T15.1: The Effervescent Ebullient wildly swings with his starknife, nearly stabbing Tia, and stumbles back to where Meijen was a second ago.

R2T15: The lead sewer goblin recovers its footing after that strange collision before stepping forward, still focused on the one that hurt it. "Bree yark!" it shouts threateningly before attacking with both of its blades. The first cuts deeply on the drunk's left elbow for 5, but the drunk probably doesn't notice as he doesn't drop the candle. Still, the previous fall and these two recent wounds are showing on the man.

R2T10: Tia, Janiven asked you and Folco to regroup with the others to protect them. What do you do?

SG2 and SG3 on deck and in the hole, Folco delaying ...

[ClockworkCorvid]

Folco dosnt need to be told twice, and runs down the hallway to help the others.

Spoiler: OOC

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Full Move west off the map and towards the rest of the party.

[meemaas]

Tia will spin her scythe with a flourish, striking out again at the Goblin in front of her, intending to cleave it in two before she turns tail and follows after the others. As she moves she lets her scythe drop, causing it to disperse into the air as she moves.

Spoiler

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Standard action: Attack the Goblin
Attack roll (1d20+6)[14]
Damage (2d4+4)[10] + (1d8)[1] +1 for still being adjacent to an ally.

Move action: Move 40 feet to regroup with the others (I think off map, but not sure)
If the goblin is still standing, I will weather the attack of opportunity to continue trying to follow.

[lostsole31]

R2T14: Folco dosnt need to be told twice, and runs down the hallway to help the others. [Off-map, out of initiative...]

R2T10: Tia will spin her scythe with a flourish, striking out again at the Goblin in front of her, intending to cleave it in two before she turns tail and follows after the others. But these little bastards are fast and it double parries the scythe with its weapons. As she moves she lets her scythe drop, causing it to disperse into the air as she moves, but not before the thing crits her in the back for 5.

R3T10: Tia hears the sounds of battle continue ferociously, even seeing Janiven back up to the cesspit walkway to shoot her bow, but Tia is gone as she runs down the remainder of her party.

Combat Over for PCs ...

[lostsole31]

Morosino catches up to Aldo, and then matches his pace. Kavina, likewise needing light underground, holds up for them. Folco and Tia bring up the rear.

The party realizes some sense is needed, and choose a quick marching order just for now (which can change if you want). Tia is the one to truly go where angels fear to tread (and has amazing darkvision) so she takes the front, but she is also wounded, so Folco will lead just in front of her (and he can also see in the dark). Morosino with the light and vulnerable Kavina are next, followed by Aldo the Anchor, who sets the pace so the others don't go too far ahead.

It was a twist here and a turn there for the party to get together, but once together, Morosino directs as best he can with the sunrod from his protected position in the middle.

The party gets to another five-points intersection, and take the second from the right. The party only goes down the long tunnel that Tia (whose darkvision is superior to Folco's) sees well down the way .... an amorphous creature loosely resembling a cross between a large snake and an insect. It has dark, oily skin, and parts of its very flesh blend seamlessly into the shadows even of her darkvision. Its constantly moving, writhing form makes it difficult to identify from a distance.

Tia has no idea what it is, though given its shadow-blending abilities even in darkvision, she has a sense that this might be one of many of the terrifying shadow beasts that plague Cheliax after the sun goes down.

What does Tia do? What does she say? Does she recommend continuing onwards (wounded as she is, with no means of healing), or attempting to find another way to where the rebels are hiding?

[meemaas]

Tia stops when she gets a view of this creature. She holds her arm out to stop the others before they can proceed any further. "There's....something up ahead. Something dangerous, I think. It's extremely hard to see in this darkness, and it likely knows these tunnels better than we do. Do we have any other paths we can take?"

[lostsole31]

Morosino thinks he can figure a workaround.

And so, the party backtracks to the five-point intersection. They take the first passage on their left. After a few twists and turns Tia sees that the passage will come to a door after crossing a pile of rubbish. At the door, Folco can listen but doesn't hear anything. The door is opened, and Folco steps through first. As soon as he steps out, he sees two humanoid figures to the north.

Begin Round One ...

R1T24: Folco, who figures himself pretty quick, is stunned to find that the figure furthest back is already upon him, after passing what is assumed to possibly be a fellow. The man smells to high heaven, is disfigured with shoddy armor. He swings at Folco with his hand but Folco ducks back well enough.

R1T18: Aldo, you definitely saw a hand or something swing at Folco. That rubbish pile will cost 2 squares to move into, and 2 squares to get out of it (unlike normal, where terrain is usually counted for leaving a square). And you have no idea what is beyond.

[digiman619]

There was little Aldo could do; the rubble made it hard to advance, but he since running wasn't currently an option, he had to do something. He focused on his hands, swirling blue energy began to manifest and by the time his fist was closed, two faintly glowing blades of energy were now in his grasp, ready to strike... as soon as he could see the damned target.

Spoiler: OOC

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MA: Summon mind blades (light x2; slashing)
MA: Get onto the trash pile.