Back in the Day (Chapter I)

[Wulfhere]

Aethelstan reflected a while.  “I know not what to say! Perhaps t’would be too madcap an idea, that we should have our warriors stand afore us, with the magus and archers behind!

“Are we resolved then?  Now that the necromancer and his vile reptile familiar have rejoined us, looking even more pallid and out-of –humour than before, shall we assay the wastes again?  Whether we will or no, I fear we must, for I did witness the landlord reckoning his accounts anon and we are nigh out of coin.”

Aethelstan reflected that Dujek looked like he could use some fresh air.

[Shadoweagle]

Moruz halted in his task as Vee leant closer and whispered something to his ear. His face was indistinguishable, but a quick glance was given to the rest of the party, before he turned and studied the fellow. There seemed to be a moment of indecision in his eyes, before he gave a faint nod. "Now?" He asked the dashing archaeologist.

[Murometz]

Moruz got up and followed Vee out the door. It was drawing close to night. The companions had agreed to leave at first light, and the duo did not have long to accomplish their nefarious plans.

Heading down the thoroughfare the two skulkers quickly found what they were looking for. Moruz and Vee exchanged glances, Vee with that certain glow in his eye, Moruz hesitant....

-----sometime later-----

<<<move silently fails, hide in shadows successful, pick/open locks successful>>>

Moruz stood leanng on his Ouzala and occasionaly blowing in his hands to warm them up. It was a chilly evening.


"What are ye doing standing there eh? you'll catch a cold"

Moruz looked over to see two city guardsman casually strolling along the road, approaching him. He was standing along a storefront of dusty, dingy shops. They were all closed for the night.

As if on cue, some weird clonk sounded from somewhere behind him. He was not sure if his own sense of hearing was just ratcheted up a notch due to Vee prowling somewhere nearby, or if the guards heard it too. They didnt seem to notice, but Moruz could not be sure.

[Dozus]

Aerex snorted as the K'tonian and the Ouzquin left.  He leaned close to Talia, sticking his mouth near her ear.  "I don't thrust that punk," he said in what he thought was a whisper.  "I- I'd better follow 'em."  He leaned against the table for support and bumped his chair as he stood to leave.  Cracking his knuckles, he sauntered out the door.

"Now which way diddey go?" he asked aloud.  He glanced down the dusty Ganse streets, looking for any clues...

(ooc: Attempting to Search for them.  If I see them, I'll Move Silently and Hide to watch them.  All drunkenness taken into account, of course. )

[Wulfhere]

Seeing the inebriated investigator lurching out the door, Aethelstan grew concerned.  “Aerax, thou art deep in your cups!  You needs must take to thy rest, not rashly wander in the darkness!  Little profit could such a quest bring!”

The smaller man appeared to ignore him, intent on his stealthy pursuit, so he gulped down the rest of his drink and followed.

“Thou hast seen the deeds of Moruz, his prowess and strange foreign honour.  Certes, there may be cause to suspect the fey humours of Vee, but Moruz is not made of such weak stuff.”  The naïve cleric continued his urging, concerned that his new friend would suffer a mischief, should he continue in his drunken state.

[Pariah]

Dujek and his new friend did not look good at all.  The thing just kinda sood there looking sad, while Dujek had numerous small bitemarks on his fingers from getting too near that mouth.  It's a quick bugger he thought.  He watched as various members of their rather impromtu group wandered off on their own, in varying states of inebriatedness.  Dujek looked down at the rot-gut concoction that the 'keep was trying to pass off as ale and decided that, all things considered, sleep was looking pretty d-mn good right now.  Heading back to his room he started fooling around with the little blighter again, trying to figure out just what it could do, besides stand perfectly still for extended periods of time and then bite his fingers faster than he could blink.

[Murometz]

--Meanwhile, thirty feet and a few walls away from where Moruz was standing, Vee searched the gem merchant’s hovel of a shop. He had made sure to note and remember every detail of the place, while he was arguing over the price of that blasted pearl with the gem-merchant earlier in the day.

**Where was that pearl anyway?** he thought as he continued his search.

It was no use. He couldn’t find the strong box he had spied that morning, nor anything else worth of value. He proceeded through the connecting door, inwards, to the back room of the store.

Slowly as he made his way around the cluttered shop, a realization began to dawn on him. He fought the thought back as long as he could, but it was no use.

“Keykold!” the voice in his head demanded to be heard. “Surely you’ve figured it out by now eh?” What kind of addled gem merchant would leave behind all his “semi-precious” gemstones, in his dainty little shop, and go home, leaving them protected by a wooden door and a broken window. Did that axe to the chest scramble your instincts? Get the hell out of here before you get yourself and that warrior hanged!”

Vee continued looking around despite his own inescapable logic.

Soon a new, more palatable logic took over. Keykold…what is unique about Ganse? How do these folk think? It’s a honey-combed town, holes, caves, tunnels, crawlspaces….below.

Soon he was rolling up the rug in the second room, and searching for trap doors and cubbyholes in the floor.

Jackpot! He whispered, as he found one and quickly dismantling the latch, opened a shallow pit, wherein he spied the one box he had seen earlier that day. It was still here!

It was during the heated negotiations with the merchant, that Vee innocently inquired as to any possible healing salves, which could possibly be found around town. That’s when he first heard the term “dollor powder”, and now he was staring at a veritable treasure stove of the stuff. An iron box with a dozen or so vials and pouches, some labeled, some not. Most were labeled “dollor powder”, eight containers in total.

Others were labeled “sodium”, "sulfur", "nickel", “phosphorus”, “magnesium”, and one that said “?”. The last one’s label read “iron shavings”.

Nothing else was in the hole. No matter, Vee thought, that’s enough!

Though maybe not enough to die for, he paled suddenly, as he heard the commotion outside. Moruz had company.

[Shadoweagle]

Moruz coughed loudly as that clunk behind him sounded - both to attempt to mask the sound, and as the warning signal for Vee to be silent! His gaze passed over the two guards then went left them, as though he was not much interested in them. Bending low, he used his now toothless Ouzala as a balance(It now only looked like a strange, curved staff) as he stretched deeply. "My race demands strict discipline - I must exercise during the harshest time of the day, so I decided that I would run laps about the town in this weather - it makes us stronger, you see!" He stood from his low bending, then raised one foot behind him, balancing deftly on it, "I merely paused here to do my stretches. Would you care to join me in a good workout?" He nodded towards the street before them, which led to the main road of Ganse - if you could call it a main road.

[Murometz]

--Even drunk, Aerex did not have much trouble finding the the pair. No wait, he peered through glassy eyes, that was Moruz, and two cityguardsmen, Vee was no where to be seen.

"Is this some jape then?" Aerex could hear one of the guards saying to Moruz good-naturedly. The other city guardsman spied the stumbling Aerex, gave a smile and an eloquent greeting..."Oy"

The first city guardsman was about to turn to look at Aerex as well, when another rattling noise, drew his attention to the storefront again.

"Whaddaya suppose that was?" the first guard asked Moruz and his fellow officer.

"Mischief thy name is Matare!" , came the rich voice of Aethelstan as he rounded the corner, forty feet back of Aerex. It was not too difficult following a drunkard, even in the dark. Aerex's stumbling and swaying could not be easily ignored.

[Shadoweagle]

Moruz blinked at the sound in the store, and turned to glance at the building, "Dunno; I bet a cat's gotten into the building." The bellowing sound of Aethelstan's voice caused the warrior to turn his gaze as he moved to look at the two stalkers, "Ha! It seems everyone is out tonight, hm?" He was trying desperately to make those guards convince that noise was unimportant, "Aerex... Just how much did you drink anyway?"

[Pariah]

OOC: And why didn't you buy these two poor slobs a drink as well?

[Dozus]

"Youse just stay back, Brotha," Aerex ordered, pointing at the priest.  "I'll handle this arrest."  He turned back to the guards and Moruz.  "Now don't play dumb, youse eight-fingered foreigner.  Youse and Keykold are up to somethin'."  The guards exchanged a glance.  Before one of them could speak up, Aerex kept talking.  "Oh yeah, youse heard me right.  That thief is up to no good.  Wh- what is this?  A gem shop?  In the middle o' the night?  I mean, c'mon!!"  He gestured wildly before him.  "I'll bet youse my hat the lock was picked."  He glared back at Moruz and stepped forward, slightly more menacingly than awkwardly.  "An- an' here I thought youse was a good guy, y'know?  With the honor and the killing and the glass... stuff.  But breaking and entering?  That, that ain't youse, Moruz."  He stepped forward again, only a couple feet from the warrior.  "Now just tell me where he is an, an' we can put this whole thing behind us, y'know?"

[Shadoweagle]

Moruz was silent for a moment - he didn't need any acting to curl his nose up at the smell of alcohol off Aerex's breath, "And with the aid of booze the true colours come out... You know, Aerex, I never pegged you as a racist!" The glass warrior stepped back and gripped the handle of his Ouzala threateningly, "Accusing me of thievery just because I am foreign; unbelievable! You've insulted my honor - do you want to settle this here and now!?"
By Axtrami's nosehairs, he hoped Vee would find a way out of that building fast: Moruz couldn't keep this farce up for very long!

[Wulfhere]

“Ah, well met, my fellows!  See Aerax, we have found Moruz hale and with little ado.  You need not have stirred yourself after all.  And two worthies of the Watch!  An my eyes mistake not, are you not two of the heroes that dids’t save us so nobly when those dire earthen beasts did burst forth into that ‘Kettle” place but the other day?  Twas well and nobly done!”  Aethelstan declared obliviously.

“Goodmen of the Watch, I am Brother Aethelstan of the Most Holy Order of Saint Senren and I am eternally in your debt for your service on that dark day!  Furthermore, I commend you for your good service in helping my friend, Investigator Matare, find this valiant warrior,” he said, gesturing toward Moruz.  “We had been celebrating our good fortune in defeating Red hatchet and his vile minion in yon low tavern, but Matare here grew concerned over our friends and went forth to seek them.  Mayhap you have seen our friend Vee?  He is a stalwart fellow, but I fear that wandering alone and in his cups as he was he may fall afoul of brigands or other such miscreants.

“My friends, I bid you both a good night!  Moruz, if you have done with that strange ritual you are practicing, Matare and I could use your help looking for Vee.  He is unwise to wander a strange town in the night!  We had hoped to find the two of you together, and save ourselves a tiring search in the dark of night!”  the naive  cleric continued.

[Dozus]

"Wha- now- ya- ha-" Aerex stuttered at Moruz's remark.  "Now, now I don't blame youse, y'see.  Youse ain't from around here.  But that Keykold guy prolly corrupted youse."  The constable tugged at his belt and began to walk around.  "Youse don't worry yourself, priest, I'magonna find that thug."  He began to closely examine the building as best he could.

(ooc: Search check to find the hidden passageway.)

[Murometz]

--"You mean that fellow with the whip? he's in there?" one of the guards asked Aerex perplexed, as the diminutive man focused on the storefront's door and lock. Aerex then noticed something, opened his mouth to speak and instead belched.

--Just then Aethelstan stormed in with his greetings and salutations and back slapping and for a brief moment Aerex was drowned out.

--"Well, hehe..ye know, we do what we can do..uphold the law and all--wait..do ye not know as well as we do priest? you were there when we entered the fracas. Or was that the other priest?" the smarter guard said, sounding not so smart. It was then Aethelstan and Moruz both realized something. Though they were not as inebriated as Aerex was, the guards were drunk! Aethelstan was tipsy himself he thought, but not this bad.

--The other guard was looking at Aethelstan and grinning, the priest wasnt sure why. "You speak like ma' priest back home" he was saying, as he continued grinning good-naturedly like an idiot.

--Moruz nearly leapt toward Aethesltan like a moth to light. "Yes, let us be off! Let us find....Vee, and put this drunkard some distance away from us." he glared toward Matare, with only half-disguised disgust. Moruz looked angry.

--Matare was having none of it. That half-demon Vee had them all fooled..or worse...had them all magically charmed, the drunken investigater thought as he approached the door.

--waiting on Mr. Keykold

[Ria Hawk]

Talia contemplated her drink for a bit after the others left.  "Beni mere.  They'll get themselves into trouble, like as not."  She sighed, then stood up.  "I suppose I'd best go make sure they don't hurt themselves," she said to no one in particular.  She'd had the least to drink, but it seemed to her that the others wouldn't hold their liquor nearly so well.  She wandered outside, looking for her wayward companions.  Surely, in a town this size, they couldn't do much.

(looking for the others and/or anything out of the ordinary)

[Murometz]

"What is going on here?" it was the shrill voice of the shop owner. He was dressed in his nightclothes and carrying a lantern.

"Thats MY shop!!...What happened?", he approached, all chin hairs and sideburns supported by two stilt-like legs.

[Ria Hawk]

There was a commotion going on near one of the shops.  And it looked terribly like some of the others were involved.  Talia shook her head, then joined the group standing outside.  Aerex, Moruz, and Aeth were all standing around, some more drunk than others.  "What in blazes is going on?  Are you planning a party or some such?"

[Wulfhere]

“Friends, if I had but known how my good friend Inshpec... Inspector Matare would be so losht...lost in hish drink.  Certes, he ish a steady hand when we were hunting for brigandsh!  He sheems quite madcap, now… losht in hish cupsh!”

Aethelstan wondered why he felt so much more awkward than usual.  It wasn’t as if there were any beautiful women around… Well, there was Talia, but she hardly counted. 

He hadn’t had that much to drink, had he?  Only three or four glasses of that Medichin… Methyglyn… and that tankard of fiery stuff he’d quaffed down just before leaving to follow Matare… Why, back at the monastery, he would drink half a dozen glasses of the watered wine and harldy fell it…(hic!) 

The storekeeper was trying to get the Guardsmen to do something, Aethelstan really couldn’t follow what, when it occurred to him that this man was responsible in part for their desperate financial straits.  “By Shenren’sh Blade, art thou the shcare crow jackanapesh that hash been telling folksh that the trophy of our triumph hash been accurshed?  (Hic!)  Doth thy greed know no boundsh!  Glash gashing Gek! Telling liesh jusht to forsh us to shell the chewel for a few meashly shilvers lesh!  It’s a codde of sholid gold!”

Doubtless he shouldn’t have grabbed the tightfisted merchant by his flannel nightshirt, but he somehow found himself shaking the elderly miser by the neck, incoherently yelling as the confused guardsmen tried to pry him off.

As the aggravated guardsmen pulled the two apart, Aethelstan realized that he felt a bit ill.  “Doubtlesh the exershens uf the lasht few days, hath weakened meself,” he mumbled.  He could hardly understand the enraged yelling of the furious miser as the man demanded charges be brought and floggings be administered.

“Coshtable, Certesh, I’ll not… I’m not feeling too good after all,” concluded the cleric helpfully.

[Murometz]

Twenty Minutes Ago...

"Get revenge for us all Talia!! I will pray for your justice to be swift and terrible!" The snake charmer spoke to Talia before she had followed her companions out the door.

"May the hare and the hawk be with you! As Master Konos used to say, do you remember?" Loiha now smiled as she stuffed something into Talia’s palm.

“Remember the Krait Talia?”

Talia remembered. When she was younger she had been bitten by a Krait snake, but survived, despite the serpents virulent venom. It was well known as one of the most poisonous snakes in the lands, and few survived its bite without immediate assistance.

It was later that Loiha cast her fortunes and determined that Talia was destined for greatness. Talia paid little heed to the snake charmers ramblings, now as before, when they were both younger, the woman was always exaggerating and embellishing her own knowledge of the arcane arts.

“Remember the Krait Talia? Take this with you”, the woman almost hissed, insistently.

Talia glanced at what was now in her hand. It was a molted, snakeskin charm on a string. Loiha had often made these for special occasions. The snake charmer, to offer them up as gifts, quite rarely to her fellow caravan members, used different snakeskins for different occasions. To get a snakeskin bauble from Loiha meant good fortune, the Gypsies saw them as protective wards.

Talia recognized the skin by the coloring...Krait. She thanked the woman and hurried out of the tavern.

<<<Magical Item! +1 luck charm (all saves), +2 to saves against poison, though no XP for a “gift”>>>

[Scrasamax]

It sounded like there was a merry romp going on outside, and Vee could hear the inspector quite well. He cursed to himself, he had hoped the lawman had been too deep in his cups to notice him leave, let alone follow him. He cursed silently again. He overheard some of Moruz' plan to gather everyone to go and find him, and then he heard the squeal of the wiry old shopkeeper. Loki for mischief, Pan for fun, he whispered, a bit of an old folk prayer he had heard...somewhere. He packed several of the dollor powders and two random vials into the hollow stock of his crossbow and deposited the small stronbox just under the eave of one of the alleyway buildings. Hop, quick like a bunny. He ruffled his hair quickly, pulled his shirt out into a hanging tail and rubbed several handfuls of dirt upon his person. He took a deep breath, and prepared himself to play this little act to the hilt.

"MORUZ!" he shouted, wincing at how loud his voice was. "AETHELSTAN! ANYBODY!" he made an effort to throw his shoulder into a stack of crates sending them spilling across the alleyway. He uncorked the bottle of the red wine that no one had taken earlier at the cave and took a long drink, had to have it raw on his breath. A few generous drops splattered the front of his shirt, making him look all the more like a half blind drunk. "Hatchet's Coddes, this place is laid out bass ackwards..." He swore as he stumbled into the sight of the inebriated Inspector. "Aerex, praise the gods, where in the hell am I, I just want to find my bed...I I can't find the inn, or Moruz...I think he was jogging..." Vee rambled and slurred, pausing to take another drink from the bottle of red rotgut.

[Dozus]

"I'll tell youse whatz goings on!" Aerex declared to the merchant, pointing his finger defiantly into the air.  "You're being- robbed?!"  His sentence was puncutated by Vee's shouting and stumbling out of the building.

"Aerex, praise the gods, where in the hell am I, I just want to find my bed...I I can't find the inn, or Moruz...I think he was jogging..." Keykold exclaimed in a stuttered panic.

The constable scowled and stepped forward, inspecting him.  He leaned in close, sniffed loudly, then recoiled.  "You're... drunk!" he accused, jabbing a finger into Vee's chest.  "An' I don't think it needs to be said that--"  He stopped suddenly.  Something lurched within.  "Ooh." he finished, stepping back slightly.  He opened his mouth again slightly, as if to say something, but he froze again, a gurgle sounding from his gut.  Something sounding like "Hrshth" escaped his mouth before he stumbled backwards a couple paces.  The drunken inspector swayed slightly, then leaned over and expelled his stomach's contents violently.  He continued for a couple minutes or so before leaning to his left and falling onto his back in the dust-filled street.

[valadaar]

"Ye Gods" thought Kadarin as he regained consciousness.  His last memory was being thrown rather unceremoniously into an earthen pit. Given how far the drop was, it was good the bottom was soft earth.  Especially being trussed like a pig.

Even so, the landing was very hard, hard enough to knock him out.

Unable to see anything in the dim light, he was conscious first of the smell.  Sweat, fear and worse combined into an awful cocktail that assaulted his senses.  Tentatively he tried to move his hands and found that they were still held tight, tied by someone who knew and loved their work.  His ankles had received a similar treatment.  Fortunately, it seemed that they neglected to gag him, which means that either they did not know he was magi, or did not think being bound he was much of a threat.

They're probably right he thought, Without a free hand, spells were impossible. Or were they?...

His thoughts were roughly interrupted by a harshly shouted voice from above.

"Hey S%itheads, here's some grub for ya!" 

Kadarin could see a bucket being lowered a rope - obviously through some opening above he couldn't see from his current position.

d**nit! he thought, if I try and free my hands, I won't be able to tell if the guards can see me.  I'll have to wait until dark to try anything.

Being tightly bound, Kadarin let his fellow prisoners help themselves to gods knows what in the bucket.  His stomach was still addled from his harsh treatment, and he'd rather not try eating whatever was in there.

"One of these days, my Uncle is going to get me killed", he said, to no-one in particular.

It was his uncle that got him into this predicament.  If he had left well enough alone, Kadarin would probably be a reasonably competent cut-purse by now, living off the fat of the land. But no, he paid his way to mage college and now a rather large debt remained to be settled.

Looking for money prompted Kadarin to sign on to the stinking caravan coming north out of Ssembra as an assistant guard.  Though a neophyte, his sleep spells would have worked well on goblins or bandits, given the chance. However, the attack was well organized and came while Kadarin was deep in sleep.  Before he knew it, he was grabbed and bound. Seeing what happened to others convinced him he was lucky, or so he hoped.

Some luck.

Now, need to wait for it to get darker....

[Ria Hawk]

Talia shook her head.  "You're all drunk.  Come on, let's get some sleep so we can get out of here in the morning.  You'll have it bad enough with the hangover."  She glanced at the irate shopkeeper.  "This has all been one big misunderstanding.  I don't know if you've been robber or not, but I'd say that these people are falling down too much to have even contemplated it."