Hunting Fiends pt6

When last we left our brave heroes, Lady ARmagash, a lovely, mature woman, had turned around and bolted down the sewer passage at a high rate ofg speed. She has noped out of this conversation.

And seems intent on escaping you, yes.

Sasha sees Lady Armagash take off and started to run after her. However, she is in Breastplate, so she's not going to be able to keep up.

GAME: Morgan refreshes spells.

GAME: Morgan casts Haste. Caster Level: 10 DC: 20

Morgan sighs and says "this wont last long lets get her." she says a few words in the strange arcane language that makes the world around them seem a bit slower.

Hun'rar lumbers heavily in his armor but forges on in pursuit, no Warden of Gilead will give up the hunt this easily and with Morgan's help he might be fast enough too.

Iskandar breaks into a run after the Lady. He bellows as he goes, "Stop! Wait! This is -your- lair, you have nothing to fear from us!" As Morgan's spell completes he is suddenly moving much, much faster. "We can discuss this like civil folk!"

Morgan says "Gee shes scared about us on her terf armed to the teath with items and magic."

Apparently, even so much as saying that name was too much for her. She does not stop running. in fact, it takes Kore running her down to end that, which ends in a flying tackle that leaves her on her stomach. "No! Don't do this! He'll kill us all!"

"Yeah, we've heard all of that before. So, why don't we talk about this in private, without you running." Sasha sounds a little annoyed at this.

Morgan is anoyed that she had to use a spell so they can get her "Talking would be nice."

Hun'rar comes running along in his armor "Unlikely and we are here and he is not. That should be more of your concern." the paladin adds.

"You don't understand," says Armagash, shaking her head. Kore has loosened her grip enough to let her sit up.

"He's dangerous. Why are /you/ after him? Don't you know how dangerous that is? OBVIOUSLY NOT." She grimaces, looking to be pained anmd more than a little scared, eyeing Hun'rar.

Morgan sighs "Just tell us what we need to know. We will find him and take care of him or die trying... Well not me I know of a private island where I can live peacefully.

Sasha says, "So tell us how dangerous he is...."

Hun'rar laughs "Yeah right, he's dangerous and my sword is just for show. We can do this the easy or the hard way and to be honest, I'm not not fond of hurting people."

"I heard things," says Armagash with a sigh, "but I imagine that's not why you're here. You're on his trail, right? I don't suppose you'll tell me wh-- ow," she says as Kore has to adjust her grip.

She lets out a breath. "Look, I'm just an illusionist. I put on a good show for people and tell them what they want to hear and, of course, I also smuggle things but who doesn't? This is Vandalheim. We're all a little shady here."

"I don't." Sasha says softly. "I an actual Hearthguard, and all we want is a few answers, and we'll leave you alone. We're not here to attack you for your smuggling. We just wnat some straight answers. Give us that, and we'll leave you be."

"He'll never know you spoke to us," Iskandar assures her. He glances around to see if anyone is watching, and then lowers his voice. "We can put on quite a show, make others think we left without learning a thing. Or we can convince them of the opposite - it's your choice."

Morgan stands back to let them talk we do not need one more person putting thier 2 bits in

"... all right," says Armagash with a sigh.

"What is it you actually want to know? What he's doing in Vandalheim? Who he's working for? What are you even looking for him for?" She finally relents and she's let go of entirely, straightening up. She looks more than little rumpled at this point.

Kore arrives, singing as she steps into the high grasses. Bluebirds sing.

Kore has arrived.

Hun'rar takes his helmet off to seem a bit more personable. "Look we don't go through this for idle smuggling but we are talking about something worse, a lot worse. Believe when I say that he's gotten involved in some things nobody in their right mind should be a part of. Thats why we need to find him, tell us what you know of his whereabouts."

Morgan is just standing there to look cute untill she has something to say or picks up on somethig said.

Iskandar nods along at first at Hun'rar. But as the other warrior finishes, Iskandar glances at him with a look that says he's impressed. Unable to think of anything the other left out, Iskandar instead studies Lady Armagash for her reaction.

She lets out a breath.

"Okay," says Armagash. "He's been putting together reagents. Magical reagents. Look, I'm a relatively minor figure here, but I know people who can get things. That's how it works here." She gflances over at Kore, then back to the rest.

"He's been looking at gems. Not just any. The kind you need to make /real/ magic happen. The big kind." She shrugs. "He's got something going, some kind of trade off between figures here and in Tashraan. Probably tied into the Syndicates too."

A rat squeaks.

Kore stands and tries to look stern. If she were a foot taller it might even work. Maybe not. Those wide ingenue eyes aren't good at conveying ferocity or anger.

Sasha takes a deep breath. "How rare of a gem? Like in worth?"

Morgan perks up "And please tell me what you know about this reagent with the type of gems that goes in to it."

More rats are squeaking.

Iskandar frowns. He tilts his head to the side. "Rats. They were following us before, up above. Remember? We suspected they were sent by Oinig or his allies..." He peers into the darkness looking for the little creatures

GAME: Morgan rolls appraise: (5)+13: 18

Morgan says "Our gems are nice but most likely not what he needs. I think we should hold on to them for a while."

"...We're being spied upon." Kore tilts her head to indicate the squeaking rat while she whispers. "Ideas."

She nods her head, then, letting out a breath as she regards Hun'rar and then Iskandar. "Rats?" she asks. "It's the sewers..."

...more rats are now flooding into the area. Hundreds...then thousands.

Sasha looks to the lady they've been interrogating. "RUn, we'll cover you...."

Iskandar backs up without looking away from the oncoming rats. "We should all run," he hisses. "We can't fight these things off down here. Gods only know how many more there could be."

Sasha says, "Good idea. Let's go."

Hun'rar hooks his helmet on his belt. "I can slow them down at least, get going and I will follow." he says stepping up, taking a big breath.

"I'll bring up the rear. Get going," Kore suggests. She's standing not too far from Hun'rar, watching the horde. "I am confident I can outrun the rats if it comes to that. Go on." She's apparently unwilling to simply leave her companion behind alone. Kore does fidget slightly, staring on the oncoming swarm.

Constantin has arrived.

Sasha immediately starts running cuz she's slow in her armor.

Hun'rar takes several deep breaths, almost hyper-ventilating and with every breath the glow at the back of his throat grows more and more intense. Just when the rats are about to hit he breaths out an enormous spread of white, yellow and red fire all across the rats and walls, smoke pouring from his nostrils as he does. As he steps back smoke still rises from his mouth. "Keep moving." he croaks, hoars with the effort of it.

Morgan starts to take off the ground and flys with the group <40 movement> but will slow down for the others in the area "I could fireball the rats." asking if the others would not mind.

Constantin lights his sword -- if there was sewer gas, there isn't anymore. "Do it." He's happy to try to keep ahead of the swarms.

"Where are you running to, friends?" calls a voice from the other end of the sewers as you run.

"There is nowhere you can go that we can not follow. You might as well stop and have a little chat with us."

There are more rats, now, flooding the tunnels from other directions.

And then figures.

Figures walking amongst them.

Clad in dark armor but with the feastures of rats themnselves.

Rat people. Carrying blades. A dozen of them, or so, actually, doing their level best to squeeze you from all dirctions.

Iskandar grabs Lady Armagash by the hand and drags her along. His other hand digs out his bow, but against such small targets he might as well swing it like a club. Instead he tries to pull her along. "You'd best stay with us," he grunts at her.

Constantin spits "Rat-people?" under his breath, as he backs up. He, at least, has a good sense of trying to get as many of them as possible in front. "It seems like a good time for talking."

"Lycanthropes," Kore replies, shaking her head. "We're not going to all be able to outrun them." She nods at Constantin when he suggests talking. The Monk takes a deep breath, facing those approaching them and studying each carefully in turn.

Morgan sighs "wererats do not let them hurt you or you might become one next month. But while they are known to be evil they can be delt with."

Hun'rar raises his shield and draws his sword. "Its up to you how you want to do this but I welcome the oppertunity to stoke my heart fire." he says eyeing the rats wearily.

"Well, aren't you a charmer, buttercup?" says one of the rat-people to Morgan.

"Easy there, cowboy. We're not here to fight. If we wanted you dead, we'd have struck from the ambush... the numerous potential times we could have done so. No. We're a part of Vandalheim's code-enforcement services." The rat smiles. It has teeth.

Others hang back.

"We've been observing you since you got here. It's not exactly like you've been subtle. The Ohsidian Syndicate asked us to keep an eye out for someone like you."

Armagash is having a panic attack.

"And the Ohsidian Syndicate is....?" Sasha says bluntly.

Morgan shrugs "I always that I was a jerk, nice to know I am moving up in the world."

Constantin keeps his sword in a low-guard, flicking its tip to keep the flames off of his hand. "Code-enforcement, huh. That sounds like you want it to mean something to us."

GAME: Morgan rolls Knowledge/History: (6)+15: 21

GAME: Iskandar rolls knowledge/local +2: (4)+5+2: 11

GAME: Hun'rar rolls knowledge/history: (15)+4: 19

GAME: Constantin rolls knowledge/local: (17)+2: 19

Iskandar tries to make calming motions at Armagash, but without quite looking at her. He sizes up the wererats surrounding them. "So you're the ones that have been following us since we got to the city?"

Hun'rar ponders for a moment. "You know what, I think we have a common goal here. Looking for someone tied to an infamous demon summoner, fancies making himself a god. Not the kind of things thats good to for business I'm willing to wager. So how about we coordinate a little."

Morgan looks impressed "The obsidian syndicate, the stuff you have pulled off in the past is in many books." said loud enough but will not bring up their down fall.

Constantin huhs quietly, then nods towards Hun'rar. "He's speaking wise, so shall we?"

"It would certainly simplify things," Hana oberves quietly, nodding once.

GAME: Kore rolls sense motive+2: (18)+24+2: 44

GAME: Constantin rolls sense motive: (18)+2: 20

GAME: Morgan rolls sense motive: (10)+2: 12

GAME: Iskandar rolls sense motive: (20)+8: 28

"Who else is listening to our conversation?" Kore asks suddenly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studies the lead wererat from head to toe. "Receiving instructions? You seem- distracted." The Monk keeps her arms crossed and her posture strong. She migth be small but she certainly has confidence.

Armagash twitches.

"..the syndicate," she whispers.

The rats nod amongst themselves before one speaking snaps its attention to Kore.

"Well, aren't you a perceptive little sbit," it replies.

"No one is listening. But the Syndicate can always get in your head when they want to if you work for them. The less you know about it, the better, but they are /always/ watching. Which is why they say to agree to your notion of ccoperation... for the moment. Why, Armagash. Didn't we tell you that we'd be watching you?"

Armagash twitches. "No."

"Oh. Dang. Could've sworn," says the wererat, eyes now going back to Hun'rar and then to Kore once more time.

"Tell us what you know so far. We'll do the same."

Constantin's eyebrow flares, and his sword-tip rotates a little, twitchy. He grounds his sword, and he waits. The talking has begun -- he stays tense, though. It's his job.

Sasha keeps quiet as well. Getting into someone's head was bad news to her......but, she wasn't talking.

Morgan keeps calm as she listens but will let the others say what they know. <player is a little tired and been in to many plots to remember the good details>

Iskandar scratches his beard. "Where to start...we are looking for a swordsman named Oinig. Tracking him may be iser ti the truth. We've followed the villain from Alexandria, to Vandalheim. We may go to Tashran next, or back to Alexandria with what we've learned. He may be a demon worshipper. Or he may be in league with Asumit the Binder." He looks around at the others in case one of them wants to take up the story.

"Short of it is, we're looking for Oinig....a swordsman. This was one of the places he's been and...." Sasha then looks to Iskander. "Pretty much what he said. If you can get us ahead of him where we can corner him and capture him....we'll get out of your hair."

Constantin adds. "Oinig is hunting gems -- for spells." He waves his hands vaguely. "To use them in spells. He's been all over the city here, and we're hunting him."

"He's producing fake audit ledgers for his business ventures to Vandalheim and operations in Tashran. We have information on his merchant company indicating they're a front for those extralegal activities if you need it," the Inquisitor adds helpfully.

The wererats listen.

And listen.

"That synchs up with what we've been told. He's not in Vandalheim right now, or at leat, we don't think so. Apparently, he uses some kind of non-detection amulet? I have no idea what that means, but that's what I'm told." A shrug of his narrow, furry shoulders.

"There /is/ something we can do, however, while we're here. We believe that Asumit has an operation that supported him while in place. Protected him. We can remove it." Oh dear.