Heroica RPG - Quest #40: The Strivvian Job

[CMP]

"I suppose we'll head to the archaeologist's house, then?"

[Zepher]

"I'd really like to track down these soldiers before they get further away from us. If they are in fact slaves, and get sold off, they'll be that much harder to find. However, seeing as you all seem anxious to see this archaeologist fellow, I say we head to his place. Thank you for the information, Dockmaster, and thank you less for the guards on our back and the extortion."

Boomingham steps out of the Dockmaster's office and sets off towards the party's next location, looking around the city.

[CMP]

Atramor continues to grumble at Boomingham as he follows the paladin out of the dockmaster's, but keeps his irritation at bay, for the moment.

"Blackhood, since it's not gettin' much use at the moment, could I borrow that Marksman's Monocle?....Same question to Lyssa, about the Explosive Staff."

[Zepher]

"Here you are, boy-o. Thought I offered it out before, but perhaps that's just my muddled old brain." Boomingham tosses Atramor the Monocle.

[Pandora]

Atramor continues to grumble at Boomingham as he follows the paladin out of the dockmaster's, but keeps his irritation at bay, for the moment.

"Blackhood, since it's not gettin' much use at the moment, could I borrow that Marksman's Monocle?....Same question to Lyssa, about the Explosive Staff."

Nyx is still glaring at Atramor after his 'performance' in the Dockmaster's, and as they leave she grabs him by the collar and growls into his ear, loud enough only for him to hear, but with enough menace to make her meaning plain.

"You pull that kind of rubbish again and I really will punch you so hard you'll be wearing that silly smirk of yours on the other side of your face."

Nyx breathes deeply as if trying to calm herself, pushes Atramor away, and begins to smooth down her robes. She looks up again, control etched into her face.

"You want my Explosive Staff? What can you do with it that I cannot? I use it on occasion, most likely when Greybeard here raises his shield, because, if I get the opportunity to unleash both sides of my character, I can return to inflicting my... skills on multiple enemies. If there is a good reason for you to borrow it, then I shall consider it."

Nyx looks to Boomingham for strength, the fury is boiling up inside and threatening to tear her apart, and possibly those around her. She just needs... control.

[CMP]

Atramor stumbles forward - again - and hisses under his breath, after shuffling a reasonably safe distance away from Nyx.

"If Blackhood could get over his racism, maybe I wouldn't have to. He's the Knight, it's his damn job to loosen lips, why the hell is the Rogue trying to do it?...Whatever. Well, you have a stronger weapon, and you hardly attack physically anyway, not to mention if I can land a hit with it, my venom will affect all of the opponents."

McCafferey's eyes flicked towards Atramor a moment, and he glanced back at her momentarily.

"...And if I'm lucky, I could try and Hex them...all of them."

[Waterbrick Down]

"Kids." Skrall shuffles past the pair taking the lead towards the Archaeologist's, it hadn't been so long ago that he had had to endure many a similar argument and he didn't wish to be reminded of them.

[Zepher]

Boomingham nods thankfully at Nyx.

"Thanks, daughter. My apprentice can be a bit of a handful. Good thing I have such a powerful family to back me up."

Atramor stumbles forward - again - and hisses under his breath, after shuffling a reasonably safe distance away from Nyx.

"If Blackhood could get over his racism, maybe I wouldn't have to. He's the Knight, it's his damn job to loosen lips, why the hell is the Rogue trying to do it?...Whatever. Well, you have a stronger weapon, and you hardly attack physically anyway, not to mention if I can land a hit with it, my venom will affect all of the opponents."

McCafferey's eyes flicked towards Atramor a moment, and he glanced back at her momentarily.

"...And if I'm lucky, I could try and Hex them...all of them."

Boomingham rounds on Atramor.

"Listen to me now, Rogue. I am your leader. Let me tell you a little story, from the Orcish Invasion. Perhaps it will teach you a lesson or two. I had a young man in my unit- bit younger than me at the time. I was round-about thirty, he was only twenty, twenty-two. We had made camp or the night and we spotted a fire over the hill. He took it into his head that we should go ambush the Orcs that were over there. I veto'd the idea. It was night. No honor in that fight. They weren't attacking us for the same reason."

"He didn't listen, a shock I'm sure. Took ten, fifteen boys round his age and fell on the Orcs. They killed all of his allies, I assume, and then took him and tied him to a wood. Rotated him over their cooking fire. It was a fitting punishment, they claimed. He had ruined their dinner, so he became their dinner."

"Next morning my boys and I marched on the Orcs. The young fellow's body was tied to their standard. It was seared, and chunks of flesh were gone. Flesh hung in chunks to the skull. One eye hung by a thread. I challenged the leader of the band to one-on-one combat for rights to the boy's body. He accepted. We sparred a short while. When it looked like I may have the upper hand, four other Orcs joined the fight. My men attempted to retaliate, but I kept them out of the fight. I won. The Orcs returned the boys body, we buried it, and a real skirmish was fought. We won that too, easy enough."

Boomingham spits. "This is what you learn from that story, Atramor. You respect your commanders. They are in place for a reason. I knew best when I refused to attack that night, and it cost not only the foolish boy his life, but those who followed him. You also learn that I will protect those who I hold close. If my men had entered the fight against the Orc and his men, they could have been injured. It was my fight on my terms. They had no part in it. Lyssa here is my child. You treat her with utmost and total respect. She doesn't need my protection. I have no doubt that she could incinerate you if she chose. But she has my protection, and don't you forget it. The final thing you ought to learn is this. There are some wrongs that time fails to fix. Don't ever make one of those. I will not forget. And my wrath and my ways will not be forgotten."

Boomingham addresses the entire party. "Does that put to rest the question of who will make decisions with in Strivvi? You are a band of Sellswords, and you take your orders exclusively from Blackhood the Immortal. Understood?"

[Waterbrick Down]

Skrall turns at the Paladin's speech, he meets Boomingham's gaze and then continuines to trudge down the street.

[Pandora]

Nyx rests her hand on Boomingham's arm, worried that her anger, now dissipating, had somehow affected him.

"Thanks.. uhm.. Dad."

She smiles concernedly at Boomingham before turning to Atramor and speaking calmly and, she hopes, more gently.

"You may borrow my Explosive Staff, but please, it means... a lot to me, so treat it with care and return it to me when I ask, even if that is before you feel done with it. I doubt that you will be able to hex with it, as it only responds to physical use, but it should help you spread your poison. Treat it with respect and as if it breathes, because it may bite back."

Nyx waits to hear Atramor's assent to her terms before handing over her staff.

[CMP]

Honor in combat, honor in words, honor in this, honor in that. Atramor's teeth may as well have been glued together as he listened to Boomingham's speech. No doubt he'd've spoken his mind to the 'Paladin', but he knew splintering the party was an awful idea, and he was quite sure his party leader would drag it out as long as he needed to get his message across. There was nothing to gain. Instead, he turned to Nyx, quelling whatever scalding remarks he had to the story that'd been left hanging in the air.

"That's fair. I know the....'sentimental' value, surroundin' it, and generally I try to limit my stealin' to my enemies. But don't worry about it bitin' me back-"

He gratefully accepted the staff, a slight tremor seeming to echo throughout the weapon as eerie green tendrils stretched across its surface. With one hand, he weighed the weapon, with the other, he pulled back the Ratmancer's Cowl, replacing it with the Marksman's Monocle. It didn't look too out of place - nothing more than a fancy eyepatch. Atramor tapped the side of the strange eyewear.

"-I've got that handled...Though I admit the idea of a cloud of venom descendin' over all of us wouldn't be ideal. I'll keep a close eye on it."

[Scubacarrot]

The party first backtracks to the docks where they first came on land, and then follow the directions they got from the man in black. They go the other way, they pass a giant, sandstone castle, multiple inns that Boomingham looks in longinly, and finally they see a giant temple made out of black granite and dark sandstone, rising from the cliff. It is not long before the party has found the Archeologist's house. They were told to look for the house with the purple door, and there seems to be only one.

However, when the party stands in front of the building, which seems to be made out of old sandstone too, unlike most other buildings, they notice the door is opened... How will the party proceed?

[Waterbrick Down]

"Hmm... Seems like he's either a friendly chap or someone has already invited themselves inside. Ellaria, would ya mind inquirin' of that fine furry fellow if he knows any of the latest things goin' on in there? My rodent's a bit rusty as of late."

[Sandy]

"Ellaria, would ya mind inquirin' of that fine furry fellow if he knows any of the latest things goin' on in there? My rodent's a bit rusty as of late."

"Oh, right..." Ellaria was perplexed. She was still practicing how to communicate with animals. The skill was similar to healing - you had to muster the will and the power from deep within you. And you had to concentrate. That had not been Ellaria's forte lately. "I can try, at least."

She stared down to the rat. The little creature stared back, unblinking. Then she talked animal. "[Hello, little friend! We mean you no harm, but we would be grateful if you could tell us who just went through this door? If you don't know, maybe you could go take a peek for us? There might be cheese involved if you can do this for us.]"

[Scubacarrot]

Imagine a Brooklyn accent.

"[You speak Rat? Well, well, well. You want to know about the guy that lives here? I love that guy! He leaves bread and cheese out here for us, not like the lady down the street, who only leaves crumbs. I was telling my buddy Tony earlier, I haven't seen him for a while now. Guess he's on vacation, or something. But what I bet you wanna know, yesterday, I saw two guys in black and brown enter the building, don't know if they are gone yet. So lady, a deal's a deal. How about that cheese?]"

[Sandy]

Ellaria recounts the rat's words about the men wearing black and brown to the rest of the party. Then she takes out a small chunk of mouldy cheese from her bag, and places it in front of the rat.

"[Thank you, little friend. You've deserved this. It's an Eubrican delicacy.]"

[Waterbrick Down]

Ellaria recounts the rat's words about the men wearing black and brown to the rest of the party. Then she takes out a small chunk of mouldy cheese from her bag, and places it in front of the rat.

"Black and brown eh, could be house sitters, maybe burglers. Guess we'll find out."

Skrall gives the door frame a rap. "Uncle Mortimor, are ya home? It's Garlin."

[CMP]

It took a lot of self-control to keep Atramor from pulling his hood back on and trying out Ratsbane. Instead, he bit his tongue, and settled on looking through the crates and barrel.

[Scubacarrot]

The crates are filled with sand, the barrel is filled with salt. Atramor does not need any of it, so he leave them alone, for now. Skrall gets no answer.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Scubacarrot

[CMP]

Atramor tries to recall the street market value of a barrel of salt rolls his eyes, and walks back to the party.

"Shall we just go inside?"

[Waterbrick Down]

"Hmmm, no answer. Either those chaps are the silent type or they aren't aware of us knowin' about them." With his hand resting on his holstered crossbow, Skrall enters.

[CMP]

Now with a proper meatshield leading the way, Atramor grips the Explosive Staff, following Skrall.

[Sandy]

Ellaria looks at the others.

"I think we should all enter together." She then turns to the rat, who is happily nibbling his piece of moulded cheese. "[Not you, little fellow. You're safer here.]"

The druid then follows Skrall and Atramor inside.

[Zepher]

"Right then, Garlin, we're all behind you. Here's hoping your friendly uncle is alright."

[Pandora]

Nyx stretches her arms and loosens her shoulders, ready. She makes sure she's carrying her Book, expecting trouble, and equips her Monkey Bar in her third accessory slot, just in case Edgar pops up. That done, she follows the others through the doorway.