Blue Bandanna Beatdown

Over a very light breakfast, Tuala, Cathance, and Meurig were comparing the differences in how their sorcery manifested, and decided they would take a mission together to see how it would work out.  Meurig gathered their plates to take back to the kitchen, and as Tuala and Cathance headed towards the stairwell, they were flagged by that angry human, Leticia, who was still in the front of the tavern.  They'd heard of her from others, including Meurig, pleading for help so Freelancers would beat up mythical people wearing blue bandannas, in retaliation for her friend getting some epic beatdown.  She presented her same case to Cathance and Tuala.

Cathance asked sincerely, "Have you seen them lately?"  Certainly no Freelancers had.

Leticia replied, "I know where they are," and Cathance retorted, "Really?  Have you seen them lately."  Leticia reiterated sharply, "I can tell you where they are!"  Cathance said it out loud: "We just haven't seen any of these…"

Tuala interjected, "Revenge isn't what Freelancers do," and Leticia snapped, "Maybe they should!" and she stormed out, enraged.

Cathance and Tuala looked at each other.  This entire thing was so unbelievable.  "Let's tail her," Cathance said, thinking they owed it to the Freelancers to find out what this angry lady was all about, and Tuala clearly agreed, "Let's."  They headed out the front door, and Meurig had to run to catch up with them.

Tuala and Cathance were pretty stealthy, but they had to help Meurig, for whom sneaking anywhere was an unnatural activity.  Leticia headed southwest towards the poorer section of the Trade District, and then turned northward, going through a section where the buildings were so jumbled together there weren't really proper streets, just twisty alleyways.

They came around the corner into an unexpectedly open area, with Tuala in the lead, then Meurig, with Cathance behind, to see on the other side, Leticia talking to two people, a human and a half-elf… both of whom were wearing blue bandannas on their left biceps.  They looked at the Freelancers, who had all stopped in surprise.

Leticia turned around, took in the three Freelancers, and then her angry visage changed to maliciously happy.  "Oh, you followed me," she said, a little too loudly.

A Wind sagani, also with a blue bandanna on his arm, came out of the door to Cathance's right; she immediately cast ray of frost on him.  The half-elf, who was closest, strode up to the Freelancers, loosening his mace. He took a swing at Tuala, which went wide.  The human also moved up as Leticia nigh growled in a hungry voice, "Get 'em." The Freelancers looked at each other, quickly piecing it together.  Oh, she's their boss.

• Tuala cast sleep, intending to catch the half-elf and Leticia.  The former blinked it away and growled at Tuala.  Tuala used sorcerous metamagic to improve his spell, to no avail.
• Leticia moved to join in the fray, but paused to whip out a blue bandanna of her own, and tie it to her upper arm dramatically.
• Meurig pulled some water out of his waterskin, and said to his fellow Freelancers, "I'm very sorry," and sent an ice knife into the Wind sagani.  It then exploded, dropping shards of ice into everyone, injuring not just the Blue Bandannas, but also the Freelancers.

Cathance did not want to mess around with Leticia and these three thugs.  She suggested to Leticia, "Why don't you sit down where you were, and stay there," pointing to where they had first seen her talking to the two others.  Leticia's face twisted as the suggestion took hold.

• The half-elf crit Tuala with the mace this time.  Perhaps he was offended someone tried to cast sleep on him.
• The human also pulled out a sword, and brought it down on Cathance, who cast shield to block it.
• The Wind sagani also tried to hit Cathance, but shield is handy that way.
• Tuala swapped to magic missile, and pelted the half-elf with 3 unavoidable missiles.  Then he used metamagic and did it again.
• Leticia, swearing she will see this through, walked back to where she had been and sat down.
• Meurig drew his sword, and attacked the Wind sagani with gusto, injuring him grievously. 

Cathance followed up with her warhammer, dropping him to bleed out on the ground.  She cast misty step to exit melee range of the other two.

• The half-elf's mace swung wide again as he struck at Tuala.
• The human had better luck, and hit Meurig twice with his mace.
• Tuala pelted the half-elf with more magic missiles, and he dropped to the ground as well.
• Leticia swore at the Freelancers and egged on the human.
• Meurig cast enhance ability on himself, and looked visibly more buff, as if such was possible for the large Black dragonborn.  He shifted so there was no cover between himself and the human.

Cathance sent a 5" orb of cold at the human, causing a significant amount of cold damage.

• The human bonked Meurig with his mace.
• Tuala sent a firebolt at the human, but missed.
• Leticia mocked the Freelancers, but it was bitter, as she still remained seated.
• Meurig ignored her taunts, and started chewing on a piece of paper.  His mouth turned red as if it was burning, and then a dragon's breath of 15' cone of fire spewed out of his mouth.  The human avoided the worst of the damage, but was still pretty burned.

The human was swaying on his feet.  Cathance cast chill touch, and as the skeletal hand touched him, he crumpled, unconscious.  Leticia, from where she was seated, let forward a fusillade of insults, but she stayed where she was.

"What now?" the Freelancers asked themselves, looking around.  Leticia sat across, raging; two thugs were bleeding out on the pavement, and one was unconscious.  Meurig was very badly injured from multiple mace strikes.

With no healing magic and no rope, the three sorcerers decided to send Meurig back to Freelancers Tavern to bring back help, and possibly rope; while Tuala and Cathance would remain in the open alleyspace, with the latter maintaining the active suggestion that Leticia stay sitting on her ass.

Meurig took a healing potion to fortify himself, and headed back to the tavern.  Once there, he spoke to Nohea, to ask for help.  As she raised an eyebrow at his injuries, he told her,  "We were going to go on a mission, but we arrested Leticia, who was trying to lay a trap."

While a Fire sagani, Nohea was of Quinametzin stock, and considerably taller than the 6'4" Meurig.  Her deep voice boomed angrily.  "Laying a trap?!  For Freelancers?"  Valan glanced up at this, and she waved the Cloud elf over.  Valan cast cure wounds on Meurig as the sorcerer explained the circumstances again, then added, "Thank you, but we had the situation under control."  He turned to Nohea, "However, we did not have rope, and are not sure what to do with these persons now."

Nohea turned to Valan.  "You hold the fort.  I'll go."  She made sure to get a coil of rope before heading out with Meurig.

Back in the alley, Cathance and Tuala inspected the fallen.  The half-elf and the Wind sagani were in a bad way; Cathance used her healer's kit to stabilize them.  Searching their persons, they found 181 gold – a lot more than one would expect on such as these – as well as a carved bone statue on the Wind sagani, a fancy silk handkerchief on the human, and on the half-elf, a set of nice dice and a gold bracelet.

Not a clue as to the significance of the blue bandanna or their affiliation.  Cathance and Tuala looked at each other and shrugged, as Leticia shrieked at them that they were no better than bandits themselves, killing people and taking their stuff.   But the Freelancers left the belongings and gold as they were.

Remembering the Wind sagani had emerged from a door, they looked inside there too.  A woman was cooking within, and bitched Tuala and Cathance out for being so rude right after that other fellow barged through with not even a greeting.  They apologized and withdrew.

Leticia glared at them as they settled down to wait, but they did not have to wait much longer before Meurig and Nohea returned.

Nohea tied up the unconscious thugs with an astonishing efficiency as Cathance explained what happened, with a slightly different perspective than Meurig's earlier explanation.  Leticia said, "O look, the Freelancers' barbarian freak has shown up," but Nohea ignored her and waved Cathance silent with a "Yah."

"Did you take this mission?!" Nohea asked.  By now, the entire guild on Cliffshadow was aware of angry lady's mission of 'vengeance.'  "No," Cathance told her, "We followed her, to find out what this was all about."

Tuala said, "We'd already talked to Arnari," meaning Arnari had already advised against taking this mission, and Meurig said, "She was advocating."

Leticia had been quiet, trying to hear what they were saying.  Nohea raised her voice a bit.  "Do you want to talk to her?"  She crossed her arms.  "We should probably bring them all to the City Guard.  The guard captain is reasonable."

Tuala replied, "The three of them, sure," gesturing at the bound unconscious fellows, "Not so sure about controlling her."

Leticia yelled, "How many of your parents are goats?!"  Of all the things she'd been yelling, this one upset Meurig beyond measure.  Cathance turned to Leticia and cocked her head.  "Does that mean, you follow the Ram?"

Leticia drew her knees up to her chin as she sat.  "The Ram is a fine god," she declared.  "So is the Goose.  The Cassowary never hurt anyone…" her voice trailed off at this ridiculous statement, as the Cassowary was the god of murder.

Cathance crossed to about 10' away from Leticia, the others heading over more slowly, in her wake.  She crouched down on her heels.  "So, angry lady, Who Is Paying You?"

Leticia sneered.  "Why would I tell you that?"

Cathance called back over her shoulder, "Guys!  She's getting paid to do this."

The others caught up, and Meurig said earnestly, "Well, maybe you will be in less troubles, if you tell us."  Tuala gestured at Nohea and noted, "She is a proud Freelancer."  Nohea put her hands on her hips, which made her look even bigger.

Leticia looked at the little Mikumwes, and the tall Black dragonborn, and her three unconscious compatriots, and her shoulders unclenched.  "I don't know exactly who hired me," she started, rubbing her temple, "But you didn't kill my guys, so I'll tell you.

"I was given a message by" here, she pointed at Cathance, "kinda like you, with 300gp in advance, more to beat the shit out of several Freelancers.  About a prime and a half past the Planting Holiday," she finished.

As one, the Freelancers scowled.

Meurig asked, "Did you have anything to do?"  Leticia added, "3'3", blond, hazel eyes."  He shook his black-scaled head.  "Was there a rendezvous?"  Leticia replied, "No.  He was supposed to get in touch."

Meurig looked to the others.  "What should we do?"

Tuala asked her, "Did you take this just for money, or is there more reasons involved?"  Leticia's shoulders sagged a bit.  "I'm trying to establish the gang.  I didn't listen about Freelancers."

The Freelancers withdrew, to consult quickly out of her earshot.

Cathance: We should pretend they succeeded, and catch this halfling.
Meurig: Then we can wear bandannas, and catch them!
Nohea: Don't want word to spread, because that threatens our safety and reputation.
Tuala: Good point.
Cathance: Good point.
Nohea: Maybe reverse it.  Enlist her, to involve us when he reaches out.

They walked back over to Leticia, still sitting on the pavement from Cathance's suggestion.  Tuala opened with, "Instead of us going to the City Guard…" and pitched the idea.

Leticia's face was a study as she considered the idea.  She opened her mouth, obviously to ask for payment for such a thing, and then closed it again when she realized the Freelancers could loot all four of them and hand them to the City Guard.  Finally she said, "Yes, we'll not attack Freelancers.  Will contact you."

She added, "I solemnly swear to notify you if the halfling dude contacts us – the Blue Bandanna – as long as no City Guard."  Tuala considered her sincerity carefully, and was satisfied.

Cathance wasn't, really.  "Skyguard, maybe," she said to provoke a reaction, and she got it.  "Don't take us there, either!"

Cathance sighed; Leticia was tiring.  "Why you so angry?!"  Leticia snapped, "Resting bitch face.  You try being poor in this city!"  Cathance, who'd just gone through all their pockets, scoffed, "You're not poor."

To the others, "Maybe we should take the gold."  They discussed it, maybe if they just held the gold that could give them leverage.  Nobody thought this was worth the hassle.  "Me and Valan will keep an eye out," Nohea told the others.

Cathance told Leticia, "Clearly, someone is watching you.  Keep coming to the tavern, to fool them."  Cathance dropped the suggestion compulsion.

Leticia felt it drop, but faced with Nohea, stayed sitting down to avoid an epic beat down.  Tuala informed her, "We could take your gold, but won't, as a gesture of good faith."

At that, Leticia stood up, slowly, and resisted the urge to dust herself off.  "I'll let you know, if he gets in touch."

Nohea smiled, and then turned to the sorcerers.  "Why don't you come back to the tavern?" she asked pleasantly.

Once back in the tavern, Nohea checked in with Valan, then told the others, "You should tell Arnari what happened."  She looked around.  "I'll… stay down here."

Oh-oh.  But they went up to Arnari's office.  As they sat down, she looked over the group, and started shuffling through her papers, then looked up again, realizing they were all injured.

She put the papers back down.  "What have you been up to this morning, already?"

Cathance replied by way of a question.  "Remember the questions about the 'blue bandanna gang'?"  Arnari's face became grim, and she pulled out a blank paper and a quill, as Meurig and Tuala took turns telling the tale.

"Please don't take unsanctioned missions…" she paused as they all opened their mouths to object, "Just be careful of the people offering them."  She came around her desk, and cast cure wounds on Tuala and Cathance.

Cathance said, "Maybe listening to these and checking out their stories are worthwhile, though, because we find out about this," she gestured vaguely, to indicate uncovering an actual threat to the Guild.

To her credit, Arnari contemplated these words.  She said slowly, "This, plus the other one, to go into the eastern marsh… they are just not what Freelancers do.  But, maybe so."

Meurig was more interested in what Arnari had put together.  "Do we know about this halfling?"  Arnari pulled out a paper, then replied, "Tahu, Dryali, and Fine Branch had a halfling matching this description trailing them in Stormhaven, the last prime after the Planting Holiday."

Meurig was disappointed.  "That might not be a fresh track."  Arnari agreed, but "Still, might send to Stormhaven."  Meurig told her, "I'm good for that!"

• Meurig → lvl 4!