High-flyin' Negotiations

It was a little after breakfast in Freelancers Tavern, and Ondar and Nix had just returned the prior day from Waypoint Alarm.  Nix was at a table against the wall, with a large stein of beer, smoking a pipe.  Her winged cat was twining about her feet.  The Pastoral gnome, Lorcan, wondered why she disguised herself to be older.

Block was there, nervous and jovial, talking to Ondar at the long table.  Lorcan wondered if they could do a mission together, remembering his fondness for sheep, so asked about it.  In the end, Block was persuaded, as he wanted money to acquire a mount; and he, Ondar, Lorcan, and Nix went up to Arnari's office.

Arnari's office had shelves on the wall with musical instruments arranged in a way only the dark half-elf understood, and a large mahogany desk covered in papers and knicknacks that was clearly organized to her satisfaction, but appeared to be pure chaos to everyone else.

Nix sat in the wooden chair, and Lorcan sat at polite attention in an appropriate-sized chair.  Ondar and Block both leaned against the wall, the big quinametzin towering over the shorter human.

Arnari pulled out a couple pieces of paper, one more dog-eared than the other, and her lips twitched, before she said, "Egg hunting."

• Hippogryphs – this won't be much of a challenge for you.
• If interested, might try gryphon, could be fun.
• Third mission available, check out Pirates Dream river for pollution.  Still probably mutated creatures; cull them.
• Fourth, Hindmarsh: try to check out Jamie's boss.  A while back, Jamie was responsible for various graffiti and vandalism to the Skyguard and Pilot's Guild.  Jamie and another person was apprehended, but broken out.  All evidence shows a third person coordinating… we are looking for Raquelle, and Mais-Quand run an extremely dangerous haven for pirates on Imperieuse.

Block asked, "What do these pay?"  Arnari glanced at the papers.  "Pirates Dream, 100gp/person plus an uncommon potion each; Hindmarsh, 200gp/person, but organize your travel on your own."

After a moment of silence, she continued.

• The last mission follows onto work with the map found in Wendehals mausoleum.  100gp/person from Mayor Kaiea… follow the map and find out what's there.  Maybe it is two days… south of Three Rivers?

Lorcan recognized that; his first mission had been with these people plus the rude barbarian Mia, right near there, "Isn't that Sceap?" he asked.

Arnari:  not quite.  Sceap is near; one day southeast.
Nix:  spoiling for a fight.
Ondar:  pollution is most likely to get in a fight, given the parameters of the others.
Block:  I'd be interested in a mount of flying dogs, so mutated creatures sounds hopeful
Arnari:  Tomtom has a saddle thing that can turn a dog flying; on Pembroke there are tunnel dogs big enough to ride.
Block:  then, am interested in the most money!
Nix:  which one would that be?

Arnari repeated the pay for all these missions, and that meant the four Freelancers entirely failed at math, as they decided 200gp each for the mission to Hindmarsh would beat the per-egg bounties.  O well!  Hindmarsh it was, and their first challenge was getting there.

None of these Freelancers had ever been to Hindmarsh, or really were involved in the prior missions involving Jamie or his compatriots.  Arnari took a moment to make sure they knew who they were looking for.  Cade was a halfling man, a little over 3' tall, blond hair, hazel eyes, studded leathers, and well-armed.  Jamie was an androgenous half-elf, very beautiful, with red hair, green eyes, and a pseudodragon familiar.  Raquelle was a human woman, younger middle-aged, late 20s, brownish skin, black hair, grey eyes, in plate armour.

After grabbing their gear, as well as Frostclaw, Ondar's flying bear, the Freelancers headed to the Trade District, to one of the caravan staging areas for goods going cross-skylith.  By mutual assent, they decided Nix would do any negotiating.

At the staging area, they saw a tall human getting people settled in a big mule chain.  The mules looked a bit overladen.  Nix suddenly changed to a slightly younger version of herself as the human cussed out a helper, then wandered over to talk to him.

"Seems like you're having a tough day, and are about to head west," she started, "Do you want a hand?  We're Freelancers headed for Hindmarsh."

As she was talking, Block wandered over to one of the donkeys, and cast speak with animals.

Block:  what's up
Donkey:  I'm bored, load is heavy, maybe we'll get walking, I don't wanna walk
Block:  you ever seen a dog big enough to ride
Donkey:  saw a dire wolf with a grblin, that was terrifying

As they conversed, Block was basically hee-hawing back and forth with the donkey.

The caravan leader was Navarre Stonestorm.  He told Nix, "Wouldn't mind having some guards along.  I don't have the budget to pay you, but will keep you fed!"  At this, the Freelancers looked again at the overladen mules.  Lorcan realized they would move slower than normal, and suspected the goods would be dropped off at an interim location.  Block continued to converse with the donkey.

Nix observed, "You have so much fine goods!  Our friend" here, she gestured at Block,"is in need of a little help with his speech impediment.  If we could get like 25 gp or so, the rest could get by with food."

Navarre replied, "Hm, that's powerful.  You keep him away from the donkeys, once we get to Hindmarsh, will pay 25gp."  Lorcan, with another flash of insight, realized he would do it because he really was worried about Block hee-hawing at the donkeys.  <Narrator voice:  Shari rolled a nat 20 on insight.>

Soon the mule train was moving, but it was pretty slow because of the overladen beasts.  It took them 3 full days to get to Cliffgate, but then, thankfully, Navarre dropped off a bunch of goods.  He picked some up as well, but the burdens were shifted around, and the mules were much happier, and faster, after that.

The mule train went west along the main road, making good time because the normal hassles from wild life didn't occur.  Perhaps they saw, or smelled, Ondar's bear.  Ondar and Frostclaw were often flying above.  They got to Three Rivers without incident, and while there enjoyed the Contemplation of Calm; continued on to Marshfork, then all the way to Hindmarsh.

At Hindmarsh, the road forked.  Southward were the Hindmarsh warehouses, which is where Navarre was heading.  Westward was the main town, with the port and the gladiator fights.  There they parted ways, and Navarre paid the 25gp.

"Good. Job." he said to Block, enunciating carefully. "Your Speech Has Gotten A Lot Better."

Block replied, "Oh, thank you!" and Navarre's eyes narrowed.  Nix said hastily, "You have been paying attention to our lessons!"  Block, uninterested in the exchange, wandered over to the donkey and cast speak with animals again to say goodbye.  Navarre's eyes widened, and he said, "Good luck with that guy."

Navarre made to leave, and Nix said, "Wait!  Where are the inns?"  He explained that there were two large ones:   The Tipsy Tornado, at the north end near the gladiator arenas, and The Anchor & Plough in the south, near the warehouses.  Then he did depart.

The Daystar was westering when the Freelancers headed into The Tipsy Tornado and Ondar talked to the human innkeeper, Charis Rainrock.  Ondar read him as a no-nonsense individual who would provide his customers exactly what they paid for; but would have no qualms about selling the stupid to the gladiator slavers.  Ondar kept that to himself.

As Ondar was discussing with Charis the topic of rooms and stabling for Frostclaw, his eyes wandered a bit.  Charis' drink selection was pretty good and there were 5 bottles Ondar had never tried.  Nix was also looking, thinking they might have good pipe tobacco.  Lorcan stayed somewhat in the background, looking around the entire tavern, which was poorly lit despite it still being daylight.  He saw the patrons were in distinct, reasonably-sized groups of people.

Block also looked around, content to let Ondar and Nix get the rooms.  He saw a group in the back corner.  Raquelle, in plate armour, with a slighter woman who looked quite … decorative.  They seemed to have an entourage of 4 or 5 burly people in leathers, with untied weapons.  Block also noticed, in the dark very corner, a halfling man with nice gear and many weapons.  <Narrator voice:  Russ rolled a nat 20 on perception.>

"O look," he said quietly to the others, "there they are; there's Raquelle, and that halfling."  He pointed, half-heartedly, but not hiding the gesture.

Lorcan glanced over, and saw them perfectly fine; those people matched the description.  As he looked, the decorative woman leaned over seductively, and whispered in Raquelle's ear.  Raquelle's eyes focused as she checked the Freelancers out.  Lorcan did that thing of not allowing his eyes to rest in any one place.

Ondar finished checking in – it was 1gp/night each, and 1gp/night for the bear – for 2 rooms.  Then the Freelancers put Frostclaw in the stable.  They were not too concerned about the bear getting lifted, but just in case, Nix cast alarm on the stall.

"What is the mission?" Lorcan asked quietly.  "We know where they are now, but nothing about where they are usually?"

Well, there was time enough to think about that.  For now, the others wanted to think about their evening.

Once Frostclaw was settled, and their gear was settled in rooms, the Freelancers went back to the taproom, which had started to get crowded and loud.  Ondar asked Charis about evening entertainment, and the latter offered that there would be at least one good fight in the arena this evening.  There was good betting action, but also one could wait until tomorrow.

Ondar preferred to eat and try the liquors; he found out 3 of the bottles were 5gp/shot.  At that, Lorcan looked more closely, and concluded they were just expensive bottles of scotch.  There was also a cider, and a house-brewed beer.  Ondar, uncomfortable flashing his coin in a bar possibly full of ill-intentioned persons, bought 1 each of the cheaper drinks.  They were not the drinks Ondar was looking for.

Block tried to match Ondar's drinks, but could not keep up with the much larger quinametzin.  He ended up very drunk, and wandered outside, muttering about the tornadoes.  Nix did not make this mistake, instead buying some fancy tobacco, and trying it in her pipe.

Lorcan, Nix, and Ondar grabbed a small table and dinner, eating and paying attention to the patrons around them, especially, of course, Raquelle.

Like many others at The Tipsy Tornado, her cohort were pregaming before going to the arena.  Two of the burly entourage were arguing heatedly over the expected outcomes, and as they argued, the halfling came and joined them at the table.  Lorcan saw it was obviously Cade.  He also noted the decorative woman talking quietly to Raquelle, and Cade talking to Raquelle, and they were both doing that thing of not allowing their eyes to rest in any one place.  He saw Raquelle tell the woman, "I can see." <Narrator voice:  Shari rolled a nat 20 on perception.>

In addition to other groups pregaming the fights, there were some groups just drinking, some darts and cards going on.  The fight most under discussion was about Davidovic, a Djogeon halfling, vs Sergeon, an orc.  The hot debate was whether the burly orc with a spear would be able to hit the wily halfling with two daggars.

After finishing her pipe, Nix got up and wandered upstairs to her rooms.  While there, she used the hat of disguise to almost look like her natural self:  a human woman in her late 20s, although the hint of silver dragonscales remained hidden.  She also changed her clothes to also look… decorative.

Nix came back to the bar and got her own drink, and wandered over to where Raquelle's burly retainers were still arguing over the upcoming arena fight.  There were four of them, all human:  two very muscle-y men with no neck and not particularly attractive, one man with black receding hair and kind of a widow's peak, also burly, with scars which may or may not have been rakish; and a short woman, with an undercut, and battered knuckles.

Ondar and Lorcan yielded their table, and went to the bar to sample drinks.  Mercury, the winged cat, stayed near Ondar.

Nix listened to their conversation, sipping her drink demurely, waiting for the conversation to have the right opening, for she had decided she was looking to get an invite to go with them to the arena.  Once she had it, she interjected, "No!  Have you seen the arms on Sergeon?  He could tear a man in half!"  They all looked at her in surprise, and she continued, making a bit of eyes at the man with the widow's peak, "On the other hand, you look like you could take him."

The target of Nix's interest flushed a little bit as his peers elbowed him.  Unnoticed, Raquelle, Cade, and the decorative woman examined her with mild interest.  However, Ondar saw what Nix was doing, and walked over.  "Come on, babe, it's time to go," he said gruffly.

Lorcan could not have been more appalled if his mother had stood up in front of the Pembroke Royal Court and announced she was directly responsible for poisoning an entire noble family.  He hid.

The burly woman said to Ondar, gruffly, "She can stay with us if she wants; who are you?"  

Ondar tried to act as if he was being stood up, and impotent to take any action.  "So, so, this is how it's gonna be, huh?"  He stormed out of the bar, drawing everyone's attention.  Cade looked sharply at Nix, then leaned over and whispered to Raquelle, "I'll track him later; she is illusioned."

Raquelle finished her tankard.  "Let's head off to the arena," she said, "My money is on Davidovic; always bet on the little guy."  Cade glanced at her and half-smiled, half smirked, and Lorcan frantically checked if he was actually hidden.

Nix replied, "Oh no; I have to bet on the guy with big muscles!"  The black-haired fellow blushed again, and they started to leave.  He said to Nix, who'd hesitated, "The arena is this way."

Lorcan left the bar while they were still inside.  He cast message to Ondar, "Where are you?"  Ondar told him, and Lorcan hid again.

Nix, meanwhile, excused herself to "Freshen up."  She sent Mercury to Ondar, and hid her broom in the building eaves.  Then she came back down to Raquelle's party, and they left The Tipsy Tornado.

Lorcan watched from his hiding place as Raquelle and her group exited the tavern and headed towards the arena, with Nix accompanying them, and the decorative lady on Raquelle's arm.  Ondar came into view in front of them, pouting a little too obviously, and headed in the same direction.  Lorcan stroked his short, thin beard, then cast disguise self to be a Maker gnome, with lighter skin, brown hair, and a much fuller beard.  He then kept apace of their party, in a street with a loot of foot traffic heading to the arena.

The arena entrance had a ram's head over the doors, and admission was 1sp; after all, it was not admissions that generated their revenue.  The arena itself was a large oval, with four pillars in what would be the four corners of the floor, had it been a rectangle; these pillars had torches in sconces, and giant braziers burning on top.

Raquelle headed to a group of seats across and to the left from the entrance; these seats were clear, as if others expected them to be taken.  They had a good view of the floor, although the gladiator entrance was blocked by a pillar.

Lorcan picked a seat across from the entrance, not right near the floor but up a ways; part of his view was obscured by a pillar.  However his view of Nix and Raquelle's crew were unobstructed.

Ondar got a seat as far up in the bleachers as possible.  He did not want anyone behind him, and wanted to be watching Nix.  From his vantage, he had a good view of Nix, and a shitty view of the arena.

A pregame show had started, and then a pair of animals were brought in as a warmup fight.  Arena agents, bookies really, circulated the crowd taking wagers.  The match was close and winning would only net the bettors 10%.  Nix bet 3gp on Sergeon.  Lorcan, far away, bet 7gp on Davidovic, as he also agreed with "always bet on the little guy."  He watched the animal fight, sad that they were making the animals fight, but musing that an ankheg would probably be an interesting combatant there.

The animal fight ended, with neither dead; they were dragged off to recover, as a drumroll stilled the crowd.  An announcer introduced the combatants.  First was Sergeon, the orc, walked in, a mighty spear in his hand, he walked in a circle, working the crowd, pumping it over his head.  Second was Davidovic, the Djogeon halfling, who tumbled in, daggars flashing, grinning at the crowd.

And then they were fighting!  Sergeon speared Davidovic in the calf, but the halfling twisted and got away; time and again Davidovic struck with his daggars and was blocked by the haft of the spear.  In the end, though, Surgeon stumbled, and Davidovic knocked him out with the pommel of a daggar, decisively winning!

Lorcan collected his 7gp7sp from the bookie.

Nix grabbed the arm of her newfound companion, saying, "Sergeon let me down!  I bet you could have beat him!"  Raquelle was pretty smug, though.

Sergeon was not dead; at this announcement, people started to file out of the arena.

Nobody noticed that Cade was no longer with the party.

Nix's companion slid his arm around her waist.  "Wanna come back with me lady?"  Nix smiled winsomely.  The other two looked at each other knowingly.  "Bunk with you?"  "Yeah, sure."  Raquelle and the decorative lady tilted their heads at this, then Raquelle shrugged.

They all headed back to The Tipsy Tornado.  It became obvious to Nix that Raquelle and her entire entourage had rooms there.  Lorcan, still disguised as a Maker gnome, blended in with the crowd.

Ondar just headed back, still pouting.  Mercury kept him from getting too far away from Nix.

Back at The Tipsy Tornado, Nix found herself in Fishel's room.  He was clearly pretty anticipatory of the upcoming activities.  Nix excused herself, to use the restroom, as one does.  Then she went out the window and onto her broom, and took off.

Ondar, meanwhile, was at the bar, still drinking.  Nix dropped her disguise entirely, walked up to him, and asked, "Can I join you?"  Her eyes were a little wide; that was a close call.

Behind them, unnoticed, a Maker gnome made his way upstairs to one of the Freelancers' rooms.

Nix wanted whiskey; she ordered one each for her and Ondar, at 1gp each.  She had the thousand-yard stare of a woman who had definitely come far too close to unpleasant consequences.  Ondar noted this was not the drink he was looking for, but he was enjoying it.

Nix abruptly said, "I've had enough of today.  See you tomorrow, buddy."  She down'd the rest, put her glass on the bar and went up to her rooms.  Ondar started up, thought better of it, and had another drink.

Fishel came down some time later, hot and bothered and upset.  He cast about the tavern three times, looking for decorative Nix, who was of course not there.  Finally, he noticed Ondar.  "You!  What did you do with her?"

Ondar looked at him in surprise, then understanding.  "She ditched Ondar, what makes you think she wouldn't do the same to you?"  He was only mildly convincing, and it didn't really matter, because Fishel was preoccupied with his frustration.  He scowled, grumped, and then shoulder-checked the larger man.  "Fuck you, fuck her!  Yeah!  Fuck you too!"

Ondar just grinned, and then went back up to his room.  Fishel took his seat at the bar, and started drowning his sorrows.

A ways southwest of The Tipsy Tornado, Block was his own tipsy, and watching the tornadoes in fascination.  Almost crying in wonder, he kept using druidcraft to create little origami plants and paper planes, and then sailing them into the tornadoes.  For all they were leagues away, it didn't really take that long to get them there.

By the time Block got back to the tavern, Fishel had gone to bed.  Block went into the room he split with Nix and passed out, face planted in the bed.

Ondar, Lorcan, and Nix woke up after a long, well-deserved, rest to discover that someone had tossed their gear.  It had been subtle, but someone had clearly rummaged through their packs and pouches until they'd found the Freelancer badges in their lead cases.

Nix additionally found Block on his bed, insensate, face down, mumbling and twitching.  "Tornadoes, golden retrievers, tornadoes."  She used the hat of disguise again to look like the older, silver-haired woman, and slipped into Ondar and Lorcan's room to discuss.

"The bear is untouched," she informed the others.  They discussed whether they should flee or not, and Lorcan put his stuff together in preparation to leave.  In his mind, the mission they were given had been fulfilled, and they had no more reason to remain, especially since Ondar and Nix had antagonized the targets.  The other two were hesitating, for reasons Lorcan could not divine.  He decided he could flee on his own if need be.  "I'm hungry," he told the other two, and went down to the tavern to have breakfast.  He took his pack with him.

Those words were like magic, and Ondar discovered he was hungry.  He followed suit, and Nix went back to her room to also follow suit.  As she did so, Block was still snoring and mumbling, now as if he was in speak with animals.  Mumble, eehaw, woof woof, runnn, mumble.  She left him to sleep.

The Tipsy Tornado served a variety of breakfast beers, which Ondar was happy to try.  Lorcan had pretty much finished, and Ondar and Nix were still eating, when they looked up to see themselves surrounded by Raquelle, Cade, the burly humans, and the decorative lady.

Raquelle was wearing a shield.  Lorcan frowned at the decorative lady, standing behind Nix, across from him, and realized it was an illusion:  that person was …a rather androgynous half-elf, with reddish hair and green eyes… Jamie.

* * session break * *

Like Cade, Jamie was in studded leather, but unlike Cade, he had a pseudodragon around his neck.  The others looked much the same as the night before, except Raquelle had a shield and a drawn longsword.  She looked at the innkeeper.

"Charis, you're closed for a while," she said, in a voice accustomed to no argument.  Charis nodded, and started shooing people out, and shut the front door.  Lorcan watched him casually, but noted that he had not locked the doors.

Ondar, meanwhile, pushed the empty chair out, and offered, "Join us."  In his offhand, unseen, he pulled out a bottle of the Daystar lotion.  Raquelle shifted, and slowly shook her head.  "I know you Freelancers stick together," she replied, "While this isn't personal… this is personal."  She hefted her shield a little.  "Anyone who touches my boys, probably shouldn't have."  Her voice was just a little sultry, at "my boys," and her retainers ever so slightly tensed.

Her boys.  Lorcan's green eyes glared at Nix, for putting him in this position, but he otherwise became very still.  If he could have faded out, he would have.

Everyone held still for a moment.

The pseudodragon stuck its head over Jamie's shoulder and hissed.  That looked very weird to Ondar and Nix, for whom he still looked like a decorative lady.  But, that broke the tableau.

• Lorcan jumped up, exclaiming, "Freelancers stick together, my ass!"  He disengaged and ran to the door to the stables, yanking it open, and dashed towards the stall with Frostclaw.
• Nix was surrounded by Raquelle, Jamie, and Cade.  She stoodup and cast an uplevel'd chromatic orb right there in Cade's face.  It exploded in cold, but Cade dodged in that uncanny way rogues can.
  • She then cast dragon's breath on Mercury.
• Jamie tried to banish Nix, who wavered, turned translucent and grey, then shook it off.
• Raquelle raised her sword and shield, then attacked Ondar, who was still seated, twice.  The first hit slashed into his shoulder, and then poisonous green light emerged from the sword as she invoked divine smite to burn Ondar with holy radiance.  Ondar employed stone's endurance to reduce the hurt he took.
  • Raquelle's backswing critfailed, while the smite was fading out.  She afflicted herself, Cade, and her retainers with faerie fire.  Keeping that up required her concentration, so she dropped the spell.
  • Raquelle then cast spiritual weapon, in the form of a daggar with a snake-headed handle.  The daggar struck Nix with force.
• Cade tried to shank Nix with a daggar, but missed.  He started swearing, by The Snake.  He stabbed with his other hand, and spectral wings emanated from Nix's sides, deflecting the blow.  Cade's smirk faded; he was pissed.
• Ondar stood up – and up, and up.  Ondar became Large, as the taproom ceilings were tall enough to accommodate it.  He drew his vicious rapier and swung at Raquelle, missing.  Then he tried to smash the bottle of Daystar lotion over her head, but instead smashed it on her hastily raised shield.
  • Then, he stepped back a few feet, away from Raquelle and the nearby 3 retainers, all of whom swung at him.  Raquelle missed, but her retainers all hit with their cudgels, including one crit.
• Mercury opened his mouth and breathed cold dragon's breath on Raquelle and her three retainers.  They avoided most of the damage.
• Unbeknownst to the others, Block had actually woken up, and found himself hungry.  At this point he paused at the top of the stairs; he saw Lorcan running, and the people he'd pointed out the prior evening off to his right.
• The woman retainer stepped up to Large Ondar, swinging her cudgel, but missed him twice.
• The three male retainers who'd hit him before all stepped back up to Large Ondar, swinging their cudgels.  Only one of them hit him, a glancing blow.

The pseudodragon hissed at Mercury, but stayed on Jamie's shoulders.

• Lorcan was close enough; he used his mage hand legerdemain to unlock Frostclaw's stall and let the bear out.  "Find Ondar!" he commanded in a peculiar accent.  Frostclaw emerged with a roar; he could hear the fighting.  Then Lorcan started applying poison to his blowgun needles with a hurried precision.
• Nix cast a chromatic orb right in Jamie's face, which exploded into cold.  The visual result made her realize she was looking at a half-elf in studded leather with a familiar, not a lady in a flimsy gown.
• Jamie did not enjoy that experience, and bampf'd out of range, with the psuedodragon.  Then he cast eldritch blast at Nix, two beams of leafy green that looked for all the world like weird, flying dicks, hitting her with force.
• Raquelle saw how poorly Nix and Large Ondar were doing, and had the spiritual weapon daggar strike Nix with force.  Then she struck with her longsword, invoking a divine smite a second time, to burn Nix with holy radiance, and the woman crumbled, her semblance of an old woman fading away to reveal the human with silvery dragonscales.
  • Raquelle then jumped on the table, and swung at Large Ondar, who was still taller than she; but critfailed.
• Cade attacked Large Ondar twice.  He missed with his main hand, but struck a tendon with his offhand strike.
• Large Ondar was swaying on his feet, and tried to break the table under Raquelle with his vicious rapier.  He critfailed at this, and instead his rapier was stuck in the wood.  He promptly pulled out a handaxe and attacked Raquelle with it, getting through her guard and slashing her badly.  He invoked his fire rune, but while it burned her, it failed to restrain her.
  • Large Ondar also invoked the second wind all warriors are taught, to steady himself against the hurts he'd taken.
  • Then Large Ondar, riding his adrenaline, surged forward and tackled Raquelle, knocking her off the table and landing on top of her.  Her breath went out with a whoosh.
• Mercury disengaged and flew out the window to the street.
• Block snuck down behind the table between the foot of the stairwell and Lorcan.  Then he wild shaped into … a glowy, starry form, with a chalice.
  • He cast healing word on Nix, and the chalice healed Ondar.  Nix opened her eyes and lay there, blinking.
• Fishel attacked Large Ondar, and missed.
• The female and one of the male retainers pivoted to Block and attacked him, beating him with their cudgels.
• The other male retainer had seen Nix awaken and tried to hit her with his cudgel.  The first strike was deflected by the spectral dragon wings, and that threw him off so much he missed.

Lorcan really did not want to engage a Paladin of The Snake, and indeed did not see any upside to either himself or Frostclaw joining this uneven battle.  Facilitating his compatriots' withdrawal seemed the best option to him.  He dashed to Frostclaw and mounted the bear, mentally thanking Āhua for the travel time to befriend him.  Then, almost as an afterthought, he shot the woman attacking Block with a poisoned blowgun needle.  But his main purpose was to get Frostclaw out of the stable and to the front of the tavern so his fellow Freelancers could be retrieved.

• Nix, lying on the floor, had drawn the same conclusions Lorcan had.  She rose gracefully to her feet, disengaged, then used her broom of flying to skeedaddle out the window where Lorcan was.
• Jamie, unhappy to see his mistress under Large Ondar, sent two more eldritch blast at him, still looking like leafy green dicks.
• Raquelle struggled to get out from under Large Ondar, but she was no match for the big quinametzin.  She had her spiritual weapon dagger hit him with force.
  • Ondar invoked his stone rune on her, incapacitating her.
• Cade moved over to Block and stabbed him.  Block sank to the floor, glow fading.  Then he moved towards the front door, obviously thinking about Lorcan.
• Large Ondar stood up, then picked up the incapacitated Raquelle, and stepped to the window next to Lorcan and Frostclaw.  Fishel and the other retainer swung with their cudgels, and missed.
  • Large Ondar reached through the window and put Raquelle face down across Frostclaw's shoulders, to Lorcan's unhappy astonishment.  "Take her as high as you can, and drop her," he directed Lorcan in a loud voice.  Looking at Block, Lorcan handed the quinametzin a healing potion, that he'd made himself.  Then he saw how bad off Large Ondar was, and said "Feel free to quaff it."
  • Large Ondar quaffed the healing potion.
• Mercury landed on Lorcan's shoulder.  The Pastoral gnome's face softened a little.  He told Mercury, "All will be well; The Snake is one of Āhua's creatures."  The winged cat did not reply.
• Block roused but did not get up.
• The male retainer next to Large Ondar attacked him with his cudgel; the first swing was a miss and the second a crit.
• The male retainer next to Block moved after Large Ondar, and Block pulled out a light hammer and swung at him.  He critfailed and almost hit the female retainer.
  • Upon reaching Large Ondar, he knocked the quinametzin out with his cudgel.
• The female retainer knocked Block unconscious again, although it took her two tries.
• Fishel pulled out rope and started tying up Large Ondar.  He didn't do a very good job, because Ondar was so very large.

The pseudodragon stuck with Jamie, unwilling to strike out on its own.

• Lorcan shot Fishel with a poisoned blowgun needle.  Extremely displeased with Ondar for putting him in this position, considering that if the paladin slipped there would be exactly nothing he could do about it, Lorcan directed Frostclaw to fly straight up.
  • He called out to Nix, nearby on her broom, "Nix, should I drop her?"  Nix replied, "No; go higher."
• Nix then moved over the roof of The Tipsy Tornado, so Jamie could not bamph over to her.
• Jamie looked at Cade, then tossed the Mikumwes halfling a pair of manacles.  He cast fly on himself, then moved outside, under the bear, 15' up.
  • He shouted at Lorcan, "Put her down, gently, and I'll let the two of you fly away."  Lorcan said nothing, just watched him.

<Narrator voice:  at this point, both parties are split, multiple combatants are unconscious, and strict initiative order makes no sense.   Reverting to narrative.  Actions are split by scene.>

Raquelle was well balanced across Frostclaw's shoulders, but Ondar getting knocked out didn't disinvoke the stone rune, and she remained incapacitated.  Mercury left Lorcan's shoulder and flew over to Nix.

Meanwhile, left with manacles too small to use on the enlarged quinametzin, Cade was still pissed.  He checked Large Ondar for weapons, and threw them all across the tavern.  He kicked the shield away.  

Large Ondar was bleeding out.  Block stayed unconscious; the female retainer pulled out some rope, and started tying up Block.  Fishel pulled out a healer kit and stabilized Large Ondar, while the other two retainers re-tied him up.

Lorcan's displeasure had not receded; he was still freaked out about having a Paladin of The Snake in his care, and a warlock pacing his flight.  He shot Jamie with a poisoned blowgun needle, trying to disrupt the fly spell.  That did not work, so he called to Jamie, frustrated, "It'll be plenty gentle if there's no skylith to hit!"  He angled Frostclaw 45 degrees upwards, and west, towards the edge of the skylith.  Nix flanked him from about 25'-30' away.

Jamie was still only 15' up, and thus constrained by buildings; to stay under Frostclaw he had to put some effort in.  He called out again, a twinge of desperation in his voice, "Fly back down, gently, with Raquelle, and I will tell Cade not to kill your friends."  And so they flew, westward, the paladin face down across Frostclaw's shoulders.

Cade had no intention of killing the captured Freelancers; he was focussed on Raquelle.  He dropped two pairs of manacles and ordered the others, "Keep them unconscious, and tied up."  Then he went into the stables to retrieve his gryphon.

The retainers shrugged.  The woman stabilized Block, but he was tied up and didn't need manacles.  Large Ondar wouldn't fit them.

Nix pulled out her own shackle and called out, "Lorcan!"  When he looked she waved them at him.  Lorcan looked back at Jamie.  "I don't understand your beef with Freelancers," he said honestly, "But, we could perhaps trade."  Nix added, darkly, "Or we could drop her off the 'lith!"

Lorcan did not think Raquelle would remain incapacitated forever, and again wished he had a tranq poison.  He searched Raquelle for other weapons, and found three daggars, all very high quality, with snake heads for pommels, like her spiritual weapon had been.

Jamie yelled at him.  "I don't particularly give a shit about the Freelancers!  I'm here doing a job!"  He composed himself.  "We'll trade.  Her life for yours.  Put her down, and I won't kill you."

Lorcan frowned.  "I'm here to do a job, too.  You are changing the terms."

Nix, watching, quaffed a healing potion.  Feeling less endangered, she flew closer to Frostclaw, and offered to hand him the manacles.  "Do you wanna trade flying vehicles?" he asked, unsure how he'd manacle the paladin without dropping her, and thinking Nix was much stronger and could keep that from happening.  Nix handed him the manacles, and said dubiously, "We can trade if you want."

Jamie, watching this, sighed in annoyance, then flew up and over the building.  He was no longer directly under Raquelle, but a bit behind, and much closer in height.  He shouted, "I'm not going to kill your friends, and I'll let you go if you put her on the ground, gently."

Raquelle snapped out of the stone rune, to observe that she was 170' away from the ground.  She tensed, and so did Lorcan.

Cade had done a mad run to his gryphon and had cleared the stable roof.  He looked around and spotted the flying bear, but Nix had also spotted him.

Lorcan said conversationally to Raquelle, "We seem to be at an impasse.  Do you want to be put down gently or do you want to go down quickly?  Your friend seems to be negotiating in bad faith."

Raquelle replied, "I warned you about hurting my boys.  I thought it would be obvious that they would be upset, if you hurt me."  Again there was a hint of sultry when she said, "my boys."

Nix quipped, "I'm disappointed in your lack of understanding of the gravity of this situation."

Lorcan said, more intensely, "You opened this by noting Freelancers stick together.  It's all of us, or none."  He did not really feel that way, but did feel the rules of negotiation compelled him to say it.  <Narrator voice:  and Shari's nat 20 on deception confirmed it.>  "I don't know about your beef with Freelancers; I was just here to do a job."  Which I'd finished, he thought to himself.  He turned Frostclaw northwest, away from Cade on his gryphon, and higher.

Nix kept pace with Frostclaw, but was concerned about Cade catching up, and shouted at Jamie in an attempt to intimidate him, "Back the fuck off, or she dies right now and you can explain to your new boss why you thought that was a good idea!"

Jamie replied, "Really don't want Raquelle to die, but it's clear you were here for us.  Maybe you can have one of your buddies back, but I'm not letting you take Raquelle."  He moved up and under Frostclaw again.

Nix shifted to sound persuasive.  "It's like Raquelle said, Freelancers stick together.  Release both of our friends, and you have my word she'll be put down safely."

Jamie wasn't persuaded really, but he said, "If you release her to me, I can release them to you."

Nix:  release our friends, first
Jamie:  don't trust you
Nix:  why should I trust you?
Raquelle:  if you release me now, then you get both of your friends back.  But put me on the ground first.  Then we will all walk back together.
<Raquelle shifted her weight a little, and Lorcan started to panic, he was not strong enough to prevent a fall.  But, she was actually healing herself.>
Raquelle:  you have to trust us, first.

Raquelle swung up on the bear, backwards, her face in Lorcan's face.  His eyes widened, then they had a rather intense exchange the others could not hear.

Lorcan <almost hissing>:  look.  I dunno Jamie's deal about us being here to capture you, but we weren't.  Obviously.
Raquelle:  seems to be a misunderstanding.  I don't like that Freelancers sold information about my operations to the Skyguard. <sighed> Call it a draw.
<Lorcan's eyes narrowed.>
Raquelle:  I was only going to sell you to the gladiators.
Lorcan:  do you know what would happen if you did that?
Raquelle:  would give us enough time.
Lorcan:  do you know what would happen.
Raquelle <dismissively>:  they'd come after us eventually.
Lorcan <loudly>:  they know your name!
Raquelle:  of course.  I'm important!

Nix heard that last, and snapped, "They can name the crater after you!" But she studied Raquelle a little more closely.  The "I'm important" seemed sincere and not ego.

Nix set that aside and got down to business.  She proposed:  Jamie & Cade back off, the Freelancers and Raquelle fly back to The Tipsy Tornado, their friends brought out, and then the fliers land in front of the inn.

Raquelle:  send Jamie back to the inn.  
Nix:  Cade at least 200' away.
Raquelle:  your friends out, I land gently, or your friends get shanked.
Nix <incredulously>:  you prepared to die, to shank our friends?
Raquelle:  I'm not prepared to release your friends, and then die anyway.
Lorcan:  how you gonna tell Cade to back off?
Raquelle:  if you agree, I'll tell Jamie to bring out the captives, and if you gently land, we'll release them.
Lorcan:  this sounds fine to me.
<Nix studied Raquelle again.  Yes, Raquelle would prefer not to die.>
Nix:  alright, make it happen
Lorcan:  I'll turn the bear around, if we see Jamie and Cade move.

Raquelle shouted to Jamie, "Bring them out!  Tell Cade to back off, but don't release them 'til I'm on the ground!"  Jamie nodded, reassured that she was unhurt, and flew over to Cade.  They talked for a while, as Jamie explained the planned exchange.  Cade didn't like it, and wanted reassurances Raquelle wasn't just going to be dropped, but Jamie explained to him the captives would not be released until she was safely on the ground.

Cade flew north and started circling on his gryphon.  Then Jamie flew down to The Tipsy Tornado, and moved in.

Lorcan had Frostclaw start circling.  Nix asked, curiously, about Raquelle's god… The Snake?   Lorcan's eyes narrowed as Raquelle answered simply, "The Snake is a simple creature, but a complex god.  Snakes lie in wait, and dispatch whatever threatens them."

While she said this, Lorcan leaned back and ostentatiously started applying another vial of poison to his blowgun needles.  He did his best to maintain a guileless look.  Watching him, Raquelle asked for her daggars back.  Lorcan looked at her and smiled.  Nix was casting cure wounds on herself a couple times while thie happened.

In the taproom, Ondar was no longer Large.  It took the retainers a while to untruss Block and him and take off the manacles, but they carried the two Freelancers out to the street.  Jamie told them quietly, "Back off, but weapons ready."  They all backed off, and the retainers loaded crossbows.  Jamie called out, "Bring her down, gently."

Lorcan had Frostclaw land 70' away, ready to cast sleep on them if they tried anything.  Raquelle hopped off, and Lorcan handed her the daggars, with a half-bow.  Raquelle thanked him, and he asked, "How is it you're so important, anyway?"

Raquelle gave him a half-smile, and said, "If you're coming after me, you should probably know who the Mais-Quand are, and probably know who the Osprey is."  She walked back over to Jamie, as Lorcan walked over to Block and dumped a healing potion down his throat.  Block woke up, looked around, and cast healing word on Ondar, who leapt up, then saw the situation.

Ondar mounted Frostclaw, and Lorcan sat back to back with him facing backwards, blowgun ready.  Block wild shaped into a small creature, and then the Freelancers took off, heading east towards Cliffshadow.  Nobody shot a crossbow bolt at them, but Cade tailed them on his gryphon, until they were out of Hindmarsh entirely.

The Freelancers weren't very far along to Marshfork when it sank in to Ondar that his vicious rapier and magical shield were gone, yielded to these… ne'er-do-wells.  He started swearing about those and his other items.  Lorcan, who felt Ondar was lucky to have gotten away with his life, was unsympathetic.

At their first stop, Ondar checked his other gear, and found that he still had his Luckstone, which mollified him somewhat, but not for long.  The trip to Cliffshadow, for all that they flew at speed, felt long and uncomfortable, with Ondar ranting about his lost items, and how he would be avenged on Raquelle, and how this was all Arnari's fault for not prepping them, and then returning to the top and starting the rant over again.

Block also lost items, but he remained silent about the whole affair.  Lorcan thought it was Ondar's fault the entire mission was a bust, but stuck to old habits and did not say much.  But after the first couple days of it, Lorcan began to wonder if it had even crossed Ondar's mind that they hadn't had to rescue him.  He could have just flown up and dropped Raquelle, like Ondar had asked.

By the time they gotten back to Freelancers Tavern, Ondar had entirely forgotten he'd ever at all known anything about Mais-Quand or skylith Imperieuse, as was made evident when after stabling Frostclaw, he stormed up to Arnari's office, 7'6" of angry quinametzin, and boomed, "You did not tell us about who Mais-Quand is."

Arnari looked up in surprise, as Tomtom quietly entered the office and leaned against the back wall.  "How did you –" she started, then composed herself as Block, Nix, and Lorcan entered the room.  "You weren't supposed to let them know you were there!"

That statement was insupportable, and Lorcan exclaimed, "They broke into our rooms!"  And then the group took turns relaying the events that occurred.

Arnari sighed, and broke out the strongbox, counting out the 200gp.  "I'm happy to learn you found them all.  I'm not happy to learn Raquelle really is a Mais-Quand."  She finished counting them out, then added, "Good thinking, making her prisoner and making a trade, I guess they were more dangerous than I thought."  She paused, then added soothingly, "I am sorry this was more dangerous than I expected.  Piracy is a problem; Duquesne is generally safe enough that it's not a problem here.  It's disturbing that Imperieuse and the Osprey are trying to make it a problem for Duquesne.

"Based on prior findings, I wasn't expecting to find an actual Mais-Quand on Duquesne."  Tomtom was nodding at Arnari's words, but at this last statement, Ondar became wroth.

"Arnari did not prep us for this!" he shouted, then declared, "200gp isn't enough to recoup losses, Ondar lost 1000gp of stuff.  This is not a viable business."

Arnari also became angry.  "It's not viable to pay you for failing to stay stealthy!"  Ondar retorted, "'Stealthy' is relative to the level of intelligence."  Nix added, "Was not expecting to be up against the level of sneakiness Cade has."

Arnari sighed, and said, "Sometimes missions go bad and you have to be rescued."  She half shrugged, half-smiled, and said, "You seem to have rescued yourselves."  That gave Lorcan an idea, and he suggested, "Then, pay us for the rescue mission."  Nix agreed, shifting to her most persuasive behaviour.

Arnari considered that they very nearly came to needing a rescue, and how expensive that would have been, and said "Sure."  She handed out another 250gp each, then put the strongbox away.

Ondar looked at all the gold, then said, "How much would a hit on Raquelle be?"  Arnari started to retort, "Freelancers don't do that," but then used Ondar's words against him, saying more research would be needed.

Tomtom chimed in, "With the news Raquelle is important and a real Mais-Quand, pretty sure the Skyguard will post bounty for her dead-or-alive."

Ondar scowled, and declared, "That isn't what Ondar was thinking.  Ondar wants 'bring back Raquelle's head' on the mission list!"

Tomtom and Arnari glanced at each other, dismayed, and Tomtom repeated, "Really, we should do more research."

• Lorcan → lvl 4!

* * session end * *

After Tomtom, Block, Lorcan, Nix, and Ondar left her office Arnari took a moment to update her paperwork with the mission results.

• Raquelle Mais-Quand was still at-large in Hindmarsh, though who knew how long she would stay there.
• The aforementioned Freelancers had been paid extra for their self-rescuing. 
• Raquelle Mais-Quand was clearly an actual Mais-Quand, since she thought herself "important."
• Raquelle is a paladin of The Snake.

Arnari cast sending to Bryseis Seere, captain of the Cliffshadow Skyguard outpost:

Time for a drink this evening? I have unfortunate news about Raquelle. Nothing completely dire, but a lack of success.

Bryseis responded:

I'm sorry to hear that, though glad nothing dire resulted. Dinner at the tavern and some of that good cider from Haven?

Later that evening, Bryseis came to the front of the Freelancers Tavern.  Arnari slipped up to greet her and they shared a meal.  Arnari played a set in the front of the tavern with her harp, and then she and Bryseis took a jug of cider up to her office.  

Once in her office Arnari explained that the Freelancers she'd sent to Hindmarsh had been spotted and attacked by Raquelle and company.  Arnari also noted that Raquelle is a paladin of the Snake and a scion of the Mais-Quand family and not just borrowing the name.  Arnari regretfully informed Bryseis that it was unlikely they would be able to get any intelligence from Raquelle, either she'd be closely guarded or just entirely off of Duquesne.

They both made a toast in thanks that the Freelancers had managed to escape.