Tale View

Breakfast in the back tavern of the Freelancers had started to resemble normal, although Peb was a bit isolated still.  But there was more chatter, and the new recruits had started talking to the others, and gossip and plans and tales were getting exchanged.

Arnari, the dark-skinned half elf who led the Freelancers, swept in, looking far more awake than any bard ought at this hour.  She paused at the entrance to glance around the room, then did a circuit, tapping various Freelancers:  the Pastoral gnome Lorcan, the older human Sabah, the mustachio'd human Dominic (who started in surprise), the big Rock sagani Peb (who was even more surprised), the young, slim Rock sagani Shimni (who was actually in the front tavern), the blond human Ricardo Monroe (self-styled Adventurer Extraordinaire), and the bling-collecting Wind sagani Murai.  Arnari told them all they would be the instruments of Freelancer retribution, and to meet in her office in 5 minutes.

The Freelancers settled themselves as they arrived in Arnari's office, which had a large mahogany desk with a bearskin rug in front of it, two rows of chairs roughly facing the desk, a pair of maps on the wall to the left, and shelves on the wall with tchotchkes and instruments thereon.

Sabah sat on the bearskin rug, in a meditative pose.
Lorcan sat in the center of the front row of chairs, giving Arnari his polite attention.
Murai sat next to a window.  They opened it and produced a pipe, blowing smoke monsters out the window.  Since it was overcast and misty outside, these were difficult to see, but everyone was immediately aware of the temperature drop.  Lorcan turned to see, then cast a minor illusion of a smoke-like magpie in the middle of Murai's smoke monsters.
Shimni sank into a chair in the back near the exit, head pulled into her cloak, radiating emo energy.
Peb stood just inside the door, looking sad and nervous, like they shouldn't be there, but vaguely determined, since Arnari asked for them explicitly.
Ricardo walked past Shimni, grabbed a chair from one end of the front row, spun it around away from the other chairs, and sat in it backwards.
Dominic, frowning slightly, studied the map of Cliffshadow.  A red pin had been added in the western Trade District.

As if that was her cue, Arnari started without preamble.  "200 eagles each, no cut, find the person, capture or kill.  Be careful; I am sending you" instead of doing this personally, of course "in case this is a trick to draw Freelancers away; so we will Wait Here.

"But if you don't return in a timely fashion," she warned, "I will follow up with a group, myself."

Sabah:  anyone have sending?
Peb:  there are sending stones from when we did that Shrine of the Snake.
Arnari:  that's right; who should get it?
Sabah:  considering Dominic in the most recent Battle Royale, probably likely to stay alive
Lorcan:  we should walk over there.
Murai:  I'd really like to bring Dudley
Ricardo:  I was there yesterday, and if we at all want to be subtle, we should not bring mounts
Sabah:  but, Juru
<Juru and Dudley are dire corgis.>
Lorcan:  this is an apartment over a butcher shop.  Dogs are not a good idea.
Ricardo:  we should be subtle
Peb:  well, uh, with all y'all bein' 7, they will see us anyhow
Ricardo:  group of 7 is not the same as, group of 7 on war mounts.
Peb:  we are known Freelancers
Lorcan:  you are, Dominic is, from the Battle Royale
Peb <surprised>:  Ah just kind of assumed
Ricardo:  what did the stake out reveal?
Arnari:  you will have to ask them; Tobiah and Moulari are still there.
Ricardo <consideringly>:  maybe if someone is there, just go
Peb:  what if–what if we bring our mounts, just not inside
Murai:  I don't want to go without mounts.  You are trying to be sneaky.  <gestured at the enormous begemmed pendant of the Magpie hanging on their chest> I'm NOT sneaky.
<Lorcan, who normally kept a neutral expression born of long habit, actively glared at Murai.>
Lorcan:  seems to me, we should draw them out.  That way if there is an altercation, they are away from magical accoutrements.
Peb:  Ah could be a bear, and drop from the roof.
Lorcan:  why?!  it's their place of power, fighting them there is as dumb as them taking Freelancers here in this office.
<Arnari grinned at that thought.>
Peb <defensively>:  just tryin' t' shove them out
Lorcan:  could tempt them with mage hand, then shove them out window

That suggestion sparked an animated discussion, with everyone having ideas how to get their adversary to exit their rooms.  Various ideas were floated and rejected, along the theme of putting things in the window to drive them out.

Murai:  does Peb have any poo?
Peb:  of course!
<Obligatory discussion about flaming poo.>  <Narrator voice:  I used to own flamingpoo.com with a friend.  I wonder if we could get it back.  WHOIS says yes.>
Arnari:  do not set fire in the city!
Peb:  we can just put it in, with mage hand.
Lorcan:  just put me on the roof.  But, do we know exits?
Ricardo:  if they can dimension door, we might have a problem.  Can anyone counterspell?
<Everyone but Arnari shook their head.>
Murai:  sounds like a plan, once we know the doors.

Between them, Lorcan and Ricardo knew the doors, and described them:  there were 2 windows in each room of the apartment, a door out from the dining room.  The upstairs hallway had 2 exits, one from an internal staircase, and one opened onto external stairs.  Neither of these went through the butcher shop.

Satisfied they knew what to do at least sort of, the Freelancers left to get their mounts from the stable, leaving Arnari sitting at her desk.  She was no longer grinning, as she half-expected they would indeed try to take Freelancers here in the tavern.  She closed her eyes, and cast sending to Kaiea Tihani, Mayor of Cliffshadow.

The street the Freelancers needed wasn't really all that far from Freelancers Tavern.  After an argument between Murai and Ricardo about whether to clear the butcher shop or not, a vague plan was settled on:  Lorcan and Bandit, Peb and Bettula, Shimni and Damsel, would be on the roof, and where Shimni could watch both exits.  Peb would lower Lorcan down to the bedroom window of the apartment.  Dominic would circle on Wilson, maybe 60' overhead.  Sabah and Juru, Murai and Dudley, would be on the street; and they would also talk to Tobiah and Moulari about what these latter Freelancers had observed.

That left all the Freelancers out of sight but the two on dire corgis.  Attempting to be sly, Murai struck up a performative conversation with Sabah, about visiting the butcher shop to give the dire corgis a treat.

Sabah:  such good dog-dogs.
Murai:  no.  Dudley is Not.
Sabah <shocked>:  you say that, in front of him?!
Murai:  he is proud of it!

It was unlikely this conversation fooled anyone who bothered to listen to it.  But then again, they got to the butcher shop, and Juru was well behaved.  Dudley was way too excited about all this available meat, and confiscated a beef shinbone.  Of course that angered the butcher, so Murai found themself actually having a much different conversation than they'd planned.

Tobiah strolled up and pretended not to know Dudley or his owner.

Tobiah:  hi Sabah, how are you?
Sabah:  well, keeping busy, how have you been?  not seen you in a while
Tobiah:  been a bit bored, nothing seems to change!  <looked around, lowered voice> Can't tell if anyone's home; but no-one has left.
Sabah:  someone went in?
Tobiah:  they'd being quiet
Sabah:  halfling, or firbolg?
Tobiah:  average-sized, wearing a hood
Sabah <hesitated>:  how long they been in there?
Tobiah:  got there a little after midnight

Meanwhile Murai, in a poor negotiating position given their dire corgi had laid down in the front of the butcher shop for the sake of immediate gratification of shinbone enjoyment, had paid the butcher a full eagle.  At this point they were trying to convince Dudley to move closer to where the Freelancers' plan had intended for Murai to be waiting for any antagonist fleeing the building.

From the roof, Lorcan had been watching.  He messaged Sabah.  "What did you find out?"  Sabah replied, "They are still in there, no-one else known to go in."

The roof of the building had a rooftop garden.  Peb had cast pass without trace, so really nobody was aware of Peb, Lorcan, Shimni, or any of their mounts up there.  Lorcan and Peb dismounted, with the rogue tying a silk rope around his waist so that Peb could lower him down.  Peb got out some mason jars of some of their carefully-preserved prized poo:  dung elemental, giant bat guano, and hydroose droppings.  Lorcan put these in a bandolier, making a face when Peb mentioned the dung elemental.

Shimni settled on a corner of the roof, able to react quickly to egress from either door.  Her tarantula familiar Igor perched on her neck, prepared to dodge.  Dominic was circling overhead on Wilson.

Ricardo dismounted from Legend, and sent the pegasus up in the air.  He climbed the back stairwell, benefitting from Peb's pass without trace, and went inside.  Apparently his notion was to be on a daring solo mission, to funnel their enemies' escape through only one of the exits.  Alas, if only the other Freelancers had any idea which one.  Anyhow Ricardo set himself to guard the interior stairs.

Peb lowered the Pastoral gnome on the rope, hand over hand, in front of the bedroom window.  As soon as Lorcan got close, he cast minor illusion of the closed curtain across the window.  Then he was there, and peering inside, careful not to disturb the illusion.

However the rogue was peering through an illusion, and just below him, a dire corgi was noisily gnawing on a beef shinbone.  So, Lorcan didn't see a lot of detail.  He noted the door to the dining room was open, and the clothing in the bedroom was picked up.  Between dog-gnawings and street noise, it sounded like a person was in the dining room, packing up.  He messaged everyone, "A person is packing, and we should go in now!"

Lorcan cast mage hand legerdemain, and with a grimace had it carry mason jars of "dung elemental" to above the doorway separating the bedroom and the dining room.  He didn't really believe whatever bits of the muck mephit therein were still alive; but he figured if it was, the person in the dining room deserved it.  Anyhow once he was sure all was in order, and that he was no longer immediately in front of the window, he dropped the mason jars to shatter on the floor.

The person in the dining room jumped and spun around, allowing Lorcan a good look at his face, for it was a human with dark hair, tan skin, and a short beard.  He reached into a pouch, then spoke aloud in a melodious voice, "Natali, I have been discovered by annoying Freelancers.  Heading for extraction, but if I fail, know that my last thought is your power and beauty."  He headed towards the apartment door, as one does when one's habitat has become the olfactory equivalent of a sewer.

Sabah, on Juru, moved to the corner to view both apartment exits.

• The hooded man, looking around, did not notice Lorcan's minor illusion, so exited into the hallway.  He did see Ricardo waiting at the top of the stairway.
  • Ricardo was caught off-guard, unprepared to face an antagonist so soon.  The bard observed a tan-skinned man in a robe with a hood, who had a chinstrap beard and close-cropped hair.
  • The man said to Ricardo, "I suggest you go outside, and kill as many of your friends as you can."  This suggestion sounded like a great idea to Ricardo, who felt a sudden need to prove himself.
  • After that the man continued past the newly-repurposed Freelancer towards the back exit.
• Murai, after admonishing Dudley to pace around the building, channeled the power of the Magpie to become a peerless athlete, and immediately leapt past Lorcan through the open window, yelling "Which way did he go?"
  • Then and only then did the Wind sagani smell the mess Lorcan had emplaced in the apartment.  They leapt over that too, and through the open door.  Seeing the hooded man near Ricardo, Murai put themself in between.
  • At which point Murai bellowed "He's going out the back!!!"
• Sabah's wolpertinger familiar Fluffy flew towards the back entrance, preparing to dodge.
• Lorcan had heard the suggestion on Ricardo, so he exited the rope, moved into the apartment and jumped the poo mess.  He checked if anything useful had been left on the table (it hadn't), then cast sleep on the hallway, hoping it would simply remove Ricardo from any combat.  However, sleep did nothing to anyone.
  • Lorcan then dashed up to Ricardo.
  • Ignored on the roof, Bandit started investigating that garden.
• Peb, still holding the rope, turned to mount Bettula, only to find Bandit in the way.  Swearing, they went around Bandit, mounted Bettula, and flew to the back door.
  • Once at the backdoor, Peb dashed in to face the hooded man.
  • "No wolves this time," they declared, as they shaped into a bear.
• Ricardo went outside, Lorcan powerless to stop him, and whistled for Legend, who flew down.
  • Thing is, Ricardo hadn't yet been in Freelancers long enough to befriend anyone.  Certainly not those here.  But Legend was his friend.
  • Ricardo attacked Legend, left-handed, and missed; Legend was confused by this.
• Dominic, circling above on Wilson, saw Ricardo attack Legend.  He had Wilson dash to Bettula, and looked in the door, to see a bear's ass filling his view.
  • Wilson dashed over to the window, and Dominic dismounted and dashed into the hallway, but still could not see the hooded man.
• Shimni saw Peb go in, and Dominic look and fly off.  She positioned herself on the corner of the building and prepared to send an earthen blast at the first enemy she perceived from this vantage.

At this point it occurred to Lorcan to call out, "This dude put some sort of attack suggestion on Ricardo!"

Sabah didn't really hear Lorcan, being outside and downstairs from the gnome, but they did see Ricardo attack Legend.  They rode Juru over, and started trying to grapple Ricardo, who easily avoided the first two tries.  Sabah rode an adrenaline surge to finally grapple the bard, then shove him to the ground.  "What in the heck are you doin', boy?" he demanded, and started dragging Ricardo away from the pegasus.

• The hooded man pulled out 3 chess pieces from his belt and threw them down:  one next to Lorcan, one on the stairs, and one behind bear-Peb.  The latter two grew into skeletons.  Well, so did the one next to Lorcan, but it was a minotaur skeleton.
  • He used misty step to get to the door, to find Juru in his face, and Sabah grappling Ricardo.  So he cast an uplevel'd magic missile in Sabah's face.
• Murai shouted at Dudley to attack the not-friend leaving the building, then turned their attention to this minotaur skeleton between them and Lorcan, striking it twice with their boathook and using divine smite to burn it with glittery, holy radiance.
• The skeletons had battleaxes, and the one behind bear-Peb swung at their ass twice, but only slashed them once.  The skeleton on the stairs couldn't decide whether it should focus on Lorcan or Dominic, and missed.
• Fluffy did a 180° and flew back towards Sabah, ready to dodge.
• Lorcan cast infestation on the hooded man, to no effect.  He then disengaged from the minotaur (and the regular skeleton) and backed up into the open apartment, to put as much distance as he could from the minotaur.
• Bear-Peb spun in place and recklessly attacked the skeleton with the battleaxe.  They missed with the bite but slashed with their claws.
  • They then dropped bear form and shouted at Bettula to attack the not-friend leaving the other side of the building.
  • Bettula flew over there, but the doorway was already crowded by mounts (as well as Sabah and Ricardo).
• Legend had only become more confused and unhappy by these events, but being a smart pegasus he disengaged and flew back to Freelancers stable where there's grooming and food and safety.
• Ricardo leaned over and whispered "moist" in Sabah's ear, then spit in it, unsettling the wrestler.
  • Ricardo then cast suggestion of his own: "Sabah, get as far away from me as you can."
  • Sabah released Ricardo, who stood up, considered who and where his friends were, and started heading to the docks.
• The minotaur skeleton started a mighty overhead swing of its bigass axe toward Murai, but scraped it on the wall because the hallway wasn't that big.
• Dominic moved forward to see the hooded man, and downed a potion of fire breath.  Then he cast hold person on the hooded man, to no effect.
  • The druid shouted at Wilson to be ready to attack the hooded man.  Wilson headed over to the crowded doorway, landing next to Juru.
• Shimni flew off the roof and tried to see through the door crowded by the mounts.  Finally she got a good angle and saw the hooded man, so she cast a hex on his strength.
  • She followed up with an earthen blast.  The rock comet slammed into the hooded man with force, causing some necrosis as well.  The hooded man was rocked back on his heels and he lost his concentration on the suggestion charm on Ricardo.
  • Ricardo blinked as the compulsion lifted, took in the rest of the situation, and dropped his own concentration on the suggestion charm on Sabah.
  • Meanwhile Shimni flew back to her previous vantage point on the roof.

Sabah, scowling, turned to face the door… and the hooded man.  They punched him in the face, and the hooded man popped shield.  So Sabah punched him again, a lot harder.  Once they were through the shield they also grappled the man, and with a "Juru, move" dragged him out into the street.  Bettula and Wilson both pounced, biting and clawing the man Sabah was holding.

• The hooded man looked pretty bad off, but not for long.  He turned invisible, then vanished from Sabah's grip.
• Inside, Murai again struck the minotaur skeleton twice with their boathook.  They used divine smite the first time to burn it with glittery, holy radiance, and the second strike shattered the skeleton.
  • Murai stepped up to the regular skeleton, brandishing their boathook.
• The skeleton facing Peb slashed the Rock sagani twice with its axe.
• The skeleton on Dominic again couldn't decide between Dominic and Murai, missing both.
• Lorcan shot the skeleton on Dominic with a blowgun needle to great effect, since the skeleton was focussed on Dominic and Murai.
• Fluffy paused, taking in the scene, ready to dodge.
• Peb flew into a rage.  They grabbed the skeleton around the waist, hauled it outside to the external stairs, and chucked it over the railing.  The skeleton fell prone with a lot of cracking noises.
• Ricardo asked, "Does anyone know where he disappeared to?"  Sabah and Shimni had no answer, so the bard cast dissonant whispers.  While it did not cause the man to flee, he did yelp in agony from the street.
  • Ricardo strode over to the street to find the hooded man in front of the building, then called back to the others, "Found them!"  The bard turned to the hooded man and said, slightly sibilantly, "There's no escape," unsettling him.
• Dominic ran past Lorcan, jumping the noisome poo in the middle doorway, and avoiding the axe swing from the skeleton.  He leaned out the window to see the hooded man below.  The starry druid breathed fire on the man, who crumpled to the ground, aflame.
  • Dominic called Wilson, and he climbed out the window to mount the gryphon.
• Shimni coolly transferred her hex to the prone skeleton below, then just as coolly sent an earthen blast at it.
  • Unfortunately Shimni critfailed and instead of the blast hitting the skeleton, it blew her right off the back of Damsel and onto her ass on the roof behind.  Fortunately for her, nobody saw it other than Bandit, who was much more preoccupied with denuding the rooftop garden of its edibles to care.
  • Anyhow Shimni remounted Damsel without saying anything.

Sabah headed inside and upstairs to attempt a flying headlock on the skeleton within.  Their strike broke some of the bones, but they failed to grapple it.  An attempt at a followup punch also missed, leaving Sabah too rattled to attempt another grapple.

• The hooded man was down for the count in the street, bleeding from multiple furrows from gryphon claws.  Onlookers did not raise the alarm, after all this was the western Trade District.
• Murai whacked the skeleton that had rattled Sabah, and the boathook caught its spine just right and the entire set of bones shattered.  So they walked over to Peb.
• The proned skeleton Peb had thrown to the ground stood back up.  One of its ribs was on the ground and it picked it up and nailed Peb in the shoulder with it.  It walked to the base of the stairway.
• Fluffy flew back towards the skeleton, ready to dodge.
• Lorcan, devoid of antagonists, started to inspect the contents of the table.  He saw some gemstones, and some double-terminator quartz, but most of what he'd seen the day before had been packed away.
  • Stroking his goatee, he realized the table was laid out as the Battle Royale arena, but he couldn't tell if it was for casting or planning purposes.
  • He saw no indication of a co-conspirator.
• Peb muttered, "Uh, well, Ah dunno if some…" and they ran down the stairs, then jumped from the landing towards the skeleton, shaping a bear mid-air.  Flying bear-Peb landed on the skeleton with a crash, proning the skeleton again and breaking more bones, possibly some of their own.
  • Bear-Peb attacked the skeleton recklessly, but despite clawing it almost apart, the skeleton was able to stitch itself back together… standing up.
  • Bear-Peb tried to order Bettula to fly to the street, but well, Peb was a bear
• Ricardo ran up to the injured hooded man, yanked off his belt, and cinched his arms and legs together.  Then he straightened, and tousled his hair into fabulousness, for the benefit of any watchers.
• At this point Igor crawled into Shimni's hair and tried to hide.
• Wilson landed next to the hooded man, and Dominic, after checking his airways, applied a ball gag to him.  Then Dominic stabilized the injuries so he wouldn't bleed out.
• Shimni sent another earthen blast at the remaining skeleton, and it disintegrated under the force of the blast.

The rest of the Freelancers gathered around Dominic as the street traffic slowly resumed.

Dominic rocked back on his heels, then used the sending stone to tell Arnari:

We're all safe. Suspect apprehended. Ignore the cowardly mount.

Then he started stripping the unconscious man of anything that looked remotely useful or dangerous, for example, his spellbook.  Shimni, seeing this, started ritual casting detect magic, to aid in determining what was useful or dangerous.  They ended up taking his coin, gems, his robes, spellbook, boots, bracers, and ring.

Lorcan explained to the others that he had sent to "Natali", which Murai and Sabah recognized from the whole business with Roberto Wendehals, but the others did not.  He and Murai wanted to take this man to the Mayor, who would have more context on what to do.

So the Freelancers bundled him on a mount and flew to the Mayor's office.  Then, and only then, did Bandit stop browsing the rooftop garden.

They were admitted immediately to the Mayor's presence.  A tall, young Fire sagani, Kaiea wore grey robes, a chain of office, and carried a tall staff with a gem on the end.  Upon hearing about this man having chess pieces, and that he'd interfered with the Freelancers Demonstration of Prowess, the Mayor was unhappy; when he heard that this man had sent to Natali, Kaiea made that face one makes, when discussing The Ex.

After he heard them out, the Mayor said, "Arnari will pay you; I will take care of… this person, and ensure he is no longer a future problem.  As for this stuff–" here, he poked at the clothing items with his staff, "I don't want this stuff near him.  You can keep it."

The Freelancers took their leave, then returned to the apartment.  Sabah prestidigitated the poo away.  They found another chess piece, in a lead-lined pouch, and looked at the remains of the arena setup.  Murai grabbed all the gems on the table, declaring "Mine!"

Then they returned to Freelancers and reported to Arnari, who was a mix of relieved and worried, now that Natali's involvement had been confirmed.  She paid them 200 eagles each, and then attention turned to the items.  Lorcan suggested instead of someone claiming the spellbook, it be stored at Freelancers for tome casters to copy spells, and the others agreed.  The other items turned out to be a component pouch (which they sold), 6 assorted 50-eagle gems (Ricardo), Spellwoven Robes (Shimni), ring of truth telling (Murai), boots of the vigilant (Peb), bracers of lordly protection (Lorcan).

Shimni immediately shrugged on the robe and cast armor of agathys.  The Spellwoven Robes glowed briefly with djinn magical sigils that resist being read by dueling with the viewer's mind; then with a soft flash it changed its appearance to a baggy, hip-length robe with chainmail accents and breeches with ripped knees and various other small holes.  The back of the robe displayed a painted-on caricature of Ozo the Humble being sat on by a blue dragon.

Lorcan put on the bracers of lordly protection and looked at them.  They were purple, which clashed severely with the ochre and green he favoured.  But, these were the first Lordly thing he'd ever worn, and he was pretty pleased about it.

Everyone else in the room looked back and forth at Shimni and Lorcan; all of them, even Murai, were appalled at their fashion sense.