Chapter 1: A Peaceable Kingdom

[Josh]

He looks at Streko as the halfling speaks, the truth sinking in...

Startled by Oss's cry, Grafth crouches down and takes up a defensive position. "What... wait!" he calls to the Aundarian.

[Jeff]

Oss directs his finger and speaks the words, aware that Kal is lashing out at him with the flat of his blade....but his words fumble and the spell melts away.

The rogue's face twitches in a smasp of pain...pain from something you can't see. Then the lips part and he chuckles softly. He stabs a finger at Oss. "Killing this body, Aundairian, will not save your precious, peaceable kingdom."

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Oss's Concentration check = 12 (failure)

Combat hasn't begun since no one else is yet attacking. It's up to you, Ed, if he's still going to initiate.

This is the initiative order, if indeed it does:

22 = Pellorien
21 = Streko
17 = Grafth / Kal
16 = Oss
14 = Goran
6 = Tangat

As Oss's spell fumbled, what will Kal's action be in lieu of attacking with his sword?

[Darren]

Kalarian will attempt to restrain Oss by holding his arms, thereby preventing him from casting or attacking.

[Jeff]

The sharash clatters to the ground as Kal reaches for Oss. But Oss nimbly dodges the attempt. Both men are left standing next to one another with obvious glares.

A few people nearby turn their heads. A small girl stops and stares. Tangat dashes around the other side of Oss (flanking him) and growls.

Dhaz turns suddenly feral eyes on the two men and he leaps almost between them. "First one to try anything fast again is going down," he snarls, showing his long canines. "Pummel each other on the rail, if you have to. But not here."

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Oss is not armed, so Kal's attempt to start a grapple doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. However:

Kal's melee touch attack = 5 +1 = 6 (miss)

[Darren]

"I agree. I was trying to stop this maniac from getting us arrested. And for the love of the gods, someone please do something about him!" Kal cries, pointing at the rogue.

[Lara]

"Let's see if this is more to your liking," Pellorien mutters, directing a bit of ire at Kalarian. "If it works, move on and be quick about it."

Drawing upon her waning reserves of physical and arcane energy, the young mage casts a spell in the direction of the rogue.

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Pellorien casts Sleep (unless she knows it won't have an effect; then she'll cast Obscuring Mist instead).

[Ed]

Oss shakes his head, his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion as he stares at Kalarian.

"What..." he says in a surprisingly soft voice. "By the gods, man. Look at that...thing. It doesn't care about these people," he says motioning to the rogue first and the people all around them after. "I'm trying to save lives here..."

He glances to the rogue-thing and says in a loud voice, "As for the book, you can have the damned thing for all I care but you'll not harm anyone as long as I live."

He looks back to Kalarian, his voice only growing louder and says, "Touch me again, spoiled Deneith brat, and it will be the last time."

With that, the half-elf steps back behind his traveling companions, his eyes watchful of the rogue-thing.

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Jeff, I'd like to ready an action to attack the rogue-thing with the condition being he/it making any hostile movements.

[Darren]

"When it makes a move to attack someone, then we can defend ourselves. But use your brain. To anyone watching right now, it looks like we instigated an attack on a helpless man. Good luck making it to Passage then, unless you want to flee through the countryside avoiding patrols that are looking for you. We have enough enemies as it is, you half-wit."

Retrieving his sharash, he adds, "Any time you would like to challenge me to a duel, I'd be happy to oblige. Streko could be my second and you could have the girl." He grins at Oss and Pellorien.

[Joe]

Streko turns and glares at both Kalarian and Oss. "HUSH, you fools! Again we have an opportunity to glean information and both of you act without thinking!"

He turns back to the creature is speaking through the rogue. "What possible reason would you have for murdering so many innocent people...for a simple book written by the hands of a gnome? And who are you to threaten us repeatedly with your bloody attempts to retrieve it? Answer us, possessor of the weak-minded! WHAT ARE YOU AND WHY DO YOU WANT THE BOOK?"

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Of course, Streko's speech is only eloquent if the creature to whom he is speaking is actually awake throughout...if the damn thing passes out, then strike everything after "HUSH YOU FOOLS!"

[Jeremy]

Obviously, like Streko's response, Goran's actions described below only matter if the damn thing isn't put to sleep. [sigh]

---

Goran steps towards the rogue, keeping about ten to fifteen feet between himself and it.

"All of you shut up." he says, evenly. He looks the possessed body straight in its eyes.

"Answer the halfling's question."

His voice is calm, even accomodating, as the half-elf keeps his eyes locked on the possessed's...pulling out the Deneith dagger. Once drawn, he doesn't hold it menacingly, but plays with it, as if cleaning his nails or some such.

Before the "rogue" can answer, he says more quietly: "I will kill them all, and bring you the book, if you promise to reward me with as much gold as I can carry. I will kill them before we get to Thaliost, and your agent can meet me there. But I must know what it is I am bringing to you, or I won't do it."

---

Of course, Goran is bluffing. Bluff check please. Does his diplomacy skill make him a good liar, too? Taking a wee bit of a risk here...

[Jeff]

The rogue doesn't move forward or make any vaguely hostile motions. Halfway through Goran's 'offer,' he waves his hand dismissively. "Very well," he says. "As you persist in keeping what rightfully belongs to me, you have forced my han—"

Pellorien's spell takes hold, buoyed by the sand she tosses into the air.

The rogue's eyes roll back, and he crumbles to the ground. A few people nearby, suspecting magic at work, hurry away. He is sleeping, in awkward position, and will for another couple of minutes.
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Pellorien casts Sleep (unless she knows it won't have an effect;

Pellorien would have no way of knowing for sure that the spell would or would not know; the only way she would know it would fail is if she someknow knew the target had 5 or more HD.

[Joe]

Streko sighs. "Well...so much for information gathering. I suggest we leave as quickly as possible, before the thing wakes up. It can obviously STILL follow us, so we must also find some way of masking its location. Where is Taymra?"

[Jeremy]

Goran seems somewhat disappointed he didn't get to play out his little ruse. He looks around for a nearby bench, if there is one. If so, he calls to Oss or Kal, or both:

"Let's put him up on a bench. He'll look like a drunk. Anyone got a little booze we can pour on his shirt?"

"Then let's get moving."

[Lara]

admin said:

Pellorien casts Sleep (unless she knows it won't have an effect;

Pellorien would have no way of knowing for sure that the spell would or would not know; the only way she would know it would fail is if she someknow knew the target had 5 or more HD.

I understand that, Jeff. I didn't know whether the spell would affect the guy whose body is so obviously being used by some other being. Whether Pellorien would see that as an impediment to the spell was at question. Guess not, since it worked.

[Lara]

"Look, you're welcome to wake him up and try to talk to him. I'm not sure that the connection between him and his master would still be in effect, but you might get something out of him. I just think we're better off moving away from him as quickly as we can." Pellorien shrugs. "Which way did Taymra go?" She moves towards the entrance the other woman used moments ago.

[Darren]

Kalarian mutters to himself as he helps pick up the rogue. "Every damn time we're about to get some information, something has to happen to us. Just once....ONCE...." Kalarian sighs in resignation. "Let's get out of here."

[Jeremy]

Goran is ready to go.

[Jeff]

Goran lifts the sleeping rogue onto a bench.

Pellorien turns toward where Taymra disappeared to, but the other woman steps back out of the Orien building. She waves a hand—eight tickets in hand. She seems a little puzzled at the temperment of the group. "All right, let's go. We've got a few minutes until departure."

Pellorien's charm spell has worn off, but she hasn't noticed any drastic change in the woman.

Just as you start to follow: Kal, Pellorien, and Streko notice Oss moving off into the crowds—already a good fifty feet away and moving.
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Oss's Hide check = 15 +2 (crowds) = 17
Spot checks = Goran (8), Grafth (15), Kal (18), Pellorien (20), Streko (18).

[Darren]

Kal nods a silent command to Tangat, looking off in the direction that Oss has gone.


________________
Tangat can hopefully follow Oss...

[Jeff]

Tangat dashes off into the crowd.

"What's going on?" Taymra says again. "We can't delay for too long. We need to get to the rail station within fifteen minutes. I've secured us all a place on a standard coach. We can rest easy soon."

[Lara]

I think that I paid for some healing that's not reflected on the current status report. Or I could have dreamed it.

[Jeff]

Right you are, Lara. Thanks for catching that!

[Josh]

Grafth, disturbed by both the enigmatic confrontation and his party's reaction to it, can do nothing but shrug. "Let's be on our way, already. I'm tired."

[Ed]

Patting the dog on the head, Oss strolls back to the companions. He nudges the dog to return to Kalarian.

"I'm leaving. I've no wish to be involved in this business any longer. I have friends who can help me get out of this city. To be honest, I have bigger fish to fry than that damned book and it's high-time I returned to my priorities. Don't follow me and don't worry. I'll reveal nothing about any of you should someone ask," the half-elf says quietly.

He faces, in turn, Pellorien, Streko, Grafth and Goran and says, "Good luck to you all."

He turns and walks back into the crowd.

[Jeff]

Tangat whines, licks Oss's hand, then returns to Kal.

Taymra nods at Oss. Having known him (or any of you) for less than a few hours, his depature is not so strange. She looks to the eight tickets in her hand and shrugs. "Well, all right."

Dhaz has already turned away. "Need a bed..."

[Josh]

I assume that if no one has an objection, we'll be moved forward? Grafth has stated his readiness to board.

[Joe]

Streko calls out to Oss: "Wait, my friend! After all that has happened, after all the attacks on us...there is safety in numbers and I would not be here without you. Please come with us. Perhaps we can all help each other."

__________________________________________

If Oss leaves, Streko will follow his comrades to the rail for much needed sleep, otherwise he will try to convince Oss to come with them.

[Jeff]

With tickets in hand, a benched "enemy" who will wake up imminently from Pellorien's sleeping spell, and a temporary companion setting off on his own, Taymra leads your party out from the plaza of Chalice Center and to the northern gate of the city.

At the gates, the watchmen are scrutinizing everyone. With the massive fire that raged in a residential district, a mysterious airship (evidently with some unknown warforged attacking citizens), and of course the previous day's lightning rail attack, the authorities are taking every threat seriously.

Taymra chews her lips as the minutes pass. When you're finally up to the guards, she speaks for your party, citing a mission of security for House Orien that they would do well not to hinder, she manages to get you all through with only a cursory glance at your identification papers.

Once you're back on the road, she leads you into a hustle down the short stretch of road to the lightning rail station. Within, you find that you needn't have hurried those last few minutes. The midnight rail is hovering at the platform because security is tight indeed.

Once again, Taymra does the talking, though she does so in hushed tones. She seems weary in speaking to her own house representatives. At one point, Goran and Pellorien catch her speaking the name Elowyn d'Orien, which seems to get the workers' attention a little more and they look at Taymra with renewed interest. Soon they nod, accept the tickets, and give your party only a passing inspection.

Further down the platform, you can see a pair of Orien guards—Kal notes there aren't any Deneith guards here at this time—giving a warforged a hard time. The tall construct is carrying a backpack and no obvious weapons, yet they seem reluctant to allow it to board.

"C'mon, let's settle in." Taymra leads you onto the rearmost passenger coach. Within, a hallway runs between a row of staterooms, and the hall itself is divided into three sections. (Map coming soon.) Taymra has secured for your party two staterooms facing one another across the hall. Each has two beds and comfortable seats, wood panelling, a low table, and a small everbright lantern attached to the wall which can be dimmed as desired. In short, it's worlds more comfortable than the steerage coach you boarded 36 hours ago.

The electricity that plays across the exterior of the lightning rail begins to crackle. You sit facing one another in the two opposing rooms. You feel weary to the bone.

Taymra glances out the window out onto the platform. "One or two of us should stay awake, just in case. But before the rest sleep, we need to talk about what's going to happen next. What will you do in Passage? If your—our—enemies appear, we will need to improvise. If they do not, what then? Will you go your separate ways and pretend this never happened? What about the book? We don't really know where to go from here, do we?"

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Listen check = Goran (23), Grafth (13), Kal (9), Pellorien (25), Streko (15).

Note: Chapter 1 is nearing its end.

[Darren]

"No, we certainly don't, and quite frankly, I'm not sure why we're heading to Passage in the first place. Our enemies were HERE, in Fairhaven, but you lot insisted on leaving, so here we are. Taymra, I'm just as interested as you are to hear the plan..."

[Jeff]

Taymra looks at Kal, irritated. "The attacks have been following you, and the warforged are now killing those around you....us. If we stay in Fairhaven, we know more people will get hurt, or killed. If we go to Passage, they may not follow. If they do, at least I can call on House Orien—if you allow it—it help. And more than one of you expressed interest in going to Passage."

"Besides, Kalarian, where were you going before the attack on the rail?"