Ebnar glares at Tanthalas, he begins a fastened pace back and forth not removing his eyes from his Bugbear prey, grumbling he finally snaps back to the Elf.
".....fine! But be quick with it! and nay be killing all the little gob shites before i have me way with em!"
Switching his gaze back to the Bugbear and Goblin cronies, Ebnar spots the silver being loaded up, a glint sparks in his eye and he licks his lips, he tilts his head back toward Tanthalas.
"And dont be hitting the silver either! first bit of damn treasure we seen in this blasted run down cave and i nay plan to have it melted away cause of a finger waggler not placing his shots right!"
He snorts and crouches to the ground, he adjusts himself into a sprint position waiting for the fireball to let rip so he can charge, his entire body seems to shake with anticipation.
The party attacks the goblins and Garlash with blinding speed and deadly accuracy. Tanis casts one of his fireballs at the heart of the goblins and Lorianne shoots two arrows off at Garlash both striking his back. As Garlash turns around he is met by the charging Ebnar with his twin axes in hand Garlash holds up his arm in defense of the attack but has it hacked off at the forearm from Ebnar's axe. Demeisen sneaks into the room and catches one of the fleeing goblins off guard with his crossbow. The winged elf girl stays hidden near the doorway watching the entire battle unfold.
Garlash falls to the ground after being hit by several attacks including a fireball, two arrows and the deadly axe of Ebnar. (12),(11)-(15), and (16)... Garlash very near death and holding his arm while it bleeds out starts to beg for his life to be spared. All of the goblin men are nearly killed by the fireball alone the party quickly finishes them off..
Garlash speaks... "Please.. Please, no kill Garlash?" The Bugbear tosses out his massive morning star near the feet of the bloodthirsty Dwarf...
bags of silver bars spilled out on the floor the party has captured are rather large amount of treasure...
(4) dead goblins (2000 experience) for the party. (200) silver bars for the party. (weapon-Morning Star +2) Spikes of Garlash +2 Type: 2d6 damage +2 Bludgeoning and piercing
Lorianne looks down at the Morning Star. "It's not Drow work," she says. "For one thing, the metal is shiny silver. Drow favor weapons black as the Darkness itself. Second, no Drow would use such a weapon, and a single Bugbear isn't important enough to make a weapon for. Drow favor hand-size crossbows and swords, so it's not likely to be a Drow castoff or taken from their dead. Seems safe enough to use... if you have the expertise."
She hits Garlash on the head a blow to knock him out, then retrieves her arrows from its back. "Didn't want it screaming when I did that," she said. "Kill or question it as you desire, now." Wiping the arrows clean, she slides them back into her quiver. At any incredulous looks, she adds, "Arrows are hard to come by down here. Waste not, want not."
Ebnar snatches the mornining star away and begins cruel walk over to the unconcious Bugbear, the Dwarf's eyes were cold and unforgiving but a sickening smile crept onto his face as he stood above the beast and glared down at his face, he lifts the Morniningstar up with both hands and begins laughing maniacly.
"Aye think it funny to bash me over the skull with ye oversized club eh!?"
He shifts his gaze to the weapon he held above himself and the smile grew wider.
"I think i be entitled for some pay back!! Lets be seeing how ye like it!!"
Clearly the Dwarf was readying himself to bludgeon the poor unconcious creature to death, if the group wished to question the Bugbear they would have to act quickly before Ebnar finished the deed.
Crouching in a dark corner of the mine, Demeisen watches...
The mine is a scene of chaos, goblins rush here and there in a fever, dragging bulging hession sacks across the rocky floor. The bugbear, Garlash, stands towering at the center of the room barking out gutteral threats at the greenskins as they toil fearfully. his eyes moving in the shadows, Demeisen counts maybe a dozen goblins plus Garlash himself, 'things could go badly here if the elf misfires that spell' he thinks. sighing quietly, Demeisen unslings and loads his crossbow, holding it loosely in the crook of his arm as he waits for the inevitable attack to commence.
The attack begins with a hiss of rushing air, followed by a rolling mass of fire that streaks across the mine in a fast arc, before striking the ground at the feet of the nearest goblins and exploding with a thunderous boom. Long shadows are thown across the mine as the fire blasts outward from the impact point, greedily consuming and incinerating the majority of the goblins instantly.
throwing a hand up to protect his eyes, Demeisen blinks away the after effect of the bright flash and watches as the stunned bugbear staggers away from the backwash of heat. moments later two black fletched arrows thud into the stricken creatures back, hitting with such force, he is nearly propelled from his feet.
As he watches from the darkness, Demeisen sees movement out the corner of his eye. A lone surviving goblin is limping away from the scene towards another dark exit further down the mine. The thief shifts round in the gloom pulling his cloak aside, then takes careful aim down his crossbow and fires, hitting the wounded goblin in the back of the neck as it flees.
Watching the crumpled greenskin for a moment to confirm its death, Demeisen turns back to the bugbear. Sliding another bolt into his crossbow, Demeisen watches Ebnar charges with a roar into the mine, past the still smoking and charred remains of the goblin slaves. spinning round to face the new threat, Garlash snarls and brings his morning star up in an attempt to defend as the diminuative berserker launches himself at him. Unrelenting, Ebnars twin axes flash foward, one batting aside the clumsy block, the other biting deep into the bugbear, severing his free hand at the forearm.
Garlash falls back, away from the assault, dropping his weapon from nerveless fingers and begging for his life as the enraged Dwarf bears down on him.
Seeing no immediate threat, Demeisen stands from the shadows and begins walking over to the group. The dwarf stands poised above the wimpering bugbear with a crazed look on his face, intent on killing it with its own weapon. Tanis then jumps up and grabs at Ebnar frantically before he can administer a killing blow, begging the dwarf to show mercy. Demeisen Rolls his eyes.
"Why should we not kill him elf? He would surely show no mercy if he were in our position, and it would be foolish to leave him alive behind us... No he must die... But perhaps we can 'persuade' him to tell us if theres another way out of this place first...?
Demeisen's attention breaks off the scene as he notices a glint out the corner of his eye. the heavy sacks the green skins were hauling lay amongst the carnage, their contents spilled across the blackened ground, Hundreds of bars of solid silver.
Ebnar leers over the Elf, his eyes aflame with rage and bloodlust, he raises the morningstar up and growls viciously at Tanthalas, for a brief moment he sees his ward Vincent in the young Elf's eyes halting his onslaught, he snaps himself back to reality with a stirn shaking of his head and grits his teeth again, he eyes up Demeisen who had appeared from the shadows and cocks an ear to his words before resuming his gaze back to the Elf.
"Mercy!? Persuade!? It be damnable Bugbear! He bareley even knows who his working for or why! The beasts barely have speech at all and ye want to sit down and have a nice chat with it!? think he be showing ye any kind of 'mercy' if the postion be reversed!? and ye forgetting i still got damn lump on my skull from taking a crack from his club!?"
The Dwarf's words grow more irrate, but the image of his Ward in the Elf's eyes keep flashing back to him and after a few moments he finally lowers the Morningstar with an angered moan.
"Bah! Hell with ye then! Ye do what ye want with it! But don't come crying to me if it trys cracking ye skull open!"
Ebnar lobs the Morningstar to the ground, it twists and turns in the dirt landing at Lorianne's feet, cloud of dust lifting up from the force. Mumbling to himself in a dark tone the Dwarf walks off, he notices something has drawn the thiefs attention and out of curiosity he looks too, he notices the bars of silver scattred around the remains of the Goblins. He scratches his beard and makes a dash over, snatching up one from the ground and blows some dirt and dust off it, he begins inspecting it, eyeing it up in diffrent angles, though as to what he was looking for is anyones guess, finally a wicked smile yet again creeps onto the Dwarf's bearded face.
"It be genuinue alright! Hah hah! an look at em all! there be enough here to set me up for awhile i reckon!" he tosses one of the bars into the air and catches it, a satisfied grin on his face, already forgetting the anger he felt but a few moments before.
"I know a trader that be paying 'atleast' 500 gold per bar! Hell's for quality like this he might even give me 1000! or 2000! per bar!" his eyes widen in greed, "Maybe more if their be mithral embeded in the centre, as many Dwarf miners do to help in the transport of finer metal while- shall we say... skipping the taxman?"
The Dwarf rubs his beard while hungrily eyeing up the bar of silver.
"Still, til i get one checked out by my contact no way to be knowing for certein"
He turns and looks at the rest of the silver bars.
"And how we planning to carry all these out of ere is anybodys guess!"
Tanis sighed and looked back and forth between the thief and the dwarf, before sitting back up.
"My father once told me that murder takes something away from a man..." He said in a quiet voice, that he was sure the companions would all hear, "He said that killing in defense of yourself or others, or in battle is one thing..."
He clambered to his feet and gestured to the unconcious bugbear.
"But to murder something, even a creature as foul and depraved as this, and you give away a part of yourself than no one deserves." He walked over and nudged the bugbear with his foot, "Especially not a thing like that!"
He looked beseechingly at his companions, but mostly at Demeisen and Ebnar.
"That thing isn't worth what you would lose." He said tremulously, hoping they would understand, "Besides, it is obviously a servant of the Drow. When they find him, he will probably be punished worse than anything any of us could do."
"That's true," Lorianne said, watching the others out of one eye and keeping the other on the surrounding area, alert for any sign they'd been spotted or anything else untoward. "I hear the Drow have made victims suffer for tens of years, lopping little bits off until the squirming sacks of meat that were left could do nothing but whine for death- not speak, because their tongues had been cut out and their teeth removed years earlier." She paused and then continued. "Killing him now would be a mercy, more likely than not."
Ebnar snorted at Tanthalas's comment, he continues to eye up the silver bar but listened to the Elfs words none the less, he gives the Elf a sharp cold glare from the corner of his eye, clearly not convinced by his words.
"I fine sentiment, if ye be a damn Knight!" he pauses and laughs, "And look where our last little goody goody law abider got himself?" he was refering to Tharadin ofcourse, "His skull caved in by a spike trap" the Dwarf roared into laughter again, a symphany of genuinue humour and sarcastic berating.
"Sides.." he stops and twists his head back forward, "What ye know about what i lost, what i done already lost, you weak bellied soft Elf!" he snarls in an almost whisper, barley audible to the rest of the group. He tilts an eye back, clearly not happy about saying his last comment less it made him come off too weak, "I've murdered hundreds! Tens of hundreds! all in the name coin and gold" He snorts and places the bar of silver in his pack, "Thousands if you count Goblin and Orc filth, and all the little evil blighting monsters inbetween!" a cruel smile creeps onto his face, "This world you either the murderer or the murdered and i got no intention being someone elses statistic on their chart of blood!" he kicks at rock at the Elf, which rolls across the dirt at suprising speed but stops dead at his feet.
He grumbles and turns away, no doubt raging a war in his mind to keep him from losing his temper. He glares over at Lorianne and rolls his eyes.
"Well aint ye just the little bundle of joy!" he mocks, turning his gaze back to the Bugbear, "Ye want to be killing it go ahead, i nay gonna loose any sleep over it, but since the Elf seem to be so protective of the beast i say he decides its fate..." a wicked grin once again creeps onto his face, "What be it Elf? ye let it go? or ye kill it?.." he snorts, "Or 'talk' to it..."
Ignoring his companions for a time, Demeisen walks over to a pile of silver bars strewn across the cavern floor. crouching down, he hefts a silver bar in his hand, rubbing it clean and smiling to himself as he turns it this way and that. His gaze still fixed calculatingly upon the silver, Demeisen listens quietly as Tanis Implores his companions to spare the beast.
nodding absently.
"A heartfelt speech Tanis for sure..." Demeisen looks up from his inspection of the silver "But I do not consider this murder" he gestures at the bugbear with the silver bar "the beast is an enemy, not some innocent, and besides" Demeisen nods in the direction of lorianne "as she said, if we dont kill it, the drow will likely torture the beast to death anyway." he draws an exasperated breath and continues "If you must spare it then so be it, just get what information you can out of the brute before it bleeds out..."
Demeisen turns his attention back to the silver noting that Ebnar is holding a bar in his hands and listening to his appraisal of their worth.
his eyes rove greedily across the silver as he speaks across to Ebnar.
"I recon there's near two hundred bars here, give or take... what are we going to do with it till we can find a way to get it, and ourselves, out?"
Demeisen surreptitiously slides a few bars into his pack.
The young female Rayén still silent and shaken from her imprisonment walks over to the Bugbear Gorlash.. She places her soft hand on its hairy face and mumbles a few strange elvish phrases that even Tanis is unsure of. Then very suddenly the wounded Bugbear awakes from his being knocked out. "Mer not dead.." (groans) "Mer not alive nor either" Gorlash mumbles... Rayén uses a spell to communicate with the dying Bugbear, in a matter of a few seconds the thoughts of Gorlash rush into the mind of the healer. After a moment of what looks to be a pleasurable experience for Gorlash the eyes of Rayén grow bright white and her face emotionless...
Gorlash dies... (mystical death) party gains 1000 experience.
The party stares at Rayén with stunned amusement. The winged elf stands up and runs her hands through her hair and in doing so casts a healing spell on herself her entire body begins to glow with magic and her eyes wild and still eerily white. "don't touch that bar of silver Ebnar..." Rayén says to the now dumbfounded Dwarf. "It's cursed"
Rayén explains that in the brief moment that she had connected with Gorlash that she saw into his mind and heard the Drow explaining to Gorlash how the former Dwarven owners of the silver mine had placed a terrible curse upon the silver. The Drow immune to such things could care less about this curse and actually were rather pleased with it as it prevented greedy hands of gathering slaves from taking their riches. The curse takes a bit of time but eventually drives the owners into coddling the silver and even falling in love with it. The curse drives out any good or happy thoughts from the owners mind and eventually they die from this.. This also makes the Drow laugh uncontrollably. Ebnar still rubbing his shinny bar of silver begins to laugh himself the party is unsure if the curse has already taken ahold of the Dwarf or if this was just his trademark pessimism.
Ebnar still cackles and roars a mocking laughter, "So the zombie speaks!" he laughs again, slapping his thigh, gripping the silver bar in his left hand, "And whats this then? muttering doom sayings about cursed silver ta boot!"
He flips the silver bar in his hand, throwing it up and catching it with the same hand. His eyes turn cold toward the Winged Elf.
"What a load of tripe!" he barks, he takes a few steps forward snatching up another bar of silver and placing it in his pack, "Ye know what i reckon? i reckon the bird Elf got a desire ta be keeping the silver all for herself!" he laughs again but this time cuts himself short and resumes a cold glare at her,
"Funny that, ye do some petty Elf words and think what? thats gonna convice us to leave 'all' this treasure to rot in the ground!" his glare becomes increasinly angered,
"Ye be the only one that done seen these 'visions' and what a grand excuse it be too! Trying to steal all the treasure 'we' fought for while you stayed back and shivvered like a gutter brat on the streets of Neverwinter!" he begins a slow menacing pace over to her, his grip on his bar of silver still held firm in his left hand.
"Ye think i'm a fool Elf? Ye think i'm gonna give up all this silver cause 'ye' say its cursed!?" he reaches her and stairs up at her, his eyes were afire with anger, "I've done taken beatings, bites, slashes, peirces and traps while getting down ere and i be damned if i'm gonna let a weak bellied birdy Elf tell 'me' what 'i' can keep and what i can't!" he shoves a finger on her chest, the act carries significant force and pushes her back several paces.
"Ye think ye gonna cheat me out of 'my' earnings? We rescused your sorry limp ass of an Elf from Gods knows what tortures the Drow had installed for yah and ye repay us by trying to rip us off!" he grits his teeth tightly and draws one of his axes, "I bet ye working with the Drow! I nay be suprised if ye be a Drow in disguise!" He leers over her menacinly, anger evident on his face.
"I got more of a claim to this than all of ye! I be the only Dwarf ere and this be Dwarf treasure!! Nobody cheats me of what is mine! Nobody!!" he swings the axe in his grip and from the look on his face his toying with the idea of attacking Rayen, while the Dwarf has always been hot headed and quick to anger this is the first time the group have seen him turn on a party member for no cause.
Lorianne says nothing, merely raising a crimson eyebrow at Ebnar. "Would that we had a cleric who could elmininate curses," she says quietly, shooting a look at Rayen. Then, she addresses the Elf directly. "Is that within the compass of your powers?" she asks.
Rayén looks up at Ebnar with a strange smile... "what makes any of you think I would lift such a curse?" The winged elf appears to not be herself and then turns and runs back down into the Underdark laughing as she runs...
OOC: Holy crapping monkey balls of fire i love it! Where do you dig up these images? Do you know how much time i've spent digging around for a decent Ebnar picture? NO! decent Dwarf pictures in general? Yet you just throw one in with a passing thought thats more or less exactly how i see Ebnar... you...your a tricky one @LadyRhian haha
IC: Ebnar arches an eyebrow at the fleeing Winged Elf as she disappears into the darkness, her manic laughter bouncing off the cavern walls, the Dwarf scratches the back of his head a clearly confused look on his face, he turns and regards his group momenterily and shrugs.
"Guess the bird Elf done lost more of her marbles down ere than i thought" he snorts a laughter, "Can't be saying i blame her, ye surface folk do get all skitterish the moment you spend any time in the dark, tis a wonder all ye don't jump at ye own shadows!" he laughs again.
He looks down at the silver bar in his hand and his greedy smile returns to him, he pockets it and places it in his pack.
"Well good riddance i say! One less freeloader to be trying to divide the loot up with..." he sheaths his axe, "Good thing too! She thought she could get me to be rid of me loot hah! The day Ebnar Bluemace lets a damn Elf tell him what loot he can or can't keep is the day that..." he thinks for a moment, "Is the day the sky rains fireballs down on me skull!" he grins, turning and reaching down for another Silver Bar.
"Cursed Silver, HAH!" he says aloud while rubbing another silver bar with his fingertips, he suddenly stops and quickly lifts his head up and glances around the cavern, "Eh? Who said that?" he draws his axe again and takes a few steps towards the darkness, narrowing his eyes, "Hmph, must be me ears going astray, thought i done heard whispering, damn bird Elf even got me worrying bout fake curses now!" he sheaths his axe and storms back over to the Silver. He scoops up another Silver Bar and rubs it with his same greedy smile.
"Still how we gonna get all this out of ere?" he glances around the cavern trying to look for an exit, "The finger waggling Elf only good for shooting fire from his finger tips, the Thief can scale a wall but got about as much back strength as a limp cat! and the half-giant lass ... well she proberly can carry a few bars but even between the two of us we nay gonna be able to get 'all' of it out!" he looks down at the many Bars of Silver, "And i'm nay gonna leave any for the blasted Goblin and Dark Skin filth to be keeping neither!"
Still crouched over the pile of silver, Demeisen watches as the Winged elf mutters over the dying bugbear, then looks up and round at the group, spouting dire warnings of a curse upon the silver. The thief narrows his eyes in distrust of elf, as he rubs a silver bar distractedly between his fingers. and hunching down further over the silver
"Who are you to tell me what i can and cannot take? why should I believe anything you say...? this is why we're here for after all" he gestures round at the silver "and the minuite we find it, some half starved pixie, who hasn't said so much as a word in hours since her rescue; starts raving about a curse she conveniently pulls from a dying halfwit bugbeast!?" he finishes
Then as Ebnar approaches Rayen brandishing his axe, Demeisen begins to wonder if perhaps there is a curse upon the silver? Shifting in agitation he thinks 'Maybe I should ditch the silver, not worth the risk?'
Ignoring the loud bellowing of the psychotic dwarf, Demeisen holds the silver in his hands in misery, attempting to bring himself to throw it down and walk away - when the Winged elf suddenly bursts out laughing in an unhinged manner and sprints away into the darkness, much to the bafflement of his companions.
Demeisen watches Rayen thoughtfully, until she disappears into the gloom, her manic laughter echoing off the walls.
"Looks like she was crazy then! Must of been down here too long, poor thing" Demeisen smiles as he looks at the silver "Guess this isnt cursed after all, I'll just take a few bars for now." he slides a few more bars into his pack.
Satisfied, Demeisen straightens up and adresses the others.
"We should hide the rest till we can find a way out, no good weighing ourselves down with too much till then..."
@Dreyy Check out my picture thread in the Fan creations section. Plenty of Dwarf pics in there.
Lorianne takes a single bar. "I may need this for arrowheads," she says, and tucks it into her belt pouch. "Where do you suggest hiding the rest? I agree it's too heavy to take it with us now."
As the party waits for @Tanis to take his turn they hear the sounds of footsteps coming from another door within the Silver mine... The party perks up and sees the figure of a man walking toward them. He calls out that he is lost and alone and appears to not be a threat for the moment. He explains that he was tricked into going down the well before he fell to ground and was knocked unconcious by a rock. After he came to he followed the tunnel path that was used by the ancient Dwarven miners which led him to this chamber. The man introduces himself.
Discription: Garreld stands just above 6 foot, with a broad build, and wary eyes. His dark brown hair is pulled back, into a loose pony tail that reaches just to the base of his neck. His beard, from living as a slave down in the Underdark, is messy, and unkept, and both beard and hair have streaks of grey in them, betraying his age. His face is weathered with many lines, and a few scars.
Bio: For the first half of Garreld's 35 years, his life was uneventful, he was the middle child of a poor farmer's family, in a little know village in the heart of Cormyr. He spent most of his youth, either tending the fields, or training with the militia. When Cormyrian crown called for new recruits, the Garreld, at the age of 17, jumped at the chance for a life outside of the dull village.
He found that the life of soldier, not to be glamorous, but found the regiment and routine to be something of a comfort. But, before long, the need for soldiers where no longer as great, and Garreld had to start to look for a new line of work. Soon, he found it, with a mercenary company. There he thrived, earning a reputation for being a skilled fighter and being an even-tempered soul. But during a battle, against a band of slaver's, his company was beaten, and he was taken prisoner. Before he knew it, he was dragged down into the depth of the earth, and was sold into the life of a mining slave. For the next two years, his rage festered, and grew. But he quickly learned that outward expression of his rage would do nothing but warrent a beating, or worse, so he learned to turn it inward.
During this time, he became friends with the defacto leader of the human slaves, an old priest of Tyr, named Tobias. It was threw Tobias, that he found an outlet for his anger, Prayer. Garreld became Tobias's acloyte of a sorts, learning the history of the worship of Tyr, and of his allies. It was threw this, that he learned of Hoar, a Demigod, who's true allegiance had yet to be seen. Turning his focus away from Tyr, to this less deity, he was able to find a purpose in his life. Though his former mentor disapproved of his pupal's turn from his patron, he realized that in the end, the other was still doing Tyr's work.
Over the second year of his imprisonment, Garreld, fell into another routine. He was Tobias's second, his strong arm if he was needed, and this went on for many months, until the unthinkable happened, Tobias, died. It was an unmistakable accident, a tunnel collapsed, killing dozens of the slaves, and the leader of slave's dead, Garreld found himself thrust into the leadership.
Quickly unsheathing his axe Ebnar twists and glares at the approaching figure, he growls as a tall human steps into sight.
"Keep ye distance ye ragged cave diver! Ye nay sneaking up on me with ye trickery!"
He grimaces and spits on the ground, he turns a glares at his companions.
"By the hairy arse off my forefathers where are these leftovers of the dark pouring out from? First the half giant lass, then the bird Elf now this lumbering oaf!" he grits his teeth, "Lets chase him off and be done with it! ye saw what happened last with the bird Elf, we nay be wanting more brain addled wanderers of the underdark watching our backs, they nay can be trusted! Hells how they keep be finding us i nay be knowing but proberly another trick of dark elves to try and let us drop our guard!" he turns and looks back to Gerreld, "...Well it nay gonna work!! and ye best keep ye ruddy eyes off me silver too! Dark Elves and Hellhounds be the least of ye worrys if i catch ye trying to run off with me loot ye goat humping reject!"
-End Turn-
OOC: @LadyRhian oh believe me i have! Many i have already dug up myself but a few certinly got my creative streaks flowing, now if you can find one for a swashbuckling duelist handsome half-elf lad with a stubble beard and pony tail weilding a rapier and a dagger who has a semi sarcastic smile, then i will be impressed!
IC: Tanis ambled over to the pile of forged silver, and reluctantly added one of the bars to his pack unsure if it was worth the risk. Shrugging his shoulders he muttered to himself...
"In for a copper in for a gold..."
Having stowed the bar into his pack he turned to regard his companions, he was surprised at Rayen's actions. Was this evidence of the curse? Was she possessed? Or a trick by some underdark spirit?
He heard, before seeing, the approach of another soul trapped down here in the caverns of the underdark.
"I agree with Ebnar." The elf boy opined, "We have already been betrayed by would be allies twice now... a third would be collosally stupid on our parts."
He eyed the new arrival, while serruptiously stepping sideways to stand behind the dwarf berserker.
"Though I reckon Ebnar could take you." He said musingly, "So maybe we could risk trusting you. Ebnar could always bury his axe in your head later."
It was an unusually mean and mercenary thing to say for the kind hearted elf, but he was greatly stressed at his recent capture, subsequent escape, Ebnar's anger with him, and the winged elf's betrayal. He had precious little patience or trust in him at that moment.
OOC: That pic of Ebnar is awesome lol. Love it. It really is perfect.
At the sound of approaching footsteps, Demeisen steps back into the shadows and fades from sight. Unsheathing his short blade, he silently moves around the mine to where the footsteps echo from, and crouches down amongst the loose rock, waiting.
As the figure enters the mine, Demeisen lets out a releived breath, studying the newcomer. 'looks like a human, another escaped prisoner by the look of him, still; cant be too careful' he thinks as the man passes in front of the hidden thief.
stepping into the dim glow of the silver mines, the man jumps and comes to a halt as he sees the others, calling out that he is lost and holding up his hands in peace... Demeisen rolls his eyes at Ebnars predictable hostile response but is mildly suprised at the usually good natured elf's distrust of the stranger.
moving up silently behind the man, Demeisen takes note of his ragged condition, it seems the fellow has been down here quite some time, though none the worse for wear.
Coming to a stop a few steps behind, Demeisen lifts his blade and rests it on the mans sholder
"Well i suppose i'll be the polite one, hello to you sir, looks like this is your lucky day! If you came stumbling down that corridor a few minutes earlier, you would now be dead... and possibly eaten."
Demeisen removes the blade and takes a step back
"but enough with the plesantries; who are you, why are you here, and no, you dont get any of the silver"
Garreld's eyes narrowed at the threatening tone, from the three males that he had just had the misfortune of running in to. He held his hands up, in a obvious sign of peace, though there was no weapon on his person, as it was most likely rather visible to the group. It was obvious that he wasn't much of a threat. "It is unsurprising that pleasantries, is lost in a such a dark place as this." He said, his voice raspy, as if from little use.
"Though if you insist on knowing my name, I am Garreld. Though I doubt that means much any more. I am a servant of Hoar, and former captive of the Drow." He said, his eyes roving from the dwarf, to the rest of the group. "And why I am hear, is simple. I wish to make it back to the surface." He said, folding his arms, as he took a step aside, finding it unnerving to having someone standing behind him, with a weapon drawn.
Unconvinced by the humans response Ebnar waves his hand up in a dismissing manner and snorts.
"Bah! a likely story! Dark skinned Elves dont just 'lose' their prisnors! and so far we've done found three random wanderers prancing about in the dark and one is already gone and betrayed us before barley uttering a word! what makes this ragged one so special to be dodging the Drow?"
He grumbles again and lets out a deep sigh.
"And to top things off his a damnable God worshipper of some unknown deity! As if the knight wasnt bad enough!" a cruel smile etches back onto the Dwarfs face, "Still we all saw what done happened to him!" he laughs aloud.
He eyes up Demeisen standing behind the newcomer.
"Thief! Ye got a better position that us, he got any hidden blades or proof of what his saying on him?", Ebnar sniffs the air and grimaces, "...Sides his awful stench!"
He takes a quick gander around the dark cavern trying to see any Drow or creatures that may be alligned with him, he nudges Tanthalas in the side and nods his head over to darkness, "Elf stop ye scowling it nay suit ye! Help me with ye nightvision, see if ye can see any shadows dancing about between the cavern, if anything moves... torch it!" he gives his usual crazed smile.
Despite the Dwarf's enhanced nightvision the challenge still proved difficult but there was nothing that seemed to move amidst the darkness atleast as far as his eyes could see.
"I nay can see any critters following him but that nay mean they arnt there, nor this isnt a trap!" he scowls at Garreld, "I warn ye lad! If ye seek to betray us i wont lose any sleep by plunging an axe in ye skull!"
Gerreld was the unfortunate latest victim of Hanich... While following lost tunnels of the former Dwarven miners he discovered a secret door which led him to the well... It was there Hanich fooled him into the trap. (Explains why he fell down the well after trying to reach the surface) if he only knew how close he was...
Demeisen holds his short sword low, Listening as the newcomer tells the group his name and a familier story of betrayal by the very same Hanich, and subsequent capture by the drow. As the ragged man talks, Demeisen eyes him up and down before sheathing his blade and patting the man upon the sholder, adressing him.
"stand easy friend, you get used to Ebnar after a while, sort of..." *turns to Ebnar* "He doesn't appear to be armed... in fact he doesn't appear to have much of anything, save the rags on his back... Unless the drow are in the habit of sending half starved lone slaves to fight their enemies, I think he is likely to be an escaped prisoner, as he says"
taking a long glance into the gloom in the direction the man came from, Demeisen shrugs and walks back to his companions looking at them each in turn. Ebnar, Tanis and Lorianne.
"well what now? I say we take him with us, he seems in good shape despite the state of his appearance... he says hes a preist, though I have never heard of... Hoar, was it?... whatever the case, he seems strong enough to hold a weapon and every extra blade will help our escape."
Alarmed by Demeisen's suggestion Ebnar franticly scratchs the back of his head and runs a hand down his face and shakes his head.
"What? Ye want to 'take' him with us now!? Ye just met a random wanderer who 'claims' to be an escaped slave come staggering out of the Underdark and ye first thought is strap a sword to his hand and trust him at our backs!? Can he even hold a sword? can he even fight!?" Ebnar angrily shakes his head again, obviously in disbelief and annoyance of having his group (or atleast Demeisen) trusting the newcomer so easily, "Okay, lets say he is what he says he is, an lets say we give him the benifit of the doubt" he pauses and briefly glares over at Garreld before continuing, "But whos to be saying he wont just get in the way and cause more problems? I already got the three of ye be to watching i nay need a starving skinny slave to keep an eye on aswell! If he can't fight his as good as dead down ere anyway! and i dont need him dragging us down with him!"
The Dwarf grits his teeth and glares at Garreld still eyeing him up suspiciously, finally Ebnar snaps his attention back to Demeisen.
"Bah! Fine, have it you're way! But his 'your' responsability Thief! ye hear me? if he betrays us or gets one of us killed let it be on ye head!" Ebnar sits down on a near by boulder just large enough to support the stocky Dwarf, he grumbles to himself "...Humans are too trusting" before turning his attention down to the ground, he eyes up Tanthalas.
"Well? out with it Elf! You want him along too?"
He switches his vision to Lorianne.
"And you! I be guessing from that dumbstruck look on ye face ye be wanting him at our backs aswell?"
Comments
".....fine! But be quick with it! and nay be killing all the little gob shites before i have me way with em!"
Switching his gaze back to the Bugbear and Goblin cronies, Ebnar spots the silver being loaded up, a glint sparks in his eye and he licks his lips, he tilts his head back toward Tanthalas.
"And dont be hitting the silver either! first bit of damn treasure we seen in this blasted run down cave and i nay plan to have it melted away cause of a finger waggler not placing his shots right!"
He snorts and crouches to the ground, he adjusts himself into a sprint position waiting for the fireball to let rip so he can charge, his entire body seems to shake with anticipation.
-End Turn-
Garlash falls to the ground after being hit by several attacks including a fireball, two arrows and the deadly axe of Ebnar. (12),(11)-(15), and (16)... Garlash very near death and holding his arm while it bleeds out starts to beg for his life to be spared. All of the goblin men are nearly killed by the fireball alone the party quickly finishes them off..
Garlash speaks... "Please.. Please, no kill Garlash?" The Bugbear tosses out his massive morning star near the feet of the bloodthirsty Dwarf...
bags of silver bars spilled out on the floor the party has captured are rather large amount of treasure...
(4) dead goblins (2000 experience) for the party. (200) silver bars for the party.
(weapon-Morning Star +2) Spikes of Garlash +2 Type: 2d6 damage +2 Bludgeoning and piercing
(DM) turn end
She hits Garlash on the head a blow to knock him out, then retrieves her arrows from its back. "Didn't want it screaming when I did that," she said. "Kill or question it as you desire, now." Wiping the arrows clean, she slides them back into her quiver. At any incredulous looks, she adds, "Arrows are hard to come by down here. Waste not, want not."
-End turn-
"Aye think it funny to bash me over the skull with ye oversized club eh!?"
He shifts his gaze to the weapon he held above himself and the smile grew wider.
"I think i be entitled for some pay back!! Lets be seeing how ye like it!!"
Clearly the Dwarf was readying himself to bludgeon the poor unconcious creature to death, if the group wished to question the Bugbear they would have to act quickly before Ebnar finished the deed.
-End Turn-
"Ebnar! No!" He cried, "Don't!"
The dwarf flung him off and onto the ground. And glared down at the boy.
"You aren't evil!" He beseeched, "If you kill it, you would be just murdering it. It wouldn't be good!"
The mine is a scene of chaos, goblins rush here and there in a fever, dragging bulging hession sacks across the rocky floor. The bugbear, Garlash, stands towering at the center of the room barking out gutteral threats at the greenskins as they toil fearfully.
his eyes moving in the shadows, Demeisen counts maybe a dozen goblins plus Garlash himself, 'things could go badly here if the elf misfires that spell' he thinks.
sighing quietly, Demeisen unslings and loads his crossbow, holding it loosely in the crook of his arm as he waits for the inevitable attack to commence.
The attack begins with a hiss of rushing air, followed by a rolling mass of fire that streaks across the mine in a fast arc, before striking the ground at the feet of the nearest goblins and exploding with a thunderous boom. Long shadows are thown across the mine as the fire blasts outward from the impact point, greedily consuming and incinerating the majority of the goblins instantly.
throwing a hand up to protect his eyes, Demeisen blinks away the after effect of the bright flash and watches as the stunned bugbear staggers away from the backwash of heat. moments later two black fletched arrows thud into the stricken creatures back, hitting with such force, he is nearly propelled from his feet.
As he watches from the darkness, Demeisen sees movement out the corner of his eye. A lone surviving goblin is limping away from the scene towards another dark exit further down the mine. The thief shifts round in the gloom pulling his cloak aside, then takes careful aim down his crossbow and fires, hitting the wounded goblin in the back of the neck as it flees.
Watching the crumpled greenskin for a moment to confirm its death, Demeisen turns back to the bugbear. Sliding another bolt into his crossbow, Demeisen watches Ebnar charges with a roar into the mine, past the still smoking and charred remains of the goblin slaves.
spinning round to face the new threat, Garlash snarls and brings his morning star up in an attempt to defend as the diminuative berserker launches himself at him. Unrelenting, Ebnars twin axes flash foward, one batting aside the clumsy block, the other biting deep into the bugbear, severing his free hand at the forearm.
Garlash falls back, away from the assault, dropping his weapon from nerveless fingers and begging for his life as the enraged Dwarf bears down on him.
Seeing no immediate threat, Demeisen stands from the shadows and begins walking over to the group. The dwarf stands poised above the wimpering bugbear with a crazed look on his face, intent on killing it with its own weapon. Tanis then jumps up and grabs at Ebnar frantically before he can administer a killing blow, begging the dwarf to show mercy. Demeisen Rolls his eyes.
"Why should we not kill him elf? He would surely show no mercy if he were in our position, and it would be foolish to leave him alive behind us... No he must die... But perhaps we can 'persuade' him to tell us if theres another way out of this place first...?
Demeisen's attention breaks off the scene as he notices a glint out the corner of his eye. the heavy sacks the green skins were hauling lay amongst the carnage, their contents spilled across the blackened ground, Hundreds of bars of solid silver.
(end turn)
"Mercy!? Persuade!? It be damnable Bugbear! He bareley even knows who his working for or why! The beasts barely have speech at all and ye want to sit down and have a nice chat with it!? think he be showing ye any kind of 'mercy' if the postion be reversed!? and ye forgetting i still got damn lump on my skull from taking a crack from his club!?"
The Dwarf's words grow more irrate, but the image of his Ward in the Elf's eyes keep flashing back to him and after a few moments he finally lowers the Morningstar with an angered moan.
"Bah! Hell with ye then! Ye do what ye want with it! But don't come crying to me if it trys cracking ye skull open!"
Ebnar lobs the Morningstar to the ground, it twists and turns in the dirt landing at Lorianne's feet, cloud of dust lifting up from the force. Mumbling to himself in a dark tone the Dwarf walks off, he notices something has drawn the thiefs attention and out of curiosity he looks too, he notices the bars of silver scattred around the remains of the Goblins. He scratches his beard and makes a dash over, snatching up one from the ground and blows some dirt and dust off it, he begins inspecting it, eyeing it up in diffrent angles, though as to what he was looking for is anyones guess, finally a wicked smile yet again creeps onto the Dwarf's bearded face.
"It be genuinue alright! Hah hah! an look at em all! there be enough here to set me up for awhile i reckon!" he tosses one of the bars into the air and catches it, a satisfied grin on his face, already forgetting the anger he felt but a few moments before.
"I know a trader that be paying 'atleast' 500 gold per bar! Hell's for quality like this he might even give me 1000! or 2000! per bar!" his eyes widen in greed, "Maybe more if their be mithral embeded in the centre, as many Dwarf miners do to help in the transport of finer metal while- shall we say... skipping the taxman?"
The Dwarf rubs his beard while hungrily eyeing up the bar of silver.
"Still, til i get one checked out by my contact no way to be knowing for certein"
He turns and looks at the rest of the silver bars.
"And how we planning to carry all these out of ere is anybodys guess!"
-End Turn-
"My father once told me that murder takes something away from a man..." He said in a quiet voice, that he was sure the companions would all hear, "He said that killing in defense of yourself or others, or in battle is one thing..."
He clambered to his feet and gestured to the unconcious bugbear.
"But to murder something, even a creature as foul and depraved as this, and you give away a part of yourself than no one deserves." He walked over and nudged the bugbear with his foot, "Especially not a thing like that!"
He looked beseechingly at his companions, but mostly at Demeisen and Ebnar.
"That thing isn't worth what you would lose." He said tremulously, hoping they would understand, "Besides, it is obviously a servant of the Drow. When they find him, he will probably be punished worse than anything any of us could do."
"I fine sentiment, if ye be a damn Knight!" he pauses and laughs, "And look where our last little goody goody law abider got himself?" he was refering to Tharadin ofcourse, "His skull caved in by a spike trap" the Dwarf roared into laughter again, a symphany of genuinue humour and sarcastic berating.
"Sides.." he stops and twists his head back forward, "What ye know about what i lost, what i done already lost, you weak bellied soft Elf!" he snarls in an almost whisper, barley audible to the rest of the group. He tilts an eye back, clearly not happy about saying his last comment less it made him come off too weak, "I've murdered hundreds! Tens of hundreds! all in the name coin and gold" He snorts and places the bar of silver in his pack, "Thousands if you count Goblin and Orc filth, and all the little evil blighting monsters inbetween!" a cruel smile creeps onto his face, "This world you either the murderer or the murdered and i got no intention being someone elses statistic on their chart of blood!" he kicks at rock at the Elf, which rolls across the dirt at suprising speed but stops dead at his feet.
He grumbles and turns away, no doubt raging a war in his mind to keep him from losing his temper. He glares over at Lorianne and rolls his eyes.
"Well aint ye just the little bundle of joy!" he mocks, turning his gaze back to the Bugbear, "Ye want to be killing it go ahead, i nay gonna loose any sleep over it, but since the Elf seem to be so protective of the beast i say he decides its fate..." a wicked grin once again creeps onto his face, "What be it Elf? ye let it go? or ye kill it?.." he snorts, "Or 'talk' to it..."
-End Turn-
His gaze still fixed calculatingly upon the silver, Demeisen listens quietly as Tanis Implores his companions to spare the beast.
nodding absently.
"A heartfelt speech Tanis for sure..." Demeisen looks up from his inspection of the silver "But I do not consider this murder" he gestures at the bugbear with the silver bar "the beast is an enemy, not some innocent, and besides" Demeisen nods in the direction of lorianne "as she said, if we dont kill it, the drow will likely torture the beast to death anyway." he draws an exasperated breath and continues "If you must spare it then so be it, just get what information you can out of the brute before it bleeds out..."
Demeisen turns his attention back to the silver noting that Ebnar is holding a bar in his hands and listening to his appraisal of their worth.
his eyes rove greedily across the silver as he speaks across to Ebnar.
"I recon there's near two hundred bars here, give or take... what are we going to do with it till we can find a way to get it, and ourselves, out?"
Demeisen surreptitiously slides a few bars into his pack.
(end turn)
Gorlash dies... (mystical death) party gains 1000 experience.
The party stares at Rayén with stunned amusement. The winged elf stands up and runs her hands through her hair and in doing so casts a healing spell on herself her entire body begins to glow with magic and her eyes wild and still eerily white. "don't touch that bar of silver Ebnar..." Rayén says to the now dumbfounded Dwarf. "It's cursed"
Rayén explains that in the brief moment that she had connected with Gorlash that she saw into his mind and heard the Drow explaining to Gorlash how the former Dwarven owners of the silver mine had placed a terrible curse upon the silver. The Drow immune to such things could care less about this curse and actually were rather pleased with it as it prevented greedy hands of gathering slaves from taking their riches. The curse takes a bit of time but eventually drives the owners into coddling the silver and even falling in love with it. The curse drives out any good or happy thoughts from the owners mind and eventually they die from this.. This also makes the Drow laugh uncontrollably. Ebnar still rubbing his shinny bar of silver begins to laugh himself the party is unsure if the curse has already taken ahold of the Dwarf or if this was just his trademark pessimism.
DM - has control of Rayén (for now)
(DM) turn end
He flips the silver bar in his hand, throwing it up and catching it with the same hand. His eyes turn cold toward the Winged Elf.
"What a load of tripe!" he barks, he takes a few steps forward snatching up another bar of silver and placing it in his pack, "Ye know what i reckon? i reckon the bird Elf got a desire ta be keeping the silver all for herself!" he laughs again but this time cuts himself short and resumes a cold glare at her,
"Funny that, ye do some petty Elf words and think what? thats gonna convice us to leave 'all' this treasure to rot in the ground!" his glare becomes increasinly angered,
"Ye be the only one that done seen these 'visions' and what a grand excuse it be too! Trying to steal all the treasure 'we' fought for while you stayed back and shivvered like a gutter brat on the streets of Neverwinter!" he begins a slow menacing pace over to her, his grip on his bar of silver still held firm in his left hand.
"Ye think i'm a fool Elf? Ye think i'm gonna give up all this silver cause 'ye' say its cursed!?" he reaches her and stairs up at her, his eyes were afire with anger, "I've done taken beatings, bites, slashes, peirces and traps while getting down ere and i be damned if i'm gonna let a weak bellied birdy Elf tell 'me' what 'i' can keep and what i can't!" he shoves a finger on her chest, the act carries significant force and pushes her back several paces.
"Ye think ye gonna cheat me out of 'my' earnings? We rescused your sorry limp ass of an Elf from Gods knows what tortures the Drow had installed for yah and ye repay us by trying to rip us off!" he grits his teeth tightly and draws one of his axes, "I bet ye working with the Drow! I nay be suprised if ye be a Drow in disguise!" He leers over her menacinly, anger evident on his face.
"I got more of a claim to this than all of ye! I be the only Dwarf ere and this be Dwarf treasure!! Nobody cheats me of what is mine! Nobody!!" he swings the axe in his grip and from the look on his face his toying with the idea of attacking Rayen, while the Dwarf has always been hot headed and quick to anger this is the first time the group have seen him turn on a party member for no cause.
-End Turn-
Rayén has left the party...
(DM) turn end
End turn
IC: Ebnar arches an eyebrow at the fleeing Winged Elf as she disappears into the darkness, her manic laughter bouncing off the cavern walls, the Dwarf scratches the back of his head a clearly confused look on his face, he turns and regards his group momenterily and shrugs.
"Guess the bird Elf done lost more of her marbles down ere than i thought" he snorts a laughter, "Can't be saying i blame her, ye surface folk do get all skitterish the moment you spend any time in the dark, tis a wonder all ye don't jump at ye own shadows!" he laughs again.
He looks down at the silver bar in his hand and his greedy smile returns to him, he pockets it and places it in his pack.
"Well good riddance i say! One less freeloader to be trying to divide the loot up with..." he sheaths his axe, "Good thing too! She thought she could get me to be rid of me loot hah! The day Ebnar Bluemace lets a damn Elf tell him what loot he can or can't keep is the day that..." he thinks for a moment, "Is the day the sky rains fireballs down on me skull!" he grins, turning and reaching down for another Silver Bar.
"Cursed Silver, HAH!" he says aloud while rubbing another silver bar with his fingertips, he suddenly stops and quickly lifts his head up and glances around the cavern, "Eh? Who said that?" he draws his axe again and takes a few steps towards the darkness, narrowing his eyes, "Hmph, must be me ears going astray, thought i done heard whispering, damn bird Elf even got me worrying bout fake curses now!" he sheaths his axe and storms back over to the Silver. He scoops up another Silver Bar and rubs it with his same greedy smile.
"Still how we gonna get all this out of ere?" he glances around the cavern trying to look for an exit, "The finger waggling Elf only good for shooting fire from his finger tips, the Thief can scale a wall but got about as much back strength as a limp cat! and the half-giant lass ... well she proberly can carry a few bars but even between the two of us we nay gonna be able to get 'all' of it out!" he looks down at the many Bars of Silver, "And i'm nay gonna leave any for the blasted Goblin and Dark Skin filth to be keeping neither!"
-End Turn-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
IC:
Still crouched over the pile of silver, Demeisen watches as the Winged elf mutters over the dying bugbear, then looks up and round at the group, spouting dire warnings of a curse upon the silver. The thief narrows his eyes in distrust of elf, as he rubs a silver bar distractedly between his fingers. and hunching down further over the silver
"Who are you to tell me what i can and cannot take? why should I believe anything you say...? this is why we're here for after all" he gestures round at the silver "and the minuite we find it, some half starved pixie, who hasn't said so much as a word in hours since her rescue; starts raving about a curse she conveniently pulls from a dying halfwit bugbeast!?" he finishes
Then as Ebnar approaches Rayen brandishing his axe, Demeisen begins to wonder if perhaps there is a curse upon the silver? Shifting in agitation he thinks 'Maybe I should ditch the silver, not worth the risk?'
Ignoring the loud bellowing of the psychotic dwarf, Demeisen holds the silver in his hands in misery, attempting to bring himself to throw it down and walk away - when the Winged elf suddenly bursts out laughing in an unhinged manner and sprints away into the darkness, much to the bafflement of his companions.
Demeisen watches Rayen thoughtfully, until she disappears into the gloom, her manic laughter echoing off the walls.
"Looks like she was crazy then! Must of been down here too long, poor thing" Demeisen smiles as he looks at the silver "Guess this isnt cursed after all, I'll just take a few bars for now." he slides a few more bars into his pack.
Satisfied, Demeisen straightens up and adresses the others.
"We should hide the rest till we can find a way out, no good weighing ourselves down with too much till then..."
(end turn)
Lorianne takes a single bar. "I may need this for arrowheads," she says, and tucks it into her belt pouch. "Where do you suggest hiding the rest? I agree it's too heavy to take it with us now."
End Turn
Welcome @Myval
Name: Garreld
Race: Human
Class: Fighter dueled into Cleric of Hoar (God of Vengeance and retribution) (3/3)
Stats
Str: 16
Dex 10
Con 16
Int: 11
Wis: 17
Chr: 14
Professiancy
Flails: * * *
Mace: *
Sling: *
Sword and Sheild: *
Discription: Garreld stands just above 6 foot, with a broad build, and wary eyes. His dark brown hair is pulled back, into a loose pony tail that reaches just to the base of his neck. His beard, from living as a slave down in the Underdark, is messy, and unkept, and both beard and hair have streaks of grey in them, betraying his age. His face is weathered with many lines, and a few scars.
Bio: For the first half of Garreld's 35 years, his life was uneventful, he was the middle child of a poor farmer's family, in a little know village in the heart of Cormyr. He spent most of his youth, either tending the fields, or training with the militia. When Cormyrian crown called for new recruits, the Garreld, at the age of 17, jumped at the chance for a life outside of the dull village.
He found that the life of soldier, not to be glamorous, but found the regiment and routine to be something of a comfort. But, before long, the need for soldiers where no longer as great, and Garreld had to start to look for a new line of work. Soon, he found it, with a mercenary company. There he thrived, earning a reputation for being a skilled fighter and being an even-tempered soul. But during a battle, against a band of slaver's, his company was beaten, and he was taken prisoner. Before he knew it, he was dragged down into the depth of the earth, and was sold into the life of a mining slave. For the next two years, his rage festered, and grew. But he quickly learned that outward expression of his rage would do nothing but warrent a beating, or worse, so he learned to turn it inward.
During this time, he became friends with the defacto leader of the human slaves, an old priest of Tyr, named Tobias. It was threw Tobias, that he found an outlet for his anger, Prayer. Garreld became Tobias's acloyte of a sorts, learning the history of the worship of Tyr, and of his allies. It was threw this, that he learned of Hoar, a Demigod, who's true allegiance had yet to be seen. Turning his focus away from Tyr, to this less deity, he was able to find a purpose in his life. Though his former mentor disapproved of his pupal's turn from his patron, he realized that in the end, the other was still doing Tyr's work.
Over the second year of his imprisonment, Garreld, fell into another routine. He was Tobias's second, his strong arm if he was needed, and this went on for many months, until the unthinkable happened, Tobias, died. It was an unmistakable accident, a tunnel collapsed, killing dozens of the slaves, and the leader of slave's dead, Garreld found himself thrust into the leadership.
(DM) turn end
"Keep ye distance ye ragged cave diver! Ye nay sneaking up on me with ye trickery!"
He grimaces and spits on the ground, he turns a glares at his companions.
"By the hairy arse off my forefathers where are these leftovers of the dark pouring out from? First the half giant lass, then the bird Elf now this lumbering oaf!" he grits his teeth, "Lets chase him off and be done with it! ye saw what happened last with the bird Elf, we nay be wanting more brain addled wanderers of the underdark watching our backs, they nay can be trusted! Hells how they keep be finding us i nay be knowing but proberly another trick of dark elves to try and let us drop our guard!" he turns and looks back to Gerreld, "...Well it nay gonna work!! and ye best keep ye ruddy eyes off me silver too! Dark Elves and Hellhounds be the least of ye worrys if i catch ye trying to run off with me loot ye goat humping reject!"
-End Turn-
OOC: @LadyRhian oh believe me i have! Many i have already dug up myself but a few certinly got my creative streaks flowing, now if you can find one for a swashbuckling duelist handsome half-elf lad with a stubble beard and pony tail weilding a rapier and a dagger who has a semi sarcastic smile, then i will be impressed!
Tanis ambled over to the pile of forged silver, and reluctantly added one of the bars to his pack unsure if it was worth the risk. Shrugging his shoulders he muttered to himself...
"In for a copper in for a gold..."
Having stowed the bar into his pack he turned to regard his companions, he was surprised at Rayen's actions. Was this evidence of the curse? Was she possessed? Or a trick by some underdark spirit?
He heard, before seeing, the approach of another soul trapped down here in the caverns of the underdark.
"I agree with Ebnar." The elf boy opined, "We have already been betrayed by would be allies twice now... a third would be collosally stupid on our parts."
He eyed the new arrival, while serruptiously stepping sideways to stand behind the dwarf berserker.
"Though I reckon Ebnar could take you." He said musingly, "So maybe we could risk trusting you. Ebnar could always bury his axe in your head later."
It was an unusually mean and mercenary thing to say for the kind hearted elf, but he was greatly stressed at his recent capture, subsequent escape, Ebnar's anger with him, and the winged elf's betrayal. He had precious little patience or trust in him at that moment.
OOC:
That pic of Ebnar is awesome lol. Love it. It really is perfect.
As the figure enters the mine, Demeisen lets out a releived breath, studying the newcomer. 'looks like a human, another escaped prisoner by the look of him, still; cant be too careful' he thinks as the man passes in front of the hidden thief.
stepping into the dim glow of the silver mines, the man jumps and comes to a halt as he sees the others, calling out that he is lost and holding up his hands in peace...
Demeisen rolls his eyes at Ebnars predictable hostile response but is mildly suprised at the usually good natured elf's distrust of the stranger.
moving up silently behind the man, Demeisen takes note of his ragged condition, it seems the fellow has been down here quite some time, though none the worse for wear.
Coming to a stop a few steps behind, Demeisen lifts his blade and rests it on the mans sholder
"Well i suppose i'll be the polite one, hello to you sir, looks like this is your lucky day! If you came stumbling down that corridor a few minutes earlier, you would now be dead... and possibly eaten."
Demeisen removes the blade and takes a step back
"but enough with the plesantries; who are you, why are you here, and no, you dont get any of the silver"
(end turn)
"Though if you insist on knowing my name, I am Garreld. Though I doubt that means much any more. I am a servant of Hoar, and former captive of the Drow." He said, his eyes roving from the dwarf, to the rest of the group. "And why I am hear, is simple. I wish to make it back to the surface." He said, folding his arms, as he took a step aside, finding it unnerving to having someone standing behind him, with a weapon drawn.
"Bah! a likely story! Dark skinned Elves dont just 'lose' their prisnors! and so far we've done found three random wanderers prancing about in the dark and one is already gone and betrayed us before barley uttering a word! what makes this ragged one so special to be dodging the Drow?"
He grumbles again and lets out a deep sigh.
"And to top things off his a damnable God worshipper of some unknown deity! As if the knight wasnt bad enough!" a cruel smile etches back onto the Dwarfs face, "Still we all saw what done happened to him!" he laughs aloud.
He eyes up Demeisen standing behind the newcomer.
"Thief! Ye got a better position that us, he got any hidden blades or proof of what his saying on him?", Ebnar sniffs the air and grimaces, "...Sides his awful stench!"
He takes a quick gander around the dark cavern trying to see any Drow or creatures that may be alligned with him, he nudges Tanthalas in the side and nods his head over to darkness, "Elf stop ye scowling it nay suit ye! Help me with ye nightvision, see if ye can see any shadows dancing about between the cavern, if anything moves... torch it!" he gives his usual crazed smile.
Despite the Dwarf's enhanced nightvision the challenge still proved difficult but there was nothing that seemed to move amidst the darkness atleast as far as his eyes could see.
"I nay can see any critters following him but that nay mean they arnt there, nor this isnt a trap!" he scowls at Garreld, "I warn ye lad! If ye seek to betray us i wont lose any sleep by plunging an axe in ye skull!"
-End Turn-
(DM) turn end
As the ragged man talks, Demeisen eyes him up and down before sheathing his blade and patting the man upon the sholder, adressing him.
"stand easy friend, you get used to Ebnar after a while, sort of..." *turns to Ebnar* "He doesn't appear to be armed... in fact he doesn't appear to have much of anything, save the rags on his back... Unless the drow are in the habit of sending half starved lone slaves to fight their enemies, I think he is likely to be an escaped prisoner, as he says"
taking a long glance into the gloom in the direction the man came from, Demeisen shrugs and walks back to his companions looking at them each in turn. Ebnar, Tanis and Lorianne.
"well what now? I say we take him with us, he seems in good shape despite the state of his appearance... he says hes a preist, though I have never heard of... Hoar, was it?... whatever the case, he seems strong enough to hold a weapon and every extra blade will help our escape."
(end turn)
"What? Ye want to 'take' him with us now!? Ye just met a random wanderer who 'claims' to be an escaped slave come staggering out of the Underdark and ye first thought is strap a sword to his hand and trust him at our backs!? Can he even hold a sword? can he even fight!?" Ebnar angrily shakes his head again, obviously in disbelief and annoyance of having his group (or atleast Demeisen) trusting the newcomer so easily, "Okay, lets say he is what he says he is, an lets say we give him the benifit of the doubt" he pauses and briefly glares over at Garreld before continuing, "But whos to be saying he wont just get in the way and cause more problems? I already got the three of ye be to watching i nay need a starving skinny slave to keep an eye on aswell! If he can't fight his as good as dead down ere anyway! and i dont need him dragging us down with him!"
The Dwarf grits his teeth and glares at Garreld still eyeing him up suspiciously, finally Ebnar snaps his attention back to Demeisen.
"Bah! Fine, have it you're way! But his 'your' responsability Thief! ye hear me? if he betrays us or gets one of us killed let it be on ye head!" Ebnar sits down on a near by boulder just large enough to support the stocky Dwarf, he grumbles to himself "...Humans are too trusting" before turning his attention down to the ground, he eyes up Tanthalas.
"Well? out with it Elf! You want him along too?"
He switches his vision to Lorianne.
"And you! I be guessing from that dumbstruck look on ye face ye be wanting him at our backs aswell?"
The Dwarf shakes his head again, clearly annoyed.
-End Turn-
"I, uh..." His eyes wide, he replied haltingly, "There is advantages to greater numbers, and we do need a healer."
He shook his head.
"I don't know." He said, "If he betrays us... you could take him. Probably."