Bandaluthia Session 26

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Bandaluthia: Session 26

In a holding cell somewhere out of Monterey sat Qu. He had been tied to a chair and beaten by a City Guard called Harrius. Harrius had a reputation for cruelty, but as all bullies are, he was clever with it. He beat the small halfling when he thought all others had gone home. Harrius would have his fun, and then apply a healing salve to hide the evidence. When Sergeant Major Protherus entered the holding room he was furious. He saw Harrius standing over the diminutive being and Protherus lost his temper. Qu was no threat. Qu should have been commended, not beaten for his part in the Hartorian Consulate outrage. Protherus pulled Harrius away, punched him, which broke his nose, then told him to await further instruction in the guard room.
Protherus offered Qu a drink of a liquid Qu recognised as a healing potion, and he gulped it down. Qu felt that he’d heard about these tactics before. Good cop bad cop. Qu was on the defensive. Protherus apologised for his sub-ordinate. He assures Qu that the City Guard did not work that way, and that Harrius would be severely punished. The emphasis on the word ‘punished’ was not lost on Qu. Protherus untied Qu, gave him a strong coffee and an iced bun. The two then began to talk. Qu told Protherus about the meeting with ‘Moonlight’ and the 3 separate trips to the Hartorian Consulate. He described in detail the house, the people inside, both prisoners and captors, and the temple underneath. Although frustrated by Qu, Protherus did not let it show. Qu spoke nothing of the Animal involvement or their Guild ties. Protherus had been a Guard for near 25 years, and he knew the Guild to be involved. He knew Qu was with holding certain key parts to the story, but he also knew that Qu had not lied, not once to him. Protherus pushed for the others to be named, insinuated or at least confirm the descriptions. At this point Qu clammed up. He asked for a Father Abercio to come and give him council, to cleanse him from the horrors of the unholy temple that stained his soul. Sergeant Major Protherus knew he would get no more from the halfling without torture or magic. If Qu was definitely Guild, Protherus would have no qualms in torture, and he felt confident that Qu would sing within 10 minutes. But IF he was wrong, then the halfling community would have his crown. Protherus sent for the Guard Wizard. Magic would read his thoughts, and be able to see what Qu had seen.
It wasn’t the loudest explosion that the Sergeant Major had heard, but it was in the building. He raced off to investigate. The Guard room was aflame. There were bodies in the smoke, and they were dying. Protherus acted. He touched an amulet hidden under his breastplate and went into the fire. He saved two, and dragged out three bodies.
Qu contemplated the Sergeant majors words. A wizard probably could get the information from him. He started to panic. He could betray the Guild, the Animals and 22 Acacia Ave. So when a man casually walked in and sat besides Qu and said that he was there, sent by the Guild, Qu let out a huge sigh of relief. The relief was very short lived. The man stood, a dagger in his hand, and it was too quick for Qu to register. It didn’t even hurt. Qu felt the strange sensation of warmth from his neck flowing down to his chest. The realisation came as the man wiped his dagger on Qu’s cloak. Qu looked at him, blinked slowly and asked why? The man just watched him. Qu tried to stand; there was a spell he knew to stop the blood. The man pushed him back into his seat. Black dots appeared in Qu’s vision and he thought of the Avatar. Just as Qu lost his life he saw the man advance upon him again.

Protherus had been gone half an hour. He had the epiphany when he saw Harrius’ body. His first thought that it was Harrius himself who had set the fire, but as Protherus pulled Harrius out from the flame, he knew it was a set up, and he raced back to the halfling holding cell. The door was open, and halflings decapitated body lay in a pool of blood. There and then Protherus vowed to catch the halflings killer, and the ones he had seen in the fake Consulate.

In Palanthia City the Animals spent their drug money. They spent it wisely and were happy with their purchases. They also agreed for Safira: The Lady Azul to take the Four their share of the cash, as the Animals were very worried about taking 300,000gp almost 2000 miles across the country back to Bandaluthia. Siberius visited the Animals whilst they were in The Blue Dragon. He told the Animals that he had had Qu killed. Siberius said that Qu was about to be magically questioned and that he would give away the Guild, and that was unacceptable. He asked if there was a problem with his decision to have Qu slain to which the Animals all replied no. Siberius, they decided, was not to be crossed.

The Animals joined a caravan to travel for the first week or so until they reached the foothills of the Vorpell Mountain Range. Roth, the ranger supplied by The Guild went off ahead saying he’d meet them at the foothills in a week’s time. The caravan was good. It was run by a contingent from Kalasandran and their leader was called Nikolai. As the caravan reached the road were two forests met, they were ambushed by bandits. The caravan was ten carts long, with about 15 out riders. A few went down in the first volley of arrows. Coolio took a hit which would have killed some, but the halfling thought of others before himself and cast ‘Bless’ Shaniqua disappeared from sight which alerted the bandits to ‘wizards.’ Elodee cast sleep into the woods, although she could see no one. It seemed to work, as the arrows raining down upon the Animal caravan ceased. Ratsel could barely contain himself as his need for self preservation hampered his new repertoire of spell. The ever so clever Tiefling held his caution and cast Mage Armour. Jacob jumped down from the cart, using the cover of the vehicle and tried to pick out a target for his new toy. The long bow. Coolio then moved to the front cart, but was too late to help their driver. Shaniqua ran forward (invisibly) and positioned herself beside the bandit she thought might be the leader. This was also the guy that Nikolai had started to trade swordplay with. Elodee then threw her spell components high and caused another bandit to laugh uncontrollably. Ratsel cast shield about himself and walked to the front line. Jacob could see only one bandit, and it was the one Nikolai fought. Jacobs aim was true, and hit with his first shot in anger. Coolio came around the lead horse to assess the situation, as Shaniqua became visible and thrust her new sword into Nikolai’s foe. The man fell. There were cries of ‘retreat’ as Ratsel sent his very first fireball into the forest. Jacob had new targets to aim at as bandits broke from their cover to run away. Ratsel fired a lightning bolt as a rather nice follow up spell. As the fight was over, Nikolai and Jacob fetched the three bandits who fell prey to Elodee’s first spell, and the man who was now very short of breath from the side splitting laughter he had endured for seven full minutes.

Nikolai took it upon himself to beat the living spit from the captives. He had lost 3 from his caravan, and 2 guards. Shaniqua smelled the blood, and wanted in. She started to prod the captives with her dagger. Coolio kept his eye upon the torture and cured those who fell too close to death. Elodee charmed one bandit and he refused to talk in front of the others. Sensing his reluctance, Ratsel lined up the others and cast lightning bolt down the line killing them all. The bandit was assured by Elodee that she would not harm him, and he told about De’Rainer and his ruined castle and how the bandits operate from there. He said there were about another 40 more and that the ruins were too well protected for an assault. Elodee set him free, but Nikolai killed him as he fled.

Nikolai gave the Animals free passage for the rest of the journey, which was about 2 more days before they met Roth. The Animals swapped cart for horses and the 5 Animals and Roth went toward the Vorpell Mountains. Here Muttley, Jacobs’s dog, found the scent of ‘big dogs on 2 feet’ and Roth examined the tracks and informed the group of Gnolls.

It is here the session ended. Roth had said the gnolls are 2-3 hours away, but there was a natural rock formation just half a mile over the next rise. Are the Animals just moments from their next battle? Will they work as a team? Can any lessons be learned from losing an Animal, like they had lost Qu? The Animals are down to 6 in number, and 2 of those are hundreds of miles away. Will Elodee be given a chance to become an Animal? Is 7 a lucky number?

All will be revealed in Bandaluthia (or some will be revealed here in the foothills of the Vorpell Mountains)


Contributors to this page: Len2 .
Page last modified on Friday 25 of June, 2010 23:03:01 BST by Len2.

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