Chapter 4 - Beat to Quarters

[monstermike]

As Herman plods his way up the tunnel between the rumbling ore carts, he again takes time to reflect on his situation. Though this adventure has brought him many hardships - his ribs and shoulders still ache from the fall he took climbing out of the caverns and he still doesn't feel fully clean after his latrine diving - he realizes how lucky he is. This morning, he was a butcher's son in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere with no prospects to be anything but the village idiot. This afternoon, he has a significant amount of money jingling in his bag and he imagines the world opening up to him with opportunity.

[Herman buys 1 LUK]

After a climb of about 300 meters, you see ahead in the distance another intersection lit by lanterns. Two orc guards are rushing down the decline shaft towards it and two more orcs are standing at the intersection inspecting the ore wagons for stowaways. You overhear the conversation.

Standing orc guard: What's the hurry, boys?

Rushing orc guard: Come quickly! The coal pit demon is loose again!

Standing orc guards: Whaaa?

Rushing orc guard: The demon is out! Hurry!

Standing orc guard: We ain't heard nothin' about it. And there ain't been no messenger up or down this tunnel all day, or we'd know. We been standin' here since noon.

Rushing orc guards: Whaaa?

Standing orc guard: Who told you this?

Rushing orc guard: Well, there was this guy, see... Big tall elf guy... Thought maybe he was a friend of Salazar's. He seemed important and acted like he was sent to give orders, and he said something about how the dwarves were in rebellion and the demon was out and somehow Effington was behind it all.

Standing orc guard: I think maybe you fellas just got duped. Coal and ore have been coming up the shaft all day like clockwork, so the dwarves are still working. I'll tell you what. I'm going to walk calmly down to the lower levels and take a look around and make sure everything's like it should be. If the demon's loose or the dwarves are riled up, I'll sound the alarm. If you hear the alarm in the next, say, 10 minutes or so, you'll know you were right. If I find everything is hunky-dory, I'll just come back here and resume my post and you won't hear no alarm. Jorgul, you stay at your post and keep an eye on the carts. And you two head back up to the fortress and report to Seagal. If Effington is up to something, and I wouldn't put it past that sneaky bastard, we don't want him to know we know, right?

Shamefaced, the orcs nod their agreement. The clearheaded orc continues, "Did you two really think you were gonna beat that demon by yourselves? Morons."

Game time 4/4 16:20

Please post your next move by noon Saturday, Mar 5.

Big edit on the orc's plan. Sorry about that.

[monstermike]

Ozenda woke with a start. Something just changed. She had never bothered keeping track of her days in this prison - they just melted one into the next in this limbo of confinement, punctuated only by flavorless meals and meaningless amorous visits from Salazar.

But now, something is different. Living as a dead thing without will, without magic, without hope, Ozenda had ceased to struggle. After Salazar came and removed her soul by magicks she could not comprehend, she quit trying to escape, to resist Salazar's abuses. She had been resigned to living this colorless existence forever. But now, for the first time in gray eternity, she feels a faint glimmer of hope, of life. I need to be ready when it comes.

She rises from her bed, dropping the tattered robe from her body. She walks over to the basin and ewer and mechanically goes through the motions of bathing. It's coming closer. I can feel it. Pulling her clothes from a trunk, she dresses for the first time in forever. Undergarments, stockings, purple sink pantaloons, white blouse, leather vest. She sits on the bed to don her low, soft leather boots and waits.

[kwll]

Owynn whispers to the others: "Obviously, we need to get rid of this Orc before he goes down and finds out what's going on. However, he seems to be a bit more clever than the others. It might be a better idea to keep him alive and interrogate him. What do you say?"

[ProfGremlin]

Bitsa nods in agreement with Owynn's assessment. "We're not going to pass him in this tunnel though, not easily at any rate." Bitsa puts out his hands to stop their forward march in a pool of shadow and motions the others to hunker down. "We certainly don't want him crying out. Knocking him out would be the best approach. Maybe something thrown from a distance? I could probably get him with a sling bullet. In case I miss or the bullet doesn't put him down can one of you hit him with the hilt of a thrown dagger? Worst case, Tenkar, can you take him out with your crossbow?"

[monstermike]

The two panicked guards turn and sheepishly head back up the decline shaft toward the fortress. Jorgul moves to the center of the decline shaft so he can better watch both lines of carts. The clearheaded orc says to him, "Right then. I'll be back in no more than 20 minutes. If I'm not, raise the alarm and notify Seagal of what has happened."

With that, he begins to saunter calmly down the center of the decline shaft towards the shadowy spot where you are semi-concealed by the darkness.

Game time 4/4 16:30

Please post your next move by noon Monday, March 7.

[tenkar]

"Sure lad, I could gives it a shot if needed. Ain't as much fun as me axe tho'."

[kwll]

"Make yourself at home, Tenkar! After all, you might have a few grudges to settle with him, mightn't you?" answers Owynn with a smirk on his mouth.

[ProfGremlin]

"Tenkar, if you can throw that great splinter-maker of yours, have at it." Bitsa quips with a smile. The little hobb loads a bullet into his sling and begins to whirl it faster and faster. With a snap of his wrist he sends the bullet speeding up the tunnel towards the, hopefully, unsuspecting orc.

----------

[OOC] Sorry, the netnanny software here at work has me locked out of the dicelog. I used a die roller I have on my pda for Bitsa's attempts:

SR to hit the Orc - 2+4+25 = 31
Damage if hit - 1+1(DARO)+3+4+24=33

MonsterMike, if you'd rather re-roll to keep everything on the dicelog, I'm perfectly fine with that.

[monstermike]

Bitsa twirls and casts from the pool of shadow at the advancing orc guard. The lead ball whortles through the air and smacks the guard right in the center of the forehead. He drops like a sack of wet feathers in the tunnel. The other orc guard inspecting carts appears not to notice.

[Bookkeeping: Bitsa takes 18 AP DEX, 7 AP LUK, does 27 damage to the orc guard and knocks him unconscious.]

Game time: 4/4 16:32

Please post your next move by noon Wednesday, Mar. 9

[monstermike]

[Interstitial]

Meanwhile, the two orc guards from the tower walk up the decline shaft back to the fortress. Feeling somewhat chastened, they go down the stairs to the second level of the fortress and knock at Seagal's door.

"Enter and report" a firm voice says from inside.

The two orcs make hasty salutes to the man before them. Seagal is tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and the carriage of a warrior. Now pushing fifty years of age, he carries himself with grace and assurance in spite of the extra weight that now mars his once superb physique.

[GM comment: Yes, it's Steven Seagal.]

One of the orcs begins to report the events of the last several minutes.
"Uh, sir. We was at our post, and, uh, this guy came into the tower, see. He, I dunno, he seemed like he was supposed to be there. He came in and told us that the dwarves down in the mines were in rebellion and they had the coal-pit demon out and had control of it somehow. He said that Effington and the Donald were behind it, trying to overthrow Salazar. Well, it sounds funny now, but he seemed so assured and commanding and he told us to hurry, so us two just ran down to the mines."

Listening carefully, Seagal just nods and says, "Go on."

The orc continues. "So we got down to the first level and the guards there was like Where are you guys going in such a hurry? and we was like The coal-pit demon's loose! and he was like..." The orc reconsiders the wisdom of relaying the entire conversation word-for-word and gathers himself. "Well, anyway, he said that the ore and gold had been moving up the shaft steady all day, and there weren't no messengers going up or down all day. So one of them went to check things out further below, and we came back up here to report to you."

Seagal nods and ponders this for a while, idly fingering a pair of nun-chucks on his desk.

"This person who told you of these things. What did he look like?"

"Well, he was a real tall, skinny elf. Kind of a pretty boy type, and he smelled froofy. We kinda got the impression that maybe he was a friend of Salazar's."

"I see. Well, clearly something is going on. We have an unknown visitor in the fortress, and I wouldn't put it past Effington to try to pull something like this while Salazar is away. Either way, we need to establish some facts about the current situation before we rush into action. What was the guard on the first level going to do after he checked things out?"

"Well, he said if he found something was going on, he would sound the alarm. If not, he would return to his post."

"Hmm. That's not entirely helpful. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to take a squad of guards from the north guardroom down to the mines myself. If the tunnel guard found nothing and returned to his post, he can make his report to me. If he finds a rebellion underway and sounds the alarm, we'll know soon enough. But if he goes down and gets himself killed, we'd never be the wiser. In any case, I'll know soon enough what is going on."

"You two have seen this stranger. Pull two guards from the south guardroom and initiate a search of the fortress. Capture him alive and bring him to me. I need to question him and find out what he knows. Alive, got it?"

The two orcs nod their assent. "One more thing," says Seagal. "Under no circumstances do you breathe a word about this to Effington. We don't know what's happening yet. But as far as I'm concerned, he's guilty until proven innocent."

The two orcs make sketchy salutes and leave. With a sigh, Seagal walks over to a wardrobe and opens the door. Inside is a beautiful katana. He slides the scabbard through his belt and makes his way downstairs to the north guardroom.

Game time 4/4 16:40

[This all took some time. All the PC's can still take actions for the 16:30-16:40 turn. 'Nasan is now on the same turn as everyone else.]

[tenkar]

"Nice shot wit yer marble... hopes ya ain't losin' dem... yer marbles dat is!" Tenkar gives a little laugh at his own joke, then thingys (can't say c0ck apparently) his crossbow and readies a bolt.

"I ain't sayin' I can place me bolts as well as yer marble, but iffn' ar friend there pokes 'is head up from dem carts I reckon we find out real quick." The Dwarf takes a general aim at the remaining orc.

"Er, lad... perhaps ya should ready one of dems marbles, just in case..."

[kwll]

While the dwarf cocks his crossbow, Owynn unsheathes his sword, ready to move if something goes wrong. "Don't miss this one, Tenkar."

[OOC: see, not that difficult... ]

[ProfGremlin]

"Not to worry, Tenkar, I have a whole pouch of aggies here." Bitsa fishes another bullet out of his pouch and loads it into his sling. He steps to the side to avoid fouling the dwarf's aim and sets up a slow spin. "Any time you're ready, Tenkar. If you miss I'll cast with my sling."

[monstermike]

Tenkar takes careful aim at the remaining orc with his crossbow and fires. The quarrel strikes the guard in the neck and he reels for a moment. Realizing he is under attack he begins to make his way unsteadily toward the gong, but before he reaches it, he is fatally struck by Bitsa's following shot from the sling. He falls dead in the path of the unloaded carts. One by one the carts roll up and over his body, the wheels landing with a soft clunk on the ground as they return to earth.

The dazed orc on the ground a few yards ahead of you lets out a low groan and raises a hand to his head to feel the rising goose egg where Bitsa's sling bullet struck him.

[Bookkeeping: Nice shootin'. Tenkar takes 30 AP DEX and 19 general AP, Bitsa takes 18 AP DEX and 19 general AP.]

Game time 4/4 16:34

Please post your next move by noon Friday, Mar. 11.

[ProfGremlin]

"Nice shot, Tenkar! Now, let's be quick and pull these two out of sight!" The little hobb suits words to action and quickly moves up the aisle between the still moving carts. "Herman, Pan, can you pull that body out of the way? Maybe put it in one of the ore carts going down? Tenkar, Owynn care to keep this smart orc," Bitsa's forehead creases into a bit of a frown on that utterance, "quiet and out of the way for the nonce? I'm going to scout things out just up ahead and see if there's a way for us to get out of sight. I think this is the first level so we don't want to hang around here to long."

Bitsa moves up the decline shaft quietly, stepping quickly between two ore carts so he can hug the northern wall. He cautiously creeps along until he reaches the end of the tunnel and then crouches down. The little thief carefully pokes his head out just enough to see the lay of the land.