Chapter 13 - Azurpenia's Prison

[Jernau35]

Cowards! Hyde barks at the bird-clad shapes, You flee the Law topside, then break the Law below, hah? He blinks and pauses. Why would anyone want to steal THAT?

"That's a very good question. Hopefully the answer will be illuminating." says Rufus. "Although like everything in this place, it'll probably just confuse us even more".

[CAI4]

Chet grabs his spetum. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to go attack those birdmen! A- a- anyone coming with me?"

He walks slowly towards the birdmen, seeing if anyone else in the party will aid him.

[Nuke66]

Galen rushes from the room, falling to the floor and doubling over in pain.

[AleBelly]

Chronia appears to be unsure of how to respond to the gnome's meandering monologue and watches Yenny walk towards the door in the east wall (if I understood that correctly), her feet also sinking into the sandy floor. Yenny now feels the chill emanating from Chronia.

Meanwhile, in Chronia's anteroom, Hyde accosts the bird-masked humanoid figures. Two of the three carrying the leading end of the arch titter to each other. "He's stupid." says one. "Law" laughs the other. The third figure turns to both of them. "Shut up!" The masked face turns towards Hyde. "There's no law down here. Nobody's using this thing. And we have a purchaser. Now mind your business." This same figure turns its head towards Chet as the monk threatens to attack, and the three drop the arch with a thunk onto the stone floor.

"I have no quarrel with you. But you move on us and we'll drop you." Their hands move towards the hilts of the short swords hanging from their belts. The arch grinds against the ground as the trio carrying the trailing end push into the anteroom, desperate to be out of the hunger-inducing room.

Soon after, Galan follows, crying out in pain from hunger.

Actions?

Date: 16 Culling, Year 42
Time: 20:09
Conditions: 54F, calm, room dark and damp
Known Spells in Effect: Yenny under some sort of hunger enchantment; Galan, Tempus wracked
Light bearers: Lamps in rooms - Angus' lantern has 3.5 hours worth of oil left in it but is unlit.
Intended Direction of Travel:
Injury Status: Chet lightly wounded

[tkrexx]

Hold up, Chet, I think maybe we can talk to these birds, Hyde lowers his voice toward the unsightly Monk, then addresses the odd thieves again. Ain't no quarrel, no, just curious. Ya gotta admit, he gestures toward the beak-faces and their prize, this is something ya don't see every day. I mean, what IS that thing, anyway?

[onlyme]

Dandelion stands back, ready to assist if her friends get into trouble.

[enn.in.me]

Yenny holding as well.

[Storm11]

Tempus begins to rifle through Dandelions pack eager for some of her rations to assuage his hunger.

[onlyme]

Tenuous begins to rifle through Dandelions pack eager for some of her rations to assuage his hunger.

Dandelion pushes the runt away and says.

What the ...
hold up. I alone touch this pack, you fool.

[Zhym]

Angus stirs from his momentary reverie. "Sorry," he says. "Guess time got away from me. Reckon you hear that a bit, though."

He tries to remember what Jorbin told them about Azurpenia. "We ain't met Azurpenia, far as I know, and from what I'm told I'm happier for it. Though I don't rightly know much about her. Rumors and hearsay, I reckon, but ain't it always the way with legends? Way I hear it told, Azurpenia's old and evil. Sent Clydylgus all higgeldy-piggeldy before they stopped her, then locked her up in here with people as toys to save some highs and mighties." Angus makes a sour face, clearly disgusted with the idea of putting people, even prisoners—or perhaps especially prisoners—at the mercy of an evil witch. He hates the idea that some people are worth more than others just because they popped out of the right wombs. Still, hard to blame the king, he supposes. Would he do any different in the king's position? If it were his family? His thoughts turn to Leylana again for some reason. And little red-headed children. No, he can't blame the king at all. But the king's advisors should have stopped him. And the system that put him in the position to make that choice—that's the real problem. Something has to be done about that. Someday.

"Sorry," he says. "Reckon I drifted off again. Where was I? Oh, right. Azurpenia. Well, long story long, what we heard was that she was an evil witch what had to be locked up and if the contents of this prison get unleashed on the world all hell'll break loose. I'm generally agin' all hell breaking loose, so we're here to try to stop that from happening. If we can."

"Say, you ain't her under an enchantment to make you look beautiful, are you? We were also told she likes to play with her enemies and that things in here ain't what they look like. Course, I reckon if you were her that touch of yours would have done worse than take a year off me."

[CAI4]

Hold up, Chet, I think maybe we can talk to these birds, Hyde lowers his voice toward the unsightly Monk, then addresses the odd thieves again. Ain't no quarrel, no, just curious. Ya gotta admit, he gestures toward the beak-faces and their prize, this is something ya don't see every day. I mean, what IS that thing, anyway?

"Well, me and Tempus have spent more time down here than the rest of you. And I'm telling you these bird-mask men are bad news. They were messing around with the chess pieces" Chet informs the others. "I can let them go now, but next time we see them we better fight them."

[Jernau35]

Rufus

"It's odd that that thing is portable though, isn't it? I thought it was just fixed to the floor, waiting for some fool to mess around with it and then it would teleport them or something.Turns out you can pick it up and move it, seemingly without any side effects." Rufus ponders for a moment. "You folks know this place better than I do. Where do you think they might be taking it?"

[tkrexx]

Hyde glances sideways at Rufus. They can pick it up and move it, I wouldn't guess we could do the same just yet, no. Again he challenges the bird-men, but only to get them talking. Really, why yous wanna take that, hah? Seems like a whole lotta trouble to me. Is it worth that much? He pauses a moment, noting the oddfellows' difficulty. Yous need any help with that, hah? I'm strong, yeahh, real strong.

[AleBelly]

In Chronia's room...

Yenny pauses as she makes it towards the east door in Chronia's room, fearing her party may be in danger. Angus describes what he knows about Azurpenia...and voices a suspicion.

Chronia smiles. "No, Azurpenia is beautiful in her own way, though I haven't looked upon her face in quite awhile. She was here before I was. I have heard she was placed here to assuage the jealous fears of mortal men. She certainly did - and does, have her enemies.

But I've found good and evil to be abstractions, dear Angus. I was good - I've never cause anyone harm deliberately. And the men and women I knew, powerful men and women, were also considered good. But my curse - they called it power, mind you - caused distrust. I, a good person, caused good people to do what were considered bad things. But that doesn't make sense, does it?"

She stops for a second.

"But I'm rambling. No, I am not Azurpenia. You will know if you meet her. And if you do, you may mention that you met me and I send my regards."

In Chronia's anteroom:

Tempus hungrily advances on Dandelion's pack. Father's orcish blood roils with reptilian instinct, and the erstwhile dancer pushes the halfling back. He is surprised at her tremendous strength.

DM rolls several dice

Hyde and Rufus ask questions of the bird-men. But no response is immediately forthcoming. Shrieks are heard from the three birdmen carrying the trailing end of the arch as they are set upon by a trio of pale figures coming from the gallery. The party (and the bird men) are caught quite off-guard, but the finely dressed assailants seem bent on attacking the birdmen only.

Crazy gallery folk [1d20] = 8 crit [1d100] = 5

Crazy gallery folk [1d20] = 18 crit [1d100] = 35

Crazy gallery folk [1d20] = 16 crit [1d100] = 73

Crazy gallery folk damage [1d6] = 6, [1d6] = 1

The first attacker rips a bird man's robe, but draws no blood. The second has much better luck. A shrill cry comes from behind a bird mask as the assailant drives a butcher knife into his back. The robed bird-masked figure falls to the floor, motionless. The knife from the third assailant nicks the skin of the third bird-man, drawing little blood.

Another trio of humans rush in, making for the three birdmen carrying the leading end of the arch. "Thieves!" one cries.

The assailants look to be humans or half-elves, dressed finely (if you can excuse the smears of blood on their clothes). Smartly dressed in well-fitting reds, blues and greens, their maniacal faces look quite out of place. Angus especially would recognize that the clothes are reminiscent of those worn by the dead pale human found in the jumbly stairs room. Mad with rage, they brandish what look like kitchen knives.

Some of the bird men reach for pouches at their belt, the others swords and bucklers. Chronia's anteroom is now quite crowded, eliminating any real possibility of missile fire.

Situation: there are six pale assailants - three are attacking the two birdmen just inside the gallery, and three assailants are just about upon the three birdmen that were carrying the leading end of the arch.

It will take Yenny a round and a half to get to the anteroom, and Angus one round - they will certainly hear the sounds of battle.

In the anteroom are Chet, Hyde, Rufus, Sagthistle, Tempus, Arnulf and Galan. Arnulf's available spells are Light, Magic Missile and two Invisibility spells. Majority party rule will determine what Arnulf casts. Sagthistle will hold back or engage with an enemy a party member does.

Map (doors are numbered to signify which ones correspond to those on different map pages - for instance, the north door in Chronia's anteroom leads to the southwest corner of Chronia's huge dwelling):

It's huge so you can read the notes

041217.png (1.48 MiB) Viewed 335 times

Date: 16 Culling, Year 42
Time: 20:10
Conditions: 54F, calm, room dark and damp
Known Spells in Effect: Yenny under some sort of hunger enchantment; Galan, Tempus wracked
Light bearers: Lamps in rooms - Angus' lantern has 3.5 hours worth of oil left in it but is unlit.
Intended Direction of Travel:
Injury Status: Chet lightly wounded

[Storm11]

Tempus puts on his best hurt hobbit face and says "Bbbbut I am so hungry!" and looks up pleadingly at the half-orc lady.

As the battle erupts the halfling will put his back to the wall and draw his scimitar and shield before him in a defensive stance, happy to watch what is essentially none of our business.

[onlyme]

Dandelion mutters something about manners and gluttony, but stops when she hears the battle sounds. She holds her trident ready for action.

[enn.in.me]

Yenny, to Chronia "I suppose this happens often? Who are the pale people?". Yenny moves towards the SW of Chronia's room but doesn't exit and maintains eye contact, for the most part, with Chronia.

[CAI4]

Chet grins. "The moment I've been waiting for. Who's with me to attack the bird men?"

He will attack with his spetum if at least one other party member does so.

[Jernau35]

Rufus will try to stay out of the way of any melee. He'll defend himself if attacked, but doesn't see any reason (yet?) to just jump into someone else's fight. He'll also keep an eye on the other doors into the room, in case this is just a diversion for someone else trying to sneak up on the party.

[tkrexx]

AAA!! Hyde involuntarily expresses his surprise, Chet, wait! He holds his arm out to cause pause in the the eager Monk, We got no dog in this fight, no, let's see how it plays out, hah? He draws his magic blade in case things go south.