Game: Blades of Git'riban : Primal State

[About 20']

[Edit: Jumping off the balcony will result in 2d6 damage. Climbing down, you can make that 1d6 max (make an untrained climb check of DC 13 and take zero damage) but it will take an extra round to climb down carefully. I figure one could leap into the square and pick himself up, then run back into the inn on the next round (but it'd be reckless and you might sprain something, young man), or spend a full round climbing down, which as fate would have it, is not that hard, even for a warrior in full armor. (Which explains why the bartender didn't know Grazz was in the building)

Haven Port Inn, Main Bar.

Du'minh and Ar'dru rush through the front door and into the main room. The patrons are obviously aware of the 'disturbance' upstairs. Inky blackness spills down the stairs like a creeping mist. From within the darkness come grunts and curses.

The two githyanki Gy-Nath had a disagreement with when the party first entered are absent, as are most of the pirates (now). The Black Spear Clan gith are still here, as are the githzerai in the corner, but as Du'minh and Ar'dru enter, the greycloaks begin to slide out of sight, heading for back doors though the kitchen and bar areas. The last to leave is the Zerth with the silver chain, and he locks gaze with Du'minh for a few moments before he goes.

Obsidian Orb turns at the sound of the door, and greets the two warriors with a bemused smirk. "Has the Yanki Clan found its foes, or were our drinks too strong?"

Daraz, Jhank'kor, and Gy-Nath fumble around in the darkened hallway, slowly advancing so that nobody may slip past them. Daraz moves toward the stairs, but runs into the Bartender on the top step. Already back on his feet, he starts feeling Daraz's clothes. "Finn, izzat you? Zorb? Who've I got? Did Dak get'm? Unhende basher, that Grazz, we're gonna skin'm. ... ... uh, Finn? Zorb?"

Meanwhile, Rey, the only sighted individual, swifltly descends the pile of blinded, cursing pirates, dodging several clumsy attempts to grapple him as he steps on a head, stomach, or groin as he makes his way down the stairs. The pirates are still sorting themselves out, and a few are hitting each other out of general impropriety, but no blades have been drawn. Rey'arteb reaches the bottom of the stairs and begins ministering the fallen Grazz. He cannot remove the bolt from Grazz's lung, not here, and the concussion from Du'minh's wicked flail is more dire in it's own way, so Rey concentrates on Grazz's fractured skull. Grazz dizzilly comes back to the waking world.

***

The darkness spreads, creeping across the room from the stairway, encroaching on the patrons.

"Do you desire aid, Du'minh of the Yanki Clan? Obsidian Orb will gladly render it. Your foes are my foes in This Now." she smiles, and Du'minh is struck for a moment by just how beutiful and exotic she is. She waves her hand over the smallest of the potted plants. The pot cracks, and the plant and soil fall instantly into a fine ash. The rest of the plants on the table wilt. Everyone in the room feels dizzy, and every gith's heart stops and struggles to re-start as the life energy is tugged towards the hungry vortex of Orb's arcane might. She collects the energy in her hand, then snaps her fingers and the darkness melts away.

Vivec is revealed, helping Grazz the Accursed to his feet, on top of a pile of pirates, one of whom is unconcious with Grazz's poison dagger in her leg, the rest of whom are struggling with their comrades to stand. The Accursed raises an eyebrow as the darkness is lifted and he spies Du'minh and Ar'dru. He cracks a enigmatic smile. Obsidian Orb returns Grazz's smile, then steps over to Du'minh and places her hand on his spiked shoulder-plate.

Grazz's smile melts. "Follow my lead, Grazz. This is going to get very dicey." he says to his companion.

***

The Bartender looks at Daraz confused for a moment when the lights come back on, then pushes him away.

"What? Hold it, you! You're the guys who took the room up here. By the spire, what's going on? You! Mage! This your doing?" he snatches a handful of melting slush off the floor and shakes his fist at Jhank'kor. "You're gonna pay for every green's worth of dam ... What the ?!? The door! What'd you ...? You ... " his eyes bulge with anger but he makes no effort to shove past the trio for a better look at the damage.

Haven Port Inn - Upstairs

The bartender pulls the next few pirates in line to their feet before confronting the trio of githyanki again.

"You bubbers are payin' for every stinger, every green, hear me? I'm gonna take it outa Grazz's guts, but outa your purses! Water damage ain't cheap mage, and neither are doors. If you so much as nicked the furniture, your payin' for that too, hear me?"

If the PC's give way he'll push past them to inspect the room, but if they choose to stand thier ground, he'll just get in their faces.

"Don't give me that screed, mage. Point is that your group is paying for the damage, and I don't care if the jinx come from you, your mate Vivec, or a fhorge's arse. Just you wise up, 'cause yer on my ship now, swabbie!" The pirates behind the bartender chuckle, but he makes a big mistake and pokes Jhank'kor in the chest to emphisize his words.

Gy-Nath moves with sudden swiftness, drawing a dagger and holding it to the bartender's juggular. A single drop of blood runs down the gith's neck. "This is the dagger of Warlock Agyl-Kang. It's name is 'Silver Sheen', and you should thank it, for Kang was a far-sighted, patient, and deliberate githyanki. He would have advised against slaying or maiming you ... yet. I valued his tactical sense, hence why you are still whole at this moment. Had my hand found my own sword first, you may not have been so lucky."

"Oh, and nobody touches this Warlock, by the way." he adds, nodding towards Jhank'kor.

The pirates begin reaching for their shivs, but do not step forward to attack. One in the back does take out a pistol and starts to load it, though [a full round action].

[Sorry If I lost you at all, Daraz is still upstairs with Gy-Nath and Jhank'kor.]

Grazz smiles sardonicly at Du'minh, and slowly crouches and sets the crystal on the floor, then kicks it away from himself. He seems to almost relax, his expression and manner conveying relief when the crystal leaves his presence.

"That's a resonance stone. The illithids imbune them with psychic impressions. Ones imbuned with docility are scattered about their slave pens, ones with hostility are given to thrall-soldiers, the ghaik themselves sometimes carry courage stones when they gotta go do something dangerous, you get the idea. This one's more complex. I'd call it hubris, but it's got some strange subtilties too. It was hidden on the body of the ulitharid you bashers dead-booked. Vivec's been totin' this thing around since he found it, no wonder he lost his mind, I mean, why it was so easy for me to convince him he's 'Grazz the Accursed'."

"So, if you want to know what I know, and how I know that that particular ulitharid didn't even know it was carrying this particular stone, you and me'll do some talking, Mage Basher."

"I gotts ta say, though, I do like your negotiating style." The Accursed spits another mouthful of blood on the floor. Both Du'minh and Ar'dru notice that Grazz's strenth seems to be returning quickly, dispite the grvious harm they inflicted on him. Du'minh even recognizes the make of Grazz's ring. It is a githyanki ring, the work of the Mlar. It is bronze with a bloodstone, and Du'minh knows it's type, or highly suspects, for he has seen a few rings like it before: a ring of regeneration.

As soon as Du'minh begins manipulating the stone psionicly, he feels the emotion saturating the stone resonate back. Suddenly he feels superior, smarter, faster, better. What can stand against his power? Nothing! All his adversaries are mere worms, while he is like unto a god. The arrogange is nearly overwhealming, but it is not the do-or-die confidence of a githwarrior. No, it is the great pride of the illithid that assails Du'minh's emotions, the cold superiority and ruthless hubris of an alien mind.

[Du'minh runs the risk of remaining under the influence if he tries to pocket the stone anywhere on his person. He is free to drop it if he so chooses, but at his point it seems laughable that an item made by The Enemy should influence him negatively, for surely his mental fortitude is of such superior strength that no external force could possibly control him.]

DP

'Dunamin' wrote:

OOC: Should Du'minh roll a Will save to prevent giving in to its influence? Would his newly installed gem help him against the taint of the ring? I mean, resonance stone, of course.

No save, but it's just an emotion. Du'minh still has free will.