Game: Blades of Git'riban : Primal State

[DM - Actually closer to Ii and Gy, since Du'minh ran past in pursuit of Mr. Love, but the Satyr's song could have held them as D. came back. As a Rish-i-chal he might have been more resistant to its effects (this is just the DM fiating, since Dun posted first.)]

Du'minh smashes the pipes out of the satyr's mouth, taking half a tooth and two fingers with it. The satyr bleats and pulls a spring-loaded dagger [switchblade] out of a back pocket and lunges forward. The fearless fanaticism in his eyes when confronted by githwarriors, in spite of being armed with only a six-inch shiv unable to penetrate their armor, tells the githyanki that this satyr's mind has been well-flayed.

The orc first crawls, then stumbles, away. Greenskirts run to and fro, gathering up meager stashes from their shanties before Ar'dru sets them alight. Strangely, no guards appear at first, perhaps they are busy putting out the fires he already set.

The greenskirts are neither foolish nor suicidal enough to confront nor hinder the duthka'gith warrior. Or so it seems, until one lone whore jumps Ar'dru while his back is turned. She jumps on his back and cuts his neck with a broken bottle. Her ferocity surprizes the half-dragon. She is bald with a bandana over her head, which slips during the melee. Ar'dru sees, at the distance of a few inches, that she bears an illithid-made mind-mark on her temple.

Sorry for the delay, busy weekend.

[Not presumptios at all, really. She's dead. However the DM isn't letting you off the hook that easily. Besides, you still have to throw the two Thunderblasts to signal the others' attack.]

The area around Ar'dru and his firey trail of destruction clears out fairly quickly. The greenskirts, the unenthralled ones anyway, are unwilling to face or deter him. However, that does not mean security has been totally defeated. Small groups of guards shove their way through the fleeing crowd and rush at Ar'dru. They come in groups of two to three, trying to flank him. The duthka'gith warrior deals with the unarmored hobgoblins handily, but he notices something strange. They come at him in small, easily dispatched groups, while he can see that a larger brace of guards is hanging back, only sending in a couple at a time. Ar'dru's tactical sense tells him they are trying to keep him busy and distracted, and he soon discovers why.

Ar'dru cuts down an onrushing guard and takes off, when suddenly, a well-aimed arrow finds an unarmored spot on his back. He sees the drow from before, in the midst of several protecting guards, armed with a bow. She dips an arrow into a small ceramic jar before notching it and aiming again at Ar'dru. From this, and the spreading cold coming from the would she just dealt him, he realizes her arrows are poisoned.

[DM: Make a Fort save, DC 14 (seems pretty easy doesn't it ... :twisted: )]

Flight

Once Ar'dru is sure any pursuit is left far behind, he circles around and heads out of the Hive Ward. Behind him is a faint flicker and a line of smoke rising from the center of the Marble District. He lands just short of the Mortuary for awhile to elude a large flock of vargouilles, before taking wing again at the Ditch.

Flying over the Lower Ward is difficult. Unpredictable thermals are the rule, and visibility is poor. Ar'dru lands in a wide street to rest awhile. The injuries he sustained in the Hive Brothel were not great, but they weren't few either. He checks himself over and realizes the tip of the drow's arrow is stuck in a joint in his armor, and continues to cut him.

[Looking at the drow's to-hit I realized she rolled a 20. 1 extra hp damage only (so far), but risking re-poisoning.]

Ar'dru marches forward, the arrow wound completely numb. He is unable to get the arrowhead out by himself without carefully removing his armor. He looks around and realizes he is on Newgate Road, not far from Lind's

Assault

Du'minh, Ii'Jyka'Vaar, and Gy-Nath head down the stairs toward the lower chambers. There is a slight smell of smoke in the air, and few guards. Ii notices a pair of dead hobgoblins, their bodies stashed undeneath the bottom stairs.

The githyanki warriors encounter a pair of living guards in the first of the cellars.

[DM - To make it easy, and because the DM is lazy, all the lower chambers are basicly the same. A large room with its entrances about a dozen feet above floor-level, with four to six sunken side-chambers. Main chambers varry, but are about 40-80 feet to a side. Side chambers are 10x10.
The large chambers are connected to each other by several hallways. Thus Ya'shenn and Daraz can avoid entering any other chambers until the vaults. The vaults are just like all the other chambers, except four of the six sunken side-chambers have heavy metal doors.]

As the trio enter the open archway of the first of the lower chambers, they see two hobgoblins on the balcony opposite their own, guarding a heavy wooden door.

Ambush

Mr. Grey nods to Lythe-Ya'shenn and hustles his hobgoblins onward. She and Love-Daraz move quickly towards the vaults. They encounter pairs of guards watching over the entrances to each of the chambers, but none challenge them in their guises.

The vaults are a chamber like the others, save that four of the side-cellars have locked iron doors. The other two are yawning portals. Close examination reveals that they are active, and from Grazz's intel, they know one leads to the Packing House, the other to an Undersigil lair connected to The Den (one of Illithid House's major hubs). The portal key for the first is a purse made from an animal's ear, the key to the second is a necklance or amulet with a single unpolished amethyst. (Ya'shenn, knowing this, aquired the former at a keyshop on the way here).

In the open side-cellars, on the walls, are iron rings, chains, and empty manacles.

There are no guards here, as the portals lead into Illithid House and there is no need to restrict access to the Hive Brothel in this direction. One presumes that if there were a shipment of slaves to be sent through, they'd be guarded, but for now the place is empty.

"Hmmn? Oh, not long, not long, a few minutes only. Draconic blood is tough stuff. Heh, not like goblinoids. Which, by the smell of your blade, you've been bleeding plenty of tonight. Quite a shiv you've got there, cutter." Kaz stands and pours two tall glasses of water from a crystal decanter. He hands one off to Ar'dru.

"As for repayment and debts, don't you fuss cousin. What goes around comes around, and vice versa. You ever need a good poison or a good antidote, you come ask for Kaz, yea? We dragon-bloods need to keep our sharp eyes out for one another, that's the truth. Then again, jinx is jinx, and I sure do like me some jink." Ar'dru notices Kaz's own water becomes stained a dark purple-black as soon as it touches his mouth, "Ahh. But in any case, this time is all paid for. Lindorian says to treat you like family, so family you are."

The draconian watches Ar'dru re-equip himself with bemused interest. "Heh. Seems you're having a busy night, eh? Lind'll be disappointed you can't stick around, but I guess we've all got jobs to do." Kaz chuckles to himself and sits back down, putting his feet up and slouching with a long sigh. He grabs an apple off a silver tray beside him. Ar'dru notices a thin steam rise from the fruit as Kaz bites down. (munch munch) "Your backpack full of fire-flasks is by the door. Hey!" He holds up a small glass flask sealed with wax. "Take this, if you want, and let me know how it works. New concoction I haven't had a chance to try yet. Just don't let it break on anything, or any one, you want to keep around, see?"

The Vaults

Ya'shenn reaches out and touches Gy-Nath's mind. There is a slight pause before she gets a return signal, a hazy image of the psion/warrior beheading a hobgoblin guard and throwing the severed and bloody head at a fleeing greenskirt.

"Excellent, sister. The attack is underway. We will be coming your way soon. Contact me again if you run into something you two cannot handle alone, and I will try to dimension-door to your position."

[Guarding the closest chamber, so no, not near enough to hear you unless you make an effort to be loud.]

The Chambers

The hobgoblin guards notice the trio of warriors enter and rush across the room. They turn and move to intercept, but then stop in their tracks halfway down the stairways from their guarded door. They look at each other a moment, "Githyanki!" both tell each other in unison. Perhaps if their brains were not so ... abused, their decisions would come quicker, but as it is precious moments pass as the githyanki charge across the chamber, before one hobgoblin launches himself at the intruders while the other runs back up the steps and for the stout wooden door, yelling "Githyanki! Githyanki! Githyanki!"

Gy-Nath quips a short order "Troops, attacker! Shouter is mine!" He takes out a dagger and tosses it into the air, keeping his eyes trained on it. Before it even reaches the top of its arc, the dagger takes off like an bolt from a crossbow, streaking toward the shouting guard. The blade strikes the hobgoblin in the back, and the guard stumbles and falls.

Kaz intercepts Ar'dru at the door. "Hey cousin! Not trying to crimp your style or anything, I suspect your the type of warrior who likes his foes to see him coming, but if you have anything to do with that cloud of smoke over beyond the mortuary where I know there aint no forges, you might want to take a few precautions. I might not the most skilled shiv in Sigil, hence why I pefer equilizers, but I do know how to be sly. Here, just in case the Harmonium, or the Minders, or whoever you pissed off are looking for a tall, red, winged basher wearing heavy armor." He hands Ar'dru a volumous dark purple cloak with a deep cowl.

"Oh, and you're not keeping that flask I gave you in your pack with the other stuff, are you? I'd not be so keen on having an unpredictable alchemical reaction in there, if I were you. Might be funny, but I'm not likely to be around to watch it happen. Ha!" He gives Ar'dru a wink and a slap on the back (right on his arrow wound, which stings a little), before wishing him good hunting.

[DM - For Kaz, I'm going for the "I know I shouldn't like this guy, but damn it, I do." type of personality.]

*The Packing House*

From the intelligence Grazz the Accursed gave, Ardru knows the following:
-The Packing House is a legit business interest in Meat Market Square on the border between the Lady's Ward and the Lower Ward.
-Nearby portals lead to various planes where livestock is raised and then imported into Sigil.
-The Portals that lead to varoius locations in Illithid House are in nearby alleyways, in the manager's office, and in the sewers below the Packing House.
-The portals skip around, and the portal to the Brothel could be any of the three locations, but will of course only be activated by the correct portal key - a large feather that must be tickling the side of a portal-hopper's head as he steps through.
-The rest of the place is a slaughterhouse for livestock.
-There are illithid there who coordinate the slaughterhouse workers, but they are all being punnished for some crime against their own people, hence why they must labor.
-The illithid "criminals" are forced to wear large wooden collars that prevent them from extacting humanoid brains (well, unless they hung the person upside-down above them), and are forced to consume only the brains of non-sentient livestock being slaughtered.

What Ar'dru does not know:
-What these illithid did to deserve such punishment.
-The entire layout of the place, since Sight only traveled through here as a way from one portal to the next.

:twisted: ...

... I guess Lavendar is buying it. You lucky berk.