Against the Cult: Suspicion in the Starlight 1.8b

Round four, continued...

Having made his murderous promise, Donovan tries to slice Chase.
The blade bites deep. Chase takes 6 slashing damage.

Alan just shakes his head as briefly he touches his sword hand to his chest and murmurs "Strengthen me, Ehlonna." Alan regains 6 HP.

---

22 - Chase (5/11)
20 - Aanbo (19/19)
13 - ?
12 - Constable Grover
11 - Donovan
5 - Alan
3 - Hulbar
0 - ?

Round four, continued...

Hulbar calls in a loud voice. "Don't think I haven't noticed you, mage! You'll get yours as soon as I've taken care of this dancer." With this Hulbar sweeps with his sword, trying to cut Aanbo's legs out from under him. The monk takes a nasty slash. Aanbo takes 8 slashing damage.

"Pfft." A snort of derision sounds in the darkness. The heavily-armored dwarves Donovan and Hulbar, triumphant with blades dripping with Dungeon Buster blood, suddenly find their weapons too heavy and their arms droop. Then their faces go slack and they collapse with a clatter of armor.
Donovan and Hulbar are asleep.
"There now; you be quiet and enjoy your nap. I don't take kindly to threats." The voice, which Aanbo and Chase recognize as that of the old hermit, Ramne, continues: "Now finish off the Constable quickly so we can leave before any others arrive!"


Note that the two sleeping dwarves are marked with a brown dot.

---

22 - Chase (5/11)
20 - Aanbo (11/19)
13 - ?
12 - Constable Grover
11 - Donovan Asleep
5 - Alan
3 - Hulbar Asleep
0 - Ramne

ROUND FIVE
(this was preceded by round four)

As Constable Grover is furiously clashing swords with the harried Alan Clayborn, Chase runs around to the side and stabs at the man's knee with his stolen spear. The Constable sees the attack coming, however, and turns with a snarl; the spear point glances off of the metal bands protecting his knee joint.

But this is enough of an opening for Aanbo, who punches the Constable in the base of the skull just under his helmet. Constable Grover takes 5 bludgeoning damage and collapses, knocked out.

With their attackers and Constable Grover down, Aanbo and Chase each gain 150 XP!

An elf steps into the circle of lantern light; it is one of the two elves who came to investigate the shouting at the barn earlier. "Well done," he says, and stoops quickly to check the Constable's pulse. Ramne enters the light a moment later, without Whiskers. "I was fairly certain you were trustworthy when I saw the dead troglodyte, so I followed behind this one," he nods at the elf, who glances at him sharply, "and saw you get attacked." The elf looks back to Grover and nods. "He is not dead. And those two are ensorcelled." He stands and looks at the hermit. "My thanks. I think we were wrong about you."

Alan, dripping blood onto the roadway, says in response to Aanbo: "I'll live; thank you." He nods at the monk's concern and looks from face to face in this strange group. "Yes, I'd really like to understand what's going on, but I need to make sure that my family's safe and I need time to recover."
Ramne responds to Chase's earlier question: "If we're going to tie them up, we'd better be quick about it, before any more of them come along and catch us in the act." He looks over his shoulder. "The people taking care of the bodies will probably come across the bridge soon, and I don't know which of them can be trusted."
The elf shakes his head. "I don't think you need to do anything with them. Everyone knows that they were taking you into custody, so it's not like there's a secret to hide. I will deliver my report of you to the Mayor. You should find a place to hide out until morning; they haven't dared to act openly in the daylight yet. Then you can meet me at the Mayor's office."
Alan muses: "When I was adventuring, we would put enemies to the sword." He looks down at the Constable. "But I've known Grover for years; he was my friend. Even though he attacked me, even though he tried to kill me, I can't believe that he's entirely evil..."
Clearly impatient with this woolgathering, Ramne points to Alan: "The two of us are locals. It's the three of you that will be suspected when people discover that these three have been beaten."
The elf shakes his head again. "No one knows that I was here aside from us."
Ramne sighs: "My point is that Alan and I can just walk away, but the people of Orlane will suspect the strangers - they already do! - so everybody will be looking for them when people find Grover and his two friends beaten unconscious in the street." He stops for a moment, listening to something far away. "I think I can hear some of them coming - you only have a few moments."
Alan adds: "I'm headed that way; I can go first and slow them down. What should I tell them? That I saw nothing, or that you were attacked?"

Ramne responds "Not the abandoned barn you used before, no. Some of them will still be burning the body there."

The elf says: "And you wouldn't be able to cross the river without running into them on the bridge. But you could hide right under their noses in that barn there!" He points to the building to the northeast, just a few yards away: the Golden Grain Inn's barn, where Chase and, later, Reptile hid yesterday.

Alan points south: "You could also hide in the Constable's place just across the road over there, if you take them with you." You recall the building he means, though only Aanbo can see it at the moment: the sturdy, square building with the heavy shutters. "What are going to do? Do you want me to help with moving these lunks, or do you want me to delay the others?"


Note: the Golden Grain Inn is 1 on this map, its barn is 1b. The bridge across the river is 2. The building Alan mentioned is the purple square half-seen in the bottom of this image.

Aanbo sees that Hulbar does indeed have a metallic green spiral on a chain around his neck, which dangles out from under his armor in the awkward pose of his collapsed, slightly snoring body.

"I've had worse beatings," Alan responds to Chase, grinning, "...but not many." Then he gets serious again. "Thank you for your aid," Alan says, looking at each of the four of you in turn: Aanbo, Chase, the elf, and Ramne. He sheathes his sword, picks up the lantern, and begins to walk north. "I guess I'll tell them...something. Maybe that another troglodyte attacked, or some kind of illusion...?" He pauses, looks back, and adds "Merikka watch over each of you!" before taking the light away with him.

The elf, who had started to take the dwarves' weapons, saw what Aanbo was doing with Grover and stops, confused. "You choose to leave them armed to fight again?" He exchanges a look with Ramne and then nods. "Very well. I leave you now. Look to find me at the Mayor's Office in the daylight. Fare well until then." He steps back and disappears from Chase's view as the lantern light recedes. Aanbo sees him run lightly south, retrieve the arrows that missed, and then turn left (east) at the intersection.

Ramne looks forlorn, half-seen in the starlight. "I keep hoping to wake from this nightmare," He looks at you, eyes glittering with their own light. "But it keeps getting worse. <sigh> I am glad that you are here, and I thank you for not killing this buffoon, though he was trying to kill you. I have to believe that there's a way to restore our people to sanity again." He bends down, and Whiskers scampers south and up his outstretched arm. He straightens and nods at the Dungeon Busters. "May you find the rest of your group well and...unchanged. We'll meet again." With this, he pulls the hood of his cloak up and disappears.

Aanbo and Chase have retrieved all the weapons that were confiscated earlier, and Chase has a new weapon (the +1 magic spear) besides. Aanbo has made sure that the Constable looks like he fell in a fight with his sword and shield in his hand, and the two dwarves are sleeping with their blades and shields in their hands, too. There's plenty of blood in the roadway. Is there anything else you want to do before making your way to the Golden Grain Inn's barn?