As the group prepares to open the door and look for the fleeing mage, many are worried he has too much of a lead. It occurs to Ryssa where he might be headed.
From her knowledge of wizards she knows most of them to be fairly compulsive about their experiments. Most don't see themselves that way, which may be why it didn't occur to Balthazar. However, Ryssa knows the group surprised Iarno when they showed up at his bedroom. He fled without time to even take or destroy important papers on his desk that you were able to read.
He stopped by the room with the pool in order to retrieve something as the bag he was holding was dripping water.
But he had clearly invested a lot of time and effort in whatever experiment he was performing in the laboratory (Room 11) you found. It is likely, to Ryssa's thinking, that he would try to go back there. If he thinks he's given you the slip or that his men and skeletons would take care of you (or at least delay you), then he might think he has time to gather up his notes or key components so his investment in those alchemical experiments was not wasted.
If you are very lucky, Ryssa's thinks, he will be like most mages and become completely distracted and lose track of time once he starts deciding what to take and what to leave. It is possible, if you hurry, you could still catch him.
(OOC - Am leaving on a business trip in a few minutes. Won't likely be posting again before next Sunday, 10/4)
"Should we come at him from the two different directions to prevent escape this time? Or is that too risky? Assuming I know the room you are describing?"
With Ryssa's insight to guide them, the party hurries to the laboratory room hoping to find the fleeing wizard. There is some talk of splitting up, but most feel it is too risky. The three freed townspeople follow closely behind, afraid to be separated from you.
Opening the door, the group sees their gamble has paid off. Standing on one side of the room Iarno is holding papers in his hands, reading them. The bag he had been carrying has more things in it now and he seems absorbed by the papers.
"If I were to add the Drake Tooth powder before the infusion perhaps that would solve the inconsistency...."
Seemingly, Ryssa was correct. The mage had become distracted by his experiments and thoughts of fleeing had become secondary.
He looks up at your arrival with an expression of annoyance at the interruption.
"You? Again? Have you nothing better to do than bother me?" He makes no aggressive moves, perhaps feeling that without his men to back him up he isn't willing to fight.
A calculating expression comes over his face. "You know, I could use a good group like you. You took care of my men, though they were mostly rabble. Still, my work here is lucrative. I'd be happy to hire you?"
His first thought was to separate the caster's head from his shoulders, so decided to allow someone with a cooler head to decide ... for now. But if the mage had any ability to read body language, it would be clear to him that Bern wouldn't need much of a nudge to get him to follow through with that initial thought.
"You chose the wrong path. As my companion said, it is time for you to face the consequences of your choices. Put the papers down. Bern, if you would bind and gag him please."
He slipped his sword back into it's scabbard. He slipped his dagger onto his hand and, reaching into his pack, he pulled out the end of his rope and cut off a length suitable for wrist tying ...
[[ giving the mage a chance to make a bad choice here <weg> ]]
Lingo The halfling decided to let the bigger folk deal with the wizard directly. He would get himself into position to be safe from the mage when he decided to save his own life. He looked around for anything in the room or on the wizard's person that seemed like a wizard's tool. If he found something like that he would focus on stealing it or making sure that the wizard could not use it.
OOC: He'll fail at trying to do that. It would be a slight-of-hand/pick pockets sorta thing.... Lingo Slight of hand Neptune rolled 1d20+4 and got 6
"That assumes you get the chance to pass along the information about who we are", he said with a wicked grin as he tied the mages hands behind his back.
He is surprised at how well the wizard gave in, which makes him even more suspicious. He stayed alert, mainly watching the prisoner, though he nodded in agreement with checking any missed doors.
The party retraces their steps back to the prisoner you left tied up earlier. He is still lying there, though he is rolling about trying to get free. He stops when he sees you approach.
Iarno is with you, hands tied, and the three villagers follow close behind. You still have two other prisoners you left in the cells, and you stop and gather them up too, likewise tying their hands.
You open the door of the final room you did not explore and you can see this is clearly a small barracks room. There are two bunk beds that could hold up to 4 ruffians and several crates and barrels.
Searching the crates and barrels reveals that they contain provisions. Searching the bunks you find a few small pouches that contain a total of:
28 sp 12 gp 15 ep 2 small garnets @ 10 gp each 3 dirty Red Cloaks
You have explored everywhere you can find here. You have captured Iarno "Glasstaff" and several of his Redbrand ruffians. You have freed the family of the murdered woodcarver.
You have discovered papers in Iarno's desk that indicate someone named the "Black Spider" is giving orders, knows you are working for the dwarves, and wanted Iarno to capture or kill you and send him any dwarven maps you had with you.
You have several items you took from Iarno (all currently in Balthazar's possession) including a:
Staff of Defense Potion of Invisibility Scroll of Charm Person and Fireball
†Restricted forums can only be accessed by DreamLyrics members of the age of 18 years or older. Access which is granted by the Behind Closed Doors Procedure. ™DreamLyrics Play-by-Post. DreamLyrics Play-by-Post does not own copyright on DreamLyrics texts or graphics, except trademarked DreamLyrics logos and logotypes. The works contained in DreamLyrics are copyrighted (automatically, under the Berne Convention) by the original authors and may be available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence. (See Copyrights for details.) Privacy Policy
