DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games LMP: Lost Mines of Phandelver N-2.1 Redbrand Hideout

Jaliera

She looks with sympathy on Davroar, for the moment ignoring Chandan.

"I think you should rest for a moment and recover your strength. If that doesn't work I have a potion that might help."

She smiles before turning to the others.

"Might be time to take a breath. We don't know what lies ahead and there are only 5 of us now. We need to work together and be more supportive of each other."

She looks particularly at Kriv and Chandan.

Kallista

"Yes", she nods agreement with Jaliera, glancing at Kriv. "We are a team, or at least we are supposed to be. And we are risking our lives every day. I need to know I can count on everyone to have my back in a fight, regardless of whether they agree with the reason for it. I can't pause every time we get into a tussle to see if everyone has decided to join in."

She then looks at Chandan. "We also need to be seen as a better choice than those we fight. We should not be killing innocents or foes who surrender. Beyond the fact that those are the actions of murderers and thugs, the townspeople will not trust us, and we need their help."

Kriv

He looked between the soft-fleshed humanoids impassively, his expression inscrutable.

"There are risks, yes. We take them, with our eyes open to the consequences. This, though? This was an utterly unnecessary risk with no benefit. Putting your life, and the lives of those with you, at risk because you dislike the contents of a deactivated trap is folly. Diving back into the trap to reactivate it is idiocy. Far better to send in a priest to sanctify the graves once we are done here, instead of imperiling everyone in an ill-thought desire for expediency. Today has not been humanity's finest hour, though I hope it is not the most exemplary. I reiterate: This act was detrimental to our efforts, harmful to ourselves and those who depend upon us, and entirely unnecessary."

He turned to look Jaliera in the eye, and continued,

"Working together implies cooperation, looking out for your colleagues, not putting them in danger through some deluded self righteousness. It also requires awareness, of yourself, of your companions..."

He brought the haft of maul down sharply on the corner of the nearest sarcophagus lid, not with anywhere near enough force to damage it, but enough for the sound of impact to resound throughout the room.

"...And of your surroundings. If we are required to gang up on helpless and immobile targets, then make use of that helplessness and immobility to get everyone in position, rather than making the only way to reach them be desecrating a tomb. I will not support foolishness, but if necessary I will give counsel to avoid it. We have a job to do, a duty, and getting distracted means we are in worse shape, take more time, and put our patron at ever greater risk in what is a time critical circumstance."

He glanced over at Kallista,

"Now that is more clear sighted. We do indeed need to appease the townsfolk. Justice must be seen to be done, with no-one above the law. If we do not move quickly to make it clear we share their values and find such heinous conduct unacceptable, we will all be tarred with the same brush. I trust I can count upon everyone's cooperation and teamwork in that regard?"

Chandan

He ponders the tiefling's words, stroking his beard.

"These are cutthroats, kidnappers and slavers. They killed a man and dragged his family into bondage, fed his body to a monster. To many they have done the same.

"Maybe they alive still? Maybe better that they are dead. If they are sold on, what new horrors await these women and children."

Chandan holds up a gnarled finger.

"A slaver who surrenders is not suddenly innocent. He has merely bought more time before he meets the headman's axe or the end of a rope. More time to plan, to escape. More time to carry on his wickedness."

He looks at the tip of his spear.

"I was wrong in what I did. Very rude. Should have thanked them for surrending first, then killed them.

"Evil, like these Redbrands, I cannot let loose on the world. But I will fight beside you, as I have done these past days...

"...and whether you need it or not, I will always watch your back and keep you safe from harm if I can."

Kallista

She shakes her head in response to Kriv. "You can discuss and argue the whys and wherefores at your leisure, after the fight is done if you dislike why it started or how it was fought and wish to adjust for the future. But in the heat of battle none of that matters. Once the fight starts, you support your comrade, period. That is the contract of all parties such as ours. Else all is chaos."

To Chandan she adds, "No one made you judge and jury. How do you know the man you killed was not an innocent who joined these ruffians today and had done nothing wrong? You take the word of a 10 year old boy to decide a man's life? But more than that he was unarmed and had surrendered. What you did is called murder and you could be executed for it."

Kriv

"Should."

Chandan

He smiles. It seems they all disagree yet still get on amiably. It could almost be a gathering of monks.

"We have killed plenty today. Probably kill some more yet. Maybe those ruffians you killed in the tunnel mistook you for burglars? Maybe the Nothic mistook us for food? Maybe maybe maybe.

"No, Kallista, you must accept they had it coming, or you will never sleep again."

He waits for Jaliera and Davroar to have their moment of succour, but is eager to get the locked door seen to.

"Those surrenderers I killed? They tormented a woman and child, attacked a stranger offering them healing. They followed Iarno's orders without hesitation, and hmm as you say, the boy fingered them as the killers of his father.

"You decide for yourself if they were guilty or not. But to decide not to decide is to absolve yourself of responsibility. That is a luxury we should not have."

Jaliera

Not intimidated by the Dragonborn who is so much larger than her, she replies to what he says by a simple statement.

"And once we have cleared this place.. and children like the boy who showed us this way in.. come and explore and poke the strange still skeleton...?"

With a last glance at Davroar to make sure he is OK, she heads across to the door to check it out for traps and to try to open it, but before she starts work, she looks around at the others.

"Why not get the wizard to unlock it and lead the way in?"

Kallista

"Decision and action are different things. Your not being able to act as executioner is a luxury required by civilized society. Authority is established in specific persons and it is illegal for you to act on your decisions in that manner."

She realizes that she is getting nowhere with Chandan, and turns to Jaliera, nodding agreement at her suggestion. She simply hopes Sildar will not decide to execute the monk for his heinous crimes.

Kriv

He answered, a faint hint of weariness and disappointment creeping into his tone,

"Covered by the whole 'Send in a priest to sanctify once we're done' aspect. I would appreciate it, if you would try to trip me up with self-righteous arguments, that you would have the courtesy to listen, and to refute what was said rather than build up false 'think of the children' homilies. I would appreciate it still further if you avoided such needless attempts at philosophical point scoring in the first place, but the standards your species have set this day do not incline me to raise my hopes in that regard. Having the prisoner unlock the door, however, is a sound and useful idea, and one I am glad to hear you raise. Perhaps there may yet be hope for humanity."

He walked over to their captive.

"You heard her. Any reason for your inaction?"

Chandan

"Hmm, talking of children, I have often wondered, do dragonborn children play with toy knights and dragons? And do the dragons slay the knights and rescue the maidens?" He asks Kriv as they walk.

Kriv

He stood silent in the face of the murderer's inanity.

Inaro

"Inaction? To open that door? You must be kidding."

His eyes looked up in amazement as he shook his head.

"Let's see. I'm bound. You murdered my friends. I am just your prisoner, but I'll help. It'll take a few moments."

Then a few moments later you hear the sound of something metallic fall to the floor just beyond your view, in the adjacent, but empty storage room.

As soon as you look into the room you see a key lying on the floor.

"That should open this door," the wizard says.

Davroar

He listens to each persons point of view, but remains quiet as he is too tired and sore at the moment. Davroar still feels he did the right thing in destroying the skeletons, but just did it poorly.

Davroar gives a thankful smile to Jaliera for her supportive words and the offer of the healing potion. Before she leaves to work on the door he will take the potion offered, thinking that he should keep his remaining spells for healing later, if needed.

Sitting with his back to the wall while letting the potion work its magic on his injuries, he will stir only when Inaro makes the key appear in the next room.

Turning to the wizard, he asks, "Was that your familiar helping?"

[Davroar Healing potion
Dugan rolled 2d4+2 and got 8 HP back]

Inaro

"Yes. That is my familiar. He's staying out of trouble. It's enought that you will murder me. There's no need for him to be murdered."

Potion of healing: 2d4+2. Go ahead and roll for yourself.

Jaliera

"I have no intention of killing you or your familiar, assuming that you give me no cause."

She goes to collect the key, intending to hand it to the wizard, as good a way to test for traps as any other she can think of.

Inaro

He looks at Jaliera and raises an eyebrow.

"I believe you," he says. "It's the crazy old man. He has the eyes of a cold-hearted killer. And please don't ask me to trust him. He just killed two innocent men and he feels absolutely no remorse. I'll unlock the door if you untie me. Or you can do it yourself. It's not trapped."

He pauses a moment and adds, "And I know that if it is trapped and I lied, that you'll slit my throat and kill me in cold blood."

Kriv

"I would not ask you to trust or see value in one who has acted abominably. Rest assured that I will not stop at seeking justice only for your own crimes, and that punitive measures taken against you for attempting to pervert the cause of justice in this case will not be lethal should they prove necessary. Jaliera, use the key, better that this wizard remains bound."

Chandan

There is some negotiation and bartering of faiths, but while that's seen to, Chandan stays on patrol, shuffling between the northern storeroom and the south-east double door of the crypt.

Passing the locked door, he does stoop to have a peak through the keyhole, in case there's any light on the other side, but otherwise he keeps moving.

It's dark in the keyhole.

Davroar

Feeling better now, he will stand up and make himself useful by keeping watch on their two prisoners while Jaliera opens the door.

Jaliera

Satisfied that the wizard will not be harmed at least for the moment, she nods her acceptance at what he says. She also nods to Kriv.

"Agreed."

She doesn't like the idea of the wizard with his hands free to cast.

Taking the key to the door, she unlocks it and then stands back drawing her bow. Better a fighter enters first, just in case.

Kriv

He gestured with his maul to Chandan, indicating to the murderous vagrant for him to take point and open the door. He took a position which would be behind Chandan should the expendable monk cooperate.

DM
Jaliera tries the key and it unlocks the door and then opens it. Racks of weapons line the walls of this chamber, including spears, swords, crossbows, and bolts. A dozen dirty red cloaks hang from hooks near the door.

Chandan

He's at Jaliera's side and then through, to contend with whatever there is to contend with.

Chandan sneezes messily; it must be the dust. But he turns to the girl and shrugs.

"Store cupboard."

[Next stop, north west quadrant?]