The Danger Gang's Infiltration of Calpe Hits A Few Snags
At two in the morning, Ruth sneaks in to Xenon and Gershom's room. She tries to sneak in anyway, but she is not as sneaky as she could have been. They're both surprised and ask her what she's doing there. She said she wanted to give them some ratsbane and ask if they found the assassins yet. They said they've learned their names and where they are, but haven't made contact yet. They arrange a drop point where they can get her a message if they need to, then she leaves. Despite their interrupted sleep, they still get up bright and early and head down to breakfast. Xenon grabs a street urchin and hands him a note for Captain Demetrius asking about a position in the town guard. He then joins Gershom at the breakfast table and starts a fake falling out to help justify his leaving and wanting to join the guard.
At around six in the morning on the other side of town, Artaky knocks on Arben and Can's door. "Hey, you guys wanna rob some old lady with me?".
Can and Arben hedge, saying that it's a little early for them, maybe next time, etc. Can then Alters himSelf to follow the dwarf while Arben goes to snitch. He gets a little bit of the runaround, plus he don't remember his way around the guild hall too good, but in a little while a guard points him in the right direction. He finally finds Narcis, who thanks him for the info and informs him that it will be handled appropriately.
Meanwhile, Can sees Artaky head down a flight of stairs. It does not look like Artaky is going in to some old lady's house. Can then returns to the inn and falls asleep. Arben soon comes back and finds Can asleep and starts yelling at him that he was supposed to meet him at the guild. Can says he heard no such thing and they both glower at eachother. Then Martialis stops by to shoot the shit. He runs a message to the other guys, information is exchanged. Arben tells Gershom and Xenon to tell the rogue thieves what hotel they are in if they're looking to contact them. Then Xenon bops off to his meeting with Demetrius.
Can, Marty and Arben are going to go get more intel on the Thieves Guild of Calpe. Marty changes himself into a gecko and casts Locate Object (needle), Find Traps, Detect Magic, and Know alignment. They then head down through the entrance in the stables. They mill about the the halls until they run into Mario the Italian. He seems like a friendly sort. Martialis figures out that he's Neutral. He asks them about the Gripli he has in his bag, and Arben figures out what it is. Just then Artaky enters the hallway. He exchanges knowing glances with our boys, then asks them if they want to head over to the Kismet Club. Sounds good to them, and Mario says he's in too. They stroll through the halls of the guild, eventually leading into the sewers. It is stinky, but Can doesn't mind. Eventually, Artaky leans over to Mario and says to him in Italian that he's going to take them into the forbidden room. Arben is able to piece together what he's saying with his fluency in Latin and says he's not quite cool with going to the guild's forbidden room, for obvious reasons. Artaky understands, and says he'll be right back. They ask if Mario knows what's up with the secret room; Mario admits his ignorance. Suddenly Artaky appears from the opposite direction from which he left. A portculis slams down between them. "I'm sorry, Mario," he says.
Arben whips a slew of Magic Missiles at the marauding dwarf, and the dwarf looks genuinely surprised. That surprise in only matched by the surprise Arben and Can feel when Artaky sinks into the ground and disappears. It is then that they notice that there are five Gargoyles rapidly approaching them. Can already lets a Flame Arrow fly at wear Artaky was, suspecting that he's merely hiding. No dice. Arben tells Mario that the Gargoyles are probably an illusion, but he's wrong again. The Gargoyles tear into them. Luckily they don't notice Martialis in the form of a Gecko sneaking to the other side of the portculis. Mario gets knocked unconscious and Arben takes a good chunk of damage, but luckily, Martialis is able to open the portculis and they scamper to the other side and close it behind them. Arben binds Mario's wounds and Martialis changes into a rat. Mario's torch is sputtering out, so Can produces his Light Stone, which causes the Gargoyles to flee in terror. They all feel foolish. They wake Mario up and ask him to show them how to get to the gambling hall. The help him down the hall way and soon come to a door. The door man (or door gnome) Theophilactus tells them they can find Narcis upstairs.
They find Narcis casually rigging a roullette wheel. They begin to yell about how Artaky has gone bat shit insane and he almost killed Mario and how they had to fight off something like twenty Gargoyles until Mario got hurt. They're freaking out but Narcis tells them to calm down; he has three things to tell them that might shock them:
1. Artaky was opperating under his orders.
2. It was a test; they passed.
3. He wants them to assassinate Norwit, and he'll pay the 7000 gold to do it.
They agree to take the job, but they're all a little shocked. They're more shocked because they realized that he said all this in front of Mario. "Oops," says Narcis. "I guess you should kill Mario." Something seems strange about the way he suggests it, though. It's as if he's under some sort of magical control.
They agree to take Mario out of time and kill him. They head downstairs to find a barrel to stuff him in and take him out of town. Big Johanes, who lived next door to Mario finds out, and is suspicious about the outsiders want to murder his friend. They tell him it was Narcis's idea becuase he found out Mario was a spy.Eventually this all gets cleared up and they stuff Mario in a barrel and take him outside. Artaky is out there and suggests they take Big Johanes along with them. He gives the signal to murder Big Johanes as well. The guys shrug their shoulders and load Mario into a wagon. "Come on, Big Johanes. This guy can be wiley, we might need some extra muscle."
Meanwhile, Gershom has decided to stretch his legs, there being no one wanting to sell him hot goods. As he wanders about town he notices Arben in a cart talking to a big guy. Arben looks a little beat up, so he decides he should follow him. They ride out of town.
Big Johanes and Arben shoot the shit about what it's like to be an assassin and how the store is named after Big J. They pull onto a side road and suddenly, Big Johanes says, "Wait, I thought I heard Italian". Arben immediately turns his back away from the thief. Can pokes his head out from under the tarp where he, Mario in a barrel, and Martialis in gecko form have been hiding. Martialis slips out of gecko form and then tries to touch Big Johanes with a Poison spell, but the thief is too cagey and deftly dodges. That's when everyone starts trying to whomp on him. "What are you doing?" he yells, but his cries go unheeded. Gershom runs up and casts Hold Person on him. He and Martialis share a few cross words as to who is following the plan and what have you, but Arben and Can thank him for the help. Gershon heads back to town muttering about the state of today's youth.
Arben, Can, and Martialis drag Big Johanes out to the woods and tie them to trees out of earshot from one another. First Arben and Can explain that they don't want to kill him and they hope they can trust him to do the right thing and not sick the Mafia on them. Mario is very understanding of the sticky whicket they've gotten themselves in to, and says he'll try to help them smooth things over with Big Johanes. They go back to where he is and try to talk some sense into him. Big Johanes insists that they're being played and that until they showed up no one wanted him dead. Martialis convinces him that, none the less, some one wants him dead now and it might be in his best interest to leave town for a few days. He agrees to take Mario and hide out at his aunt's house in Constantinople. They tell them their free to go and hope that the next time everybody meets, it will be under better conditions.
Once they get back to town, Arben and Can set up a meeting over drinks with Artaky and Little Johanes. They head over to the least rat-infested tavern in town. Under the cover of a Message spell they discuss what's going on. They play their cards close to their chests, but Arben soon influences their reactions, and they discuss the possibility of setting up another meeting.
Meanwhile, Gershom is relaxing back at his inn. An old woman stumbles in drunk, but upon closer examination, it turns out to be Ruth. He passes her a note relating where she can find the assassins. Then, what should enter but a large floating sheet with a few holes in it accompanied by a man. The man points at Gershom and the leaves. The sheet asks if he knows Arben, and Gershom agrees, suggesting that maybe they should discuss this in private. Everyone in the bar seems a little surprised and some one mutters something about Jews and sheets with holes in them.
Back in Gershom's room, cloaked figure removes his sheet revealing B The Beholder. He explains to Gershom that he met Arben back in Aege and decided to take up his offer of employment, finding Nirvana to be a little staid. Unfortunately the powers that be don't care much for free thinking, so they've sent some shapes after him. Unfortunatley, he is unable to fight these shapes, but luckily he ran into a sword bearing man who was able to fight off the sphere and the triangle, but now there's a cube after him. The sworded man pointed B in the direction of Calpe. Just then, Xenon comes home. Shocked, he turns around and heads back to the bar. Marty soon shows up and collects him and they head upstairs. Martialis is very surprised to see B there, and is glad to hear that he holds no grudge. B explains that there should be only to more drones coming after him, then things will get caught up in paperwork. They pop up about twelve hours about, and the next one should show up in a few hours. They gather up their stuff and head out of town to fight the next drone away from prying eyes. Xenon is a little skeptical about the floating eye monster, but is always up for some killing, so he's in. Xenon gives them a little intel on the drone; their immune to illusion and charm.
Meanwhile, Can and Arben are trying to catch a few Z's. Unfortunately, their rest is interrupted by the 3 Mira Sisters breaking in to their rooms and poking them. A gnome named Simakus hides in the corner. He is quickly spotted and skuttles out of the room in shame. They begin questioning them about Mario's assassination. He says he was ordered to kill him by Narcis because he was a spy. They respond by acting all crazy and not believing him, largely because he's a bad liar when under pressure and at low hit points. They agree to go back to the guild and this will all be sorted out. Once there, Narcis claims that he didn't order any assassinations. Arben says that it's a good thing he didn't actually assassinate anyone, and both Mario and Big Johanes can be found resting in Constantinople. They agree to wait in the brig until this can be sorted out. The Mira sisters strip them nude and kick them in a cell. They root through the boys stuff as look on, trying to keep their cool.
Meanwhile, outside of town, Xenon, Gershom, Martialis, and B await the arrival of the next drone from Nirvana. In a little while, an arrow flies from out of the woods, and they soon spy the archer. It is a Quadron, a cube with wings and appendages. A mighty battle ensues. Martialis gets a little hurt, being rent by it's mighty pincers. None the less, Xenon and Gershom are able to put a hurting on this interdimensional cube fiend. They dust themselves off and return to town. B is going to room with Gershom; Xenon opts to get his own room. Martialis wigs it over to Can and Arben's room, but the guys are nowhere to be found. Instead he sees Protextus digging around, looking for stuff. Finding nothing, he hides under a bed. Martialis keeps watching him.
The three sisters continue to dig through the guys stuff. They call in Llyuanis to Detect Magic on their stuff. He lies about the stuff, still covering for the boys, then leaves. The guys say their going to get some shut eye. The Mira Sisters will have none of it, and spend the night poking then with a stick to keep them from resting.
