Chapter 2 - The First Group of Mercenaries
No sooner did they enter the crypt's upper-most level, but they encountered a Halfling lookout. As soon as he heard them coming, he spun around and cried, "You! Not another step, hear me? Boss! Got company up here."
The "boss" and another of their group were arguing over the nautiloid, it seemed. The elf seemed to want to remain at the crypt while the Halfling "boss" wanted to go explore it.
Immediately, the boss spun to look up at them. "What's this then? Trying to creep around us to loot the crypt? Not happening. Or is it the ship you're after? Don't matter either way. It's ours, all of it."
The boss then led the elf up the stairs to the top of the wall they were standing on. The path from where they'd run into Lae'zel had led right to that wall. The party waited for them to arrive, but they had weapons ready, just in case the mercenaries were planning on fighting.
"That ship is full of monsters," Kaedyn told them as they stopped just short of the party. Behind, a female human wizard was racing down from the other wall and coming up the stairs to join them. Kaedyn continued. "I wouldn't go near it." He made a Persuasion roll of 5+3=8. He failed.
"Hah! A likely story," said the Halfling boss. "You're just trying to keep all the loot for yourselves." The wizard woman finally joined them, and it seemed the Halfling boss was about to issue the order to attack.
That's when Vexir stepped forward and rolled an Intimidation roll. She rolled 15+4=19, a success. "I suggest you and your pathetic, little band of misfits and piss-ants turn around and get out of here before my axe cleaves your entire body down the middle." She hefted the axe to emphasize her point. "Go! Go search the ruins of the MIND FLAYER vessel. See if I care. I hope you find a few intellect devourers so they can eat your brains out of your skulls."
The entire group of four were frozen in terror. The elf then said to the Halfling boss. "These people seem to mean business, Gimblebock. M... I don't think I want to face them."
"Well, uh, in that case..." said Gimblebock. He was also quite petrified with fear. "C'mon you lot. No point in gettin' killed. Second worm gets the cheese, an' all..."
The elf then looked at him oddly. "Uh, second mouse gets the cheese, no?"
"Nobody's getting any cheese!" cried Gimblebock, completely coming unglued. "Now move it!" Then the four turned and fled down the stairs and out past a statue and beyond the main entrance. They didn't stop until they were long gone, far away off to the north, abandoning the crypt and the nautiloid and everything.
Vexir turned to Kaedyn with a smug grin. "THAT is how you influence idiots. Fear works much better than kindness."
Kaedyn closed his eyes and shook his head with a slight chuckle. "There's no winning with you, is there? Fine. You win this round. I admit defeat. Fear definitely worked better this time than trying to be nice."
She smiled all the more. "At last," she said. "You finally submit."
"Nah," he replied. "I just decided not to argue further. I was enjoying your smile too much." Then he started off down the stairs and towards the statue. Vexir followed, her eyes narrowing into slits. Had she won the fight, or not? And was that flirting? Were they ACTUALLY enjoying one another's company for a change? She wasn't sure. Either way, she couldn't help but feel both anger towards him and something else. She wasn't sure what. Was it... joy?... happiness?... fun? Whatever the case, she was confused but not entirely hating it. Their relationship went up to 47.
Astarion looked over at Ryth-Shan, and they rolled their eyes at one another without saying a word. Shadowheart and Gale were walking together, and Lae'zel was trailing behind in the rear. As Kaedyn reached the bottom of the stairs, Lae'zel stopped and drew everyone's attention back up to her. "That was a fun little excursion. So, may I ask, why we are still continuing on into this place?"
Kaedyn shrugged. "We're here, right? They seemed quite curious about it. I was actually thinking that it might be good, at this point, to check it out. Like Ryth-Shan was saying, there are too many coincidences around here. We may want to try to explore a few places, see if there are any other clues to help us figure out what's going on. We still have a good portion of the day ahead of us. Why not search the ruins for a few hours and then move on to find the creche? What's a few hours at this point?"
She sighed in response. "Is this everyone's decision?"
They all looked around at one another and seemed to agree. "Might as well," said Shadowheart. "Aren't you curious at this point? If those mercenaries were here, maybe there's something truly valuable inside."
"Lost treasure," said Astarion with a gleam in his eye.
"We might even find some magical artifacts," Gale said, almost distantly.
Lae'zel rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's hurry then."
And with that, the group made their way first to the front of the massive statue in the courtyard. As they examined it, none could read the plaque. It was too obscured. The statue itself was also too corroded by age that they couldn't recognize who it was a statue of.
So they abandoned it and explored about a bit more. A Perception roll from all of them was made in secret. Astarion made the roll, as did Ryth-Shan. The noticed vine traps in various places that could harm them. Thus, the entire team avoided these wherever they went. They noticed some sort of heavy crate was suspended on some sort of pulley above a shattered section of the pavement just at the base of both stairways that led up onto the walls. There wasn't much of a gap, but there was enough of one for Vexir to stoop down and peer inside.
"Some sort of chamber down there. Looks pretty heavily looted," she reported. "It's lit by a few torches. Someone's obviously down there."
"I bet they were using the pulley to lift the crate out of the gap," said Gale. "They probably loaded the crate and hauled it up. Looks skinny enough to fit."
"So, you think it holds valuables?" asked Astarion. "Best try to see what it holds. Might be quite useful. After all, people don't haul things out of dungeons that are useless."
"Agreed," said Shadowheart. "The best adventurers are those that are well equipped."
And so, they found the other end of the pulley and lowered the crate slowly to the ground. Then they popped it open to reveal that it was, indeed, fully packed. "Jackpot!" said Astarion with a greedy smile. They found a plethora of useful items as well as a myriad of items that would fetch a few coins at a market. The best items were Arrows + 1 that Ryth-Shan stole, several vials of Alchemists' Fire, some bottles of flammable grease that Gale pointed out could make some serious hostile surfaces for enemies, and best of all, a beautiful suit of Chain Mail + 1. The blue trimming on it even went well with Vexir's midnight eye-shadow.
She snatched it up before anyone else could. "Excuse me while I go change," she said without even consulting with anyone about it. It increased her AC from 16 to 17. When she returned, the others were already finished divvying out the rest of the items they found.
Kaedyn smiled. "It looks good on you," he said. "Looks like it was made for you." It did, in fact, seem to be made for a woman of about her size. His relationship score with her went up 1 to 48.
Vexir eyed him with what appeared to be insincere disdain. She obviously did appreciate the praise, but she was trying to pretend that she didn't. "Praise will get you nowhere. If you think flattery will somehow make things better between us..."
Kaedyn shook his head and smiled. "I wouldn't even dream of it."
Astarion could no longer resist making a comment this time. "You know," he said as if the world was perfect and everything was wonderful. "Don't you just love romance? Ah! How beautiful it is! Am I right? Love blooms just like the flowers in springtime right before your eyes."
Vexir shot him a hot look. He noticed, as did the others. Kaedyn grinned and looked away, blushing. Ryth-Shan and Lae'zel snickered, though Lae'zel's usual hard expression didn't change much. Shadowheart and Gale also chuckled a little. Everyone could see plainly that there was something going on between Kaedyn and Vexir, whether they liked it or not.
But Astarion proceeded to isolate himself from everyone, and he didn't really care. "Kaedyn and Vexir, Ryth-Shan and Lae'zel, and Shadowheart and Gale; such a beautiful collection of amours." He then concluded with a flourish and a bow, as if he was an actor on a stage giving a monologue. As he bent over, his grin was truly devious; hidden from all. His relationship decreased by 2 for everyone.
Vexir was the first to respond. "We are wasting our time here," she said, heatedly. "Let's move. Should we try to squeeze down through the gap or make for the door at the end of the courtyard here?"
Everyone seemed glad for a change in subject. "I opt for the gap," said Ryth-Shan. Everyone agreed. The door would be too straight-forward. If there were other people in the dungeon, stealth would be preferred. They had no idea how friendly the mercenaries inside were going to be, and if they realized that the party had taken items they were claiming for themselves, it was highly likely they were going to try to kill them.
