Hedozu: Dangerous Fugitive

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Lysos           Dark eyes, dark hair, olive skin, a jotun-sized chip  1m   3h
Klaus           Dranei human, 6'3" and thickset.                      3m   49m
Hubert          A tall, lean human male with a nasty scar on his face 0s   0s
Foxx            Brown haired man w/a 5-o'clock shadow                 10m  26m

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<OOC> Hubert says, "Some quick notes to get started. I'm planning to run for 3 hours, if we don't end by then it's likely my wife will kill me and so the scene will end anyways, so I will try to keep us moving along at a good pace. I'm planning for two parts. The starting part will set this mission up 'back at the base' and give you an opportunity to plan and make some choices about how you all want to approach the mission itself. For the second part, we will zip out to location and execute your plan. Please let me know if you have any questions. I'm still learning to DM so if I miss something or mess something up please page me so I can do my best to resolve it. I'll now set up the scene and everyone can feel free to pose in!"

A windowless storeroom, just large enough to *not* be a closet, in a wing off of the Alexandrian temple of Eluna, serves as the 'command center' of this mission. The room is dominated by a simple four-legged, square, wooden table that is covered with maps. Spread out in the center is a map of Charn.

The organizer of this particular mission, Orikas, is a gruff and grizzled half-elf in reinforced hide armor currently glowering at a map of Charn. Looking over the crew assembled for this mission, he grumbles, "The gangs they send me get greener every year."

Orikas clears his throat and raises his voice, "Your mission is to pick up the trail of the fugitive Hedozu who was last known to be in this location," he jabs a stubby index finger, one knuckle short of complete, at the map spread out on the table. "We believe he camped here for and may have left some information about where he has been and where he has going, and we need you to go investigate. Charn is dangerous as ever, so don't plan on getting in and out without having to... negotiate." He pauses for a moment, mulling over the map before bringing his attention up to the adventurers, "If somehow you encounter Hedozu himself, then you run. He's a murderer and we have it on good authority that he is a cleric of Caracoroth. A sighting of the fugitive would be mighty valuable but it wont do us any good if you all end up dead."

"There are two locations that we need to investigate and you are the first crew headed out so you have the pick. We know of a campsite here, near some cliffs," he unfurls a smaller map and lays it on top of the larger map and then produces a second, "And a shack we believe he stayed at, near a bridge further on down the trail."

He looks down at his list and calls off a quick role call, "Klaus! Zaplolk.. Zapolklnsskk... Zap! Lysos! Foxx! Any questions?"

<OOC> Hubert says, "Mission map - https://imgur.com/JDOiOR2" <OOC> Hubert says, "Option 1 - Campsite - https://imgur.com/UiuhVz5" <OOC> Hubert says, "Option 2 - Bridge - https://imgur.com/s6Mxzt8"

EVENTS: Dangerous Fugitive is scheduled to start RIGHT NOW!

       "Here." The man says when Foxx is called. "So...he's got a bit of a chokepoint with nothing behind him sort of thing goin', huh? Might make it interestin'....."

Klaus looks over the two maps, listens to the briefing. "So, you don't want us to catch this guy?" he asks. "Just ... find him?" He's a bit puzzled, it seems.

Maybe another might be inclined to bristle at being referred to as green, but Lysos takes it in stride. Embraces it, really. She's made no secret of her lack of experience and has even made a point of telling people, "The entire reason I'm doing this is get the experience." So even though this is entirely a different setup than she's been used to before now, she rolls with it and steps forward as her name is called. "I'm Lysos," she supplies. Just in case there were any question.

Orikos nods to Klaus at the question and offers a shrug, "To be perfectly honest, we have lost his trail and we are trying to pick it back up. These are our two last known locations. Hopefully, for your sakes, he is not still at either of them."

Klaus ohs, nods slowly. "How long has he been gone, then? I can track, sort of. I'm not great, but I can follow someone who's not trying to hide their trail, if it hasn't been too long."

Lysos puts two of her fingers to her forehead, scowling very faintly in what might be considered confusion. "So.. if we don't find him at either place, which you hope for, because he's really dangerous.. then how will you find him?"

Orikos nods to Klaus, "Great. He was at the campsite most recently, and the bridge just a day or two before that. Our sources place him at the bridge just about a week ago, but we believe he stayed there longer." Orikos turns to Lysos, "We're looking for intelligence, a trail, anything that might tell us where he is headed."

Foxx says, "I'd bet he's definitely trying to hide his trail, especially if he's a cleric of a god of destruction. But he can't cover it all that well. I can....partially track as well, so I can help." He then looks to Lysos. "I don't think he wants us to get into a fight.""

Orikos looks around at the crew and then asks, "So are you going to scout the campsite or the shack by the bridge? It's time to move out."

Foxx says, "Might as well do the campsite first. Get the worst one out of the way." He then looks about. "Anyone else have any ideas?""

Klaus looks hesitant about a week-old trail. "I guess we'll do the campsite if he was there most recently, though a week-old trail is pretty stale." He shakes his head to Foxx. "Sounds like a plan."

Lysos just shrugs her shoulders, looking at the others to follow their lead. "The campsite seems like a good idea to me. Do you think he might try to ambush us.. or anyone coming after him, anyways, at either of those places?"

Foxx says, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He says heading out and loading his rifle. "Let's see if he's there first. Once that's established, then we'll worry about getting back or having to fight him. Just be ready to do a fighting retreat if we do fight.""

GAME: Klaus rolls survival: (9)+6: 15 GAME: Foxx rolls survival: (7)+8: 15 GAME: Lysos rolls survival: (19)+1: 20

After a couple days of relatively uneventful travel into Charn, the crew is finally approaching the designated campsite on the map around noon of the third day.

The cliff-side path curves around the mountain, which means the campsite itself will be out of view until the crew gets almost right up to where the start of the map they were provided.

Noticable to everyone in the group are some very recent boot tracks headed back and forth over the top of each other, curving around the bend towards the campsite.

Approaching the campsite means that Foxx puts the rifle stock to his shoulder. "Obviously, everyone keep as quiet as you can." he says trying to peek around to see if he spots him.

Klaus will go quietly, nodding to Foxx as we approach as quietly as we can. Not that Klaus is stealthy. But he can try.

GAME: Foxx rolls stealth: (13)+1: 14 GAME: Klaus rolls stealth: (14)+-2: 12

GAME: Hubert rolls 1d20-1: (20)+-1: 19 GAME: Hubert rolls 1d20-1: (1)+-1: 0 (EPIC FAIL)

Lysos just points at herself, then points to the ground, indicating she'll stay right where she is. The journey would have been enough to indicate how quiet she is not.

As Foxx and Klaus quietly peek around the corner to the campsite, they will quickly notice that it is not occupied and it appears as though a small group of orcs is breaking camp. Two of the orcs are out closer to the edge of the cliff and another is visible near their possessions at the fire pit.

One orc, eyes closed and blissfully unaware pees off the side of the cliff and into the river below. A second orc, sitting cross-legged near his companions feet seems to quickly notice Klaus and Foxx and stands up to call over, "Who's there?!"

Klaus is spotted, so he decides to play it through on bravado. "I'm here," he says, stepping out. "Is this your camp? We're here officially," he tries to add danger to his tone, "so I'm asking officially." He doesn't say who, officially, but he hopes based on this place and his tone, that it will be assumed it's someone important. Or else it'll be a fight.

GAME: Klaus rolls intimidate: (9)+8: 17 GAME: Hubert rolls 1d6: (5): 5

"Oh wow, that sounds important. Buk, these guys are here on official business," the orc that is paying attention seems swayed by Klaus' appeal, "This is Sarge's camp," He jerks a thumb back towards the fire pit, "What's your official business?"

Buk, the orc, remains in his blissful ignorance for the time being.

Back down at the fire pit there is a large orc shuffling around though he does not seem to be paying any attention to the current interaction.

The Gig Is Up! Or so Lysos seems to decide, anyways. Rather than leave Klaus to deal with these people alone, she joins him, lifing her hand in a wave to the orc campers.

Klaus growls, "I'll ask the questions here." This seems to be working, he'll try to ride the flow a bit longer. "You fellows work for Sarge, then? I heard someone else came through the camp recently. You know him? A bit over a week ago."

Buk finally turns back around at Klaus' growl, blinking for a moment but falling in line with his friend, "Ruk, why didn't you tell me there were people here?"

Ruk punches Buk in the arm, "Buk, HE is the one asking the questions here!" Clearing his throat, he continues, "Sorry about Buk, he not that bright. We work for Sarge. I wouldn't know anything about someone else coming through here, he only been here a couple days. Sarge might know."

Klaus looks back to his companions, murmurs, "C'mon, we'll ask Sarge, then." And, this could go well, or blow up in his face. But when everyone's there, he'll go around to see the Sarge. If we're looking for a human and Srage is an orc, then it's cool. If Sarge is a human, we'll see how good Klaus can lie.

Buk and Ruk let the crew go ahead to Sarge who is about 100 feet away, following a short ways behind and chattering back and forth to themselves.

Sarge is also an oruch as it turns out, and he seems noticably more competent than his two companions, who he immediately shouts at, "What are you two idiots doing?!" He turns his attention to the scouting crew, resting his hand on the hilt of a longsword and shouting to them, "That is close enough!"

Foxx just can't help but looks at the two orcs and shake head. When Sarge bellows out, Foxx lowers the longrifle and makes a bit of a face. "Welp....I think we can honestly say he ain't here, Klaus." He then holds up his hand. "Sarge, right? We're here on official business from Alexandria. We're lookin' for someone and you ain't him."

"Whoah... wait wait." Lysos holds her hands forward, pacatingly. "No need to get angry, right? Maybe you've seen the fellow we're looking for, maybe you haven't. We could trade for the information, or if you don't have any, we can be on our way. Easy."

Klaus will try to sidetrack the boss from Foxx's Alexandria comment by adding quickly, "Anyhow, we're looking for a human, about so high, he's a priest, I'm told. They need to talk to him pretty badly."

"SergEANT Murtor, and we are looking for a human who has murdered almost a dozen oruch from our company in the last month." Murtor glares at the three for a moment and adds, "You're the only humans that *I* see around here though.. Ruk, Buk, place them under arrest!"

Klaus holds his hands up placatingly, and says, "Wait, wait, we might be after the same person! We'll help you!" He looks left, looks right, eyes the layout in case this does come down to a fight.

"Hold on a minute Sergeant." Foxx says just about the same time as Klaus. "As he said, we're likely looking for the same guy. Was this particular human a priest?"

Buk and Ruk hesitate at this, looking from the scouting crew back to Sarge. They seem to prefer to idea of arresting Lysos and Foxx first, over Klaus.

"Yeah, sounds like you know him. You can tell our commander everything about him, now drop your weapons." Murtor takes a couple of steps back, slowly stooping down to grab some rope, "Buk, Ruk, get their weapons away and tie them up for the trip back to camp."

"It sounds like we're here on the same business," Lysos puts in, supporting Klaus and Foxx's statements while also taking a step back. "This doesn't have to be like this."

Klaus shouts out, "All halt. We're clearly after the same fellow, he did some crimes back in our city, too. You don't want to arrest us, it'll go badly for you," he insists. "We're willing to help you find this guy, we're here to check for clues, the same as you." He'll move closer to Lysos and Foxx, trying to keep the group together, though he does have both hands on his guisarme, though.

"Seriously? You're going to arrest us because we know OF this guy? Why don't you arrest your commander AND yourselves as well? because you know of him. Where's that oruch honor I've heard so much about? You're really going to make enemies out of allies who're going to help you track down the person who killed your friends because we know OF him? We JUST got this mission from Adventurer's Guild in Alexandria. Are you going to arrest the Adventurer's Guild as well? That's going to be one TALL order for your tiny little company, smart ass!"

Foxx said that.

===================== Current Initiative Order - Round 1 =====================
---Init--Name------------AOO-Notes--------------------------------------------
    20   Ruk                 
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    15   Klaus            4  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
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    12   Murtor              
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    10   Buk                 
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    10   Lysos            1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
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    5    Foxx             1  Flat-footed (0 rnds active)                  
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==============================================================================

Ruk pulls out an *extremely* large sword in both of his hands as he listens to Foxx rant. He gives a double-take to Klaus but then quickly returns his focus on Foxx as he swings down in a chopping motion and cleaves his falchion into the ground.

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round One - Init 15.
     It is now Klaus' turn! Murtor is next!

GAME: Note Flat-footed on Klaus ended. GAME: Klaus rolls 1d20+7: (7)+7: 14 <OOC> Hubert says, "that is a hit!"

GAME: Klaus rolls 2d4+6: (2)+6: 8 <OOC> Hubert says, "He's hurt but still standing"

Klaus tried to de-escalate the situation, but the mercenary is not going to knuckle under, and he's definitely not going to a Charnese jail. Run by orcs. He uses his guisarme to slash at Ruk, murmuring, "You -asked- for it," and he clips him with the blade. He's hurt, but not down. "I warned you guys," he shouts. "You can still back down."

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round One - Init 12.
     It is now Murtor's turn! buk is next!

Murtor reaches into a pocket and pulls out a small scrap of leather as he watches the melee unfold from where he currently stands. Rubbing his thumb across the surface, he mutters some decidedly magical-seeming words to himself, "Fairyprincess.. sparkledance.. magiccastle.." and the air around him seems to shimmer momentarily.

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round One - Init 10.
     It is now buk's turn! Lysos is next!

<OOC> Hubert says, "Okay, so Buk is going to also try to take a swing at Foxx." GAME: Hubert rolls 1d20+5: (14)+5: 19 <OOC> Foxx says, "my AC is 19." GAME: Hubert rolls 2d4+4: (3)+4: 7 GAME: You damaged Foxx for 7 points. 26 HP remaining.

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round One - Init 10.
     It is now Lysos' turn! Foxx is next!

Buk, who has definitely not washed his hands, rushes in behind his friend with his own huge sword. He grimaces as Klaus cleaves into Ruk, but steers clear of the glaive as he steps alongside his ally to swing his falchion at Foxx, landing a blow, "No, YOU asked for it!"

GAME: Lysos casts Color Spray. Caster Level: 2 DC: 15

GAME: Hubert rolls 1d20-1: (10)+-1: 9 GAME: Hubert rolls 1d20-1: (17)+-1: 16

Lysos raises her hand almost instinctively to cast her shield spell... then changes her mind and scrambles forward. And around. Well around the swing range of the two soldiers. Then she flings her hand out, incanting, "Razzle dazzle!" and a garish, multicoloured spray of light shoots from her hand wand washes over them. Ruk goes down... Buk does not.

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round One - Init 5.
     It is now Foxx's turn! ruk is next!

<OOC> Foxx says, "So...I'm going to have to 5 foot step away from Buk...." <OOC> Foxx says, "then shoot him." GAME: Foxx rolls weapon1+1: (20)+7+1: 28 (THREAT) GAME: Foxx rolls weapon1+1: (16)+7+1: 24 GAME: Foxx rolls 4d12+4: (36)+4: 40

Foxx does get cut from the blade that was presented by Buk. That much he expected, but it was on his left arm, so he really doesn't feel it too much. He does recoil away from Buk's blade...and retreat a few feet...before the longrifle comes up and gets a bead on Buk.

Buk's head explodes almost immediately as Foxx pulls the trigger...which sends the rest of the body slowly falling backwards and landing on the ground with a thud. "You're NEXT Sergeant!"

GAME: NEW ROUND!

     Hubert advances the initiative order.
     Round Two - Init 20.
     It is now ruk's turn! Klaus is next!

Ruk clutches at one of his ears and one of his eyes as Lysos' spell hits him and he falls to the ground, unconscious but mercifully just a moment before his brother's unfortunate demise. (1 more round of unconscious to go)

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round Two - Init 15.
     It is now Klaus' turn! Murtor is next!

GAME: Klaus rolls 1d20+7: (9)+7: 16

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round Two - Init 12.
     It is now Murtor's turn! buk is next!

Klaus ewwws at the exploding orc. The other fellow's down, so the only other one is Murtor, and so Klaus steps up and will sweep with his guisarme, but the blade is defelcted at the last moment and does not hurt the orc.

Murtor watches the demise of Buk and Ruk rather impassively, slowly starting to inch towards the north as he begins to worry about his own skin. His eyes go wide as Klaus is suddenly upon him and swinging. Murtor attempts to flee to the north but finds his legs quickly swept from beneath him. He turns to cast a spell on Klaus from his seat, "Dooky... spooky... abbawooky!"

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round Two - Init 10.
     It is now Lysos' turn! Foxx is next!

Lysos freezes. Not because of some malicious magic, not because of any injury... she freezes upon seeing Ruk's demise. The head just exploding, the bits flying, the body falling. She just stares for seconds, hand still thrown out... and then she pales to almost ghost white and falls to her knees, retching.

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round Two - Init 5.
     It is now Foxx's turn! ruk is next!

GAME: NEW ROUND!

     Hubert advances the initiative order.
     Round Three - Init 20.
     It is now ruk's turn! Klaus is next!

Foxx lets out a slow breath as Ruk's body hits the ground. His attention turns to Murtor and he raises his rifle, but holds his fire. It seems he's waiting for something.

Ruk remains unconscious on the ground, looking like quite a mess between the spell and what happened to poor ol' Buk. (conscious next round)

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round Three - Init 15.
     It is now Klaus' turn! Murtor is next!

Klaus was feeling pretty slick about putting Murtor on the ground, but now he's fleeing in panic, dashing back the way we came at his best speed, companions and enemies left behind, his feed pounding the turf as he runs.

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round Three - Init 12.
     It is now Murtor's turn! Lysos is next!

GAME: Hubert advances the initiative order.

     Round Three - Init 10.
     It is now Lysos' turn! Foxx is next!

Murtor looks at Klaus' back with a smug satisfaction and a tremendous amount of relief that he is somewhat less likely to be cut in half. Gathering himself up, Murtor is just about to start after

Klaus when the thunderbelcher goes off again and the shot takes him in the leg. Snarling, he shifts his weight to his other leg and turns on Foxx murmuring another spell and unleashing a pair of glowing red magical darts that home in, "Flippy... dippy.. zippyzappy!"

GAME: Lysos casts Color Spray. Caster Level: 2 DC: 15

Lysos wipes at her mouth, takes a few forceful breaths, then turns. She sees Klaus running, she sees magic lancing out at Foxx. She swallows, regrets it with a grimace, then stumbles forward, just getting in range enough to shout "Razzle Dazzle!" and send another rainbow of nightmares at the sergeant.

The color spray hits the wounded Sergeant Murtor directly in the face, and while he does not seem to be as affected as Ruk he is clearly disabled by the magic and drops to his knees, scraping at his eyes.

At this point, the orcs are easily restrained and when Sergeant Murtor comes to, he explains that they are, in fact, on a very similar mission and found something at this campsite. He's remorseful for escalating the encounter and blames himself for Buk's untimely death.

In his pack near the firepit the crew finds a simple rolled paper note with an already-broken seal of a mask in black wax. The note says:

"Hedozu, your Servant anxiously awaits your arrival in Alexandria. Do not delay. --Advisor of the Masquerade"