TWO HUNDRED ONE
(I/C)
The group conferred quickly, bouncing ideas off one another while the Jailer continued to stand there unblinking, eyes twitching in opposite directions now and again, and Hoots, the Owlbear casually licked its beak with its long tongue. Eventually Abraxas put on a big smile and stepped forward handing over the bag with the cooked flank steaks to the Troglodyte. Opening it up, he took out the two slabs of meat, tossed one to Hoots who gobbled it in 2 snaps of his razor sharp beak, while distending his bottom jaw slightly to shove HALF the other piece into his maw where he tore it apart and chewed noisily.
Still grinning, but the smile failing to reach his eyes, Abraxas said, “Hokay Señor. We appreciate your terms, but necesitamos some more information to be able to do this trabajo for you.”
Taking a swallow, the room getting more foul smelling, the Jailer wiped his lips on the back of his arm and replied, “Asssk away, Mammal. You have earned the right to be treated fairly by bringing an offering of flesssh.”
(Savs vs Poison: <Lannis Pink 12, >Lyra White 13, <Wyn Orange 10, =Abraxas Blue 10, >Brendon Red 17, <Kovid Yellow 7: -2 penalty on any roll for the next 10 minutes whoever failed (<))
Nodding his thanks, eyes watering from the Troglodyte’s odor but still able to keep his nausea in check, the Fighter asked, “Que es los "Shriekers"? What do they do, and como do we navigate them?”
“Ah, big fungusss, Mammal,” the Jailer replied, eyeing the other half of the steak in his hand and then smiling at Hoots and feeding it to him. “Size of that one,” he pointed to Kovid who was weaving slightly, the dwarf holding his gut and hunched over breathing shallowly. “It ssscreams when you get too clossse to it. Well, mossst creaturesss.” He chuckled. “There are nodulesss all over itsss sssurface that can ‘sssee’ you or your heat. But thossse sssame receptorsss don’t ssseem to like the odor my kind givesss off.” It laughed again in that strange in and out sandpapery fashion before growing silent.
“Ah, um, bueno!” Looking around he could see that Wyn was constantly wiping his eyes clear as well and his nose, the elf having trouble as well. “Apart from los Shrekers, is there anything else in the room necesitamos to know about? Mas creatures, or guards of the chest perhaps?”
“Well, I did sssay fungusss on the map, didn’t I?” It smiled again broadly, both rows of teeth showing, chucks of flesh caught between them like ragged flags. “There are sssome yellow fungi that growsss there as well. They have a problem with fire and heat. Ssso no torchesss or lanternsss if you can help it.” Again it gave forth the barking shuffling laugh, finding his own answers humorous.
By this point Lannis was feeling the effects as his stomach was clenching and unclenching without his control, the Magic User groaning softly and muttering, “Mommy, mommy, my tum tum hurts.”
Knowing that they had to move this along, Abraxas continued, “Gracias. Speaking of said chest, do you know what is in it? In order to properly handle your charge, it would be helpful to know what it is, and whether it is easier to open the chest in the room and navigate los Scheckers on the way back with your charge in the open, or to carry the chest back here and then open if for you. For your charge and our own safety, this would be information mas importante.”
“Ah, if I knew, Mammal, then I would have to be a consssort to the Mother of Monssstersss. I have no clue what isss in the Mother’sss chessst, only that the blessssing had occurred jussst before the Issspan Halgafar’sss ssspell went awry.” He shrugged, picking his teeth with a talon, looking at the meat hanging there, and then popped it in his mouth and swallowed it before continuing. “You alssso misssunderstand. The key goesss in a lock in the Mother of Monssster’sss Chessst. Her chessst.” He pointed to Abraxas’ torso. “Ssso there isss no way to bring it back sssince it is a part of her ssstatue. Ssso you will need to open it there and extract the Monssster.”
“Shit,” Kovid muttered, moaning as he tried to keep his breakfast down, “I suspected that was going to be the case. Thor’s Nuts.”
Lyra frowned, addressing the Trog, “That statue doesn’t move and attack by chance, does it? Seems some of them in this place have a nasty habit of doing that.”
“Ah, yesss, there were Hilvian Ssstatuesss to protect the denizensss of the Castle at one point. But asss for thisss one, no. Ssseems the Issspan had removed it from the Cavern of the Goddessssesss and relocated it here ssshortly before hisss cassstle fell. But the Ssstatue, although a conduit for Lolth, isss no more capable of movement that any of thessse,” he pointed to the petrified statues in his cavern, “are any more.”
Abraxas nodded, conferring with Wyn quietly as the Jailer answered Lyra’s question before coming back around eyes focused. “Hokay. Additionally, to confirm what tu dices - we bring you your charge and the Key. In exchange we keep civil and peaceful, no attacks.”
“That’sss what I asssked for, Mammal.”
“Also, you promise to not tell Corkpart anything about us, and you and your charges can leave el Bastille, correcto?”
“Not tell? Nope, not a word. Can leave? I don’t know if we will or won’t. I might want to ssstay and sssee how thisss all playsss out. I’ll discussss it with my chargesss and sssee what they sssay.”
“That is fair. I do not know if tu saves, pero you need to be an Elf to have the Key. The majik on them makes them only able to lay in Elf hands. To that end, the Key may be useless to you. It may also cause you harm once we hand it to you, and none of us want that to happen.”
“Don’t you worry about that. It hasss been long sssussspected that an elf isss needed to get the key. But there isss no assssertion that once it is gotten that only an elf isss needed to hold it.” It ticked up two fingers at it made its points, “An elf isss needed to get it, and an elf isss needed to ussse it. But if the key isss not being removed from itsss goddessss blessssed location and not being usssed in the manner it wasss desssigned for, I ssshould be able to sssafely take the key, Mammal.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
"We want the key,” Lannis blurted. “Everything else here on the table except that,” looking around horrified, the Magic User hunched over and spit up a few times, moaning “sorry, sorry, sorry.”
Looking at Lannis with a smirk, the Troglodyte replied simply, “No. Any other quessstionsss?”
Giving the wizard a glower that promised a stern yelling at later, Abraxas pressed on trying to keep the conversation moving and heading to completion without a problem. “Do you know of a keyhole the key goes to and where that may be located?”
“Yesss, in the Ssstatuesss chessst.”
“Oh,” the Fighter frowned, “Usually a key goes into some sort of lock and if it is in the room with the statue, or the room with los Sergekers, we may be able to limit our trips to that room. No other place?”
“I’m sssure there isss another. Thossse elvesss were known for their sssecretsss.”
“True, True. And lastly, Señor Yailer, we all appreciate the offer you've laid out antes de us. I do have to ask about that,” he pointed to flail around the Trog’s neck, “interesting piece of jewelry you have there. We are interested in it. If you could add it to the deal to ... como dices... "Sweeten the Deal"..? Si, "Sweeten the Deal," mis amigos y mi will head out immediately to fetch your charge and I can offer this as a form of payment,” he pulled out a jar of honey and held it up to display.
The Troglodyte fingered his flail and shrugged, smiling as he did so, eyes hooded and calculating. “Don’t think ssso, Mammal. It’sss mine. But who knowsss? Do a good job and come back quickly, and I might be enticed to talk to you about a more equitable trade than bee vomit.”
“Bueno. Um, ultimo, what can you tell us about the voices we heard down in the Yail yesterday? One sounded like a woman.”
“One of my chargesss, Mammal,” he idly caressed the side of the hobgoblin statue, smiling at its frozen horrified expression. “That’sss all you need to know.”
Nodding and bowing, Abraxas motioned the rest of the party to back up, the sick party members being helped by the well ones. Keeping his eyes firmly on the Troglodyte and the Owlbear, the Fighter ended his conversation with, “Thank you so much Señor Yailer for your time, hospitality, and information. You have been a wonderful host."
“Any time, Mammal. I hope to sssee you back here very sssoon.”
Time now is Day 6, 10:50 AM
(OOC)
Ok – that’s it – you guys are in hall. Discuss what you learned and tell me what’s next. Everyone do what you can to get back to me by this evening early enough and I can do another turn.
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