Assembling the Mercs...

Crypto and Elektra meet in a river gorge to enjoy each others' company over a bottle of wine and light fare.  Before the conversation and activities go off into the depths of silliness and depravity, they discuss their recent missions handed to them by a strange pair of 'business' folk in Freehaven.



"I'll assemble some scouts and warriors for the guard work and scoping out the icey North, where the man in rags may have passed.  If you could scrape up some folks to help you keep an eye on the borders of Myth Drannor and perhaps someone on the inside to seek information out about that less than savory fellow, we might come up with something useful for our benefactors."

After a few hours they part with a fond embrace... Crypto heads off to Shadowdale, where the mercenaries tend to congregate.  It doesn't take him long to find some interested parties who seem certainly capable, and possibly trustworthy.   He speaks of a guard job for his Freehaven clients and gives all who agree to the work a sack of coin to seal the deal, and promises more when they show, and the rest when the job is done.  An orcblood basher, a hin rogue, and their recent business associate Kalas, take the payment and offer to spread the word to their mercenary chums that this job is opening up.

"who speaks goblin?" He asks before they wrap up thier talk.

"V'dun ghun, vun!" The HIN replies in goblin in his signature triplet rhymm.

"Excellent!..."



Upon thier following meeting the next day, a woman of loose moral character and her warrioress friend show up to speak about the work and are subsequently hired.  Crypto requests all who are available venture into the Frozen north so he can 'gauge their abilities'.

When they get up there, after already seeing how they operate as a well tuned machine against the beastmen on the way... Crypto requests that they do not murder every single goblin in their path... the 'smart ones' or the 'higher ups' of their ranks, he wishes to subdue for questioning FIRST... before they are dispatched.  Every 6th or so goblin turns out to be an elite or  shaman and Crypto beats them sensseless with his fists and drags them off to the hin for questioning.

"Ask him!.... have you seen the man with ashen skin and ragged clothes come thru here?"

The hin interogates the handful of more prominent goblin they subdue in this manner.  Though the hin speaks in his strange rhymming riddles to the goblins, and Crypto speaks not a word of this foul tongue... perhaps they come up with a scrap of information about what they seek.



///Thanks to Elektra, ADM_Coffee, Opee, Zabbu, Kalas, Goldie, and Amaelfa for being part of this section of the RP.  Feel free to add and hopefully the DM(s) will keep this line going.

The Goblins interrogated in this way by the rampaging mercenaries proved rather unsuccessful. Only a few spoke something coherent and moderately useful, such as...

"Master will deal with you when he returns!"

"Ice will take you all!"

"Mokka knows, and Mokka answers the Master!"

What the Goblins could mean by this is anyone's guess, though it's at least something to go from.

((Thanks for including Zabbu in this. The RP was really fun, look forward to doing more

Roman, speaks to Kalas and Opee in the Dancing Moon about a little more detail into the various interrelated missions.

"Don't call me 'Roman' when I have the mask on please, Kalas"

He buys them all another round of dwarven rye ale.

"We need to stake out the Ice Krag for this fellow in rags... ashen skin.  In pairs at least... to relieve each other when nature calls so to speak.  Opee, meet me in two days to camp out the north.  Kalas, you come with me now and learn the way... then go back to the edges of Myth Drannor and look for this suspicious fellow"

Roman lets Kalas on to a bit more information about their work...



As they speak, an eerie baying encroaches upon them from the east.   Hardly before they can prepare, a hoard of large and starving wargs set upon them... feral and ravenous.  They are almost too much for them both as Roman slips into his ghost form and watches as they chew each other two peices over his fallen comrad.

After dispatching the lst of the wounded, he resuscitates Kalas and props his over his shoulder to lead his off to rest and recooperate.  Then the Zhents show up... Commander Raegnar and Black Fang Audrey.

"Great... Zhents..."

"Remove the mask and put down the body! We won't ask again"

Under orders from Crypto who has to date been true to his word, advises the commander that they've been given sanction to patrol the base of the Krags from one Dreadknight.

"REMOVE THE MASK AND PUT DOWN THE BODY!"

Roman peels back his hood, a flustered Audrey doesn't recognize him.  He's prepared to strike like a cobra and leave the scene in a puff of icey dust... but the situation calms as the Zhents inspect the carnage of a dozen large wargs chewed to peices in their midst.

"Whatever deal you have with the Dreadknight, I suggest you deal with him... I don't have time for this." the commander moves on.



///more to come when it's not 4am