Jammers Summary: Chapter 1, Turn 21-23, Group A

----------- = Meanwhile, elsewhere...
*********** = Later...

Radick leaves Leera and Grigree behind and heads to the market.

After reaching the 'Twisted Thumb', Leera (and Grigree) wait for Radick to arrive. When he does, maybe ten minutes after them, Leera says to them "If there's trouble, I'll try to get away. If I succeed, meet me out here. If I can't get away, for goodness' sake, help me!" Before entering, Leera pauses and steps inconspicuously into an alley and changes her appearance to that of an elderly crone dressed in rags.

Grigree enters the "Thumb" and moves towards the bar. Finding a stool near the edge, he orders a drink and turns around in his chair, facing the main floor. The barkeep looks up from the customer he is speaking with and sends an ale Grigree's way. Grigree scans the room, and keeps an eye on Leera and Radick.

Grigree sees the barkeep(B), a middle-aged human male with very short, black, wavey hair wearing a white apron speaking quietly with another, taller middle-aged human male(4) sitting at the bar. The serving wench(W), a human female who looks like she has a bug or two she'll pass on for a fee is nibbling at a bowl of porridge on the bar.

Three more human males sit at the table by the door, two appear to be old men(1,2), well past their prime. The third is on the young side of thirty(3). A rapier in its baldric hangs from the back of his chair as he plays a quiet game of Dragonchess against one of the old men.

In the back corner three more figures sit, nursing ales. Two appear to be human, one blond(7) and one with brown hair(6). The third is an old, scarred half-orc(5). His hair is grey and sparse, showing the scar from a sword cut to his head. Swords and daggers hang near at hand for all three.

Leera enters the tavern a minute or so after Grigree and proceeds to look around. As she does so the serving wench calls out, "Head back to the street, trash, no scraps here for beggers!" Leera feigns deafness and replies "No, I don't want any meat."

"I said get out, ya old bitch, before I toss ya out." the wench replies sourly.

Radick steps in behind Leera and approaches the bar, an almost indecent smile upon his face. With a slight hesitation he looks about the place, and takes in the various patrons, then he winks and smiles at the wench. "Get me an ale lovey, and don't spill a drop of it." Radick then turns and moves straight to the table at the back. Grabbing the empty chair at their table he spins it around and sits across it hanging his arms over the back of the chair.

The wench completly ignores Radick and starts walking threateningly towards Leera.

Leera pauses and pulls out two gold pieces. She cackles "He He He, I want stew, with plenty of greens, and these little darlings (she rubs the coins together) will get it for me! Bunarha will eat well tonight, yes I will!" She then shuffles forward and tosses one of the coins to the wench. "Step lively missy!" She cackles again and moves off to find a place to sit.

The serving wench catches the coins then grabs Leera by the arm and starts dragging her towards the door. "Get that begger trash out of the bar, Arirellan." the bartender growls. Tossing Leera into the street the wench says sourly "And don't come back, ya old hag!"

Seeing that Leera is handling the situation, Grigree relaxes back into his chair, and continues scannig the room. He smiles slightly to himself, but doesn't otherwise react to his crewmates' antics. Instead, he watches the reactions of the other patrons.

Meanwhile, Radick doesn't seem to pay any attention to those events as he faces the gentleman at the table. He smiles and says "The name is 'The Axe'." Pausing a moment as he notes their cold stares, he reaches into his shirt and draws forth the carcass of a rabbit. "Might any of you know someone who could help me with skinning a little furry creature?" he says through a bit of laughter.

The half-orc snarls, "This is a private table."

"Well, then if you could just direct me to a fellow by the name of Gantius, I will leave you ladies to enjoy your tea." Radick stares coldly into the half-orc's face. His manner has changed swiftly from the entertaining, jovial person who entered to a deadly serious man who sits there now.

The three men playing dragonchess get to their feet and hurry from the tavern.

With a savage growl the half-orc stands, grabbing the table and flipping it over into Radick's face. Radick is hurled backwards out of his chair and sprawls on his back onto the floor. The other two, not surprised by the half-orcs sudden, savage move leap to their feet, drawing blades.

Round 1: Radick rolls toward the center of the tavern as his hands grab his battle axe. He rolls out of the way as the blond man's dagger slashes towards him and then launches himself past the blond fellow and lets his axe slash deeply across the man's gut as he rolls towards the wall. "This is no way to treat a prospective employer." he mumbles as he dodges out of the way.

Grigree watches the battle.

Seeing the chessplayers exit the bar post haste, Leera (as Bunarha) pokes her head back into the bar to see what's happening. When she sees Radick flat on his back and in danger, she quickly looks around for the watch but sees nothing about which resembles the watch.

The waitress moves behind the bar for safety as the bartender and his friend watch the fight with interest.

Round 2: Radick glances at the approaching foes and realizes that he is now with his back to the fireplace. He steps towards the bar area slightly but then changes direction and finds the blond's dagger waiting for him. The blade sinks deep into side and leaves a burning sensation after it. As the dagger lands Radick's axe whips out at the blond gentleman and whiffs over his head.

The half-orc and other thug pause, weapons out, having surrounded Radick. The half-orc snarls, obviously about to say something when in from the street come a group of six figures in black chainmail They stand, blades and maces drawn, near the door before heading toward Radick. All have the crest that appears on Radick's ring emblazoned onto their chest plates. Those nearby can hear the clink of the armor and the weapons.

Round 3 Trying to keep the injured blond between himself and the half-orc, Radick again strikes but this time he feints at the blond gentleman and dives and rolls past him, striking at the half-orc's leg just above the knee but finding his target is no longer there.

The half-orc has already turned from Radick, and hurled two knives at the chainmail figures as he and the brown-haired thug rush them. The knives simply pass through the figures as they move to stop the thugs' assualt, landing on the floor with a distinct thump. The figures in chainmail swing their swords and maces hard at the thugs silently, except for the clinking of their armor. Their blows pass through Gantius and his companion harmlessly.

Round 4 Radick pauses, only a moment, to check the extent of the wound received. Looking at his foes about the room he quickly determines that he must end this quickly. Suddenly he draws his battle axe into position and turns to charge the blond man but that individual has already vanished, leaping over the bar and through the door behind it.

Grigree gets up and throws himself crosswise at the half-orc and the guy next to him, knocking them both to the floor.

Leera (still looking like the withered hag, Bunarha) steps forward through the doorway. As she does so, her hands, moving with grace and dexterity that belie her appearance, extract from a pouch a few grains of red, blue, and yellow sand. Stretching out her hand, she releases a blinding wedge of multicolored light. The light envelops the chainmail figures as well as Grigree, the half-orc and his friend. Grigree and the thug fall unconcious where they lay following Grigree's leap, but the half-orc growls as he tries to roll to his feet. Leera cries out 'Radick, this way!' "

Round 5

Radick dives towards the half-orc sliding behind him as he rises. Radick's battle axe snakes upwards between the bastard's legs slicing his lower stomach region. Quickly Radick rolls out of the way to the side to avoid any response. Unfortunately, the half-orc is quicker, despite his wound his sword arm reflexivly swings about as he spins to face Radick, and slices clear to the bone on Radick's right bicep, Radick collapses to the floor unconcious and bleeding heavily.

The half-orc continues his spin as Radick goes down, turning to face the crone who is obviously a witch.

Leera mutters arcane syllables and then takes a threatening step forward towards the half-orc. As she does so she gives him an unobstructed path to the doorway. He pales and flees the tavern.

The men in chainmail continue swinging and dodging blows from invisible opponents for a moment, then vanish.

The bartender and the man he was talking to continue to watch events from the bar as the waitress cowers behind it.

Leera looks around and after acertaining that no one in the bar has hostile intent, she rushes to Radick's side. Drawing her dagger, she slices a strip of his leather legging and uses it to tie a tourniquet around his right arm, above the wound.

The gentleman who watched the events from the bar gets up and walks towards Leera, his hands held wide in a non-threatening manner. "I am Koanidd," he says, "This man will die if not given aid. I can heal him, for 50 gold." Leera glances at him warily, she sees a human male in late middle age, tall and thin with long brown wavey hair and green-brown eyes. He wears a brown cloak over a suit of ringmail and a mace hangs at his side.

Leera stands and replies "For obvious reasons I don't think it would be a good idea for me to identify myself or my companions. Suffice it to say that we are members of an adventuring company based on the Rock. I personally don't have 50 gold with me, but you may have all the gold that I do have, and all the gold that the injured man has, as well. Whatever else is needed to make up the 50 gold you will be paid. I give you my word." Leera looks around again before continuing "Please, heal him while I obtain what gold I can."

"I'm afraid I don't work on credit, hag." He smiles grimly, "I'll wait till you see what you come up with."

Leera frowns and rummages in her pouches and pulls out 22 gp. She then rifles through Radick's belongings and takes whatever gold he's carrying. She mutters, in a low voice, 'The others had *better* pay me pack for this..." As she mutters, she can be seen to glance anxiously at Radick. It is obvious that she is concerned over his well-being.

As she does so, the man lying on the floor sudenly rolls to his feet. Leera looks up from Radick at once but before she can react he's out the door and into the street. Shaking her head in frustration, she continues looking inside Radick's clothes.

Finding nothing of value in Radick's pockets, Leera turns to Koanidd and explains that she has only 22 gold to offer at the moment. "I give my word, though. You will be paid. If you go to the Royal Playhouse at highsun tomorrow, you will be met by one of our company. He will pay you 35 gold. The extra should compensate you for the wait. Now please, heal him."

He laughs, "No credit, do I look a fool? I will take his ring, battleaxe, and those bracers in addition to the gold. That should come to around fifty gold in value." He grins at Radick ashen face, "Quite a bit of bloodloss, eh?"

Grigree sits up suddenly, grabbing for his swords and looking for foes. Finding none, he rubs his eyes and realizes Leera (still in crone from) is rifling through Radick's clothing as he lies on the floor.

Grigree shakes his head, trying to clear it, then looks back at the scene next to him. He attempts to stand up, but slips in some spilt ale, which he finally notices is also all over his fur. "Noi' jetat," he mumbles to himself, then carefully gets to his feet. From this new height he notices the blood all over Radick. Grigree rushes over to Leera and asks, "Is he dead?" All the while he keeps an eye on the man with the mace.

Hearing Grigree moving Leera looks over at him and calls "Friend Hadozee, have you any gold? Our friend is sorely wounded and this gentleman cleric (nodding toward Koanidd) demands fifty gold to save his life."

Grigree kneels down next to his friend's body.

Leera continues "I have only 22 gold. Our friend (glancing at Radick) does not seem to be carrying any money. Do you have 28 gold? Else we must carry him back to our friends to see if any of them can heal him."

Giving the man standing next to him a questioning look, Grigree says, "Do your magic, healer. You'll be paid."

Leera says to Grigree... "Come, it's obvious he's more interested in taunting us than in earning our money. If he's not willing to wait 24 hours for the rest of his money, I say we leave now and take our friend (nodding at Radick) with us. One of our own healers will do the job and we won't owe this man (looking up at Koanidd) anything. I've stopped the bleeding, after all."

"How many times do I have to say no credit, " the priest sneers, "I'll not see more then the 22 you give me know if I were to accept your offer. You are unskilled in the healing arts, I see, your friend will not survive more then twenty feet past the tavern's door. I have made a fair offer, but will be happy to ignore the axe, if I can have the gold, the ring, and the bracers. Or give me fifty gold and your friend will not even lose the arm. Of course, your friend might not die, he might just lose his arm." He concludes with a wan smile.

At this moment Nilaroo and Jamila enter the bar; they see the obvious remains of a fight, though the only body down seems to Radick. Grigree and some begger crone are crouching over him and speaking to a man standing nearby. Radick's clothes looks like they've been rifled through. The bartender has gone back to washing mugs with an occasional glance at the scene while the serving wench has taken a straw broom and is sweeping up the mess at the far end.

Radick continues to lie on the florr, blood oozes out past a tourniquet that was applied to his badly mangled arm, and additional blood flows from a wound to his side. Although his clothes appear to have been rifled through, they still rest on his body, despite the bad wounds he has received. He is unconscious, or dying, or maybe even dead, but he certainly isn't dancing a jig. Radick's axe lies by his side, and from the blood on its blade he clearly did not let his foe get away unscathed.

Leera (the beggar crone) hears someone enter the tavern and leaps to her feet, her hands dipping into her pouches. She immediately sees that the newcomers are friends and calls out "'Pon my word, but it's good to see you two! Our friend here is sorely wounded... we've paid this good cleric to heal him." Before either Jamila or Nilaroo has an opportunity to say anything, Leera continues... "We've not mentioned our names or the name of our company while we've been here... let's not give the fiends who did this (glancing down at Radick) a means to track us."

Jamila nods in response and has a quick look around the bar, while keeping an eye on the priest.

Leera glances nervously around before speaking once again "Speaking of which... we didn't kill any of them, but merely drove them off. I suggest we get out of here before they return."

And with those words, Jamila moves to get a better view out of one of the front windows so she can watch the street for any sign of trouble. With the occasional glance back at her comrades, she places one of her cutlasses beside her on a table for easier use.

Meanwhile, Grigree reaches down to his belt and pulls of a pouch. Tossing it up to Koanidd he says, "Take what you need."

Koanidd takes the puoch, smiling, and opens it. He quickly removes the 28 gold he needs and tosses it back at Grigree's feet. Then he kneels next to Radick and pulls a small black medallion out from inside his clothing and pulls its chain over his neck. Grigree can see that the medallion has coiled cobra carved upon and etched in gold paint. He places his right hand on the wound on Radick's bicep and begins murmering to himself. The torn and ripped flesh quickly melds together, leaving only a small white line where the slash had been. Then he examines the cut on Radick's side, frowning. "Your friend has been poisoned, I'm afraid. I can heal the wound but the poison has already entered his blood, but whether he lives or dies will depend upon how strong he is. I'm afraid I have no antidote, nor can I identify the poison." He looks towards Grigree, "Believe me when I say that if I had such I'd be happy to sell it to you." he then places his hand on the wound in Radick's side, which quickly stops bleeding and seals as well as the first. As Koanidd stands and places his medallion back beneath his armor Radick wakes, still weak from loss of blood but concious and able to move. Koanidd meanwhile has returned to the bar and hs interruppted conversation with its tender.

Seeing Radick's eyes flutter open, Leera kneels down beside him and says "Friend Axe... you have been wounded and poisoned. We have payed to have the wound healed, but we must quickly get you back to our friends to see if any can cure the poison. The men we fought have been driven away, but may return at any moment. Two of our companions have already arrived." She nods in the direction of Nilaroo and Jamila. "None here know our names or the name of our company. Let us keep it that way." Leera stands and offers Radick a hand "Can you walk?"

Radick looks up at Leera as she kneels beside him, through gritted teeth Radick mumbles, "I can stand, if you'll be stepping back out of my way."

Leera smiles and moves out of his way. Then she says "Let me freshen up a bit before we go..." She looks down at herself, shrugs, and undergoes a transformation from a withered hag to an impressive female Giff. She calls out "'Pon my word comrades... let's get the flock out of here!"

Radick grabs his battle axe and struggles to rise as he looks about the area. Seeing Leera's shift to giff form, Grigree standing near the bar and his other teammates in the room, he quickly searches the room with his eyes and then swears under his breath. "What happened to them? One was down and the damned half-orc was gut-slit. Don't tell me they got away." Radick looks right at Leera with a look of frustration combined with anger and all covered with a definite attempt to hide a burning pain.

Seeing that Radick is not moving toward the door, Leera calls again "Axe! They're gone... never mind how. Let's just get out of here before they come back with twenty of their closest friends!" Moving (hopefully with Radick) toward the door Leera (the Giff) says " 'Pon my word, I promise... when we catch up with them you can skin the one that poisoned you..."

Radick looks about the room after hearing Leera's words, "Damn!" Radick then turns to leave, he pauses a moment and then reaches to open his leather armor. He reaches deep inside and pulls out a pouch. Pulling a platinum piece from the pouch he tosses it to the barkeep, "Sorry about the mess." He then stumbles towards the door and moves out following his companions.

Leera then says to Grigree (while exiting the tavern) "I'm sorry you were caught in my spell. I didn't think you'd dive for them that way."

Grigree shrugs. "No hard feelings. Just glad it wasn't a fireball," he says with a small smile.

Picking up her cutlass from where she placed in upon the table, Jamila follows as the others exit the tavern, and keeping an eye out for anyone that might try to follow. She occasionally glances to the roof tops of the surrounding buildings in the off chance of catching a glimpse of any watchers.

Once out of earshot of the tavern, Jamila says "Getting help for the Axe is important, but would it be wise to go back to the Broken Tavern just now in case someone follows? We don't really want any reprisals hitting us just now, specially where we are staying."

Radick who is lagging behind the others, states quietly. "Leera, go and get me something for the poison if you can. Meanwhile I will go to the office of Gaspar's Reclamations. Bring whatever you can find there. The rest of you can tail me, but leave space so as to not draw much attention to our association." Radick spits on the ground and smiles to himself, "I'm not through yet, or else I'd be spitting either blood or black foulness." Radick looks down upon his blade. "Looks like we might get through this one after all."

Leera (still looking like a Giff) nods and asks "I suppose that our best bet is that one of our healers, either Italipate or Raken, has returned to the _Broken Tankard_. I don't know whether either of them has the means to cure your poisoning, but I can't think of any other way." Looking glumly at one of her pouches she says "I certainly can't buy an antidote... I used all of my money to have you healed. Perhaps you could pay me back? If not, I'll hope that one of our healers is at the Broken Tankard."

"Perhaps we may need to sacrifice the magic darts to barter for a priest..." Nilaroo suggests as Leera moves to return to the Tankard.

Radick draws forth the pouch again as he leans against Grigree. He tosses the whole pouch to her. "Just get moving."

After recovering her money from Radick, Leera starts to head off toward the 'Broken Tankard'.

"I'll make sure that none follow her back to our rooms." With that, Nilaroo sets off after the giff figure.

Radick then breaks away from the others and begins to walk directly towards Gaspar's Reclamations. He takes about four steps then suddenly doubles over, grasping his stomach as abdominal cramps ripple through his midsection. He struggles to stand straight, then collapses in an unconcious heap.

Radick hits the ground hard, but he doesn't feel the pain of hitting the ground, he is already unconscious. As he lands his body covers most of the battle axe, but the tip of the blade and the tip of the handle both are visible. His hands are to either side of his body, and each is partially covered by a throwing axe from his waist. He does not move, although his signet ring seems to shine in the light of the day.

Leera (still looking like a Giff) leans over Radick, trying to determine whether or not he's still breathing. Looking up, she asks of Grigree and Nilaroo "Can you carry him to the nearest temple? He's still alive."

"Yes." Nilaroo responds tersely. "Can your spell extend to him also, make him into a rug or something?"

"Sorry, no." Leera says after a moments hesitation. "She holds the back of her hand above his lips, "At least his breath is steady."

Nilaroo hoists Radick as easily as if he were a small child, then frowns. "There temples are all further from us then the Broken Tankard, indeed we will pass close by on our way there. Let's stop and see if one of our own healers can help him, first."

In agreement, the group quickly skirts the Great Market along Grand Street then ducks into the alley leading to the Tankard shortly thereafter.

Date/time: 11:30 am 17th day of the 4th Month, 5049 OC