It's a trap.
Everybody but the paladin congregated for an evening meal in the same eaterie that Horatio the scout had entertained the ticket tiefling in earlier in the week.
While they were eating, a few in the group noticed a suspicious character watching them and talking to the staff. When the dark-clothed spy had left through the kitchen, the scout followed and spotted his prey talking to a few other similarly dressed people. He confronted the trio but scared them into using their bardic voices on him. While the scout was fascinated, the trio made a run for it and hid in a warehouse. Sensing a trap, the scout returned to the party and finished his meal, vowing to return later to check out the building.
Later, the party - now with full stomachs - approached the warehouse. The area seemed clear but the door was locked. Various shoulder-barges proved ineffective so the warlock blew the lock off the door. A sun rod thrown into the large area beyond the entrance revealed a number of crates, boards and shelves but no occupants. The party marched in to search the place and were soon dealing with undead zombies hiding amongst the stores. Standing in the doorway, the warlock felt the passage of a chilling ray as it missed his head by inches.
Within moments, the zombies were almost finished off but fresh opponents were appearing outside. The warlock felt a snake-bite in his shoulder and turned to see a figure in black, vampire fangs gleaming, weilding a snake-headed staff. The venom coursed through his veins and he feared for his life.
The monk nimbly tumbled through the doorway and past the warlock's opponent, destroying the last zombie as he did.
Hearing the warlock's plea for assistance, the cleric ran outside to magically delay the poison from causing more harm to his body. The cleric passed an appraising eye over the warlock's opponent and surmised that the sharp teeth were in fact the result of the Fangs of the Vampire Lord spell and not vampirism.
Standing atop the warehouse, a black bard started to sing a dirge of grief to the monk. Overcome with emotions he couldn't handle, the monk lashed out in confusion at the warlock who in turn blasted the bard.
With his concentration broken, the bard sang the dire anew to the priest who managed, though, to focus and resist the confusion. Again the warlock blasted the bard who decided to step back from the edge to avoid being hit again.
Calling on his fiendish background, the warlock flew up into the air to attack the bard, only to also have his ears assailed by the bard's dirge. Confusion befuddled his mind as he stared around.
The knight challenged the staff-weilder to come into the building and take him on one-to-one. Stupidly the man in black agreed and was soon unconcious on the ground, being bound in rope by the scout. Stepping over the unmoving body, the knight moved out of the warehouse and spotted three figures in black - no doubt the trio the scout had met earlier - sculking in the gloom opposite. Being not worthy of a challenge, the knight attacked and immediately laid one low.
Labels: Pit Fiend's realm
