What to do ?

At first, Sandros is unsure whether or not he would rather choke Avon, or beat him to a bloody pulp with his own testicles. But then, some of what the thief is saying sinks in, and he shakes his head. "As much as I would like to agree with this...I can't. If we don't get the prince back, a certain Duke will end up in power. And I will not allow that to happen, Arm or no." Sandros sighs. "What do you guys think? I'm not sure we can take her on, but I sure as heck don't want to just be buddies with the witch..."

No, no, no, you don't understand." Avon says in a high pitched voice. "Wairith wouldn't harm us," for a moment he eyes the dwarf, "no she wouldn't, she isn't like that. I mean she wants to help us. So why not help her."

Avon's face shows a helpless expression as he tries to convince the group. For once in his life he is honest, and he looks so pathetic at doing so, that it actually could be the thruth, that he is telling. "Come on. Why care about that stupid stuck up prince. Just think of the 5000 gold pieces and what we could do with it. Just let me talk to Wairith, ok. Maybe I can convince her to give us more gold."

Tavarak looks from Avon to his companions "Well, first off I'm not selling my honour for 5000 gold, we set out to find and return the prince and thats what we should do." The Bard studies the map for a minute, "Look the secret passageways aren't marked on this map. I'm sure she isn't stupid enough to box herself in without a bolt hole. I'd be willing to bet that there is a back door somewhere in there. As for her being all powerful then why would she need us to protect her? I think she is bluffing. Besides who is to say that she will keep up her side of the bargin? Why part with 5000 gold when she could just kill us? Or at least wait till this troop or the Arm arrives then kill us. So what if it isn't the prince, worst case scenario we free some unwilling prisoner." Tav laughs at the suggestion that we eat and sleep in a den of assassins, "perhaps she poisoned the food, or comes and cuts our throats when we are asleep. Did you ever think of that? Even if we posted a watch, it would be easier to overpower one or two of us and take the rest of us out as we slept. I suggest we all go and meet this wizard and end this face to face, and let the chips fall where they may. Lets make her a counter offer, her life for that of the prince, and she can keep her 5000 gold.

[Daggda] "What about a sleeping spell? If she's dead set on killing the prince, we should stop her first...I'm not above a bit of divine assistance, even a little sorcery to get Prince Geodon back.  And besides, she has to sleep sometime..."

Quill bursts out laughing at Avon's attempts to weasel them into taking the deal. "She wouldn't harm us, eh? Kinda like she didn't just sic her dogs all over us just moments ago? If she's an Arm, she'd harm us without blinking, you idiot." The elven warrior harumphs, and shakes her head, still smiling. "That's what THEY DO. Harm people. Lots. And then some more, just in case they missed it the first time."

"Yes, OK" says Avon. "So she is an assassin.  I am a theif.  We *ALL* have killed.  But we can trust her on this.  She *NEEDS* protection... from US!"

Sandros adds, "Yeah...and like I said...I'm not going to do anything that's going to help Velluth get what he wants. In fact, I'd bet he hired your little angel in there to do this job to begin with." He shakes his head vehemently. "No way in hell I'm going along with this. She can take her money and use it to buy herself a coffin." Sandros stops his ranting, and gives a big smile. "Then again, maybe I should be the one buying a coffin, eh?" He chuckles.

[Avon]  For that one fraction of a second the frustration is replaced by anger. Anger over the stupid and ignorant thinking the others display. A small twitch of his left eye reveals his state of mind. His arm reaches for his sword, just for a moment. Then his hand turns into a fist, his knuckles turn white. Avon stamps the ground in pure frustration. "No!" he screams, "It doesn't make sense. Why can't you guys see!"

Quill speaks again, saying, "Not gonna happen, Avon. You want to be that woman's playtoy, you go crawl back to her and tell her the good news. And we'll not pause to take you down with her if you stand in our way." She glares at the thief a long moment, making it apparent just how determined she is to stick to her crossbows on this one.

Veneron slowly walks over and has a whispered conversation with Myridian.  Ven watches Avon's behavior suspiciously. He pulls Myr quietly aside while the others argue whether or not to trust the assassin.

"Myr, do you think that Avon is acting a little odd? I think he may have been the victim of a 'charm' spell. He is being very devoted to this woman and we know how untrusting he is by nature; this strikes me as odd. I don't know the 'Dispell Magic' spell, do you? I'd hate to be wrong and waste a spell, but I think we're in grave danger if he is charmed and we meet this assassin."

Myr whispers excitedly, "I was thinking the same thing! Unless greed really has warped this man's mind to his last shred of sanity." She laughs softly at some personal joke. "I don't have the dispel spell. 'Dispel spell'. That's kinda funny. Oh! Sorry."

She looks over at Avon. "Regardless, I don't think we should trust HIS judgement."

"Sheesh!" Myr throws her hands up in the air. "And I'm supposed to be the crazy one. Can't YOU see? Why would she want to give you - us - good money, when her little friends are on the way? Really - she's got to know we didn't just wander in here out of love of spelunking. I'm sure she knows we're goodie goods, too - she'd have had to hear the lady dwarf over there hollering to her god of non-evil things. Don't be silly! Besides, her name sounds way too much like 'wraith' for me. She's probably some psychoshe-bitch undead thing."

Quill's glare hasn't faltered, and she says to Avon, "If you don't move out of our way, then we'll make you move. I think the rest of us know how insane your idea is, trying to trust an assassin to just go along with anything we might have in mind. There is no choice to make, Avon. Money or no, it just makes no sense." She pulled back on her bow, aiming it slowly toward the thief. "So what's it gonna be, punk?  Go ahead... make my day."

Seeing the tension building Andrew tries to make Avon a little happier. "Look at it this way. For one, if we fight this assassin and win we can have BOTH the money she offered, if she has it here, AND the reward for saving the prince. Second, what's to stop her from sicking the Arm on us when they arrive? And thirdly, if we clean up a little after we're finished there won't be anyone left to send the Arm our way. They'll show up and nobody will be here and they can draw whatever conclusions from that that they want."

After giving it his best Andrew is ready to continue on, "It might work out to our advantage to act like we've agreed to guard the bitch. Maybe that way we can get the drop or her and her goons," he suggests to the others.

Daggda looks at Andrew. "Well said, Andrew," she smiles, "and if it'll make you any happier, Avon, you can have my share of whatever we get out of this sorcerer, dead or alive. My only concern is that we get Prince Geodon back alive."

Her face becomes somber again. "So, assuming we agree to be her bodyguards, how are we going to kill her? We can assume she won't let us any where near her with weapons. Maybe somebody can stay hidden-" Daggda looks Avon in the eye. "Did you tell her how many of us there are?"

Sandros puts in his thoughts, saying, "I'm not so sure this is a good idea. You know she won't trust us well enough that we can get close. In fact, I'd bet she's setting up a trap right now! As soon as we wander in there, hoping to join up with her, she'll nail us."
The ex-slave scuffed his knee on the side of the cavern, and let out a small yelp of pain. "Dammit...what I wouldn't give to have your eyesight..." he mutters to no one in particular.

Quill butt in with, "I got another idea. How about we turn the tables? Tell her we were obviously powerful enough to take out her
guards without any losses. So, we'll be more then happy to set up an ambush at the cave entrance, and kill off all her friends as they arrive one by one." She shrugs, unseen by some of the group. "That way, maybe she'll be drawn out of her web back there, where we have a better shot of taking her on with our terms instead of hers."

Sandros, still cursing under his breath, says, "Yeah...that might be something to think about. I just don't know that it's real smart
walking in on a wizard who knows we're coming. She's probably already cast every defense dweomer known to man while she sent her pet thief out here to stall us. We walk in, thinking we can trick her...and BANG! We're all tiny grease smudges on the cavern walls." He chuckles slightly, while rubbing at his wounded knee.

Tavarak nods at the comments, "Well we aren't sure that she is a mage in the first place. All we have is her word on it. I think what we need here is some deception of our own. Lets march in there and lie our way outta this. Tell her that we will let her go in return for the prince. We have after all taken out her security force, either way we should be quick about it. No telling when her friends will arrive."

Tav stops the start of a plan forming in his mind. "Quill how good are you with that bow anyways? Could you hit the prince in the shoulder without killing him?" Tav unconciously rubs his own shoulder and arm pit "What if we were to go in there are assassins saying that we want the prince dead, Quill shoots him in the shoulder, that might just confuse her long enough so that we can close in and engage them in hand to hand before they react. Daggda could pose as some rival dwarven prince. What to you think?"

Myridian waits until Avon's attention is drawn away to Quill.  Then she quickly says to Tav:

 "What if Avon IS charmed, though. If we go in there, he might start ratting us all out to save his 'friend' the Wraith. I mean, we can't just stand around and wait, but... I think she probably knows a whole lot of what's going on. She probably already knows how many of us there are and such, probably even what shape we're in. Wizard's have big eyes, you know. Who besides Avon can find traps? Maybe if we went really slow Ven and I could look for magic all the way. Maybe I could fly down for a look-see... if it's not too far. Would a magic trap catch something as small as a bird?"

Tav listens as Myr responds to his comments. "Yes he may very well be, but thats something we will have to deal with when push comes to shove. I don't think she knows what shape we are in, remember Avon didn't know that til just now, so she won't have been able to extract that information from him seeing as he didn't witness any of the battle. It shouldn't be necessary to find traps, if Avon came down the passage way then perhaps there aren't any traps. HEY THATS IT!!! Myr your amazing! the suit of course!!!"

Tav slaps his forehead in disgust "Thats our Ace in the hole! If you or perhaps Quill and her magic sword could get fly in and get behind this wraith woman, then they could get in a sneak attack and perhaps take her out before she has a chance to react. What do you think? I think it's worth a try. You would just wait and fly in after we have gone into the cave and started a conversation with her, that should distract her just long enough."

As the conversation in the shadowy passage goes on and on, the exhausted adventurers begin to show signs of fatigue.  Tavarak and Myridian, deep in their conversation, lean against the wall... and soon are sitting on the floor.

"That looks like a good idea."   Sandros thinks to himself.  He sits and shucks off his pack, bringing out some food and water.  He looks around at the others.

One by one they sit wearily on the hard stone floor.  Andrew leans forward, arms crossed on his knees, and rests his head on them.  Veneron finds a spot next to Sandros.  "That soft bed in Kalban's home would feel awfully good right about now."

Only Daggda, Quill and Avon remain standing... they are glaring at each other, not saying a word.

Tavarak looks about the cave and silently curses himself for loosing perspective on the dangerous situation they are in. "Damn I must be getting soft" he mutters to himself. He struggles to get to his feet, extending his hand to help Myridian up. "Sitting on our butts isn't a good way for an enemy to find us, well not for us anyways. It's kind of like" Tavs mind flashes back to images of Myr stripping down and putting on the bird suit for the first time "Well kinda like getting caught with your pants down." The Bard chuckles to himself.

"I don't know, sounds dangerous," Daggda murmurs. "Maybe that's why I like it. But there's still something about Tavarak's first plan. We all still need to attack. We need to time Myridian's sneak attack so that our frontal assault occurs right after. Two reasons. First," she continues, marking a check in the sandy floor with the butt of her pick to emphasize her point,

"Myridian might fail in her attack. Second, even if Myridian's attack catches Waireth off-guard, she'll need help. What you mentioned earlier makes sense, Tav, except I wouldn't waste any effort shooting Prince Geodon. Negotiation time is over. Andrew and I might be able to get to him in time to heal him if he's wounded. As soon as Myridian makes her sneak attack we go in." She looks at the others. I say we just go in and kill her," Daggda finishes, with a icy sparkle inher coal-black eyes.

Tavarak moves to step in between Avon and Daggda, resting his hand lightly on Avons shoulder he gives it a light squeeze, "We set out on this quest together, and we shall finish it together." Tav leans closer whispering words that only Avon can hear "My friend, I more then any here understand the confusion and feelings that come with what you obviously feel for this woman. It can be wonderful or self destructive, only you can choose which path it takes."

Tav turns and looks at Daggda, Avons words ring true, he has never lied to us, and has always been there to watch out backs. We have trusted him before and there is no reason to not trust him now. Let us not squabble among ourselfs when there are bigger problems at the end of this cave. As for just going in there and killing her, well I would have no regrets about killing her, but ONLY if that was a last resort, and ONLY if the need arose. Your concerns with the plan are just, and well taken. Perhaps a compromise is in order here, lets enter the cave and distract them, then myr flies in and tries to get behind the assassin and take her by surprise. Don't kill her just try and get a knife about her throat. If we can reason with her then we leave with the prince. If not then Quill, Avon, Ven and Daggda will cover off the two body guards, while Andrew, Sandros and I rush Wraith and help out Myr. Andrew if the prince is hurt then that has to be your primary objective, to try and heal him. As for our orc guide, we tie him up here and leave him til we return. If all works out there will be no more bloodshed." Tav looks at the group for their reactions.

Sandros listens as the group continues to argue, and he sighs. "Yeah, that bed would be nice, Ven. Very nice." He offers a drink to the wizard, and leans back, closing his eyes for a moment.  In all honesty, he wasn't sure any of them, except perhaps Daggda, were up to the task of attacking ANYBODY at the moment. Unless his vampire superpowers suddenly kicked in any time now, he would be lucky to stay awake long enough to swing his sword.

"Keep in mind folks...that suit won't shrink your weapons. Whoever it is that uses it to attack would have to do so barehanded." He smiles, and shrugs as if it's all his fault somehow.

Quill, still glaring at Avon, shakes her head. "This is getting crazier by the moment. Avon, you're acting like you're in love with
this woman or something. That's insane. You spoke to her for, what...five, ten minutes? Don't you find it strange you're so siked up
to help her, after she ordered us all to be killed just a short while ago?" The ranger has let off her bow now, and seems relaxed.

"We have to decide what we're going to do quickly, now, though. We're all exhausted, and the longer we wait, the worse it'll get. So what's it going to be folks? Run in there and attack, or try to negotiate with her?"

Myr considers all that has been said about her going in, and then sits down on the floor to munch the rest of Flybreath's apple. "Well, maybe I couldn't use a weapon, but perhaps if I were quiet enough, I could hit her with a spell... if we want to kill her, I could hit her with a surprise magic missile. On the other hand, I could try to put her to sleep."  She shrugs. "I'm not very strong, I'm afraid... I probably couldn't overpower her. I'd suggest Quill wear the bird suit instead, but she hasn't had any flight time, and it takes some getting used to."

"Maybe I could limp in like an injured little birdie and distract her, and then you guys could come in and kick her ass while she was distracted."

Daggda nods. "That's it. A weapon when you're bird-sized is difficult, but a sleep spell...Well, I'm a bit suspicious of sorcery, but I don't think it matters what size you are when you're spell-weaving." She strokes the thin braid on her beard contemplatively. "It really doesn't matter if you put Prince Geodon to sleep either, since there's no harm done. Plus, if the spell doesn't work, at least you might be able to fly out of there unnoticed and give us a little information. What do you think, Myridian? Are you up
to the task?" Daggda finishes, pointedly ignoring Avon, as he obviously spellbound by the witch Wairith.

Sandros raises his head a little at this thought, and says, "What happens if she decides to stomp on you with a big ol' boot? You'd be dead before we could stop her."

He sighs. "Maybe we should just go look into this room that Myr's pet found. Maybe there will be something there that can help us, or at least give us other options then what we have currently."

"Ick. Oh ick. And ouch. Ick and ouch and oh my icky ouch."
Myr looks over at Daggda sheepishly. "I'm afraid I'll have to chicken out." She rubs her toe into the cave floor. "Eh heh. Squish. Ick."

Zapping a Comrade

Options... choices.... plans...
"What if we...."  
"Suppose you...." 
"But then she might..."

Everyone seems to have a different idea and so it goes.  But none of the options include helping to protect Wairith.  It doesn't take long for Avon to see how his fellow adventurers are thinking.

As the talks between the group members continue, Avon realizes he is not going to convince his 'friends' of the obvious fact that he is right. But then they never really liked him, they always treated him with disrespect. No, these were not his friends.

For a moment he tries to figure out what to do, but thinking long and hard about decisions is something Avon never really liked. Looking one last time at the group he suddenly knows what to do. "You're making the wrong decision! You will regret it." With these words Avon sprints down the cave in the direction he came from earlier. "You will regret this!" echoes from the darkness.

As Avon begins shouting and throwing his little tantrum Andrew perks up. Sensing something is about to go wrong. He lunges for the departing thief in an effort to catch him before he can get away.

But the thief is just too fast -- he easily eludes the Druid's lunging tackle

Quill quickly draws back on her bowstring as the raving lunatic of a thief bounces down the corridor. For a split second, she considers firing...but then she lowers her gaze, her teeth clenched in irritation.

"Well, that clinches it. We have to move, NOW." The ranger reaches down to help Ven to his feet. "Forward or back, we have to move."

Andrew quickly agrees with Quill's assessment. "Yes we go now. For better or worse If we leave him for too long he may forget who his friends really are!"

Getting up quickly himself he urges the others up too. "Hurry. We must go now! If this Wairith learns we intend to fight her she may harm the prince."

Ven, who has been suspicious of Avon's behavior concerning the assassin isn't surprised when he tears off down the hall. Although nearly exhausted, Ven fears that if Avon returns to the woman without having succeeded in getting the group to fall into her ploy that she may simply discard him.
Without getting to his feet, Ven begins the spell:

Forgive me, strong and nimble friend
but your strength and agility must end
as this missile shoots to maim,
to leave poor Avon live, but lame.

With that a magical missile [OOC: Gemidan's paralytic missile] busrts from Ven's finger tips and hurtles down the passage at the fleeing thief.
The bolt of greenish magical energy flies down the passageway, and thumps into the theif's back.  There is not even a cry from the fallen thief, but those with dark vision can see his crumpled form a few dozen yards down the passage.  [OOC: In other words, Avon's saving roll on the magic dice machine was not good enuf!]   Veneron falls from his sitting position against the wall, unconscious.

The conversation suddenly dies as the adventurers look at each other. 

Only Myridian has heard of this spell.  "He's only going to be out for a few minutes -- like 2 or 3!" says the female mage.  "Whatever we're going to do we better do it!  And I don't know why Veneron should be knocked out, either."

"Oooo.. that greedy little goofball! Now we need an unspoken of before quick quick plan. I should just fly in there and peck her eyeballs out!"

A light bulb popped on in Myr's head. "Suppose we go down there, I fly in at her head and distract her - she surely couldn't hit an erratic little target like an inexperienced Myr-bird trying to do a fly by on her head. Could she?"

Sandros shrugs at Myr's idea of providing a distraction in a bird suit. "Maybe not. Unless she has that spell you like to use
so much...the missile thing. That could be nasty."

Quill moves forward to pick up Avon's prone form, and she says, "Let's get back to that other chamber...the one with the cat. We can't attack her like this. Half our party is unconscious, and the other half is too tired to do much good otherwise. Let's hope she was bluffing about the other men coming soon." She shoulders Avon, after placing her bow on her back, and grunts with exhertion.
"Time is short. Decide quickly. Tav, Daggda, Andrew...what do you think? Shall we retreat or not?"

Tavarak rolls his eyes, "No lets press forward! It is to dangerous to stay in these caves. We are so close to finding the prince. Going to rest and eat will only allow them to prepare better defences. Yes we are tired and hungry but if we don't do something now we may end up tired, hungry and dead!" Tav turns and starts to make his way towards the cavern.

The Dwarven Acolyte of Moradin, has been just under control -- the blood of Hizak the Orc Destroyer in her veins at near boil.  She is more than ready to finish this pocket of beldarak filth...and get to the Prince too.  "I'm with Tav.  Sooner is always better if you're talking about killing orcs!"  Her smile is grim.

Andrew bends over Veneron in concern.  As he shakes him gently, the mage's eyes blink open slowly.  "WHaaa?..." blinks the slender sorcerer as he regains consciousness.  "I guess I could use a little practice with that spell.... It's *strange*... Did the spell hit Avon?  Did ya get him tied up or something?  He'll be out only a couple of minutes."

Daggda, who had been rechecking the knots holding Dak, looks up.  "Good idea," she says.  And then, to Quill: "Bring that thief over here before he wakes up and runs off again.  He can't get any madder than he was before.  I mean, we *zapped* him.... he's gonna be seriously angry.  I don't think we want to leave him around unfettered."

Quill considers the backside of the lump she has slung over her shoulder, then gently lowers Avon to the ground.  The two warriors quickly strip the backpack and weapons off the unconscious thief and hogtie Avon with the remainder of the rope.  "Well," says the Ranger, "I dont think it'll hold him forever... but it will take him a while to get loose."

Meanwhile, Myridian has been shedding clothes as fast as she can.  Taking care that the chain mail does not further tear the fragile bird suit, she is finally down to the clingy, black body-suit.  Altho she was very business-like in her actions, the disrobing, done in flickering torchlight with shadows and light playing over the curvacious half-elven woman, has caused Veneron and Sandros to stop in their tracks and watch.

Finished, Myr reaches behind her head for the cowl of the Raven Suit, as she turns around to face the group.  "All right.. All right." She says to the slackjawed Ven and Sandy. "Is that a dagger in your pocket or do you really like the bird suit?!"  She does a quick parody of a burlesque girl's dance, laughing at the two.  "Don't drool all over your swords! ...Show's over."  So saying, she pulls the hood over her long tresses and **BLINK** she's a 18" long black bird once more.  She flaps ackwardly up into the air, landing on Sandro's shoulder.  "Give a lady a ride, big boy?"  She laughs.

Quill trots up to Tav's position and turns Dragon's Claw on to full intensity.  Daggda is close behind. 

Next is Sandros with the Myr-bird on his shoulder, with Ven and Andrew following.

"All right," Daggda prompts Quill and Tav, motioning with the head of her pick.  "It's that way." 

It's much easier for the group to see, than when Avon passed through this tunnel in darkness.  Dragon's Claw is thrumming in Quill's hand, shining brightly.

They look carefully for indications of the gong, and for other traps as well.  But find nothing.  When they get to a narrowing of the passage [Extreme Upper Left Corner of E3 on the map], the *GONG* sounds again.  Then they turn to look more closely and see a small carving in the wall high above.  "Glyph of warding," whispers Andrew.  ".... Probably"

"Well," whispers Tav, "It's not like she didn't know we were coming.

Looking down the passageway ahead, to the southwest, they can see a small figure, robed in dark brown cloth, face in shadow.  Assuming that it is Wairith, Tav and Quill pause and look in her direction.  Quill lowers the intensity of the sword's light to a low glimmer.  It's easier for everyone in the group to see her now.

She is standing behind a dwarf, her left hand holding at his neck -- although it cannot be seen, everyone assumes she is holding a blade at his throat.  The two Orc crossbowmen are nowhere to be seen.

Her voice carries to the party, it is low, definitely female, and carries a hint of accent that indicates she is Bagulian in background [OOC: Bagul = capital city of Maendir, land governed by the Mark of Maendir -- on the large map of Melfis].  The voice is calm and the words come with echos caused by the cavern walls.

"THAT WILL BE FAR ENOUGH."  She calls.  "Has Avon explained the situation?  I am willing to pay you more than anyone else for your cooperation for the next few days.  ... Where IS Avon, by the way.  I expected to see him -- your leader -- at your head.  I strongly advise you to accept my ~gererous~ offer.  It's the best you're likely to get." 

Avon wakes just after the group leaves.  He is facing east -- away from the direction the party went -- so he does not see them at all.  He opens his eyes, but it is dark.  He knows he is tied up, hardly able to move.  At his back someone else is tied up also.

"Are you awake now friend?"  Avon hears an unfamiliar voice at his back, speaking in accented common.  "Your so-called friends have left us both here... and gone off down the tunnel toward the assassin's lair.  I think we can try and work ourselves free and get the hell out of here.  What do you say?