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-----Taking shallow breaths, the Dread Pirate replies, "That is an excellent question, Kaz. I say we grab one of those sorcerers and twist his jahoobies until he tells us where Devlin's cave is. Then we simply post ourselves outside the cave and wait for our 'friends' to show up and obligingly rush into the cave and get themselves scragged. Then we wait a bit and send in our fodder, Errrr, I mean our new mercenary friends. Then we go in right behind them and mop up whatever is left. Hah! Another excellent plan brought to ye by The Dread Pirate."
-----The Dread Pirate preens for a few minutes, until he gets a wift of especially pungent fermenting cheese, he then tearily blinks a few times and makes some 'ack, ack' noises. "Ye gods, at least we don't have to worry about getting waylaid in here. No self respecting wizard'd ever come in here. Except fer you of course, Seth."
-----Dalyor nods at Kazel as he quickly sneezes three times. He then holds his head and his body sways. After a moment, he regains his balance and blinks his eyes. "Whew!" he says in a hoarse voice as he recovers from the head rush.
-----"Well," Dalyor begins clearing his sore throat, "T’ing’s been goin’ ta hell ina beggar’s handbag round ‘ere fer da last month. First, somebody’s been a puttin’ sum kinda curse onna da temple down da street. Sum kinda black stuff comin’ out da top n’ all. Dats been scarin’ peoples somethin’ awful."
-----Dalyor then looks at the Dread Pirate. "Course dat guy wit’ da scary eyes been ‘ere in town off n’ on. Ah seen ‘em a few times wit’ five o’ da creepiest fools ya ever laid yer eyes to. Ah figured dey be up ta no good n’ probably hadda do somethin’ wit’ da nunsense goin’ on in town."
-----"Pruty soon folks in da villages n’ woods been havin’ trubles wit’ orcs n’ spooks n’ whatnot. Thar been lots o’ peoples comin’ inta town ta git away from it all n’ findin’ out it ain’ much betters here!"
-----Still looking at Gimplefwick, Dalyor says, "Ya be tellin’ me dat guy wit’ the funny eyes been taken care of, but four o’ them creepy ones come inta town a’for ya gots here dis day. Don’ knows w’ere dey be hidin’ at, but ah knows dey be a’lookin’ fer ya. Dey tried ta be puttin’ da fear ina beggar dey seen ta be a’watchin’ fer ya. Ah knows cause ah was da one dey were a’thinkin’ was a beggar!"
-----While Dalyor speaks, the large hulking guard of Seth moves closer to one of the vats and looks down into it. Meanwhile, the elf begins pacing back and forth much like a caged animal. Occasionally, he glares angrily at Dalyor.
-----The average-looking human guard speaks up at that point. "I don’t mean to overstep my bounds," he begins slightly bowing to Seth, "but I can tell you this. As bad as it looks in this town, things are even worse south of here in Redmarsh. That’s where our troop used to patrol before we came here."
-----The dwarven guard looks down at the floor and nods his head. "Aye, that be puttin’ it on the mild side, I reckon." he grumbles.
-----As Dalyor speaks a large grin spreads across the face of the Dread Pirate and he almost claps Dalyor across the back. He then apparently thinks better of touching the diseased creature and instead says, "Arrr, and therein lies the means of the wizards’ downfall. All we have to do is set up an outstanding ambush and then have ye tell the wizards where they can find us. When they show up, we beat the sweet, merciful crap outta 'em. Then we pummel one of 'em into tellin where the cave is. And if we have the time, we can clean up the town and take a look at this Redmarsh place."
-----The Dread Pirate turns to the mercenaries, "Can all of ye use bows or crossbows? Bows'd be better if ye can use 'em. We can hide ye in various places and when the wizards show up, ye just pincushion 'em from a nice safe distance. In the meantime, me and me crew'll sneak up on 'em and stick sharp pointy objects in their backsides, while they're occupied pullin arrows outta their hides. We could even do it in here. This place might be fer the best. The stench is enough to make 'em pause fer a second when they enter. And their superior night vision will be lowered if'n their eyes are tearin' up and blurry."
-----Dalyor raises his eyebrows at the Dread Pirate’s scheme and for a moment, his puniness seems to vanish. "Not bad, not bad a’ all," he says, just as a frog catches in his voice. After struggling to clear his throat, he continues, "Could be da t’ing ta git rid o’ ‘em!" A look of concern crosses his face as he adds, "Tho’ ah hates ta be losin’ a good hidin’ place if’n dey gits away."
-----"Aye!" the dwarf answers the Dread Pirate, "I be shootin’ a mean crossbow when I haveta. Ol’ Marast here can handle a bow." The dwarf nods toward the stalking elf, who glares back at the dwarf and spats on the ground.
-----The smaller human guard speaks up and says, "I can use a bow, although I may not be as good at it as Runik and Marast."
-----"I don’t think Krord has had much experience with a bow of any sort," the guard says as he points at the huge human, "I really think he’s more interested in a direct sort of attack."
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