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"Knock-Knock!"
…went the stout wooden door of the back entrance to the Glantrian embassy as L’s gentle, yet war bitten hand struck it hard on that fateful early November evening. For indeed he is a man of many faces, many talents and many contradictions. "Gentle" yet "strong", "kind" yet "remorseful", "compassionate" yet "vengeful". A set of events had been set in motion that were to deliver the Misfits yet another blow.
The door opened after a rather long wait and the Misfits were welcomed with a stern and suspicious:
"You are early!"
…but L’s acting skill never faltering got us all entrance into the Embassy. Into the agape mouth of the dragon the Misfits ventured, oblivious of what might come to be. With L as your leader fear goes out of the window. L and several invisible people got to work straight away. Rummaging for the elusive document, the insignificant something that would cure the deadly plague or place the blame squarely on some party or other.
Meanwhile G + B are getting anxious, downstairs. G has taken off the cumbersome armour. Only some weird documents are found so L has an inspiration! With the dumb weightier he orders some soup! The plan is divine in conception, simplicity but NOT execution! The soup never arrives! Alas, but in another room, an Ambassador of Glantri is waiting! L however puts on another fabulous show only to be betrayed by a trap set precisely to catch invisible intruders! J is paralysed and alarms start ringing all over the place. A hellhound appears and is about to chobble at the defenceless necromancer, but gets slashed about by the valiant T.
L’s cover still intact he gets ordered into an elaborate portal back to Glantri. He refuses and a ferocious battle ensues. Meanwhile G + B get summoned upstairs. Just when you think things cannot get worse, G makes a lunge for the butler (the level 0 defenceless, unarmed, surprised, flat footed butler) that would even make a blind folded, bungee jumping wilder beast look good. He misses wildly and only just manages to not stumble down the stairs. So B shows him how it is done!
L then puts in motion a dastardly plan that simply cannot fail! He activates his necklace and a fireball of gargantuan proportions engulfs the room. Everyone gets badly scorched. Fortunately the mage guards that are giving G + B grief slow them up enough to stop them from entering the room, while all this fire is running wild all over the place! T is slowing up the Hellhound but at the expense of life force! Next thing you know, web spell goes off trying to slow people down but has little effect. Unfortunately, a truly stupendous fireball this time from the ambassador seems to catch everyone’s attention. L slumps to the ground reduced to a pile of smouldering ashes!
The still paralysed, invisible J is also knocking on death’s door. The hellhound is loving it! Does not want to go back to its original plane of existence! Until it sees a blur of death and suffering. Indeed, G tumbles past all the guards and unleashes a hell of his own on the ambassador. B is making short shrift on the mageling guards. Some feeble mind tricks from the now bewildered ambassador fail to have any effect on the resolute monk. His new combat style weaves rapid hypnotic patterns around the ambassador who sees B also finishing off the guards and coming this way with a look perfected through many scars and hours of praying to Odin + Thor! The only option left for him is to flee. In through the now flaming portal the ambassador vanishes, leaving behind a confused hell hound, a badly mangled guard or two, an incinerated, invisible, paralysed necromancer and the ashes of L!
The room is ablaze (again). Butlers running around like headless chickens trying to put the fire out. G gropes the invisible necromancer to find her healing potion. It is found but not required as a new, hidden, dark, sordid, talent of B is revealed. He casts a minor healing spell on the Necromancer! T sees this as his turn so grabs the potion and quaffs it faster than a person on 1hp in an ablaze room that has just fought off a hellhound!
G gathers up the "remains" of L while T turns invisible once more and picks up the invisible useless mageling! We leg it! On our way back to safety, we split up again. The bounty on our head would even make Smaug’s eye glint with jealousy, but these are desperate times. Meanwhile J, still invisible gains motor functions once more and is put down. T + G head of Amitrala, the head cleric in an attempt to resurrect their friend. B + J get ambushed. 8 people of obvious thieving background trying to make some "easy" quick cash. The Misfits have beaten worse odds before and this time will be no exception. The odds are apparently 8 baddies to 1. But suddenly 3 of them slump to the ground fast asleep, as a severely miffed Necromancer with a full compliment of devastating spell shimmers into existence! J then turns round and starts manipulating primordial freezing energies directed at anyone still standing. The odds have become 5:2 and soon 3:2 as the leader flees and another is chopped in 1.2 by B quick blade. 5 bodies in 3 rounds must be a new record even for the Misfits. B + J are not interesting in a pursuit so they head back for the barracks.
Meanwhile G + T wake up the sleepy and Cleric! The price of resurrection is high! More than the Misfits could hope to raise in a month of Sundays, but once more, L’s boundless generosity that seeks no reward mysteriously pays off. Unbeknown to himself he has make a rather gigantic contribution to the chapel and soon the remaining funds are found! L come back from the dead!
The documents L collected were indeed magical since they survived the blaze and were eventually translated by the captain of the militia. Indeed this plague was brought on by Glantri. The extent of magic used, as well as the organisation of this huge scale operation leave many answers still unanswered: like "why", and "where now", but these are not immediate concerns of the Misfits. Wendar can now focus on curing the plague. The misfit’s mission has been complete and the city shows it’s gratitude by a small financial reward and a magical item each of their choice!!!