Dramatis personae
Quid occurrit
Angelista picks up her javelin, after which Felcanis heals her. They get an hour of rest in the back room, and Angelista says, "I think the cleric is ready. We should not stay here." They leave the room and go back down the hallway, this room being a dead end as best they can tell.
When they get to a corner, they see some light and stop. Angelista holds up her hand and peers around the corner. From there, she can see that there are some frogmen and a bald man just up the short flight of stairs, looking at a door. The bald man bears a sword and shield, wearing mail, with patch on a tear in its shoulder.
Angelista realizes that she has seen him before. He's Šanzbašar.
Šanzbašar points at the door. "Whoa, guys, ever seen a door like that before?" His voice isn't as gruff as it was when Angelista sparred with him, but more spaced out. The frogmen are puzzled, shaking their heads.
Poklov also looks around the corner. Angelista whispers, "Wait," to him. She points at the patch in his mail. "He will be the most dangerous foe. You want him alive, correct?"
Poklov looks up at Angelista. "Is he the shapechanger?" he asks.
Angelista nods. "Yes. I have a score to settle with him."
The heroes get ready. Felcanis casts Armor on Angelista, then picks up the crossbow. She aims, as does Angelista with her spear and Poklov with his axe.
Angelista gets off the first strike, lobbing a javelin at the one frogman with a bow. It doesn't even look up to see the javelin hit it, and slumps to the ground. Felcanis shoots the frogman with the torch. The bolt hits, but the frogman stays standing. Poklov rushes one of the two khopesh-and-shield frogmen, but it gets its shield in the way.
Angelista grabs her spear, and Felcanis readies her shield. Poklov swings his torch at the frogman before him. It lamely tries putting its shield in the way but is still too witless to do so, so Poklov's blow lands.
Angelista digs into the hard earth with the balls of her feet. Bolting ahead with her shield leading, she snarls as she tries to slam the shapeshifter. Šanzbašar is unable to get his sword in the way, so Angelista slams into him, knocking him down. The torchbearer frogman passes out from its wounds. The frogman before Poklov steps back and holds up its shield, while the last one starts running to the east.
Angelista smiles as she says to the shape shifter, "Such loyal servants you have. I hope they weren't too expensive."
Šanzbašar says, "Wha, man? They're not servants, they're like frogs, man!"
Felcanis pulls out her mace, and Šanzbašar kneels, dropping his sword and shield. Poklov tries slamming his shield into the frogman but misses, while Angelista lets her shield fly wide, trying to knock Šanzbašar back down. He cannot get his shield in the way, so he again goes down to the ground. "Yeah, lady, I'm totally down for going down!" The last frogman starts running eastward after its fellow.
Šanzbašar tries to grab Angelista's leg but misses. "Whoa baby!" He giggles as his face hits Angelista's boot.
Felcanis moves towards the fray. Poklov turns to her. "Felcanis, bring Bill over here. He has something I need for this gentleman." He turns to look at Šanzbašar. "Give up. We have you surrounded."
Šanzbašar looks up. "Hey, I'm not into little guys, leave me to the ladies!" Poklov moves behind him. Šanzbašar doesn't look back. "Nope, no dwarf orgies!"
Angelista grabs Šanzbašar's arm and gets him to his knees. He looks up at her with a leer. "Once you go boar you want more! I knew you were fun when we met back at the gate!"
Angelista snarls. "Yeah, I'm a barrel of laughs." Šanzbašar tries to kiss her, but he plants his face on her spear and kisses the shaft by mistake. Angelista rolls her eyes. "Poklov, whatever your gonna do do it quickly before he gets himself killed."
Šanzbašar tries to grab Angelista's leg and misses. "C'mon, babe, I heard you like me!" Poklov dashes behind Šanzbašar, unreadies his shield, and studies him. Angelista tries to punch Šanzbašar in the face, but misses. Again, Šanzbašar tries to grab Angelista's leg and again misses. Poklov, having had enough, punches Šanzbašar in the back of the head, but his coif takes the blow.
Angelista punches Šanzbašar in the gut, but doesn't get a hard blow. "You're pissing me off. If you don't get on your feet, I'm gonna do something painful that you WON'T like." Felcanis leads the mule towards them while Šanzbašar stands with a dumb grin on his face. Poklov and Angelista both punch him, but his armor takes the blow. Angelista says, "This pig is a pain freak. Let's just get him restrained. We're wasting energy. Deny him that which he seeks most. That will cause true pain. Take him to the Donkey Show"
Šanzbašar looks at them, puzzled. "Nah, no horsies!"
He lurches for Angelista, but she steps aside. She yells, "How dare you put your filthy claws on me!"
Still puzzled, he says, "No, no fifty gauze here!" before giggling.
Angelista rolls her eyes and knocks him over with her shield. "Are you still having fun?"
Felcanis gets shackles off Bill. Well to the east, they hear a door open. Angelista grabs her spear and asks Poklov to check out the din, but instead he punches Šanzbašar again, this time knocking him out. Again, Angelista says to Poklov that someone is coming from the east.
Angelista and Poklov throw Šanzbašar's body over the mule and lead him to the way out. They hear a door shut, then nothing more. Poklov shackles Šanzbašar, then they go up the stairs to the outside. They try to stay away from the slime, but some drips onto Šanzbašar and, worse, on Felcanis. She passes out from the pain, and Angelista drags her upstairs as well.
Once outside, they find that the trees are once again calm. Since the trees don't seem to see them, they push past their branches. The trees aren't not quite smart enough to realize the gang is darting out until it is too late. "Hey, get back here so we can throw you!" One of the trees sticks out its middle twig at the gang.
As soon as they are safely out of reach of the trees' branches, Angelista cleans Felcanis's head wound and wraps a bandage on it. After treating her for shock, Felcanis is still out, so Poklov pours two Minor Healing Potions down her throat, waking her up.
After remarking how much her brain hurts, Felcanis bandages Šanzbašar, but doesn't unbind him. Poklov takes his loot, and finds 12 copper, an electrum bracelet, an unidentified potion, mail armor, a small shield, a regular bow, and a thrusting broadsword. Angelista lifts the broadsword, and Felcanis tells her that the sword is magical, though she's not skilled enough to know what the magic is.
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