Battle of Tower Town

GLOOMY HALF-ELF DRUID FROM THE GUARD'S ACADEMY WHO ACTS SHALLOW BUT ONLY TO HIDE THEIR INSECURITIES - DM Rowan

IMPULSIVE HUMAN BARBARIAN FROM THE CITY SEWERS WHO HAS A SERIOUS WEAPONS FETISH - almarianknight

ATTENTIVE HALFLING ROGUE FROM THE SHIFTING DESERT WHO HAS A BAD GAMBLING PROBLEM - lasersniper

HATEFUL DWARF ROGUE FROM A SMALL REMOTE VILLAGE WHO ALWAYS GIVES THE BAD NEWS FIRST - janewalksfar

ANXIOUS GNOME FIGHTER FROM A QUIET WOODLAND HUT WHO LOST TWO FINGERS IN A TRAINING ACCIDENT - DM Kiado

DEMURE DWARF BARD FROM BLACK OAK WHO DOESN'T SPEAK A WORD OF COMMON - Joatmoniac

TACTLESS HUMAN CLERIC FROM THE NICE PART OF A BAD TOWN WHO SEARCHES ENDLESSLY FOR THEIR KIDNAPPED CHILD - whipstache

"It is not a night like many others. Instead it is one that marks the end of a terrible battle waged against the invading hordes of all kinds of monsters one could imagine. Many adventures, militia, and everyone in between stagger, are carried, or even crawl into Restless nights Inn, it seems as if the K is no longer on the sign after the battle, the premier adventurer bar in Lusina Tirion. Far less have returned than left, but the tales of the battle are on the lips of every patron now taking in a hot meal and free ale after the defense of Tower Town is complete ..." - joatmoniac

Telthas enterd the Restless "Night's" inn, smiling grimly at the irony. He slumped in a chair, unable to find one near the fire or in a corner. He pulled up the hood of his cape, the bottom of which had been torn away during battle. His forearms were scratched and bloodied. Thanking the barmaid as she tiredly gave him a drink, he waved hia hands, using the last of his strength to summon a handful of goodberries. - DM Rowan

"The human barbarian smashes the door of the inn open. Standing there like an ominous specter. He gives the bar a look over and gives the barmaid a wink. One of the men sitting near the entrance of the door gags and splutters as a terrible odor washes through the room. The odor of the sewers. The barbarian lobs a glob of spit at the ground and hikes up his pants as he slowly makes his way to sit next to Telthas. Sighing, he sits down and begins pulling out knives, swords, and darts from his pockets.
"Sorry 'bout this, but it ain't comfortable to sit on all this". He finally picks up the large axe from his back and thrusts it downward, sticking it into the wood flooring. The barmaid looks shocked and horrified.
"Hey, sweetheart, could you get me a drink. I am not going anywhere soon".
As the poor barmaid hurries to get the drinks (or the police), the young barbarian notices in the corner of his eye, two handsomely dressed men in the corner, who are eyeing the people in the inn... strangely.
"Look here, my name is Bark, but we can't talk much. There is some trouble brewing in this inn. Keep your weapons sharp". Bark says this to Telthas as he uses a dagger to pick sewage from in between his teeth." - Almarianknight

Gritting his teeth, trying not to breathe too deeply, Telthas watches gloomily as the large man dumps his ridiculous - albeit, impressive - collection of assorted weapons onto the table. "Bark," he says slowly, raising one eyebrow as he fails to hide a grimace, "how... Quaint..." he pops a goodberry into his mouth. The taste, usually delicious, seems bland in his mouth. He can still taste the chimera blood in the back of his throat. His new companion finishes speaking and Telthas sighs deeply. "Listen, uh... Bark. The battle's over. You can relax." He slumps forward, head in his stingig hands and groans. "Feel free to have a goodberry." - DM Rowan

A small figure, covered head to toe in a light brown robes, walks to the table with a recently liberated tray of drinks, leaving a small trail of sand in his wake. He slides the tray of drinks into the middle of the table, pushing the assorted knives, darts and weapons to the side. He hops up onto the chair with a little bit of effort and says "Yep and what a battle it was eh boys", the voice sounding coarse and a little muffled under his wrappings. The man pulls a deck of cards from somewhere under his robes and starts dealing out the cards. "Hey weren't you that elf that was tussling with that lion dragon thing?" the man says as he vaguely gestures toward Telthas. "How'd ya learn to handle yourself like that" he says as he finished dealing and picks up his own hand of cards. - lasersniper

Telthas looked up and swallowed his goodberry. Realizing how disgusting he looked right now, he wiped the dirt from his cheek and ran a hand through his braided, blonde hair in one motion. "Well, I'm attending the Guard's academy," he said, "But nature is my true teacher." He smiled, although the smile was somewhat disingenuous. He decided to leave out that if he hadn't been able to turn into a dire wolf at the last second there, he would be dead. He looked the halfling up and down and sat back, tossing him a goodberry.
"If I recall, you clambered your way up that ogre and got him in the neck. You do just fine yourself." He complimented, although there was an air of falsity in his voice. He was tired. He couldn't care less what this Bark fellow thought of him, but the small warrior seemed to be intelligent and he didn't want to be judged too harshly. What he really wanted was a goodnight's sleep. The inn's new sign flashed back into his mind and he swallowed. *Might as well,* he thought, picking up the cards. - DM Rowan

The small person looks to Telthas with a small tilt to his head, seeming to contemplate something, but his emotions hidden behind his wrappings. He only holds it for a second before giving a chuckle and turning back to his cards and replies "hee hee you'd be surprised to learn what one is capable of 'oing when 500 gold is up for grabs", as he casually tosses some coin in the center of the table. He sudden looks up as if realized he insulted someone and says "Oh forgiven my manners, I 'ssumed playn' for gold wasn't a problem since we's flush with our rewards." as his head moves back and forth between Telthas and Bark. - lasersniper

Madha, a dwarf swathed in brightly colored silk garments, leans forward and drops a handful of coins on the table. As she settles back in her chair to study her cards, the loot dangling from a riotous tangle of belts, buckles, and bags, clatters loudly. She scowls, rather than smiles, at her compatriots at the table, "Hope yer rewards are rightly won, boys. I hear those handsome fellows over yon be **bounty hunters**." She gestures toward **the well dressed men Bark indicated moments before**, then continues, "What with all the adventuring folk about, I recon there be a few villains lurking among the heroes. Would be right tragic to survive the battle for Tower Town only to meet the lawman's noose." Madha's frowning disposition suggests little sympathy for such a "tragedy." Rather she eyes the other gamblers beadily over the edges of her cards. **"From way they be eyeing our table, I'd warrant them fellows think they found themselves a prize.**" - janewalksfar

Bark scoffs and twirls a dagger on the end of his finger, drawing a bit of blood. He kisses the edge of the blade and points it towards the dwarf.
"See I know, my little friend, me and the group who came with me..." says the human barbarian while gesturing to his pile of weapons "...we know that there is always a fight. Bet your poor dead mother, it's going to be a nasty one."
With this Bark sends his knife flying into the small gambler's card, pinning the guard to the table. Bark gets up, throws his axe over his shoulder and walks up to pull the knife embedded into the card and the table. Two of the well-dressed men shift and Bark notices a glint of metal... a knife or a coin?
Bark puts his hand on the small man's shoulder, "Any questions, pip-squeak? The knife you see before you is made out of 1480-alloy-steel combination. With its aerial design it has a much smaller Reynolds number and could shave your eyebrows right off your face with a flick of my wrist. In a nutshell, who do you have following you? What have you done".

Bark sends a wink back to the dwarf who pointed out the two men eyeing the table, a silent thank you. - almarianknight

Shifting uncomfortably under the weight of Bark's grip and eyeing the ruined card pinned to the table, the man replies "Thanks you for ruinin' my good deck. And for yours information, theys were watchin' the table before I sat down". Glancing into the reflection of one of the swords still on the table, the halfling spots another pair of similar looking....no EXACTLY the same men in a corner booth behind Bark and himself. Both of whom are starting to stand up. "Ands if you don't like the looks of 'em, then you mights want to have a gander behind us." he says as he gets ready to move at a moments notice. - lasersniper

"Pardon!" you first hear the voice first, then looking down you see the little Gnome who has just stepped between your table and the men you were worried about.  He is completely oblivious to the situation he might have just stepped into.  Which you find odd, since he appears to be darting his eyes about like he is expecting the next battle to start at any moment.  He waves awkwardly with his left hand, at which time you and he realizes that it only has two fingers, he quickly switches to wave with the 4 fingered hand.  "That was one hell of a battle huh?  Never seen anything like that.  Lost the fingers before that, just so you know.. Training mishap."  Holding his hand with the missing digits back up, still oblivious to the situation, he nervous chatters on. "Nice blade big man, that must be for shaving your eyebrows."  His bushy eyebrows wiggle a bit, and laughs meekly. "Your card has a hole in..."  He realizes no one is looking at him anymore, but right behind him.  He closes his eyes, "It's a spider isn't it?" - DM Kiado

Telthas sighs heavily. This is getting worse and worse as time goes on. He scoots his chair slightly away from Burk, inadvertently sliding up next to the dwarf. "Um, excuse me, sorry," he muttered wearily, "just tryig to keep my distance from the madman." He looked at his hand and tossed a handful of gold into the middle.
"Would you like a goodberry?" He asked the dwarf, gesturing to the small pile. "I'm Telthas, by the way." - DM Rowan

Despite the ruckus in the inn you can hear the soothing tones of someone playing a guitar. Only those closest to him can hear him singing "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!" He is dressed in clothes that seem almost too plain. The only thing that stands out is the guitar, as it is made of the deepest black wood you have ever seen, and it almost draws you into it's depths because of it. - joatmoniac

Taken aback by the melodic music that seemingly came out of nowhere the halfling blinks unseen behind his light-brown wrappings. "Nices tune, but wheres do you people keep comin' from?!?!". Scanning the tavern, the halfling's eyes dart back and searching for any other surprises. "Whys this always happen'" he thinks to himself. "I's didn't even gets through a single han.." His mind instantly freezes as he starts really taking in the bars patrons. Something really wasn't right. When did all these suits start showing up? And why did they all have...the.....same.......face. In an instant the halfling slips from his robes under the table, leaving them hanging limply in Bark's grasp. As he hits the ground and begins reaching for his weapons the small halfling frantically yells out "DOPPLEYS"! - lasersniper

At the word "DOPPLEYS" a short, rather round woman stands up on her stool in the opposite corner of the bar and shouts, "Those damn 'gangers! They've never done anything good for nobody!" She starts hopping from table to table, stepping in plates of food and knocking over drinks. In fact, she by the time she reaches the strange group, she has succeeded in knocking over every single tankard in the bar. She hops down with a thud, her short hair pulled back into two pig tails. Her bright green eyes seem to glint in the firelight. "Now where're these 'gangers someone's yelling about?" she asks, while fingering a pendant of a blue lamb that hangs from her neck. - whipstache

*Well, it's not spiders at least.*Tolvan thinks as he sees the shift in the atmosphere around him, since the card game is dissolving quickly.  He hears some sweet tunes and starts looking around to see what else he can see.  He sees the man with the deep black guitar.  *Oh, I want one.*Then he hears the shouts of "Doppleys" and whirls around to the shouting.  He shouts back at the table, "May want to end your game lads! We got company."

Tolvan smiles.  You see suddenly he has a small Axe in one hand, intricately carved, and covered in Gnomish runes of power.  He slips his other hand with missing digits into a specially made glove attached to a hand crossbow, with a Gnome Repeater setup and four bolts.  The stock of the hand crossbow is covered in similar Gnomish runes.  Many have underestimated his prowess due to his small stature, but you see the glint of his eye that you have never seen in a Gnome before.   He may have missed what was going on initially, but battle he knows, and his senses are on edge as he takes in the surroundings and starts playing out the scenarios in his head. - DM Kiado

At the shout of 'doppleys', Telthas instinctively gripped his spear tightly, slamming the cards on the table.
"Are you kidding me?" he muttered under his breath before swinging to his feet, and taking stock of who was a dopple and who wasn't. Suddenly, his tired mind stopped working. He had been fighting all day and he just wanted to be done. His spells were gone and all he lad left was his spear, something he wasn't as good with. Hopefully none of the others from the Guard Academy were present. He looked to the others and took a defensive stance, waiting for the enemy to make the first move. - DM Rowan

For most of you it makes perfect sense now why the defense of Tower Town felt so lacking when the battle started. Bark the human barbarian isn't apprised of that fact, but he doesn't need to know things of this kind. There are at least a dozen doppelgangers that have shown themselves, and look intent on trying to end what is left of the forces that have defended the town thus far. As you each prepare to step into battle once more the doppelgangers begin to use their read thoughts ability, and reveal the notable success or failure you each had during the previous battle.

Durnar, seeing battle begins to play a rousing tune to inspire the defenders of Tower Town to greater heights of battle. He also begins to sing at an audible volume "Né ûdim etal os rast knurlag! Né ûdim etal os rast knurlag! Né ûdim etal os rast knurlag!" - joatmoniac

Telthas waited for a moment for the nearest dopple to lunge for him before dodging to the side and stabbing down upon it with his spear. He could feel it in his mind and he felt unnatural. The creature was terrifying. He swallowed, brushed his hair back quickly to regain composure. It was okay. He could do this. It didn't matter that he was out of spells. Suddenly he felt the inspiration of the music flow through him and he attacked again with renewed vigor. - DM Rowan

The sewer smelling barbarian starts tapping his feet to the Durnar's music. He could do this more often. Seeing one of the fellow people jump into the fight he throws the short man's robes over his shoulder and picks up a beer pint, draining the entire contents. A dopple reaches for him, but Bark's handaxe is casually embedded into the dopplegangers neck.

"That is a strong alloy, made it myself. I would like to know how that felt".

The doppleganger's eyes roll to the back of its head and, without answering Bark's question, collapses on the floor. Picking up a chair, Bark smashes it against the wall, and he takes up one of the chair's severed legs.

"That bad, aye?"

With this, Bark catapults himself into the thick group of enemies, jabbing the broken chair leg into a doppleganger's heart. No need to waste his beautiful weapons on these punks. - almarianknight

A Doppley with a crossbow in the back is concentrating on finding a mind that isn't already being rooted around in. His unblinking eyes vaguely watching the battle. Suddenly they sharpen, he has finally found his prey.

In his minds eye he sees himself in the midst of the battle that ended hours ago. He skillfully climbs up a green beasts back, as its head comes into view he sees it is an orge. About to stab it in the forehead and be done with it, he is sees of a group of orcs passing nearby below. Smiling he says "Whys settle for one birdys" baiting the orge, he cuts his throat open just as the orge swings at him, throwing it off balance and sending it crashing down on the passing orcs. Dusting himself off from all the dust that got kicked up, be walks away from the mess saying "Whens you can be scrambln' eggs?".

The scene changes as he is now ontop of a wrecked cart, watching a pair of deep gnomes riding displacer beasts run down a panicked group of town guard. His eyes narrow as he breathes in....out....in.....NOW, as a handful shining metallic objects fly from his hand, hamstringing the displacer beasts and allowing the guards to escape. "Sees" he finds himself saying "Tolds you it wasn'ts that hard" as he turns to accept payment from a fellow who had made a foolish wager. A man who was now running away very rapidly? "HEYS!!! YOU OWES ME SOME GOL" he begins to yell as he is interrupted by a low growl. Turning around he sees a third displacer beast uncomfortably close, jaws slick with saliva, waiting to pounce. "ohs".......\*throws sand\* "AAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEH" he screams as he runs away as fast has his cursedly small legs could take him.

Again the scene shifts, to him being completely surround by a group of towering skeletons with weapons at the ready. The battle in the background seems to quiet to a whisper, the skeletons tense up and you can hear their bones creak. The wind blows gently through the group, slightly rustling the wrappings of the small man in the middle. "Wells skellies, if yous won't be making yous move, then I guesses I'll... ", the skeletons raise their weapons slightly, anticipation action as the sound of a distance guitar is heard. "Have to SING!!!" The little man blurts out as he starts to dance to the tune of that distance guitar, screeching out "lyrics" as he does so "LA LA LA LA". After a moment of confusing, the sun dried skeletons look at one another, shrug, and being to join the jig. The sun sets and rises and sets and rises as they dance throughout the ages and ages and.....

Dizzy, the doppleganger drops his crossbow as he rubs his face. Something wasn't right. That last scene made no sense and completely collapsed his link. He could still hear that singing in his head....no wait, someone was actua\*THUNK\*. A small steel card is seen protruding out of the the doppley's head, cutting off his final thought, and he slowly crumples to the ground. Looking across the bar he see a halfling cowering underneath a table laden with weapons, formerly the home of a friendly card game and a nice conversation. The halfling is throwing steel playing cards from his hiding place, loudly "singing" along with Durnar. Except, instead of the battle inspiring words Durnar is singing, the halfling is belting out "LA LA LA LA DOPPLEYS DIE, STAY OUT OF MINDS LA LA LA LA DROPS THEM DEAD DIE DIE DIE". Thankfully, whether it be by magic or skill, Durnar is able to be heard over him. - lasersniper