We decided to tough it up and search for Natalia again tonight; how many hideouts could she have? A bit beaten and bruised from our fight earlier this evening, we made our way to a nearby temple, catching them at the end of their supper. It took most of the funds we had available to patch us up.
Hitting the mean streets of Magnimar again, we went back to where last we saw Natalia, seeing if there were any clues as to her next hideaway. We found nothing. Everyone bunkered down for the night in her room, hoping she might end up coming back. I sat outside in the rain. As an old friend named Ernest once told me, nobody knows your crying when it rains...
After a few hours of rat-napping, my allies came out of the house, bleeding in a few spots. Apparently some stirges were loosed into the house, and a goblin snake we had previously seen came back only to be skewered by Cualli.
Outside the house, deciding to head off in another direction, we met up with an associate of Natalia's from the Tower Girls, a lady named Tarisha. She had been tracking Natalia and knew where to find her, but seemed to want our help to make an approach. Tarisha brought with her three toughs, companions to keep herself safe.
Surrounding a closed tavern, Viq, Divine, and Tarisha went in through a side door, while the rest of us stood by at all the exits. Wasn't but a moment before we heard a ruckus within, Viq screaming out for meself and Cualli to come running. The scene inside was a maddening series of goblin shooting arrows, our guys scrambling this way and that, and, the last thing I saw, a spellcaster charging my way to blast me in the face with a spray of colors...
When I woke up, the scene was grizzly. Several dead goblins were nearby. Divine was pulling herself from the floor, a bloody mess. Cualli and Viq were rushing out the main doors, shouting at me to follow. Outside in the rain, we rounded a corner to see the last two goblins leaping into the water to flee. Natalia and Tarisha were fleeing them, but suddenly vanished! We'd all been tricked by some manner of illusion. It took only a moment before Divine screamed from within, "She's in here!" Turning tail back to the front entrance, I caught my breath and ran back.
That lasted a while; not. As soon as I burst through the double doors, Natalia goes running out another set of rear doors! I cannot catch a break, these humans are fast. We all run out the doors again giving chase. And what happened next? Oh... what happened next was a doozy....
