Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

[Debbie_D]

The girls look between Melinda and Jonas, they want to believe her, but months of condition and living in fear of Jonas makes them scared to cross him. Theyve never seen any girl do so and live.
The dominated guards move the girls away from Jonas.
What the hell are you doing, Kinitz and Corolas? Bennett, Callahan, take care of them, leave the whore to me.
The two not dominated goons start to move to grapple the dominated ones, opening a lane to Jonas. Out of nowhere, he produces a long sword, Dot can tell its magical.

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How magical, she cant tell in the first seconds of study

[Kalirren]

"Ooh, a race!" taunts the bardess, taking a step back. Her hands move, gesturing openly and vulgarly. "You want to make me yours. Let's see how quickly I can make you mine. You like not using protection, right?"

[Init, I guess. (1d20+4)[23] Melinda opens with a targeted greater dispel. (1d20+15)[26]

[Debbie_D]

Melinda's spell strikes Jonas squarely. Hopefully she knocked down any protective spell that was on him, but theres no way to know for sure. He moves forward confidently with his blade and swings twice at her. He is rather surprised when Melinda's defenses foil both of his strikes.

Melinda and Jonas have both acted for this round, so others can take an action, after I get them all, I will post results, and possibly call for round 2 initiative.

[Toliudar]

Dot feels a curious sense of relief as Jonas pulls a sword and brandishes it against Melinda. Now there was no doubt that he had brought anything that happened from her on upon himself. She allows her compatriots a moment to act - or not - as they desire.

"Clyde, help keep Callahan out of the fight for now."

The thuggish 'man' nodded, rolled his shoulders once and then leapt through the air, adding his own grasping hands to the confused tangle of the grapple.

Dot saw no reason to pull punches, but wanted to give the others time to prepare for whatever this Jonas had to throw at them. She waved her hand to send him away for a moment. She then turned her attention to Bennett, attempting to take control of him in the same way Melinda had stopped his colleagues. she sends a hasty mental message to her colleagues.

"This will give us time to gather our thoughts. He will be back soon enough, appearing in exactly the same place."

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Dot and Clyde will delay to act after all of the other members of the quest. Obviously, if any of the three are already taken care of by the time her action comes up, she'll adapt (ie if Bennett is dead, she'll switch the dominate to Callahan.

Clyde leaps across to join the grapple with Callahan and Corolas. Full attack thanks to pounce.
Claw 1 Touch attack: (1d20+12)[19] Opposed Grapple check: (1d20+12)[20] Damage: (1d6+6)[8]
Claw 2 Touch attack: (1d20+12)[24] Opposed Grapple check: (1d20+12)[22] Damage: (1d6+6)[8]
Bite Touch attack: (1d20+7)[13] Opposed Grapple check: (1d20+12)[26] Damage: (1d6+3)[5]

Dot casts a quickened Maze on Jonas. Caster level check, in case he has SR: (1d20+26)[40]

She follows this up with a Dominate Person on Bennett. Will DC 27 negates. If this is successful, she will have the target release the grapple, and will send her colleagues a mental message informing them that the bodyguard is under their control.

[Debbie_D]

The maze spell catches Jonas unaware, and he simply disappears. Meanwhile Clyde leaps into the confusing fray of bodies, leading Jonas girls to start screaming in fear. Clyde is able to start wrestling with Callahan and while he doesnt have him under control, he does manage to keep from interfering with Corolas moving one of the girls out of the fracas. On the other side, Dot's spell catches the unfortunate Bennett, who freezes in his tracks, awaiting a mental command from the witch, and thus Kinitz is able to usher the other two girls away from the situation.
Those familiar with magic know that Jonas will reappear, perhaps in only a matter of moments (one round) or at most, 10 minutes later.

[PSinger]

Atareth takes out Captain Arborea (hey, we have to have fun with names in this game, sometime, right?) ... her shield, and readies to toss it at the next enemy (or obvious evil dude) that takes a lethal hostile action ... which may end up being a third party, since you said a full-scale bar brawl broke out. Hopefully, anyone else fighting is just working with (non-lethal striking) fists and stuff.

[lostsole31]

Lil and Lok coordinate telepathically.

Lok "loks" (locks) the transfixed guard by pinning him with TK. (At theater, not rolling, but +22 grapple check (his size doesn't help).

Lil will stroll up and give the poor man a kiss ... long and langurously.

[Vulaas]

"Well, this is definitely not boring me anymore," she quips, as the room fills with a sound like leaves rustling in a hurricane for a brief moment before stilling. The nymph takes a last swig of the wine before standing. "Now dance for my pleasure."

The crunch:
Ireth is using her Psionic Dominate ability, augmented to effect 3 individuals of any type and last an entire day, hitting as many guards as possible. DC to resist is 36. Command to any who are hit to sheath their weapons and grapple the nearest hostile individual in an attempt to force them to dance with them.

[Debbie_D]

Atareth takes out Captain Arborea (hey, we have to have fun with names in this game, sometime, right?) ... her shield, and readies to toss it at the next enemy (or obvious evil dude) that takes a lethal hostile action ... which may end up being a third party, since you said a full-scale bar brawl broke out. Hopefully, anyone else fighting is just working with (non-lethal striking) fists and stuff.

There was going to be a brawl break out, but Melinda sort of put a squash on it. People are mostly settling back down.

Lil and Lok coordinate telepathically.

Lok "loks" (locks) the transfixed guard by pinning him with TK. (At theater, not rolling, but +22 grapple check (his size doesn't help).

Lil will stroll up and give the poor man a kiss ... long and langurously.

His body goes stiff for a moment, but then relaxes as a large smile crosses his face. With the second kiss, he crumples to the floor, with the smile still on his face.

"Well, this is definitely not boring me anymore," she quips, as the room fills with a sound like leaves rustling in a hurricane for a brief moment before stilling. The nymph takes a last swig of the wine before standing. "Now dance for my pleasure."

The crunch:
Ireth is using her Psionic Dominate ability, augmented to effect 3 individuals of any type and last an entire day, hitting as many guards as possible. DC to resist is 36. Command to any who are hit to sheath their weapons and grapple the nearest hostile individual in an attempt to force them to dance with them.

Well, the thing here is...two guards are presently dominated, so they cant really dance; the third guard is grappling with Clyde, so he cant dance; and Lil just off'ed the last guard who was also dominated.

Still waiting on: Ason, Taleira.

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

In response to Jonas' assault on Melinda, Taleira leaps up, hand going automatically to her back for a sword that isn't there. With Dot's Maze claiming the pimp about the same time she catches herself, Tali opts to shuffle through her bag of holding and produces the weapon, rather than retrieving the dagger at her belt. Sword in hand, the fighter positions herself next to Jonas' last position, ready to strike when he returns.

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Init: (1d20+6)[13]
Ready an attack (full attack, ideally) for when Jonas pops back, power attacking for -6/+12 (presumably against his flat-footed AC):
Attack 1
Hit: (1d20+25)[4](29) vs. AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+27)[31] (adamantine) + (1d6)[2] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+25)[40], (2d4+27)[33] extra damage.
Attack 2
Hit: (1d20+20)[8](28) vs. AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+27)[31] (adamantine) + (1d6)[5] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+20)[36], (2d4+27)[34] extra damage.
Attack 3
Hit: (1d20+15)[15](30) vs. AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+27)[31] (adamantine) + (1d6)[4] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+15)[29], (2d4+27)[35] extra damage.
Attack 4
Hit: (1d20+10)[18](28) vs. AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+27)[32] (adamantine) + (1d6)[3] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+10)[25], [roll]2d4+v[/roll] extra damage.

[Debbie_D]

Jonas is a pretty smart guy, but in this case, being smart is actually the wrong play, as he would have been better off lying low. He manages to free himself from the Maze almost immediately, popping right back into existence right in front of Melinda.
Unfortunately, that runs him afoul of the angry buzzsaw that is Taleira, who connects on all her strikes, and he falls back to the floor, quite dead.
The pimps girls are still screaming, even moreso now with the display of weaponry that Taleira just produced; and the guards (if they werent being held by a domination) look like they want to be anywhere else right now. Even the one being grappled by Clyde stops struggling, they know when they are out matched.

[Toliudar]

Dot mentally orders Clyde to keep a hold on the guard, but not to hurt him any further. Slipping over to the bar, Dot smiles up at the proprietor.

"Just another beautiful evening in Sigil. My apologies for any disruption. I'd like to buy a round for the house."

She takes a quick look around the room, adds a bit and slides a mid-sized purse across the counter.

[Kalirren]

After Jonas erupts in a spray of gore, it takes the bardess a few breaths for her hands to find rest at her side. "Thanks everyone, I appreciate it." She slowly steps over Jonas' body to give Tali a special squeeze on the shoulder.

"Girls, gather around me," she draws them out. She'll go to the first one and give her a hug. The others probably follow. His girls were her problem now, and they clearly needed a fresh dose of leadership. "This probably could have been cleaner if I'd been more direct, and for that I'm sorry. I'm sorry only for you because it might make your lives a bit harder." With a few carefully judged steps she draws the crowd of them closer into the scene, and then sidles into the nearest seat, which happens to be Jonas's old chair. Realizing this, she takes an obvious moment to relax and make herself more comfortable. "Everything's still going to be all right. I promise."

Melinda slaps the surface of the table with her hand. "Kinitz, Corolas, and...you!" she fumbles as she realizes she didn't know which of the other two was left. "Get over here and have a seat," she orders. "You three are going tell me everything you know about Jonas' business, or I'll have you gut each other like fish. Whom did he deal with, who owned interests, and who's going to be coming after these people as collateral for debts owed? I want your best guesses even if you don't know a thing. Talk to me."

[lostsole31]

"That was fun," says Lildorrinene, who goes back to sitting and observing the goings on while Melinda sits on Jonas' thrown and the bodies just sit there one the floor.

[Debbie_D]

Melinda's efforts to calm the girls eventually has an effect on them, they do calm down a bit (at least theres no more screaming) although they are still sniffling a bit.
Dots offer to buy drinks for the house is enough to get the patrons to lose interest in the whole affair, and a serving boy eventually moves in to take care of the two bodies. Its obvious by the reaction of everyone that Jonas wasnt really well liked or respected, and no one is mourning his loss.
With Taleira standing behind Melinda glaring menacingly at the three remaining thugs, they are more than willing to talk.

The boss, he was real careful with the money. He didnt get into any debts, and he didnt let anyone else take a part of his business. Theres about 10 girls who work for him, and they worked for anyone that wanted a girl from Jonas. No ones going to be coming after him for money, cause he didnt owe any...but they might try to either muscle in on his territory and recruit his women.

The girls eventually speak up, after drying their eyes.

Who is going to protect us now from all the nut cases out there...or the thugs who just want a cut of our money. Who is going to organize things and make contacts for us...are we just going to become common streetwalkers?

[Toliudar]

Dot ambles over from the bar. She instructs 'her' ensorceled guard cooperate with Melinda's questions. The prostitutes' clamoring draws a small smile to her lips.

"May I make a radical suggestion ladies, and suggest...you? We didn't become, if I may say, rich and powerful by giving over control to a flashy talker with a sword. If you're having trouble with your boss, become the boss. If you wish to continue your current associations, you have a perfect opportunity here. Sit down and work out a plan together. Hire on these thugs for protection if you wish, or get new ones. We aren't here much longer, but I would find it...fascinating to sit down with you this evening to work out a plan for your business. I suspect that many of these ladies and gentlemen would also be willing to lend their expertise. But it's up to you whether you want to take control of your lives, or wait for someone else to do it for you."

The little mage shrugged. Looking around, and especially at the rather bloody chair that Melinda is sitting in, Dot winces a bit. With a simple incantation, she begins to clean the bits of Jonas off of sundry surfaces.

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Prestidigitation for the clean-up. While she's at it, Dot will use her arcane sight to analyze that sword that Jonas pulled out of thin air.

[Debbie_D]

One of the thugs speaks up after Dot speaks.

I know of a place, not far from here thats for sale. It needs a bit of work...well, maybe lots of work, but I can get the money out of Jonas's accounts, plus theres what he had here. And I know of some tradesmen that would work for a good price and do a good job.
We could fix the place up real nice, make a full club, not just a brothel. Although that would be a part of it too. I used to run a club, back in the Prime. I wouldnt take any of their money, you could set my pay rate, and it would come out of the gambling revenues or the bar sales.

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He didnt really pull it out of thin air, you just didnt really see it when he was sitting. Its a +4 long sword, no other special qualities.

[Kalirren]

"That doesn't sound too bad," comments Melinda. She nods. "Now go grab the necklaces off the body before the street rats get them all and bring them back here." These girls would need some startup capital. "Did you hear that?" Melinda asks rhetorically as they leave. "No one even thinks they own you anymore. You all own yourselves. And if you work together, you can keep it that way.

"Jonas kept you around because you made money for him. He may still seem huge to you, but there's really nothing he ever did for you that you can't do for yourselves together with all the money you would have given him. All you need is a plan, to do yourselves what he did for you that you couldn't do for yourselves before because you were alone. We can help with that."

[Debbie_D]

One of the thugs goes and gets the jewelry off the body of Jonas. No one in the group is an expert (unless someone does have ranks in Appraise, I didnt check) but they've all seen their fair share of jewelry, and they would estimate that the stuff he has is worth about 25,000 gold. The first thug, the one offering to run the club, adds that Jonas has about 100,000 gold in his various accounts, and since he did most of his deposits, he wont have a problem getting the money out for the start up.

[Toliudar]

Dot acknowledges the thug's offer.

"Enterprising. What's your name?"

She glances around at the prostitutes' reaction to the man's offer, trying to gauge his character through their reactions to his suggestion.

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Sense Motive: (1d20+29)[44]

[Debbie_D]

The one who seems to know about the money situation and is offering to set up the club is Kinitz. Corolas and Callahan are the other two.
The girls seem pleased that he will be setting things up, at least the three (out of 10) that are there. Dot is pretty sure she can see who will be the "leader", at least among these girls.

[lostsole31]

Just to verify, Lildorrinene and Lok will look at Jonas' jewelry to be sure of value:
Lok's Aid to Appraise (1d20+10)[25]
Lildorrinene's Primary Appraise (1d20+15)[24]

EDIT: With Lok's 20+ Aid, that's a total Appraise result of 27.

[Debbie_D]

Lok and Lil confirm the value at 25K

[Kalirren]

Melinda raised her eyebrows in tentatively pleased neutrality. She was appreciative of how fate was sometimes kind in its convenience. Even acknowledging the risk that Kinitz would eventually try to take over the whole operation, having his street cred behind the new business would be a big boost to the girls' early success and safety. Whether or not he could be trusted over the long term, cooperating with him was probably the girls' best shot at a decent future.

"You three seem to like the sound of this," the bardess remarks. "But do you put enough faith in it to sell it to the others?" Dot was doing her skillful best at being constructive, leaving Melinda to play a very soft devil's advocate. "We'll have to gather them soon and let them know what happened here tonight. Once everyone's in the same room, we'll help you draft a real plan."

[Debbie_D]

The girls discuss things amongst themselves, its clear that they all support and are also sure that Lucy, the diminutive girl the party saw Jonas strike, will be in favour of it as well. The leader of this group, who does the most talking, is Talia.
They also think that the other girls will more or less line up to support it, however, there is one big problem.

Crystal, shes not going to like this one bit. (Talia talking)

Crystal's just going to be pissed that she cant suck up to Jonas any more and keep more than everyone else from their appointments.

Just because shes a drow, she thinks she's all exotic or something

Crystal is going to be a problem

[Toliudar]

Dot stepped back from the exchange. The situation seems to have morphed from a discussion of what would be done next towards dealing with the problems faced by any new business. Granted this business' problems were more likely to have swords, but it also sounded like it was starting with a huge cash reserve. They could rise or fall on their own merits.

Wandering back to the table, Dot picked up her long-neglected glass of wine. She sends a mental note to her colleagues.

"Well, this was fun, but I've got a little packing to do, and one more old friend to say hello to before I leave Sigil. I'll see all of you tomorow, back at the hotel? Call, of course, if you need me."

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

"I'll talk to Crystal, if you want. I might be able to convince her, or just get her out of your hair." Taleira shrugs. "Your problem, your call. Offer's good while I'm in Sigil."

[lostsole31]

Lildorrinene looks to Taleira, "We'll both talk to Crystal."

[Debbie_D]

The girls give you Crystal's address, its about 3-4 blocks away.
PMs for the talk?
Meanwhile, Talia wants to go with Kinitz to see the place he wants to buy and also to check on the accounts of Jonas. The other girls have had a long day and just want to go sleep it off.

[PSinger]

Atareth is well out of her element here. She's not into the concept of love for sale, but rather love for love.