Ester: IC

[Jormengand]

"Hmm. Thirty feet or so should do it. Pretty much so that if something blows up it doesn't hit you, but we can fight things that are attacking either of us."

[esorscher]

Reza and Alterys: At the turn in the corridor it you see it continues another thirty feet before stopping. There are two stone doors on the wall to your left, opposite a stone archway about 15' down the hall to your right. The doors in the hallway are both closed but the archway is open. Looking through it you see a room roughly 30' x 30' with another stone door directly across from the archway, also closed but more ornate than the others.

Dagos: "No evocation?" Copplefarb raises an eyebrow. "No enchantment, or Necromancy, either? No matter. This test works either way, I can cast magic missile on you, or you cast it on me. I'll give you a moment to cast your shiel--no, you don't have that in your spellbook." He reaches into his pocket and takes out a different scroll, which he exchanges for the magic missile scroll in your hand. "Cast this, then I'll hit you with a magic missile. Or don't." He smiles.

Royal and Lilina: You know that there are four buildings in the center of town: The Cathedral of St. Cuthbert, The Tower of the Magii, John Henry's Iron Sledge, and City Hall. You guess that they are taking the halfling to City Hall. He whispers (in halfling) "I recognize you, you're one of the Dogsaddle Clan. Please, get me out of here, I'm innocent. My name is Nemo. I was just--" The Paladins notice him speaking, but don't understand what he is saying, and hit him in the back of the head. He shuts up. You are nearly to City Hall.

[Grishnakh]

Dagos accepts the scroll, which he assumes is a scroll of Shield, and prepares to cast the spell.

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*hoping the dice-gods will give me something other then 1s or 2s this time.*
Spellcraft: (1d20+18)[23]

Of course if the scroll is something other than Shield I'd like to know, if it is Shield Dagos will cast it on himself.

[tonberryking]

Royal's brow furrows under the steel cap, but she mouths the halfling word for "endure" under her breath where the fellow halfling can see it. "I'll ask you not to strike that halfing anymore. One more time, and I will personally be taking three criminals to city hall."

[Felyndiira]

"Seriously." The girl grinded her right heel against the ground, still panting as the halfling and paladin troupe was finally within sight. One would think that she should have been glad that the scene was seemingly able to resolve itself with minimal interference, although the girl was quite annoyed that she . "After all of the energy I wasted chasing you people," she whispered to herself, almost leering at the two men walking before her, "you ended up actually staying true to their word. Making me look silly now, exhausted and with my feet aching from running in heels - all while being concerned over some phantom situation."

"Well, I guess most of it was my fault anyhow," she sighed, leaning against the nearest pillar. Here, she had almost perfect vision of every crucial building within the square, and as long as the paladins remain in the center of town, she should be able to ascertain their destination. If not...

Well, she'd prefer not to think about that possibility.

[esorscher]

Dagos: Copplefarb gestures and five magic missiles erupt from his fingertips, all of them absorbed by the shield spell. "Well, that's about it for your application. I'll pass the results along upstairs. You can wait here if you like, or you can wander around on this floor and below. I should know in a day or two whether or not you've been admitted; I'll contact you as soon as I do."

Royal and Lilina: The paladins laugh at Royal's threat, but no more blows are given. The five of you reach City Hall and the paladins go inside with the halfling. Following them in, you see a busy police station, and the man at the front desk recognizes the paladins and says casually, "Another troublemaker?"

The paladins laugh and pass the halfling off into the City Guard's hands. "This one was resisting arrest," the talkative one says, and the Guard writes it down in his logbook. Another Guard takes the halfling to the holding cells out of sight.

[Grishnakh]

Dagos was glad the magic shield had done its job properly. Five of those missiles would have seriously hurt! Magus Copperfarb must be quite powerful to be able to use that spell to its maximum potential. But then, he must be for otherwise he would not have been in charge of the application, now would he.

"Thank you Magus, I will leave my home adress should you need it."

What to do now...
He had expected there to be more tests, so he was done earlier than he'd thought. Perhaps there would be other trials to come, but for now he had no further business here. On the other hand, he had come all the way to the Tower today, so maybe he should have a look around before heading home. Copperfarb had said he could wander the first two floors.
Dagos decided to take the long way home and take a tour of the Tower, starting with this floor and then the one below.

[Jormengand]

Alterys walks up to the door and opens it.

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(1d20+17)[37] Move silently
(1d20+17)[29] Hide
(1d20+6)[15] Search
(1d20+10)[29] Spot
(1d20+10)[22] Listen
(1d20+12)[24] Open Lock

[Swami Monsoon]

As instructed, Reza hangs back about 30 feet, waiting for the door to open and watching for the signal to move forward.

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Move Silently (1d20+1)[7]
Spot (1d20+2)[20]
Listen (1d20+2)[14]

[Felyndiira]

Lilina did follow the two when they entered the Town Hall. She was trailing a bit behind the rest of the group, although she made no attempts to hide her presence as her heel clicked against the pavement. "I just wanted to make sure a fight didn't break out," she assured the two with a quiet smile; it was quite apparant to the girl that a frail noblewoman trying to stop a fight between paladins was an inconceivable image, but she paid it no heed when she walked with them into the building.

She frowned a bit when the paladins made their case, however; it wasn't hard to figure out who really was at fault in this situation, with words of such duplicity and the guard's casual acceptance without much of a trial. It's about what one would expect, she sighed to herself, then spoke with clarity to the two men: "well, I guess that's that. Say hi to your captain for me, will you?"

The girl's eyes quickly scanned the room as she turned as if to leave. Within only a few steps, a rather gruff voice could be heard from the largest cluster of guards in the room. The voice sounded in every way as a guard muttering to himself, only accidentally losing enough control over his voice so that the important players - the paladins, Royal, the guard at the desk, and the guard escorting the victim - could hear it: Yeah, resisting arrest my ***. You were just pulling some lad off the street and beating the snot out'f 'im like usual. And th' noble ain't no smart enou'ta even not--oops, crap..

Feigning ignorance to this new development, Lilina turned towards the voice in surprise and shock, stoping just outside the hall entrance.

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Lilina casts ghost sound somewhere within the densest cluster of guards, and making the voice sound like some guy talking to himself and accidentally speaking too loud. Slight of hand to hide casting if needed: (1d20+10)[11].

Bluff check to act really surprised and genuinely like she doesn't know what's going on: (1d20+10)[18]

[tonberryking]

Royal's eyes flutter in dull surprise at the sudden, mysterious outburst. With Henry having been whisked away to whatever Ethereal realm his dog house lies in, she's at a much lower standpoint in the Hall.

That doesn't change how large her own voice is, quickly picking up where the 'heckler' left off, stomping up towards the front desk.

"A moment here! Whoever that was, they were correct! I saw these two paladins pummeling that poor man within an inch of his life, but not once have they established what crime he committed in the first place to necessitate an arrest! Even if he is guilty of resisting them, they have yet to explain what this whole matter is over. Please, enlighten myself and the officer here, if only to give you lads an excuse to humiliate me."

She crosses her arms over her breastplate, looking rather stolid despite the lack of size.

[Felyndiira]

"That was a bit embarrassing," Lilina laughed, still pretending to know nothing about her own spell. "I feel a bit insulted now, but still, they do have a point. An honest defender of justice like you must have a reason to arrest the man, right? 'Resisting arrest' as a solitary crime looks a bit, you know, bad on the law books."

Her voice was spoken as if it was addressed not only to the paladin duo, but to the entire room as a whole. "I am just a foolish noble girl with little understanding of such affairs, and even I, now, realized that resisting arrest is at best not a reason to deny a resident of the city his freedom. It would set a horrible precedent in the future if anyone in this office - or worse, our husbands, our wives, or our children - could just be pulled from the streets just because an official with less scrupulous morals - unlike our honorable paladins - deem it profitable or fun to cart them off to prison."

"So please, for the city's future and for maintaining the ideal of justice...". As Lilina spoke, her eyes carefully wandered about the hall; she had cast a quick Detect Thoughts spell while the crowd's attention was turned to Royal, and was especially focused on the paladins' unspoken response to these pleas.

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Lilina casts Detect Thoughts. She's mainly focused on the thoughts of the two paladins and that of the man behind the desk. Of course, she'll pick up the thought of the other guards as well, as well as Royal and possibly the halflling.

The post is also a diplomacy appeal to get the other guards to agree and speak up: (1d10+14)[20].

[esorscher]

Reza and Alterys: The door opens and you see a wide corridor, with many similar doors. Evidently this was at one time a residential neighborhood. The corridor is divided into several large stairs, each more than 20' across, and you can either head up, down, or to the door across from you.

Dagos: The tower has a single stairway that continues to lead up to the next floor but seems to be blocked by a similar arcane barrier (you may make a new spellcraft check to determine it if you wish). This floor is one large room, with writing desks and supplies, bookcases filled with labeled buckets of scrolls and potions. You know that the Magii produce magic items for Ester; this seems to be where they do it. There is also an open space in the center of the room for the apparent practice of magic.

On the ground floor there is a desk where a different gnome wizard is now waiting for visitors, and beyond that nothing but stone floors and walls. As you are leaving, a red, scaly humanoid rushes past you, carrying several scrolls. "Thief!" the gnome wizard behind the counter cries. "Stop him, please!" he addresses you.

Royal and Lilina: After a few moments concentration Lilina is able to pick up the following surface thoughts:

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From the paladins: trying to come up with a crime; getting annoyed at how difficult this turned out to be, both with you two and someone named Oded.

From the guards: many lustful thoughts and also not thrilled with the disruption of normal activity, but not angry with you. Most don't care about the halfling but care about getting you two to leave peacefully.

"Obstruction of Justice, and resisting arrest," one of the paladins finally says. "Satisfied?"

[Jormengand]

Alterys decides to go down, since she's apparently the leader here.

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Hide: (1d20+17)[18]
Move silently: (1d20+17)[20]
Spot: (1d20+10)[18]
Listen: (1d20+10)[23]

[Grishnakh]

What?! Who would dare steal from the Tower?

Dagos doesn't waste any time, with a few quick gestures and some arcane phrases a summoning circle appears right in front of the door opening. With a flash, a little smoke and a smell of brimstone suddenly a Large Fiendish Monstrous Centipede block the thiefs exit.

"Grab him!" Dagos shouts in the Infernal language, to make himself understood by the creature.

Without any delay the enormous vermin darts at the thief as it comes his way, attempting to obey his masters demands and take hold of the criminal.

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Using Summon Monster II

I assume the thief (hands full of scrolls) can not make an attack of oppertunity, otherwise he now has the chance.

Melee touch attack: (1d20+5)[22]
Grapple: (1d20+9)[10]

[Swami Monsoon]

Reza hopes Alterys has some idea where she's going... well, she is the only one who's been down here.
He continues to follow, maintaining his 30 foot interval.

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He's deferring to her for the moment because of her local knowledge and scouting/stealth skills.

Listen (1d20+2)[10]
Spot (1d20+2)[22]
Move Silently (1d20+1)[12]

[tonberryking]

"Not. At. All." Royal tut-tuts with a waving finger and approaches closer, clearing only more annoyed.

"What act did was he obstruct? Did he aide a thief in escaping? Is he covering for someone who committed a darker crime? What justice were you pursuing when the time came for you to thrash that poor halfling within an inch of his life, all the way here?" Royal's taking something akin to a school marm's reproach, and her thoughts show that not only does she feel that these Paladins have shamed themselves, but if it were up to Royal, she'd be teaching them some manners and humility. Flashes of imagery pass by of (a much, much larger) Royal forcing the pair into menial chores or work, feeding the destitute, and otherwise trying to get these two stupid punks to straighten up.

...It's a little humorous when someone actually sees her thoughts, but her earnestness is nothing to laugh at.

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Rolling diplomacy moreso to win the City Guard guy over than shaming the paladins, but if it works... (1d20+8)[26]

[Felyndiira]

Lilina had tried her best to stifle a burst of uncontrollable laughter, and despite her efforts a soft chuckle, soft enough and suppressed beneath bitten lips to sound more like a low growl. She had not intended to read the halfling paladin's thoughts with her spell, but it came to her as an unintended consequence. Oh wow, the image of the halfling as a taskmaster and the paladins with the same circumstance as kids being punished for not doing their arithmetic homework...the girl coughed loudly as she intervened, barely dismissing this line of thought.

Her hands were hidden behind her this time, but if there was a time when she really needs to hide a sell being cast and ensure that it works as expected, this was the time to do so. Her hands moved quickly enough that her somatic gestures could not easily be seen, mingling the words for Charm Person in a flurry of casual pleas.

"Look," she whispered, leaning on the counter and speaking with a voice soft enough so that (hopefully) only the paladins could hear her. Her voice was a mixture of a plea and mild annoyance, as if she, too, was detest full of this whole situation. "I'm not really interested in this whole thing; I originally stopped you on that street to prevent a fight between you two and the halfling paladin.". She turned to give Royal a concerned expression, as if telling her that she would handle everything in her favor. "I have no doubt that you'll win the court marshal that will inevitably follow," she added, "but the whole thing will reflect poorly on the order if the common folks were to see three paladins brawl with live weaponry. As the daughter of the bishop and a noblewoman, cracks in the common folks' views of the church is not really in my interest, nor is it for anyone in the city."

Lilina's voice became a bit colder when she mentioned the word 'bishop', although she quickly managed to catch herself and resume her silent plea. "I understand that you're frustrated at this - I am, too. This whole justice persona that I have to maintain as a public image is just as tiring to me as this whole scene is to you. The halfling, though, is just going to tail you the entire way if you keep this up, though; so, can I ask you to just drop the case in her favor? If the halfling prisoner didn't do anything to really threaten the order, just say that 'it's probably forgivable, as long as he won't do it again', let the guy out of jail, and walk out as a paragons of mercy. It'll make her happy at least, and if not, I'll have a bit more of a leeway to talk her down afterwords."

"It's a win-win for everyone here. You can get the halfling off your back and walk off as moral paragons; I can stop putting up this ridiculous image and the guards can go back to work proper. I can put in a good word at the next ball or party, as well. Please? For the best wishes of everyone here?" Lilina's eyes looked at the paladins as if a puppy begging for affection, pleading to the two with allof her heart while hiding her annoyance at having to resort to something like this.

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Charm Person on both paladins; DC to resist should be 17. She's also using distract assailant on one of them, so DC 17 for one and 18 for the other.

Assuming that charm succeeded, the paladins should be regarded as friendly, so they should not really resist a reasonable request (like this). Just in case, though, adding a diplomacy check to change his attitude to helpful: (1d20+14)[30]. I think the request is well within reasonable, though, so I should not need a charisma check.

[esorscher]

Reza and Alterys: Continuing down you see many doorways similar to the house you left. Most of them have been marked with chalk X's, a sign you interpret as meaning they have already been picked clean of any valuables. You continue down until you reach a massive and incredibly ornate dwarven door, which reads in dwarven:

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ESTERHAME

Dagos: Your centipede manages to grab the red humanoid, who is unable to wrest itself from the creature's drooling mandibles. As it struggles, another wizard comes down the stairs to help you. She is a goblin who blasts both the thief and your centipede with a Burning Hands spell for (4d4)[9] damage. The thief is slain. "Thank you," she says to you, turning. She then goes and kneels next to the thief. "Kobolds," she says, spitting. "Brazen, even for them."Your quick thinking saved us a good amount of coin." She pauses. "I know you aren't an official Magii yet, but would you mind doing me a favor?"

Royal and Lilina: Both paladins gain a brief and unusual look in their eyes as Lilina's disguised spell affects them, but the more stoic one of them shakes his head and his eyes return to their dark and merciless expression. As the talkative one turns to him to argue in agreement with you, the stoic one raises a hand and makes a signal with it that you notice but don't understand. Before either of them speak, another of the crowd that has assembled around you speaks. He is a trim man wearing blue denim pants, leather boots, and a dazzling mithral breastplate etched with a large Dwarven rune in the center.

"Look. I understand your position. I really do. But you need to understand mine. Here in my possession I have one halfling, arrested by two of the Paladins of St. Cuthbert, an order which I'm sure you know is empowered to do just that. You claim that they were beating this halfling, but I have only your testimony to support that claim. The Paladins I'm sure will testify to the opposite effect, and so its your word against theirs. Maybe if the halfling had some bruises, but this guy doesn't have a single scratch.

Now, your friend has been arrested, not convicted of anything. Say what you will about the laws of Ester but their our laws and I'm not going to do anything to violate them. While I may be inclined to agree that the logic of the Paladins charges is a little... wonky, to say the least, as an officer of the Law I am duty-bound to hold him for trial. At that time, I'm sure you'll have a chance to ask and have answered all your questions."

[Felyndiira]

"Seriously." At this point, Lilina doesn't even know whether she's more pissed at the fact that a (non-savage, too!) person could just be plucked out of the street and beaten up for no reason, or the fact that her control over this whole situation seems to be slipping so much. And she wasted so many spells on this stupid, insignificant halfling, too - this is not just a normal matter to her anymore; it felt almost like an insult to her command over the school of enchantment. "F*** this, I'm rectifying this. Right now." The girl quieted her slowly rising temper with these thoughts as her hands moved in secret behind her for a second time, once again targeting the paladin that somehow managed to shake off her enchantment.

She ignored the guard for now, concentrating her effort on the paladin that seems to have shaken off her spell and weaved another Charm Person at his mind. As soon as she was certain that both have fallen under her spell, she spoke to them again - quietly, once again, as if they were friends asking each other for a favor:

"Please, understand that I'm trying to say. Whether you can get another observer or not, the halfling paladin, at least, does not seem the type to back off so easily with just a word like that." She sneaked another glance at Royal, almost pleading with her to continue with her resistance so that she could resolve all of this and satisfy her own pride. "I don't really want to be here forever, either, but at this point I could hardly just leave as if I had no part in all of this. I'm sure it's the same with you guys; if it's not a grave situation, like an order from the above, it would be so much easier if you could just let the halfling go. Play the part of the merciful; that way, the halfling paladin gets off your back, and to these guards, you become like merciful messiahs. If she does not...well, I would have much more of a voice to be able to stop her."

"If there's any reason that you could not release him, I'm willing to lend my ears." She spoke truly, and entirely, as if she was concerned with their interest. "If there is some other barricade to all of this, maybe together, we could come up with another solution that would satisfy everyone and allow all of us to be free about the wonderful city, rather than trapped here in some sort of social quandary."

"So, can you please consider my request for a second time?"

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Lilina will cast Charm Person again, this time on the stoic paladin. She will do this a maximum of two times in succession (Charm Person does not have any penalties for consecutive uses, and Lilina is still not threatening the two). Of course, if the first one succeeds, she won't cast it a second time. DC 17 to save for both instances.

Concealed casting (second one only if necessary): (1d20+10)[17](27) (1d20+10)[1](11)

Lilina has now burned way more spell slots on this than she (or I) could have expected, so it's a matter of sunk cost fallacy and pride for her now . Also, edited for the OOC post that the charm worked.

[Grishnakh]

Well, that seemed a bit excessive ... evokers!

Dagos sighs and slowly shakes his head. These evokers were always so rash, blasting first and thinking later (if at all). The kobold wasn't going anywhere, they could have put him to the question or turned him over to the guards or something. And though he cared little for the creatures that served as his summons, this was hardly an appropriate way to thank the centipede for its services. With a quick gesture he released the centipede from the conjuration allowing it to return where ever it came from. At least it didn't seem as if any of the scrolls were damaged. More luck than wisdom that. Using a Burning Hands spell in a situation like this, madness!

Turning to the goblin Maga Dagos bows slightly. "You honor me with such compliments, Maga, I'm sure the culprit would not have gotten far. I cannot help but wonder, though, if any thief would truly be brazen enough to steal from the Tower. Even with high profits surely the risk would be to great for most, which leaves the question if he was not working for someone. To bad we won't be able to ask him." Dagos casts a last glance at the charred remains of the kobold, then turns back to the Maga.
"As I am not a Magus yet, I must consider it a rare privilege that you should ask me a favor. So yes, Maga, I would be honored to help you." If anything this could only look good for him, both for his application and for his future in the Tower.

[Jormengand]

Alterys looks up, down and around the door to make absolutely sure there's nothing strange/deadly/whatever about it.

(1d20+6)[7] Search if anything bad happens on a failure, otherwise take 20.

[esorscher]

Reza and Alterys: The door is not trapped, but it is sealed shut, and you see no way of entering through it without heavy excavation. As you are inspecting the door, you hear footsteps behind you. Turning, you see four red scaly humanoids about 3' tall. They say something to you in draconic:

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Who are you? Why are you here?

Dagos: The goblin smiles. "Yes, he was probably working for someone. The kobold gangs below ground are itching for magic items, even scrolls, and if he wasn't working for them, he was probably trying to profit himself." She shakes her head sadly, but her expression shows little remorse. "Anyway, the favor I need your help with is unrelated. I have a package that I need delivered, but my work is at a critical stage right now and I can't leave the tower. I'm not even supposed to leave the third floor, but for the commotion down here. Will you pick it up for me?" She hands you a slip of paper. "I don't imagine you'll run into any trouble, even though its in Westester."

[Grishnakh]

Dagos nod at her explanation, appearently this was not the first kobold to try and raid the Tower.

"But of course Maga, I understand, your work must be very important. I would gladly run this errent for you." Dagos accepts the slip of paper and puts it in his pocket. As he is about to leave he turns back to the goblin. "Excuse me, esteemed Maga, but in the commotion it seems we forgot to properly introduce ourselves. My name is Dagos D'Malsheem, though I expect you knew that already. Might I enquire after the name of my new employer?"

After the introductions, Dagos leaves the Tower on his way to Westester. On the way there he will read the note.

[tonberryking]

Royal looks up at the other interloper to this whole mess, but doesn't voice a creeping concern that she may be more than just laying on metaphorical syrup to her words. She's too busy finding holes in all these excuses.

"Not a single scratch? He's been hit in the face two or three times by much larger men wearing armor.

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Add: "And gauntlets!" to this outburst if in fact the Cuthberts are wearing them

" I daresay that I contest this notion of no marks on the poor halfling. Unless these men have taken a weapon off him, or if they arrested halfling happens to be a monk, no matter what their status is as Paladins you, sir are in danger of negligence in your role with the city constabulary by not checking the matter of your new prisoner's health."

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Diplo: (1d20+8)[23]

[Felyndiira]

"See?". Lilina shot a rather coy smile toward the paladins, followed by a long sigh, as if in resignation herself. Her voice remains as still as a whisper, addressing only the two paladins and none of the others in the town hall. "I don't know about you guys, but I would, at least, not want to stay or have someone hound me for the remainder of the night."

[Jormengand]

Alterys looks back at the creatures, and responds in their language.

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"This dwarf was looking for someone believed to be in the Unter," she says, "The Unter is generally considered a neutral area, but if you think that we are trespassing then of course we will leave. I don't even know that we're in the right place."

[esorscher]

Reza and Alterys: The creatures seem surprised that you speak their language, and confer among one another quietly and briefly. They speak again in Draconic:

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"That door hasn't opened in decades. Get lost."

They brandish their spears.

Dagos: She tells you her name is Rivana and you head to Westester. As you walk you read the note--it is nothing more than an address, which you find with only a little difficulty. It is a door tucked in a narrow alleyway between two larger buildings, and you walk past it without noticing it the first time, it is only after backtracking you find it.

Royal and Lilina: The well-armored guard smirks. "Hey, Jerry," he calls back. "Bring out the halfling just came in." Within moments the halfling is produced. As you can plainly see, his skin is unblemished. You notice the paladins smiling to one another briefly, and their faces soon return to grim determination. "You were saying?" the well-armored guard says to Royal.

The paladins do not respond to Lilina. You get the sense that they don't really care how much fuss you two raise.

[Swami Monsoon]

Reza whispers to Alterys, "Unless we are certain these people are standing between us and Ali, we should retreat. We are flying blind down here. Perhaps it's a good idea to regroup and try to get more information..."

[Grishnakh]

Dagos walks up to the door and knocks.

When it is answered he clearly states his business. "Good day, my name is Dagos D'Malsheem. I was sent by Maga Rivana to pick up a package for her."