One Gish, Two Gish, Red Gish, Blue Gish [IC]

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

Aat notices the inquisitors and when he wants to share this with Kaulesh, his ever vigilant friend speaks up. "Hrm...." Aat keeps his stare focused on the event. Looking for more inquisitors on one hand, but surely enjoying the show as well. When the show is over, he applauds enthousiastically along with the crowd. "Wow, nice, huh?"

"Let's hang around a bit. I am not sure what's happening next..."

[Snowbluff]

Zoe

"Diael is saying he wants to spend as little time in 'this ridiculous outfit' as possible," Zoe transmits from her hiding place. Diael is, indeed, wearing a particularly garish circus outfit with plenty of feather and bright colors. He's done a fair job in hiding his grumpiness and discomfort, but it's obvious his patience is wearing thin.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

"Do you see any of the kids, Kaulesh?" Aat looks around for them. "If anything is about to happen...."

Spoiler

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Spot: (1d20+32)[36]

[BelGareth]

Kaulesh nods at Aat's suggestion, "perhaps we should look a little harder....or" he turns to his companion, "we should make a distraction?" he says with a smile.

"Perhaps we could rough some up and then port out when needed?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

"Rough up some of the children?" Aat grins. "I'd rather wait with making a distraction till the point something is actually happening. If we're to early we risk alerting folks and making the extraction harder."

[BelGareth]

Kaulsehs sighs "I know I know, I wasn't talking about the children either," he pointedly looked at several 'undercover' agents "but you are right, I just hate waiting so long, sometimes, one just needs to act and let the places fit as they will."

[Getsugaru]

Ghola

With the first night's show over, Ghola invited Diael and Varthok to borrow his tent so as to change out of their "costumes" and discuss the next phase of the plan. Also, he wanted to discuss the general hostility he detected coming from several front-row customers.

[Snowbluff]

Diael

Diael enters he room, and throws his hat a nearby chair. "Never again."

[Getsugaru]

"I take it you're not a fan of children?" Once again reaching out with his soul, Ghola's outfit suddenly turned back into the blue mist before being absorbed into his body. Now back in his regular outfit, Ghola placed Diael's hat on top of a chest and sat down on the chair. "More importantly, I wanted to talk to you about the crowd. While riding around the outer ring, I sensed some hostility coming from many people in the front row. It didn't feel like it was directed at the performers directly, however..."

[Snowbluff]

Diael

Zoe slinks in. "Now that I think of it, no. I do not. This atrocious outfit isn't helping." He begins to unbutton the multicolored jacket. "Besides, it was Soph-" He stops suddenly as Ghola mentions the crowd. "...irrelevant. Where you able to determine why they felt this way? Please elaborate."

Zoe jumps onto the chest and nibbles at the hat. "Maybe it's because you smell bad," she says sullenly.

[Getsugaru]

"I'm afraid not," Ghola said in a displeased tone. "You see, my power gives me the ability to 'smell' malicious intent. While I did smell malicious intent, it wasn't a specific odor, but was rather pervasive, not pointing at a specific target. All I can say is that, from what I could see as I was riding around, the people who's odor was hostile all seemed to be clasping something in their coats..." Ghola continued to ponder before turning to face Varthok. "Var, did you notice anything while you were flying about?"

[Failed Phantasm]

After successfully "evading" his pursuers, Varthok circled around towards the forest before gliding back down to the ground and alighting with a heavy *thump*. He wasn't far from the circus grounds — in fact, he could still the tents that were lining the edge of the wood — but he wanted to ensure that he hadn't been spotted or followed, and given that everyone's attention was fixed on the performance, it was likely that there were a few Inquisitors poking around where they shouldn't be. Without knowing whether there were any druids patrolling Iatirroch, if there were even any at all, Varthok felt reasonably assured that he'd have the advantage in the forest should he need to flee, or even fight should the need arise. However, he appeared to be alone, at least for the moment, and there was some time yet before the last act, so Varthok fished some rations, a berry or two, and the waterskin from his pack. His people had a well-deserved reputation for being ravenous eaters, and Varthok was even more so on account of his wings: all of the flying he'd been doing lately had made him quite hungry, indeed.

From time to time, Varthok would move, carefully and cautiously, to a new vantage point amongst the trees, watching the sky above the main pavilion for the "grand finale" that the other performers had been chatting about earlier. The wait gave him time to review what he'd seen as he flew over the crowd during the act: mainly, Inquisitors hiding amongst the rest of the audience. There were no fewer than three dozen who appeared as though they would draw their weapons when Varthok's act started, but he spotted others in the sea of faces that were perhaps too... serious for regular circusgoers, too lacking in awe and wonderment. A flying gnoll was an exotic sight, so rare that even other gnolls had never seen one before in their lives, and yet Varthok could see and even feel their stony gazes watching him closely, peering at him intently, perhaps trying to discern whether or not he was actually performing divine magic or whether the Ringmistress had been lying to them about his abilities. Varthok had been sure to make a show of his casting of flame strike at the conclusion of his act, adding a flourish of his paws as he made the appropriate gestures and intoning his every syllable clearly and precisely. Even the most dimwitted apprentice had an opportunity to identify Varthok's spell, if only from the hand motions alone, and it was most certainly not arcane in origin. While he succeeded in revealing a number of Inquisitors in the audience — information that could not be undervalued — he had also revealed himself at the same time, and they now had a reason to make things quite uncomfortable (at best) for Varthok and his friends. The entire act was a calculated, if risky, gambit on his part, one for which he had no way of knowing how well or poorly it would pay off.

The dragons flying overhead was apparently Varthok's cue to launch himself back into the sky and fly towards the main ring to rejoin Ghola and Diael, making the same entrance he did before sans the mad cackling and lightning bolts. He followed the pair of them back to Ghola's tent once the performance concluded and the Ringmistress let them go; no sooner had they entered than Diael was irritatedly removing his costume. Varthok's costume was simpler, so he needed less time to change, which he did while listening to the other two speak. He was just slinging his cloak over his shoulders when Ghola asked, "Var, did you notice anything while you were flying about?"

«Several dozen excitable spectators scattered here and there,» he replied casually in Celestial, with all the manner of one commenting on the weather, «and those were just the ones who were too twitchy to stay still at the sight of me.» Varthok paused for a moment to make sure his wings were tucked securely away before adding, «They all leaned forward at my entrance; did you see it?»

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Aat and Kaulesh

You two do, indeed, see some of the kids...and then more of the kids...and then all of the kids. They're part of a larger group of students heading back to classes, most of whom are walking in a loose group and talking loudly about the circus as you'd expect from a group of kids who'd never seen such a spectacle before but several of whom are acting quiet and nervous enough to attract attention from suspicious observers. While they may have some arcane training, they definitely don't have any military or operations training, or they'd have all made their way to the extraction point separately instead of all ganging up before they've even left the circus.

Two of the undercover Inquisitors you'd noticed before nonchalantly meander in the kids' general direction. It's certainly bad that they've been noticed, but they're not the only group: several other clusters of people of various sizes and temperaments have seemingly attracted Inquisitorial notice, and all of the agents appear to be content to hang back, watch, and wait for now. Hopefully this means that they've only latched onto the group as potentially suspicious based on their behavior and they don't have any other incriminating evidence.

The large group of kids splits up after leaving the circus grounds, the budding arcanists moving purposefully in the direction of the extraction point while the others return to campus, and their tails stay with the former group. In fact, when it becomes apparent that the kids aren't heading towards a particular academic building, the tails close the distance between them and the group to keep a closer eye on everyone.

Everyone Else

The Ringmistress ducks her head into the tent, momentarily interrupting your conversation. "Well done, everyone, very well done!" she says cheerfully, still riding the emotional high from a successful performance. "I wasn't sure if you could pull it off, but I was very impressed. If you're looking for a permanent position with us, you have it!" She gives you a jaunty wave and ducks back out before you can respond. Several other performers come by to congratulate you, heedless of the continual interruptions (Privacy? In a circus? Surely you jest!).

The interruptions eventually end and you're all able to compare notes on the potential Inquisitors you saw, what they might be carrying under their cloaks, whether you recognize any of them, and so forth. The general consensus you come to is that they didn't detect anything to make them stop the show but that there was an unusually high Inquisitorial presence even for a heavily-magical circus performance, so who knows whether they might have seen or heard something suspicious.

Ghola

Spoiler

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As the conversation continues, you abruptly notice a foul smell in the air. It seems to be coming from several sources outside the tent, milling around in a less-than-purposeful pattern, as if the sources are search for something while trying not to appear like they're searching for something.

[Getsugaru]

"I did, though it might have--" Ghola stopped mid-sentence. Turning his head, he sniffed the air, his nose noticeably twitching as he did so. "I'm sorry; I just remembered I need to check the cages for any rats. Fi'la would kill me if any of the animals were to get a disease or pick something up between performances. I'll just be a moment." As he walked out, Thufir's small crystaline body formed legs of ectoplasm and climbed out from Ghola's suitcase and silently walked over to Diael and Varthok...

Stepping out of the tent, the cool night air was pleasant and calm; his nose being the only thing to think something wrong after such a successful performance. Walking around the fairgrounds, Ghola took a slightly scenic route over to the animal cages, trying to pick out where the foul scent was coming from...

Spoiler

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Standard action: Self Propulsion
Spot Check: (1d20+10) (1d20)(1d20)[19]+10=[29]
Listen Check: (1d20+10) (1d20)(1d20)[6]+10=[16]

[BelGareth]

Kaulesh speeds up his steps as he tries to keep up, looking to Aat he has worry in his eyes, this was not turning out how they had planned, or even remotely good, the tales were going to need to go...or be distracted by something....

In a low hush voice "We need to distract those inquisitors, this is going south, we should have never put any stock in their understanding of the situation."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

Aat nods as he adapts his stride to match Kaulesh's.
"Hmm...yes. But how?

[BelGareth]

Kaulesh grins at Aat as he asks that question.

With that he winks at his companion and suddenly disappears into an alley way, he casts some spells..and then a white skinned man in flowing grey rough hewn clothes comes walking out, he has violet eyes and platinum blonde hair that flows to his shoulders, and looks every part of an albino man.

He nods to Aat and grins, walking directly past him towards the inquisitors following the group of students, he runs around them and veers back towards them, effectively cutting them off from their quarry.

Holding on hand palm stretched and facing the floor as if to signal 'shhh' he whispers to the men "come with me, there is an emergency, I am from Poradnis, I work for a special unit that hunts aberrations, we are known as the 'White ones', you probably haven't heard of us, its above your pay grade, I need your help, a froghemoth has been tracked to this city, come with me." he grabs both by the shoulders and gestures that they follow him, the opposite direction of the students.

Spoiler

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Alter self one more time to an albino man.
Prestidigitation for the change of clothes
bluff - (1d20+9)[22]
Disguise - (1d20+17)[35]
fingers crossed

Ready an action to use Mighty Throw on one if they see through disguise
Melee touch attack - (1d20+18)[35]
[roll=Trip check(dex)]1d20+11[/roll]
10 ft thrown away from students.

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[BelGareth]

Spoiler: Trip

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Failed trip roll
one more time
trip - (1d20+11)[26]

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

"Whu?" Aat eyes his friend as he darts away, sighs and keeps on following. When he stops them, he tries to find a hiding position and follows the situation with bow drawn.

Spoiler

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Hide:(1d20+27)[31]

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Ghola

A scenic trip through the camp isn't necessary, as to your keen performer's eyes the sources of the hostile scents stick out like a sore thumb before you get more than a few paces from the tent. The whole circus crew is engaged in taking down the tents and preparing to depart, except for a handful of performers that are walking from tent to cage to walkway and back without actually lending a hand to anyone.

Each of the three suspicious people has a pleasant but very focused expression on their face and a hand in a pocket as they nonchalantly look around and take in the sights. You probably wouldn't pay them a second thought in normal circumstances--but these aren't normal circumstances, and you have a special danger sense on your side. Their path is slowly taking them towards you, and it looks like they'll reach your tent in a few minutes.

Armand

From your vantage point in the back alleys of the city, you could see a few of the magical lights and hear the dim roar of the crowds, but mostly you've been able to see beggars lying on the streets (out of sight, of course, for even during the day's festivities the Tormite and Cuthbertite civic patrols make their regular rounds) and hear carts and wagons trundling back and forth.

Shortly after the circus finally winds down, you hear a small group of people up ahead, right on schedule. Peeking out, you see your students following the indicated route--without taking any particular precautions, the naive fools...and they seem to have picked up a tail. Until, that is, a strange figure suddenly appears out of another alley and confronts the two tails, with the kids still none the wiser.

The figure, a tall albino that you don't recognize, talks quietly with the tails. They look confused for a moment, then angry and worried, and the three of them quickly and quietly rush off, leaving the students to reach the designated rendezvous point without any further trouble and stand there uncertainly, waiting for someone to contact them.

Aat and Kaulesh

Aat settles in undetected to watch the show as Kaulesh works his non-arcane magic on the tails. One of them, a half-elf, narrows his eyes and whispers a curse. "Baal's beard! We were so focused on the citizens at the circus, we didn't even consider that the threat might be coming from outside the walls!" The other, a part-human of some variety with a very slight bluish tint to his skin, looks between his partner, Kaulesh, and the students. "But what about these? The Vicar said--" "Doesn't matter, we have them marked, we'll pick their trail up again later. Come on, let's go!" The part-human shoots one look back at the kids, then both of the agents begin hustling after Kaulesh.

Spoiler

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Sense Motive: (1d20+13)[18] (1d20+13)[18] (including a +10 for "The bluff is hard to believe or puts the target at significant risk.")
EDIT: Why, you lucky son of a wand. Tymora must be smiling on Kaulesh today.
Spot for Kaulesh's Disguise: (1d20+12)[27] (1d20+15)[18]
Spot for Aat's Hide: (1d20+12)[23] (1d20+15)[21]

Trip checks, if needed: (1d20+9)[19] (1d20+7)[17]

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

Aat witnesses the situation with keen interest. When Kaulesh and the Inquisitors start moving, he waits for a sign of his friend that he should follow. If that does not come, Aat trusts Kaulesh to be able to manage his own safety. Whatever he said had obviously gained their trust. In that case, he will resume following the kids.

[BelGareth]

Kaulesh moves forward without skipping a beat, motioning to Aat to follow

Spoiler: Bluff for secret message

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Bluff - (1d20+9)[18] DC 15

he guides the 2 inquisitors down a dark alley "Come quickly we have little time!" he turns, once they were far down the alleyway and no one else was near and then punches the humanoid with bluish skin in the chest.

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casting wraithstrike
Initiating Greater Insightful Strike for non-lethal against FF touch AC
Attack - (1d20+14)[15] MISS (nat 1)
Damage - (1d20+25)[43]

Kauleshs fist suddenly whips out his two pointer fingers extended stabbing into the mans chest several times hitting vital nerve clusters, attempting to knock the man out by disrupting his hearts flow of blood.

Spoiler

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casting Nerveskitter
Initiative - (1d20+14)[29]
Currently in Shifting defense stance

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

Aat follows, trying to stay hidden and having his bow at the ready. When Kaulesh punches the Inquisitor, or tries to, he jumps to action.

Spoiler

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Hide: (1d20+27)[31]
Move silently: (1d20+27)[41]

Initiative: (1d20+7)[27]

[Getsugaru]

"Guys, we have a problem! Stop talking magicly, we got rats! Oh, I knew something bad would happen as soon as he told me to wait with you guys." Thufir was pacing around the room frantically. "Anyway, we need to be ready to move. Ghola has a plan, but he's not sure if we should capture or kill them..."

Ghola arrived at the animal cages and began to "search" for any signs of "rats". He systematically pseudo-checked each cage for anything wrong; he was one of the three people who most regularly took care of the animals, so his presence there was seen as normal by the real members of the circus. The final cage he checked contained a young chimera; it had not been in the show and was sleeping peacefully until Ghola arrived. "It's all right, little one," Ghola whispered. He faked his searching for a moment, before "stumbling" onto something that "surprised" him. He opened the cage and reached inside. "Little one, in a moment I am going to leave, and when I do, I want you to walk into the woods and hide at the pond up the hill. Can you do that for me?"

Spoiler

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Handle Animal check to give the Chimera a command DC 10: 1d20+10 (1d20)[7]+10=[17]

[Snowbluff]

Diael

"Wait, what's going on? Capture? Kill? Both of those options would only attract attention," he says through Zoe. through He gives Thufir a stern stare.

[Getsugaru]

"Ugh," the small psicrystal thinks out loud. "Listen, Ghola thinks that our cover's blown; he's found some actors he doesn't recognize who not only are not doing any work, but are also acting suspiciously. They are acting like they've never been to the circus before, and boss Fi hasn't taken on any new performers other than you guys in over three months!!!" The crystal was bouncing all over the place, mumbling as his erratic movements brought him closer and closer before slamming into the nearby chest. "ouch...and as for the plan, Ghola's trying to get one of the animals to go sneak into the woods. After that, he plans to lead the suspicious group into a trap where we'll catch them or kill them." The small crystal righted itself before orbiting Diael and Zoe's chair.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Ghola

Spoiler

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A chimera is a magical beast with 4 Int, not an animal, so you don't actually need a Handle Animal check to get it to listen to you.

You narrowly avoid the attention of the false performers as you slip out of your tent and go to the animal cages; they pay you no mind, since no one reacts oddly to your presence and they haven't gotten to you yet in their methodical search. The young chimera blinks three pairs of eyes sleepily when you wake it up and ask it to leave the camp.

Its lion head and goat head smile (as best they can with non-humanoid anatomy) and nod happily at the thought of being allowed to leave the circus and stretch their legs and wings for a bit. The dragon head yawns in your face, giving you a lovely whiff of rotten egg stench since this chimera is an acid-breather, and settles back down to go back to sleep; this head was always the laziest one. A few headbutts from the goat head and an annoyed growl from the lion head convince it to wake up and nod as well, though he's definitely not happy about having his beauty sleep interrupted. The chimera crouches down after you pretend to re-lock its cage and you move on to the next cage, ready to leave as soon as you do.

Armand

You can't hear anything from the alley and there's no noticeable property damage, so whatever the strange figure is doing to distract the tails, it must be working so far.

The students, having nothing better to do at the moment, start quietly chatting amongst themselves.

Aat and Kaulesh

Something must have warned the bluish part-human Inquisitor--maybe Kaulesh's bearing, maybe the dark alley, maybe some lingering doubts over the situation--because when Kaulesh spins around to punch him he jerks back just far enough for the illumian's fist to graze him without doing any serious harm. "Wha--? But--?" he splutters, stumbling back. His companion is similarly caught off-guard, and is far too slow in reaching for his holy symbol to do anything about the seeming betrayal just yet.

The half-elf notices Kaulesh's subtle signal and looks back frantically for possible reinforcements, but the bluish one is totally focused on Kaulesh and is none the wiser.

Spoiler

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Sense Motive: (1d20+3)[4] (1d20+3)[18]

Neither of their initiative modifiers is higher than 27, so both of you act before them.

[Getsugaru]

Ghola smiles as he sees the young chimera understand his instructions, though he wishes the dragon head were a bit more willing to listen. At least the majority payed attention and was willing to follow his instructions. Now it was time for the repeat performance.

Spoiler

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Bluff Check: 1d20+4 (1d20)[19]+4=[23] Wow, did I get lucky. NOTE TO SELF: Invest in social skills next level.

Suddenly acting surprised, Ghola turned to the cages near the chimera's and acted out a search. Releasing an exasperated sigh of relief, Ghola quickly ran off to his tent, "forgetting" to lock the chimera's cage as he ran off.
Arriving at the tent, Ghola continued his act by running over to the chest and immediately rummaging through it. "Quickly! I think the chimera was bitten by a rat! I found some droppings over in its cage." Ghola pulled out a rag and an empty bottle of spice. Holding the two items tightly in his hand, he picked up Thufir and shoved him in his pocket. "Be ready to head for the forest. I'm luring them to a pond there." Ghola's thought these words as loud in his mind as he could, hoping that Diael's pseudodragon familiar was listening in. He ran back out at high speed, hoping his ruse was working.
As he arrived back at the cages, he was "shocked" to find the chimera was gone. He began looking for the group, intending to "ask" them for help "finding" the chimera.
[OOC: Spot Check rolled in OOC due to no editing in rolls...]

[Snowbluff]

Diael sighs.

"Alright, let us hope no one notices..." He looks around, and stows Zoe in his Familiar Pocket. If no one else is present, he transforms into an innocuous, tiny viper, and slips out of the tent. He moves to keep an eye on Ghola.

"Pond it is."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Aat

Aat sees how Kaulesh' plan, whatever it was, is not working fully. He makes a snap decision and acts. His deep hatred for the inquisition has won it over his willingness to give his friend some time to solve this peacefully. He suddenly appears within point blank range of the inquisitors and fires a full volley of arrows at the one that was not paying attention to his possible presence.

Spoiler

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Okay:
Swift action: Temporal acceleration, pp:11

Spoiler: Actions extra round

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Swift: Burst linked to Offensive precognition, augmented to 10 pp. pp:11
Standard: Offensive prescience, augmented to 10pp. pp:10
Move: move into point blank range

Aat is now in point blank range, Shaken, and has a +4 to attack and a +8 to damage. PP spent: 32

Full attack action: Rapid shot Seeking sneak attacks
Attack 1 (1d20+26)[46], damage (1d8+31)[37] + (2d6)[9] sneak attack. Crit confirm: (1d20+26)[30], bonus damage (2d8+62)[76]
Attack 2 (1d20+26)[45], damage (1d8+31)[35] + (2d6)[3] sneak attack. Crit confirm: (1d20+26)[45], bonus damage (2d8+62)[72]
Attack 3 (1d20+21)[22], damage (1d8+31)[37] + (2d6)[7] sneak attack. Crit confirm: (1d20+21)[41], bonus damage (2d8+62)[68]
Attack 4 (1d20+16)[17], damage (1d8+31)[34] + (2d6)[2] sneak attack. Crit confirm: (1d20+16)[32], bonus damage (2d8+62)[72]