Ceralune's CotCT: Edge of Anarchy

[Ceralune]

Spoiler: Noirin

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Taking a better look at the room, you realize that the floor is surprisingly clean (at least, compared to the room everyone is in). A few lit candlesticks illuminate the room. The desk and chair appear much nicer than the furniture in the previous room. The desk is long, but thin, with enough room for only one drawer. Underneath the desk, which is made out of a dark wood and quite a bit smaller than the one in the other room, you see scraps of cloth bunched up into what looks to be a bed for the dog, if the filth-covered ball lying on it is any indication.

[Red_Jenny]

"No trouble." Noirin gives a thumbs up to the rest of the crew. "It's an office of sorts, I think, an' it's nice. Proper furniture, an whoever uses it keeps it clean. Bed for the dog. Got candles lit up, too, so someone's usin' it, and probably won't be pleased we did away with the beloved family pet." After rubbing her shoulder and sparing a sneering glance at the remains of the beast, Noirin pads forward and opens the skinny drawer. "What do we have in here?"

[Bhaakon]

"D-devils are tricky." Fisker whispers, hoping the box's hearing isn't as good as his. "I'm not sure we should take its words at face value...it could be trying to fool us for some reason. I still wouldn't trust it, no matter what it says. That might not even be Eran, or if it is, the devil might have some hold on him."

Might be better just to toss the thing in the river, in all honestly, but Fisker somehow doubts the others will go for that, so he leaves it with a simple warning before the cadre continues searching the premises. Finding the office immediately reminds Fisker of something.

"A d-desk?" he says. "Files? I should look over those for...er...incriminating evidence, in case we have to turn him over to the watch or defend ourselves in court for his murder."

Mostly, though, to remove any records of the shameful transaction Fisker had made with the man--completely innocently, of course.

Spoiler

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Perception to rifle the desk for any mention of Fisker's illicit dealings... (1d20+6)[11]

[Ceralune]

The drawer opens to reveal a few blank slips of parchment and inkpens. Only one piece of parchment has anything actually written on it, seeming to have the beginnings of an order form for slurry etched onto it. It details a Mr. Drinet Morsondl, set to come visit on the 12th of Calistril (tomorrow), to appraise the goods and perhaps sort out a deal.

Incidentally, the door to your right has streams of daylight seeping through the crack where the door meets the ground. Two other doors sit off to your left. The one nearest you is closed, but the other is wide open and appears to lead to a well-lit room. Another door across the room is closed.

[Merilan]

Leptira stuck by Noirin's side as they examined the room, checking out the papers and -- curious at what Fisker is looking for. Did he know some dealings that Gaedren could be up to? "Mister Drinet Morsondl... I wonder who that is..."

This was not the time, though. Something nagged at her, so she took the order form and folded it and put it in her pack. She checked the open door to the well-lit room, peeking around the corner...

[PersonMan]

Sancia follows the others into the office room, taking up a position behind Leptira as she investigates, ready to provide her with support if she's found by more of Gaedren's goons.

[Ceralune]

There isn't anyone in the room, but this room has the nicest furniture you've seen yet, and is also the cleanest. A wooden desk of a dark mahogany color sits in one corner of the room, heaped with dozens of slate boards covered with chalk scrawls, while to the east a cabinet sits primly against the wall. The armchair looks comfortable, with a plush seat bearing only the occasional stain here and there. Indeed, the scene would be rather picturesque (at least, for a building as disgusting as this one is), if not for the fact that the chair is completely askew, and sitting on its side. One desk drawer lies open haphazardly, with what appears to be various scrolls sticking out of it.

Both doors leading out of this room are closed tight.

Spoiler: Fisker

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The room looks very neat and tidy, but you notice something a little odd - the grains in an area of the wooden flooring behind the chair form a subtle, but perfect, little square.

[Red_Jenny]

"They were buying slurry from Lamm, so I'm sure they're a fine, upstanding citizen, whoever they are." She blanched a bit. Fish slurry already smelled like death warmed over. How cheap did you have to be to buy a product made in a place like this - to say nothing of who made it.

Noirin flashed a toothy grin as they rounded the corner into the even nicer office. "We've got 'em on the back foot now. Ha! Right, right, lesee here. So, we were keeping something important in here, were we? Let's see what we left behind." She started rifling through the scrolls.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception, if needed: (1d20+7)[9]

[Merilan]

Leptira's attention was drawn onto the chalk scrawls, and she approached and peered at what it might be writing. "I wonder if this is Gaedren's office... it's a nice room, so it would make sense that he'd give himself the nicest one..."

[Ceralune]

Both the slates and the scrolls contain similar information to each other. They appear to be records of transactions, detailing addresses of various customers, and other accounting notes. While the names and information on each scroll is, thus, different, you see that they all have a couple of things in common - all of them concern slurry sales, and all are signed at the bottom by a Mr. Yargin Balko.

[Merilan]

Leptira put a hand against her cheek to say, "Do you think he might have fled? This chair..." She pointed to how it was tipped onto its side, and then the open desk drawer. "He grabbed some document most important and might have run to another room..."

[Bhaakon]

Fisker stuffs the half-written work order into his pack and scurries in to rifle the desk in the next room, but pulls up short. There was something wrong here. The floor is...odd. The ratfolk likes to think he's worked up a fine eye for detail while working with dangerous chemicals, a certain attention for minor incongruities which might suggest a far greater underlying problem. Like the way the wood in the floor of this room is arranged.

"C-careful!" He squeaks, then bites down afraid he's been to loud. "There's something there. A pressure plate, a safe, or maybe a trap door? I c-can't tell yet..." He removes a delicate set of probes and pry-bars from their various hiding places on his person and takes a closer look.

Spoiler

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Perception, if needed: (1d20+6)[7]

Disable Device to unlock or disable, depending on what it is: (1d20+8)[26]

[Ceralune]

Upon closer examination, the panel appears to be a trap door, but something is blocking you from pushing it down.

Spoiler: OOC

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If you want to try to push it down, DC 15 Strength check.

[Bhaakon]

Fisker pushes, pulls, yanks and pried, going so far as to bounce up and down on top of the door ever so slightly--never quiet letting his toes lose contact with the wood in order to avoid raising a racket.

"Er...I think it's stuck." He says, finally giving up his attempt to open the damnable contraption. No doubt it had been designed by talls so that their oafish strength and ponderous mass would be required to lever it open without causing a commotion.

[Merilan]

Leptira cups her hand to her mouth, then turns from where she was examining the scrawls to say, "Oh, my apologies! Let me help... Sancia, Fiora, Noirin, could you also give us a hand?" she asked of the rest of the group.

Spoiler: Action

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Leptira will just aid another here -- I think it's DC 10? (1d20-2)[13]

[PersonMan]

Sancia approaches the odd square in the floor, and gives it an experimental push. Then another, firmer push.

Spoiler: Actions

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Gogo Str check.

(1d20+4)[11] (including Leptira AA)

[Red_Jenny]

Noirin squeezes into the corner and adds her (minimal) strength and weight to the effort. "Come on, you daft thing!"

Spoiler: OOC

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Noirin provides +4 on Aid checks, if this passes: (1d20-1)[6]

Edit: Ha, no, of course not. That would make me useful.

[PersonMan]

"We can come back for this later, I don't think it's going anywhere," Sancia says as the door remains closed. She approaches the door to the next room, letting the others follow before opening it.

[Ceralune]

The door to the next room is locked, but a bit of Fisker's handiwork soon results in a click, and the knob turns smoothly.

The floor here has a bit of a sheen to it from all of the river water, and is covered with what appears to be bits of seaweed and blood. The door actually opens to a wooden catwalk, while the floor is quite a ways below. A wide opening in the floor allows direct access to the sloppy, muddy water of the river. Barrels and crates are stacked (not very neatly) by the far wall, each with a fish painted of them.

Spoiler: Leptira

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You recognize this room quite well - this is where you stayed for the past couple of months, toiling away, making slurry in the vat that is currently out of sight, but to the north. Every hour or so, you'd harvest buckets of slurry and fill barrels for that evening's shipment, while other kids refilled the vat with more water drawn up from the south, and call out for additional fish to someone who was on the other side of the wall. While you can't see them from here, the area under the catwalks contains hammocks where you and the other Little Lambs would sleep.

A group of five children, of various ages and heights, stand off a bit in the distance, huddled together. You recognize one of them as Marli, and she seems to regard you with uncertain eyes.

The most notable thing that you see about this room, however, are the three figures standing near the opening in the floor.

One appears to be a half-orc, with an eye patch covering what looks like a heavily scarred eye. Another is a tall, blond man wearing an elaborate red coat. The last is a girl of medium height with hair that looks like it would be red under cleaner circumstances.

Spoiler: Leptira

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Leptira recognizes one of them, the girl, as Elly.

Spoiler: Leptira and Noirin

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Both of you recognize the half-orc as Giggles.

The half-orc is restraining the girl's arms, though he seems to be having some trouble as she squirms about, while the tall man holds a wand to her throat as you open the door. All of them are looking your way - the girl's eyes light up in amazement and disbelief as her eyes lock with Leptira's, though the other two bear repugnant scowls.

"Not another step! Unless you want something unfortunate to happen to this one," the man declares, reasserting his position by jabbing the wand closer to the girl.

[Merilan]

Leptira's throat seized up immediately as she gasped and exclaimed, "E-Elly! Elly!" and nearly lost herself, but the half-orc's dire warning brought her back to her feet and senses as she felt little beads of tears well up at the corners of her eyes.

"Please, let her go!" She gripped at her staff a little tighter. She didn't even consciously think about it, but the dreamspun power had begun to whisper and ebb about her once more, and her eyes shone softly. She regarded the blonde man with the wand, "We don't have to be enemies... please, stop this."

Spoiler: Action

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Leptira is using Charm Person on the blonde man in the coat! Will save to negate!

[Ceralune]

The blond man takes a staggering step to catch his balance, clutching his head confusedly. "I... wha?" Giggles looks at him as if he's gone insane, and Elly takes advantage of the situation. She delivers a kick to Giggles's knee and shakes off his grip, scampering off to the side.

Suddenly on his own as it seems that his partner is behaving very strangely, Giggles growls and raises his flail while muttering to himself, "Thought the boss said they wouldn't try anything if we threatened that particular one..." He then barks orders at the Little Lambs huddled off to the side.

"Don't just stand there," he sneers at them. "Get her!" Giggles points at Elly, who is unarmed but scanning over the room with her eyes, as though she's looking for something. "Once she's under control, this will all be back to normal," he croons, his strange attempt at sounding reassuring garbled by his scraggly voice. "Do it quickly and maybe you won't have any further injuries."

Though, whatever the normal effect of his threats might be, it certainly isn't the same when he's so badly outnumbered and something seems to have happened to his partner. The orphans stay huddled together, and even raise their brooms in defiance, anticipating his end.

Spoiler: Leptira

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Alrighty, remember that if you try to tell the man to do something he wouldn't normally do, you have to make a Charisma check. Since you don't know him, it may be better to just roll a check every time you tell him to do something and I'll roll the opposing check if it applies.

Spoiler: Combat Starts

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Initiative Order:
Group 1: Noirin
Group 2: Little Lambs
Group 3: Fisker, Fiora, Leptira
Group 4: Blond Man
Group 5: Elly
Group 6: Giggles
Group 7: Sancia

[Red_Jenny]

Noirin clambers out onto the catwalk, judging it a good perch to raise havoc from. She gives Elly and the rest of the Little Lamms a wave. "Don't you worry, we'll get this sorted out quick enough!"

Her tone with Giggles is not nearly as cheery. "Hookshanks is dead, Giggles. I get to be here to see the empire crumble. Ain't it grand? You, though, won't be seein' much of anything." She raises a hand, and a bright flash erupts in front of the half-orc.

Spoiler: OOC

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Flare against Giggles. DC14 Fort save vs. Dazzle.

[Ceralune]

Giggles raises his free hand to try and shield his eyes as the light bursts forth, though he blinks rapidly as though he's still seeing spots. The Little Lambs seem to capitalize on this - two step forward with their brooms and jab at his feet. It isn't long before Giggles trips on one of them and falls onto his bum.

"Agghh! Despicable empties, you all are!" he roars in pain.

[Merilan]

Leptira begs of the blonde man, "P-please, protect us!" though she isn't certain to what extent her magic could influence him. This was all extremely new to her, after all. She turned to Giggles and focused again, extending her hand. "As for you -- may the fey winds guide you to repose!"

Spoiler: Action

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One more time... Slumber!
Also, Charisma check for the request of the blond man: (1d20+2)[19]

[Bhaakon]

Stymied by the hatch, Fisker scrambles ahead to see the commotion in the next room. It doesn't take much observation to figure out what's happening, what with the two thugs trying to cow the crowd of children and Lepitra and Noirin tossing magic about. Fisker raises his bow and aims at this 'Giggles', since "I'll take an arrow to gut over fey winds..." He mumbles, and lets fly.

Spoiler

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Move action into the room, standard to attack giggles:

(1d20+6)[20] assuming PBS, not sure how high that catwalk is.
(1d6+2)[8]

[Vanguardian]

Fiora wasn't really sure what the game between Leptira and the man in red was, but the halfbreed named Giggles was certainly not a friend of theirs. She pulled her blade and assumed a defensive posture between the two and the Lamms without doing something reckless before having the chance to get a better hunch of the situation first. The redcoat was seemingly on their side, but something in his face hunted her to keep a closer eye on him anyway.
"That flail is going into the river with or without you, green face. You make the choice."

[Ceralune]

While Giggles doesn't fall asleep, being knocked over and half-blinded make it hard for him to defend himself, and Fisker's arrow lodges itself in his shoulder, exerting a cry of pain.

The blond man in the red coat looks at Leptira with a blank look on his face at her request, but then scrunches up his face in confusion. "Protect... one of these miserable, sticky children? Why would I, Yargin Balko, esteemed accountant, lower myself to that...?" While he doesn't make any motion to attack Leptira, the arrow suddenly sticking out of Giggles and the threat from Fiora make him narrow his eyes. Still seeming dazed, he moves to defend his comrade on the floor.

He reaches into his pocket with his free hand, and his wand flashes bright green at its tip before it fizzles out harmlessly, producing no result.

Meanwhile, Elly is looking between Yargin and Leptira with surprise, though at his offensive motion she seems to resteel herself. She searches the floor, seeming to look for something, before running up to a small pile of discarded wood and picking out a long plank, brandishing it like a weapon.

Giggles picks himself off of the ground, biting back his pain. He looks very angry right now, and moves towards the Little Lambs as if he'd love to take that anger out on them, muttering to himself, "This must be their fault. Useless pick-pocketers, who also attract bad luck..." Though, with Fiora standing between him and the orphans, he growls and instead goes for her.

The flail swings into her gut, likely sending her unconscious.

Spoiler: OOC

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Yargin makes his opposed Charisma check and uses his wand, but fails.

Elly moves and finds a plank to use as an improvised weapon.

Giggles swings a flail at Fiora and does 10 damage.

[PersonMan]

Sancia rushes forwards, moving along the side of the pool of water and brandishing her weapon, using its length to threaten Giggles from too far for the half-orc to retaliate.

Spoiler: Actions

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Move and attack, weapon in Reach form.

Activating mystic trance for one Eldritch Pool point.

A: (1d20+2)[4]
D: (1d10+3)[12]

[Red_Jenny]

Ducking past Fisker, Noirin drew her rapier. The little halfling was a poor substitute for the armored tiefling, but she wasn't going to stand back and let Gaedren's thugs threaten the orphans or her new friends. She pointed the blade dramatically at the half-orc. "Come on, Giggles! I've wanted to settle this for ages. Or are you too busy gettin' knocked on your ass by children?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Move along the catwalk, move to draw rapier. Swift to activate Quick Hands.

[Ceralune]

The Little Lambs repeat their previous actions, placing their long-handled brooms near Giggles's feet and jabbing at him, causing him to fall over once again.