The Crimson Echo IC

[Darvin]

Dalen maintains his composure as the telepathic communication reverberates in his skull, focusing on the conversation with Garthax, "That's agreeable; I'd rather not waste time haggling. We'll see about further opportunities depending on your performance tonight. There's a tiefling man and shapeshifter woman at large nearby, and they can't have gone far. I need you to stay to the rooftops and scout for them, while I'll follow on foot and incapacitate them when we find them. Stay visible to me so I can follow, but do not alert them to your presence if you spot them. We'll start our sweep in that direction," Dalen points past the roof with the silver spike, already feeling the magic bubbling up from inside him that he planned to unleash on the imp.

Spoiler: OOC

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Bluff check (1d20+9)[25]

Dalen is ready to cast Glitterdust on the Imp to prevent its escape the moment the Pseudodragons are in range, or if the imp attempts to turn invisible before then.

If Garthax can actually spot Miz and/or Silas in the few seconds before the plan comes to fruition, bonus points

[Steveodore]

Miz hissed as the acid splattered onto her. It wasn't nearly as bad as the last time but wasn't something she'd be likely to get used to. Unlike Silas she had no witty rejoinder for their foes, instead of a sharp retort, she had something else for these thugs.

Miz charged up to the cart and snatched at one of the people on board, intent to take a bite out of them.

Spoiler

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Charge attack on the driver of the cart. If I can't reach him then on the other thug lobbing things at us.

Bite attack
(1d20+9)[24]

(1d8+5)[13]

[Stelio Kontos]

Aliani pondered the girl for a moment. How do I get through to you?

"You do have a say in all this, of course. They do too" as he nodded a head at the dozing children, "but I get the sense that you're... a tad more up to speed on things than you let on. Right now I suspect you're wondering what's next -- what the plan is for tomorrow, what you have to do to get out of this."

"The truth is, you don't have to do anything. You think about it, and if you wake up in the morning and you tell me you want to go back to slogging around barrels of fish guts and garbage for that man, waiting to be sent to the docks, or worse...." He gestured toward the door. "No questions asked. But understand that if you do that, I don't give up easily, not any more."

"But I think you can dream a lot bigger than that. Start thinking about what you want to do, instead of what you have to do. I'm here to help with the have to."

[Inspectre]

PiccadillyPi & Steveodore

You both rush forward after the cart, cutting down both of the thugs hanging out the back as they reached down for more vials of acid from the crate. Silas’s target slumps back into the cart bleeding out from a deep cut across his chest, while Miz grabs hold of the man’s shoulder and neck, biting deep enough to taste his life’s blood before bodily dragging the man out of the cart and hurling him into the dust behind her. The two of you are only a few paces behind the cart, and it will only be a few moments more of the chase before you are able to leap aboard. The last surviving thug, glancing over his shoulder and seeing this, opts to go out in a literal blaze of glory.

Abandoning the reins, he bodily hurls him into the back of the cart, grabbing for a specific crate of goods – evidentially one he had packed himself and knew exactly what was contained within. Snatching it up in his fingers, he raises it desperately above his head, and screams at you both.

“STAY BACK OR I’LL BLOW US ALL TO HELL!”

(The last remaining thug grabs up a specific crate from the floor of the cart, and readies an action to smash it and its contents into the floor of the cart where all the other boxes of volatile alchemical items are, if you don’t back off. You are welcome to call his bluff and jump aboard the cart, which will trigger his readied action, or throw things at him, which will not trigger the readied action. Or you can just stop and wait for the now unguided cart to crash in 12-18 seconds. )


Darvin

It is clear from the way the imp fidgets that you’ve got him on the hook. You have no idea how the little **** is planning on making off with another 100 of your gold coins, given he’s already struggling to stay aloft carrying the sack of half that, but the greedy little **** wasn’t going to get the chance to figure that out. Unfortunately, the pseudodragons themselves nearly spoil your plan, by announcing their presence to you *and* the imp as they take flight and close in on the miniature devil.

Prepare thyself for a fiery oblivion, fiend!

“Aw ****, it’s the fuzz! I’m outta here!”

The imp declares, starting to fade out of sight, which is when you promptly bring him back into plain sight by coating him in a heavy blast of magical glitter.

“Aw, my eyes! You dirty traitor mage! I’ll get you for this! And your little raven too!”

The imp declares, but blinded and unable to go invisible, his threats are not particularly impressive. The two dragonkin swoop down upon him moments later, one grabbing the imp by the wings while the other chomps down on its tail, holding the scorpion-like tip still. The imp flails and screeches insults about your parentage, the pseudodragons, and makes more empty threats, until eventually the two dragons drag it over to the silver spike and push it down onto the silver spike. The imp screams, and then melts away into ash as the spike emerges from its tiny chest, killing it and fully disrupting the summoning magics that bound it to this plane of existence. It’d have to wait for another gullible Acadamae student to summon it and fail to enact the familiar binding correctly before it could menace you or anyone else again.

Your sack of money drops from its melting claws, plummeting to the street below, only for one of the pseudodragons to dive down and catch it, flying it over to drop at your feet.

Your coin, good sir. Fear not, that fiend shall never rob you or anyone else again!

A few moments later, a series of cackles come overhead as a trio of imps fly past, swooping around a plume of smoke from a fire several blocks away. The two pseudodragons look at each other, and nod at you.

Pardon us citizen, but it would appear that our work is never done! Majenko and Blackwing, away!

The two pseudodragons speed off into the night after the imps, and you are alone once more. You spend a moment looking around from your above-street-level perch to see if you could find Silas and Miz without the imp’s help.

(Go ahead and make a perception check, DC 20. If you make that, you can look above to see the situation with Silas and Miz, and can contribute if you have any long range spells with greater than, say, 100 feet on its range.)

Stelio Kontos

The halfling girl looks at you, her expression unreadable but her gaze clearly sizing you up for how true your intentions were. She seems at least satisfied by what she sees because she finally nods.

“Alright mister. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, yeah? By the way . . . my name’s Mimzy . . . M-I-M-Z-Y. Try not to forget it.”

Hrm . . . Mimzy. Well, at least now you know the girl’s name. It’s a start, anyway. It seems like your story has finally tired out most of the children, and they seemed used to getting sleep when and where they could get it. Now you just had to figure out where to go from here – the city would undoubtedly still be a mess for days following this, which may make finding the children’s parents or a place that was wiling to take them in difficult. You hoped Beautrice and Nadine were safely on their way to Palin’s Cove and away from all this.

(Anything else you want to do before the gang hopefully gets all back together in another round of posting or two?)

[Stelio Kontos]

"Very well, Mimzy, with a Z. I won't forget. I'd like to know the names of the others, as well, if you don't mind, and likes and dislikes, that sort of thing -- but that can wait until morning."

Aliani did his best to remain as calm as he could with everyone else gone, doing Everbloom-knows-what -- and probably running headlong into danger -- while you're sitting on your hands in here all safe and snug. Outwardly he managed quite well, giving the children remaining awake reassuring smiles as he moved throughout the room. Inwardly, he was a hot mess of guilt and worry. He found himself poking an eye through the small crack along the side of the door frame, pacing back and forth (as quietly as he could so as not to wake the children, of course) -- they needn't know the depths of trouble ahead; that's your job, not hers, certainly not theirs, and grinding his hand 'round the handle end of his morningstar with his knuckles turned bright white. Had he been stronger his grip likely would have turned the well-carved wooden handle into sawdust; instead the grooves themselves began to make their own mark, bending the skin of his fingers to suit their own mold.

Please come home.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm quite done until we can get back together.

[Darvin]

"Thank you for assistance on this perilous evening. I'll leave you to work," Dalen respectfully addresses the pseudodragons, then picks up his gold. He brushes aside the infernal residue on the pouch then quickly pockets it. He then turns to Rhetoric, "fortunately for us, it takes a rather stupid imp to fall for those amateurish traps in the first place. Let's find our way back to safety, get you patched up, and see about picking up where we left off in the morning,"

Dalen surveys the streets, primarily looking for any dangers on his return route home, but also seeing if he can spot Silas or Miz.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception (1d20+4)[22] [for Dalen]
Perception (1d20+8)[9] [for Rhetoric]

Also, a called outsider (which is how familiars are acquired) is dead for real when slain in Pathfinder:

Calling: A calling spell transports a creature from another plane to the plane you are on. The spell grants the creature the one-time ability to return to its plane of origin, although the spell may limit the circumstances under which this is possible. Creatures who are called actually die when they are killed; they do not disappear and reform, as do those brought by a summoning spell (see below). The duration of a calling spell is instantaneous, which means that the called creature can't be dispelled.

Nothing against you running it the other way if you want to do it, just pointing out that's the rules on the matter.

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas

Sick and tired of the night he'd been having, Silas acquiesced. Instead, he resolved to kill him from afar. Tossing his sword from one hand to the other, he retrieved a bladed disc from his belt while keeping a safe distance from the desperate thug. Without so much as a quip he thrust it from his person at the driver.

Spoiler: Chakram v Thug

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Attack: (1d20+6)[22]
Damage: (1d8+3)[9]

Assuming it hit:

Silas turned his head to Nadine and gave her a conceited wink as if to inspire some sort of confidence in the ability of Aliani's allies. More than anything however, it came across as a tad silly - like how a father would wink to their children after having gotten them out of some superfluous sort of trouble with their mother.

[Steveodore]

Miz winced at the implications if this desperate fool followed through with his threat. With noone to guide the horses it was looking like an accident was likely to occur in anycase. At least they should be out of immediate danger if the horses canter on a little further..

As far as Miz could see, the best thing to do would be to get those horses under control, or kill them.. Unfortunately, the lone survivor decided to make himself an obstacle to it.

Spoiler

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If the thug is brought down then Miz with leap onboard the cart an try to reign the cart in. Rolling Acrobatics to get on cart.
(1d20+2)[14]
(1d20+2)[3]

Otherwise throwing a dart at this goon, and run toward cart.
(1d20+5)[16]
(1d4+5)[9]

[Inspectre]

Stelio Kontos

As you are walking around putting the children to sleep, you see Greg sitting on the stairs leading up to house part of Dalen’s shop home. He is mopping at his sweaty brow with a scrap of cloth, but still manages to force a smile when he notices you’ve managed to extract yourself from the children. He seems to notice you in return, and more notably your anxiety as you grip the handle of your Morningstar and pace back and forth.

“It’s hard being powerless, isn’t it? To see what’s to come, and yet be unable to do anything about it?”

Greg gives a knowing nod at this, making his comment sound more like commiseration than accusation.

“Times like these, you need friends that you can rely on. And don’t worry mister, Mr. Rittle is the best possible friend you can have in a time like this. He’ll fix it.”

(Just giving you something to do while the others regroups and come back in! With a fresh new problem to solve! )

Darvin

Spoiler: OOC

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Ah. I thought Call familiar was some weird middle ground between the two. Probably should have looked at the keywords and the spell description a bit more closely. Well okay then, he’s good and dead for a silly length of time then!

Rhetoric caws an affirmative at returning home, too aggravated from pain and being ambushed in the first place to use human words. The pseudodragons give you a sort of wingover salute, and then they are off, searching for fresh prey. The tricked imp continues to hang from the silver spike, slowly dribbling ash as his body dissolves away into nothingness.

Sparing one last glance at the streets below, you are forced to stop as your eyes catch a glimpse of a laden cart racing down a street several blocks away. The driver is slumped back over the seat, leaving the cart out of control, at least until Miz jumps aboard and heroically pulls the horse’s reins back, getting it to stop. Silas joins her a few moments later, along with a woman you don’t immediately recognize given the distance. So, they’re still alright, and arguably on their way back this way, perhaps.

Unfortunately, there’s a problem – from the street just in front of your shop, you see the hellhound that the Hellknights had left suddenly pick up its head and sniff the air experimentally, before totting off in the general direction of Miz & Silas. That suggests they may have had something to do with the attack on the Hellknights, and if so, they were going to be walking right into that hellhound’s jaws.

PiccadillyPi & Steveodore

Silas wordlessly throws a chakram, and his aim is true, catching the man right in the neck. He slumps with a wet gurgle of surprise, dropping the crate and surely jostling the contents, but definitely not as much as if he had smashed it. Driverless, the cart continues on down the street, coming up on a sharp turn in the street that the cart would not make at its present speed.

Miz leaps aboard the cart a second after the man is down, struggling to keep her balance between all of the crates and bodies in the back of the cart as it goes over bumps and potholes in the cobblestones. But she manages to reach the front of the cart and pull back on the reins in time to avoid any unfortunate accidents. Once again this evening, you are heroes! . . . of a sort. There’s still the question of what to do with the cart loaded down with alchemical goods, which is probably now the sole remaining property of whoever owned the alchemist’s shop, and of course, Nadine. The ballerina simply rolls her eyes at Silas’s wink, although it does seem to be an over-exaggerated motion, as if meant for the stage rather than actual use (she’s playing along).

In the distance, the growl of some mongrel dog can be heard, followed by the baying of a hound in the midst of a hunt. But for the moment at least, it seems that you are alone in this side street with Nadine, the cart, and possibly the still-living-but-bleeding-out arsonist thugs who started this whole chase.

[Stelio Kontos]

Stelio Kontos

As you are walking around putting the children to sleep, you see Greg sitting on the stairs leading up to house part of Dalen’s shop home. He is mopping at his sweaty brow with a scrap of cloth, but still manages to force a smile when he notices you’ve managed to extract yourself from the children. He seems to notice you in return, and more notably your anxiety as you grip the handle of your Morningstar and pace back and forth.

“It’s hard being powerless, isn’t it? To see what’s to come, and yet be unable to do anything about it?”

You have no idea.

“Times like these, you need friends that you can rely on. And don’t worry mister, Mr. Rittle is the best possible friend you can have in a time like this. He’ll fix it.”

(Just giving you something to do while the others regroups and come back in! With a fresh new problem to solve! )

"It's good to hear you say that about Mr. Rittle. I'm looking forward to working with him. But listen, don't ever tell yourself you can't do anything about it. If everyone thought that, nothing would ever get done, right?" Aliani replied, a self-deprecating look growing on his visage.

"But yes, since you mentioned it, I am experiencing a rather overwhelming sense of inadequacy right about now."

[Darvin]

"They... they wouldn't have been so stupid, would they?" Dalen whispers to himself as his eyes dart back and forth between the cart and the hellhound, the adverse conclusion being unshakable. He didn't have much in the way of magic, and they didn't have much in the way of time.

Dalen carefully estimates the distances involved. If he can reach Silas and Miz before the hellhound gets into sight and flag them down that would be ideal, but if he cannot, he'd need to send Rhetoric ahead to warn them to detour. Either way, his hand deftly moves into his pocket to withdraw one of his scrolls. Silent image is less than useful against a creature with a good nose. He already had a plan bubbling up in the back of his mind, but he needed to reach them before the hellhound did if it was to have any chance of working.

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas

Without much delay, Silas jogged up to the cart to retrieve his property from the dying thug, wiping off the blood on the cleaner portions of the man's clothes, before walking further down the road in the direction of Aliani's abode. He gave a quick nod to Miz, encouraging her to do as she pleased. He didn't much care to follow this rabbit hole all the way down. Too many conspiracies already filled his plate - why add another? Better to blow the thing safely and end it there.

Stopping plenty of paces from the alchemical tinder, Silas turned to Nadine.

'We shall arrive at our dear Mr. Rose's residence within a few minutes, but I hope to know you better during this brief intermission. Darling, if you do not mind: who are "they"?'

A sudden sound of dogs in the area put Silas on edge. He had just performed a hit-and-run on a knight of the Nail. His ears flicked in the direction of the growls, sensing a certain amount of dread in his stomach. The striped tiefling never much liked dogs - not that they enjoyed his company either. Not much of a pet person in all respects, but dogs were especially low on the list of likely friends. Still, it was just a stupid animal. Unless it was leading a small search party, it didn't pose much of a threat to the skills of this particular ranger.

Spoiler: OOC

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Actively keeping an ear out for the sound of Hellknights: (1d20+6)[7]

Would Silas recognize the sound of hellhounds? Given his backstory of dealing with an infernal heritage, etc. I'll roll just in case.

Knowledge (arcane / nature / planes / religion): (1d20+1)[6]

No tears will be shed if he hasn't a dang clue.

[Steveodore]

After bringing the cart safely to a halt, Miz threw down the reins and hopped to the back of the cart again. She frowned down at the bodies, thinking of what to do, she rummaged through their pouches and coats while thinking. She assumed they worked for Lamm, she didn't really know for sure but it seemed pretty likely. Even if she squeezed a location out of these thugs, they would have a limited window to act on it, and she was too spent to raid another place tonight. No doubt by the time they gathered themselves to attack this hypothetical location, the drop off would likely be scrapped, With the Nailknights running amok, you can never be too paranoid.

As it is, she already had that alchemist of Lamm's tucked away, she wasn't interested in starting a bloody collection! Miz decided this was tidy enough a victory for her before helping herself to some spoils. Leaving their unfortunate victims to bleed out, Miz turned her attention to the carts less leaky contents. She quickly pried open boxes and dug through them, filling her pockets and bag with the lovelier wares.

Miz's ears perked up at the ominous howling, they were pretty conspicuous here, it be best to get moving soon. Having loaded up enough to her satisfaction, Miz ran over to Silas and company.

"Oi, we movin' out or do y'want ta do away with the cart? I'd take a moment ta get it done, and after we'd haff ta really leg it."

Spoiler

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Miz searches the soon to be corpes then takes a bunch of stuff from the cart. Not sure whats in there besides splash weapons.

Roll perception for search.

(1d20+8)[20]

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas

'Yes, but move it back to the alchemist's shop or elsewhere so that it cannot cause too much harm.'

[Steveodore]

Miz made a rude sound in the back of her throat.

"I'm not keen ta stick around this longer then I haff ta. Takin' it back is a definite no, that shop is no doubt a bonfire now an' attractin' all sorts of attention."

She glared back at the cart, thinking.

"Here's an idea. We cut the horses free, leave, and make it the bucketheads' problem. Hellknights or the guard will find it sooner or later, meanwhile, with no horses, lootin' it is goin' be a slog."

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas

The tiefling mulled over whatever consequences that could arise from such irresponsibility. As many as there were, Miz had influence enough to sway Silas' judgement.

'Do as necessary. We must hurry ourselves back to Mr. Rose. Those boys from the Nail should be somewhat dispersed by noww - if they're not searching for me.'

[Inspectre]

Stelio Kontos

Greg nods at your urging to never simply sit by and watch the world burn.

“It took a while for me to learn that lesson for myself, but Mr. Rittle helped teach that to me. I’m still not sure what I can do about anything of . . . this.”

The man says, waving his hand towards the window.

“But at least now I know that the only solution isn’t to be found in the bottom of a vial of Shiver. You or Mr. Rittle need me to do something, and I’ll help however I can. Sometimes it’s important to know what you can and can’t do though. I don’t know of any person who could fix this mess on their own, but I’m sure Mr. Rittle and yourself will give it a good try.”

Darvin

As you hurry your way back down to street level after making a mental note of the pair’s relative position to you, you debate sending Rhetoric out to warn them of the threat. Certainly, he’d be able to get there much faster than you, not needing to weave through streets and back alleys, and a bird’s wings were always faster than a man’s legs. But . . . Garthax the Idiotic’s unprovoked assault gave you pause, as did the dull sensation of pain drifting into your mind from Rhetoric. He was hurting, and while he could still fly it was certainly not with his usual adroitness. If he was attacked by another imp or some idiot with a crossbow on his short flight, that could very well be the end of him.

(Rhetoric is at half his normal HP total, which I believe should be 1/4th of your own max HP, and down to 8 Dex).

Of course, you may not have a choice in the matter, as you duck into a side alley that should let you cut several minutes off of your trip that would be spent traveling down to where the main streets linked up with each other, only to discover it was occupied. Specifically, by two less-than-savory gentlemen pounding the Hell out of a third man, one holding him up against the wall near the far exit of the alleyway while the second unleashed a flurry of punches into their victim’s stomach.

“Last chance, pal! You pay up now, or the guard is gonna have another body to haul away to the Grey tomorrow!”

The holding thug sneered, while the puncher stopped his assault for a moment . . . which gave him the free time to turn his head and notice you standing at the near exit to the alleyway, perhaps 40’ away from the trio.

“Oi! Get the Hells out of ‘ere or you’re next chap!”

PiccadillyPi & Steveodore

Fortunately or not, Silas does not believe that the Hellknights are barring down on you – for now – and that the growling in the distance is just some random feral mutt turned out of its cozy back-alley home by all the carnage around you. At Silas’s question, Nadine bristles, another loose brick held in one hand, blood-coated dagger in the other.

“My ex-paramour and his new friends! They’re part of some gang, call themselves the Dusters, I guess on account of these long heavy leather coats they wear? Kynndor wasn’t there with them, which is how they grabbed Beautrice and not me. Idiot jumped out of the carriage after they stopped it and claimed to be me, so they grabbed her! Then when one of them opened my side of the carriage, I . . . I, um, pulled out this dagger I got from Aliani and I . . . stabbed him. Well, I guess it was more of a slash actually – I just know that I got him along the arm, and he let go of me. Then I shoved him away from the door and just started running. I just . . . I just left her there, in the hands of those animals.”

For a moment it looked like Nadine was going to tear up, but then she smothered it with a fresh burst of adrenaline and rage.

“That’s why I have to find Aliani! I know where they’ll have taken her, and if we don’t go rescue her – tonight – then I may never see her again! I *can’t* lose her – I won’t! So either you help me get to Aliani Rose, or I will start walking to his place on my own again!”

Meanwhile, Miz keeps digging through the crates and rifles through the pockets of the thugs. Whoever these guys were, they apparently believed in operational security - which suggested that maybe they didn’t work for Lamm after all given the quality of the people he usually hired to do his dirty work. In any event, there was no identifying belongings or marks on the group, who were armed with a hodgepodge of daggers, clubs, and staves that could have come from anywhere. None of them even had any pocket change on them.

Miz turns her attention to the crates littering the floor of the cart, and finds that their contents are equally varied. With her claws and considerable strength, it doesn’t take much work to pry off the top of each crate, but they are packed together tightly enough that with the bodies of the bleeding out unidentifiable thieves also taking up space it’s slow going. She manages to get three more crates open in addition to the one still sitting open just behind the driver’s seat, containing four more flasks of acid inside its straw-packed interior. The first is filled with another half dozen flasks of acid, the next with half a dozen flasks of alchemist’s fire, and the third has ten pellets of impact foam. There are still half a dozen crates sitting on the floor of the cart as yet unopened, but the angry growling of that dog is getting closer, Nadine is clearly losing her patience for further delay, and people are starting to appear in the street, keeping their distance but clearly curious about what was going on with a cart covered in bodies and being looted by an Undercity dweller.

1. Acid x 10
2. Alchemist’s Fire x 6
3. Impact Foam Pellets x 10
4. Mystery Crates x 6

(You may continue looting if you wish, torch the rest, or sling a crate over your shoulder to find out what it carries later. Just keep in mind carrying capacity! Also, that “totally normal stray dog” will be arriving shortly if you continue to tarry here opening up crates.)

[Darvin]

"I don't have time for this nonsense," Dalen seethes as he shoos Rhetoric back into his bag and calls upon the one spell he didn't want to have to expend, then vanishes from sight.

Spoiler: OOC

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Stowing Rhetoric in my inventory, then casting invisibility on myself, then making a break for Silas and Miz

Stealth check if necessary to get past these goons (1d20+5)[6]
(edit: oh joy. Still invisible, though)

[Stelio Kontos]

Aliani pondered that, turning very somber for a good long minute. Finally, the dam of silence broke.

"I shouldn't have let him go, should I? I should be out there with them all. They're out there pulling people out of the river and running into burning buildings and I'm hiding in here lecturing you about 'doing something about it'. Damn it all, I'm such an ass..."

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas

The dapper ranger leaned back with a twist for his comrade.

'Do hurry! We haven't the time for any more lollygagging!'

Turning back to his current company, Silas gave a kind gesture to advance.

'I apologize. A lovely lamb such as yourself and your sister shouldn't be subject to such barbarisms. Let us go on with haste to our dear rose.'

As they moved, Silas pondered the name of the gang in an attempt to recall any information he may have heard - perhaps in bed - in passing. The growling was a little distracting, but nothing terribly concerning.

Spoiler: OOC

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Knowledge (local): to recall information regarding the Dusters.
Take 10 = 15.
If I need to roll: (1d20+5)[11]

[Steveodore]

Miz gave Silas a nod before stepping over to the head of the cart. Leaving the lady to Silas, Miz worked quickly on the horses, she cut their reins free and gave them cruel jabs with her claws to send them on their way.

As an afterthought she hefted one more crate over her shoulder before following after Silas and company. Her ears prickling more and more the longer they tarried here.

Spoiler

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At least until Her mutagen ends her light load capacity is 133 lb, it will go down to 76 lb afterward. if her load is medium then her walk speed will be down to 15ft per round. Currently her load is 91lb plus the crate.

[Inspectre]

Darvin

(That’s still a total result of a 26, which I imagine is a *bit* more than what a couple low-level punks will be able to overcome. )

You stow Rhetoric and vanish from sight with a single arcane utterance, prompting a reaction of shock from the thug menacing you. As he calls out in alarm to his companion, the other thug holding their victim turns his gaze away to look at you. Which gives their “victim” enough freedom to pull a knife out of his pocket – actually, knife might be too generous since it seems more like a shard of glass or folded piece of metal, so shiv then – and plunges it into the stomach of the man holding him. Now there’s a *real* chaotic brawl at the end of the alleyway, and while invisible that does not mean one of the tangled combatants couldn’t stumble into you and/or plant a knife in your own guts.

Still, this was the fastest route to your destination, time was of the essence, and being able to see your opposition while they could not see you should give you a sizable advantage. Moving forward down the alleyway, you weave past the trio and manage to avoid getting stabbed. Unable to spare any further time, you refuse to get involved in the situation and hurry down the street while you hear the last thug pummel the victim in the head with a loose brick while his comrade groans and tries to hold his intestines inside of himself.

Coming up on where you had last seen Miz & Silas, you discover that you are not too late. Silas is talking to a young lady in a blood-smeared dress that you recognize as one of the Engel sisters from last night – she looked like she had been having a bad day. Miz, meanwhile, was slinging a large wooden crate up onto one shoulder and descending from a cart that held several other such crates and also half a dozen bodies. Evidentially the two of them had been busy tonight. They obviously had not noticed your presence yet due to your invisibility, but had noticed the approach of the hell hound as the beast was now growling and barking furiously from just the next street over. You did not have a lot of time to enact your deception.

Stelio Kontos

At your self-deprecation, Greg chuckles and nods.

“The thought had occurred to me as well, but no . . . there’s a lot more ways to help than just pulling people out of burning buildings, you know. You kept those kids calm and focused on your story, rather than on what was going on outside. I wouldn’t have been able to do that myself. I rather suspect I’d have made a hash of it if you were out there and I had to try to do it on my own, and then we’d have had a bunch of scared kids running off into the streets because that’s what they know how to do to survive, instead of staying in here where it’s – well, relatively safer.”

PicadillyPi & Steveodore

Silas ponders the gang name that Nadine had just given him, and realizes that he has heard of it before. The Dusters were a rather violent group of criminals easily identified by their namesake long leather coats. Kynndor Thok is apparently a recent recruit to the gang, and while he now served as their face he was not their actual leader. Frankly, the whole gang should have been rounded up by the guard by now, but due to a history of intimidating witnesses with extreme violence no one was willing to testify against members of the gang, and thus the Dusters remained in operation. It seemed unlikely that Beautrice would live through this experience once Kynndor realized his men had kidnapped the wrong sister.

Meanwhile, Miz frees the draft horse from the cart, sending it trotting off down the road before shoving some of the alchemical goods into her bag and slinging one of the crates over her shoulder. It seemed like it was time to move on out of here, and just in time too – the growling and howls of the dog, whatever it was, were now coming from very close by and had reached a fever pitch.

[Stelio Kontos]

That seemed to calm Aliani a bit, if only for a moment; a little color -- not much, mind you -- even came back into those knuckles. He began to speak, calmly at first, but the agitation returned to his voice as he began to ramble on; ever so slightly, he even slipped a bit out of character just for the briefest second.

"That's nice of you to say. I think I'm still getting the easy end of this and they're doing magnificent things putting themselves in actual danger out there right now and I, yes it's better than nothing but I mean, we haven't done much for them yet, I still need to get them some proper clothing, and they look really hungry, and they need a proper home and I have no idea what to do about that! I was thinking maybe seeing into the sanctuary of Shelyn, as a start, but who knows if their doors are even open or if they'll take them or if they'll be happy there, I don't want them to feel like they're just getting trapped from one place to another one, I'm certainly in no position to take care of them with everything that's going on and we have so so much to do but I can't very well just abandon them back to the streets so if that doesn't work then it's just... I don't ... I've never done this before."

Stopping to take a deep breath, trying not to let himself get completely overwhelmed, he gave Greg -- he still didn't have his name yet, mind you, but it was nice that Dalen had succeeded with the latest of his reclamation projects at least -- a smile. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. Listen, it's late, if you want to head to bed, I'll wait up for them, I'm not going to get any sleep tonight anyway."

[Darvin]

As Dalen rushes out of the alley, he gives a shout back to confuse the ruffians, "more hellknights! Run!" he doesn't look back to see if his ruse works, more focused on his compatriots.

He emerges from the alley and immediately seeks out Silas and Miz, drawing close so he doesn't need to raise his voice to be heard, "Silas, Miz, this is Dalen. We've only got a few moments before a hellhound will be upon us. We need a decoy. Dress that unconscious man in your coat so he smells like you. I'll create a magical horse for him, and we'll send him running past the hellhound while we make our own escape," not waiting to hear their replay, Dalen begins casting his mount spell.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Bluff check for Dalen's ruse with the ruffians (1d20+9)[10] (getting the natural 1's out of the way )

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas

Taken aback by the sudden appearance of Dalen, Silas listened to his commands. However, he hesitated to lose his coat.

'But... this is my favourite coat.'

Between the gold spent on recovering from a hellhound and the time it would take to have another coat made, the dandy slumped in several directions over a few seconds to childishly display is displeasure. Holding his cuffs as if to say goodbye he disrobed and slung the coat onto the man in the alley. There was some delay from the awkwardness of lifting the man onto the horse. Of course he emptied the pockets too. Wouldn't want to lose anything in fire.

Without the coat, his dirtied cuffs off-set his clean cobalt clothes and armor. Not one to delay emergencies, Silas followed Dalen's lead - encouraging the others to do the same - with a slight question.

'I don't suppose I'll be getting that back?'

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Free roll in case it's needed: (1d20)[12]

Not sure if anything would need it.

[Steveodore]

Miz flattened her ears at the sound of Dalen's voice. His news only made her more alarmed. She hissed out a curse in Silas' direction as she dropped her box to the ground.

"Damn yer coat whiskers! There's plenty more ta lose if that devil catches up."

This sort of thing was the reason she gave hellknights a wide berth. She was damn lucky she had survived as long as she did running around with Dahl.

She went to help Silas get one of the poor bastards on the cart ready for what Dalen had in mind.

"If this works, don't think you'll be too keen fer what's left of it."

[Inspectre]

Everyone!

Silas takes off his coat, Miz grabs a body, and Dalen summons a mount.
You get Silas's coat slung over the still warm corpse's shoulders, and then Dalen sends the Mount off down the street perpendicular to your own route back to his shop.
As you hurry away from the scene, you can hear the angry barking and snarling fading into the distance, as the hellhound chases after the scent of a dead man.
You arrive back in the wizard's shop without further incident to find that Greg and the children have all gone to bed, but Aliani is still up, waiting for you all to return.
Upon seeing the playwright, the blood-stained ballerina immediately rushes over to him, crushing the wind out of his lungs in a desperate hug.

"Aliani, oh Aliani! It's terrible - they have her! Kynndor Thok has Bea! He's gonna kill her, we have to rescue her!"

Nadine explains, the words tumbling out in a panicked rush while she continues to squeeze the breath out of him.
When it finally registers that Aliani probably can't talk right now, Nadine shifts her grip rather than relinquishing it, switching from his waist to his hand, practically dragging him out the door.

"Come on, we have to hurry! I know where she'll be but if we don't go save her RIGHT NOW I know my sister will be dead by morning! PLEASE!"

[PiccadillyPi]

Silas

In an effort to expedite the rescue, in part due to Aliani not owning any fitting frocks, Silas only gave himself a single line in this dialogue:

'Lead the way.'

[Darvin]

Dalen slumps down in the nearest chair to catch his breath. Physical and mental exhaustion were creeping up on him. Upon hearing this latest revelation, he throws his head back. Without making eye contact, he remarks, "you do what you need to do,"

[Stelio Kontos]

Satisfied that everyone was asleep, Aliani had taken the time to give his cloak the appropriate shake to remove the disguise he'd been wearing all day; a second bit of textile-based magic later, he was back in his normal clothing as well. It was an old shirt, sure, and one of the buttons went missing last week -- he'd meant to take the time to fix that, but who had the time? -- and the pants -- well, they weren't in great shape to start with, but the small holes ripped in them by acid earlier in the day meant that they were simply not suitable for public wear. Fortunately the sleeves took care of that. It's not like he had kept much clothing around the house anyway.

Truth be told, sleep had started to win the fight in these past few minutes, though it was a struggle over the tag team of indescribable panic and looming dread; he'd begun pacing the room again to keep himself upright, but found his mind starting to wander... what time is it anyway? Wasn't I over there a minute ago? -- when the door opened. His brief smile of joy as the group opened the door -- he whispered loudly "You're back! Oh, I'm so happy, is anyone hurt, I don't have much left bu--" was interrupted by a flying tackle from -- wait, what? Why is ... yeah, that's Nadine ... here? Thok? Her?

Well, he was awake again. It took a couple of seconds for the words to sink in, which was just as well, otherwise he'd have been just as panicked as she was, and that wasn't going to do anyone any good. Time to pretend he knew what he was doing.

"Nadine, stop for a moment. Stop. First of all, there's people sleeping. Second, just... wait a minute. We need a plan. Take a deep breath, talk slowly, we'll get it figured out, and then we'll go. We're in the company of some of the most brilliant, most powerful, most fearless people I've ever met." In short, they're everything you wished you were, Aliani.

"It'll be okay. Start from why aren't you on a wagon twenty miles from here?"