As You Command IC

[Dusk Raven]

Behind her mask, Maiabel's eyes widen. "Of-of course, my lord," she says. She considers drawing her blades, but elects not to, preferring a pair of free hands in order to potentially wrest the crown from her lord's head.

What else could be done?

[JbeJ275]

With a steady hand, the crown is lowered onto Lamork's brow. For a second, the room is left quite as nothing occurs, then Lamorak feels an intense pain in his temples as dozens of voices voices rip into his awareness.

"...better to be laid on the head of his bro... nothing of worth here, the poor deluded f.... haps, to see the third basti...... Yesss!.... another chance to pl.... not even one of them sworn to .... an this time, blood touched by angels, soul touched b... ow that one is clearly lying about th.... ition, that's all that really matters... ool should know you can't rule from the s... art on the councils, but two are no beter tha..."


Then, over the course of a few quick seconds they quiet, almost immedietly to the point of unheard murmurs, then to apparent silence. With that the pain fades as well and Lamorak is left with a distinct awareness of the crown's weight. Seeming far heavier on his brow than it ever did in his hands. So to does he have some awareness of the magic of the crown. He can further tell it's still incomplete, that finding those scattered gems would empower it further and that it can confer other blessings to a ruler of sufficient quality.

As of now, the Crown confers a constant magical effect, equivilent to either a Crown of Protection spell or a Crown of Might with three charges of their discharge effect daily. Further each of the gems carries their own magical effect and bestows it onto you, one spell of Nondetection one spell of True Seeing and one Spell of Death Ward. Each time the crown channels the power through a gem it cannot cast another spell from any of the gems for 24 hours.

Further the crown contains a warning, put it aside eternally or relenquish your kingship and it will bring great judgement upon you. For now, if you should put it aside and don it never again it shall weaken you but leave you alive. Should you wield its powers, then turn away from it that shall be the last motion you will ever live to make. Further, should you ever willingly submit to another, when they know who you are or with honest intention to stay their loyal mongrel, the crown will shun you in turn.

[MrAbdiel]

Spoiler: Welcome to Crown Town, OOC

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Cool! Let me make sure I understand:

I choose at... the start of the day, perhaps, whether it's projecting a lingering effect as a Crown of Protection or a Crown of Might spell. Whichever is chosen, I have three uses of the active flex of that power per day.

There are also three gems, each with their corresponding spell. Once per 24 hours, I can cast one of those spells. Is that about right?

Lamorak's eyes squeeze shut; his eyes moving rapidly beneath the lids. After six long seconds, his eyes blink open again, and he seems - unchanged. He looks breifly to Maiabel's mask, perhaps to reassure her that her service is not, at least immediately, required; and the impact of that hypothetical burden can remain untested.

"...There's power in it; there is no lie. I suppose we'll see the fullness of it, in time. But for now..."

Moving back to the throne, with its radiating spears haloing him, the Lord Protector settles onto the seat. "Nothing we do will mean anything if the forces, and our people, are faced with starvation and destitution. A strong heel will control a rambunctious population for a time; but eventually, they'll eat the boot right off your foot. We need some land-wealth that attracts taxable colonists and produces sustainable industry. We need druids, or geomancers, to change the quality of the island to something better. Before crisis strikes; before our enemies have the strength to hem us in. Here are my orders."

His eyes look first to Cypher; the Lord Protector's mind apparently clear on what must be done. "Cypher. Walk among the people, soldiers and support alike, and sift them for skills. We have demanded steel and courage of them; but now we need more. As you go, tell them this: 'Each man and woman who demonstrates and practices a skill that brings value to the Protectorate will be called Citizen of the Protectorate. All who are called citizen have the right to please a case of offense to me; and I will visit my punishment on those who violate the interests of my citizens.' Make a group of hunters and landsmen, and send them to Sharkan. A small group of those who can write and have the means to do so, send to Maiabel for a time; after which they will return to your service. For yourself, men capable with measures who will be able to assist you in making a comprehensive survey of the island. Any sliver of hidden wealth, you must find. Every narrow pass or marshy land that can be used to defend this place when the wolves come, you must detect. We must master this domain, to rule from it."

He looks to the Rakshasa-blooded tyrant-culinary. "Sharkan. The resident forces have settled in to the area around the castle; but without farms up and running at a sustainable scale, we deflect famine before it reaches our door. Take the men Cypher sends to you, and go about the island discovering each plant and creature that can be gathered and prepared when our stores run out. In time, people will come to you and say 'there is nothing to eat'. You must be ready to tell them the way in which they are wrong. Those who demonstrate the capacity to draw sustenance from this land will be called Citizen."

Finally, his eyes turn to Maiabel. "Maiabel. Have the writers that Cypher sends you compose scrolls giving offers of land and opportunity to men and women of any nation who bring ships, and crew, to the protectorate. Any who works a fishing vessel here for six months will be called Citizen. Speak to the Master of Ships, and have him deliver such scrolls to the hulls of foreign fishing vessels by way of his best archer's bow. Then return to me. While Cypher and Sharkan discover the island's secrets and bounty, you and I will take survey of the castle. One day, we will fight for our lives here again. We must be well situated to do so; we cannot rely on another miracle."

With this, he falls silent. International allies. Raids for serfs, or resources... All important. All, for now, must wait.

[Waistcoatwill]

Cypher lets his prepared dispel attempt dissipate with no small amount if relief. As Lamorak speaks to their new purpose, Cypher casts his mind's eye over his existing files on the populace. The prospect of further tabulation and cross referencing is as familiar and comfortable as a favourite blanket.

It shall be done Lord Protector. We shall utilise or resources to their utmost extent.

Spoiler: Actions

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I assume it will take days to weeks to do this? He should have 3 IP left after using his Arcane Dilettante Spells at any rate.

Profession: Spymaster to get the lowdown on their peons skills plus Cunning Knowledge for 1IP.
(1d20+25)[38]

Knowledge Geography in case that is relevant to surveying the island, also plus Cunning Knowledge for 1 IP.
(1d20+20)[29]

He'll use whatever spare time he has each day to start deciphering and transcribing some of his scrolls into his spellbook. He passes the spellcraft check for level 1 and 2 spells on a 1. 8 hours to understand a scroll, plus 24 hours to transcribe it into his spellbook. He'll start with Karmic Aura.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

*Sharkan gives a low bow*

"Of course my liege, your plans are Purrrfectly exquisite."

Spoiler: Spoiler Actions

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Sharkan will go about the island as told.

Gather Information (1d20+8)[11]
Handle Animal (1d20+6)[13]
Knowledge Local (1d20+2)[4]
Profession Cook (1d20+10)[18]
Search (1d20+2)[21]
Spot (1d20+3)[17]
Survival (1d20+2)[16]

[JbeJ275]

What follows is two weeks of constant activity, always pushed just to the edge of frantic activity by the memory that this could be what sets you up to turn the tide of this war, even when the activities themselves seem so calm and mundane.

Sharkan, as the newest of your council to this region, and with little knowledge of the natural world struggles in his task. As far as you can tell the few flat open areas not already built on that may be suitable for farming tend to be close to the ocean, where the only water that feeds them is brackish and saline, unsuitable for growing grains. The few locals grow a crop here called Samphire, which despite its unusual taste you manage to ensure is somewhat more palatable, and several of those Cypher gathers aid in an expansion of this crop, but it will at most slow the effects of hunger that begin to set in. You have more fortune looking not to the island but to the surrounding seas, seals are known to winter here en mass, and some are to be found here every season, while hunting enough to contribute meaningfully to the food stores would diminish the population all to quickly, it's another tool to keep hunger at bay that much longer. You are also told of shellfish being plentiful in the seas around the island, but that they are too deep in water too tumultuous for any but those that settle on the safest fringes to be harvested safely.

Cypher is met with a less ambiguous success, while you hardly had the opportunity to pick out the most skilled supporters during Lamorak's first bid for power, and lost more in the retreat and the brutal battles preceding the miracle that same core of the ambitious, the desperate and the devoted shares an expansive skill set among them. Much of the surviving heavy cavalry was the third or fourth sons of nobles, and retain knowledge of keeping books or surveying land, and you split them between yourselves and Maiabell. As for Sharkan, while there are few successful farmers who followed you this far, many always got by in part by scavenging, and perfected their art during the war and the following retreat, and can be trusted not to overlook sources of food.

As for your own survey, the land is poor in metals but the salts that hinder farming could be extracted and then turned to wealth with the right trading partner. Further there are deposits in the swamps and caves of some strange salt which would easily be overlooked, but you identify as saltpetre. It's a fertiliser that would be useful if you had any land in which to use it, and both the Dwarf Holds on the Eastern Coast and the Stormkeep would seek to buy immense amounts of it as well, for some service in the immense alchemical workshops that equipped their armies. Defensively the island itself is rather ideal, covered in brackish swamps and barren hills, with vast hills and cave networks in the centre, some of which could not have been better shaped to serve as defensive terrain against any attacker from below. The issue being that the castle itself was made to guard the useful land, and in one direction there's more or less a straight approach from the best landing ground on the island towards the castle walls without any obvious defences there. Enveloping the castle entirely would be much more difficult, and if you were forced to disperse into the wilds of this island you could force a great cost on any attackers, but going that far would at the moment do nothing more than sentence you to starvation.

Maiabel dutifully carries out her orders, but sees little in the way of immediate results. It takes a great deal of time patrolling the water to find fishing boats, but your fleet is dispersed and set to the task. The most interesting reports to far are only those that watch them, who lets them in and who challenges their arrival.

Your expeditions deeper into the castle are comparatively far more interesting, while the outer rooms have been picked over by your soldiers for anything not nailed down already, the underground centre of the castle has been relatively untouched up until this point. While Maiabell misses it in her focus on guarding you, you find a passageway deeper into rooms below the castle, behind a pile of collapsed rock and stonework. The passageway is lined by what once might have been magical lights, a rare feature in modern castles though the effect here seems to have worn off. Exploring the rest, with torch in hand is slow going, and many doorways here have collapsed and will need to be excavated before you can explore fully, but even what you've found already could be used either as a final rebout in case the castle falls under attack or else for storage of more secretive or sensitive projects.

Spoiler: OOC

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OK, that's your actions resolved. Ask any questions and specify any actions you want to and I'll roll the rest of the world forward and see if any of that catches up with you.

[MrAbdiel]

Lamorak has a measured disappointment that no one turns up an immediate remedy to the oncoming suffering, but is mostly satisfied. They have done, and are doing, the most they can to prepare for the invader, Famine.

The saltpetre is the biggest game changer; and pushes him into consideration, and then action again.

"This will be our best source of wealth, at least for a long time; and we cannot afford the wait to slowly master it. Prepare yourselves for a clandestine mission - our next step is before us. We will abduct and cage someone who has already done that labor."

Spoiler: New Objective!

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We're not doing much with that saltpetre without excellent alchemists.
And the quickest way to get those is to stuff them into a sack and run off. Also I figure an infiltrate and extract mission might be a fun challenge for us! I'll let Cypher make the roll to decide if, and where, this is most possible. But it's only the Vanadians who have cannons, I think; or in large supply. But the Ordranans have some mad good alchemists...

[JbeJ275]

You depart the following day, a swift westward wind carrying you towards those foreign shores, the decks are much emptier than the start of your last expedition, the massed marines are absent but this is a very different sort of mission and they are less necessary even than they were when you last deployed them. Instead three men armed with blades lower a smaller boat into the water, ready to take you to shore, prepared to guard the craft until you return. Some ways up the coast is a cove, capable of letting your ship close enough to shore to allow you to directly access the ship, but having the flagship sail there would definitely give away your entrance. Down the coast lies the undercity, a series of immense forges, mines, sweatshops and slums that feed the great city beyond.

You know the land between you and the undercity isn't really guarded, but the mistakes of elven arcanists living lives of hubris and plenty ensure it remains plenty dangerous on its own. The undercity itself is patrolled by golems, and those elves who are young and seek to prove themselves, or who have been assigned there after a misstep in the intricate games of politics. They ensure order, and that no-one will steal or destroy those Ordanan resources, especially the landsmen.

Besides that little is known, except that your kingdom is a much worthier commander of those resources. And so you make your way towards shore, the first light of dawn just catching the retreating form of your flagship as you push forward almost alone.

[Waistcoatwill]

Prior to the voyage, Cypher sets us a small workshop for getting the saltpetre production planning underway. He sets to work, with unseen hands quickly taking over his task. His attendees seem slightly perturbed at following the instructions and diagrams of an invisible spirit, but know well enough by now to keep any objections quiet.

Cypher then turns his thoughts to what intel he has on the decadent realm of Odran, to identify the weaknesses of their construct guardians, as well as any help guide them to whom they seek in the undercity.

Spoiler: Actions

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Taking 10 on the Craft alchemy check plus Cunning Knowledge for a total of 25.
Casting Unseen Crafte as an arcane dilettante, which can take 10 for a 17 on Craft Alchemy to continue setting things up for saltpetre production.

Profession Spymaster to gain intel on the undercity (plus Cunning Knowledge): (1d20+25)[30]

Knowledge Arcana to help them pre-empt some general strengths/weaknesses of golems they might encounter (using his 4th IP for Cunning Knowledge): (1d20+24)[37]

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Sharkan is most displeased to be pushing to the shore, but accepts it as his duty. He has prepared himself, steeling his mind to his task before him. There was no confort ahead, there was only hard work. He would have to find himself pleasure and comfort for himself and for this lord he had chosen. He quietly toiled during the journey.

[MrAbdiel]

Lamorak stalks forward onto the quiet shore; bright eyes flashing with hazardous haste. He distinctly feels the absence of Typho, and the power beneath him; the drakkensteed displeased but compliant to wait on the little ship. It would be hard enough to stalk through the elven undercity foreigners as they were - no need to complicate matters with such an alarming beast. He would rely here more on his subordinates of the two legged variety; but those had proven perfectly capable.

"Go a little ahead, Maiabel; you are our eyes and ears, now. From here, we make our way to the undercity. Once within, we get a sense of the place, and determine our sequence of operation."

Trusting Maiabel's senses beyond his own, he follows the scout at a distance, matching the pace of her advance.

Spoiler: OOC

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Keen to proceed, though I must admit I'm a little foggy on the specific layout of this area we're passing though. Cruddy abandoned coasty beach, yeah? Good. Also, isolated as we are on our island, how is our capacity to find and purchase magic items and things? Do we have seaborne peddlars from other places who form a general market base for things? Specifically, if I wanted some potions of things like Iron Silence and Disguise Self, how hard would those be to get? Not to mention those Golem Bane Scarabs!

[Dusk Raven]

Maiabel nods, and hustles in order to put a little distance between herself and the rest of the party. She keeps her eyes and ears alert and watchful, hands resting near the hilts of her blades. Truth be told, going into an undercity is something of a new experience for her, but she is determined not to let her master down. It is up to her to either detect danger, or be the first to fall victim to it.

Spoiler: OOC

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I don't know if you want me to roll now, roll later, or if you want to roll yourself, but either way Maiabel and I are up to the task of scouting.

[JbeJ275]

Those of you at the front of the part are greeted by the smell of the undercity before you see it, but you soon crest a hill and catch direct sight of your target. The undercity begins outside Ordana's great gleaming walls with a primitive moat and a wall of wooden stakes and packed earth behind it. The moat seems likely to be one of the few sources of semi-flowing water around the city, though it's not potable as huge amounts of waste and refuse are dumped there, from the mundane presence of offal and excrement produced by any large city to the more exotic magical and alchemical compoments left of sit in the slow moving river until they're eventually washed out to sea. Runic arrays on the wallss behind the undercity seem to maintain a permenant breeze, keeping the smell from seeping into the glittering city behind it.

Maiabel will note the main way forward is a repeating series of bridges over the stinking moat that line up to gates in the wall behind. Each of these has a strange being made of what looks like translucent purple crystal standing still atop the gate, and those gates, about one in eight which are large enough to let wagons and other cargo through boast the presence of large fleshy humanoid forms, eight feet tall with mismatched body parts and a strange metal apparatus rammed into the back of their head, as well as a bored looking elf or two usually very young or showing scarring somewhere about their person. There are about forty of these gates spread across the outside land border of the undercity, and right now at least none seem to be in use.

[Waistcoatwill]

Cypher peers ahead at the crystalline and flesh constructs that Maiabel indicates, sifting through the various tomes and beastiaries he has read in order to identify their weaknesses.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Spot (1d20+7)[17]

Knowledge Arcana (1d20+16)[24]

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Sharkan remains quiet, out of his element he just listens and keep an eye out. He weaves magical threads to ensure his mage armor is present for what dangers may come

Spoiler: rolls

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Spot (1d20+3)[17]
Listen (1d20+3)[10]

[JbeJ275]

Cypher knows that the translucent purple crystalline goop that the smaller more common constructs are made out of is solidified ectoplasm, a key building material for astral constructs. Usually summoned for short periods of time they're likely reliant on some local infrastructure to keep them empowered and directed long term and without a caster managing them directly. The infrastructure is no doubt on the other side of the wall though. Otherwise, they have few weaknesses, being immune to poisons, most spells that afflict the living and the vast majority of mind-affecting effects.

The fleshy golem is going to be unaffected by most direct magical attacks, but weak to fire or cold of a magical nature though these are hard things to do subtly. You know electricity is rarely a wise choice to bring against it. Further, you know that if engaged over a long time period they can go berserk, though this would also give the elves on the walls plenty of time to activate other defences, call reinforcements or cast magic down on you.

As you wait, you see a cart drawn by oxen approaching the walls. The back of the cart is seemingly covered with a metallic looking material and there's a set of two humanoids steering the vehicle.

[Waistcoatwill]

Cypher eyes up the not impregnable but certainly irritating defences. The cover of darkness might help their ingress, but the longer they lingered here, the higher their chance if discovery.

My Lord Protector, please follow me. I have prepared just the tool for this eventuality. Stay within ten feet of me and we shall all remain invisible for eight minutes. That should give us more than enough time to slip in with the cart. Potentially even time to evaluate the occupants and assume their identities, should they prove useful.

The standard limitations of invisibility apply, no direct offensive action unless unavoidable, understood? If you please, follow me.

Spoiler: Actions

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Cypher casts Invisibility Sphere using Arcane Dilettante for 1 IP (4/5 remaining).

They move over to the cart.

Listen to try and suss out the cart occupants (1d20+7)[20]

Move Silently to avoid detection (1d20+14)[21]

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Sharkan does his very best to remain quiet, keeping in line with the group. He pushs up his sleeves in order to prevent them from getting caught in the manuever.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Move Silently (1d20+5)[22]

[Dusk Raven]

Maiabel considers this a good time to use that spell she learned of from Cypher. With a soft incantation and a touch of her hand, she applies the spell to Lamorak's armor, thus allowing him to be more stealthy, at least for the next four hours. With that, she attempts to climb onto the cart undetected...

Spoiler: Rolls

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Listen for the cart's occupants, because why not: (1d20+18)[22]
Move Silently: (1d20+16)[35]

[MrAbdiel]

Invisible, he is unable to offer a laconic nod of appreciation to Maiabel for the spell; but as she begins casting, she can feel his firm, familiar grip on her shoulder to receive the casting - and, perhaps in some unspoken way, blessing her for the effort of it.

With that, the tyrant-king's youthful curriculum is free to come into play, and he stalks quietly in the shadow of the cart, close enough that the sound of the cart's wheels might obscure what little noise he still makes.

Spoiler: Rolls!

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That's a hot (1d20+10)[19] for move silently! And then we begin our secret, EVIL infiltration...

[JbeJ275]

With scarcely a noise between the four of you, you swiftly approach the cart and climb on board. The cart's pilots never noticed a sound and continued forward, steadily drawing closer to the walls. You tense up as you move towards the gate, but with the sound of straining chains and hinges the door opens up before you.

As the elven guard looks down at the cart's contents making dismissive grunts at the pilots' claim to trustworthiness your set all the stiller, knowing one untimely noise from a wrong placed foot or shifted weight could blow your cover, but you hold your nerve over the course of the inspection and are eventually waved through, passing through the channel of the gate and into the winding streets of the city beyond.

The cart seems to be heading towards the inner wall of the higher city, where magical cranes await on the wall to take up it's cargo of basic metal worked goods and crates of vegetables. You are left in a chaotic mess of a slum, while the outer and inner walls clearly define the boundaries of the undercity, and there are semi-regular cleared streets leading to the outer gates from the inner bastions; everything else is chaotically strewn about and haphazardly put together. Abattoirs seem to dominate the section to your left, while the section to your right is full of furnaces with ash and sand being poured into them as some labourers are starting up production earlier. As you look around you see the occasional campfire with a stewpot basically permanently affixed above it, many shacks put together competently but with subpar or reused materials and countless dirty human faces heading from one part of the immense manufactory of the the undercity to another.

[Waistcoatwill]

Cypher is eternally glad that this facsimile spell renders his colleagues and Lord merely transparent to each other, rather than fully invisible. After an only moderately difficult to interpret exchange of hand signals, he begins to lead the band to a likely looking dwelling.

He carefully listens at the door to confirm that the occupants have vacated the place, and deftly sets to with his array of lock picks. Waiting for that satisfying click, he then gestures for Maiabel to careful scout the dwelling, making sure to not to stray too far.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Listen (1d20+7)[12]

Open lock (1d20+15)[17]

[JbeJ275]

A breif listen reveals no immediete sign of life or movement from within the house, but to Cypher's immense frustration despite the very simple nature of the lock it refuses to budge, and when he attempts to further work it round a horrible noise of metal straining against other metal and wood comes from within, threatening to be easily overheard if he pushes it much further.

[Waistcoatwill]

Cypher pauses, going completely motionless as he tries to think of a new stratagem for unlocking the door. The silence stretches out as no alternative strategy, let alone reasonable excuse for failing to open the lock on a hovel presents itself.

[MrAbdiel]

With little alternative except to break the current obstacle and contest the consequences directly, Lamorak pushes past Cypher (authoritatively, but gently enough not to damage him on his armor spikes!), puts a shoulder to the door, and attempts with slow, ramping pressure to crack the door open. He'll resort to sharper, louder blows as necessary - but they're getting inside, one way or another!

Spoiler: OOC Actions!

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I'm guessing a 14 'take 10' strength check won't do it, so here's a series of strength checks, JBE. You can interpret them however you like; but presumably, it'll be something like "oh, it took you 3 tries to get the number -that's three rounds of loud banging to alarm the neighbours..."

STRcheck - (1d20+4)[12]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[16]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[11]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[12]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[19]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[5]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[10]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[16]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[22]
STRcheck - (1d20+4)[23]

That's a minute's worth of door kicking.

EDIT: Oh, the SRD has a kick-in-door DC for simple wooden doors at 13! And 'good' wooden doors at 19. This is a shack, right? Might be simple after all.

[JbeJ275]

The door holds at first, but after a few more shoulder checks at the top hinge and a powerful kick at the lower the door is shifted from it's jamb and pried open enough for you to enter, though over the fifteen or so seconds before you enter the door you become aware of the noise carrying to the crowd outside and while some hurry to go about their work, the news or the noise of it seems to be carrying to the guards.

For the moment though, you're inside the shack, and soon spy a set of crude wooden boxes holding what look to be the regular clothes of the inhabitants, set to function as disguises of one sort or another. There's also other furniture, some simple shelving an empty firepit in the centre of the room, a low table and some stools, a spinning wheel and a bed, raised no more than six inches off the dirty floor beneath it and most concerningly occupied by a bruised looking slender woman who is currently huddled back in fright, gaping wordlessly. This is presumably related to the breaking down of her door by invisible forces.

[MrAbdiel]

Like a pack of ghosts, the invisible king and retinue slink into the hovel; setting the now partly busted door back in place as they go.

At once Lamorak's eyes are on the woman - pathetic in her fear and weakness, desperately trying to comprehend the supernatural event she is perceiving. A woman like this was precisely the kind of citizen that the new kingdom needed to harvest to fill out its own serfdom deficit; but before that, she had a more immediate roll to play.

He moves up beside her, his armor silent, the scuffs of his feet on the floor light but mildly audible, and he comes alongside her - close enough to whisper:

"Listen to me. When the guards come, you will tell them that your door was stuck, and you pulled very hard on it, and the hinges gave way, giving you quite a fright. Do this, and you will be alright. Do not do this... and I will snatch the life right out of you."

Spoiler: Rollies!

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I'm gonna try to intimidate this poor woman into compliance! Plus whatever bonuses come from being invisible, and the scary break and enter, etc.

Intimidate - (1d20+15)[30]

[JbeJ275]

The woman's fright seems to almost lift for a half second, as you reveal you're not in fact an agent of the guard here. Only to set in once more when you make your own threats. She immedietly makes for the chest of clothes, pulling on a top with an attatched headress that covers her hair, chin and ears, then steps towards the door. While doing so, she hurriedly speaks a warning to you.

"The guards here, they have Golhunds to search for those stealing alchemicals, and must not know to spend the magic on breaking your own spells. Can you hide your scent?"

Then she finishes adjusting her headress, and makes it to the door. An astral construct can be seen taking position at the entrance to the alley, and you think any guards are likely not far behind.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Sharkan moves along with the group as quietly as he can, he does not possess the skills required at the time, so he bides his time. He smiles at the orders given, a wise move for the moment. This could continue to go smoothly.

[MrAbdiel]

Lamorak is surprised, but then amused by how ready the woman is to bend to his menace and betray her local authorities. His voice loses some of its edge with her; subtly including her on their conjectured side of what is about to go down.

"Hide it...? No. But perhaps we can baffle them, some."

The wicked prince who would be king leans on his cunning instead of his power, for the moment; producing a long smoking pipe, lighting it, drawing a single fierce pull from its narrow end, and exhaling a plume of smoke that curls and settles into a haze just inside the doorway. He empties the contents, immediately spent to wisping ashes, into whatever cracked clay cup or pot is near and could be dismissed as an impromptu ashtray. Smoking tobacco is a vice of the poor - atleast, where Lamorak grew up - and the presense of that smell and lingering haze seems unlikely to be hard to explain, even if the woman is required to suggest she just smoked it herself. It would take an unusual leap of intuition for someone to demand to see the pipe that smoked it, but in such a case, he can discreetly attempt to leave the pipe somewhere visible if that gambit becomes necessary. Most importantly, the whole house instantly suffers the harsh, acquired scent of smoked tobacco - and those guards and hounds who might come pouring through that doorway might find their capacity to do their jobs subtly sapped from them.

Spoiler: Pipe of Grief

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From the Book of Vile Darkness:

Pipe of Grief: This long smoking pipe, when filled with
tobacco and lighted, can create a single 5-foot-radius cloud
that remains for 3d8 minutes, once per day. The cloud stays
in place for the duration unless acted on by a magical force
such as a gust of wind. Anyone within the cloud except the
user must succeed at a Will save (DC 17) or take a –4 morale
penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability
checks for 10 rounds.

Assuming the house is at least slightly more than 10ft on each side, we can squeeze into the back of it, and only the invaders will have to pass through the cloud.