Warlock Heroes - The Equalizers

[Zweanslord]

Warlock Heroes - The Equalizers

It was a dark friday eve. A relatively cold april 11th eve, in fact. The wind stirred across the streets. The Equalizers stood in that street. They had went on patrol when they found out that a group of partying citizen had been mugged by a gang. And not just normally mugged, but beat up.. a lot. It was a cold eve indeed. The moon was already in the sky, but not very high, leaving long shadows by the streets. The street the group they now found themselves in had tall and old houses on both sides. The windows were dark except for a rare few. The tall houses, offering room for a few families, seemed beat up, decaying. This was a street of poor people. The group had spent some time moving already, moving after the path of the gang. Some elderly beaten up and some other traces were there for the group. Yet, the beating was not normal on all those victims. Their left arm had been blue, their shoulder purple. Almost as if something was afflicted to it. Something was lose, and they were with multiple.

In the distance, the street split in two. The left road curved vanishing behind a hill with a park. The other road continued to an industry park. Which way the gang had gone was not sure. So now what would the Equalizers do? Only the sound of the wind and a cat being assaulted by a shoe from a sleepy citizen disrupted their thoughts.

[Lycar]

Luten

Luten had hurried to the Equalaizer's hideout just after work. He didn't need to stay longer but he had hoped to glean some information about where the recent slew of work came from.

So far, no luck. He did pick up a few odd rumours though.

Wearing his dark blueish travellers outfit (which just happened to include a hood and scarf to protect from dust and looks alike), he had the advantage of looking not too conspicious, yet the dark and muted colours of his clothes did not stand out against the dirty tones this whole part of town seemed to have been painted in by time and fate.

Luten still puzzled about the strange discolouration that seemed to have befallen the arms and shoulders of the gang's victims. While he did have some book knowledge about the art of healing, this didn't look like anything he ever read about. Maybe some kind of infection? Hopefully not some strange kind of rabies or anything...

He almost bumped into one of his fellow vigilantes when the group stopped.

"Where did they go?"

Lycar

[Uncle Festy]

TACTICS walks over to the corpses. This_is_odd. This_is_distinctly_odd. What_could_have_caused_this, I_wonder? He examines the corpses carefully.
search - (1d20+13)[21]

[Silkenfist]

"Damned if I know." Calissa speaks quietly while vainly staring into the far end of the road. Absent-mindedly, she pulls tighter the straps inside her marine and black dress to reduce the wind catching in it. "And I doubt we will have the luxury of overthinking this. They might just be on their way to the next victims... but on the other hand, these roads are fine targets for an ambush. I'd suggest to just choose one of the streets, then move through it as quickly as possible, but keep off the main road as much as possible." She shakes her head letting a silver strand of hair fall into her face. "Still everything is better than inactivity."

[Kai-Palin]

"Get a good smell Syldreki, you can track them." Liam bends down and ruffles the fur of his hound familiar ((a worg)), a huge, chestnut-furred beast, who grunts a barely intelligible reply, and proceeds to sniff all around the scene. They go with the rest of the group as they follow the hoodlums' path through the seedy district.

Liam's staff makes a muffled clack against the cobblestones as he walks, his eyes slitted nearly closed in thought. He leaves his athame and shorter rod in his belt, and reviews his glimpses of the assaulted people, mentally running through every infectious disease he knows ((I'll roll know: nature, but I can't seem to access Myth-Weavers)).

When they reach the crossroads, Liam says, quietly, "So, which way did they go?"

Spoiler

Show

Survival: Tracking by scent: (1d20+6)[22]

As a precaution, Liam steps slightly upward, and a dimly glowing silvery-blue hexagon appears beneath his feet. He stride along with the others, about an inch above the ground.

[Zweanslord]

TACTICS looked around the street they were currently in and did indeed find one victim (not dead corpse). The lizardfolk victim seemed unconscious for now and breathing heavily. The beating up he received was the same as the others you have seen before, with the left arm blue and their shoulder purple. Besides that, there are marks of a more usual beating, which Luten and Calissa can identify as being caused by fist punches. For now the victim seems to be well off in his little corner of the street, out of plain sight, but for any medical help on the way, it will be hard to find him, if at all.

Meanwhile, Syldreki seems to sniff around, tracing along the lizardfolk victim and then, as he picks up the trail more profoundly, he moves towards the road leading to the industry park. Once he moves a bit towards it, however, he suddenly stops as he picks up another scent. He starts to growl ferociously. The eyes of the worg shift around, looking in the neighbourhood as it raises its ears, but there is still nothing besides the sound of the wind and the group. Only with an additional order from his master will he move forward, who is at the moment running through his knowledge of diseases.

[Uncle Festy]

Guys? I_think_you_should_see_this.

[Silkenfist]

Another one Calissa whispers. We can bring him to the group we encountered earlier, hopefully he get attended to quicker that way. Nonetheless... she looks at the worg sniffing out trails in the industry park ...we need to hurry or the streets will become littered with assault victims. We can give your hound additional time to detect the trail while we take care of the victim.
Calissa sizes up whether she could carry him on her own. Also, these wounds are actually scaring me. I can't see a bleeding wound anywere on him, so if he is afflicted with something, it might be carried by as little as touch. She reaches out to lift his upper body but hesitates ...or what do you think?

[Kai-Palin]

Realizing that he has absolutely no idea what could be wrong with the victims, Liam hears Syldreki's growl and pulls himself back to the present. Looking down to the hound, he says, "Well, what's wrong boy? I know you don't like to, but use your words." He sees two of his group members conferring, but, knowing that he has little to offer, keeps silent and focuses on hearing what Syldreki has to say.

((Syldreki can speak common, but hates to do so, and speaks rather poorly in a horrible snarling, growling voice.))

[Admiral Squish]

Epsilon

His robotic gaze meandered over the victims, his voicebox silent. After a moment if watching the female's aversion tot he injured, however, he spoke. "I will carry him. I have no reason to fear diseases." HE said, simply, walking over to the wounded/diseased/accosted lizardfolk. He knelt down, and tucked his arms under the victim, one under his knees, the other under his shoulders, and lifted, carrying him over to the others and setting him down gently. "I do agree we must act rapidly to prevent further incident. Once the source is gone, we will have time to treat the wounded properly."

[Zweanslord]

As Epsilon brings the victim back to the other nearby group of victims, Liam is talking to Syldreki. The growling response he gains from the worg is as follows. "Disearse.. poison.. hurts my nose.. they have groone that way." With that said, Syldreki points with his head towards the industry park.

[Lycar]

Luten

"Maybe they have a hideout there or something. But yes, the sooner we catch them, the sooner this will be over. And if it is indeed some kind of disease..."

Luten doesn't like this one bit. A bunch of thugs, who beat up people for fun and profit are one thing. But a bunch of disease carriers that might inflict the entire town with... something... give him a fraudulent bookkeeper or corrupt crime lord any day.

At least those can be dealt with violently if the law fails to thwart them.

Lycar

[Silkenfist]

Calissa nods as the Android returns. That would be correct, though I hope someone else will take care of the wounded ones in the meantime. Still, we should enter the area with caution. The guards had a few casualties from assaults lately. Whoever is responsible for this might be expecting us. Nonetheless - she opens her hand to have a translucent short sword appear in it within a split second - that's our job. Let's just not run into them too blindly.

[Kai-Palin]

"Thanks. We'll head that way then, I suppose."
Hearing his companions' hesitance over leaving the victims behind, he comments, "Well, can you do anything to help them right now? Because I can't. Perhaps once I research it a little, but there's no time for that now. Lets go, and," with a nod toward Calissa, "Let's go... carefully."

With agreement from the rest of the group, he motions Syldreki to continue tracking the perpetrators and strikes his staff sharply on the cobbles, shooting up to between the second and third stories of the buildings surrounding him, at which point he shadows his companions from the air.

[Admiral Squish]

Panels on Epsilon's back open, and a quiet whirr is heard as a pair of wedges extend out from his spine. The wedges glow softly before the glow is suddenly shunted out the bottom into the shape of upside-down teardrops, and Epsilon is lifted into the sky, a soft whistling sound barely audible from the lifting force. He gave a nod to the other airborne hero, and leaned forward, moving cautiously towards the industrial park.

[Silkenfist]

Calissa closes her eyes, concentrating on her connection to the outerplanar forces that constitute the weapon in her hands. Blade. Give me an inscription. Make it fit for assault and battery.
You know that they don't need to be specific. They work just fine no matter what the reason of our pursuit is.
I know. But I've been taught that you don't condemn someone without making them know of their actual wrongdoings.
Fine. As long as you don't adopt other habits of your worldly courts... like allowing the defendants unlimited time or allowing them to appeal to a neutral judge or...
Just give me an inscription, will you?
Already done. The blade of the short sword suddenly becomes aglow with small-lettered crimson red runes. They remain glowing for a second, then meld with the blade, losing their glow. This is the depiction of the final plea of Marian d'Ivlona of the Wasteland Plane of Harum in the trial against the Ethereal Reavers of Hem as she proclaimed the...
OK, OK, got it. I don't need to know the entire story, do I?
Hey I thought you were the one who wanted to be specific with this.
Calissa doesn't reply audibly but the concentrated look in her face reveal that she has merely shifted the bickering with her weapon to a purely mental level as they enter the industrial park.

[Lycar]

Luten watches his companions go airborne with a bit of envy. But then he shrugs it off and just goes ahead and makes with the entering.

(Hrm. I just hope we can figure this out before the victims start going on a rampage themselves or something. We found what, a dozen or so victims? And they were assaulted by about half a dozen or so thugs. Now if the victims are indeed infected with something that turns them into psychotic brawlers and they start beating up people themselves... Exponental growth is scary.)

Luten keeps his glum thoughts to himself as he walks on. No sense in worrying his friends with things they can't help with anyway. Still, he himself couldn't quite shake off the numbers dancing in front of his inner eye, the white number representing the populace of the city (estimated), and the angry red number of... infected people. Small, two-digited it swelles with frightening speed, becoming 3-digit, then 4, 5... before it swallows the white number whole, only leaving an angry red monstrosity of a mathematical concept behind.

Lycar

[Zweanslord]

As the group enters the industry park, they notice that currently it is abandoned. The eve is late, so everybody has gone home already. The buildings are low, not more then two stories, made out of stone and seem to be old as well. A few, here and there, seem to have had poor maintenance and some windows thrown in, which were repaired with wooden planks set behind them. Vines run over some buildings and the few bits of green are wild growths without any maintenance. The streets are wide and are obviously used a lot due to some garbage hanging around and the deep marks of wagons and carts running around.

Syldreki leads the party and the two airborne members of the group, Liam and Epsilon, notice something when they are deeper in the industry park. As they move further, the others can see it too, a section is blocked off with a fence and signs stating it is forbidden to trespass. Beyond the fence are three buildings standing close to each other, all appearing as if they are decayed and without use. This is deeper in the industry park and to a side towards the poor region and only one road leading to it. It seems to be a bit off from the others, meaning that travel to these buildings would be long. With the decayed and damaged state, it seems unlikely that these buildings are used for anything. Nature seems to have wanted to reclaim this as the grass is tall and weed seems everywhere, with a free trees.

The three buildings seem to be two warehouses and a working place. A road from the entrance of the fence splits up in three leading to each of them. The entrance of the fence seems closed and no other entry in the face seems available. The working place is smaller and seems in a bit better state of repair. Epsilon manages to spot some light coming from the back of the warehouse furthest from the fence as he flys in the air. It is obvious that such light is not visible merely from behind the fence, as there are further fences and obstacles on the territory, including trees. The closest warehouse seems to have a collapsed wall near the front entrance. In front of it stands a tree, which in turn stands close to the fence.

[Silkenfist]

This is, where the trail leads? Looks like bad news. If this is the assailant's hideaway, they are not living in a normal civic life... which means that they will consider themselves professionals. Well...one more reason for us, not to leave this one for the guards. Liam? Can your hound sniff for the presence of other animals? I don't want to run into a guard dog and alert someone prematurely.

[Admiral Squish]

The soft whistling whine dropped in pitch for a moment, as he descended, settling near the rest of the group.. "There's a light on, at the far side of the farthest building in that set." He told them as they came into the park, pointing towards the three squat structures set apart from the others.

[Lycar]

Luten

"It would appear that these thugs have taken up residence in there then? Well, we'll have to go and see for ourselves. We just have to climb over the fence."

Lycar

[Kai-Palin]

"He can understand you, too." Liam descends to hover several feet off the ground, and beckons Syldreki to do so.

Liam waits for the others to get over the fence, giving a hand up from midair, before resuming his normal altitude. ((~20 feet)) As the group approaches the far warehouse, Liam takes a moment and ripples form in the air around his staff.

[Uncle Festy]

TACTICS walks up to the tree. "Hmm. This_could_be_a_useful_vantage_point." He attempts to jump as high up as possible on the tree, and continues climbing from there.
Jump - (1d20+17)[20]
Climb - (1d20+8)[21]

[Silkenfist]

Calissa sizes up fence and tree. Time for us to act. But I don't like overconvenient entrances like that. Better go over the fence somewhere else...just in case. Calissa kneels down on the ground, one palm pressed against the earth, the other one against her face. The blade disappears and the look in hear eyes subtly changes. Let's try over here.

Spoiler

Show

If I take 10 on a Jump check (with activated psionic focus), I can jump 16 feet (excluding vertical reach). If that's enough to clear the fence without touching it, I'll give it a try from a position at least 40 feet away from the tree.

[Uncle Festy]

((I have a grappling hook!
Which I forgot to use to climb the tree...))

[Admiral Squish]

Epsillon lifted back into the air, hovering above the fence, his dark, gunmetal-colored body nearly invisible against the night sky. He slowly drifted forward towards the establishment.

[Zweanslord]

With a growl, Syldreki responds. "No animals." He looks questioningly at Liam as the others move over the fence in one way or the other. The Worg does not seem equally adapt at jumping, nor would he be able to climb over the fence, so it stays behind for now, keeping guard at the entrance of the fence.

When the group is over the fence, their surroundings seem silent, except for the leaves rushing by TACTICS' shape as he climbs up the tree. From there, he sees what the others high in the air could see now as well; there is light coming from the back of the warehouse farthest away and in the middle. He also sees how Epsilon takes the lead, while Luten seems to have some trouble climbing over the fence, though he manages to do so after deciding to take a jump at the fence and then climbing up the remainder. However, Luten might have some trouble getting in a fast manner over the fence if, for some reason, they needed to leave in a hurry. Calissa seems to have far less trouble, having gracefully jumped over it.

[Lycar]

Luten

Luten grumbles a bit under his breath as he finally manges to overcome the fence.

"...Damn fliers... I'm an accountant, not an athlete... Better not have to run away form here..."

Finally he manages to catch up with the rest of the team.

"All right, what now? Some scouting first or should we all try and sneak up on the building?"

[Uncle Festy]

((I'm not over the fence yet...
How far is the tree from the fence?))

[Silkenfist]

Calissa remains on the ground for a few seconds after landing on the other side, concentrating on her outerplanar attunement to achieve focus once again. As she stands up, her eyes have changed from crimson red to amber again. Walking towards the others, the Blade appears in her right hand again.
Luten. Shall we fix a knotted rope now? We might come into a situation where every second will count. Other than that... she pauses and looks at the warehouses. We are not in a hurry. We know where they are and we should do this right. Let's first look for the escape routes from this place. We shall not let one of them get away. Her grip on the hilt tightens.