Way of the Wicked (Pathfinder IC)

[Angstrom]

A smirking Bridget strides into the room. "Nice trick Nana, but rather unnecessary wouldn't you agree?"

Still cautious to remain quiet, she moves to inspect the unconscious guards. Reaching past Jodiah, she pulls the longswords from their sheaths and offers them for anyone to take. "Time to arm yourselves, we have no way of knowing whether that anyone heard that."

Spoiler

The following is void if someone besides Jodiah protests to her keeping the guards alive for now.

"I'll take these ones back to the cellblock and strip them for information and gear. Signal if guards are coming. Grumblejack, could you please assist me in transporting these two back to your cell for some payback." She rips sections of fabric from the guards' tunics and fashions heavy gags. With practiced ease she stuffs them into the mouths of the unconscious prisoners, having Grumblejack lift each one as she does so to prevent any thrashing from knocking over furniture. She then, smiles to the group, says "I'll just be a moment," and has Grumblejack carry them back to his reinforced cell.

[Griffith!]

Variel Amphora

Variel wanders down the hallway, humming quietly to himself. He ducks into the room behind Bridget, looks around, and laughs, "You don't need two, girl. Give at least one his due reward; it costs you nothing and they have earned it. These men were loyal, dutiful. They deserve their deaths."

He reaches out, and takes the longsword from her fingers. Before she can stop him he lashes out, burying the sword in the man's ribs.

Spoiler

Coup de grâce?

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Finkmilkana]

Marthras sternly eyes Variel while taking Longbow and quiver from the other guard "Don't you think that was quite unnecessary? No one is helped if we leave a trail of bodies behind us besides that they'll be even more determined to catch us and blood splatters around here will also only lead to instantly alarm every guard who comes this way while just an empty post might first have given him something to ponder.
Now we need to make even more haste and it doesn't seem required anymore to get the other back to the cells, the guards who bring us dinner in a few minutes will raise the alarm either way. So we should move now."
With that Marthras gets the keyring from the wall and starts to move to the other door, ready to leave.

[ooc]If the other door also has an window he will peer through it.

If he found anything while searching the guard he'll take it.[/ooc]

Edit:Just reread the first descripton of the room and made a few changes accordingly.

[Sjurd]

Silas reaches out and accepts a longsword from Bridget. He hefts the blade, testing its weight in his hand. He then steps over, plants two feet on either side of one guard's shoulders, and buries the blade in the man's neck with a quick thrust. "Strip them of their uniforms. They could come in handy." The half-orc begins undressing his guard and looking for any other valuables or weapons on the body.

[Morbis Meh]

Jodiah nods as the half orc killed the other guard then sets down the horn and picks up the other truncheon "There problem solved, as the half orc said strip em and move out, there is no sense staying around and hauling back to the cell block it is an unnecessary waste of time. As for the my 'trick' it was a contingency, something you obviously don't know about but I will forgive you since you don't seem like the brightest star in the sky." She begins to quickly search the room for anything of use, like a map or keys(hey now prisons do tend to have maps laying around...).

Spoiler

Perception since this is rushed (1d20+5)[22]

[Lost Demiurge]

The guards die easily, as Variel and Silas stab them. Grumblejack looks at the corpse in his arms, looks to Bridget, and shrugs. He lets the lifeless corpse drop to the floor and licks blood from his hands.

The door on the eastern wall of the guardroom is shut. There is no window.
PERCEPTION DC 15

Spoiler

There's no sounds coming from beyond this door.

The corkboard seems to be a rough roster. A lot of it's in shorthand. But a careful read shows that there are ten guards scheduled to guard room duty for this week, in shifts of two. If you're reading this right, you've just murdered Coombs and Jenkob.

The fireplace is unlit. There are fairly delicious smells wafting from it.

The stairs descend down a flight. From what you can see without leaving the landing, they end up in a small antechamber with two doors off of it.

[Finkmilkana]

Perception for the door:(1d20+6)[16]

[Frivolous]

Sirin Starshine


Sirin puts the torch back in its holder. She checks out the door to the east. Then, like Jodi, Sirin reads the roster on the corkboard.

Perception

Spoiler

Perception: (1d20+11)[14]

"Only ten guards? Nice."

When Variel and Silas kill the guards, Sirin looks disgusted and quickly steps out of the way of the spreading pool of warm blood.

"Nana Jodi, would you mind removing this yucky blood for us with your magic? Unless you think it would send the right message."

She looks for anything useful, tools, flint and steel, anything, muttering, "No clothes? Curse it. I hate walking around in rags."


"Also, Marthras, can I get the dagger back?"

Sirin eyes the fireplace speculatively. If nothing comes to interrupt her, she gets on her hands and knees and looks into it, then looks up and down.

[Morbis Meh]

Jodiah puts on a slightly crestfallen face and replies in a somewhat somber tone "Sorry dearie but I can only do that once a day... we can only close the door to reduce our chances of being discovered. So where to next, if the chart is correct we have reduced the total guards here by a nice little number. I do suggest we try to avoid the barracks or break room if they have one ..."

[Finkmilkana]

"Sure, here. There seems to be no one behind that door, I would advise we try it first." With that he hands back the dagger hilt first.
"Hmm, but taking their armor and uniform might indeed be a good idea before leaving, although the blood splatters seem to deter any attempt of an ruse."
If the other guard has roughly his stature and if no one protests, he will strip him and throw over his chain shirt.

Afterwards or if it is not feasible he'll try to open the door with the keys.

[Frivolous]

Sirin Starshine


Sirin smiles as she takes the dagger back. The pretty half-elf looks relieved to once again be armed.

"Thank you, Marthras."

She addresses everyone. "Everyone should have at least one weapon. Can anyone use the longbow? Even if no one can, we should bring them along. They're expensive and can be sold for much gold."

Just in case, she makes sure she has all the thieves' tools and did not inadvertently leave a lockpick in the keyhole.

She also takes the deck of cards, for playing with later (being in jail had been extremely boring).

Then Sirin continues to examine and investigate the fireplace and its interior and its contents, looking especially for the source of the nice smells.

Perception

Spoiler

Perception: (1d20+11)[20]

"I wonder if we can use this fireplace to go up to the roof and avoid all the other guards. It's so big even Grumblejack might fit."

[Sjurd]

Silas dons a chain shirt, as well as the tabard of a guard of Branderscar Prison. "This should help us to surprise a few more of them." He looks to Marthras. "If we run into anyone, we both drank from a bad keg of whiskey and our throats are hoarse. I'll be Coombs. Does anyone see a cloak to hide our faces with?" He takes up his longsword and new heavy steel shield. "You see something in the fireplace?"

Group Equipment/Unclaimed Loot: (6) masterwork manacle, (1) longsword, (1) heavy steel shield, (2) truncheon, (1) longbow, (1) quiver.

[Angstrom]

Originally Posted by Finkmilkana

"Hmm, but taking their armor and uniform might indeed be a good idea before leaving, although the blood splatters seem to deter any attempt of an ruse."

"What a mess you've made."

Bridget shakes her head, clearly disapproving of the executions. Did any of them care that they had no idea where they were going?

"At least hold still while I clean that up..."

Spoiler

Prestidigitation to clean the uniforms.

[Griffith!]

Variel Amphora

Though disappointed there are no more corpses to strip or costumes to don, Variel hums tunelessly to himself. He picks up the longbow, testing the draw. He looks over the arrows in the quiver and then, satisfied, takes them both. He wraps the bloodied longsword in a rag and ties it to the quiver, slinging it around his shoulder like a satchel.

"I am ready to move on." he says, his tail fiddling idly with the arrows at his waste, "If anyone else intends very much to do any shopping, best to do it now. Though I fear these stores may have run dry."

[Morbis Meh]

Jodiah gives a skeptical look at Sirin "You do know that fire places aren't for climbing right dear? It would be pretty difficult to climb up a sheer vertical wall with no tools, Grumblejack could always brace himself against the sides but I am afraid that the rest of us wouldn't have that advantage. Also if we somehow did manage to get to the roof, how would we all get down? We don't know how high the prison is and if our rope would be long enough to get the job down. Why did I pick this thing up again?" She sets down the truncheon and picks up a heavy shield instead, she was in now way a fighter at least this way she could have cover of some sort.

[Griffith!]

Variel Amphora

"Perhaps if we all strip down, we could fashion a longer rope from our rags!" he exclaims gleefully, before falling into a dark, serious tone, "You and you."

He indicates Sirin and Bridget, "Get started."

[Lost Demiurge]

Sirin peers into the fireplace. Though it's unlit, thin wisps of smoke are rising from the bottom level... And indeed, there's a gap through which she can see a cooking fire. A couple of pots of prison broth, and some nicer-looking cuts of meat and pans of boiling vegetables are busy cooking away on a grille above the flame.

There's enough room for a nimble person to squeeze through the gap and descend, though they'd have to be careful not to drop onto the grille, and the fire.

She also hears very muted discussion from below, so faint as to be indistinguishable even to her ears, and the occasional clicking of metal on metal. All in all, it adds up to a kitchen with someone or someones working in it.

Up reveals a wide chimney shaft, which goes up perhaps ten feet and shows stars and clouds in the night sky. There's a grated cap over the chimney... It would need disabling before anyone exited that way.

Sadly, Grumblejack would NOT fit up the chimney without a lot of grease, noise, and probably damage to the chimney. (And Grumblejack too for that matter.)

Marthras tries the keys in the lock, and finds this door ALSO unlocked. It opens to a small, bare room with a table and several cheap chairs around it. To the average layman, it would look innocent.

But as an inquisitor, his eyes track the subtle stains of old blood in the planks of the floor, the loose tooth lying in a corner, and the marks on the chair's arms where someone was bound to it at one point. This is an interrogation room, and a well-used one at that. There do not appear to be any windows, or exits from this room.

[Frivolous]

Sirin Starshine


Sirin was about to answer Nana Jodi and Variel when she turns white and holds her hand up in a gesture of alarm.

In a frightened whisper, she says, "Shhh. Shhh. I hear voices. Down there."

She points downwards into the fireplace.

Then, even more unnervingly, Sirin suddenly smiles very widely. She takes out Tiadora's veil, examines it carefully, then plucks out the patch that resembles a potion vial with a skull and crossbones on it.

She lays the patch on the floor of the room, far from the fireplace, and waits to see if the patch expands into a vial as she expects.

If the potion vial does appear, Sirin opens it and very carefully examines it to see if she can identify the contents.

Poison identification

Spoiler

I have no idea what to roll to identify a poison, but Sirin has a rank in Craft (Alchemy) and a bonus of +5.

If she has any chance of identifying the contents, I ask our DM to roll for me.

[Finkmilkana]

"So this is a dead end and I doubt anyone would build secret doors into a torture chamber. Seems we'll have to go down the stairs.
Still Marthras shortly looks around the room if there is not anything unusual afterall before sneaking down the stairs and listening if he hears anything from behind those doors. Afterwards he goes back up and tells the rest about his findings.

Spoiler

Perception Torture Chamber (d20+6)[10]
Stealth (1d20+5)[23] (Armor check penalty .....)
Perception Down Stairs (1d20+6)[12]

[Lost Demiurge]

Sirin plucks out the skull and crossbones bottle, and it expands into a decent-sized vial of liquid that looks vaguely like tea. She sniffs it...

SIRIN

Spoiler

Looks like this is Oil of Taggit! Fairly subtle stuff, easy to slip into food or drink. Causes unconsciousness for 1-3 hours, takes about one minute to set in. (DC 15 fortitude save.)

Looks like you've got just enough to sprinkle the non-prison-broth food, if you're careful and sparing.

Marthras finds nothing more of note in the interrogation room. A quick listen downstairs doesn't reveal anything either.

[Sjurd]

"So, Miss Sirin, what is in the bottle?"

[Frivolous]

Sirin Starshine


Sirin looks very pleased as she softly answers Silas.

"It is called Oil of Taggit. Swallow some, and it puts you to sleep."

"Now watch this."

Leaning very carefully over the descending shaft of the fireplace, the half-elf draws upon all the expertise she gained in the alchemy lab and slowly begins to decant the contents of the potion vial into the cooking food far below.

She tips the vial so that a few drops fall, then counts to 10 silently to herself before she releases more drops.

She tries her best to evenly aim the drops at what she presumes is the guards' own food: the cuts of meat and the pans of boiling vegetables.

[Morbis Meh]

Jodiah sighs "You know dear I could have lowered it down and poured it closer to the food using magic so it wouldn't be spilled all over... but I guess it's too late now." If dinner is being served anytime soon then we may have a decent chance of escaping in a very simplistic manner.

[Frivolous]

Sirin Starshine


OOC

Spoiler

Since I made it very clear that Sirin would take a long time to poison the food below, I am writing a contingency post in case our DM, Lost Demiurge, allows Jodi to interrupt Sirin before she had done more than spill a few drops of Oil of Taggit.

IC post Contingent on Jodi interrupting Sirin before she had spilled most of the poison

Spoiler

Sirin turns to look blankly at Jodi, then the light dawns.

"Oh. I'd forgotten. I don't use magic myself, just my hands."

She places the open and still mostly full potion vial on the floor. "Here."

[Lost Demiurge]

OOC

Spoiler

(You both do know that it's a skill roll that I will take care of either way to dose the food with poison? And that Nana Jodi has the craft-alchemy equivalent of a damp hedgehog? But hey, if you really want to use a flashy spell instead of relying on superior skill... ::rolls dice and smiles::)

[Frivolous]

OOC

Spoiler

Skill roll? Interesting. Cancel that then.

This is my first character to ever use poison, I think, so please forgive my awful ignorance about it.

[Lost Demiurge]

The poison is carefully applied to the meals waiting below. A few minutes afterward, Sirin sees hands in mitts come into the picture, and start withdrawing pots, pans, and skewers. No one seems to notice the added "special sauce".

All is quiet in the guardroom. Now what?

[Frivolous]

Sirin Starshine


Sirin suggests, "Let's wait a bit. If all goes well, in a short while, we should hear cries of alarm as people start falling down and maybe snoring."

"If you like, one or two of the stealthier types should descend down the stairs so that we can make best use of the effect. But Oil of Taggit usually lasts up to an hour. If it works, there really is no hurry."

The half-elf is in such a good mood that she begins to giggle. She has to cover her mouth to avoid making too much noise. But then she stops and frowns.

"Unless they have magic, anyway."

[Morbis Meh]

Jodiah shakes her head "We should keep moving, if they deliver the food they will come here and the entire escape plan would be wasted. Let them eat it in their own time it will still benefit us if we keep moving."

[Frivolous]

Sirin Starshine


Sirin smiles and counters, "But if we move too fast, we don't give the narcotic a chance to work. We could end up fighting men who are destined to fall asleep soon anyway."

"If they climb the stairs and discover the blood and bodies here, do you think they'll still be interested in dinner?"

The question does not sound sarcastic or rhetorical. Sirin seems to be unsure how much death and blood and murder affect the appetite.