"Rats have all kinds of diseases, like, umm... it'll come to me any second now," Leora explains to Domitius and Davina.
While Jessi is helping her with her disguise, Leora says "How about blonde?"
Once everyone is prepared, Leora realizes she's nervous. She isn't the actress that Jessi is, and she doesn't have Domitius's strength. But she remembers why she is here - she has faith that the Silver Ravens are doing the right thing. "Well... this is it! We're here together to do good, and save innocent people, damn the laws. Whatever does happen tonight, it's far better that sitting at the Coffee House, wondering what might have happened if we'd stayed safely at home." Though she's still on edge knowing that so many things could go wrong, she feels a bit better, knowing that they'll get through this somehow, together.
"Thank you Leora." I"m scared, but we can do this.
"We'll wait for you to do your thing. I hope this works."
Jessibel colors Leora's hair to the cleric's specifications.
"Let me take one last look at you to make sure everything's good to go," the girl tells her drinking buddy, taking Leora's hair in her hand and pushing it back before, strangely, peering into her friend's ears.
"No sign of your brains leaking out, Blondie!" she jokes before becoming serious.
"Alright Lena and Devon ... let's do this."
Putting on her best voguishly mean expression, Jessibel struts forward fearless toward the front doors of the salt works, knocking loudly.
Domitius takes a minute to get himself set, once again assuming the persona of someone else’s towering mass of muscle. Jaw clenched, he turns to Jessibel. “Ready,” he snarls.
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Leora recalls helping many folks who came to the Thrashing Badger for treatment of Filth Fever after suffering rat bites. Domitius's scratches are pretty much superficial, but Davina's wounds look like some of the sewer's filth got into them.
Jessibel knocks on the door loudly, and a few moments later, a human woman with a shaven head wearing black studded leather armor sticks her head out. "What is it? What do you want?" she asks brusquely.
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Jessibel Lily Aulamaxa! What in the nine layers of Hell has gotten into that silly little brain of yours?
The voice inside of nervous Jessibel’s head was that of her mother. This gambit was indeed risky, somewhat reckless, and (truth be told) likely to go all wrong at some point, probably sooner rather than later. Yet here she was—a naïve, cultured (well, sort of) eighteen-year-old noblewoman trying to pull off a scam against the allies of the thrice-damned House of Thrune.
Yes, it’s risky…but it’s also something that needs to be done, dearie. That voice belonged to her grandmother, the elegant and illustrious Archbaroness Eldonna Aulamaxa. Jessi smiled grimly, knowing the truth in those words.
Grrrr! Bark-bark-bark!
And that was Eldonna’s pet poodle, Harcule.
Get your **** together, Jessi! the girl mentally scolded herself. Yes, this was the biggest moment in her young life—bigger even than getting accepted into the Kintargo Opera House Society. Her future might very well hinge upon how well she handled these next few minutes. That her mother had always doubted her Jessibel was certain; her family matron’s feelings toward her were less clear. Lately, though, each of the older family members had shown faith in her ability to become an asset to the family…an asset to their city. They were finally treating her as a responsible adult…and finally seeing her true potential.
As for Harcule…well, Jessi doubted that yappy white ball of fur and teeth would ever warm up to her. No great loss.
Jessi took a deep breath and centered her thoughts. The dwarf leader of the mercenaries was named Kossrani. Leora’s false name was Lena, and she carried the falsified documents authorizing the interrogation of Kiri’s father. Dom was Devon for this night, the quiet but intimidating muscle of the threesome. And she…she was Jenvara Salazar, the no-nonsense femme fatale leader of this particular unmerry band of Thrune Goons…er, Queensmen. She’d even learned the strix word for ‘ally’ from Kiri in the hopes that she’d be able to pass a secret message to the elder strix.
What could possibly go wrong?
When the door opens, Jessibel gives a cruel smile that is more of a pained grimace. ”Good evening. May Asmodeus continue to favor House Thrune. Long may it rule!” Jessi snarls, first in Infernal and then in the Common tongue. ”My name is Jenvara Salazar of the Queensmen. I need to speak with Kossrani regarding one of the guests he has working in this facility.”
"Lena" stood just behind Jessi, glad to let her do the talking. Scowling at the woman inside the Salt Works was no problem though, since Leora isn't thrilled about pretending to be a member of the Queensmen. She has the falsified orders in her belt pouch in case she needed them, and the wand of sleep in another pocket, for when an opportunity came.
Leora dabs some of the whiskey from her flask onto a clean rag. "This might sting a little, Davina," She warns, "But it's way better than getting filth fever" before dabbing it on the bites and scratches from the rats.
Davina stand with Sabrina just out of sight of the door not hardly daring to breath.
s
Please let this work. How could I have let such young women come on this adventure. If something happens, I'll never be forgiven.
She winces when she hears the response to Jess' request. Well that didn't go as planned. I hope they can think on their feet or else we're going in the back way this night.
She glances at Kiri, and tries to ask with her expression to give them a couple more minutes. She knows the strix is impatient. Please hold on to your patience for a little longer Kiri. We'll try another way if this doesn't work.
"Devon” stands a step behind “Jenvara”, on the other side of her from “Lena”. He thinks about all the nights like this one, nights he didn’t want to be out, but was anyway, and didn’t want to be jumping at every little threat, but had to, because that was the job. He does his level best to put all the boredom and aggravation of those moments into his gaze. C'mon, I left the barracks for this, don't make it for nothin'...
'Jenvara' looks at the woman in equal annoyance, the muscles around her 'scarred' eye beginning to twitch a bit..
"You're not Kossrani," the disguised Queenswoman notes. "My business--as I told you once already--is with him."
To 'Lena' she adds, "Have the proper form ready for inspection, please."
'Lena' shakes her head at the woman who isn't letting them in, with a mind to make some rude comment about the importance of their visit and the late hour, but holds her tongue.
She retrieves the rolled-up and sealed document. The first time she'd seen it, she was really impressed by the way Davina made it look official, written with all sorts of big words and seals and whatever else made it seem important. "Yes ma'am, I've got the papers about our visit here," she says politely.
When 'Devon' sees his boss get impatient with the guard, Dukkan takes a moment, imagines laying the mercenary out with one stroke of his sword, then gives her a look that lets her know what he's thinking, complete with disquieting grin.
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"Hmph. Fine. Your funeral," she mutters, then calls to someone inside the building. "Hey Boss! Some bint from the Queensmen here for you. Says she's got papers."
Loud profanity in a foreign tongue issues from the opening, and the bald woman ducks away, to be replaced by a sturdy dwarf with flame-red hair.
"What do you want, girl?" Kossrani says, hostility evident on his scowling face. Offered the papers, he opens the seal roughly and peers at it. "Hmm. So Thombus thinks he can order me around now does he? That shirumund rukhsul! Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul! Fine, come in, but stay where I put you and don't go poking around at anything. Salt's worth plenty and if any goes missing you can be sure I'll be blaming you!"
He opens the door and allows the three into the building.
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"I'll be sure to tell the shirumund rukhsul--Thombus, that is--how enthusiastic you were to help out in this important matter of state," Jessi replies, the fake twitching of her 'bad' eye picking up in regularity. "It's precisely because of this spirit of cooperation--or lack thereof--that there are still a few rebels befouling the streets of this great city."
"On to business. It is my understanding that you have a strix amongst your…workers here. My comrades and I have been given the charge of hunting down and capturing another strix who caused a ruckus at Aria Park and more recently has been up to malicious mayhem in Redroof and Old Kintargo. We would like to question your prisoner here to see what, if anything, he knows of this other rogue strix.”
When she hears what Kossrani has to say, Leora fights the urge to use some profanity herself. Instead, she settles for glaring at the dwarf. She looks around the room to see if any other non-prisoners are present, or for anything of interest.
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The room is well-lit with everburning torches, and has three desks piled with paperwork, and barrels of salt in the far corner. Ahead of the door is an open gateway into the large, cylindrical portion of the building, which has a platform with rope ladders fixed to metal hitches. Right now the rope ladders are gathered up at the top, preventing anyone in the pit below from climbing up.
Anyone looking over the edge of the pit gets a blast of hot air in the face. Vents in the walls blow heated air from a furnace somewhere in the building into the 30 foot deep pit, and clever air flow design causes most of the heat to vent out the roof instead of getting into the offices. In this heated environment, nine men are working -- eight humans and one strix. They are constantly working at turning over the piles of damp salt below, and shoveling dried salt into barrels that are drawn up by ropes and pulleys to the office level. To deal with the heat, the men wear nothing more than their smallclothes.
"Hey, birdie! We've got some visitors for you, believe it or not!" the woman who answered the door calls down. "The rest of you, grab some wall!"
The eight humans put down their tools and lean face-first against the walls of the pit. The male guard covers them with a crossbow as the woman lowers the rope ladder down and watches as Mallus climbs up.
He looks weak and weary, covered with sweat and crusted salt. His wings have been tied to keep him from flying, and his fixed eyes look pained and fearful as he swivels his head to look at each of the three disguised Ravens in turn.
"What do you want?" he croaks with a dry throat, then coughs.
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Jessibel turns to face Mallus, and for an instant allows her facial expression to soften. Then she's back to being her heartless Thrune b**** persona.
”One of your people has been raising havoc in the streets, even going so far as to assault some of my fellow Queensmen. The strix we seek—the one who’s giving your people such a bad name in our fair city—goes by the alias of Rawfrak*, but we believe his—or her—real name is Irik. Have you any knowledge of this being? Where might we find him? If you cooperate, I will personally see that your situation here is made more comfortable. Perhaps I might even be able to arrange for your release…if your information leads to a capture. Do you understand?”
Wiping her brow, 'Jenvara' scowls and comments, "I can't believe you can function in such stuffy conditions. It's hotter than Hell itself in here." She hopes 'Lena' or 'Devon' catch her meaning and open the doors to admit the others.
* Rawfrak is Strix for "ally" or "comrade." Coincidentally, it's also what Scooby-Doo says when he realizes he's made a bad choice and hidden himself in the same dark closet that the ghost/monster is already hiding in.
First noticing Kossrani's holy symbols, then seeing how poorly the prisoners have been treated, Leora is getting angrier by the second. So she turns away to throw open the double doors and cool off the room, and her temper. "Sure thing, I'll let some cool night air in."
She can't see Davina, Kiri, and Sabrina in the darkness outside, but she waves, hoping that the people inside the salt works are busy keeping an eye on Jessibel and Kiri's papa and don't notice.
Davina moves toward the door. Signaling for Kiri and Sabrina follow her. She stays to the side in order to stay out of the line of sight. Her crossbow is out and loaded ready just in case.
Having to stay in the darkness and wait was agonizing for Kiri, she wanted her father out of that Hell Hole and she wanted him out right now! Still, she knew guile was needed and so continued to make her way stealthily along with Leora. She was determined that this attempt would succeed or she would die trying.
“Ne tak bystro, tovarisch.” Dukkan moves to interpose himself between Kossrani and Jessibel, a slightly grim set to his jaw the only outward sign of the anger he feels.
"Let's do it!" Leora says, more to Kiri, Sabrina, and Davina than to Kossrani, but draws her shield and the wand of silence which probably confirms that something is going on.
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Kossrani narrows his eyes at Domitius. The dwarf may not know orcish, but he recognizes it, and his eyes widen as he catches the faint greenish tinge to Domitius's skin and his slightly enlarged lower canines. "So there's a rukhsul right here -- you're no Queensmen!"
Jessibel sings a note of charming, but the guard shakes her head and scowls at her.
Davina
Kiri
Sabrina
Kossrani
Guards
Leora
Jessibel
Domitus
Now that it was time Kiri moved up to the doorway and got into position. She saw her father but knew that she couldn't spare him any time for words just now. Instead she saw the dwarf who had been in charge of the place and gathered the wind with grand sweeping gestures before she sent it slamming into the bastard at high speeds.
Davina moves into the room, and shoots at the dwarf with her crossbow.
I missed. I hope my swordplay will be of better use.
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Kiri's blast slams into Kossrani, and the dwarf curses at seeing new foes appear in the door.
Mallus gasps. "Kiri?" he coughs in amazement.
Sabrina boldly dashes around the corner, rapier out, and moves to flank the dwarf with Domitius.
Kossrani's hand moving towards his mace reaches into a pouch instead and tosses a bag at Dom. Sabrina tries to take advantage of the opening, but Kossrani is ready and deflects her attack with his shield. The bag bursts open onto Domitius, covering him with sticky goo.
The female guard that Jessibel tried to charm steps towards her and swings a mace, striking her painfully in the chest. Her armor is able to keep it from being a deadly blow, but it still makes her gasp.
The other guard grabs Mallus's arm and tries to yank him back into the pit, but the Strix plants his feet and resists the guard, throwing a punch that the guard barely dodges. "Damnit!" the guard yells.
Leora
Jessibel
Domitus
Davina
Kiri
Sabrina
Kossrani
Guards
Mallus
In her Jenvara guise, Jessibel had felt like a total badass. Now, one failed spell and a bludgeoning bash to her bosom later, she was once again Jessi the Sissy--the make-believe adventurer--ready to run home crying. But she couldn't do that--she had to stand her ground lest Dom find himself flanked by the dwarf and one of his lackeys.
Lifting her leg, Jessi pulls her dagger from her boot with her buckler arm and hand. Mallus...weapon," she manages to gasp through her pain. Not sure she can sing at the moment, the bard opts for more of a chant as she attempts to inspire courage in her friends.
"Blood...red! Blood...red!
Soon...foes...(Wheeze!)...all be dead."
Inspire Courage (Su): A 1st level bard can use his performance to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard’s performance. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 5th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +4 at 17th level. Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. inspire courage can use audible or visual components. The bard must choose which component to use when starting his performance.
Davina drops her crossbow, pulls out an extract and drinks it. Her arms become longer than normal. She now as reach.
Leora waves the wand of silence on the doors leading towards where the rest of the Salt Works guards are presumably sleeping. She hopes the spell takes effect before they wake up. As much as she would rather stick the worshiper of Asmodeus with her rapier, or tend to the slaves, she concentrates on finishing the spell.
Kiri felt her heart stutter as the guard dragged her father back towards the pit to lob him in to his death and decided that she had a new target. She drew in another batch of air, her motions pulling and directing it into a great swirl before shooting in at her chosen target. Unfortunately the chaos of the fighting, and her concern for hitting her father caused her attack to go well above the head of her victim...for now.
"Cute trick," Dukkan snarls as Kossrani hurls the tanglefoot bag at him. The half-orc's muscles strain as he brings his blade to bear, trying to free himself.
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The half-orc's powerful swing crashes into Kossrani's chest, breaking through some of the dwarf's chainmail, drawing blood that stains his beard a darker red.
Sabrina tries to attack as well, but her rapier point doesn't penetrate Kossrani's armor.
"Damn you, get them! And put the bird back in the pit!" the dwarf yells at the human guards. He attacks Dom with a swing of his mace, repaying the damage in kind as the thick ridges of the mace rip through Dom's armor. He then steps back, trying to avoid being flanked.
"What the hell's all this?" yells a voice from the hallway to the north. The just-opened door reveals another human guard, looking stunned at the sudden melee. His partner doesn't hesitate, though -- she runs into the room with crossbow drawn and fires at Dom. Another hit!
The guard at the edge of the pit drops his crossbow, draws his mace and attacks Mallus. Kiri's father takes a blow to the stomach, making him double over and wheeze in pain. It doesn't look critical, though.
The female guard Jessibel tried to ensorcell seems to be carrying a grudge. Instead of attacking, she shoves the bard backwards, the force of the push knocking jessibel over the cart laden with bags of salt behind her. She manages to turn the toppel into a somersault and ends up on her feet on the other side of the cart, next to Domitius.
Mallus takes advantage of the guard shoving Jessibel and kicks her in the kneecap, causing her to cry out in pain. His followthrough punch, though, is blocked by her shield.
Leora
Jessibel
Domitus
Davina
Kirip
Sabrina
Kossrani
Guards
Mallus
Kiri gave a scream of rage at seeing her father attacked again and knew she needed to give him an opening to run. With two thugs attacking him she chose the closest and sent her blast of air flying at him with significant force.
Davina takes a step toward the guard who keeps attacking Jess. She pulls out her rapier. With her extra long weird looking arms she swipes at her. "I told you this could get weird Jenvara."
"$@&*" Leora curses, seeing that the silence spell was too late to stop the sounds of fighting from reaching the bedroom where the other guards had been sleeping. Knowing that Kossrani was a worshiper of Asmodeus made her nervous about casting spells in front him. But seeing Dom, and then Mallus get injured, she knew she had to do something, and quick.
"Devon, hang in there, I'll help ya in a second," Leora yells as she rushes to help Mallus first. She smashes a vial at his feet. "With this potion, Mallus, they can't touch you if you don't touch them. Move back behind me!"
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These guards don't look like they were asleep moments ago, and thinking back to the Fushi sisters' recon, you recall that they said that each shift had 4 guards, not counting the commander.
Kiri's wind blast batters the guard, and Davina's well-placed rapier stab sends her falling to the ground, unconscious and bleeding out.
None of the guards, nor Kossrani, seem to notice anything amiss about Leora's feigned alchemy.
Jessi rolls over the cart, somehow landing on her feet. Still chanting to inspire the others in combat, she casts a cure light wounds spell on Domitius before hooking around to the west to prepare for reinforcements or possibly help flank the dwarf.
“Bone…white. Bone…white!
Break their bones with all your might!”
Jessi seems to be recovering somewhat from the blow to her chest as her voice grows stronger as she heals some of the damage Dom's taken.
"Hnnngh!" Dukkan grunts in pain as the crossbow bolt lands true. As Jessibel's magic heals his injury, he regains his confidence, flashing a snarl at the girl that would have to suffice in lieu of a smile.
Turning his attention back to Kossrani, he calls to the crossbowman, "Zhdi svoyey ocheredi, roshka."