Gregor purses his lips, and ensures everyone understands the when and where. "I agree that healing could be useful, but first I think it is imperative that we search her and bind her before it is done. Rope or manacles would be useful if anyone has any."
With that said, he proceeds to examine the woman and the area they are in for any latent magical auras.
"Rope I got." Said Drakus.
He laid aside his shield and bardiche to dig his rope out of his pack and wrap the witch up.
"An gag her an put a blindfold on her as well, standard protocol fer dealin with mages."
Donagar takes out a wand of healing starting with only the party members.....
She has:
+1 glamered studded leather
+1 light crossbow
Mwk Dagger
Potion of Invisibility x1
potion of remove disease x2
wand of cats grace (11 charges)
smoke bombs x4
25 bolts
alchemist fire x2
tanglefoot bag x2
flint and steel
masterwork manacles
sealing wax
sewing needles (20)
350 gold in jewelry stuffed in a sack.
"Nice little score from that kook, eh," Crain comments as he watches the others searching her person. "That'll allow us a fun night or two in town."
"Now we gotta find out if that girls boy toy is still alive." Sgt. Drakus growled.
"Interestin tha cure disease means she knew o tha dangers, but...."
Donagar's forehead scrunches for a moment before he knocks back a drink and then looks around.
"Though we should be careful in handling her, as we don't know if she knows some good tricks to pull.
And who she might have connections to."
You check the mention examining the bodies and you realize that there is no sign of Cedric. You find some dead zombies in the dining room that must be his handiwork but he is nowhere to be found. You also do not find a Varisian among the dead meaning the bard is missing as well.
"Seems the Lad is not here, I think we should ask the clown"
Drakus grimaced.
"Crap. Now we gotta check this whole place out. Alright, lets do a spiral sweep. Ground floor first."
"Someone else can stay and question that freaky lady. I'll head out with Drakus and look around the house for the boy."
Gregor would normally disagree, but thinks it somewhat for the best that some of the more hot-headed others be elsewhere while he speaks to the prisoner, "I will stay with the clown, and question her on behalf of the Guard."
"Since we don't know if she has any tricks,
it might be best to have two sets of eyes on her.
I'll stay with Gregor to make sure she does not try something."
Donagar also helps in the search for a ....survivors.
"Let's clear tha house an look fer any survivors."
You search the entire mansion and while you find things of value and lots of brandy and wine bottles there is no sign of Cedric or the young bard.
The clown woman is at negative hp and stable it will be hours until she wakes unless you heal her.
"If the rest of you couldn't find anything, our only option to to heal this one up good and have a little conversation with her. I can make her talk, if the rest of you don't have the stomach for it. A couple punches to the ribs will soften anyone up."
Gregor levels a glare at the brash man, "I imagine it does, but then again, a couple punches to the ribs and someone would tell you they invented the moon to get you to stop hitting them. Information garnered via abusive treatment cannot be relied upon for fact. It is better if all interrogation be done through coercion, which may even include threats of lawful punishment, but never violent acts against the one being interrogated. Once she is healed enough to speak, I will speak with her."
@ Gregor
"Sounds like yer ready fer some talking."
Channel positive energy
She wakes up with a start and seems surprised to be alive.
"So you want to play some more? This is going to be such fun! Do you ave a stretchy rack thing? I love the stretchy rack thing!"
"Oh boy, getting info out of this nut case is going to be a lot harder than you thought."
Gregor huffs lightly at Pai's presumptions, "Not necessarily so. Sometimes the application of reason and sympathy can go a long way."
He turns to the woman, "I need you to listen elf, and listen close. We came here looking for a missing varisian man, a musician I believe, but found the place the way it was. I first need you to tell me if you had seen the person in question and secondly what prompted you to affect the residents as you had. Now, I cannot spare you punishment for your crimes, but I can say that if you are willing to cooperate I could put in a good word that could see you with a possibly reduced sentence. Your very cooperation could mean the difference between imprisonment and death. What say you?"
Drakus loomed over the prisoner, but otherwise doesn't move, waiting for the order to intimidate instead.
"Oh what a charmer! You remind me of my darling Rolth's silken tongue." she says with a high-pitched giggle. "All I did was murder a few rich bastards that's not a crime that's a service to the community! You should be thanking me! Did you not have fun? I assure you they were much better as my puppets than back when they alive and boring!"
Crain fumes, charging forth and kicking the prisoner in the ribs! "Id cut your tongue out for your lack of help, you nutter!"
Gregor turns on Crain with fury in his eyes,
To the others, he 'asks' "I would appreciate if you ensure that the delicate task of questioning this prisoner be left undisturbed by those that do not understand the subtle process. Otherwise, we are stuck wasting resources on a prisoner who may have to be healed after each question asked. In the end gathering no real or reliable information as the kind gathered via violence. I thought I had expressed this clearly when the option of abuse was suggested earlier."
With his demands shared, he turns back to the woman, to see if she is still conscious after the assault on the and person
Drakus grabbed Crain by an arm and started hauling him out of the room.
"Come on Tresselmore, let Ward take his shot." He said.
He turned a jaundiced eye on Gregor.
"And Ward," He said meaningfully. "We're standing hip deep in some rich guys (and their families) bodies and she ain't even trying to claim innocent. I'm sayin' there ain't no need ta be nice about this."
He squeezed his gauntleted fist.
"The Marshal's gonna need something from this one. If you can't get it we'll haul her down ta the guard house and get it the old fashioned way." He said flatly.
Then he went out the door taking Crain with him.
Crain smiled wickedly as he walked out of the room. "We all know she's not going to give us any information by asking her nicely. The only way to get her to talk is to rough her up a bit. One swift kick's not enough to do more than rattle her bones. I bet he'll have more luck now that she knows we are serious."
"Crain for all you know she could be into that whole, pain is pleasure play, and you'd be making her happy.
And Gregor is right we have to be civil professionals here."
"Have you looked around at the city, pretty lady? Civil professionals have no home in this anarchy. Being civil will get you bonked on the head by a group of mongrels raiding in the streets. You need to be practical."
"Bah best ting tah do is lock this one up alone an bored fer tha next 10 years."
The elf woman screams in delight as Crain kicks her. "YES! That's it! do your worst!" she says and begins laughing.
As the others pull Crain back she seems honestly disappointed.
"Crain, it does look like so is into that preverted pain is pleasure thing."
"So she's not all bad, is what you are telling me," the warrior adds with a mischievous wink.
Gregor takes the woman by the chin, directing her attention back to him, "I had just asked you a number of questions. I will need your responses. If you find a number of well-placed strikes to be enjoyable, I can easily arrange to have the others return to offer them pending your cooperation in my inquiry. Otherwise, you are looking at a life of dull grey walls and bland gruel, before a swift and most likely painless execution. You seem full of life, and I am certain you are impressed with your own handiwork. Would you not want to share with others your accomplishments? Your name and deeds may even become well known across the city, making a name of infamy for yourself. First, however, I need to know you are willing to give us the information we need."
"I'll not betray my darling! You will get nothing from me! Do your worst he will save me even if you kill me! He mastered death long ago!" she replies laughing.
"Your Darling,
I bet your Darling, would leave you alone to rot in prison.
I mean come on, Zombies are a cheap ugly toy to give a girlfriend.
He must of known that you'd have no friends any other way."
Gregor nods his head in resignation, and is about to turn away, before he turns back confused, "So, wait. you call him your darling? Oh, that's a shame. You know what it means when the women use pet names?" He turns to face Pai, though it's a rehetorical question.
"It means the woman is way more invested in the relationship than the man. They use it to help cope with the lack of equal attention on the return. I bet that's why she's here alone. Her 'darling' was trying to get her out of hair so he could have a little peace and quiet." He feigns shocked realization, "I bet he can't even perform any decent raising of the dead, and just told her that to get her to be comfortable with risking her life for him. He's probably just some charlatan that's been lying to her just to get what he wants, and once she dies doing something stupid, he'll move on to the next foolish girl. Like you said, zombies? I mean, really?"
In a still audible whisper he adds, "I bet whatever name he gave her as his isn't even real. If we check the city records, this person doesn't even exist. Well, there's nothing to do with her now exept let her rot alone and still unloved, albeit delusional that she is, in some dank grey cell."
He's actually seen the effect bad men can have on a woman that loves them too much. His sincerity may not be fully genuine, but he believes the reasoning sound. If he can get her to see it, she may still be able to be swayed.
If they aren't going to let me beat the information out of her, at least take her to jail. Don't subject her to being bored to death!
Donagar finishes his drink, and offers Crain some.
"Best to put tha one in a deep dark hole an forget her check back in a year an see wha she's got tah say after that."
"At least you've got some sense, friend dwarf! Gregor in there's gonna spend all day getting her life story, except for the good ibts we need, I'd wager." Crain accepts the offered beverage. "Now that's more like it."
Mai whispers back to Gregor quietly
"Even a fake name can yield clues, And she may reveal something useful if we rile her up.
Given we way we are going we should continue the relationship angle,
We could use jealousy of relationship to rile her up?"
"I agree Gregor, She's so obsessed with her Darling, that she can't see that he only sees her as a tool to use and dispose of.
Come on look at her, she dress like a clown, puts make-up on like a clown,"
Mai strikes a brazen pose that shows off her figure some to add effect to her continuing sentence
"and she has next to no Curves to GET OR HOLD a man's attention, it's no wonder that he got tried of her affections."
"Who knows I might run into him and he'll shower me with affection, while you rot in prison, a use toy of his."
"Rolf would never be interested in you as anything other than a test subject! He made me his apprentice! You will most likely meet him soon enough and you will see what fate awaits you!" she says angrily
[ooc]Know local (for Rolf)
Gregor rolls his eyes at Pai as she whispers back at him, giving her a look of 'duh' as that's exactly what he was doing. "Oh, we will meet this Rolf will we? Is he here with you? No? You probably don't even know where he is and what... or who.. he is doing at this moment."
Turning to Pai, he agrees, "You are right, though, with that getup he probably thinks she is just as much of a joke as she looks. He couldn't possibly have been truly interested in her. Apprentice, isn't that a fancy way of saying unpaid worker?"
"A test Subject, HA, where I've worked men have lost themselves to desires, including flirting, woo, caressing me as I became their desire."
Mai gives Gregor a look of 'follow along, if you want'
Mai's words turn to the elf
"Your "Darling Rolf" had you pegged as a free stupidly loyal tool the moment he saw you.
It's so sad that you fell for it.
I'm willing to bet your "Darling Rolf" is already looking for an new replacement apprentice, maybe one with more of a curvy figure,
as all men, love women with more of a bust and rump than the ones you have, as you pretty much a twig."
"Let's see if she's wanted, might be a price on her head."
"Once you all gets tired o her antics. We ken ask tha guards if they know o Roff as well."
"The dwarf's the smartest one amongst you all. If we aren't going to knock the truth out of her, let's just turn her in and try to find out more information about her boyfriend, Rolf. Preferably somewhere they serve a mug of ale or three."
The crazy elf not being forthcoming all you managed to get out of her is that Rolf sent her here to kill these nobles and for some reason she took the Varisian bard and sent him to Rolf and Cedric was somehow captured as well.
You return to the Tower to turn in the prisoner and perhaps to speak to the field marshal.