Tallak walks over to one of the other doors in the room and tries it. Unfortunately, he finds that door locked.
"Ulp! Well, I guess we're making noise now, eh?"
Clara adds a dash of sulfur to some fizzy pop, shakes it up and does her best to lob it past her allies and at the nearest guard. As it leaves her hand, her concealment fades.
___________
Clara hucks her bomb at the guard in combat with Kurasaviel. It explodes, sending the bloodied guard to the ground in a smoking heap, and the guard behind him singed with the splash damage. The guards in the room beyond gulp, realizing that those who came for them came for blood.
Ulf, thinking that Ukshakka must be upstairs, heads up the stairs to the second floor. The rest of the group can hear his feet pounding across the second floor ground, and his fist as it pounds on the locked door that he encounters. "Inspection!" comes the muffled cry from upstairs.
The two guards look at each other, nod briefly, and then one of them lunges for what looks like a stack of yellow logs. Into the fire it goes, and it begins to glow white-hot.
The other guard, sword in hand, steps up to battle Kurasaviel. With a grunt of effort, he swings his blade at the nimble half-elf.
Kurasaviel only has to shift back a few inches in order to dodge the desperate guard's blow.
Meanwhile, Matin continues to move around the building, switching over to his bow and making ready to unlock the door on the other side so that he can get an extra angle on the battle.
"Hey fellow goobers, those yellow logs are about to send a big sparkly signal up the chimney unless we stop the fella by the fireplace!"
Kurasaviel, upon Clara's exclamations, explodes into action, deftly maneuvering past his foe. He gets right next to the fireplace and uses his action to swiftly remove the aforementioned logs from the flames.
Kurasaviel does a little tumble, quickly moving through the doorway and past the guard stopping him. Lunging towards the fire, he burns his hands on the hot logs and the fire itself, but manages to get the logs out of the fireplace and avoid getting his clothing caught on fire.
Calder step up and swings at the nearest guard.
Just clipping the guard.
Tallak continues his spellcasting, this time resulting in his weapon becoming enhanced by the power of his ancestors.
When finished, he turns to Ursus and lets out a strange growl and pats the door before stepping away.
Ursus lumbers to the door and raises up on his hind legs, his fore paws on the door. He then begins pushing against it with his weight.
__________
Calder positively slams his greataxe into the guard that stands in his way. His axe doesn't penetrate the man's chainmail, but he can hear ribs cracking, and the man coughs painfully as Calder withdraws his weapon.
Tallak empowers the spear that he won from Asvig, and his bear companion rears up and slams into the door that stands in his way. The blow is clumsy, and the door holds, but perhaps another blow will reduce it to splinters...
Clara says, "I'm really sorry about this, but..." and throws another extra-fizzy fizzy drink through Calder's legs and into the guard he's fighting.
Clara hucks a bomb at the guard standing in the doorway. Her fizzy pop explodes, sending the guard to the floor in a charred heap.
Upstairs, Ulf pops the cork on a health potion and downs it, hoping to be at tip-top shape before he confronts whatever is inside.
The guard in front of Kurasaviel draws back, and swings at the rogue with his longsword, a wordless shout on his lips and both hands on the hilt of his blade.
The guard isn't able to connect with Kurasaviel, and the other guards upstairs are startled when they open the door in front of them to find nobody behind it. Warily, they draw their swords.
Outside, Matin unlocks the door at the other end of the hallway, juggling his sword and his lockpicking tools.
Kurasaviel will slice back with his own blade, putting the weight of his body behind his blow. Sensing the man's prowess, Kurasaviel will move erratically, increasing how difficult he is to hit.
Calder growls and swings at the next guard.
Kurasaviel conservatively jabs at his opponent, though he is far too cautious and forgoes his speed. He does not manage to land a blow on the guard. Calder, meanwhile, steps past the pile of corpses in the doorway of the room and lands a sick axe-blow on the guard. His blow isn't precise enough to kill the guard outright, but it is powerful and brutal.
Tallak's bear Ursus rears up and, with a roar and a show of brutality, reduces the door in front of him to mere splinters. The room beyond is revealed to be an office, with a desk in the center. The desk is covered in papers, and has deep drawers. To the right are two doors, one a closet door and the other a regular door.
Tallak steps into the now open room, frustrated to find just some office. He checks both doors in here for what lies behind them.
One door is clearly another door that leads into the hallway, though that door is also locked. The second door leads into what seems like a strange empty closet.
Seeing two of her tougher allies dealing with the last guard in sight, Clara's curiosity gets the better of her and she starts to follow Ulf up the stairs.
Clara runs up the stairs, towards the beginning sounds of intense combat. Ulf lunges out at the surprised guard in front of him with his longsword.
He cuts deeply into the surprised guardsman, sending a spray of blood across the doorframe and onto the floor. The guard retaliates by curling his arm and shoulder into a blunt surface, and trying to bull the man out of the way so that he and his ally can engage at the same time.
He manages to push Ulf's shield aside and rush into the hallway, and the other guard draws his longsword and steps up to engage Ulf, swinging at the tracker. His blade cuts into Ulf, who grunts in pain but continues to fight.
The guard down the stairs, injured from Calder's swing and recognizing the big man as a dangerous opponent, swings his sword two-handed at him.
Matin starts down the hallway, opening the first door on his right, which is thankfully unlocked. He shouts down the hallway, "HEY, I found Ukshakka! She's being guarded, though!"
Kurasaviel ducks underneath his enemy's weapon, thrusting forward with his heavy blade!
Kurasaviel slashes brutally at the already-injured guard, easily dropping him to the ground with a display of martial prowess.
Calder turns to the guard in the corner. Matins call has lightened his mind, if these people have Ukshakka then he's not murdering men just doing their job.
Tallak grunts to himself. At the call that Ukshakka had been located, along with the sound of fighting upstairs, Tallak and Ursus move as far as they can to provide assistance to the battle above.
__________
Clara scrambles up the staircase and lobs a bomb at the back of the guard nearest her. "Hey stoogie, eat fizzypop!"
Then she presses herself against the wall to let either the bear past her...or for Ulf to run back downstairs.
Clara's bomb impacts, searing the back of the already-injured guard. He stays standing, although he is definitely very badly wounded. Ulf turns, sees that he is on his last legs, and he slashes at the guard.
The guard goes down, his throat cut by Ulf's powerful blow.
The second guard in the upstairs area, as well as the guard in Ukshakka's room (Ukshakka, who is unconscious and obviously bruised and beaten) immediately surrender. Throwing down their weapons, they raise their hands and beg for mercy. Ulf threatens the guard upstairs, demanding to know where Ukshakka is, and he is told that the girl they captured is downstairs.
Calder instructs the Guards to move away from their weapons. Making them move into a corner where he can watch them.
"Get the girl and lets leave before more trouble arrives!" He says firmly.
He expects Matin and Kurasaviel to grab anything that looks valuable, but can't be bothered stopping them. He just hopes they also grab something that gives us some information on why the Rime runners are after the caravan?
Matin does exactly as expected and begins to rummage around for gold, valuables, and gems. He picks the pockets of the dead guards, looks in side-rooms, cupboards, dressers, drawers, and more, pocketing everything he finds that seems to be of monetary value.
Kurasaviel is less interested in valuables then information. He'll look around for anything that seems to be relevant to the group's interests.
"No. We need to find the sword, and cut the head from this serpent while we have the chance," Tallak says to counter Calder.
Calder scowls, but keeps silent. Tallak is right about the sword, though he doubts it's been left laying around here.
He keeps an ear out for trouble coming.
Kurasaviel is mostly looking for anything written; maps or letters. Anything that might let them know the location of the sword, or of the forces arrayed against the party.
Ukshakka has been badly beaten and is bound in fetters. However, the locks on the fetters are easy to spring for the party's two rogues. Ukshakka is unconscious, but even if nobody will heal her, Ulf will clean off his blade, put his shield on his back, and carry her in his arms when the time comes to leave the guild hall behind.
Kurasaviel spends about 20 minutes searching the hall's several rooms, poking underneath beds, looking for loose boards, checking inside drawers and cupboards, and other such means of search while he looks for items of import. He finds two interesting things while searching.
One, in a secret compartment in a small closet next to the office, Kurasaviel finds a lockbox. Sensibly, it is locked.
Second, in the desk area as well as scattered about the complex as a whole, Kurasaviel finds a number of papers that detail some relevant information. For one thing, a ledger shows contracts that the guild has recently taken. Near the bottom of the most recent page, there shows a transaction with a "Mr. Longthews", who received a payment of 2,000 gold pieces for the "acquisition of a Tian antique" from a specific address. Having visited him in his home, you recognize the address as that of Fynn Svaenald. Just above that is another transaction between the guild and Asvig, who appears to have rented out a boat called the Aril's Hammer from the guild several days before your arrival in Kalsgard.
You recognize this boat as the one that ambushed the group when it reached the edge of the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
The last entry in the ledger is listed as "transfer of Tian antiques to Ravenscraeg Castle", and is dated for yesterday. Looking back through the ledger, you can find several other examples of things or money being transferred to Ravenscraeg, including tens of thousands of gold from different transactions marked as "development expenses". The earliest mention that you can find of Ravenscraeg is from three years ago, when it is in the ledger listed as, "purchase of Ravenscraeg Castle". Its original owner is listed as one Snorri One-Eye, and it was purchased for 75,000 gold.
Every transaction that you can see involving Ravenscraeg is personally approved by stamp and signature by someone named Thorborg Silverskorr.
Looking for information on who is arrayed against the party, there is nothing more detailed than the payroll for the guild's employees. There seem to be three separate things, and there is a note for them each month. One section, titled, 'guild security payroll' is marked with 1,800gp each month. The second, marked 'guild consultation payroll' is marked with an asterisk and 2,500gp each month. The third, marked 'Jorgan and associates payroll' is written down as 3,000gp each month.
As Kurasaviel is wrapping up looking through the ledger for interesting things, Calder hears the sound of a handful of men, joking in Skald about the cold of the night and the warmth of their beds and women that they had to leave behind, and keys fumbling at the front door.
Calder speaks quietly. "Company!" And moves to where he can get a clear shot once the door opens.
Tallak cared little for the search through papers and records. He spent the time looking for the leaders of this guild.
When he made his way back downstairs, he hears Calder's warning. He looks to Ursus and motions for the bear to remain at his side, and the two move back into the main hall.
__________
Kurasaviel, as he rifles through the Guild's books, will make copies of pertinent information, writing down names, dates and numbers. Anything of note, he relays to the group. As Calder utters a warning, Kurasaviel moves to the side of the door, pressing himself flush against it, intent on moving in behind whatever foes come in.
Kurasaviel presses himself into a corner while Calder and Tallak move towards the front of the shop to support him. The guards at the door unlock it and step in. Two of them carelessly walk right by Kurasaviel, rushing in at first sight of the carnage inside. Tallak and Calder are seen standing among at least one downed guard, and the two guards that were left alive shout in Skald for help.
The new shift of guards draws their weapons. The guard in the lead points at Calder and shouts, "You're under arrest!"
At the back door, Ulf curses and shouts, "I'm out of here, friends! If you're wise, you'll follow me!" He leaves by the back door, with an unconscious Ukshakka on his back.
Initiative