Karralo's head jerks back as Ayako pings him right between the eyes with a stone. Col's dagger follows, striking Karralo in the arm, causing him to scream in pain and drop his crossbow. He turns to run again but Sebastian leaps into him with a flying tackle and he lands face first into a cow pie with a wet splash. Sebastian lies on top of Karralo in a mass of mud.
You hear a muffled, "Oww... I surrender." Karralo lies motionless face-down and does not offer any further resistance.
Col walks up to the coward and pulls his dagger out of Karralo's arm. He pauses for a second and wipes the blade on Karralo's pants leg. He quickly brings the blade up and smashes the pomel down on Karralo's head.
Ayako comes up and stabilizes the man before helping truss him.Two down, just a few more. Shall we continue our picking off of strays?
With a smile at Ayako, Col nods his agreement.
Col's pommel knocks out Karralo and drives his face further into the refuse. After that you have no trouble binding him and dragging him out of the pen.
Okay, so. Which door do we take? Perhaps bust in riding our war cow?
Sebastian briefly imagines Ayako in Pharasmin regalia ushering in the apocalypse atop a dairy cow. Shaking the image from his mind, he wipes the mud from his clothes. He gives the unconscious Karralo an extra kick for forcing him to get dirty before coming back to the question of their entrance. "Without my grappling hook, the roof is out of the question. Barring that, I prefer the front door. It's not as though we'll be taking anybody by surprise after that racket."
I can grant us a blessing to aid our aim for a brief time. Unlike with Laam, we will be facing men no doubt in their prime and armed with better weapons. So we will really need to aid each other.
Col disagrees with Sebastian, "I think we should go in the door Karralo came out of, we know it's unlocked and from what I could tell there was only one person in there."
Nadya helps to tie up Karralo and hoist him into the cart. I agree with Col. We know there is one more, Baldrago, downstairs too, but let's start with Parns. It also sounds like their leader doesn't know everything his men are doing. That may give us an advantage when we run into him."
That sounds like a good plan, we can still eliminate them relatively isolated.
Col moves up to the door that Karralo came out of and presses he ear against it again.
Col's hears the familiar sound of a man continuing to pound meat and his grumblings.
Bang, bang, bang.
"That Karralo really gets on my nerves. Good riddance I say. Still, he better get his ass back here soon. This meat isn't going to prepare itself."
Bang, bang, bang.
"There is still one of them in there and by the sound of it he is busy working," Col whispers to his companions.
"Let's go in. Bang the door open and closed and have one of us being noisy coming down the hall while the other three try to be quiet. As soon as we see him, I'll hex him to make him easier to hit and the rest of you can go try to knock him out."
Works for me.
His companions finally having come to an agreement, Sebastian throws the door open, brazenly striding in.
Col follows Sebastian into the building.
Sebastian swings open the doors and saunters in.
The floor of this grim chamber is strewn with blood-stained straw, and the reek of slaughter is almost overpowering. The room itself is a killing floor. A metal track affixed to the ceiling dangles meat hooks here and there, allowing the hooks and their gory loads to be moved easily from the northwest where a large hammer sits on the floor amid a permanent bloodstain. To the south, a bloodstained grill covers a wide hole in the floor. Just north of the grill sit two large vats of water; one boiling and one cold. Two large butcher blocks stand to the east next to barrels of salt, and in the southeast corner sits a reeking vat of cast-off meat and bones.
One man, most likely Parns, is pounding an unidentifiable piece of meat with a large cow hammer. He looks up from his work as soon as he hears Sebastian come in.
"I knew you'd come sniveling back here, you piece of s*%&. Now get to wo... You're not Karralo. I don't know who you are but you've just walked into a world of hurt. Baldrago! We've got company! Let's give them a proper Cow Hammer Boys welcome."
A voice from beyond the central door to the north replies, "I knew that bastard, Malder, was taking too long to take a piss. I'm right behind you."
Parns hefts his massive hammer up and grins wickedly at Sebastian. "You're first. The lady skulking behind you can watch as I bash your brains in. Then I'll get creative with her."
Parns slowly reaches down next to him where a shield is laying against the butcher's block and slips it onto his arm. He maintains his smug grin, seemingly savoring drawing out the moment. He then raises his weapon and shield into a defensive position to intercept Sebastian.
Ayako will cast Bless on her allies
Cramped quarters, big shield. Not the best of circumstances. Sebastian's own buckler won't likely stand up to blows from that hammer. Hearing the voice coming from beyond the door, he moves up next to it, hoping to take the other man unawares when he enters the room.
Baldrago, a tall man with bushy eyebrows that merge into one just above his large flat nose, opens the northern door, equipped similarly to Parns except wielding a longsword. Sebastian thrusts his rapier at the flat-footed soldier, but even unaware, the attack clangs loudly off his shield.
"Oi! You're asking for it."
Col stealthily moves further into the building his rapier held before him.
Ayako sends a stone at Parns. Sebastion, back up so Col can aid you
Nadya moves into the disgusting room. Her stomach roils and threatens to cause her to add her meager breakfast to the stink. Seeing Baldrago run into the room, she knows things are about to get serious. She wheels on Parns, recalling everything Karralo confessed about the horror of the operation and channels it into a vicious glare, willing Parns to drop his defenses.
Parns proves to be a resilient opponent, blocking Ayako's stone and shaking off most of Nadya's glare.
"Ah, more entertainment. And it looks like we have a volunteer." Parns steps up to Col and swings his hefty hammer but Col manages to side-step the attack. "Stand still!"
The only entertainment we're looking forward to is seeing you in Field Marshall Cressida's cells." Nadya's eyes continue to bore into Parns, attempting to sap his strength and make it even harder for him to hit Col.
Col sidesteps the attack and thrusts his rapier at the midsection of his opponent. "Drop your weapons."
"You are hereby under arrest," Sebastian says as he takes another thrust at his opponent. "Come quietly, and there may be mercy for you yet!" Anticipating his opponent's attack, he shifts to a defensive stance, stepping back with one foot.
Baldrago follows Sebastian's step and thrusts his sword at Sebastian. Sebastian is just able to parry Baldrago's attack thanks to his quick thinking to fight defensively.
Col inflicts a gory wound through Parn's midsection and he roars in pain. Nadya is also able to get through Parn's weakening defenses.
How high are the chains and how tall are the water vats?
RD 2
Ayako sends another sling bullet at Baldrago
Ayako's sling bullet flies between the two men engaged in combat, dinging off the water vat.
Parns ignores Cols demand and continues his assault in a blind, pain-induced rage but the swing goes wild and Col has no difficulty dodging. Blood spills freely from his wound, mixing with the already sticky floor.
Well I tried to take him alive, Col thinks as he aims another thrust at Parns.
"Lay down your arms, and we won't tell Verik what you boys have been up to." As he exchanges blows with Baldrago, Sebastian examines his opponent's style, looking for weak spots in his guard and his armor. Spotting a flaw in the man's guard, he thrusts forward into the opening.
Baldrago is unable to reply to Sebastian as Sebastian's rapier thrust slides completely through the man's body and he crumples to the floor in a pool of blood with a look of surprise on his face.
"Damn!" Sebastian realizes that he may have gotten carried away. He bends down to get a better look at the wound. "We have healers. Surrender now and live! You don't have to die like this!"
If I need to wait until my next turn for this, that's fine.
Ayako moves over to examine the man, unaware of the strange blue words Sebastion is hearing. ;)
Nadya-bot uses evil eye to reduce Parn's AC.
Ayako and Sebastian examine Beldrago and determine that he'll live.
"Well f!+@..." Parns moans. After he sees Sebastian slay Baldrago, he stops fighting and drops to his knees, clutching his wounded chest.
A moment later, a handsome man wearing Korvosan Guard livery and armor kicks open the northern doors and holds a longbow at the ready. "What is going on down here!? You're the Queen's Men, aren't you? The Field Marshall sent you here for me. You may think me a deserter, but I chose my duty to Korvosa over my duty to the Guard. That whore-queen is going to ruin Korvosa. The people will need places like this in the coming days. If you shut us down, you'll be doing a disservice to the people you claim to protect. Now be good dogs and return to your master and tell Cressida we politely refuse or I'm going to be forced to start shooting and I have very good aim."
Upon Verik's appearance, Zellara's harrow deck feels warm in Nadya's hand. She glances down and sees the Peacock card is glowing with a ghostly blue hue. Col also begins glowing with the same light, although Verik and Parns show no indication of noticing anything amiss. Col tests his reflexes and feels unnaturally quick.
Your men here have been running a little side buisness. Karralo who is currently sleeping cofessed to bringing back people who they were hired to kill. They were then chopped up and served to those coming for meat along with the cows. So, they have been making peopel cannibals.
"Because that's what Korvosa will need in the coming days," says Sebastian sardonically. "What worse can the queen do than what your men have already done?"
Just another madman justifying his greed, Col thinks as he edges closer to Verik and punches Parns in the face with the guard of his rapier. To Verik he adds, "Surrender and live, your choice but I wont be gentle like I was with this one."
"The Field Marshall is no dog. She is a good woman doing her best to keep the city safe in a dangerous situation. She needs order and discipline to set things right. You're the one who has broken your duty to the city. By not watching over your men, they sow chaos. Imagine if word got out that a bunch of guardsmen were killing people and selling their flesh for profit. Surrender."
Parns falls unconscious after Col's punch to the face.
Verik Vancaskerkin replies, "You all spread lies! You are as corrupt as this illegitimate queen. Cressida fears deserters but we are doing a good thing here. Korvosa's citizen's need us. If anything, you should be supporting us, not opposing us. My men may be rough around the edges but we are running a legitimate business here. Our meat comes solely from Korvosan farms. What proof do you have of any of this?"
Verik keeps his bow aimed into the room.
There is Karralo who confessed to it, we can wake him up and see if he will tell the truth to you.
Plus Karralo tells us you hardly come down from your office, just how much do you know what they do when you are not present? They could be doing anything from killing people to smuggling drugs in slabs of meat.
"Where is Karralo? What did you do to him? I have no reason to trust you. And I don't know what coercion you've used on my men either. You'll have to do better than that."
He is alive and restrained outside.
"Would you be inclined to surrender if I told you we had twenty guardsmen ready to burst in the front door." Col lies to the man.
"He is alive and restrained outside."
"The words of intruders hold no value. Show me proof."
"Would you be inclined to surrender if I told you we had twenty guardsmen ready to burst in the front door."
Verik's eyes dart around the room nervously. "Why would Cressida send so many guards...? How does she have the manpower to spare?" Verik speaks more to himself than to the party, puzzling over this new development but he does not surrender.