Rikkan pulls his masterwork dagger as he moves forward to engage the closest enemy.
Attack
Damage
Drancis' quick reactions see him try to pull the rogue's weapon clear... but somehow his grasp of the aether fails him and he fails to get any purchase on the brandished blade. Zoreck, Mayenyi and Rikkan all land their blows on the closest of the rodent man... but, despite the flurry of blows, their foe is still standing...
Kasia instantly fires, the gun still by her hip, letting her training and Wey take over her actions, as she blows a hole into the Skulk.
As Kasia sends their attacker reeling, blood smearing the wall behind it, there is a clattering of metal against the tiled floors... daggers and short-jagged swords being dropped in surrender. Between rasped breaths, the heavily injured rodent-like humanoid begs for mercy, "Enough!!! Enough!!! Whatever quarrel you have with Lomrick, it is not of our concern... we will not fight you, we do not owe the Jagladine our lives".
Drancis nods, satisfied with their truthfulness. "Very well, just tell us where he is and we will let you go."
At the sight of his foes surrendering, Zoreck feels his rage ebb.
Stepping back to let his friends move in, Zoreck re-loads his pistol.
Mayenyi looks uncertainly at her allies, but can't bring herself to attack a surrendering foe, whether she trusts him or not. Her spear stays ready to hand, but the point drops away from the ratman's throat.
"Leave you weapons on the ground, and we will trade you your lives for them, if you tell us where Lomrrick is.". Rikkan paused to allow them the opportunity to answer him.
Rather than firing again at the wounded creature, Kasia lowers her weapon, but doesn't holster it. "Wise move." She says. "Lomrick's day of reckoning is here, but it need not be yours as well."
The surrendering gang members make no attempt to pick up the weapons that they had dropped, "Lomrick spends little time in the Manse itself, he's either attending his off-world affairs or down in his workshops I think that's where he is now... if you are lucky, he doesn't even know you are here yet, even with all of the noise that you made!!!" When it becomes clear that the group are expecting more information about Lomrick's whereabouts, the ratkin shrugs, "I haven't been down into the cellars... there's no way Lomrick would allow us down there... but so far as I know, the way down is through the rooms next to the gardens. Look, whatever your issue with the jagladine is, we've got no part in it... so just let us go, okay?"
Mayenyi makes a swift gesture toward the Manse's front doors with her spear. "Then move it, and let this be the last we see of you," she says firmly.
Once the gang members have left Drancis turns to the others, "We should press on here while Lomrick is still unaware of our presence!" Glancing around him to the other side of the Manse he pauses, "Unless other klaven are lurking around here?"
"Point us to the entrance to Lomrick's cellar, and then get outta here." Zoreck raises his now-loaded pistol. "'Cause if we see you again..." He pantomimes firing it.
When the others cooperate, Rikkan will lead the group to the entrance, looking for trouble along the way. "I'll try to hold off on my bombs as long as I can this time. I figured he would be upstairs, not down in a cellar, though."
Perception
"Look, we seriously don't want any trouble... we'll show you where Lomrick goes out into the garden but beyond that, there really ain't too much we can tell you", wincing in pain, the ratkin guides the group back out towards the gardens at the rear of the manse... and points to the door to the east, "The doors normally locked and Lomrick never handed any keys out".
A quick check of the door handle, keping an eye upon the predator roses at the far end of the gardens, confirms that it is indeed locked...
"This lock is probably beyond me. I don't hunk I could get through it, if I had all day.". Rikkan tries the door.
disable device
Drancis smiles confidently, "Don't worry I can get this door open!" He then looks back inside the Manor, a look of concern on his face. "Still, Lomrick will know we are here. Maybe we could search for a key? It has got to be hidden in his bedroom right?"
"I'll go check." Zoreck rushes back into the building to give his room a more thorough search.
Zoreck, returning to the bedroom in the upper floor of the Manse, turns out all of the drawers and looks in all of the hiding places where a key could possibly be hidden... but, after ten minutes of searching, has found nothing.
...meanwhile, down in the gardens, the vampire roses - kept at bay by Drancis' telekinesis thus far - are becoming increasingly agitated.
"Bah. Nothin'."
Zoreck returns to the others, and looks out at the thicket of animated plants. "Those monster roses don't look happy..."
"If there's a key in Lomrick's room, I can't find it. Anyone any good at picking locks?"
"Just say the word Zoreck and I'll blast the door off its hinges!" Drancis flexes his hands in anticipation. "Unless you think the keys are somewhere else...I could even use the vampire rose bushes to clear the way for us!"
"If we're going in loud, let's just get on with it," Mayenyi shrugs, gripping her spear.
"Blow it up then! I can't think of another way in. My lock picks will never get us in there. Let's do it.". Rikkan pulls and drinks his Shield extract making himself shimmer before a clear substance stays in place on him.
Zoreck draws his pistol ans points it at the locked door. Nodding toward Drancis, he says, "Blast it."
Drancis nods silently and, with one portion of his mind keeping the vampire bushes at bay, sends a bubble of hardened aether slamming into the door as hard as he can. Even as the sound of the door being blasted inwards echoes across the compound, he grabs a hold of one of the vampire rose bushes and readies it to hurl into any guards that respond to the noise.
Even as Drancis slams the door with aetheric force, Mayenyi speaks a few words of prayer, invoking Lianthus' protection.
Drancis and the others are ready as the door caves inwards... but there proves to be little need for their caution, the room beyond the destroyed door proves to be an unoccupied larder. Rows of shelves line this small, stone-floored room, each one bearing a number of crates, bottles, and other stored foodstuffs.
The larder contains nothing particularly valuable other than a half-dozen pricey-looking bottles of wine worth around 25 gold each. None of the food has spoiled yet, but as the group spend more time searching in the storeroom, they find some of the 'food' to be wholly unpalatable to 'normal' tastes. Containers of dried insects, pickled animal brains (a few of which look suspiciously humanoid), and a box of fertilized topsoil hosting a collection of fat, juicy worms all have their place among the food supplies... perhaps reassuringly, other, more standard fare, such as fruits and vegetables also exist.
An unlocked door to the north leads into a gardener's store - garden tools, such as rakes, hoes, and watering pails line the north and west walls of this chamber. Burlap sacks of seed and flower bulbs rest on the stone floor.
Rikkan grabs two of the wine bottles and stashes them in his backpack. He grabs a sample of the largest dried insect and pockets it as well. "No telling what I can eland from this," he whispers as the others give him strange looks.
Once the others were ready, Rikkan takes point and quietly leads them ahead, checking for trouble.
Perception
Drancis looks around the storeroom uncertainly. "Perhaps there is a trapdoor in here?" He then looks around the floor looking for any obvious signs of such a door.
Despite knowing she's never had an eye for detail, Mayenyi lends her aid to searching the larder and gardener's storage rooms.
Mostly ignoring his new companion's suggestion, Zoreck pokes around the room, looking for secret or hidden doors.
Kasia waits outside while the others scour for secrets, keeping an eye out behind them should anyone have not gotten the memo and decided to attack. She frowns, wondering if Lomrick has already heard them coming.
The ratkin had been quite adamant that this is where Lomrick went... and so, despite the lack of doors leading any further, the friends continue to search. It takes a while, but eventually - after Rikkan has realised that the dimensions of these rooms are substantially less than the outer walls of the building would suggest - Zoreck finds a concealed door in the eastern wall of the garden stores...
Carefully, and having warned the others to remain quiet, he pushes it open... and would not have been surprised to find stairs heading downwards into a basement.
"I hear someone up ahead..." Drancis whispers as loud as he dares knowing this passage must surely be guarded.
Mayenyi renews her defensive spell as she prepares to go down the stairs.
Once alerted to possible danger, Rikkan consumes his shield extract. He nods to the others as they make their own preparations, and leads the party further into the breach.
Zoreck looks down the stairs, then back to his friends. He presses the upraised finger of his left hand against his lips, then points down the stairs, and then to his right. With his pistol in his right hand and sword in his left, he cautiously walks down the stairs.
Creeping down the steps, Zoreck is unobserved as he peeks round the corner... further along the corridor and not looking towards the Numerian, two klaven stand with their rifles read.
Mayenyi casts another blessing on the group.
Stealth
Rikkan drinks his cognatogen to enhance his bombing ability in the scrum to come.
Once Drancis catches eye of the klaven guards, he awaits Zoreck's signal before reaching his mind outwards to yank the rifle out of the nearest klaven's arms.
Zoreck gestures with his pistol, then bolts around the corner, charging the klaven!
Grit: 2/2
Mythic Power: 4/5
Leaning out from behind the corner, Drancis concentrates on the weapon held by the unsuspecting klaven… feeling more than seeing the shape of the rifle, he grabs at it… and pulls it clean from the guard’s hands. Clattering along the floor, the rifle threatens to trip Zoreck as he charges into the flat-footed klaven… but a red mist has descended upon the Numerian and he will surely not be stopped in his headlong rush – slamming into his opponent, Zoreck plunges his blade through the chitinous armour of the klaven and into soft flesh…
Rikkan was too far away to be effective, so he moved forward, ready to help as soon as he could.
Mayenyi moves along with Rikkan.
Zoreck, having sprinted across the passageway, has left himself open to the savage claw attacks of his foe... twice, livid gouges are rent across his chest as the klaven screams animalistically at him - the first time that the friends have seen Lomrick's biological creations show emotion...
...whilst Mayenyi, more cautious in her advance, fends off the claws of the second klaven with relative ease.
Drancis hurries around the corner and, seeing Zoreck about to be flanked by the klaven, sends a wave of aetheric energy towards the legs of the closest klaven seeking to knock it to its knees.
Rikkan uses a precise bomb, protecting the two front liners and lobs a fire bomb at the enemy fighting Zoreck.
RTA
Damage
Zoreck growls back at the klaven, stabbing again, and also pressing the barrel of his pistol into its chest and pulling the trigger.
...however, instead of a loud 'BANG,' his pistol merely sparks and fizzles.
"Oh, f@#k me with a ramrod," he curses.
Grit: 2/2
Mythic Power: 4/5