K'nyaz moves over to try and help Kelgeah with her target. With the wererat down, he resorts to using his staff in case he needs to be conservative with his magic.
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +3 Dex)
east tower girl:hp 11-2=9
weat tower girl: hp 11
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +1
Melee short sword +1 (1d6+1/19–20)
Ranged hand crossbow +3 (1d4/19–20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +1d6
Round 3:
Talon: miss
tower girls x2: attack
K'nyaz:
Hralyk: will fall back and guard the passageway
Shadowlightbringer:
Delkaneth:
Kelgeah:
Kel=1, K'nyaz=2
East tower girl Kelgeah
West tower girl vs Talon
As the foul creature falls to the ground Delkaneth quickly surveys the battle. For a brief moment he considers throwing an axe into both melees to try and end this quickly, but quickly abandons it as too risky. Seeing Talon fighting alone he quickly moves over to a flanking position against the Tower Girl.
better keep checking over my shoulder: "enemy of my enemy" and all that but don't like to turn my back on an unknown like that prisoner.
K'nyaz swings again at the girl he and Kelgeah have at the edge of the opening.
Round 3
Taking advantage of the closest Tower girl's engagement with one of their enemies, Shadow tumbles in to avoid any AoO and flank the closest Tower girl to her. Upon flanking she drives her Aldori Dueling Sword into the Tower girl's vital area. If she determines that she needs to bluff-feint this round, she will do that instead by forcing the Tower Girl to stumble by tricking her that Shadow was going to strike her in the head.
or if needed Feint
Kelgeah laughs heartily as she weaves out of the tower girl's attack range.
"Oh, I LIKE these tower girls. They have the backbone to choose the whip."
She then steps back, closer to the entrance of the room if possible, and snaps her again.
Still locked in melee with the Tower Girl, Talon acts once more, cutting steel whirling at the woman.
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +3 Dex)
east tower girl:hp 11-2=9-1=8
west tower girl: hp 11-4=7-9=-2
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +1
Melee short sword +1 (1d6+1/19–20)
Ranged hand crossbow +3 (1d4/19–20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +1d6
Round 4:
Talon:
tower girls x2: attack
K'nyaz:
Hralyk: continues to guard the rear.
Shadowlightbringer:
Delkaneth:
Kelgeah:
Kel=1, K'nyaz=2
East tower girl vs
Del=1, Shadow=2, Talon=3
West tower girl vs
Talon misses, but his attack distracts the target just long enough for Del to get in a spectacular hit, felling his target.
Delkaneth sees the opening to strike and takes it, but he might be just as surprised as the Tower Girl is at the result. He watches her as she slowly falls, thankful again for the uncanny luck that has been his constant companion for so many years. With a shrug to Talon he leaves the body behind and keeps his eyes on the other fight as he moves toward the secret door.
More than enough cooks in that kitchen, better to cut off her escape if she tries something.
K'nyaz sees that the attacks of his and Kelgeah's weapons appear to be getting nowhere. He didn't want to resort to it, but he decides it may just be the best course of action. He takes a small step back, and casts. As he does a rush of water comes spraying forth to blast the girl, and with enough force it will push her over the precarious drop behind her.
Shadow watches the first tower girl go down, then turns towards tower girl #2. She was about to move to engage Tower Girl #2 when she notices that K'nayaz is about to weave a spell and holds her action so she does not become one with the spell and tower girl 2. Shadow will react after the spell has run its course and see what the end result will be.
Talon sees the Tower Girl go down to Del's attack, and Kay and Kel were dealing with the last crossbow user, leaving him only one other target.
The tip of his blade stopped several inches from the Aldori sword user, Talon staring suspiciously at her. He didn't know who she was, or why she was here, but he wasn't going to take any chances just yet. "If you'd kindly drop your weapons, I'll assume you're not our enemy," He informed her, giving her the chance to make her intentions clear to them.
Realizing there is a newly updated threat at her back, Shadow turns her back towards a friendlier side of the room. She keeps one eye on the spell effects and one eye on Talon waiting for whatever action presents itself first. She then addresses Talon in a soothing woman's voice, "Are you here to kill a common enemy or create more enemies that maybe you will regret later ... hmm?" She then winks at Talon.
"I trust my companions to deal with the last one. You, I have no idea who you are, how you got here, or your purpose here. The only reason I'm talking instead of attacking is because you were tied up before - or it looked like you were. I have no reason to trust you, as I'm sure you have no reason to trust me." As charming as her behavior and mannerisms were, he couldn't drop his guard to a complete unknown. His blade lowered slightly, but he still watched her carefully. "So I'll introduce myself first in good faith: Talon Neverion, representing the Pathfinder Society. Would you kindly sheathe your blade and explain yourself?"
Delkaneth stays wary near the secret door, ready to help finish off the Tower Girl or help Talon with this new possible threat if needed.
Shadow looks left and right, she determines she can not finish her mission making more enemies, and joining the tower girl's side is a losing proposition on many levels. Shadow sheathes her sword, "I am known as Shadow by my employer and I am here on a mission to terminate the tower occupants due to their crimes against the people and gather information regarding their organization. This is all I can to tell you. Now you know my purpose, what is your purpose here?"
"See, was that hard to say? Better to clear the air instead of leaving any hanging suspicions," The fighter commented, bringing his weapon fully away from her. "We're here to map out the Crow and find anything of historical significance for the Society. They only recently learned that it could be accessed, so we were sent. I'll make sure to keep out of your way - though, if you don't mind a little back up, we'll help you out with clearing out the Tower Girls - under the condition that those who aren't wererats are allowed to surrender without you executing them," He stated, while thinking on this turn of events.
He did not like assassins of any kind. People who'd kill someone without allowing them a chance of surrender or defend themselves were the scum of the earth, up there with tax collectors and Cheliaxians. Still, she seemed like a fairly incompetent one considering she'd been caught and they hadn't found a single Tower Girl dead along the single route into this place. They could always use the extra help, and if they failed to mention the amazingly powerful shard of a millennial old artifact hidden in this place, he couldn't be faulted for that - once they'd finished off all the Tower Girls, she'd leave to report to her employer anyways.
"So, alliance?" He asked her.
The remaining Tower Girl surrenders, not being a suicidal idiot.
Shadow looks into Talon's eyes, "I do not mind allowing Tower Girl agents surrender, however in order to accomplish my mission, the leaders and officers must forfeit their lives unless the Pathfinder Society has its own judges, jury, and jailers or executioners. The justice you believe in does not work in Magnimar or I wouldn't have been sent by my employer. Wealth, power, and in the case of the Tower Girls, subterfuge determines justice, not an honest local magistrate or reeve. Once upon a time, when the government was honest, the system you believe in worked." Shadow smile mainly because she liked how things were progressing. House Derexhi sent her on a difficult mission to both prove herself and punish her for working for House Scarnetti and what she had done to help bring down House Valdemar. She had been watching the Pathfinder Society group since their entry and hurried ahead to be captured to both meet up with them and bring the enemy forces together for a clash in order to accomplish her mission. Ninjas are not only assassins; they are also spies molding events and actions to meet their objectives.
Shadow eyes the surrendering Tower Girl with interest.
"...Wow. You really don't understand how I operate," Talon shook his head. "And to be perfectly honest? I couldn't give a wererat's ass about turning these girls in to the authorities. So long as they aren't trying to kill us and surrender I'll send them on their merry way." He glanced over at the surrendering woman. "Hralyk will escort her back to the entrance along with the other two we captured - if they try to attack again then I'm pretty sure he'll deal with it appropriately. He's big and he's got a huge axe, so they'll most likely be on their best behavior."
For now, he supposed they ought to figure out how to proceed from here. "So, Princess, I don't suppose you know how to keep going from here, right?" He asked Shadow, looking around the room for a way out.
As soon as the Tower Girl surrenders Delkaneth moves in to assist with taking her weapons and checking her for concealed ones.
He mumbles under his breath to Kelgeah as he steals a glance at Talon and Shadow. "Better keep her in range of your whip, just in case."
Once the woman is secure Delkaneth begins moving around the room, starting on the eastern side to peer over the ledger then moving along the south wall. He is looking for ways out of the room as well, and if that searching happens to put him in a flanking position on the opposite side of this mysterious newcomer all the better.
Kelgeah returns Delkaneth's whisper with a coy smile as she coils her whip and dangles it beneath folded arms. Oh believe me, I will.
Shadow nods to Talon, "I am now beginning to understand how you operate. If no one stands in your way in any form or if you do not have an immense disdain for them such as the wererats, then they are free to go. Before we leave here, I must ascertain if this room or the Tower Girl agents have any information pertaining to my mission."
Shadow looks to Hralyk, "Hralyk before you take her, let me search her and question her for the information I seek."
"Hey, don't go putting words in my mouth. It's not that I don't like wererats, it's that wererats are a disease. Better to put them out of their misery before they infect others or suffer any longer. Got it Princess?" Talon retorts to the elven assassin, before stepping over to K'Nyaz, Delkaneth and Kelgeah, bringing them in a huddle while the woman interrogates the prisoner.
"...So, yeah. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but let's avoid telling her our exact goal in this place for now. It's possible her employer wants her to wipe out the gang for the same reason. And keep that 'item' under wraps unless you feel its necessary to use it," He requests of the wizard. "If she can show that she's trustworthy, then we'll clue her in, at least to warn her about the curse." He whispers so not to be overheard, before breaking. "Now, then, let's find the way out..."
K'nyaz merely nods to Talon, "Vorry not, I yam not going to present the fragment. I yam not intend to vave it around."
"SHH!"
Kelgeah whips a hand out to cover K'nyaz's mouth at the utterance of the "F" word.
"Elven hearing." She whispers, eyes darting back to the newcomer. Elven ears were hard to hide, no matter the disguise.
"Speak not of it either. I'll see if I can't coax some truth from her as we go." Kelgeah looks again at the new figure, with a much more evaluating eye. Short, toned, seems to have a bit of a form beneath the cloth, and well-spoken, too...wonder what SHE'S hiding under it all...
"Maybe I'll coax more than information from her..." She muses with a knowing smirk.
Shadow gives Talon a little nod in regards to "putting words into his mouth." Then she answers him regarding the way out, "Talon, the current way out is not what you expect and if I find another during my search, I will mention it."
From Shadow's previous observations of the Tower Girl's actions, and from comments by your various prisoners, you are directed to a ledge festooned with old bird nests that looks out over a shaft dropping nearly two hundred feet to sea level below. A large coil of rope sits on the ground near the shaft, one end anchored to a large piton driven into a crack near the wall. Opposite the shaft is another ledge with a window looking out over Magnimar’s harbor. The ceiling is a mere ten feet above, and crisscrossed by a complex tangle of stone arches that support the roof. Between the two ledges, a five-foot-square wooden platform hangs from four thick ropes that hang from the stone arches. The platform is further anchored by two thick ropes to spikes hammered into the walls near the edge of the western ledge, while another pair of ropes hang from the ceiling above, anchored to a hook driven into the wall near the same ledge.
Further entry into the Crow apparently requires navigation to the platform suspended in the middle of the shaft, for directly above this platform is a hidden trap door in the ceiling. It is reached by crossing the Tower Girl's rickety looking rig to the platform suspended in the middle of the room. The two coils of rope can also be lowered all the way down to the starting area to aid those climbing up the shaft, while the ropes hanging from the ceiling allow someone to swing out and onto the platform or, alternatively, jumping or tightrope walking across to the platform. A long wooden boat hook sits on the platform, tied to one of the ropes so if it’s dropped it won’t fall all the way to the entry below.
"...Well. This looks safe," Talon comments dryly as he looks at the rickety suspension rigs, trying to figure out how anyone could possibly think this was a good idea. Then again, unlike most of his companions, he was wearing some weighty armor that didn't exactly make him entirely suitable for feats of acrobatics.
"Right then. I guess we're going this way. Let's take it one at a time - any volunteers to go first?"
Delkaneth steps to the ledge and squats down, carefully examining the ropes of the rig the Tower Girls have put together.
Taking a deep breath the young man stands back up and looks to Talon. "Fairly standard for this type of architecture. Back a few centuries ago..........well, perhaps another time." He peers over the ledge again.
"I can go first, looks easy enough. But, lets tie this anchored rope around me first? I'd rather not try the 200 ft drop if I can avoid it"
K'nyaz looks at the precarious contraption and the subsequent fall below. "Dere is rinG of Feather FallinG. Ve can each vear as ve cross. Vit beinG tied off, it vill allow to pull back before fallinG too far. My good friend here," he indicates Voroan his raven, who just looks sidelong at everyone "can carry rinG back for next person to vear. until ve cross."
While K'nyaz makes a plan, Del makes it across with deceptive ease.
"Not that I'm unwilling to part with the ring for this, but the whole 'let an animal carry it around above a long drop' isn't exactly something that inspires confidence," Talon stated, looking at the bird cautiously - before blinking as Del practically teleported to the other side. "Damn, is it sturdier than I thought?" He contemplates, looking at the rigging.
Figuring that if Del could make it over with ease, the rest of them could certainly do the same. Pulling off his gauntlet, he took off the ring on the finger, handing it off to K'Nyaz. "All right, let's go with your plan as a back up. I'll go last, so everybody else in front of me. That includes you Princess," He added, glancing at the new addition. Best not to let her stand behind him.
"Much more stable than it looks. Its going to get crowded on this platform really fast though....."
Turning his attention to the trap door itself, Delkaneth prepares to pull himself upward to make room for the others to cross.
"Voroan is not just 'an animal', he is Familiar, and that is give him great intelligence. He also fly, and is raven. If rinG is drop, he can fly for retrieve it. The hard part may be get him for lettinG go, just as raven enjoy shiny object." Once all the precautions have been made, K'nyaz will go whenever the plan is for him to go.
Kelgeah chuckles to herself as the plan unfolds.
"Crowded platform...all sorts of fun little encounters abound in tight spaces. Let our more nimble folk go first; I have a way to help ensure our heavier members have a safe climb."
@Del: you can use the boat hook to open the trap door.
The trap door leads to a 5' wide passage leading further into the tower.
Once you all arrive:
The walls along this short passage bear murals showing strangely dressed Thassilonian priests placing bodies into crypts. Several niches in the walls may have once been burial crypts themselves, but today, the hall is strewn with bones and the niches lay empty.
With a single look over his shoulder to make sure his companions are set and ready to begin the crossing, Delkaneth moves through the tight corridor into the room beyond. He takes up a sentry position at the western exit to the square room. His curiosity is pulling him toward the niches beyond but he resists, knowing they are deep in enemy territory and need to be cautious.
Kelgeah muses at the murals along the walls, sighing gently at her lack of thassilonian studies. She had regrettably glazed over most topics regarding Thassilonian history; lots of power-hungry wizards and magic gone wrong, but little else of interest to her youthful mind at the time.
Talon takes a gander at the murals as he comes through as well - rearming himself with the ring of feather fall after everyone's gotten across. "Right, let's not linger too long...Princess, you can take point with Del," He encourages. Gods knew how unstealthy he was in this scale mail.
Not finding anything of interest or value in the Tower Girl room nor the Tower Girl who surrendered, Shadow proceeds in the order the group decides she should go. No need to cause anxieties within a group that does not know her.
She nods to the group and proceeds hop on to the platform and ropes like a cat.
Once she is up on to the rigging, she glides stealthily across the rope watching for any danger.
Once across, she nods at Talon, not being comfortable with the strangers at her back but they are a larger group of friends and most likely not about to let her behind them, nor no need to create friction.
Again, she proceeds stealthily with Del at point looking for danger.
Hells, she's quiet!
Delkaneth is unsure what to make of this new comer. Every instinct he has agrees with Talon and questions the coincidence of meeting an ally in the heart of the enemy's stronghold. Logical as that might be, the young chelaxian cannot help but remember that his "seniority" in the group exceeds hers by only a few hours.......
Resolved to give her a chance but not be foolish enough to forget the vetting process he went through to become part of this group, he crosses to the south wall and continues moving forward to recon further down the hallway.
He briefly checks each of the 3 niches on the south wall, both to admire the historical significance and to determine what treasures may have been left behind.
Continuing down the hallway, he stops just short of the entrance to the oddly shaped room and stops, listening for any sounds of occupants in the room before entering.
Shadow stands side by side with Del, so as not to make him or anyone else nervous with a spy-assassin at his back, and assists him in his searching and listening. After all, a second pair of eyes with Elven alertness to boot is better than one pair of or even two pairs of human eyes.
South Wall
Listening at the Door
At the door, she places her ear on the door, then she looks at Del and gives the signal that she does not hear anything as well, then shrugs.
Perception:
Delkaneth
Fletcher
K'nyaz
Voroan (familiar)
Kelgeah
Talon
Shadow
There is a tripwire strung in the opening, easily disabled or avoided by a DC 10 disable device or reflex check
Being in front with Del, Shadow reaches out to stop him from going any further since it appeared he did not see the trap. Then gives him a charades signal of a piece of wire/string strung across and reaches down to properly disarm the trap.
Thinking the trap was too easy to find, she gives Del the signal to be on the look out for more.
Nice going, smart guy! Try to not to watch her so closely it gets you killed!
While silently berating himself, Delkaneth nods his gratitude as the mysterious stranger stops him from setting off the trap. Determined to not get caught offguard again he takes a closer look at his surroundings before moving forward.