Gregor winches as Kalem slams his hammer into the waking man.
Bashiel's sword pommel comes down for a strike on the human's temple but the close confines have the hilt catch on the upper bunk, knocking the blow askew. The pillow, however, will have a terrible headache in the morning.
Kalem's hammer blow strikes true, crashing into the man's shoulder with a hideous crunch.
The man is still awake.
With the man still moving about Gregor decides they have come to far and slashes out with his small dagger attempting to silence the man.
Varor has his eyes closed and his ear pressed to the door listening from movement on the other side.
Gregor adds his dagger to the mix, slicing the man's chest. He continues to thrash, trying to roll out of bed, something, anything.
Varor listens at the door but it doesn't take much to hear a dog beginning to bark. It seems to be coming from the other door and filtering back through the room you originally entered (with the chutes).
I cant fit in there. Brin thinks as he looks into the melee in the small room. Brin searches the rest of the room.
His shoulder smashed in and burned, and bleeding from a knife wound, the man begins screaming at the top of his lungs. "AAAAAGGGH! Help!" He's half-hysterical, as if not sure if this is real or a nightmare. He reaches under his pillow, pulling out a dagger, and stabs at Bashiel.
His blade slashes wildly in the air, striking nothing.
The half-orc jolts upright into a sitting position at the man's screaming and goes wide-eyed as she sees the four of you in the room. She looks left and right, frantic, and sees her flail on the ground next to Quinlan. She reaches for it as she yells, "Gaedren!!! We need help!"
To the east, you hear the dog beginning to roar and something slamming, as if a body against a door. Beneath the sounds of the barking, you hear other voices... children.
quinlan tries to silence the female.
... but sadly melee combat is not his forte... he gets out of the way for others to move in on her.
Kalem swung against her, slamming the hammer into her twice. His eyes blazed yellow as the rage poured out of him. His blows became more erratic, but the force intensified. A seasoned warrior would have been able to avoid them, but she was prone and unprepared...
Gregor takes the changes and slashes out at the half orc as she fumbles about.
Then continues his attempt to put the man down.
"Gregor!" Brin shouts "There are kid voices in the other room!" Brin waddles to the door as fast as he can, but does not open the door. Listening at the door and seeing if he can smell any kids in the next room.
Dammit... OK Bashiel, damage control. Deal with these two fast so they won't stick a dagger in our backs and then get Gaedren before he runs. We're still in a better spot than any of the Guard raids ever were.
"Ilsa, Varor, Brin, we have a few moments. North side door of the fish room. Get the children out as fast as they can wake up."
A swing with the flat of the blade ends with a resounding thwack against the bedpost.
Alright, focus.
Bashiel tries to steady himself and then attempts another swing at the human, the urgency of the situation making him willing to spill blood. Unfortunately the sounds of the hideout waking up distracts him from his attack.
Brin walks up to the door that the dog is smashing against and says "I got a plan." Brin then pulls out his Poisoned candy and shoves it under the door. Knowing that a dog will eat anything lol.
Round 2
Quinn: attack and miss
Kalem: attacks Yargin
Gregor: attack Yargin
Brin: poison dog
Bashiel: attack and miss, attack and miss
Ilsa: moves near door with barking dog
Varor: ?
Kalem and Gregor's combined attacks finally silence Yargin, permanently. The human's face frozen in an expression of panic as it settles into bloody and scortxhed sheets.
Brin slips a candy beneath the door...
...and the dog's banging on the door briefly stops as you hear a slobbering consumption of the candy.
The dog gulps down the candy and begins to feel the effects yet continues to slam angrily against the door, futilely trying to break it down.
For her part, the half-orc is not so silent. She screams, "Thieves! I'll kill you all."
She swings the flail wildly but is badly disadvantaged by still being squeezed into the bunk bed space. She misses.
Begin Round 3
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Bashiel grimaces as the man on the bed gets pummeled again by Kalem's hammer. We're here for Gaedren, not to kill people in their beds dammit.
With a sweeping sideways swing, Bashiel delivers the hilt of his longsword into the side of the half-orc's head.
As the half orc is knocked back by the blow, Bashiel calls out "I'll deal with this one, you three go on ahead and find Gaedren or get to the children." Then, throwing his voice a little "Brin, Ilsa, are you able to talk to them, tell them what to do?"
Varor will move himself into position so that when the door gets opened he can attack the dog.
Dodging the attack of the half-orc Gregor steps back. "Bashiel, I've got to find Tom." He then dashes out of the room. "We've got to get in there, the time for sneaking is over." He shouts to the others, moving to the opposite door next to the vat.
Brin is keeping everyone back for a few rounds to see if the poison does its job. "everyone back away" then he listens at the door to see if the dog dies.
Kalem, hearing Bashiel, does as he says. "You're a brave man. I respect that, try not to die." With that he follows Gregor, hammer in hand. He was unhappy with the party splitting itself up like this, but he assumed that Bashiel could handle himself, and he didn't want Gregor to end up like the other halfling they had come across...
With a little more room to swing, Bashiel's tactic of a sideways swipe at the half-orc's head pays off. CRUNCH! Her flail falls to the ground as her unconscious form collapses back into the bed.
The rest of you gather near the door into the room with the dog...
...which seems to just continue to slam itself against the door...
...and it smashes open, the hinges and latch splintering.
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Ilsa gains some additional resolve upon seeing the small shapes moving around. She holds up her shining stone.
"Children!" she says. "We are here to set you free. Remain calm and walk quietly toward the exit. You'll go back to your families, but I need you to be silent and come this way!" she says in as reassuring a voice as she can manage.
Oh, but it is so dark!
Kalem scowled at Ilsa, though it was hidden in the darkness. Promising to return them to their families, it was cruel to do so. Most would likely just end up working the same trade on the streets. But still, it was good to get them out before more people died.
"Little lambs, listen to her. I escaped from Lamm and you can as well."
Come this way? there's a dog between us and them.. a very nasty big dog. Well with Bashiel here, it'll likely be a dead dog soon anyway.
Quinlan expects more trouble, and stands ready in case there's more to contend with than just the dog.
"Well that didn't work, excuse me." Brin says as he now scoots backwards away from the door slowly putting everyone else in-between the door and himself. fat man needs to rest... as he goes sits down at the desk with a mighty *sigh* the small chair creaking under his weight. that was a waste of a good piece of candy. I bet that dog didn't even appreciate the two hours it took to make that, either.
Gregor opens the door into the larger room and shouts out. "Tom! It's your dad! It's me Gregor I've come to save you! Come to me boy!" He moves into the room looking around for his son.
Map is updated.
For expediency, let's say we're in Round 4... I think that's where we effectively are as I had the dog move. Sorry... this cold/cough is kicking my butt; borderline laryngitis and exhaustion that has me going to bed early and waking up in a stupor.
As the dog bashes down the door, Ilsa, Kalem and Gregor call out to the children. To Ilsa and Kalem, they are largely nothing but shapes moving in the shadows. For Gregor, however, he moves through a short hallway and throws open a second door, revealing to his keen eye a large room filled with more than two dozen children of various ages. Yet, as he calls out frantically for his son, there is no response other than befuddled expressions.
Having calmed down somewhat, Kalem didn't feel the rage within him that he had felt when facing familiar antagonists. He had nothing against the hound, but that didn't stop him from bringing his hammer down upon it.
Bashiel pauses for a brief second, confirming that the half orc is definitely unconscious. While your friend is now with Pharasma, you will still have a chance to turn things around. Well, once Gaedren is dealt with. Or if not... at least you'll have a fair trial.
He gives a pained glance to the foe that was not so lucky. He utters a tiny prayer to Osiris to forge the man's soul into another form to give him a second chance. Bashiel then sweeps into the adjacent room, listening carefully to hear what other events may be approaching, or fleeing...
Seeing that Kalem is moving to attack the dog, and is most likely the better and stronger of the two of them, Varor decides to move out of the way and let him strike at the poor, and most likely mistreated, dog.
Bashiel steps carefully to right next to the remaining closed door, leaving just enough space for the door to swing freely open if someone were to open it from the other side. He keeps Gregor in sight and then faces the door, reading himself in case Gaedren or one of his men follow the sound of the half-orc's cry.
Kalem steps up to the dog and drops his hammer on the thing's back. It crumples to the ground and doesn't move again.
A strange quiet befalls the fishery. The sound of water lapping against the piers. Panting from some of you as the edge of combat wears off. And the murmers and shuffling of two dozen children. The soft slap of feet meeting the floor as some of them roll out of their hammocks.
But no one responds to Gregor's calls for Tom.
Varor goes up to Ilsa and put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention and says "Calm down and think about what you're saying. We need to find Gaedren first then we can get everyone out of here."
Keeping a strong grip on her shoulder and locking eyes of her to make sure that his message comes across clearly he continues on saying"You say that we need to be careful of the dark because of what hide in it, but you don't beat the dark by focusing on it and acting on every impulse, you keep calm and focus on the bigger picture and right now the bigger picture is stopping Gaedren so that no one has to go through this with him ever again."
Bashiel joins Ilsa in calling down to the children "All of you young ones, we are here to free you from the..." Bashiel pauses to consider the words that would best affect the maltreated children in Gaedren's employ "from that piece of **** of a man, Gaedren. We know what he's done to many of you and want to show him his just desserts. We've already dealt with some of his guards and are after him next. Does anyone know where he sleeps at night? Please tell us if you do."
Quinlan just rolls his eyes at all the calling out and declarations... if Gaedran didn't know we were coming and why before now, he certainly did now. Are we all talk or will we take action? He grumbles low "Let's stop declaring what we're gonna do, and just DO it."
"I'm here for my son! Revenge comes next, but I have to find him first I have to know if he's ok." He bites back at the others as he moves towards the kids hands held up.
"Please! Do any of you know a small halfling by the name of Tom? Have any of you seen him?" He starts to plead with the kids as he slowly moves forward, looking from child to child.
With the last foe dispatched (but for Gaedren's looming specter) you are able to take in the next room. It's a large workspace, with several vats filled with putrescent liquid that might have once been water. There is an acrid stench to the air mixed with that of rotting fish.
The doors you have entered through both open onto wooden walkways. To the north, it quickly begins to descend down a stairwell to the workroom floor. The other wraps around to the south, providing a good view of the workspace before also coming to a descending stairwell.
Ratty hammocks hang from various nails and rafters. Their former occupants now mill about the floor in sleepy confusion. Children. Mostly human but a few half-elves, a couple of halflings and a tiefling or two. There is no sign of either Tom or Briget.
After reassuring the children you are no threat, one of the children shakes his head violently at the suggestion they are safe and can leave. "No! Gaedren will disappear us! He'll hunt us down and find us and hurt us!" He runs and climbs back into his hammock, curling into it and clutching it violently.
A girl walks up and explains, "Mister Gaedren punishes us whenever someone doesn't come back from work. If someone sneaks out at night...someone 'disappears'. We never see them again."
Another says to Gregor, "I don't know his name, but a small folk boy was here. He didn't talk much. But Gaedren took him tonight. Said something about having a snack, but he did it with his nasty look, like he means something other than what he's saying. That was before lights out."
None of them seem to recognize a girl with Briget's description
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Ilsa's countenance darkens as Varor puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her to calm down.
For a moment, the fearful shop girl is gone, and in her place a resolute, determined woman. She closes her blue eyes, and in the darkness they appear black when she opens them again.
She jerks her shoulder free from Varor's grasp.
"Don't touch me!" she says harshly. "You do what you came to do, and I'll do what I've come to do!"
Her visage looks briefly like something from a nightmare.
But in a moment it is gone. She shudders as she hears the children, and seems to snap out of it.
"I'm...I'm sorry...I just came here to help the children."
She begins asking around for Briget, and seems upset they haven't seen her.
"Where does Gaedren sleep?" she asks, hoping they might find more clues there. "You all wait here and we will come back for you later. Gaedren will not 'disappear' anyone else, ever again! I promise!"
Kalem walks over, his hammer dripping blood. He looks down at the children and says:
"I was once like you. I escaped, and now I am back to kill Gaedren for what he has done to us. Tell me where he is, and then get out of here while you have this chance."
It takes a few tries and some coaxing, but one of the older kids, finally reassured that you're actually going to do something about Gaedren, says that he thinks Gaedren lives under the Fishery in a second level that is accessible via the boat in back.
Gregors balls his fists up his knuckles turning white. "Lamm... Lamm." He shouts with his teeth clenched.
"Wait here! We'll be back to get you." He shouts out at the kids. "We're going to get Lamm, I saw a small dock down the other side of the building." He shouts at the others drawing a dagger and quickly moving to the side of the fishery.