Dom curses when the bullet ricochets off his cover. He then takes aim at his mark, and squeezes the trigger when he has a shot.
As the man tries to escape, Simon lashed out with his sword...
.. he then presses his body flat against the side of the building , making himself as small a target as possible to those inside.
Drake again refuses to flinch when the bullet punctures the flesh of his other arm, and a second later the bullet pops from the wound and falls to the ground with a clink, a shallow divet remaining where a bullet wound had been seconds before. Drake licks his teeth, then breathes heavily--almost like the beginning of a laugh--before his eyes go wide with another batch of eldritch energy as he walks slowly up the steps. His compatriots see nothing, but the Redbrands witness the horror of Drake's magical "patron" for a brief moment, its screeching voice in their heads. Behind him a monstrous creature flickers into their sight for only a moment; a massive creature covered in fur matted with blood, it's exposed heart and rib cage churning with green flame. Both arms are unnaturally long and skeletal, the matted fur giving way to a pair of bony claws that it waves in a sinister manner. Most disquieting is the head, a hollow deer skull with a massive rack of bloody antlers, a long rotting tongue extending from the bony jaws. After a second, the image fades, but its words still hang in the air.
Jed picks another target and fires again, though this shot goes a bit wide and clips against the window frame rather than hitting one of the bandits.
Simon's momentum carries him to the other man threatening him, sword and leg rising to strike...
4
As the Redbrands fall back, Siann is quick with her sword, and the man Dom shot collapses through the doorway, a new slash across his gullet. Dom switches targets to the other ruffian inside the store, the one Drake shot: the bullet catches the man's cheek as he pokes his head around the frame, and with a shatter of glass he drops dead to the floor. Drake steps up and is filled with eldritch fury, which seems to fill the final Redbrand with dread. The fear leaves Siann an opening to stab at him, drawing blood as her blade slices along his arm.
With a yelp, the lone bandit takes off running, nearly bowling Siann over as he rushes to the end of the porch, vaults the railing, and takes off up the road; she tries to stop him with a slash of her sword, but he's too quick and jumpy for her. His sprint is single-minded, though, and he's running along the edge of the road toward the old manor house on the hill, in plain view of the party. There's also a shout of annoyance, bordering on anger, from within the saloon.
"N̢ot ͟só f̕a̶st,͟" Drake says, as he spins on his back heel and fires after the fleeing Redbrand. "I̡'͝m not g͏on͡ńa ͏l̕e͜t ̴yo͞u͡ ̧p͘ass͡ ̛o̴n̡ ͠a ̀w͟a̴r̸n̢i͏ng.͘"
Drake spins to track the fleeing bandit with his pistol and fires. The Redbrand stumbles, and for a moment it seems he's still fighting, but his feet trip up and he drops to the ground, stone dead.
A few seconds after Drake's shot echoes out, the doors to the saloon burst open to reveal a grungy, unkempt dwarven woman. Toted in the crook of one arm is a shotgun, its breach currently open so the barrels point to the ground. "What the hell are you roughnecks doing shooting my customers on my property?" she spits, a wad of tobacco closely following the words. "You can bet yer sorry arses the mayor's gonna hear about this."
"Considering we were hired to deal with a bunch of bandits who you've been boozing up, I'm sure he'll be happy to hear we did our jobs," Jed says dryly, slinging his rifle back over his shoulder.
"I'̛ve̴ b̧een ̛k̀įl̶l̸i̷ņg-͏" Drake starts, then takes a breath as he fights down the magic still clinging to him. "I've been killing a couple of no good sons of b*tches, is all." Drake's gun hand drops to his side but he doesn't holster the weapon, not as long as the dwarf keeps her shotgun drawn. "You go ahead and tell the mayor, from what I hear that spineless bastard hasn't done a thing about 'em, so I doubt he'll start with us." Drake stares her down, pistol still held idly in one hand, and narrows his eyes as he lets a little power seep back into him.
"N̡o̸w͠ ̵ẃhy͘ d̵on̵'t y͢ou put t̀ha̸t͠ ̷t͞h͟i̡n̨g̕ dǫwn bef̧oŕe̛ ͜s҉om̕e̴on͞e el̛se͡ g҉ets huŗt͝,͡ ̷eh?"
"Harden West may be a coward, but that means he ain't gonna be happy you've gone to war with the Redbrands." The dwarf scowls at the party, and shakes her head at Drake's threat. "You wouldn't wanna try it, son. Now get the hell off my porch." She doesn't make any threatening movements, though, just stands and regards the bodies--one in the doorway, one collapsed through a shattered window, one sprawled out on the porch. The Sleeping Giant is going to need a cleaning after this.
"Do I look like the kind of person who's gonna give a damn about what your Mayor thinks?" Drake spits as he forces the magic in him to quell itself again, then sighs. "I was asked to deal with your town's bandit problem, and that's what I plan on doin'. I'll reimburse y'for the window once we're done, though." On that note, Drake holsters his revolver and turns to walk away from the Sleeping Giant, making a motion indicating the others should follow him.
"Ya'll ready to go smoke out the rest of 'em, or no? I'd rather just be done with it, but it's up to you all." Drake rubs his remaining bullet wound tenderly, but seems undeterred. "I could go for a drink, though, if the rest of ya would rather take a breather."
"We can drink when the rest of these f*ckers are in a shallow grave. If you're banged up, I can patch a couple of scrapes before we get moving."
When the proprietor of the Sleeping Giant makes her appearance, Siann drops into a low defensive stance, her sword level with the dwarf's throat.
When it appears nothing will hit the air but words, Simon straightens and with a respectful nod to the dwarf, begins to remove the gun belts of the fallen Redbrands on the porch, retrieving any guns that were dropped.
He also does a quick check for wallets or wad of cash in their pants or vests.
Commenting from where he's checking one of their fallen foes, "I agree, the quicker we're over there, the less chance of someone letting them know we're coming..."
Throughout the entire confrontation with the dwarf proprietor, Dom was hanging his head in shame and frustration. Once she leaves he turns to Drake.
"What the hells, man?! What part of shooting up a street seemed like a good idea to you?!"
Dom sighs.
"Let's just get this done."
"Would you rather I took 'em inside and bought 'em a drink first?" Drake just shrugs, not seeming to care much about having gunned people down in the street. "We were gonna kill 'em either way--well, I was, I dunno about the rest of you--so I didn't see much point in puttin' it off. This way, they won't be runnin' back to the rest of 'em with their tails between their legs, so as long as we go after 'em some time today we'll take the bastards by surprise." Drake rolls his shoulders a bit and heads farther into town, likely back to talk with Toby and the boy who thought he'd found something of interest.
"Let's see if we can't hunt them down and finish this up before supper."
Siann starts to gather up the bandit's gear, hsving picked up one of their guns, then thinks better of it, dropping it to the porch.
"Sorry for the mess... she offers quietly to the proprietor befor joining the other back onto the main street.
After some consideration, the posse decides to make for Alderleaf Farm, where they can find out a little more about the situation while recovering from this first run-in with the Redbrands.
The farmhouse, located at the southeast end of town, is a simple wooden construction, timber walls with a thatched roof. The party knocks at the door and waits only a few seconds before it's opened by halfling woman, perhaps on the cusp of middle age. Upon seeing Dom, she gives a smile. "Well, there's a familiar face too long missing. Come on in, folks. Friends of Mister Santana are friends of the Alderleafs. Can I get you a drink?"
Once she's filled in on the situation--the posse wants to deal with the Redbrands, and they've heard Carp might know something--she nods and calls for her son. By the time the curly-haired child has arrived, Qelline has enough food to amount to a fine meal on the table. With a little prompting, Carp speaks up, his voice excited and quick. "Well me an' Pip Stonehill was playin' out in the woods outside town playin' adventurers an' I was Six-Gun Silas an' he was the Wanderin' Fiddler an' so I went to find a good hidin' place an' I found this tunnel, an' I thought wow that'd be real good so I went up to it but then there was a door in the back an' the door opened an' two o' those big bad men in the red shirts come out, an' so I went back to tell Pip 'cause it was real neat but when we started goin' back the men was walkin' toward us an' one of 'em saw us an' he started yellin' so we run off, 'cause mama always says you gotta stand up for yourself when you can but there's no shame in runnin' away when you gotta run." By the time he's finished, the boy is out of breath and his eyes are almost wild. "An' anyway Six-Gun Silas had to run away an' hide sometimes so I guess if a big tough guy like him has to do that then I guess, I guess I can too."
Qelline shushes the boy with a worried expression. "If all that's true, then you're lucky nothing worse came of it than a little excitement and a healthy dose of fear in you." She sighs and turns to regard the posse. "I suppose you'll be wanting to see this tunnel, then. If it was further out of town I'd suggest you talk to Reed, since he knows the land, but if it's right here, I guess Carp is your only choice."
"No need, Ma'am. I know this area well enough." Dom went to his satchel and pulled out his cartographer tools and a couple of his own personal maps.
"Alright, Carp. Tell me everything you can about where you saw the door. The more detail the better."
Siann's eye sparkle when Dom pulls out his maps and instuments, diving into her own pack ...pulling out an oilskin package.
She places it on the table, and carefully unwraps it, revealing old surveying equipment....definately Old World.
"Here let me help." she says, smoothing out one of Dom's maps, beginning to measure out some distances.
"Six-Gun Silas, huh?"" Drake says, listening to the youth as he tells his story. "Think I crossed paths with an elf who went by Silas a few years back, had a six-shooter on his hip. A nice fellow, all things considered." When Dom and Siann start mapping out the area and finding the tunnel, Drake turns his attention to the mother. When she asks about them wanting to see it, Drake nods. "We don't want to get your boy involved if it ain't necessary, ma'am, not when there's a chance he'd be gettin' hurt. Still, a word of advice," Drake says, leaning in closer so his voice doesn't need to be quite so loud. "Once we leave, you ought t'keep your family inside. We ain't here to make peace with them, after all, and I'd hate to see anyone get caught in the crossfire, y'understand?" Despite his gruff exterior and disturbing readiness to gun down the bandits in the street, Drake's tone of concern seems genuine.
"Drake's got the gist of it. Stay safe ma'am. We'll take care of the problem." Jed tips his hat to her.
Qelline visibly breathes in relief as Dom and Siann break out the cartography equipment, and Carp excitedly shares what he remembers of the encounter. Between Siann's tools and Dom's knowledge of the area, they can piece together the location of the tunnel--near as they can figure, it comes out some two-hundred feet south of the old Sanders House, the decaying manor on the hill just east of town. Between that and the way the Redbrand fled earlier, it seems likely the bandits have set up in the abandoned mansion.
At Drake and Jed's comments, Qelline nods and gives a grateful, worried smile. "Thank you. I'll make sure to stay inside for the rest of the day, and keep from going anywhere if I can help it until I hear about all this blowing over. I can't say I like violence, but I hope you give those ruffians what's coming to them."
Dom looks impressed when Simon pulls out his own tools. "Well, you're just full surprises, ain't you, son."
Between the two of them they roughly nail down the area.
"The back entrance is my preferred choice. Don't get me wrong, kicking in the door has an appeal. But I like sneaking in if it's an option."
"That said, the back way could be trapped. But it's also likely to have the least resistance."
Dom gets a look on his face and then he turns to Qelline.
"I hate to imply anything sinister, but why hasn't the Sheriff gotten involved? There something here we ain't seeing?"
Qelline casts her eyes to the door and a concerned look takes to her face. "Dom, there isn't a Sheriff in Phandalin right now. Old Hank retired near a full season ago, and the new fellow..." She shakes her head. "He showed up a couple months back, nice enough man if a little odd. He was a mage, you know, studied at one of the universities back East?" She shakes her head sadly. "That wasn't long after the Redbrands were in the area, they used to be outside of town? Holed up in the woods, just out off the road, wherever they camped for the night. He gathered up a couple folks for a posse and rode out to try and deal with them, and... and we never saw him again."
She moves to her son and puts her arms around his shoulders, whether to comfort him or herself. "That was when they got real mean, and moved right into the town. I guess they figured that without a sheriff they could do as they pleased, and in a way they were right. They've been the only 'law' in Phandalin for nigh on two months, now."
Dom's eyes harden as he listens to Qelline.
"Guess I been gone a little too long."
He looks her in the eye, stands up, puts on his hat and says, "You have my word, Ma'am. This will all be over soon. Just keep your boy close til then."
"Sounds like he went out doing his duty. Can't fault him for that, even if it didn't end well. And we'll have to put those thugs back in their place."
"If they're the only law here, I can see why the mayor hasn't done a damn thing about them. Who was he going to send after them? The last people who went after them died," Drake comments, sighing. He cracks his neck and grunts a bit, then looks out the front door toward the Redbrands' possible hideout. His eyes narrow a bit as the others keep talking and working on the map, staying silent himself.
-----
Drake stands on the wooden stoop of the bar, the white of his shirt plastered with dirt and drying blood. The dead body of the bar's now-former owner sat slumped over in the window; her rifle had fallen from her grip and now leaned against the wall of the building, two of the others in his gang each helping themselves to a drink. Four more bodies lay dead in the street, one of them with a shotgun having skittered away from him when he fell and the others with old flintlock pistols. He sighed when Hugo, the gang's leader, leans on the railing next to him with a drink in hand.
"Wasn't a hard target this time, was it? Not like that little town outside of Neverwinter, with that spell-slinging sheriff." Hugo was a massive man with skin darker than the rough-hewn wood of the building, a massive blade strapped to his back and two old flintlocks on his hips. Hugo chuckles, then finishes off the glass of whiskey he poured himself. "It's a shame we had t'kill 'er," he says, jerking his thumb back towards the owner of the bar. "She was a pretty one, had a fire in her. Would've loved to keep her around for a while," Hugo says with a grin, letting it fall when Drake doesn't reciprocate.
"They're after us, Hugo." Drake shrugs off the long, heavy coat and finally holsters his revolver. "The Marshals, from Neverwinter. We got too close, they can't ignore us anymore. We're dead men," Drake says, looking off into the distance with a scowl. "We're already dead, Death just ain't rode out to find us quite yet."
-----
When the room falls silent for a moment, Drake snaps from his trance and turns around. "You all ready to go, then? Let's get this done with."
Dom nods. He checks his six-shooters one last time and holsters.
"Yeah. Through the back way then."
Having figured the location of the hidden entrance, the posse leaves the Alderleaf house through the back door, and they stalk through the rows of crops to a crumbled section of the fieldstone wall that once encircled the property. From there they head into the scrub wood that picks up just a hundred-odd feet east of the farm, and make their way toward the spot they've found. Sure enough, the ground dips down, and the dip becomes more of a tunnel, and at the end of it is a partially concealed set of doors. The posse gathers around and, perhaps with weapons drawn, they ease the portal open to step inside, where they find themselves in a long, dark corridor. At the far end, perhaps a hundred or more feet down the way, is another set of doors.
The doors open on what looks to be the end of a cavern, although the floors and walls have been furnished with hewn stones. It looks to be a storeroom of some kind, with several barrels stacked against the walls, along with crates, packing straw, hammers, crowbars, and nails. The cavern looks to continue to the north, opening up somewhat once the flagstone floors come to an end. Set into this "room" as well as the cavern are oil lanterns on the walls, spread just enough to keep the entire area lit. Thanks to the lighting, the party can make out some openings leading away from the larger cavern, as well as a deep crevasse in the floor with a pair of bridges crossing it, separated by a good two-dozen feet.
Dom and Drake also notice a small oddity in the immediate area as they look around. In the wall on the left, a patch of stonework doesn't quite line up with the surrounding pattern--a patch about the size of a small door, with a hand-sized block set a tad further back than the rest.
Dom points out the entrance to the others and then inspects it for traps.
If it looks clear Dom opens the door. He walks in first with his saber and knife drawn.
Drake does the same, looking for the seam in the door to see if anything's keeping them from opening it. Assuming neither of them find anything, he follows Dom quickly with his revolver pointed forward, ready to fire.
Dom and Drake motion for the others to hold, and they check the apparent secret door. Not finding any traps, Dom presses his hand on the indented block, and with a little heft, it slides back, the rusty hinges giving only a slight, quiet squeal. The door opens on short hallway that runs north for a dozen or so feet. There's a door at the end of the hall, as well as one directly across from the secret opening the posse's just opened--both are normal wooden doors.
Siann follows the others into the bandit's lair, stepping softly and quietly.
Her eyes widen as the large cavern is revealed, muttering, "Quite the hole in the ground..."
When Dom notices the hidden door, she watches with interest as he and Drake investigate, looking up from time to time to make sure the weren't found.
As the door opens, she grins with excitement, looking in to the revealed passage.
Stepping up she tries the first door, "It's locked." she says to the others, "Shall we close the hidden door and force it?"
"I doubt forcing it is any worse than going in the front. Unless someone knows how to bust a lock without making a ruckus."
"Step aside," Drake says, motioning for the two of them to get away from the door so he can work. He pulls a set of gnarled iron thieves' tools from his bag and sets them on the ground, then sticks several of the implements into the lock and carefully tests out the lock's mechanism before trying to crack it open. "This might take a second, so make sure no one comes strolling along, alright? I'll have this thing open in a minute."
Drake steps forward and pulls out an old set of tools to crack the door, and after a few moments he gets it open and pushes it wide. The room looks like an armory, with weapon racks lining the walls. A set of hangers fills one wall of the room, bearing red garments--vests, jackets, shirts, and even a pair of old traveling cloaks. It looks like this is where the Redbrands keep spare equipment when it isn't being used.
"Hmm. We can come back for this stuff later, I guess. But for now let's keep moving."
"No reason not to take any bullets if we can use 'em," Jed adds. "I have a feelin' we're going to be doing a lot of shooting."
"No use leaving things around for them t'use against us when we start raisin' hell," Drake grunts, shoveling the pistols and ammunition into his bag. Once he and the others have what they can carry, Drake will stand up and take a look into the hallway before heading down to the other door. "I'm assumin' we'll find the bulk of 'em lurking down in the cavern, so we might as well pick off any stragglers first." Drake's voice is hushed when he approaches the second door, crouching slow to the ground as he tests the door handle with his revolver raised; if it opens, he'll look inside for any enemies before creeping inside. If not, he'll pick the lock.
"I'll take one of those. I could use somethin' for close quarters." Jed takes one of the pistols and a dozen bullets, letting Drake pack away the rest.
Siann looks over the assorted weapons, but doesn't take anything, following Drake to the second door, watching, an arrow knocked and ready.
Once the posse's gone through the armory, they move to the end of the hall, and Drake cautiously opens the door. The room beyond looks like an old crypt, probably for the family that owned the house in days gone by. Three large stone sarcophagi stand against the walls, and against each sarcophagus leans a skeleton clad in old bits of worn military uniforms. False columns are set along the walls, carved to look like spreading oak trees. In the northeast corner is a pair of ornate doors, sheathed in tarnished copper plating; across the room from the door you've just opened is a plain wooden door.
No sooner does Drake open the door and look inside, though, than the skeletons jerk and rattle to unlife, their skulls turning to regard the now open door as their empty sockets fill with points of burning red light. As one they draw weapons, two armed with cavalry sabers and one with a flintlock pistol, and it's clear they mean to attack our heroes.
"Oh, c'mon," Drake says, keeping the door between him and the skeleton's as a form of protection. He leans out around the door and shoots at the skeleton carrying the old flintlock pistol.