"I shall go in. The rest of you will have the best chances of containing him from out here."
Jones prepares and drinks a Fire Breath extract, then takes a few moments to steel himself before opening the door.
Darius nods his head, " If he gives you any trouble, we will give him a demonstration with Zin. Unlike normal vampires, he cannot run to safety from her fire while in that form. "
Jones and Sledge walk in, the bugs surging away from where they step, and then forming back behind them.
Sensing at last that you are not undead, they form into a particularly ugly vampire.
Up close, he looks suspiciously like one of your companions...
"Humans? More or less." he says at any attempt by Jones to object.
"I never took Siervage for the sort to hire outside help to kill a prisoner, so I assume you're here about something else?"
He very politely shuts off the screeching noise for you two (though not for everyone else).
Jones nods. "We're here to talk about the recent murders. Kote said that you might have some knowledge about whomever is responsible. Are you willing to help us?"
"I'll admit, I'm surprised. I half expected your eyes to go blank as you rattled off some pre-recorded message of Luvick's in a halfhearted attempt to get me to confess my sins to a non vampire."
"More surprised that you jumped to asking me if I know anything, rather than asking me why I did it. Luvick's servants are so dull."
"Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can tell you anything specific about the murders. I will answer any questions you have that you feel may be relevant, and perhaps that information will fill in any blanks you have?"
"If it's any consolation, Kote seems to think you're innocent, regardless of Luvick's preconceived notions. And I, for one, prefer to gather substantial evidence before I begin throwing out accusations."
"But I digress. We know that all of the murders have happened in Restoration Park. And we know that the culprit is targeting those with the greatest numbers of spawn, and seems to be taking control of them. If the murderer is not a vampire, then they are almost certainly some sort of necromancer."
"We also have one of the murder weapons." He produces a stake, being careful to hold it in a non-threatening manner. "Is it possible that you've seen these markings before? Perhaps worn by a colleague?"
"Unfortunately no, can't say I recognize the make. I feel almost as though it's on the tip of my brain though..." he trails off, with a look of consternation.
At the mention of necromancers: "Hrm. Yes. Maybe."
"Forgive me for stonewalling you, but this is my only bargaining chip, you understand. I could tell you something about necromancers around Caliphas...but I need you to clear my name and have me released, first. Only Luvick's curiosity about certain alleged dealings is keeping me alive at this juncture, I'm afraid."
"Hmmm."
Jones leans against the cell wall in silent thought for several seconds.
"Alright, consider this. We have a powerful pyromancer in our group. With her keeping an eye on you, we can "escort" you out of here, under the pretense that you have promised to lead us to the real murderer. In this way, you will have your first taste of freedom as you accompany us in our mission."
"As for clearing your name, I doubt we can do that with the information we currently have. There are simply not enough concrete facts to prove your innocence, especially not in Luvick's eyes. But if you tell us what you know about Caliphas's necromancers, we will almost certainly have everything we need to track down the culprit. Then, you will be truly free."
"It's fine with me. The real task will be seeing if the guards will let you pass."
"Perhaps we'll have Zin give a demonstration of her power." He grins. "I think she'd like that."
"I'd refrain from killing them, or even dispersing them, were I you. Luvick is a powerful enemy, and I doubt you came here peacefully just to anger him now."
"Of course, it affect me not, either way. Do as you wish."
"No no, I wasn't suggesting anything like that. She could just throw a fireball at a nearby wall or something."
"Though that may be difficult in these small rooms. Maybe the promise of being away from your mental noise will be enough to sway them."
"I doubt it'll be necessary for Zin to threaten anyone. I'll just lean on 'em a bit if it's necessary."
Whatever your ideas, Ramoska merely shrugs and goes along with them.
"I'll try to persuade them to let you leave."
Jones knocks on the door. Once he and Sledge have been let out, he turns to the guards.
"You two won't like this, but I fear it is our only option. I ask that you allow Ramoska to be released from his cell and placed under our care. In exchange, he has promised to lead us to some potential suspects. We will bring him back here once he has fulfilled this purpose."
"You needn't worry about him escaping from our grasp. Zin's fire magic can destroy him quite easily if he tries to flee."
"That is, unless you would rather endure his mental onslaught for who knows how much longer..."
Whatever your ideas, Ramoska merely shrugs and goes along with them.
Darius stares at Jones and Sledge for a but a moment to realize generally what was to happen and gave an almost approving nod.
" If there is anything that can be certain is that Zin only needs an excuse to fire off at a moments' notice. A sizable lead would be.. much better. Not to mention with the time out here I would agree the sound was.. less than pleasurable. "
Darius' glare moved from his comrades to the two spawn guarding the way,
The vampire guards relent, reluctantly.
"Dammit. Not sure what to do here but...f%!~ it, take him. Go quickly, before I change my mind."
"Thanks, friend. Let's go."
" Good, we can finally get something relatively done. "
Zin is sucked into an interdimensional portal, no telling when she will return. You kill a few hours, and then head to the surface.
Jones re-prepares his mutagen, Heroism, and Barkskin. He also prepares three Death Ward extracts, and hands one to Sledge and Darius.
"These will protect us from having our energy drained, but only for eleven minutes. Don't drink them right away."
We wait for the slam.
Darius gives his normal preparations. With this amount of undead, he felt uneasy but even more so the idea of a possible Necromancer or worse rival Vampire was enough reason to nip this before it caused to much chaos for those of the living. vampires ranged from deranged to honorable, but in search of justice he had HOPED ( little faith he had in them) that afterwards the undead cretins would take a certain... cue from this situation to be more... humble.
" We do this fast and painful, if possible try not to kill them as it may not be the MAIN culprit. "
Lady Evgenya agrees.
"Yes, we want to make sure this is plucked at its root. Now, I'm going to go up to the surface via the vents, you follow via the mortal route. I imagine it won't take long for the murderer to arrive."
Sure enough, you need only wait an hour or so before trouble happens. As Evgenya stalks the Park, she sees a drunken man stumbling around.
Four vampires lurk in the shadows nearby, apparently planning to jump her once she tries to attack the drunk!
Sledge drinks the life ward and moves in as much as possible.
Darius warns the accompanying vampires of his condition once he drinks his Mutagen and approaches 30 more feet. His aura low and awaiting his inevitable sting. His nose sniffs at the air and a teeth barred low guttural snarl escapes.
Jones drinks his Death Ward and moves forward while drawing his rapier.
Evgenya tries to attack the man, and falls over, stiff as a board when he whips around with a wand!
The other vampires close in, stakes in hand!
Sledge unleashes the unleashment on the "drunk" - after flexing his megamuscles in order to make sure his Strikes are Perfect.
The nearest vampire turns into mist.
Jones unleashes the studied stabbening on the vampire closest to Evgenya, using a newly learned technique to put it off-balance.