Jim accompanies the bosun, mostly to watch his back.
Kaul grabs a pew next to the tough rigger. He nods his no-neck as his eyes take in the establishment;
"Hur. Am indeed..."
The brutish bosun raises his claw to attract the attention of one of the scanty staff.
"Reckons I could 'ave me a drink. Reckons it'll be one fir the road fir ye Lola... Plenty tae do on the Fortune see..."
He flashes a mako grin as Jimmer joins them;
"Where's little feck Ed lurkin' then? Hur-hur. 'E with Drake?"
From the bar off to the side of the casino, Kaul can get a clear view of the layout and games offered in the large room. The whole area has worn red carpeting, the walls are covered in red silk tapestries with diabolical faces printed on them in gold. The ceiling 20 feet up is hidden behind gauzy beige curtains the hang horizontally. Chandeliers of red tinted glass hang below the the beige curtain shedding dim hellish light through the smokey haze over the gaming floor. Patrons cluster around a wide variety of games of chance or coupled up with one or two of the red-clad hosts disappear into a door off to the side which appears to lead to small private rooms. All this is overlooked by goblin-sized gold statue that doesn't appear to actually be a goblin, at least there aren't any horned goblins that are commonly known, on a tall pedestal between the kitchen doors.
Lola frowns, "The fools got caught cheating yesterday afternoon and those Erin-No, that's what the bouncers with whips is called, the red servants and whores is Erin-Yes, I don't know why, hauled them to the office, I think. I been waiting for them to show up again or maybe the Gendarme come to haul them away, but nothing. Ain't see their live or dead bodies come out. Didn't want to miss them if I went back to the ship."
"Feck. Lola, hang around a moment. Me and Kaul, we're going to get Ed and Drake, and if things go in the cr@pper get back to the Fortune sharpish and fetch Dingus & Corliss. Kauly, like you were saying on the way into town, it's time to show the locals how we do sh1te in Freeport."
Lola nods and Kaul and Jim head across the game floor to the area that she indicated. A pair of the larger, beefier staff clad in black vests flank the entrance to foyer that holds the cashiers' cage and a pair of doors. One of the doors has 'Office' printed on it. Before the pair can enter the foyer, however, one of the Erin-Noes hold up a hand. "One at a time, gents," he says with a glower.
Corliss stays aboard the Bloody Fortune until his frozen bones have thoroughly thawed. Eventually, though, he gets restless and heads into town after Kaul and Jim, asking Dingus if he'd like to come along. When he catches sight of the scantily-clad succubus servers, his eyes widen a bit and his trademark crooked smile washes across his face like the incoming tide.
"Ah, Riddleport! Seems ye're not without yer charms after all!" The grinning priest tries to take his eyes off the shapely servers long enough to find Jim and Kaul.
Kaul listens intently to Lola's tale, then flashes a mako grin at Jim's suggestion;
As they approach the foyer Kaul's beady eyes and Lopper's single orb all balefully affix their gaze toward the burly gatekeeper and his outstretched hand;
"Hur... One at a time is it? What say we three got business inside this 'ere door? You goin' tae de-ny Ol' Kauly Redclaw, Madman Jimmer 'ere and Lopps..? Eh? EH?"
His voice becomes a hacksaw growl as claw clacks and scarred brow furrows...
The guard stammers something and steps aside. His partner frowns, but does the same.
Jim nods. "Smart man." Then he heads for the office door and opens it.
As Jim and Kaul step into the foyer, a guard behind them yells "Code Red at the Cashier!"
Keelhaul Kaul-
Madman Jim-
Corliss-
Staff-
Other-
Jim tries the door to the office and finds it locked as a cacophony of noise erupts throughout the casino. In the foyer, a metal plate crashes down behind the bars of the cashiers' cage and there is an explosion of activity in the casino as a group of Erin-Noes rush toward the apparent robbery. The red-clad staff and a few remaining black-clad try to handle the patrons that either panic or start trying to grab chips. A couple fights break out and there is a press for the exit.
Meanwhile out on the street, Corliss approaches a mob at the entrance of the Gold Goblin.
"Break it down, mate! I'll watch your back!" Jim draws his rapier and prepares to attack or dodge, as needed.
Wow--this place be popular! the priest thinks as he sees a crowd at the casino doors. Wait a minute.... Why is everyone tryin' to leave?
Corliss asks one fellow in the crowd what all the hubbub's about.
"Robbery!" the bystander chuckles. "Better bug out. The Gendarme will be here in a few and they'll just start swinging whether you took anything or not."
Kaul complies with a wild gleam in his eye ; . The heavy axe bites deep splitting the door and revealing the reinforcing bars. It'll take another hit to take it totally down.
Jim faces a group of Erin-noes. Three ready their blackjacks, two uncoil whips. "Give it up lads," a woman with a whip says.
There is a flutter of wings in the foyer around Jim and Kaul and then a pair of tiny black devils appear buzzing around their heads on bat wings. Blue-dipped scorpion tails arc from their rear ends and sting the trespassers.
Doubting that his crewmates would resort to robbery or that the local gendarme would lay a hand on a priest of Besmara, Corliss continues to push through the crowd toward the entrance.
Kaul shrugs off the pesky devil sting and hacks away at the sundered door;
"We're 'ere fir our shipmates! Ain't gonna let you heller's 'ave em!"
Jim resists the soporific effects of the sting.
Jim and Kaul shake off the poison while Corliss tries to push through the mob to get in the Gold Goblin.
Corliss finds his forward progress checked by the mob.
"I'll be along in a minute Corliss. Can't go out on the town without finding something fitting to wear".
Dingus will follow Corliss to the tavern about 15 minutes later wearing a gauzy purple outfit, with his favorite boa, and a mixture of feathers in his floppy hat arranged in the order of a rainbow. He arrives as the crowd is streaming out the door.
Something tells me Kaul is in the middle of this. Can't let him have all the fun.
Jim takes a short step forward, blade darting out to try to lever weapons from their wielders. "Like the man said, we're here for a couple of crewmates. You folks are a little jumpy."
Jim steps forward from the foyer to attack the guards, he jabs defensively managing to knock a whip from one of the erinoes before they circle him. The other whip darts out at his leg, but fails to grab. Jim dodges the flying saps, but one guard slips behind him and manages to clip his head.
Kaul smashes the reinforced door leaving a ragged gap big enough to step through. He sees violet eyes beyond and a seductive voice tells him that she is sure that they can resolve this peaceably if he'd just leave his axe at the door and have a seat in the big wood chair until this is all settled.
The imps join the scrum on Jim, darting in to strike with their blue barbed tails. One manages to land a jab on the sailor.
The honied words resonate with the thug and he complies, despite the glare from Lopper's bale-eye.
"Hurrrrrrrrr. Makes no sense... but Ol' Kauly could do with a sit down an' all..."
Placing the axe down, he shuffles to the chair and slumps into its embrace.
The dark-eyed woman wears a scarlet blouse, black leather vest and tight black pants. She looks up at the doorway and then back to Kaul as she returns to a seat behind the desk. "Your friend will be along in a moment, I think. Was that really the plan, walk up and try to rob one of the biggest casinos in Riddleport with just the two of you?" she asks Kaul curiously. "Now that makes no sense."
Kaul's beady eyes narrow in suppressed rage but he slowly shakes his no-neck noggin;
"Hur. Break in an' steal our shipmates more like. You lot got our crew. Ol' Kauly's job ta get 'em back..."
He mugs a lopsided grin to himself;
"Only games o' chance me an' Lopps interested in, is what we cut off first... Hur-hur..."
The compelled bosun's glee is short lived, as his gaze go back to black and hard.
"Only games o' chance me an' Lopps interested in, is what we cut off first... Hur-hur..."
"That's not a bad idea for a game. After all, Ghoulette continues to be very popular. Hmmm. You are talking about the pair of sailors that were caught cheating then? That makes more sense. They are alive and well for now. There is a penalty for cheating at the Gold Goblin though. Typically, the perpetrators are given a chance to pay off their debt in our arena, but maybe we can come to an alternative arrangement."
Corliss finds his forward progress checked by the mob. [dice=Corliss Blackboots Acrobatics Check]1d20+0
The entrance to the place is chaos with patrons brawling with each other and what appears to be bouncers in black vests laying about with whips and black jacks. Corliss bumps into a large woman, who spins and checks her fist just before it flies at his face. He recognizes Lola in the same instant she recognizes him. "Chaplin? I was just coming to get some help."
"Garn! What happened? I'd just decided this kerfluffle couldn't be our crew's fault when they said 'twas a robbery!"
Before Lola can reply, the piercing warning whistle of the Gendarme is heard as a squad of eight watch arrive. The captain looks at the mob with distaste and gives another whistle, "Disburse immediately or you WILL be shot, " he announces and signals the watch to load their crossbows.
The kerfuffle pauses as attention turns to the rising weapons. "They don't mess around," Lola notes. "Best we back off and wait for this to play out." She retreats from the entrance to the casino.
Corliss wonders if the local gendarme would really actually shoot a priest of Besmara...but Lola seems to believe they might, and that's enough for him. Following her, Corliss whispers, "Why don't I stay here an' keep an eye on things? You take word back to the Cap'n."
Kaul remains rooted to his seat but emits a hacksaw chuckle;
"Hur-hur-hur... What alternative? Ol' Kauly is all ears..."
Once they are out of the potential unfriendly fire zone, Lola explains. "The Bosun and First Mate weren't trying to rob the place. They were trying to find out what happened to Grund and Ed. The two idiots got caught cheating and were taken to the Boss's office. Then Bosun and Jim pushed through the guards to storm the office. That's also where the cashier's cage is so that definitely got everyone's attention. Not much of a plan."
"I tried to get up there to help, but everyone went mad when the alarm called. Fighting, grabbing chips, I had to punch my way out to make sure someone knows what happened."
Kaul remains rooted to his seat but emits a hacksaw chuckle, "Hur-hur-hur... What alternative? Ol' Kauly is all ears..."
The woman looks speculatively at Kaul a moment. "I don't suppose that you know who Clegg Zincher is. He runs the big arena and he controls much of the gambling interests in town; that's where our portfolios overlap. He's not as big a deal as he was in the past though. He went chasing after that fallen star on Devil's Elbow a few years back and whatever happened to him there, it couldn't have been good because he came back quite concerned about his mortality."
"It's become known to me that he has spent an enormous amount of his wealth on a magical elixir from Garund that is to be smuggled into Riddleport soon. If you could intercept it and bring it to me, I would be happy to forgive your sailors their transgressions."
Jim continues to duck and weave, levering a blackjack from the thug that hit him before nearly dropping his rapier. He holds a parry for the nasty little critter that stung him.
Jim is too busy to notice Kaul setting his axe aside and wandering into the office leaving him behind. He knocks a sap from a bouncer and attempts to knock aside the poisonous tail of the little winged devil that darts in again. He misses, but the parry is enough to cause the creature's strike to grate against armor rather than sinking into Jim's neck. The now sapless sap looks miffed. "Enough of this shite!" he bellows and the mob piles on the troublesome first mate.
With Jim encumbered by the crowd, the second little devil darts in and delivers a venomous sting.
The Taldan finally succumbs to the third dose of venom. slumping to the ground.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"It's good to be the boss," a voice says behind Kaul. Kaul turns to see an exact duplicate of the woman behind the desk at the smashed doorway. She smiles, "The other one is finally out. He's going to wake with a hell of a hangover. It took three doses of Weenis' whinnis. Should we put him in the dungeon?"
The woman at the desk shrugs and gestures to Kaul. "I suppose that is up to him."
Kaul mulls the situation, his scarred brow furrowing like a folded sail.
"Hur... Ain't just to Ol' Kauly... I needs tae commune with Lopps. We's a partnership see..."
He beckons vaguely toward the fell hatchet...
The casino managers' synopsis seems to fit with the little that Kaul knows about the situation in Riddleport. Makes sense that an up-and-coming crimelord would want to kick another crimelord when he's down and likely that elixir is of high importance to Clegg Zincher.
"Lopps is your axe, right?" the woman at the desk asks.
The one at the door replies, "Seems like it. He referred to a Kauly, Jim, and Lopps earlier. I take he's Kauly, the sleeper is Jim and the axe must be Lopps."
The woman at the desk nods. "This is a limited partnership, my friend, and chopping through doors isn't going to get what we want. We'll keep an eye on Lopps while you try using a lighter touch this time."
Kaul nods in affirmation, then corrects the woman at the desk;
"Hur. Lopper. I calls 'er Lopps. Me. No-one else... Iffin' I ain't got Lopps I an't doin' the job... Like I says, I need tae discuss with me axe."
He extends a clawed paw towards the axe, but remains affixed to the chair.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The woman behind the desk sighs, "Well, I guess that you need to talk to Lopper and then we can continue our discussion." Her eyes flash purple again. "Why don't you follow Lixy down to the basement vault and get your axe?"
Kaul beady eyes blink momentarily, before he acquiesces;
"Hur-hur... Off to Lopps we go..."
The woman at the desk smiles charmingly, "Feel free to take the short cut, Lixy."
Lixy nods with a matching smile and taps the wall beside the desk and a panel slides aside revealing a small room and stairs down. She leads the way while Kaul focuses on the forth coming reunion and barely notes a series of torch lit passages, doors, and more stairs down. A pair of guards join them at some point, following behind.
Finally, a chamber with a series of doors is reached and Lixy pulls out a ring of keys to unlock a door. She opens it with a flourish revealing Looper on the floor of the empty cell, gleaming faintly in the torchlight. "I'll leave you two to discuss the offer," Lixy says as she closes the door behind Kaul. Kaul moves to recover his beloved ax only to find that it fades before his eyes and then he hears the lock click behind him.
The Gendarme's threats work for most of the rioters, but at least one resister gets a crossbow bolt in the leg for doubting them. A clubbing chases off the last of the mob as the guard stations itself at the entrance to the casino. Lola confers with Corliss and then is about to return to the ship when Dingus shows up.
Dingus enters the fine establishment with a quick sashay eager to have a few cocktails with his shipmates. He walks in and immediately notices Lola and Corliss in deep conversation, and an individual being helped off with a limp.
I would guess Kaul had something to do with this, but that looks more like a piercing wound, than a slash.
"Corliss Lola! Where are the rest of the crew? I thought I'd at find Kaul at least into his 10th cup".