Fort save
"So I guess talking is out of t....."
Seph during all this has been watching from the edge of the allyway to terrified to either try and help or run away so hides and watches
Stealth
Seph during all this has been watching from the edge of the allyway to terrified to either try and help or run away so hides and watches
Stealth
1d20 + 14
Seph hides and watches as Merle falls and begins to snore on the filthy ground. The four beings that attacked her approach warily, with large iron bars upraised. When she doesn't stir, one of the people working on the wounded thief calls out in a hissing female-sounding whisper.
"That one's a dazzler! Strip her down, but don't pen her in the dead book. She's done Kallak nasty, he'll be scarred for life. Take her gear. She likely has a familiar somewhere watching, they always do."
The woman(?) stands and speaks out to the air.
"If yeh're out there familiar you can take a message to yer cat. We was merciful, by all rights I should drip acid on her for revenge on what she did to Kallak. We'll take her gear instead. Yeh follow us, or try to get revenge yeh'll regret it. This here's our turf, an' yeh forget it at yer peril."
The figure calls to her comrades
"Put a shake in it! Dazzlers are never too far from their crew! We gotta give this place the laugh!"
The four attackers busily strip Merle's unconcious form. Within a few seconds she is down to clothing.
Seph sees one of the ragged beings throw the wounded thief over a shoulder. The rest gather and dart down a narrow alley.
The group reconvenes and walks the couple dozen blocks down to Allesha's Pantry. The large soup kitchen throngs with the dispossesed, every race, ethnicity and variation known to the multiverse on display. Hard luck has no favorites.
The plaza with the large fountain next to Allesha's is crowded with Hivers eating, chatting and going about their business. There are a dozen small twisting alleys branching off into the tangled warrens of the Hive
Seph watches as the group of ambushers rapidly tie up Merle tight. They pay especial care with her hands, tying them very tight. They gag her mouth and eyes. The female-sounding cloaked being calls out:
"Familiar! I know you are out there! Go to your mistress' friends and tell them to bring 1,000 Ladies in coin to this spot! No tricks, or your cat owner gets the shank!"
Merle's sleeping form is propped along the wall. The two smaller ambushers that tripped her squat next to her, long knives poised at her neck. They titter and chatter in an insane manner.
"Tamtan, you fink we should carve our 'nitials?"
"Nah Kevik, the missus'll be mad."
"Might be worth it. Brings me back to me youth when I wuz skinnin' cats fer stew."
"We'll see if the jink is handed over. If not ..."
The other ambushers disappear into nearby tenements.
Seph immediately takes off down the alleyways looking for the others.
Perception (If needed)
Seph immediately takes off down the alleyways looking for the others.
Perception (If needed)
1d20 + 3
Seph remembers the path to Allesha's well enough. He scampers down the narrow filthy, maze-like tangle of alleys with cat-like grace. In a scant few minutes he reaches the plaza with the fountain. He scurries about for a few minutes, then he sees the rest of the party entering from Two Lamp Lane.
Seph hurries towards the group shifting into his humanoid form as he does it. At first glance it is clear that he is upset and more than a little scared tears streaming down his furry face. He is so distresed that what ever it is he is trying to tell them comes out as a jumbled heap of feline with the only words the party understand being Merle and 1'000.
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, cutter. Where's your sister, what happened?"
"My worst nightmare," Karrin mumbles.
Seph takes a minute or two to compose himself before explaining again but still ends up stuttering a lot"M-Merle was having a look around w-when some guy came up behind her with a knife and r-robbed her Merle didn't take w-well to that so chased the guy a-and hit him i-in the face with s-something acid but then she ran into a-an ally w-with more of the thu-thugs and they s-shot her an-and she f-fell over t-then t-they tied her up and a f-female one said to b-bring 1000 g-gold coins to that spot. no tricks o-or they give her the S-shank"
Isaac sighs.
"Could be worse. Pull yerself together, mate, we'll get her back. Who's got the jink?"
"Well, aren't you all lucky I'm not a trusting person." Swire gesture to his coin purse before continuing. "So, which of you feel like picking up the girl and which of you feel like bashing those poor sods' heads in from behind when they try to leave?"
"Well, aren't you all lucky I'm not a trusting person." Swire gesture to his coin purse before continuing. "So, which of you feel like picking up the girl and which of you feel like bashing those poor sods' heads in from behind when they try to leave?"
"Um t-to be fair Merle did kind of melt one of there friends faces" Seph seems to have calmed down considerably by this point
Merle currently oblivious to all the trouble she is causing is having dreams of Skint of the very Adult variety "ZZzzzzZZZZZZZZzzz"
Merle currently oblivious to all the trouble she is causing is having dreams of Skint of the very Adult variety "ZZzzzzZZZZZZZZzzz"
Merle currently oblivious to all the trouble she is causing is having dreams of Skint of the very Adult variety "ZZzzzzZZZZZZZZzzz"
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **Merle currently oblivious to all the trouble she is causing is having dreams of Skint of the very Adult variety "ZZzzzzZZZZZZZZzzz"
** spoiler omitted **
Merle:
"ZZZZzzzzZZZ"
"Well, aren't you all lucky I'm not a trusting person." Swire gesture to his coin purse before continuing. "So, which of you feel like picking up the girl and which of you feel like bashing those poor sods' heads in from behind when they try to leave?""Um t-to be fair Merle did kind of melt one of there friends faces" Seph seems to have calmed down considerably by this point
"Aye, while piking off like a berk when she shoulda known better. Personally, I'd rather we pay 'em off and Merle owes us. She don't have the jink, I'll pitch in to pay yeh back 'till she does, Swire. They scragged her fair 'n square on their own turf after all."
"Aye, while piking off like a berk when she shoulda known better. Personally, I'd rather we pay 'em off and Merle owes us. She don't have the jink, I'll pitch in to pay yeh back 'till she does, Swire. They scragged her fair 'n square on their own turf after all."
Swire scowls and grumbles to himself. "Alright. She better have the money. you don't take a Taker..."
Seph leads the group down the dirty tangle of Hive alleys he and Merle had explored earlier. The tops of the tenements in many places don't allow aerial access, so Bethany walks with the rest.
They arrive at the filth-strewn courtyard a few minutes later. Merle sits sleeping and tied up, two short cloaked beings next to her. They call out in singsong voices:
"Yeh lot the cat's keepers?'
"They best be Tamtan, I'm bored wif catsitting."
"Well, they best have the jink or we gets some new catskin boots Kevik."
The two short beings hold long odd-shaped knives at Merle's throat. She looks totally unconcious.
Seph still in humanoid form steps forward a little managing to keep his voice level as he speaks "We have the money If that's what Jinx means" He then leans looks at the rest of the group "Jinx does mean money right?"
"Yeah, we got the jink. Now how about you step away the girly, eh?"
"Yeah, we got the jink. Now how about you step away the girly, eh?"
One of the short humanoids relaxes, sheathes his knife, and walks towards the party. The other keeps his knife at Merle's throat.
As the humanoid gets closer the party notes that he looks dwarvish, but his eyes are a milky white as if obscured by cataracts. Spiked whitish hair pokes out from his voluminous black cloak hood. He sticks out a stubby, grimy hand.
"How about you hand over the jink an' then we let kitty go. No tricks now, we ain't alone here, an' I'm ready to use me knife."
The other one by Merle calls out
"Sharp knife!"
The one in front of them touches his hilt
"Big freakin' knife!"
Swire tosses his coin purse at the man. "There. A thousand ladies, plus a little extra. Now sod off."
1d20+10
The milky-eyed dwarf snags the fat sack of small golden coins out of the air
"Right. KEVIK! Beat feet!"
The other dwarf zips down a nearby alley.
The other dwarf checks the bag and stuffs it in his cloak after ascerning the amount is correct.
"Tell kitty when she wakes up she better not stick her nose back down these alleys. This is Night Dagger turf."
The short man scurries off, keeping his front to the party. He enters the alley his twin had gone down.
Swire:
Ekuur stands in the back, with his trademark scowl on his face. Once the two men run away, he finally speaks up. "We should not have paid. They would not have killed her, once we pointed out she was their only bargaining chip. They wanted money; if they killed her, we would have easily killed them in return. On my world, one hostage is not sufficient leverage unless you are also willing to die."
He gives a snort. "We should hunt them down and kill them, anyway. It should be made known that to attack a member of the Silver Rose is to attack us all, and we are not to be trifled with. Otherwise, we may get to be known as easy targets.
"I suppose that what is done, is done, however."
"ZZZZzzzzZZZZ" Merle sleeps on
"Uh what are we going to do with Merle?" Seph asks now that the situation has passed Seph feels the worry wearing off to be replaced more with general annoyance and perhaps even a little anger at Merle
"Cutter, those barmies don't even know what the Silver Rose is. If they come back to bother us again, they're going to be lucky if they only get in the dead book, I'll tell you that."
Swire then walks over to Merle and nudges her in the stomach with his foot. "Hey. Get up."
Ekuur approaches Merle, and bends down to see if she's OK.
Heal
Ekuur approaches Merle, and bends down to see if she's OK.
Heal 1d20+10
Ekuur bends over the bound catfolk sorceress. She is snoring, and looking under her eyelid Ekuur finds her fully unconcious. A stimulant would perhaps rouse her, either that or a vigorous headdunking.
Karrin Picks Merle up and tosses her over her left shoulder and rests her axe over her right.
"Let's go," Karrin mumbles, "we'll talk about this later. We got business that needs taking care so we can't afford to spend any more time messing around here. Thanks for the loan Mr Swire. We'll get it back to you."
"Aye. Let's dump a bucket on her and get our cargo."
"And you Clueless sods remember this: the Hive ain't some Prime slum. Anything from the Great Wheel and beyond could be in these alleys. Anything. Merle got lucky; next time she may not. Don't wander around in the Hive without someone watchin' yer back."
"Right," Karrin quietly adds, "and you bloods don't wander off and leave the clueless unattended. Everybody screwed up here, some more then others no doubt, but there's enough blame to go around without pointing fingers."
Karrin quickly makes her way out of the alley.
"So uh leave her as is?" Seph asks walking next to Karrin
"We will until we're well clear of here!" Karrin says, "I might not know your sister as well as you do but something tells me she's not going to be happy when she wakes up and the last thing we need is her wandering off seeking revenge."
"O'h don't worry I can guarantee she wont be doing that" Seph actually sounds kind of angry when speaking.
The party walks back through the graffitti-scrawled alleyways back to Allesha's Pantry. The large fountain is crowded with local Hivers getting buckets of water. The soup line is still long, and several volunteers try to lessen it by taking vats of thin soup out on wagons to feed some of the waiting throng.
Seph runs over and try's to get a large bucket of water from the fountain.
Seph runs over and try's to get a large bucket of water from the fountain.
Seph heads over to one of the people with a bucket and very polity asks "Excuse me could I borrow a your Bucket for a minute please?"
Swire elbows Isaac. "Kid's going over to the fountain." Swire continues to scowl. This is why he doesn't like working in groups. Everyone just goes completely f$%^ing barmy.
Seph heads over to one of the people with a bucket and very polity asks "Excuse me could I borrow a your Bucket for a minute please?"
The person he's approached, a young scrawny girl, looks at the young catfolk.
"Pull me other one! I needs this 'ere bucket fer me Mam to wash wif. "
She turns back to the fountain and draws her bucket full of water, tying it to the yoke at her side and shouldering the two-bucket burden.
A tall man walks over to Seph
"What do you need a bucket for lad?"
Swire elbows Isaac. "Kid's going over to the fountain." Swire continues to scowl. This is why he doesn't like working in groups. Everyone just goes completely f$%^ing barmy.
Isaac sighs.
"Aye, I'll play minder lest some barmy throws 'im in."The half-elf casually places a protective hand on Seph's shoulder.
"We just got to give 'is sister a wake-up call, cutter. Little too much excitement, y'know. We can pay yeh fer the privilege, just a quick splash'll set her right."