"Yes, I'm also concerned with your going in alone. Those Gray Maidens do not appear to be fainting lilies, and how would we know if you got in serious trouble?"
The Lord's face hardens. "If they do not have the well being of the sick in mind, and are searching for Varisians, then I shudder to think what their connection tion to Rolth might imply. I for one am content to break in at night and discover what we may by stealth or if need be by force."
Yaziyah shakes her head at Garvid's proposal. "Noble of you, old man, but too dangerous. We'll all go together, as His Lordship suggested." Another of Talfryn's plans that she is backing, she must be going mad. But these were mad times, with so-called doctors very likely harming the sick and helpless, and those Gray Maidens acting more like thugs than protectors.
On the other hand, they had to be very careful if they took this route, as that would set them squarely against the physicians and the Grey Maidens. So far they had been walking a thin line and had the backing of the Marshal, but if they openly acted against these two groups, not only would they be crossing the line into lawlessness, but they would make the Marshal's life a lot harder than it already was.
"If we do this thing, we must prepare very carefully and leave no trace that we were here. Lorship, you can make people invisible, yes?"
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Garvid crosses his arms, letting out a disappointed sigh. "Everyone's a fainting lilly if you know where to kick, Lordship.", his bared teeth suggesting he's quite knowledgeable in this narrow, yet practical sub-set of anatomy. Leaning back on the chair, he coughs once more, then winks at Yazi. "And they say that with age comes wisdom.", before staring out the window. They got a point, though... both of them.
A moment later, he stands up. "Ha!", he exclaims, pointing at the hospice. "Well, if they're looking for Varisians, Varisians is what they'll get.", he lets out a low chuckle, snapping his fingers. "I got to thinking when Doc painted the painter.", he starts walking around the room, pacing with a hand on his chin. "He mentioned that that's just the low-grade alchemical disguises. Obviously, there's illusions, but everyone who's seen one of the flimsy ones knows it the moment they touch it." He raises a finger, then excitedly slams a fist in his hand. "He mentioned a tonic that can actually make you a half-orc, or an elf, or even a damn bugbear for several minutes." His finger points towards the gate of the hospice once more. "You thinking what I'm thinking? We get ready, drink the tonic, and we show up on their front door, asking to be treated. Way they've complained about bad luck, it might not even be a hard sell."
The group moves around to the back of the hospice until you are standing in a back alley which currently seems to be empty. Three closed loading dock doors block your way in.
Li quietly makes her way over to the loading dock doors and takes a closer look. The doors are barred from the inside but she can tell there's enough space in between the doors that she should be able to stick something in to lift the bar. Using a couple shims and her thieves tools, Li jimmies open one of the doors.
With a few deft moves, Li creates a back entrance to the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden where before there was none. Taking a quick peek inside, she can see that the large loading dock has high-ceilings and is approximately 70' x 30' with two large, closed door on the southern and eastern walls leading further into the building . The room seems to be filled with a maze of barrels and crates, but further details cannot be ascertained from her current angle with the recently opened dock door only open a bit.
Standing at the back of the group, Lord Talfryn watches as Li dexterously opens the back loading doors and peers inside. Trying to stay calm, to not imagine a cavalcade of Gray Maidens storming around the corner at any moment, he casts Mage Armor upon himself.
A faint shimmer as of sunlight through water flickers around him and then disappears. Even so, he feels marginally more confident about their endeavors, and with his chin up steps closer to hear what Li has to report.
Once the doors are open, Yaziyah quickly steps in, hugging the edge of the doors so that her silhouette is not outlined against the dim light from outside. Inside, she sharpens her ears, listening intently and sniffing the air as she tries to discern if anyone is present in the room aside from themselves.
Garvid quickly follows through, finding himself into a... perfectly normal looking warehouse. "Hm.", he grunts as he shoulders his halberd. "I wonder what's in the crates.", he says, before putting his hand on one of them, and puts the halberd's spike in between the lid and the crate. "Should I, or do we have more pressing issues?", he asks those looking ahead.
You steps out of the tepid late morning sun of a rainy Varisian autumn day and into the gloom of a windowless, darkened warehouse. Yaziyah intones a few words of magic and several amorphous globes of multicolored light spring into life above her head, giving everyone a chance to take in the surroundings. The scent of exotic wood and sawdust fills the maze of barrels and crates of the warehouse floor. A web of ropes and pulleys crisscrosses the ceiling; from one thick cable hangs a net of barrels suspended nearly twenty feet above the splinter-scattered floor below. Behind you are the three massive, wooden doors that lead back outside, while to the south and east are leather flaps leading to other parts of the Hospice.
From your current position, you do not have a complete overview of the loading dock and several parts of it are blocked from view by crates or other large items.
Li holds up her finger to her lips with Garvid's question. She points at her ear and then further into the warehouse. More pressin' matters. Anyone else be thinkin' it odd there be heavily armored people walkin' about in a hospice?"
[smaller]"Should I be goin' ta take a look? I c'n be pretty quiet."
Yaziyah sticks a finger in her right ear, wiggling it about and looking cross. She mutters under her breath for a bit before extracting Slinky from her cloak pocket and setting the weasel on the floor. She points to one of the leather flaps and puts a finger to her lips.
"Go scout, Your Holiness."
To Li, she whispers.
"I must be getting old, I didn't hear armoured people, and I asked the spirits for keen senses, too. Good thing your ears are sharper than ours, we would have barged right into them."
Hearing Li, Garvid puts down the halberd with a nod. "Good point.", he answers, grabbing the hilt in his left hand. "I hear them too, now. Maybe they're escorting a doctor. But why would there be more than one, and if a doctor needs protection from the patients, this is looking worse and worse.", he ponders for a moment, before seeing Slinky skulking away. "Can you talk to His Holiness, too? Or should Li go and check as well?" He kneels next to a crate. "Here's what I'm thinking. We hide behind the crates and ready ourselves. If Slinky can rustle around the crates on the other side, if they come in and see him, instead of us pouncing on them, they'll probably chase the "rodent" instead of calling for backup. Because nobody calls for backup for rats, since they'll never hear the end of it.", he suggests. "Then, we kindly ask them to surrender.", he chuckles, patting the halberd's hilt.
I think that's the best option - less charging into rooms and fighting around the sick, and at worst, we split the enemy so we don't fight them all at once, even if they raise the alarm.
The weasel scurries off underneath the nearest leather door covering, disappearing from view. He reappears less than a minute later and jumps back up on Yaziyah, chirping quietly.
"It seems there are two guards in that room, on a... platform above the floor, I suppose. Some physicians, more than three, and their patients."
Garvid's plan sounds like a good one, so if the others agree she will send Slinky back into the room, this time with instructions to get the people in clang-clang clothes to chase him.
Lord Talfryn rubs at his mustaches thoughtfully.
"It may be beneath the dignity of the Gray Maidens to chase a rodent. More like the job of a physician or servant. Instead, what if we pretend this is a simple burglary? Li stands by the main doors and cracks open a crate. Then, when the Maidens come rushing in to apprehend her, we ambush them in turn? I could cast Grease upon the floor before their doorway, and then bedazzle them with a Color Spray while they fight to get on their feet."
He pauses, suddenly struck by a thought. "Should we mask ourselves? Unless we plan to kill all the witnesses, it's possible we'll be recognized or identified in their report of this incident."
Li sees the wisdom of Lord Talfryn's words. "Disguises be smart. I c'n be helpin', at least ta be coverin' our faces."
"Whether it be me or Slinky who be drawin' 'em here, don't matter. But we should be doin' it quick."
Nodding at the Talfryn, Garvid harumphs. "Oh, they have dignity, now...",, he mutters, before looking down at his clothes. "I think our armour and clothes are too noticeable, even if we mask our faces. And you've got a point, Li.", he nods, pointing at Li to pass him whatever she's using next.
"I could cast Grease upon the floor before their doorway, and then bedazzle them with a Color Spray while they fight to get on their feet."
With a loud "snap!" Li breaks open the crate as the rest of the party gets into position. There is immediate silence from the sick room, followed by several loud commands to investigate.
A minute or so later, the red-plumed head of a Grey Maiden comes through the door.
The Grey Maiden steps into the room and on the slick area of Lord Blackoak's spell. She momentarily loses her balance, but remains on her feet.
"Tsk. Why can't you be a good girl and fall over...?" Yazi's voice is muffled by the scarf she used to wrap around her face, so for the next part she tugs it low enough that she can cast her spell. It was a back-up plan, but better than nothing. She figures that outright killing the queen's Gray Maidens would be a grave mistake, but there are other ways to deal with them. Such as magical bondage.
Li does her best to keep the Grey Maiden's attention on her by continuing to open the crate and look inside. She wants it to look like a smash and grab so that they don't suspect their true reasons for being there.
The Grey Maiden's head snaps toward Yaziyah as she casts her spell. Judging from her movements on the ground to begin to right herself, she does not succumb to the spell.
Garvid lunges out from the shadows of the crates, swinging his halberd's hilt at the Maiden's plumed helm. Unfortunately for him, he steps right into a puddle, splashed away from the maiden's hectic attempts to remain upright, and the swing almost goes wild. In a lucky break, the maiden stumbles back from the surprise as well, as the halberd crashes into her armour with a resounding blow, putting a massive dent into the shining plate. Chuckling at his unseemly luck, Garvid spins the weapon in his bulky hands, pointing at the sword on the maiden's belt. "You ever used that on someone armed, kid?", he lets out a guttural whisper, the tone suggesting there's a big grin under his mask, as he cracks his knuckles on his chin. "Been waiting to get my mitts on one of you for a really long time now."
From the back, Talfryn mutters a series of arcane syllables, and unleashes a new torrent of magic upon the resistant maiden.
Garvid's massive blow from his halberd's hilt impacts with a resounding clang on the Grey Maiden's helmet, caving it in several inches. The guard instantly drops to the floor, seemingly unconscious.
There are several loud shouts of "get down here!" and "protect the subjects!" from the other room.
Here we go. Spirits protect us." She utters a few words in Shoanti, and the others feel the familiar warmth of the spirits' blessing wash over them.
After the resounding clang, and the Gray Maiden slumping to the ground in the puddle of grease, Garvid lets out a chuckle, then leans on his halberd, exhaling a breath of satisfaction. "Queen should've thought more about making the helmets durable, rather than them looking nice, it seems.", he lets out one more gloat before his eyebrows narrow. "Shouldn't the people there be 'patients', not 'subjects'?"
Raising the halberd against the door, his neck cracks as he bobs his head from side to side. "I love it when they come for me, rather than the other way around. Saves me a lot of effort."
Garvid will drop out of rage, and will be fatigued on this and the next turn.
Readying action Brace with Combat Expertise.
AC: 22, Touch 13, FF 19
"Well done, Garvid," says Lord Talfryn. "Good show. Now let us pray the others fall before your halberd with equal ease, hmm?"
That said, Talfryn mutters a new spell under his breath, and after a moment his form ripples, diverges, and a number of identical copies immediately separate from himself to stand in close and bewildering proximity.
There continue to be numerous shouted commands from the other room, underscored by the continued moans and pleas for help from the sick:
"Move! Move! Faster"
"Get some cover! Over there!"
"Quit that man down!"
"Get Bruhnlida in here!"
Finally the shouting subsides and a single, muffled female voice states: "We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands up!"
"Spoke too soon...", mutters Garvid as he lets out a sigh. He leans down towards the unconscious body of the Gray Maiden, grabbing her caved-in helmet by the plumes as he sets to the leather flaps. His armoured hand pushes the flaps aside, as he hurls the helmet into the other room, the helmet clanging on the floor. "You got one chance to drop your weapons and tell us what you're doing with those prisoners.", he shouts as he waits for the others to catch up. "And I really hope you don't.", he spits out, as he pushes the flaps to see the enemy.
Li loads a bolt into her crossbow in case the mob in the other room rushes into the space where they were. She then checks the direction from where they entered to see if they were truly surrounded or if the voice from the other room was just bluffing.
Li loads a bolt into her crossbow in case the mob in the other room rushes into the space where they were. She then checks the direction from where they entered to see if they were truly surrounded or if the voice from the other room was just bluffing.
"Here," says Lord Talfryn. "I shall step in first and arrange for a distraction. Come in right after me, if you will."
That done, Talfryn takes a deep breath and peers through the leather doorway, preparing to cast either Glitterdust or Color Spray depending on the formation of the enemy beyond.
Li loads a bolt into her crossbow in case the mob in the other room rushes into the space where they were. She then checks the direction from where they entered to see if they were truly surrounded or if the voice from the other room was just bluffing.
Let me know how best to work this!
From her vantage point Li can see where they came in, where the grey maiden came through, and where the voice had spoken from to the east. She plans to provide cover for the others should anyone enter their room. But it sounds like the voice would rather draw them out than to come in after them and the rogue wasn't too thrilled with that idea.
Sticking his head through the leather flaps of the loading dock doorway, Garvid immediately spots three opponents: one Grey Maiden behind a table for cover, and two of the masked Queen's Physicians. The armored woman seems particularly shaken by the guard's threat and backs against the wall behind with her shield up. ()
Li loads her crossbow and moves back to the alley entrance to makes sure the group is not surrounded. Taking a quick peak outside, she does not see any threats from that direction and decides to cover all the possible entrances to the loading dock. ()
Lord Talfryn moves up to stand next to Garvid and assess their tactical situation. ()
The boys were covering one entrance, so she moves to the other, ready to put to sleep anyone who would even breathe in a threatening manner. It seems that they had been right in breaking into this place - people being called "subjects" by anyone other than royalty didn't bode well for the people.
Yaziyah focuses on the nearest Physician, who promptly collapses. )
Now with a quick moment to look around, Yaziyah sees two more Grey Maidens on a high catwalk twenty feet above the floor of the Hospice. Both currently have no weapons drawn and are scanning the room for threats. They immediately spot the Shoanti woman, and begin drawing their bows.
The two Grey Maidens on the catwalk draw their longbows and draw arrows from a quiver at the side. Both missiles hit their target, despite the fact that she is partially concealed behind the leather flaps of the doorway. One nicks her leg, while the other glances her temple. ()
The Physician moves over to his downed companion , kicking him sharply in the side and wakening him.
On the far side of Yaziyah, the Physician moves up while drawing his club, and strikes low, hitting her painfully in the shin.
Over on the other side of the room, the last visible Physician moves up toward Lord Blackoak while drawing his club. His face is inscrutable under the full plague doctor mask.
The Grey Maiden closest to Garvid and Talfryn draws her longbow and takes a shot at the elderly wizard while yelling: "Bruhnlida! Nap time is over, there are thieves here trying to kill us!" She then looses an arrow at the wizard, striking him in he shoulder, but luckily avoiding any major arteries.
Seeing Yazi get numerous wounds, any thought of keeping things non-lethal left Li's mind. She let loose her crossbow bolt at the physician who moved in to attack the shaman. As soon as one bolt let loose, the rogue's fingers were a blur loading another one which she also let fly.
"Gah!" Lord Talfryn lets out a cry that is more shock than actual pain; he'd actually felt comfortably anonymous within his phalanx of mirror images, and to be singled out with such poor luck cuts him to the quick.
Stumbling away from the physician, Lord Talfryn moves deeper into the room, desperately seeking a denser concentration of foes. Upon reaching the two physicians, he raises his hand and unleashes a spray of color straight into their faces.
Yaziyah curses as she is hit from multiple directions. "Trying to kill you? Why, you snake! We were NOT, but I suppose that has changed now!"
Still, she hesitates to strike them. A glimpse in the room beyond has shown her rows upon rows of cots, and this is supposed to be a house of healing. Her ingrained habits of helping and nurturing are difficult to kick in a place like this. Instead, she takes a step back to avoid more blows, but not before slapping a hand against the leather flap and leaving a little present for their foes. The other side of the flap starts shimmering, colourful patterns twisting into impossible shapes.
The Physician nearest Yaziyah takes two of Li's crossbow bolts, one in the leg and the other in the arm, causing him to nearly drop his club as he grasps his arm in pain.
Uncharacteristically bold for a wizard, Lord Talfryn bursts through the leather curtains and finds the nearest cluster of enemies. Spreading his fingers, multicolored lights shoot from his outstretched hands, causing the physicians to clutch at their eyes despite their protective masks and freeze in their tracks.
The Physician nearest Yaziyah, recently perforated by Li, sees the loathsome illusion and begins violently regurgitating his breakfast. He snaps off his plague doctor mask so that he doesn't suffocate on his own vomit.