Bashiel steps through the doorway after Kalem, speaking in a low voice, "We're here to take you in Casker. The Guard would like to have a word." As Kalem swings in, Bashiel can't help but wince at the brutal, fiery attack.
He gives a shake of his head at Kalem's straightforward methods,
and says "It looks like you'll be taking a nap until Cressida can speak with you."
He advances upon the ex-Guard and tries to knock him out with a quick blow to the temple.
Bashiel: Attack w/ Sap -- Hit
Varor: Attach w/ Scimitar -- Hit (not crit)
Ilsa: Grease
Brin: Mage Armor/Draw Dagger
Quinn: Attack w/ Bow -- Hit
Kalem: ANGRY SMASH! -- Hit
Kalem, Bashiel and Quinn all attack the man in the Guard uniform. A series of normally devastating attacks do a fair amount of damage, injuring the man, but not taking him down. He grabs his spear and stabs at Kalem.
The strike hits and there is power behind it yet Kalem manages to adjust his position enough that the tip mostly just grazes him. He then backs up into the corner, trapped but preventing a flank. Recognizing Bashiel's attire, he scowls, "Summary execution for desertion, is it?"
Both of the men working at the table fall when Ilsa casts grease, while Varor charges in with a respectable attack from his scimitar. They scramble to stand back up, one of them incurring an attack from Varor, which goes wide. The one next to Varor returns the favor, swinging with his cleaver. It cuts across Varor's chest in a nasty slash. The other tries to move out of the area of the grease but can't do it. He falls again.
Finally, from the side of the room, Biff begins moving towards the door, between Ilsa and Varor. His movement is cautious.
Vancaskerkin = -20 lethal; -7 nonlethal
Biff = Fine; Total Defense
Guard 1 = -4 hp
Guard 2 = Prone
"Should have went down..." He was annoyed. Nobody should have still been up after that. Now, he didn't want to kill the man, but he also didn't want to be impaled by a spear. Seeing an opening, he got into the man's guard, let go of his earthbreaker with one hand, and punched the former guard with his cestus. His fist erupted in flames one last time for the day as it hit the man in the gut.
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Ilsa watches as the two men fall into the slimy portal into her consciousness with some satisfaction.
It is true, isn't it? I do have some powers I don't understand...
She turns her gaze on Biff, her eyes boring into him.
With a newfound confidence, she lunges at him, striking him with her sap and more power than her arms could manage alone.
Bashiel stretches his free hand out towards Vancaskerkin as the man falls to the ground. "Damn Kalem, you didn't have to bring that fire out a second time, did you? We had him cornered." His glance at the Tiefling shows his consternation clear on his face. He turns back to Vancaskerkin and binds the worst of his wounds.
As he works, he thinks to himself, Well its not as though Kalem didn't try...
By the time he's done, Bashiel's expression has softened and he gives Kalem a nod. As he pulls a rope from a loop on his pack he says "I'll get him bound up here and ready to go. Seems like there might be some trouble downstairs."
Brin steps forward and tries to curse Biff with his slumber effect before he reaches the group.
(DC 14 save vs slumber hex. fail sleep for two rounds he also has Ilsa stare on him.)
"Bash, do you want me to help search this office for clues as to what's really going on here or go down and check on what's going on downstairs? I'm probably better working on ferreting out information from records than in a fight, but I'll go where you think I'm needed most... "
Varor takes a 5' step back, move action to draw the wand of cure light wounds, and casts it on himself. He yells over his shoulder and upstairs, "Get down here! We need help!"
Kalem: Drop Kicked the MoFo
Ilsa: Attack Biff (Hit overcomes his AC even with Total Defense. -10 hp (is it nonlethal?)
Varor: Back up and Heal
Bashiel: First Aid
Quinn: Delay
Brin: Night night on Biff
Kalem drops Vancaskerkin to the ground with a blow so powerful it seems to surprise even Kalem. The former guardsman crumples to the ground with a nasty wound. Bashiel rushes up to staunch the flow of blood while Quinlan observes.
Downstairs, Ilsa slams Biff in the jaw with her sap but, while it has an effect, the man keeps coming. He even manages to shake off Brin's spell and takes a swing of his own at Ilsa. "I knew y'all were no good!" But between Ilsa's blow and Brin's spell, the man is too dazed to properly swing his sword, clanging it against some railings used for the slaughter.
The prone guard stands up and tries to move out of the grease again... and with significantly more care and luck, does so successfully. The one who managed to hit Varor last time tries to do the same... and manages to move out of the grease to attack Varor. However, the cleaver cannot penetrate Varor's armor.
Vancaskerkin = -36 lethal; -7 nonlethal
Biff = -10 (non-lethal?)
Guard 1 = -4 hp
Guard 2 = n/a
Varor was down 7 but healed himself for 4, so is now just -3
Quinlan heads downstairs without waiting for Bash when he hears the call for help...
When he sees there's a fight going on, he drinks his extract of shield and draws his rapier.
Brin will now try slumber on the guard next to Varor, and draw his dagger this round.
"Slllllleeeeeeeppppppp...."
"Bashiel, he's our paycheck. Get him outside. I'll deal with the rest while you get your former comrade to safety." With that, Kalem lifted his hammer and rushed down the stairs towards the sound of battle.
Varor takes a swing with his scimitar.
"Quin, thats a good idea. Come back up once everyone downstairs is safe." Bashiel speaks as Quinlan heads out of the room upon hearing the voices down there.
At Kalem doing the same, he responds "Got it Kalem, I'll bring him down."
Bashiel stows his sap and starts using the rope to securely tie up Vancaskerkin. As he works he also strips weapons off the man.
If Bashiel has any free action time during this, he'll also spare a glance for the papers strewn on the desk, including the one pinned.
Quinlan and Kalem move downstairs while Bashiel finishes tying up Vancaskerkin. Brin's spell goes off without a problem, dropping the man to the ground unconscious. Ilsa's swipe at Biff goes wide while Varor lands a respectable blow.
Biff and the last of the Cow Hammer Boys try to attack Ilsa and Varor but they both miss.
Seeing Isla and Varor under attack, Kalem raised his hammer and ran straight to the cow hammer boys. "You dare?! Surrender!" is the only thing he manages to get out before he swings at the one attacking Varor (35ft movement to reach him, he is the only one I can reach).
The blow is a vicious one, which came dangerously close to taking the man's head off.
quinlan sees kalem rush the fellow and blinks in surprise at the severity of the attack, then smiles... "Admirable, Kalem... you've got quite the knack for this sort of thing..."
He turns his attention to whoever is still up and alive... "Time to surrender... trust me, you do nOT want to be on the receiving end of that hammer..."
Brin moves forward and tries to help protect the Lady. (Ilsa)
Aid Another defense.
"Got things under control down there?" Bashiel shouts loud enough to be heard down the stairs.
With Vancaskerkin tied up and stable, he hefts the guy up and begins bringing him downstairs.
Once things are wrapped up down below, we'll have to come back up to give this room another look. Quin raised a good point.
Kalem comes in with death in his eyes. A single sweep of his hammer into the man's chest results in a loud collection of crunching and cracking sounds mixed with the squishing of flesh. The man's chest and organs are pulped and he flies several feet across the room.
Biff's eyes go wide, then drops his sword...and RUNS!
Brin stops and asks Basheil "So how did things go upstairs? I guess were fine."
Ilsa's twin blows with the sap drop Biff. He'll be out for hours.
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Ilsa lowers her weapon, a look of satisfaction in her tired eyes. With the group gathered around, she says "In case anyone had qualms about whether it was right to force our way in here, that's a human leg they're chopping up over there," she says with a disgusted look at the meat table.
"What does that say about the meat they're giving away?" she says, leaving it hanging in the air without additional commentary.
"Who knows? Could just as well be knocking off some competition. Could be an entire cannabalistic operation. But it's a good story for increasing our pay. Anyways, let's bring him back to. Maybe get some extra reward. Hey! We should tie them up and loot the place. Probably some spare coins lying around. Or even documents as to their business ties."
As he says this he starts tying Biff up, and mutters to Ilsa "Well struck."
The killing floor, where your battle for All the World's Meat came to an end, is a grim chamber strewn with blood-stained straw, and the reek of slaughter is almost overpowering. The room is a killing floor. Meat hooks dangle from a metal track affixed to the ceiling that allows the hooks and their gory loads to be moved easily around the room. In the northwest corner, a large hammer sits on the floor amid a permanent bloodstain. To the south, a bloodstained grill covers a wide hole in the floor. Just north of the grill sit two large vats of water, one boiling and one cold. Two large butcher blocks stand to the east next to barrels of salt, and in the southeast corner sits a reeking vat of cast-off meat and bones.
A general search of the shop, Vancaskerkin and the Cow Hammer Boys reveals:
potion of cure light wounds, masterwork arrows (5), tanglefoot bags (2), thunderstone (2), leather armor, longbow with 20 arrows, longsword, sap, 48 gp
On Vancaskerkin:
potion of cure light wounds (3), mwk chainmail, mwk composite longbow (+3 Str) with 20 +1 arrows, mwk spear, 28 gp
In the office:
A masterwork silver dagger, papers and notes written in code, but also a letter written in a delicate script expressing admiration and love of Vancaskerkin, encouraging him to win the hearts of the residents of North Point, and signed "With all my love, M".
Through a door in the northwest corner of the killing floor, you find the Holding Pens. Two foul-smelling animal pens take up the majority of this room. Each pen is defined by a wooden fence set with a gate. Inside each is a long water through and heaps of filthy hay. The floor here is hard-packed earth.
"Hmmm.. wonder who 'M' might be... "
Quinlan, if no one objects, takes a sap, a thunderstone and a tanglefoot bag. Though he'd like a potion too, he leaves those for the front liners, knowing he's less likely to get hurt than they are.
Bashiel descends down the stairs with Vancaskerkin carried across his back. When he hears Brin's question he calls back "All's well, we got him."
He drops the unconscious ex-Guard at the foot of the stairs and rejoins the rest of the group in the main chamber. He starts to raise his voice "Are all of you all ri-" and cuts off as he begins to notice the horrors lying about. "What in the hells happened here?"
~Stumbled across another den of evil, have you boy? Get used to it! People are a rotten lot! Hah heh!~ Marosetkh's voice echoes inside his head with raspy amusement.
Bashiel grits his teeth, shakes his head to clear his ancestor's voice, and then takes a long steady look at the surroundings. "I think its safe to say they weren't just killing cattle here. A cover for another operation. If I've learned anything from investigating this city's seedier parts, its that sometimes criminals need a tidy way to dispose of bodies. This might be one of those."
At Ilsa's comment he responds "Maybe its naive of me, but I'm hoping they only shared meat from the cattle slaughtering. I don't want to believe that ANY ex-Guardsman would lower himself to such depravities as feeding people to each other."
Brin tries his best to not believe Ilsa hiding his eyes from confirming the meat, but he could hear it in her voice.
"These people are the worst, I hope they hang!" Brin spits on the floor near one for emphasis.
Kalem gladly takes a pair of healing potions. Looking over the loot, he says "I don't think that I necessarily need any of these. But I'm pretty sure that we can get a good price. Anyone want to claim anything before we take it to a pawn shop?"
Varor goes to make sure that the thugs are stabilized before turning to Bashiel, "I'm going to go and let the guards know what we found," he says and then leaves the meat shop.
Bashiel nods at Brin's comment "They're disgusting. I'm ashamed that they were ever part of the Guard. I'm sure once we report to Cressida, she'll make sure the ones remaining here..." He looks around the room at Vancaskerkin's thugs "the ones still alive at least, will be disciplined. For crimes like these a hanging is likely."
After the party finishes their short search, Bashiel takes a CLW potion and stows it in his bandolier. "Something in these coded messages might tell us who was paying Vancaskerkin to do this and where this trail of blood leads. I'll hold onto them for now, though if someone feels they have the skills to decode them, I'd be happy to pass them on."
"Before Varor comes back with other Guardsmen, I'm going to check these... corpses... for any personal effects. We might be able to find out who they were. Lets try to get what information we can out of this place before others tamper with the scene. Quin, if you have any ideas, I'd welcome your help." Obviously uncomfortable with the prospect, he steels himself and goes to inspect the body parts and grisly corners of the room for any items or identifying features that may have belonged to the people that were killed.
He also calls out "Kalem, it looks like we have a few minutes. If you're looking for more things to claim, now's the time. Just make sure that any evidence stays with us so that we can present it to the Field Marshal"
But despite his best efforts, his eyes can't quite focus enough on the sight to make things out.
Kalem calls out affirmatively and busies himself with getting the loot out before the guardsmen can arrive. He does so with practiced ease and efficiency.
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Ilsa averts her eyes to all the carnage, but does begin to search the place thoroughly.
Could there be any clues here about Briget's whereabouts? Is that too much to hope for?
She turns to the others. "I don't think we're in any big hurry. I doubt anyone was alerted to our presence...we took them down pretty fast, and I'm sure there are similar sounds coming out of this place all the time. Let's make sure we find everything..."
She takes her time, starting upstairs and working her way down, not wanting to miss any possible clues.
Other than the coded documents and material on Vancaskerkin, you find nothing else upstairs.
Downstairs, in the killing room, is a rusty grate in the southwest corner of the room. It appears to be half-flooded and perhaps is an old sewer tunnel. The tunnel below is about 4' wide. Ilsa isn't entirely sure but... was that movement? Is something down there?
In the holding pens, beneath one of the troughs, you find a small hole containing a number of small bags. There is a total of 450 gold, 740 silver, and jewelry and gemstones worth 800 gold.
In the meat locker, with some time, you realize that some of the cuts are a bit different from the others. While some of the cuts are definitely from livestock, others didn't come from animals at all, they came from humanoids.
Varor goes off to find some guards capable of securing the site. It takes a while as he needs more than a singleton but rather a proper patrol.
quinlan goes over to the grate and looks down and with his darkvision he should have a better view than Ilsa did... If he can't see anything, he'll move the grate and get closer... climb down if he has to... with rope of course.