Eleazar's arcane bolt strikes the alligator in the torso, just behind a front arm. It begins thrashing violently for a moment and then pitches itself off of the walkway to the river below. It hits the bank hard and its last breath escapes it there.
As Callie attempts to disarm Lamm of his dagger, he's able to get his hand out of the way quickly enough to keep hold of the weapon. Like a caged animal he throws himself at Callie, knife held high overhead.
Attack with dagger:
The lunge is weak. Despite Lamm's fury, his body has long passed the point of serving him well in such a fight. Callie deflects the attack easily and Lamm nearly loses his footing as he struggles to keep his feeble feet. It would be almost comical, were it not so pathetic. Despite the obvious failure of the attack, Lamm's face remains twisted in rage and determination. The mean old cuss clearly has no intention of going down without fighting tooth and nail.
Seeing the alligator drop, Crain doesn't hesitate, although he was extrememly woozy on his feet. He sprints toward the old man, tying his best to bash the codger's brains in.
attack.
Damage
Timerus follow crain around the corner, focused on staunching the flow of blood seeping out of the deep leg wounds the big warrior attained from fighting the alligator. mentally he recalled the words the individual healing spell and touching the key of the master of the first vault hanging around his neck, his hand begins to glow white. Reaching out he touches Crain, and the healin energies pass down to the mans leg.
Crain's flail crashes down upon Lamm's frail body. It's a crushing hit, empowered by his rage as it is. Lamm cries out in pain, but maintains his sneering, angry facade.
Some of the wounds on Crain's leg close up as golden light of Abadar glows from the gashes.
Eleazar and then Callie.
"It appears that this ineffectual wizard has felled your overgrown reptile Gaedren. You are out numbered and out classed, which leads me to ask the question- who is impotent now?" Eleazar drew the brand new mace from the loop on his belt. He tested the weight in his hand and carefully made his way forward, seeking not to engage Lamm just yet, but to work with callie to cut off any possible withdrawal.
In a calm, educated voice he continued to speak as he manuevered around the filthy villain. "This appears to be the end of your wicked ways Lamm. No longer will you corrupt the youth and ruin lives. Surrender and repent at once and you may yet see the light of day before you are sentenced to the hangman's noose."
Hoping Eleazar's blast at least distracted him--if not Crain's magnificent attack--Callie once again attempts to disarm Lamm. A dark part of her wants to make him beg and suffer before he meets whatever fate he deserved. A better part of her would like to see him face the law and the people he wronged.
"Don't be stupid, Lamm, you can do this the easy way or the incredibly painful way. Give up."
This time Callie catches Lamm distracted by the wildly errant arcane bolt Eleazar had fired at him. Her sword flicks Lamm's dagger right out of his hand. The man looks stunned for a moment and then his normal twisted expression of derision returns as he throws a weak punch at Callie.
Punch:
But the man is far too feeble to be brawling at this age and time of night. It's terribly off-target.
Seeing he is not going to give up without a fight, Callie notes the opening he creates when he wildly lunges for her and takes advantage of it.
Fiercely so, even!
Seeing that there is no vantage point to join the fight against Lamm, he instead focus' on healing his allies injuries. he calls upon his healing surge and through force of his personality excludes the energy from Lamm and touches his holy symbol praying for Abadar's blessing.
Attack
Damage
"I'm so glad you decided to not surrender. That makes this even more delicious," the warrior growels at the evil man.
Callie's attack meets its mark causing an exclamation of pain from Lamm, who surprisingly seems to be getting angrier rather than showing any signs of backing down.
The blessing of Abadar flows through Timerus to Callie and Crain. Some of your wounds close up and now appear very superficial.
Crain's attack hits the wall and skips wide of its target.
Eleazar and then back to Callie.
Sliding the Mace back onto his belt, it was clear that the area around Gaedren was too crowded to get close. Eleazar instead pulled free his crossbow and let some of his arcane power infuse the bolt set in the firing position. Anger flashed in the young man's eyes as he raised the weapon and took careful aim. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the trigger and let the deadly missile fly.
Well, Lamm was a tough old geezer, that was for sure. It was satisfying to bloody the old man, and it's not like he deserved to live, but the near-enthusiam he seemed to have for getting killed was starting to get suspicious... as if he was trying to drag this out as long as possible. If he really did want to die, surrendering would lead to the same fate and he knew it, so what was he hoping for?
"What is it you're still fighting for, you stupid old git, hmm?"
Mind racing, perhaps overthinking things, Callie switched back to the idea of disabling him. Perhaps it would end this sooner.
Accepting doing so would leave her open, she pulled her tanglefoot bag from her pouch and lobs it at Lamm's feet.
Eleazar's bolt flies over Lamm's shoulder, thunking harmlessly into the wall behind him.
Reflex save vs. tanglefoot bag:
Callie's tanglefoot bag bursts open spilling its thick, sticky contents upon the floor at Lamm's feet. The old cuss is able to dance free of the worst of it, but his legs and feet are now covered in the stuff.
"Aw, dammit! Dammit! What is this?! You mewling whelps storm MY home in the middle of the night and you have the nerve to ask me why I'm still fighting?! You came to MY GOD DAMN HOME to kill me!! That's why the hell I'm still fighting!!"
At that, Lamm stoops to pick his dagger up off of the floor.
"Aha, got you now!". The barbarian roars and lunges to attack.
Attack of Opportunity
Damage
"Perhaps we did, perhaps we just came to have a chat. But perhaps you fear what would happen if we didn't kill you more. Very well."
Callie lashes out as he leaves his flank open when he stoops.
Both Crain's flail and Callie's sword strike Lamm as he is distracted. Both strikes are plenty to finish off the old man, but together they end the man's cruel legacy with finality. Already halfway to the floor, Lamm's body slumps and hits the ground hard and in an awkward position, like an accidentally dropped sack of potatoes. Blood begins to pool on the ground mixing with the tanglefoot goo.
A moment of pregnant silence reigns momentarily as the realization of what you've accomplished washes over you.
Crain looks away from the deceased corpse. He wasn't sure how to feel, but he hoped it would bring him some relief. "We did it."
Callie shakes her head, slowly wiping her blade off the rag hanging from her belt before resheathing it. Part of her still wondered, could they have arrested him, could they have made him face his crimes--and his victims? Not that Callie was one to rely on the law to do her work for her, but it would have felt right for Lamm to have truly faced what he did and answered for the suffering he inflicted before he died. She assumed his determination to fight to the death was to avoid having to do so. She was glad it was over, but felt strangely disgusted that she essentially, based on her interpretation of events, did what he wanted.
But he could do no more harm to others. Surely he would have other allies who would reorganize, but they had cut the head off the worm, and she silently prayed this would lead to more good in the world than less.
Thinking of the others he and his goons had hurt, she was reminded of the girl left upstairs. She turned to the others. "I'll trust you to dispose of him properly. Also, I'm not one for trophy taking, but we should keep something to prove he is dead--perhaps something on his person." She took a few steps. "I want to go back upstairs and check on the girl. I'll meet you up there, we can search the desk and cabinets to see what's there. This was doubtless only one place he operated out of, perhaps there will be clues as to others, where his allies doubtless will still try to continue their dirty deeds." She hands the key she had found to one of them, and heads back upstairs toward the front bedroom, where they had left the girl.
Crain slumped over, the fight completely going out of him after hearing Callie. He pulled his jug of ale and took a long pull. "Anyone want to slake their thirst? I am proud to share with any of you after what we just went through. That crocodile almost had me, if it weren't for you two, by the way," he adds with a nod.
"I suppose we should search him for trinkets and I'll gotten gains. That bastard has taken what wasn't his for years, and I'll be glad to relieve him of it."
Timerus see's Lamm Fall and he stands there for a second....The weight of lifetimes leaving his body. He smiled and whispered Justice is served! The said. "We need to insure he cannot be brought back. he has powerful allies among the criminal elements of the city. Any ideas?
He looked from Crain to Eleazor as Callie headed back towards the lift. Other things we need to do are look through the things here for items of value, The church could use a donation to help take care of those Lamm's that seek them out. Also we need to decide how to handle the two we've captured. Ive seen how corrupt The Guard is, and Hellknights will as soon arrest us for vigilante justice as look at us.
Callie finds the girl right where they left her, though she seemed to be coming down off of the drug a bit. Her shivering was subsiding and she was starting to groan and fidget, like she was having a bad dream.
Upon closer inspection, Crain and Timerus find that the dagger and crossbow that Lamm was using, now lying on the floor, are of very high quality (masterwork). The nasty, old man also has a ring of keys on a piece of twine on his neck.
The floor of the lower level of the fishery is littered with piles of junk. Any inspection reveals that it's just a bunch of torn clothing, broken dishes, rusted out tools, and other garbage. Behind Lamm's body is a foul-smelling room that seems to be a combination bedroom and study. A wooden bed with a lumpy mattress stands against the east wall,
while a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, stained goblets, fruit rinds, and scuttling cockroaches sits nearby. At the foot of the bed sits a large strongbox, a slightly rusted lock securing its
lid. A sagging dresser filled with moth-eaten clothes well past their glory days is in one corner — what appears to be a wooden
hatbox surrounded by a small cloud of flies sits atop this dresser.
Crain checks over the old man's corpse. He pockets the dagger and crossbow. "We can divvy everything up after we check out this whole place."
Taking the keyring, he walks toward the bedroom. "Wonder what these fit," he mutters as he squats down and works on the strongbox. "Smells terrible in here..."
"Gaedren got the fate he deserved, but he was but one part of this criminal enterprise. I know the man dealt in the drug shiver, supplying it to those who thought it a means to escape their miseries..." Eleazar said almost academically, carefully keeping away from the foul smelling corpse that was Gaedren Lamm. He seemed to be detaching himself from the moment, his eyes slightly glassy.
"From the looks of his opperation here, I do not believe he produced it himself. We should thoroughly search this warehouse. We may find evidence not only of Gaedren's crimes, which could serve to protect us should the offices of the law come down upon us, but we may also gain a hint as to who else was working with that wretched villain." Eleazar looked over to the corpse again. He knew of no clean way to dispose of the body and personally would have been fine just dumping it in the foul water.
Following Crain into the stinking hovel that Lamm used, Eleazar utter the second incantation of divination, granting himself the ability to see the magical auras of all things. He did not think Lamm would have much in that department, but he had already been surprised by the wand discovered earlier.
To Timerus he turned, a moment of doubt creeping into his voice. "Could we turn the other criminals over to the Church? Would they be willing to vouch for our actions? Could they not also prevent the body of Lamm from being raised through a proper burial?"
Callie looks at the girl groaning, and shuts her eyes and, well, shivers herself momentarily, knowing all too well what she is going through.
She searches through the room, looking for anything she might clothe the girl with besides Callie's damaged cape; even a spare, oversized shirt will do.
She knows the girl is likely barely aware of what's going on, but touches her gently. "Sh, it's okay, I'm here to help. It's just a dream, you'll wake up soon." She does her best to get the girl clothed at least to some degree. "No one is hurting you, no one is going to hurt you, wake up..." She keeps murmuring gently to her. If the girl at some point seems able to stand and follow her, however dazed she might be, she will try to get the girl to come with her as she meets the rest of the party later.
Timerus stands in the doorway as Eleazor is looking around the room and Crain is crouching in front of the strongbox.
No Eleazor, Im afraid I do not have the churches approval in this action Ive undertaken. My Mentor told me many a time to just let my need for retribution...for righteous justice...go. He could not see the need for men like Lamm to be stopped. He grew up in a sheltered environment. 3rd son to a minor noble, as most in the church are. To them, the poor, the abused, the used, are just a part of the natural way of those that have the gold making the laws, and those that do not are just to be tolerated. I can feel Abadar's will in what I do. I know he approves of my action...But the Church is as tied to the Monarchy as a sailor to his ship.
I'm afraid if we turn them over to the church, they will just turn them over to the guard. But I can see no other way.
he waved his arm past his nose, the smell finally getting to him.
It's hard to believe Lamm lived in this squalor. This place is filthy, worse...it's ...By Abadar's Vault, what is that stench? He looked around the room and his eyes fell on the hatbox with the swarm of flies around it. Must be some body part from one of his enemies, though why he would keep it is beyond me, unless he needed some proof. By the flies, it should be fairly fresh. Should we look?
"I say we look at everything in this place before we leave. I don't plan on ever coming back. We could always just drape some chains on Lamm and dump him in the water with the dead gator. He'd be fish food before you knew it."
@Crain, there are 4 or 5 keys on the ring and one of them goes right into the lock on the strongbox. Opening the box, you find a number of small packages wrapped in cloth and tied with twine.
@Eleazar, you do detect a very faint magical presence in the room. (I'm assuming you keep it up for about 18 seconds because we're out of initiative.) After a few moments of concentration you discern two separate auras and a few moments after that you sense them coming from within the box that Crain is digging through.
@Callie, you find the girl's clothes on the floor easily. You're able to get her clothes back onto her without too much difficulty, despite the darkness. As you finish clothing her, her eyes flutter open. She looks up at you, still not fully awake and obviously very confused.
@Timerus, are you officially looking in the hat box, or just asking? I don't want to take too much liberty here.
Eleazar seemed a little disconcerted by that. He had taken a small degree of solace in his actions thinking that Timerus acted on behalf of the Church, only to learn now that he too was acting outside the dictates of the law (both of the Church of Abadar and Korvosa), they were all guilty of vigilantism. Still it was a small risk compared to what they have achieved. He need not worry of his brother even falling into the hands of a man like Lamm and he had gotten his revenge to boot.
"Then I say we weight his body down and dump the miserable villain into the water. He doesn't deserve a proper grave." He said with a frown, his eyes searching the interior of the room.
When the magical auras became clear to him he began to focus further on the box and its conents. Placing one hand on Crain's shoulder as he rifled through the strongbox.
"There are two items that are interlaced with the aura of magic within this chest. Proceed with care, Crain. I do not know exactly what they do as of yet." Eleazar stood behind Crain, focusing in on the contents of the chest as he looked over the big man's shoulder.
"There is no telling when the guards will show up at this place, so I say, we dump all the contents of this lockbox into a backpack and look at everything later, perhaps when we get back to the fortune teller's. I honestly don't fancy fighting a troupe of hellknights in my current shape." If Ele doesn't object, Crain tips the strongbox and slides all the packages into his backpack.
"I think you should do a quick scan of this whole place, El. Might as well take any magical items that might be hidden here with us when we leave. No one has a use for them now." Crain starts looking around the building for any stray chains that might be around, hoping to weigh down the body and simply dispose of it here, without drawing much attention on the group.
If it is dark in the room, Callie casts light on her buckler.
"I'm Callie," she says to the girl. "I'm a friend. Do you understand me? Can you tell me your name?"
Timerus says So be it Eleazor. as he moved from the doorway scrunching up his face. he got over by the hatbox and waved his hand shooing away the cloud of flies as he said Let's see if we can identify the poor soul who crossed paths with Gaedran Lamm, if nothing else I can perform last rites on them.
he lifts the edge of the hatbox peering inside.
@Crain: Amid all of the junk and scrap scattered around this level of the fishery, finding a method for binding is no task at all. There is abundant rope, twine, and chain, though none of it is in spectacular condition.
Upstairs, talking to Lindy
Callie shakes her head and points at the slow, if ragged, expanding and contracting of Yargin's torso. "He's just knocked out." She sighed. "But the things that went on in this place, we're here to be sure they don't happen again. I'll be honest, we did kill Gaedren Lamm. And the half-orc outside. The children here have fled." Callie looks at Lindy to see how she will respond.
Downstairs
. Recognition flashed over Timerus' face. and all he could get out was By the scales of Abad/ before he retched and turning his head spewed vomit all over the side of the dresser.
He backed away from the hatbox, dropping the lid to the floor. Pointing and choking out Zellara before vomiting again.
In his nauseated state he thought of the condition of the head and how long shed been dead...wondering if it happened while they were away. could they have done this while they had been at the front door?
Downstairs
Eleazar looked on with horror, though in the grief and disgust was some confusion as well. How had they gotten to Zellara so soon? She had warned them of the dangers of Lamm and had seemed the extremely careful type. Did Gaedren and his goons murder her in this short span? or was there some other explanation?
"That wretched... " He closed his mouth and tried to keep his stomach from revolting against the sight before him.
Finishing his sweep of the room he stared at the severed head. What was the proper protocol for this? Should they bury just the head? Worry and doubt gnawed at him, but in spite of that he was now confident that killing Lamm had been the correct choice.
Just a few moments after Crain kicks Lamms body into the river, the dark shadow in water that you saw before moves in, a tell-tale fin rising from the water above it. After a few more moments, the water begins to churn and blood begins to spread.
Downstairs
"Callie, could you come back down here for a moment," the bug guy yells out to the bard, hoping she would hear his cry.
Eleazar listened to Crain and hated himself for having similar thoughts. It was the most logical thing to do. Yet he turned his gaze to Timerus. Even though the priest did not act with the blessing of the Church, he was still a priest and if his powers were any insight, he maintained the blessing of his god.
"Timerus, can you say proper rights over what remains of the fortune-teller? What would be the proper thing to do?" It was clear that Eleazar would follow Timerus' suggestion in this.
wiping the residue of his nausea from his face the cleric of Abadar turned to the others saying, I don't know how this is possible, but that head has been severed from the body quite some time ago. Perhaps she's a twin? I think we do need to take the head back to Zellara's establishment and for certain Id like to get her properly interned.
"How do you propose we get the head back there? Without the smell giving us away, of course. What excuse could we give if we were caught with it?"
Callie faintly hears Crain shouting something and frowns. "What have they gotten themselves into I wonder?" She mutters to herself.
She lightly wraps her fingers around the girl's elbow. "Can you walk? I need to go meet my friends." Clearly, the girl was still coming down off the shiver, and Callie was reluctant to leave her alone in her confused state--especially if any guards or allies of Lamm's were on their way to investigate after a horde of children fled from here about a quarter of an hour ago. She shook her head, thinking of how vulnerable a state she had left herself so often, only a few months before. It was all the more reason she didn't want to let the girl any longer out of her sights.
If Lindy is able to join her, Callie will make her way back to the rest of the party.
Maybe wrap the hatbox in that foul smelling slurry of fish upstairs....or get the head into a different container and surround it with that fish mix.
He looked at Crain before moving back to look at the head in the hatbox once more to make sure he wasn't seeing things.