Kha'Rassi transfers herself to the ledge and climbs over onto the second floor from her spot on the wall, scanning the area and sniffing the air. As she nears the table and catches the smells in the air, she taps her side with her fingers, pondering. Unwilling to walk into what looks like an obvious trap to her, Kha'Rassi instead leans on a wall with her arms crossed and speaks aloud to whatever disembodied presence might be near.
"Cats startle easily. A startled cat will strike. Coming out and speaking would be much more pleasant than surprising Kha'Rassi..."
A scuffling sound is heard and two heads peer out from behind the shadows and junk.
"Alright, alright, no need to be shoutin' lads."
The two come closer. You can make out that their both human, a man and a woman. The accent leads you to believe they're from Keldanny.
"We was just havin' a bit o' drink and cards, nothin' to be shoutin' on about."
"Feel free to go back to that. We can stay out of each other's way. Just the two of you?"
Melusine is very suspicious.
"We were sent here to clear the place so you'd better find another hole to crawl in"
The man waves you off. "Yeah, yeah. Didn't mean to bother ya'..."
He and his companion make as if to go back to their cards, but both Ompeet and Melusine catch a quick look between the two followed by a glance upwards.
They both begin to walk back to their table slowly.
Ompeet and Melusine, you both definitely get the sense something's wrong.
and Darkvision
Ompeet and Melusine, you both make out the shape of two figures sitting perched in the rafters, with what appears to be crossbows drawn. You manage to check up without them noticing they've been spotted.
Melusine reaches in her bandolier pouch and pulls out some colored sand. She says a few magic words and blows it towards the people in the rafters.
Color Spray, DC 14 will
Without hesitating, Melusine blasts a spray of vivid colors into the rafters above.
One of the pair of snipers manages to shrug it off, but the other one suddenly keels over and falls right off the perch, falling the two stories down to the floor below, not far from Alexander.
The man ceases moving.
The other two who had been walking towards the table glimpse what happens and wheel around again.
@Ompeet: You cannot currently see a way up.
Combat - Ambush in the Old Church
Round 1
Map for Combat
Notes
- The rafters are 10 ft. up.
"Kha'Rassi! The rafters!" Ompeet shouts before he casts shillelagh on his club and takes a step forward to give Melusine the protection she needs to cast her spells.
Alexander, suddenly surrounded by motion, whistles sharply as he slides into the saddle of the snake. Moving fluidly, the pair move quickly to one of the columns, wrapping around and making for the rafters as well.
"I tried to warn you" she mutters as she unloads her weapon towards the two nearby.
The male cleanly dodges out of the way of the blast but the female takes the brunt of the shot and it blows her clean off her legs and she collapses to the floor.
The ambusher in the rafters takes a shot at Ompeet...
... but the bolt misses, the ambusher having been distracted by the color spray just moments ago.
The male ambusher lunges forward and attempts to plunge a dagger into Melusine...
.. but she nimbly sidesteps the telegraphed attack.
Alexander hops onto Lily and surges up the column, making his way up to the rafters and facing the ambusher head on.
"Kha'Rassi warned you..." she mutters as the burst of action springs her to attention. She reaches for her hand crossbow and flips a bolt into position, firing at the shooter in the rafters.
Taking a short step to put Ompeet between her would be assailant and herself, Melusine she casually mutters to herself "hommmm which one to use... shot or bullet..." as she takes out one of the paper bullet cartridges and reloads her tromblon.
Taking a short step back to put Ompeet closer to her would be assailant than herself, she casually flips through her bandolier pouches and mutters "hommmm... which one to use... shot or bullet..." as she takes out one of the paper bullet cartridges and reloads her tromblon.
A surge of scales, and a fanged mouth the size of a card table strikes at the bandit.
Alexander and Lily surge up the column and sink a maw of teeth into the ambusher.
Moments later Kha'Rassi's bolt finds its mark and the ambusher in the rafters keels off his perch and tumbles to the church floor below.
Seeing that they're clearly outmatched, and witnessing Ompeet's surge of magic, the last remaining ambusher drops their weapon and surrenders.
"I've no wish to die, I yield, I yield."
Ompeet pulls out his set of manacles and shackles the remaining ambusher to something solid.
"I used these cuffs to chain myself to the gates of a mine near Maqnaa. A company was mining phlogiston from the earth there without any return to the villages that have lived on the land for centuries. They wouldn't even hire local workers!" Ompeet amicably tells the man as he works on stripping him of anything dangerous or useful.
"Now," he stands and sighs, "let's start with 'who are you' and 'why are you here?'"
Melusine finishes packing her round and flails her weapon towards the lone survivor. "I tried to warn you... Maybe you'll listen a little better this time? You heard him, TALK!" The hammer clicks as she fixes her aim on the man's head.
"You did try to stab her," Ompeet says, indicating Melusine. "She's justifiably angry."
Kha'Rassi stows her crossbow and begins checking the downed ambushers for signs of life and keeping her eyes peeled for things of note...or value. "Damn...Kha'Rassi was here to find things, not to kill." She glances at the survivor and sighs. "but not here to die either."
The newly captured criminal glances down at her fallen teammates. "Bags, we've made a right mess of this. Bloke only said to scare you off. He sure didn't say there'd be four of ya'. And he certainly didn't say you'd be professional like."
She glances back up.
"I swear, I know nothin' else. Paid and contacted us through one of our contacts, young lad named Olly. He knows nothin' too. All we knew was to keep anybody come pokin' about the Old Church away."
Meanwhile, Kha'Rassi notes that the ambushers on the ground floor are both lifeless. Looking around though, you find a concealed door in the side of the church behind the gambling table. It stands slightly ajar now.
Melusine looks over the bodies of the slain for valuables or identifying marks.
"It might be a little rude, Melusine, to go through the bodies of these fine people's friends like highwaymen. It was just a job, they probably would have let us go peacefully if we were ordinary folk."
The grippli looks a little green at the encounter. More so than usual, that is.
"The frog man here's right miss. That's a bit... disgusting. They were my mates you know."
On top of that, the assailants carry only simple weapons; crossbows, bolts and the like. Nothing of value catches your eye.
"If you're so keen on lootin', the cellar's where we kept the payments." The manacled woman seems keen on helping you. "Maybe we can work something out?"
Ompeet squats down to eye level with the woman.
"Ownership is an illusion. Unless your friends made those things themselves, they never really belonged to them in the first place." He smiles pleasantly. "But you're not done answering questions. Where can we find Olly? Don't worry; he's not in trouble. He didn't attack us."
"I TRIED to warn you. I told you to leave to let us do our job. This is really on you for not listening." she says sharply, rolling one of the corpses over with her foot towards the survivor. "We're just doing a job too, you know... I don't know you... tried to warn you..." she trails off. She grimly rocks the face of the body towards the survivor.
"What payments are these? Coin? Supply?" she gives the captive a curious eye. "Something more precious?"
Shaking her head with a sigh, Kha'Rassi glances back to the group, then sidles over to the now exposed secret door to peek within. Too jumpy, even for a cat. Must remember to never stand in front of Melusine...
[ooc]WOW. I must be using up all my good rolls on my other game; I've been getting high teens and crits left and right over there...[dice]
"What payments are these? Coin? Supply?" she gives the captive a curious eye. "Something more precious?"
Shaking her head with a sigh, Kha'Rassi glances back to the group, then sidles over to the now exposed secret door to peek within. Too jumpy, even for a cat. Must remember to never stand in front of Melusine...
"I'll be honest, Olly's somewhere back in town. I have no idea where he might be at the moment, kid's got tons of hidey-holes."
She turns to Kha'Rassi.
"Coins mostly yeah. We stashed them in the cellar. I wouldn't spend too much time there though if that's what you're thinking. There's always been rumors of something lurking around down there in the shadows and I don't really want to know what."
She clams up and simply avoids gazing at her fallen friends.
Melusine continues to the next room, ushering her companions ahead of her.
Making sure that the woman is secured, Ompeet promises that they'll free her when they're done exploring the church. He takes the lead, finishing the exploration of the rest of this level. If there's any way to a higher floor, he'll go that way next.
Melusine ducks into the concealed room and sees a concealed staircase winding down to the level below.
The shackled prisoner calls out.
"That's how ya' get down to the ground floor and the cellar. If ya' keep going down you'll eventually make it."
She catches Ompeet walking around.
"Nothin' higher but the rafters. You can get there if ya' climb up those notches carved into the wood."
She points to the southern side of the room. In the shadowy gloom you can spy some cuts in the wood of a beam going up.
Kha'Rassi starts down the stairs, slowing her pace once she passes the ground floor. Better to make less noise than whatever might still be waiting...
She keeps her eye open for any route that she can take to stay off the floor and in the shadows.
Alex sits cross-legged next to their prisoner and pulls out a few rolls of bandage linen.
"I'm sorry about the fight. Hopefully I can talk to the lawmen and mention you being helpful. Besides, banditry isn't too terrible a crime, they'll probably put you in a rehabilitation program to get you back on your feet. No, Lily, she's not a threat, you can calm down."
The last sentence is punctuated with a soft bop on the snake's nose as Alex scolds her for the hungry look in her eyes. The grippli's youth is very apparent as he continues his apologetic small-talk.
Kha'Rassi makes her way down the darkened staircase. Her eyes easily pick out every shape no matter how small.
Quietly, she passes below the first floor and into the cellar.
She spends a moment getting used to the cold air and dusty smell of somewhere that's not oft been visited.
A slow, sluggish movement at the far end of the room catches your eye. A humanoid form, slightly translucent shambles back and forth in the distance. It seems to be dressed in the outfit of a priest and is cradling its head in its hands.
The creature is most likely a memoriae, a living memory. Neither dead nor alive these creatures represent echoes of times from long ago.
Kha'Rassi's eyes focus in on the ghostly figure as her ears swivel about. Hrmmmm...trouble. She backs up the stairs a bit, motioning to her companions to keep the noise down as they descend. She does her best to keep an eye on the shuffling shape, watching for any change in its movements.
Melusine follows a bit behind Kha'Rassi standing tall like a cannon tower above her sneaky companion. She holds back near the top of the last staircase, keeping high ground. She gestures to her allies about Kha'Rassi's communication, puts her finger vertically over her mouth, and nods her head for them move past her.
Melusine remains stealthed and indicates to her other teammates they should move forward.
The shuffling figure continues moving back and forth in the small room, oblivious to your actions.
Alexander notices the sign, remaining crouched near their captive and whistling quietly to Lily. The snake nuzzles his leg once before slinking off to join the others.
Ompeet is not a stealthy person. So, he waits for the others to get to a position before trying to move forward.
Kha'Rassi sniffs once, then preps her hand crossbow, moving up behind Ompeet. With everyone's eyes on the strange entity, her eyes instead search for their prize.
Where is it...it must be here somewhere...
The group positions itself warily, though the memoriae itself doesn't seem to notice them, despite Ompeet's "graceful" attempt at stealth.
As the group slowly inches forward, Kha'Rassi spots a gleam at the far end of the hall, adjacent to the creature. A flash of gold upon a table, the promise of treasure.
despite Ompeet's "graceful" attempt at stealth.
Ompeet murmurs a low chant consisting of various deep grunts. When finished, he feels better prepared for action, should that be necessary.
Melusine draws back the hammer, accompanied by several clicks. She focuses her gaze on the being, ready to unload a mage bullet at the first sign of hostility.