Min cracks her knuckles, then takes on a Tiger Stance. "You ask for it, you get it!" She calls out to the thugs to the south.
Quick on her feet, she dashes towards the Bloody Barbers. She slashes clawed hands at the nearest one in a rapid flurry!
Greta draws her shortsword and darts toward one of the thugs, stabbing at him with the blade!
vs AC (Blue Thug)
piercing
With a look of great concern on his face, Greta's target ducks behind the corner of the building and her blade glances off the mortar.
Across the alley Min's pounce bears the Barber to the ground with a final sounding crack!
Greta
Bloody Barbers Blue, Red: Taking Cover
Flynt
Taldridi
Grinwald
Min
Sippit
Grinwald lets out a mighty roar, his face split end to end in an equally mighty grin. One wonders at how he can produce such a loud sound while grinning so hugely.
His axe is larger than he is and it comes crashing down on the unsuspecting ambusher.
****
Grinwald's axe chops clean through the hapless Barber!
Greta
Bloody Barbers Blue, Red: Taking Cover
Flynt
Taldridi
Grinwald
Min
Sippit
Taldidri passes Flynt to step out and get a good look at one of the thugs.
Well, we should probably keep one of these alive to question.
He begins to twist his hands rapidly in a way that they appear to rotate endlessly, though on further inspection it's clearly just agility in the wrists. You can faintly hear "mucky", thick words being muttered as he does this. Suddenly his hands flick forward, and a ball of swamp muck stuffed with sticks and leaves flies towards the "barber".
The crafty rogue steps aside from Taldridi's muck and dashes across the alley towards Greta, razor swinging!
His companion joins in the assault, hoping to cut the halfling down where she stands, before ducking back behind the corner of his building.
Filled with an overabundance of confidence, the last Barber lobs a rock at Grinwald, clearly hoping that the dwarf has a glass jaw, and ducks back amidst the buildings.
Greta -6
Bloody Barbers Blue Taking Cover
Flynt
Taldridi
Grinwald
Min
Sippit
Now he's got his juices going (entering a rage) and hurries over to the next victim (stride to yellow) and takes a mighty, though wild, swing at him (attack) and takes a large chunk out of the wall he's hiding behind before yanking it back out.
"Hold still human scum."
"Yaaaahh!"
You think that was meant to be an intimidating warcry.
It was not.
Greta curses herself softly for overextending herself in her very first battle. The halfling grits her teeth against the pain of her wounds and stabs once, then twice at the Razor that got behind her. Greta then does what she can to get herself out of her bad position.
vs AC (Red Thug)
piercing
vs AC (Red Thug)= Critical Hit!
piercing
piercing
Critical Hit Damage = 20!
Min kicks off the fallen Barber, dashing to the southwest to corner the last fellow that appears to be any kind of threat. With how gruesomely the last few died, she decides to moderate her next two claw swipes, aiming to disable rather than kill.
The elf snarls at how easily the thief doesn't obey his wishes to stand in place and be affected by his spells. Now the thief has turned his attention on Greta, perhaps giving him a better chance.
He angrily repeats the previous incantation hoping to catch him in the back of the head...
Sippit growls, a feral animal sound and casts his fire spell again! and tries to hurl it at a nearby enemy!
for fire damage!
With lethal precision, Greta drops both of the thugs who harried her! No less effective is Min's rather more nonlethal takedown of the last Barber standing.
You can practically see the little birds flying 'round his head as you gather round the murderous thug. He spits out a mouthful of blood as he says defiantly, "Go ahead then. Do me like you done Remna. You'll get your own close shave soon enough."
No, I think you'll answer some questions instead. What do you know about somebody running around killing former slaves that were freed nearly a year ago during the Fiendflesh Siege?
Grinwald looks disappointed as the last opponent drops.
Awe, crap. a few seconds of fun and now we are back to talkin', talkin', talkin'.
In his frustration, Grinwald shakes his enormous ax and suggests, threateningly, "Yea, answer his questions and be dang quick about it!"
But he ends up looking more like a cartoon than a real threat.
"You mean Remna? I know she used to work in the scullery for her old matter before she joined up. Don't know about anything to do with the Fiendflesh. I thought..." His face hardens. [B]"Doesn't matter."
What is it? Go ahead and say it. What happened to "Remna"?
Please?
Min looks the remaining thug up and down, thinking over his response and how much it contrasts what she expected. Eventually she shrugs "Maybe we got the wrong group? If you small timers weren't behind the slave killings then it was someone else." She releases her grip on the man, passing him to an ally.
She rummages in her pack and pulls out a canister and small fired clay cup. She unscrews the canister and pours cold oolong tea into the little cup. "Here, try some tea. There is nothing wrong with it. Just brewed this morning. Tell us about Remna and anything else about the missing ex -slaves. If you do, you'll be out of here free, and with some tea to prove your tale to your friends."
Greta hears the thug tossing names around and wonders at their meaning. Squatting down beside Min, the halfling gazes at the fallen man with soulful eyes. "Look here, we defended ourselves against you lot. It's a damn shame that some of your friends won't be standing again. But you have a chance to fix things for yourself here. Help us understand what's going on, and maybe the authorities will take it into consideration, know what I mean? What happened to Remna? Who are these Fleshfiends? How do they connect to the murders we've been hearing about?"
"I've talked enough. Kill me if you're gonna, but I'm not gonna spill any more Barber secrets, 'Shaved to the Grave.'
Greta frowns, then smacks the thug upside the head with her sap unless someone else feels they can coax any further information out of the man. "We'll let the authorities know where to find this one." She advises the others, then her gaze strays toward the boy and she gives him a smile, though her hands are busy cleaning the blood from her blade.
"You led us into this? I think maybe you'd better explain your thinking, or we'll be dragging you in to talk to the lawmen as well. But if you cooperate with us, well I don't see any reason not to just let you walk. Will you do that, for us Snips? For me?" The halfling is right around the boy's height, and she hopes that her reasonable tone (and maybe the fact that he's witnessed how easily she dispatched two of the thugs) will have an impact. If he knows anything at all, that is...
Even if he doesn't know anything (or won't talk), Greta will make sure the bodies of the thugs are searched thoroughly to perhaps find any clues they might carry.
"I know t-they were trying to f-find who killed Remna; she was another prospect who just earned her razor. She's not that much older than me, but they said s-she was tougher'cause she'd fought with the other slaves in the Fiendflesh Siege.
"They thought it might be a revenge killing, but I don't know what for..."
Who are "they"? Maybe we can help them find this killer, if you would just give us a name.
"I've talked enough."
YES! Now your talkin'! Er. Bad choice in idioms.
"Kill me if you're gonna, but I'm not gonna spill any more Barber secrets, 'Shaved to the Grave.'"[/b]
What is this? Some kind of secret death cult thing?
"I know t-they were trying to f-find who killed Remna; she was another prospect who just earned her razor. She's not that much older than me, but they said s-she was tougher'cause she'd fought with the other slaves in the Fiendflesh Siege.
"They thought it might be a revenge killing, but I don't know what for..."
"Say, tell me more about this fiendflesh thing. Sounds really interesting... Please?"
That last 'please' obviously did not come easily to Grinwald, but it was in earnest.
Nearly a year ago, Absalom fought off an invasion of demonflesh constructs and undead marines remembered as the Fiendflesh Siege, during which the city’s siege lord offered every slave freedom in exchange for their assistance in defending Absalom. Practically overnight, one of the city’s cruelest industries came to an end, and many hundreds of the liberated have since become Absalom’s newest citizens.
Min shrugs and swings back the cup with the oolong tea she'd offerred. "Don't want to help us and dont want to be helped either? Thats a stubborn way of doing things, little kid." She taps the last of the Barbers on the shoulder and then steps back "I dont think we're about to kill you here. So relax."
She moves on onto Snips. "Hey boya. You know if the barbers had learned anything in what they were investigating? I think we're trying to find the same killer here." She glances over at the remaining Barber and raises an eyebrow as if to say 'you can talk at any time'.
"They hadn't done much to investigate get as far as I know. I just overheard one of the captains saying that he thought Remna had been killed as revenge for a pointy eared priest who'd gone missing. That's all I know, honest! Wait, were other people killed?"
Greta considers the boy's words. Sounds like this Remna might have been a part of the Rose Street killer's victims because she fought alongside the slaves. Which makes the Bloody Barbers' involvement look a bit shaky. "What do you know of a group called 'The Band of the Palm'?"
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"Band of Palm? Isn't that when you do the thing that makes the priests tell you will make you blind and have hairy palms?" Sippit looks confused, as his palms are naturally hairy and his eyesight is clear despite numerous warnings.
He glares back at the boy. "You is telling us what we want to know or Sippit is deciding you smell better roasted!" He ignites a fire in his palm and waves it in the boy's face.
"The Band of the Palm? They're the business that owns the shop. On paper I mean. Everyone knows it's just the Barbers!"
"That's right boya, other people have gone missing. Other ex-slaves. And we're trying to track the one behind it down. What's this about a pointy eared priest?" She puts her palm against her forehead. "Or no, how about we talk with that captain who did the investigating? We can help track down who killed Remna, without the Barbers risking any more of their- frankly embarrassingly weak -people on this."
She turns to look at her other party members "I don't know about you people, but we need to know what this gang knows right now, and Snips isn't the best person to give that to us."
Greta gets to searching the bodies of the fallen, then suggests to the others. "If the Band of the Palm owns the shop, maybe we need to take a closer look inside. Could be it's a front of some kind, hiding their base."
"They probably have a secret room... and where can we find this captain fellow."
Taldidri rolls his eyes at the seeming futility of Snips.
Could you at least tell us the likely means of entering a hidden base? It's in your best interest to extend your usefulness currently. Perhaps the Society will protected you from retribution if you help us. Otherwise, the barbers may punish you for failing them anyway.
Greta nods at Flynt. "Indeed, but if the Band of the Palm owns the building, it's possible they've made additions to it - being legally able to do so. We're already here, I think it's worth checking out."
As she speaks, she does what she can to better staunch the blood that seeps from her wounds.
Sippit still stares at his palms, wondering if the hair or the self-abuse came first... Seeing the halfling bleeding, he grins and reaches into his pouch and pulls out a murky "healing" potion. "You can be drinking this. It is making you feel better. Or maybe it is poison? I think that am good potion. But am good for making better or good for making dead? Hmmm..."
Greta smiles at Sippit. The goblin is quite odd, but then so were most of the halfling's friends back when she worked at the circus. "Thank you, Sippit. I'll trust that it will make me better." She swirls the liquid around a bit, trying to ignore whatever 'floaties' she might see, and drinks it down.
While she waits for Snips to gather himself up to respond, Min refills the clay cup with more oolong tea and passes it to Greta. "Maybe try some tea to wash it down." She points her nose at the somewhat suspicious 'potion' "Might help dilute it if something goes wrong."
Greta winks at Min and mouths 'Thank you' before quaffing first the potion and following it down with the proffered cup of oolong tea. The halfling shudders as the healing elixir takes effect, then she turns to the others as she hands the cup back to the monk. "So? We going to check out the inside of that building or what?"
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Sippit peers at the halfling for a moment before sighing disappointedly. "Musta been the healing one. Wonder where I put the poison?"
Greta burps loudly and hands back the goblin's vial. "Ugh. I'm not so sure, Sippit. I can still taste that concoction. I think it's going to be with me for awhile, too." Then she smiles at the sorcerer. "Thank you Sippit, I do feel better. Even if my stomach doesn't agree."
Aside from their razors and slings, the Barbers aren't really carrying anything except some cash (totaling 48 silver).
"I don't know about any secret rooms or bases or anything! I told you all I know!"