Horillo's arrow follows Nils progress, as he scouts ahead, from his position back with the group. He looks several feet ahead of Nils position, to look for any signs that an ambush or aggressive might be there. Under his breath, he hisses "Quiet now, remember what I said."
Nils slips ahead of the others and finds the warehouse is still abandoned. There are some passerbys now and then, but with proper timing Nils is confident he can sneak everyone into the warehouse unseen. After about fifteen minutes of getting someone into the building unseen you eventually all make your way inside with your new prisoners.
Once inside Nils turns his attention to the prisoners.
"Perhaps now we can speak more civilly. I'm Nils, I don't know any of you but your faces have a familiarity to them. I am no traitor to our people or the Nursery and in fact I, and those I'm with, have taken it upon ourselves to do what we can for all the people of Kintago. We were seeking the Jills in the hopes of talking with your leaders to warn them that the violence they're brokering in will only serve to further ostracize the Nursery from the rest of the city and give Thrune easy reason to crush us under his boot. The killings must stop."
He turns to Sholti in the hope she can speak reason to their prisoners.
Sorix looks at the captured men intently, nodding as her allies speak about the greater good of the city and our intentions.
"Just because we don't share the blood of the Nursery, it doesn't mean we don't feel the pain of those who make their homes here. What is the point of what you do? " Horillo enquires rying not to be too pushy now they were in relative safety.
He makes his way to the entrance doors and watches though the gaps in the walls to make sure there are no unwelcome guests.
It seems Sholti is supposed to to talk to the captives and get something out of them somehow, but she has no idea what to say. There needs to be some point of connection, something that can leveraged to make an appeal. But she has no idea what that might be. She doesn't know the neighborhood, and has no prior experience with street ruffians regardless of race. Street fights followed by taking the losing side into custody, or abducting them, or whatever exactly is they've done, is quite outside her skillset.
With no better idea to work with, Sholti takes a very basic approach.
"Why? What changed? You didn't kill before, so why are you killing now?"
The tone of her voice is pained, almost pleading, as she seeks to understand their reasons.
The tieflings look around at one another for a moment until one of them eventually speaks up "The city changed so we had to change with it. All your bleeding heart sentiments don't mean much when all we are doing is trying to survive. You thinking talking to the boss is going to change anything? Don't think so..."
"Well let's have a confab with your boss then. He may be under a spell of some sort as the proprietor of my old bar was. Obviously, these low-levels cannot have any affect. Now we have to figure out what to do with them."
Sorix’s expression becomes one of sadness as she realizes these people really are just trying to survive. Petting Luna, she says, ”Surely you can still survive without having it be at the expense of innocents? You say you don’t think talking to the boss will change anything...perhaps you’d do better with a change in leadership. Either way, I think we,” Sorix nods at her fellow Ravens, “would like to get to the bottom of this by chatting with your boss. Or the top, as it were?”
The men seem unconvinced.
Mawl finally loses it. "I'm tired of pussyfooting around with you blasted Jills in the name of sensitivity and all. You need to tell us the information we are looking for or you may end up like anyone else that goes against us. You are either with us and the people of Kintargo or you are our enemies."
Sorix attempts to aid Sholti in one more plea for info.
Sholti pouts, a little theatrically, at the tieflings' replies.
"Really? It seems such a good bargain. Your safe return in exchange for a little of your leader's time to hear us out. If it isn't something your leader would consider, we'll have to make some hard choices about what comes next for you. Are you sure it isn't worth asking?"
"The simple fact is that your actions are endangering the Nursery and that can not stand. Our hope was to be able to reason with your gang but if you are unwilling to turn from your ways then we'll need to treat you as no better than any other agent of Thrune." he says with a glare as his hand drifts to his kukri.
Horillo backs up Mawl and Nils by impressing upon them the fact that if they don't plan to be helpful then they aren't really of any use. Whether he meant it or not, the veiled threat is enough to push them over the edge and the one speaks up "Alright... how about this? You let us go, and I'll tell you were to find our base of operations. You can talk or do whatever with the boss, just leave us out of this..."
"Smart choice, but let's see what we can do to meet your demands." Then directed toward the group. "What are we going to do with them? Is this deal going to work?"
"I've told you we've no desire to harm you or any of your gang if it can be avoided. Give us the information and we'll see you freed once we've spoken with your leader."
"Yes. I'm sorry but we must be sure your information is good before your release. I'm sure you understand. As soon as we have verified you have acted in good faith, you will be freed."
The one tiefling nods "Alright..." He goes on to describe where to find their base, the roof of Humbright House in the temple district.
Mawl pulls Sholti aside to speak with her in private.
Are you serious about letting them go if their info checks out? Do you think we can just do that? You're smarter than I am but I am not sure I want our Ravens group to be that renown just yet. do you think there might be some way we can make sure?
Sholti whispers back to Maul.
"What do they really know? That we were walking the street peacefully until hey pounced on us? That we want them to stop murdering their marks?"
"Besides, if we find their leader is open to persuasion, we don't want the handicap of having killed some of them. It tends to strain relationship building."
Not as familiar with the Temple District he'd generally avoided when not joining his mother for church, Nils asks the group, "Do any of you know it?"
"No, sorry Nils, I'm not familiar with anything about the city with the exception of Clenchjaw's and the bridge. Sometimes I even get lost there."
"Let's go check out the intel before we do anything with the prisoners. Venderfelk may be willing to watch and if we secure them properly, they may not escape the dogs also. Or, we can leave someone here to guard them. I would be willing to stay if you heal me up, since I'm not a good talker."
”Humbright House was once an orphanage and shrine to Aroden. After Aroden died the buildings were abandoned. Now thugs and gangs squat inside and use them as a base of operations.”
”I’d prefer not to split up. I can’t very well cast summon Mawl if you’re across the city, now can I?” Sorix smiles at Mawl. ”Let’s just leave the Jills here for now while we follow up on the info they gave.”
Mawl returns the smile and get's on his feet "Roger that M'lady. Let's get over there and set these people on the straight and narrow."
Once the group decides to head off to check out the lead and leave the captive Jills behind you make your way to toward the Temple district. The Humbright house is on the outskirts of the district, close to the nurser and the Red Roof district. Sorix points out the building from a distance.
"Nils, you should scout ahead and look for ambushes, traps, entries and exits. Let's get tactical here people. They don't like us and I don't like the way we were treated."
Mawl also drinks his cure light potion.
Nils nods but before setting off asks, "Our attempt at diplomacy didn't go well but it may be worth a second go. What are your thoughts?"
"I agree it's worth a try. But we have to get to someone to talk to in one piece first. We should see whether we can bypass anyone or anything in our way. If we have to fight our way in to make our case we'll have to decide if it's maybe better to just ask for an audience with whoever's in charge."
Nils does his best to sneak up to the building and keep an eye out for any threats. As he approaches, he notices some movement on the roof, looking up he sees at least two tieflings keeping a watch on the street below and he notices that one of them is looking directly at him. The tiefling on the roof turns away from the edge of the building and disappears somewhere else on the roof. It's pretty apparent that Nils had been spotted.
Seeing that he'd been spotted Nils steps forward out of cover and into the open street around the building. He looks to the remaining tiefling on the roof and raises a hand to him.
"Oiy there, I'd like to have a word with whomever is running the Jills if it wouldn't be too much trouble."
The remaining tiefling doesn't say a word and disappears behind the edge of the rooftop. You have a feeling they aren't too interested in talking.
After watching the second tiefling disappear, Sholti turns to Nils with an arched eyebrow. "So do we go knock or what?"
She still doesn't feel like she has much of a read on the situation, and is happy to be able to defer to Nils's opinions about what to do.
"I don't want the little runts to get the jump on us, they already have us outnumbered. "
"If we are going to fight, then I need to know I have your support. We may be able to beat them into a surrender, then we can dictate terms. Either way, I don't mind being the tip of the spear, but tactically we cannot allow them to get behind us/me or develop flanking positions. We could be in for the fight of our lives. Gird up!"
Sorix stands near Mawl while reflexively petting Luna, obviously anxious about the situation, looking at Nils to hopefully lead here.
"we have the option to withdraw and watch the place." ponders Horillo. "The downside is they would have more time to prepare." he scratches his head. "The alarm though is sounded I expect, if those on the roof have any sense. We should deal with the Jills now, particularly if we can find another point of entry."
His robes hang limply as Horillo fiddles with his bow, before he strides with some purpose. He looks about at the building, seeking alternative entries, as he circles the block around the Jills' home, noticing any empty building they could use to gain access to the Jills, or any likely bolt hole though which the Jills might run, should conditions dictate.
The first floors of both buildings have been gutted. A rickety ladder on the ground floor of the church leads to a trap door in the ceiling, while the orphanage’s stairs collapsed years ago. Both buildings are rough brick work, with walls that look like they can be scaled . The church roof stands 20 feet above the street below, with a flat top and sloped sides that require some balance to navigate .
"If we can travel between buildings from one to the other, I feel like we would be tactically better off if we climb to the top of the orphanage then hop over to the top of the church. At a minimum we would not be giving up a position above us."
"I can cover someone with my bow, if someone wants to climb up. Without the aid of a rope, I doubt I would be able to make it to the top without falling." the cleric speaks to Mawl and the rest of his friends. He seems deep in thought, "Or is there a way to enter up through the trap door, it would put us a a great disadvantage, if they were waiting for us on the other side."
"I am probably okay at climbing, I wouldn't mind giving it a go, then if someone has rope I could drop a knotted rope to make it easier. If someone had a grappling hook, it would make it easier for me"
"I've a grapple and rope." Nils says, ready to follow Mawl.
As Sholti looks up toward the building's roof she says "I've never really done any climbing. I'm just fine with Maul going up first. I don't think we're going to be heard out here. I'm figuring a fight is coming."