Lankesh did have a jeweled kukri knife on him that has a faint enchantment on it.
Lilly isn't inspecting the jeweled kukri properly, handing it to Pratavh.
"Here, you'll probably have more luck than i do.
Mohktar, you're retiring for the day already, after this warmup rumble?"
शांति
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The monk grins fondly at Lilly. "To battle evil, a warrior must ever hone his body, refine his skills and replenish his energies." He presses his hands together (Namaste) and bows in turn to Pratavh and Alwyn and then the others. "But I am most willing to press the fight at your pleasure."
Casting his spell to see the enchantment upon the dagger, Pratavh examines it in an attempt to discern it's properties.
Looking up from his examination, "The weapon has a simple enchantment upon it to make the weapon more accurate and sharper." Finally realizing that he was injured by the creature Pratavh asks, "I do not suppose that someone could do something about the wound for me?"
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I'd kind of expect you guys to be able to fight on today ;)
Alwyn retrieves the wand that Mohktar gave into his safe keeping. Turning to Pratavh and tapping him lightly upon the shoulder.
"Mohktar, it's a small scratch. do you want me to expend a charge for it?"
"Shiro-san? It does appear you have a deeper gash, eyeing the ninja's weapons with your permission"
"Shall we start at the silk mill?"
Yes, the Silk Mill or the Tea House. Either one.
Shiko wants to continue this investigation, the Rakshasa is an evil creature, a foul oni that corrupts people, he has heard of them and wishes such on no man.
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Mohktar waves off Alwyn with a gentle gesture and a smile. "Save the expenditure, my friend."
To the group he agrees with the direction as he scouts the lower rooms of the home for some material to bind the gash along his side. "The Silk Mill sounds interesting. If it is as large as it sounds, it may be a good place to hide many secrets."
》 (patch up)
"It sounds like a brothel to me.", Lilly adds, shrugging.
As you stand outside deciding your next move, your hairs stand up on end. Make a perception check please.
Shiko really does hate this place he has decided
You get a premonition that something is about to happen but you have no idea what. For long moments nobody moves, then after a few minutes you start to relax by increments and then suddenly there is a cry!
-> Mohktar
You hear a faint flapping in the wind and then what sounds like a clap. Mohktar suddenly sports arrow, sticking out of his neck! Blood oozes out of the wound.
The arrow came sailing in from the west, perhaps from a couple of blocks away. You notice there’s a small note tied to the arrow with a bright silken thread that reads (in Common), "This is your final warning!"
The arrow itself is fairly unremarkable but the feathers are striking.
to make arrows. Make a Kn:Arcarna check DC 29.
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"Mohktar!" Alwyn cries as he spots the arrow sprouting from the monk's neck, looking westward, the direction the arrow had come from. "Did anyone see where it came from?"
Alwyn takes a dagger out and begins trimming the arrow shaft to break, so he can remove it and heal the monk.
Retrieving the wand from his pack, Alwyn looks to Shiro and Pratavh. " I need you to hold him still, an inch to the left and he'd have bled out before we got a chance to save him. I'm gonna pull it out ..
The feathers on the arrow are meaningless to Alwyn, handing the arrow shaft and note to the others. "Lankesh apparently isn't our only fan in town."
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Mohktar readies himself for the arrow to be pulled. "I wonder if Shiko-san is right. First rakshasa, then arrows from on high," He smirks towards the ninja. "...truly this place is cursed." Back to Alwyn, he nods as he pulls the arrow free.
The gurgling only lasts a few seconds as the monk's life bleeds to the stone, the healing energies of the wand and the bard's own magics seal the wounds.
After a moment, Mohktar pushes himself to his feet and says, "Check the letter's handwriting. Perhaps Lankesh shot the arrow straight up, and only now did it return to earth...and my neck."
The handwriting could charitably be described as 'scratchy'. You think it's unlikely it came from Lankesh's pen.
Shiko looks on stunned by the appearance of an arrow. A stain on your honor Kuro.
I will slay the one who fired the arrow. I will leave nothing of their house. Root and stem. Shiko vows as he sees Mohktar laying bloody on the ground.
"Thank you Alwyn, that was greatly appreciated." A few seconds later the arrow hits, "Where did that come from?!" Looking around, neither Pratavh nor Hirati have any clue though Pratavh turns to Mohktar, "Are you alright my friend?"
*cue arrow*
"What? Now they're taking potshots from a distance? Cowards.....hey Mohktar, you ok, you're not bleeding too much are you?"
Lilly keeps looking around while talking, it being too late anyway, but still.
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Mohktar nods gratefully to the others for their help and concern. "I am alive, and there is plenty more blood remaining in this vessel to spill." He stands, the flood of magical energies still in the process of knitting his flesh back together. "But humility is a painful lesson to learn. I should have been more vigilant."
He thinks back to his days of education with Master Aurelius Si'holi. The hours and days spent learning the art of awareness. It had been a grueling lesson that had only nudged Mohktar along the path of the Blinded Eye. As he rubs at the puckered flesh at his neck he realizes he has much more to learn.
To the ninja he says, "We have placed ourselves in the path of many arrows, Shiko-san. Save your honored word and oath for the members of this misguided cabal and not their families. Their's is the root and stem we must excise."
Mohktar stretches his back and nods towards the exit of the neighborhood. "Let not arrows and hastily scrawled missives dissuade us from our path."
If they move on, he continues. "Just before the attack, did any of you hear a...flapping? Perhaps just the string of a long range bow, or perhaps something else?"
"I do not believe it matters too much so the Silk Mill is as good a destination as any other."
Shiko nods his approval of the Silk Mill as a destination. He is however, not convinced that Root and Stem is not the best solution to the problem.
The party travels one more in Lord Pandisar's carriage, this time towards the low caste quarter and the Apananda Silk Mill. To start with the buildings in the commerce district are all large, made from brick or stone and mostly at least three stores high. The roads are cobbled and well maintained. Crowds of people walk with purpose in the streets, all going from one place or another. Many of them them shopping, and attended by a veritable army of service workers and those who cater to their needs with street food vendors a plenty, seamstresses, launderettes and a myriad other things.
Before long you're past the bridge over the wash and into the docks. The cab avoids the crowded and seedy waterfront, instead picking it's way through block after block of wooden warehouses, brothels, factories and hospitals. Eventually after passing through the Surakpor (a shabbier version of the harbor district) you enter the slums proper. The first thing that assaults you is the smell, for today is a hot day and the odor of unwashed humanity blends in with last nights catch. The entire district seems to be one giant lean to made out of cheap and unpainted wood. More balsa than heartwood, you suspect a tropical storm would spell disaster for Niswan's poor.
A few blocks from the Silk Mill the carriage drops you off, the driver looks nervous and tells you that doesn't want to stay put. Instead he'll come back every half hour, until night fall. You cautiously approach the road in which the Apananda is located. In the distance you can see it's a contrast to the other buildings, being a well constructed, 20-foot-high brick building with a sloping terra-cotta roof.
You think you haven't been spotted yet, but you have a feeling there are unfriendly eyes everywhere, just waiting for somebody to pass by.
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Working quickly while the carriage makes a u-turn in the street around the group.
Finger to his lips, Alwyn leads the others to the side of the road and into the nearest ally that appears to be unoccupied. While muttering under his breath. To anyone watching the group appears to be arguing about something as the walk to the other side of the road and into the alley there. ghost sound(DC15) matched with silent image(DC16)
"This place is not a welcoming locale, I can give someone about 8 minutes of time in which they will not be seen. Mohktar, Shiro do you guys wish to take advantage of the opportunity or stick to your own devices?"
Shiko smiles, and soon that's all you remember seeing Shiko begins stealthily moving towards the Silk Mill.
Sticking to the shadows, Shikyo stealthily approaches the mill like a ghost, or at least he assumes. The double doors of the mill are ajar and from within he can hear the rhythmic clack-clack of machinery. He pops his head inside to see huge looms that cover most of the floor in this area. On each loom, hundreds or thousands of yards-long warp threads wind through intricate wooden frames, and spools of silken thread hang down from tall wooden stands that rise up toward the rafters of the high-ceilinged roof, ready to be loaded onto shuttles. There are windows high on the western wall, and the crowded floor space between the looms is a mess of clutter.
Shikyomaru can see that some of the workers are operating the weaving machines, while others are lounging around on break.
A sudden harsh cry comes from one of the workers, "Ōya āpa daravājē para gupta! Yaha vaha jagaha hai nijī sampatti, āpa kē sātha banda hō sakatā hai!"
@All, please tell me what your current HP totals are. I think you are all mostly healed right?
Gah. Sometimes you are worse than useless Shikomuro.
Shiko freezes at the sound and darts away as fast as he can back to the group.
I was spotted. We'd best move quick...
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》
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.. .. .. (jump | +8 for 50 ft speed)
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Mohktar has to think fast as Shiko-san darts forward to slink along the wall of the silk plant, clinging to the shadows as he moves. The monk's eyes search upward, ever his preference to observe things from a high point. As he marks a path along window sills and awnings and brick, a shout bursts from the interior.
The monk moves without thinking, flashing a quick signal to Alwyn that he'll get a high vantage point from which to observe. He dashes into the alley (10 ft from the west wall) and sprints forward to make his jump and climb the rest of the way to a higher window (or roof), from which to observe.
Mohktar quickly climbs up to a second floor window, it's not a particularly hard climb, but there's not much room to stand on the window ledge. The window itself is small and dirty, probably never having been cleaned. The ledge is somewhat slippery with a general build up of guano and other detritus.
Mohktar peers inside and can see part of the upper level. which is mostly empty housing the upper parts of the looms. The back wall is lost in the gloom. From above Mohktar can see five mill workers, two of which are still operating their looms but three are crowding around the entrance where Shikyo was.
.
.
》 (maintain balance)
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》
Mohktar works his training, the years of balance and patience ingrained from the beginning. He searches for a point at which he can open the window, going so far as to retrieve his crowbar if needed. He uses what guano is available to lubricate the hinges (or window sill) as he attempts to open it and enter.
I need to get into position before the company makes their presence known...
I didn't include the compass on the map, but up is actually West. The window frame is rusted shut and caked with guano. You put your full weight against it but it doesn't budge even a hair's breadth. You think you could open it with a crowbar, although whether you can do that stealthily is another matter entirely.
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Alwyn nods towards the monk when he signals his intention to try and enter the building from its upper reaches.
Looking to Pratavh "Think Hirati can behave herself enough to help him find and opening and remain quiet about it? I know she can make herself impossible to see if she wishes."
To Lilly..."Loosen up a bit and make sure your sword catches are free, you're likely to need it again here shortly. Lets head over and see what happens, we're not going to find anything out in this alley it appears."
Alwyn begins moving towards the warehouse once he gets a reply from Pratavh about Hirati.
Lilly looks with a raised brow, stretching her arms up.
"Loosen up? I'm warmed up after that fight, tricky as that was."
She does however, pays attention to whatever is going to happen.
.
.
.
Mohktar looks upwards to see if he can make the climb to the roof.
(balance as I wait)
"You should ask her, not me Alwyn," he says with some amusement. Hirati, preening at being of use, sits up and all her "dread glory" and says in a superior tone, "Since you have asked me to aid you I shall, for it is the right and privilege of me to help such inferior beings as yourselves." She flits to Alwyn's shoulder and goes with him.
You can't reach the roof tiles from the window ledge, but you might be able to use the sides of the brick work surrounding the window to brace yourself and laboriously climb up. You think this would be a challenging climb but one you could make on a good day.
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Smiling at the Faerie dragon's mix of bravado and hautiness, Alwyn explains what he wants.
"Hirati this is important. I need you to make yourself unseen and help Mohktar find a way in the building up there. Don't let anyone in the building see you and don't scare Mohktar off the ledge he's on either. He needs an entrance from one of the upper levels. Can you do this quietly?"
शांति
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(looking)
(up on the roof)
(shhhh)
Mohktar peers thru the window once more, almost willing it to open even though he knows the exercise is futile. He works his jaw and sets his mind and quietly makes his way to the roof, hoping for a skylight or other entry point that might get him into position.