Crady rises from the floor and runs to the entrance to see what's going on, and to find the young tiefling for more information.
Recognizing the sage, the child leaps into the mans arms, sobbing.
"They...They took...her." he gasps. "Said...sumten 'bout...practicing fer Thrune. I kin...show you. Where."
Suddenly looking up into the mans eyes, he says clear as day, "They have dogs." and proceeds to collapse into a blubbering mess of incomprehensible utterance.
"Dogs...?" Pakuzzo's eyes widen in realization. He races for the door.
"Sonuva-- Kid, show us where they took her, now! And pray we're not too late!"
With but a nod, the child takes off into the dusky streets. He leads you back across the bridge, tossing a copper the the guard for each of you and himself. Greedily taking the coins, they don't question how the child acquired it.
Taking you through dark alleys and side streets, you find yourself a few blocks away from the opera house. A large boarded up building stands before you. Taking a deep breath, the boy waits for you to catch up before spewing his words.
"Behind the building is a lily pond and a grassy park. Used to be used for amateurs to try their singing but now its being used by those thugs! She's in there, I know they have dogs...but not much else." His eyes darting around, he frowns. "Sorry...but I can't stay. I hope you free her!"
Darting off down a nearby alley, he disappears.
"Damnit! We've had no time to get new spells", commiserated Crady.
"But I can befriend one of the dogs, which will be the one I go to first, so leave that one to me."
From behind a copse of trees, Pakuzzo nodded at Crady.
"Befriend it if you can, take it out if you can't. But before that, we need to take out the outer guard, at least on this side."
He peers through the trees at an unsuspecting guard.
"Stealth is needed here. I'm fairly confident I can sneak up on one, but I'm not sure I can take him out quickly enough. Marillo, how about you? Think you can drop him quickly?"
Suddenly, a hole appears in the tree beside Pakuzzo
Bzzt. Click. Whirrrrrrr
"Initiating assumption protocols - Marillo"
A series of lights begin to flicker in the monstrosities face, as it's hands and arms seem to melt into a long blade. The gravely robotic voice returns as the flashing subdues. "Yes. Marillo Bot think can kill it."
Stepping forward with a grace that betrays the beasts size, it slithers up to the unsuspecting man. Shoving his blade through the mans chest, a clay arm muffling his death cries, the guard slumps over.
Pulling him back into the brush, 'Marillo' returns to you, sliding back into the tree.
With a soft SSSHHt the hole seals itself.
Cerenity keeps her arms to herself, but keeps one hand on her pistol. Stealth. Yes. Bring the girl with a freeking PISTOL to a stealth mission. Oh well, maybe stealth won't be need the whole trip. She keeps her eyes open, and her mouth shut
Pakuzzo gives Marillo a thumbs up.
"Good job. Now we just have to make our way up that narrow path and fight our way through to Zea."
Crady keeps himself low and attempts to move to the next crop of trees without being seen.
"Vinz, heel," Pakuzzo whispers to the bird as he retrievs his shortbow.
Muttering a few unintelligible syllables, the bow glows faintly green before winking out. He nocks an arrow for good measure.
Then, keeping low to the ground, he darts from tree to tree, careful to avoid being spotted by any watchful guards.
Once he's moved as close as he can to the shack from the treeline, he waves for the others to follow. Through basic hand gestures, he makes it clear that he intends to commence the attack in a matter of seconds.
Moving after Pakuzzo, Vinz does his best to mimic the tengu's mode of stealth.
Click Whirr...
Marillo huddles within the trees where he can see the path. Cerenity lines up opposing his companions, crouched behind a lone tree.
Keeping low, Pakuzzo stalks his way up the path, intending for the 3-foot-high walls to obscure his approach.
Once he gets within sniping range, he chooses the most likely target, stands up and fires.
"RAVENS, ATTACK!!"
Vinz continues to follow behind the hunter as he moves into position.
At Pakuzzo's command, the giant raven spreads his wings takes to the air, zooming straight for the same guard his master just attacked.
Finally. She chuckles as the attack was sounded. Things were much simpler for her once things kicked up a notch.
She moves forward as far as possible then takes out her pistol as she moves and fires it at the closest guard
-Posted with Wayfinder
With the gunshot, Crady leaves his hiding place and readies his charm animal spell.
Seeing the battle about to begin, Marillo holds off for a closer target.
Caught off-guard, the thug takes an arrow to the chest. "AIEEE" he cries out. The raven rips open the mans throat as he topples over in a heap.
Firing his pistol, Cerenity's loud KRACK resounds in the still air, passing through the where the man once stood.
Crady prepares a spell.
Seeing their companion fall, the remaining two guards spring into action. One releases the dog nearby, while the other sprints across the platform towards you. "You'll pay for that!" he warns.
Both dogs hustle towards you, the free one making it almost to Crady as his spell goes off. Suddenly it stops, it's long tongue flops out of it's mouth and it slows. Laying in the middle of the path, it rolls over, exposing it's belly to the sage.
The second dog continues to snarl and growl, pulling hard against the chains holding it.
Foes
Marillo
Pakuzzo
Cerenity
Crady
Pakuzzo smirks as much as his beak will grant him the satisfaction. With the dispatch of the first guard confirmed, he tumbles left until he ends up on the northwest side pond across from the structure.
Once he stops, he stands up and fires another arrow at the westernmost guard.
As soon as the arrow is loosed, he whistles loudly for Vinz's attention and points to the same guard.
Heeding his master's whistle, Vinz swoops around past the reach of the southernmost guard and the attack dog to lance the flank of the westernmost guard with his bloodstained beak.
Crady runs forward to his new animal friend, kneeling down to rub the dog's exposed belly, reinforcing the spell.
"Aw. Who's a cute puppy? You are!"
Standing back up, the urban druid continues the address the charmed animal.
"Come on, puppy. Be a pal and help keep the baddies away, like a good dog."
Marillo shook his head. Get in the game. Get your heads out of the clouds. He hadn't really been in the present. That had to change. Rushing at the nearest guard...
Most of the current attacks is well out of her range. She will take the time to reload and take cover to maybe surprise any reinforcements coming past her
-Posted with Wayfinder
Marillo flips over the dog on the path and scurries up to the guard, flanking with Vinz.
Pakuzzo rushes to get a better angle and fires an arrow into one of the guards. Vinz manages to scratch their armor.
Cerenity holds off for their enemies to come closer.
Crady appeals to his new companion.
One of the dogs charges down the path, stopping short of Crady in front of the charmed beast, which is growling. Neither dog attack the other.
The two guards see the druid and their previous animal companion, glance to each other and with a nod, they both sidestep around Marillo. Swinging at the man in unison, one misses by the skin of his teeth. The other goes wide.
Foes
Marillo
Pakuzzo
Cerenity
Crady
"VINZ, STAY ON THAT ONE'S FLANK!" Pakuzzo shouts frantically gesturing to the bird.
Stepping right, he quickly nocks another arrow and yells "Keep them off Crady!" before firing again, intending to bring the guard down as fast as possible.
Swooping to the right flank of the retreating gaurd, Vinz attempts to hamstring the man.
Surrounded and on the defensive, Marillo parries a blow and makes a wild counter thrust, before stepping five feet north to interrupt their flank.
Crady's new buddy is helping to keep his sibling from harming his new friend. The urban druid, for his part, will try to get family members to see eye to eye before it gets too bitey.
Seeing there is no reinforcements coming any time soon she moves as far forward as she can to get a shot off at one of the flanker. In the process trying to avoid her comrade
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Pakuzzo's arrow misses by a fraction of an inch, but the combined efforts of Marillo and Vinz bring the man down.
Crenity manages to clip the remaining guard with a shot.
Crady's whimsical coos seem to calm the second dog some, though it's still not entirely sure of the man.
The remaining guard looks to the group, and down to his bloody companion before deciding how to proceed. Give you a rude hand signal, he takes off for the far side of the courtyard.
Foes
Marillo
Pakuzzo
Cerenity
Crady
-Posted with Wayfinder
Marillo takes off in a dead spring after the man, attempting to catch him before he can get away and bring more guards.
The urban druid attempts to walk toward the bound prisoners in the center of the courtyard, while keep doing his best to keep both dogs docile.
Seeing the guard getting away, Marillo ran as fast as he could at him, his sword drawn. As he neared the man he raised his blade...and failed to see the rock at his feet. It was all he could do to not fall on his own blade, as all thoughts of actually landing a blow vanished.
Hot on Marillo's heels, Pakuzzo attempts to race up the path after the guard, tumbling past Crady and the two dogs.
Once he lands past the second dog, Pakuzzo nocks and fires his bow at the fleeing guard in one swift motion, then whistles for Vinz to attack.
Hearing the whistle, Vinz spots his prey. With an ear-ringing caw, he swoops up into the air, soars over the walls, and dive-bombs the fleeing guard.
Stumbling on the rock as Marillo approaches the man, he hears a pair of PHHHFFFT sounds rocket past both ears.
Glancing back up, he sees a surprised expression on the fleeing guards face, as he rotates in place. A black bird latched on to his arm and an arrow in his back give away the culprits. The thug falls to the ground and skids a couple feet. His breathing beginning to slow as a viscous red fluid seeps out of his wounds.
Within the barbed cage lies the familiar tiefling woman. Even from his distance, Marillo can see she's unconscious. A silence settles on the park, with the bodies of the guards sprawled here and there.
Seeing the thug fall, Pakuzzo waves to Marillo.
"Just mopping up; no offense met," he calls.
He moves to call Vinz back, then decides against it; he supposes that the raven deserves a treat. Instead, he steps near the cage and squats down, regarding the woman.
"She's breathing, so it seems Desna's still smiling on us."
Not having been called, Vinz stands on the ground near the guard. He seems to regard the dying man with interest, but he does not yet take action. The eyes taste better once they've sat a bit.
"Nice shot!" He yells it out as he runs to the cage. Then, to the tiefling: "Don't worry. We'll get you out of here in no time."
Marillo manages to remove the woman's chains with ease.
As Pakuzzo stated, she is breathing. However, quite obviously unconscious.
Malnourished and exhausted
After spending a few minutes playing with the dogs, Crady manages to curry their favor. The still don't seem particularly fond of the sages companions, but follow the man's lead.
"We need to get out of here. Thrune is going to come down on us hard." Turning to the woman he said "Can you walk? We need to get you out of here."
Metronicus, with his two new dog buddies in tow, walks over to the tiefling woman and examines her.
"She's malnourished and sleep deprived", said Crady, looking up at Marillo. "She's not getting out of here on her own."
The urban druid thinks of the best way out of the courtyard and back to the cafe, using as many backstreets and alleyways as possible.
Thinking hard on the topic, Crady decides it's best to stick to the back alleys. The hardest parts will be the bridge, crossing streets, and getting the lady in through the front door of the café. However, it occurs to the sage, they could swim the channel to avoid the bridge.
"I think I can get us out of here, but we might have to do some swimming."
"Does anyone have any extra food or water we can give our friend here", Crady asks the group.
"No, I don't. Nor do I think she can swim. Are you sure we can make it? I could make a distraction at the bridge, so you can sneak her across."
"I don't suppose we could fight our way past the bridge..."
Pakuzzo thinks for a moment.
"...How long do you reckon that she might be unconscious? We could throw a blanket or a sheet over her and carry her, pretend that she's a corpse that we're bringing back for a bounty. If we can bluff our way past the guards, we might be able to keep them from sneaking a peak. And if we combine it with a distraction, they may even just wave us through so that they can deal with the more pressing problem at hand."