Kwava nods over to Bofur, and he also presses himself against the side of the building in an attempt to hide.
You hear footsteps and a head sticks out of the broken window, looking around quickly. She's a tough-looking middle aged woman with a long scar on her face, utterly unfamiliar to you. SLowly, she looks from left to right at at one point stares directly at you. However, you do not move, and she does not separate you from the shadows. She turns around and heads back in.
"Broken window but nobody on the roof! Maybe some gambler got pissed off."
You hear her footsteps recede, and Kwava let out a very long sigh of relief. You have not been spotted.
The woman blinks, and then stares at Fiona openly.
"Twenty? F**#, I'll shine your shoes and tell that goat he's a pretty boy for that much. You in?"
The man beside her, also with jaw agape, nods once.
"Show us the money and we're out of here."
Mutt stays silent, letting the others take care of things.
Variel pauses a moment, considering that the offer was probably more than necessary, but it was made and should be honored.
He counts out the coins from his pouch, telling his companions, "We will sort out sharing the cost once we are done here."
To the mercenaries, he says, "Have your people stay nearby. If Saul should come out, the one who gives him to us - alive, but otherwise his state is negotiable - gets a bonus."
The woman blinks, looking at Variel.
"You think I speak for those idiots? You've just bought the two of us, and I ain't following any orders. I'm just going home. Have fun!"
With the two of them grabbing their share of the money, the door guards go to wander off.
Kwava nods and the two of you step into the broken window into the staff quarters, which appear to be heavily used but currently unoccupied.
Kwava tilts his head to the side, and begins speaking quietly.
"I hear voices a few rooms over. Someone sounds mad - an older man. Asking about broken glass. He sounds paranoid. All men speaking... three I think? A few rooms over. Nothing just outside of this room."
Indeed, the door from the dining room is ajar, and leads into a hallway. To the east are stairs going down to the kitchen. West is the waiting area, which then goes to Saul's office, or the dining room.
Bofur signals for Kwava to follow him and they move up to the window and open it. If the woman was silly enough to lock it, he reaches through the newly made hole and slips the lock. He carefully opens it and looks at the ground to see where they might walk safely, relying on his darkvision to identify dangerous shadows with shards. He also gives Kwava a gesture of two fingers pointing at his eyes and then scanning the floor.
Mutt watches as the two door guards run off. "So do we go in now?"
With Kwava's help you manage to get into the room, although you do crunch a few shards of glass but without any major problem. From within the room a hallway leads left and right. Left is the staircase, right is the rest of hte top floor. It is from the right that Kwava heard the convesation.
Kwava cocks his head to the side, and points downstairs. He makes a stabbing motion.
As the group dawdles, deciding on what to do next, you hear from a shout from within.
"Those are the guys that broke the window! Where did the other two go?! I knew I didn't like the look of that woman. GET THEM!!"
There's a sudden roar of activity from inside, and you see the four remaining guards charging out towards the group!
Initiative
Round 1
Thaddeus
Mutt
Mutt's Men
----
Thugs
----
Fiona
Variel
Bofur listens to whether Saul's voice is among the men upstairs.
If he hears Saul, he feels confident the man will find it difficult to slip out unseen. He looses his crossbow, nods for Kwava to follow him and leads the elf through the hidden door onto the catwalk to survey the action and see if any guards up waiting above. Before opening the door, he indicates for Kwava to have his bow ready and to take out any guards on the other side of the door.
If he doesn't hear Saul, he'll still do the same action, but keep an eye out for the key player.
See what I did there ;-)
As the men get ready to charge, Thaddeus' spell goes off. He slips and stumbles mid-charge, and collapses awkwardly on his face.
You and Kwava sneak westwards into the main floors of the room and stop, clearly hearing conversation through the doorway. Peering through the keyhole, you spy Saul, Hans, and Beyar. Hans and Saul are quietly speaking.
"Beyar old chap, are you sure that glass wasn't anything? I'm not sure I trusted that wererat!" Saul rubs his key nervously.
"It's fine boss. I had Sally look outside and she didn't see nothing." Beyar pats the older man on the shoulder.
Suddenly there's a loud cry from the catwalks.
"THEY'RE HERE! BASTARDS BROUGHT A SMALL ARMY! YOU SAID THEY WAS DEAD, SAULIE!"
There's a whimper of panic as you see Hans and Beyar both stand, and draw their weapons. However, you are not noticed on the other side of the door.
Unfortunately, this ruins your plan to get to the cat walks. The only way to the catwalks is through the room with Saul and his bodyguards. As you decide what to do, there's another strange sound. A horrible, inhuman howl. Very loud. From the south, beyond Saul.
Saul stomps his foot.
"I wish that idiot would shut up!"
Mutt gives a roar and moves at his full speed. He draws his greataxe. His men do the same, moving to the doors and drawing their weapons and shields, although they only move 15 feet to be on the safe side. Zhen stays behind and draws his longsword, sticking close to Thaddeus.
Kwava sees you aim at the door and he nods once, doing the same. For now, nothing happens.
You distinctly hear shouts from downstairs. Someone is calling someone else a coward. Through the door you hear more conversation.
"I paid top dollar for these mercs, they'd better be worth it!"
The three standing guards inside look at their friend worriedly and line up inside the goblin, beyond the front doors.
"Come on you cowards! There's only three of us!"
Fiona gives a resigned sigh. "Well, we tried to solve this peacefully. You brought this on yourselves."
She moves forward and rubs a stick of butter between her hands, humming a little tune before launching it at the nearest pair of bouncers.
Mutt charges up the stairs and decides to go through the window. He glares at the thugs, intimidating them, particularly the gray clad thug.
Fredrick, Michal, Bjorn, and Sam run up the stairs, heading for the doors. Zhen, however, watches Thaddeus and moves closer to him.
Thaddeus and Fiona both fire off spells - yet another thug collapses on the ground, sleeping, while one more lets out a yelp as she crashes onto her back.
Mutt charges in, intimidating the thug standing on the grease spell. However, as he rushes in, a volley of arrows fly down towards him! He looks up to spy three archers on the catwalks.
One thug gets out of the grease and makes his way to Mutt, while the other skids around wildly, failing to get out of the greasy patch. Two others snore contentedly.
Round 2
Fiona
Variel
---
Thaddeus
Mutt (10 dmg)
Mutt's Men (will separate once someone takes damage)
----
Grey
White
Green (asleep)
Orange (asleep)
Mutt:
GM:
As it seems that the men with Saul are not planning to join the fray just yet, Bofur stealthily uncorks a flask of oil and pours a small amount out in front of the door while listening for a repeat of the strange groans they heard earlier coming from upstairs. He quietly checks whether the door to Saul's office is open and if so, slips inside, beckoning Kwava to come with before softly closing the door.
If the door is locked, he looks to Kwava with a raised eyebrow and gestures in question whether the elf can do anything about it. If not, he gets into position to fire a surprise bolt at the nearest foe in the adjoining room, hopefully the ranger if that animal-abusing essohbee is in there.
Variel moves into the room, whip in hand. He looks at the two remaining thugs and says, "This is your one chance to surrender and leave unharmed."
Both of you slip quietly into Saul's office, which is unlocked. The broken door from Zincher's raid has not been repaired yet. South of here is the records room.
You start again as a loud, wailing shriek comes from the south - from either the file room, or Saul's bedroom beyond.
Variel moves in and shouts at the thugs to surrender. However, with their archers up above they seem a little more confident.
Fiona moves forward and begins casting another spell, aiming it so she can catch as many of the archers up on the catwalks as possible.
An archer lets out a shriek, but manages to keep his feet!
Variel looks at the remaining upright thugs by the door and says, "You had your chance. You have allied with a villain, and are judged villains yourselves!"
With that he lashes out with his barbed whip at the one near Mutt.
Mutt screams as he gets plugged with arrows. He scowls at the archers. "Careful! There are archers on the catwalks!" He then quickly snaps the arrows and roars. His pupils dilate and his muscles seem to bulge.
Mutt then glares at the thug next to him and brings his weapon down!
Hearing Mutt's warning, the bouncers decide to try to divide tactics. Sam and Bjorn sheathe their longswords and draw their shortbows. Fredrick and Michal decide to keep to their swords and shields and move closer behind Fiona.
Thaddeus tries to get a good vantage point, though the bouncers on the catwalks are still too far away to be affected by any of his magic spells. He grabs an alchemical item he's been holding for a while, though, in preparation for when he may use it.
Thaddeus:
Zhen moves up as well. Though seeing the ground targets are mostly accounted for, he also sheaths his sword as he heads up the stairs, and readies his bow.
Zhen:
Human Warrior 1
(varies) Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Perception +0
Defense
AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor)
hp 8 (1d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0
Offense
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+2)
Ranged short bow +1 (1d6)
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Power attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +0, Perception +0
Gear studded leather armor, longsword
Michal's Stat Block
Human Warrior 2
(varies) Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Perception +1
Defense
AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor)
hp 17 (1d10+3)
Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +0
Offense
Melee longsword +7 (1d6+3)
Ranged short bow +2 (1d6)
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Power attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +0, Perception +1,
Gear studded leather armor, longsword
Mutt charges up, as he swings, Variel's whip cracks in, catching the leg of the bouncer. One quick swipe of Mutt's axe, and the bouncer is down. Variel then rushes into the room.
One of the unconscious thugs wakes up, groaning. He looks around wildly, and then grabs his weapon, leaping to his feet. The one on the grease swears as he sees Mutt on a rampage and more people coming in. Carefully, he tries to get out of the grease. However, he almost slips once more and he lets out a loud curse from his inability to move while his death closes in around him.
"YOU DAMN FILTHY WITCH I HATE YOU!"
Snarling, he keeps his sword up, daring someone to come close.
The archers try to loose their arrows as one carefully gets out of the grease spell. Seeing Variel move in while channeling divine magic, he's the new target, but the arrows simply bounce off of his shield.
Fiona
Variel
---
Thaddeus
Mutt (10 dmg)
Michal
Zhen
Bjorn
Sam
Frederick
----
Grey (on grease)
Green (wakes up this turn)
Orange
Purple
Black
White
After dodging a flight of arrows himself, Variel notices the ones that hit Mutt. He moves over carefully, seeing the look in the rager's eyes.
"Let me just touch that up for you ... แสงรักษาบาดแผล."
Mutt's wounds close up completely and the elf smiles. "Calistria approves of our work here. Take them down."
A warm, tingling feeling floods Mutt as Variel calls upon his capricious goddess to heal the mighty bloodrager.
Fiona barges through the doorway, bringing her earthbreaker to bear and twirling it. "Hmm. A pity. You could have just stepped aside and let us in, you know."
She swings her hammer...
...and her reluctance to kill shows through as her aim is clearly off-target.
It's a bit of a squeeze, getting past all the armed soldiers and the weapons flying about, but Thaddeus is still able to work his way around, behind Variel and Mutt.
Old Horn, meanwhile, decides this is no place for a goat, and stays outside for the time being.
It seems the bouncers on the catwalks have an excellent vantage point, still being out of range of most of Thaddeus' magic. Without much else to do at the moment, Thaddeus settles on giving a touch of magical guidance to Variel. He mutters a few words, and touches Variel on the shoulder.
---
Zhen hustles inside, leaving his longsword on the ground, sticking close to Thaddeus. Finding what seems a good vantage point, he shoots an arrow at the closest goon up on the catwalk.
ZHEN:
"Other guy's gonna wake up right away!" Thaddeus shouts out. Zhen looks down at the groaning figure already beginning to stir, at his bow, and mutters a muted curse.
Human Warrior 2
Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +1
Defense
AC 18, touch 10, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +2 shield)
hp 17 (1d10+3)
Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +0
Offense
Melee longsword +5 (1d8+3)
shortsword +5 (1d6+3)
Ranged short bow +2 (1d6)
javelin +5 (1d6+3)
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Power attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +0, Perception +1,
Gear chainmail armor, longsword, shortsword, heavy steel shield, short bow, 15 arrows, 2 javelins, bag of caltrops
Fredrick
Human Warrior 1
Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +0
Defense
AC 18, touch 10, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +2 shield)
hp 8 (1d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0
Offense
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+2)
shortsword +4 (1d6+2)
Ranged short bow +1 (1d6)
javelin +4 (1d6+2)
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Power attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +0, Perception +0
Gear chainmail armor, longsword, shortsword, heavy steel shield, short bow, 15 arrows, 2 javelins, bag of caltrops
Bjorn
Human Warrior 1
Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +0
Defense
AC 18, touch 10, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +2 shield)
hp 8 (1d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0
Offense
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+2)
shortsword +4 (1d6+2)
Ranged short bow +1 (1d6)
javelin +4 (1d6+2)
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Power attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +0, Perception +0
Gear chainmail armor, longsword, shortsword, heavy steel shield, short bow, 15 arrows, 2 javelins
Sam
Human Warrior 1
(varies) Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Perception +0
Defense
AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor)
hp 8 (1d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+2)
shortsword +4 (1d6+2)
Ranged short bow +1 (1d6)
javelin +4 (1d6+2)
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Power attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +0, Perception +0
Gear studded leather armor, longsword, shortsword, short bow, 15 arrows, 2 javelins
Zhen
Human Warrior 1
(varies) Medium humanoid
Init +0; Senses Perception +0
Defense
AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor)
hp 8 (1d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+2)
shortsword +4 (1d6+2)
Ranged short bow +1 (1d6)
javelin +4 (1d6+2)
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Power attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +0, Perception +0
Gear studded leather armor, longsword, shortsword, short bow, 14 arrows, 2 javelins, bag of caltrops
Mutt decides to run past the sleeping thug and around the grease and attack the gold clad thug. He brings his greataxe down on him!
Fredrick then runs in, running past the group and stabs into the sleeping thug.
Meanwhile, Fredrick moves in and steps between the gold and gray thugs and slashes at the gray clad ones.
Bjorn and Sam run in, take arrows out, draw the bows, and fire at the archers above.
As you wait in the office, you hear a shout from downstairs.
"I'M COMING UP! THERE'S A DAMN ARMY OF THEM!"
You hear sudden movement from the sealed-off dining room.
Fiona's earthbreaker swing goes wide while Zhen fires up an arrow that pings off of the armour on the man on the catwalk, the shot being extremely difficult thanks to the cover of the catwalk and the thug's armour.
Mutt's men charge in to start causing some damage. Federick parries the grey-clad thug's readied attack, and runs him through with a single blow while Michal ends the life of the sleeping thug.
Sam and Bjorn fire upwards, and the purple thug screams as he's riddled with arrows, but he remains in the fight.
Only one thug remains on the ground, realizing his friends have all been put to the sword. He turns and runs.
"I'M COMING UP! THERE'S A DAMN ARMY OF THEM!"
The orange clad thug carefully withdraws from Mutt and rushes across the floor, calling up.
A volley of arrows flies back down, this time aiming at Sam.
Two arrows slam into Sam, doing some moderate damage.
Fiona
Variel
---
Thaddeus
Mutt (10 dmg)
Michal
Zhen
Bjorn
Sam (5 dmg)
Frederick
----
Orange
Purple (7 dmg)
Black
White
Variel chases after the retreating thug. "You really don't want me to have to wrap you up in this," he says, holding the wickedly barbed whip before him.
You quickly check in the filing room, and can see that the secret door is closed. Likely the wailing is coming from that room, but you'd have to investigate more thoroughly and considering the fracas below, you likely do not have the time.
Luckily, the door to the dining room opens outwards, and could be blocked in some way. Gathering your intent, Kwava grabs a chair, and jams it under the office door. He retreats back into Saul's office with you, training his bow on the hallway.
Fiona drops her hammer and yanks her shortbow from her back.
I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this...
She takes a breath and tries to line up a shot before firing...
Fiona's aim is true, but the arrow bounces off of the armour from the green-clad thug up top.
Mutt decides to chase after the fleeing thug and attack him, his eyes showing nothing but fury and anger.
Sam, feeling like he doesn't have much left, runs out the window Mutt broke and takes cover at the wall next to it.
Michal and Fredrick draw their heavy steel shields and follow Mutt.
Bjorn continues to fire at the purple clad thug.
Mutt almost trips over his feet as he chases after the fleeing thug and Bjorn misfires his bow badly. Sam, knowing when to retreat, heads out to watch the company's back.
The fleeing thug bolts away from the group, heading into the kitchen and very noisily up the stairs. A volley of arrows flies down, this time again at Mutt, with the giant bloodrager obviously showing himself as a significant threat.
One arrow streaks right for Mutt's eye, but he manages to turn his head just at the right moment. Nonetheless, it sticks out of his shoulder with a vicious wound.
You hear footsteps as someone races up the stairs. A call comes from what is likely the catwalk.
"They're headed upstairs, we'll get in position!"
Bofur
Fiona
Variel
Thaddeus
Mutt (10 dmg)
Michal
Zhen
Bjorn
Sam (5 dmg)
Frederick
----
Orange
Purple (7 dmg)
Black
White
As the retreating thug moves away, Variel lashes out with his whip, the barbs digging in deeply then scraping large gashes as it unwinds. The elf then continues the chase through the kitchen and up the stairs.