Lorant gets what he needs quickly through Lepidstadt's second-hand market and returns to meet with Judah, now dressed in flowing, sickly-yellow robes with a white mask on his face.
"Ready."
The Doktor joins Lorant in shopping and grabs an under coat of faded brown and an overcoat of a hideous riot of black and dark purple. A battered bowler hat and scarf of black completes the ensemble.
He grabs some dark ribbon to bind up around his weapons hilt and scabbard.
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A tall, iron chimney belches yellow clouds into the sky from this small brick factory. Large leaded windows arch in a dozen places on its outer walls, but they are so begrimed as to be opaque. The building has two floors and a tower, topped by a lightning rod.
The windows cannot be seen through, and Gate finds that while there is a basement, there are no secret entrances that it can discern. A twenty-foot-high stone wall, topped with broken glass, surrounds a small courtyard before the workshop. A heavy oak gate bars entry beneath a sign proudly proclaiming “Vorkstag and Grine, Chymic Works.” A bell hangs by one side of the gate.
Cassiel arrives dressed in perhaps the most garish pink... outfit... he could find. To call it an 'outfit' would perhaps give it too much credit--it looks more like a hodgepodge of a theatre costume and an undercooked ham. A bright pink toque and scarf cover up most of his face, his holy symbol is kept underneath the entire getup, and not even his sword or shield have escaped the onslaught of the eye-searing colour--wrapped haphazardly in pink rags as they are.
Well, on the bright side, if anyone asks me just what happened here, nobody would believe me if I told them.
As an afterthought he puts on a plague mask...
"We ringing the bell or breaking and entering?" Mr. Yellow asks.
Can we get a scout of the location from your associate Mister Grey?
Judah gathered the others by walking by them on the street and bumping into them gently. He said nothing after jostling them. He simply kept walking and ended up in a nearby alley, waiting to be followed a bit later.
After rounding up each of them he looked pained. "This is my fault. I should have clarified. You don't need to wear the masks until we're about to head in. Wearing them in public just draws attention. Too late now though. Just keep them on."
While he talked he scratched in the dirt with a stick. "Here's the layout and what I know of the interior. Here's where the people inside were last I checked."
He passed out his pair of blackjacks to Lorant and Cas. "Here. Even if they're monsters, we should probably try to take them alive."
Cassiel accepts the blackjack. "Well, hopefully, folks will only remember the garish outfits and not the people wearing them..."
"I'd rather not have the outfit associated with my actual face," Mr. Yellow replies, takes the offered blackjack as well.
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There are two doors. A single door and a double-door right next to it (see map). There are 12 first-story windows. All are blacked out and barred. There is not an open sign, but there is a bell hanging by one side of the gate. Your elemental can report that there are 3 medium figures and a large figure beyond the double doors on the lower level. Also on the lower level are eight medium creatures beyond the single door.
After drawing an aprovimation of the building in the alley dirt with a stick, Judah marked a bunch of X's inside. One was quite a bit bigger than the others.
"So we're walking into a party. Just past those double doors are three people, and something big. Through the other door, there's another eight. There shouldn't be that many here. Between that, and the blacked out, barred windows, I think we found a monster house."
"So containment isn't just an issue because it might get the law involved if anyone runs. It's also because if those eight hear what's going on, we might end up mobbed."
"The doors are the only ways in or out. I'm going to jam the single door to buy us time. Then we're going in the double doors. I'll yank the door, and you three rush in. Focus on one target at a time. I'm going to see if I can get my friend to bring some of it's friends, so expect a freakshow."
"When we move, we hustle, but we don't run. Running draws attention. I have things to do on the way. When I start moving, you'll have about thirty seconds to do whatever you need to before we breach. I'm not counting or signaling this time. I want everyone across the street to think we just walked up and waited for the door to be answered. Remember, no names. The less talking the better."
He scuffed away the map with his foot.
"Ready?"
Readies shield extract....
Mr. Yellow nods at Mr. Grey's words, committing the crude map to memory and readying the blackjack.
Mr. Pink prepares for the worst.
Judah takes a breath to steady his nerves and hands, and tries again.
Problem Mister Grey, the doctor says quietly while keeping a look out.
"Rusty. Needed a sturdier tool. Hold on." Grey mumbled behind his scarf.
How the hell did I miss a goddamn guard dog? Judah swore to himself.
He yanked an alchemical glue bomb from his bandoleer and waited for the right moment.
Y̶̝͈͍̰̝̻̮o̠͙͇ṵ̡̗̣͖̲̬ a̠̞̩s̱̙͔̦̲̠̰͝ke̦̟̜̭̮̥̯d͚̠̫̪̮̘ ̛̖w̨̳͖̗e͎͓ ͏̠̳͙͉̪r̥ę͉̬̟̙̮p̸̰̬̖̼̱̗͍o͇̙̳̯ͅr̵͙̣̞̳̜t ̭̠͉̮͢w̢͈̹͓̼h̭͙͚ͅa͖̫̫̣̯̖͇t ̝͈̞w͎ạ͈͖̼͙̪s̤ ̹̬̖͓i̛̱n̢s̩͙̟̣̦̫i͓͡d̫͔ͅe̠ ̦͚̠̪̥̫̘͘t̸̼͚͔h҉͙͙̜̟̼̟͎e̱̹͕̜̟̪ͅ ̗͍̮̰́s̬t̟͇̙͘r͎̫̼̺̞ư̙̗ͅc͇͓͈͈̟̀ͅt̡̞̮̹͈̪̙̟u̵̲̝̣̺͈͉͉re̠̩͇̠̕.͙̀
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What emerges from beneath the wagon is not a dog. Rather, it is a grotesque mockery of such, stitched together from what appears to be several different animals. Bones protrude from its limbs at odd angles and its musculature is clearly visible. Whatever it once was, it is definitely no longer alive. It is chained at the neck with a long chain that stretches to a kennel on the side of the yard. The chain is of sufficient length that it can reach any point in the small compound. The thing is securely muzzled.
Judah tosses the bag at the dog-thing, but it dodges to the side, evading the worst of the substance (though it is still hampered significantly). The dog-thing lunges at Judah, snarling and growling, trying to bite him through the muzzle. Fortunately, all that it can do is slam into him.
He drinks his potion of shield and moves up, drawing his rapier and prays the others can drop this quickly and quietly...
+4 AC
Judah grunted with the impact and stumbled back a few steps, stunned that the thing could hit so hard. That definitely wasn't a regular guard dog.
He glanced around, hoping they weren't drawing attention to themselves. Uh, a little help here? The subtle kind?
S̻̦̝u̫̩͝b̫̻̼̮̫̬̼͟t̻̠̻̖̩̤̭l̟̕eͅ.҉̬̰̖̯̱̹̯ ͜A̩̹̼͍̝ş͕͈̙̰̬̠̱ ̭̤̯͓͈̠͖͡y̜̗̫̥͚o̷u̸̪̪̘̮̖͕ ̲̞̪h͇ͅa͉̗̖͓̯̻v͎̻͓e̡̮̣̮̗͚̗̹ ̢̪̞̪͉͚s̮̭̠̟̺̪ḥ͠o̼͖͔w̰̯̹͘n̛̼ͅ ͖͓̻̹ư̘͈̺̻s͈͉̼͎̘̕.̞͎
The thing that burst forth from the ground beneath the terrible dog-beast had never actually been an earth elemental, and wasn't even particularly good at pretending. If you saw it half buried and didn't look too close, you might be fooled, but after looking a few moments it became very clear that it was wrong. It was like a Gordian knot trying to untie itself, but everything that loosened made something else tighter. It oozed blackish oil and occasionally forced shards of rusty metal and stone out of itself.
It a blink, it had lashed out with far too many limbs.
Cassiel moves in to subdue the dog-thing in case Judah's... 'pet'... didn't quite finish the job.
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Judah's "friend" lashes out at the beast, but the first attack is turned by the beast's hide. Only the second hit has any effect. Likewise, Cassiel's sword is turned by the hardened flesh of the creature. The dog-thing rushes at Cassiel this time, slamming hard into the paladin who, ready for the blow, resists.
Shield active
Stabity stab...
The alchemist moves to set up a flank with Cassiel.
for
Mr. Yellow stabs at the creature.
"At least we know for a *fact* that Vorkstag and Grine are up to something sinister," he mutters.
The ground surged. More odd limbs crusted with shards of metal and jagged rocks lashed out.
Judah circled wide and headed for the doors, trying to stay focused on the job while the others dealt with the threat.
"Gah!" Cassiel staggers back before swinging his sword again!
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Mathus stabs at the dog-thing, but his weapon cannot find an opening in its toughened hide. Likewise, Lorant's attack is also ineffective, despite connecting. Judah's "friends" manage to injure it, however, but the "hound" shows no evidence of being in pain. As Judah slips around the beast to make for the doors, Cassiel distracts it with a solid blow that cuts through flesh and tendons. The dog-creature throws itself against Cassiel, this time managing to connect! Judah finds the doors unlocked.
Mr. Yellow tries to hack at the monster.
The churning earth below the dog thing continued to lash out with shards and stones.
Mister Grey slipped one of his metal door-jammers onto the smaller door. The last thing they needed right now was anyone else joining the fight. He kept looking over his shoulder nervously, hoping the others would finally kill the awful dog.
Stabitty stab
for
Woooooot
Cassiel reels back and strikes again!
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Lorant and Mathus both connect with the beast, but the monster seems unaffected, their attack unable to get past its magically toughened bones and sinew. The elementals have better luck, ripping into the beast from beneath, but again it shows no signs of pain. Cassiel also finds a hold and manages to inflict a wound, but still, the beast comes!
The dog-thing turns its attention to the earth elementals that are causing it such damage, slamming into the beings.
The dog-thing tore up the ground badly, but somehow missed the elemental's body.
Gods... what can we do?, he says setting up a flank...
crit confirm?
Too many earthy limbs lashed out of the ground again.
Judah looked over his shoulder feeling like his heart was going to pound out of his chest. He wished he could do more. A thought occurred to him.
Uh... can you... wait no. Just send another one of those. Same job.