Lindale takes a 5ft. step around the Drow to surround him and shouts at him in undercommon.
"I suggest running. The last of our kind that stood in my way and cursed my face was left dead, her unholy face in the dirt."
He slashes with the dagger but (likely) misses.
The drow easily ducks the crack of the belt, then turns and elbows Lindale's hand up so the dagger misses...freezing upon seeing Lindale and hearing him. His hesitation costs him, Toramin leaving a slash down his arm. He hisses, turning around as he speaks quickly.
Seeing a weapon drawn that wouldn't be immediately tossed aside anyway, Dalton sought to force the man's hand - or burn it for his persistence.
[ooc]Burning disarm, DC 17 Reflex.[/dice]
The drow bobs and weaves, the only blow landing is that of Toramin's. He's getting prepared to strike when suddenly his face twists in pain and he throws away one of his knives. He looks at all the people closing in on him, then reaches into his belt. He holds his hand out and does a quick spin, releasing a plethora of small pellets that cover the area. Upon hitting the ground they break and cover everything in smoke. He then twists past the others, giving them no chance to strike before disappearing through the smoke.
Bjorkus
Lindale
Dalton
Rilka
Toramin
Enemy
Heff
Bjorkus rushes out of the smoke after the safe-cracker.
Rilka coughs as the area around her fills with smoke. Tucking her chin, she drops into a roll and summersaults out of the smoke with the hope of being a small irregular target should the drow attack her once she’s free of the smoke.
As the uncomfortably thick fog roils up around him, squeezing into places it shouldn't, Bjorkus grunts in surprise and immediately tears away from it. He stumbles a bit on the remains of the bandit leader and spots the fleeing drow a moment after.
"He's over here!" the bull bellows.
The minotaur takes off after him, slipping around a desk and trapping him against the basin. "No more tricks coward!"
Lindale moves through the fog and see Bjorkus also chasing after the drow. He manages to close on him also.
The fog envelops Rilka in its thick embrace. She strains against the solid consistency as she pushes her way through. Once free, she shakes her body as if trying to fling off any clinging tendrils of cool, wet fog.
Toramin heads out of the fog back towards where the dead robber leader lay, and then double moves in pursuit.
"Guards!" shouts Dalton in futility. He prepares for the worst, security nowhere to be seen.
The drow stands for a moment like a cornered animal, glancing between the three people prepared to strike at him. Then suddenly the sound of a door opening is heard, along with a man shouting "Put you f$~@ing hands in the air!" As this happens, the drow shoves off the cabinet strait towards Bjorkus, then shifts his weight at the last moment and twists to his right. He shoves through the unlocked door at the southwest corner of the room, slamming it behind him.
The robbers help has finally arrived in the form of three more armed men bursting through the northern doors . The two men farther to the west enter and stop in confusion, seeing nothing through the fog cloud so they continue farther into the room. The other raises a rifle, firing at the tallest target that is actually a decent target over all of the obstacles in his way; Bjorkus. The bullet flies wide, splintering the corner of the desk next to him. "I'll say it one more time, put your bloody weapons down!"
Bjorkus
Lindale
Dalton
Rilka
Toramin
Enemy
Heff
Still bleeding badly from where the drow stuck him, Bjorkus crouches behind the nearest desk and mutters a healing spell.
"Fat chance. We killed your boss and you lot are next. Drop your weapons and we may let you walk outta here", the bull warns.
Toramin lays a hand on Bjorkus, releasing the power of the stone into him.
"Fools and villains, now is the time for peaceable surrender. Your leader is dead. Your drow has fled. Throw down your weapons and find mercy and justice, or, keep them and find the grave."
The robbers balk a little. "Harris, where you at?" Silence. The men glance between each other, but do not drop their weapons.
Lindale moves over to the leader 'Harris' and picks him up and holds him in front of him as a sort of shield. "This your Harris? Shows over folks. Go home. No safecracker, no leader, run while you can."
The robbers stop firing for the moment, but continue to circle like a pack of animals. "You two seem to have a disagreement on our fate. So which is it, jail or run?"
Toramin rumbles a laugh. "You must want to go to jail because you are still here."
He starts towards them, hoping that they will either run, surrender, or die quickly.
Bjorkus follows, backing the stony dwarf's gambit. "You heard 'im!"
They look at each other, then the one who appears to be their leader nods. "Ok dwarf, we'll leave." He motions to one of the other men, who enters the room just north of the room you were in. After a moment he comes out with a terrified looking young girl of about age 12. The leader puts a hand on her shoulder, resting the muzzle of his pistol against her neck. "And you five are going to sit tight while we leave. We clear?" They begin making their way to the hole in the glass at the eastern wall.
Bjorkus clenches his meaty fists and growls but doesn't get in the robbers's way for fear of endangering the child. "You f%#!ing cowards! You coulda walked outta here free as a bird. Now I'm gunna track you down and kill you after this s&&# is done."
He mimics Bjorkus yapping his jaw. "Yeah yeah, heard it a thousand times. There's a reason we allow hostages to see our faces, but you don't want little Suzie here to get hurt, do you?" He leans down to pat her on the head and give you a fake smile of sympathy. His hand passes through open air, and after you blink you suddenly realize after the little girl passed behind a chair she just...didn't come back. The robbers begin looking around frantically, then one swears and begins running to get another hostage.
Bjorkus grips his sword in both hands and looses a bellowing roar as he closes on the nearest robber. "Shouldn't have done that!"
Nice work Heff, if that was you.
Lindale double moves to stay with Bjorkus and help surround the villains.
Toramin also double moves to work with Lindale to flank these bozos.
Rilka goes to the fallen thief at the edge of the solid fog and searches him for a weapon or wand.
As the party quickly moves to surround the now-defenseless criminals, they begin looking around in utter fear. They are about to retaliate and begin fighting when a knife appears on one of their throats. Behind him stands Heff, grinning. Two of them throw down their arms, the other looking at them in disbelief. "You bloody cowards, you're gonna screw us all over!" He charges forward with his sword, but Bjorkus winds up and catches him halfway through the charge, cutting off his leg halfway up the thigh. His head hits a table on the way down and he doesn't get back up.
Heff kicks the mans weapons away and pushes him next to the other surrendered man. "Hey kid, we're all clear!" After a moment the little girl comes out from under a desk, looking scared but in one piece.
"Harris, we're still waiting on you and Anquale, you know you really must stick to the schedu..." The unarmed robber opens the door to see the situation, and it looks like his heart rate just doubled. His eyes go wide as he glances around. "No...no it wasn't supposed to happen like this..."
"It's over", Bjorkus bellows at the newcomer. "Yield and lay down or I'm comin' after you next!"
The frenzied minotaur puts the point of his sword at the man's throat, enough to break the skin but not enough to sever the artery. "Try anything else and you're gunna get a lot worse than that fool."
Toramin is backing Bjorkus.
The man glances between his disarmed comrades and the ramshackle party, then sighs. "Very well, but you must testify of my compliance..." He trails off, distracted as he breaks eye contact.
Rubbing his eyes, Dalton makes his way through the fog of the offices. Damned stunts! This better be temporary. Sure enough, his hopes were upheld as his vision returned to normal in a few moments. In the meantime, his ears had told him the (mostly) good news.
Unharmed in any permanent sense, the old man's fear quickly turned to anger once he saw his acquaintances had the situation under control. "Schedule? You cost people their lives! Punctuality be damned!" He looks to the girl and softens his voice. "Come here, child - it's over now."
Or was it? What did they come here for in the first place? Dalton was good at second-guessing himself, but it didn't usually instill fear in him. Now, however... They'd be fools to come here for money. Couldn't be worth dealing with the security, far too much risk... It had to be something more valuable. Perhaps more unique.
"Compliance? You can start by stating the purpose of this madness." Dalton was only tactful in sales and sommeliers. His more direct request was probably not the most diplomatic.
The man is certainly calm, but looks a bit upset at Dalton's words. "No lives were lost until you interfered. Plus the only lives lost were those of these men, and now you dare speak of our morality?"
The man glances between his disarmed comrades and the ramshackle party, then sighs. "Very well, but you must testify of my compliance..." He trails off, distracted as he breaks eye contact.
Bjorkus grunts and nods at the surrendered man's demands. "But I can't promise what kinda good it'll do ya."
Using his trophy sword to sever his length of rope into sections, the minotaur systematically binds each bandit's hands and feet.
Dalton's upbringing led him to understand two things very well: being poor and being bullied.
"So their lives are worth nothing? Just because they aren't the ones with the accounts in these banks?" Dalton thought back to the hesitant heister in the offices with him. "Some had little choice. But at least you're making the right one in surrendering. Even if you are disgusting."
Dalton walked over to the halfling, looking away from the thieves. "Know anything about them?"
Compliance? Is there anyone that this human hasn't complied with?
"We should make sure the people taken hostage are safe, and that the other robbers are apprehended."
Toramin goes to do just that.
He shakes his head. "You kill these men and blame me. I made the schedule but I am not their leader, only their organizer. And I am sorry if trying to save my family disgusts you, you must be one that doesn't appreciate such things." He remains standing but leans against the wall, clearly riled up. "Hostages are in each of those rooms on the western wall. They're crammed since Harris wanted to isolate you lot. And I'm sure the rest of the men have already fled since they had magical communication."