Parai approaches the large double doors to the stables and tries to peer inside without actually going inside. She shifts back and forth and tries to squint her eyes. If there are any windows she tries to peer through them, or if the wall planks have gaps she tries to see through those cracks, or if the front door is ajar she tries to catch any glimpses through there. But she does not enter or take any action to open the chain barring the door.
"What were we looking for again, Abelard? Something of Victocora's? What was it again, some sort of letters? Or a cache of jewelry? It's slipped my mind."
"Someone's inside," Onorix whispers to Korva. ", we'll have to be careful." Slowly, Onorix creeps up to the door and begins to open it up slightly, preferably as quietly as possible, looking inside before he makes a judgment whether to enter the building or not.
You hear no voices, though you can make out some faint whining noises and the telltale scuffling of someone/something stepping.
The front doors hang halfway open, chains loosely binding them closed. You think you could probably squeeze through the gap in the doors, or else you could break/unlock the chains. Inside, you see a pack of three dogs, one much larger than the others. They notice you at the door and the large one begins barking loudly, alerting the others, who both rush toward the door.
Everyone but Parai, you hear loud, aggressive barking coming from inside the livery.
Korva is nervous, waiting to see what Onorix discovers.
Parai shakes her head silently as Abelard makes his way to her, and just gives a shrug of her shoulders to his explanation. "Frankly, it's none of my business what you're up to with your acquaintances. Or was that a complete stranger? On second thought, don't answer that. It really doesn't matter to me. We're here to work together and for the time being at least, let our private lives remain private. Shall we?" she suggests, continuing in the direction where they were headed before the interruption by the girl.
Abelard nods in agreement, completely unfazed: "You are right, it doesn't matter to you; I suppose it's nice after what's happened that somebody has time to worry about trivial things. Life goes on, I suppose." That's about as philosophical as he gets.
The stinging in his cheek and the red mark have largely disappeared by the time they reach the Livery.
He shakes his head at Parai's question. "Nothing so specific, I'm afraid; just that we'd find something of intere-"
He becomes aware that he's talking to thin air: Parai has moved to the doors, and the next thing he hears is loud barking. "Hell's bells!"
Running forward, he does his best to interpose himself between Parai and any harm.
"I've never been good with animals" Parai shakes her head, frowning a little as she backs away from the doors where she discovered a bunch of dogs. "But that doesn't mean I like harming them. I would prefer to leave them as they are. I don't suppose you'd have any food with you that we could throw them to keep them quiet?" I don't know, maybe they're guard dogs trained to ignore such distractions? Oh, if only I'd ever actually listened to that groundskeeper when he droned on about his dogs...
She's prepared to try and keep the dogs from squeezing through the gap but she hopes to be able to do it as harmlessly as possible.
Hearing the barking, Alliszah starts and looks toward the building's front. What was that? Cautiously, she makes her way up the building's side, peering around. It's two of the others - and it looks like there's something inside as well. They aren't in harm's way for now, it looks like, but I'm heading up to join them should it come to trouble.
Nightgaunt nods, and moves quietly with Alliszah.
Parai, you manage to pull the doors closed quickly, and the chains holding them closed begin to rattle as the pack of hounds begins pawing and snarling on the other side.
The dogs are immediately on the other side of the double-doors. You may attempt to break the doors down (damage as normal, hardness applies), unlock the chains (Disable Device), break them (Strength Check), or open them enough to squeeze through (Escape Artist for Medium creatures, treated as difficult terrain for Small).
Onorix, the back door is tenaciously stuck after years of rotting and rusting on its hinges. Your Perception check did allow you to hear the barking of several dogs, all headed away from the back door that you are standing in front of. You may attempt to burst it open (Strength Check), or break the door (damage as normal, hardness applies).
"The dogs are going away from us." Onorix tells Korva as he takes a step away from the door. "Just give me a moment to bust this thing open, then we'll be inside." with that, Onorix rams his shoulder in to the rotted door in an attempt to bust it open.
If he manages to open the door, he strides inside and motions for Korva to follow him.
"The dogs are going away from us." Onorix tells Korva as he takes a step away from the door. "Just give me a moment to bust this thing open, then we'll be inside." with that, Onorix rams his shoulder in to the rotted door in an attempt to bust it open.
Onorix tackles the door, which remains firmly in place, without the slightest indication that it had been shoved, aside from a cloud of dust billowing from the old wood.
The dogs hurl themselves at the front door, held shut by Parai, to no avail.
Round 1:
Onorix
Small Dogs
Korva <- You may act!
Nightgaunt <- You may act!
Alliszah <- You may act!
Parai <- You may act!
Abelard <- You may act!
Big Dog
Korva jumps when Onorix slams into the town, glancing around to see if the noise has attracted any attention? She moves a bit closer to him and tries to play lookout.
Is there any way we can keep the doors only partially open? Alliszah wonders, watching Parai lean into them to keep them shut. Enough that we can get a weapon between the doors without letting the hounds out? I can startle one of them with magic for a few moments, perhaps, but that'll do us little good, and the more powerful enchantment magic I've learned won't work on the minds of beasts. Or perhaps...let me see. Setting a hand on the door and peering through the slats, Alliszah begins a sonorous incantation, and the pendant hanging from her neck whistles softly of its own accord. Suddenly, from the back of the stables, the unmistakable din of a cat screeching loudly in surprise rings out, as if someone's stood on its tail.
Abelard pats his - empty - pockets, mostly for show; he gives Parai a good-natured smile. "No, I do not have anything they might eat, although you strike me as more the sort of morsel they might be interested in."
He examines the door. "It seems I could break the chain, which would allow us to open the door and get in - then there's just the small matter of fighting our way past the guard animals on the other side." He makes a face. "Given we have to get in, we're going to have to fight these things sooner or later. Are you any good in a scrap?"
Listening to the barking, Nightgaunt says, "It sounds like the others could use help around front. Come!"
He begins to move to the front of the building.
Hearing the commotion up front, Alliszah follows Nightgaunt at a run, seeking to aid her companions (and hoping they aren't beyond aid already).
Parai continues to try to hold the doors closed untils she hears a better idea. "I don't relish the idea of opening the doors, Abelard. With the way those dogs are, it might come to having to put them down. It is an outcome I would rather avoid if we can. Perhaps I can keep the dogs distracted here while you look for alternate entrances. If I keep rattling the chains and making noises at the dogs, they will stay focused on these doors here. I'll distract, you go and look for alternate entrances. How does that sound?"
Abelard hesitates at the suggestion: after all, this is a bad part of town and a chap shouldn't leave a lady on her own. On the other hand, her idea is sound: if the dogs are distracted here, then it will be easier to break in elsewhere.
"Alright. But if they look like they're getting through that door, or if something happens, you scream, OK? I'll come running."
With one last, unhappy, look back at her he edges away to see if there's another way into the building.
The three dogs continue battering the door with their paws, their barks muffled behind walls and wood, but still loud enough to be heard easily outside.
Nightgaunt makes his way to the front of the building where the others are. "Hmm. It seems rather cruel to kill them. A pity I don't have a certain spell I've seen, that stuns people and animals with a burst of scintillating colors. Does anybody have a way to knock them out quickly?"
Onorix looks somewhat embarrassed about how poorly his attempt at knocking down the door went, and is greatful for the distraction that a certain realization provides. "... oh. It's the others that are on the other side of the building. With the dogs. We should probably go help them out." Onorix begins to quickly move over towards the front of the building, figuring that he at least doesn't stand a chance to enter in from the backside.
Korva will follow Onorix, not wanting to be alone with nasty dogs.
We'll have to silence the beasts somehow - the longer they bark, the more chance there is we will be discovered. A few good blows will quiet them for the time being, unless anyone else has anything to offer. The dottari will not hesitate on using the same method on the hounds and us both, should they get reports of a disturbance. While she doesn't sound pleased with the prospect, Alliszah's voice is weighty with pragmatism. Lydir's sting carries a soporific venom, but we cannot send him in there alone, and once we open the door we will have all of them to contend with.
After a few seconds spent gathering at the doors, one of the dogs manages to batter the door hard enough to loose a few of the slats, giving enough room for them to squeeze through, if they were determined enough.
They certainly look determined enough.
Round 5:
Big Dogs
Small Dogs
Korva <- You may act!
Nightgaunt <- You may act!
Alliszah <- You may act!
Parai <- You may act!
Abelard <- You may act!
Onorix <-You may act!
As the crowd starts to gather around the "dog doors" which Parai is trying to hold closed, she inwardly sighs a little. So much for my grand plan of distracting the dogs while the others slip in through another route. Oh well. I can't say I relish the idea of being left alone with a group of angry dogs, though, so maybe it's better this way, no? She looks from face to face at the party members coming to the area, and with a slight grimace, says, "I would really prefer it if the animals were not permanently damaged, if at all possible. I find the thought of violence against animals...distasteful."
Thinking quickly, and very unhappy with the sight of those dogs getting out, Korva casts Ghost sound in the stable behind the dogs. Causing the sound of a group of cats howling behind then dogs in an attempt to distract them.
Whatever we do, let's get it done, Alliszah mutters, a imperious tone in her voice. Hoping to aid Korva's efforts, she adds her own illusory sounds to her ally's, reasoning that enhancing the illusion can only help to fool the beasts.
Abelard rolls his eyes. Girls. Too soft-hearted, that's their trouble. Most of 'em, anyway, he corrects himself.
Aloud he says only "I'll see what I can do. I suggest you open the door so I can get to them."
Assuming that someone opens the door, he steps through to confront the lead dog, bringing both hands down in a clubbing motion to the back of its head.
Parai stops holding the doors closed and instead tries to break them open.
if the mace I picked up from the thug is heavy, and if it's light then
Parai, your mace shatters the lower half of the door off of the beam, leaving a space large enough to duck through
Abelard, your fists thump into the large dog's head with a satisfying crack, causing it to reel for a moment. It looks a bit rattled by your attack, as if one more such blow would take it down handily.
Korva and Alliszah, One of the smaller dogs begins charging the back of the livery, furious at the sound of screeching cats. The other two seem unfazed, as they can smell meat closer, and look quite feral.
Onorix and Nightgaunt, you may act before the dogs.
Okay... time to attack dogs. Our glorious reclamation is of to a truly heroic start. Onorix thinks to himself, still not over how miserably he had failed at dealing with the door earlier. Pulling out a twin pair of shortsowrds from underneath his coat, the man tries to whack one of the smaller dogs on the top of its head with the flat of his blade.
Nightgaunt sees the crowd in front of the door, and hears them breaking. He moves around to the other side, but does not crowd in just yet. He prepares to attack should one of the dogs start to break free.
Round 6:
Big Dogs
Small Dogs
Korva <- You may act!
Nightgaunt <- You may act!
Alliszah <- You may act!
Parai <- You may act!
Abelard <- You may act!
Onorix <-You may act!
The larger of the canines, frothing and wild-eyed, snaps hungrily at Abelard.
One of the smaller dogs begins yapping and snarling as it tears off toward the back of the livery in search of the screeching cats Korva and Alliszah emulated with their magic.
The second small dog, now sporting a fresh blade-flat bruise on the side of its snout, lunges at Onorix.
A chap doesn't swear in front of girls; it isn't done. Abelard clenches his lips together, so only a grunt of furious pain escapes as the mutt's jaws close on his flesh, tearing and ripping. He stays on his feet, just.
He lashes out with his foot at the fleeing smaller dog.
Abelard's foot catches the dog squarely in the ribs, sending it flying against the wall with a satisfying crunch, and to the ground in an unconscious heap.
Abelard gives a satisfied growl as one of the mutts is (temporarily at least) put down.
Grabbing the biggest of the mutts by the ears with one hand, he delivers a swinging elbow-uppercut into the beast's lower jaw, doing his best to end the fight before he bleeds to death.
Still bleeding profusely, he nevertheless bows ironically to Parai. "Congratulations: you are now the proud owner of three unconscious mutts. Happy to be of service. Ow."
Nightgaunt sighs. "Let's make sure these dogs are going to stay unconscious, and pull them off of the street so that we don't leave suspicious looking things about. Then, let's head inside and see if we can find our way to the chambers below this building."
Nightgaunt will go into the livery first and have a look around. If it's dark, he will look back to the others and ask if anybody has a light source.
Korva will use Dancing lights to illuminate the interior.
As soon as the dogs fall, Alliszah ducks inside, glancing warily around as she enters and clearly unfazed by the darkness that reigns before Korva's lights take shape. It does not seem the sort of place where one would keep important historical documentation, she comments, but perhaps that is by design? Perhaps this stable conceals something more? Dubiously, she scans the interior of the Livery, looking for any sign of where something like Rexus had spoken of could be hidden. As she searches, an eerie note echoes of its own accord from the flute hanging around her neck, and suddenly her eyes begin to glow with a strange gold light.
As you all enter the aged stable, you can tell that it clearly lists heavily to one side. The air reeks of stale urine. Broken desks, scuffed tables, and torn chairs crowd the thirteen horse stalls , all of which are covered with a healthy layer of dust. A grated-off alcove along the southeast wall seems to house the only relatively intact wares, though the grate is locked and the iron seems to still be quite sturdy. The back offices each contain an old desk, a chair, and some empty cupboards.
Through the grated gate on the southern wall of the building, you can see a piece of the wall that has fallen away, and what was once a secret passageway has now become exposed, thanks to the decaying state of the building.
You notice some strange, clawed-baby tracks criscrossing the floor, desktop, and cupboards. You may make a Knowledge (Nature) check to identify these, or point them out to someone to make such a check.
Additionally, you notice an old ring, nailed to one of the rafters above the horse stalls. You may make a Climb check (or let someone else do it) to retrieve the ring.
Finally, inside one of the desks in the back office you find a small key.
As you enter the livery and begin surveying the debris, one of the cupboards begins to open and slam itself shut, seemingly of its own volition.
While you're stepping through the doorway past the unconscious dogs, you see clumps of old, damp hay being tossed into the air over and over.
Onorix looks over his shoulder to see if they are being watched before following the rest group inside. He's about to close the doors behind them when he notices one of the cupboards opening and closing on its own. On second thought, having a secure way out of this place is useful.
Onorix begins exploring the area as best as he can, trying to look for any sign of a secret passageway, or tunnel, or anything that might be indicative of a secret area.
"I think I found something over here..." Onorix says as he moves up to one of the horse stalls, his eyes fixed on one of the rafters. Once he gets inside the horse stall, he mutters a brief prayer to himself before trying to climb up to the rafters, attempting to reach a ring that seems to the side of one of the wooden beams.
Still bleeding profusely Abelard follows the others in, not paying attention to very much.
"Hang on, Abelard, let me take care of that injury", Parai says, stepping closer to the man and putting a hand in close proximity to his wound, but without actually touching his body. She whispers a few words that hum with divine power, and her fingers glow with a golden light that suffuses Abelard's wound area, knitting his flesh back together.
DC 11 for Nightgaunt, as he's got a distance penalty....
His head whips around and regards Parai as she casts the spell. He briefly nods knowingly at Parai, says notghing, and goes back to looking at the room.
He points at one of the cupboards. "That cupboard is opening and closing itself, and I cannot perceive anything doing it. Curious."
He will move closer to the cupboard, cast Detect Magic, and scan the area for magic auras.
You manage to shimmy up just high enough to reach the ring without any issues. When you come back to the ground, you can see that the ring is an old, burnished platinum signet ring belonging to house Juliac. You estimate it is quite valuable, and not just because of its noble affiliation - the ring itself is probably worth ~200-300gp.
The cupboards open and close sporadically. Each time you aim Detect Magic at one of them, there is a faint, quickly-fading aura of transmutation magic. You may make a Knowledge (Arcana) check to attempt to deduce what's going on.
Abelard, you are too distracted holding your mongrel-bitten side to pay much attention to the building itself. As far as you can tell, the place is old, reeks of horse-piss, and there are cupboards clattering.
Parai, immediately after curing Abelard, you (and everyone) see a push-broom from one of the horse stalls lift itself off the ground, clatter lightly against one of the stall walls, and fall to the ground with a sharp noise as the wood strikes the floor. Additionally, you feel a faint chill, followed by an intensely warm sensation in the air only around your faces.
You may each make Knowledge (Arcana) checks to deduce what's happening.
You are fairly certain that the cupboards, broom, temperature changes, and hay are the result of some minor cantrips, like Prestidigitation, Open/Close, Mage Hand. You are uncertain of their source, however.