Sergeant, what ever hit Karralo... that wouldent have anything to do with the fact that your coin purse is quite a bit larger then when you went into market did it? I mean, sure I'm new to the guard... but that Has to look weird, especially since I don't see a bank of Abadar aroud here. I bet that if we talked to some of the merchants down there, they would say that you gave thim a classic shake down. Sir you brought this violence down on yourself. Besides between your stealing, drinking and the general sexual harrassment that you have shown towards Allysen, I would say that the Korvosa Arbiters would be very interested in my statment. Sir how about you leave the coins where you found them and then we go get some medical attention for Karralo. I want to help these people sir and turning this into a riot won't help a lick.
Allysen's tone doesn't change, but her eyes narrow more.
"Shouldn't the slap come after the law is broken, not before, sir?"
After Karralo is hit by something, Allysen looks around to see if there are any obvious threats. She then looks at Karralo's wound.
Allysen doesn't draw steal, yet, but she does quickly bring her shield out to give her a little more protection. She also manages to override her first instinct to follow orders, she's far too curious about how Vancaskerkin is going to respond to Andre's question.
Garridan sticks by Allysen and Andre, both hands tucked into his sword belt. He looks past the Verik and the others to see the source of the projectile.
Perception:
Verik's face passes from angry to a controlled smile. "Ha! You newbloods think you've got it figured out, do you? You have no idea how the power flows here. None. Go run off and tattle to the Arbiters and see what good it will do you. Allow me to ruin the surprise for you - it will get you nowhere. Now, disobeying a superior's orders? That will indeed get you somewhere. Back on your assess, out of the guard." His face and his tone change to one of anger again. "Now get your hides into that market and apprehend who did this!"
As Allysen moves to inspect the wound, you see that he was struck by a bullet and apart from a deep cut and impending knot, he will be fine.
"Yes sir."
Oh I think I have a very good idea of how power flows around here. I just want to change that.
Allysen moves forward into the crowd and starts looking for anyone avoiding anyone that looks like there in the guard. She also starts asking people what they saw, not that she expects to get far with that tactic.
Garridan follows in to the market, slapping Karralo on the back.
"It's a good thing we're here to help- save your expert watch skills for the real crooks.", he says dryly.
Leaving Allysen to be the friendly face of the watch, Krale follows with steel-eyed authority and barely restrained menace. His hands are never far from his weapons and all he says are short, clipped sentences.
Intimidate:
Perception:
"Fine, whatever sir". Keeping one hand on his sword and the second on his shield Andre follows Garridan and Allysen into the press of bodies. Once they are out of earshot of the Sergeant and his cronies, Andre mutters two his companions. "I don't know about you, but Karralo got what he deserved. My father was a merchant, these are people just the same as us trying to make do the best they can. The guard is supposed to protect them, not make their life's harder. A guy like Verik makes me sick. I don't care what he says, there's got to be a way to make this better."
Duncan moves over to the fight and starts calling for Order.
Awrigh, BREAK IT UP!
He attempts to bull rush his way to the center of the group to get to the recruit
Git off Im or yer in the brig!
Moving - or bull-rushing - to the crowd you find the recrut curled in a ball at the center of the mass. Your words to break things up go unheard, but the bull rush into the crowd does the trick. The crowd parts, but three very drunk, very large thugs remain. "That boy needsh to be arresthed, guardsman," one of them slurs. "He called me a naughty word. So I belted him. He desherved it."
Goldfist heads over, pushing one of the thugs as he passes. He helps the boy to his feet, but the thug who was pushed growls angrily, "Hey! Who you think you are? You can't come round here 'n push honest folks around. You're no better than the B!&$+ Queen!"
Goldfist turns on him, his face red with anger. "I am the Korvosan Guard and ye' would do well to watch yer mouth - drunk or no. Now, let's go find that filthy owner of this joint," he says to you three. "I want to be askin' him 'bout the actor-King."
The crowd packed back in, anxious to see what would transpire. The two other recruits, Baldrago and Parns hang back, clearly unsure of whether they should step in or not. They appear to be holding back the crowd, but to even the least observant eye, they aren't really doing a thing.
"Not so fast, we weren't done talking yet," the thug continues, and it appears he is attempting to grab onto Goldfist.
Graxlo -
Angus -
Pai -
Goldfist -
Thugs -
Both Allysen and Garridan experience success gathering information, despite their varying methods. Though both fail to spot anything out of the ordinary.
Allysen learns that three guardsmen just came through here and shook down several of the merchants - "Honest men, all of 'tem" - before heading back out amidst threats of "breaking up the fun." One such merchant was old Sixsmith.
Upon reaching Sixsmith's stall, Garridan frightens the old man into telling him that his grandson was none too happy about the way the guardsmen had treated him - "Such a noble, loyal boy, that one" - and he had promised to get back at them for his grandfather. The grandfather tried to protest, but the boy ran off a few minutes ago. He didn't, unfortunately, know where the boy had run off to or what he had done.
Allysen nods at Andre's words.
"I agree, but we don't really have any options besides trying to ease as much of the pain he causes as we can."
Allysen gives Garridan a glower after he threatens the old man before asking him as nicely as she can manage.
"Master Sixsmith, do you know of any hiding places, hangouts, or anything like that he prefers to go to? We think he may have done something rather rash and the others looking for him might not be so willing to keep him from harm."
Group 1
Diplomacy
Graxlo walks up behind the thug and taps the blunt end of his maulaxe on the ground "Stop. Now. Yer using me bloody time and unless you want ta be the bloody one id get going"
Angus brandishes his Cesti covered fists and steps up to the loudmouth.
Ye'll back off Now! For ye be arrested fear disturbin the piece
Sixsmith is clearly wary about giving away any more information. He just shakes his head and mutters something about needing to return to his stall. As he turns, you notice that he swats or waves at something in front of him. He's facing north.
Goldfist, sensing that thing are getting out of hand draws his hammer and attempts to intimidate the crowd as well. "Step back, ya' mangy thugs. We'll be on our way without a scrap or you'll be on yer way to a cell with some lumps and holes in yer body you don't have currently."
The combination of Pai's diplomacy, and Angus and Goldfist's intimidation has the desired effect. The three thugs look at one another and lower their fists, bottle and chair.
"Good thinkin'," Goldfist growls. "Now get outta here, and don't make us see you again." He turns to the Endrin Academy recruit. "Ya' alright, lad? What caused the scrap?"
The teenager holds his head in his hands and says quietly, "One of them said I looked like the spawn of the B&*!# Queen and I was there to spy on them. I replied that they looked like the spawn of an Otyugh and to shut their mouths. They didn't take kindly to that."
Goldfist laughs and pats the boy on the back. "Ah, lad, ye' best learn when ta pick yer fights and when ter walk away. Now, where did that slimy Pilts run of ta?"
Angus is impressed with Golfist's handling and glad he didn't have to shed any blood (yet) on his first patrol. He keeps his eyes peeled for Pilts.
Pai looks around for him as well, but the crowd gathered around almost completely blocked her view.
Perception
"Thank you for your time. We won't bother you any further."
Allysen leads the others away to the north, explaining in hushed tones as she goes.
"I think our little would-be-hero headed north. Mister Sixsmith didn't say anything, but sometimes actions cane speak much louder than words."
As they head north, she asks about Mister Sixsmith's grandson.
You don't spot him anywhere. You can try leaving, attempt to go backstage or ask the crowd if they've seen him.
The crowd wants nothing to do with your group, actively avoiding making eye contact with any of you, despite your best, but futile, diplomacy efforts.
Garridan frowns back to Allysen's glower.
Perception:
"This is pointless. And what are we gonna do if we find him? Drag a little kid over there? What'll that accomplish? One way or another, nothing good's coming out of this; I wouldn't be surprised if we're cleaning latrines tomorrow the way Sergeant VanAsskerkin operates."
Duncan surveys the crowd and can't spot the snake anywhere.
He approaches Goldfist and Graxlo, keeping his voice low, Can't spot that worm about. Should we head backstage and check out if that actor is all right? Couldn't see any worry on his face in the play, but that don't mean his wounds weren't real. Them weapons were real enough. Got a sick feelin bout this.
Goldfist nods and says, "You three try an' head backstage. I'll take this lad an' the two cowards out front, see what we can find. Meet us out front when ye'r done."
It takes only a few minutes to part through the throng of people to the backstage access. However, there are two large oafish men blocking entry. "Actors an' staff only," one of them grunts.
Garridan spots nothing out of the ordinary. After walking a few paces, you come to a dead end. There are a pile of crates and boxes, which, should one so desire, could be climbed to reach the roofs above. There is also an alleyway a few yards to the east that leads out of the makeshift market and away from Verik and the two other recruits.
Edit: ninja'd by the DM.
Pai nods at the dwarrf's suggestion and head toward the back with the to brothers, keeping an eye out for the actor.
Ok, so we know be went north, but did he take the alley or the roofs. I know we are on a hurry, but let me check something. looking around at the crossroad Andre kneels down and checks for signs of someone rapidly fleeing.
Well that be workin out just fine. See we be STAFF o' the city. We wanna check on the Actors from the play, since the performance was so convincing we be a bit worried about their, health an safety. That means this be official business. Now you lads goñna let us do our duty or ye gonna be getting in the way. If everything's all right back there, there's no problem. What's it gonna be?
Graxlo rolls his eyes when the thugs stop them, then turns around to scan the audience and lets his brother handle the situation
"Nope. You're not getting back there. Sorry. You don't have claws," one of the oafs says.
"Cause, you idiot! Cause!" a voice behind you says. You recognize the voice before you turn around - it's Pilts, the owner. "What do you want? Show's over. Nothing bad happened - the boy's fine. Now why don't you go and patrol elsewhere?"
You don't discern much from your attempt to track, but as you're standing up, you spot a head that disappears a moment after you see it on the roof above you.
"He did technically assault an officer of the law, even if he was provoked, Garridan. I don't see a way out of taking him to the citadel short of losing him."
Allysen looks around for a moment before adding, "Of course that may be moot now."
Graxlo is quickly losing his patience. Wonder what would happen if I just knocked em out... "How 'bout this, we just look a' the lad. If we went back to our captain and told him the boy's fine without seein 'im he might get a pit pissed. We're both wasting each others time, so lets just get this o'er with"
Quick! Allysen, Garridan, he's on the roof! Andre shouts while pointing towards the head overlooking the alley.
As Andre starts climbing he yells down to the others. This is a bad situation. Either we turn him in, or we let him go and hope the Sarg dosen't catch him, because I don't think he would make it back to the citadel.
What me brother said. Our cause is believing that guy could be hurt or kilt. Now if e's alive and fine, shouldn't be no trouble fer ye t let us talk t'the man. That's plenty. Now let us see im.
Garridan attempts to scramble up to the roof, despite his heavy armor.
Climb:
Allysen looks up and for the first time since joining the guard, she is really unsure about what to do. After a moment of hesitation she asks two questions in quick succession.
"Garridan can you go with Andre? I'd have to strip to be able to follow. Andre! Which way did he go?"
Pai walks away from the group, and gets out of the sight line of Pilts and casts a spell. Pai's outfit changed, no longer resembling the guard attire, she also was one foot taller and roughly fifty pounds of blubber heavier than her usual form.
Satisfied with her new appearance, she tries to sneak backstage away from Pilts if there is an opening.
Stealth, if necessary
Pilts looks torn. He has little desire to give in to the guard but even less to be hassled. "Why must you always be sticking your noses in to my business?" he asks, exasperatedly. Seeing Pai he says, "You, babe, you go backstage and get the guy who played the king, will ya? These…gentlemen…are huge fans."
The two guards crack open the door for Pai if she'd like to pass through.
You both manage to scramble up the boxes - it's a relatively easy climb thanks to the way they're all stacked. Upon reaching the roof, you spot an open window into the building and a number of fallen, cracked tiles below a second roof on this building. You see no person, though.
You feel a tug on your tunic. Turning, you see a little girl, her filthy face streaked with tears. "Please…m'am…leave him…alone. He din't mean no harm…please…don't take my broffer away!" she cries.
Pai nods wordlessly and walks to the back looking for "the King.
Graxlo nods "Just a big bloody waste of time eh? Can't wait ta get outta the damn guard"
It looks like he tried to climb up to the second roof! Yells Andre kneeling for a moment next to the broken tiles.
"He may not have meant any harm, but he still hurt a guardsman. We won't hurt him, but there are others that might not be so kind."
Allysen feels pained at the girl's expression, but doesn't know of any other way to comfort the poor child.
Allysen does her best to follow along, encouraging others to move out of her way if needed.
Garridan heeds Andre's suggestion and climbs to the second roof.
Climb w/armor check penalty:
You make your way backstage and find an indescribable scene of debauchery and drug use. You see only a couple of sober/unattached individuals to ask about the whereabouts of the King. They point, absently to the very back.
Arriving at the back, you find the actor who played the king. His head is slung back, his mouth open. The "wound" created on stage appears even more realistic closer up. He sits, alone and doesn't move upon your arrival.
Pilts is clearly eager to get away from you both, so he attempts to excuse himself to head back stage.
Unfortunately, this roof is a little more difficult to scale. Andre manages to clamber up, but Garridan is unable to maintain his hold on the roof, falling onto his back. He isn't injured, but a few more tiles fall from the roof above.
Upon reaching the second roof, Andre sees an open skylight into the building below and a series of roofs that are accessible via a small jump. He doesn't see the boy.
The little girl is in hysterics, in spite of your attempt to calm her down.
DM
He is unresponsive to your words.
Garridan curses quietly, then takes a quick glance into the open window.
Perception:
And if he fails to note anything, he attempts to scale the roof again.
Climb w/armor check:
DM
Graxlo gives him a weird look I tell him how much I hate tha bloody guards and he doesn't agree with me? Aight this is funny... Graxlo firmly grabs his arm "Why don't we chat for a min? I'm sure Goldfist would just love ta meet ya"
Sense Motive
Garridan! Theres a skylight that leads into building. Try going though the window, he might have gone that way. There’s some roofs that he might have ran along as well, I’ll check them. Dammit, I hope I don’t break my leg! This is stupid Andre, really, really stupid
Running as fast as he can, Andre tries to leap the building gap.
Aye. Ye should be stayin put. Once we see yer king is fine an dandy, we'll be off. Just another moment.
Angus keeps a mental count in his head on the duration of his spell. Hopefully it was still up if Pai returned with bad news.
Why isn't anything as easy as they made it seem at the temple?
Realizing that the girl could cause more trouble than she could handle alone, Allysen tries to quiet and comfort the child.
"Shhhh, shhhhh. It's okay. We just want to make sure that your brother knows that it's not okay to throw rocks at people, and that there are other ways of dealing with bad people than fighting. We'll keep him safe."
To your untrained eye, the man appears to be dead.
Pilts stamps his foot angrily, but stays put.
You don't see anything in the window, but you're able to scale to the next roof with this effort. As you reach the roof, you spot Andre attempting to leap to the next roof.
Your words seem to sooth the anxious girl and she stops crying. Which is good, as a couple of the stall merchants approached only a few minutes later to see what the problem was. Seeing that you had everything under control - the girl is now hugging your legs, her face buried in your cloak - they simply nod and walk away.