Kolaiah listens to his companions. One can learn far more from listening, than from speaking.
Lust joins Gluttony in the coach, once again insisting on a proper seat. Not wanting to get her pretty dress dirty.
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The Archbaron sits behind his desk with tented fingers as Amanda makes her explanation. His impassive demeanor betrays no expression until she comes to a complete stop.
"I have to admit my surprise that your group caught the myopic gaze of our local clergy," he says, with the barest hint of a sneer calculated to show through. "I'm less surprised that he would bother to call himself the High Priest of Longacre, even though he's the only one, but there's Asmodeans for you. Most of the ones I know spend so much time in service of their hierarchies, and so little devoted to the things that really matter." He leans back in his chair, fingers stroking his long, waxed mustache.
"You, however, have caught Razelago's infernal eye, not an easy task I might add, and so I think that you'll be able to continue maintaining your cover without it affecting your duties to me much, if at all. I do urge you to consider whether or not it's worth it, though. The Church of Asmodeus is small in Longacre, and its priest was not given this post for his good standing with the 'central office' in Egorian, believe me. There's only so far a feeble old man like him can take you. If you harbor any ambition at all, I urge you to consider whose opportunity holds more value in the long run. There may come a time where this disguise becomes untenable, and you'll have to decide whether it's more important to you to serve your church or the government that it serves. I hope that, when that time comes, you'll make the right choice for you, for me, and for Cheliax as a whole." He stands up and moves back to the alcove with the stone.
"For now I'm content to take your oath of allegiance and see how this plays out." He gestures to the stone. "When you're ready."
"Where to next, sir?" asks Festus as people start climbing into the carriage again. "Unless I've miscounted, is there one more that we're waiting for? Or will Miss Felhand traveling separately this time?"
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"I appreciate you concerns Archbaron but as you know we all have our place in the infernal machine and when orders are given by your superiors they should be obeyed. Still Asmodeus also does value ambition as well and indeed I have my own ambitions to ascend the ranks and earn myself a place of prominence in the proper order. Perhaps someday I will find it prudent to cast away this persona and reveal my true identity, but for now it serves my purposes. In the meantime, I have an oath to take as I have promised you Archbaron and likewise I shall keep to the letter of the law.
Amanda puts her hand on the stone when prompted and then says the oath, "I, your Amanda Malburne, swear my absolute allegiance to Archbaron Darellus Fex, Her Infernal Majestrix Queen Abrogail the Second of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune, and the Empire of Cheliax"
"Perceptive as always Festus, yes we will wait for her...I guess" Nikolai takes out his mirror and checks his face for any blemishes while he waits.
Fex nods his acceptance of the oath and returns to his desk. He takes out a pen and slides a sheet from a stack of papers in front of him and begins to write. He looks up after a moment, seemingly surprised that Amanda is still there.
"You're dismissed as well," he says, gesturing to the door before going back to his writing. Almost immediately a Halfling butler appears by the office door.
"Please, this way m'am," says the Halfling, leading the way back to the front door where the group entered and left their shoes, though there is only one set left there, currently.
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Muziel addresses the straggler as she returns. "Hey, welcome back Darla! Or should I say Pride? Done kissing up to the Archbaron yet?" Muziel speaks lightly, though he does actually want her to spill the beans on what she was up to.
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Amanda gives a respectful bow to the Archbaron, waiting for a time to be dismissed rather than walking out without permission. She departs the room with the Halfling butler and heads back to the group.
Amanda says in response to Muziel's comment, "What I discussed with the baron is between him and myself. As for my pride, that is a matter of my own concern, not yours. In the end I have taken the same oath as the rest of you and now am ready to proceed to our next task. Together we will see these pawns of the righteous be brought low and the iron rule of law prevail in this city."
"Well no time like the present I guess." Nikolai says and calls to Festus to take them to the tavern to address the situation with Caggan.
Festus acknowledges the destination, and the carriage quickly leaves Scarlet Crown behind heading back to town. After several minutes of comfortable riding (for those inside), the vehicle pulls to a stop outside the more popular of Longacre's two drinking and entertainment establishments.
"The Last Stand, sir," announces the driver upon arrival, waiting for his passengers to disembark. The place is much the same as it was left the day before, with one notable exception. While the nail that Penelope hammered into the railing is still there, the Archbaron's decree is conspicuously absent from it.
It's early in the day still, but the place still has patrons having a late breakfast or early lunch. The sounds of a stringed instrument catch the ear from inside as someone, presumably Riley Kels, idly strums a lute but clearly isn't yet in full performance mode.
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"I hate this place, it is offensive to all of my senses simultaneously" Nikolai jumps up and pushes his way into the tavern boldly and begins to sing a battle hymn of Cheliax from the days of old when the Devils of Asmodeus defeated the daemons that had taken over. Headhunter
Nikolai tries to sing over the horrible music coming from Kels
Bardic Performance Countersong
Penelope fluffs out in her lovely dress. Not happy they are about to go into a volatile situation with no armor and no sword, but at least she looks really good which she flaunts as she follows the bard into the bar.
Her dark eyes take in every shadow
Kolaiah thinks to himself, "this should be fun!" He follows the others in.
"Pretty cheeky of them to tear down that sign!" Muziel goes inside as well, hands crossed like he owns the place.
Ismene steps out of the carriage, steeling her nerves. It's for the best. It doesn't take much effort to put on a scowl for what they're about to do. Let Sarini do the talking. You're just here for back-up when he starts throwing buttered rolls. The thought of Bolgart assaulting them with delicious food makes Ismene smile despite herself.
All activity in the tavern comes to a screeching halt as Nikolai bursts in with his battle hymn along with everyone else. A few of the patrons that recognize the party shoot angry looks at the sudden intrusion. Those that don't recognize the party look around in worried confusion.
"I told ya you're not welcome here anymore," says Caggan from behind the bar, shouting to be heard over the clashing musics. "Get yourselves gone or there's gonna be real trouble, this time!" He pulls a rather surprisingly good quality warhammer from behind the bar and lays it on the counter to back up his threat, keeping a hand on the handle.
The two visible barmaids freeze in their tracks bearing trays filled with drinks while a third pokes a head out from the back room.
Round # 1 Initiative order 6 (13 rolled)
"Au Contraire Mon Frère, it is you that is no longer welcome here, in Longacre, any more. Come quietly...or don't I hope you don't actually I would very much enjoy punishing you for the liquid sorrow you serve here every night." Nikolai says in his most biting tone and moves out of the way of the door to allow his companions in.
Ismene clenches her jaw when she sees Bolgart's warhammer. "So much for buttered rolls," she mutters under her breath. Carefully, she moves along the back wall, making her way to apprehend Riley Kells.
Muziel clambers on top of a table, hoping to have a good vantage point to zap any aggressors. "Give it up, Caggan! You're under arrest for hosting an unlawful gathering! Any resistance can and will be met with deadly force!"
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Amanda goes back to her inn room and changes back into her gear. She then joins up again with the party and heads off to do the job. When the fight breaks out, Amanda is ready to teach these fools a lesson.
Amanda on her turn points at Caggan and yells, "Kneel and surrender lawbreaker lest you soul be sent swiftly to the pits of hell far before its time! The Dark Prince has no patience for those who twart the iron rule of law!"
Using Fear the Flames on the man. He either must do as I tell him or make a DC 14 Will save. If he fails the will save he's considered shaken for 1 round. Other than that she'll pull out her bow and aims it at him threateningly.
As Sister Ismene begins to circle the outskirts of the room and Muziel climbs up onto the table declaring the bartender under arrest, the barmaids watch unsure of what to do for a moment. But then Riley Kels grins wide.
"Your authority isn't recognized in here," he says, and begins to sing and play to inspire courage for those in the bar willing to defend the barkeep.
The barmaids, emboldened by the intention to not simply give up, move to help defend their boss. The one by Sister Ismene swings her empty serving tray at the Asmodean monk, while the other two throw partially full mugs at Muziel on the table. None of them are much used to much more than dealing with drunks, and are unsuccessful in their attempts.
Nikolai moves in and tries to demoralize Caggan, but he's far too infuriated at the party's return and intent to arrest him to pay much heed. Amanda is more successful as, even though he's not going to bend the knee and surrender right away, he's still somewhat shaken by the thought of going to Hell.
Initiative Round #1
Penelope still in her pretty pretty dress will go after one of the tasty looking tarts.
The barmaid just barely manages to twist out of Penelope's grip at the last second. Something in the eyes makes the young girl recoil in horror. Cimri, gathering what's going on from just outside, rushes through the door. Drawing her sap on the way, she goes to knock the recoiling barmaid unconscious.
But her balance is significantly put off by the haphazard arrangement of chairs left behind by the fleeing patrons. Caggan, shaken but determined, grabs a abandoned bottle from the bar.
"Leave my girls alone!" he shouts as he hurls the container at Penelope before rushing around the end of the bar.
The bottle connects, drawing a little bit of blood which, mixed with what little alcohol was left in the vessel, runs into Penelope's eyes. It stings and makes it a little bit difficult to focus.
Our authority isn't recognized? Riley's arrogance banishes any misgivings Ismene had about taking the men into custody. Her wrath is temporarily re-directed by a serving wench taking a swing at her with a tray. Ismene blocks it with her forearm, pausing for a moment to stare at the other woman in disbelief. "Seriously?" Curling her fingers, she slams her fist into the wench's skull.
"You're next, Kels!" Knocking the chairs out of the way, she charges at the musician, intent on breaking his instrument over his head.
"Tsk, tsk, can't say I didn't warn ya, Caggan!" Electricity begins to spark between Muziel's upraised hands, until it becomes a living, crackling ball. Muziel then hurls it straight at Caggan!
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Sister Ismene gives the barmaid that swung at her a mighty blow to the face. She's just barely hanging on to consciousness and weakly flails at the monk as she moves on, blood streaming from her broken nose.
Muziel's ball of lightning almost misses, but catches the bartender in the shoulder sending a painful jolt throughout the man's body. He grimaces as all his muscles spasm at once for a few moments.
Riley Kels continues to inspire his allies, but looks much less confident than he did at the beginning. Certainly the grin has been replaced with a look of concern. He takes a step to the back end of the stage to get out of Ismene's immediate reach.
The barmaid with the smashed face drops the serving tray at the end of her weak swing at Sister Ismene and begins to withdraw toward the back room.
"Get away from me, creep!" shouts the one that Penelope tried to grapple, flailing her serving tray ineffectively at her. The one behind the bar hurls another partially full glass at Muziel for zapping her boss, but the improvised weapon sails harmlessly past him.
Amanda issues her ultimatum, but Caggan doesn't seem like he's ready to give up just yet. He's seems pretty angry about the shot to the face that Sister Ismene gave one of his employees and possibly isn't even listening.
Round 2 Initiative #13
Nikolai moves closer to Caggan clears his throat and produces a loud scream towards Caggan
Round 2
Penelope touches the side of her face, smearing the blood against her pale skin. Looking at Caggan, the familiar lust rises up in her, but not him, no that would be too quick. She looks back at the barmaid and says with a very pleased smile I'm going to kill you
Caggan puts a hand to his ear in mild pain for a moment. His hand comes away with a few drops of blood on it, but he seems to have withstood the brunt of Nikolai's magically enhanced scream. The barmaid, already somewhat disturbed by Penelope, thoroughly believes that she's about to be murdered, and flails as hard as she can, making her a surprisingly difficult target to grab.
Cimri takes advantage of the barmaid's preoccupation with not being nabbed by Penelope to land a blow with her sap, but as much adrenaline is coursing through her system in fight-or-flight mode, it doesn't do enough to make a difference just yet.
Caggan, a little scorched in places and still with fresh blood in his ear, wades toward Sister Ismene kicking chairs out of the way between them and brandishing his warhammer. He rears back to take a mighty swing, but in so doing telegraphs his intent to the monk, making avoiding it a simple matter.
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As Amanda's arrow flies true, Muziel decides to give the barmaid behind the bar a cold, hard stare. Which would be laughable except for the spark of electricity that issues from his hands "You wanna try throwing another mug, wench?" If she does anything at all aggressive, Muziel attempts to zap her.
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Ismene leans to the side as Caggan's warhammer swings past harmlessly, returning with a punch to the throat and a mean left hook to the jaw. Her eyes widen in surprise when an arrow suddenly sprouts from his side. She might have cared about such an excessive display of lethal force five minutes ago, but treasonous scum like Caggan deserved what they got.
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Round 3 Initiative #13
Seeing Caggan receive some heavy punishment, Nikolai decides to twist the knife with what he does best, a little mockery.
Caggan finally gets a taste
Horrible as his mead
To die for this hovel, a waste
Citizens watch him bleed
You there Riley Kels
I introduce the Sinister Seven
We bring tidings from nine hells
Are you ready to go to heaven?
Sister Ismene serves up some serious punishment on the bartender. The vicious punch to the throat leaves him gasping for breath and completely unable to focus on the incoming hook. Still reeling from both of those blows, Amanda's magically guided arrow strikes perfectly. It isn't quite enough to outright kill him, but it's pretty close. The large man collapses to the floor, at risk of bleeding out.
Seeing how badly things are turning, Riley Kels has lost all semblance of confidence. Rather than continuing to try standing his ground without Caggan's help, he bolts for the back room.
Seeing that their boss is down and Kels is fleeing, the barmaids similarly decide that discretion is the better part of valor. The already wounded one continues her pained and reeling withdraw. The one Penelope has been trying to grab drops the serving tray and attempts to extricate herself from the surrounded mess she's in by withdrawing as well, but still can't help leaving herself open to Nikolai and his rapier, though he panicked movement continues to make her a more difficult target to hit than she likely has any right to be.
The remaining barmaid, who hasn't come under any sort of fire yet, seems conflicted about retreating, and decides to try at least one more shot at Muziel with a bottle. "For Bolgart!" she shouts, then suddenly jukes, narrowly avoiding the Muziel's blast of electricity despite his advantageous positioning. The experience leaves her too nervous to get a proper throw off, and just after making the wild throw she retreats to the back room.
Penelope wishes to fulfill her promise to the barmaid, charging after her tackling the retreating harlot.
ugh... and another ugh
Penelope crashes through the scattered chairs without even really seeming to notice them in pursuit of her goal. The barmaid, not expecting to be caught up with so quickly, isn't nearly as defensive as she had been while surrounded, and Penelope manages to catch a grip on her that sticks this time. "Eek!" she screams, startled and frightened.
"We still need Kels, too!" shouts Cimri, seeing that the bard is getting away. Moving around the table and past Nikolai she attempts to get a running start and vault over the bar to get to him. Unfortunately she measured the distance perfectly, but misjudged the height of the bar, which catches her feet and sends her tumbling into a heap right behind Kels. She takes a moment to pick herself back up off the ground.
Caggan, meanwhile, continues to bleed onto the floor of his bar, unconscious and slowly dying.
Ismene looks down at Caggan, preparing to give him final rites, when a flurry of movement catches her attention. "Get back here, Kels!" Leaping from table to table, Ismene hurls herself after the fleeing minstrel, leaving Caggan to live or die as he pleases.
Round 4 Initiative #13
Nikolai will stop his mockery now that Kels is attempting to flee. He will instead try to daze the bard with another ear piercing scream.
Sister Ismene quite gracefully Parkours her way up onto and then along the Last Stand's bar, ultimately tackling the fleeing bard as another silent scream from Nikolai that only Kels can hear causes a small trickle of blood from the ear in much the same manner as happened to Caggan earlier.
Kels, interrupted in his attempt to flee the bar and being held quite firmly by Ismene, summons up all his concentration and starts casting sleep to try and stop the immediate pursuers.
-Posted with Wayfinder
On the one hand, Muziel knew that they wanted the musician alive for interrogation. On the other hand, he was clearly babbling some strange magic. He decides he'd better try to stop that.
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-Posted with Wayfinder
Muziel tries flinging a bolt at Kels, but the burgeoning dog-pile on the other side of the bar makes it difficult for the gnome to get a clean shot. The released bolt of electricity ends up passing through a space where Kels just was and leaving a scorch mark on the wall behind.
The barmaid that made it outside earlier takes off running while the one that Penelope grabbed struggles vainly to break free. The one bleeding freely from the nose finds her escape route suddenly cut off by the people chasing down Kels and reverses course to circle back around the occupied Penelope and get back to the front door instead. As woozy as she is from the blow to the face she took, though, it's going to take her a while to stumble her way there.
Penelope will feed!!!! She pushes the brainless tart against the bar, sinking her fangs into her soft neck , drinking deep on the lovely thick red liquid.
Normally, you can only drink blood from an opponent who is helpless, grappled, paralyzed, pinned, unconscious, or similarly disabled. If you have a bite attack, you can drink blood automatically as part of your bite attack; otherwise, you must first cut your target by dealing 1 hit point of damage with a slashing or piercing weapon (though you may feed upon a creature with severe wounds or a bleed effect without cutting it first). Once you cut the target, you can drink from its wound as a standard action. Drinking blood deals 2 points of Constitution damage to the creature you feed upon.
Does she hold...
YES!!! Penelope does a secret happy dance inside.