Its a foot below. Getting you inside was not part of our contract
Fine, nitpicker. Chef hands over the gold.
"Yeah, just get lost." Kraull says with a snort, but pays the man his share nevertheless.
He then turns to the others, "You want me to just rip it open? Should we care if it caves in?"
It's probably too heavy for me to open it telekinetically. How is James or whoever opening it? Maybe they have some spell to displace water or mud. We can open it from a distance if we tie this rope to the latch, in case anything is going to pop out and eat us. Let's do that. Chef, do you have anything explosive we can drop down there if we need to?
I have some of my fire bombs, we can use the horses to pull after we clear some of the mud. Chef gets out a rope.
You spend 10 minutes or so clearing mud from the opening. After getting the horses ready, you open the secret hatch. You hear the ding of a little bell, but there is no bell present. You see a ladder leading down 15 feet into a dark area.
Kraull can see it is a room, and there appears to be nothing down there as nothing is moving.
"I'll go first." The beefy half-orc says confidently as he climbs down the ladder into the room. "With how useless that guide was, I wonder if he is in cahoots with this other guy."
Did what he was paid to I guess. Chef drinks his dexterity mutagen and follows
Kraull starts to go down as one of the rungs gentlemen he's way and snaps when he starts to put pressure on it. He falls to the ground but lands on his feet he he bangs his head against the wall in doing so.
Don't move unless you want to die, calls an unseen voice in the room.
The room is filled with a blue glow. At the bottom of the shaft is only enough room for one man to fit, but it opens to a comfy 20 feet area in the main area. There are crates stacked up a few feet high, and positioned in such a way as to create a "snake channel" so only one intruder can easily get through at a time. The ceiling is 8 feet tall and sturdy as not to collapse, it appears to be made of wood does the ceiling and walls.
So, who are you and what the hell do you want?
Rubin quickly unties the rope from the door latch and backs up the horse it's still tied to, to create some slack. Should Kraull need to be suddenly extricated, Rubin will toss the rope down to him and have the horse haul him up.
Don't forget, we need James alive!
Say we are here to collect what he took? Say we want the money?
"Listen dude. Your threats to kill me ain't scaring me. It's like this. You took some money that doesn't belong to you. We're here to get it back and take you to your boss. Now, we can either do this the easy way or the painful way. It's up to you. There's bigger and badder guys that will come for you after me so, don't be dumb. Come out and surrender." Kraull says forcefully as he approaches the sound of the voice.
I should have known Lily sent you. She is the type to hold a grudge. But you are cracked if you think I am gonna go just cause YOU say so.
Initiative:
Chef
Rubin
Kraull
Me
Surprise Round:
Kraull: go
James (me)
Round 1
Rubin:
Kraull:
James (me)
Chef:
Kraull can hear the click of a crossbow. He can feel the crossbow bolt clang off his armor and sees it resting on the ground. He than looks up and sees a grizzled man standing in the corner, at the end of his crate maze. He curses as he fails to take advantage of the surprise.
"Painful way it is, then." Kraull says as he moves towards the man in his crate maze.
Rubin throws the end of the rope down, then jumps straight to the bottom of the pit.
If needed:
He starts singing a gentle lullaby:
Calm down, calm down,
We're just here to help you
Just do what we ask
And no one will hurt you.
Lullaby [DC 13 will save]: -2 to will save vs, Sleep effects
It'll be a miracle if this works. Good thing the orcish wrestler is on our side.
Chef starts climbing down the ladder.
Round 1
Rubin: sings a lullaby
Kraull: 40' from James currently
James (me)
Chef:
James makes a few hand motions and vanishes. Kraull than hears something coming through the air as he again reappears still in the same corner. A shuriken clangs off his armor.
You think I am a baby singing me a damn LULLABY?!
"Just give up before I have to beat you." Kraull growls as he closes the rest of the distance to the man.
Chef runs after Kraull
Round 2
Rubin: Go
Kraull: next to James + fort save DC 12
James (me)
Chef: 40' from Kraull
James once again disappears and tries to slash Kraull. The blade cuts Kraull across the arm, and a sticky substance seems to coat his arm.
Chef keeps running up
Ignoring his wound for the moment, Kraull concentrates for half a second then attempts to grapple the disappearing man.
Yeah, I do think you're going to bawl like a baby once Kraull has his way with you. For your own sake, you better hope this spell works.
Rubin casts Sleep [DC 14] in James' direction and moves 30', as Chef runs past him.
Round 3
Rubin: sleep? Kraull will be in the area too
Kraull: Grappling James
James (me): waiting
Chef:
Kraull easily grabs a hold of James and puts him in a bear hug. Rubin starts to cast sleep while Chef moves up behind Kraull to offer support.
James tries to escape the grapple, but is futile in doing so.
Kraull continues the grapple and goes for a pin. "Not as painful as you deserve, but this works."
Chef starts punching the man in the face.
Kraull and Chef need to make a DC 14 will vs. Rubin's sleep spell. If Kraull fails he releases James from the grapple and Chef's attack will be void if he fails.
James just smiles as Rubin finishes his sleep spell. He looks at Kraull to see if his eyes start to droop or not. He doesn't even notice Chef behind Kraull.
Kraull releases James and slumps over. "Zzzzzzzzz."
Chef, no save needed as the HD limit was reached with Kraull. Update tomorrow.
Chef attacks with his mace
Kraull slumps to the ground and starts to snore. James looks at Rubin, Thanks buddy. I guess you ain't all bad he says with a snicker. He sees Chef raise his morningstar and puts his dagger to Kraull's sleeping throat.
Ah-ah..don't even. Your brute squad dies if you get stupid. Back off and go back to your buddy who cast it. You caster boy, turn around and kiss the wall. Any sudden moves and your buddy dies.
James, holds his dagger to Kraull's throat. He seems more than capable and okay with killing Kraull right here and now should either of you disobey or try to be a "hero".
Well that's an onion in the ointment. Rubin feels silly, and immediately caves in to James' instructions.
Well, I won't lie, that was intended for you. However, you should know that Lily will be right behind us with the entire town police force, which she effectively controls. Obviously your hidey-hole is no great secret. At our insistance, she agreed to give us an opportunity to bring you in peacefully, and alive, before she comes with her goons. She doesn't care so much about the gold as to make an example of a greedy traitor. So my advice is to give yourself up and save your skin.
Rubin delivers his explanation in an irritiating sing-songy falsetto.
Save your words boy and kiss the wall
After Chef hears back out and Rubin n turns around, Jam s will pull a lever in the wall next to him. You hear a click of something unlatching and a ladder is above him. He than climbs up the ladder and you hear him throw a dagger at Kraull's sleeps by body.
You see a dagger fly through the air and presumably into Kraull. James seems to have escaped through another secret hatch in the ceiling. The hatch is slightly ajar.
Kraull awakens with a grunt and quickly stands up. "How the eff did he both put me to sleep and stab me at the same time?!?" He asks with groggy confusion.
Chef glares at Rubin. Must of been magic. He gives Kraull a CLW extract
Ummm...yeah, pretty strange. Well I guess we better go after him, but let's just catch our breath for a moment.
Rubin cringes at Chef's withering glare and waves his curative wand over Kraull.
Then he looks quickly around the room for anything useful or unusual (having already noticed the lever that James used).
Nothing else of interest in the bunker other than the crates. You pop a few open and you find dried foodstuffs, meat and fruit mostly. As you begin to regroup you see a figure...stripped down to his skivvies come crashing down through the extra hole.
Upon closer inspection it is James, and you see Leroy above ground. He spits down in top of James' unconscious body.
No good BASTARD!
Huh. He stuck around.
Still fairly hurt despite his companions various healing options, Kraull pulls out his own Cure Light potion and quaffs it, "Yeah, I guess the guy was worth the money after all. Thanks bub."
After a moment passes, Kraull remembers something else, "But we need the money he stole from Lily, otherwise she's gonna come after you."
Chef manacles their captive. We can wake him up and put him to the question.
He was broke as a dire rat
Kraull shrugs and begins to tie the man up in rope. "All right, he's all yours. Just better hope he doesn't put me to sleep again."
Chef gets their captive awake.
After a few minutes, James wakes up.
What the...Leroy you rat bastard!
After a few under-the-breath curses, he looks up to the three of you.
So, now what. You deliver me to Lily...you might as well kill me now as it would save her the trouble. The lady holds a grudge, that's for sure. She wouldn't let me out of the organization, so I took the rich man's cash to escape that life. Just you wait...you'll want out too one day.
You chose the wrong way to do it. Shesh! Stealen from a crime boss. Where is the money or what is left of it?
"Listen bud, you can save your breath trying to get any sympathy from me. You lost that battle when you tried to kill me." Kraull says with a snarl, then gets a little thoughtful, "How'd you manage to put me to sleep and stab me a the same time? You one of those Mage-us dudes?"