A bit disappointed that she wouldn't get to whack someone yet, Elise sighs as the others bring down the servant. Ah well ... With a gentle nudge at their visible friends she signals towards the stairway down and then follows Al's shoulder in that direction.
The group goes down the corridor and opens up the door towards the basement. They see several guards standing near the basement door, at the table they see someone familiar. The son of the family, the gambler they met in the alley.
-- Flashback: Family members --
Daeron says "If you meet up any of the noble family members you might have some leverage if you capture them, after all the guards are defending them most of all. What do you think?" He asks the group.
Elise grimaces. "Hostage-taking is kind of messy. I'd prefer if we just avoided non-combatants as much as possible ... But if they happen to be in the way, sure! We'll just have to gag them as quickly as possible. And maybe they know where she is being kept ..."
"I guess gagging should be the easy option indeed!" Daeron concurs.
Break In: Caladran Nkosi
There seems to be only the two guards in the room and the Nkosi boy eating on his own at the table. How is the group going to attempt to capture him?
--Flashback--
"Yeah, and we either have to carry them along or stash them somewhere."
-- Flashback --
Daeron rubs his chin "So you intend to avoid them as best you can? Cause a distraction then to move them out of the way? You could probably just use some sound or calling out to them. They'd come to investigate, though don't make it so obvious I guess otherwise they might send guards"
--Flashback
"Hmm. Do we know if they have any pets? Imitating their sound might work as a distraction. Unless they are supposed to be guard animals of course..."
--Flashback
"I can create illusions. I'm not convinced about a distraction though. A convincing distraction requires a certain amount of knowledge about the environment and the target. An illusion would help, but I can only do so many."
"How large a group could we render unconscious?"
"On a tangent: I think we should decide when killing is justified. I assume if we need to kill to survive, we will. How about escaping? How about if we're up against a group that is too large to dispose of non-lethally?"
-- Flashback --
"The Nkosi family has two dogs, though they are usually outside of the house. I wouldn't call them guard dogs, the family doesn't like them in the house because they cause a mess. Possibly pretending to be one in the house will get someone to investigate?" Daeron muses.
"You don't have to use lethal force true, Elise and Dreyyn are relatively strong so could likely lug people around until you need to leave. There are only four family members, I cannot say how many guards. The head of the household is perhaps the only one that can defend himself as he knows enough about colour magic. Perhaps since you are heading to the basement first leave the bodies in there. No-one should come down unless there is a lot of noise I would think?" Daeron is unsure about the last bit, though he seems to be spit balling a few ideas.
Spook has a suggestion "If Nethan permits me to use my bow briefly when we need it I can cause a distraction. I am able to confuse people with an effect from one of my arrows. Might be enough for you all to pounce silently while whatever group we come across is baffled."
--Flashback--
"Well ... We could swear to him by all the Gods that we'll snap him in half if he tries to betray us." She shoots the eldred a big grin. "No offence intended."
--Flashback--
Spook shrugs "I can't give you anything that would guarantee your trust. Though you could hold onto the bow while I fire it so I can't run away with it." He flexes his arms a bit. "I am very scrawny compared to some of you. He says eyeing Elise and Dreyyn. What he says is true, it looks like he is lean and could keep up with the group though given an arm wrestling contest he's likely on Amelia's level, even Alþórel could likely overpower him.
"All other times you could tie my hands behind my back so I don't try anything funny. Keep me near the front so someone can trip me up. All sorts of things, I can't earn your trust if you don't let me try. So can't we use this as a first stepping ground?" He asks earnestly.
--Flashback--
Elise shrugs. While she wasn't sure if she could trust the Eldred, he had a point. They wouldn't if they could trust him before they tried. "I don't mind... Better sooner then later I'd say even!"
--Flashback--
"Yes, and if you shoot at one of us, you'd better hope you kill us."
~~Flashback~~
Nethan shrugs, "I don't have a problem with letting him shoot it. He will either use it to escape, prove his loyalty, or try to commit suicide by attacking us again. So we are all in agreement for me to hand over Spook's bow to him? Al?"
--Break in: Caladran Nkosi --
The group hand Spook his bow momentarily, one of the group holds onto the bow to make sure he doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. He then says something in a language even the two mages haven't heard. His eyes flare a different colour and a spark flies from each eye forming an arrow the notches to his bow. He pulls back and fires on the door opposite the basement. Caladran looks up from the table confused for a moment, then the two guards begin to approach something that isn't there. The group doesn't see what has happened, presumably because Spook doesn't want the group affected by the enchantment. He the lets the bow go.
Caladran walks over to the guards waving his hand in front of them. "Hey... Hey!" He begins snapping his fingers. "You guys haven't stayed guarding that door all night and day again have you?!"
Dreyyn sneaks forward, weapon in hand but avoiding the puzzled group.
Alþórel gestures to those still invisible, and carefully crosses the floor.
There is an almost godlike perspective he muses I can see everyone - even my friends - but they cannot see me. His overconfidence is blown a second later as those not covered by his spell melt into cover.
Elise toes after Al, feeling as good about sneaking as she ever had. The fact that she was invisible certainly helped, but she couldn't help but feel some smug satisfaction about the way she managed to cross the room without slamming into something!
Amelia and Dreyyn sneak up to the door, as one of the guards momentarily looks towards the pair Caladran walks in front of him thinking he finally got the guards' attention.
The others walk in their invisibility cloaks. One thing you do notice is that Spook has joined Amelia and Dreyyn but is currently holding on Amelia's shirt at the bottom. He also seems to be staring off into space, his Eldred grace is still about him but it almost seems like he is unaware of his surroundings.
The door is locked though Amelia had her tools ready and gives them a quick workout.
With a quick flick of her wrist the door comes unlocked and the party venture in. They shut the door behind them and Amelia uses her tools again to lock it. Spook has transferred his hand to Dreyyn's shoulder, he seems to be using people as support for some reason.
The group sees a stair case leading down, at the base of it the group finds themselves in a large room, those with low light can see a little farther with the light from upstairs but they can see some pillars in front of them. However the place is pitch black nary a light is getting through. The sound of wind can be heard coming from directly west of them. The sound of a few creaks and a splash can be heard though it is hard to pin point from where.
Elise gives Spook a sideways glance now and then, wondering what was wrong with him. When they finally put some distance between themselves and the guards, she dares to speak up - but only in a whisper.
"Hey, are you all right? Is this some sort of magical trance or do you think he's been struck with some ward?"
At the bottom of the stairs Elise pauses and looks around. Wind and splashes? If I didn't know any better ... "It sounds almost like in a large cave or something down here... Shall I?" She finishes her thoughts and gives a small nod towards the sunrod in her hand.
Spook shakes his head. "I'll be fine when my spell wears off. The magic from that bow while powerful usually requires some sort of extraplanar power. If not I can use bits of my own magic, however they have various... side effects. As long as that illusion is being used up I'm blind. Should be alright... I think." He waves his hand in front of his face.
Elise and Amelia light up some sunrods to light up the place. As soon as they do they hear the sounds of footsteps from the west. Though it sounds like the footsteps are leading away from them. It isn't moving at a brisk pace. The sound of a something large is being moved further down can also be heard.
With the illumination the group can see that they are in a room with several pillars and a furrow with water running through it. The water must be part of some sewage system, oddly enough there is grates on either end of the water flow. Though the ones to the south have been sawed open, and not very recently either. There is a door to the south east and to the west and opening further into the basement.
"Uhm.." With sufficient light, Elise looks around again. She took a careful sniff in the air to confirm the sewer theory and grimaced. Quickly she tied her muffler from her cold weather kit over her nose. "Blech. Typical southerner crap. Going on and on about their 'civilization' then it is just built on a load of crap!" She pauses to shake her head. "But it seems like the perfect spot to hide someone - noone would want to come down here looking willingly. And if that someone your hiding is causing trouble ..." She makes a sliding sign over her throat with her finger and then gestures towards the water and makes a small *splash* sound. "But lets find the source of that sound! Nothing of good intent would dwell down here anyhow ..."
"If those are sawed open, either someone escaped that way recently enough for it not to have been repaired, or a third party has broken in here from that direction."
The group decide to move over to the west a bit keeping their eyes open for anything amiss. Amelia spots several wet foot prints leading towards the west. It is hard to spot in this dim light but someone went through here recently. Once the reach the western chamber they find a large room with several more supporting pillars in it. To the south side of the room the footprints continue until they disappear into a wall with no-one to be seen.
"Now that is suspicious." Alþórel states, looking at the footprints vanishing into the wall. Then sighs as he realises no-one can see what he's pointing at.
"Those footprints go straight into the wall. That suggests either a false trail, an illusion, a secret door, or an extraordinary ability to climb. Nethan and I can try to determine if it is an illusion. Does someone want to check for a secret door?"
"Elise, Dreyyn: can you look at the footprints? Are they getting wetter, or drier as we follow them? Do they pause before the wall, or appear to travel at the same speed as they approach? If the latter that suggests they are familiar with the area. Is there a change to the shape that suggests they jumped, or something? Can you tell how long ago they were made?"
to answer Al's questions
Alþórel can sense some magic though it is not the wall but beyond it.
He can tell that there is one Aura in there though is unable to tell from which school it belongs or if it is a spell effect at all.
Dreyyn meanwhile looks at the foot prints, they haven't dried up and still contain quite a lot of water. This means they are recent, very recent. They don't seem to pause at the wall though one of the footprints is halfway into the wall. He does however see some scuffle marks near the wall as if something has been dragged. There also seems to be a lot of other marks near the doorway, and marks were furniture used to be. It seems that there used to be lots of things in the way at one point but have all been moved.
"these were VERY recent. Scuffmarks show there used to be furniture in the way. That print is halfway in the wall, so either it slides to the side or back in there, or is an illusion. Whoever went in knew this passage was here."
"Uhm..." Elise gives Amelia a worried glance. "I'm with you, but I think the hidden door option is likelier. If I were forced to have a room in the sewers, I would want one with a door that actually closes ..."
"Hmm. Didn't the Nosois just hold the mark for someone else? That could explain the alternative sewer entrance, they want to visit unseen ..."
"Amelia: that doesn't seem to be a magical wall... Let's see if it moves, first."
Elise starts to look around but and manages to find a small slit in the wall that goes from the roof down to the floor, it isn't very noticeable but it's there. Looks big enough however to either get something to lever it. There are two other slits about 5 foot away from this one where it looks likely to fit a file or two to get into it to disable the mechanisms.
Though the group has confirmed this is likely a mechanical door, there is the issue that there is still something magical beyond it.
"Here is a crack in the wall - and another. I could get something in and try and force it open, but do anyone want to try some finesse first? I can't guarantee that it will be quiet ..."
Amelia gets out her tools and goes to one of the slits on the edges, reaching in she slowly but surely with her deft touch disable the mechanics. The wall shudders and a path opens up into ... what appears to be a tunnel with an immediate dead end. Dreyyn picks up the foot print trail again and it continues through to this dead end and then stops. Though the person who was leaving it is nowhere to be seen.
"Hmm, they stop here. Any magic around?"