Might as well try, right?
Ziera pulls off her ring, fiddles with it a little, and it sprouts a nice set of lockpicks, which she uses to try to open the iron door.
Ziera grumbles I knew I should have learned that Knock spell.
She puts her reassembled ring back on and asks Anyone else know how to pick locks?
”A single scroll of knock would cost 150gp, but we could be to a magic shop and back before too long.”
After watching Ziera attempt to facilitate their entry to the secret corridor, Gray reached into his pack and pulled forth a small case than when opened revealed a high-end set of lock-picking tools. Inspecting the lock for a moment, he pulled out a couple of implements and set to work.
After a few minutes and no progress made, the inquisitor is forced to admit defeat and put up his tools with a shrug. Looking at Edmund, he nodded. "Looks like a scroll it is, then. Perhaps you can go forth to locate it while we keep watch here in case our quarry should arrive?"
”While I certainly don’t mind, perhaps you are just selling yourselves and your handiwork a bit short? We’re in no rush, give it a few more tries. If the lock is completely beyond your abilities, then I shall go for a scroll of knock.”
Ziera tells everyone to stand back and then casts Open on the door. (Just in case it is trapped, she doesn't want anyone close to it.)
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"Excellent work, Gray. Though I suspect there will be more for us to face than the trials of a lock."
Gray smirked at Antonio, but nodded his agreement. Better to be wary than overconfident. And along those lines, the inquisitor dutifully stepped away from the door before Ziera cast her spell, the young man alert for activity from both the secret corridor and the entry to the downstairs.
Ziera looks back at her companions and shrugs. She says If none of you have a better idea, let's do this.
She slips into the tunnel, lighting her halo so that everyone around her will be able to see as well.
Gray thought about Ziera's words, then decided he didn't have a better idea. He called upon the powers of the Dark Lord, shrouding himself in Invisibility, then followed the plucky half-elf into the corridor beneath Sarini's Rest to hopefully intercept the Thrune noblewoman as she made her escape.
Ziera casts Open on the door, not really expecting it to work.
--if it does, she is surprised, but goes and looks through quietly.
--if it does not, she ...
... asks Gray to unlock the door.
Gray smirked as the brash aasimar rushed ahead and tried to do all the work on her own, but nodded his assent graciously enough. They all had their little talents to throw into the mix, and he was all too happy to oblige and be one step closer to killing the Thrune b!~##. If there wasn't some kind of ward on the door that would go kaboom when he opened it, that was.
Edmund casts detect magic and begins scanning for auras as soon as the door is cracked open.
Ziera stands 20 feet back from the door and casts Open on it, waiting to see what is on the other side.
Gray walked slowly to the wall, making no more noise than a mouse. Once there, he put gloved hands on the wall, pleased that his specialized equipment was actually going to prove useful as he attempted to scry on the goings-on in the adjacent room.
Ziera searches for a secret door.
Gray quickly explained what he had seen to his fellows, pleased that the observant Ziera managed to find the secret portal connecting the areas so quickly. Before the group moved through, he quickly spoke. "I shall be invisible to begin with, as we enter. If you can, give me a moment to get into position. Those with magic, I shall try to work to the opposite side of the woman, so aim your spells appropriately."
The inquisitor smiled grimly, waiting to see if anyone had any last minute things to add before they ambushed the noblewoman.
”We will not be able to hide that we’ve opened the door, so Antonio and I shall distract and confuse by hiding in plain sight. Perhaps Ziera also should be invisible?”
Ziera nods.
If possible, let's grab her and pull her into this corridor and then close the door again before anyone sees. If there is only one person with her and we grab both, perhaps we could remain undetected that way, at least long enough to get away.
Err... should I also cast Silence? If so, we need to know exactly what we're doing first.
After they decide what they are doing, she casts Invisibility on herself, and Silence on a pebble (if we decide we want it), and hands the pebble to Gray.
"There is only Alana and the servant at the moment, but that could change at any time. I like the idea of silence...it will negate our spellcasting inside the zone, but I like our numerical odds against the pair if you take spells out of the equation. Ziera, would you like to contain the servant before joining us against the Thrune noble?" Gray's voice was low and quiet, though he twitched in anticipation of the coming conflict.
”Actually, I fear we need to contain the two of the first. I have a scroll of hold portal which will lock the doors to the bedroom if they are closed first. Our order of attack should be: Gray slips in with the pebble, Ziera uses her spell to close the bedroom door, I use the scroll to lock it, while Antonio provides some sort of distraction. Perhaps you could recreate some of the poses from the decor of that horrid Inn for their amusement. Then, we attack.”
Ziera starts to nod at Gray, then listens to Edmund's plan.
Edmund, that sounds great, but neither you nor I could cast spells on the door with Silence going. So, we would either have to secure the door with no silence or use a non magical means. Perhaps Gray should invisibly slip over to the doors and close them manually while carrying the pebble, and then we all do everything we can to get them back in this corridor before anyone is alerted. I will try to get the servant while you guys attempt to subdue Alana.
If there are nods all around, she
1. Casts invisibility on herself (while making sure that she and Gray know where each other are for the second step).
2. Casts silence on a pebble and hands the pebble to Gray.
3. She triggers the latch on the secret door, allowing Gray to slip in.
4. She moves after him, taking out her masterwork manacles and moving over to the servant.
”Silence is an emanation, so if Gray keeps the pebble completely covered in his hand, it will block the magic. Besides, we just need to be far enough away from the silence spell. By the time Gray gets across the room, he’ll be far enough away for us to cast.”
Either way, Edmund stays back a bit from the door, but to where he can see through it, so that he’s out of range of the silence, then readies his scroll.
Also, he casts mage armour on himself.
Oh, if there are multiple doors, than Edmund’s plan is less effective. He keeps the scroll stuffed in a pocket to use on the secret door if they need to delay a pursuit.
Instead, right before the door is opened, Edmund casts his newest spell and everybody finds themselves much quicker on their feet.
Seeing that the plan has been simplified with the knowledge of multiple potential exits, Gray nodded his understanding, calling upon Zon-Kuthon to shroud him in a divine cloak of ultimate stealth. He patiently waited while he heard Ziera's spellcasting, the room suddenly going silent before he felt the pebble pressed into his hand. The inquisitor closed his fist around it, and sound returned in time for Edmund's spell of quickening to be heard, then Gray hurried through the door as the portal was opened, using his new-found swiftness to take him near the pair of women inside the room before he opened his hand to allow the silence to radiate.
Look around to make sure no one else (besides the two women) saw me :
--If I am spotted then, er... I can't yell, so I guess I point at the additional witness so that someone else in the group can try to catch them.
--If I am not spotted, then:
I am hasted and (if a grapple counts as an attack), I can maintain the grapple and move the servant half my movement (with haste: 30 feet), which puts us back inside the secret tunnel, if my second check also works:
(with circumstance bonus to maintain grapple)
Gray snuck quickly and sneakily into the room near the noblewoman, his manner cool and collected even though hatred burned inside him. At long last, here was an object of his wrath finally in front of him, lounging indifferently and unaware of the very real danger oh so close. He waited patiently for a sign from the others that events were in motion, ready to spring into action when the action against the Thrune noble began.
As the inquisitor sees the other members of the party wresting the servant hastily out of the room, Gray waited just a second for the Thrune noblewoman's attention to turn toward the commotion before he lunged at Alana, attempting to grab her in much the same manner.
Expertly balanced and catching the woman off-guard, he almost immediately began to bull her toward the door the servant was disappearing through with the Azure Avenger and Ziera. "Be quiet, and you might yet live through this."
Stepping to the side, allowing the others to pass by, Edmund pulls out the hold portal scroll. Once they’re inside, he’ll shut the door and cast the scroll on it.