"So what is the deal?" Sivvek says, eyeing Rayka closely. "You let me out and I promise to stand close to you? Very well. Let us open this cell and proceed. I don't think we have alot of time."
Just as he says this, Rayka can hear the sound of someone trying to open the metal door below. It is locked from the inside, but the fact that someone is trying to get in is not a good sign.
Obella glances up with a tight grin, "The game is up, I think. We better get a move on."
"Deal. You help, you stay close, you don't cross us. Then we all get out and you go home."
Rayka curses as the door is rattled from below. "Right. Get him out and let's find what we came for."
Addressing Sivvek she asks, "So where are we headed? You can at least point us in the right direction as she frees you."
The lizardfolk grins at Rayka hears the door downstairs being jostled. Whens he asks him to answer early he shakes his elongated head. 'Payment due upon services rendered."
Luckily, the lock is no match for Obella's skill and they soon have the cell swinging open on rusty hinges. The lizardfolk darts out as fast as possible but halts near Rayka, nodding slightly,
"Third door on the left. I am not sure if they have security precautions."
"I'd be surprised if there ain't security in place."
Pointing from Nefti to Sivvek she says, "You watch him."
She pats Obella on the shoulder, "You're up. I got your back." With that the group moves up the hallway to the door indicated.
Nefti nods and gives the lizardfolk sour enough to curdle milk. It doesn't seem to bother the man, who looks much more at ease out of his cell. His clothes are ragged and dirty, looking like Chelish servant castoffs.
Rayka detects nothing odd in the hallway or at the door. The door is a simple wooden one, and even has a small glass window. Glancing inside, Rayka can see what appears to be an office, with a desk, chair, several lamps and a very heavy-looking safe in one corner.
"There's a safe in the corner that looks promisin'. Otherwise it appears to be their office so it may tell us where stuff is."
Turning to her friend she asks, "Any of your hairs standin' on end?" The brawler knows and trusts Obella's instincts when it comes to danger that she herself couldn't see.
Rayka nods and grins, "Then this one is on me." The brawler raises her foot and gives the door a solid kick just above where the lock is.
Obella shakes her head but adds, "Who knows what they have inside. I bet that safe has protection."
With Sivvek watching with cold eyes, rayka squares up and kicks the door. Her blow easily breaks the doorframe, and splinters fly. The door bangs open and the glass shatters as it hits the wall, covering part of the floor with glittering dust.
Nefti sniffs and edges around the danger.
'So what are we looking for?" The cleric says, 'I hope we didn't come all this way for papers."
Rayka sighs contentedly as the wood splinters and glass shatters.
"We'll check the other rooms too but we'll start here. If we can find an inventory of where stuff is in the other rooms it would help speed our search. We can look while she works on the safe. We could check the other rooms now but I'd prefer not to split up, at least not yet. They may also have stuff squirreled away in another location and if it is, there'd be a record here."
Rayka sees any number of ledgers and papers stacked on the desk. Most are rolled up and bound together. Many are titled, some are not. If she wants to read them she will need to use her ioun torch and pick them up.
Obella confronts the safe and frowns, 'It could be trapped from the inside and we'll never know it, Rayka."
Sivvek nods, 'The Chelish are most particular about personal property. I would not be surprised at any infernal devices inside."
Nefti steps forward and spreads a hand wide, scanning the safe. Then she frowns too, "Lead. It blocks magical signs. Anything could be inside from magical items to devils."
Rayka releases her ioun torch to float around her head so that she can have her hands free to look through papers. But she doesn't get very far before Obella interrupts with her thoughts.
When the others raise their concerns about what's in the safe, the brawler begins to pace. "I ain't havin' any way to know either. Do you not want to open it after comin' so far? What if we try usin' the password that was meant to pacify Woody? I don't know about magics, only about punchin' stuff. We can check the other rooms instead and leave the safe if that's what you guys want. Or maybe there's a clue in the desk..."
She pauses in thought before asking, "What kind of devil would allow itself to be locked up in a safe?"
When Rayka questions the devil's, Nefti rolls her eyes but Sivvek cuts her off.
"I believe the woman was using hyperbole to indicate there could be any number of things inside, not that she felt a devil was likely."
Nefti glares at him, "Cramit, lizard boy."
She turns back to Rayka and adds, "But yeah."
Obella sighs and says, "I think searching the desk is smart, but there might be traps there too. Everything is probably trapped."
The halfling turns to the desk and starts to examine it. Nefti does as well and notes, "There is a faint magical aura on it, but not sure what it is."
Rayka scowls at Nefti, "In my defense, it's kinda hard to tell because your glass is always empty, not even half empty, but empty. With all the doom and gloom, it's hard to know when you're exaggeratin'."
She moves up beside Obella, "So we're all pretty sure that everythin' is trapped. Question is, you think you can disable them? Or do you want me to just start smashin' stuff?"
Obella shrugs, "It is hard to say. Also, one upside of smashing, we'd find any hidden drawers."
"That's a good point. Alright, you may want to stand clear while I unleash on this desk. I'm thinkin' it'll be cathartic."
Rayka begins to pound on the desk, channeling all her energy into punches and kicks. She pictures the face of the Chelish noble from downstairs who had cut her clothes as well as some of the other guests downstairs who were selling out Sothis to the Chelish. It did add fuel to her punches but destroying wood by force proves to be quite different than hitting flesh.
Using her balled fists, Rayka batters the desk into splinters. Every blow smashes into the wood, cracking the rather imposing bit of furniture into shrapnel. Drawers fly open, the desktop shatters, and bits of wood go everywhere. Finally, with one last punch, the entire thing crumbles to the ground, joints finally giving way.
Out of a hidden compartment, a bundle of papers sealed with ornate red wax seals rolls to her feet.
Then many things happen at once.
The first is a blindingly bright white light that erupts from the ceiling. The glare is overpowering and instant, turning the gloomy office as bright as noon. Squinting, Rayka can see the hall is lit up too, pulsing with light. Was the whole Manor home radiating like a firefly?
Next is a ear-splitting wail, like a rusty wheel grating on iron rails. The screech is actually painful and Obella claps her hands over her hears, swearing loudly as the alarm blares on.
Sivvek shouts, "I believe our time of alliance is over, and I must depart." and runs for the door, quick as a slippery eel, moving much faster the Rayka would have guessed. In a trice only his long tail is visible as he vanishes out the door.
Below, Rayka can hear loud hammering on the steel vault door.
Rayka stoops down and snatches up the papers just as the room explodes in light and sound. She yells over the cacophony, "Any way to turn off the alarm? Is it magic or ordinary?"
The brawler chases after the lizardman, "You can leave but you can't open that door! It's up to you to find another way." Pulling an item from her pocket, she charges after him.
Yelling back over her shoulder at Obella and Nefti she says, "Gather up what you can while I deal with this!"
Obella and Nefti scramble to grab papers, as Rayka follows the lizardfolk. Sivvek doesn't head for the metal door but instead heads up the passage, feeling a spot of wall between two office doors. After a moment, he presses a slot and a hidden door reveals itself. Quickly the former prisoners slips inside and the door closes with a click behind him.
Rayka rushes down the stairs, taking them three at a time. The hammering on the door has gotten louder and she can hear muffled cries of the guards on the other side trying to knock the door down. She guesses they have sent for the key already. Well, she will fix that.
The brawler lands in front of the imposing vault door, pulls out her Key of Lock jamming and shoves it into the keyhole. Instantly it freezes in place, merging with the metal and turning the lock into a solid bit of steel. She hears a rise in the tone of the curses fromt he other side of the door.
She has bought herself some time.
Rayka bounds back up the stairs. "That'll keep them out for a bit but we need to hurry. So far we have nothin' to show for our troubles. Let's check the other rooms and see what they contain. We may need to tackle the safe after all or leave empty handed."
She resists the urge to cover her ears and yells, "No luck with turnin' off that racket?"
Obella and Nefti both shake their heads, barely audible over the noise.
"Where did the snake guy go?" Obella shouts over the din, while Nefti shouts, "I doubt we have much time, I am sure they can break their own door down. Should we lit the fire or do we just run for it?"
Rayka drags Obella over to the portion of wall that Sivvek disappeared through. "There's a secret door in this section of wall that he left through. We should follow. It's probably best if we start the fire up here. It'll be able to spread and grow in size before someone can put it out, allowin' us to get out. It's a shame we didn't get anythin' but papers but at least we caused a little chaos."
The brawler looks for the secret door and makes sure it'll open before the fire is started.
Rayka finds the door, although if she hadn't already seen ti she would have overlooked it. The brawler notes it isn't so much secret as unobtrusive. Maybe a servants entrance?
At her side Obella piles up some papers and bits of the shattered desk to build a fire. Out of her sack, she pulls a gray, fuzzy looking box. When Rayka gives it an odd look the rogue smiles.
"Fireweed paper. Burns like you wouldn't believe. Wasn't cheap.." She remarks, smearing her tinder with tar. She is getting out some flint and steel when....
There is a crash like a blacksmith being dropped from the sky. The steel door down the stairs crashes open, ripped off the hinges. Rayka glances down the stairs and sees the Lady Incunus standing in the doorway, wreathed in arcane purple flame, hands extended. Her fine clothes crackle with power, her hair standing on end.
"Who dares rob from our House?" She thunders, her voice magically amplified over the wailing alarm.'I shall feed your bones to demons for the next year, thief. Reveal yourself!"
behind her, two dozen men stand, looking terrified of their employers magical abilities.
Rayka quickly ducks back and pushes Nefti towards the hidden door. "We gotta go," she hissed at Obella. "Drop the flint, leave it."
There was no way that the brawler was leaving her friend but she also wasn't about to announce their presence to Lady Iuncus unless she had to.
Obella curses foully enough to make Rayka's face redden, even under the circumstances. the rogue leaves the piled tinder though and bolts for the door. nefti follows after but at the door she turns, points a finger and mutters a magic word.
Instantly a spark leaps from her pointed digit and arcs to the heaped arson supplies. As soon as the flame hits the pile it erupts into leaping flames, a deep hungry looking red. Obella grins fiercely and punches Nefti on the shoulder as they run.
Even as Rayka flees the room, she can already feel a rising heat.
[ooc]Kenny Rogers is a wise man indeed.[ooc]
Rayka watches Nefti light the tinder from afar. Although extremely happy to see it, she can't help thinking That's the kind of thing that would have been nice to know ahead of time.
The brawler rushes after the other two. She glances at the door as she closes it to see if there's a way to secure it.
She then cautions them, "There may be someone waitin' for us wherever this ends up so be alert."
Rayka's crew rushes for the servant's door. Obella and Nefti have slipped inside as Rayka pauses for a brief moment to look at the door. She sees it has a lock, but she isn't sure how it would stand up to a magical attack. Those steel doors downstairs looked far more sturdy and they now lie like crumpled paper below.
Rayka is just about to run inside, when she spots Lady Iuncus floating up the stairs. Arms outreached, she flies up the short staircase and locks eyes with Rayka. Her eyebrows raise in surprise and she shouts, 'You!?" her shock is apparent. Her surprise is so great it gives Rayka a chance to run before a deadly spell is cast...
Rayka's look is hardened rather than fearful as their eyes meet. But the brawler knows when she is outmatched and she has to run. For Obella, for Henri, for the others - she has to get them out.
Letting out her frustration in a string of curses as she flees down the stairs, all she says is, "Go, go, go, go, go! I was spotted. I need to get Henri."
Even as Rayka ducks into the door, she feels a wave of heat. No, not a fireball hurled by the Lady but Obella's inferno is already rushing out of the sideroom into the main hall. Unless Lady Incunus has a magical way to defeat the flame, she is going to have a full fledged conflagration on her hands.
Obella, Nefti and Rayka hurry down narrow stone stairs. There is no railing, no ornamentation here. The bright light and alarm are lost in the gloom, and there is a bare second of blissful quiet and darkness. The stairs hurtle downward but they soon reach a landing where a door breaks off.
"Back into the warehouse." Obella says, 'We going that way or are we all headed for the ground floor?"
"There were a lot of armed guards in the warehouse with Lady Iuncus. I say we keep goin' for the ground floor. But let me go first to make sure the coast is clear. I've already been seen, I want to keep you guys unknown if possible."
She looks pointedly at Obella, "If you have to leave me, you leave me. No reason that torture and death have to be in both our futures." Rayka was pretty sure she didn't have to give the same order to Nefti. The woman would be more than happy to leave the brawler behind.
Rayka opens the landing door and peers out. It leads into a quiet workspace, for processing archaeological finds. A large wooden table covered with tools, hammers, chisels, visegrips and pliers. The floor is covered with dirt and grime, pried off of various finds. Brushes, felt and other cleaning supplies are stacked on shelves.
Out the door, Rayka can see the wharehouse, eerily quiet.
In the middle of of the table, laid causally like the remains of a lunch, is ancient looking horn. A spiral of ivory, it is weathered by a thousand years of sun and sand, bound with jewel encrusted silver. It shines in the dim light, apparently just polished.
Logically, Rayka has every intention of continuing down the stairs to find the way out as quickly as possible. But there is something about the artifact on the table that causes her to react, and possibly not wisely. If she can rescue just something, anything, then this debacle may be worth it.
She whispers, "Stay here and if I get caught, keep going."
Seeing no one, Rayka dashes out into the workspace covering the couple feet quickly. She grabs the horn and turns to run back.
Rayka pushes open the door to the workshop. Obella cheers her on but Nefti hisses a curse adding, 'Do we really have time for this?"
The brawler takes a few steps and reaches out for the horn. She notes, as she picks it up, it has a red tag that reminds her of the red wax seals on the hidden parchment she took out of the shattered desk. Her fingers close in around the spiraling horn...
And nothing happens. Letting out a sign of relief she runs back, grasping her loot. The horn is hard and warm in her hand, as if it has been sitting out in the sun all day. The weathered yellow ivory is reassuring in a strange way, yet feels very exotic.
Just as she re-enters the stairwell the door upstairs explodes! Splinters rain down on them as the Lady Incunus is again, framed by a destroyed doorway.
'This game bores me' She says and unleashes a volley of blue lighting that crackles down the stairs.
Rayka staggers heavily when hit by lightning and it reinforces her instinct to run. Practically pushing the other two down the stairs, she quickly follows. "Go!" she hisses. She keeps herself between Lady Iuncus and the others, trying to make sure that they go unidentified. She grasps the horn tightly in her hand and contemplates blowing it. What's the worst that could happen?
They all hustle down the stairs, and Rayka can hear footfalls behind them, rushing down the stairs. Her stop to pick up the horn has cost them dearly, and she hopes it is worth it.
The stairs exit out of a cunningly hidden door in the kitchens below, now empty. Cauldrons still bubble and steam but all the helpers have vanished in the confusion. To her left, a door to the outside looms wide. The briefest scent of cool night air off the canal reaches her, intoxicating with freedom.
To her right leads back into the dance hall, which looks like an utter confusion of people, a roiling mass of fighting men and women, as Chelish nobles brawl with each other, firemen and some of the guards. Smoke is slowly filling the room as the fire upstairs rages out of control. There, on the stage, is Henri, being held by two thuggish looking guards. The bard looks quite helpless there, and looks like he has already been hit a few times by his captors.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" Nefti hisses, starting for the empty door to freedom.
"You and Obella go. You ain't been seen. But I can't leave Henri. I have to try and get him out or die tryin'."
Rayka pushes the papers she'd taken out of the desk into Obella's hands. "You need to get this to safety. It was hidden for a reason. You're the only one I completely trust." She then gives her friend a quick hug and pushes her towards the door.
She then takes a breath, probably the last she would take of fresh air, and heads into the chaos of the dance hall.
As Rayka hugs them, Nefti rolls her eyes, but touches Rayka's shoulder. A burst of warmth spreads through her, healing many of the burns and lesions caused by the lightning.
Obella opens her mouth to say something, then simply takes the papoaers and turns. It is hard to tell in the dim light but there appears to be tears on the halfling's cheeks as she hustles Nefti into the cool summer night.
Rayka pushes into the hall, but in the general confusion no one pays her any mind, yet at any rate. At the front door a knot of 'fire fighters' brawls with Gorum guardsmen, a confusion of clubs, blades and fists.
Rayka rushes up to the two guards and demands, "What are you two still doin' here? Lady Iuncus needs all the help she can get upstairs. You don't want her angry with you, do you?" She scoffs at Henri, "You wouldn't rather guard a musician than help the Lady, would you?"
Both men look ready to argue but Rayka's demeanor indicate she is not to be trifled with. Dirty, stained with blood, covered with wounds, hands clenched into fists the brawler towers over them. At her barked words, they let go of Henri as if he was burning iron.
Without stopping them, both leap off the stage into the melee.
Just as they hit the embroiled dance floor, there is a resounding crack overhead. Looking up, the massive beams of the ceiling are giving way, and hungry red flames are reaching downward. Smoke pours into the hall, adding to the confusion, making everyone cough and blink their suddenly burning eyes. Embers float downward, singing skin and starting new, smaller fires. Tableclothes, fancy clothes, lacquered tables all provide fuel for the flame. Before Rayka even has time to figure it out, the room is turning into an inferno.
A Chelish noble spins out of the crowd, and Rayka recognizes it as the tough who insulted her to impress his girlfriend. His clothes are torn, his face bloody, but he fixes firmly on Rayka.
'You!" and lashes out with his sword, missing her in his surprise.
Rayka grabs Henri's hand and heads towards the closest exit. "I told you I ain't leavin' without you but I was spotted so you're in danger. We gotta go, now!"
The fire is almost overwhelming and memories of the fresh air she had breathed moments before seem all the more sweet. Rayka determidely pulls Henri behind her until her path is blocked by the Chelish noble. She's confused as to why he lashes out at her in the midst of fiery chaos. "We don't have time for this. The manor will burn us alive if we don't all leave."