Despite the extra cover of the tiger between himself and Dexus, Ponytail bounces at just the wrong moment and takes a faceful of mystic bolt.
Eroil-bot casts guidance upon Struggler just before the tiger uses the distraction created by the warlock to shred your foe, his bite's effectiveness enhanced by his master's guidance...
With the most effective attacks coming from the tiger and the warlock behind it, Ponytail attempts to cut down the big cat. Unfortunately for Ponytail, Struggler's hide is just a little too tough for his swords to draw blood.
Jaretti's attempts to feint your seasoned foe is to no avail, nor does Jaretti's attack strike home. Though Aurk is beginning to get the hang of timing his attacks while on top of the bed, he still yearns for solid ground beneath his feet.
Rumple-bot takes another shot with his cold ray. "Could one of you just hold him still for a second?"
Shrugger decides its time for some lunch, and proceeds to maul Mr. Ponytail, with a little Guidance from her master. The bite may not have been much, but it is enough to stagger your enemy.
"From Hellsgate, I stab at thee!" he cries. He drops his short sword, grips the hilt of his longsword with both hands and takes a mighty swing at his nemesis--the tiger. Alas, the dramatic effect of his attack is greatly reduced by his ineffectual swing. He shakes his head in frustration before collapsing unconscious.
While the ponytailed man lies bleeding on the bed, the 2 children in the corner continue to wail and scream, their eyes wide with terror as they stare at Aurk. They crouch behind a chair in the corner, trying to stay as far away from all of you as they can.
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Aurk looks down at Mr. Ponytail, "Take for talking."
After a few tries, Aurk moves over to the children, bends down and smiles at them. "Me Aurk. You safe now. Bad man use magic to look like me."
Only seeming to make things worse for the children, he frowns and moves away from them. Spotting that Jaretti is hurt, he takes his wand out and heals him.
The shrieking of the children somehow audibly increases as they see Aurk bend over and begin to feed on Ponytail. Despite that distraction, Aurk finally manages to get Mr. Ponytail stabilized, and then proceeds to heal Jaretti.
Meanwhile, Dexus strides up to the children with a glowing Mystic Bolt of DOOOM in his hand, the same kind of bolt he was using to attack their supposed savior--looking exactly like an archvillain moving in to finish them off. They attempt to crawl backward through the wall. The question about their parents causes even louder shrieking, which then dials up to 11 as Aurk moves in their direction.
The boy screams, pointing at Aurk and moving between him and his little sister. You see a puddle form at the feet of the little girl as she curls into a fetal ball, rocking herself back and forth, screaming until the rawness of her voice causes sympathetic pains in your own throats.
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Rumple hears the children and sees their fear. He takes a glance at the fake aurk while descretely pulling out a scroll of silent image. He casts it and then aproaches the children. He talks in soothing tones and creates a little theater before them (hologram ). He shows our party walking up to the circus. He shows the bad man watching from the shadows. He shows the bad man change form to the aurk look alike. He shows a little more. The bad man sets the dragon free which chases tge crowd until the good aurk sooths him. The he cuts to the scene in the room where the good aurk and bad aurk fight.
He also tries to get the kids to tell us where daddy is so we can try to heal him.
Eroil is able to soothe the children and calm them a little. WHile Eroil coos sweet nothings to the girl, the young boy quietly tells Rumple that the fake Aurk murdered both their parents.
While Eroil and Rumple speak with the children, the rest of the party drag Mr. Ponytail and his pals (4 of which still live) into the main hall and tie them up. You find (all human/medium sized):
2 potions of cure light wounds ;
masterwork studded leather,
masterwork longsword,
masterwork short sword,
15 daggers
six sets of leather armor
6 short swords
4 short bows
40 arrows
Then you begin to search the premises:
Clockwise from lower left (SW) corner:
On the first floor, you find parlor, dining room, larder and kitchen storage, kitchen (with exit doors to rear of manor), servants quarters, office and den. Most of the rooms seem undisturbed, with three exceptions:
In the servant's quarters you find an elderly couple dressed in servant's attire, both of them quite dead. The man clearly died trying to defend the woman.
The office has shelves and cases filled with family heirlooms and curio. It has clearly been searched in a rough manner, with paperwork strewn about the floor and desk. One metal scroll tube with a scrimshaw cap stands out amid the clutter on the desk. The cap is carved in the likeness of a turtleback ferryboat.
The den has a mostly empty decanter of whiskey left open, with 8 used small crystal glasses set haphazardly about the room.
Upstairs (again clockwise from SW):
Linen closet/storage,
Guest Bedroom,
Kids' Bedroom (with 2 children, a gnome and wayang)
Master bedroom,
2 more guest bedrooms,
washroom.
Other than the kids' room, the only other room upstairs with anything out of the ordinary is the master bedroom:
An oversized bed rests in the middle of the room, and two wardrobes face each other on opposites of the room. This room is a scene of macabre theatre. The rogues killed Arhaneem Braeton and his wife, Canalee, but then set them in poses. Canalee’s body sits on the floor with her arm and face draped on the bed. Arhaneem reclines in a chair, with his eyes closed as if resting. Rapiers, wet with sticky blood, hang from their limp grasps—as if they had been fighting each other and then finally succumbed to their wounds.
Inside the scroll tube Dexus finds what appears to be the last will and testament of Arhaneem Braeton. In the event of Braeton’s death, his business is held in trust by the town council for Braeton’s two children. If there is cause to suggest the business may deteriorate before they come of age, the council has the option of selling the business on their behalf.
Even as you gather together in the main hall to discuss what you've discovered about the house, the sheriff bursts through the front door, sword in hand. She quickly pauses at the scene, with the five men tied up, the rest of you standing there, interrupted in mid-discussion.
As soon as the sheriff spies the bodies, she cries out, "By Sarenrae's light, what happened here?"
The sheriff looks harried and stressed--the past few days have clearly taken their toll. But she looks over your prisoners, then holds up a finger for the party to remain silent while she gets things straight in her head. Then she nods.
"Right. So, that's Borvius Monchello," she says, pointing to Ponytail. "And I recognize most of those men as his employees at Ilsurian Storage & Hauling. Their office is down at the docks. Even if Borvius had business here, there's no reason his workers would be here as well, especially armed..
"Of course, there's simply no way you could've brought these bodies to the manor in broad daylight, and those wounds are fresh. Clearly, these men came here armed and up to no good, and there was a fight between yourselves and these men." She pauses a moment to rub her chin. "I've heard that Arhaneem had rebuffed Borvius' attempts to buy his shipping business--Arhaneem controlled most of the shipping into and out of Ilsurian, especially via the docks. Could these be the real culprits in all the murders? While I can't be certain, their intent here seems clear enough.
"I imagine their shipping offices would be the center of their illicit operations. But I haven't the manpower to deal with this right now. Most of my men are trying to quell the unrest that's spreading, and if I pull them out, violence will assuredly erupt between the circus- and townsfolk. Perhaps you could deal with that nest of vipers? I'll keep this quiet until I hear from you...and I'll free Almara as soon as I can get these men to the jail. I may keep her in protective custody until this is resolved. Be sure to look for evidence of whether these dockrats were behind the other murders... Oh, you might find this helpful."
She offers you a wand of CLW with 10 charges to aid you in your investigation of Ilsurian Storage and Hauling, and provides you with detailed directions to its location.
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Rumple actually claps in delight at the posed corpses of the husband and wife. He abruptly stops and tries to look horrified when the others glance his way, but the grin is still apparent in his eyes. He takes his time examining the bodies for evidence on how they were really killed. Was it something else first, with the wounds being made later, or were each of them held still while a villain casually poked them full of holes?
The odd, little dwarf actually shivers when he sees the new wand of CLW being used. When Jaretti hands it to Aurk, Rumple looks a little nervous, "Mind you are careful not to mix that up with the one I lent you earlier."
"I agree, we must head over to the shipping place posthaste, before they can learn that this did not go as planned and prepare another ambush for us." He grumbles as he pulls more of the black goo from his hair.
It's late afternoon as you make your way down to the shadier part of the docks, which is rundown. Everything appears to be normal, with people going about their business. A small fishing boat is preparing to go out for a late afternoon run, a few common laborers are loading a small sloop.
Nobody seems to notice or care about your group in particular, although you do get an occasional sidelong glance, given the somewhat exotic racial makeup of the party, not to mention an armored halfling riding a dog. Ilsurian Storage and Hauling is a large 2-story wooden structure. There are 2 large bay double-doors, and one normal set of double doors on the front, facing the docks. There's one stout wooden door on the northeast corner of the building. The only windows are near the eaves of the roof, and are quite small--too small even for your halfling acquisitions expert to squeeze through. All the doors are closed and there does not seem to be anyone posted on guard.
The NE door is indeed locked. Jaretti does not notice the trap.
When he attempts to pick the lock, he is unable to get it open.
Jaretti's inability to open the lock is matched by the townsfolk's inability to notice... or care?
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Aurk watches Jaretti work on the door and fail. He looks at the door and then his club. He raises his club to bring down onto the door but then stops at the last moment and looks around. He frowns as he realizes he can't break the door without causing a scene.
"Go check out other entrance." He moves to the first double door he comes across and checks to see if it is locked.
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"Now, now, friend. No need to fret." He consoles the halfling while patting him on the shoulder. "I know your frustration. There have been many a crypt door that has kept me out. I often wished that I had your kind of skill with locks. It is actually a little comforting to know that even if I were as accomplished as yourself, there might still be doors I could not have passed. Besides," he adds with a smile and a gleam in his eye, "there are several other doors on this crypt left to try. I mean building.... Bah, same thing."
HitPoints: 12/12
AC/T/F: 16/12/14 (includes Armor (+4 armor bonus))
Speed: 20
Equipped Weapon: Sickle
Active Effects: Mage Armor (1 hour)
Light: none
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TRACKED RESOURCES
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Alchemist's Fire: 0/2
Grave Touch: 5/5
Sorcerer L1 Spells: 2/4
Both sets of huge bay double-doors seem to be barred from the inside. Pretty much impassable, other than brute force, which would undoubtedly draw attention. You could either make another attempt at the lock on the back door or go to the normal-sized double-doors at the main entrance in the SW corner of the building.
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Rumple follows along, wondering what will happen if someone notices us. He toys with the idea of shrieking and pointing behind whoever it is, "Oh no, it is that flying murderer! Quick, hide your children before she can eat their heads off!" Effective? maybe. Cause problems for the circus later? probably. Other than that, he has trouble coming up with any better ideas. Mostly, he is hung up on what to say will happen to the children. Eat them. Rip out their entrails. Lay eggs inside them and hang the corpses high in a tree. The imagery gets progressively worse the longer we are outside.
The main front double-doors are unlocked, with a sign that says "OPEN" hanging from hook on the front door. You peer inside and see a desk and chair sit against the east wall, with additional chairs situated nearby. Wall lamps light the room. To the north of the desk is a single door leading deeper into the warehouse. A solitary man sits behind the desk, looking quite bored.
When you walk in the door, he stands and smiles. "Gentlemen, how can we help you? Are you in need of storage...or hauling?"
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Rumple moves in and begins talking, "Storage. If a fellow were to have a very large... thing.. that needed keeping for a while. It would need to be kept safe and away from prying eyes, of course. Can you handle that?" After a short pause, he continues. "What if that thing was not an inanimate object? Something that could move on its own and must be kept from escaping?" He paces as he talks, gradually working his way over to the far side of the man and attempting to hold his attention. He leans in close and whispers, "This thing may not necessarily be dangerous.... but ummm.... would there be an extra fee if some of your men got disemboweled or eaten? I could see paying for a few funerals, but it could really have a negative impact on your reputation if your guards kept 'disappearing'." He straightens and says in a more cheery voice, "Any chance we could get a look at your largest and sturdiest enclosure or cage as well as the men who would have to ... watch ... said thing?"
I don't know if this would be diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, or something else. He is asking questions in an attempt to capture the man's attention (via a mystery that inspires horror or greed) and hold it so someone can knock him on the head.
+3 for bluff, diplomacy, or perform.
+7 for intimidate
His consternation seems to grow and grow as Rumple illuminates the rather disturbing potential needs of his...storage. "While we certainly appreciate our clients need for discretion, we don't really handle dangerous cargo such as what you're describing. We usually just handle more mundane goods. You'd probably need to speak with Mr. Monchello." As more of you filter in, he stands, and says, "Or perhaps I should get my supervisor? He might be able to answer your questions." He attempts to move past Rumple to get to the door.