Amboy follows Meghan
Once at the door he checks the door and lock for traps.
If all seems clear he will attemp to disable the traps/lock.
Amboy smiles at his good fortune and winks at Meghan, "Let's hope the rest of the night goes as well."
Mitleid follows as silent as a fully armored dwarf can. Which is not very.
Meghan and Amoby move stealthy over to the door, each moving quickly to watch for traps and check for patrols and guards. Both stop though, as a thought occurs to them and they quickly rush to Unbeugsam who has already had one unfortunately loud footstep into the alley. With the two stealthier members of the group taking time to help him, they manage to get him to the door with little more clatter.
There doesn't seem to be a guard in the kitchen, though you can definitely see lights on in the main hall, coming from the cracked open doorway.
With a click, Amboy manages to get the lock undone and the door moves ajar slightly...
the kitchen looks as clean as a kitchen in a casino can be, but more importantly, no guards stationed here.
Taton keeps the rear guard. He might be a good choice for the front, what with some armor and a good weapon, but he also knows that a good lookout keeps them from being ambushed.
Meghan proceeds into the casino, casting light on her rapier if necessary.
Tural stays firmly in the middle, not wanting to be exposed by a potential ambush.
Tural stays firmly in the middle, not wanting to be exposed to a potential ambush.
Unbeugsam slowly moves in and takes lead to be the rock to lean on.
The light of Meghan's rapier shines brightly in the dark, unlit room. As you approach the wooden door, you stop. On the other side lies the casino, which is lit, most likely hiding the light emanating from the rapier spilling under the door's crack.
Taton presses his ear to the door, and hears the complaining of a new hired guard. Something about.....luck....bad cards... You hear the subtle clatter as some chips fall onto the ground and the loud metal thud as an armored knee hit's the wooden floor to pick up the dropped chips.
How would you like to proceed?
Meghan opens the door, waving the others through.
Amboy follows Meghan lead and move right. Daggers in hand he looks for targets.
The first thing you notice is the group of four men playing cards at one of the table. They're sitting down, armored up, but their weapons are leaned against chairs on on the floor.
But one of them spots you.
"Shit! We got Trouble!"
I'll get the map set up later, but you can reach them in one move action.
Taton studies the closest foe, looking him up and down and trying to spot the weak points. "Well, here we go again."
You all still have a surprise round to act, and Amboy and Unbeugsam can act first on Round 1.
combat map is ready to go.
Unbeugsam quickly charges the mook in green hood and lets him taste his hammer.
Being first he continues the assault.
Meghan stays back, breaking into a mocking song as she waves at the guards.
"Evenin', lads. We're here for Saul. Give 'im up or we'll thrash you all."
Inspire Courage (Su): A 1st level bard can use his performance to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to perceive the bard’s performance. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 5th level, and every six bard levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +4 at 17th level. Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability. inspire courage can use audible or visual components. The bard must choose which component to use when starting his performance.
You rolled the 1 in the surprise round, before Meghan used her bardic performance. You rolled an 18 in the first round when it was actually affecting you. :)
Tural, consulting a flipped coin, reaches out into the Great Beyond, but not too far. Instead, he grabs onto the inner planes, and siphons off a miniscule amount of quintessence, fashioning it into an animate blob of elemental matter, and an earth elemental thuds onto the ground next to him.
Amboy wastes no time with discussing the finer points of surrendering. He moves up to the first person and sticks him with his dagger.
Unbeugsam charges into the frey, though his eagerness is met in kind as the thug he attacks kicks up the chair he was using and blocks the heavy dwarf's impactful strike, the wood of the chair splintering into unusable pieces.
Meghan begin's her usually rowdy affair, the chipper banter spurring her allies into greater feats of inspired action.
With a flick of his wrist and grasp of arcane power, Tural pulls another visitor from beyond. This one a solid mass, it charges forth and slams into a thug, the resulting mess almost unrecognizable from the would-be winner of the card game.
Amboy moves up, daggers twirling, feet racing, flashes a shine of light into his target's eyes, before ducking behind him with and awkward twist. However, it soons becomes apparent the twist is for good reason as Amboy's body uncoils on itself delivering a full force stab at the man's spine with minimal space and record-breaking time. The unfortunate pin cushion could only take the one before slumping over, completely unmoving.
Unbeugsam, seeing his comrades deliver decisive strikes, notices the quick thinking thug is distracted by the horrid sight. Smiling, the dwarf slams his weapon into the thug one more time, this time taking him off his feet and into the air for a few moments, before painfully landing onto the floor.
The untouched thug turns to run, yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Intruders! Intruders!"
The injured one throws his weapons to the side and holds up his hands in surrender.
Meghan closes on the guard who surrendered, vengeance flashing in her wild eyes. "You have one chance: Tell us where Saul is cowering and how many other guards are on duty. We're here for Vancaskerkin--you don't have to die this night."
Amboy rushes to the doorway that the fleeing guard went though. Looking back at Unbeugsam he points to a position about 15 feet in front of the doorway. "Go there. Lead them to you."
Tural, with a wave of his hand, motions for his elemental to move up to the doorway the survivor is fleeing towards, and it complies in silent compliance.
Unbeugsam looks menacing, whirling his hammer.
Taton tries to attack the enemy he had previously studied, approaching him as is necessary.
His enemy feels a light breeze.
With the party's shock and awe tactics, it isn't long before the man caves into the pressure.
"They thought you might be coming tonight..., so Saul set some guards downstairs. He's downstairs somewhere, I don't know where. But they'll be expecting trouble."
The fleeing man puts his all into speed and disappears down the steps on the stairs.
Meghan stares daggers into the captive. "Oh, they'll be getting a whole load of trouble, believe me," she growls. "Consider yourself fortunate. Assuming that your information is good and that you don't do something stupid like run for reinforcements, we'll let you leave with your life. Now get out of my sight and never come back here!"
Amboy turns to Meghan, "We need to get down there. How do you want to handle it?"
The man nods frantically and scrambles away on his hands and knees. When he's out of head chopping distance, he'll hurry to his feet and bolt out the door.
Meghan thinks the group's options over a bit before responding.
"Saul likely hired human mercenaries, if the two we saw are any indication. We have at least one member who can see in the dark...maybe two . If things are dark below, they can scout out any ambushes. If there's lighting enough for everyone, I say we just go hunt them down as soon as possible. Take no prisoners."
Tural nods, "I believe that the Celestial blood within me manages to create a constant sub-magic aura that produces a unique form of illumination that only my eyes can detect. In other words, yes, I can see in the dark. So can elementals." he waves and the elemental rejoins them, thudding across the floor.
Tural makes sure he stays well in the middle of the group, fully aware of his fragility.
Unbeugsam will try his LUCK.
The first level seems mostly deserted. You pass a wine cellar along the way, though its mostly filled with the swill the that the citizens of Riddleport find cheap and potent.
There is a slight smell of troglodytes in this room, though even as you move on with caution, you don't seem to see other signs of the creature.
You also find what appears to be an underground bar, where the beer is in clouded bottles and the mugs are tarnished and chipped. Still, no signs of enemies or even anything useful.
Then you move onto the next sublevel.
The first door you come across you open slowly. It seems to be an infirmery of sorts, the tattered wrappings of bloodied cloth are spooled into a corner, and the doctor's tools have definitely seen better days. Still, Unbeugsam notices the glint of glass and returns from the room with two potions of familiar murky red liquid.
The hallway continues with one more door before making a sharp right.