Samaritha returns Eleas's greetings before responding to Tural.
"I'm not sure how much of a teacher I would be, but trading tips seems alright with me.."
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The week finishes out (show above with your profitability rolls), and Samaritha blends in rather well. She doesn't take any harrassment from the customers, and is quick-witted enough to be respected for her clever banter.
As the business rolls around to the third week, you are all approached by Saul in the morning hours. He has asked you all to not work today, as something important has come up.
"He hasn't come in this morning, and no one has seen him..." Saul says as you all file in to his office.
"Larur's gone missing far as I can tell. I sent a runner to his aparment, but have been told the door has been knocked off its hinges and the room burglurized. I had Larur run a payment over to Lymas Smeed, the money lender, but I think that slimeball has finally overstepped his bounds..."
"We'll get right on it, boss!"
Although she's a loyal employee, Meg knows that Saul can be a bit shady himself at times, so she tries to determine from the man's demeanor if maybe he's not telling them everything he knows or guesses about Larur's disappearance. Also, she plumbs her memory for the address of Lymas Smeed's place of business.
"I do think we ought to start by investigating Larur's apartment. There might be something there that the runner missed. Some clue of some sort."
Tural sops for a moment, a look of concentration on his face as he closes his eyes, "I can think of five likely scenarios. The first is the simple one; Larur delivered the money to Smeed, but angered him somehow and Larur was killed. The second is that Larur took the money and ran, vandalizing his own home to throw suspicion off himself. The third is Larur slipped up, mentioned the money, and somebody followed him home and robbed him. Fourth, Smeed got the money from Larur and killed him to claim that he never was paid, thus getting a double payment. Finally, somebody broke into Larur's home looking for something, he saw them, and took off running. Whether or not he got away is unknown." He opens his eyes, "I would think that covers most scenarios."
Elea nodded, "Yes, I agree. First the apartment, then talk to this Smeed fellow. Is there anything else we need to know?"
Taton asks what seems to him the obvious question. "Who is this Smeed beholden to? Who do we need to talk to before we go knock his head off a wall?" After all, a strike against one of their own by some upstart was to be expected, if not anticipated, but there was a way to do things in the underworld. You talk first, offer options, and only when all options which didn't irrevocably change the relationship had been exhausted did you make with the violence.
Ryssa winks at Samaritha, saying, "Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure you'll be fine! Besides, we will all help you out if you need it, darling."
She then leans over and whispers into the half-elf's pointed ears, "And should need a place to stay I'm sure I can arrange for you to stay with me. I would like to get to know you more...intimately."
She then winks at the blond haired woman, grinning.
The next few weeks move by quickly, and Ryssa grows more fondly of Samaritha. She spends her time between doing her job and flirting with the half-elf.
When Saul mentions that Larur has gone missing while going to see Smeed, the forked tongue tiefling groans and rolls her eyes.
"Oh in the holy name of the Savored Sting, I know Smeed. I had to pay off some...ahem...minor debts to him prior to the Cheat the Devil contest. Nasty little man."
She hisses at his meer name.
"If we do have to go see him, I better do the talking. I know how to get him to be talkative with us."
Meghan you don't sense anything inherently suspicious, and it crosses your mind that Saul might be going back to that old mindset when he was a criminal, and one of his "gang" was injured. Stress might be getting to him. You also know Smeed lives on Rat Street, a cheap place to live but a very shady part of town. Most doors are reinforced and locked well.
Elea, you don't sense anything weird about your new boss.
"Smeed is a free agent. He pays a "fee" to some of the crime lords to operate in their area, but he's on his own.
You are given the address to Larur's apartment, a small flat deeper into town. It strikes you that the walk is a long one, and it is one he would have to make every day for work.
The scene is as described above, the door wide open, and as you make your way inside, you see a few shady looking individuals digging through the belongings, looking through drawers, dumping the contents.
One takes notice of you.
"Piss off, we were here first." she croaks, a sandpaper feel to her voice.
When they walk in and see the looters, Tural smoothly pulls out a well-worn coin and flips it with ease.
He glances at the coin, tucking it back in his robes, "Well. It's your unlucky day, it would seem. Eritque!"
"I might be able to make ya temporarily invisible to these jerks," Meg whispers to Elea before confronting the looters (and starting her bardic performance).
"Hey! The fellow who lives 'ere's a friend o' ours. clear out!" She draws her rapier to back up her demand (unless this is a surprise round, wherein she'd just start her BP).
Disappearing Act (Su): A street performer can use performance to divert attention from an ally. All creatures within 30 feet that fail a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the bard’s level + the bard’s Cha modifier +2 for the Ability Focus feat) treat one creature chosen by the bard as if it were invisible. This performance affects one additional creature at 5th level and every 6 levels thereafter. If the targets take any action that would cause them to become visible, they become visible to everyone. The bard cannot use this ability on himself. This ability is a mind-affecting effect that requires visual components.
Taton hefts his weighted spear. "You came into the wrong place at the seriously wrong time, mates. I can let you leave alive, but we're going to have to rough you up a bit for bad taste."
Turn order: Taton, Elea, Thieves, Meghan, Tural
"What..!" Meghan was confused by all of this. Did they just start a fight because her, apparently insane, colleague flipped a coin? She had to remind herself to hit him hard once this was over.
Elea shook her head as she moved forward, drawing her shield. "You heard her. You are stealing our friend's belongings. Drop them and scram." Despite her words she didn't feel like attacking them without giving them a chance to step down first. She expected aggression though and the knot of her rope shot was held tightly in her hand.
Taton takes a defensive posture, waiting for violence to occur rather than inciting it himself. Always one for the retribution and moral high ground was Taton.
Taton goes on the full defensive while Elea prepares her bag of tricks.
Three thieves total: a woman with a sturdy body with a face of a crone, a short stout man with an ugly scar across his face, and dirty looking fellow with a hunched back and bad sneer. Aptly, we name them Crone, Scar, and Sneer.
Scar will barrel forward his knife in hand and try and gut Elea.
His blow is interrupted by a swift jostling of his jewels.
Crone quickly backs up and starts digging in her bag, pulling out a bottle of some strange viscous and murky liquid.
Sneer behind Scar and takes his spear to maximum reach at Taton!
Has that been recently errata'd/FAQed? My CRB says 'standard action' for casting time.
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Ryssa quickly summons a golden fur dire rat right in front of the old crone!
Tural lets loose a dizzying display of colors, turning the room into a painful vision of discordant imagery.
Scar and Sneer are rendered unconscious by its effects, but Crone is a bit stronger of will and keeps a firm grasp on her bottle.
round
round
Stunned 1 round
Tural stretches out his hand, and glowing runes begin encircling his palm. At the same time, a matching circle of runes appears in the air in front of the remaining looter. The runes coalesce into a blurry shape, which sharpens into a blue-feathered eagle.
The eagle attacks the looter viciously, claws and beak all primed to tear flesh, even as most of the attacks go wide.
"Give it up. You have literally no chance against these odds. Drop the weapons or I'll slice this one from stem to stern and leave him for the crows." Taton five foots into range of Sneer so that his threat has some validity, holding the blade in a rather vulnerable area, near the femoral artery.
He is not particulary frightening, but he's not bluffing.
The Crone screams as the bird begins to assault her, and in desperation she throws the elixer she was holding to the ground. It bursts into flames, and the flames seem to reach far and wide.
She begins to cackle, clearly no love or even bonds between her and the other two men who now lay unconscious surrounded by flames that lick at the wooden floors, unbalanced furniture, and other things.
"Die! Die with me then!" she screams, whether from her madness or the pain of the flames, its hard to tell.
Tural sighs, "Does anyone have a lot of water, or a spell for the same?" He quickly pulls out a coin and flips it.
"Could someone stronger than I help drag them out? I'll start looking around the room. Ryssa, are you also fire resistant? You should help me."
Meghna nods as Tural takes charge, then grabs the ankles of 'Scar' and tries to drag the fellow out of the inferno. "Ya owes me now, 'andsome," she sneers at the unconscious man.
Taton grabs Sneer, deciding Crone can burn for all he cares.
He starts dragging the unconscious offender out before the fires can consume.
"Oh boy, this is going to be a problem. I hope no one blames us for this fire," Ryssa said hissing in annoyance at the crone for setting the building on fire.
Ryssa helped Taton in moving the ruffian out of the fire.
"Calistria, please help me in convincing the authorities that we didn't start the fire!"
Tural begins to look around the room, but the only thing he notices is that most of the valuables have been removed.
Meghan concedes to Tural's wishes, and begins hauling Scar out, the dumbest unconscious face one could wear despite the current danger. Taton helps by dragging out Sneer.
Ryssa is already thinking about how to tackle the authorities if they show up.
The crone is screaming, and screaming, and screaming.
Tural merely grins as the flames leap around him, enjoying the warmth they provide. Not seeing anything of interest, he looks at the crone in disgust. "Ugh. I suppose I get to carry you out, do I? Very well." Tural starts dragging/carrying the woman, trying to make it out of the burning building before it collapses around them.
Once outside, Tural quickly searches the looters, looking for whatever they might have taken.
Meghan curses under her breath as she drags Scar to safety, doing some imaginative math in her head in regards to the guard when they arrive. Admitting that they're employees of Saul Vancaskerkin, an ex-crimelord, is definitely a strike against the group. On the other hand, their story is truthful, and any amount of investigation on the guards' part will reveal that fact. Crone, Scar, and Sneer, however, likely have no good reason for being at Larur's place and will have to answer some hard questions.
Besides, it looks like there's soon to be a raging inferno....
Once Scar's clear, the bard screams "FIRE!!" at the top of her lungs and starts banging on doors, both to evacuate civilians and hopefully build a bucket brigade to battle the spreading flames.
The looters appear to have been stashing valuables on their person. Even working together, they don't trust each other enough to rob the others blind. The clothing they all wear is somewhat baggy with hidden pockets deep enough to hide many shiny and valuable items.
Meghan's efforts rally some of the neighbours. They're not the worst the town of Riddleport has to offer, but definitely no the best. Still, they don't want their houses and possessions to burn down.
Tural successfully drags the burning crone out of the fire, though she is unconscious and currently dying.
"Does someone want to stabilize her?" Tural indicates the dying crone, "She's one of our few potential leads for Larur."
He quickly searches each of the thieves for anything of note.
Meghan assumes that Ryssa will be able to stabilize Crone easily enough, so she keeps helping other concerned citizens battle the fire.
You find mostly coins and possibly expensive knick knacks: a leather book, a metal statuette, a nice silk pillowcase, but nothing really of note. The gold totals up to only 7 gp and 3 sp.
Meghan moves in to help with the fire,
Tural flips through the book and tries to identify the statuette.
Meghan moves in to help with the fire,
Tural recognizes the statue as one of Sarenrae, the goddess of the sun, healing, and redemption.
Meghan, go ahead and roll diplomacy to organize the folks to an effective brigade.
Meghan barks orders with authority to other citizens who come out into the street to witness the fire and other goings-on. Unfortunately, when some do more gawking than helping, Meg starts shouting insults and less-than-complimentary comments at them.
"Fine--just stand there an' do " she yells. "Ain't my neighborhood...ain't my home or business that's gonna burn down!"