Snake heads over toward the others, throwing the dagger, armor, rapier upon the ground. "Found this and a few other things upon our 'friend'. I also found this," he pulls out the pouch of coins and pulls out the key from within. "All we gotta do now is find out where it goes. Outside of that, only the vial and the cloak out of all this junk has got magic on it." Snake looks over at the thug that is currently being handled so carefully by Braddon. "This one talk yet?"
"Tell us about yourself and your friends, stranger who currently has ten fingers."
"You came looking for us," Cappi sneers. "You don't even know why?"
Snake looks to the thug a moment through narrowed eyes before turning his attention to the vial. After studying it a moment, "Hm," he offers it to Braddon. "Here, bub, this'll help fix you up if you need it."
Turning his attention back to Cappi, "Just answer the question, bub. Of course, you don't have to you if you don't want to," he says, shrugging. He then looks over at Braddon, "I'd start with his pinkies first and work your way to his thumbs. We'll just start by breaking them for now. Hopefully he'll talk before you get done with all of them. If he doesn't, we'll move to his toes and then his ankles," he finishes, looking back over at Cappi. "It's your call, bub."
Waiting not overlong for Braddon not to join the hunt
"Well, that addresses motivation.", Gristav grouses grimly. "As for why, and what we want to know... Tell us everything. Pretend we know nothing. Of course, we can't know nothing, so best to remain truthful, rather than grant the manglers moral measure to make your moniker, 'Mittens'. You may remember, I wanted to talk. Make me happy, or I expect they'll make you unhappy."
"Here, let's start with something simple. Your name, names of the others here, and, say, this fellow. As a comparison." Gesturing toward Snake, Gristav smiles, and casts a spell.
While Gristav, Serpe and Braddon content themselves with the captives - Phillip turns his thoughts and eyes to a swift recon of the compound. Firstly going back to retrieve and reload his crossbow, he moves from building to building testing portals and taking stock of contents. He doesn't spend an age in each of the buildings, but does take time enough to be reasonably confident of whether there is aught of interest there. Of particular concern are any papers, messages, valuables and the birds...
Tendal leans into the ramshackle building, afraid that his presence might cause the roof to tumble down upon him, takes a quick glance around and then moves to the building to the east to do the same.
Snake looks to the thug a moment through narrowed eyes before turning his attention to the vial. After studying it a moment, "Hm," he offers it to Braddon. "Here, bub, this'll help fix you up if you need it."
"Ooh, thank you."
Braddon takes the vial, puts in his backpack and pulls out another vial and quaffs that.
"Here, let's start with something simple. Your name, names of the others here, and, say, this fellow. As a comparison." Gesturing toward Snake, Gristav smiles, and casts a spell.
"Cappi," he spits. "Emiliu. Costica. You don't know your own friend's name? Why don't you ask him?"
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Tendal cautiously investigates the southwestern building in the cluster. He finds that both doors lead to the same open area, although some fragmentary bits of planking indicate that the space was once split into two, perhaps a residence and a workspace of some kind with separate entrances.
The eastern half has some additional niches walled off in the back. The wider space looks as if it once contained shelving, though only splinters remain in the wall joists and the floor is a mossy pile of wood pulp, a mass of fungus, and a few pale weeds trying to grow without sufficient sun. Some rusty metal and shining shards of glass are visible among the mould; it's possible something of value might remain buried in the rotting ruins, but finding it would mean getting his hands dirty.
Another narrow space contains an open pit, barely wide enough for someone to climb down, if they're not claustrophobic. It could be a root cellar of some kind, and the ladder providing access has rotted away. Then again, it could be the remains of a privy.
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Phillip tries the door to the larger building to the north and finds that it also opens easily. The roof to this building is more intact, and it is dim inside with a strong smell of barnyard animals. Waiting warily a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, the halfling sees nothing moving inside, but his nose and the piles of manure lying on the dirt floor, along with the presence of cloven hoof prints and a few rough troughs, indicate that a flock of goats has been penned in here at some point over the last couple of months. As may be expected with those kinds of inhabitants, there appears to be nothing of value in the building.
"Cappi," he spits. "Emiliu. Costica. You don't know your own friend's name? Why don't you ask him?"
Cutting his eyes toward the magus, "Forget it, Gristav." The tall man then turns his attention back to the thug. "You ever heard of a 'Lil Scarlet'?"
Tendal glances back outside, toward the building where the rest of the party is busy with the prisoners.
I guess I should be a bit more precise in my search...as long as I don't get filthy in the process. It wouldn't do for me to be mucking about in the detritus on the floor when someone else walks in.
Seeing a loose bit of plaster hanging from the wattle wall, Tendal freed it and cast two spells in quick succession.
Walking carefully across the floor toward the root cellar, Tendal scans the area, looking for any hints of magical activity. Then, close to the pit, he tosses the now glowing plaster bit into the depression.
"Cappi," he spits. "Emiliu. Costica. You don't know your own friend's name? Why don't you ask him?"Cutting his eyes toward the magus, "Forget it, Gristav." The tall man then turns his attention back to the thug. "You ever heard of a 'Lil Scarlet'?"
The man laughs rudely. "Is that your name? Am I supposed to have heard of you and be shaking in my boots now?"
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Tendal detects nothing magical in the building other than his glowing bit of plaster as he approaches to drop it down the pit. It falls some ten feet before hitting something solid and lies illuminating uneven dirt around it. The light ends abruptly at the edges of the cylindrical tunnel down which Tendal is peering without illuminating any vertical sides of the pit; it seems clear that the hole must open up into a wider space, like a cellar or cave, rather than simply dropping down to to a muddy end.
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Phillip investigates the small hut that Cappi had been hiding in when the group arrived at the clearing. It looks to be in better shape than the other buildings, its roof largely intact and its stone walls sturdy; however, there are no furnishings of any kind inside or any indication it has been used in recent years.
The man laughs rudely. "Is that your name? Am I supposed to have heard of you and be shaking in my boots now?"
Snake walks over to the thug, morningstar in hand, and swings with determination at him, regardless of any objections.
Managing to do very little(if anything), Snake continues his assault upon the smart mouth thug.
And then once more for good measure.
Taking a moment to catch his breath, he stares at him with cold eyes. "You didn't answer the question, bub. I'll give you another shot at it."
Eyeing the yawning space, and realizing the floor that he is standing on may not be entirely stable, Tendal quickly moves back away from the lip.
"Hmm. Nothing more to do here for the moment. I would need some help to get up and down into the room below...if I even wanted to." he said aloud, thinking about the filth below.
Leaving the building, Tendal made his way over to the tower, walking around its perimeter until he found an entrance. Rather than bursting through the door, he took the moment to listen carefully for any more thugs lying in wait.
Snake explodes in sudden violence, taking out his frustrations in a pair of teeth-rattling blows to the bound man's vulnerable form. Before he can deliver the exclamation point of the third swing, however, Cappi's eyes roll back in his head, and he slumps to the ground, unconscious.
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Tendal finds no point of access in the curve of the tower's stone wall, but it is connected to a rectangular annex which has a door and which presumably offers entrance to the tower's interior. This building looks to be in the best repair of any in the clearing; the door hangs straight and fits its jamb tightly, showing signs of upkeep and repair around the latch and hinges.
Tendal lays an ear to the wooden surface to listen for any sound or movement within, but all he can hear are the voices of the interrogation on the opposite side of the building and a gentle coo of birds from the top of the tower.
Phillip treads around the corner to join the wizard. After a questioning glance as to the result of Tendal's investigation, he slowly and quietly puts a hand to the latch. "Locked," he reports before poking his head around the edge of the tower. "Serpe, dixo que atopou unha chave? Atopamos un bloqueo."
Receiving no answer, "I guess he's at a loss for words." Snake moves over and stabilizes the man and turns to Phillip when he addresses him.
Working the key back out of the pouch, Snake makes his way over and tries the lock pointed out by the others.
"I found something that initially resembled a cellar, but may actually lead to a larger underground space. I suggest we save investigation of it until we are through with this tower, as it appears to be more recently utilized and upkept." Tendal expounds.
Snake nods. "That's a good idea. I'll get the others." Making his way back to the others, "Looks like the Suit found something. Let's gather these bums up, makes sure they're bound good, and hide 'em. And then we can check out this tower." Snake heads back over to the greased area and grabs the one there and drags him back over to the party, proceeding to follow through with his idea.
Snake explodes in sudden violence, taking out his frustrations in a pair of teeth-rattling blows to the bound man's vulnerable form. Before he can deliver the exclamation point of the third swing, however, Cappi's eyes roll back in his head, and he slumps to the ground, unconscious.
Braddon nods sagely.
"That's why I go for fingers. They can still talk once they stop screaming. Hey, did I tell you about this guy once. We called him stumpy but..."Braddon guiltily looks about the others.
"Umm, maybe some other time."
Braddon obediently picks up a body and follows Snake.
"Hide them where? Emiliu may not be moving quickly, but he will find help. We haven't very long before these are reinforced. Let's be quick about whatever we do."
Gristav will retrieve his staff before doing his part to relocate the prisoners.
"This one - 'Cappi' - did not recognize the name Lil Scarlet. Nor mine. Snake provided him with both. We learned little else. I suppose the lack of a drawn-out questioning is a mercy, of a sort."
"Hide them where? Emiliu may not be moving quickly, but he will find help. We haven't very long before these are reinforced. Let's be quick about whatever we do."
Gristav will retrieve his staff before doing his part to relocate the prisoners.
"This one - 'Cappi' - did not recognize the name Lil Scarlet. Nor mine. Snake provided him with both. We learned little else. I suppose the lack of a drawn-out questioning is a mercy, of a sort."
Stopping a moment, Snake looks to the magus curiously. "Seriously? What. You think Marzo doesn't have connections? You think if we never tell him our names he's not gonna know who we are? Especially after what we did to Beltias? Basically shutting down one of his connections and costing the man coin? You're not that stupid, are you, Gristav? Not only that, they know who I am; and because of that, they are going to know who the rest of you are also. These people aren't your common street punks. You don't get in a position like Marzo and not know things. Our only hope is to find what we're looking for before he finds us."
Returning to his work, Snake looks back over at Braddon. "Yeah he didn't give me the right answer," he says, shrugging. "I ran out of patience for fingers." Returning his attention back to the task at hand, he looks back up at Braddon a moment, "Stumpy?" he asks, shaking his head, certain he's leery about where that story might lead.
The key Snake took from the Varisian's belt pouch fits the lock in the door to the tower annex.
The group takes some time to drag the three unconscious Varisians together, remove the rope from Cappi's arms, and redistribute it to truss the three of them together before dragging them out of sight into the undergrowth.
The captives hidden, Snake turns the key in the lock, and the door to the annex opens, revealing a bare, narrow room. A lantern hangs from a hook on the wall, and there is another door in the back left corner. The lantern is new, in good repair, and filled with oil.
Braddon helps to stash the bodies near where he and Phillip came in, covering them with some stinging underbrush to discourage any accidental investigation.
He follows Snake to the door and looks around the witch's shoulder at the empty room.
"Looks fine," he whispers loudly.
He enters the room, both weapons drawn and approaches the far door.
He stops for a moment, looks at his drawn weapons, looks at the door handle, then takes a step back to clear in front of the door.
Braddon waits for someone to open the door for him to spring through.
Snake looks to Braddon with a raised eyebrow before simply shaking his head at the warrior. He then opens the next door for the fully armed ranger, his morningstar back in his other hand. "After you, bub," he tells him, allowing him to move in first.
Just as they begin to move in, Snake's wound reminds him it's still there and he stops a moment to use his healing magic upon himself.
He then turns back to the others, "Any of you hurt?"
"Thanks."
Without waiting any further, Braddon springs through the door.
Snake attempts to open the second door and finds it locked; however, applying the same key that opened the outer door successfully disengages the latching mechanism. He quickly pushes open the door and presses himself against the wall so Braddon can rush past.
Braddon leaps into another small dark room and almost barks his shin on a desk. There is a barrel on the other side of the door, and the round wall of the tower takes a smooth bite out of the opposite corner, another door set in the middle of it. There is light enough for the half-elf to see, but it will be uncomfortably dark for the humans and halfling.
Snake reaches over and grabs the lantern, holding it within the room.
Snake lights the lantern from the first room and brings it into the second to illuminate the furnishings.
Tendal simply taps the end of his cane, illuminating it with a quick cantrip, and quietly follows Snake as they move through the rooms of the tower.
As he proceeds forward, he keeps scanning, looking for anything of interest, especially correspondance, books or ledgers.
"So you're aware...", Gristav said, either to Tendal or to Phillip, or both, it wasn't clear, "That melee cost most of my prepared magics. Any further great cleverness will likely fall to either of you."
Casually flourishing his staff, Gristav joins the exploration.
Phillip checks his retrieved crossbow, making sure that a quarrel is snug within the groove and it's mechanism is energized before returning his interest to the delve into the tower. Bringing up the rear of the group his reconnaissance is somewhat limited by the press of flesh before him, though he makes good note of the desk. Nodding to Gristav's words he keeps his replied voice steady and even "I'd wager we've dealt with the welcome party... but if not then Braddon's blades will be clever enough a measure."
With a wry smirk at Phillip's words, Braddon makes his way to the next door and waits with feigned patience.
The desk here is much newer and in better repair than the one in Rag's End, but it is clearly the counterpart to the terminus in Padraig's room there. The drawers reveal fresh quills, vials of ink, sheets of fine parchment, and spools of twine, in addition to a brass magnifying glass which matches the one Gristav took from Padraig's room. Another drawer contains a flint and steel and a small brass pot, its interior marred with ashes. Like the desk back in Riddleport, while it is obvious that messages are received and composed here, there are none in evidence.
The barrel in the corner contains reasonably-fresh water, which has not yet grown brackish or stale.
While the others search the room, Braddon waits with exaggerated patience for someone to open the next door.
Snake catches sight of the ranger's impatience and rolls his eyes in annoyance. Moving over to the door, "Seriously?" he says to the ranger as he looks to the door and back to the ranger. Shaking his head and sighing, he opens the door and gestures with a facetious sweep of his hand to let him through first as if he was royalty.
Phil looks to the door as Snake majestically sees it parted from it's seating... while passing thought runs We should see the methods of writing taken from here or at the least destroyed.
"We may want to take much of this with us. On the way out?"
Snake swings open the next door to expose the interior of the tower. It looks as if there were once two or three stories stacked into the space, but the wooden floors have collapsed or rotted away, leaving only discolored rings around the walls. A single stone staircase winds around the circumference of the tower a few times before providing access to the roof through an open hatch in the ceiling, through which natural light filters down, along with the soft sound of cooing pigeons.
The atmosphere is warm and stuffy, smelling strongly of a chicken coop or a birdcage, and drifts of fluffy feathers waft across the floor in the disturbance in the air caused by the door's opening. Sacks are piled near the base of the stairs, and crates are stacked around the walls.
Tendal drifts into the room, following Braddon and Snake, his illuminated cane casting angular shadows across the room as he sticks it between crates and sacks, looking for anything of import.
"This is moderately annoying. There appears to be nothing here. No papers, no cache, no personages of import. I cannot believe that they managed to conceal everything before we arrived, it simply defies logic." Tendal says with exasperation.
The sacks at the foot of the stairs appear to contain birdseed of the same variety as that beneath Geezer Pidge's cot in Rag's End. The crates contain various supplies of recent vintage and in unused condition: clearly the sacks and crates haven't been here as long as the tower.
Rummaging through the crates reveals two bedrolls, a blanket, a pair of plates, bowls, and cups and two sets of wooden utensils, two iron pots, fifteen pounds of dry ship biscuit and jerky, thirty torches, 150 feet of rope and a grappling hook, ten pitons, a bag of iron caltrops, ten stubs of rough chalk, two sets of flint and steel, a mirror of polished steel approximately a foot across, three thick blocks of soap, three neatly folded waterskins, a set of thieves' tools, a heavy crossbow, and thirty bolts. It appears that the tower has been well-supplied to outfit an expedition or withstand a siege, if necessary.
"Seriously?" Shaking his head and sighing, he opens the door and gestures with a facetious sweep of his hand to let him through first as if he was royalty.
Braddon sniffs indignantly.
"It could have been dangerous. I wouldn't want to just march up to someone and have them gut me now, hey?"Braddon pokes at the equipment with his swords.
"Ooh, rope."
Braddon replaces his 50' of rope.
"Seriously?" Shaking his head and sighing, he opens the door and gestures with a facetious sweep of his hand to let him through first as if he was royalty.Braddon sniffs indignantly.
"It could have been dangerous. I wouldn't want to just march up to someone and have them gut me now, hey?"
"The difference between the practical and the tactical, gentlemen. Appreciate, each the other, their grasp of the relevant realm. Mister Brimcoat, I'll open a door for you for each door you've opened for our ranger. And Ranger? I'll be second on your breaching team; you've only to nod."
Braddon pokes at the equipment with his swords.
"Ooh, rope."
Braddon replaces his 50' of rope.
"Now here arrayed before us, is service for two. For travel? No carrying gear, so perhaps a vardo is planned? I say for travel, because not for seige, unless a dozen rain barrels greet us above. And those, I'd not favor, so near the flight of pigeons..."
"One thing about this staircase, in its long sweep through floors now fallen, is the command of the door by as many archers as might attend. Say, we did recover their crossbows, with their other gear? Might this be a better place, for our prisoners?"
Making a neutral comment "Prisoners won't be prisoners long... I would reckon they're good enough where they are until we've cleared the fullness of this place."
I wonder if there is access to the cellar from the tower itself. If there is some sort of jail or other store room, it is most likely located beneath the most prominent building."
Tendal attempts to shift some of the crates to get a look at the floorboards, looking for trap doors or other passageways.
Braddon sheathes his bastard sword and, with his magical short sword at the ready, heads up the steps to the top of the tower.
While Braddon is liberating some of the contents of the crates, Tendal takes the opportunity to rap on the floorboards with the end of his cane, listening for any change in sound that might indicate a hollow space beneath the floor. He strikes pay dirt on the eastern side of the tower, near the wall. Shifting the crates to one side and setting the lantern on the floor for better light, Snake finds three consecutive floorboards which appear to be removeable.
In the meantime, Braddon climbs stairs, round and round, to the top of the tower and steps out into the sun. The rooftop is bare stone, with a low railing around it. Under the makeshift shelter of a sheet of rusty metal is a pigeon coop full of birds, which coo excitedly at his arrival. Under the cage, the stone is thickly coated with droppings, seed husks, and the loose feathers that haven't been blown down the hatch into the interior or over the edge of the tower.
The view from the tower is impressive. Looking back to the northwest, Braddon can see Roderic's Cove, the masts of ships in the harbor towering above the small scattering of buildings clustered near the shore. To the north, the Chavali bisects Varisia through unwelcoming terrain toward the Kodar Mountains. To the east and south, only thick forest can be seen where the Churlwood grows thicker.
To the west lies the glittering expanse of the Varisian Gulf, past an impassible-looking landscape of rocky hills and cliffs. As he looks out on the sea, Braddon's mind returns to the mirror in the tower interior below. He knows that mirrors like that can be used to signal from ship to ship or ship to shore, using a sort of semaphore of long and short flashes at a distance where flags are indistinguishable. It's possible that someone could signal from the top of this tower to passing ships, and vice-versa.
"Well, these fellows here imagine you're to feed them.", Gristav says to Braddon. "Must be a part of the rituals of this, the Grand Cathedral of Roderic's Cove. Let's do maintain the decorum...", Gristav jests, seeking seed for the birds. "Plus, hungry is how - hunger is why - they fly. You see that part of the cage, set apart? So a bird or two can be kept hungry, while the others are fed, is my guess."
"Nice find," he tells Tendal as he attempts to remove the removable floor.
"Nice find," he tells Tendal as he attempts to remove the removable floor.
"Thank you. It seemed to be the only logical reason that there are no papers, documents or any other valuables here. The presence of guards without valuables seemed far too incongruous." Tendal said, attempting to explain his logic.