"Red Mantis!" , Lyla shouts out to warn her allies. She quickly mixes a bomb and throws it at the man's feet, swinging erratically to evade the assassin's serrated blades.
[dice=Ranged touch attack (provokes AoO)(tanglefoot bomb)]1d20+10-4[/dice]
Lyla's warning fails to register with Ortik, and he joins Karri in attempting to quench the fire.
The Red Mantis slashes at Lyla as she throws her bomb, slicing her open even as the bomb explodes around him.
The mantis-warrior pauses for a moment, and a strange, red mist starts to cover his body, even as the fire downstairs begins to rapidly spread. He lashes out with his sword at Demitri...
...managing to nick his cheek with the serrated blade.
There's a *THUMP* in the next room.
Karri begins to reach inward, dragging more of the Legion from her flesh...
Lyla tumbles past Demitri and out of the Red Mantis assassin's reach. While rolling down the corridor, she activates her regenerative powers, and the gashes on her body immediately stop bleeding and begins to heal. She comes out on the other and looks back, seeing both her foe and her ally silhouetted against the flames spreading around the back of the house. She throws a bomb over Demitri's head aimed at the masked killer.
"Someone check that out while I take care of him."
The Red Mantis swings at Lyla, only to miss and ending up with a bomb exploding in his face for his trouble.
He's unable to clear his vision fast enough to avoid Demitri's sword raking across his gut, sending blood spurting everywhere. It's enough to drive the wind from him.
Nalun whirls to see a new threat on the second floor
You picked the wrong house bub. he snarls
Nalun darts into position with his Rapier and Buckler held in front of him in a broad ward stance.
+2 if the target is Human
plus if the target is Human
The new threat on the second floor, sitting in what appears to be a training room of some sort, is another person clad in a red mantis costume and twirling serrated swords.
Nalun's rapier nails her in the stomach, but she takes the blow without even so much as hissing in pain.
Ortik's eyes widen as he sees a second threat engaging Nalun. "Don't know who you are, but you picked the wrong house burgle, friend." He advances, denying easy stairwell access to the mantis-masked woman, and stabs at her leg with his spear.
The mantis-woman steps aside from the spear with a contemptuous snort.
The fire on the first floor is rapidly spreading, consuming the furniture in front of the hearth as the mantis warriors fight for their lives. The one facing Demitri & Lyla swings his sabres at Demitri!
Unfortunately for him, Demitri's shield and quick footwork are enough to keep his swords from finding their marks.
The mantis-woman brandishes her sabres and strikes back at Nalun!
And returns the favour in kind, one sabre raking across his chest and the other slicing into his stomach with a cold, dispassionate fury!
"Seriously, someone should help with the fire." Demitri takes another slash at the Mantis.
Demitri's sword slices cleanly through the Mantis' collar, and he wordlessly collapses to the floor. His body evaporates into a cloud of red mist, leaving behind the costume and equipment he was carrying.
After the mantis woman savages Nalun, Ortik quickly changes tactics. He feints at her, only to retreat behind him and cast a healing spell, laying a hand upon Nalun's side. "Don't you go dying on me, Elzrahar."
Ain't planning on doing the dying today. Nalun says as he stabs and slashes with his rapier, its point singing through the air
HP 33/49
The duel between Nalun and the mantis-woman turns vicious as his rapier easily finds its way past her guard twice.
Lyla stares at the growing fire and feels a drop of sweat running down her forehead. She can sense the heat increasing with each passing moment. Looking around, the halfling girl sees nothing that can help them control the arson—that is, until an idea crosses her mind.
She mixes another tanglefoot bomb and throws it in the living room, and the goo explodes and spreads on the floor and over the furniture. As the resin solidifies, she wonders if it will be enough to smother the combustion and start to contain the fire.
"We need some water down here", she shouts out to the people upstairs. "Lots of it!"
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Finally wrestling the things within free, she casts them to the ground floor and shouts, A veritable swarm of corrupted water elementals coalesces and goes to douse the fire in the parlor.
The tanglefoot bomb coats the burning couches in sticky tar, but doesn't appear to have slowed down the fire much--while the ends coated in tar are no longer burning, the fire continues to spread.
The water elementals Karri summoned get to work dousing the fire with gusto.
The remaining mantis warrior twirls her sabres again and pauses. A red mist coalesces into being around her body, and the bleeding of her wounds slows a bit. She lashes out with her sabre...
...and another vicious cut connects with Nalun's collar.
The fire keeps trying to spread beyond the tanglefoot bomb, but the elementals continue to douse it.
Demitri will cast to help douse the flames and then moves up the stairs.
Nalun returns the favor
You've got moxie, I give ya that. he grunts
HP 19/49
The mantis warrior is staggered by Nalun's stab, and Demitri's conjured water douses much of the fire on the first floor. The room starts filling with choking smoke in the aftermath.
With the fire controlled and an army of water elementals taking care of the final flames, Lyla runs upstairs to help with the other Red Mantis assassin. She tumbles past Demitri, Karri and Ortik, landing on the corner of the room already with a bomb in hand. In an instant, the projectile crosses the room seeking the crimson mercenary.
Lyla's bomb crashes into the mantis and explodes. The assassin's corpse evaporates into a fine red mist... just in time for the splash damage from Lyla's bomb to set the nearby hearth on fire.
Cursing in Abyssal, Karri drags two of the elementals upstairs to douse the flames. "It's like the Gods want this place to burn!"
Ortik continues his chants, and another wave of energy washes over Nalun, binding his wounds and knitting flesh together.
The water elementals race upstairs as the fire spreads further, even as the remaining two elementals extinguish the fire on the first floor.
Lyla & Nalun are caught in the blazing inferno!
Lyla feels her feet burning and looks down only to see the fire licking her boots. She jumps back and stomps the ground quickly to put down the fire, and then runs to the other side of the room to get away from the fire. The girl opens the door and enters the neighboring chamber, leaving the door open behind her.
Demitri finishes getting up the stairs and casts a spell hoping to douse the flames.
Demitri extinguishes the last of the fire.
The Red Mantis assassins were equipped with:
--2 sawtooth sabres each;
--4 daggers each;
--1 suit of red mantis-themed Medium-sized leather armour each;
--1 vial of dark red fluid each;
--1 flask of alchemist's fire;
--1 dark red cloak with an image of a mantis' head stitched into it in gold thread each;
--1 mask that looks like a red mantis head each;
--27 platinum pieces each.
--Darkvision out to 60 feet;
--see invisibility;
--deathwatch;
--a +5 competence bonus to Perception rolls.
Each effect lasts for 30 minutes, and multiple effects may be active simultaneously.
The masks are worth 6,000 GP.
"You seemed to recognize these two, Lyla," Ortik says, pulling a familiar oaken wand from his belt. "Who were they? And what did they want with Vencarlo?"
"You seemed to recognize these two, Lyla," Ortik says, pulling a familiar oaken wand from his belt. "Who were they? And what did they want with Vencarlo?"
Lyla steps back into the room and swipes the sweat off her face. "They're Red Mantis assassins. Mercenaries, some of the best. Whoever hired these guys has either a lot of money or influence to trade for their services. The question is, were they here for us, or were they waiting for Vencarlo to return?" She turns to Karri with a wink and a smile. "Nice work with those elementals. Kinda saved my skin down there."
The girl then moves on to inspect the loot.
"As I imagined, they were well equipped. Magic swords, magic armor, a potion to boost their strength, and this," Lyla says holding up the characteristic mantis mask. "This is gold. What assassin wouldn't want to see in the dark, spot invisible foes, check on their target's health status and, on top of it all, enhance their own senses?" She starts stuffing the equipment into the bag of holding. "You guys take whatever you want now, and we'll deal with the rest of it later. Now, what was it that Vencarlo had for us? I hope he didn't set up the ambush."
A bit embarassed, Karri smirks back at Lyla, "Legion always claims to be mine and that they are here to serve me." She looks down at the floor in thought, But I fear their real reasons for their help. As if on cue, Only to serve, unless you prove unworthy fleshling...
"Seems unlikely that Vencarlo would set an ambush, I thought he had a soft spot for the kitten. More like he had more enemies than the false emperor and the b!tch queen. For the potions, would Demitri and Nalun want them?"
"I'll take a potion. It is more likely they were waiting for Vencarlo."
"Agreed, Demitri," Ortik says with a nod. "If they cost as much to hire as Lyla suggests, then Vencarlo probably couldn't afford him. His school hasn't been doing so well since Eodred died. Besides, you don't hire assassins to guard your house. And since Vencarlo's outwardly spoken against the Queen, I can take a guess who untied their purse strings."
"We haven't checked the bedroom yet", Lyla remembers. She enters Vencarlo's room and inspects it carefully.
The bedroom Lyla investigates appears to be well lived in, but the bed is made and doesn't appear to have been slept in. There's a desk and a chair next to the bed, and a small clothes closet to the north.
Poking around in the closet reveals a well-hidden iron lockbox, tucked away in a small compartment underneath the closet floor. The lock on the lockbox appears to have been masterfully crafted, with an image of a pseudodragon's mouth serving as the lock.
"Hidden compartment, check. Locked box, check. I think this is it", Lyla says running her hands over the iron box in search of traps.
The lockbox isn't trapped, but the lock is of a complexity that you've never seen before--the pins feel like even the slightest hint of pressure applied in the wrong places causes the whole lock to stick and refuse to open.
"Looks like you can't crack it open. The key has to be around here somewhere."
Demitri's search of the room yields nothing that Lyla hasn't already uncovered.
Nalun frowns.
Think Majenko might know something about the lock? It is a pseudodragon on the cover there...
"Don't know about that, slim. Pseudodragons are a common motif in Korvosa. In any case, Majenko is off with Nadia and the Forgotten folk right now." Lyla insists for another minute or so before angrily throwing the thieve's tools on the floor and shaking her head. "Demitri's right, I can't do it. Unless we can find a key, I guess we're going to need some muscle." She stands up, stuffs her hand shoulder deep into her bag of holding, and pulls out the traveller's any tool. She turns and pulls and pushes its parts to finally produce a crowbar, and then holds the tool in front of Nalun and Demitri. "Would anyone care to try?"
Lyla stares at Nalun and Demitri and senses their hesitation. "Trust me, it looks weird but it really works as a crowbar. Look," she says, demonstrating how to use the makeshift crowbar crafted out of her magic anytool.
Demitri takes the crowbar after Lyla takes a try. "I was gonna give Nalun the first crack."
Lyla's attempt to open the lockbox is unsuccessful, but thanks to her crowbar Demitri is able to pry the lockbox open. The lock breaks with a loud *SNAP*!
Inside, there's a black leather bag and a note.
Good on ya Nalun smirks as Demitri snaps the box open
What's this? he says, pointing to the note
"Only one way to find out," Ortik says, reaching out to pick up the note and read it.
The note reads as follows...
Lyla,
If you're reading this, then the worst has come to pass, I fear.
When I first met you, back at the remains of Eel's End, I had a gut feeling about you. You had a spark in you--one that flares brightest when Korvosa and her downtrodden are put in peril. I had hopes that I'd be able to take you under my wing, so to speak, and impart unto you whatever knowledge I could to help you in your task.
But, clearly, you did not need such teaching. You already had a good idea of what to do.
I suppose I should tell you everything, but if you've managed to find this, you've either found out who I really am or are on the verge of finding out anyway, so I'll keep this short. Seneschal Neolandus' life is in great danger. He's been imprisoned somewhere in Old Korvosa, and I'm currently trying to track down a dear friend of his to find out where he's been taken to. His name is Salvatore Scream; he's a local artist whose works are rather... disturbing.
The bag I left with this note has quite a selection of equipment to help you in your quest.
You wouldn't believe how expensive it was to commission a second set, in your size.