"One down?"
All goes according to plan.
With Ugly (the man, not the bugbear) giving a final look at the bloody head of his comrade, the three of you turn to the remaining rooms to search.
All of the rooms are empty of scarecrows except for the unsearched orchard. The one scarecrow found is dispatched in the same way as the first.
In the first orchard, Ugly regains his boot dagger (which was thrown by Coin during the fight). Both orchards have small fruit trees ripe with produce, and the back of these foliage filled rooms have a single large, still living oak leaf hung up on the wall. The cooler is a small room supernaturally chilled, with large cuts of meat wrapped in butcher paper filling shelves and crates.
Eventually the three come out of the blood-trail corridor having finished searching the rooms.
With these rooms searched, you believe the inside of the hideout to be secure from these threats, and time has now been earned to share stories and maybe get some better rest.
However, you all remember the scarecrows passed on the way in, and hope that they will provide no additional trouble on the way out.
Cavell settles back down on a pile of singed hay, and wads some up into a pillow again. "I hate to say it, but I can't recall if there's a brothel in Yartar. Anyone know?"
In minutes he's asleep. A string of drool drips into the hay from his mouth.
Not having much interest in the subject Triss makes no mention of any brothel.
"... What's a brothel?"
Ozz shakes his head, bewildered, at the sleeping Cavell. Gently lifting him, he carries him to a bed to finish his rest.
During the story, Ozz will make sure to point out the strange 'Direction' to the lightning strikes as possibly important.
You notice something strange going on in the clouds. Little flashes of fiery light burst here and there above the city, clearly an unnatural look. You are certain this isn't an effect of the lightning, additionally, the clouds are spiraling above the city, the small flashes occurring most numerous toward the center of this maelstrom of clouds.
As you watch, and notice all of this about the clouds through the streaming rain, you notice several more lightning strikes coming from the very center of the spiral, directly west of your location, probably on your side of the Dessarin.
Grellik looks at Ozz incredulously when he appears to not know what a brothel is, but unless anyone comments on it or his look, he won't say anything about it, giving a quiet "ahem" and fussing with the journal, perusing the latter pages, seeking some clue as to Dart's current whereabouts.
Grellik will take Adrian aside at some point, and mutter to him conspiratorially, "I know the others do not want to hear it, but I agree with you: It seems that Caira has developed too keen of a taste for the finer things. I pray we are wrong, and there is some other explanation--some kind of divination magic, perhaps--but we need to be prepared for the worst."
Aside from that, he rests, happy to be among his friends again, his mind pondering how best to rescue the others
Cavell sleeps like the dead through the 8 hours.
When brought aside by Grellik, his default cocky smirk fades to a blank expression. "I'll do what's necessary."
Grellik nods solemnly, and takes his leave of Cavell, his hand resting on Cavell's shoulder briefly before he leaves
Ugly says that he knows there IS a brothel in town, but isn't aware of where. He directs you to ask Tease when he wakes, maybe in the morning. This that, everyone gets some well needed rest. Ugly promises to stay awake for watch, until Trissae has finished sleeping at least.
It is morning time before all of the Sharks find themselves awake (either by the hand of Trissae or by Coin). Apparently Coin had probed outward, and having not been attacked by the Scarecrows (he claimed me made near-continuous use of the enigmatic word "Darber"), scouted the city to see how things were going.
The quarantine is still up and being patrolled, some Shields are helping townfolks rebuild and tend to those that were injured during the night, and THE EXECUTION is still going to occur, maybe even earlier than originally expected as they want to get it in while things within the city are well.
Coin said that he saw a group of people forming near the southeast side of the quarantine to try and watch the gallows from a distance. Though Grellik, Ozz, and Adrien had not yet finished getting a full sleep, unless they plan on exerting themselves very soon, a strolling walk across the quarantine should be enough downtime to be rested. Anything more than a walking-breakfast, though, will keep them from getting the rest they'll need for the perils of Yartar.
Adrien wakes and walks groggily to a bucket to piss in. He yawns and looks over the scrapes and bruises from the escape, and the places where the owlbear's claws had tore into him--now smooth from magical healing.
"Seems I'm alive and all in one piece." He walks back to slump down on the edge of the bed. The fact that he didn't go to sleep there doesn't seem to bother him. Maybe he's used to not remembering how he got to the places he wakes up at. He looks to Grellik.
"Last night, we had to read some markings outside the Tower, directions to the 'safe' house. They saw me searching for the markings, and finding them. So we had to abandon our original plan, which was to break out of quarantine and hit the city gates, leaving the guards knocked out and the gates wide open."
He leans forward and rests his arms on his knees, looking from one face to the next. "To make them think we'd made a run for it. As it is, they'll know we're still in the city. They'll probably assume we're still in quarantine."
"Now if I were Frostheight, and I wanted to recapture some escaped 'Sharks, I would set a trap at that execution. I'd get some poor fool rotting away in the dungeon and put a bag or Bogshark mask over his head, and set to hang him--with a bunch of guards hidden nearby. That way even if the 'Sharks were successful, they'd have no one of value. And if they didn't try a rescue, the execution would still serve it's purpose. The Boss and the common folk alike would see a 'Shark hanged on the wall-top. A win for me and my mustache, in any outcome," he mimes a finger-twirl of an invisible mustache and waggles his eyebrows.
"Chances are, Frostheight will be pissed to hear we escaped. It makes him look incompetent to Amberglow. S*+*'ll flow downhill all the way to Wen, then to all the Shields that were on duty," he chuckles. "Frostheight would be able to pull in more muscle than just some overworked city guard, in any case. He can get mercenaries, mages, whatever he needs."
"So, a list of assets: we have the Counterwits," he nods to Tease if he's awake. "Triss' magic, and her magic hairpin. We have Ozz's fog. Grellik's magic. I'm a good shot with a bow. And we have the bootleg booze back at the Shield grounds, maybe to set alight as a distraction, get guards rushing back there."
"Not to mention we're all bloody good fighters, especially you," he ruffles Coin's hair. "We can try to spring the mystery prisoner during transit, that's usually easiest." It sounds like he's speaking from experience.
"Or, we need a great big bloody stick to whack Frostheight's beartrap, then we duck left when he thinks we're ducking right, and we get our Shark back to the safehouse or out of the city entirely. Thoughts?"
Once again it's strange, even eerie, seeing Adrien taking charge. Normally at times like these he just listens silently, smirking like all of their ideas are ridiculous, then sighs dramatically and promises he'll pull their asses out of the fire when their plan goes to hell.
Coin fidgets, still flushed from having ran back to the hideout. "I don't know when the execution is! Like I said, when I saw people lining up chatting, I picked up from their talk that the Waterbaron made some kind of announcement and discovered that it'd be soon! I ran back here as soon as I could. I didn't see anything at the gallows yet, so we probably have some small time yet, but unless you're able to pull a plan out of your asses right quick I hope the person being hanged isn't one of your friends!"
Ugly is still sleeping, having got a late start of it. Tease is as well, but a proper sleep instead of a wounded-unconsciousness.
"And you'll probably need some time to disguise yourself, all your faces are plastered across the town and like you said, the Noble is probably after you by now. Except for Big Hairy here, the town now knows your faces and HE isn't exactly a little thing one could overlook." he says, sticking a thumb out toward Grellik.
Trissae rouses from the trance invigorated. It had been an especially intense one: she revisited memories of her mother and the sensations she felt recently as learned the nature of the hairpin. In one gleaming moment as she heard her mother's voice it seemed as Eilistraee herself spoke through her, emboldening Triss.
As she stands and stretches she looks out among the sleeping compatriots and allies. Noticing Ugly awake she smiles.
"Sir, you needn't have strained yourself. I was quite aware of my surroundings while resting... Please, get some rest." she motions for the man to relax, then settles back down next to her backpack.
Beginning to craft her new persona she grabs out her disguise kit. As she stares into the mirror, about to apply skin-tone, she grows agitated and slaps the compact to the ground staring tense into the reflection.
"No, I will not hide.... I am Drow." she wispers to herself with a barely contained sense of pride.
Triss then begins gathering up the materials from her bag and kit to start a new design for her disguise. She spends the next several hours working on outfit.
Embracing the exotic and alien nature of Drow aesthetic Trissae concocts something quite unlike anything her friends have ever seen from her. Coloring her hair a vibrant red and then pulling it into a top knot ponytail tied with dark leather strips pulled from the tassels of her pants to great height and leaving extravagantly long bangs. Using materials she exaggerates the flowy nature of her eyebrows and eye lashes, much more feminine than her usual.
Using some prosthetics she fakes some facial scaring, a knick in her ear, and slightly lengthens her nose.
Wearing her leather armor loose, she leaves the top untied to expose her cleavage, but tightens the belts about her waist to accentuate the shape of her waist and hips.
Several more belts are used as pho-clothing as she forgoes wearing pants and instead has fashioned a loincloth from a section of her cloak, cut to follow the curve of her legs up to her hips.
She puts the jacket of her Black Cat costume over the top, leaving it unbuttoned and open and the sleeves rolled back into themselves to expose her shoulders and popping the collar so that it rides up just beneath her ears.
She then has taken strips of the dirty white linen that made up her old prison uniform wrapped them around her arms to her wrists, then put on her gloves which she further wrapped with more linen.
The rest of her cloak is cut so that it is little more than a shoulder cover with a hood.
Bits of leather are tied around regular sections of her boots which are otherwise unchanged.
Lastly using white chalk she draws individual letters in undercommon on the exposed skin on her left side, nothing that would be legible specifically without seeing her unclad, sealing it with sap so it doesn't smudge.
In the last hour before people wake she attempts to craft a crude icon of Lolth, some sort of arachnid form, using whatever is at hand.
As the others begin to stir she makes her way into a nearby hall to keep out of view, wanting to surprise her friends with the transformation. She listens quietly to Adrien's conversation with Grellik with barely contained excitement. As Coin chimes in Trissae steps boldly into view.
"We'll have to find out then."
After Coin finishes she turns her attention to Adrien. "Firstly, we can no longer travel regularly in our configuration. They'll be stopping every dwarf/orc/human/elf group regardless of what they look like at this point. However, Grellik is essentially free to move about as he pleases... that's why he and I will move together, we'll hit the CoinToss and other crowded areas to gather information about the execution under the guise of bounty hunters working for my kin looking for me." She looks over at Grellik looking for confirmation before continuing
"I think in the meanwhile you and Ozz, being our cleverest rogues, should work with our Counterwit allies here to figure out how we can get close enough to the gallows that if they aren't bluffing we can effectively save our family." The seriousness of her tone is slightly undercut by her constant fidgeting with her loincloth, clearly she's self conscious infront of her friends.
"If the execution isn't immediately underway by the time we get out there, lets make plans to meet back here within an hour(of leaving) to go over what we've come up with and try to form a plan... Sound good?" She says looking about the group.
Cavell gawks open-mouthed at the new arrival. "Bloody hell Triss', for a second I thought someone had brought me a present from the brothel, and how Gods-damned considerate that was." He gives her another once over then shakes his head. "Not sure if I'm disappointed or not..."
As they discuss the plan, he's plainly distracted by Trissae's getup (and lack-thereof). He clears his throat a bit as she adjusts the loincloth, eyes lingering a moment. "Yes, well. Ah, information is the most important thing right now. Think the Counterwits can help us out with that?" He asks Coin.
Coin is there, and will totally pick up those things for you. He brings you an entire set of wanted posters for the Bogsharks.
If I understand right, you aren't disguising your Drow nature, right? While walking about openly as a drow no longer comes with immediate physical hostility (as if being a drow were illegal in normal societies), you can expect it to only be a step below being immediately imprisoned. You'll be most likely questioned, and followed. This is, of course, assuming normal conditions. With the strange things going on in the town, you are unsure what the reaction will be to you.
Finally, those undercommon characters. Do they say/spell/mean anything, or are they just like getting kanji tattoos to look interesting, just random characters that are completely incomprehensible?
"Uhmm..." says Coin as the only awake representative of the gang. "Maybe. Most of our stuff is outside of the quarantine, as is the rest of Tease's crew. If we had time to get stuff from them chances'd be a lot better, but being separated from them really sucks." He brightens up about information. "Yeah, probably! Tease knows tons, he's been casing the town for ages! When he wakes he can probably tell you a lot about the city. Anything I can help answer, or do ya wanna wake Tease?"
"Oh! I know there are passages that go under the city as well, little hiding places that lead to Beldabar's Rest. S&#%, we might even be able to bypass the quarantine that way! I know of one, it's near the Cointoss!"
In addition she's wearing a pair of tight women's stalkings up to her thigh.
She's also procured some red cloth that she's wrapped into a face mask, covering from her nose down to her chin, and has the extraneous material draped down like a scarf.
Trissae rummages through her bag and stows away a stack of posters, drawing one out and rolling it up, before giving Adrien a sharp look.
"So a whore huh?" She responds to Adrien in an accusing tone but then immediately follows with "What do you mean disappointed!?" with nearly the same intensity only defensive.
Cavell opens his mouth to respond then gets cut off. He grins. "Disappointed that you wouldn't be joining me in an adjoining room love."
Ozz let's out a growl. "Focus, gods. We have battles ahead of us." He turns to Grellik. "Unless you got dumber in the last year, we should probably hear your thoughts on this."
Patting his pockets a moment, Cavell produces a coinpurse. He smiles to Ozz. "A little souvenir off the bleedin' heart shield who showed me such kindness." He tosses it up once then counts the coins, adding them to his own.
Finally having time to look into the pouch snatched from the spearwoman, Adrien opens it to find only two silver coins and the broken, metal tipped end of an arrow which is about only 2 inches from the tip to the end of the broken shaft. One of the metal coins is scared by a deep scratch across its surface on one side.
"Ah, sentiment," he sighs, and puts them back in the pouch. "It was the principle, anyways."
"I am certainly willing to help gather information, though as you already pointed out, Coin, I am hardly inconspicuous."
He is taken aback by Trissae's costume change. He smiles, "Well, I suppose being inconspicuous is not too high of a priority." He shakes his head at the banter between her and Adrian, but pays it little attention to it.
He thinks for a minute. "We should find as much information as we can, though time is of the essence. One of them will hang today, unless we stop it. Regardless of what we are able to work out, ragardless of a trap that, almost assuredly, will be present, we must attempt it. Even if it means doing it 'Ozz's way.'" He leans forward, voice gravelly. "If we don't, there's no way we can face the Boss again."
He exhales and waits a moment.
"So, I say we gather information, meet here in, lets say, a few hours, and plan what we can. If we do have to assault the gallows, anything that can make our force seem larger, or coming from different directions would be invaluable. Coin, would it be possible for your forces to mount a feint from one direction and safely fade into the alleys? it might draw guards away from the direction of our attack, if it comes to that."
"Dunno." Coin frowns at Grellik's question. "As I said, they're all outside of the quarantine. When me, Vice and Ugly came in to be your support, we knew we'd probably be stuck in here for a while. Most of our forged documents and things are with the others. We might be able to get em a message, Ugly would know more, but we aren't fighters. We're con men. Ugly's got some magic and a few others are alright in a brawl, but we couldn't put up a fight against the Shields in force. If it weren't for you lot, those scarecrows would have ripped us to shreds... Just like Vice..."
The lot of you can hear talking from down the hallway, it sounds like two voices talking in another room.
It is Ugly and Tease, apparently awake.
Ugly: ...hands of the Shields. Too bad about leaving so early, though I'm glad you are free.
Tease: Yeah, yeah. Couldn't be helped.
Ugly: Guess not...
Tease: Tried to get some of their documents on the way out, but there was this f#%@ing owlbear.
Ugly: In the tower? Gods...
Tease: Yeah, well... Figured at that point it was best to not push our luck, you know? At least I managed to get my tertiary objective complete while rotting in their cell and breaking my back for them.
Then you all hear a loud voice ring out down the hallway, clear as a bell.
"WHAT THE F&%! DO YOU LAZY A%&~#@*S THINk YOU'RE DOING EH?! Get your s$@! together or by the GODS I'll roast you myself in the Abyss!"
Hearing the voices, Ozz gives a listen.
When Captain Wen's voice rings out, he frowns at the sleeping room's door, but doesn't jump up to immediate action. He does slowly draw his battle axe though, just in case.
Grellik nods at the mention of Vice, Sympathy plain on his face. "Yes, I am sorry for that. I am not asking anyone to engage in battle, only to fire a volley or two and scatter...though if it is too dangerous, i do not want to risk your..."
His ears perk up at the conversation next door."...your friends..." He trails off, his eyes darting to the other sharks, trying to make eye contact to see if they are hearing this too.
When Wen's voice breaks through, his blade appears in his hands, and he slowly rises, drawing his scarf across his face to meet his foes as a Shark. His eyes are a mixture of caution and excitement.
Cavell grins. "Tease is up."
As Trissae hears Wen's voice she scrambles grabbing her bag, pulling out her Shark mask and the rest of her black cat outfit along with other objects that would easily identify her as Triss.
"Grell, mask off! Hand it over to Ozz. You're with me for now and we may need to cover the other's escape. The plan sounds fine, or as good as its gonna get. You guys work with the Counterwits to contact their crew on the outside, we will gather info on this side. If thing's go bad, I'll use the hairpin and use the call word "fiasco" to let you guys know we're in trouble." She says in a controlled but hurried whisper.
she then walks over to Adrien with her stuff and hands it over to him, keeping just a few essentials (lyre, simple supplies, coin, etc)."Keep it safe please." She gives him a light smile before turning to Grellik.
"Sword please." she says flatly. "Triss uses a rapier, I can't be seen using a light flitty blade, so I'll use you're greatsword for a bit. Impressions and all right? "Also we should go over our parts and who we are, I'm willing to hear your ideas but I've got a pretty good cover for us to use." She says confidently putting a hand on his shoulder with a smile.
Tease and Ugly walk into your room, Tease a bit grimly but Ugly cheerily, all things considered. The look at you lot, a bit confused before Ugly laughs. He points down at Tease "Very sorry, that was Tease showing off. What's the plan?"
With a voice just like Wen, Tease swears a few times and grins tersly.
Cavell chuckles, "You have a malicious streak, Tease. Good to see you back in the land of the living." he smiles cheerily.
Grellik sighs, sheathing his sword, and withdrawing his scarf. "It appears our responses are all unnecessary, short of Adrian, who neglected to inform us of this ruse." He arches his eyebrow before turning to Tease and Ugly. "The plan, Ugly, was still in flux, before Mr. Tease decided to try to become Toril's shortest dwarf." There is no malice in his eyes;he is neither angry nor offended by Tease's antics. "Currently, the best idea we have is to use a little time gathering information before coming up with a workable rescue plan, or, barring that, to attack the execution site with a minimal chance of our utter defeat.
To that end, Misters Tease and Ugly, would it be possible to smuggle your fellow Counterwits into the Northern quarter quarantine area and use them to feint?" A sudden realization hit Grellik and he adds, "My name is Grellik by the way, Mr. Tease. Thank you for what you have already done for my friends."
Trissae's brow furls and she gives Grellik an nasty look. "A quick way to get on a girl's bad side is to ignore her, Mr. Grellik."
Cavell shrugs, idly picking at his nails with a dagger.
Grellik looks at Trissae quizzically. "Trissae, I beg your pardon if I misunderstood, but I had thought your plan one of necessity, given that we thought Captain Wen had found the safehouse and was closing in.
Am I to understand that you wish an alternate weapon as a part of your misdirection? If so, perhaps my hammer will suffice? It is certainly a cruder weapon than your graceful blade, but still one perhaps more suited for you."
He pauses for a second, and...blushes?(its hard to tell under that fur.) "And, of course, it feels awkward to be parted with my greatsword." he grins, a bit embarrassed at his transparency. He reaches to accept her belongings(if she hands them over he will stow them carefully in his pack), and offers his warhammer with the other hand.
Cavell chuckles, giving his nails a look at.
"Eh, ruse? No ruse, I was just filling Ugly in on a minor success."
He clears his throat, and speaks again. Then another time. And another. Each time he pauses and resumes, he is speaking like another person, nearly dead on.
Rast: "Figured that while I was stuck in there..."
Hilshind: "... it would be a good use of my time..."
Burke: "... to put my uncomfortable closeness with the shields..."
Torea: "... to good use."
Adrien: "Don't you agree?"
Tease gives a tired grin. And speaks again like... Himself?
"I think I could probably imitate damn near every Shield. If I had more time, I might even be able to pull off Marvin.
He turns to Grellik. "Yeah, nice to meet you. Rather lucky you bumped into my guys last night. Thanks for keeping them alive. So, any questions you guys have for me before heading out?"
Grellik Smiles. "Then it appears Tymora smiles on us all." He eyes Tease's wounds."Though her smiles always hide fangs, it seems"
Tease thinks long and hard. "You're asking me to pull more of my people into this madness? I won't order them to do that, to join us here in the quarantine where this sickness could plague them as well, and I expect that the three that came did so as volunteers."
Ugly nods, frowning. "There is also the question of if our attempted escape is the right thing to do. This quarantine was set up for a reason. While I understand your desire to make sure none of your friends come to harm, how many people are you willing to put into peril to do so? Is breaking the quarantine early and allowing this sickness, if with you, to spread out into the city the right thing to do? Things seem calm now, but plagues have been know to have resurgences." It is clear from his expression that Ugly isn't happy about this argument, but feels it needs to be voiced.
Cavell does a very poor, grumpy impersonation of Tease. "By my beard, trouble follows you Bogsharks like stink on Ozz!" He listens to the group, absently flipping the dagger back and forth in his hand with a slight smile and an edge of excitement.
Triss's eyes widen at Grellik's response. As she searches for a response and Tease/ugly chimes in she turns her head, clearly even more upset.
"Of course that wasn't the intent Tease. You must understand my dear friend Grellik is just looking at any options we might have, he cares very much for the safety of our family." her eyes dart over to Ugly.
"Unfortunately sir, we don't have the option to lay low in the city and try to wait out the plague/quarantine like yourselves. Clearly most of the Bogsharks lack the capacity to even when pretending to be other people so there's simply no chance of us staying here and surviving." She sneers saying the last half of the statement before turning her attention back to Grellik.
In a whispered but clearly agitated tone she begins speaking to Grell. "I'm sorry which part did you misunderstand? The part where I looked to you for feedback or the part where you didn't even make a move to put away your mask?" Part way through her rant she has begun poking the big guy in the chest with her finger to the beat of the syllables of the words.
"Or was it where I dressed like a prostitute, like you'd find in low town by the name of Ruby or Cinnamon, for the greater good of the mission but you can't so much as be troubled to give up your damn sword for a little while because 'it'd feel weird'." By this point she's nearly yelling and she turns her attention to the others.
"You gods damned Bogshark men are so vain and short sighted its driving me mad! I'm just about to go hang myself in the gallows! fully yelling at this point.
"So f*!@ it, I'm leaving now. None of the three of you better follow me or so help me god I will remind you of why people are afraid of the Drow! I'll be back when I have some damn information!" Her face purple flush with anger as she turn and begins stomping off back the way they entered this room, slamming any door in her way closed.