Friday moves up to stab the downed man before he can fire.
He started to move forward to take care of the fallen man but Friday was quicker, so instead he sized up the door testing the handle.
Kavell opens the door and steps inside, revealing what appears to be a supply closet filled with buckets, mops and rags. A moment passes, then there's a loud knocking on the north wall of the closet.
Friday rams his spear into the prone guard's shoulder, and he roars in pain. The sounds of a ruckus start coming from downstairs!
The stormy winds Kasha summoned cause the other crossbowman to stumble about, and he runs right onto the grease patch...
...and he manages to get himself into position to fire on Friday!
The bolt strikes him in the shoulder.
The prone guardsman tries to stand up--unwisely within reach of Friday's spear! His hand scrambles for his greatsword...
...and another guard runs out from another room, his greatsword drawn!
While he isn't affected by the grease, he can't get into position to fight Friday!
Locking her eyes on the charging warriors Kasha calls upon the innate need for most living things to sleep, seeking to overwhelm their minds and bodies.
Friday strikes first on reflex then on a disciplined instinct in quick succession.
Friday guts the first crossbowman with ease, and wings the new arrival with a second stab, even when the corner provides cover from his strike.
Kasha's magic promptly takes hold, putting the two guards to sleep.
"Let's hurry before they wake up," Valeria said, moving up behind Kasha and readying her crossbow, "Kavell, find anything in there?"
He had every measure of faith that Friday would hold the corner but it seemed the person they were looking for.
"Mops! Wrong closet."
He muttered in what sounded to be annoyance a tone he was unused to using. He moved out of the room and waited just a hair of a moment for Friday to withdraw his last thrust before he slid past him.
He took a few unsteadying steps onto the puddle but then stopped, frowning and trying to reassess his balance.
As Kavell leaves, the knocking on the closet wall increases--and it rattles!
"Kavell, what was in that closet?" Friday asks without looking as he sees the Paladin reenter followed by the noise. "Is someone fleeing?"
Kasha looks past Kavell into the closet. "There's a secret door in the wall in there!"
He frowned as he balanced precariously on the grease. For a moment it looked like he was about to curse.
"I may have missed that."
He answered simply
Not wanting to waste time, Valeria went and started looking for how to open the door once the specific location was pointed out to her.
The secret door is locked--but trying the keys on the keyring, one of them fits and slides the door open.
A bound & gagged Uksahkka falls over into the storage closet. She's got several bruises on her. There's a safe on the wall of the cell she was in. The tracker starts wiggling about, angrily mumbling something through the cloth gag around her mouth.
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With a nod to Friday he carefully moved out of the grease and started downstairs to make sure they had a clear exit.
"i'll make sure our exit path is clear."
He said allowed leaving the others with the rescued guide.
Friday moves over to remove Uksahkka‘s gag and bindings.
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Uksahkka gasps for air as Friday takes the gag out of her mouth. "Oh, thank Desna! Those moosef%@%ers drugged me up and left me here! You didn't leave them alive, did you? They're not the merchant company they claim to be!"
”Yes, but that is easily fixed.” Friday tells the woman as he helps her up.
Uksahkka grins and stands with Friday's help.
"I did overhear one of them mentioning company records--they're kept in the safe here. They seemed to be pretty damn concerned about them--more than usual, at least. Do you have the key for the safe?"
"Might be on the same ring as the key that opened that door," Valeria said before trying just that. If these records held what she expected, then they would be well-worth taking.
It takes several tries, but a silver key on the keyring opens the safe up.
Inside the safe is a strongbox containing dozens upon dozens of yellowed papers--transactions, ledgers, banking statements and more are all contained within.
”Asvig... Tian antique... Tian antique... Ravenscraeg? Goti... Ravenscraeg... Snori...” Friday mumbles as he leafs through the papers, handing ones with the names that catch his eye to Valeria.
Valeria quickly stashed the relevant papers into her pack, she'd go over them in detail when they got back to the inn.
"We got what we came for, let's get out of here."
Friday nods then turns to Uksahkka. ”Are you able to walk?”
Uksahkka nods. "Yes, I can walk."
The ruckus downstairs dies down. When the party reunites with Maxim, Sandru & Leo, the guards & guild factors downstairs have all been beaten into unconsciousness. Maxim is cut in several places and panting heavily, Sandru looks wobbly, and Leo is sitting atop a particularly burly guard, casually taking a swig from his flask.
"Ready to leave?" Leo asks, toasting the group.
Yes.
"Max, you okay?" Valeria asked, worried as she dashed over to her brother.
Maxim wobbles and leans on Valeria as she approaches. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm okay..."
He's bleeding pretty badly. Leo frowns. "I didn't think he'd get that banged up. Give him a few heal spells, and he'll be fine."
"Kavell, can you patch him up a bit? We need to get out of here, now."
The paladin for once looked distracted enough in letting his eyes wander over every corner nook and cranny for foes that for the moment it didnt appear that he had noticed the others condition's or heard Valeria.
"What? Oh...My apologies."
He finally said reachign up to clutch his holy symbol. After a moments prayer a burst of positive energy then another washed over the injured men healing their wounds.
Finally for Maxim he stepped forward his hand aglow lifting his chin up and looking into her features almost as if searching for something...
"Damnit - that burst is probably gonna wake some of these guards up; time to go."
With that she started leading the way towards the exit, making sure Maxim was fine to walk on his own after the healing.
Maxim looks better after Kavell's treatment, though still injured. "Alright--now, the other clerks have already run off. Let's get the hell out of here."
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The party's flight from the Rimerunners' Guildhall is swift and hurried, with Uksahkka right behind them. The sight of so many people moving at once through the streets in such a rush compels many to get out of their way. A cold wind blows through the streets behind them.
They eventually reach the Hunting Serpent Inn, their every step harried by cold and the possibility of retribution.
"So what next?" Friday asks as they enter the inn.
"Now I want to go over these papers we found, might have some indication of where Ulf and the sword were taken."
She was about to start going over the documents at a spare table on the tavern floor, before realising that pouring over stolen documents wasn't the sort of thing one does in a public place. Instead, she headed up to her and Ameiko's room to pour over them there.
"I'm going to take Lia shopping for some warm clothing and things. Let me know what you find." Kasha says heading upstairs as well to go find Lia.
You hear the sound of samisen music coming from your room as you approach. Ameiko is inside, sitting cross-legged on one of the beds and plucking away in an improvised tune.
She looks up at you as you enter. "Valeria? What'd you find?"
You find Lia soon enough. She's sitting with Koya, her nose in a book.
The half-elf looks up at you as you walk over, clapping her book closed and standing up. "Kasha?"
"Hi, everything quiet back here while we were gone?" Kasha asks, her eyes lighting up a bit.
Lia nods. "I don't know whether to be relieved or more worried. I keep feeling like something bad is about to happen."
She winces and rubs her back.
"I promise that if anything happens, I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe." Kasha says putting her hand on Lia's shoulder. "Does your back hurt?"
"A bit. It's the chairs here--the cushions aren't very comfortable." Lia stretches, the hem of her shirt riding up a bit.
An eyebrow arching up ever so slightly, Kasha considers for a moment."I was thinking we could go shopping for some clothes and things for you if you'd like. Do you think a hot bath would help your back? Anything else I could do to help?"
The shamaness' eyes flicker down involuntarily, at the little flash of skin as Lia's shirt lifts a bit as she stretches.
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You hear the sound of samisen music coming from your room as you approach. Ameiko is inside, sitting cross-legged on one of the beds and plucking away in an improvised tune.
She looks up at you as you enter. "Valeria? What'd you find?"
"Uksahkka trussed up in a hidden room behind a storage cupboard, and these ledger papers," she displayed the papers as she mentioned them, sitting down on the bed beside Ameiko as she laid them out.
"Friday noticed a few details of use - mentions of Asvig, a Tian antique and Thori Stone-Eye. Sounded like too much of a coincidence to ignore. Also got a name - which I just saw on these documents as well - of our mystery mage. Goti Runecaster. Sounds like one of those ridiculous Thassilonian fanboy names that started cropping up after Xin Shalast's rediscovery, but the mental image of the man I pulled from one guard's mind certainly looked serious." After a moment, she realised what she just said.
"Oh, um, I... may have used my ability to read minds at one point. First time in over a year, actually, surprised I still remembered how."
"We're back, was everything okay while we were gone?" Friday sends to Valeria as he makes his way up.
Lia is quiet for a moment. "Shopping for some new clothes sounds wonderful." Her cheeks turn a bit pink and she folds her hands behind her back. "And maybe... maybe a hot bath would be nice."
She's having some difficulty looking you in the eyes.
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Ameiko's lips quirk into a frown and her brow furrows. "Did you get anything on these Frozen Shadows?"
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<Pretty much. But it's getting awfully quiet around here...> The harpy replies.
"Oh?" Friday thinks as he heads up, giving a quick eye to who all was in the foyer to see if it was emptier than normal.