Yoran confronts Mad-Iron about the exotic-looking female in their midst when he strides in. "You and your thing for half-breeds," the Rake chides, grabbing her arm and holding it up.
"Have any of you checked her? How do you know she's not one of the Calistrean *@$%s?" He pushes her roughly into the grouping of thugs in the room, who look delighted that they may get a chance to frisk her.
Mad-Iron throws up his hands. "Gunnies at the door said she checked out. Just some laced mutton."
The Rake crosses his arms, dubious. "Never seen her before. She wasn't one of the sod-humpers that showed up in harbor the other day?"
The junior capp shakes his head. "Naw. Most of them's layin' low. Though one of them got picked trying to get into the fancy lads' place."
Rakesworth leans over Eris. "What's yer name, girlie?"
"You can call me Raven", Eris responds smoothly, falling back onto an old alias. Apparently the name meant trickster of some kind, something that amused Eris greatly. "The bird was outside the window when I was born so naturally, thats exactly what I was named after".
"I was thoroughly searched by the guards at the gate, who confirmed I wasn't bringing in any forbidden objects. Seriously however, look at my profession, look at how I'm dressed, do you seriously think that I'm attempting to smuggle something past you?"
From the shadows Kage watches the exchange intently, careful not to displace any dust. There were certain contingencies should things turn sour, but he was confident in Eris's abilities. Besides the other mantisis where converging in various disguises. Soon it would be time to strike!
Yoran takes a long, appraising look at Eris. It's clear he stopped paying attention to her about halfway through her speech as his mind occupied itself with other things than how she got her name. "Your talkin' too much. Maybe want to see if I'm leaky? Hells no, this ship is tight." He thumps his chest.
He points to a mussed-up bed and instructs Eris, "Get over there, Red."
Without taking his eyes off Eris to watch her show, he says to Mad-Iron, "Send the lads out, but have them get Broyle. You and him can finish up after I'm through with her."
The rabble reluctantly leaves, leaving the Rake and Mad-Iron in the room with Eris and, unknowingly, Kage.
Ghiv, magically disguised as a young rogue, waits for his time to strike. He carries only a dagger and his faith....
Eris triggers her mind reading ability (DC 18) (for the hell of it since I don't imagine we go straight to Two-Bolt an hour or so later) and sits on the bed. "Just the two of you?", she questions interestedly, totally at ease with the situation.
Ghiv hears several low-level thugs muttering in the hallway on the third floor. They get the attention of a grotesque man named Broyle, and point him in the direction of the largest suite in this wing. The man is hulking and misshapen -- not a half-orc, but possibly some other sort of mixed race. He grunts and moves toward the door.
"Broyle'll be along shortly," says Yoran as he starts unbuckling his trousers. "Don't you worry none, there's plenty of fun to be had with me."
"I don't doubt it", Eris replies confidently, locking eyes with the man and smiling slightly "In fact, I'm sure that I'll be having plenty of fun with you".
Eris sits in the bed, happily waiting for the man to drop his pants. From experience, Eris knew that for some reason male humans feel vulnerable with a lack of trousers. Anyone of them would prefer to put their pants on before throwing a punch, and Eris was always happy looking for a silver lining if she could find it. When the man's pants drop, Eris unleashes a Color Spray in the man's face (DC 18).
When Eris fires the spell, Kage explodes into motion and leaps from the rafters. He lands, blades first upon the back of Mad-iron who stares dully at the twin serrated blades poking out through the front of his chest. He barely has time to wonder what happened before his eyeballs roll up into his skull. Kage guides the man down to the floor behind a sofa and sprints over to the (presumably) prostrate form of Yoran Rake's worth.
With an economy of motion suggesting long practice in such things, Kage slips the leather bag, full of the choking house dust from above, over Yoran's head and then uses Yoran's own belt to tighten the bag around his neck leaving almost no gap for breathing. He then throws a rope over a rafter and ties one end in a slip knot which he fastens over Yoran's left foot. He easily hoists Yoran a good six inches off the ground and leaves him dangling, as he ties the rope off on a heavy desk.
He then remarks in a whisper, "After Ghiv has finished with him, we should give him a shove, the blood will make a pretty pattern on this nice expensive carpet."
Ghiv sees Broyle heading to Rakesworth's room. Scuttlebutt amongst the other thugs is that when the Rake is through with the new prostitute, he'll be passing her off to his two capps.
Ghiv will stalk forward with his dagger hidden....
Broyle continues into the large suite. He pauses on the threshold, stunned by the scene before him.
-__-
Here is the situation. Kage and I have just killed or are about to kill Yoran. Meanwhile, his henchmen is on his way to check up on the status of the room. You followed him, and the henchman is about to enter the room / has entered the room. The ball is now in your court.
The GM isn't telling you to do anything, you can do whatever you like, everyone is just suprised that you are following this guy and idk, dont have any intention of stopping him / entering combat. If you want to attack him, then make an attack roll, unless you need us to do it for you? If not, then idk, I guess we are not waiting on you to do anything and we can move onto Kage and I eliminating this new threat.
Yamyra shifted in her thug's disguise on the second floor. It'd been too long since Mad-Iron, Ghiv and Boyle had gone up. Something was wrong. Muttering something about wanting to catch a peek of the half drow naked, she excuses herself from the other underlings. As soon as she is out of their sight, she shifts her appearance to her true clothing - her Mantis uniform - with a thought. Then she is silently stalking through the hallway, trialing the disguised Ghiv and Boyle. When she sees Boyle about to shout, and Ghiv hesitating she dashes forward.
With barely a whisper she rams her enchanted gladius up into the half-breed's right kidney. She gives a twist, and rips the blade free with a gout of black blood. Wanting to make sure the brute drops fast she jams the blade up through his pereneum and severs his spine at the last lumbar vertebra. His legs suddenly paralyzed, the grotesque oaf falls forward onto the carpet, gurgling as he bleeds out inside his own body.
Yamyra looks at Ghiv and hisses quietly, "What the f+@!'s gotten into you? Cut his damn throat!" She points her bloody short sword at the man's lumpy jowls and waits expectantly.
Realizing something is amiss, Kage sprints past Ghiv and in one fluid moment, he swings his serrated swords in a lateral arc, neatly severing Boyle's throat in two places. Breathing heavily he mutters, "Get these inside."
Kage with a little help from Yamyra gets Boyle's corpse inside the door which they bolt. Only then does he realize what's wrong with Ghiv, who had collapsed into a chair. Boyle had a toe dagger built into his boot, and he'd kicked Ghiv. Kage bent down to examine it, and wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Reduction of dragon fern and mandrake. Damn it, why did't we know about this?! Ghiv didn't stand a chance, there's enough toxin on that toe dagger to kill a hundred men."
He paces for a few moments angry, wanting to break something. Then Yoran's thrashing and gasping brings him into focus. With an vile grin, Kage quips, "Ah yes Mr Rakesworth. Can't leave you hanging for ever now can we?"
He advances on the dangling man with two already bloodied blades drawn and murder in his eyes.
Some time later Kage gazes at the wreckage of Yoran Rakesworth, still dangling by his ankle. The expensive plush floor was soaked with his blood, and several organs had been removed and partially cooked before being stuffed into Boyle's dead mouth. This room had been the heart of Yoran's powerbase, and now it was comprehensively debased. Ghiv's death had upset Kage and he'd indulged his inner demon, panting from the exertion and powerful emotions, Kage mutters "Time to go."
He jumps up and catches a knoitted rope he'd secured earlier, hanging from the rafters. With practiced ease he pulls himself up and then helps Yamyra and Eris climb up and out of the skylight. The previous evening he'd procured a plank which he used now to help the others cross over to the adjoining building.
The loss of Ghiv soured what would have been a flawless execution. After working their way back through the streets and rooftops of Riddleport, the remaining Red Mantis reunite and share a few moments to reflect upon the job.
The planning had taken only a few days, and the infiltration only one additional day. Yoran Rakesworth was dead. No word yet had reached them from Shorafa Pamodae about news of Two-Bolt's resurrection.
So for a brief moment, the Red Mantis find themselves with some spare time.
Kage felt a need to feel the wind rushing in his hair as he jumped lightly from one roof to another as he traversed Riddleport's rooftop highway. He'd planned a rather different end for Yoran Rakesworth, but Ghiv got himself killed and the red mist descended. This 'gift' was part of his inheritance, and it's true he had a talent for killing but this loss of control was concerning. Master Brinn would have been disgusted and would have berated him for being no better than an animal. Perched high on some pallazo tower, Kage's mind returns to an earlier lesson from Master Brinn, "A mantis is deliberate, accurate and kills without pity or compunction those sanctioned by the guild. A mantis kills only those sanctioned by the guild. We are not berserkers Kage, neither are we mere assassins. There is reason why are so feared and why so many rulers pay our exorbitant fees. We deliver what we promise. We are gardeners Kage, but we don't trample the garden during our weeding. What use for a sovereign to rule over a city of corpses?"
Some time later Kage returned to the tiny attic suite which the Mantis' had rented. He took the rooftop way, exulting in the freedom of the night and the fact that the small folk where ignorant of the killer running lightly over their heads as they slept. The Mantis' suite was small but it had a commanding view of the harbor, Kage watched the reflection of the moon ripple in the water before silently swinging in through the skylight.
Noticing Eris, Kage sits down and remarks, "That was a most daring disguise, I don't believe I'd have recognized you if not for that ring. When Ghiv, I. I... I lost control in there, I shall see it doesn't happen again."
"Eh, stuff happens. I think we did alright," Myra says, joining the other two. "So what's next? Two Bolt himself?"
Eris had spent much of her "free" time after the successful assassination attempting to research Zilcher, and the girl she had met in the temple, the one with the rather odd feeling mind that she had successfully broken into. Eris knew that Vespid did not wish to be mentioned in or around the Calistrian Temple, and Eris kept her promise about avoiding using the very form of Vespid, but she was determined to discover why she had be so determined to keep her fellow Mantis in the dark.
Some time later, Eris returned to the room that she and her allies had rented for the time being. "You are too hard on yourself Sa'Kage". she replies thoughtfully, thinking back to the recent assassination. "It was a difficult situation and you rose to the occasion in trying circumstances, I don't believe I or anyone else would feel ill disposed to how you acted".
As for Zincher, you feel that you may never know the full story, but you're pretty sure that he wronged that girl terribly and your assassination of one of his capps was the first stage in a long, drawn-out vengeance scheme.
On the night of the Rake's murder, Mama Bess returned to the Bantu Wind to give a report. Without further warning, the freighter pulled out of the harbor and left. The streets of Riddleport were tense -- word spread rapidly about something that happened in Zincher's compound. The rumor mill churned and all of the pirate town seemed a powder keg sitting too close to an open flame.
The remaining Mantises stayed quiet and alert, and watched as the tension finally begin to abate as none of the major crime lords make a move.
After three more days of waiting, Shorafa invites the group back to her temple.
After an exchange of pleasantries, she gets down to business. "I appreciate your patience, but I am aware that it is not infinite. I have not yet had success in locating Two-Bolt. So I have expanded my search. I invite you here so that I may share what I have learned so that you know I have not been idle."
She seats herself and invites everyone else to sit. "When my initial inquiries were fruitless, I decided to investigate Gyr's gravesite. My agents were able to locate his corpse, and found two interesting things of note. One, it appeared that his body had been preserved for a period of time with a gentle repose spell, but one that had wore off after a while. Two, it was missing his head."
She crosses her legs and leans back into her divan while she lets that sink in. "I then began investigating who it might have been that sought him dead in the first place. That, too, is somewhat puzzling. Two-Bolt's best ally, if anyone could be called such here, was Elias Tammerhawk of the Cypher Mages. He was decidedly neutral to Zincher, had a few skirmishes with the wererats and Boss Croat, and was the deciding vote to oust Saul Vancaskerkin, which pleased a lot of folks. When he died, a couple of his capps went to Tammerhawk, but most of his crew went and joined up with Avery Slyegg and Zincher." She frowns as she mulls that information over.
"What all that tells me is that whoever wanted him dead didn't care about his gangs. So, unfortunately, I don't have any idea why someone would want him alive again. Yet," she adds pointedly.
Esha suppresses her irritation at yet more delays in finding Two-Bolt. It was clear that Shorafa had not been idle, and no-one could hold a grudge longer than a Calistrian. So it was with careful politeness that she responded "I'm sure my friends and I are glad that you have not been standing idly by, but we still have little to go on. Is there a line of enquiry to pursue here, or shall my friends and I return when we could act on something?"
Kage ponders, surprised but not yet disappointed. These things took time, one had to be patient, like the spider or the mantis...
When Kage speaks, its softly in a contemplative tone, "If its not gang related, that suggests its personal. Is he the type to sleep around? Or maybe he screwed somebody over in business, rather than between the covers. Doesn't have to be a recent thing either, sometimes bad blood festers for many years. Ageing like a fine wine."
Kage unnatural red eyes glitter weirdly as he observes Shorafa's response, if any.
A sensual smile plays upon Shorafa's lips. "Oh, indeed. And when the vengeance is ripe, it is delectable," she says, eyes locked upon Kage.
She stands smoothly and sees you out.
The Mantises are forced to endure another two days in Riddleport with no further news before again being summoned back to the temple of Calistria.
This time the meeting takes place in a larger chamber, with additional seating and partitions. Already present are two individuals, seated with Shorafa Pamodae. One is a half-elf with a look about him of Varisia. The other is clearly not a local, and most probably hails from the southern continent of Garundi by his look and dress.
Shorafa looks at Eris, Kage and Myra as they enter and gestures toward them. "These are the ones who are already on the task," she tells the strangers. "I will let them explain themselves."
There is a moment of tense silence in the sitting room which is interrupted by a Calistrian attendant who rushes in and whispers something into Shorafa's ear. The high priestess stiffens, nods, then stands. "As much as I would like to stay for this, something pressing has just come up. Please, make yourselves at home." With that, she glides out, leaving the three Mantises with the strange newcomers.
The scholarly half-elf sits straight and proper. You can feel his gaze scrutinizing you. He seems to not be pleased with what he sees. He looks at his companion before starting off. "We understand that you have an interest in the whereabouts of Gyr Vestmark. We also have such an interest. What we are here to ascertain is whether our interests truly coincide." While he speaks, the scholar makes hand motions that are small and restrained.
"Brothers and sisters we are here to return him to dead."
Kage's mentor Master Brinn had from a young age indoctrinated many habits into the young Tith'Kali. By far the most viciously reinforced lesson had been to always plan your escape route, always know who you had to kill and in that order to escape. So his cold calculating regard was was purely habitual when the half elf and the tiefling walked in. When the half elf had the temerity to scrutinize him, Kage stared back doubly hard, noting the way he and his companion moved, they way they presented themselves and the way they carried their weapons.
The subtle hand movements are not lost on the young mantis, who glances once at Eris and replies, "That remains to be seen."
Perturbed and perhaps even frightened by the sudden appearance of those indoctrinated into the sacred mysteries, (in fighting was strictly prohibited by the guild, but of course that didn't prevent the occasional unexplained disappearances for agents in the field) Kage's hands shake slightly as he makes a single sign.
: UNEXPECTED :
[dice=Bluff]1d20+10 "Brothers and sisters we are here to return him to dead."
Edit: that should read "Brothers and sisters we are here to reaffirm the Sacred Ritual."
Seeing Eris and Kage check the newcomers out thoroughly, Myra decides to ignore the question of whether or not they are legit for the moment.
"Hi! I'm Yamyra," she says, approaching and offering each her cute little hand.
The Garundi man sits stiffly in his chair, uncomfortable despite the furnishings. His fine black robes are wrapped tightly for warmth, and the red brocade sash he wears draped over his shoulder clearly indicates his affiliation for those who know what to look for. The turban atop his head hides his short stature, but the clothes do little to detract from the sickly yellow pallor of his cracked and flaking skin. He wears no weapons openly, but there are ample folds in the clothes for stashing such things.
The man looks down his nose at Yamyra's proffered hand, considering it for a moment. "Let us dispense with pleasantries," he says coolly. "We have little time to waste." His accented drawl manages to be simultaneously terse and languorous. "What progress have you made?"
Kage grimaces clearly unhappy with the situation, "Progress? Precious little. Still we where instructed to contact Shorafa."
He glaces at the man, undaunted by his brisk demeanor and carries on, "Shorafa now owes us a substantial favor, won at steep price. Beyond that we lack everything. The current location of the mark, details of how they came back from the dead, who they associate with, who killed them in the first place and why. All of these are unknown. And now we have a new mystery. You and you."
Kage meets the gaze of the tiefling and the elf stares at them unblinking with his his blood red irises boring into them. The contrast with his too-white skin is unnerving at the best of times, making the Tith'Kali look like a creature that has crawled out of hell.
"I am Jon-Wyn." He greets Yamra. "I believe that you will be a pleasure to work with. The pale one, less so." indicating Sa'Kage. [b]"You have chosen to overlook all that you do know. You know that he has returned to life. You know that he is, for whatever reason, in Riddleport. You know that he is not associating with any of his former colleagues. And if we chose to work together, you will know precisely how he died." Jon allows that last point to sit while he looks to see how the others react to that news.
Gafar blinks once. "Painfully," he says with a grin that spreads slowly across his face. He declines to divulge more about the assassination just yet. He steeples his fingers in front of himself on the table expectantly. "Tell me about this... favor," he says, puckering his face as though the word itself is sour.
Eris frowns slightly "I assume then, that you believe this information you can give us about how this person died would be of immediate use to us then? Something beyond mere background, something tangible?"
Kage regards the one called Jon-wyn mildly, "I was under the impression he died the traditional way, a knife in the dark. The details are of professional interest but there's nothing to suggest any fault in the way you administered the sacred rite of murder. Rather the interesting events occurred after."
Kage glances at Eris, acknowledging her question, before saying to Jon-wyn "I fear you are as much in the dark about that as we are..."
Turning to the Tiefling, Kage replies, "In exchange for services rendered, she has agreed to be our eyes and ears. I have no direct proof, but I believe she earnestly wishes our mark to remain dead. She has her own agenda, but for now it aligns with ours."
There is a pause before he adds, "It appears we are trading names. I am known as Sa'Kage, and to me the guild is mother and the guild is father. Perhaps we shall yet be one big happy family? Well we shall see."
The Garundi man inclines his head toward Sa'Kage. Making a brief concession to etiquette, he introduces himself. "I am Gafar." He glances around the room, paying more attention to the furnishings and decor than the other people. His upper lip curls in a sneer as he takes it all in, and he grudgingly sips the wine in his goblet. "The wine is excellent. A Chelish red, from the Fields of Chelam if I am not mistaken." Despite the praise, he looks as though he's drinking goat piss.
Fixing his gaze on the unnamed woman, he says, "There are certain details that may be of use to you. For example, his head was separated from his neck just above the fourth cervical vertebra." Gafar drops his eyes back to his goblet as he swirls the wine. "How he returned to life missing such a vital part of his anatomy is curious."
Kage nods, "The oracles were non specific about the nature of his return. Either he had access to potent magics or he came back in a somewhat different form. Perhaps he was reincarnated or maybe he's now a headless horseman. I believe there's an opening for a new one of those..." Kage chuckles softly.