Between candy and dancing pigs, Cleo manages to win over the vast majority of the kids. The one that initially spotted her does not engage. They look at Cleo, then at some of the other older kids who are cleaning. One of them disappears from Cleo's vision.
Janis takes some extra time to get a really thorough look at the door, in an effort to figure out exactly what is trapped and how it works. He delicately peels through the cobbled together wooden pieces and metal plates to reveal a simple, but effective trap. Two thunderstones are bound by copper wires and attached to an Alchemist's Fire flask in the middle. If someone were to attack the door with an axe or something similar, the thunderstones would be struck. The whole door would be blown off, and anyone nearby would be thrown back, deafened, and covered in fire. It's a nasty piece of work, and could be rigged by anyone. Though it's quite expensive, and certainly not what someone would expect from such a cobbled together door, even if it's nearly the height of a giant.
Trap name: Cops-B-Gone
DC to notice: Perception 20
Trigger: Damage
Effect: Each creature within a 10ft radius must make a DC16 Fort save or be deafened for 90 minutes. They must also make a DC15 Reflex save or take 1d6 piercing damage, 1 fire damage, fall prone, and they catch on fire.
Reset: None
Cost: 80gp
A moment later, two men race out of the archway in the furthest room. One is a strong Varisian man in his twenties or thirties, while the other is an old, filthy looking man with a long dirty white beard. The old man bellows "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!? HENRIC!! WE GOT VISITORS!! ALSEPHI, GET THE RUNTS UPSTAIRS NOW!!" With a flick of his wrist, a wand materialises in his left hand. The Varisian man pulls out a dart and gets into a boxing position.
"Outside, kids, please." Cleo tells those that will listen. To the screaming man she answers as calmly as possible. "Cobbled Shield sir, the people who took out the murder cult, the ones that took out the coven of witches nestled in plain sight, and the bringing down of corrupt high justices... and today, we are saving these orphans from you."
Andreste says ""Gentlemen, take some time to consider your next actions carefully. They could mean the difference between life and death."
She casts slow (DC 20 Will) on the Varisian and the old man and draws her giant-sticker.
Janis pulls pulls out his bow and knocks an arrow, seconds later it flies at the wand wielder.
Using the murderholes for line of sight, Andreste casts a slowing spell. The old man resists Andreste's spell, but the Varisian man quickly succumbs, moving in slow motion. Janis steps forward slightly, and turns the corner to snipe the old man. It's a powerful shot, hitting him only an inch from his heart. He staggers and flees into the other room, pulling out another wand as he goes. The slowed man staggers to cover. He can see Janis well enough to throw a dart, but the spell hampers him too much to do so.
The kids scream in terror, save for the older ones. They ignore Cleo's words, and are quickly guided upstairs, listening to their "parent". Most of the older kids flee from Cleo's vision as well.
"well that could have gone better." Cleo is angry at herself for messing that up. "Be very careful with area effect spells."
Cleo quickly casts a prayer of blessing and moves up into cover. Aggah is eager to keep trying her new bow and runs out in the open to shoot the slow longshanks.
But running and shooting don't mix well.
Bacon moves up to cover Arrgghh while Furnok moves in with his hammer out.
Wabbits activates his blue scarf (swift, +5ft reach 1min, 1 panache) moves west to the boxer/dart guy and stabs
Bless +1
+6bab +4dex +1size , -2 piranha striking, +1 waveblade Agile -2FD
if crit succeeds regain 1 panache
edit: added Bless (thanks Cleo)
Wabbit! Get the other one! Don't let him call for help! Grim faced, Janis shoots an arrow at the pugilist.
Wabbit uses the magic of his blue scarf to turn his waveblade into a long, thin, and light flamberge. Then he skips past Janis and around the stone barrier to cut into the pugilist. A massive wound is cut into the man's torso, nearly felling him instantly. He barely survives, and gets ready to deck Wabbit into next year, when suddenly an arrow pops through his neck and he dies.
Furnok and Bacon step forward to protect Aggah and the others.
Andreste casts blink on herself and moves into the room.
"Kids PLEASE go outside. We do not want any of you hurt, and if we fail in what we are trying to do, nothing changes other than you have this bag of candy." she lays the thing down next to the door outside. Then moves away. She hopes they will bolt, but she can't make them.
"The big one bellowed, Janis, so I doubt we have the element of surprise anymore. Through the archway there to make sure there isn't any more down here and then up the stairs?"
The kids don't listen to Cleo, instead racing up the stairs where a burly man lets them pass. He pulls out a dart to toss at Furnok, but the dart clinks harmlessly against his armour. The old man steps closer to the archway, and pulls out a glowing red bead from a necklace. He tosses the bead into the large room, which detonates into a mess of fire. Everyone manages to avoid the worst of it, with Aggah, Bacon, and Janis remaining completely unscathed. Still, the rest receive some minor burns.
"I don't like this." Cleo says frankly, her worry about the kids' reactions are etched into her frown. "Are they simply too afraid of them to disobey, or is there more to this that we don't know?"
Worry doesn't keep her from acting though as she fires her bow at the man on the stairs.
Aggah doesn't worry at all, and in enthralled with beads that blow up in lovely fire, so she runs at the old man send an arrow at his face.
Wabbit RUNS (4x move, no attack) to the Old man that just fireballed him...let's see how accurately this guy chucks fireballs with a blade pointed at him It's not nice to play with fire!
Cleo thinks that the younger kids are simply scared and following orders from people they know. The older kids however are more complex. The older kids show no signs of fear and show only a vague expression of emptiness, however, when they interact with the younger kids, they temporarily "come to life". Cleo recognizes this as a sign of long-term abuse.
Perhaps candy would have worked better if there were no fighting adults. Though a toddler may not discern the difference between an armed and armoured stranger and "parent" (even an abusive parent), a teenager does. The dead body of one of the thugs behind the party wouldn't have been very helpful either.
Cleo sends an arrow into the thug's side, though it looks to be a fairly minor wound. Aggah runs way up, and despite the incredible amount of cover, still manages to shoot through the tiny slit available in her line of sight. The old man takes the shot into his leg, but he still looks like he has plenty of fight in him.
Wabbit runs forward and into the room, which looks like a kitchen. Three young teenagers are on the far side, watching the fight blankly. The old man has a cane, which Wabbit is savy enough to recognize as a cane sword. He hasn't drawn it yet.
Furnok and Bacon move up to back Wabbit up.
Andreste moves closer to the stairs while Janis rounds the corner to a weaponrack. Both unleash ranged attacks at the man on the stairs, but he dodges the telekinetic fist and suffers only minor inconvenience from the arrow. Furnok and Bacon run over to help Wabbit.
The old man drops the necklace and draws his sword cane, which drips with a blue poison. It's an awkward action for him, and the needle blade is easily dodged. Meanwhile, the strong man on the stairs pulls out another poison dart, but as he tries to throw it, his finger slips along the point and he gets poisoned! He's looking sluggish.
Wabbit easily dodges the sword-cane slash and dodges between the guys' legs and starts stabbing away at vulnerable spots, flanking with Furnok
1 panache=Underfoot assault
Outflanking with Furnok
Bless+1, Outflank +4
Flurry +6bab +4dex +1size , -2 piranha striking, +1 waveblade Agile -2FD
Wabbit completely eviscerates the old man. He falls dead in a pool of blood. The children in the room are wide-eyed, but otherwise don't react.
Andreste decides to take advantage of the big man's accidental self-poisoning, moves closer, and attempts to hit him again with a telekinetic fist assault.
touch attack for bludgeoning damage
The goblin and her halfling send arrows up at the big man.
Janis runs over to support Cleo and Andraste.
The man up top gets slapped by Andreste's magic, followed by a powerful shot from Aggah. Janis, Furnok, and Bacon run over to help support. The thug staggers back the way he came.
At the bottom of the stairs, Andreste discovers a magical rune glowing a soft violet. Although strange, Andreste has heard of this form of Thassilonian magic. It is a rune that can be activated to cast a spell, yet it is permanent and not single-use. This rune is activated when a wheel or hoof touches it, and casts Stone Shape on the stairs to turn them into a ramp. After 30 seconds, it returns to a staircase.
I'll go ahead, make sure we spread out in case they try rolling something down. Bacon, stay! Furnok has Bacon stay at the foot of the stairs if told about the rune.
"Okay, Aggah, guard the stairs, shoot only adults!" then she turns to the others "Okay, ideas on how to get up there without dying and getting any kids from being hurt?"
Oh how Wabbit wishes he'd purchased those ridiculously overpriced boots with wheels built into them that the crazy gnome tinkerer was selling years back. He'd never seen anything like them before and hasn't since. But they'd be PERFECT right now. Stairs that turn into a slide when wheels touch them...WOW! He realizes he'd need to get to the top first before speeding down but what FUN
But before that, he realizes something needs to be done/said with the kids
He puts away his blade and tries to reassure the kids. I'm sorry you had to see that. We're here to rescue you and take you away from these mean people. And find you a better place to live. Are there any more of you?
The oldest of the three kids, who's no more than 14, asks immediately
"What're you gonna do with us?" The other kids tense at the question.
We were thinking about putting you in a NICE place where they wouldn't use you as slaves or any other nasty business. But ultimately it'll be your choice. If you want to go live on the street you can. You won't be a prisoner. We're here to help REALLY! But before that can happen we need to make sure these Creepers don't hurt anyone else.
"And there will be dinner, a nice one with waffles and cream." Cleo tries to help. She pulls out her holy symbol. "I don't know if you know this, the golden bow, is for Erastil, the god of family. I swear on him that will we do all we can to make sure you are safe."
Andreste continues up the stairs.
Aggah looks back and forth between her halfling concentrating on the kids, and the wizard moving up the stairs Cleo asked her to guard. Back forth and then follows the wizard.
I can get up there easy enough. I can vanish just like that, maybe even find a way to sow some chaos enough for you guys to get up there.
I can even take one of you with me, but we have to be quick. I can keep us invisible for thirty seconds at most.
Wabbit would give you good backup
Bacon stays put while Janis, Furnok, Andreste, and Aggah walk up the staircase. A heavy stone door has been bolted open, and is intricately engraved with runes that glow faintly. On the floor is the same rune that Andreste discovered earlier, allowing the staircase to become a ramp.
When they enter through the door, they see their enemy lying face down on the floor in a small pool of blood. The arrows that were embedded in his torso have been removed. They stand in a circular hallway. To their right, Furnok spots a child running away from them. There are doors to the left, right, and one straight ahead.
-------------------------------------------
Meanwhile on the floor below, Wabbit and Cleo try to persuade the kids into cooperating. Each of these kids has an eerie sense of indifference, like they only exist here in body, but not in spirit. When the oldest replies "Okay sir. What should we do?" Wabbit gets a chill. Cleo figures that the kids have decided that the party is now their new masters, but the decision feels more indifferent than joyous or appreciative.
Wabbit assesses their lackluster response which is not completely unexpected given the circumstances Ok...stay here and take care of each other. How many more of you are there? Wabbit asks in a hurry to rejoin the others before they get into trouble
Cleo runs over to the front, grabs the bag of candy, and lays it on the floor of the room. "Eat some candy, we'll be back."
The kids are pretty surprised by the offer of candy, which they initially hesitate towards. The eldest answers Wabbit
"There's Lumi, Zandu, Alezi, and Besh and Zova... Menas, Marra and Jamir, Faen, Mella, Del... Dench, Fang, and Selubi."
Ok so there's fourteen more of you. Are they all upstairs?
"Yes. Marra just got back, and Alezi isn't... wasn't leaving until night time."
OK we'll be back soon Wabbit hurries with Cleo up the stairs to join the others
Janis stops to check the man for any items that might be useful in the coming fights. Watch my back for a second.
Wabbit and Cleo start making their way up to the second floor, while Janis looks over the man in a small pool of blood for anything useful. Unfortunately he finds little of use. The only dart he finds has blood on it, not poison. Janis' armour is better as well, and the man didn't have any other items on his person.
However, while Janis is going over the items, he notices that the man is breathing. He's alive, but unconscious.
Janis stares at the man trying to decide what to do. Cleo! This man is alive. We might be able to interrogate him. Do you think we have the time?