Greenly moves up and, with a breath, pulls on the lock, trying to burst it.
With Greenly's extra muscle, the copied key provided by Amandine's contacts finally turns in the lock. With a click, the service entrance opens.
You only have a few moments to pile through the door, into the receiving wing, before the cultists discover you!
Chana sees what's happening at the door and dashes over to rejoin the party. As she steps in behind the others, Snips scurries up to her shoulder to look out into the room. She keeps her eyes and ears open for any signs of cultists inside.
Greenly draws her sword and enters last, ushering everyone in behind her and pulling the door shut.
Boxes and crates fill much of this enclosed loading bay, standing in stacks from 10 to 20 feet high. A two-foot deep depression sits at the foot of the massive, closed reception doors on the western side of the room. A broad, sliding door sits closed to the north, presumably offering access to the larger warehouse beyond.
Two of the Silent Cultists, dressed like those outside, lie dead on the middle of the floor. The surgical strike by Lady Morilla's Pathfinder agents caught them in the middle of a morning meal, with bits of cheese, grapes, and bread scattered between their bodies. One too a crossbow bolt to the throat, while the other was pierced through the heart.
Chana elbows Amandine and whispers "One of 'em survived, ovah there."
She does her best to bluff with her body language that she hasn't seen the hidden person, but stalks into the room, 'coincidentally' moving in the creature's direction.
As soon as the door opens Amandine slips inside and off to the left using the crates for cover. As the Chana and the others move straighter into the room, toward the 'survivor' Chana mentions, Amandine works her way around the right side of the room, keeping low and quiet while looking for anyone else who may be hiding.
Chana's misdirection works, and she takes the lurking watcher by surprise. She drags him from his hiding place and out into the open. Despite the hood and scarves wrapped around the creature, Chana can feel large, elongated ears and a protruding, almost sharp nose contained beneath the layers.
The creature is clearly frightened, but it puts up no fight.
Amandine scans the room, but finds no one and nothing else lurking among the boxes stored in this wing.
Chana shakes the captive a bit to see if she can dislodge the hood and scarves, then examines the person to see if she can tell what kind of creature it might be.
She hisses a whisper out "You wit the cultists 'ere? One squirm for yes, two for no."
Shaking off the creature's hood and scarves, you discover that he is no gnome. He is a short, lean humanoid with yellowish eyes and stringy hair. His skin is a plum color, and his features are very sharp.
With frightened eyes squinting against the light, he vigorously shakes his head - squirming twice for "no."
Chana looks to her team, rather bewildered by coming across some type of person she's never seen before. Is *this* quivering being maybe the Fantionette in disguise?
She also asks "Then wot you doin' 'ere? Hidin'?" She pauses for him to squirm. "Lookin' for someone?" She pauses again to see if any squirms are forthcoming.
After she's satisfied herself there are no other enemies hidden in the room, Amandine goes to check the two dead bodies to see what they have on them.
She leaves questioning of the small one Chana has grabbed to others. It's clear by now that strong-arming captives is not part of her skill portfolio.
She does keep her ears open though, listening in to try and gauge the truthfulness of the little "man".
The plum-skinned, gnome-sized man squirms, first to nod and confirm he was hiding, then he shakes his head "no," insisting that he was not looking for someone.
The dead initiates of the Silent Brotherhood wear simple, light leather armor beneath their clothes, resembling those of common street urchins. However, each one has an array of darts and a very sharp dagger hidden upon them, as well as some chalky gray pellets, a pair of whistles, and a couple gold coins.
Each one also wears, tucked beneath their clothes, a silver medallion in the shape of a shield or mask.
Smoke Pellets x4
MWK Dagger x2
Darts x10
Leather Armor x2
Silver Unholy Symbols x2
Whistle x2
6 gp
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Yogga: Yogga smashed the holy symbol, renounced Thamir Gixx, and was later escorted to the Sarenites. Olivia gave him 5gp, and made a donation of 5gp to the Sarenites. Then she and Chana ran like crazy to meet up with everyone else.
Gulbend: Gulbend was given a chance, but he refused it. Olivia ran him through the heart with her longsword while chanting a prayer for his soul. His corpse is still bleeding out in Photine's basement, since Olivia didn't have time to deal with it.
"Norgorber worshippers, as expected." Says Olivia when Amandine lifts the unholy symbols.
Considering how the rest of her team was being reticent in asking anything of the little creature, Chana turns him around a little in her grip and whispers [smaller]"Now, if your not workin' for or wid the cult 'ere, fink you could tell us wot you were doing hidin'? I'll let ya go if your willin' ta give us wot you know 'bout this place... and if ya promise ta not give the fact we're 'ere away."
She waits to see how he'll squirm in response. Then if he seems amicable, she'll take the hand slightly off his mouth so the group can talk more readily.
Greenly pokes the man in the stomach. "Are you supposed to be, like, some type of gnome?"
Photinè glances up from the heavily-notated spellbook she's consulting to murmur menacingly at the creature in Chana's arms. "Answer her truthfully and leave nothing out, lest you join them à la mort."
She snaps the spellbook shut and returns it to the strap at her waist.
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The strange man grows still as he waits for Chana to move her hand and let him speak. He takes a gulping breath before he speaks.
"My name is Efarni. I am a salesman of alchemical remedies," he explains, shivering in fear.
"I was inspecting my goods stored in this warehouse when those...those cultists fell upon the building and seized control. I waited, hoping they would leave without sacrificing me in some awful blood rite. When those shots came through the windows and slew them, I hid - worried that something worse was about to storm through the doors."
The snap of Photinè's spellbook spooks Efarni, giving him a startle within Chana's grasp.
"Please, I mean you no harm. In fact, to thank you for rescuing me, I can give you some of my alchemical medicines. They can give you extra strength to defeat these killers."
You are especially certain that you would not want to drink anything this purple man offers.
Amandine keeps everything except the leather armor, which is too bulky to lug around.
She doesn't follow Olivia's line of thinking in regard to the unholy symbols and asks her "but why expected? The others had symbols of Thamir Gixx?"
Chana shrugs, saying "Alright Efarni, if ya want'ta be that way. Since ya don' want to be 'onest, we'll just come on back for ya aftahward." Assuming no one has any further questions for the wayang, Chana will clamp her hand back over his mouth and do her best to knock him out, and then see if anyone else in her party has rope to spare for him to be tied up. For all he pretends to be a merchant, the fellow seems pretty likely to be another cultist caught in a tight spot and spinning a quick (and rather unconvincing) story.
Greenly eagerly helps Chana knock the not a gnome unconscious. It's what she was there for.
The fragile purple man does not last long against both Chana's grasp and Greenly's eager muscle, and he is soon rendered unconscious.
Beneath his voluminous robes, you find an array of thin copper flasks. Some off them bear labels in sharp, black ink: one labeled as "Poison," four labeled as "Curative," and three labeled as "Styptic." There are another four flasks that do not bear labels of any sort. In his pockets, you also find some common alchemist's trinkets.
A thin suit of leather armor lays beneath his robe, as does a simple dagger. On his finger, you find a trick ring that holds a secret compartment within its head.
Near his original hiding spot, you also discover his valise. It contains two bottles of fine wine, a well-made fiddle, and a book filled with strange notations of math and esoteric science.
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"Yogga told me that this sect worships Norgorber. Should be mostly human, all capable priests and/or assassins. Oh and you need to be on the lookout for a halfling or human child, it is a planar entity that is very dangerous and could stalk the alleys of Oppara for eternity if left unchecked."
When she learns of the poison on that strange creature, she says "He might be a Blackfinger, worshipping Norgorber's aspect of poison. I think it would be best if someone examines everything he has for traces of poison. We do not want to be surprised while drinking a healing potion."
Chana takes all these mysterious and likely poison-filled flasks and stuffs them into her pack. She also pulls the ring off his finger and, with a shrug, passes it to Greenly with a "Don' lick the inside, 'right?" She also picks up the formula book, and other alchemical items, though she leaves the wine and fiddle, figuring he can't do much harm with either of those if he manages to wake and get free.
She nods at Olivia's statements, then shrugs "Blackfing'eh? I figured 'is fingeh's looked normal enough. Though I don't trust anything 'e had on 'im."
Chana takes a quick look down into the loading bay to the west, then inspects and listens to the door heading into the larger northern chamber.
Chana comes on back to the rest of the group and whispers "Place is crawlin'. I figga 'alf-a-dozen cult guys and gals. We busting in, or do you guys 'ave a plan?"
Greenly shrugs. She came prepared for combat, after all.
She puts her hand on the knob, but raises her other hand as if to knock first.
Chana figures its better not to give them a warning. She chitters softly to herself for a moment to get Snips' attention and then whispers "Arright 'ittle guy, time to show 'em wot we made of." Her familiar scurries out from one of her sleeves and starts skipping a circle around her. For a moment, all that can be heard is a quiet scrabbling as he moves, and then suddenly where there was one Snips, there's now two, then four, then sixteen... and before you know it, hundreds of rats swarm around Chana's ankles.
She gives Greenly a nod then swings open her side of the door. With her scimitar in one hand, her and her rat swarm sweep into the room.
Barrels, boxes, and crates fill the vast space of this open warehouse floor, revealed as the sliding door is flung open. Paths zigzag through the mess. A set of metal stairs ascends to an office, whose large window overlooks the floor from twenty-five feet above. A pair of five-foot-wide metal pipes lead from the warehouse floor up into the base of the office.
As the sudden swarm of Snips floods into the warehouse, two of the cultists - standing immediately ahead - snap to attention, and they turn to face the incursion.
Amandine wastes some time trying to figure out an infiltration plan using the clothes from the two dead cultists as disguises. She comes up with a few things, especially since they have the smoke pellets, but none of them are markedly better than not bothering with the extra trouble.
She gives up and joins Chana. Moving into the main room amongst the heebie-jeebie inducing rats, rapier in hand, she strikes out at the closest cultist's mind.
Chana dashes forward to strike at the nearest of the cultists. She holds her scimitar in two hands and delivers an overhand swing with a quiet hiss.
Snips rushes forth like the tide, flooding through Chana's square and then skittering around Amandine. They engulf the closest cultist and begin biting!
Photinè sweeps into the room behind the other ladies. She extends a hand and opens her mouth, as if to admonish the nearest cultist for their horridly rude behavior.
The closest cultist, his resolve perhaps strengthened by the sudden surge of adrenaline by the intrusion, manages to resist Amandine's spell.
The other cultist dashes away, weaving between the stacks of boxes, and leaves his fellow to the coming onslaught.
Greenly wades forward, drawing her curved blade, but only manages to knick the cultist. Olivia's charge, however, brings him to death's door with a single sword stroke. Photinè's scream further wracks the man's system, and the swarm of Snips begins to pick his body apart.
"Let's go up those stairs. Higher ground is always, like, advantageous," declares the part-elf, firmly.
Amandine had hoped they would be able to deal with everyone by moving fast and taking them down by quickly, overwhelming them while spread out. But there's no way to stop an alarm from being raised now.
She nods at Greenly's suggestion and heads for the stairs.
Chana whispers "'Eier grounds exposed, that's wot it is." and she chitters to Snips, hoping to draw them away from the corpse and to more productive activities.
As Amandine makes for the stairs, she hears the door to the office above burst open. Two more intitiates emerge, stand atop the stairs, and take stock of the scene below. A strange, gray-faced man stands at the window overlooking the warehouse floor. He watches the party with a grim, emotionless countenance.
To the west, you can hear the other Silent Initiates' rapid footsteps as they draw closer, responding to the incursion. One of them climbs atop the mountainous stack of boxes, seeking a vantage point.
Greenly calmly moves through the rats and draws her bow. She nocks an arrow and aims for the weirdo in the window.
Watching the initiates scaling the towering piles of boxes, Olivia sheathes her longsword and draws the elegant crossbow, Dignity's Barb, to begin picking them off from afar.
Greenly's arrow sails through the wide open window and pierces the gray-faced man's leather armor. He recoils with a grimace and begins casting a spell upon himself. Soon, there are three of him standing there, stepping away from the window and following his allies down the stairs.
A pair of darts sail down from the stairs ahead, thrown by two of the descending initiates, and one of the missiles strikes her painfully.
Chana points towards the closest of the cultists to the west and chitters at Snips, urging them forward. She follows after her rats, but isn't able to reach any enemies with her scimitar. Instead, she takes up some minor cover from the cultists to the west by hiding behind a crate.
Snips surges between and over the boxes, engulfing the orange cultist and biting and snipping at the fellow's limbs.
Photinè follows a few steps behind Greenly and sends a burst of magical energy toward the cultist at the bottom of the stairs.
The sea of Snips swarms up the stack of boxes leaning against the wall, and they soon begin to bite and tear at the initiate's legs.
On the other side of the warehouse, the initiate just descending the stairs manages to resist Photinè's spell.