Dizzy stood silohuetted at the doorway, her eyes struggled to adjust to the gloom but she percieved two shapes inside the grimy shack."Uh...Hi!" She had given no thought to the fact there may be some gangers remaining. "Um, Im an old mate of Ogden's....I've been away for some time. Ah...did someone just say something about a stash?"
Stegg shoots a quick glance at Nyx.
"Reckon you might misheard," he rumbles."You bin away for some time, missus? Might be long enough that you bin forgot. Such that none could place your face or vouch for you, say."
He fixes her with a challenging stare.
"And what brings you here now, 'old mate'."
Stegg shoots a quick glance at Nyx.
Nyx melts into the shadows...
"And what brings you here now, 'old mate'."
.. and emerges a moment later with a battered crossbow pointed at the she-dwarf's chest.
An evil grin splits his swollen head from ear to ear
"Ogden had to step out for a moment, but I'm sure he'll be DYING to catch up with his dear friend.
Dizzy suddenly felt a tad daft, swaggering around the slums all doodied up in silks like some well-to-do Dwarf Lady. Nonetheless, she was wary of making any rash mistakes so soon out from the Crackbone Quarry.
"Easy there pumpkinhead, I know the big green fuc*er has met his end" Said Dizzy, as she calmly raised her hands, never taking her gaze from the crossbow leveled at her. "Im Dizzy Deepe, me and Ogden, we used to run together down in Andersport, but because of him Ive been away crackin' rocks these last 10 years. I came up here looking for him, to which end...I couldnt say to be honest."
"So I guess my schedule is empty, and if you're gonna shoot me with that thing then go ahead, I've no plans. But if you miss, believe me I'll punt you over the river." She looked from the Goblin up to the big Orc. Nyx shifted his weight and his breath hissed through pointed teeth.
"Of course, there is an alternative fellas." Dizzy calmly reached her bag with one free hand, keeping her eyes on Nyx and her right hand palm up. From her shoulder bag she pulled a cleanskin bottle of pinkish rotgut. "We could all just sit down and have a drink, and shoot the sh!t, just like Ogden would have wanted us to do before he got his stupid green ass slain."
" But if you miss, believe me I'll punt you over he river." She looked from the Goblin up to the big Orc. Nyx shifted his weight and his breath hissed through pointed teeth.[/b]
"Stegg, gimme one good reason why I should shoot this mouthy b&#%$ right now..."
"Stegg, gimme one good reason why I should shoot this mouthy b+$&@ right now..."
"Look, I just wanna talk ok? Im not a pig....far from it, I've no plans to hoodwink yous. Lets just be cool, aight?" Dizzy slowly pulls the cork out of the rotgut with her teeth, spits it on the ground and takes a swig. She cannot help one of her eyelids from suffering a fluttering spasticity due to the vile alcohol. Licking her lips she holds out the bottle to the two skeptical greenskins...
"Drink?"
Stegg frowns at Nyx.
"Sh!t, put that dang shooter away. Maybe the stranger's running a game, maybe she ain't."
Stegg steps forward, meets Dizzy's gaze and takes the proffered flask.
"Fact is," he addresses Nyx, "wi'out the rest of the crew, the two o' us ain't worth a bent copper. No percentage in conning you and me."
He knocks one back.
"So who gives a fukk if she's on the level - beggin' your pardon, miss. We just a couple of green-skin boys in a town got nasty. Those wild woods fukkers really fukked it up for us. Town's on the edge of blood. Prolly time to move on."
He sets his green arse down onto a battered, cut-in-half barrel that the gang used as furniture, favours Dizzy with a sullen look.
"Name's Stegg. The tough guy is Nyx. You bless him with some rust, might be his mood improves. Boy's got a hunger skewing him."
He offers Dizzy's flask to Nyx.
"Might help."
"Name's Stegg. The tough guy is Nyx. You bless him with some rust, might be his mood improves. Boy's got a hunger skewing him."
His shoulders slump
"Sure, why not? It's not like the stash is here anyway..." he mutters
Nyx lowers the crossbow reluctantly
" One more thing lady.."
He pulls the trigger.
The crossbow bolt embeds itself in the floor squarely between Dizzy's feet
"...I don't miss."
He offers Dizzy's flask to Nyx.
"Might help."
Nyx takes a swig and rolls it around in his mouth. He gulps it down with a wince.
" Ah..... good stuff. Fresh from Brick Street's finest bathtub."
He slumps down on a soiled bean bag, wiggling down until only his ears and toes are visible
"Ok, lady. Why don't you tell us your sad tale while we wait to see if I am going to be crippled with drug addiction for the rest of my short, miserable life."
"Name's Stegg. The tough guy is Nyx. You bless him with some rust, might be his mood improves. Boy's got a hunger skewing him."
"Dont have no gear, rust's not for me see. Booze is my vice...maybe it's a Dwarf thing right." Lowering her hands slowly, Dizzy shifted to a more relaxed stance.
She crouched and from the filthy dirt floor removed Nyx's crossbow bolt, stepping over to the beanbag she handed it back to the Goblin in exchange for the bottle of grog. There was a moment of strained silence before Dizzy turned to address both of the Cockerels,
"My 'sad story' ain't none of your business. Don't think from my flash new threads that Im about to tell you my daddy didnt buy me a pony when I was a nipper...far from it. But I will say that it was cause a Ogden I been away for so long, locked up." She paused to take a swig of the bottle. "If I've missed out on a reunion with the c*nt then I reckon Im at least just as entitled to his treas' as you'se. Truth be told I havent a bloody jeep to me name and Im not exactly too keen on picking up a woodsmans axe eh?"
She handed the bottle again to Stegg.
"Is it just the two of you's left? Who else is up for some sport in this town?"
"If I've missed out on a reunion with the c*nt then I reckon Im at least just as entitled to his treas' as you'se. Truth be told I havent a bloody jeep to me name and Im not exactly too keen on picking up a woodsmans axe eh?"
"That about puts us on even ground then. You want treasure..."
He gestures expansively around the room full of trash."Help yourself."
"Is it just the two of you's left? Who else is up for some sport in this town?"
"I ain't know the fate of the rest of the crew for sure. Bodies got snatched up a time after the rumble. We could ask around. If they ain't come back here though..."
He shrugs.
"This town's full of scrappers. Top dogs is the Graycloaks that muscle for the lumber boss. They got fingers in every other sh!t though, best believe. Any crew that ain't kicking up to them is scrounging the scraps. Like we was."
Takes a swig of the bottle and hands it to Nyx.
"So, you would've been in the downriver crew, Andersport, that right? Ogden spoke of those times, once or twice. He had a notion to bring the pit-fights to Woodenhead, like they got down there. Weren't a terrible idea. Town's getting too big for just pussy, dice and liquor."
Stegg stalks over to the firepit and pokes a finger into the grayish, congealed soup in the kettle.
"Now here's some treasure..." he mutters, licking the goop him his finger. He starts working to get a fire lit under the kettle.
A few silent moments pass - Stegg tends to the stew, Dizzy sucks on her hooch and Nyx broods quietly, his toes and ears wiggling as if in concentration
"Stegg..." Nyx calls from the depths of the bean bag " Let's say we do track down this stash... and lets say it's more than just a fistful of trinkets... What would you do with it?"
The goblin wiggles into a sitting position
"I mean, we've talked, I get the feeling this Cockerel thing was only gonna be a temporary thing for you, but you never told what you wanted to do next"
He flips out of the bean bag and paces back and forth across the dusty floorboards
" Seems to be that this setback..." he gestures vaguely at the empty room ".. could be a big opportunity for someone with some money to invest."
" Lets think about the situation right now - Kabram, biggest thug in the whole town - gone. Ogden - wannabe number 2 - gone. Sheriff f~$*en Baleson - sent out of town on some suicide mission with half of his men - may as well be dead"
" Sh1t I reckon if someone doesn't step into the vacuum there's gonna be hell to pay. Might as well be us, yeah? But we're gonna need a grift and we're gonna need cash - quick. Lucky this town is full of rubes with cash burning a hole in their little lumberjack shorts and nothing but sawdust between their ears "
He spins on his heel and jabs a finger at Dizzy
"Lady, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot, It's been a hell of day and I ain't even had breakfast. Tell me more about this pit-fighting business. You don't look like much but I can tell by the way you hold yourself you know how to fight. Stegg here has been known to punch out a wild beast or two if the mood takes him. We could have the start of a real neat little show here"
"Stegg..." Nyx calls from the depths of the bean bag " Let's say we do track down this stash... and lets say it's more than just a fistful of trinkets... What would you do with it?"
The goblin wiggles into a sitting position
"I mean, we've talked, I get the feeling this Cockerel thing was only gonna be a temporary thing for you, but you never told what you wanted to do next"
Stegg stirs the soup, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Got a notion to head down to the coast and making my way up to Almas. See life in the big smoke. Need a heavy purse for that though. City ain't no place to be poor, my Dad allus said. I jes' come to Woodenhead to get geeps. So far tho, cain't say I made much that I kept."
"Lady, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot, It's been a hell of day and I ain't even had breakfast. Tell me more about this pit-fighting business. You don't look like much but I can tell by the way you hold yourself you know how to fight. Stegg here has been known to punch out a wild beast or two if the mood takes him. We could have the start of a real neat little show here"
Stegg's eyes widen.
"Wait, you talkin' about me and the lady, fightin' - each other? Hand-to-hand?"He shakes his head in disbelief.
"No disrespect to you miss, but that ain't no kind of sport..."
GM - do either Nyx or Stegg have any leads on tracking down this notional stash of Ogden's?
Apparently he was not dumb enough to try to hide anything in the club-house. Where else did he frequent?
"Wait, you talkin' about me and the lady, fightin' - each other? Hand-to-hand?"
He shakes his head in disbelief.
"No disrespect to you miss, but that ain't no kind of sport..."
"Whats that 'sposed to mean!?" Laughed Dizzy, tossing aside the near empty bottle of grog. "You afraid of me boy? You should be...I'll f*ck you up!"
Stegg glares into the pot of soup.
"Believe what you like and take it to your grave. Point is, men and women fighting for sport ain't seemly."
He knocks the spoon against the side of the pot, dong, dong.
To Nyx:
"You pulled more geeps cooking for Leon that any number of capers and shakedowns... small miracle you could do more than turn beer into piss with the kit we've too. We get that coin you're dreaming about, we could upgrade that operation? Need muscle and street presence again too. But start with a smoother brew."
He ladles some soup into a dirty bowl.
"Might as well say we gonna raise an army and invade Cheliax while we're dreaming though..."
He offers the first bowl of glommy, mysterious soup to Dizzy.
GM - do either Nyx or Stegg have any leads on tracking down this notional stash of Ogden's?
Apparently he was not dumb enough to try to hide anything in the club-house. Where else did he frequent?
Ogden didn't seem to have much of a life outside the gang, but he would get away from time to time, usually after divvying the loot. You can be pretty sure that he used these opportunities to hide his stash.
The remarkable thing with Ogden is he got on with all sorts of people, as demonstrated by the racial diversity of the Cockerels themselves. The remnants of that are in the room--a goblin, a half-orc, and a dwarf. It wasn’t limited to that, however. With the racism ubiquitous in Woodenhead, this was unusual.
Ogden loved the Cockerels, but there was certainly nobody in the gang he trusted. (The closest he got was with Stegg, but even that wasn't quite what you'd call trust yet.) Any hiding place would have been away from the den, as noted, but also away from the gang.
Ogden didn't seem to have much of a life outside the gang, but he would get away from time to time, usually after divvying the loot. You can be pretty sure that he used these opportunities to hide his stash. He seemed to be out more recently.
Ogden needed to make an arrangement with someone. He had to travel to whatever place on his own; if it was secluded enough for him to hide things, it was secluded enough for him to be in danger from various enemies.
Most notable amongst these were the Pure Men, a group of human supremacists, who hated Ogden for being a half-orc, and hated him even more for his racial egalitarianism. They avoided tangling with the Cockerels as a whole, because they were out-numbered, but would happily roll a Cockerel on his own, and would have killed Ogden given a chance.
Hence: He has must have had an arrangement with somebody he could trust. You never really heard him talk about anyone from outside the Gang, so don't know who that could be.
He offers the first bowl of glommy, mysterious soup to Dizzy.
"No thanks mate, Im right. Big breakfast this morning" Dizzy rapped her fingers on her puku and took a seat on a rickety crate.
"Whats that 'sposed to mean!?" Laughed Dizzy, tossing aside the near empty bottle of grog. "You afraid of me boy? You should be...I'll f*ck you up!"
" That's the spirit!" Nyx leaps from foot to foot punching the air " We'll dress you up really pretty, with ringlets in your hair and challenge rubes to beat you in a fight. Noone will expect soemone so DELIGHTFUL and CUTE to be be a threat. Plus, you'll be able to dish out some beatings to a~!%@@~s who would pay to beat up a lady! Everyone wins! "
He hesitates for a moment
" Of course, if you didn't want to be dressed as a girl we could make you look like a guy, put a fake moustache on your or something.."
He studies Dizzy for a moment, his eyes lingering momnetarily on her upper lip
"Of course we might not need a fake one...I mean...you know what they say about Dwarf women..."
He strokes his chin suggestively
Dizzy flexed her broad and muscular hands. As she clenched a fist she confessed to the goblin, "Im no stranger to pulling a fast one in a fight...but I dont like the sound of this plan. Who the fu*k would pay to beat up a woman when most blokes get to do it for free."
She sighed and lay her hands in her lap. "Besides, Im a bit against the idea of being pimped out like a bit of meat. Why dont we dress big Stegg here up like a chick? Or how about you pumpkin, doll you up in swaddling clothes, enter you in Woodenhead's bonniest bairn contest!"
"You pulled more geeps cooking for Leon that any number of capers and shakedowns"
"Yeah. Shit. Leon..." Nyx's shoulders slump " I cook, Leon distributes and Ogden beats up the junnkies who can't pay - that was our business model, now they're gone and my kit is on it's last legs. Goddamit Leon you dopey f+!!..." He slumps back into the beanbag
"He may have been a lowlife who woulda got his own granny hooked on crank if he thought he could shake a copper outta her but he was my first and only friend" He turns his head to hide his tears "That dumb f$&~ is too stupid to be dead, he's gotta be laying low somewhere"
"Need muscle and street presence again too. "
Nyx wipes his nose on his sleeve and seems to pull himself together
" Leon had his hooks into every junky and user in this whole damn town, ain't noone in the world who can hustle junk like that guy. Can't replace that overnight. If he's dead we gotta find another hustler - if he's alive he'll work for us - he don't care where the money goes as long as he gets a cut of the cash and the shit"""You pulled more geeps cooking for Leon that any number of capers and shakedowns... small miracle you could do more than turn beer into piss with the kit we've too. We get that coin you're dreaming about, we could upgrade that operation?"
" Set-up's on it's last legs, not sure if I could even get one more cook outta it. I been saving up for some real gear - Leon "invested" it in his last shipment - promised me he'd double my money..."
He sighs and fumbles around in a belt pouch. He carefuly extracts a tattered scarp of paper, evidently torn form a news paper, and hands it to Stegg.
"Chemcraft No.1 Portable Alchemy Kit. They make it for kids but it's perfect for the more diminutive alchemist" He flexes his tiny hands in demonstration "Portable means you can skip out without losing your setup if the pigs rumble you."
"Bottom line - I need 150 geeps for the kit and a couple of weeks for delivery. I can probably squeeze another batch outta the crap I got downstairs but it aint no good without someone to deliver it. Get me a hustler and the cash and we're good to go"
"He may have been a lowlife who woulda got his own granny hooked on crank if he thought he could shake a copper outta her but he was my first and only friend" He turns his head to hide his tears "That dumb f!@+ is too stupid to be dead, he's gotta be laying low somewhere"
"That's a nice idea." Stegg says glumly. "But I got Elwood and three other sources say they got eyes on with his throat open. Scum'll say anything, but Elwood's straight up. Reckon Ogden's gone, for sure."
"Ahrmen, Dirt-eye Dashiel, and Bad-sac, there's a like tale for them. The others - including your boy Leon - I dunno. Could be hidin' out I guess. We should look."
He offers the rejected bowl of slop to Nyx.
I embellished the detail about Cockerel's bodies being missing but I guess it's part of the story now. Up to you to decide what actually happened - what I had in mind at the time was that the necromancer Potenuse Vade nicked the bodies. Though it's equally plausible that Coco and her guys'n'gals at the brothel tidied up by dumping them all in the river. Or something else happened - over to you.
Player knowledge - Ogden did indeed die (for whatever that's worth in a fantasy setting).
Leon (the gnomish drug dealer) was interrogated and released, he's out there somewhere. Best do a handover of the NPC from Mikey if you want to incorporate him.
This from the start of the current Mikey-GMed campaign, from just before you joined with Magnun.
"Ahrmen, Dirt-eye Dashiel, and Bad-sac, there's a like tale for them. The others - including your boy Leon - I dunno. Could be hidin' out I guess. We should look."
"Aye, we should." Nyx carefully folds the scrap of paper and tucks it into his pouch " I'm pretty certain Ogden's stash isn't here but we should go check out his room anyway - there might be CLUES!"
He offers the rejected bowl of slop to Nyx.
Nyx takes the bowl gratefully, seasons it with various powders from his pouches and tucks in.
Dizzy flexed her broad and muscular hands. As she clenched a fist she confessed to the goblin, "Im no stranger to pulling a fast one in a fight...but I dont like the sound of this plan. Who the fu*k would pay to beat up a woman when most blokes get to do it for free."
" You dummies aren't seeing the grift here. We are making our girl here look like she's a pushover. We get the rubes to bet against her, maybe have her lose a couple of times to up the stakes and then POW! She flattens the chump and we make good with the winnings. It don't matter that you're a lady, lady. If you wus a dude we'd put a dunces cap on you and make you cross your eyes like a halfwit. The idea is you don't look like a threat.."
She sighed and lay her hands in her lap. "Besides, Im a bit against the idea of being pimped out like a bit of meat. Why dont we dress big Stegg here up like a chick? Or how about you pumpkin, doll you up in swaddling clothes, enter you in Woodenhead's bonniest bairn contest!"
Nyx throws his hands up in the air in exasperation " By the Void! I was just trying to work out a plan where we can best make use of you bozo's NATURAL TALENTS! Getting the lab working is gonna be a hassle, we should at least consider a plan B!"
He returns his attention to the stew
"This is actually pretty good" he mutters between spoonfulls "Maybe we could set up a soup kitchen or soemthing.."
"BRAAAAAP!" Nyx emits a hearty belch and tosses the empty bowl over his shoulder into the sea of broken crap
He dives out of the bean bag and scurries toward the staircase
" Come on ladies, lets get lootin'!" He leaps up the steps two at a time "I got bags on Ogdens lucky drawers!"
So Nyx runs up the narrow steps, two at a time, ducking his head to avoid various beams, and disappears from sight.
His darkvision picks out a table with some papers and some remnants of food on it, a pile of clothes in the corner--Ogden took pride in his rags--and the best of the Cockerels's squabs; this was still little more than a straw-stuffed sack on which Ogden used to bang his doxy, Petrunia.
There's plenty of other kipple to worry about, but if you moved quickly, you might be able to do something before the others got up here.
So Nyx runs up the narrow steps, two at a time, ducking his head to avoid various beams, and disappears from sight
"Clues..." Stegg mutters to himself and shakes his head. "Alright."
He sets down his bowl of stew, rises to his feet and lumbers up the stairs after Nyx. (In case, he prolly does need a beam avoidance strategy).
"Kindly wait down here, miss," he grumbles at Dizzy, "Ogden wouldn't want outsiders see his personal effects and whatnot."
"Kindly wait down here, miss," he grumbles at Dizzy, "Ogden wouldn't want outsiders see his personal effects and whatnot."
"Well, friend, I reckon no doubt I've seen Ogden's whatnot plenty more times than you!" Joked Dizzy as she twirled the tip of her moustache "Besides, it dont seem that what Ogden wants is really a factor now neither."
With that she bounded across the dirt floor and made for the rickety staircase.
Nyx sacrifices dignity for speed, and scampers up the narrow steps on all-fours, quickly disappearing from the sight of the other two.
The stair-case is narrow, steep, and rickety, little more than a ladder nailed in place, and there are two beams which seem to be designed for Stegg to smash his head on. He doesn’t, but uses his hands on the beams to help stabilise himself and perhaps spread some of the load.
Dizzy is no carpenter, but makes the call that she is best to wait until Stegg is off the stairs before she ascends, lest they prove inadequate to the task of holding the combined weight of the half-orc and the dwarf.
First Stegg, and then Dizzy get to the top and look around.
There’s a low-angled ceiling (Stegg cannot stand straight in here), and Dizzy can plainly see that this room was added late to the warehouse, and was shoddily done.
It is pitch-dark, but darkvision easily picks out Nyx standing by a table with some papers and some remnants of food on it, a pile of clothes in the corner--Ogden took pride in his rags--and the best of the Cockerels's squabs; this was still little more than a straw-stuffed sack on which Ogden used to bang his doxy, Petrunia.
There's plenty of other kipple to worry about, if you’re so inclined.
Stegg goes over to check out the papers on the table.
I figure with INT = 12 you can read the languages you know, but in this context it will take a little time.
Why would it be annotated in Goblin I wonder? Worry about that later.
Stegg checks out the letter - when you say "a language I've seen before", do you mean I recognise the script but can't read it?
I guess after that he checks out the ledger... might as well push things along.
Stegg silently contemplates the papers, a bead of sweat forming on his viridian brow.
"Watcha got there big fella? Is it a map? A treasure map? DOES IT HAVE A BIG RED X ON IT!"
Nyx hops excitedly from foot to foot, clapping his hands in glee
Dizzy reaches the loft and is eyeballed by the other two, who stand perplexed over what seem to be some chicken footprints on a yellowing scrap of paper.
Looking around the ramshackle wooden room with its sporadic collections of dust and rat turds, she felt a small sense of joy that Ogden had slipped to living in such squalor. While there was a certain charm to the sun shining through gaps in the thin wooden walls and the curious tang of piss and decay, it was certainly no comparison to the old place they had shared in Andersport.
Dizzy sniffs the air with contempt and walks over to the pile of rags to examine it at arms reach with her pick-handle.
Why would it be annotated in Goblin I wonder?
A very good sense motive roll says: When Ogden called you guys off the construction project because it was going to cause a mutiny, he employed a group of goblins to finish the job.
when you say "a language I've seen before", do you mean I recognise the script but can't read it?
Yes. A second look reveals a bit more. Stegg criticaled an easy linguistics roll to identify the language. It’s Elvish. It’s written in Ogden’s hand, and it appears to be a love letter (there’s some squiggles at the bottom indicating hugs and kisses that Stegg recognises from letters sent to the various whores he has known).
I guess after that he checks out the ledger...
It’s a ledger. Stegg's seen them before, but has no insight into them and it might as well be in Draconic for all it might make any sense to him.
He stuffs the smack into one of his many pouches
Stegg is obviously pre-occupied with the papers, so clearly doesn’t notice. Nyx himself is pre-occupied, and notices a fraction too late that Dizzy entered the room while Nyx was pocketing the stuff. Nyx is no expert, but reckons that he got away with it.
Nyx has a quiet chuckle to himself while Dizzy goes over to search the already searched rags. This is interrupted when, immediately after saying ”DOES IT HAVE A BIG RED X ON IT?”, Nyx hears furtive whispering from outside the door to the warehouse: ”Quiet! There might be somebody inside!” It’s in Common.
Dizzy sniffs the air with contempt and walks over to the pile of rags to examine it at arms reach with her pick-handle.
Dizzy finds a solitary GP loitering in a concealed pouch. Riches! Dizzy pockets it while the others are preoccupied with their papers.
While there was a certain charm to the sun shining through gaps ...
While there was a certain charm to the sun shining through gaps ...
Does Stegg remember anything about Ogden having an Elvish dox? ('Petrunia' doesn't sound Elvish).
If not, he asks Nyx.
Regardless he will take the letter with him.
As an aside, it’s entertaining having a knucklehead with above average intelligence. I assume Stegg is playing it quiet on that front; he seems to have thrived thus far on being underestimated.
Nyx freezes mid caper and drops to all fours. His almost prehensile ears seem to twist and turn as a grimace of concentration crosses his face.
"Mooks...Outside...Casing the joint, I bet" He hisses, getting to his feet "But they don't know we're here."
Reaching into his robes he pulls out a small metal sphere with a tiny fuse producing from it. His beady eyes glow red as he deftly juggles the bomb with one hand .
"Let's show these fools that the Cockerels still have claws..."
Stegg brow furrows a moment. He didn't hear nothing, but he trusts the goblin's ears.
He slips a set of brass knuckles over his fingers.
"Let's show these fools that the Cockerels still have claws..."
Dizzy immediately clutches her pick-handle to her chest with both hands, sweat beading on her brow perhaps due to the stuffiness of Ogdens loft, she leaves the pile of pre-crusted breeches and attempts to sneak back down the creaky staircase....
Roll for STEALTH! *deep breath!*
"When these rubes open the door it'll take their eyes a second to adjust to the gloom. I'll chuck a bomb up in their grills and you guys jump 'em while they're stunned" He practices an underarm lob with the grenade "Oh yeah...uh...i'm a bit out of practice so you...uh...might wanna stay a teensy bit back when this thing goes off..."
Is there any kind of window or opening out the front of the top storey? I like the image of Stegg dropping down behind these guys as they enter.
There's a trapdoor in the angled ceiling, held down with a simple bolt. It would appear that Stegg could slide the bolt back and climb out fairly easily. He'd be about 18' above street-level on the roof. The main door, where Nyx is pointing, is underneath this attic space, so he'd be right over them.
"When these rubes open the door it'll take their eyes a second to adjust to the gloom. I'll chuck a bomb up in their grills and you guys jump 'em while they're stunned" He practices an underarm lob with the grenade "Oh yeah...uh...i'm a bit out of practice so you...uh...might wanna stay a teensy bit back when this thing goes off..."
Dizzy pauses briefly, but figures it'd be foolish to stay on the stairs and makes her way swiftly and quietly towards deeper shadow. "Over in that corner!" hisses a man's voice speaking in common, and just before Dizzy reaches cover a ball of light comes skittering towards her. It stops under the table after hitting one of the legs with the unmistakable 'clunk' of stone hitting wood. One of the figures appears to be pointing towards where you are, still in deep shadows.
Nyx winces at the racket Dizzy is making descending the stairs, but figures it should be quiet enough to go unnoticed by the small-eared mooks in this neighbourhood. He pauses a brief second, takes a small flask from a hidden pocket, sniffs it appreciatively, and then knocks it back like a sailor having his tot of run.
Stegg is moderately surprised--Nyx’s already massive ears grow longer and wiggle appreciatively, his limbs grow longer, and Stegg can see him wiggling newly lengthened and gracile fingers excitedly.
Nyx suppresses an urge to let out a contented, “Ah!” and scampers silently across towards the trap-door and looks down.
Dizzy pauses briefly, but then swiftly and quietly moves towards deeper shadow. Not swift enough! "Over in that corner!" hisses a man's voice speaking in common, and just before Dizzy reaches cover a ball of light comes skittering towards her. It stops under the table after hitting one of its legs with a 'clunk'. Some small object with “Light” cast on it? Seems most likely.
Stegg tries the trapdoor; it is easy enough to open quietly, and appears to have seen recent use. Light floods across the attic space, which doesn’t improve the decor. Presumably Ogden was using this trapdoor for his own secret ends. It’s easy enough for Stegg to pull himself up, and he finds himself blinking in the broad daylight on a gently sloping wooden roof.
When Stegg gets to the edge he peers over to see down to the alleyway in front of the door. There’s four men with brown shirts and shaved heads down there. They have weapons drawn--there’s a guy with a morningstar standing right by the door, behind them there’s a guy with a longsword and a guy with a loaded light crossbow. They’re all peering at the door. Further back again there’s a guy holding a cudgel. He seems to be on lookout.
It doesn’t look easy to climb down. Jumping on one of the guys looks easier. Missing wouldn’t be pretty.
Roll for initiative!