With this many, stay on the streets - not everyone is agile on the shingles.
You are no doubt a vigilant, trigger-happy band as you walk the streets toward Old Dock. As before the streets are deserted and silent. Shadows watch from veiled windows as you pass. Here's a comatose drunk; here a corpse, stripped of belt, purse, and pulse. A rolling tromping sound that evokes the smell of greasepaint comes to your ears. Down a side alley to your left a crowd passes. You can make out a dozen armed figures waltzing with a picnic air. None notice you.
A mere two blocks from your goal, you realize something is wrong. Looking along the street you notice that the facade of Exemplary Excrebles is charred and blackened. Not badly, the building is still habitable. A crew of workman pry the old stucco away.
Suddenly the carnival picnic goers turn into the street behind you and stop. There's a conference dominated by a man dressed in green with an antler-crowned helm. Then a young man comes skimming swiftly over the street toward you with a knife in one hand and a trumpet in the other.
"Stand ready," Emerion murmurs. "We're about to be called upon to fight."
Louder, he calls to the approaching youth:
"Put the knife away lad, people can get hurt with those things."
Intimidate:
The young man stops well short of you and sheathes the knife. Raising the long silver trumpet, he blows a garbled fanfare and steps forward. He seems nervous, but not in the manner of a man afraid of a fight. His eyes flit nervously over you and the workmen beyond. It is not a searching gaze gathering information; it is a questioning gaze seeking welcome. He clears his throat, places the trumpet holding hand knuckles down against his hip and holds his left hand at shoulder height, palm up, toward you. He stops, as if to check his pose, then begins loudly.
"By order and authority of his high most gracious highness Emperor Swastel, Suzerain of Old Korvosa. His herald charges you to speak the reason of your trespass in the emperor's realm."
"Draw together, friends, they'll try and flank us," Emerion mutters to his comrades. "We're going to get into a fight here."
Reaching up he tugs the black mask down and flips out the cloak behind him, assuming a guise of Blackjack.
"Swastel isn't Emperor of anything, lad. Go home, and take your friends with you. The party is most definitely over for you - one way or the other."
From behind the young man, the antlered man calls out, "Well, Herald Anseln? What say they?"
The young man swivels his head to reply. While he speaks you can see a small bald spot in the midst of his otherwise thick blond mane. "One's dressed as Blackjack, Captain. He says I should go home."
The captain takes a long swig from the bottle in his hand. "Stick to the script! Will they submit to the Emperor's authority?"
The blond herald turns back to you. " By order and authority of his high most gracious highness Emperor Swastel, Suzerain of Old Korvosa, I charge you to surrender all weapons and submit to his wise judgement. How say ye? Yea or Nay?"
Heather laughs.."Oh please..submit to his 'wise judgement' Who wrote your script sweetie because you really need to go home and practice your lines.."
Varlis draws a bead on the captain, he keeps a second arrow at the ready and gently admonishes, "where in the script is this arrow through your neck....captain?"
Heather laughs.."Oh please..submit to his 'wise judgement' Who wrote your script sweetie because you really need to go home and practice your lines.."
The young man seems flummoxed, "No that's the line. Errr, "
Varlis draws a bead on the captain, he keeps a second arrow at the ready and gently admonishes, "where in the script is this arrow through your neck....captain?"
The captain flushes deeply enough that you can see his face redden even at this range. "If you defy our majestic overlord, you will suffer the consequences! Charge!"
Initiative :
His companions look at each other and the captain orders a charge once more. With sudden enthusiasm they start running toward the party.
Initiative
Heather sighs, speaks an arcane phrase and the street fills from side to side with webs
"So..so..predictable Darling" she says with withering contempt.
Varlis manages a tight grin, largely hidden by his beard and lets fly with his arrows. His hand like a metronome as it flicks in and out the quiver and onto the bow.
The captain's words are punctuated by arrows striking his neck and chest.
Initiative:
Emerion darts forward to stand by the closest member of the party to the gang , Blackjack's sword sweeping from his scabbard as he goes and assumes a defensive stance, and delivers a swift thrust to the first of the group to raise a hand to himself or whoever he stands by.
Attack: Damage:
Round 1:
Varlis, 22
Heather, 13
Emerion, 7 (after delay)
Emperor's Mob, 6
Laori
Istas
Varlis fells the captain, drops a scythe wielding workman, and punches an arrow into the thigh of a third mobster.
Heather lays down a web to halt the mob.
Emerion stands ready to cut down whoever breaks through.
Heathers idea is to have the street blocked from eaves to street level..she's going for height and width..and about 5' in depth..
She raises her voice "I am Heather Whiteraven and in the name of the Crown I order you to disperse or suffer a similar fate to your 'Captain'. You have..one minute..then we really get angry..understood?"
Intimidation plus whatever circumstance modifier applies for being a known badass(lol)
Heather's web fills the street, cutting off the mob from reaching you. Two of the more enthusiastic members of the mob try to plunge through, but are stuck fast.
The rest of the mob breaks and runs. The Herald is left with you. He drops his knife and looks quickly from side to side.
"Go home" Heather tells the young man "go home, find a nice girl, settle down and have babies..lots of babies..this city will need them"
"now Shoo!" she finishes. waving her hand in an imperiously noble fashion then turns her attention to the flies caught in her web.."Tell me boys..are you just naturally stupid or do you practice it..no, on second thoughts, no-one could possibly practice that hard. Now if I let you out of this will you promise me to go home or do I have to set my hounds on you?" she gestures to the menfolk "I can promise you that would not be an enjoyable course of action..for any off us"
"...dressed as Blackjack..." Emerion mutters, shaking his head.
They'll all promise to be good and go away. Mercy is probably better than they deserve.
With a negligent wave of her hand Heather dispels the Web.
"So gentlemen shall we go and introduce ourselves to the 'Emporer'?"
The herald darts off down a side alley. The ex-entangled slink off the way their other companions went.
From a nearby window, a woman calls out, "Ye'd best high-tail it. That lot will be back with more. Swastel's men just squash anyone who stands up to them."
"So tell me the quickest way to that Swastel and we can stop making a mess of his men."
"This way," Emerion gestures toward the warehouse. "Let's hustle, before they gather their wits."
"Aye let us do that" Heather heads towards the warehouse with a look of grim determination.
Emerion leads the way past the darkened theater. One of the workmen calls out, "Give 'em hell, Blackjack." His companions reply with a mixture of low cheers and loud guffaws.
Laori looks at Emerion, "Blackjack?"
A few moments later, you round the corner of the theater and are looking into an oddly shaped courtyard. Map You are at the top of the map looking south.
A small knot of armed men stand watch in front of the door of the house to the east. Rope bridges climb from that house to the center house and from there to the warehouse-palace. The west wall of the courtyard is a large building; the northeastern corner of its roof has collapsed and you can see the interior beams of the roof as well as some bare-waterstained walls. Except for the guarded door, all ground floor doors and windows of all the buildings are heavily boarded.
Laori asks, "What's the plan? Just walk into his front door?"
"We quite often find that the direct approach serves us best"
"Not in this case," Emerion says, pointing to the houses. "The front gate in this circumstance is clearly well designed to be defended. We try and go that way and they can just cut the rope bridges on us. Let's circle and find a way into the main building - that collapsed part of the roof there looks promising."
If all are in agreement, Emerion leads the way, sticking close to the night-time shadows.
Heather nods and motions for Em to lead the way
Circling counterclockwise around Pilt's complex:
It will require a 25' climb to reach the hole in the roof and walls in the northwest corner.
Nothing else of interest down the west side.
The south side is interesting. It appears large segments of the uppermost walls and the south facing roof have been ripped down, although the columns and beams have all been left intact. Again it will be a climb to reach the dismantled areas. It does smell like a barnyard back here.
The east side has nothing of interest -- blank walls.
Stealthily, Emerion slides a grappling hook and a length of knotted silk rope from his bag and lofts the hook toward the rafters.
Throw:
It it hooks, he tests it hard. If it stays, he climbs as quietly as he may.
Climb:
Stealth:
Emerion scales the western wall and looks over the edge into the building.
This large room may have been an attic storage space but now the roof in the corner above you is open to the sky, and the floor directly below you has also collapsed. The edges of both floor and roof look punky and rotted.
To get to solid footing on the floor, you would have to scuttle over the top edge where you are now, then climb along the inside wall until you reach solid footing. (About 10')
And, there's movement among the shadowy rafters where the roof is still good.
Emerion signals the next person to climb as he shifts his weight onto the wall, then jumps across then they reach the top. As soon as he lands he draws his blade and watches for more movement .
Acrobatics (jump):
Heather begins the climb up the knotted rope..her arms strain as she makes her way up..
To get to solid footing on the floor, you would have to scuttle over the top edge where you are now, then climb along the inside wall until you reach solid footing. (About 10')
And, there's movement among the shadowy rafters where the roof is still good.
As she reaches the top and begins to clamber over the wall, Emerion gathers himself and jumps spiderlike to the floor. He must be well amped on adrenaline because he clears the edge of the hole in the floor by more than five feet. He lands, stops in two graceful steps and readies himself.
Laori begins the climb up behind Heather while Istas and Varlis wait below.
Emerion edges back toward Heather, ready to assist her while keeping one eye on the area where there was movement. He keeps a strike ready in case something should appear and attack - chokers and stirges are not uncommon threats in the Shingles after all...
Heather accepts Emerion's aid.
"At times like this I wish I could fly" she mutters
"I think something up here can," Emerion mutters, gesturing up at the rafters with his sword.
Heather gives him a world weary look and prepares for whatever might be around then has a thought
There's a scuttling sound and dust mists down in the far corner of the room. You hear the scuttling of feet on the roof above you.
Laori pulls herself over the edge and looks across the gap at Heather and Emerion then down to the lower level, then back up at them. "Now how'd you get --- Hey something was on the roof!"
Heather nods "I can't be sure but I think it might be Pseudo-Dragons..if not then it's an Imp infestation and we had best be ready to fight"
"Aye, reach for my hand," Emerion moves to assist Laori.
Laori lunges off the wall toward Emerion's hand ...
her hand hits his as her feet strike the edge of the floor and scrabble for purchase as the edge crumbles away.
As Laori teeters, threatening to drag Emerion down, a dark grey halfling sized creature drops onto her head. Suckered, taloned feet furrow her skull. It hisses at Emerion with wide pointy teeth and its slashing arm stretches toward his face.
Init: Loathsome rubbery little creatures
Laori
Heather initiative
Heather spreads her finger wide and unleashes a shower of sparks over the creatures.
Sparkling hands damage DC 16 reflex save for half damage