Balistar shakes his head at Agent Midnight and puts a friendly hand on the youth's shoulder.
"'Ey now, mate, ain't no cause fer alarm 'ere. Let's 'old up a sec an' take a breaf, afore we do sommat one of us might later 'ave cause to regret. Wouldn't wan' that, would we, Snips me lad? 'Ows about ya tell yer ol' pal Balistar all about it, eh?"
Kuch flanks the youth opposite Balistar, flaring his wide half-orc nostrils and cracking his knuckles. "I can smell your fear, kid. But let me tell you this - it's not your Barber friends you should REALLY be afraid of here."
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Taking a peek into the side room really does confirm a sleepy barber, on the other hand, the boy blurts out under some stress. "I'm sor.. Sorry! I just wanted in on the Bloody Barbers! Don't.. Don't.. Hurttt me. But they Bloody Barbers are waiting to jump you outside the door!" He starts breaking down uncontrollably and bawls his eyes out.
Midnight shakes her head. "Well, you did what we asked for, at least." She loads her crossbow. "Now, stay in the shop, alright. It's going to get dangerous out there."
She turns to her allies. "You forward types go on ahead- I'll scout around." She turns quiet as a mouse and begins tracking the side alleys and alternate routes in the neighborhood.
She keeps an eye out, but also looks around for danger...
Balistar pats Snips on the the shoulder again, then gives him a gentle push towards the far end of the shop. As Agent Midnight leaves, he says to the youth, "'At's all right, me lad. Ya jest 'aven't got the stomach fer this kind o' work. Prob'ly fer the best, if ya ask me. Now, ya jest 'ave a sit down over there, an try ta stay outta the way while's we do our fing."
Balistar draws his rapier, then spots some of the barber's tools of the trade on the counter near her chair. He grins at Kuch and Sable, then grabs a pair of scissors and a straight razor and lays them quietly on the floor next to the doorframe. At their questioning looks, he shrugs, and says "Jest settin' 'em aside for future needs."
Baltoros throws a positively withering look at Snips as the youth slinks away, then retrieves his shield and readies his trident before standing next to Balistar.
"I'm glad you caught the threat here. I... missed it. At least we shall get the jump on them."
Midnight, quiet as a mouse, keeps an eye peeled for the thugs.
She shoots to disable the Blue lined thug, hoping to simply overwhelm them before it gets too violent. You are my target.
"Bloody Barbers! We have questions and you have answers! Stand down, we have superior force!" She emerges from her hiding spot behind a wall.
Balistar steps out, and immediately spots the goons hiding behind the garbage cans. He immediately points to them with his rapier and shouts, "Oi! There you are! Me mates an' I 'ave been lookin' all over the flippin' Coins fer ya!"
The storyteller continues with a booming laugh. "I can't see why the 'ole city fears the Bloody Barbers, 'less it's 'cause of yer terrifyin' stench from 'idin' be'ind trash bins!"
Turning to his new comrades, Balistar says, "C'mon, mates - we c'n take these Muddy Harbours wiffout 'alf tryin'!"
Inspire Courage
Verbal Casting
Area 60-foot aura
Duration 1 round
Traits: Cantrip, Composition, Emotion, Enchantment, Mental
You inspire your allies with words or tunes of encouragement. You and all allies in the aura gain a +1 conditional bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear.
If there's nothing immediately obvious incriminating the barber with the gang, upon hearing Snips' confession, I was going to leave by the front door, and swing round the block, to join Midnight.
No sense in walking into an ambush I've been told about.
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Midnight's arrow knocks into the tin can creating a loud clanging. With their location given up! The surprised barbers immediately come out from hiding with their daggers and they move to engage!
Kuch proves to be an extremely skilled in marital arts, avoiding most of the barber's stabs, but still takes a few cuts.
The black eyed thug proves to be clumsy, and completely misses the point.
Sabine is caught off guard by the thug and gets a few cuts!
"Bah! If that's how you want to play it." Midnight draws her Sap and starts swinging at the Black-clothed thug.
"Sable, stay behind me."
"Keep swingin', Agent M! That's the way ta do it! Sable and Kuch, those're jest flesh wounds! C'mon, Baltorous, we c'n take these sods!"
Balistar glances back into the doorway of the barbershop, and points at the scissors he placed on the floor earlier. With a flick of his finger, the barber's tool rises from the ground to hover in front of the bard. He points at the goon in yellow, and says, "Stabby-stabby!"
Casting Somatic Casting, Verbal Casting
Range 30 feet; Targets one creature
You hurl a loose, unattended object in range at the target. The spell gains the trait of a damage type appropriate to the object (bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing). Make a ranged attack against the target. If you hit, you deal 1d10 damage of the given type; you deal double damage on a critical hit. No special traits or magic properties of the hurled item affect the attack or damage. You can heighten the spell to hurl more objects, though you attempt only one attack roll and target only one creature, and your salvo of projectiles deals damage all at once for the purposes of resistances, weaknesses, and the like. Only one damage type applies regardless of how many objects you hurl.
Success Full damage.
Critical Success Double damage.
The scissors rotate in the air so that the point is aimed directly at the yellow-garbed thug, then speed toward their target as though they had been shot from a bow.
Kuch proves to be an extremely skilled in marital arts
On a more serious note, since the dagger is an agile weapon, shouldn't second strikes come at -4? That would make Kuch take one more hit from the last attack and be at 16/21 HP.
The half-orc barely winces as the rogues' knives cut into his skin. He traces a fresh cut with his finger and licks the blood, then bares his tusks. "Hey barber boys? I think you forgot your shaving foam."
He enters the stance of the dragon and delivers three powerful spinning kicks at his attackers.
Baltoros steps out the door after Balistar, somehow still startled as the Barbers make their appearance despite expecting precisely that. He takes a moment to scan the assailants, marveling as Kuch and Balistar drop two in short order.
"Heads up, Kuch!" he says, running past Balistar before hurling the trident at the center Barber.
He then lifts his shield in preparation for an impending counterattack.
"Get BACK from me, you peasants!"
Time for a shield cantrip
,
then electric arc on both Blue and Black.
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Baltoros cautiously approaches the combat, and strikes swiftly with his Trident. But by playing it safe, he merely delivers a flesh wound from behind his shield.
Sable unleashes an electric arc that creates blue sparks all around. The streaks lick the thugs and burn their skin slightly.
The thugs continue the fight back against their earlier targets, hoping to wear them down as they deliver a few cuts & bruises.
~~~
With two barbers upon her, Midnight thinks fast and decides to clobber her designated target, the Blue thug. "We came here for answers, not blood. But we'll take both if you force our hand!"
"Oi, Kuch, Baltoros, give that guy what fer! Chin up, Agent M and Sable! Remember yer trainin' an' whatnot!"
Balistar runs around the corner, rapier in hand, to give Agent Midnight a flank.
When he sees the smoke curling up from the thugs' burning hair, Balistar adds, "Oi, Sable, these blokes look like they've already 'ad a bit of a shock, eh?"
I'm a bit lost in the initiative here, but since they've had two stabs at me, I must be up.
Action 1: cantrip Shield, verbal. +1 circ to AC.
Action 2: Stride to flanking position
Hope he doesn't have a reaction against movement...
Action 3: Attack with staff, two-handed.
vs Blue's lowered AC.
"I can tell you've never learned to deal with A LADY!"
Having received another cut, Kuch Steps to flank with Baltoros and focuses his wrath on the Green thug:
But the blood loss combined with all the spinning makes him dizzy and his kicks fail to connect.
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The fight gets ugly as more blades swing and strikes are thrown. The Barber's prove to be more formidable as opponents than expected. Sable however manages to knock the winds out of one more of the thugs throw brute force swinging her staff two handedly.
The Bloody Barber's continue to swing their blades repeatedly, injuring Kuch and Midnight a few more times.
~~~
"Thank you." She nods and faces the black thug. "You're mine."
"Brilliant, ladies! 'Ey, Kuch, Baltoros, best we finish the last 'un off now, ay?"
He concentrates for a moment, reaching out with his mind to take control of the scissors that he used to knock out the thug in yellow.
"Stabby, stabby!" Balistar points first at the scissors hovering above the yellow-garbed thug back up the alley, then slashes his finger through the air as though drawing an invisible line to the goon in green.
Baltoros is frustrated to see the Barber shrug off his deity's weapon so easily. You see his eyes widen in what surely must be vitriol and indignation, then return to their usual almost serene gaze.
With the thug's attention focused on dodging a series of blows from Kuch, Baltoros utters a few untranslatable words and his left hand begins to take on a pale glow. He tries to slide in under his opponent's defenses while he is distracted.
He then raises his shield again.
Newly bolstered by Balistar's song, Kuch forgets the pain as he launches another flurry of kicks.
The thug parries the first few strikes but Kuch keeps up the pressure relentlessly until one of the kicks lands straight into his foe's jawbone!
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Eventually, you overcome the barbers with some good ol' butt kicking! Snips, the shop assistant that attempt to lead you into the trap watches in awe at the fight that just went down, "Ahh. Ahh." he visibly squirms, and agrees to tell you everything he knows about the Barbers and their recent activities. His explanation starts by revealing how he thought the barbers were "cool" and wanted to be part of something bigger than himself and lives a life of crime. But curiously enough, he's overheard about the recent dissapearances, namely that the local Barbers have been afraid for their lives and scrambling to figure out who is behind the murders. He adds that the Barbers’ only lead so far is that whoever is killing seems to be targeting former slaves.
You decide to turn to the unconscious bandits and see what they know about the whole ordeal.
Eventually, a barber is returned to consciousness for your questioning. In addition to what you've learned, the criminal organization also knows that the former slaves are all ones freed during the Fiendflesh Siege a little over a year ago. Among those was Remna, a former scullery slave with a mean streak, who joined the Bloody Barbers and shaved part of her head after being freed, then disappeared mysteriously about a week ago. Some believe this was an act of revenge for a hired murder of a "half-elf cleric". The Barbers have questioned several witnesses to track down the rose-street killer and get revenge themselves, but the only helpful information they found was that the probable killer wore metal armor and seemed to have difficulty controlling the right side of their body.
Although the Barbers may commit numerous other crimes, they’re as much the victims as the Pathfinder Society is in the case of the Rose Street Killer. Ambrus Valsin is relieved to hear that resolving this situation won’t involve going toe to toe with such a formidable opponent, but he remains troubled that the killer is still at large. He thanks you for your investigation and ask you to rest while he pieces together his next lead.
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And it isn't too long before the Venture-Captain summons you again.
You follow the directions that came along with the summon, to eventually travel into a cramped operating base within the sewers of Absalom. Dragonspeaker Engashez gesticulates wildly while pacing within the tight confines of a foul-smelling side chamber in the sewers. The energetic and elaborately attired kobold strides around a deep circular pit in the center of this chamber, waving her hands to accent her ongoing speech.
“Bandits! Intruders! Not-true dragons! These new kobolds, these so-called ‘Dragon Sharks,’ are a blight upon the Sewer Dragons’ dominion of Absalom’s most grand sewer ways. They cannot be allowed to continue their intrusion into our territory and must be stopped. You will help us, yes? The Pathfinders have always proven to be firm allies in the past, and it’s time our allies made their presence known in these sewers.”
Engashez looks down into the out-of-place pit, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. “Especially after one of our other allies decided to wander off!” She then looks up and nods her head vigorously. “Yes, you can go with Fazgyn. Trap the Dragon Sharks between two sides and crush them for the glory of the Sewer Dragons and Chief Yiddlepode!”
Raising her sap, she checks for crossbow bolts.
After reloading her crossbow, she walks back up to the young boy. "Snips, you can do better than this. This path will lead you to ruin. See if the Pathfinder Society will be willing to help you get a more steady job."
She unhoists her healer's tools and gathers Kuch, Sable, and the Barber she just KOed.
She writes down the Barber's testimony. "That wasn't so hard, was it? We're all on the same side here. If you had simply spoken to us rather than attempt an ambush we could have avoided this." Pause. "Good day." And with that, Midnight is done.
She stands to attention and reads off her report to the Venture-Captain as part of her progress report.
"Kobolds, captain?" She raises an eyebrow. "As you wish." Midnight prepares her equipment, makes sure her crossbow is ready, and prepares to get to the meeting place.
"We've been sent here to help you in anyway that we can." Midnight salutes the kobolds. Was there something about this tribe of kobolds I should remember?
"Er, the sewers, Cap'n?" Balistar grimaces and rubs a hand across the back of his neck. "I mean, I know ya took me on fer my familiarity wif the underworld, so's ta speak, but I didn' fink ya meant it so lit'rally!"
He holds up a hand to forestall the expected dressing down from the Venture Captain. "Right, right, I'm goin'. Already headin' out the door, gov. No worries. I'm on me way."
Lessee, what do I know about the kobolds in the bleedin' sewers? Did I even know we 'ad kobolds in the bleedin' sewers?
On his way to the sewer entrance where he is supposed to meet up with the other members of the group, Balistar stops at a dry goods shop and buys 50 feet of silk rope .
I may not know much about kobolds in the sewers, but I know if I fall in the muck I'm gonna want one o' these blokes ta pull me out!
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Midnight recalls a handful of knowledge about the kobold kind. Kobolds are small reptilian humanoids that often inhabit deep forests or underground areas with little sun, largely because kobolds’ eyes are sensitive to bright light. They love to engineer traps. As most other humanoid creatures are far more physically powerful than a kobold, most kobold tribes line their camps with countless traps to even the odds against intruders.
The kobolds greet the Pathfinders openly and return any salutations, but they seem a little impatient.
"Looks like we'll have to prepare for traps. Any kobold worth her salt would build them. Everyone, keep an eye out for them. Balistar, do you want to use your... needful things on them, or should I? " She smiles a bit before maintaining her composure.
After listening to Dragonspeaker Engashez, Balistar clears his throat and gives a sweeping bow while trying not to inhale through his nose.
"Er, so, yer Most High Dragonness," he begins, eyes watering from the stench of the sewers, "these 'Dragon Shark' lads, 'ow long 'ave they been intrudin' on yer territory? Where'd they come from? What're they doin' when they're 'ere? Any ideas 'bout what they want?"
He looks over the other kobolds visible from their vantage point. "Oh, an' which one's Fazgyn?"
Balistar grins at the halfling warrior. "Oh, ya know me, Agent M, I'm nuffin if not 'elpful. Jest lemme pull 'em from me pack an' make sure I've got everyfin' 'andy."
After scrounging around for a few moments, he pulls a worn scrap of stained leather from his backpack, and unrolls it to reveal a gleaming set of lockpicks and related tools. He checks them against a mental list, nods, and carefully rerolls the wrapping before stowing them at the top of his pack for easy retrieval.
He nods. "All's where it should be. 'Course, there's no reason we couldn' 'elp each uvver out when we come 'cross somefin tricksy, eh?"
"It is just a flesh wound!" says Kuch before accepting the healing from Midnight trying to look at least a little bit reluctant but she can see he is grateful.
Over the next few days he has to skip the dojo while he nurtures his wounds until only a few brown scars remain.
As he descends into the sewers at the Venture-Captain's behest, he permanently scowls but is otherwise stoic about his surroundings.
At the suggestion to ambush the Dragon Sharks he lightens up a bit.
"Traps won't keep me for long from kicking a bunch of kobolds in their scaly mugs! Uh... present company excluded, I mean. I only kick bad kobolds."
Midnight nods and lets Balistar speak. He had a way with manipulating words to his advantage.
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Engashez responds with haste, and talks a bit too fast, and a little high in pitch. "You know a little of kobold traps then! Fazgyn our most skilled trapper of all the Sewer Dragons. If you don’t know about kobold traps yet, he’ll teach you!”
And without skipping a beat, from behind the shadows, a red skinned abled looking kobold dress with a chain shirt approaches. "Iiii be Fazygnnnn."
Returning to the conversation, Engashez quickly continues to explain to you about the dragon sharks in responds to Balistar's question. "“They’re kobolds from the other side of Kortos. They’ve come here trying to push their way into our territory, thinking sewers and coasts are the same. We’ll show them that no one intrudes on Sewer Dragons’ domain!” She makes it very clear, she's annoyed and has a strong hatred towards them.
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The kobold trapper named Fazgyn eagerly leads you and a band of five other kobold warriors down the sewers. As you start your journey, he explains to you the dangers of exploration.
"The sewerssss here are full of traps, so you best keep an eyeee out! To find traps, you have to be trap-smart, and you get trapsmart by dealing with traps or being really good at spotting traps. If you’re not good at looking, you might miss the trap that kills you! Some dragonbloods can sense magic and magic traps, but that also takes effort. You want to focus on sneaking? Hiding behind shields? Life’s full of choices, and my choice is to look for traps and stay alive. ”
“It’s easy to get distracted by enemies and arrows and forget to watch fr tripwires. Want to stay alive? Take a moment to look around.”
“Once you find a trap, you can jam it, trip it, reconfigure it—you name it. Or you can hit it until it’s gone, but that probably sets it off.” Fazgyn rolls his head in exasperation and makes a disgusted sound. “Or just use magic to kill magic traps. I don’t know the details, but it takes strong magic to do.”
But he doesn't stop there, he continues to explain the dangers of the traps that are not true traps, such as environmental hazards, and sometimes that of supernatural things, with his infinite wisdom of 'traps'. “Maybe it’s not a trap but it’s brambles or falling rocks or sky thunder or snakes. Use your outside smarts to avoid those. Sometimes there are ghosts instead of traps—bad news. The more you know about spooky things, the more you can trick those ghosts into going away.
"You muggles got that?!"
"I'll keep an eye out for the traps, then. Thank you for the information." Agent Midnight has written down meticulous notes with a fancy pen in her notebook.
"I'll keep an eye out for traps, but I won't be able to sneak around much. Cover me."
He is mildly surprised to learn of kobolds' potential involvement with their investigation. Traveling deeper into the filthy and fetid veins of the City at the Center of the World, Baltoros cannot help but feel that the earth is swallowing him up - if the earth had staggeringly bad breath. As they pass through the cramped corridors, Baltoros is contented to listen to others more knowledgeable than he onatters of kobolds in general and the Sewer Dragons in particular, recognizing that what little he has heard about either is most likely inaccurate.
Arriving at the Sewer Dragon enclave, Baltoros listens as Engashez describes their feud with the Dragon Sharks, then follows Fazgyn and the group, listening to the small reptile describe all manner of horrific hazards to be found in this domain.
He whispers, "I can keep my spiritual eyes open for anything that might befall us. Gozreh, show me what I need to see."
"So, these so-called Dragon Sharks. Do they have any distinctive dress, or appearance. So we don't confuse them, or their footprints, for any trustworthy Sewer Dragons."
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Led by Fazgyn, you head deep into a sewers maze, It's fairly dark and the smell of sewerage is overwhelming. Two path exist on either side of the sewerage but the path is narrow forcing you to travel in a single line down into the unknown. It is quite evident when you walk down they it you're in hostile kobold territory, blood marked walls, broken weapons, sprung traps left out and about. An hour into the journey, Midnight spots a well hidden pit, a trapdoor that causes those who step on it to fall blocking your path to advance.
"Egggssselent!!" Fazgyn mutters, "You have been listeningss. Now, as mention before, once you find a trap, you can jam it, trip it, reconfigure it—you name it. Or you can hit it until it’s gone, but that probably sets it off. Now, who will attempt to clear the path?”