Kilarra draws her sword, but lets Hanako do her thing. She's just getting ready for things to go bad.
Piotr rolls his shoulder, pops his neck, then slides his sword out as Ann materializes next to him. He gives her a faint smile, then focuses his strange magic into a shimmering shield around her. [oov]mage armor[/ooc] She gives him a corner of a smile in return but dips a quick curtsy of thanks.
Hanako sees two bush shaped griffins twitching in the hedge but they dont notice her as a fox.
Hanako tries to get the scent.
Baldhart’s tiptoeing takes a while, but once caught up and crouched behind Hanako’s bushy tail, Baldhart tries to understand the hidden person or thing.
Hanako has no idea what the creatures are except they smell like plant. Baldhart does not detect anything.
Hanako returns to the others and reverts to her human form. She makes her outfit appear as an earth-toned dress with knee-high boots.
“Plant creatures, I think,” she warns. She looks at Baldhart, who shrugs. Hanako explains, “Baldhart cannot distinguish them as good nor evil.”
"Hopefully they attack only those who try to trespass..?" - Garrosh pipes in, but does not seem too sure of it - "Time to take a look at the gatehouse" - he adds, moving closer to the structure, to try and see if there is anyone inside, or perhaps sounds from within.
"They're plants. Morality isn't their thing." Kilarra says as she taps her helmet. "No brains."
"They're plants. Morality isn't their thing." Kilarra says as she taps her helmet. "No brains."
"Does that mean they do not attack who trespasses?" - Garrosh asks Kilarra - "I have no idea what goes in whatever conscience they may possess. Maybe they attack whomever tries to cut the hedges? Or they just live there?" - he adds in a whisper, still checking the doors.
Breaking the thick hedge that surrounds the estate, this squat building sports a pair of heavy wooden doors bearing a small sliding hatch. Garrosh does hear some voices from behind the door but can't determine what they are saying.
Piotr thinks sneaking in is quite beyond them (or at least him), so he reaches up once he sees that everyone is ready, and knocks.
Hanako slides her bow from her shoulder.
Baldhart grows to six feet tall and gets her bow as well.
The door hatch is opened and the face of a man with curly brown hair appears. "State your business."He says in a bored, deadpan voice.
Kilarra comes up with a weird idea, and, given there are probably no better alternatives, just goes for it. She brushes Piotr aside and states to the hatch-watcher. "Scuse you, I work here. Open the damn door."
"Oh so you're the new people coming in? Yeah come on in - I'll show you to Asa."The hatch-watcher sounds more enthusiastic. The hatch is opened by a man dressed in finery with a rapier strapped to his side. He ushers Kilarra and the party into the gatehouse, a bare room save for 3 chairs. Standing guard are two red eyed humanoids with disturbing tattoos, pointed teeth in breastplates.
Baldhart has an evil-detector and a buIIshit detector.
Hanako wonders as well…
But she continues holding her bow, though with her arms by her side, looking relaxed.
“Thank you,” she says as if this is normal. “I look forward to meeting Asa in-person.”
Piotr cocks his head in thought about the red eyes, and comes up blank so he asks "And what are you?"
Kilarra's just pleased that that worked.
Those red eyed humanoids stare at Piotr incomprehensively as if they don't know what he's saying.
"Don't mind them. They're just guards so we can attend to more important business."The man dressed in finery answers cheerfully. "Come on, follow me, I'll get you all inducted."He urges the party on.
The party thinks the man is genuine but Baldhart detects faint evil coming from the man in finery.
Kilarra tries to gesture with her head, discreetly.
Piotr has no idea what is going on with Kilarra's head. "Yay, okay. Let's go"
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Garrosh follows along silently, trying not to show how astounded he is they managed to enter the compund without breaking down the door.
Within the surrounding hedge, the garden of Iris Hill appears eerily shrouded in a thin mist that lingers over the grass despite the driving rain. All the buildings appear dark and quiet, and the odor of heather and ivy seems mixed with some sweetly sour, unwholesome essence. The party's guide leads the party to a small building near the gatehouse, and knocks on the door, yelling, "Darlene, we have new followers to the cause."
The door is opened by a noble woman clad in green, who greets the party warmly. "Welcome to our humble adobe, please come in and take some refreshments."
This well-appointed lounge includes a brick fireplace, a mahogany table with three matching chairs, and an antique sideboard near the foot of the stairs. A man in a yellow nobles outfit is busy pouring himself some wine.
Hanako snaps her fingers to dress appropriately noble herself.
“Oh, what lovely attire, Darlene! Glad to see I’m not the only one with fashion sense.” She looks over to the red-eyes, and asks, “Are these gentlemen… feral? I mean no offense by that. My tall winged friend lacks the powers of speech herself, though she is in fact bilingual.”
She asks Baldhart, “What do you think of our hosts, dear?” Hanako gestures from Asa to the red-eyes to Darlene.
Baldy turns to Asa, then glows faintly red, she then faces the red-eyes and finally Darlene.
“Grrm-rho,” she says while waving to Darlene.
Good = cool blue-white
Evil = hot blood-red
Neutral = no aura
Faint aura = 5ft radius of light
Moderate aura = 10ft radius
Strong aura = 20ft radius
Overwhelming = 20ft radius, flashing
Kilarra was hoping to find answers, but now she just has more questions. Who the hell are these people? What's with the red-eyes? Who's Darlene, and is Darlene and Asa the same person? Why did she welcome us into her aDoBe? Does she have Drain Bammage?
Kilarra looks around at the noble and the guards for signs of weaponry, spellcasting, or magical items.
The noblewoman is carrying a large satchel and the man has a dagger strapped at his belt.
Baldhart begins to glow blood red, which is taken note by the noblewoman. "Does your friend need a soothing drink?" The noblewoman asks. "She's glowing red. Maybe some wine would help sooth her nerves?"
Baldhart’s glow fades at the offer from the evil woman.
She offers no additional warning about the wine itself.
Hanako declines the drink.
“Oh, she was making the color of the men’s eyes. She may look like an angel with her wings and blue dress, but she might be like a devil when drunk.”
She turns to each party member as she says way to much about color. And her hands are animated more than usual when she speaks.
Hanako means that Baldy’s glowing red when looking at the nobles is a code.
Hanako means that the color of Baldy’s dress (light blue) is angelic, or good, but she changed to red when looking at the nobles.
Hanako means that the red color Baldy flashed means the nobles are evil.
To Darlene, she adds, “I’m not much of a drinker myself.”
She watches for Darlene’s reaction as she refuses the wine.
Garrosh is extremely suspicious of this warm welcome, and the man dressed in yellow only adds to his wariness, the color bringing back some bad memories - he remains mostly in silence, evaluating...
He also declines the drink.
[ooc]I think she was offering a drink to our faery cause it was glowing beet red :) not to all of us.[/oob]
Piotr stays near Winter in case fighting breaks out. "Are you Asa, Mam?" he asks with the deferences most nobles and the rich expect. A practiced tone for guardsmen who had to drag them home instead of the drunk tank like they have for anyone else.
Kilarra tilts her head to look at Hanako, and makes a gesture with her eyes and face.
Hanako guesses that Kilarra wants to know what the code is. There isn’t a good way to explain this in code without repeating words.
She moves her lips as if to have one dry the other.
Hanako’s dry-lipped expression suggests, Refuse the drink.
Kilarra nods to Hanako, hopefully demonstrating that she understands.
"Yes, I am Asa." The man nods at Piotr. "And you were telling Jaden that today is your first day at work?" The man asks Kilarra.
"Oh... Asa is a guy's na... um. Nice to meet you, Asa." Piotr fumbles a bit in surprise. Incredible smooth there brother Ann laughs in his head.
Obviously speaking isn't his strong suit so he looks to the women of the group.
Hanako chimes in, not sure if the fancy-peeps know the group’s history with the count. “We are the new girls.” Hanako gestures to Baldhart for clarity. “Speaking for myself and my lanky winged friend, I can honestly say I never worked at such a fancy place.”
Hanako is good at lying, thanks to Miss Mizzola…
…and should Darlene call her out on lying, she will confess to her work in the brothel. She will tell the truth because it is less believable than a lie, and Darlene will likely understand why such a young woman has secrets. A cover for future lies.
Miss Mizzola said the best lies are smothered under a pillow of truth.
“Will we have the honor of meeting the count himself? Otherwise, who shall we answer to for our next assignment? Or would that be you, Darlene?”
”I see,” Darlene answers. ”The count is away on an errand, but before we give you any assignments, I want all of you to swear before me to serve the King in Yellow, to death and beyond.” She tells the party gravely. ”Then I will unveil his holy truths to you, in which you will be transformed into his instruments in Golarion.”
At the back of the party, Winter seems to be ill at ease.
"King in Yellow, that's the b+$&!!" Kilarra exclaims as she draws her greatsword. "Let's keep one of em alive, aight? I'm thinking the Darling one."
"Jaden, what's the meaning of this?" Darlene yells out, shocked by the party's sudden betrayal.
"I don't know - she said she was here to work!" Jaden shouts indignantly.
"Oh phew."Winter gives a sigh of relief. "I wasn't sure how long we were going to keep up this charade."She then casts bless on the party.
Bladhart flies up five feet so no one is in the path of her bow…
…which is already in-hand. She shoots the guy next to Ann.
“You should feel happy, Darlene. Kilarra is going to let you live. I advise you not to give her cause to change her mind.”
Hanako then asks Ann, if you would kindly shift aside a bit, Ann?”[/b]
Hanako gives Ann a moment to sidestep so she can get a clear shot…
…at the same guy her fairy shot at!
"Your wish is my command" Ann teases as she shift to behind Winter, in case the other guards come rushing out.
Her brother casts mage armor to keep her protected.
Garrosh draws his bow, and steps back.
Then he focuses on his divine powers, casting a spell as he studies Darlene.
Kilarra uses her surprise round to cast protection from evil on herself.
"You mean whether we'll let YOU live."Asa sneers at the party. "You who scorn the King in Yellow."
Baldhart shoots at Jaden but her arrow bounces off something metallic. Hanako's arrow sticks into his torso though.ooc
Jaden begins to cast a spell.
Piotr, Garrosh and Winter recognize the spell as shield of faith.