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Tony is utterly surprised by the two thugs coming out of the other building. They both move into the range of his lance. In his efforts to stab at one of them, he drops his lance to the ground . "Excrement!", he yells while looking down at his lance.
He pulls out his shortsword and stabs eagerly at the half-orc. Luna, seeing Tony stab the half-orc, attempts to take a bite out of her.
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for and if hits
Khugron's glancing blow crushes most of the half-orc's ribs and savages her internal organs, but she remains up to continue fighting. Tony & Luna take advantage of her injuries though and strike her down, a sword to the gut and a bite to the neck. She flumps to the ground, lifeless. Tatho steps up and uses his shield to drive the thug into the wall, knocking him to the ground.
He warily stands, hoping to dodge the incoming strike . The thug from the other building rushes towards Remy, "I'll kill the caster!" The last visible thug steps back and pulls a potion out, drinking it down and instantly enlarging! Tony and Khugron see another thug running down the ally, opening a door and yelling for help. More gang members rouse to defend their base.
The thug attacking Remy just can't get his scimitar through the human's thick armor. Two bolts zip out from down the street. The goblins, now in the open to shoot better, aim at the one harassing Remy. One bolt hits, one misses, the thug does not seem concerned.
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Tenibri
Half-Orc (-37 HP & Down) & Dogs (Green Blind 2/4?, Red -23 HP & Down, Blue -22 HP & Down)
Khugron
Tatho (-6 HP) (AoO vs. Green)
Tony & Luna
Purple Monk (-61 & Down)
Thugs (Green -6 HP Total Defense, Yellow Enlarged, Blue -3 HP)
Goblins
Remy
Helvega & Cuddles
Bold are up!
Remy bolts away, weaving past his allies and running into the building where all the enemies came out of, maybe to check out their booze selection?
The remaining dog sniffs around and just finds a general odor of death and enemies but doesn't locate anyone next to him. He shakes his head and blinks really hard trying to remove those darn sparkles. However, they stay stuck to his eyeballs.
Tenibri
Helvega & Cuddles
Half-Orc (-37 HP & Down) & Dogs (Green Blind 1/4?, Red -23 HP & Down, Blue -22 HP & Down)
Khugron
Tatho (-6 HP) (AoO vs. Green then Normal Actions)
Tony & Luna
Purple Monk (-61 & Down)
Thugs (Green -6 HP Total Defense, Yellow Enlarged, Blue -3 HP)
Goblins
Remy
Other Building Enemies
Team Actually Does Damage is up!
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Tony and Luna slip over towards the waiting large man who is briefly unsure which of them to target, the wolf or the rider? Quickly making up his mind he slashes at Luna . The Halfling's attack and Luna's bite both miss the large target.
Tatho guts the thug in front of him from stem to stern, he drops to the ground gurgling and clutching his guts as they attempt to exit his body. The pathfinder then darts over and easily slams into the blind dog, though doesn't quite get enough oomph to knock the four legged beast down.
Tenibri
Helvega & Cuddles
Half-Orc (-37 HP & Down) & Dogs (Green -9 HP & Blind 1/4?, Red -23 HP & Down, Blue -22 HP & Down)
Khugron
Tatho (-6 HP)
Tony & Luna (maybe damage?)
Purple Monk (-61 & Down)
Thugs (Green -16 HP & Down, Yellow Enlarged, Blue -3 HP)
Goblins
Remy
Other Building Enemies
Team God of War is up!
The large thug hacks at Luna as she darts in, Tony tries to steer her around the strike but the blade is too quick, opening a large gash on her side .
Khugron takes quick revenge though, slicing right through the jerk's kneecap. Normally, a strike to the kneecap wouldn't be fatal, but Khugron's blade went through his torso to get to his kneecap, so he crumples into a pile of dead-guy. The last thug sees his chance with no allies around and bolts down a side street, "please don't kiiiilllll meeee!!!" are the words you hear yelled as he flees, ducking out of sight behind some warehouses.
The goblins ignore the little fish and focus on the last dog, firing two more bolts. Their aim is unerringly good and the third dog collapses into a pile of drool and blood.
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Tenibri
Helvega & Cuddles
Half-Orc (-37 HP & Down) & Dogs (Green -16 HP & Down, Red -23 HP & Down, Blue -22 HP & Down)
Khugron
Tatho (-6 HP)
Tony & Luna (-11 HP)
Purple Monk (-61 & Down)
Thugs (Green -16 HP & Down, Yellow -19 & down, Blue -3 HP and ran away)
Goblins
Remy
Other Building Enemies
Team Gambit is up!
The building Remy is in looks like any other bar. However, when he moves in further to check the other room he discovers the dozen or so men and women who lie on cots at the southern end, manacled to weights.
Helvega and Cuddles rush out of the shed to help their allies!
You hear an order issued from inside the northern building, "get in and shut the door, make them come to us!" The thug in the ally bolts inside and another thug slams the door shut. You hear a *click* as the deadbolt is locked on the door.
Tenibri
Khugron
Tatho (-6 HP)
Tony & Luna (-11 HP)
Goblins
Remy
Helvega & Cuddles
Other Building Enemies
Team Everyone is up!
Dead/Out of Fight
Half-Orc (-37 HP & Down) & Dogs (Green -16 HP & Down, Red -23 HP & Down, Blue -22 HP & Down)
Purple Monk (-61 & Down)
Thugs (Green -16 HP & Down, Yellow -19 & down, Blue -3 HP and ran away)
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Tenibri still stands inside the building, lost in his thoughts. It was such a good plan! How did it go so wrong? We should have thought to pull the guard inside as soon as she opened the door... that would have done it.
It's only the sounds of the combat outside dying down that jostles Tenibri out of his internal reverie. Wait, where is everyone? He moves to the door and cautiously peers outside, afraid of what he might find. He's pleasantly surprised to see that everyone is alive amongst a bloodbath of guards and sparkly dogs.
"Well, uh, I guess that worked out okay, yeah?" He moves again towards the remaining building, stepping onto the dead form of the enlarged combatant.
"So, what do you think? If I can safely get line of sight through a window, I could conjure a creature or three... maybe convince them to come outside?"
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Taking out a potion, Khugron caught his breath and chugged it down, getting larger (as if he was not scary enough) before heading to the northern building. "Yo! Slaversss! I will be with you guysss shortly to talk to you about your misdeedsss. Say your prayerss now before I send you to explain them to your god or goddesss, in person!" he bellowed, with blood in his eye...just not sure if it was from the dog, the thug or the monk.
There do not appear to be any windows, at least on the two visible walls that the group can see. Khugron slams a potion, growing to enormous size. It seems to take a bit out of him, he might need a few seconds to recover.
Remy does not find any keys to the shackles in the building, the slaves appear to be very weak and scared, they don't answer his questions and flinch when he talks to them.
Tatho binds the wounds of one of the thugs, preventing him from bleeding out.
Helvega casts the wand a couple times and Luna's wound closes up. The only evidence left is slick blood in the process of drying.
Khugron and Tenibri prepare to enact their plan, but hear a plea from inside just before going for it. A male's voice, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!? IF YOU WANT THE SLAVES JUST TAKE THEM! IF YOU WANT OUR TERRITORY, WELL YOU BETTER BE READY FOR A FIGHT, WE AREN'T UNPREPARED NOW!"
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Pausing at the claims from within, Helvega turns to her companions. "We don't need any territory...The 'slaves' seem relatively safe now...why don't we just take them and leave?"
Making her way towards the bound subjects, she smiles sweetly. "Would you like to be free? Would you come with us and we'll see to it you are safe. That sound good?"
"If you'd like, you can hug Cuddles. He's always up for a good hug." she adds with a thumb towards the cactus.
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"The slavesss will be freed. You, you will be freed from your livesss or stand before the magistrate to answer for your misdeedsss. One of your friendsss is still alive. I am sure that he will place the blame on you. Now, rather than going through the front door, I will just bust thisss building around your earsss" Khugron said as the large admantine bec de corbin started to tear shingles off the roof.
One of the slaves finally responds, "freedom?" But then he sees the prickly cactus and shies away.
With Luna healed, Tony picks up his lance and moves over to where Khugron is tearing a hole into the roof of the building.
The man yells back, "WHAT THE HELL! ARE YOU PSYCHO!?! Magistrates? SERIOUSLY? SLAVERY IS LEGAL AND YOU ARE THE IDIOTS COMING ONTO OUR PROPERTY!!! We are allowed to DEFEND OURSELVES and HAVE DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL!"
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"Slavery may be legal here, but it's wrong, and I bet you know it! Further, what Dulm is up to with the Pathfinder Lodge isn't legal, and you know that too! Throw down your arms and vow to never work for Dulm again, and we'll let you walk away from this, right here, right now!"
Convince an NPC who serves an oppressive or tyrannical leader to abandon that leader of their own free will by succeeding at a Diplomacy or Perform (oratory) check with a DC equal to 15 + your character level.
He yells back, "This is about DULM? Holy crap, why didn't you just open with that? We are about finished with him."
You hear some whispering, then the male's voices again, "YOU SHUT UP! We work for who we want to, and right now that ain't you! I don't care what our DEAL was, we ain't got a deal if we all dead! Toss her out, boys."
You hear a shrieking cry of "get your hands off me!" Then a dragging sound towards the door and it whips open, with a very recognizable lady being dumped out in front of Khugron and Tenibri. It appears to be the same human maid that was at the party working earlier.
The man standing behind her says, "there you go, you want answers about Dulm, you talk to her. She's his agent and knows everything. We don't want no part in his schemes anymore."
She cowers below Khugron's massive frame, "um... hi. I'm sure uh... we can work something out."
She shies back, definitely terrified of being eaten by the angry massive nagaji. She stutters, "oh yes, absolutely. He was pretty much almost out of business anyway, just grasping at straws to stay relevant. I'd be happy to help."
The thugs and their boss toss down their weapons . They let you inside to search and collect any evidence necessary. The boss mutters, "ugh, this was not as easy as I thought. Maybe we should try some other avenue of business. Maybe we could fix up this place again? It used to have a reputation for good food."
The woman introduces herself as Vinius Borr and points out a stack of papers and sacks of coins as the group searches, "I think you'll find a lot of useful evidence there. That plus my testimony should take care of things. Just remember... I was just following orders."
The papers on the table include substantial incriminating evidence against Phlegos Dulm, such as lists of people to bribe and businesses to harass.
The sacks of coins each contain a specific amount which correlates to payments documented in the papers on the table, including one designated to Vinius Borr for “special services rendered at Roderus retirement party.” There are also receipts on the table for a variety of seemingly innocuous ingredients.
Kitt at Roderus’s retirement party. While the papers don’t tie the purchases directly to Phlegos Dulm, their presence here along with Vinius herself makes the woman a viable suspect, and in conjunction with the other discoveries, should be enough to clear the goblin youth Zig of any wrongdoing.
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Khugron smiled and licked his chops at the sight of the maid as the potion wore off and he shrunk down to a still impressive height. "Tenibri, mind cleaning me up again?" he asked "Might want to get me a wand or something if this keeps up. Going to call you DOC...Death On Contact." he said to the Bec de Corbin.
The boss points to the monk's splattered body, "He had them." Upon looking, you find a small ring of keys, one of which unlocks all of the slave's cuffs. They seem to be breaking out of their shock, and actually start talking a bit, asking you where you will be taking them.
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Tenibri helps clean up Khugron again, but only after attending to the slaves. "We'll take you wherever you want to go, as we can," he responds to their questioning. "I'll see that you get returned to your families personally if they're here in the city, or in Absalom. If not, you can return to the Pathfinder Lodge here with us, and we'll make arrangements to get you home. I'm so sorry for what's happened to you!"
Once the slaves are freed and settled, he focuses on organizing the evidence they've gathered, and gets ready to return to Roderus and the Lodge.
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Eyeing the pile as the others move about, she looks up suddenly. "Speaking of DOC, these things here could be mixed for a rather vile concoction. LIkely this is what was used to frame the poor gobby earlier."
Carefully gathering up the items, she turns back. "So....uh...we should certainly report back in with the old man. This Dulm should really go to jail!"
Vinius's eyes drop a bit and she seems ashamed when you mention the poisoning.
The crew takes the shocked slaves back to see VC Roderus and shares all that they found. With the multitude of evidence, it looks like an easy case against Phlegos Dulm. Sadly, when agents go to haul him in for questioning it is discovered that he has fled the city. It seems he had at least one agent loyal enough to him to tip him off.
Vinius Borr admits sobbingly to her roll in the poisoning, "but I was just following orders! I didn't know it was wrong! And nobody died, right? So it's okay?" She is dragged off to face trial for the attempted murder of the bards.
The town's reaction to the news actually strengthens the anti-slavery movement and fast-tracks the official freedom papers of those the group found at the Pike's base.
Zig is also quickly freed and happily leads VC Wulessa to his father. She says she will personally go and thank the goblin chieftain and see if he can help her forge the connections she needs in the city marketplace, as she is now the only active venture-captain working within the city.
They forge an excellent team and begin rebuilding the reputation of the pathfinder society in the city. And while Phlegos is on the wind, his status as a Pathfinder is at least stripped from him. Hopefully he won't cause any more issues down the road...