And we're had. Damn it. Vosk turns around, just in time for Bocke's head to be swiftly clubbed. He pouts. Double damn it.
Heading towards the latest source of his problems, he sets his hands in anticipation of casting a spell. "Together now, hold steady!"
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Mr. Reed is down?! Adrenaline pumps through the Professor's aged veins. She hasn't felt this terrified--and alive in decades! Too bad she doesn't have ten minutes to spare so she could switch out her spells. Tough luck. Do what I can. She backs up to stand beside the desk and casts Grease on the floor in the doorway.
While the other Pathfinders prepare themselves, the professor is the only one to take immediate action as she lubricates the entrance to the back office . One of the guards struggles to keep his footing...
...and hits the floor with a heavy whomp!
Gorrig moves to join Theld, fists held ready to defend.
The fallen guard stands and tries to walk carefully through the grease...
...and moves slowly into the back office - only to have his mind accosted by Vosk's magic!
Shaking his head, the guard roars something incomprehensible and stomps towards the magician. Gorrig's fist lashes out...
...but catches only air!
The other guard, seeing the grease, decides to go after the closer target and rushes towards Droo. Her lance skewers him in the belly, but this only seems to make the half-orc even more angry! He raises his club and tries to knock the gnome off her mount...
...but his weapons swings harmlessly over Droo's head.
Round 2! Bold may act!
Yellow (-15)
Green
Molvil
Vosk
Droo
Vinegar
Theld
Gorrig
Bocke (-12 (-2), Unconscious, Stable)
"GRRR!" **CHOMP**
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"Something amiss here. I'll run through it again from the top to see where it went wrong. Vinegar could you back up a smidge? NOW! HO! HA HA! GUARD! TURN! PARRY! DODGE! SPIN! HA! THRUST!" **WHIFF!**
"AH HA, GOT IT!"
Vosk sighs. "Names in front of our foes? Must we endeavor to expose every bit of information we have?" he asks in exasperation. Regardless, he tosses the keys onto the table for the Professor. "I'll state my home address next!"
"Please, do try to hurt our most pressing complication," he suggests to Gorrig before tapping him with his crystalline wand.
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The guard swings at Theld as the soldier moves around him...
...but his foot slips on a bit of oil left on his boot and the swing goes wild. Theld's sword strikes true, but the impact pushes the guard out of the way of Gorrig's ill-timed punches. Droo, meanwhile, fumbles a bit with her lance after the unexpected success of her first blow. Vinegar chomps down hard on the guard's calf, but can't pull the massive man over.
As Gorrig fades from sight, the guard looks around confusedly before wheeling around to face Theld. He swings his club again, then roars in the soldier's face...
...and both the force of the blow and the intensity of the ferocity facing him shakes the normally unflappable Theld.
The other guard follows Droo out the door, again trying to knock her from her perch as he bellows in pain and frustration. If the force of his club doesn't do the trick, perhaps his bad breath will!
He is the chandlery guard, guardian of the chandlery! Droo quivers before him!
Round 3! Bold may act!
Yellow (-21)
Green (-5)
Molvil
Vosk
Droo (-9)
Vinegar
Theld (-7)
Gorrig (Invisible)
Bocke (-12 (-2), Unconscious, Stable)
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"Wanna know why I worship the sun goddess?" Gorrig swings, but the grease under the thug makes his movements unpredictable.
He fades back into view and collides his fist into the man's temple. "I can see in the dark," he growls. "You--"
What would likely have been a fear-inducing moment is utterly ruined when Gorrig momentarily loses his balance on the grease.
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@Molvil, it would be a safe assumption that the wall safe is locked shut, and from your current position you can see that it has a combination lock built into the door. You could try to unlock it, either with the correct code or with Disable Device, or you could attempt to break the safe open with a Strength or Sunder check (irrevocably damaging it in the process).
Well, shoot. Stymied by a locked door, the Professor scoops the keys up from the desk, pressing her lips into a thin line as Vosk chastises her. At first, she is irritated at him, but then it occurs to her that he is right. They are not in "proper society" right now, and named names could perhaps be traced back to them, and to the Pathfinder Society. Ugh. It seems I have some no-longer-useful habits to unlearn.
She takes a few steps to the other door and opens it to check on Droo. I've heard her shouting, so she's still alive. Of course, the whole neighborhood can hear her, too.
With plenty of steel and muscle headed for the nearest guard's soft bits, Vosk flicks another risk for another wand as he heads out the door the Professor has handily opened. "Thank you madam!"
His latest wand at the ready, he gestures from the roof to the floor. Obeying his arcane command, what appears to be a large piece of wood slides down to conceal the door. "Nowhere to go but through me, swine! The wee one'll have to strike your back!"
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The guard somehow instinctively dodges Gorrig's first fist, but the monk's second taps him solidly on the head. Even as Theld delights in these strange new feelings, his sword arm remembers its training and opens a deep gash in the guard's chest. Molvil opens the other door to the back office, allowing Vosk to make a quick exit and drop an imaginary wall down next to Droo. The gnome gives back as good as she got, but her small size and the slight quiver in her voice make her intimidating shout less effective than she would have hoped for. Perhaps in sympathy, Vinegar licks the guards's leg rather than bite it.
As the "wall" comes down, the guard roars in frustration. Turning around, he spots Vosk behind the bar. With a bellow of rage, the half-orc races across the chandlery floor with extraordinary speed, pushing chairs and tables out of the way as if they weighed nothing, and swings his club at the wizard...
...but the memory of the gnome and her mention of devils puts a slight shake into his arms, and the club merely brushes Vosk's prominent belly.
In the back office, the surrounded guard growls - a low and guttural sound. He swings his club again at Theld...
...and catches the soldier in the arm. Turning around, the guard points the bloody end of the weapon at Gorrig. "Látom a gyomrát és a rohadékot előttem."
Round 4! Bold may act!
Yellow (-21, Shaken 1/1)
Green (-25)
Molvil
Vosk
Droo (-9, Shaken 2/3)
Vinegar
Theld (-15, Shaken 2/2)
Gorrig (Shaken 1/3)
Bocke (-12 (-2), Unconscious, Stable)
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Shaking her head slightly in disapproval, the Professor mentally gripes: You make a better wall than a doorway yourself, Mr. Lazav. With you blocking me, I cannot do a thing to help. Hmm... The boys will soon have this one down, I'm sure. Mr. Reed! Her eyes snap over to the prone figure of Bocke, lying in her magical grease puddle in the doorway. She swiftly strides around the gentlemen's skirmish toward him, taking care to tread carefully on the grease.
Only then does she realize that Vosk had placed himself between her and danger. Perhaps he didn't intend to do so, but then again, he has been full of surprises.
Theld calls forth the power of an uncaring universe to surround his sword, which doesn't seem to care either as it cuts through the air. The blade strikes the guard in the arm, but the universe decides to care just a little bit and the blade skitters off bone to slice deep into the half-orc's chest. The guard staggers from the impact, stepping past Gorrig's first swing. The monk compensates on his second attack, which again strikes the guard squarely in the jaw. As Gorrig speaks, he spits blood back in the monk's face. "Szánalmas."
Round 4! Bold may act!
Yellow (-21, Shaken 1/1)
Green (-28, -18 nonlethal), Staggered)
Molvil
Vosk
Droo (-9, Shaken 2/3)
Vinegar
Theld (-15, Shaken 2/2)
Gorrig (Shaken 1/3)
Bocke (-12 (-2), Unconscious, Stable)
"Pah! Is that all you've got!?" Vosk taunts the Half-Orc. After setting a wand on the counter, he begins rubbing the palm of one hand against the back of the other. "You don't have to like me, but you will respect me!" he declares, delivering a mighty backhanded slap across his assailant's face.
"Like you mean it now, show the brute what for!" he urges the Gnome. Let's not give this animal a chance to really start beating me!
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Droo's lance pierces both the "wall" and the departing guard's calf. She spurs her mount after him, again skewering the half-orc's torso with her weapon. The guard staggers from the blows, but still has enough wits to swing his club at Vosk as the wizard prepares his sorcery.
The breeze from the club's passing ruffles Vosk's impeccable mustache as the guard cowers slightly from the unexpected return of the fearsome cavalier. The wizard's backhanded slap strikes the half-orc squarely in the face, and he wobbles for a few moments before falling face-down on the floor in a pool of rapidly-spreading blood.
In the back office, the remaining guard lashes out one more time at Theld...
...and with a mighty crack, sends the soldier toppling to the ground before falling over himself.
Round 5! Bold may act!
Yellow (-34, Unconscious, Bleeding Out)
Green (-28, -18 nonlethal), Unconscious, Stable)
Molvil
Vosk
Droo (-9, Shaken 3/3)
Vinegar
Theld (-27 (-10/12), Unconscious, Bleeding Out)
Gorrig (Shaken 2/3)
Bocke (-12 (-2/12), Unconscious, Stable)
Pleased with his handiwork , Vosk revels in the moment. He barely registers the sickening crack as Theld's skull cracks, as adrenaline rushes through his body, the feeling of power that comes with strike a man so hard that he collapses to the floor, but something in his subconscious tells him he is needed in the other room.
Ambling confidently back in, he sees Gorrig doing what he can to help Theld. "Hmm. Step aside, I've just the thing," he requests. Fishing a wand out of his bag, a cruelly twisted piece of burnt wood, he prods the man's wound. Slowly, the skin begins to crawl back across his wounds and the slight depression in his skull starts to inflate.
"Probably needs another hit, but unfortunately the arcane isn't as effective in expediting recovery as the more common divine magic," he explains calmly.
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The Professor looks up from digging her only potion of Cure Light Wounds in time to see Vosk grant healing to Theld. "Ah, Mr. Lazav. Excellent. Would you be so kind as to give Mr. Reed a tap of that wand as well? It would be wise to save this potion for when you are otherwise occupied."
Once he responds, she continues: "Now, it appears the lock on that safe has a combination. Would anyone in our party know how to unlock it? Do remember that we have been asked to avoid damaging the building. I would consider anything built into its walls to be a part of it." She gives a meaningful look to Theld before she starts. "OH! Ms. Nettlezum! Oh, dear! That one is bound to cause trouble out there." She bustles out of the room to fetch Droo.
While Vosk brings Theld and Bocke back to consciousness, Molvil carries the heavy ledger (finger still faithfully marking the previously open page) back into the main room. She finds Droo unconcernedly inspecting the bottles behind the bar while Vinegar sniffs curiously at the unmoving half-orc lying facedown in a puddle of blood.
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"OH! Ms. Nettlezum! Oh, dear! That one is bound to cause trouble out there." She bustles out of the room to fetch Droo.
"AH!" Droo drops the bottle in surprise. "What? I wasn't doing anything. Why are you yelling? I thought this was supposed to be a stealth mission?"
{Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick.}
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Bocke regains consciousness and sits up, waiting for the infernal healing to run its course.
Bocke looks at the guards.
"I suppose there's no pretending this didn't happen. Let's get the contents of that safe and get out of here."
Bocke searches the guards to see if any of them carries a helpful slip of paper with the combination.
Vosk sighs as he straightens his clothes. With a snap of his fingers, his guard disguise melts away, revealing a familiar balding head. "Time for an uncomfortable conversation. We've three bodies to handle. Nobody seems dead yet, but we should consider keeping them unconscious and hidden until we are ready to skip town. They've all seen us and I suspect this will complicate, well, everything," he advises.
Having said his piece, he helps search both rooms for any sign of what the combination is.
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Bocke and Vosk dig through the guards' pockets and find similar bottles and vials as the first guard carried, as well as similar sets of keys. They do not find any scraps of paper or parchment with cryptic messages written on them however. Upon closer inspection, the door to the safe seems to have a combination dial of four digits.
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"Come, Ms. Nettlezum. We need your assistance. The safe in the office has a combination lock, but we do not know the combination. Can you help us look for a record of it?" Barring that, we can let her try to crack it randomly for a few minutes, I suppose.
Professor Masaendri bustles back into the office and begins searching it again.