Raziya glides towards the sudden **BANG** with serenity plastered over extreme annoyance at the defiance of this tanner.
"Louslik, you haven't given up hope, have you? You're in for a trying time, a terrible time, but you have to hold onto hope that it could end up better.
"Or else you will end up much, much worse."
"Stop this foolishness and you will have some say in what happens to you, and to those you endanger with your defiance tonight."
Brogol: Stealth (13); Perc (24)
Eris: Delay
Ingrid: Claw (Lethal) - Hit (9 dmg)
Karik/Vaelor: Delay/Trip CM (20)
Raziya: Intimidate (Demoralize) (16)
Vivia: Scythe (NL) - Miss
Brogol takes cover in the workyard to keep an eye for anyone coming to investigate the noise of the thunderstone, while in the office Ingrid slashes at the tanner, drawing a line of blood across his chest. Vivia tries to follow-up with a blunted strike from her scythe, but in trying to avoid killing the man outright he just manages to dodge it by the slimmest of margins.
As Raziya taunts him, it's clear from the wide-eyed expression on his face he knows he's fighting for his life. Vaelor whips her chain at him, but the desk gives him enough cover that he is able to deflect the blow.
Cimri moves up, drawing her sap as she jumps on top of Louslik's desk and takes a swipe at him. It connects, slapping against the top of his head.
Grim-faced and offering none of the taunts or bravado you're throwing at him, Louslik focuses on Ingrid and aims a meaty fist at her jaw.
Eris: Deafened
Vaelor: Deafened
Cimri: Deafened
Louslik: Shaken (-9 L, +5 NL)
Avoiding being knocked out from the strong blow to her head, Ingrid continued slashing away at the man. This was why so much coin was paid, she reasoned. He was more than a match for any of them alone. But together? That was a different story.
Raziya sighs and clenches her fist, "So be it."
Vivia grits her teeth. "You fail to put your head on straight this morning? You're going nowhere. Now TAKE your GODS DAMNED NAP!" She spins her scythe around and slams the butt with full force into his sternum.
Karik steps forward and casts Mage armour on Vaelor
Smiling a the touch of her master Vaelor makes another attempt to bring the human to the ground
”Oo, you have spirit. I’m going enjoy breaking that spirit before master drinks your blood”
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Eris points at the rebellious tanner.
”You can’t keep all you’ve built up here without acknowledging how much my father’s country has done for you! Think of all the good your taxes will do! Cancelled military projects. Maintaining abandoned buildings. Or the study of manticore migration! So many good things!”
Surprised that the sounds of a fight still ring around the tannery's courtyard, Brogol thinks momentarily of abandoning his lookout and running to the office. Forcing the urge down, Brogol stays crouched and alternating looks from the tannery's main building to the gate. Surely the tanner would not last much longer...
Louslik takes another slash from from Ingrid's claws then a blow to the side of his head from the handle of Vivia's scythe, crumpling to the floor of his office like a sack of potatoes. While some of you are deafened, there is, in fact, a sudden stillness and quiet in the office.
”Right. Bastard is unconscious. Let’s get him out of here. See if he is more cooperative once he’s bound and bleeding.”
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Eris laughs as the man falls unconscious. "Well he was a feisty one. But I'm sure when he wakes up and sees what we've done with his place, he'll be happier to pay his taxes!"
Eris walks casually around the room with her sickle, carving deep swathes in the walls, table, and anything else that happens to be in her way.
The ruckus stops, and Brogol stands, not seeing any sign of late workers within the tannery - when he hears the calling of what can only be the Umbrals, and the creaking of their cart, fast approaching the tannery wall.
Sprinting to the office's doorway, Brogol - unaware that anyone has been deafened - swings the door open and hisses "Shhh! Gong farmers incoming!". The driver then casts a look over his shoulder towards the gate. Was there a bar to lock the entrance? Would that even be the best course of action?
Karik is not interested in other than the body on the floor, he moves over and sinks his fangs into Louslik's neck.
He then casts Infernal Healing to ensure the human survives to serve as a warning.
Vaelor moves over and uses one of her chains to restrain Louslik before Karik’s spell awakens him
Vivia smacks her forehead with her palm "Why in all the Hells would you heal him? We need him out of the way to loot this place!" At Brogol's warning, she drops her voice "If you've got a way to keep them away, great. Let's get about grabbing what we can in the mean time. And we need to get out of here fast. I'm not counting on your boss to bail us out if things go south, Cimri."
True to her word, she starts eyeing the office for valuables and grabs whatever catches her eye.
Raziya moves forward and prepares her crossbow for the gong farmers' approach.
"Let them in Brogol. Once they're inside we can reason with them; they won't want to sacrifice their lives for... this."
Brogol sees there is a simple mechanism for latching the gate but there doesn't seem to really be any way to lock it. It simply serves to keep the gate from swinging open.
Inside the office, Louslik groggily comes back to consciousness though, for the moment, is still disoriented.
Cimri's lip curls in disgust as the dhamphir takes a sip from Louslik's neck. "Ugh... Really?" Yet she makes no move to stop him. As she is deaf, she really can't make out the details of anyone's conversation, and she shouts in an effort to be heard,
Out in the workyard, Raziya and Brogol take up positions to hide their presence from anyone entering through the gates. The jangle of pottery in the cart continues to clang closer though the yells have been replaced by huffing and puffing. You estimate you have enough time to adjust positions before they arrive at the gate.
Eris: Deafened for 1 hour
Vaelor: Deafened for 1 hour
Cimri: Deafened for 1 hour
Louslik: -17 L, +16 NL; -2 Con (Infernal Healing; 1/10 rounds)
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Eris taps on her ear, still hearing nothing but a ringing in her ears.
"This is--sad. I can't hear anything. Except I can still hear you, Father!"
The cleric keeps cutting things with her sickle, including the desk, walls, and door.
Not seeing or hearing what Brogol said, she moves toward Louslik and starts emptying his pockets, looking for anything fun or shiny.
"Do you have any toys?" she says to the unconscious man, though she's mainly talking to herself.
Eris does a quick survey of the office. Tossing the desk reveals a small lockbox in one drawer. There are also a pair of finely crafted tapestries of silk and leather on the walls, as well as a set of antique leather-working tools that may be of some value.
The only source of magic she detects is a vial on Louslik's belt.
On Louslik, in addition to the vial, she finds a pair of keys, one larger than the other.
Brogol winces as Cimri's yelling rebounds around the courtyard, any thought of bluffing the gong farmers vaporizing like smoke. Turning to Raziya, the driver whispers. "Agreed. Looks like they'll be able to get in, and they're definitely coming in now. Hide. I'll circle around behind them once they come in, and close the latch. Then we'll give them the choice of remaining docile and living through the night, or..."
Turning as he leaves the quiet part unsaid, Brogol sprints to the southeast corner of the yard and crouches behind the furthest tanning vat. Do the smart thing, gong farmers, do the smart thing...
Karik uses his mental link to instruct Vaelor
Get me some for later, but gag him first.
Handing his flask to Vaelor Karik moves outside, using a handkerchief to dab the blood from his mouth.
Strolling towards Rayzia he speaks in hushed tones “so what’s the plan for the foul smelling people”
With practised ease Vaelor siphons some blood from Louslik into Karik’s flask.
In a whisper more to herself than Louslik she says ”Thank you for this, the master can be nasty when he’s thirsty.”
Vaelor then gags and blindfolds Louslik with strips of cloth cut from his own clothes.
”Such a cluster-fook.” Ingrid muttered as she looked for a good place to hide.
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Vivia grabs the keys, immediately trying them on the lockbox in the drawer while the others hopefully manage to deal with two perfectly ordinary laborers. If she can retrieve them without ruining them, she'll also take the tapestries and leather working tools.
She gives the room a once-over for anything that would obviously match the larger key. "Probably the office door, right?" She muses quietly to herself, though she doesn't rule out there being some secret trap door leading to a nest egg. 'A nest egg would be nice. Something to keep me and the boys happy and healthy while we're on the run after this bloody debacle.'
Raziya crouches behind some crates with a scowl and as much quiet as she can muster. Who would have thought the damned barrow boy would be the only one helping with this! Cimri's clearly lost her head!
Karik joins Raziya behind the crates
"You didn't answer me, whats the plan for our new guests?"
"Let them come in, the pedlar closes the door behind them while we make it clear how fully they should cooperate."
"I'll let you take the lead on that one my dear. We both know you could sell ice to an Irrisan and make a merfolk afraid of drowning."
”And then we kill them after ya fook it up.”
"A plan B never hurts. Well this one might hurt someone."
Cimri, deaf as she is, is completely confounded as to what exactly is going on. Kill him? Scare him? Bleed him? What in the Nine Hells are they doing? And why are the others going to cover? She bites her lower lip in thought, then dashes out of the office and across the courtyard and between the vats.
Vivia and Brogol have no trouble hearing the cart come to a halt outside the gate.
Male: Did you hear that yell?
Female: Yeah, didn't sound good. A woman yelling about killing someone.
Male: And I don't hear Annie or Jax.
Female: Should I get the sheriff?
Male: Let's check it out first.
Brogol: Hide (Need Stealth Check)
Eris: Search the Office
Ingrid: Hide; Stealth 15
Karik: Hide; Stealth 24
Vaelor: Bind and gag Louslik
Raziya: Hide; Stealth 14
Vivia: Search the Office
Cimri: Dash into the vats
While waiting for the gong farmers' inevitable arrival, Brogol wracks his brain for what he knows of the Umbres - where do they live? Do they have any living family? If so, where? Are they religious? Are they honest, tax-paying folk?
Hearing someone approach from the office, Brogol briefly stands and frowns. What in the hells is Cimri doing? With the gong farmers on the other side of the gate, he didn't have the luxury of yelling (little did Brogol know that Cimri wouldn't hear him anyways). Instead, Brogol waves, and then points to Cimri and then next to him. You! Here! Now!
Vivia whispers to the couple of people still in the office. "Our two gong farmers are going to come in blind. If you want to jump them, now's the time before they change their mind and go raise the alarm." She snorts with amusement "Its just like they're kids in a horror stage play. Going in to check out the scary house instead of doing the sensible thing. Love it."
”Well, I guess I am suited to play the monster.” She chuckled. The sensation of blood running down her fingers was intoxicating. Sometimes it made keeping a cool head difficult.
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Cimri catches Brogol's meaning and smoothly comes to a halt, not quite hugging one of the hideous vats but finding most of the shadows and staying out of the lantern light.
The gate opens with a loud <clank> from the mechanism that keeps it latched shut and two older humans, a man and a woman, come into the yard wielding shovels and pulling a cart filled with gong pots behind them.
The woman seems to be having a little more trouble seeing through the gloom and shadows, but the man sees the two dead dogs and then his gaze darts quickly to the north and to the south, seeing or hearing Raziya and Borgol. "Pippa!" he yells to the woman. "Run, get the sheriff! I'll hold them off!"
Eris opens the lockbox with the smaller of the two keys. Inside she finds numerous small leather pouches, each prominently branded with the initials "L. T.". Based on the clank and jangle of the contents as well as the weight of the lockbox itself, the pouches are likely filled with coins. (Box with the coins weighs 20 pounds.) The coinage will clearly take some time to count, and it is not yet clear what the larger key goes to.
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Eris laughs with glee at all the shiny coins. "I knew he wasn't playing straight with us, Father! He wanted to keep all this gold for himself! Shouldn't all this be shared around? I mean, why should he have all this when we don't?"
Taking the box of coins, she exits the office. "Look what I found!" she exclaims too loudly, as one who cannot hear herself would do.
Coming out of hiding Ingrid said ”Stop acting the fool and focus! The damned peasant is bringing the watch.” At a speed unheard of for a dwarf, Ingrid sprinted out of the building.
Brogol sprints from his hiding place and latches the door. Turning to the Umbres, the driver waves his dagger in a menacing fashion.
"Oi, Pippa and Shaul Umbre, listen to the lady. Louslik is still alive," as far as I know, "And you can live to see the morning too."
With tapestries and other goodies stuffed in her sack, Vivia eyes the coins that Eris found. Was the crazy girl that talks to skulls *really* the best place to keep the cache of valuables? These thoughts occupy her for a moment, until she hears 'Run, get the sheriff!'.
She strides out of the office and draws a chakram from her belt as she does so. "Oh no you don't. Not if you want to grow up healthy and strong, you won't." She tosses the chakram at the fleeing woman's legs.
Karik moves into the light and calls out "Halt woman!"
Karik calls to his ancestors’ ability to control living beings and uses Command as a spell-like-ability (DC14)
Heir to Undying Nobility
Source Inner Sea Races pg. 215Source Inner Sea Races pg. 215
Descended from undead nobility, perhaps from Geb, Nidal, or Ustalav, some dhampirs inherit a bit of their ancestors’ ability to control living beings. They can use command and charm person each once per day. This racial trait replaces the spell-like ability racial trait.
The old woman seems to have no interest in obeying Karik's command and spins about, preparing to dash off. Seeing the rouse is up, Raziya goes for intimidation, coming out of the shadows brandishing her mace. "Run and your husband dies... then we chase you and kill you. Stay, and we can explain what's going on and nobody dies, not even Jabral."
The woman halts, dead in her tracks, looking fearfully at Raziya then back to her husband. "Shaul, I ain't leavin' you... Not to them." She drops her shovel and walks back to her husband. He shakes his head sadly and sighs, then looks about at the lot of you, trying to ignore Eris, and says, "What is it y'all want with us? Where's Jabral? Why'd you end 'is dogs like that?"
The infernal healing continues to work on Louslik and brings him fully back into consciousness. He glowers at the eidolon, left alone with her, and glowers, "Well, aren't you an ugly sight for sore eyes. Why don't you let me go and see if you can drop me on your own?"
"It wasn't us that killed his dogs. Pride did this, his pride and stubbornness..." her mask made reading smaller shifts of her expression more difficult, so she made certain to give a broader turn of her head towards Eris and her lockbox, "... and his greed."
She pointed her crossbow towards the crates. "Please, take a seat. We will need to learn everything you know about Jabral's perfidy."