Nodding Sykes goes to retrieve Viria and Aleziella. ”They seem closed up for the night, if there’s any activity, it’s all going on inside away from the windows.”
Aleziella nods. "I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise. I guess we have to make our way inside to get any intelligence then. We should probably be near enough to join the fight if one breaks out, not wait over here. I cast a spell that protects me for an hour. It'll last a while longer of course, but we should still not tarry too long." She motions to follow Sykes back towards the fishery.
They had no idea what was going on inside the locked fishery or the number of Gaedren Lamm's people waiting/sleeping inside. Think of the children, Viria. You need to free them; even if it means going into the rat's nest and possible danger.
Viria nodded in Sykes direction and then moved along with him and Aleziella; ensuring her steps were as quiet as possible. She was not sure where Sykes and Joeseph had hidden to watch the warehouse, so she did not tarry in following him, especially in the fast fading light.
Once gathered Sykes will make for what he believes to be the least noisiest way to enter the building.
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Joeseph walks to the side door with Sykes and tells him to wait a minute before trying it. Over this minute, he rumbles through his satchel, picking up strange components, mixing them together. After a minute, he is holding a vial with a liquid and gulps it down. He blinks a few times and then his eyes resemble that of cats.
Afterwards, he says "Good, this will be useful to investigate. Sometimes doors like this are trapped."
Joeseph, then inspects the door looking for some trap.
After that, he tries to open the door, which he expects to be locked. If necessary, he tries to improvise some tools to open the lock.
Aleziella sneaks into position with Viria, bow at the ready.
As Joeseph and Sykes make their way along the slippery boardwalk the wood beneath their feet begins to groan and creak alarmingly. As Joeseph begins to examine the door the sound of wood beginning to crack can be heard underfoot.
Concentrating on the lock Joeseph tries, and fails, to unlock it.
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Joeseph, frustrated makes a shushing motion to Sykes, even though the latter didn't make a single sound. He, then, proceeds to try to open the door again.
Visibly getting frustrated, Joeseph fails again. He expected the night vision from the extract he took to help him, so instead he focuses on hearing the clicks of the door and tries again.
Let him have his routines,” Sykes tells himself as Joeseph shushes him after failing to get the door open, and then carefully taking a step back, moreso to keep his weight away from the Investigator after hearing the creaking boards. ”The boards won’t hold for you to try all you want, and the rest of us still have to walk over it. Let’s take the front door,” he says as he cautiously steps away.
As Sykes backs away from the door the strain on the rotten boards lessens and the cracking noises subside.
Joeseph stubbornly continues to try and unlock the door, unaware or uncaring of the danger around him, until he finally believes that he has it done. Unfortunately when he tries to open the door it remains locked.
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Joeseph looks to Sykes completely beaten and says "We might as well try a window or force our way in. I need proper tools for this and I.... sold my old ones." He didn't want to admit that he traded his tools in the past for a fix. He suggests getting out of the old wooden planks and onto safer grounding.
Once with the group reunited he says "Look, I'm not gonna be able to open this subtly. We might as well smash the window in. There doesn't seem to be anyone anyway."
"And how exactly would we get in through a window without being cut down one at a time? You can't except them to not notice that and I doubt they'll be friendly if we break in that way. Forcing down the door seems better. Though maybe we should try another door and not this one on the creaky walkway?" Aleziella responds with a worried expression.
Sykes silently watches the two try a different approach, hoping it would work lest they have to just start smashing things.
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Aleziella looks over at the pale man. "Care to help out here handsome? We'll need your big muscles if we're going to have any hope of forcing down this door. I doubt this old man nor myself will manage it by ourselves. I haven't exactly been training strength much... Unless you have any better ideas? Then I would love to to hear them." At tynne mention of her training she winks suggestively and strokes her hand on her hip, but otherwise she's all business as she motions towards the door, getting ready to help out. Once everyone are in position she'll pull out the bear from her deck to grant guidance. "The bear is a beast of pure strength. May he aid us in getting this door down."
Sykes smirks and bows to the Harrower encouraging him on. ”Miss Libuyaza, you could convince someone to walk barefoot through broken glass and they would thank you for it.”
Moving over to the door he’ll offer to take the crowbar from Joeseph.
Joeseph and Aleziella both lean into the crowbar, trying to break the door open but, even with both of them straining, the door refuses to open.
After taking the crowbar from the pair, Sykes wedges it between the two doors and after putting his back into it manages to break the doors apart with a loud .
Everyone holds their collective breath, waiting to see if the noise raises any alarms. After a few seconds have passed you all breathe a sigh of relief as no hue and cry comes from within.
The room appears to be an office of some sort. A single desk sits in this room with a ratty, worn chair behind it. A door along the north wall, two along the east, and one in the south wall all lead from this room.
Joeseph searches the door and the area around it but cannot find any tripwires or other obvious signs of a trap.
Nodding at Joeseph‘s warning Sykes puts away the crowbar for the time being-with a mental note to make sure it gets back to the Investigator, it would be quite embarrassing to accidentally pocket such an item and not realize it- and quietly draws his greatsword as he awaits news from the newest door.
Aleziella quickly looks around the room for anything that might prove useful in the upcoming fight, if she finds nothing, she moves along with the others towards the next room, waiting for the men to open the door.
Viria followed silently behind the others; leaving the men to do what they could to find or make an access into the warehouse.
Viria focused with her eyes as well as she could and hoped to discern anything of import in the room they had just entered. She then stopped moving and simply listened for sounds coming from behind/beyond any of the closed(?) doors. Even though she was not adept in moving without notice or sound, especially in dim or dark chambers, Viria did her best to be as quiet as possible in the room; light mace still in hand.
Sykes blinks a few times as the light levels increase but doesn’t otherwise lower his guard.
Joeseph pauses at the door on his left and places his ear against it, straining to hear anything on the other side, but all he hears is his pulse as his heart races.
Viria steps back from the open door and quietly fades into the shadows as she too strains to hear anything coming from the other rooms but can hear nothing in reply to their breaking in. She blinks as Joeseph's lit lantern suddenly throws everything into stark contrast.
Joeseph turn the handle on the door only to find that it too is locked.
Joeseph checks all the doors leading from this room only to find that they are ALL locked.
As the lantern light filtered inside the small room and Viria watched as Joeseph tried every door to see if it was unlocked, she noted he found all locked and asked Sykes for his prying tool.
Remaining in her position and standing adjacent to Joeseph, Viria quietly (in an effort not to have her voice carry beyond the doors) called upon her goddess' divine guidance to aid Joeseph in his next efforts/endeavours. Motioning in the air before laying her free hand on the older man's arm, she whispered the words, "May your coming efforts be guided by the grace of the Everlight."
Sykes nods and moves to the door Joeseph pointed out.
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Aleziella pulls out yet another card from her deck and briefly touches Sykes, squeezing his muscles slightly before pulling away. "The eep, natural good card of strength. May it bolster you in our trials to come."
Sykes takes the proffered position by the door and with a mighty heave cracks the door free from the jamb. The stink in this room, a mixture of fish and sweat, is enough to make the eyes water. To the east, a large wooden trough holds a hideous mound of half-rancid fish, seaweed, and brine. Filthy river water and fish blood stain the floor around this trough. A pair of wooden chutes lead from this trough through holes in the eastern wall into a larger room beyond. To the west, a desk and chair sit in one corner while a tall cabinet sits in the other.
Unfortunately the noise does not go unnoticed this time a you can hear voices coming from behind the door to the south. "Wake up, you fools. Did you hear that?" Another voice growls "If it's one of those kids mucking about I swear I'm sending him to see Gaedren tonight. Giggles, go see who it is and bring him to me." You can hear noises of some one stirring from the room behind the door.
"It needed to be," Sykes says to Joeseph while witholding a chucke. Pleasantly bolstered by Aleziella again he is about to thank her when they hear the grummbling. Putting both his hands on his sword he creeps over to the door in anticipation for whoever might enter.
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Joeseph hears the voices and sees Sykes hurry to ambush the would-be guards. He curses in a whispered voice and in one fluid motion, pulls out a small vial from his belt, uncorks it and drinks it. Afterwards, he puts his cane between his legs while not letting go of his lantern and, after a small detaching motion, the man pulls out a hidden blade from the cane. As he is drawing the blade, the liquid he drank seems to form a shimmering barrier from his skin which springs outwards to create a strong floating defensive barrier. Then, he moves to the front of the door.
"I'll try to make him fall asleep as soon as he enters. Hopefully it'll work before he can cry out. It'll only last a short while, so you need to finish him off before he wakes. Hide along the walls so he doesn't see us." Aleziella whispers as she tries to move out of sight from the door readies herself to slumber the man should he step close to one of her allies.
The stench of rotting things from the door Sykes had recently forced opened was foul, yet it was not unfamiliar to her - her childhood had been filled with such unpleasantness.
Hearing the voice from beyond the southern door and someone named Giggles coming to investigate, Viria quickly and in low voice began to cast her spell, laying her free hand against her side. "Guide me with your eternal grace, Everlight."
As Joeseph's lantern light still shone, Viria then crouched down a little by the large table to the her side, as Aleziella had quietly advised to hide somewhere, and watched with her light mace in hand; waiting to see who would come through the door and if Aleziella's sleep hex would have its desired effect.
Sykes nods to the Harrower, hopefully this tactic would go smoothly, for both their sake and the person coming to the door.
The door opens to reveal a gangly looking, one eyed, half orc wearing chainmail and wielding a flail. He stops short at the door as he sees Joeseph, Sykes, and Viria standing in the office. Taking in the tableau he calls over his shoulder to someone standing behind him "Hey, Yargin, it ain't no kid. We've got a couple of guys and some woman out here" he looks to the broken front door and the door to the fishery's workroom and says with a laugh "and from the looks of things it seems they're trying to rob us, all sneaky like." The voice from the room responds "Well looks like we'll have to show them the error of their ways. Besides, we can always use their bodies for the dock dumplings for tomorrow."
Aleziella pulls out a card from her harrow deck again. This time it's a strange creature with the head of a crocodile and the body of a man, it's dressed in a business suit and sipping tea while sitting on top of a kneeling human. The Rakshasa, may you wrest the mind of the man into the land of dreams, force him to slumber so we are free to do what we want with his body.
If he falls over she'll hiss insistently, "He'll wake in a few seconds, finish him off before that happens!"
"We'll see who's the ugly one once I finish bashing your face in." the half orc says, laughing as if to a joke only he finds funny, as he steps up to bash Joeseph only to succumb to Aleziella's magic as soon as he does which, fortunately, saves him from Joeseph's attempt to stab him as he slumps to the ground.
Suddenly what at first appears to be a small child, but actually is a gnome, darts from the room, dodging between everyone to end up behind Joeseph. He curses a blue streak as he realizes that the half orc has fallen to the ground.