“Wait a moment, Zeke.” Wolfgang says. He checks the horses’ saddles and any saddle bags or other sacks or containers hanging on them.
He also eyes the horses themselves. “If these rogue gatekeepers are using these beasts as part of a scheme to break the law, I think they ought to forfeit them to the Archbaron’s primary enforcers, don’t you?”
He draws his rapier before anyone opens the door.
They seem to be simple horses. Probably aren't even battle-trained. The pockets and containers on the horses all appear to be empty.
Casting Shield on Zeke, Marcianus readies to open the door. Zeke readies his hammer and prepares to rush through as soon as the door is opened.
The side door readily opens up with a noisy series of bells, seemingly tied to the other side of the door.
Inside, the miscreants see the two geezers. The woman, Bo, is holding a crossbow above her husband's head. Her husband has a whole-a$$ operational ballista aimed at the door. They waste no time, as the miscreants hear the click of the ballista's firing mechanism. Only Sicaria has time to react before the Ballista looses its massive bolt.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Sicaria
Marcianus
Dent Gramel
Wolfgang
Zelicia
Bo Gramel
Before she has time to think, Sicaria instinctively rushes into the room and pulls out her sabres and faces the one holding the small ballista crossbow and practically screams at the woman!
”What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?!?!”
"Saving the country from folks like you." says the man in response.
The javelin-sized projectile lodges itself in Zeke's abdomen as the man carefully and emotionlessly begins reloading the ballista.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Sicaria
Dent Gramel
Marcianus (Zeke: -7)
Wolfgang
Zelicia
Bo Gramel
Charging forward, Zeke brings his hammer down on Dent.
Marcianus moves in behind Zeke and casts a spell, as magical grease appears under the feet of the two ambushers.
"Norgorber hide me from people who think they're heroes," Wolfgang mutters to Zelicia in disgust. "They usually get someone hurt or killed, and one of these days it might even be me."
The tiefling marches into and across the Armory, careful not to slip in Zeke's blood, and makes his way to Sicaria's side. Aiming his rapier at Bo's throat, he growls, "Surrender, and you will have the dignity of the Archbaron's justice. Or don't, and you and your husband will die here as common... "
Wolfgang trails off as a line of sweat runs down the back of his neck and under his collar. This doesn't make sense. What was their plan, break in and wait for us to find them and - what, die of surprise? They may be gap-toothed, illiterate townies, but did these old farts really believe that they could kill us all, by themselves, with just a couple of crossbows, even if one of them is really big?
"This is wrong. They can't be this stupid. I don't think this is the trap," he says. "I think this is the bait. "
It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you!
Zelicia quickly whips her head around and looks for threats outside in response to Wolfgang's shouting.
Thinking it will be easier to be with everyone else inside whether or not there are threats elsewhere, she runs just inside the doorway.
Dent takes a hammer to the face!
Marc casts grease!
And both of 'em hit the stone floor!
Wolfgang's threat makes Dent throw his hands in the air, but Bo still seems determined!
Zelicia sees nobody outside.
----
Bo fires her crossbow, point-blank, into Sicaria...or she at least tries.
Wolfgang stabs the woman.
In trying to hit Bo, Sicaria changes her stance, and at the last moment lifts her left leg as the crossbow bolt whiffs past her shin.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Sicaria
Dent Gramel (-13; Prone; Surrendered)
Marcianus (Zeke: -7)
Wolfgang
Zelicia
Bo Gramel (Prone; -6)
Marcianus stops to consider the situation, now that the immediate threat has been dealt with. He remembers the lack of emotion on Dent's face as he operated the ballista, and combines that with Bo's insistence on fighting even through she is surrounded and prone.
"This doesn't make sense. Perhaps they are charmed? If so, killing them will just hide the true enemy. Restrain them, so they can be interrogated later."
He moves over to the door, looking out before closing the door.
Zeke grunts, and mumbles "Pathetic". It is unclear who he is referring to.
Moving around the ballista, Zeke reaches out with his hammer to hook Dent and slide him through the grease so he is close enough to grab.
"Both of you need to stand down. We only need one to question."
Sicaria shakes her head. ”Now this is just stupid.”
She moves to strike the woman with the flat of her blades.
"Please don't hurt her!" Dent shouts as Sicaria nonlethally beats Bo. Bo releases her crossbow and surrenders herself after the pummeling.
Oddly enough, nobody else shows up.
Moving away from the door, Marcianus straightens his jacket and dismisses the Grease.
Marcianus casts Detect Magic and scans the two, looking for evidence of active spell effects.
As he does so, he speaks calmly to them. "When we received word of a break in, we hardly expected to find the two of you here, and then to attack us, as if you had lain in ambush?
You couldn't have thought this would work, could you? At best, you would have killed one of us before the rest swarmed you. Tell us. What was behind this action?"
Wolfgang keeps his rapier aimed at Bo. "Oh, good, the heroes of Longacre are chickenshits. C'mon, talk. You've got three choices: A, someone else made you do it, B, someone else is the brains of the operation, or C, you two geniuses came up with this plan all by yourselves so you can hang for it alone."
The tiefling shakes his head. "But really, even though it would make our lives easier and involve much less paperwork, I don't actually believe C is a realistic possibility."
You couldn't have thought this would work, could you? At best, you would have killed one of us before the rest swarmed you. Tell us. What was behind this action?
Dent pipes up first, spitting a bit of blood as he speaks. "Most of the weapons are already gone. Jask Coalimber, one of the former sheriff's deputies, approached us a few days ago. Told us to get the weaposn ready. Hide 'em in a box in the woods to the north. Got a map in my pocket if you care. And yes, we did hope to kill at least one of you. Figured a ballista to the chest would be enough! Y'all are some tough sons of b~$&!es."
Exploring the remainder of the place does indeed show a lack of weapons from cases and armor stands. Those that remain are particularly bent or dull. Except, it seems Bo and Dent missed a few pieces after a closer inspection (specifically calls out looking around for 10 minutes.
You find the following:
Mwk Spiked Breastplate
Mithral Heavy Shield
1 arrow of dragon slaying
a masterwork greatsword
a repeating light crossbow
and a scabbard of honing.
”Hmph. No real point in killing them here and now. But I wouldn’t be opposed to it; pretty sure a ballista to the face is legal justification for self-defense, right?”
Wolfgang examines the scabbard of honing with interest. He nods along with Sicaria, then yanks the map from Dent's pocket and looks it over thoughtfully.
"If we put them in jail, they'll just find a way to warn Jask, don't you think?"
The map does indeed seem to label a place in the forest to the north, highlighting the route via a series of specifically shaped trees.
Marcianus peers at Sicaria wondering at her motivations. "There would be little point to killing them, had they survived the combat.
Too bad, really. I was looking forward to filling out that paperwork and spending the next few weeks watching them sit in the stocks while they await execution."
He signals to Zeke.
Zeke smiles and swiftly concludes getting revenge for the ballista bolt to his shoulder by bashing Dent's head.
He moves on to No, unless someone beats him to it.
Grabbing the mithril shield and masterwork great sword, he adds. "Too bad they ran off with all the weapons. I suppose we have to wait for tomorrow to track them down."
----
The miscreants gather up the items they find and leave the armory. Word of Bo and Dent's murder spreads surprisingly quickly.
Sicaria smirks as Zeke kills the two guards.
She pulls the map out of Dent’s pocket and looks it over. ”Well, we’ve got two bodies on our hands. Why don’t we check out this whole Jask-in-the-woods business while we dispose of the bodies?”
Following the trail is relatively straight-forward, if a little time consuming while debating the trees, but eventually the miscreants make their way to a large box, sized to fit dozens of weapons from spears to swords.
Within the box is, indeed, a whole lot of weapons. (for reference, the book says, "almost any kind of weapon", so let me know if there's something in specific you're looking for that seems reasonable to be in a Cheliax armory)
Wolfgang digs through the weapons cache, looking for a cold iron rapier or anything that might be particularly valuable. He casts detect magic, not expecting to see anything enchanted but just in case.
Marcianus is surprised to find the box unguarded, and peers about through the trees, looking for signs of ambush.
Having no interest in weapons himself, and seeing that Zeke is already well equipped, he simply waits for Wolfgang to finish before wondering aloud, "Well, how are we going to get it back to town now? We should have brought one of the horses."
Hey! No peeking!
Neither Marcianus nor the rest of the miscreants see anybody in the forest.
Wolfgang finds an old rapier, but nothing made of a special material.
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Sicaria just stares at Marcianus in confusion. ”We…carry it? Zeke, grab one end; I’ll get the other.”
Wolfgang tosses the weapons back into the box with a snort of disgust.
"We need to do something about this deputy, and odds are that the others are involved as well, with ex-Sheriff Rhona at the head of their conspiracy. Should we ask Cimri where to look for her aunt, or start by informing Razelago?"
Zeke looks between Sicaria and the crate with obvious distaste. "Do I look like some kind of pack animal to you? There were two perfectly good horses outside the museum."
Looking around at the forest, he throws up his hands. "Fine! I don't suppose we can just leave it here."
Grabbing the other side of the crate, he hefts it and starts walking back to town. "Ultimate cosmic power...."
Walking behind the pair with the crate, Marcianus attempts to keep an eye on the woods as he tries to respond to Wolfgang.
"Razelago hasn't said more than 'Keep on doing what you are doing', since the beginning. He also seems to know everything we do.
He's probably following us invisibly right now, recording everything we do to be replayed to Fex.
No, I think we need to start taking the initiative. If Razelago disapproves, he will certainly let us know. Cimri seems a good place to start. Do you think she'll give up her aunt's location willingly?"
The miscreants carry the box out of the forest with no incident, successfully depriving the dead drop of its contents.
"No, I think we need to start taking the initiative. If Razelago disapproves, he will certainly let us know. Cimri seems a good place to start. Do you think she'll give up her aunt's location willingly?"
Wolfgang shrugs. "I do not pretend to understand our erstwhile manager. When I first met her, I believed she was the ringleader for most of the organized ... I believed she was a leader not overly bound by inconvenient scruples. When the time came to confront her aunt, though, she behaved like a child trying to avoid reporting some embarrassing incident to a parent. But since then, she has sworn to the Hellfire Compact the same as we have. Whatever her motivations may be, I think she will do her job, regardless of the impact on her aunt."
The tiefling continues walking for a few steps, then says, "Of course, there is only one way to find out for certain, and that's to do the experiment."
Sicaria nods. ”Razelago did give the impression that he was...annoyed at the metaphorical hand-holding. Plus, any excuse to not look that ugly, aberrant, faceted-eyed,” She shudders before any more descriptions leave her lips. ”Any excuse not to look him in the eye, the better.”
Returning to the jail, Marcianus heads straight for Cimri. If she is sleeping, he will kick her cot to wake her up.
Angry at the situation, but not being overtly accusatory, he raises his voice as he talks to the thief. "The thieves laid an ambush for us and..."
He catches himself as he remembers their guests. "Damnation! We need to get rid of that damn angel!"
Waving that concern away, he adds. "After we defended ourselves, they ran off into the woods, but dropped a map. We followed the map and found where they had hidden the cache of weapons for the seditionists. Turns out Jask Coalimber is working with them. We are wondering if the former sheriff might be as well. You know her, what are your thoughts?"
Cimri grunts a weak, "What?" as the miscreants wake her, but she listens intently before continuing.
"From what I heard, Jask was always a bit proactive about things he didn't like. Rhona, though...She'd usually stick to doing things the right way, whether or not they took forever. Though if Jask is working with them..." Cimri trails off before swinging her feet around and finally standing from her cot.
"Considering I've lost any and all contact with Rhona as of late, it's probably safe to assume she's got some kind of plan going that she doesn't want me to know about. Probably safe to assume she's dangerous at this point. Heard some rumors that she walked into the woods about a week ago now and hasn't been seen since. From what I've gathered, that's a truth, not a rumor."
Sicaria listens to Cimri’s remarks and something in her mind comes to the surface. ”Cimri, humor me for a sec: what are the odds that Rhona is the Angel Knight?”
"Honestly, I'm pretty sure I'd have made that connection already." Cimri admits. "Though, it's not impossible."
Cimri paces for a bit, lost in thought for a moment. "I'm going to see if I can't find more information about her."