Wymarc easily slips in a vial of oil of taggit into the stew. The guards are busy chatting and laughing with Cassiopia while Thrick is concentrating on the stew.
Shortly after, Thrick announces, "Fifteen more minutes until the stew is done!"
The other guards cheer, "about time!"
The guards chat Cassiopia up. "What a game, what a game! One more hand?"
The woman, who introduces herself as Inerta, talks. "We don't ask about the prisoners nor what they did to get here; management's pretty strict about that stuff. They even have a way to soundproof the main prison when they're interrogating important prisoners so nothing leaks out. Fine be me. I hate hearing them scream.". She doesn't know how many prisoners there are currently, but points to the back of the building. "There back that way."
Another guard, who introduces himself as Usul, continues to talk. "The boss keeps the important stuff in the vault, way in back. You need some kind of passcode to get in. I don't know how he remembers it; he can't even remember the month it is sometimes!". The guards laugh at the joke. Another guard - Cormyn - continues. "That interrogator. He worships Dispater." He whispers in a quiet voice. "And he's probably twice as dedicated to running a good prison than the King of Iron. He's not so good at remembering administrative stuff, but if you get on his bad side..." Cormyn looks around the room and leans in, "he'll track you down like an animal and kill you half as humanely."
Wymarc would definitely be spotted, he believes. There are too many guards around and possible traps.
Galvar continues to lead the group on. "And up ahead is our storage room. You can place any heavy bags or weapons," he eyes all your weapons cautiously, "in there..."
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Bahram listens to the guards description of the prisoners and their lack of contact with them. "No, I definitely don't want to hear any of the prisoners scream either." He gives a little shiver for emphasis. "But...if we can't see them, or hear them...how are we expected to guard them? Are there other things in place, and we're just here to keep other things from breaking in or what?"
The woman shrugs. "You don't need to see someone to guard them. We mainly just guard the building. Make sure nothing gets in, nothing gets out."
(
Cassiopia follows Galvar into the storage closet. Inside are the guards' personal belongings. Nothing valuable, mostly some guard tabards hanging fromt he rack along the northeast wall.
"Feel free to keep any of your heavy bags or weapons here.". He eyes everyone, but shrugs.
Wymarc instead peers into the room to the south. Several beds line the walls - triple bunk beds in fact. The fireplaces in the kitchen heat this room, but the privies to the south get cold being so far away.
Three guards are jsut waking up, recovering from a late night shift. They're groggy, but conversational as they don clothes/armor.
One notices Wymarc poke his head in. "I smell something cooking. What'd Thrick make this time? It better be good."
The three groan, taking their time getting ready. One of them lays back in bed, fully clothed (but not fully armored). "Five more minutes, please!"
Thrick, the cook, calls out from the kitchen. "Dinners ready!"
Galvar leads the four of you back to the lounge. Thrick pours four bowls of stew for the four of you. "Since you helped me cook, these are for you."
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The group of Pathfinders refuse the bowls and give them to the four guards sitting around the table.
Galvar pipes up, "Let me finish the tour and tell the others lunch is ready, then I'll pick up my bowl."
Galvar turns to the four of you. "Krima is in the back room. We should tell her lunch is ready. She's in the back room."
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Wymarc nods, saying, ”I’ll tell her,” as he heads to the back room…
When the Elf makes it to the back room, ”M’Lady Krima, I presume? Galvan sent me to tell you lunch is ready…”
He’ll walk close to Krima, subtly whispering to her when he gets a chance. ”I’m a friend of Tamrin; he said you might be able to change positions with our supervisor, Galvan, so we can better complete our mission here…can you help us? And don’t eat the rabbit stew…”
Wymarc leads the way to Krima to the archives. Hundreds of manuscripts and prison records fill this room's shelves, many bearing labels such as "Accounting," "Calendars," and "Discharge Logs."
Krima is reviewing and organizing documents in the shelves. She looks up as Wymarc slides into the room, followed by the others. Wymarc mentions lunch being ready and Galvar nods.
().
Krima looks up at Wymarc entering the room followed closely by Galvar and the others. Galvar starts giving a tour of the room, giving Wymarc just a brief second to relay a message to Krima.
The woman stops what she's doing - reviewing and organizing the documents on the shelves. "Galvar, do you mind if I take over for you. My eyes are crossing from looking at numbers all day. It will be a pleasant change of pace.". She flirtily gives him a wink.
This may give you an opportunity to talk with her more and learn the ins and outs of this place. But Galvar is reluctant to leave.
Galvar starts retorting, "But... the interrogator said...". Then he looks at Krima and the others. "Fine, fine. That rabbit stew looked delicious! I'll go grab a bowl. I'll be sure to save you some, Krima."
Once Galvar leaves and you are now alone with Krima, she inquires as to what you know. "Tell me. You're not actually Aspis Agents, are you? Tell me what you know."
"Ah yea. There is a prisoner matching his description here. The interrogator was in the middle of a... a torture session when he was called away. This Zefiro is probably still strapped to whatever machines they have inside. There may be people who I suspect are fellow Bellflower agents."
She ponders. "I think his documents are in the prison's vault. In the back of the prison. There are likely traps, but I don't know them."
Krima also gives you an imperfectly cast duplicate of the office's key that she recently made.
([ooc]You went back to the storage/archives to meet Krima. She was in the room you didn't go in to (seen here).
"Yes, prison vault. In the back. I can show you, but I don't think I can bring you past the guards. Unless you knock them out or sneak by them..."
She looks around. "Not sure if any of his records are in here. Let me check.". She looks and briefly describes the prison layout. "He's likely in the center chamber..."
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Seeing some of his companions helping search through the archives in this room, he jumps in to help. "Oh yes, let's rule this possibility out then."
"If you could lead us as close as you can, and point us in the right direction, that would be great! And what of an exit strategy? We can't exactly walk back out front now." He asks as he shuffles papers around.
Zefiro's records do not seem to be in these records. It's mostly just accounting logs, calendars, and discharge logs. Krima was organizing and putting in new logs.
Krima points north. "You'll have to head that way. But the guards will obviously see you if you try. You need a way past them or a distraction or something."
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Also, the Pathfinders hear some sort of commotion coming from the staff lounge. Someone is yelling loudly... maybe the oil of taggit from the stew has kicked in and knocked a few of the guards out.
Bahram approaches the guards and can immediately tell something is amiss. They don't pay attention to what he's saying. "Stop! Don't go any further, young orc.". There is definitely tension in the air.
"There are four guards unconscious in the lounge. Looks like they were poisoned"
Another guard standing there speaks up. "We think Thrick poisoned the stew... but he must've eaten some himself. Galvar is in there questioning the night crew to see if they know anything."
"Straven went to find the interrogator. He may be back any minute now."
"You're part of that group? The Apsis people? Galvar will want to speak with you soon to question you.". Another pipes up. "Stay here with us until Galvar is ready."
They don't physically restrain Bahram, but keep a close eye on him.
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Meanwhile, Wymarc easily sneaks up to the orange door to the northern part of the jail. The door silently opens and he can slide through.
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Ehrun joins Wymarc in the northern part of the jail, the guards obviously distracted.
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Wait here for Galvar? Oh no. I might be trapped! I need some space to vanish myself and catch up with the others now. Bahram thinks to himself.
"The stew's poisoned?! I had a bit of that too! Just a bite though. Maybe I'm okay. Maybe I should go lie down until Galvar gets here."
Bahram begins to move to see the guards reactions.
The guards look at Bahram suspiciously. "Where is your chaperone, by the way? Krima was supposed to take care of you. Where is she?"
One of the guards physically pulls Bahram aside and has the half-orc sit down. "Wait right here. I'll go find Krima. We'll need to question your compatriots as well, so I'll round them up. "
Ehrun/Wyrmac can hear the conversation down the hall.
The guard starts walking down the hall and is about to open the door to the storage facility....
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Seeing everything fall apart, Bahram will wait until the guard opens the door to the storage facility and cast vanish on himself. He would then like to cast ghost sound before moving, causing running footsteps to lead off to the west, in between the two guards. He would then like to sneak off after his friends. That is two rounds of actions, so do with it as needed.
Bahram will whisper the spell components for vanish
Hoping that the guards were not staring directly at him, he will whisper the verbal component for ghost sound
Finally, he will scurry off after his friends, with the mantra of 's*@$, s!%+, s#!+...' repeating in his head.
Both Cassiopia and Krima manage to sneak up to meet up with Ehrun and Wymarc.
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Either way, the guards aren't watching Bahram as he vanishes. As the bard casts sounds like footsteps to the west, two of the guards realize Bahram is gone. "He's invisible! He went this way."
Two of the guards run to the west. One guard hangs by the front door. Then the last guard (the one entering the storage room) falls back.
"I think we found out who our poisoners are. Lock this place up! Set a perimeter. No one in, no one out.". He pulls out his weapons, as do the other guards. "Kill on sight! Save one for interrogation."
Bahram manages to run up the hall and join his compatriots.