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In addition, the old wood can’t support much weight beyond a typical Medium creature. A larger creature, a character wearing heavy armor, or two or more Medium creatures who attempt to traverse the planks while remaining within 5 feet of each other cause the wood to creak and groan alarmingly. If such a PC (or PCs) remains in one spot on the pier for more than 1 round, the wood collapses, dropping the PC (or PCs) into the water.
Vedika tries her best to find concealment in the shadows. The door slowly opens and a head peers out nervously.
The blond human male looks around and spies Vedika
You recognize the man! Yargin Balko, a bitter human alchemist who’s served variously as Gaedren’s accountant, advisor, assassin, and fence for nearly a decade. Yargin is a perpetually sour-faced man with short blond hair and a fondness for expensive clothing. As the public face of
the operation here, he takes pride in his appearance even though his taste in clothes always seems to be at least 2 decades out of style.
Yargin is obsessed with acid and always carries a wand of Acid arrow on himself. He has one on him now in fact.
Yargin is the man who tortured you by dripping acid onto your face before disposing of you in the trash all those years ago.
No doubt you are happy to renew your acquaintance with him, going over old times.
Nethan, Ariadne & Vazhimort may act first. Yargin is peering out the door, not stepping onto the walkway. He knows how flimsy it is!
"Oh, hello! Someone is home! Excuse me! I was told to meet here! It was very," Vazhimort puts his finger to his lips and makes a "Sssh!" noise, "if you know what I mean. Some urchin said they needed help? Do you know what this is about?"
A sharp intake of breath escapes Ariadne, as she recognizes the bastard responsible for the left side of her face. She'd burned to get a chance at Yargin for years, and now here he was, poking his ugly head out of the door.
Determined not to let him get away, she strides closer, avoiding the shaky planking, locking eyes with the vile alchemist, and attempting to momentarily arrest his awareness with a quick arcane gesture.
With the element of surprise gone Nethen tries a change of approach. The head that pops out from the side door suggests that whoever is inside is waiting for an attack from there, so he moves to the main door to draw attention in more than one direction.
Keeping his whip in hand and ready to use Nethen moves over to the main door, hoping that it's in as bad nick as the walkway, and tries to shoulder it open.
Yargin swings his head towards Vazhimort while keeping Vedika in view, his mouth open to yell when Araidnes' spell hits him and he stares blankly, mouth gaping.
Nethan smashes through the doors at A1 startling a mangy cur that was resting there into a loud chorus of barking as it gets up to attack.
The Dog attempts to savage Nethan but stumbles as it lunges and hits its snout on the doorframe.
Yargin is Dazed this round. Vedika & Iorghil may act. Since it is the weekend we will also have Ariadne, Nethan & Vzahimort act as well.
Vedika curses her bad luck and tries to put some distance between herself and the sudden enemy.
As the door crashes open Nethen is surprised to see a dog rather than a person in the small room. The dog is obviously surprised too as it lunges at him but trips over it's own feet and thuds face first into the doorframe. Nethen seizes the opportunity and uncoils his whip, cracking it at the dog in an attempt to drive it off rather than kill it. "Another way in here!" he calls to the others.
Face twisting in a snarl of rage, Ariadne quickly draws a trio of coins from her coin purse, quickly uttering an arcane phrase as she imbues them with power. Bringing her hand up, she sends one of the coins streaking toward the hated alchemist.
In her haste, her shot goes wide, thudding into the side of the old building. Cursing to herself she turns and heads toward Nethen's breach point.
Ghil has no trouble choosing the front door over the rickety walkway over the water. He summons a celestial dagger to protect him; its translucent, shimmery form floats errantly around him as he moves to the door.
Vazhimort cocks his head and chuckles in confusion at the unexpected chaos that's been caused. He suddenly remembers himself, casts sleep on Yargin, and then sprints back down the pier.
Yargan shakes off Vazhimort's spell and turns to glare at him. He raises his wand and fires at him.
A sizzling blob of acid just misses Vazhimort.
The Dog yelps in pain and bites Nethan again.
Everyone can act again, however you hear a lot of movement from the other rooms and others will join combat next turn.
A sizzling blob of acid just misses Vazhimort.
"Yikes!"
Vazhimort turns tail and sprints up the pier and around the corner of the building where Yargan can't see him.
Vedika fails to do anything useful.
Nethen dodges the dog's slavering jaws, stepping neatly around the ferocious creature and flicking his whip out again to try and drive the beast off. As he steps into the room Nethen hears movement beyond, though it's not clear which of the four doors it's coming from. "More company coming!" he calls, hoping the others have time to prepare.
Taking a step forward into the spot vacated by Nethen, Ariadne slashes a low strike at the attacking guard dog, eyes scanning the room in preparation for any sign of Yargin. With a quick expression of will, arcane runes flare to life on her armor, enhancing its protective abilities.
Ariadne guts the cur and silences its barking for good.
"I'll cover these doors!" Ghil announces, moving over to the desk to watch the three doors in the northwest corner. Nodding over his shoulder at the eastern door behind him, he continues. "Someone get that one open!"
Yargan takes a shot at Vedika and misses.
.
The door to your left flies open and you see a crazed looking Gnome standing behind a group of ragged children. "Gettem you little shitbags!" he cackles, "Or I'll feed ya to the dog!"
The children look terrified, but step forward reluctantly, it seems the dog is something they fear.
The party can now act. The Gnome is making the children fight you. What are you doing?
"Don't worry kids, that mangy cur will never hurt you again." Ariadne says pointing at the slain dog with her sword. "Just stand aside and we'll deal with these bastards."
Hearing that Yargan is not ignoring Vedika as he had hoped, Vazhimort pokes his head around the corner and affixes him with a hypnotic stare. When he feels his connection to the alchemist, he casts hideous laughter on the man.
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Taking advantage of the momentary distraction as the gnome's eyes follow the point of her sword to the dog's carcass, Ariadne mentally directs her floating shield to the side, a quick flip and a flick of her thumb sending another gold coin streaking with remarkable speed in a flawless shotbetween the bastard's eyes.
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The Gnome staggers as Ariadne flicks a coin that somehow snaps through the air and dents his skull badly.
The orphans look with wide eyes at the slain mutt and slowly back at the Gnome, one of the older boys suddenly flings a pitchfork full of rancid fish guts directly into his eyes, blinding him!
The other three orphans see a chance for revenge and swarm the blinded Gnome with daggers and pitchforks, he dies with squeals of pain and fear.
Yargan starts convulsing with pained laughter. Collapsing to the floor of his office.
Vedika, Iorghil & Nethan can still act!
Vedika attempts to make a standing long jump across to the pier just across the tiny waterway but is unable to make the 10' of distance and falls into the water.
Nethen smiles to see the children taking their revenge against the gnome, knowing that their vengeance would please Calistria, then moves towards one of the doors that leads deeper into the building.
Before opening it he stops and turns back to the children and their bloody work. "Hey, kids!" he calls, "is Gaedren Lamm here somewhere?"
Ghil steps into the office where he conjures the barbed chains he already had in his mind. I single length of rusty iron chain burst forth from the floor, ripping at the prone foe.
Nethan. The kids nod vindictively, pointing to the northern door. "He's underneath, ya gotta go through there to reach it. But Giggles is in there and he's a bastard!"
Iorghil Sends a Barbed chain to rend Yargan as he writhes in painful mirth on the floor.
.
.
Vedika splashes into the the mucky water and comes to a sobering discovery, a Jigsaw shark is lurking in the waters below the old fishery and is delighted to have a full meal drop by, rather than the scraps it's been living off so far.
The Shark swims rapidly towards Vedika.
The Shark has moved. Yargan is still down. Everybody can act.
Vedika hauls herself out of the water on the other pier like a bedraggled wet rat.
"Thanks," Nethen says, grateful for the kids' help. "Lamm's this way," he calls to the others, pointing through the room to the door that leads down to Lamm's lair. He steps over the corpse of the gnome, around the blood-spattered children, and towards the door. He keeps his whip at the ready, just in case.
Storming into the room Iorghil entered, Ariadne plunges her blade into the writhing scumbag on the floor.
"Remember me @$$hole?" she growls, turning her head to make sure he could see the scarred side if her face, "Because I definitely remember you!"
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Seeing that Yargan is magically (and barb-ally) chained, still under the effects of his laughing spell, and -- sensing through his psychic connection with her -- that he's now being approached by a vengeful Ariadne, Vazhimort is confident that the alchemist is taken care of.
He'll run over to help Vedika climb up if she's having trouble, otherwise he'll just call to her.
"Come on! Let's catch up to the others! Ariadne's getting vengeance! Let's watch!"
he'll enter the warehouse via the main doors.
"Nethen, wait for the rest of us! Ariadne's getting vengeance! Come see!"
Yargan has a split second to remember Ariadne and his eyes widen in terror before she pins him to the floor putting her longsword through his gut with an extra twist for good measure.
Nethen can hear someone trying (badly) to sneak up the stairs to the door he's watching. Someone is trying to be quiet and see what's happening here?
Vedika is out of the water and the shark is sad.
What are you doing now? Everyone can act this round.
Vedika moves very cautiously down the rickety pier, trying to stay quiet and aware that it could collapse at any time. She halts when she notices someone in the doorway and silently pulls a small shard of metal from somewhere in her garments.
.
The creak of poorly maintained stairs beyond the door is a dead giveaway that someone is trying to surprise the group. Nethen seizes the advantage, stepping forward and yanking the door open. He looses his whip and flicks it out low towards the legs of whoever is beyond.
Ghil decides to try another--hopefully parallel--path, jaunting down the short hallway to briefly listen for trouble before opening the next door.
"WOW!" Vazhimort watches Ariadne end Yargan's life.
"How does that feel? Wait! We don't have time, now, but after we get Gaedren Lamm, we can compare notes! Let's go!"
Vazhimort moves to follow Nethen, but when he sees Iorghil head in a different direction, he pauses in indecision.
Not quite sure yet, how to respond to Vazhimort's question, Ariadne nods, stripping Yargan's body of anything useful, and quickly striding after Nethren, pausing to speak with the children as she steps over the dead gnome.
"You all stay here okay. We'll come back for you when we're done dealing with the rest of these bastards." she says, looking at each of the kids as she speaks.
Vazhimort moves to follow Nethen, but when he sees Iorghil head in a different direction, he pauses in indecision.
Nethen slashes his whip at a surprised Half-orc, but the doorway and stairs throw his aim off. Iorghil finds the door he opens is onto the walkway on the other side of the large, reeking workroom.
A8 Fishery Floor
The floor here is slick with river water, bits of seaweed, and fish blood, and the air is thick with the accompanying scents. Wooden catwalks to the north and south allow access between the western part of the fishery and the floor of the room, which is ten feet lower.
A wide opening in the floor to the south allows direct access to the sloppy, muddy water of the Jeggare River a further three feet down, while to the northwest stands an immense eightfoot-tall wooden vat, its sides caked and waterproofed with tar.
Inside is a foul-looking mixture of chum, river water, and who knows what else. To the east are stacked many barrels and crates, each with a fish painted on it. Over a dozen small hammocks hang from under the catwalks, each with its own ratty blanket and pillow.
The Half-orc recovers and steps up to swing his morning star at Nethen.
The rusty spikes slamming into Nethan hard!
The party may now act!
Vedika makes her way cautiously down the rest of the length of the pier to shore.
Nethen reels back as the half-orc's morningstar slams into him, the spikes digging into his ribs even through his armour. "F$*@," he curses before bringing his whip around again to try to trip the burly bruiser down the stairs. "Kids, some help?" he calls, hoping these youngsters will be as hungry for vengeance as their friends.
Nethen steps back to allow Ariadne past, pleased that she has been able to take some revenge of her own. "After you milady," he says with a grin and a small mock bow.