Krystal's shot misses by a hair, but Ragnar takes the massive vermin down. Not long after it drops to the floor lifeless, the creature's body and skin shifts and elongates, transforming into a young woman's form.
"Oh dear, that really was a wererat!" says Caroliss in surprise. Her voice betrays some regret about the woman's death. "Strange, have all these Tower Girls cursed themselves with lycanthropy?"
"Not all of 'em." Krystal replied, who frowned at the latest development. "If Terisha wasn't infected, there had to be others who's still human. What I should have asked is if these girls did this to themselves willingly."
Ragnar scans the young women, including any sense of being stabilizable.
If yes, then
Still a sentient creature that is someones sister, someones daughter, and nobody is paying me murder rates. He pauses
Karoliss or Anansi, can you stabilize her?
if no, then
May the savored sting take you into her bosom, were you hers, or may your soul safely reach your destination, your struggles have ended. Ragnar makes a reasonable assumption on her likely deity, offering a short prayer, before closing her eyes with surprising gentleness.
Ragnars body language displays a degree of unhappiness about having killed a sentient creature.
Anansi the Spider calmly looks up from examining a fresh boot print (left by Ragnar, but he rolled a 1). The halfling nods solumly before casting Stablize on the unconscious wereeat.
She will be out a few hours, but should recover eventually. We can take any we find back to the Lodge. Let our betters determine their fate.
The shaman then asks the Ancestors for Guidance before searching the previously guarded door.
Once again, the man was hard to read. It was a level of empathy she did not expect from him. But she could see Caroliss was feeling uncomfortable with it as well. In response, she held the cleric's hand i support. "We'll be more careful next time."
With she went through the next hall.
The good thing about fighting demons/devils is that you never feel sorry for them Ragnar grumbles, looking very appreciative of the groups efforts at stabilization.
If she is stabilized, he quickly moves to hogtie her with her belt.
Let us proceed then?
"Hmm... only one of us can squeeze in at a time."Krystal once again gestures Ragnar to go ahead.
Ragnar does as bid, but a lot less stealthy or perceptive, perhaps on account of some internal disraction.
Caroliss returns Krystal's grasp with a squeeze. "It's okay--I was just . . . surprised. We'll have to get our hands dirty if we're going to get out of here safely, right?" She seems to be coming to accept her own statement and returns a faint smile.
As the way ahead becomes narrow, the noblewoman waits for Krystal to go, then follows behind.
"Eh, it's not like we have to," Krystal admitted. "And I'm not comfy taking out fellow thieves. They've got mouths to feed too. This crime boss better not be forcing this on the girls..."
With a grumble, she went ahead into the staircase, holding Caroliss' hand behind her.
Ambriel finds her ad hoc experiment quite satisfactory in outcome. She makes a mental note about the effectiveness of mind affecting spells on lycanthropes in animal form.
As for the woman's fate, Ambriel reveals nothing about her thoughts. She doesn't seem distressed by the possibility of her death, nor does she complain about waiting while she is stabilized and restrained.
She waits for most of her companions to start down the stairway before she does so herself, putting her almost at the rear.
Anansi the Spider gives the thumbs up to the others. The halfling follows behind Ragnar and Krystal.
The team slowly and quietly climbs the stairs. And climbs. And climbs. Based on the number of stairs and the frequency of landings in the narrow stairwell, they appear to have ascended about four floors.
The stairs open up at the top to a room filled with broken furniture. Playing cards at a rectangular table are two young women playing a card game by the light of a cooking fire. The smoke from the fire exits the room to the south.
Ragnar switches weapons to his Sap and shield, reading himself to perform a surprise attack.
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"Did you hear something?" One of the women asks the other. Both halt their game and turn to look toward the stairs. "Sasha? Is that you?"
Sasha, s!**, my little sister is called Alexandra, which, because Kellid short name conventions are weird, would be "Sasha" as a diminutive!
Ragnar thinks, with no small degree of guilt as he seeks to slink back into the shadows. Holding his breath as a vision of his adorable little sister, giving a wide smile standing on top of her first killed demon, long blond hair flying behind her and giving the traditional Kellid victory sign of extended thumb and little finger, flashes before his inner eye.
He could not possible fake a female voice and remains utterly silent.
Ambriel freezes on the spot and waits. Unless they're going in offensively she has no magic readied to help.
Anansi the Spider creeps along behind Ragnar and Krystal. The shaman peers about for any traps, trips, treats.
Anansi the Spider then pokes each of them, shooing them forward to deal with the problem.
Caroliss decides that maybe she could convince the two girls to approach an ambush. Praying for the luck of Calistria, she tries calling back, with a lie she hopes would be appealing to thieves.
"I think there's more treasure beneath that weird dust downstairs!" She coughs a little like she's inhaled the dust, hoping it'll explain any strangeness with her voice. "It's heavy, though. Come down and help me move it!"
Crap. It was only a matter of time before someone would screw up sneaking around. And seeing that Ragnar was frozen in fear as well, she volunteered to move in front of Ragnar. She nodded towards Caroliss before drawing out her weapon.
The two women look at each other. "What are you talking about? Didn't Ayala herself neutralize the Ungol dust?" Ragnar can see them lean in close and whispers.
"Oh. Okay!" The other woman calls out. "Be Right down!" She picks up a card from the table and tosses one down from her hand. "She gets bored down there. I'm bored now too, keep playing."
S~*#, also a prankster?
Ragnar readies himself to rage and commence boinking, as soon as she turns around the corner.
That went well. With the first woman distracted, she moved up to block the exit while she called out the other lady.
"It's a trap! Hold them off while I go get some help!"
Caroliss readies herself to charge in.
Ambriel gets ready for something or other to happen.
Anansi the Spider frowns at the lack of interest from his Frontline. The halfling decides to get this ambush actively alarming!
The shaman begins to cast Summon Nature's Ally...
The two women look at each other and shake their heads. "What, Sasha? Huh?" One shouts annoyed. Both stand up and approach the stairs. When they turn the corner they're frozen for a moment, shocked at the sight of five people who are most certainly not Sasha!
As the girls come to them, Caroliss gives Ragnar the blessing of Calistria!
I end this quickly, maybe nobody dies
Ragnar thinks as he bloodrages and does a powerful blow against the tower girl in front of him.
SURRENDER OR ELSE He gnarls
With little room to maneuver, Krystal decides to give make some room by squeezing past the girls.
Ambriel chooses the one of the two whom she has the best line of sight on and hits her with a quick bit of magic to stun her.
Ragnar knocks one of the women out cold with one stroke before screaming in the face of her startled compatriot. The shouting may have been enough to throw off the effects of Ambriel's spell. Or maybe it was Krystal cartwheeling between her and the slowly dropping unconscious Tower Girl beside her.
Anansi the Spider wa5ch3s the action with a grin. Beseeching the Ancestors, the shaman does indeed give their Guidance to Ragnar.
Kick her in the balls!
The halfling shrugs.
What? Just repeating what Grandma Abigail is shouting!
Fearful that the remaining woman might run away, Caroliss utters a single word. "Approach!"
She then retreats a few steps down the stairs.
In case she fails and provokes from ragnar.
"Wait! Don't hurt me! I surrender!" She says with a hoarse voice and panic in her eyes.
I accept, on your knees, hands behind your back. Know me as a Gorrumite, striking down surrendering foes is anathema to us, you will likely be ransomed, exchanged, or let go on condition of a future favor.
The Lord in Iron teaches us great wroth against those who fake surrender, one of the few ways to piss him off actually.
Ragnar starts binding her. They will presumably have ropes of their own, also blindfolding her.
Ragnars CMB is 6 (he is not raging through the entire tieing her up process), meaning the binding DC is 26 for purposes of escape artist.
She will also be blinded, for a -4 to her escape artist, so total DC is a solid 30.
Krystal grins as the girl surrenders. "Excelelnt choice. You don't get to walk away with no bruises. You know what would make us even happier?"
She proceeded to push the girl's shoulders against the wall with her hands while growling. "If you can show us where to get to Ayala and Terisha."
"Please listen to Krystal--she knows how to play rough." Caroliss gives Krystal a knowing wink.
.
I would note that Gorrums teachings only prohibit killing of prisoners. Ragnar states matter of factly, leaving it open what they do not prohibit.
Although I deem abuse of prisoners distastefull, nothing would stop me looking away. Our quarrel however is with your leadership, not with you. If you speak to use truely, and without falsehood, I would be honorbound to protect you from any attempts to that matter.
He states.
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Ambriel rolls her eyes at all the talking the humans around her seem compelled to do. She passes the captives to have a look around.
Bleat, bleat, bleat. Always bleating to each other about each other. No wonder my head is throbbing.
Unfortunately, all Ambriel is able to find is trash strewn about three small adjacent chambers to the room the guards were in. She does see their pile of silver on the table they were asking with.
The still conscious Tower Girl complies readily with Ragnar's directions. "Things have been bad since that dust-up with the Wreckwash Blades. Then Natalya? The Girls ain't going to be around much longer. If it'll get me out of this city in one piece, I will tell you what I can about Ayala.
"Ayala is, well, it's kind of complicated, but there is a secret door back there, just keep going. You have to climb when you get to the window. You'll see what I mean."
Hmm, extraction in return for information? Not unreasonable. Tell me more about your skillset. Did you consider mercenary work? Also, are you a wererat? You could get higher prices if you are, the innate abilities are useful. Caravans seek to leave Magnimar for other cities frequently. Become a merc, get paid for escorting one. Have some extra starting cash in a different city.
Stealthy means your a reasonable scout, likely good climber. Issue is your a thief, but if you can keep your hands out of the caravans pockets for one journey, it could be done. You would probably need the word of a merc in good reknown to get in, but that can be arranged.
Ragnar offers some options. Smiling at the last sentence. Still certified Good Cop. He presumably finished tying her up by now.
He joinks everything but the leather armor, and motions to Krystal for a pat down of it.
It wasn't a dynamic she was used to, but with Ragnar turning out to be squeamish with dealing with the girls, she decided to pick up the slack.
She maintained her composure, but did turn around to give Caroliss a wink before continuing the Bad Cop routine. She raised a hand to stop Ragnar from tying up the girl for the moment. "Sweetheart, do you really think you can make a fool of me? I know there's a second in command here too." She took a hand to the girl's cheek and turned her head so they were face to face. "Now where is Terisha?"
The woman nods and shakes her head in response to Ragnar's many questions. Then Krystal brings the heat.
"I don't know!" She blurts out going pale and with wide eyes. "She could be anywhere! With Ayala, at least you know in the end she is worried about getting paid, but Terisha is a psychopath!" She winces after saying the last part out loud and quickly looks around in fright, worried Terisha may have heard her.
Krystal narrows her eyes as if she was trying to gaze into her very soul... before letting go of the girl. "I'm done with her. Go ahead any tie her up."
Once Ragnar was done wrapping things up, she the short sword, tanglefoot bag and climbing equipment for herself before letting the others shift through the items. While walking away, she turned back to add one more thing.
"And there's no harm in going solo for a while. At least until you find a group that treats you better."
She turned back where her face turned into a genuine grimace.
.
Caroliss glances at Krystal and frowns. It seems like she wants to say something, but then she looks back at the Tower Girl. The half-elf wasn't going to mess up Krystal's tough act. So she heads toward the collection of things left by the two Tower Girls.
"So climbing is not exactly my strong suit. But it looks like this climbing gear might help. Let's take a look at that secret door."