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Hayden curses at the man closes in on him. He stumbles back. "You can focus on me, but I have two mages on my side!"
"And one of those mages is Golthwur Strath, Fosterer of Force and Progenitor of Projectiles!" declares one of the two mages as he draws a wand and sends a force projectile towards Amistis.
Tath knocks the man with the fire ball necklace out in two swift strokes of his weapon. Karl finally stops laughing as Sendeli gets close enough to the fight to help.
Golthwur sends a single magic missile at Amistis, who laughs as it hits. "That tickles. Are you sure you're an actual magic user and not some glorified wand waving charalatan? I mean the portly one over there actually kept me out of the fight for a while!"
Eltran very nearly cuts his own throat as he tries to help Sir Hayden. "But if he's just going to fight us, then I guess he isn't much of a worry."
He then turns back to Sir Hayden. "Being shy? YOu shouldn't walk away so quickly!"
He steps up and then levels a furious serious of blows at the archer.
Only the first two hit, but they draw blood.
Sendeli rushes up to the last body, slides the necklace out of a pocket and tosses it to Tath. "Take this and go help your friends! I'll make sure that this one doesn't get free. Period. Also thank-you for keeping him alive. Less blood to clean up afterwards." She then whips another tablecloth off the nearby table and wraps the unconscious body of Karl in it.
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
and then there was one!
General active conditions Inspire courage +2 to hit and damage
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
Eltran
Amistis -5
★ Hayden -28
Sendeli
Thugs:
Karl, white Out for the count
Frankie, black
★ Golthwur
★ Tath
=========
Round 6:
★ Eltran
Bolded may act.
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Hayden grunts at the attacks. "Golthwur, a little more on the force and projectiles would help!" He limps back, using his bow to ward off any initial attacks and just focuses on gaining some distance.
"Of course, when in need, the mundanes always find themselves groveling for magic--even if it among the most simple of spells," Golthwur sighs as he flicks the wand to release another bolt at Amistis.
Sendeli points to a table at the lower level. "You can use that to break your fall. It's the oldest and needed replacing sometime soon anyways!"
Sir Hayden gets some distance between him and the crazed elf, as Tath jumps off the upper level to the lower one. Eltran backs up a little and Golthwur sends another magic missile into the back of the elf.
Amistis moves up to Sir Hayden, pressing his advantage and trying to limit the archer from being able to shoot. "You ain't running from me pretty boy!"
He gets only a single solid hit in, missing with his off handed swing.
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
It’s raining communists!
General active conditions Inspire courage +2 to hit and damage
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
Amistis -7
★ Eltran
★ Hayden -40
Sendeli
★ Golthwur
★ Tath
Bolded may act.
Amistis gives a smile as Sir Hayden stays within stepping distance and quickly closes the gap, pressing home his advantage.
He lashes out four times, two with each weapon, cackling the whole time.
He gives a frustrated grumble as there's no blood on his swords to lick and pauses for a moment before abruptly raising his hands above his head and dropping the weapons to the ground. With a wicked smile on his face he turns to everyone in the room and says, ”You’re Pathfinders, right? Reputation says you can’t kill me if I surrender. So, I’m surrendering. Feel free to take my weapons and tie me up, hells give me over to the Watch! I nearly killed a half-elf today, I’m satisfied.”
He stands there for a moment smiling. "Well what are you going to do?"
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Hayden pushes his back and then slams him down onto a table, pulling the Amistis' arms around behind him. "Don't move, you miserable dog!" Be proceeds to tie him up. "Are those other two out?"
Once everyone is secured, Hayden pulls out his healing wand to deal with some of his wounds. As he does so, he asks Amistis, "What happened to Syrdathiel? Who took him?"
[spoiler=Healing]
[/spoiler[
Sir Hayden slams Amistis against the table and holds him in place, tying him up. The other two are definitely out or tied up. Amistis at first just smiles at his questioning, commenting, "Oh, you don'T recognize the symbol my colleagues were wearing? Well that's too bad. I guess, you'll have to find out the hard way..."
He pauses as an incised Tath moves up and threatens to take off a hand. The elf freezes crumpling under the bigger scarier 'bully' and quickly and quietly mutters, "He's still alive! I promise, we just took him back to our hideout, trying to see if there was more to his collection! We're Crownsworn! In the Ivy District! Just a few blocks from here. Don't let him cut my hand off!"
He stays in a tight ball and actively tries his best to stay away from Tath. Sendeli comes downstairs with the necklace very gingerly held in hand, a shortbow across her back. She gives the necklace over to Tath along with a potion, the bow, a key and a quiver of arrows. "You could probably use these, the arrows seem magical and well, I want that necklace GONE from here."
Amistis has a masterwork longsword and shortsword on him as well as a set of clothes that look like normal clothes but are actually a mithral chain shirt and a copy of the same key the other two had.
Very shortly, the Ivy Watch and the Brotherhood of Abadar arrive at the same time and, after questioning everyone twice, quickly devolve into bickering over who gets to take the prisoners and escort important people home. Sendeli rolls her eyes over this development and quickly ushers everyone into the kitchens. "You handled that well... Minus letting the elf get free. And I thank-you for keeping them from using that necklace, cleaning up will be a bit easier without any burned wood to replace."
She hands Tath, Eltran and Hayden a business card. "You handled that fight well. If you ever need my help, please let me know. Now it seems that you know where to go, is there anything else you need from me?"
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Eltran is really glad it’s over.
When the authorities arrive he explains what happened and looks at Sendeli.
“I am sure that the Ms Sendeli, patron of this restaurant can vouch for us and assure you that we really try to resolve the situation! These here are the villains! The elf's real name and the mark on the armor of the thugs is known to me. These men work for the Crownsworn, a bit of a misnomer gvien it is a group of thieves and bandits sworn to none but themselves. I have heard that their base recently changed ownership to an surprisingly new guild master when the previous one started showing his age and making mistakes. I have not heard much about these three though as Frankie and Karl are both clearly low level grunts and Amistis is a higher rank but hasn't pulled off any major heists in decades. Thanks for your support in securing them!“
Eltran also casts detect magic and starts itemizing.
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Sendeli rolls her eyes over this development and quickly ushers everyone into the kitchens. "You handled that well... Minus letting the elf get free. And I thank-you for keeping them from using that necklace, cleaning up will be a bit easier without any burned wood to replace....
"Yes, yes, you are quite welcome," Golthwur replies. "I'd be happy to take such a dangerous magical item out of your establishment, so to avoid any unnecessary cleaning."
"Say, Sendili Foxglove, is it not?" he inquires. "I must admit that you have interesting clientele, but I am uncertain just where it is you came from? I am a man who loves unfolding mysteries."
"And, I cannot help but note that your establishment here looks well-maintained and alluring," he continues. "Surely, such opulence is beyond the mere returns of a single commercial culinary concession?"
Both Golthwur and Eltran are able to identify a variety of items, the potion is definitely a potion of blur, the bow is just masterwork but the ten arrows with it are +1 arrows and the armor Armistis had on is glamered +2 mithral chain shirt. But neither can verify if the purported necklace of fireballs is actually one or not.
Both groups of authorities take down everything that eltran says with an avid interest as they try to get an edge on each other in the investigation. While they elbow each other, Sendeli looks over at Sir Hayden and his worrying comment and looks anxious for a moment.
Sendeli thinks things over for a moment before leaning in closer to Sir Hayden and commenting, ”You should keep your eyes on Xaran Hidock over there, the local painter is also Always’s secret… ‘friend.’ If you want to dig deeper, asking them might be a good idea.”
Sendeli, getting away from Sir Hayden, then is surprised to see Golthwur standing there asking about her past. She rears up at the mention of how her establishment couldn’t pay for itself. “You clearly haven’t been to many fine dining places. As you’d find out if you actually had a meal here, there’s a reason there are no prices in the menu. As for where I come from…”
Sendeli looks at Eltran and then Golthwur. She deflates slightly from her offended look earlier and takes a seat at a table. "Right, people would be curious about my past and you saved not just my life but my livelihood today as well. If you must know, I was one of two daughters to survive my family's proclivities for murder, magic, and suicide. If you ever have a chance to look up the Varisian Foxgloves, you'd know we have more than a few scandals in our family history. I was luckily raised by extended family in Korvosa after my parents’ 'tragic death.'" She pauses taking a heavy drink of a half empty wine bottle to brace herself before continuing, "But I wasn't going to stay in a place figuratively and probably literal haunted by spectres of my family's past, and was determined to captain my own destiny. So I sold what remained of my Foxglove inheritance when I was legally old enough to and moved here to Absalom, intent on forgetting my own past and getting a fresh start. So, I guess good wizard I owe you an apology, yes the place pays for itself, but I needed a good deal of capital to get it started in the first place."
She stands back up, fixes her hair and dress as her professional mask slides back into place. "Now, could I ask you to not spread that around too much, or at least change things every telling? The allure of a good mystery certainly helps with attracting customers. Now if you don't mind me, I need to make sure that this fiasco isn't the end of my business."
With Eltran's almost unnatural knowledge of things, and a solid look from Tath at Amistis, you quickly find yourselves standing outside the Glass Menagerie, the building seems to have closed up for day, despite being mid afternoon. Peering inside the windows shows an unlit showroom lined with three display cases filled with delicate glass, crystal baubles, and novelty art objects. A set of double doors is centered in the front of the building, while a double door mirrors them behind the counters. The two doors to the front are locked. Alleys run alongside either side of the place as well.
Sendeli waves Eltran and everyone else off with a warm, but still business style smile. "Stay safe, and I hope you rescue the true elf you were here to meet."
The place looks empty, so a B&E wouldn't alert many people inside the building from the looks of it, but this is still the Ivy District and an brazen and open attempt on the streets like this might draw some attention especially from the Watch or Brotherhood. Maybe the alley would work better? Or a key?
The keys slide in smoothly and unlock the door with a click, allowing the group inside without a problem.
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"Wizard, use your magic and get rid off this lock." Tath commands.
"It is true that I have gaseous form prepared, which would make it a simple matter for me to enter through a small crevasse and then take a material form beyond the portal and, thus, open it simply from the inside," lectures Golthwur.
"However, I think this trivial matter does not warrant the use of such power as capable as I may be," huffs the wizard.
”Something whispered into my ears … “ he says and tries to open the door with the key.
"Yes, a key should do almost as well as a spell."
Golthwur takes in the sights.
Eltran takes a look through the room, along with a more precursory glance from Golthwur. Neither finds anything dangerous or more questionable than a slightly questionably made glass statue of a dog. The room has a few pieces of glass, enough and quality enough to convince people it's a business but low enough and uninteresting enough to discourage purchases. Gathered together there could be enough for about 100 gold.
There's nothing else here but the doors behind the counter and the one north of it.
The door not behind the counters proves to be another small staging area
The other one proves to be occupied.
This unlit workshop features two workbenches covered with tools and equipment relevant to the art of glassblowing. Against the western wall is a large barrel of water. Along the east wall are three separate kilns with chimneys leading to the roof. To the south is a closed door. The place is empty and dusty enough that it very likely sees no to little use.
There's no prescence of magic in any of the three rooms and nothing obvious when you open the doors. The Crownsworn have certainyly tried to hide the entrance to their place enough to stand a quick inspection of the place.
Only Sir Hayden is able to recognize that the last kiln has significantly less dust than the other two with the dust piled around the edges and not in the center at all. There might be a trap door here to a lower level!
Hayden and Eltran start to mess with the trap door, either the brushing or attempt to open it causes something to give a loud click as rocks from the ceiling fall down on the people in the room.
Hayden deftly dodges the falling block but Eltran isn't quite fast enough to avoid it fully taking a bump from the flying rock.
It takes a moment to lift the rock back up and get the now-not trapped trap door open. The opening extends down about 20 feet to a lit corridor with a rope ladder connecting the two spaces.
The 10 foot wide corridor below begins at the rope ladder, and runs to the south. Doors are set in the east and west walls, and a pair of double doors lies at the southern end. At either end, the hallway is lit by flickering torches set in the walls. The area appears swept and well trafficked.
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"Old man, get in here, I want you on the front lines with myself."
"I would hardly call the half-elf old," Golthwur opines. "While, of course, elven kind are a rather long-lived species and such longevity may, to some extent, necessarily pass on to their offspring even if one partner is not of elven blood, such do not nearly live as long as those with pure elven ancestry. Why, the difference in lifespans--quite aptly, I suppose--could be a ratio of two-to-one with a half elf living only half as long as a true elf--where life circumstances are similar, that is."
"As for myself--I, Golthwur Strath, am a Strategist Among Sorcerers and a Mastermind Among Mages--well trained in suited to command the battlefield from any locale or point of view," he adds. "I am quite comfortable remaining within the middle of you lot."