GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

Leaving All the World's Meat
Bluff (Hiding her emotions): 1d20 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 1 - 4 = -2 Oh that's just perfect.

Audria stops as Abella steps in front of her and pulls her chin up. As she listens, anger sparks in her blue eyes. Feeling guilty feels virtuous? No. Audria doesn't feel guilty because she wants to feel virtuous. She feels guilty because she didn't listen, and this time she's not just endangered herself but her friends. She's put the whole mission in jeopardy because she thought she could talk those men and persuade them to come in peacefully. She thought she was competent, and her pride probably just raised the price in blood that they were going to have to pay.

She glares at Abella for a moment before snatching her chin free and walking around the mage. Talanaliel looks from Abella to Audria as confused as anyone else by the obvious anger the young paladin is radiating.

Meeting up with everybody and making plans
Audria wasn't certain what she expected, but Shrike's tone only seems to deflate the young paladin even more. Sure, she, Pip, and Talanaliel had gotten away with a little information, but saying that is a success only confirms in Audria's mind that she should have never gone in the first place. She's no investigator, nor is she anything like Black Jack or even Abella, Shrike, or Pip.

She keeps quiet and nods, though it isn't clear if she is agreeing with Shrike's words or simply acknowledging them. She takes the sap and wonders if she'll prove as incompetent with it as she had with her decision to talk to the deserters.

"Maybe you'll prove useful by catching an arrow or a blade," a wickedly cutting half-elven voice tells her in her mind. "It's the only thing you've been good at so far."

Shrike's question draw her out of her thoughts for a moment. She hadn't thought of the points she raises, and now that she has, they seem so blindingly obvious to Audria that she finds herself spiraling deeper into self-doubt.

"It's only a matter of time before they see through the lies and toss you aside," the voice tells her. "Who'd want some one her own mother didn't even want?"

Abella sees how she has angered Audria into silence and grins. She even claps her hands in triumph. Good, good. Be angry, Canary. Seethe, tell yourself how wrong I am. That I hit such a nerve shows I’m on the right track. You’ll figure it out. And at least you are angry now instead of depressed. Anger gets things done.

Abella has an “aha!” moment ad Shrike gives her read on the situation. ”Oh, of course! The money. It’s always about the money. That would certainly help explain why they are so comfortable and sedentary if they have a backer. This might even be a job. There wouldn’t happen to be any banks nearby? Ones you could tunnel to from a basement? Playing at being a gang would certainly be a good cover.”

Knowledge (Local) to answer Abella's question: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

I don't know if Shrike would know based on that, so I won't answer yet. The Bank of Abadar is in the North Point district, but closer to City Hall and the government buildings I think.

The butcher shop is located quite close to Northgate and the exit to North Bridge; if the ex-guardsmen were to tunnel into the Bank of Abadar from here, that would be quite the undertaking - at least two and a half city blocks. On the other hand, there's always the sewers - or the Vaults, the complex and labyrinthine system of subterranean tunnels that incorporate ancient Shoanti burial mounds, natural caverns and worked tunnels.

"I dunno," Dal mused. “I think that's giving them too much credit. Most guards I've dealt with in my life had trouble adding two digit numbers together but even they would be smart enough to not mess with Abadar's people." He leaned against the alley wall and continued thinking out loud.

"We've got ex-guards who have ingratiated themselves in a community by providing people with free meat. No, I think the mercenary bit is their plan. I mean, what’s the cost of a pig? Ten sails? Maybe less?” He was becoming more energetic as he worked through the gang’s possible scheme.

“Think about it: ten, twenty sails for a couple of animals for butchering. You're not losing money by giving away the meat. You’re investing in potential customers for your real business. You hand out a few silver shields worth of ham to someone, they go home, get in a fight with a neighbor or a lover, and suddenly they’re thinking about the ex-guards who can rough someone up. They come back to you the next day, except now they’re handing you a small stack of sails. It’s not much to you, but it’s all they’ve got, and on top of that, you just covered the cost of one of the pigs you gave away. And they’re just the first of several people coming in. ”

Dal bobbed his head from side to side, “Yeah, it could be slow work building enough wealth to leave Korvosa, if that was your goal. But, if you had the neighborhood on your side, you could do it slowly. Slowly and in relative safety. Unless, of course, the Field Marshal herself took an interest in your absence.”

"Does it matter whether they are trying to rob a bank or just beat people up? Both are bad," Talanaliel says as she looks from Abella to Dal. "The question is what do we do now?"

Audria listens from where she sits in the alley. Talanaliel is right. What the Cow Hammer Boys are up to is less important than the fact that they are up to something, and appear to be hurting people in the process. She looks down at the sap again and hopes she won't have to use it. Maybe Shrike or Dal could do what she couldn't. They both seem smarter and far more knowledgeable about how things like this work.

Why did you pick me, my goddess? Why me over more deserving and capable souls? I'm nothing but a street rat dressed in pretty clothes.

She feels Gaedren Lamm's shade looming over her and sneering at her along with the half-elven woman from her nightmares.

"Halvara was right! I should have never had you. You never should have been born," she hears in a voice not unlike her own. It sounds older, tired, worn down. Her mother's voice, it has to be. Fingers tighten around Audria's throat and the young paladin shakes her head violently. No! Her mother wouldn't have done that. She wouldn't! She hadn't!

She hadn't, or was that a lie Audria tells herself?

Audria shies away from the thoughts and memories lurking just out of reach. Those were things she can't face now. Ever since that night in Castle Korvosa, when she'd had that nightmare and Talanaliel had first changed from a bird into a half-elf, or something that looks like one, there had been that question just on the edge of her thoughts. She can't look at it too closely now. The others are counting on her. She can't fall apart, not now.

"But were you ever really whole to begin with," the half-elf, Halvara, yes, that was her name, asks.

"No bank nearby. Down into the Vaults and up again maybe. But they're dangerous." Shrike shrugs. To Dal's theory she says, "Ten or twenty sails a day is expensive advertising. Maybe it's temporary. Or maybe they've got a cheaper source. Offloading sick animals or something."

She shakes her head slightly. "This might be big or it might be small. Doesn't matter. Like the bird says, either way they need stopping." Audria has already picked up a sap. That's good. Now Shrike offers the other human-sized one to Abella and the smaller one to Pippip, hilt-first. She didn't get one for Dal. She hasn't seen that he carries more than a dagger, and frogmakers tend to rely on their magic to the exclusion of weapons. Foolish, in her opinion, since magic can run out. "Choices. There a quiet way in?"

Shrike wants to scout the butcher shop and go in from an unexpected place, ideally a window or the roof. Ready to act when others are. Abella may not be able to use the sap well either, but Shrike has seen her use what is essentially an elven rapier, so thinks she has more weapons training than maybe she does.

Shrike takes inventory of the possible entrances. Aside from the front door, down the narrow alley to the right there is a door into some kind of shed next to the pen where the animals are kept before being butchered. There's only one window that's easily accessible on the ground floor, and that is the large display window at the front of the building. There are plenty of windows on the upper floor, which is much smaller than the lower one - likely only a couple of rooms. The roof is hipped and shingled.

"I should probably stay back," Audria says while gesturing at her armor. "Maybe whoever is going should have Tally tagalong. She can come get me if I'm needed." She turns to the bird-turned-half-elf and asks, "would that be alright with you?"

Talanaliel sighs then nods.

"I'll go with Shrike," she says before her form twists and shrinks into that of a thrush. She flits over to Shrike's shoulder and settles down. "Don't worry about me, I can hop off if you need me to," she tells the vigilante.

Pip had thought of volunteering to go along.
"As long as Tally can summon us to back you up, it seems a solid plan. I just don't think we want to force things till we get more info-- so direct action should be avoided."

He looks in his pack.
"At least I replenished my food stocks, so we can settle into a long vigil to watch this place."

Pip starts with the chicken salad as that was the most perishable of his stock.

The mask turns only slightly as the little bird lands on her shoulder, but Talanaliel can feel Shrike's gaze through the flat black eye holes. After a second, she nods. "Think you could fly up to those windows and look in."

To Pip she says, "We could stake it out." The croaking voice doesn't sound enthusiastic. Since the decision was made, she had been half-hoping they could end this tonight. The halfling's cautious proposal is probably wiser, and is certainly what she would do before ever setting foot in the place, if she were foolish enough to try doing this alone. Understanding their numbers and schedules would be crucial. Kroft had said this Vancaskerkin had only a small crew, but that is not a guarantee. If they go in tonight, it will be hoping that the boss robin was right about the group's size and that all of them happen to be there. That's a lot of hope.

I'm one vote for all going in tonight if that seems at all possible or wise from a cursory reconnoiter by Shrike and Talanaliel. If not, we can find a good hidden vantage point and stake the place out for another day. Also, I forgot this before because I guess I was still thinking that the group had a set between us, but now I realize that Shrike should have bought some common thieves' tools (30 gp) at the Dock Trade, the same semi-shady warehouse market, at the same time as buying the saps. She knew, even if I forgot, that Garrett was the only one who had had them and the group might have to break in somewhere. Is that okay to declare, GM?

"Yep! I sure can," Talanaliel says before flying off to see what she can through the windows.

Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (8) + 20 = 28
Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

Audria watches Talanaliel take off and prays for her safety. She tries to push the thoughts that keep haunting her since her failure trying to persuade the Cow Hammer Boys to give up and go back to the Guard. For that matter, she failed before she even really got a chance to try. The doubts remain, but she is at least able to silence the voices of Halvara and Lamm.

"What do we do if they head out on a job," she asks the others.

Dal could feel Pockets watching as Tally flew away. Was that jealousy? He shook the cat's emotions from his mind and addressed the others.

"Personally, I'd like to be done with this tonight. If we wait another day or two, that could someone else gets a chance to hire them for thug work."

Pockets twisted his body between Dal's legs.

Anxious

"I know, I know," he bent and scratched the cat on one cheek.

He stood up straight. "It's the middle of the night. Chances are, some of them, if not all, are asleep. If we're really going to do this while aiming for as few deaths as possible, we should go now."

GM, are there any lights on in the butcher shop?

Abella taps the pommel of her sword. ”Let’s just go tonight. I have some new tricks I’d be loving to try out.”

While the front window of the shop is dark, there's a faint glimmer of light in the upper floor windows. Talanaliel lands on the windowsill and peeks inside.

In the front room, the two ex-guards they had meet earlier are sitting opposite each other at a wooden table, playing cards among tankards and empty plates. The other two chairs are empty. A guttering candle on a side table throws long shadows onto the peeling walls.

In the other room, a man sits hunched over at a desk, his back to the window, occasionally taking long pulls from a bottle and idly spinning a silver dagger. An unstrung longbow is propped up in a corner.

@Shrike: no problem on the thieves' tools.

Does it look like there were more people sitting at the table.

Talanaliel flies back to the others and shifts back into her half-elf form.

"There's three of them that I saw. Two playing cards and one drinking from a bottle and twirling a silver dagger. They don't seem to be expecting trouble," she tells the others quietly, pointed meeting Audria's eyes with the last sentence.

That's right, Miss Mopey-pants! You didn't mess up nearly as badly as you thought you did.

Audria feels the smugness that Talanaliel is radiating, and she can hardly miss the way that last sentence was directed at her.

We got lucky, is all.

"So only three of them," Audria quietly asks, suddenly wondering if perhaps they were being too cautious. "Abella, Dal, could you put them to sleep with a spell or something?"

Abella idly looks over her nails. ”Theoretically, if I prepared such a spell. But I didn’t, and I won’t. I’ve been a good, patient girl waiting for a chance to test the effects of my new tattoo on my thanergetic magic. And you don’t know how hard that is for me. It’s just been awful.” She pats her thornblade. ”Oh and I figured out a spell to be more effective with this, too. I’ve been a busy bee.“ She grins at no one in particular, save perhaps herself.

The shrike mask turns toward Abella, who seems to have ignored the sap. "Tonight then. But we're not killing them. Thought you wanted the reward." Shrike's croak is even. She offers the sap again.

Three seems manageable, but that's just who Talanaliel could see from the windows. There could still be more. "Three awake and visible in the windows. Not a good entry point. Let's try the shed door."

(As soon as she gets at least one more vote for Rule of Two) Shrike slips away and into the shadows like a wraith. Down the narrow alley to the right, where there is some kind of shed next to the animal pen, she puts her ear close to the shed door and listens for any hint that the room beyond is occupied. She examines the door itself too, to see if there is anything out of the ordinary beyond the lock she expects from any place of business after hours. The plain set of steel 'locksmith's tools' she bought from the same conspicuously indifferent merchant in the Dock Trade as the saps feels like a heavier weight in her pack than it actually is. Although the delicate twists, lifts and pulls Jessica had demonstrated with a few hairpins on their room door's lock in the castle had seemed simple enough, she has never needed to do this when it matters. She doesn't know if she can.

Taking 10 on Stealth if possible for 24 (10 base, +2 dim light/darkness, +2 night, no armor check penalty between masterwork chain shirt and Armor Expert trait.) Taking 10 on Perception also for 17 (5 base, +2 dim light/darkness.)

Happy following Shrike’s lead!

She pats the flat of her blade. ”I know how to take a light touch.” Nevertheless, she takes the sap. She tries to swing it once or twice but clearly doesn’t know how to hold it. ”I don’t actually know how to use one of these, you know.” She holds up the sword, still in its sheathe. ”I’m flattered, but Cainabeth was the one good with weapons. She only taught me to use this one because I asked since we had it.” She swings the sap a few more times, clearly misjudging the angle and force to apply in new and exciting ways each time. It strikes her, even after just bragging about how she knows a “light touch,” that she has never actually *tried* fighting with the flat of her sword. Cainabeth explained and showed her and Abella, who had never had an actual swordfight in her life at that point, assumed that would be enough. ”Your way is fine. Let us see how this sap does against these saps inside.”

It’s either -4 nonproficiency penalty with the sap or -4 to hit nonlethal with the sword, so the same mechanically

Before Talanaliel can stop her, Shrike is gone along with Abella.

"She's as bad as you are," she quietly tells Audria.

"Ah, but I've never left you behind," Audria replies, grinning despite her feelings of inadequacy. "I don't suppose you have a spell that can make me quieter, do you," she asks Dal as Shrike and Abella lead the charge. "I don't want to leave them out there on their own if I can help it"

“Sorry, kiddo,” Dal said to Audria, “I don’t have anything to put someone to sleep or make you quieter. But I can hold one of them in place for a bit or get one of them to follow a single command I give. Now, if you want me to make you bigger or harder for someone to land a hit on you, that I can do. Pocks, let’s go, bud.”

Before slinking into the shadows after the others, Dal added. “The worst that can happen is we get caught and brutally killed before being chopped up and our bits are handed out as tomorrow’s cutlets.” He stifled a laugh and left the alley.

Also taking a 10. 10+6+2 for being in Korvosa for a total of 18.
A 10 on Perception puts me at 18 as well. 10+4+2 for being in Korvosa + 2 from Alertness
Pockets is clocking in at a 28 on Stealth with a 10

"Wait!"

Talanaliel chases after Dal, changing into a thrush and flying the last couple of feet.

"This way if you get into trouble, I can let Audria know. I was supposed to go with Shrike, but she left before I could do anything."

The little songbird seems a bit miffed about that.

Audria nods, not liking her options but not really expecting them to be good. One of the voices of her doubt threatens to come back, but she pushes it aside. She has other things to worry about, namely her friends' safety.

"Be careful," she whispers at Dal, Pockets, and Talanaliel as they slip into the night. She turns to Pip and sighs.

"Looks like we're playing reserve," she says quietly. "I don't suppose you have something that'll make me less clanky?"

Down the alley, away from the street lights, it is rather dark as no torches or lanterns burn there. The stench of manure is stronger here, almost overpowering. As expected, the gate is locked and barred from the other side. The churned mud of the alley indicates a lot of traffic, but at the moment the building is mostly quiet aside from muffled thuds coming from somewhere inside.

DC 20 for the lock. Assuming Shrike manages to open the lock...

Beyond the gate, a roofed shed shelters a straw-filled wagon, while the rest of the space is taken by a large open-air cattle pen ringed by a wooden fence. Two double gates lead into the pen to the north, while another double door stands closed to the east, leading into the building proper.

Lania never used to be very good in the dark, or for that matter at picking out details at a great distance, and so she had always assumed that her eyesight, like the shape and color of her eyes, had been passed to her unchanged from her mother. But she has spent more time awake and outside at night in the past six months than in the whole of her life before, and her eyes have adjusted, out of begrudging necessity, to capabilities they must always have had somewhere deep down. Now, moonlight and starlight are as usable to her as daylight, though colors are somewhat grayer. Shrike does not need a lantern or candle to see what she's doing as she kneels down and attempts to use lockpicks to break into a building for the first time. It is an operation that must be performed mostly by feel anyway, she finds. The lock does not seem complex, but it still requires all her attention, until just — there. She is not as swift or confident as Garrett, but to her surprise, it opens on the first try.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Shrike rises to her feet again smoothly and without delay, as though this was the expected outcome all along. Experienced criminal, that's me. Done it before a thousand times. After the gate is unlocked, it is easy enough to move the bar up with a dagger between the gate and jamb, and to pass near-silently into the small yard. Once it is properly open, she gestures for any who are coming along to follow her in. The thrush has yet to come back to her shoulder. Perhaps she is offended by something, for reasons known only to sometimes-birds.

The thudding noise could be someone butchering an animal for tomorrow's charitable activities, or even for sale. It's late at night for that, but maybe the crew was busy with Cow Hammer activities during normal working hours. She indicates her guess to the others with a mimed chop and a shrug. Shrike inspects both the wagon and the animal pen (trying not to be noticed by any animals) before listening at the double doors into the building proper. Same as before, taking 10 on Stealth and Perception please.

The smell of blood, offal and rotten meat overlaps that of manure as Shrike approaches the western doors and leans in to listen. The thuds are more prominent as well, and muffled voices - two men, if she's not mistaken - sound within as well, echoing a little as if the space beyond is large and mostly empty. A cautious press on handle indicates the doors to be merely closed, not locked.

Shrike points at the door and lifts two fingers to alert her companions of what she heard. She backs up enough to whisper so everyone can hear, "Two men. Big room. Door's unlocked."

A little bit after Shrike returns, Audria joins the others.

"Tally told me you found two more men," she explains. "What do you want me to do? Barge in and knock them out?"

"Think we should go in. Quiet-like. Until we're not." Shrike is busy stringing a strong-looking but elegant composite longbow, clearly of elven make, that she must have acquired somewhere other than the morning's shopping expedition, since she didn't have it while visiting the Soldados or returning to Citadel Volshyenek. In a smooth, practiced motion she loops one end of a coiled string around one end of the bow, sets it against her foot, and bends the other end of the bow down to receive the opposite loop of the bowstring. A bow is a killing weapon, but it is better to have the option and not need it than the reverse.

This job complete, she slings the bow over her back again. The mask turns to the others, awaiting their opinions.

Would really like a full majority vote on this one as it will almost definitely be combat.

Audria points at her breastplate.

"If we want quiet, then I have to take this off," she says. Her eyes flit to the bow in Shrike's hands, but she keeps her thoughts, if any, to herself. With her halberd in hand, though, it appears she is thinking along the same lines as the vigilante. "It's up to you," she adds, though whether it's out of trust in Shrike or doubt in her own judgement is hard to say.

“I doubt we’ll get through this without some sort of scuffle,” Dal whispered to Audria. “Probably best if you kept it on.”

Dal squinted into the darkness where Shrike’s voice came from. “I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I’m basically blind at the moment. I’m willing to hold off on some light until absolutely necessary.”

Dal pulled a wand from his pack and wiggled it, “Whatever happens, I can cloud their vision and make everything darker for them.”

Wand of Night Blindness

Audria looks to Dal and nods. He's right, but Audria still can't help feeling guilty that she won't be sharing some of the danger with whomever goes in if they decide to keep things quiet. She starts when she feels Talanaliel's head rubbing her cheek, but between the affection and the comfort her companion is pouring through their connection, she feels a little better.

"I guess I'll stay here until the noise starts," she says as she reaches up and pets Talanaliel's head.

"You could come to the door," Shrike says to Audria. "Just move carefully. Want to go in quiet at first. There'll be regular lamps inside if they're working. Unless we douse them." This last is addressed to Dal, since she isn't quite sure what his spell does.

Does Audria have a Stealth of +6 after or before armor check penalty? Either way if she takes 10 that's probably fine. They'll likely be taking heavy penalties to notice her, for distraction and having a door/wall between us. Shrike gets her best Hidden Strike damage only when enemies aren't aware of her. Her ideal scenario here is that everyone gathers just to the side of the door, she opens the door quietly, they're facing away from it, and she can sneak up behind one and sap him to get the combat started and give the whole party a surprise round. But everyone should be by the door anyway, in case they're not facing away and the surprise round begins as soon as the door is opened. That way no one's turns are wasted moving up.

Derp, For some reason I was thinking that it was lower than that. Kinda stupid of me not to, you know, check. :P

Stealth (Take 10): 10 + 6 = 16
Stealth (Just in case taking 10 isn't an option): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23 Now I'm kinda hoping that I can't take 10. :D

Audria nods and follows the others to the door Shrike indicates, moving as quietly as she can, which is far more quietly than she had claimed. It seems that the young paladin still remembers some of the skills she learned as one of Lamm's Lambs.

Audria's at the position that she'll follow the others to.

Sticking with my taking 10 for an 18 stealth.

“Following your lead,” Dal whispered to Shrike.

Then he slunk up behind the wagon.

Well, that's three of five for a majority. Fair enough, though I hope to hear from Abella and Pip soon.

Shrike waits for Abella and Pippip to make some change to her proposal. If nothing seems forthcoming, she drifts back to the door like smoke and waits for them to approach as well. She draws the blackjack in her left hand, then very slowly pushes down on the door handle to avoid creaking, and just as slowly opens it to peer inside. If she sees the men and they do not see her, she slips through and closes the distance while staying out of their line of vision, silent as a shadow. If she sees them and they do see her too, I assume we'll be in initiative.

Take 10 again on Stealth for 24? If that's not possible, here's a roll:

I thought I already said I’m good with following your lead. Abella has a big stealth penalty so she’s gotta hang back a bit to not screw things up

Abella hangs back for the moment, not wanting to let her clangorous armor and shield get in the way of stealth.

Quiet as a ghost, Shrike eases open the door. The floor of the room beyond is strewn with blood-stained straw, and the smell of slaughter is almost overpowering. Meat hooks hang from a metal track affixed to the ceiling, some of them bearing fresh cuts. In the northwest corner, a large hammer sits on the floor in the middle of a a large bloodstain. Just in front of the door, a large metal grille covers a wide hole in the floor. North of that, two large vats of water - one boiling, one cold - and two large butcher blocks standing next to barrels of salt complete the purpose of the large space: the killing floor.

A broad-shouldered man with long sideburns is standing by one of the butcher blocks, methodically working his cleaver. The second man, thin and sallow, is salting the cuts and hanging them on the hooks. From the size of them, they're beef - although the cow must have been rather skinny.

Which direction are they facing, high good: 1d2 ⇒ 2

They are both facing away from the door, and thus do not notice it opening, and Shrike slipping inside.

Meat: 1d3 ⇒ 1

I still only see black beyond the door where Shrike and Audria's tokens are placed on the Roll20 map, so I'm not sure where she ended up inside, but:

Shrike sees that one of the men is armed with a meat cleaver and one isn't, so she makes the knife-wielding one her target. With both force and precision, she brings the sap around for the back of his neck, right where it joins his skull.

Sap v. Sideburns, finesse weapon: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Damage, sap, nonlethal, Hidden Strike: 1d6 + 2 + 2d8 ⇒ (2) + 2 + (3, 6) = 13

My apologies, I forgot to update the map last night before going to bed.

The man that Shrike targets with the sap pitches forward with the force of the blow, grunting in surprise.

"Oi, Karallo! That's not funn-" He stops as he sees the other man standing a good six feet away, open-mouthed. He whirls to face Shrike and the sight of her, masked and so close, tears a gasp from his chest.

"Y- Who are you? Are you tryin' to rob us? Bad idea. Very bad idea."

He brandishes his cleaver, while the other man fumbles at his hip for his sheathed sword.

Initiative order, bold can act: Shrike, Audria, Pip, Cow Hammer Boys, Dal, Abella.

For a moment, three thoughts run through Audria's head.

First, she probably should have gotten closer to the men before Shrike started trying to knock them out.

Second, this is likely to turn very, very ugly if those upstairs rush down at the noise.

Third, she really should have tried to hide her face and hair.

None of that mattered now that the fight is on. Her best option is to end it quickly. The sap isn't her favored weapon, but she's familiar enough with it to not be completely useless with it. She holds it in her right hand while her halberd stays in her left. She runs up to the man, Karallo, and gives him something besides Shrike to worry about.

Double move to where she is on the map. I think I can get there, but not 100% on if she'd have to round the vat or not.

"Here we go."

Dal rushed into to room, closing the gap just enough to be able to get off a spell or one of his hexes if needed.

Just a move for my surprise round

Round 1
Shrike does not waste words on the Cow Hammer Boys. She doesn't want anyone upstairs to hear other voices than the ones that should be here. Quick as a snake, she whips the sap back around in a punishing backhand aimed at the hinge of her current target's jaw. Got to take them down as fast as possible before they can yell for help.

Sap v. Sideburns, finesse weapon: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 Vs. flatfooted AC since he hasn't acted yet in the combat. Being denied Dex to AC from flat-footed means she still gets lesser hidden strike damage if it hits.
Damage, sap, nonlethal, lesser Hidden Strike: 1d6 + 2 + 2d4 ⇒ (6) + 2 + (3, 3) = 14

Standard to attack. If that drops him, she uses her move action to flank the second one with Audria.

Round 1

The man with the cleaver lifts an arm to block Shrike's blow, but too late; the sap connects with a muffled thud, and his eyes roll up in his head as he collapses. The cleaver clatters on the stone tiles.

Audria comes into the slaughter room, Dal and Abella close on her heels. Pip casts a spell, trying to cloud the other man's mind, but he resists. Daze

Will save, DC 13: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14

Seeing everyone rush into the room and his companion sprawled on the floor, the thin man raises his hands hurriedly, spraying salt all over.

"Oh gods, oh gods, please don't kill me, you can take the money."

Out of initiative, for now.

"On your knees, hands behind your back," Audria demands coldly.