With one foe defeated and the other in a grapling battle with Laijiri, the companions were taking control of the room. Rienas quickly decides there are too many friendly obstacles for him to start throwing knives , he instead casts and drops an invisible force around the two half-orcs .
Morganne moves behind Laijiri and works her magic again trying to take down the remaining thug with a mental attack.
Fishery Floor - Round 3 - concluded
Sheathing his dagger, Rienas instead casts a protective spell on Laijiri giving him a bit better defense against attacks from the lone foe, Giggles.
Morganne moves farther down the catwalk and continues to pester Giggles with her mental spellcasting. The half-orc, however, shakes off the spell taking no damage.
End of Round 3
critical success
Fishery Floor - Round 4
22 Laijiri (25/26hp remain; forbidding ward)
20 Nininox
15 Camber
13 Daesra (7/19hp remaining)
12 Giggles (2NL dmg)
11 Morganne
4 Rienas
Daesra stalks across the filthy floor, raising her shield as she advances up the stairs. "Where's the boss? Are you willing to die for him too??"
To reinforce her point, she takes a swing at the looming half-orc.
Nox again targets Giggles with his daze cantrip, hoping to get lucky and knock him out. ”Just stay down, big boy,” he calls out.
Fishery Floor - Round 4 - continued
Daesra moves up on Giggles, keeping her own shield up, and slashing at the half-orc. Her attack misses, but she is well-defended should he turn on her.
From above, Nox tries again to Daze and damage the lone foe. He takes some damage, but the spell has less effect than intended.
Fishery Floor - Round 4 -continued
Laijiri draws himself up and clatters down the stairs, landing a haymaker punch to the chin of Giggles who stops his infernal laughing for a second. The blow is hard and firm, but the half-orc keeps his feet, to his credit.
Camber is held off from any melee attack, so he draws out a dagger and tosses it at the lone foe. But Giggles knocks the blade away harmlessly.
Attacked from all sides, Giggles loses his happy countenance and begins to look quite fierce. He swings his flail against Daesra, two times, looking to clear an opening and get more room. But the flail misses or rattles off the shield, and Giggles cannot free himself from the trap he is in on the landing.
Morganne once again uses her magic to launch a mental assault upon the thug.
Rienas moves past his allies to be within range of his target . Focusing on the space directly above "Giggles", the warlock congures his energies as the sound of hissing snakes eminates from his chiosen point .
Fishery Floor - Round 4 - concluded
Morganne continues to apply the same tactics, using her mental probing cause some non-lethal damage to poor Giggles. This time the daze causes full damage to the half-orc, who grits his impressive teeth in pain.
Rienas uses his auditory illusion spell to try to distract the remaining foe, so his allies can finish him off. The noise seems to startle Giggles who looks up and loses an action next round.
End of Round 4
ishery Floor - Round 5
22 Laijiri (25/26hp remain)
20 Nininox
15 Camber
13 Daesra (7/19hp remaining)
12 Giggles (13hp dmg, 8NL dmg)
11 Morganne
4 Rienas
Nox keeps the mental assault up on the orc, trying to incapacitate the stubborn opponent with his Daze cantrip.
Fishery Floor - Round 5 - concluded
Nox casts yet another dazing spell on Giggles who is quite battered at this point. The half-orc lunges but this last bit of damage is all he can take. He face-plants on the mire of the fishery floor, not dead, but unconscious from nonlethal damage.
End of Combat
Just like happened to Derrick earlier, as soon as Giggles falls, even though he isn't dead, a half-dozen children, some no more than 6 years old, tumble out and begin spitting, hitting, and kicking the half-orc. Some carry broomsticks or other makeshift weapons, but all seem eager to vent their anger on his unconscious form.
”I say we let the children take out all their anger on him. Serves him right if you ask me. But we’ve got bigger fish to fry so to speak,0 Nox says as he looks around for more trouble heading their way.
Taking in the scene, Rienas gently corrals the children, and their make shift weapons, to a safe corner away from their fallen jailers. Now I understand how you feel but beating a fallen opponent who is unable to defend himself is not an honorable choice. Trust me. Your energy would be better spent answering my questions so we can get you all back home. Rienas spends the next few minutes finding out if all children are local and deciding if the older ones are able to lead the younger ones to those homes while he and his companions continue with their endeavor.
Shortly after, the warlock takes his rope and ties up "Giggles", intending to question him until Laijiri lost patience and ended the sesson.
Yennifer?! Morganne calls out and starts running down the catwalk, searching the gaggle of children for her ward. Is there a Yennifer here?
Nox spies no more immediate trouble. It seems all the thugs in this space are accounted for at present. Rienas is able to pull the children off the fallen Giggles if a bit reluctantly. There a few older children, maybe 12 years old, and they have already taken the little ones under their wings. "Some of them don't have families, sir," says one of the older children, thumbing his brow in respect. "And some of us old'uns don't remember. But we can take of ourselves, with these bastards put out of it. If you take me meaning, sir."
None of the children answer to Morganne's call but one of the little ones says, "Yennifer. She was my bunkie. They just took her tonight. Her and one other, a halfling I think." She gives a involuntary shiver.
The group gets Giggles securely tied up. The only unexplored door here opens out to the loading dock where Camber and Daesra exploded the barrel of fishy goo earlier. The room has the very large vat of unspeakable fish parts, and there is also hole in the floor that leads directly to the river.
Shaking her head to clear the ringing a bit, Daesra draws up to one of the older kids and asks sternly, "Where do they take the little ones? Where is the boss, Lamm?". There is almost a dismissive yet disgusted tone when she mentions the man they're after, as if the notion of someone who hides behind children is a worthy foe at all.
"There is a boat out back, could he be hiding on that?", she offers hoping for a quick confirmation so to get this business done.
The same little one answers quietly. "They take them down there," she says, pointing at the cut-out in the floor. "That's where he is. They what go down, they don't come back...I want Yennifer to come back!" she starts crying silently, thinking of whatever much occur down there.
I know of a couple orphanages with kind carers. They should be able to take some of the younger ones who are without family. But I don't know how we should handle this we need to be going after them she points to the hole in the floor and a conflicted look crosses her face but we can't just leave them here.
Rienas looks to Morganne's conflicted face and offers " The kids are better off on their own than they are staying here, and they're not coming with us. I no longer have connections at the inn to be able to set them up there." At the mention of his 'lost contact' the warlock's mood darkens visibly. Another reminder of why he was here, like he needed that. Heading to the edge of the hole, he peers down, using his dark-vision as he looks around. "If Lamm is down there then that's where I'm going."
"I am going down there after him as well," Daesra mutters fiercely, then slightly lifts her helm again to spit out another glob of blood.
Readjusting it again into place, she offers, "There is the front room you found with cots in it", looking at Morganne, "The kids can rest there until dawn and if we are not back by then, they can head into the city."
She then gestures to the door at the top of the stairs, "And there is that door we have not checked."
Daesra rummages around in her gear to pull out some rations and hands it to Yennifer's friend. "What is your name? We will need you to be brave, and mind the little ones until we get Yennifer back. Can you do that?"
She then returns to the cut-out in the floor and prepares for the next step.
"We can stay here on our own for a bit, missus." says the spokesperson of the group. "Probably forever, at least till we growed up."
A few of the Little Lambs have the fierce look in their eye that Laijiri knows well. None of them are what you'd call good-sized, or even hearty and hale, but what they lose in size they make up with tenacity and hardship. They are survivors at this point. They older ones split up the dried rations, giving larger portions to the smaller kids, and taking little for themselves, and while its not tremendous fare, they tear into it with the relish of those who are perpetually hungry.
The hole in the floor is simply that. You can see it might be used for sweeping or washing the leavings from fish production back into the sloppy Jeggare River below. The water is maybe 3 feet from the fishery floor, but the area below is too dark to see easily what lies beneath, unless you have the means to illuminate it. Can't really be sure, but it appears the outline of small boat bobs on the water just below the open chute.
Nox hands off his deck of playing cards and his set of dice to one of the older children. ”Play some games until we get back. We won’t be long, then we will get you lot taken care of,” he says with a smile.
He then turns to the rest of the group. ”Is there a safe way to look around down there? Could someone be lowered with a rope maybe?”
Hearing the childrens own confidence helps put her at ease, at least somewhat. Alright we'll be back but right now we've got to go after them. You kids stay safe. she give them a reassuring smile before joining the others at the hole in the floor.
The underpier seems to lead towards the wreck of a ship which is lashed tightly to the fishery building. The other end leads under the structure, and it appears to be a hatch of some kind, a small door maybe, under the building.
Rienas rises up from the hole and describes what he sees to those who can't see in the dark; allowing Morganne time to have a look for herself. "So, that being the layout, I'd say it looks like we head down here with two options. Possibly work our way down through the larger vessel, though I can't see much of that from here, or check what looks like a door into a floor below us. Any other ideas or do we need our first volunteer for the three foot drop?" The warlock smiled but it was a smile that made it obvious that he would not be leading the way.
"Well, if this is they way they took the Yennifer and her friend, then this may be the most direct.", Daesra opines.
"Does anyone have anything for this massive headache? My ears are still ringing from that villain's lucky hit."
She shifts around the hole, looking for a good way down, then glances at Nox and gestures for the light he's carrying.
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Nox hands off the light source, knowing damn well that he’s not being the first one down this time. ”After you, milady,” Nox says with a flourish as he removes his top hat in a nice bow.
Ah yes, allow me. Morganne takes hold of the holy symbol of Pharasma which hangs around her neck and outstretches her palm to Daesra.
The ringing in Daesra's ears lessens with some divine magic, and the group looks at her expectantly to see if she will take the "plunge" to whatever lies below.
"Thank you Morganne, that is much better!", Daesra says with great sincerity. She turns to Nox, and says' "Thank you, let's hope this does not give them too much warning that someone is on the way," as she takes the light source after sheathing her sword.
She peers down through the hole, looking for the best way down then clambers down, assesses the setting, and relays what she sees to the group after getting in a defensive stance.
With the light in hand, Daesra can see the boat directly below the hole in the fishery floor. It's just a small two-person rowboat. It sits about 5' from the floating boardwalk and would have to likely be moved there to disembark easily. It also appears that one could lower them selves down into the boat by two-arm hanging from the hole. Alternatively, you could swing and jump to the boardwalk directly, but that would take a bit more agility or strength. No foes or immediate threats are detected.
"Let me go first," Camber says. "If it's children they're sending down there, I'll fit just fine."
It's the first you've heard him speak in a while. The voice is urgent, haunted.
Noting the stress in Camber's voice Daesra offers, "You have a little one here, in this place?" She puts a hand on his shoulder, stating, "Not to worry, your family will be whole again this night, I promise,"
After Camber clambers down, Daesra prepares and lowers herself into the boat slowly and make it secure for others to follow.
Camber goes first, gently lowering himself into the small rowboat. Then Daesra pass him the light and drops down herself. The boat is unsteady but comfortably holds the woman and the halfling. Though only another small creature would fit with htem.
A narrow space exists under the fishery with only about three feet of clearance between the floor of the eastern side of the building, and the languid, foamy surface of the river water below. Wooden pilings support the building, and thick mats of moss and cobwebs hang from ropes and rusted chains strung between them. A wooden walkway, about 10' from the small boat floats on the river's surface, winding along the inner wall of pilings that supports the building's frame above. The walkway leads from the sodden ship to the east all the way west to a small two-and-a-half foot square door that leads to an understructure below the fishery's land-bound half. The pilings below the understructure are densely arrayed, leaving only narrow gaps into the water below that area.
While the two of you are in the boat, Nox may be able to descend, but no one else without the risk of swamping or capsizing the small craft. You'll have to spend some time maneuvering the little boat to the wooden walkway, and back under the opening for others to come down this way. Otherwise, they can try a more athletic or acrobatic way of jumping down to the wooden walkway.
Daesra has to hunch over almost in half to be in this small cramped space.
Nox uneasily hops down when they let him know that he could fit as well. ”The rest of you all need to find a way to get back there and support us, because you know that coward Lamm isn’t alone…”
Dex
As the boat pulls away, transporting his companions, Rienas sticks his head back down the hole; judging the distance and angle to the dock below. I should be able to make that... Head down, his body coils briefly before his long legs follow the rest of him down below.