The three companions maneuver the boat to the docking, are able to disembark, and get the boat repositioned under the opening using a lead rope. They are all standing on the wet boards, when Rienas just drops down, swings from the edge, and lands gracefully on the boardwalk without using the boat.
Morganne and Laijiri are still above, peering down into the torch-lit underpier.
While her companions gather in this dank space, Daesra carefully creeps over to the door close to her and strains to listen for anything in the chamber beyond, holding the torch down and away from the flooring above them but in a position to swing it at any hostiles that may attack her from the door.
Morganne, unsure of her own athletic ability carefully lowers herself onto the boat. Peering back up at Laijiri she awaits his action.
Camber crouches below Daesra and also listens carefully, putting his sword in hand.
Rienas ends his maneuver where he intends, landing softly as his tall frame stoops to fit under the low ceiling. Fortunately, his flexibility was adequate to keep his balance and move in line with the door, staying several feet behind the others, attempting to crouch just outside the torchlight while keeping his companions within reach of his magic.
Laijiri considers leaping down like Rienas did, but settles to take the safe, sure route instead. He drops heavily into the small rowboat next to Morganne. And he pulls the lead rope getting them safely to the dock. The large orc grumbles under his breath about the cramped space, but all reach the deck safely.
Looking about in the underpier, the team doesn't see any threats or traps, and focus their efforts on the very small door. In front, Daesra finds that one egress point to be kept locked.
Whispering back to the group, "Door is locked - Anyone good with opening those?"
She steps aside to trade places and asks Nox to hold the light for a moment, while she adjusts her shield on her arm in preparation for an upcoming fight. "Hopefully the sounds of the fights upstairs did not make it down this far...", she mutters, mainly to herself and those nearby.
Nox will be behind Daesra helping with the light, so the woman can get organized.
Camber chuckles and puts a fatherly hand on Daesra's thigh. "You know I've got this, Daesra. Just be prepared to protect the little ones."
He pulls a slender tool from his workman's apron and gets to work.
Whether its the rusty lock, the shifting boardwalk, the cramped space, or the adrenaline rush of being this close, Camber cannot master the lock on the small door. Eventually he steps aside, and turns it over to Rienas, who has some skill with locks, but the warlock cannot make it open either, and so the group is stuck in the cold damp crowded space below the fishery.
Not sure of their need for stealth, Rienas raises an eyebrow, unseen in the dark by most. "So, do we get Laijiri to use his lockpicks?"
Camber shrugs. "Did we find any keys? Otherwise, I'm all for Lajiri's touch."
Nox laughed, despite the circumstances. ”Or we could just float here all night,” he giggled, waiting on Lajiri to force the lock.
Nox smacks himself in his forehead. ”Oh yeah….remember that key we found from that guy at the front? I bet that’ll get us in,” he groaned as he looked through his satchel and passed it forward to the party members trying to pick the lock.
Camber looks the key over. "I figured there'd be something like this on someone. Um... thanks for looking them over. I've been distracted. Too distracted."
He gives the key a try in the door.
Whispering to Nox while she's prepping, Daesra says with a wink, "Can you do your magic holding the light? I was going to swing it in the faces of the villains, but using my sword will work better."
Standing behind Camber as he manipulates the lock Daesra begins taking slow, measured breaths. She thinks, "One blank at a time, one blank at a time - Soon, very soon, Taldrin, you will have justice!"
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”Ill keep the light for you, so long as you keep stabbing the bad guys with that nifty sword,” he responds.
Im definitely keeping her on my good side, he thought to himself.
After a tense second, where the rusty lock holds out against it, the key does, in fact, fit, and the small size door unlocks with soft SNIK. The doorway itself is very small and narrow. The door is probably only about 2.5 ft square, and small-sized creatures can fit through without concern, but medium or larger creatures will have a hard time squeezing through.
The air in the large room revealed inside is chilly and stinks of the river thanks to a huge opening in the floor that drops away to the river shore three feet below. Several pilings emerge from that water to support the roof eight feet above the floor, with mossy ropes slung between them. Two small, and seemingly unconscious children dangle from these ropes, suspended above the both the deck and the river water, but not by much.
Two five-foot wide walkways cross the hole to the other side of the chamber, where a collection of old cabinets, lockboxes, and piles of clutter are strewn about. Chipped porcelain plates, a cracked goblet, badly rusted silverware, an old wooden shield with a crossbow bolt embedded in it, the odd dinged helm, and other "treasures" litter the floor of the far side of the dank room. Three tables heaped with clutter stand amid this mess.
In the southwest corner, a wooden door provides access to a walled off section of the undercroft.
In a rickety chair amidst the piles of clutter sits old Gaedren Lamm himself. He looks old and weathered, and quite ill. He is jaundiced and bent, his eyes yellowed and skin speckled with age. He wears an old grey suit of padded armor that is dirty and stained. A full-sized alligator swims in the small pool, greedily eyeing the children's feet dangling above. A burly man holding a wooden club is also in the room.
As Camber opens the door, all eyes turn towards him, and Lamm spews a string of profanities that would make a sailor blush. "How did you find me, you good for nothing halfling? I should've had you turned to chum long ago!"
Gaedren's Playground - Round 1
26 Lamm
26 Gobblegut
25 Laijiri
22 Camber
20 Daesra
18 Rienas
18 Errick
14 Nininox
10 Morganne
Lamm stands up, favoring his left leg visibly, and pulls up a hand crossbow which he fires, not at Camber, but oddly, at Gobblegut, the alligator. He then reloads the crossbow with a smirk on his wrinkly old face.
When hit by the crossbow bolt, the alligator flies into a frenzied rage, smashing its tail into the river water, and emitting a loud roar of anger. It waits by the small door for anyone brave enough to enter, chomping its teeth threateningly.
"Wouldn't have helped," Camber replies to Lamm. "You need folks like me to raise children you can steal."
He gingerly steps into the room, keeping an eye on the crocodile and the man in the corner. "Now, see, I'm just here for a quick chat. You recognize me, you know I'm no thug or assassin. Just a lowly Society man who keeps the ships clean."
Pointing to the dangling children, he adds, "These the bad ones? You won't mind if I take a look, will you, since you don't really want them anymore?" He jumps to grab a hold of the closest piling and hoists himself into the ropes above.
Hearing the grating voice of Lamm and Camber's response to keep attention on him, Daesra presses forward to work her way through the small opening and join the fray inside the dank room.
Gaedren's Playground - Round 1 - continued
The small door is no real barrier for the nimble halfling, and Camber bounds into the room, carrying on with Lamm while he eyes the children hanging from the chains. He tries to scrabble up to them, but slips on the wet piling, and ends up fallen back on the floor boards, way to close to the thrashing alligator for comfort.
Daesra follows though the door, but the narrow space, and her shield and armor, make traversing it painfully slow. She gets about 2/3 through the doorway but can't advance farther.
Nox will wait for Lajiri to begin heading in before he piles in after.
Nox will wait for Lajiri to begin heading in before he piles in after.
Gaedren's Playground - Round 1 - continued
Nox waits his turn, holding his ground until the more muscle-bound types clear the door, which they seem to be having some trouble navigating for some reason.
Already at the door, Laijiri grumbles something in orcish, and gives Daesra a hard shove from behind, trying to get her clear of the narrow entry, though her armor, weapon, and shield seem to be slowing her down. With a clank and the whine of metal against wood, the orc manages to shove Daesra the rest of the way through the narrow door. "Me next!" he says and slips through the door without any concerns, moving clear of the space on the other side once he lands on the floorboards.
Daesra takes a moment to stand fully upright and arc her back, trying to get everything back into place before the fight begins proper.
"Thanks big guy... I think.", she utters as she shifts and readies into a fighting stance.
”Well that worked swimmingly, didn’t it,” Nox says as he moves 10’ closer to the door, planning to follow Laijiri through when the way is cleared next round.
”Well that worked swimmingly, didn’t it,” Nox says as he moves 10’ closer to the door, planning to follow Laijiri through when the way is cleared next round.
Rienas watched as his companions breached, and then bottle-necked, at the small door. Knowing his tall frame would have the same problems getting through, and navigating what was likely a small space on the other side, he looked around again, taking in his surroundings. He could not shake the feeling of unease, knowing they had left unexplored areas above them when they made their way down here. The vessel. As his arm brushed against its hull, he could immediately tell that this ship would not sail again, though, sitting here, it would make an excellent storage locker or bunker.
The warlock quickly decided his skill set was not of much use with his companions in what appeared to be tight quarters. Keeping his voice low, he called to Morganne, "I'm going to remain upstairs, making sure there's not going to be any surprises showing up behind us down here.... Maybe try to convince Laijiri that questioning someone might be a good idea." Turning, he immediately starts to make his way up to find access to the ship.
Gaedren's Playground - Round 1 - continued
Rienas turns his back on the group slipping through the door, and he moves back to the hole in the deck, trying to pull himself up. Unfortunately, the floor is quite slippery, and his hand hold evaporates just as he takes his weight off the boat below. He just does manage to land back in the boat, however, instead of the river. As he gathers himself, he sees a menacing looking dorsal fin just breaking the surface of the Jeggare swimming past without stopping.
Back inside the dank room, the thuggish bodyguard steps up to Laijiri, swing and then back-swinging his studded club. The orc bruiser dodges the first blow, but is tagged on the backswing, the club mashing his ribs painfully.
Morganne strides up behind Nox and uses her magic to launch a mental assualt on the foe standing beside Laijiri.
Gaedren's Playground - Round 1 - concluded
Morganne moves up and tosses her usual dazing spell at Errick. He resists the spell a bit, dealing only half the expected damage.
End of Round 1
Gaedren's Playground - Round 2
26 Lamm
26 Gobblegut
25 Laijiri (17/26hp remain)
22 Camber
20 Daesra
18 Rienas
18 Errick (2hp non-lethal)
14 Nininox
10 Morganne
Stop messin' with my entertainment!" Lamm shouts at Camber, bringing up the hand crossbow to fire at the desperate father. The first shot hits Camber in the belly, and the sick old man reloads and fires again, scoring another hit into the halfling's shoulder.
The alligator roars in fury, still smarting from Lamm's last shot. It swims forward, lunging at Daesra near the doorway. The mighty jaws crush the hips of the fighter, tearing armor and flesh and bringing her to death's door in an instant.
With one prey down, the frenzied gator then bits at Laijiri from behind, tearing at the orc's legs and clamping down on them, ready to pull the prey into the water.
Critical!
26hp dmg!!!
Camber grunts at the bolts. "Oh, we're doing it this way, then?" he growls.
Running on pure adrenalin and the love a father has for his child, the halfling takes the moment the gator is busy with Lajiri to rush past and close the gap with Lamm.
Gaedren's Playground - Round 2 - continued
Pulling as hard as he can, Laijiri manages to wrench his leg free from the alligator's bite, then lightning quick he grabs at Errick, but the thug is too strong and slippery, and the orc cannot grab hold this round.
Moving quickly while the alligator is distracted, Camber, despite being hurt pretty badly, rushes over pulling his rapier on his nemesis, ready to skewer him next turn. Lamm screams a high shrill wail as the halfling closes in.
Rienas rights himself in the small boat and tries to pull himself up onto the floor above once more. This time he accounts for the slippery floor, and is able to haul himself onto the deck again. He then starts up the stairs to the level above, and the egress that leads towards the barely floating watercraft strapped behind the fishery.
Errick hears his boss cry-out and moves away from Laijiri, and hurries over to the other side of the watery opening. The thug then bashes Camber in the back of the skull dropping the rogue unconscious at the feet of his foes.
Nox tries to keep the mental assault up on the alligator trying to incapacitate the beast with his Daze cantrip.
Morganne casts the stabilize spell on Daesra before hurriedly saying to Nox I need to get through.
Gaedren's Playground - Round 2 - concluded
Nox casts another dazing spell on the alligator, trying to slow it down. The clearly damages the enraged lizard-beast, but does not seem to keep it from thrashing about.
Morganne casts a spell that keeps Daesra from Pharsma's judgement (for now) but does not revive the fallen swordswoman. She then moves into the narrow doorway, starting that journey, but blocking the way for now.
End of Round 2
Gaedren's Playground - Round 3
26 Lamm
20 Daesra (unconscious, stable)
26 Gobblegut (4hp dmg)
25 Laijiri (8/26hp remain)
18 Rienas
22 Camber (unconscious, dying 1)
18 Errick (2hp non-lethal)
14 Nininox
10 Morganne (1 action to enter)
With Camber unconscious at this feet, Lamm laughs in a high crackling way. Addressing Laijiri, he says:"You big dumb oaf! Join my gang, and I'll spare you the fate of your friends that have already fallen. Just give in, or the Boneyard take you!"
He shoots his crossbow at Morganne who is entering the doorway, then stoops to begin to tie up Camber's unconscious form after reloading the hand crossbow. Despite her only being partially in the doorway, Lamm makes a lucky shot, hurting the duskwalker badly.
Daesra can only lie unconscious, loosing any actions she might have otherwise tried.
The great alligator slides over in the water, trying to get another solid bite on Laijiri. The gator shreds the poor orc's leg and its all the damage he can take. Laijiri joins his other allies unconscious on the ground. Still holding the leg of the orc, Gobblegut slowly pulls him towards the edge, ready to bring him into the slopping river water and put an end to him.
Critical!
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As the brief surge of magical energy courses through her, Daesra momentarily regains awareness and whispers, "I am so sorry Taldrin, I have failed you. Forgive me..." as the blackness again swallows her consciousness.