Yelena and Bloo make eye contact causing the dog to pause and look at her in a quizzical fashion, until it shakes it's head thereby breaking the Witch's hex.
Gerinel takes out his pack and begins rummaging around in it, trying to find some dried meat among his rations that Bloo might like.
While he’d rather not hurt an animal – even one with big teeth – their mission requires haste. Hei-wa pauses long enough to give his allies a chance to get control of the dog before he fires off additional kicks, designed to knock the dog out instead of killing it.
Stunning Fist (1):
Effects:
x = none
Trinity continues to apply pressure by working her whip aggressively. The barbed, leather- weaved whip, demonstrates a loud crack each time she deploys it. Knowing the effect it has on animals, she uses the whip to detour the dog as much as possible.
Gerinel pulls out some venison jerky from the rations and tries to throw them over Hei-wa and Bloo.
"Got a snack for ya! Fetch, boy!"
Odver spins his ransuer in his hands, striking out with the butt end at the large dog, trying to convince it to find other places to be! Sorry Boy, no biting!
Round #2:
Gerinel tosses a piece of dried meat at Bloo who, intent on the fresh meat in front of him, ignores it.
Trinity continues to use her whip to dissuade the dog from attacking Hei-wa.
Odver reverses his polearm and attempts to keep the mastiff at bay but Bloo, used to being beaten, sidesteps his clumsy attempts.
None of the others having any effect on keeping the mutt from biting at Hei-wa leaves him with no other choice to to lash out, his two quick kicks land solid blows on the dog's ribs, causing Bloo to yelp in pain before it attacks.
Bloo's jaws snap shut on Hei-wa's leg before he can withdraw it, drawing blood. Bloo then worries the leg in his grasp bringing the Monk to the ground in front of it.
"Hey, that's enough!" Yelena looks down at her crossbow, considering, then decides to stick with what she's good at. "Take him down now, I'm making him more vulnerable!"
Yelena and Bloo lock eyes and this time it's the dog who looks away first as Yelena's hex takes hold.
"Hei-wa, get up! Shit!" Trinity exclaimed while bringing her whip back around into a much more aggressive attack.
.
Blood loss was making him light-headed. ”I’d like to get up but that dog will be on me.”
One more bite like that and I’m out. Hei-wa takes a calculated risk, punching at the dog’s exposed underbelly since he was already on the floor.
Stunning Fist (1):
Effects:
x = none
Gerinel says a small prayer to Desna and lays a hand on Odver's shoulder.
"May Desna smile on your strike."
Odver sighs, a grim look on the man's face, as he reverses the polearm yet again and strikes down at the dog, protecting Hei-Wa from further savaging at the relentless dog's attack. Sorry boy....
Trinity lashes out at Bloo, this time the serrated edges of her whip leave a deep gash in the dog's flank.
Hei-wa punches up from the floor and can hear the cracking of ribs as his strike land a solid blow on the dog's ribcage.
Odver, his ranseur guided by Desna, pierces through the dog's skull dropping it to the ground where it lies lifeless.
Hei-wa rolls to his feet and clamps a hand on the toothy gash in his leg with a grimace. He nods his thanks to Trinity, Gerinel, and Odver.
He looks at Bloo, voiced tinged with real regret, "Sorry, pup."
Trinity retrieves the CLW potion from her bag and immediately gives it to Hei-wa.
Yelena is about to retrieve the potion she holds when Trinity beats her to it. ”Sorry,” she also says, though it’s directed towards Odver rather than the dog.
While Hei-wa drinks the potion she returns her attention to the desk and cabinet in case there’s anything useful around. ”It’s probably too much to ask for Lamm to have left detailed evidence here, but Lady Luck has been on our side tonight.”
Hei-wa raises the flask like a toast then pours the contents down his throat. The teeth marks in his leg begin to knit closed.
Seeing the stairs down, he remarks, "We know that other beast is downstairs... Should we search all of this floor first?"
Stunning Fist (1):
Effects:
x = none
Trinity glances over at Yelena as she also pulls out a potion and reverts her attention back to Hei-wa. "Was that enough? Are you feeling a lot better?" She asks while observing the deep bit still apparent on his leg.
Gerinel offers his own potion to Hei-Wa. He frowns at the sight of the lifeless dog.
"I agree. At the very least, it'll allow us to secure the other exits and make sure Gaedren doesn't have a way to slink away."
Hei-wa does some squats and stretches his limbs carefully, testing them. His assessment is honest, "I'm... OK. I'd rather not waste a drop until I truly need it."
He accepts Gerinel's bottle. "Thank you. I'll use it wisely." He keeps the bottle in hand.
Have you checked these doors up here yet? I would prefer not to have any surprises appear behind us, but I'll defer to the lot of you as you've been working together longer than I. He sighs deeply looking over to Yelena, Thanks, hated to do that; poor thing was just taught to do that by a cruel person, but admire its loyalty I suppose. he seems definitely saddened by hurting the dog, although his grim demeanor only seems hardened by the unneeded violence.
"I think we should clear this area before heading down. We don't know what's in those rooms, and we honestly can't trust what these goons are saying. They could simply be misleading us. Trinity says and then defers to the group's choice as well.
"Clearing one floor at a time makes sense to me." Yelena gags a little. "I just want to get out of this room quickly please."
Hei-wa heads over to the door in the adjacent room and listens at it before opening it, half-expecting to find it is a broom closet.
Yelena continues searching the desk but finds nothing of interest inside. The cabinet is locked but the iron key you took from Hookshanks opens it, inside she finds eight leather pouches. Five of them contain copper pieces the remaining three pouches contain silver pieces .
Hei-wa puts his ear to the eastern door in the front room, and hearing nothing opens it to reveal a small hallway, ending in a door at the eastern end. Underneath the desk is a pile of ratty straw and a well gnawed bone nestled within.
Within the office you find a pile of chalk scrawled slates, containing a number of figures and numbers written on them, an accounting of the legitimate side of the fishery's business. Inside the cabinet are a number of messily scribed scrolls, each a reckoning of a months worth of business transactions.
Inside the bunkhouse you find nothing of note or worth. Each thug, not trusting the others, keep their valuables on their person.
Hei-wa passes through Bloo’s bedroom (aka the hallway) as quietly as possible. At the far door he listens again before opening the door.
After collecting up the coin for the group, Trinity moves over to the hallway and keeps an eye open while Hei-wa inspects the inside door.
Yelena follows along behind Hei-wa and Trinity, relieved to be away from the smell. "Do you think these scrolls list legitimate business transactions? Are there actual customers for this place? I thought it was just a front-" She cuts herself off at the realization that Hei-wa is trying to be stealthy. Oops.
Gerinel shrugs silently at Yelena's question.
Hei-wa opens the door to reveal a catwalk running along the western and southern walls while along the northern wall another catwalk extends ten feet over an eight foot tall vat, it's sides caked and waterproofed with tar, filled with some kind of foul looking mixture of chum, river water, and who knows what else.
A flight of stairs at the end of each catwalk extends down to the floor of this room ten feet below. An opening in the floor allows access to the sluggish, muddy water of the Jegarre River a further three feet down.
Along the east wall are stacked several barrels and crates, each with a red fish painted upon it.
Hei-wa sneaks along the catwalk, eyes scanning below the adjacent catwalk and among the barrels and crates for enemies.
Trinity joins Hei-wa and assists with the search.
Yelena continues following the rest of the group. This looks like the main fishery floor, but she doesn't see Victor any children. She doesn't see anyone. Had they heard the fighting and fled? Or had Hookshanks been lying? Either seems equally plausible.
Odver follows the group, searching for what he can and remaining vigilant. Nervous energy rolled off the man, but he fought with himself to contain it, and remain as methodical as he always was.
As Hei-wa makes his way silently across the catwalk he can hear several small voices whispering in the darkness underneath "What's going on?", "Where's Bloos?", "I'm scared." all reach his ears along with someone shushing them to be quiet "There's someone upstairs" the voice asserts "Now be quiet and pretend to be asleep."
Gerinel joins the others in following Hei-wa's lead, keeping silent and listening.
Hei-wa stops and listens, trying to figure out roughly where the voices are located below them. He casts a long look at the team then points to the two visible exits from the room. He mouths Move FAST. He holds up three fingers and starts counting down silently – closing fingers until his hand is a fist. He gives Trinity a small, uncharacteristic smile… then vaults over the railing, spins in the air (trying to land facing where he thinks he heard voices), and drops to the floor below.
”Surrender and you won’t be hurt!”
Stunning Fist (1):
Effects:
x = none
Trinity quickly makes her way across the walk and down the stairs in order to have a clear view of Hei-Wa.
Yelena quickly steps sideways to block the door she's next to. From Hei-wa's gestures he's concerned about people running away, which means he heard something. The children? "Victor? Victor if you're here it's Yelena, your soră. We're here to rescue you. Don't be scared."
Gerinel blinks in surprise and rushes after Hei-wa, pushing by Yelena and taking the stairs since he can't match Hei-wa's sheer athleticism.
"That goes for any other Little Lamms!" he adds to Yelena's call. "I don't know if any of you remember me, but I was one of you years ago: Gerinel. The old man tried to kill me, but he failed. Now I'm back and I'm gonna make sure he never lays a hand on any of you ever again!"
Odver follows the others down, but is too used to failure to be optimistic in this situation, and stays silent, eyes full of hope, but too overwhelmed to speak.
Hei-wa vaults over the railing to the floor below ready for anything...except what he finds. A dozen pair of eyes peer out at him from dirty, ragged hammocks hung below the catwalk. In each hammock is a young child, aging from about 5 or 6 years old up to some who almost teenagers. A young boy, probably about 12-13 years old eyes him unsurely as he lands in front of him "W,who are you?, What do you want?" he asks putting up a brave front, but the tone of his voice puts a lie to this bravado.
All eyes turn to Trinity as she comes down the steps. A young girl, about eight years old, begins to cry "Please don't hurt us." she pleads as her eyes lock with Trinity's
Gerinel's words do little to calm the frightened children as anyone who might have run with him back in the day have either moved on from the gang, been kicked out, or even worse, died since then.
Yelena calls out from the catwalk above for her brother, Victor, and a voice from underneath responds, incredulously, "Yelena, i,is that really you?"
Odver moves to the fishery floor where he can't help but overhear the exchange between Hei-wa and the young boy. The voice is hauntingly familiar, older and more weary, but it is definitely that of Jamis, is beloved son.
Hei-wa is out of his depth and he know it. Reassuring children is NOT in his skillset. He raises his hands slowly to show he means no harm... but he doesn't drop his guard and his feet are ready to lash out at any sign of danger, likely from the older kids.
He tries to plaster a warm look on his face, "I'm Hei-wa. We're here to help you, not hurt you."
Trinity wraps her whip up and then tethers it to her belt. Once she feels she no longer looks threatening, she approaches the older boy. “My name is Trinity. We have come to put an end to Gaedren’s mistreatment of you guys. Not so long ago, I and a few of my friends here, lived as you do now. We were victims of Gaedren and I can assure you, when he is done with you, he intends to kill you. He left me for dead a few years back. Luckily, the priests of Sarenrae stepped in and saved me. Today, I offer you and your friends, that same offer of help.”
"Victor? Victor!" Forgetting all about the door, Yelena practically flies down the catwalk to get to where the children are hiding. Once down below she scans the frightened faces, looking for one in particular.
A year of searching. A year of everyone telling her Victor was gone, with only her deck to give her any hope. Had she finally found him? Had she finally fulfilled the promise of the Survivor?
Odver rushes forward and drops his ransuer, clattering to the ground loudly as he rushes down the stairs. Jamis! Jamis! It's you! Thank all the gods above, I've found you! he sweeps his son into his arms, and holds on for dear life.
Gerinel stands aside to allow Yelena and Odver to reunite with their respective family members, smiling a bit as he watches.
Hei-wa steps away from the children, leaving matters to the families.