Caius will stalk forward, keeping to shadows and out of notice, until he is within sight of the building and his aerial companion. He will then survey the surrounding area, looking for anyone also trying to stay unnoticed (like a lookout) and observing passers by.
Verilich will get Caius's visual attention and point to his ear and then gesture with 3 or 4 fingers on his hand. and the give the signal that there are no open windows nor doors other than the front door.
barring any counter signals from Caius, Verilich will indicate that benefit of reconnaissance may be complete and to bring the full party to breach the door.
Caius notices a winged creature not being overly stealthy up on the roof. Other than that, no, he doesn't see anyone.
Caius attempts to utter the relayed info to Ghaernan using his magic voice. There appear to be 34, or 7?, people in the building with only one way in, which appears unbarred. The streets are empty and the way is clear.
Ghaernan hears Caius’ message, confused as well about the enumeration, but otherwise passing the word to Khalid and Gundar on ingress and the surroundings. The Bard replies that he and the others will plan to advance in moments, should the numbers in the boarded-up building become clear. He closes with a plan to Message Verilich to better understand the Wyvaran’s reporting…
Casting Message again as he turns his sight toward Verilich…
”Reestablishing our communications, my friend. Caius has given us a sense of our approach, but reports either 34 or 7 beings active within the Pelican. Can you clarify? Other matters to report? We’ll plan to advance, I’d think, if we can better grasp the magnitude of the threat. Thanks!”
Verilich shakes his head in disbelief. We went over the hand and arm signals before hand. I must give him more training
Verillich whispers back ”there are 3 or 4 humanoids in the building below me. They may be aware something large landed on the roof as there was a squeaky board I landed on. Nothing discernible so I suggest we press in mass if we think time is of the essence. Or wait 10-15 minutes to let any guard down that they may have. What are your thoughts?”
Hello? Cauis will listen at the wall of the building he is next to.
Ghaernan returns to his Message with Caius, clarification from Verilich acquired…
”Caius, Verilich meant to signal that there are 3-4 humanoids in the building below him, not 34 nor 7. He’s concerned that he may have alerted them, due to a roof board squeaking upon his landing, and suggests waiting 15 minutes to ensure their guard is down again. Do you have anything else to report, with your perception of both Verilich and the building?”
Things have been somewhat quiet during that 15 minutes. The occasional feet shuffling and sounds of large men moving about inside. No voices.
Ghaernan reflects upon the Message-enabled dialog thus far among his companions, then offers to each of the three separate elements - Caius, then Verilich, then Khalid and Gundar - his thoughts on the plan while waiting out the 15 minutes for the situation to further develop, finding it odd and somewhat disturbing that no voices seem to accompany the movements within the derelict building...
"Friends, as I've gathered from the communications among us, we have an opportunity now to disrupt what we understand to be a midnight link-up of the slavers here, from Zograthy's information. Doing so now could enable us to lie in wait for whom or whatever arrives later this evening."
"It still seems, in my mind, that Caius and Verilich should lead the ingress, with their stealth in the final approach as well as their darkvision, if we lose the light inside. If they can hold on their violent execution until our reinforcement element arrives within around 20 feet, that would also enable us to immediately respond to whatever they encounter in the situation that develops...or to hold fast close at-hand until they call for it...all still within the effects of the Message spells, since those boarded-up gaps won't present any effective barrier to the magic."
"What say you, friends?"
Gundar gives Ghaernan a thumbs up.
Cauis closes on the building and stealthily approaches the door.
He prepares to block the door open should the opportunity arise. When the group advances to 20 feet away he will try to quietly open the door.
Seeing the signal to move to the door and unfortunately hearing his companion cross the street, Verilich will move with haste to fly down from the roof, and to proceed into and through the door drawing his Sansetsukon for battle.
First: Will saves from Caius and Verilich
Caius roll Perception.
Verilich, you can see a body [token] lying on the floor in the next room. You can definitely hear multiple people (humanoids?) moving around in the next room.
Move yourselves on the map. Let me know what you’re doing. There IS definitely a body on the floor down there. Looks to be human, unconscious, and tied up.
"Something foul is afoot. To the fore!" Mutters Caius to his companions as he treads into the room.
"Some strange green glow is about..."
Verilich will point to his ear and then point into the next room indicating that there are people moving about in there. And the. Will want to move stealthily to peer around the corner.
You two forward guys by the body. Knowledge(local) please. He’s breathing. Human. Tied up. Somewhat worse for wear.
Do I recognize the bound figure?
Moved the support element up some.
The two warriors see no one in the far room, except the unconscious body.
From out of the shadows in the corner of the first room, a figure emerges. There is a flash of color, as light splashes across the room, bathing the "leading element" in colors.
I need a DC 15 WIL save from Verilich and Caius, or they fall unconscious, blind, and stunned.
Please roll initiative.
Caius falls unconscious, blind, and stunned
Cauis and Verilich are out for 3 rounds.
Moved the support element up some.
"A Color Spray spell, friends - an arcane caster! Close with him to stop his casting, or stay more than 15 feet distant!"
"I recognize that caster from the wanted posters at The Arvensoar - it's Plutivarch Dremis, with a 100gp bounty on his head!"
This perspective benefits from hindsight. We had no more intel that there was a stealther lurking inside the building than one from without. The more likely trap would be one from outside when they had 15 minutes to prepare. I don't feel it's reasonable to be in the perfect position for where the threat popped up when we were simply in the transition state from outside the building to investigating the body. How would you draw this up as part of standard SOP without that foresight knowledge so we can do better next time?
23 - Ghaernan
18 - Gundar
17 - Plutivarch
10 - Caius
9 - Khalid
6 - Verilich
Ghaernan and Gundar are up!
Gundar will move to where he can see the man in the other room and launch an acid dart at him.
From the protected alcove just inside the derelict front door, Ghaernan reacts rapidly to the wanted criminal's attack upon his companions. Arcane whispers, lost to meaning and memory once-uttered, flow through the swift patterns of glittering sand forming and shifting around one outstretched hand. With a final decisive gesture, the sands arc across the distance to the enemy caster, shimmering and barely visible in the strange light, to concentrate and burst in the far-right corner of the room, enveloping the target...
This perspective benefits from hindsight. We had no more intel that there was a stealther lurking inside the building than one from without. The more likely trap would be one from outside when they had 15 minutes to prepare. I don't feel it's reasonable to be in the perfect position for where the threat popped up when we were simply in the transition state from outside the building to investigating the body. How would you draw this up as part of standard SOP without that foresight knowledge so we can do better next time?
Your assailant takes a deep breath and crumbles to the ground in fitful rest.
With Caius and Verilich currently out of the fight, what will the rest of you do?
Ghaernan, which one of these spells wears off first? Colorspray or sleep? Is there something we should do to help our companions?
Round 2
Ghaernan and Gundar are up.