Divo was stiff as one of the children hugged him, uncomfortable with the affection from a child who wasn't one of his sisters. He awkwardly laid a gloved hand on the kid's back and gave them a soft pat. "There there..." he managed with noticeable effort, "We still have unfinished business children. Go meet your fellows outside. We will meet you after."
Amadine kneels to hug her nephew as tightly as she dares, given her armor. Baji climbs out of her pocket and up Daval's sleeve, sitting on the boy's shoulder to groom his hair.
She manages a watery chuckle, wiping her eyes with a corner of her scarf.
Daval simply hugs his auntie tighter and replies in the same language.
"There there..." he managed with noticeable effort, "We still have unfinished business children. Go meet your fellows outside. We will meet you after."
Oh, right. They still have to catch the ringleader. Amadine gives her nephew one more hug and then stands up, switching to Taldane. "Divo is right, sweetheart. We still need to catch Lamm and make him pay for hurting you. Stay with the other children, all right? For the spirits' sake, please don't wander off again. I don't think my heart can take it."
Daval lets her go reluctantly. As much as he doesn't want to let his auntie out of his sight, he wants to know that Lamm won't come back for him even more. "I'll be good, promise."
Trebelle seems a bit confused at first, but seeing the others, he mimics their actions as she hugs the children too. Not saying much as this was a very new concept to her
Romli starts to go down the stairs to find Gaedren.
Divo was momentarily surprised Amadine had remembered his name. Nobles expected people to remember their names, but given how horrible the man was at it he never really expected that himself. He also wasn't a noble anymore.
Seeing Romli exit he followed suit. When they got back to the ground floor he paused. "Mind if I go first?" he asked the dawrf, "Romli... right?"
"That's right. And if you want to go first, Divo, that's fine with me", the dwarf answers.
Divo holds a breath, then exhales and steps forward. "Alright." he says firmly. He waits for everyone to fall in behind him and takes a moment himself. He closes his eyes and feels for his innate magical ability. This may have been all he could do with it, but it was enough. He let that power slip into his warhammer. Then, he kicks the door open with all his strength.
Remaining mindful they have left the building exit unattended, Prax gets through any needed hugging as quickly as possible.
"We need to keep moving. The stairs down aren't covered."
She tries to get everyone hustling out so they can finish the job they (or at least she) came to do.
Prax does take a few moments to frisk the dead half-orc for valuables though.
A fifteen-foot wide loading dock abuts the side of the building here. A few carts sit nearby, partially loaded with large, tar-caked barrels marked with a fish-shaped splotch of red paint on the side. Double doors to the immediate south of the loading dock's ramp provide access to the building's interior, while a rickety flight of stairs descends ten feet to a point just three feet over the river's surface, where a simple door provides a secondary entrance.
There doesn't seem to be any other doors this way; a dead end.
As the kids are heading outside, one of them tugs at Divo's shirt and says, "That's not the way! Gaedren is under, but you gotta go to the ship. But...nobody likes going to the ship."
Divo kneels, his shield coming to rest on the floor as he addresses the child from their height. "Which way is it little one?" he asks quietly.
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 3; 1d6 + 2
Divo kneels, his shield coming to rest on the floor as he addresses the child from their height. "Which way is it little one?" he asks quietly.
[dice=Persuasion (If needed.)]1d20 + 9
Romli calls out: "There's something in the water! And it isn't just a small fish, so be careful!"
"Wondering if water and zap the bad thing?" she sparks a bit at the thought
Divo kneels, his shield coming to rest on the floor as he addresses the child from their height. "Which way is it little one?" he asks quietly.
[dice=Persuasion (If needed.)]1d20 + 9
The kid goes back upstairs, pointing to another set of stairs going up. "The bridge there takes you to the boat."
The second Romli mentions something in the water, the other kids bolt out of the house. One yells, "Jigsaw! Jigsaw!"
Romli shares what he knows about the thing in the water.
"Ah, a jigsaw shark. This one doesn’t look very hungry, though, so no need to fight it..."
"Well, that's a relief." Amadine follows Romli and Divo toward the stairs indicated by the child.
Divo makes his way to the stairs the child indicated and up.
"Yeah, but maybe we can feed it later", Romli comments icily while he follows Divo.
"Shark is bad, not wanting to go in water with shark... Trebelle is snack size!"
"Don't worry, Trebelle, I wasn't talking about feeding you to the shark."
Trebelle freezes and looks horrified at the thought
"No feeding Trebelle to shark!"
Romli shakes his head. "Of course not you, Trebelle! I was implying that we should throw in Gaedren."
She sighs in relief
"Not making Trebelle scared! If I falling in water, just go splash splash then glub glub" she motions going down
Dark and dank, the ship's hold smells of mildew. Several barrels, crates, and other containers lie stacked here and there. Dust and grime cover the floor, except where reiver water has collected into puddles.
"This might be a trap." Divo reasoned, "He wouldn't corner himself for nothing." He looked around cautiously, but didn't know what he was looking for.
"Oh, me seeing with the eyes, spot door thing, over here! Here!" she calls attention to the hidden door
We could still just set the ship aflame and watch for runaways. She takes out a flask of alchemist fire, presenting it for all to see. Though it might be hard to confirm his death. Ash just looks like ash. She ponders.
Opening the door will see the hull, empty and leading out to a narrow walking bridge, three feet wide, barely a foot above the water. You can see the path leads to the lower part of the main building.
He's not here. But the sharky seems to be waiting for us. I hope he hasn't escaped. Her brow furrows in worry.
Seeing the walking bridge Divo scowls. "An escape." he said in surprise, "...or still a trap." He looked at the bridge skeptically. He was frozen a moment in indecision, and then he went. Stepping across the bridge with a grim expression on his face.
Divo walks carefully, eat footstep causing a heavy creak on the weary wood. Despite the creaking and the narrow path, it’s sturdy, and doesn’t appear to be capable of breaking. Even with the several 8-10 foot sharks swimming-more appearing from the creaking-they aren’t acting aggressive. Seems if one walks carefully they can avoid aggravating the sharks.
Divo continues to take his time and carefully step along the wood. He seemed to be watching intently, brow furrowed in focus.
He is f++~ing terrified.
"Trebelle not wanting to be snacking of the shark fishy!" she trembles looking at the bridge
Despite the terrifying sight of several 10 foot sharks swimming about so close to the surface, and thus close to the bridge and Divo, none attack him as he makes his way slowly to the other side. A few bump slightly against the wood that Divo stand on, but other than that they don’t show any sign of aggression.
Amadine follows behind Prax, carefully making her way along the narrow walkway. Falling into the water while wearing armor would be disastrous.
Right after Divo arrives on the other side, Romli nimbly walks across the bridge, not hindered by any armor or shield.
Divo allowed himself to exhale deeply after making it across. He was pretty sure his heart had stopped when one of those beasts bumped against the wood. He looked back toward the others, wondering how long he should wait.
Praxedis follows Divo, some distance away. She keeps steady even with the creaking of the board, stopping every time the wood was bumped slightly by a shark. She looks back at the others, nodding quietly, silently telling the others it's safe, as long as they go slowly.
Getting the go ahead from someone more keen to notice such dangers, Divo takes hold of the door and eases it open slowly.
Right after Romli arrives behind Divo the dwarf starts looking for traps on and near the door...
"Oh. That was scary. Trebelle no liking shark fish. They make Trebelle feel like food. Trebelle isn't food" she shakes her head and then continues to follow them, letting them secure their path forward
As Divo tries to open the door, he finds it's locked.
Praxedis immediately gets to work, and manages to unlock the door easily. The opening is made at an awkward angle, where only Kyki and Trebelle can enter without difficulty.
"Let me try first - I don't have any armor or shield hindering me..."
Romli casts guidance on himself, holds his sansetsukom with one hand and attempts to get through the door.
Divo let's Romli go first, knowing his words to be true. He had to bite back nervous tension, not used to or comfortable with letting others take up his role.
Initiative (bold goes first)
Gaedren
Kyki
Amadine
Yargin (-5 hp)
Divo
Praxedis
Trebelle
Gobblegut (-4 hp)
The air in this room 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 the waters to support the roof eight feet above the floor, with mossy ropes slung between them. In two places, rusty manacles hang from the ropes over the water. 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 this side of the chamber. Three tables heaped with clutter stand amid this mess. In the southwest corner, a wooden door provides acces to a walled-off section.
Yagrin whirls around and shrieks, "They're here! Gaedren, they're here!"
"Shut your yap!" Gaedren snaps, looking as Romli enters. He is a bent corpse of a man, his eyes yellow and his skin spotted from age. His left leg is standing oddly, as if it never healed properly from a wound. He raises his eyebrow at the dwarf before chuckling, "Eh? I've seen your face before. You got a sister, don't ya, dwarfy? Yeah, yeah now I remember...oh I wish I could've seen your face when they dragged her to the stockade. Wonder if she's wishing for you to save her? Wonder how wonderful her scream will be when someone sends her your severed head in a little gift box..."
With that, he loads his arrow and shoots it inside the opening.
Surging from the opening, a bellowing alligator thrashes in fury. And Gaedren smiles wickedly.
"Yagrin, that wand better work or Gobblegut's gonna have some stew tonight!"