Search Posts
The filthy man squealed like a small animal as the reptile's jaws closed on his leg. Effectively held in place by the sheer size of the animal, he was reduced to a neary thoughtless response. Only his practice allowed him to even attempt anything beyond a simple opposing yank. 1) 2) 3)
Seeing a chance, Ioca attempts to get through the door.
ioca . . . waits. Worrying about possible bolt holes, though he knows the far side is below street level, he also knows that doesn't mean there's not a way out over there.
"If you'll give me some room to get there, I can try to open that door." Assuming the group DOES give Ioca room, he'll work his way to the door, check the lock and frame for traps that might go off by attempting to pick the lock or actually opening the door, and if he thinks it is safe, THEN he'll try to unlock the door.
Staying crouched, Ioca looks for an opportunity to stick the shark as it comes by again.
Ioca carefully drops down into the skif, both pulling his blade and crouching (to lower his center of gravity).
Ioca goes back inside with the others, taking his turn to get down into the crawl space. I really hope this leads to Lamm. If he's flown, it was while these bleeding hearts stopped to bind wounds. Like they could heal the wounds he has caused, and will keep causing, if we can't stop him!
Ioca lightly growls, quietly. "Back inside to go down? Do we have any sign of Lamm, yet? Where has the filth gone?" He goes with the others, not seeing a great advantage in trying to continuing the first path alone.
Listening to everyone else, and not wanting to waste any time more than is necessary, Ioca lies on the platform, belly down, and drapes his upper torso over the outer edge, hands on the outer rail, bending over in an attempt to see straight into the underdeck being described.
I was ready to go first. <shrug> Won't fight over it. Maybe I should go second, to provide assistance? Though, other than holding the slack side of the rope across your torso so i can help pull you back to the last piton, I'm not sure how it would work . . .. And that might be better for a strongman than an agile one to work?
The thief doesn't even acknowledge the comment about the locked cabinet, focusing instead on finding their quarry, who is not within the building as promised. "We need to get on that boat before he casts off!"
"That paper won't move. Lamm will. Come back for it." After spending a second to think about known doors, "Let's go to our right first."
"Let's pick up the desk and move it out of the way, yeah?"
His post said he put it in his pack. I'm good with the keys.
"Left. Right. Up. Down. Whichever. We need to get moving." Ioca will move to go with Billi.
I was just pokin' fun at the observation. I get the difference between in character and out of character.
Why would I want to let them look for me later?
"You have healer's tools on you? I can loan you a set if you need one.
Oh, yeah, mundane healing! Ioca even has the tools . . .. Only has a +4, though. Player forgot about that.
"Pick your discomfort. I say we assume our success continues, and we ask them to wait here for us. Yes, if we all die, they will still be under Lamm's thumb, but they won't be chased down and punished for fleeing, either. Least risk, I think." He looks about. "I see two closed doors and an open room. Why don't you see if these know which way leads to Lamm?"
Ioca is desperately trying to display a hard, uncaring front at the same time he's frantically scanning the children, looking for one familiar face in particular.
Ioca steps closer to the gnome, almost feeling sorry for what has to happen. Almost. Then he tries to make it happen.
Ioca doesn't bother heading back down the stairs, but he puts a hand on the stair-rail and swings himself over, dropping to the floor, before moving over to the gnome and attempting to give him a quick bleeding.
Frustrated by how well he's been pinned down, and honestly wanting Billi to get a good swing at this man, Ioca attempts to tumble past him. Again.
But he is still unable to squeeze by on these stairs. He attempts to stick the man again, anyway. Before yielding his position to Billi by moving below him on the stairs.
Seeing the giggling one fall, Ioca makes a break up the stairs and attempts to get past the man at the top.
But he just doesn't manage to get by him. He still takes the opportunity to see if he can bleed the man a drop or two.
The thief sees the chokepoint on the stairs and decides he has to do what he can to fix that particular problem. He moves up to Billi, and the tries to tumble through the giggling fool, intending to attack him from the other side.
Ioca tries to bring his blade to bear.
He moves back to ensure Billi has room to maneuver, well, as much as the stairs allow, anyway.
The frustrated rogue steps adjacent to the closer enemy, and attempts to end this exchange.
Anyone with combat training who has sparred is already confident that anything approaching a diplomacy attempt once the combat starts is wasting their time. I'm going to assume you are trying to distract me, to get me to let my guard down. I'm going to ignore you and try to get out of the fight with as little harm to me as I can manage. And if we're fighting with lethal weaponry? Yeah. Diplomacy ended as soon as my life was threatened. Especially if a third party is still actively trying to do lethal damage to me while you're trying to talk. You are the only opponent, and your entire fighting stance/actions are defensive? Makes listening easier to accept, but the conversation will still be assumed a distraction.
Ioca moves up to where Billi had been standing at the door. Seeing the man in front of him, club and all, he goes to squeeze around the rail of the stairs right there and then tries to stick the man with his blade. All of it in silence, not even baring his teeth. Just business.
Yeah, I forgot the triple action thing. A single, unimpeded stride would get me to the specific square where Billi started. Of course, I don't know that the line of people on a rickety pier counts as unimpeded. Then I could move a total of 4 or 5 squares after, since you implied those rules. I still think waiting better serves my purposes. Especially if somebody adds light to the room . . ..
Given the long line of people between himself and the door, Ioca finds himself forced to wait before he can do pretty much anything.
Rejoining the others to discuss what they found . . .. "Yes, obviously we are better off if we go in together than separate. The walkway on the Southern side looks dangerous, but leads to the boat and has a door from the building. I'm betting that's the primary bolt-hole. You say the Northern side has a second set of double doors and a single door low in the back? That may well be the best way in. Did you get close enough to see if it has a lock?"
"I appreciate the desire to cut off a potential escape route, but can that wait until I check for other entrances and exits? We can cut off that escape route on our way in, instead of having to go back and forth, right?"
The young man follows the others out, and down the road. He stays away from Perivolt, falling back behind the rest of the group if he must. He briefly considers falling back far enough that anyone watching as they approach the pier will think he is tailing them instead of being with them, but he decides there would be too much risk of getting left behind when they breach the building.
Ioca looks shocked, but his response suggests it isn't by the interruption as much as the comments within the interruption. "Angry? I'm not angry. I'm frustrated by somebody who doesn't understand the world Lamm and I come from. People we care about are effectively invisible to most of the city. People like Lamm see these children as things, as animals to train and use up, not as people. The ones he does notice, that he does remember, will be ones he takes a more . . . personal interest in. I hope he doesn't remember my sister. She's too young for that sort of attention. Finding him has been handed to us. The demand put before us is that we have to then keep him alive once we know he doesn't have the answers we want. THAT's the frustration."
"Is it? Then it is obvious how he wronged me, too! So, what has he done to me? Hunh?" He's not waiting for an answer, in case it needed to be said. "The same thing he's done to you, you thoughtlessly selfish fool. Nothing matters to you but getting an answer he will never willingly provide. Nothing but having him show you where to find someone he probably doesn't even remember. The difference is I KNOW he doesn't remember my sister and I'm not starting by lying to myself and others that he will be able to give me closure on what part of his machine he's hidden her in, on what he's done with her. None of our people are important enough to him for him to CARE who they are or what their status is. My problem is not blood lust. It is having others blinded by false hope setting demands that will not be met."
"The guard will hold him until paid to do otherwise. Money will arrive long before he is even tried. They do not punish those they can get something from. Turning him over is not an option."
Just can't agree with nobody, it seems. Contradictory was not in my mental description of Ionatan.
The self-mobile grease stain stands and moves along a wall as he starts talking. "Something will happen to her, eventually. Something will happen to Lamm, too, eventually. Same with each of us. No one here can prevent those truths from being demonstrated. Our question is: are we willing to wait for something to happen to Lamm, or do we want to cause it? This one," as he indicated Perviolt, "seems ready to keep anything from happening to Lamm until he gets an answer that may never come. Will never come if Lamm understands that silence protects him. As our independent efforts should have taught us, Lamm knows how to protect the secret of his location. Do we risk him moving before we act? Do we risk losing him in the city, again, because we want an answer we can't get by waiting?" He loops around the corner and starts pacing on the far wall, behind the Harrower. "You spoke earlier about the watch, and how justice is run in this city." He points at Perviolt again. "Exactly like that. Nothing can be done to punish someone I THINK I can get something I want from. We're here BECAUSE that doesn't help any of us." He throws his arms out to his sides, before letting them fall, sighing as they bounce off his torso.
"Caution is not cowardice. What looks like an over-abundance of caution can be mistaken for cowardice, but you have to know what is at risk, and what the nature of the risk actually is to know if it is an over-abundance of caution or simply awareness of the threat. Lamm knows that his very existence is at risk. You can't do what he has done without making enemies who will want to see you end, some of them working with the protection of the law, even. Do any of you know what attempts he has discovered and thwarted already? I don't. But I know others have tried for him. His defenses have kept him alive despite our forebearer's efforts."
|