JAM, you know me -- anything you want to do, I'm in, buddy.
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Paddy sighs and says, "Your plan beats anything I'd come up with, Orion." Smiling, Paddy carefully undoes the manacle from one of the prisoner's wrists, feeds the chain through the gap between the hinges of the front door, then walks around and snaps the other end shut on the handle inside. Stepping inside, he closes (if the chain is thin enough to allow it) and bars the front door, and exits through a nearby window again -- leaving the prisoner manacled to a barred door, unable to get at the bar, handle, or hinges on the inside.
If it looks like Saul and Red Feather can get the kids to safety, Paddy says to Orion, "Three bells -- our work this night is just starting; there's a riot to be quelled. I wonder if we dump our prisoner at the jail first, or leave him chained to a lamppost or something while we respond?" If only there were a way to communicate instantaneously with one another across the city, wherever one finds oneself! Ah, what a wondrous world would hold such magic in it!
tossing a kid over each shoulder
Paddy, clumsily fumbling with the box, pauses to lift another child.
Paddy examines the head with great fascination, trying to divine the seeress' last thoughts and lamenting that his relationship was Pharasma is still too impersonal to allow him to speak with the dead. He also tries to estimate how long she's been dead, and/or whether the head was severed post-mortem.
Yep.
Assuming Saulden and Red Feather can keep an eye on the prisoner, Paddy will saunter along with Orion -- he hasn't seen the rest of the complex, and isn't about to let the hunter load all the drugs in bulk into a wagon or something while we're all standing around like a bunch of dopes.
"Ah, lad, Pharasma's will be damned for one night. That's a fine touch o' healing you have, Red, and I don't mind thanking you for it."
Paddy smiles kindly and says, "Ah, I appreciate the offer, partner, but sadly, that Oliphant Ear is sitting in my stomach like a rock, 'tis. As far as my remaining bruses, I suspect Pharasma will see to them in the morning." Spoiler: TL;DR: There's a RP method to Paddy's madness -- please bear with me!
Nodding to Bas, Paddy says, "Thank you, Sir Bas. You might mention to them there's a pair of officers already at the scene, awaiting their backup... ask for Sergeant Halloran, if he's at the desk."
Also: The weird space-bending and monster-transforming has flared up Paddy's attack of paranoia; he's now wondering if his new 'partner' is maybe taking over the drug trade, at the behest of Lamm's former 'protectors' on the force? Non of this needs to actually make sense -- most of what he's seen tonight doesn't make sense to him, after all.
"The poor things have been drugged, it seems clear -- some of you have already noted that. Beyond that, I feel the trauma of being held in close proximity to warped monsters and planar breaches should not be underestimated. They will need help beyond what we can give them." Noticing Bas' wounds, Paddy says, "And it seems you could use some help as well, my friend." .
"Officer, um, Paddy- you're a priest right? Think you could take a look at these kids, maybe see what's wrong with them?" "Yes, of course. Poor babes -- whatever has been done, it's over now."
Looking at the corpse, Paddy mutters, "Ah... now we've gone and done it."
Paddy is unwilling to waste his last spell slot while in melee, feeling he's sure to miss. Instead, he calls on Pharasma to burn Lamm. Ultimately, he knows that the attempt will most likely fail outright -- and, even if successful, is likely to be so weak as to go unnoticed -- but he figures it's better than aimlessly flailing around with a mace.
Remind me not to ever attack again unless I have Advantage from like six different sources.
Paddy speaks pleasantly but firmly. "Ah, but you have neither stepped away from the opening, nor are your hands up. Is it resisting arrest, then?"
"Pharasma's mercy on you."
Paddy apparently has eyes only for Lam. Displaying his badge, he yells, "Step away from the opening and put your hands in the air!"
"Do you knock? Code? Or just go in? Quick, now."
Whatever else may be said of it, 5e sure makes it quick and easy to level up!
"Manacle this guy and we'll pay Lamm a visit." Paddy, smiling serenely again, cuffs Yargin's hands behind his back. Already done! "He's upstairs, fourth floor!" "Then lead us there at once -- ahead of us so that you trigger any traps along the way. And of course if you lead us into an ambush instead, you die first."
Paddy shakes his head at Orion's outburst, then leans close to whisper, "My thought is that it might be prudent to mop up the rest of the crooks -- Lamm included -- lest they descend upon us en masse while we are distracted in interrogating our first prisoner."
Paddy, smiling serenely again, cuffs Yargin's hands behind his back. "I'm thinking the Organization might have overestimated your operation here -- so far we have two stupid guards, now possibly dead, and one smirking idiot who doesn't know what side his bread is buttered on." Sighing loudly, Paddy leans closer and says, "Now be a good little boy and take us to the brains of this outfit. Your behavior in doing so determines if you live, or get staked out over an anthill."
Paddy drops to the floor.
Paddy, suddenly surrounded by allies and with the gnome down, smiles at Yargin. "You should have listened," he says, and swings his mace:
Paddy, for all his gifts, could never be considered agile. He takes the brunt of the fire, screaming, holding up his shield which unfortunately provides about as much protection as a sheet of paper.
Paddy stares the man in the eye, steadily, and runs through the same introduction routine as with the door guards. "Some of the members of out respective, uh, organizations are impressed with what you've built here. They'd like to make sure it receives the proper protection."
Now would be a nice time for Bas to do something showy, like he's just itching to commit arson! he thinks, but knows better than to cue his companion in so obvious a manner.
Good for me
The man stops just short of the door. "Eh, Yargin's in there. He handles the drops. Knock hard or eh won't hear ya." Paddy says, "Fine," as if he doesn't care one way or the other -- and knocks, loudly.
Here we are our first encounter, and we've already broken the ole "Never Split up the party" golden rule :-) That's the first thing I thought of, too! But DM Jam indicated he was mostly interested in us role-playing our characters how we see them, and there's no way I could reconcile Paddy following Orion's route in.
Paddy shoots Bas a look, as if to say, "Do you believe these guys?" and follows after the gnome, re-affecting the swagger of his older siblings that he'd worked so hard in the priesthood and academy to overcome.
Paddy gives him a bored stare, like he can't believe he's hearing this. Quickly flashing his police badge (and keeping the holy symbol hidden), he says, "I'm the bagman. This is Bas 'the Bastard' Bugglioni, my, uh, associate. We were sent to make the drop-off this week."
Paddy says to Bas, "Looks like it's up to us. Thankfully, reinforcements are presumably on the way, in the form of our companions around back. Are your weapons clearly visible? Can you scowl more fearsomely?" Paddy swaggers up to the front door and knocks. "OK, I'm here already. What's the big hurry?"
Paddy hides his badge and better displays his holy symbol. "By your leave, I'll stay back a bit and see if your ruse works, Elegad. If they merely send you away with threats, I can always claim to be ministering to the sick, and so allay their suspicions. If things go worse than that... I can perhaps intervene more forcefully on your behalf."
If Paddy gets an inkling of what anyone is thinking of using the ladder, he cautions, "Might it be a tad too convenient to have a supposedly overlooked way in? Were I a clever villain, I would create just such an apparent entrance, make sure it was no such thing, and trap it with all kinds of nasty surprises. And while we can all agree on a series of increasingly unpleasant adjectives to describe Lamm, it seems that 'clever' must unfortunately belong on that list as well."
Paddy checks out the entrance to see if the commotion has drawn the guards away.
"Like most things, that can go two ways. A beggar with the plague, just happening to arrive simultaneously with an unannounced bent cop and his bodyguards? That would surely raise an eyebrow or two. But if you tried it first and it worked, we could follow you in with none the wiser, and our more audacious bluff wouldn't be needed."
"I have no doubt in our abilities in this endeavor," Paddy begins, then shrugs self-deprecatingly. "But you know they say that no plan ever survives contact with the enemy, and I share some of your reservations. Do we leave a couple people here to make sure we can get out again, if things go poorly? Or do we press our luck trying to convince Lamm that a city cop needs not one or two, but five bodyguards?" Then an idea hits him, "Unless a lot of copper pieces weigh so much that it takes four people to carry the loot?" Checking his purse, he adds, "I don't know; I've never had more than a few at a time."
"Sir Bas, brash is one thing that is never an issue for an O'Donnegal! As to your other question, though, I presume a crooked cop needs bodyguards, when he's carrying all this cash? Or, if we heed my excellent partner here," nodding at Orion, "I can leave you guys here to play with the gnomes while I go get Lamm myself? You tell me."
Paddy offers timidly, "Why don't I mention to the guards that I'm here to drop off Lamm's cut of the weekly racketeering money? After all, we cops are all on the take, right? Or so many would believe."
You got a good heart Paddy. I just hope this doesn't cost you. "I am a priest of Pharasma, the Goddess of Death. I'm fully prepared to the ultimate price, any time, if that's her will."
If he has an in with the Korvosan Guard for instance, it's probably because he blackmailed them in some way. If he fights back and dies nobody is going to care. Assuming Paddy knows this, the first quote tells him that "somebody" will care very much -- the people being blackmailed -- aka his own department. If the blackmail potential dies with Lamm, they'd have murdered him in his cell before the last trial ("Oops -- musta hanged himself!"), so evidently the blackmail stuff doesn't die with him. Which means if Paddy helps kill him, the stuff gets released and his own department kills him. Do I sense that I'm supposed to flee the city after this adventure? (Mind you, if that's where the story goes, I'm fine with it.)
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