As I cannot fail the Perception check, Indo barks quickly Assassins are on us! Arise!
I cast acid splash from where I sit, then rise and move to intercept the first guy in the room, hoping to buy my companions more time to react.
also,
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At Bedu's Parlour of Delights:
You are jarred from your sleep by a shout from Indo: "Assassins are on us! Arise!" Your eyes fly open, revealing several figures in the shadowy light making their way into the room from the front door. One goes to stand over Lotus's slumped form, while another approaches Skittle's supine body. The others fan out in front of the door.
Indo launches a small ball of acid at the next one in line, who grunts softly in surprise as it burns into his skin. He heads towards Indo, while the other moves next to Bedu.
The last of the invaders throws a club at Indo, but it crashes harmlessly into the wall above the tribesman's head.
Waking up from the shout of warning by Indo, the young rogue shakes off her sleep quickly. What the.... With grace only learned in the streets of a dangerous city she leaps up from her sitting position and rolls up to flank her opponent.
DC 15 Will save (1d20-1=17)
DC 15 + opponent’s base attack bonus Acrobatics (1d20+8=23)
Bedu
Will save to wake (1d20+2=12)
"Zzzzzz."
Indo lunges into a standing position while firing the ray of frost, gestures incorrectly. Bracing himself with his left hand, he fires the ray into the floor while standing.
Grimacing in disappointment, he makes his offer for surrender again. Swinging the sword quickly to cover his loss of balance, the big man misses the invader before him.
When he sees that Lotus is awake, he takes a step towards Bedu to threaten his attacker.
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At Bedu's Parlour of Delights, round 1:
Lotus comes awake and with surprising speed and agility rolls past her opponent's legs to stand up behind him, drawing her sword in one smooth movement. The thug pivots, swinging his sap in a wide arc, but Lotus ducks under his swing.
The thug next to Skittle raises his arm and brings his sap crashing down on the gnome's head . Skittle, still groggy from sleep, is unable to avoid the blow.
Indo draws his sword and swings, shouting, "The first of you to surrender and admit who sent you will be spared!" The blade cleaves into the thug's body; his goblinoid face takes on a look of surprise and disbelief, and he crumples to the floor.
Bedu slowly comes to, blinking groggily at the hubbub around the room. The thug next to him swings his sap at the dwarf, who just manages to roll out of the way. Seeing his friend felled by Indo, the thug then turns and runs out the door.
The man by the door says, "We ain't gettin' paid enough to die for these pigeons, boys. I'm outta here!" He ducks through the doorway as well, following his fleeing friend.
Bedu, still half asleep aims a spell at one of the thugs. A few mumbled words and a slashing cast later, gold sparkles at the creature's face.
Ha, see that move?! Bet you can't do that. Lotus taunts her opponent. With bravado and overconfidence she makes her attack and misses her opening.
Then when the thug moves to the door she makes another attempt to pierce through his armor, but she is splits only air.
Grrr, kill first, taunt later...
Regular attack, no flanking (1d20+2=10, 1d6+2=7)
Attack of Opportunity (1d20+2=6, 1d6+2=7)
Indo moves to the door to block their escape. He raises his sword and says Once again, your life depends on surrender, and confession!
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At Bedu's Parlour of Delights, round 2:
Finally in command of his faculties (mostly), Bedu mumbles a few words and throws a pinch of wool at Lotus's attacker. A look of confusion passes over his face and he momentarily freezes.
"Ha, see that move?! Bet you can't do that," Lotus taunts her opponent as she comes up behind him. She thrusts with her short sword, but the man just manages to stumble out of the way.
Skittle's attacker suddenly realizes that most of his companions have fled. Without a second thought, he turns to follow, only to be confronted by Indo at the door. "Once again, your life depends on surrender, and confession!" Indo says, raising his sword threateningly. The attacker, either unhearing or uncaring, attempts to slip past Indo into the night, only to be cut down by the tribesman's blade.
His companion, the sole attacker left standing, remains dazed in front of Lotus. As it dawns on him that he is the sole survivor, and now heavily outnumbered, he drops his sap and raises his hands.
"I surrender," he says in a thick foreign accent.
Indo gestures with his sword, To the far side of the roomwith you, then.
Turning to the dwarf, he nods toward one of the fallen. Perhaps if you can stop the bleeding, he says, the loss of human life can be stemmed. Also, we will question them separately.
Lotus looks around her to see if her recent companions notice her embarresment on missing the thug with her sword after her gutsy move getting up. Hearing Indo take charge of the situation she relaxes. Great, they didn't notice. I'll pretend that I meant to miss him so we can interrogate. So where are you now, huh, with your sneaking in here to get us? Plan back-fired, didn't it? She puts to the captured villain full of bravado.
Bedu grabs his towels and a cut throat razor. He moves over to the stricken thug and tries to staunch the wounds, cutting strips of material to help, mumbling, "no spell, no spell."
DM
"I'm no expert at this. By the gods he has a lot of blood!"
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Following Indo's command, the thug moves to the far side of the room, hands still raised. He makes a point of ignoring Lotus's taunts.
Bedu moves to one of the fallen attackers, noticing for the first time that this one is not human. His orange skin, blue nose, and obviously goblinoid features mark him as a hobgoblin. Unfortunately, however, Bedu is unable to stop the bleeding from the grievous wound inflicted by Indo's sword.
Bedu keeps working at the thugs, using the bloody bandages and what little knowhow he has to try and save one of them.
heal checks (1d20=20, 1d20=3, 1d20=6, 1d20=11, 1d20=14, 1d20=4, 1d20=7)
He finally stops with gore dripping from his elbows. He smiles and points at one of the thugs, "he will live." Then he moves over to a basin of cold water and washes his arms thoroughly.
In the half-light of morning, Pindara the Potter arrives at Bedu's barber shop. One hand holding a basket of bread and dried fruits, she knocks softly at the door with the other. When it swings silently open on its hinges, she is aghast for a moment at what she sees. Quickly coming to her senses, she glances up and down the street before stepping inside and pulling the door to behind her.
"What happened here?" Her tone is a bit rough, perhaps reminding her companions of her initial surliness upon meeting them. "Has the alarm been sounded?" She tries to mask her nervousness with a surly demeanor, but is not entirely successful.
Ah, Pindara, how nice to join us. I see you brought breakfast. Great I'm starving. Lotus quickly approaches the other woman and snatches some nice bits of food from the basket before telling her what happened. These guys snuck in here last night, but we stopped them. In fact we caught two. I think Bedu and Indo are going to interrogate them now. Lotus then sits down again on her comfy cushions to observe the show.
Finishing his wash, Bedu queitly speaks to the others away from the hobgoblin.
"Could someone speak with this thug first? Perhaps he will give up his bountiful knowledge without my involvement but I would like to listen and watch the assassin before I join any interrogation. Liet? Pindara? Indo? Lotus? How are you at prising pearls from clams?"
Bedu moves to the small back room quickly and fetches a plateful of sweetmeats and cheeses to help pass the time. Unfortunately the plateful looks only large enough for one growing dwarf.
"Thank you for the food, Pindara, perhaps I can have some for my breakfast in a while?" he adds so as not to hurt the potter's feelings.
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some things about the hobgoblin.
The human watches the new arrivals with interest, and slowly lowers his hands until a glare from Indo forces them back up. As Bedu brings out his breakfast, the thug's stomach audibly growls.
Perception check DC 10:
Quickly finishing the breakfast provided by Pindara, Lotus sees the handaxe visible on the thugs belt. She walks over to the thug, who's hands are still above his head, and removes the weapon from his belt. She looks over his body to see any other, perhaps hidden, weapons and asks. Got any more weapons we should know about?
Perception check DC 10 (1d20+3=23)
Indo takes his breakfast to the thug in the corner. In the wild, animals are driven by hunger, eh? He scrapes half the food onto the floor, but pushes the thug against the wall, before letting him eat. The gods watch over us all. Are we men of action? Compassion? I allowed you to live despite your attack. I give you my food. If you do not cooperate exactly as my friends tell you, it should be me who kills you, yes?
Indo turns and nods toward the unconscious hobgoblin, and smiles knowingly at the thug against the wall. If you don't believe me, ask him.
Indo releases the thug and strides back to his pallet. He crosses his legs and eats with his hands while studying several strips of stained animal hide.
His sword lies under the strips, apparently a part of his morning ritual.
Bedu pats Lotus and Indo lightly on the shoulder. "He is yours, let's find out which one of our friends is now an enemy or if we have a new enemy to add to yesterday's list."
The dwarf then looks around for the fruit from Pindara. His plate appears to be empty!
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The thug scoops up some of the food off the floor and shovels it into his mouth. "I hear ya, but I don't know what I can tell ya," the thug tells Indo. "We was hired by a fancy guy, slick, looked and talked real high-class. But we ain't killers. The fancy guy was really mulish about that. He gave us some blackjacks and said we was only supposed to knock youse out, not kill ya. Told us to come to the barber shop, take care of bizness, and then take youse to some place under an old warehouse. Guess you must've pissed him off some, hey?"
He shrugs. "I don't even know the other guys, but he offered us 5 silvers a piece, which is more'n I could make in a day working on the docks or somewheres. It's good money, but maybe not so's good to die for. Probably why everybody cut and run when you killed that hobbo right from the start. I know it ain't enough for me to want to risk my neck, all by my own."
"That's what I can tell ya. Ball's in your hand now, chuffer."
Indo flips one of the pieces of hide over to study the other side. Without looking up, he says Who believes him? Ask him for details. Who was to receive us?
He looks up to survey the two bodies in the room, and dips his head again, focused on the strips laid out before him.
"Give us directions to this old warehouse you mentioned."
Skittle starts to sit up, rubbing his head. "What the hell? Why does my head hurt so much?" Noticing the exchange between Indo and the stranger, he looks around, "What's going on?" he asks to no one in particular.
Name? He mouths to Indo and Lotus.
Bedu steps around to Liet and whispers in his ear,
Liet
Pindara glares at the thugs from one corner of the room, arms crossed over her chest, basket dangling from one hand. She seems preoccupied with staring daggers at the would-be kidnappers, but when Bedu searches out the fruit she is quick to provide it.
When she hears of others who have fled she takes a position where she can watch the street without being seen, hoping that she'll be able to spot anymore would-be intruders before they make an entrance.
Okay okay, not all together. Lotus irritably says. Then she turns again to their captured thug. What's your name? And could you please describe the man who hired you in a bit more detail? After that, we'll all go to that warehouse you were supposed to take us.
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"Give us directions to this old warehouse you mentioned."
The man gives you directions, and you suddenly realize he's talking about the excavations you've been exploring.
"What's your name? And could you please describe the man who hired you in a bit more detail? After that, we'll all go to that warehouse you were supposed to take us."
"All of us?" the thug asks. "Whaddya need me for? Or my name, for that? I'm just hired muscle. I'll describe the guy as best I can, but whatever 'tis between youse and him can stay between youse. I don't want no part of it, not now or later. I'm sorry I got mixed up in this, but no one got hurt, hey? If I tell youse, ya let me go. And we shake 'n' spit on it, me and him." He points to Indo.
Pindara:
"All of us?" the thug asks. "Whaddya need me for? Or my name, for that? I'm just hired muscle. I'll describe the guy as best I can, but whatever 'tis between youse and him can stay between youse. I don't want no part of it, not now or later. I'm sorry I got mixed up in this, but no one got hurt, hey? If I tell youse, ya let me go. And we shake 'n' spit on it, me and him." He points to Indo.
"No one got hurt, huh?" Skittle mutters under his breath as he picks himself up off the floor and stretches.
"Okay," he yells as he draws his sword, "I've had enough of the cloak and dagger crap! I say we just gut 'em and leave 'em in an alley!"
Yeah, the man's description is what we need. This couldn't be the handsome man, could it? No, he's much too cute. Lotus quickly dismisses her bad thoughts about their most recent patron.
Lotus looks disgusted at the thug's suggestion to spit and shake. No way in hell I'm going to shake his dirty hands. she quietly thinks to herself. Not knowing how to further handle the situation with this thug, she shrugs and backs away to her comfy cushions. Let them handle it.
What will you do if we let you go? says Indo from his seated position. Give us a reason not to turn you over to the prisons of the rani.
Indo gestures with his head, eyeing his companions and motioning them over to where he sits.