[Group 2] Shadows in the Alleyways IC

[Eonas]

The midday sun beats oppressively upon the city as you each seperately trudge over to the sheriff's office. Another day, another assignment, and probably yet another stint of scrabbling in the muck of Himmelburg to fulfill the local sheriff's instructions.

The sheriff to whom you report to and from whom you receive your assignments is, as always, sitting with his pudgy legs on the table. For all you know, his shoes might be glued onto the table's surface. Maybe they have a cleaning maid who comes over once a day to feed him and shine his shoes. Certainly, her list of jobs wouldn't include washing him: the guy smells like he's never seen a bath or lavatory in his life.

Umgrub - that's the sheriff's name - doesn't even acknowledge any of you until all three of you have arrived. Then he frowns at you by way of greeting and begins talking, as dispassionately as a mathematics instructor: "There's been another bit of gang violence, a bad one. Half the left wing of the hospital here has been ravaged. The staff managed to fight the gang off, but there's three nurses wounded, another killed, and a doctor's in a coma. You're to track the gang down. Kill them like pigs if you must, but I want to have at least one live member in this room. Any questions?"

[QuidEst]

Cerise strode into the office, standing at the ready while she waited for the others to arrive, eyes fixed on a point on the wall. Her chain shirt was neatly polished, for no reason other than to contrast the sheriff's slovenly habits. The strict formality probably annoyed Umgrub if he bothered to care, but she couldn't be bothered herself. If it ever got in the way of a promotion, that was fine. She could always outlive him as a last resort.

When the others arrived at length and Umgrub had detailed the assignment, she nodded. "Were the nurses able to tell us anything about the gang?" Half the wing was an appreciable bit of damage, and walking into things without some information would be troublesome.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine slips in the door and immediately swerves to slouch against the wall. The sword sheath slung across her lower back knocks against the grimy brick. She absentmindedly wipes it off with the back of her sleeve.

"Yeah, two questions." She echoes the sheriff's tone, and mirrors his lack of eye contact. "You know which gang? It matters. And how many of 'em" - it comes out like one word, manyvum - "hit the hospital?"

[Eonas]

Umbrug barely conceals his impatience at the influx of questions. "They didn't count the gangmembers while the hospital was being attacked. Not more than twelve. I don't know what gang, either, never run up against it before. They all wore leather masks. Most of them had daggers or axes. No armor."

[Perficio]

Every sunny day like this, Treva regrets wearing so much dark clothing. The tense walk through the streets, already weighed down by the chain shirt and the gaze of passersby, is made so much more miserable by the heat. The best thing about the sheriff's filthy, smelly room is that it's out of the sun.

Treva considers the sheriff's boots and remarkable fleshiness and she grimaces, baring her fangs and wrinkling her nose. With indifferent men like this in charge of protecting the city, it's no wonder crimes and violence are on the rise. It takes a moment before she remembers herself and clamps down on her lips, hard. The pain and brief taste of blood remind her of what's important here: not her disdain or pride, but seeing to the people of the city.

With that thought, she shakes her head at the others. "There's no point asking the sheriff these questions. Let's start at the hospital and see if anyone there saw enough to give descriptions. The wounded nurses at least should be available---and want to get these guys."

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine nods and leans off the wall. "Aright. Good talk, Umgrub. We're gonna go get you some maskies. Be back."

She gestures to Treva and Cerise and strolls back out the door. Her lip is curled, brow furrowed with irritation. There's got to be some way to make the sheriff open up. Something he likes more than watching people get out of his office so he can back to whatever the hell he does in there. She just hasn't hit on what.

"The gang hit the hospital looking for something. Maybe they're druggies, maybe looking to finish off a rival. We'll start there, but then I wanna check out a bar or something nearby. These guys don't just pop out of nowhere, somebody's gotta know what their deal is."

She sets out for the hospital.

[QuidEst]

Cerise nodded in response to Jesine as they made their way towards the hospital. "One way or another, there would be enough there to make it a viable target. It still seems like an odd choice, and if it was planned out, they seem to have misjudged the difficulty of the heist. A bar seems like a poor place to follow up, though. I'd look for where they could fence medical goods supplies. They would have done a little asking around themselves to find out what they could make and what to take." She walked with her hand hovering close to her rapier, since once the gang knew there were people investigating, they might panic and try to solve the problem by adding a few more bodies to it. It wouldn't work, of course, but whatever problems they had were apparently worth putting a few bodies towards solving.

[Eonas]

The hospital is a large, antiseptic-looking building. In the front room, there are a good fifteen men, women, and children waiting for an overworked nurse to call them. She's scurrying back and forth, helping patients past a large door, then running back and taking account of some new patients, then handing sheets of paper to others, then going to scribble something on a book on the counter, then going back to help another patient through the doors, then picking up the sheets of paper she handed out, then scribbling something else on the book...

Eventually, she notices you three, and nods. "Take a seat, I'll be with you in a moment."

[QuidEst]

"We're here regarding the attack," Cerise clarified as she took a seat, in case they were mistaken for patients. "If there's anyone that was present to whom we can talk, we'll try not to take up too much of their time."

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine says nothing. She just looks over the patients with her arms crossed.

[Eonas]

The woman stops in her breakneck motion to glance over you three. "I'll be right back." she says simply, and goes through the large wooden door. In a few moments, she and a tall, sprightly-looking young man come back through the door into the antechamber. The man smiles at you and begins leading you through the door into a long whitewashed corridor. "So, you're some of Umgrub's?" he asks.

[QuidEst]

Following along behind the medical staff, Cerise nods curtly. "Yes. I'm Cerise Rellera. These are Jesine and Treva. We'd like to get to the bottom of this, so any information you can provide us with could be useful. While we've been told what happened second-hand, we'd appreciate it if you could go over the events of the attack." Knowing Umgrub, it was far more likely to have been third-hand, but it was hardly professional to mention that.

[SurlySeraph]

In a calm voice, Jesine adds "It's particularly important to know whether they attacked any patients or stole anything. A firmer idea of what they were after'll be useful." She eyes the young man, looking dubious.

[Eonas]

The man nods, running the tip of his left ring finger down his stylish light-grey jacket. "Yes. Well, they broke in... here." He turns into another hallway and points at a door at the end of it, about 30 feet away. "The psychiatry ward. It's where we treat the mentally ill with drugs when other forms of treatment don't work. Their intention seemed to be to set loose the patients. There are indeed two missing - Sevig Grush and Ralma Nadri - but thankfully they split up enough for us to overpower and set flight to them one at a time. I do have a posession of theirs in my office."

He leads you left into one of the corridor's five side passages. Here there are doors upon doors upon doors, each one of them held shut by a small lock, as well as some more branching hallways. "The patient's rooms. All padded, all secure, city regulations. I don't know how the gangsters got the keys, but they only managed to open the first two." The man walks down the corridor with you and turns the corner at the end; there's another, albeit shorter, corridor of padlocked doors. At the end of it is a wooden door with an inset lock.
As you walk down the two corridors, you think you hear the faint, muffled sounds of howling, banging, and screaming behind the doors.

[QuidEst]

Cerise nodded slowly. "Pardon my ignorance, but do any of the drugs used here carry potential for recreational abuse, or otherwise represent any significant street value? Do you have any information regarding the patients who escaped? It's an odd choice of targets." Letting one out, she might have suspected they wanted to cover their real objective or buy time. Taking the time to let two out, though? That showed a little more purpose.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine shakes her head. "Having only the first two keys would be too much of a coincidence. They probably picked the locks, maybe wrenched them open some other way - I'll check."

She paces systematically through the halls, looking for marks left behind by the attackers. Her eyes twitch a little whenever she gets particularly close to one of the locked doors.

[Eonas]

The man shakes his head. "No, I can't see why anybody would want to take them recreationally. Anyway, they didn't steal any drugs." he says, with a finality that indicates an unwillingness to discuss more on the topic. "I'm convinced they'd have tried to free more patients, but we stopped them in time. And I assure you they did unlock the doors - our staff saw them unlocking a third one before we stopped them."

By now you've reached the end of the corridor and the man is unlocking the wooden door with a small silver key. He opens it and ushers you into a clean little office with a desk (upon which are three neat stacks of papers), multiple drawers, a chest in the corner, a chair on the opposite end, and two nearer to the door. The whole office is every bit as antiseptic and neatly-organized as the rest of the hospital you've seen. He opens the chest with a different key, fishes around in it, and hands you a mask. It's black, made of leather, and obviously made to cover someone's entire face except for the eyes and a little circular region around where the mouth would be. Apart from these three holes, it's utterly featureless except for a protrusion to accommodate the wearer's nose (along with another hole at the bottom of the protusion, through which the nostrils might breathe). It reeks of sweat - and perhaps something less immediately recognizable. "Well, that's the mask," the man states. "It was lucky one of the staff managed ot pull it off one of the gangsters' heads in the conflict."

[QuidEst]

"Just making sure we can eliminate some of the more obvious motives," Cerise said matter-of-factly. "Now, regarding the doors. Do they use a master key, or would they have needed a full set of keys? I presume that the three doors they worked on were sequential and near an entrance. Is that the case? And finally, I would like to review the information you have on the patients of the three cells. If there is a connection, it might be useful."

As they reached the office and the man presented the mask, Cerise examined it closely. Eventually, she stood back, closing her eyes in thought and putting her hand to her forehead. "Hmm. Obvious question- did anybody manage to get a good look at the face under it?" she asked without looking up.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine cracks her neck. "Weird. Interesting choices, these guys. Incidentally, are any staff missing? Maybe somebody who could've had access to keys?"

[Eonas]

"They'd have needed a full set of keys, and yes, the doors were the nearest to the entrance. Hrmmm..." The man opens a drawer, thumbs through the papers inside it, and lifts three out to read from. "Sevig Grush, male, sixteen years old, suffers from manias and hallucinations, strangled his mother. Five foot six, 116 pounds at last weighing, blond. Father lives at 203 Wyrm street. Ralma Nadri, female, thirty-seven, believes herself to be dead. Five foot two, 203 pounds, brunette. Brother lives in the homeless shelter on Vetri's street. And the one that didn't escape is Ritta Verman, female, twenty-one, also suffers from hallucinations, assaulted an old man on the street. Five foot five, 121 pounds, also brunette. No friends or family alive."

He sets the sheet down and looks round at you. "They didn't see the attacker very clearly. But he was pale-skinned, very scarred, black-haired, and one of his eyes was entirely missing. Andyes, one nurse has indeed gone completely missing, thanks for bringing that up. I'd nearly forgotten to mention. Numala Mabror disappeared two days before the attack, right off the face of the plane. She worked in the psychiatry, one of our better employees."

You sense no magic on the mask. There was a controversy in Himmelburg a few years ago regarding a depraved baron whose name you can't recall, whose concubines all wore masks similar to this one.
There was a controversy in Himmelburg a few years ago regarding a depraved baron named Rikard Hurn. His concubines all wore masks similar to this one. After news of his sexual debauchery became a point of ridicule in Himmelburg's high society, he receded into his mansion and has never been seen outside it.

[QuidEst]

Cerise sighed, rubbing her temples. "Well, if this were something obvious, they wouldn't need us. Thank you, by the way. It's very fortunate somebody was able to get such a comprehensive description. We'll need to make sure the escapees' family members are safe, and see what we can learn about Mabror's disappearance. The mask might be a good lead too. Were either Grush or Nadri sufficiently fixated on something that you could say what they would try to do once they were freed?"

[Eonas]

The man pauses for a moment to glance down at the papers. "Well, Sevig has a sort of imaginary enemy, as it were, that he thinks follows him around. An old man. He's obsessed with finding out the man's name. So he might have gone to the registrar, or he may also have gone back to his father. Ralma... well, she may have gone to the morgue or a similar place, or back to her brother."

[SurlySeraph]

"Time to start looking, then. There're good odds Numala Mabror was kidnapped, I plan to start with her."

[QuidEst]

"Thank you for all your help, sir," Cerise said. "We'll do everything we can to apprehend those responsible. If we are to start with Mabror-" She shot a glance at Jesine. "- we could use any contact information for relatives or friends who might know something. Did she simply not show up for work one day, or did she go missing part way through a shift?"

[Eonas]

The man nods. "She lives on 807 Wyrm street, but the house is empty, we checked. She must have packed to leave. As for relatives... they're all dead. She does have a fiance, though: Anton Kallus. 535 Claw Street. A baker, I think. And yes, Numala simply didn't come to work one day, no explanation as to why."

[QuidEst]

"All right. We'll take our leave now, unless Jesine has any more questions? If anything turns up that you feel would help the investigation, you can send the information to Umgrub if you can't get a hold of us," Cerise said, nodding seriously.

[SurlySeraph]

"Nah, no more questions. Let's go check on Kallus." Jesine has a distant look in her eyes.

[QuidEst]

"We are going to discuss where we should start," Cerise hissed to Jesine. Her bleeding heart was going to get Miss Mabror killed, if the girl was even still alive.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine raises one eyebrow and nods slightly. As they leave the hospital, she replies "Let's discuss. I think it's clear the gang took Mabror, took her keys. I've even got a good guess where to. Those masks, Baron Rikard Hurn's people wore them. Hurn hasn't been seen outside his mansion in years.

"My guess is either he's sending his servants on errands, or he's dead and these guys took his stuff. Either way, good odds our targets are there.

"But charging in headfirst sounds like a real good way to end up chained to a wall naked for the rest of my life. I don't mean to go near the place until we have either more facts or a good cover story."

[Eonas]

As you ponder what to do next, you suddenly see a tall, thin man stride up to you. He's handsome, well-groomed, and foppishly dressed.
You recognize him as your father, Lord Elwin (or did you already have a first name for him?) Lammertine.

He smiles at Jesine and begins speaking languidly. "Good morning, daughter dearest. It's been such a long time since we chatted. I hope you're doing well? My men have heard of your new assignment. You could say they feel a little angry about it - if I were you, Jesine, I would abandon your investigations at once. I love you so and would hate to see you hurt at their hands. Furthermore, I would like to cordially invite you and your, ah, three-eyed ladyfriend to a little dinner at my place tonight. 43 Vorpal Avenue. See you then! Good day."

The man turns on his heels and begins walking away.

[QuidEst]

"Baron Hurn. That's the name I was trying to remember," Cerise said, half to herself. "I just think we should be careful about who we discuss in front of. That, and we should work from the most recent information, rather than pursue-"

Seeing somebody approaching, the elf went silent. She kept quiet until the man left, then looked at her partner inquisitively.

[SurlySeraph]

The moment the man first spoke, Jesine's face became a mask of tensed muscle and narrowed eyes. She stares at his back until he's a few dozen paces away - and the mask cracks. She yells "**** you!" in a hoarse voice, then turns on her heel to stomp off in the opposite direction. Her fists are clenched so tightly that her knuckles look like they're about to burst through the skin.

[QuidEst]

Cerise sighed, and strode after Jesine. As an elf, keeping pace with just about anybody was a given, no matter how furious they were. "Yes, fine, that's all well and good, but I'd appreciate a bit of an explanation if you can spare it," she said, unperturbed. "Because from where I'm standing, the investigation either just got a lot easier or a lot harder, and it would be nice to know which."

[SurlySeraph]

"That dead bastard thinks he can tell me - ugh!" She stops and turns to Cerise. "So, that's my father. He's either tipping me off about one of the gangs I used to work for or threatening me so I don't do this job. He might know something useful but I damn sure am not going to go begging."

[QuidEst]

"Well, begging aside, are you going to him? Or rather, are we. If the invitation is a poor joke on having us for dinner or having us for dinner, I'd just as soon not," Cerise replied calmly. "Judging from your reaction, I would also suggest a third possibility that he wants you to pursue the case, and is ensuring you do by suggesting the opposite. Not that it matters. It's our job, and we're still doing it."

[SurlySeraph]

"Maybe? That would be just like him. Anyway, he's not likely to kill us. Trying to lock us into some dumb-ass trap for a week, possibly." She takes a deep breath. "Anyway, we're not going anywhere near his place now. Where to first?"

[QuidEst]

"And if we don't show? What's your old man's move then? I'm afraid brushing up on dinner party etiquette hasn't really been high on my priorities until now, so I don't know how to politely decline thinly veiled threats. Of course, by your choice invective, you may not have bothered much with it yourself." Cerise considered the question briefly. "We should look into the possibilities for the escapees. The other information is already days old, and if it's kept this long, it'll keep longer. The registrar or Vetri's street," she answered. "Besides, determining cause from effect is easier than effect from cause."

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine curls a finger around a strand of her hair, twisting it into a descending spiral. "Worst case scenario, he'd send some thugs to grab us and drag us there.

"I'm not sure about following the escapees - seems like they're just random lunatics to me. But you've solved more crimes than I have. Let's start on Vetri Street."

[QuidEst]

"Well, good. We'll worry about that later, then. As for 'random lunatics', I should point out that neither of their conditions would prevent them from providing useful information. So we check those locations. If they're a bust, we've got plenty of time to talk to the fiancé," Cerise said, already changing direction to move towards the registrar. "I'll leave the decision regarding your father up to you. You've got a lot more experience with vampires than I do, after all."

[Eonas]

The homeless shelter on Vetri's street is a small building that looks as if it's seen better days. Inside, it's swarming with filthy men and women, scarred, pale, with tattered clothes, sunken eyes and desperate expressions. Some of them are in varying degrees of mummification in rags; the others seem to hold these at a respecful distance. Many of them whoop and call at you as you open the door; two men and a woman stand up, watching you with markedly disrespecful expressions.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine looks over the standing trio, expression flat. She strolls over, swaggering a little.

"Nadri. That's a family name. Brown hair, mid-thirties early-forties, probably fat. Know anyone by it?"

Her arm dangles at her side, forearm brushing the hilt of the sword slung across the small of her back. Not close to drawing it, but making it easy to tell if someone tries to take it.

[QuidEst]

Cerise ignored the cat calls, a little used to them by now. Not that she was especially good-looking, by either human or elven standards, but there were plenty of human men who were more interested in bragging about having 'tried an elf' than the particulars of said elf. "Or her brother, don't forget," she added to Jesine. "Brown hair, yea tall, pretty light." She didn't have her hand anywhere near her rapier. That was because rapiers were only threatening if you knew anyone who used one. The hoi poloi would be better acquainted with their use in theater, and probably view it as little more threatening than a prop. No, she had her hand nearer the meat-hook she carried for when it was important to make it immediately clear that fighting her, regardless of who won, would result in very unpleasant injuries.

[Eonas]

The three standing homeless pause. "Well," says the taller man in a lazy drawl, "Mebbe we do know a berk by that name. Fancy jogging our memories?" He rubs forefinger and thumb in the universally-accepted gesture for 'money'.

[QuidEst]

Well, at least it would save them some time. "Tell you what. We'll make an honest day's work out of it- a silver each for the three of you. One to help your memory, and the other two once we meet him." Cerise said, reaching for the light coin purse. It was dangerous to 'jingle' too much when pulling money out, so it was lined with of a series of coin sized half-pockets on the inside. By squeezing at the right place, the correct change could be pulled out without making any noise. And while it didn't offer any protection from cutpurses, it was a royal pain to pick if you didn't know what to expect.

[Eonas]

"Well," the man says as the three grab the coins, "Fair's fair. He's sleeping over there." He points a finger at a morbidly obese man sitting against the back wall of the building, open-eyed but catatonic, staring at nothing.

You're keenly aware of stares all around you. Probably the silver. It makes bums pay attention like very little else does.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine nods curtly. "Thanks."

She strides over to the man and leans down in front of his face. "Hey, you! Your sister's in trouble. Have you seen her lately?"

[QuidEst]

Cerise stood back, letting Jesine handle this while she kept an eye on the crowd- particularly the two women matching the description of the escapee. It was broad enough that there really wasn't any way to say for sure if either of them actually was her, but they might give something away. Besides, if the crowd got a little too interested in her purse, it was better to be ready.

[Eonas]

The man still looks catatonic. A teenager sitting beside him gives him a hard shove. "'E's whacked on devilweed. Give 'im a moment." she explains. Sure enough, in a few moments, the man seems to rouse. He blinks at you quizzically.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine speaks slowly, gesturing to make sure he follows. "Someone broke your sister out of the hospital. She might be in danger. The people who let her out don't like witnesses. They might be looking for her. I want to make sure she gets somewhere safe. So they don't find her. Do you know where she is?"

[Eonas]

The man nods slowly. "Well, uh..." There's a long pause as he continues to blink at you. "I think she came around here. Said... said she had some new friends. Gave me some of this stuff, wild stuff, man..." He begins closing his eyes again until the girl beside him gives him another shove. "I can find her in the old apartment, you know? The one me and her used to get stoned in before they took her away."
You feel a pair of bony hands groping up your calf. When you look down, you see that they belong to an old man lying beside you, drooling. You sense the crowd rustling around: most of the homeless seem rapt on the proceedings.
You feel a hand slide into your pocket. It almost grabs the purse before you intercept it. When you turn around to look at the would-be thief, you see that it's a woman in her thirties or so, short and cadaverous, ghoulish little eyes looking up into yours with a sort of feral contempt. You sense the crowd rustling around: most of the homeless seem rapt on the proceedings.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine clicks her teeth. "Sure, sure. Remind me the address."

Suddenly distracted, she glances down with bored contempt written across her face. "You want something, old man?"

[QuidEst]

Cerise held onto the hand for a moment, looking the woman in the eyes. "Believe me when I say that it is really not worth the trouble," she said grimly, and pushed the hand away. She put one hand in her pocket to hold the purse, and rested the other on the meat-hook's handle.

[Eonas]

The man thinks for a long moment. "Crim... Crimson Street. In the tall building with the tree in front." he mumbles, then closes his eyes again.

The old man clutching Jesine's calves grins - and squeezes. Jesine feels sharp points digging deep into her flesh.
Meanwhile, the emaciated little woman stands up into a hunched-over position, spite plain on her face. Her hand slides into her tattered coat and she spits at Cerise's shoe.

Jesine takes [roll0] damage.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine's lips peel back from her teeth, jaw clenched. She forces herself not to cry out. She twists her body, trying to wrench her leg away and bring the hilt of her sword to hand in one smooth motion. She unsheathes the weapon in an icepick grip, holding it point-down over the old man.

"You ever touch me like that again, you lose the hand." Her voice is low and nearly steady.

Standard action on Escape Artist check: [roll0]
Move action to unsheathe sword.

[QuidEst]

Cerise ignored the spit. She didn't particularly mind insults, and she could feel that she still had her purse, so that was that. So long as they didn't attack, she was fine. "Thank you for your help. We won't trouble you any further," she said to the drugged-up informant. She glanced at Jesine and the old man, ready to intervene if necessary.

Call it a readied action to five-foot up and make a nonlethal unarmed strike against the old man, boot-to-the-head style. Triggered if the old man makes a move towards either of them.

[Eonas]

The woman whips out a knife and slashes at Cerise, managing to scratch across her face with it.

While Jesine manages to extricate herself from the the old man's grasp, with a growl he claws and bites at her leg with vicious teeth, to no effect: Jesine's too quick for him. When Cerise kicks him, the man yelps and rolls on to his back with a dislocated jaw. For the first time, you see that the flesh on his naked chest is shrivelled and eaten away, leaving only a few tufts of hair between the blackened skin.

The crowd rustles; now everybody's watching the conflict. The three who had greeted you at first now walk towards you. "Saaay, leave off that, girls. We don't want no fightin' here." says the tall man.

Woman attack/damage: [roll0] [roll1]
Old man claw attack/damage: [roll2] [roll3]
Bite attack/damage: [roll]1d20-2[roll] [roll4]

[QuidEst]

Cerise chuckled a little at the trio approaching them. She didn't let her guard down, ready to punch the old lady if she made another try with the knife. "Good! And neither do I. You and our good friend here were very polite and helpful. We'll be out of your way as soon as this young lady puts her knife away," she said, nodding at the woman.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine glances at the tall man. Her expression is flat as a shark's. "One on the floor owes me a hand. His hand worth much to you?" She doesn't sound particularly angry - more like a salesman, ritually making an inflated offer before getting talked down to something more reasonable.

[QuidEst]

"He got at least as good he gave, which is good enough for me," Cerise told Jesine, annoyed at the delay when they already had the information they needed. Somebody might have already slipped from the crowd to warn them. "We won't impose any further."

[Eonas]

The man tilts his head and holds out his hand. "We-eell... we're like a big family here. How 'bout some compen- compenshation for... hurting the family?"

Meanwhile, the old man growls and tries to bite and claw Jesine again - again, ineffectually. A woman lying near one of the shelter's walls stands up shakily and points a finger at Jesine and Cerise. You notice that her finger's shrivelled and blackened, like the old man's chest. Come to think of it, several people's faces and arms are thus deformed to varying degrees.

Furthermore, as you look around, you see two cloaked figures sitting in the corner. Which is odd, because you don't remember them being there a moment ago.

Old man Claws: [roll0] [roll1]
Bite: [roll2] [roll3]

[SurlySeraph]

"Not going to pay you for getting bit by a rabid grandpa. Bye." Jesine walks briskly towards the exit. Her eyes are unfocused, letting her see what's going on to the sides nearly as well as darting her eyes around would. And without the downside of looking scared.

Something's off here something's definitely off they've all got the same thing -

[Eonas]

The trio move in unison to block Jesine's access to the exit. They say nothing, but the tall man just leaves his hand extended, his face determined.

[QuidEst]

Cerise glowered at just about everyone. Fine. They'd do this the hard way. Fine, fine, fine. She wheeled and launched a sharp kick to the woman. It was tempting to pull out her rapier, but it was probably better to keep the relative moral high ground of fighting unarmed, at least for the time being. The three could stand there holding their hands as long as they wanted- Cerise was quite happy to take things one at a time.

Unarmed strike attack: [roll0]
Damage (non-lethal): [roll1]

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine shakes her head slowly, mocking pity in her eyes.

"You know that empty house on Marin that burned down three years ago? It wasn't empty. It was a poppy house. A junkie stabbed a guardsman who went there for his fix. But that guard'd told his brothers where he'd gone, and they came that night. Barred all the exits. Burned it down with all the junkies inside.

"Our brothers know where we are, too. So, two choices. You can get out of our way. Or, three years from now, everyone will think this shelter was empty all along."
[roll0]

[Eonas]

The woman hops around with a bruised shin, cursing and slashing at Cerise, and succeeds in wounding the elf's arm.

The trio seems a little but doesn't move. "We don't want no trouble." the tall man repeats. The crowd seems restless. You suddenly observe an expression of fear cross the trio's face; and then realize that they're looking behind you, at the two cloaked figures. They're standing up, both of their faces still obscured by their cloaks, and walking towards you.
Thief attack/damage [roll0] [roll1]

[QuidEst]

Cerise winced as a lucky swipe of the dagger caught arm. There was an awful lot to assess, with the crowd, the trio, the knife-nut, the hooded figures, and Jesine making up stories that might get them out and might get them killed by an angry mob. The knife presented the most immediate danger. "Back the nine hells off, lady," she said, following with an uppercut from her uninjured arm.

If space, five-foot step to continue progress towards the direction of the door.
Unarmed Strike attack: [roll0]
Damage (now doing lethal): [roll1]

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine turns to the cloaked pair and glides past Cerise, locked in combat with the knifewoman. She doesn't look at anyone's face. "Busy. You want my attention, you have three words to earn it."

As she speaks, she slips a vial out of a pocket and pours its contents down the blade of her sword. Dark liquid trickles from the hilt down toward the tip.

Move action to move behind the thief, though I'm not sure it counts as flanking if I'm ignoring her.

Standard action to apply poison to my sword.

[Eonas]

The homeless rustle nervously; many of them back away towards the walls, others reach into their cloaks.

Cerise's blade slashes the woman right in the neck, turning it into a fountain of blood - blood with a nasty brownish tint, you notice. Though she makes an attempt to scream, all that comes out is a raspy gurgle. With what seems to be a last-ditch act of aggression, she leaps towards Cerise and stabs at her. Luckily for Cerise, the dagger is deflected by Cerise's armor.
[roll0] [roll1]

The trio pause, and all three of them rapidly back away towards the door as the cloaked figures approach. They don't even seem to notice you anymore: all their attention is apparently focused on the figures. The homeless woman and shorter man make it through the door first and slam it. The taller, vocal homeless man knocks at the door, trying to open it - without success, his two companions must be holding it shut. He yells to be let out.

When the figures are a few feet away, one of them intones "You have been advised not to pursue the case." His voice is deep and hollow, and when he reaches out and grabs Jesine by the neck, she feels not just it, but the air around it, being cold.
Touch attack: [roll2]
Suddenly, as the figure grasps your neck with a choking, vicelike grip, you realize you're no longer in a derelict building, or in the presence of bums. You're alone with the two cloaked figures in the middle of what seems to be a strange city. All around you, tall black towers claw at a blood-red sky, alleys zig and zag back and forth, and buildings teeter at impossible angles, as if waiting only for a nudge to collapse. Not fifty feet away from you, a small pyramid floats a few feet above the street; a little farther in a different direction stands a sculpture of a giant bloated humanoid figure. It's completely silent here, except for the distant buzzing of insects and your own heartbeat. Suddenly, you realize the cloaked figure's holding you above a pitch-black crater in the street, only his grip preventing you from dropping what might be an incalculable distance into the void below. "You have been warned a second time. Do not pursue investigations." the figure says, his voice echoing loudly from the buildings all around you.
Roll a Will save, modified by your Stability (-2 I think?) against trauma and shock.
And post in spoilers addressed to me from now on, please. I'll let you know when it's okay to post normally.
"You have been warned a second time. Do not pursue investigations." the figure grasping Jesine says, loudly. You notice a strange, spaced-out look on Jesine's face as he talks.
Post in spoilers addressed to me from now on, please. I'll let you know when it's okay to post normally.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine clutches at his forearm, feet kicking in the air.

Will minus Stability save: [roll0]

[QuidEst]

Cerise swore under her breath, and drew her rapier. No more time for messing around, then. "Look, threatening us isn't going to change anything," she said, brandishing the rapier. "We're on the case. You want us off, bring it up with Umgrub. In the mean time, let go of Jesine." She punctuated the last remark with a thrusting stab at his open side.

Move up, drawing rapier as part of the movement.
Attack: [roll]1d20+6[roll]
Damage: [roll0]

[SurlySeraph]

Follow-up will save. [roll0]

[Eonas]

The figure shakes you by the neck as a thin strand of black blood pours down his cloak. "You shall not pursue investigations, Jesine!" he booms.
The other figure to his side steps to the side and, murmuring something in a strange, throaty tongue, reaches out to point at what you can only assume is something beyond you.
A thin strand of black blood pours down the figure cloak where you stabbed him. "You shall not pursue investigations, Jesine!" he booms at her.
The other figure to his side steps to the side and, murmuring something in a strange, throaty tongue, reaches out to touch you.
If this touch attack hits: [roll0], then make a will save.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine seems to jerk briefly back to awareness at the sight of blood, and then goes limp again.

[Eonas]

You feel a sudden, calming force begin to creep over you as the figure touches your arm, but you manage to shake it off. Jesine looks around her wildly, and her body becomes rigid with what is obviously terror; then it suddenly goes limp, as if she's lost consciousness or strength.

[QuidEst]

Cerise growled in frustration as Jesine collapsed, but refused to submit herself. "Back off!" she said, knowing full-well that it was futile. She held her rapier at the ready, waiting to strike if they tried to pull off another spell. Spellcraft: [roll0] + [roll1]
If it's possible to roll linguistics to identify a language (just ID the language, not translate), Cerise is trained in it. Her check would be 1d20+8+1d6.
Action is a readying to attack while the first one casts, taking a five-foot step up if necessary. The positioning goal of the five-foot step is to stay as close to Jesine as possible.
Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]Edited for broken spoiler tag.

[Eonas]

Both figures suddenly swivel their heads around and stare at you with scarred, pale-eyed cadaverous faces. Then, abruptly, Jesine's captor drops her onto the floor, and she falls in a heap, still in a sort of state of shock. The figures glide away towards the door - it opens at their touch - and go through, apparently ignoring the terrified screams and flight of the trio that had so recently been so cocky.
You've never heard the language before, but it sounds like a primitive version of a ancient witches' cant.
You may roleplay unspoilered now.
Both figures swivel their heads around to look at some undefined object, and the one holding you suddenly lets go. You fall in a heap onto the cold hard ground of the homeless shelter, still in shock, the surreal landscape vanished. The figures glide away towards the door - it opens at their touch - and go through, apparently ignoring the terrified screams and flight of the trio that had so recently been so cocky.You may roleplay unspoilered now.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine lays still for a moment, then executes a shaky kip-up, staggers forward, and catches herself. "Let's get the hell out of here. Now. Now."

[QuidEst]

Cerise didn't waste any time, and took one of Jesine's arms to make sure she was stable as they left. "Yes, agreed. I have the general thrust of what went down there, but if you'd care to offer any more details, I would feel much less uncomfortable with… everything."

[Eonas]

The homeless around you stare out the door, still frightened - abnormally so, given that they were apparently practically ignored by the figures. Even the knife-wielding thief woman doesn't attack you, merely spits at Cerise's boots in a gesture of empty bravado.

[SurlySeraph]

"I went somewhere else when he grabbed me - black buildings red sky a statue. The statue was horrible. I don't know magic I don't know where but it wasn't here.

"This is bigger than a gang, you understand? It's a cult, and they have a line to something. Everyone's going to blame me and they're going to blame me but I don't know it's not my fault!

Jesine speaks as though shaking someone by the collar, but keeps her hands to herself. She lightly touches Cerise's wrist when she first lays a hand on her arm, but apart from that she doesn't even gesture. She strides aggressively through the streets, weaving side to side.

[QuidEst]

Cerise nodded, trying to keep up with what Jesine was saying. "Right. We'll sort things out first. My place all right? Black buildings- in what we would consider typical architecture? In what manner was the statue horrible- depiction of mutilation, unnatural in form, or some other fashion? A line to something- do you mean they have some connection with an unknown entity? And what is the blame about?" She was half-regretting resisting the spell, since it seemed to have been potentially quite informative. Judging by Jesine's state, however, it had been a good call.

[SurlySeraph]

"Thank you - I only need a little time.

The buildings can't exist here. They'd fall. One didn't even touch the ground.

The statue was someone sick. Bloated. Huge.

Goddamn Umgrub's going to blame me for this somehow, I don't know. Everyone else back at the barracks, too. It always happens!"

[QuidEst]

Cerise nodded, continuing towards the small place she stayed in. It wasn't exactly set up to receive guests- she wasn't one to entertain- but it would do under the circumstances. "Well, I'm sure to get an equal portion of it, so don't worry too much about that. We'll take a moment to catch our breath, and I'll make some tea," she said, keeping an eye out for more suspicious figures.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine lightly touches her shoulder. "Let's loop around the block. Don't want to head straight back in case we're followed." Afterwards, she follows along.

[QuidEst]

Cerise took them on a path a little more circuitous than just once around the block, giving herself time to check for a tail before settling on where to go.

Perception to spot somebody following them: [roll0]

[QuidEst]

Not seeing anybody that stood out in the small crowd of people with somewhere to be with varying degrees of urgency, Cerise circled back around circuitously, finally arriving at her house properly and holding the door open for Jesine. "Well, there we go. I'll make start making some tea- unless you've changed your mind about that dinner invitation after this little… encounter." The place was simply furnished, without a great deal of decoration. Surprisingly sparse, actually, for somebody as old as Cerise. While elves were selective in what the acquired on a long-term basis, they did tend to accumulate items that served as anchors for memories in decades and centuries gone by.

Just going ahead. Feel free to interrupt anywhere in that post if something would have happened.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine smiles slightly. "Yeah, I'd much rather be here. Thank you, Cerise." She enters and crosses the room quickly. She pulls up a chair that faces toward the door and sits in it, legs crossed. "I think we may be in for a long night. How do you think we should use it?"

[QuidEst]

Cerise smiled and nodded, starting a small fire going and putting the tea kettle on. She took a seat next to Jesine. "Well, first I want to make sure you're okay. That spell- or at least whatever they tried to land on me- was an enchantment. They can be nasty business, so I want to make sure there isn't anything lingering. Do you carry anything with enchantment magic on it normally?" she asked.

[SurlySeraph]

"Nah, nothing. One thing that carries illusion on it, though." She fishes an elaborate jade-and-ivory hairstick out of a pocket and lays it on the floor. "Alright, check me."

[QuidEst]

Cerise closed her eyes, pressing her hand to her forehead, and faced Jesine directly. After some of concentration, she put her hand down and opened her eyes.

Second use of Detect Magic. Identify the school of any auras, taking ten and using inspiration. If there are more than one, starting with the most powerful if there are more than one. If there are no auras, no need to bother.

Knowledge (Arcana) 1: [roll0]
Knowledge (Arcana) 2: [roll1]
Knowledge (Arcana) 3: [roll2]

[Eonas]

You pick up from Jesine the last residual traces of a sort of strong enchantment magic, neither charm nor compulsion. Whatever affects or affected her is a different animal entirely to anything you've encountered, except (possibly) for the effect aimed at you earlier.

[QuidEst]

Cerise swore under her breath, using a few choice words in Draconic. "The good news is the spell is done. The bad news is the spell was so strong, there are still faint traces of it, which is… bad. A fake aura seems unlikely, since they didn't have much time, but it'd be pretty clever." She sighed and slumped back a little. "I don't know. What we do know is that either that spell was extremely powerful or it expired very recently. In any case, we're fortunate enough that it's gone. As for what we do now… well, 'out of our depth' is definitely starting to become clear. What do you think?"

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine takes a deep breath. "Normally, I'd say go to ground. Safer not to know.

"But. If they don't want us to investigate, it's because they don't want us to interfere with something. I dunno what that is, but that place I saw - it was a city. Maybe they want Himmelburg to end up like it. Hell, we've been going that way."

She picks her hairstick up off the floor and fiddles with it, body tense. Her hands move in twitchy short jabs, like feints in a knife fight.

"I want to go to Crimson Street and try to find that Nadri woman from the asylum.

"After that, I can go around and see if anyone knows someone who matches the description of the attack whose mask got torn off - missing eye and so on.

"After that, hell if I know. Somebody who might know what we're dealing with better than we do. A church scholar? Some kind of witch?"

[QuidEst]

Cerise sighed, rubbing her forehead, but nodded. "Yeah, you're right. As much as I'd like to back out, it's not really an option here. We might have already missed the window for Crimson Street, though- those people heard it too. Sorry, but I needed to make sure you were okay. If we're going to have any chance, though, we should get going right away," she said, getting up and going to extinguish the fire under the kettle. "Tea will just have to wait."

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine springs to her feet. "Right, then. Let's go."

[QuidEst]

Cerise didn't waste any time, quickly locking up behind them as they left. She kept one hand near her rapier, since it seemed likely enough that somebody would have gotten there before them.

[Eonas]

Crimson Street is in one of the uglier parts of the slums. In this district, it's silent and abandoned: the few figures you see are furtive, hooded, and watchful. The buildings are every bit as decrepit as one might expect them to be, perhaps even more so. They lean into the street and tilt towards each other, all the windows are always broken, and in some cases the front walls are almost entirely demolished, to the point where you can see the denuded and obliterated remnants of the buildings' content.

The tree in front of the tall house on Crimson Street, turns out to be dead and rotting. The building itself is narrow, jammed in between two other, smaller buildings. It's two stories high with windows boarded shut and front door jammed ajar. This street is so quiet and empty that you can hear your heart beating, can't even see birds fly overhead. Not even an insect buzzing. You might as well have just walked into a half-finished painting, for as far as signs of life are concerned.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine seems less tense in this place than she's been all day. Her voice is calm and low.

"Cerise. You don't have a crowbar by any chance, do you? I'd rather pry the boards off one of those windows than get funneled through the door. Starting on the roof and going down would be even better, if there's an entrance up there. Perhaps we could leap to it from another building."

Her eyes flick side to side across the building, looking for a way to break in.

Perception: [roll0]
Knowledge (local): [roll1]

[QuidEst]

"You think I just carry a crowbar around with me?" Cerise asked incredulously. "I'm flattered, because I do. But that's going to alert anybody just as much as heading through the door, and I don't want her refusing to speak because we busted in. Listen, I'll go in first. Whatever magic they were tossing around before didn't stick to me, so if they go after us, it might as well be me. You got a light of some sort?"

[Eonas]

You might actually be able to climb up to the upper-story window and pry it open - although it's possible you'd take out a large portion of the wall by climbing up it, but to pry open the ground-floor window you'd probably need either an axe or the application of fairly substantial strength with the crowbar.
What sort of information are you looking for with the Knowledge check?

[SurlySeraph]

She looks dubious. "That door screams ambush to me. I'd rather we go in a way we're not expected, even if it's louder.

"I don't carry lights, but that tree's all dead wood. Could try to strike a spark on the cobblestones and improvise a torch, if one of the branches is dry enough."

She unslings her bow, then rummages in her backpack before drawing out a coil of rope linked to an arrow with a hooked head. "The boards on the second-floor windows don't have as many nails in 'em as the ground-floor ones. I think I can lodge a grappling hook on one. You could climb up and pry the boards off an adjacent window. I'd spot you. Think you could do that?"

With the Knowledge check, I'm looking for anything I know about the area that might point to a way in - whether there are tunnels in the area, if this kind of building's likely to have a rooftop entrance or cellar door, stuff like that.

[Eonas]

It's possible that there might be - whatever entrances there are, are less likely to be due to be there by design than by the house breaking down. Generally the people in the slums - abandoned slums or otherwise - try to give a house as few entrances as possible, save for perhaps one secret entrance somewhere for ease of entry/exit in a pinch.

[QuidEst]

Cerise sighed. "Okay, fine, we'll pry the boards off if I can manage it. But down here- there is no inducement sufficient to make me try to pry boards off a second story window from the outside. That is a half step away from a short drop and a sudden stop with a crowbar in hand." Cerise unslung her pack, pulling out a sturdy crowbar and started working on the boards.

[roll0]

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine shrugs. "I think it's safe, but that's your call."

She smoothly fits the grappling arrow to her bow and fires it.

Ranged attack roll: [roll0]

Should that succeed, Climb check [roll1] to go up the rope bracing with the wall (DC 5 (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/skills/climb.html), followed by a Strength check [roll2] to get the boards on an adjacent window off. (I presume nailed boards are too simple for Disable Device to be used on them).

[Eonas]

Jesine's hook latches onto the house and she climbs up the rope with little difficulty. Mere hands don't suffice to pry open the window-boards, however, especially since she needs one to hold onto the rope.

Hang on, what are you prying open, QuidEst?

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine hangs one-handed from the rope, trying to pry up the boards without much success. Her legs are braced wide to keep from twisting around too much. Speaking low, she tells Cerise. "Not getting anywhere fast. I'm just glad it doesn't sound like anything's moving in there. Could you pass me up the crowbar?"

If she does: [roll0]

[QuidEst]

Cerise shrugged, and passed the crowbar up. "Just be careful, okay?" she said, stepping back after she took the implement. She glanced around, checking for anybody approaching.

[Eonas]

Jesine's exertion is enough to pry away the boards from the window: long years of rotting have rendered them weak, almost supple.
Inside the window is a unlit room, empty except for piles of excrement scattered around it, and a bowl filled with what you can only guess is ash in the far corner. There's a large hole in the middle of the floor that's likely caused by rotting floorboards, and a small doorway on the other side of the building. You hear the faint, muffled sound of whimpering coming behind the far wall.

And the whole place... smells funny.
Alongside the smell of rotting wood, and excrement (fairly recent excrement, at that) you faintly smell smoke and... blood. Fresh blood.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine slithers through the window, batting the loose boards out of her way. She pokes her head back out and softly calls "Cerise! Looks clear, but I hear someone. Come on up." She turns, fluidly unsheathes her sword, and slinks out of sight.

Heading over to the door on the other side.
Perception: [roll0]
Stealth: [roll1]

[QuidEst]

Cerise nodded and waved, relieved that it had worked without drawing too much attention. She tested the rope quickly, then climbed up after Jesine as carefully as she could. She put her hand on the rapier, but held off on drawing it. Also, she'd need her crowbar back once this was sorted out.

Take ten to climb the rope, resulting in an 11.

[Eonas]

You cross the room quickly and quietly. The whimpering sounds louder - albeit oddly still muffled - here, directly on the other side of the thin wall you're against, in the near-left corner, probably less than two feet away from where you are now.. It's a high-pitched but distinctively male voice.

From your angle you can see a thin slice of the room on the other side of the door. It's not unlike the room you're in now, only it's smaller, and there's a square-ish shaped hole in the opposite corner of the building with the top of a ladder protuding from it.
You climb the rope easily. On the other side of the window is a unlit room, empty except for Jesine, piles of excrement scattered around it, and a bowl filled with what you can only guess is ash in the far corner. There's a large hole in the middle of the floor that's likely caused by rotting floorboards, and a small doorway on the other side of the building. You hear the faint, muffled sound of whimpering coming behind the far wall.

And the whole place... smells funny.
Alongside the smell of rotting wood, and excrement (fairly recent excrement, at that) you faintly smell smoke and... blood. Fresh blood.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine makes eye contact with Cerise, points to herself, then points into the room. She slips through the door as quietly as she can, sword at the ready.

Perception: [roll0]

Stealth: [roll1]

[QuidEst]

Cerise circled in the opposite direction around the room, keeping close to the walls where the floor would be much more sound. With her free hand, she pulled out an iron vial. A little black magic in a bottle, it was better at keeping somebody alive than most healing potions. From the smell, they might need it.

[Eonas]

In the corner of the room, you see somebody standing and facing the wall: long-haired, obese, shirtless, with torn and bloody pants and a back so lacerated that there are large chunks of flesh torn out in several places, so that you can even see the fat and bone underneath. The person doesn't seem to notice you, just continues whimpering.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine flinches at the sight. In the softest voice she can, she murmurs "Ralma. Your brother sent us. We're here to help you. Who did this to you?"

[Eonas]

The figure turns around.

It takes you a moment to fully realize it's a woman: her face scratched to a red pulp, her flabby stomach sliced open, fat dripping out of open wounds. Where breasts should have been are only red, bleeding cavities. In one hand she holds a knife, which she is using to slice at her other palm with. In a choked, curiously male-sounding voice, she asks "W-what do you want?"

You're going to have to make a Will Save, at a penalty equal to your negative Stability, in order to avoid shock. So, -2, I think.
From the other room, you hear a choked, male-sounding voice ask "W-what do you want?"

[SurlySeraph]

"To - gods." Sell it, sell it, stay with the story. Her voice shakes for a moment before becoming tense, tightly wound. "First to see if you need help, which you do. Second to ask about the men in masks."

[QuidEst]

Cerise hurried to follow Jesine and the sound of the voice, keeping the healing vial ready.

[Eonas]

In the corner stands a figure. It takes you a moment to fully realize it's a woman: her face scratched to a red pulp, her flabby stomach sliced open, fat dripping out of open wounds. Where breasts should have been are only red, bleeding cavities. In one hand she holds a knife, which she is using to slice at her other palm with.
Make a will save, at a penalty equal to your negative stability. I don't remember what that was, though - when you get the chance mind posting your list of advantages/disadvantages on your sheet, alongside with their respective Stability modifiers? If you roll under 13, make a second one, DC 10, again at a penalty equal to your stability, in order to avoid succumbing to your disadvantages. I'll go over what this entails when I'm not quite so tired.
Okay. That's good enough for now, but make a second will save, DC 10, at a penalty equal to your stability, in order to avoid succumbing to your disadvantages. I'll go over what this entails when I'm not quite so tired.

The woman stares at you two, deep pain evident on her mutilated face. In a mechanical tone that tries to be level but trembles audibly, she says "I need no help. The flagellants are my freedom and salvation. They're coming for me. Can you hear them?"

Nearby outside, you hear the sound of footsteps - several pairs of them, possibly more than three - approaching in measured pads against the cracked stone road.

[QuidEst]

Cerise reeled back in shock momentarily, feeling a little sick. She clamped down, willing herself to deal with it. The woman had been in an asylum for a very good reason. All the more reason to stop the masked murderers. "Three people coming," she hissed at Jesine. "Yes, I can hear them. What can you tell us about the flagellants? Do they wear masks?" She briefly debated trying to take the knife, but she'd been stabbed too many times already today. Not happening again. There wasn't anything a mere potion was going to do, so she pocked the vial again, getting her rapier ready. It was probably too late to sneak out again without the notice of the trio she presumed were the flagellants.

[SurlySeraph]

"Got it." She leans in close to Cerise, eyes bright and intense. She murmurs quickly to avoid letting their tormented host hear much. "I'll slow them down. Yell if you hear one climbing up that ladder, I don't think either of us is strong enough to break it before they get here." She points at a ladder sticking out of a square hole in the opposite corner of the room. "Get as much out of Nadri as you can. I don't think we can bring her out."

She runs out of the room, sheathing her sword as she goes.

First off, Jesine will go to the grappling arrow we used to get in and loosen it, so that anyone who tries to climb up the rope will fall.
Disable device: [roll0]

Then she'll draw her bow and wait in ambush near the hole in the floor in that room. She'll get ready to fire down on the flagellants from above as they move on the ground floor. If there's time, she'll apply poison to a couple arrows while waiting for them to come in.
Stealth: [roll1]

[Eonas]

The woman nods and raises her knife to eye level. "Yes." she says simply, then, gasping, slashes the knife across her left eye. It bursts, and whitish puslike liquid spurts out. Slowly, shakily, she begins walking towards Jesine and the laddered hole in the room.

You hear the door outside screech open. Footsteps clatter across the floor below you.

You see the first of the figures, almost directly beneath you. The figure, is, as expected, covered with a black leather mask, and its body appears curiously foreshortened due to its position relative to you. It sounds as if the others are very, very close at hand, possibly less than five feet away from the first.

You may make an attack roll now.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine takes shallow breaths, arms rigid. The tension in her body mirrors the tension in her bow. She hesitates, considers waiting for another target to come into view before she takes the shot.

Fear wins out over prudence.

The arrow springs forward silently, like a lynx leaping down on its prey.

Attack: [roll0]

Damage: [roll1] +[roll2] sneak attack, and 1 Dexterity damage (Pressure Points).

Initiative: [roll3]

If I win initiative for next round:
Since it's a free action to drop prone, could I lay over the edge of the hole to fire upside-down at the other two flagellants?
If so, I'll spend a ki point for an extra attack and make a full attack.
If not, I'll just try to move around the hole to get a line of sight on one and make one attack.

Attack 1: [roll4]
Damage 1: [roll5] +[roll6] sneak attack, and 1 Dexterity damage (Pressure Points).

Attack 2: [roll7]
Damage 2: [roll8] +[roll9] sneak attack, and 1 Dexterity damage (Pressure Points).

[QuidEst]

Cerise was taken aback by the sudden eye-gouging. That settled it- the woman was going to be far more of a liability than an asset under the circumstances. She aimed a blow at the woman's head to knock her out as quickly and quietly as she could manage. She couldn't have much left in her in her state.
If an AoO is possible, take it first and follow up with an attack on her own turn, if the woman is still up.
Attack 1:[roll0]
Non-lethal damage 1: [roll1]
Attack 2:[roll2]
Non-lethal damage 2: [roll3]

[Eonas]

Jesine's first shot goes wildly astray, but her next two shots squarely hit two of the figure's three companions in the chest and shoulder. The first figure looks up as three others join it; you briefly see the glint of blue eyes, and then all four run the whole past to the ladder in the next room, the two wounded figures not betraying even the slightest sign of having been wounded. You hear the clambering of figures up the ladder.

Cerise's blows knock out the woman; her great, bloody body collapses onto the floor beside Cerise amidst its own pus, blood, and fragments of flesh.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine shouts to the next room "Cerise? We might have to run."

Jesine cringes and grits her teeth - first for missing, second that her targets are still standing. The arrows should be through one man's heart and the other's brachial artery. Did I f*** up, or are they that tough?

She tucks and rolls through the hole in the floor, aiming to land on her feet below. Within an instant of hitting the ground, she looses another arrow at a figure climbing the ladder.

DC 15 Acrobatics check to prevent fall damage: [roll0]

People are flat-footed while climbing, so another sneak attack attempt.
Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2] + [roll3] sneak attack, +1 Strength damage (Pressure Points).

[QuidEst]

"We can jump from up here if we need. Drink one of the potions before you do, and it'll fix you up once you land. It'll still hurt, but nothing permanent," Cerise said, handing Jesine a vial. "We're not making much progress at this rate, though."

[Eonas]

You see Jesine jump through the hole in the other room, at the same time as a figure climbs up the ladder and emerges its head through the hole in your room. The head wears a black leather mask just like the one you saw at the hospital. Through the slits in the mask you see dark blue eyes and shrivelled lips. An arrow suddenly plunges through the figure's neck from the side - Cerise's doing, presumably - and the figure's eyes blink at you, before he or se slips and falls back down the hole. You hear a the sound of clattering down below, and the ladder rocks to and fro betweeen both ends of the hole.
You fall to the ground and see the first of the four figures climb up through the hole. Your arrow plunges deep into the his neck. He pauses for a moment, as if unsure, and then falls from the ladder onto another hooded figure beneath him. The two others spin around and run towards you, brandishing long, serrated knives. You dodge one dagger's slash, but the other manages to cut into your shoulder - not very deep, but enough to draw blood.

[Take 4 damage]
Okay, we'll say that Cerise can toss - not hand - Jesine the vial just before she jumps through the floor. Just for simplicity's sake.
Also, I'll want your initiative, QuidEst, please.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine crouches low, but not enough to avoid the hit. She groans as the knife scrapes bone. As it slides off, she suddenly springs up. Her limbs twist at angles the eye can hardly follow. She tries to catch the edge of the hole and pull herself back up to the second floor, out of the flagellants' reach.

Due to having ki points left, get the benefits of a running start on all jumps.
Acrobatics: [roll0]
Climb: [roll1]

If I need to make another Acrobatics check to avoid an attack of opportunity: [roll2]

If I get out of their reach safely, I'll use my standard action to drink the potion from Cerise.

If I stay stuck down there, I'll instead try to bite one of them.
Attack: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4] + [roll5] additional bleed damage.

EDIT: Another 1, so looks like I'm staying down and fighting. Hope AC 17's enough to give me a fighting chance! If either of these two flagellants are the ones I hit with arrows, I want to bite whichever's more injured.

After the sounds of a scuffle and a clatter on the ground floor, Jesine screams something profane. She sounds scared for her life.

[QuidEst]

Cerise swore under her breath. She meant jumping out the window, not right into the mess below. Gods and goddesses above and below, Jesine was going to be the death of her. She downed her own potion- aforementioned gods and goddesses help anybody else who needed medical attention at this point.

Standard to drink her own potion. Rounds of healing remaining 9/10.
Move action to move to the hole.

[Eonas]

Cerise looks down, and see one flagellant, wounded through his neck, unconscious on top of another prone figure at the bottom of the ladder, an arrow through his shoulder. About 20 feet from the ladder, she sees Jesine facing two other flagellants.

Jesine bites into the flagellant's neck through the mask, feeling his skin break, then rip a mouthful of leather and flesh from his body. A fountain of blood gushes from the wound, and with a scream partially muffled by his mask, he falls first onto his knees, then onto his chest, the arrow plunged into him snapping under his body.

But the other flagellant, now the only unwounded one in the gang, stabs at Jesine; piercing her in the stomach. Jesine sees desperation in the eyes that look at her through that mask, even as the dagger finds its mark.

The figure prone underneath the unconscious flagellant then stands up and runs towards Jesine.

Does bleed damage continue after the initial damage? Also, apparently Cerise decided to keep the potion after all... so you don't have it, as it turns out. Sorry about the confusion there.

Anyway. Attack roll: [roll0] [roll1]

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine coughs blood as the dagger punches through her armor. She wonders whether any of it's her own.

She drops her bow and then dives away from her opponent. She lands, rolls, and runs out the front door, one hand on her curved sword. Cerise catches a gleam in her eye, like she has something planned.

Free action to drop bow, then I'll make two move actions to try to get away and hide in ambush just outside the front door. Unsheathing my wakizashi as part of one of them.

Acrobatics to avoid attack of opportunity: [roll0]

Stealth: [roll1]

Bleed damage does continue (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/conditions#TOC-Bleed) until the target gets healed.

[QuidEst]

Seeing Jesine make a break for the door, Cerise decides to take the more direct route, making for the open window and jumping out there.

Move action- get to the window and jump out. Maybe it's two moves? Who can say. About ten feet up?
Acrobatics: [roll0]
If the result is less than 15 but more than 8 (noninclusive), spend a point of inspiration: [roll1]
If she still fails, move action to stand up from prone.

EDIT: Fails, no inspiration spent. Move action to stand, presumably takes 1d6 nonlethal.

Rounds of Infernal Healing remaining: 8/10

[Eonas]

Cerise falls onto the cracked stone road below - she feels a severe snap, as if of her legs dislocating under her, and she crumbles from the jolt.

The unwounded flagellant runs out the front door. She rather nervously looks around, but apparently can't spot Jesine's hiding spot behind the door. However, she does spot Cerise spraweled prone on the ground, and runs towards her, brandishing her knife.

Inside, you both clearly hear the sound of scraping, as if of a body dragged across the roof.

QuidEst, yeah, it's a little more than 10 feet. Take 1d6 lethal damage, since you land on what's basically a stone road.
Flagellant perception: [roll0]

Generally Stealth requires cover of some sort, SurlySeraph, but I'll let this pass this time. Unless you have a form of cover I don't know about?

Jesine can make an attack of opportunity, by the way.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine surges forward, ambushing the man as he runs out the door. She intercepts his move toward Cerise with a stab in the back.

Attack of opportunity: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] + [roll2] sneak attack.


Generally Stealth requires cover of some sort, SurlySeraph, but I'll let this pass this time. Unless you have a form of cover I don't know about?

I went outside the house, so there was a wall between me and the flagellant when I made the Stealth check; that should give me cover relative to him, right?

[QuidEst]

Cerise groaned, staggering to her feet. That had not gone well. Fortunately, the blood magic was already knitting her wounds. Good stuff. If only it weren't so gods-forsaken expensive. Taking her rapier, she stepped up to the masked woman and thrust at her.

Last round's fall damage: [roll0]
Move action to approach the woman (if necessary), standard to attack with rapier.
Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[Eonas]

The both blades pierce the flagellant from in front and behind; with a groan, she collapses just before she fully reaches Cerise.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine flicks the blood off her sword. She looks at Cerise with a fatigued smile as the flagellant collapses between them. "We won. There's still one in the house, but he's already wounded. I think this one here" - she prods the bleeding flagellant with her foot - "should be fit to testify if you can get her stable. If not, we can go back in to drag the last one out."

Did you end up giving me a potion earlier? If so, I'll drink it now. If not, do you have any left?

[QuidEst]

She did give the potion earlier, yes.

Cerise nodded, kneeling down beside the wounded flagellant, pulling out a loose strip of cloth and wrapping it around the wound in a few quick motions. "This mess'll make it- let's go deal with the other one before they can cause any more trouble."

Standard for first aid to stop the bleeding. Rolled in OOC for a result of 24.

[Eonas]

Cerise easily makes the flagellant's bleeding stop. Inside, you hear a loud clatter, as if of a large bulk falling.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine tilts her head quizzically and turns to Cerise. "What do you think that was? Was Nadri still moving when you left her?"

She draws near the house and tries to peer through the gaps in the boarded-up windows.
Perception: [roll0]

[Eonas]

Inside, you see Nadri in a heap on the ground below the hole in the ceiling, limbs twisted far out of shape. The last flagellant climbs down the ladder towards her.

[QuidEst]

"Moving with a purpose and a knife… I knocked her out," Cerise said, heading towards the door again. "Didn't have much chance to sort things out neatly."

[SurlySeraph]

"Well, she woke up and made it to the hole in the floor. Last flagellant's looking at her. Let's go in."

She pushes away from the wall and runs back into the house to confront the flagellant.

[Eonas]

The flagellant, seeing you coming, reverses direction and scrambles back up the ladder again, then dashes through the door to the other room in flight, back towards the street.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine breaks away from the ladder and instead tries, once again, to leap up through the hole in the floor. She calls after the fleeing flagellant:

"We'll be more merciful than your master will! Come with us!"

Bluff: [roll0]

[QuidEst]

"I'll get out here!" Cerise called, heading back outside in order to head the flagellant off should they try a similar escape to her own. She was confident she could outrun them if it came to that.

[Eonas]

The figure slows down to look back at Jesine. In a hoarse voice, he answers "You lot just don't understand, do you? We don't care about about mercy, but for truth."

And then he jumps through the window to land clumsily on the pavement below, scrambles to his feet again, and then runs away, back down the street.

Acrobatics check: [roll0]
Falling damage, if applicable: [roll1]

[QuidEst]

Cerise was ready when the flagellant threw himself out the window. She leapt forward, thrusting her rapier at him. "Tell me how that works out for you, then."

Since Cerise was outside to prevent this, she'll move up and attack him. If he is prone, that's -4 to his AC.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

Cerise has done the unthinkable and taken the Run (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/run---final) feat, so she can outpace almost anybody trying to flee.

[SurlySeraph]

Jesine strolls back outside, watching Cerise take him down from the front door.

[Eonas]

Awfully sorry about the delay! Moving pains sort of knocked my schedule into tatters. Argh.

The flagellant only has a chance to look at Cerise for a moment in surprise before her rapier has pierced him through and he's collapsed on the ground, blood rapidly pooling around him.

And then, all is silent in the dingy street again, save for the sound of your own breathing.

[SurlySeraph]

"You can try to save that one if you want, but we only really need one." Jesine smiles wearily at Cerise as the flagellant lays at the elf's feet. "I've got the other. It's a long way back to Umgrub's office - let's see if we can get a cart on the way."

She lifts the stable unconscious flagellant by the collar and starts to drag the limp form through the street.

[QuidEst]

Cerise nodded, rolling up her sleeves and kneeling down beside the fallen flagellant. "Not gonna just leave him for dead if it can be helped. Two can means we can corroborate a story rather than just trusting them on it. I want to know what in the nine circles is going on."

Out of combat at last, so taking ten will do it, assuming they aren't already dead.

"That should hold. If there's any trouble, though, I'll be dropping him like a rock," she said. "First, though, I need to check on the woman- patch her up a bit until we can get somebody out to provide proper medical attention."

If nobody jumps out or anything, she's heading back in and up to the second floor to provide first aid to the woman they talked to initially. Again, taking ten in order to not mess anything up.

[Eonas]

Cerise manages to stitch together and bandage some of the woman's most gaping wounds. But while the cuts in her torso and back can be covered with bandages to stem the blood flow, it's impossible to prevent blood seeping out of the woman's shattered eyeball. However, she looks like she'd be able to hold together reasonably well now, at least for a few hours.