CH. 6: Nobody Expects the Occupation

[Haahque]

Well, looks like there's a way in after all. Haahqae thinks, and hops down the chimney. Time to make my presents known.

[djhyland]

Arulia waits only moments after Toom's cry before she scrambles out from under the bed and rushes down the stairs. She looks about wildly to learn of the vinter's fate, dreading what she might find.

[HorizonsDream]

"Damnit," Kendra says softly after Arulia rushes out from under the bed. She crawls out from under the bed and follows after the girl. Naturally, she is a little more cautious than she is in the matter because she doesn't know if the goblins are still there or not.

[mgbevan]

Watching Haahqae disappear up over the edge of the roof, Gregeddin waits a moment before calling up, "See anything there?".

As he waits for a response he says as an aside to Tulbas, "I hope the thought about a way to get back down..." Gregeddin also looks about him as he waits, "I wonder if the church trusts us enough to not spy on us as we do this for them. I get the impression they have eyes and ears everywhere. Do you think they'll be keeping tabs on us?"

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Alley behind Brothel, Harbor District)
Haahqae 'hops' down the chimney, falling all the way to the bottom. He lands hard at the base of the chimney, spraining his right leg in the process. He stumbles out, covered in soot, and collapses on the floor.

The room he is in appears to be the former waiting room. The entrance door, boarded up on the outside, is nearby. Near that is the front desk, where patrons would ask for service. The entire place is covered in dust and cobwebs. There is no sign that anyone has been in here for years, save for Haahqae himself. The furniture is all gone. There doesn't seem to be anything of interest here at all.

(OOC: Haahqae takes (1d6): 5 falling damage. He is now seriously wounded.)

Kendra and Arulia (Toom's Residence, Farmer District)
Arulia scrambles out of the bedroom and into the main living room, Kendra right behind her. The place is a mess. Furniture and such has been knocked over, as if the place had been ransacked. The goblins have already left, it seems, for there is no sign of them. Toom lies on the floor by the fireplace in a pool of blood. He's been stabbed in the heart and stares up at the ceiling lifelessly.

[Haahque]

"Ow, that was quite a bit more painful then it looked. How did that guy in that book I read do that all the time?" Haahqae muses over his injury for a bit, then goes around to search the desk, listen at the walls, and check to see if there are any other entrances to the room then the main building's entrance.

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra looks around the house in complete disgust, not from the fact that the man was poor, but from the fact that these goblins just killed an innocent old man! "This...this is...everything about this is wrong," she says as she walks over to Toom's body. She takes a moment to kneel down next to him, and runs her hand over his eyes so that they are closed. "We are going to have to get out of here," she says to Arulia.

[djhyland]

Arulia, too, goes to Toom's side. Though she knows he's likely dead, given the wound and the copious amounts of blood, she feels for his pulse. Blinking tears from her eyes, her mind cries out. "I didn't mean for this to happen! I...I didn't want anyone to get hurt!"

Arulia looks at Kendra through her tears, and is reminded how not too long ago she'd knelt over her body. But things were so different then! As bad as the refugee crisis and the cultists had been, things hadn't seemed to be so bad as to be beyond the hope of renewal, but now... And this time, Fizban wasn't here. He hadn't actually done anything to save Kendra...other than bring Arulia to find her and bind her wounds, of course. But his presence had heartened her. What was it he had said, then? That though she would feel alone, she would never truly be alone? She fervently hopes that this is true. "Fizban, I never meant for this to happen! I only wanted to help, and this man paid the price for it! Please, please, don't let him die... Don't let me be alone..."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Alley behind Brothel, Harbor District)
Haahqae decides to explore the rest of the brothel. The next room looks like some kind of pub of sorts. There's a bar where, perhaps at one time, customers could order food and drinks while talking with the talent and deciding which one to purchase for the night. There's plenty of room for tables and chairs, but there are none. Like the waiting room, a thick layer of dust covers the floor and there is no furniture. There is no evidence that anyone, aside from Haahqae, has been in here in years.

Further down he finds a hallway that branches into three large bedrooms. These rooms are the same, dusty and empty. The gnome checks the walls for illusions and finds they are quite solid. He searches behind the front desk and the bar and finds nothing. All evidence suggests that the brothel has been abandoned for years.

Kendra and Arulia (Toom's Residence, Farmer District)
There is a sudden and loud 'click' sound that comes from the east wall. The wine rack there slides aside, revealing some kind of secret doorway. Two figures, both wearing leather and carrying blades at their sides, step forward. They are wearing cloaks with hoods that cover their features.

The two hooded figures stop short, clearly surprised by the sight before them. The room is in shambles, Toom lies dead, and two young woman kneel next to him. The two figures don't say anything, they just draw daggers and start to move toward them.

[Haahque]

Finally convinced of the building's abandonment, Haahqae casts spider climb and climbs back up the chimney to rejoin the others.

"Turns out that's a grade A for abandoned brothel. Either that or someone's running a dust farm. Also no illusions anywhere there."

[mgbevan]

Gregeddin ponders this new information for a moment while rubbing his chin, "Hmm, we had better keep looking for leads then. Maybe we can charm our way into a local's heart to give up what they know about the cult. But I think the hardest part is going to be finding someone who knows about it. Seems that this has been kept on a very small scale to miss our notice before the occupation."

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra stands up quickly upon seeing the hooded figures, and she backs away a bit. "Arulia," she says softly, and nods her head in the direction of the hooded figures. They had just hidden from a bunch of goblins, and now they had to deal with hooded figures too. "You can clearly see that we are unarmed," she says to the figures.

[BishGada]

When Tulbas sees Haaque limps back towards them he rolls his eyes and says, "You jumped, didn't you?" He then looks around suspiciously, "It seems we were given a wrong lead. Let's get out of here." For a moment Tulbas considers suggesting support for the limping gnome but then he thinks to himself, 'Let him suffer... Maybe he will learn his lesson.'

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(OOC: And here Tulbas slightly slides to the dark side...)

[Haahque]

"I didn't jump, I hopped. You really shouldn't jump to conclusions so much. What kind of gnome do you take me for?"

[BishGada]

"I don't jump to conclusions. I hop." Tulbas says mockingly.