Barnabys Escape 1 of 2 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
21/8/475
Log
There is an angry looking walrus of a captain, wearing Water Folk seal on his round belt line. His men are hurriedly off loading, but he's not watching them, he's shouting at the crowd, "A bounty to the first man to drag that sea rat before me. Double if he's alive!"
Bite perks up as she passes by and approaches the walrus. "What did he look like sssweetie?" she asks rather hurried, knowing the longer she waits the further they will get.
Hearing the ruckus from her forge, Monique makes her way over to find out what all the bellowing is about, arriving just as Bite asks the one-hundred-crown question.
Peril couldn't help but be drawn by a commotion though held back hearing the angry calls, the little feline try to peer through the legs of those in front of here to get a good look at whatever might be going on while keeping a reasonable number of bodies between her and any risk of harm.
Nemoric moves along after the smaller feline protectively. Perking an ear at the call and looking about for the that might seem to be tring to get away instead of sticking around. Makes since the one the bounty's on tring to flee instead of stick around to die, a hand moving back to the large sword on his back.
Aidan moves to the center of the commotion, the armadillo lizard guard making his way through the crowd. "What's going on here?" he hisses, "No free bounties here.. if someone caused you trouble, there are the city guards for this. who is this sea rat and what they did, captain?"
"I just said, lass," he huffs, "He's a sea rat. Mangy black fur, brown spots. Dressed up just like me crew," he explains, "Stole something he did! I want him back, now, and I'm paying good for it. Can't afford my men, we got good HONEST business to see to." Ah ha, a guard, "Excellent, arrest that man!" he urges. "The rogue's name is Barnaby."
Bite slithers off after hearing the information, prepping an explosive spell to throw off as a warning. "I'll get him sssweetheart, and then we'll talk about that bounty."
Peril sniggered and cupped her hands over her muzzle, taking advantage of her position behind other and doing her best to deeper her voice as she called out 'sounds like the guard want the bounty for themselves'
At the description, Monique begins casting her eyes around the crowd, not looking for someone watching the event, but someone looking elsewhere.
Nemoric continues to look about for someone fleeing, now having a description to go with it and a name. Shouldn't be to far away as the ship just hit port a short amount of time ago.
Aidan clicks his tongue as the voice reaches his ears. "If someone has complains, can step forward and speak his mind. The last thing we need is a wild hunt of all the rats of the area." he hisses, taking note of the description. Then, he starts to move between the crowd, starting to investigate and making questions about this Barnaby.
Peril feeling little threat from the crew, the little cat moved in closer, working her way to the front of the crowd to ask the sailor 'well, I would never dream of taking the job of the city guards, but just to satisfy my feline curiosity, Did you see him escape? What did he take? And do you know of any haunts he has in this city?'
Nemoric doesn't wander to far, keeping an eye on Peril, like a big iron protector. Thankfully he finally got into his full plate thats heavier than any armor before. Letting the small one and others collect the information.
Bite pays someone after questioning them to figure out which way the rat went, and takes off. As soon as she sees a reasonable match she plans to unleash an explosion and stop them cold long enough to grab them.
Spotting movement in the crowd, fast movement, away from the dock, Monique yells, "There they are!" and points her forge-hammer in the direction of where the quiet snake is moving through the crowd.
Aidan recognizes the voice of Monique, and even more seeing the hammer in her hand. He moves at her side, just to prevent a smash-the-rat scenario, and looking at the direction she's pointing.
And off the group goes, playing follow the leader down the alleyways right up to an entrance to the city's fine sewage ducts. A shame that it seems someone smashed out the ladder on this one, leaving a nasty looking drop to the dark cobblestone below.
As for Peril's question, the captain isn't too keen to describe it exactly, but does offer, 'It should still be in a box, fancy little metal one, locked tight, bring it back too for a bonus.'
Bite groans and begins casting an air spell, guiding the wind upward with some force as she slowly lowers her body down ward, letting go and hitting the ground with a wince. She tries to make out the sound of footsteps, following what she can manage.
Realizing that Bite is NOT the rat in question, Monique makes her way after them, figuring they have a lead. Seeing where this chase is going, "Ugh, hate it down there." the thylacine remarks, looking to her work hammer, her 'business' weapons back at her forge.
Peril perked up and grinned to the captain 'ahhh, so something small and worth protecting that isn't currency which you would rather people not now about but aren't too afraid to loose? How curious. A personal keepsake perhaps?'
"Why it's always the sewers..." Aidan growls at the sight, sticking to Monique behind Bite, preparing to take out a torch.. unless the mage will do something about that as well.
Nemoric watches the other leave playing follow the leader, looking back to peril questioning someone still. Waiting to see where they'll be off too.
Rushing ahead, Bite finds themselves quite alone in the dark for a moment before several figures step out towards her, "Look what we found," says one haggardly looking dog with a mace in hand. A ferret with a crossbow doesn't approach, just keeping it trained on Bite, "Meal ticket, or just trash that needs taking out, you figure?" A third approaches from behind, steps large.
Looking at the ladder, Monique begins to make her way down, soon at the bottom of the ladder... but not at ground level. Growling, the thylacine hasn't got any way to get down, "Aidan, you have any rope?" she calls up.
"Not on my city-duty patrol, sadly. We can seek for another entrance or..." Aidan says to Monique, before sighing, "Letting a crown to fall and see for how much is the fall."
The hole uncomfortably deep, striking the ground a full two seconds after dropping and plinking off into the darkness.
Bite smirks. "Hey there sssweeties. I'm sorry to bother you, i'm looking for a rat." she hisses, tilting her head and smiling at them. "I bet you'd like what they're carrying, it's worth a good deal of money. If you help me i'll show you where to hawk it."
Hearing how far the coin dropped, Monique sighs, looking up, "What do you think? Worth the pain?" she asks the lizard above, knowing at least she is lightly dressed, Aidan is in full plate, chain and leather armor.
"Let's find another entrance... or come back and wait me here. I'll go to grab a rope. I don't know two, but I'm too heavy for that. I'll likely break something.. and we don't know what wait us down there." Aidan hisses, waiting for Monique to get back - likely to be sure that she won't dash forward, risking an anklet - and then dashing back to the ship's area.. afterall, there are ropes there.
"Aint that kind of her. You hear that," says the dog.
The crossbow wielder spits on the ground, "We already got a deal for it. Way I see it, you're competition. Hey, Greg, show her how we treat competition." A great hamfist comes down from behind, with fists solid enough to be clubs, or a makeshift sap, in this case.
Nodding up to her friend, Monique begins to climb back up the ladder and up into the street, "Damn glory-hounds..." she mutters, "Well, what do you think, get a rope and maybe some more guard or find another entrance?" she asks Aidan.
Bite sways out of the way and moves behind the larger figure. Unless the crossbow wielding ferret would like to shoot them, they will provide some cover at least. She begins to make her way as quickly as she can back to the opening. "It would be wonderful to have some help right about now." she calls out towards the openings location as she preps her explosive magics.
Dark! And it becomes all the darker when the mace wielder smashes the one lonely torch, plunging the tunnel into total shadow. Thwip! An bolt flies out of that darkness, striking Bite in the back in an explosion of pain, faint sounds of reloading heard and some footsteps.
"It would take a bit, that place is quite a labyrinth. Stay here, I'll be fast and grab a rope, alerting any fellow guard on my way." Aidan replies, already running back to the ships' area. Or the closer store which could have one.
Bite cries out in pain as she continues to push on, turning back to throw an explosion back around where the torch was smashed. She calls out again, as loudly as she can before sneering and summoning an unstable elemental to her aid.
Nodding to her friend, Monique keeps watch at the manhole, looking around in case anyone else saw them charging off from the crowd at the docks.
As luck would have it, flame and lightning dancing over the elemental is something like light, flickering as it is. The large fellow, a bear it seems, kicks the elemental where its face should be, and a brawl begins in earnest. Further back, thwip! The crossbowman is having much luck, or is just damned good, lancing a bolt right in the, now quite sore, back end of the fleeing snake born, slowing her as every step creates a new wave of pain from the two bolts lodged in her abused flesh.
Aidan is running back, a thick rope on his shoulder. Heavy as it looks, the strong guard has not issues with it. He moves to the closer point good to tie the rope, while reporting to Monique, "I met one guard.. I asked for reinforces. I think it's better if we go ahead meanwhile.. I'm a bit worried. And.. it should be good. I'll go first, I'm more armored.". With a nod, he prepares to descend.
Ensuring the rope is well secured, Monique watches her friend's decent, "Watch out for the end of that ladder, it looked pretty sharp." she calls down to the lizard as they enter the gloom.
"I'll make sure to not scratch the plate." Aidan says, clicking his tongue before disappearing into the sewers, ready to lit a torch.
Bite cries out in pain again as she is hit, her movement seems sluggish as she continues to the opening. Considering her options she sighs and begins to apply second wind to herself. Her elemental won't go down so easily, it hasn't been long enough and he tends to burn out before he takes enough damage to extinguish.
Fwooosh! The elemental does as unstable elements do best, and explodes violently in the faces of the two fighting it. Much cursing ensues as they hurry to put themselves out as best they can. Thwip! The crossbowman is quite calmly taking shots down the narrow tunnel at the fleeing woman. Aw, off, instead of striking a leg or back, it lodges in an arm. That won't slow her down nearly so much. He curses lightly in annoyance, moving to reload.
Waiting until Aidan is on the ground, Monique begins to make her way down the rope, careful of the old ladder, she shimmies her way to the ground below.
Aidan braces his shield with one arm, while holding the torch with the other one. He waits for Monique to get down, her light making the descend easier. "All clean here... let's go." he hisses.
Hitting the ground, her heavy hammer in one hand, Monique makes her way with her friend, in the direction they think Bite went.
"There is.. something wrong ahead!" Aidan hisses, hearing some fight's sound coming ahead in the tunnel, "Let's go.". The armored armadillo lizard charges forward, holding his shield in front of him.
Bite hisses as her arm is hit by another bolt and cries out for help yet again as she approaches the opening. Her movement is a bit faster after her second wind but nowhere near her full speed. The extinguished elemental has killed the light yet again, she thinks better of working out her flames of the creator, starting to sway wildly as she moves.
The group begins to merge, as Bite approaches Aidan and Monique. From behind, the crossbowman steps past his still flaming comrades, but not too far, wouldn't want to strike out alone, and takes fresh shot, twang! Shoulder strike. Poor dear looks more like a pin cushion than an adventurer at this rate, and consciousness is difficult to keep when every step has all of them rattling about, but what was that? A friend's voice?
Seeing the reptile, Monique is about to call out a greeting when she sees how hurt she is. The greeting turns into a chuckle, then a giggle... Hammer raised, the berserk priest seems at least to keep step with Aidan, the girl's meditations and training starting to pay off when it counts.
Aidan spots the wounded Bite, growing at such sight. He knows, he feels that Monique is behind him.. as well as that someone uses darts. Lighting the way and protecting her partner, the lizard charged forward, a mass of muscles, metal and scaled charges in the direction of Bite's assaulter.
Bite swiftly uses the strength she has to move towards, and hopefully behind Aidan. If not, then at least far enough that they can move forward and protect her. "They know something about the stolen item." she hisses and smiles, feeling a little relieved.
Oh look, reinforcements. Quickly calculating the odds, the crossbow wielding being gives the bear a kick, "Time to scatter. She's got crew." And off he goes bolting down a side passage. The other two get to bolting, one back straight away into the darkness, the other going the opposite way the crossbowman went. Bravery, it seems, is not their primary winning trait.
Advancing, passing Bite to take up the fore, Monique looks around angrily, not seeing anything to fight immediately. Growling, she snarls, "Where did they go?!?"
"Let's stop here and check the wounded." Aidan says, growling at the desire to dash after the assaulter but, at the same time.. not willing to leave someone so wounded here. "Even more, there could be traps if we just chase blindly after them. They seem to know this place far too well.". That said, the armadillo lizard moves at Bite's side, checking the entity of her wounds.
Bite quaffs a dulling potion as she pulls out her field medical kit, looking it oven in preparation for it's use. There are wounds to clean to say the least, her wild motion and the spread location of the injuries have her fairly bloody. "Don't, if you do they'll get away. Then we'll have to find them and they'll probably not have the captain's treasure." she hisses and frowns as she thinks of the bounty being lessened, although shes sure punishment will make the captain slightly happy, he probably needs that prize back."
Barbed crossbow bolts make for lingering discomfort. Constructed of metal, removing them will require tools, or quite a bit of fresh pain in the yanking of them free.
Still growling, Monique knows enough about wounds to know that she needs to let someone who knows real healing to care for her friend, "Stuff them, we get her out of here." she concludes, valuing her friend's life much more than some trinket or reward.
"Your safety is more important." Aidan simply replies, "Monique, carry her.. I'll cover your back.". The guard faces the direction of where the group escaped, preparing to escort to safety Monique and Bite.
The group retreats. Monique and Aidan carry Bite carefully free of the sewers and make due haste to the church to find the doctors and priests there to tend to the wounds. This bounty will have to wait for another, alas.
