Dr. Si's Curse of the Crimson Throne - Beta Group

[sblock=Dr Simon]OOC: It seems so far that the entire first floor is devoted to moving, butchering and storing meat and that that's what it's currently being used for. Dj'hân will listen and peek beneath both set off double doors (both those is the storage room and then the hallway) and possibly crack them open an inch briefly to get a quick look at the layout of the place before turning his attention to the second floor. Mindful that there's no door at the top of the stairs, the urchin will pad up stealthily and crouch down at the top to covertly peek and listen into the room above.[/sblock]

[SBLOCK=Dj'hân]
The backroom is a complex of butchery equipment, with the metal railing running around the ceiling allowing carcasses to be moved from one area to another. There are a couple of vats of water near the middle, and on the far side of the room there is a man happily butchering the carcass of a cow. He has winched it up onto a hook on the railing, and now stands over a large grate through which blood and offcuts are falling. His back is to Dj'hân, and he is whistling to himself, so he doesn't notice the urchin peeking through the doorway.

Checking upstairs, Dj'hân finds three men engaged in a card game, sat around a table. From the bedrolls pushed against the wall, this seems to be their living and sleeping quarters. The windows are shuttered, one door leads out of the room.
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[sblock=Dr Simon]Hm. Dj'hân feels a little exposed on the stairs; anyone heading up or down will likely see him. Ideally he needs to find a concealed spot that he can reach unseen in the upper room from which to covertly observe the group for a time. Looking at the map, it looks like there's a trunk or table in the corner with a gap next to it which might provide Dj'hân with ideal concealment for an extended period. If he thinks that he can stealthily pull himself up directly from the staircase into the gap then I think he'd be in a good spot to settle in comfortably enough for awhile to listen in to the goings on in both rooms.

If it seems reasonably feasible, he'll give it a try and stay in that dark corner either until something else happens or until the men turn in for the night before sneaking out to report. Hopefully the men are suffering perception penalties for being distracted by their gambling.[/sblock]

OOC: Don't worry, everyone. This solo part is nearly over!

[sblock=Dj'hân]
Dj'hân pulls himself into a dark corner behind a small chest and gets comfortable for a while.

Most of the conversation between the three men, who Dj'hân learns are called Baldrago, Malder and Karralo, revolves around the game of Towers that they are playing, but he overhears a few interesting snippets.

"Parns not joining us?" asks the one called Karralo.

"He's sorting out some meat for tomorrow," replies Baldrago.

"By himself?"

"He's happy enough. You know he enjoys his work."

"Yeah, don't know how he can stand it. Particularly the... specials."

"Shh!" says Malder. "Don't mention the specials where the Boss could hear. He don't need to know our little sideline."

"It's not like he ever leaves his room no more."

"Pfft. Who cares. As long as his mystery lady friend keeps supplying the animals, the proles love us."

"You reckon that tart with the sausages was her?"

There is a pause.

"Nah. You know Verik, the women love him. Maybe he's got several women wanting to give him meat?"

"It's usually the other way around!" says Malder with the air of someone saying something they think to be hilariously funny. There is laughter, then the joke is repeatedly flogged to death.

A bit later, Parns comes stumping up the stairs. They play a few more rounds of Towers before, in the small hours of the morning, unfurling their bedrolls and settling down for some sleep to the sound of gaseous emissions from both ends.
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OOC: Just waiting for some final details from Doc so that I can post Dj'hân's report. Sorry for the wait; I've been posting as quickly as possible to get this part done. I think the results will prove worthwhile.
[sblock=Dr Simon]In the corner of the now darkened room, the tiny infiltrator silently yawns and rubs the sleep from his eyes. It's finally time to get back to work. From his concealed position, the urchin removes his red cap and pulls out Zalara's Harrow deck. Pausing for a moment to commune with the dead woman's spirit, the small child smiles and draws a card.

OOC: Dj'hân is using the deck's Identify power to detect magic in this end of the building to search for magical auras. Since they don't appear thick enough to serve as barriers to the spell, it'd seem that he'd be able to scan through the walls and floor well enough to cover most of the building's interior and even the stockyard outside.

With that done, the wily guttersnipe silently thanks Zalara for her help before stowing the deck and replacing his cap upon his disheveled head. Slowly rising to his feet, Dj'hân peeks out over the top of the small chest. In the dim light, he tries to make out the forms of the four sleeping men sprawled across the floor. Exhaling, the tiny halfling boy slowly stretches to get his blood circulation again before stealthily padding out of his hiding spot.

OOC: Dj'hân has low-light vision. What do the four sleeping men have for weapons and how difficult might it be for Dj'hân to collect them before sneaking back downstairs? He'll give it a try if he thinks he can successfully maneuver around the men to get them and if he can manage their collective weight; Dj'hân can carry nearly 20 lbs as a light load. If forced to choose between multiple weapons, he'll aim to take primary melee weapons first. He'd also pocket anything magical if present.

Slowly padding down the stairs, the intrepid infiltrator moves along the hallway to the large double doors leading into the back of the building. Stopping to listen at the doors for a moment, the urchin gingerly pushes them open a crack to observe the room beyond before entering.

OOC: Dj'hân simply wants to be thorough and to check the remaining areas for anything of relevance or interest before heading out to report. If he gets this far without any problems then he'll head back towards the front of the building.

Through the building's dim interior, the wily guttersnipe stealthily pads back towards the front room where he started. Rising up on tiptoes, Dj'hân delicately draws back the front door's two slidebars and turns the key in its lock before removing and pocketing it. Gingerly the boy cracks open the door, exits and carefully closes it behind himself before heading off to meet up with his companions.[/sblock]

[sblock=ooc]

I'm envisioning Dj'hân dragging Vancaskerkin out by the collar, then the butchery explodes behind him in a ball of fire. Dj'hân, last action halfling.

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[sblock=OOC]Dragging out by the collar? That's so gauche... I envision Dj'hân gliding down a zip line from a second story window over to Lynn and Edmond while using Vancaskerkin's unconscious body as a tether. Cue the James Bond theme music. And then, the butcher shop explodes.

Lynn is of course free to breathlessly say "Oh Dj'hân!" if you like. [/sblock]

[SBLOCK=Dj'hân]
There are no magic items in the room with the four men, but there is a faint aura, of a type that Dj'hân is unable to identify, coming from the other upstairs room.

There are three longswords, four light crossbows, four metal shields and a set of quivers stacked along the far wall. The men all wear chainmail, but they have taken this off to sleep. Dj'hân manages to retrieve all three swords (12lbs) without disturbing the men.

The double doors at the end of the hallway open into the butchery, same as the doors from the meat locker. All is quiet here, although Dj'hân can tell that Parns isn't a man to tidy his tools away neatly after use.

The front door creaks noisily as Dj'hân opens it. He hears a grunt from upstairs.

OOC: Some Stealth and Spellcraft checks rolled on the DM side of the screen...
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[sblock=Dr Simon]OOC: Dj'hân will take the four quivers of bolts as well (4 lbs.) since they're conveniently all stacked in the same spot.

Downstairs, Dj'hân wanted to peek into the last room off of the butchering area. I imagine it's a holding pen for livestock.

Once the front door creaks, Dj'hân will freeze in place and listen to see whether the men grow quiet again or if they're stirring awake. If the men stir, he may try to waive Edward or Edmond and Lynn over to him if they're within line of sight and watching. If not, and he thinks the door is likely to creak again when closed, he'll just leave it ajar and pad away quietly to report.[/sblock]

OOC: Depending on Doc's response, Dj'hân will either crack open the butcher shop's front door and waive Edmond and Lynn over if they're within line of sight and watching or will quietly pad over to their location. Either way, the result of their meeting once back together is much the same.

Several hours after the butcher shop's closing, in the wee hours of the morning, the tiny urchin infiltrator regroups with his larger companions in the quiet street. Grinning from ear to ear, the guttersnipe holds a precariously balanced trio of over-sized swords and a quartet of bolt quivers in his little arms. Offering up the lot for his big companions to take, Dj'hân wastes no time in hurriedly whispering his report.

"Five men, all up on the second floor. The ground floor has nothing but the shop in front and butchering and meat stores in the back. The only way up is a set of stairs in a hall directly behind the front room. Four men, Baldrago, Malder, Karralo and Parns, are sleeping together in the room at the top of the stairs. These are their weapons. The fifth man, their boss, they call Verrik. I didn't see him. Seems he don't come out of his room often, which is right behind theirs.

They seem to be running the shop normal like. The four mugs say that they get their livestock from some lady friend of Verrik's, though they don't know her. The four of em also have some kind of special sideline business they don't want Verrik to know about. Some of em might have stirred when I stepped out just now, so if you want to catch em all with their pants down, right now would be a good time." The wily guttersnip grins mischievously.

Lynn looked at the little halfling in wide-eyed disbelief.

Now?

We're not ready, we don't know what is going on...

The half-elf looked up at Edmond, a worried look on her face.

What do you think, do we go now? They will know something has happened at this point no matter what.