Big Trouble In Little Punjar — (RAPID URBAN FUNNEL PbP)

[ProdigalWilliam]

Travis gives out another shout as it appears the hostage situation might not take. "You may not believe me, but the man in this office knows to fear the Fork of the Favela! It has already claimed two lives today!" He presses the seemingly god or demon guided farm implement closer to the Matron's face. "You look ripe for puncturing, but we are not here to destroy you. If our friend, the woman with different colored eyes, is brought to us, no more blood will be spilled by our hands here!"

5+1=6 for new initiative

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

New Init (5+2)=7
Gunnar will try to knock the goon out with a headbutt to the face: att(3+2)=5 dmg=?+2
Brun tries to tighten his grip on the matron, sword at her throat: Str(+1)=13
Brun:"If you know anything miss, now's the time to spill it."
Kylie takes another crack at the next person who looks to threaten her or her friends: att(4+2)=6, dmg=1 and moves toward a safer position.

Any alternate way visible out of the office?

[jeff c]

Flea Init= 5, wah wah.
He stabs with his dagger at the eyes of anyone who threatens the group, if they don't stand down. To hit 18-1=17, dmg 2-1=1.
Did the fallen thug have a weapon?

[GnomeBoy]

The baddies beat you all on initiative....

The Matron and the Goon are locked down. Gunnar is soon to knock him into next week, and the Matron is sufficiently intimidated by a pitchfork in her face that she ain't going nowhere.

"This girl you're asking about — she was here, but taken to Oll Zen's keep about 30 minutes ago... They were very anxious to get her, but I don't know why, I swear it!"

The office is situated three quarters of the way back on the ground floor, to the left. No other doors except the one way in and out.

Gunnar and Brun are occupied in the office.

Kylie is going to miss someone with her attack, but moves to a safer position — probably toward the wall of the courtyard (the inside of the outer wall of the building), since this gets her out of the line of fire from the upper stories, just leaving anyone on ground level as a threat.

Ivan and Zeppo quickly frisk the guard's limp form. They find one of those 'filleting' knives, like from the street fight (1d6 damage if you want to use it).

The dude that was leading Lala off is now threatening her, so we'll set Flea's attack at him.

He attacks Flea back: hits a 14 for 2 pts of damage. A simple punch to the face, but from a rather muscular, athletic man.

Three other employees jump down into the courtyard from the upper stories — one of them lands badly with a wet snap audible. That one lies on the ground, clutching their ankle, out of the fight.

Others of the employees are making for the stairs. One gets in range of Zeppo and Ivan this round: Whichever of the two can make the better Agility check is not targeted... Attack hits an 18! Damage 3! These people don't mess around!

The two women already in the courtyard rush at Lala! One swings at her — but misses by a wide margin! The other tries to grab her, and she too misses!

That's it for the employees this round.

There are a few of your other Zeroes unaccounted for (anyone not named herein), so they get to act next to finish out the round.

Give me the Zero's name, who they're attacking (already in courtyard [3], jumping into courtyard [2], those on the walkways above [many]) and the numbers. You can also declare tactical stuff like getting into position to shoot up the stairwell, etc.

[jeff c]

Flea is squashed (and dead by fist?).

Zeppo and Ivan both rolled a 6 on the agility check, so I rolled it again: Zeppo got 19, Ivan 15. Ivan's final thoughts are about what an interesting day it's been. The first and now last interesting day of his whole life.
Zeppo takes the filleting knife and cries in rage at another senseless death! Backing away from the stairs. Is there a clear path out?

If Flea is dead he spends his final moments scrunching his toes in his new soft slippers.

[GnomeBoy]

I cringe to off two characters from the same player in one round, but that's a funnel for you...

At the bottom of this stairwell, it is less than 10 feet to the street outside.

[jeff c]

Alas, the funnel giveth and the funnel taketh away!

[ProdigalWilliam]

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Tommy yells.

Travis and Tommy bum rush to where Lala is standing, each making an attack at an assailant who might be in the path. The rolls have gone sour, I'm afraid. 6 for Travis to miss, 1 for Tommy to continue his string of lousy luck (3 on the fumble result, -2 penalty to the next attack). Lala cries out when she sees Flea fall. She tries to kick Flea's killer in the crotch, 4 to hit.

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

Brun presses the sword tighter to the matron's throat and marches her toward the exit...
Brun: "Tell your crew to stand down and I swear no harm will come to you, but defy me andyou won't see tomorrow!" Str to hold her:(12+1)=13
Gunnar turns out the goons pockets, quickly snatching all the papers and keys he tried to hide before joining his brother Brun. Kylie readies her last stone for the next thug who takes aggressive action as she backs to the exit.
Kylie: att(5=2)=7 if they attack, she'll lob one over them, apparently!

[GnomeBoy]

A few of you run wildly for the arch that leads to the street. Those characters are either under the arch, or already out on the street as...

The Matron is marched out into the courtyard. Her employees all freeze at the sight of the pitchfork held to her face.

They stand down.

The Matron speaks: "We don't want any trouble!" speaking as much to her employees as to you all. "The girl passed through here, it's true! But it was all out of our control! Whatever it is you're after, there's nothing more we can give you!"

Ball in your court...

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

ooc: about to go out for the day so here's my plan:
As long as none of our group is attacked further, my zeroes are good on their word. Gunnar will grab the goon's keys, papers, and weapon if there's time while Brun holds the matron by the door until all exit. Kylie stays with Lacey as they (hopefully) exit the building.

If this all goes as planned, Brun releases the matron into the building, apologizes for the "mess", slams the door and gets movin'!

[jeff c]

Zeppo bares the filleting knife as he exits, desperate for freedom. He glances at Ivan's body, tempted to carry it off, but thinks otherwise.

[ProdigalWilliam]

Travis says, "We also want no more blood shed here. We'll release you, Matron, as soon as we're outside of the Cloister; but the goon stays with us until we're out of sight of this establishment. Do we have a deal?" Travis asks this as much to his comrades as to the Matron.

[GnomeBoy]

So...

The seven survivors exit the Cloister, Mexican stand-off style. They don't mess with you, and you don't mess with them.

You get about three blocks down the street and look back. A couple of them are out in front, just watching you go...

You have the unconscious body of the goon with you — let's call him 'Ward' at this point.

Everybody earns 2 xp for the stand-off situation. You've navigated danger and avoided most of it, which is good stuff to know.


I assume you're soon heading for Oll Zen's Keep, but let me know what you want to get done in the run-up to that event.

[GnomeBoy]

We are in the home stretch, guys.

Jeff, if you'd like to roll up another single Zero for the remainder of the run, that's fine by me... Another patron of the Iron Boot finally(!) catches up to the rest of you, perhaps?

Or you can do it badass purist-style and just roll forward with the one Zero. I'll leave that call up to you.

[jeff c]

My faith in Zeppo is low. I'll roll another Iron Freebooter.

Zeppo wonders aloud if they took Ward with them if the gang would keep following?

[Fenris Ulfhamr]

Can we regroup at the Iron Boot? Ivan could look up his friend, Gunnar needs to peruse those papers and keys we got from Ward (who could be interrogated if you guys wanna), and Brun could buy supplies nearby before hitting Oll Zen's place. We need to be planned and prepared before we assault a wizard!

[ProdigalWilliam]

I'm down for interrogating Ward. I'm not sure we should take him back to the Boot in that case, but maybe back to Ninnim's. Did Ninnim clear out as soon as we entered the Cloister or is he somewhere nearby? I agree that we should figure out anything we can from the keys, papers, as well as from Ward's mouth. We should definitely upgrade weapons if we have the coin and time for it. Do we, though? Lala is picking up any suitable sling stones along the way to restock.

(Oh, right, Brun should have a nice stash from being a tax collector.)

[jeff c]

"Did someone say 'interrogation?'" says a grinning figure abruptly standing next to Zeppo. His skin is pale, his head is shorn, his beard is unresolved, and he twists a ceremonial dagger in his crooked fingers. You know him from the Iron Boot as Sanitor the Diabolist.

Sanitor, diabolist - 2 hp, 11 AC, str15, agi15, sta8 per14 int9 luc13 0xp
Ceremonial knife (1d4), grimoire, rope 50', 37 cp

[ProdigalWilliam]

(ooc: Oooh, hehehe!)

Lala is already on edge from losing her childhood friend - Flea - but practically jumps out of her skin at Sanitor's abrupt entrance, "Damn you! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?" She stomps on Sanitor's shoe for not the first and probably not the last time. "Why are you so late!!?"

Tommy interrupts this line of questioning, "We don't have time for this, Lala! Sanitor, our happiness to have you here is tempered, as you can see: we're down five Iron Freebooters." Explains story up 'til now.

Travis notices the rope coiled round Sanitor's body. "Looks like you came prepared for an interrogation. Let's get somewhere off the streets first, though."

[GnomeBoy]

Loving this.

Interrogation of Ward is a go, if you want to take the time. One question? two? thirty? tick tick tick...

The obvious question is what do the keys go to, and I'll give you that: you manage to get him to tell you that those are the keys to certain secret chambers in Oll Zen's keep. But he can't say which goes to what; he was merely given them to keep safe. ...something big is going on, and they were to be 'locked in' to do, so as to help prevent anyone from stopping things...

The papers look like basic bookkeeping for The Cloister, expenses, receipts, etc.

Ninnim can be found if you need him. But honestly, he doesn't have a lot more that he can supply in the way of information, unless you've got something really out of left field that I'm not anticipating.

Picking up replacement ammo, is no trouble.

If you have money to spend, and want to spend it, do so. You can trade in equipment you don't want for half value (short sale) and add that to your existing funds for other stuff.

[jeff c]

The only other question that Zeppo and Sanitor would have is what the best way to get in is? Is there some kind of assumed dress for those invited? An invitation?

Sanitor takes pride in his work and is willing to let others ask other more difficult questions.

[ProdigalWilliam]

I was thinking we'd need either Ninnim or Ward to give us the directions to the place, but maybe it's more obvious from the streets? As far as special dress for getting in, maybe the toughs in the street had something in common that set them apart from everyone else? Maybe there is a secret code that can be uttered to help us make our way into Oll Zen's place? We definitely want to know if there is a less known entry way into the compound that we could use to be less well detected.

I'm OK with my gear going into this battle, but I'll gather up some of my less useful goods for resale for the good of others. Looks like the only things worth selling in this case are Lala's lantern and Tommy's (staff). I add 4 gp and 25 cp to the pot. Lala will keep the other gp and turn it into a javelin.

[GnomeBoy]

Ward can give you the general location, and then there is this:

Ninnim knows that Oll Zen's headquarters is located in the center of the favela, hidden by magic, but now that the PCs have seen Oll Zen's face, they can see through the magics that hide his headquarters.

The layout is simple, too. A four-walled area, walls 20 feet high, with a main gate. Inside is a single building. There are two entrances to the building, and from there it's all halls and rooms and stairs.

Whatever is planned, it's already started. You'll have to 'interrupt' the proceedings, at whatever stage it is at when you get there...

[ProdigalWilliam]

Grab some spears and let's raid the castle! How about we try the grappling hook+rope on the wall to circumvent the gate or maybe a few of the stronger/agile characters will do this to get the drop on the guard(s) at the gate?

In any case, let's not waste too much more time after suiting up. Once we get to the keep, I probably will have some extra questions before we make an assault, but it'll depend on what we see when we get there.