Capture Siddiqui

Peb was pretty happy.  Kairos had relayed to the breakfast table their discoveries from the prior day about Siddiqui, the press gang boss, and how he'd seen through the window a stylized poster of three Freelancers up on the wall.  It turned out Freelancers were selling these posters for 1gp each and Peb had bought one from the quartermaster, to put on the inside of their cart.

Anyhow Kairos was inspirational, and Peb went with him and diverse others to talk to Arnari about a mission.  Dominic went as well, but the druid ran to the barracks to retrieve a scroll first, and brought it into Arnari's office.  He measured it against the map of Cliffshadow on her wall, then unfurled the scroll to reveal a much better map.  He turned and presented it to Arnari, who had a speculative look on her face.

"I fixed your map," he told her.  She accepted the map, and studied it briefly as the others chose places to sit.  "Thanks," she said, and put it on a stack of papers on her desk.  She leaned back to see who all was filing in.

"This is not a gift," Dominic admonished her harshly.  "If we get lost, I want you to have a decent map."  He turned without waiting for a reply, and applied his attention to the map of Duquesne on her wall.

As for the others,
Peb stood behind the chairs.  The big Rock sagani was trying not to touch anything.
Timmy stood to the right of the door, barely inside the room.  The look on the Djogeon halflling's face matched that on Dominic's somewhat, but there the resemblance ended.
Kairos took a good quality chair to sit in, which was slightly too large for the bald Holder dwarf.
Lorcan sat in the front row of chairs, but off to the side, so he could keep the others in view.
Minji paced in the back.

Kairos and Lorcan were the only two seated, and the latter frowned slightly.

Lorcan:  should I be standing?
Arnari <amused>:  however you are comfortable
Lorcan:  if that is true, why do you keep uncomfortable chairs?

Arnari ignored that last, and instead had her papers ready.  "Three missions," she started briskly.

• Pollution – Pirates Dream river – will pay 100gp plus 1 uncommon potion each.

She paused, taking stock.  "Actually four missions."

• Go to Haven Hills and find hippogryph eggs for House Aldous.  They will pay 100gp/egg, more if they are better quality.
• Gryphon eggs – north to Northridge Mountains – House Liona will pay 150gp/egg.  If you have 12 of them, then a gryphon.
• Fourth and final – Wymar Adelard, having found Siddiqui, wants Freelancers to bust his door down and capture him.

Which mission the group would take was obvious.

Lorcan:  why not the guard?
Timmy:  why are we here?
Arnari:  the pay is 150gp/person.  Wymar thinks you are far more competent and thinks Freelancers less likely to a) botch it b) tip him off.
Kairos:  there's mention of capturing.  What happens if he doesn't make it?
Dominic:  there are ways around it
Kairos:  will the client pay us less?
Dominic & Peb:  reagents cost.  The client pays?
Arnari:  pay is 100gp/person, probably, if you don't bring him alive.
Minji:  would it be cheaper to res him ourselves?
Peb:  anyone need to decide?
Dominic:  of course we are bounty hunting.
Lorcan <reasonably>:  well, people might want a mount.
Peb:  Ah'll get one initially, Ah'm inclined to go since mah first mission was with press-gangers.

So it would be Siddiqui.  Kairos dismissed Helike, and Timmy, in a weird mix of excitement and dread, relayed a weird mix of the stories he'd heard from former missions to apprehend persons.  Lorcan, after listening to Timmy, stopped by the quartermaster, and purchased a box of ball bearings.

The others had questions for Kairos, who had only really told them about the poster before.

Lorcan:  does it have a basement?
Peb:  if it has a basement, we can, uh, we can, Lorcan, come up from‒
Lorcan:  NO.
Kairos:  I did not get a good look at the first floor, just saw the second-storey windows.
Lorcan:  sounds like reconnaissance is in order.

One the way to Siddiqui's place in western Trade District, the Freelancers did a division of labour:  Dominic could wild shape a spider, so he would check out the inside; and Lorcan & Timmy, being small, would check the outside of the place.  Peb had brought their cart, and with Minji and Kairos, found a nearby tavern for day drinking.

Minji and Kairos found drinks to their liking, and Minji bought the first round; but they had to persuade Peb to buy an actual drink and pretend to drink it, which they found slightly frustrating.  <Narrator voice:  Seamus rolled a nat 1 on performance>

Lorcan and Timmy gave spider-Dominic a ride closer to Siddiqui's place.  The gnome and the halfling went entirely unnoticed as they dropped off the spider and scouted out the environs.  The building abutted its neighbours, and was a couple houses down from the end of the street.  They noted the front door and backdoor, windows (with curtains) in front and back.  While they were behind the building, they noted one person going in the back door.

Spider-Dominic entered the place under the front door, and was in a foyer.  To the right were stairs leading upward, and to the left was a dining room.  In front of him, though, was another doorway, and he heard someone clanging in the kitchen, to the back and left.  Disappointed with this state of affairs, spider-Dominic went left, to find a living room with a coffee table, bookshelf, chairs, couch, stand lamp, as well as one sitting on the coffee table.  The furniture and decor were not nice, but serviceable.  In the opposite corner was a closed door, and the clanging was from behind it.

Spider-Dominic trundled over to the door, and squeezed under to see a fairly unremarkable kitchen:  worktable, hearth, pots, etc, with a door out the back to the alley, another door to the foyer, and a human man chopping vegetables who promptly screamed, dropped the knife, and came over to stomp the spider.  <Narrator voice:  as one does.>  The kitchen window was open; in the alley, Lorcan heard the shriek.

Since Dominic was actually a human druid, not a spider, he transformed back into a human holding the stompy man's boot.  Surprised, the man stepped back swearing, "What the fuck!  What the shit!"  At a loss what to do, Dominic merely said, "Watch your mouth, young man."

Timmy and Lorcan heard this, and looked at each other.  They heard boots on stairs.  Lorcan cast message at Minji, "There might be trouble in the back door."  Minji told her companions smoothly, "I think we might get some fresh air."  Peb leapt up.  "Are they in trouble?" they asked, and reached for their shovel.

Dominic, standing at his full height, realized he was facing a burly person with leather armour and a mace secured to his belt.  Caught in an unfamiliar tableau, he thought quickly.

Dominic:  what the hell are you doing?  <looked around for the spices>
Soup man:  just makin' food for the group meal
Dominic:  absolutely not how you do this.  <dragged him to the stew pot, then put in spices>
Soup man:  we don't care about the group meal
Dominic:  are you insane?
Soup man <reasonably>:  I'm not gonna eat it!
Dominic:  how can you feed this to someone else?
Soup man:  I'm not in charge of them.  I just capture them.

On the back steps, Timmy was watching for reinforcements.  Lorcan cast message at Dominic:  "Don't reply.  Find out where they are."  Then both Timmy and Lorcan hid.

Peb bolted out of the tavern, shovel at hand, to Kairos' startlement.  "Where, what?  Gahhh," the Holder dwarf complained, and dropped a gp as a tip for walking out.  Then he walked out, Minji in tow.

Back in Siddiqui's place, Dominic was still talking to the burly soup man.  "You can't even feed prisoners this.  Show me where they are," he commanded.  The soup man grabbed the pot, started away, stopped, said "no, wait," put the pot down, and led Dominic, who'd grabbed the soup, to a stairwell going down.

Lorcan and Timmy, from the alley, heard them move left.

As they went downstairs, they passed a burly hanyou woman, who did a double-take on Dominic and looked confused.  "Here, try this," Dominic said, and made as if to pass the soup to the hanyou, intending to pretend to fumble it and spill it on her.  Instead, Dominic actually fumbled it and spilled it on the soup man, scalding him badly.  Apologizing, he fumbled again trying to get the soup mopped up.

Lorcan cast message at Peb:  "They have prisoners, and Dominic!  Burst through the front door, and I'll put ball bearings on the back step!"  He handed Timmy the ball bearings, making gestures as he did.  Then he turned his attention to coating some blowgun needles with basic poison.

Peb, in the street, shouted their answer to the message, "Alright, Ah got it!  Ah got it, Ah'm comin!  We'll be there so soon."  They burst into a run, with Minji and Kairos on their heels.

Timmy looked at Lorcan, then down at his hand with a box of ball bearings in it.  He jingled the ball bearings and walked to the doorway.  "What are you doing?!" Lorcan hissed.  Timmy frowned slightly, and said, "I'm thinking!"  He opened the door and looked in.  He smelled the soup, and saw a human thug covered in soup turning on Dominic.

Timmy walked into the room and offered his cloak to the soup man.  Lorcan, watching him, was utterly astounded.

Timmy:  sir?  Sir?
<The soup man faced Dominic.>
Hanyou:  who the fuck is this, and what the fuck are you doing?
Soup man:  the soup?  It's bad soup, and it also hurts
Hanyou:  why. are they. inside. the house.
Soup man:  ahhh, uuhh
Hanyou:  attack them, you fool!

They both pulled out their maces.

Timmy shook his cloak at the soup man, who told the Djogeon halfling, "I'll get to you in a minute."  Then he half-heartedly attacked Dominic with his mace.  The druid easily avoided his swings.

• The hanyou could not believe her eyes.  "Incompetent idiot!" she exclaimed at the soup man, and clobbered Dominic twice with her mace.  <Narrator voice:  the GM rolled a nat 20 on the first hit.>
• Dominic looked disappointed, and chided the hanyou for her language.  He pulled out a healing potion and chugged it, and shifted to stand next to Timmy.
  • The soup man again half-heartedly swung at him, and missed.
  • The hanyou smacked Dominic with her mace again.
  • Dominic, even more disappointed, cast guiding bolt at the hanyou.  Searing radiance burned her badly, and the hanyou shrieked.
  • The druid brandished the pot of soup at her.  "Very poor hospitality matters," he admonished the hanyou.

Lorcan moved to the doorway, then shot the hanyou with a poisoned blowgun needle.  He turned to Timmy.  "Gimme those," he demanded, in a voice that brooked no contradiction.  Timmy handed the ball bearings to Lorcan, then dejectedly shoved his hands into his pockets, cloak over one of his arms.  Lorcan opened the box, then, assessing the room arrangement in front of him, moved out of the doorway and threw them to the corner at the foot of the stairs.  <Narrator voice:  Shari rolled  a nat 20 for ball bearings.>

• Timmy wasn't one to stay dejected.  To make himself feel better, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and pulled his quarterstaff off his back.  Twirling it, he smacked the hanyou, and she dropped.
  • Timmy twirled the staff back onto his back and then punched the soup man twice...
• …and the soup man started yelling for help, as he swiped at Timmy twice with his mace.  The first swipe connected, hitting Timmy in the arm.
• Two thugs, wearing red and brown, ran up from the basement and halted in surprise at the sight of Timmy and Dominic.
• A human lady dashed downstairs, and had a comical time keeping her footing on the ball bearings, but managed to do so before coming up to unhappy Timmy.
• Dominic, quaffing another healing potion, cast moonbeam where Timmy was, but put the bottom of it 4' up from the ground so it would catch all his assailants, but not the halfling himself.  The beam disappeared into the ceiling above.
  • Unseen by anyone in this melee, it kept going up a ways, and was visible outside, poking out of the roof.

Lorcan, seeing Timmy with all these assailants, stepped up behind the little monk and cast colour spray, blinding some of them.  He then tried to hide, from those who were not blinded, but that was a bust.

• Speaking of bust, Peb was trying the door, which was locked.  "Aw, shit, dang door's stuck," they said, raging.  They charged the door and busted it open, revealing a human lady with a mace standing over a hanyou lady on the ground, menacing Timmy.  There was a glow behind them.
  • Peb came to a sliding halt next to the woman with the mace, and seeing Timmy with the cloak over his arm, smiled guilelessly.  "Ah Timmy!  That sure is a mighty fine cloak you have there!"  They squeezed in next to Timmy, avoiding the moonbeam.
  • "Very rude not to unlock the door for us," Peb admonished Timmy, who shrugged.  "Was busy offering my cloak to dude here," he said, indicating the soup man.
• Minji stepped into the open doorway, and just to the side of it.  "Who–what is going on?!" she demanded, thinking it seemed only right that she eldritch blast something.  Then she spotted the lady with the mace menacing Timmy.  Sadly, the eldritch blast went wide.
• Kairos was a bit behind Minji and Peb; the dignified dwarf did not run as fast as the others.  However he was unhappy at the sight of some lady with a mace menacing Timmy, so he drew and shot her with an arrow, from right there in the street.  He also marked her as his favoured foe.
• Timmy drew his short sword and stabbied the woman menacing him, then did some monk move to disengage and step away from her.

The thug in red leathers, burned by the moonbeam, blinded by the colour spray, shoved Timmy 5' back.

• The thug in brown, also burned by the moonbeam, was next to Peb, and decided instead to move and attack Dominic.
  • Peb slashed him with their shovel.  He staggered but still attacked Dominic.  "Sorry, I tried," the Rock sagani said as the thug's mace whiffed past Dominic's head.
  • The thug hit Dominic with the backswing.  Dominic kept the moonbeam going, however.
• The soup man, badly burned by the moonbeam, moved out of it, patting the thug in red and murmuring, "to your left".
  • He attacked Peb twice with the mace.  The first swing missed but Peb barely felt the second swing, they were so raged.
  • But Peb kept their manners:  "ah, no, Ah'm so sorry, Ah'll move a little to mah right."
• The menacing lady attacked Peb twice with her mace.  Her first swing missed but Peb barely felt the second swing, they were so raged.
  • Peb's face softened a little.  "Your friend just did that, y'all doin' great," they said politely.
• Two more thugs pounded down the stairs.  One had a crossbow, and shot Minji.  The other one fell on the ball bearings, and had to regain their feet carefully.

Dominic moved the moonbeam into the other room, where all these thugs were; then he darkened, and started glowing like a starmap, where the stars were in the shape of a dragon.

• Lorcan disengaged, moved back, then shot a blowgun needle at the thug in brown, but critfailed spectacularly, and somehow the magic in the room coalesced… and Lorcan traded places with his target, and found himself next to Dominic.
  • The starry druid was delighted by this turn of events, and fist-bumped the bemused Pastoral gnome.
• Peb retained their countenance at the menacing lady, although their enraged eyes were a counterpoint.  They recklessly attacked her with the shovel, slashing her badly.
• Siddiqui clambered out the 2nd storey window facing the street, slid smoothly to the ground, and looked around.  Kairos saw him and called out, "Hey!  It's him!"
• Minji cast toll the dead on the woman with the mace.  She fell to the ground as the bell rang out, somewhat like an airship fog bell.
  • She moved outside, behind Kairos, to keep an eye on Siddiqui, their quarry.
• Kairos summoned Helike on the other side of Siddiqui, and had the small drake attack the mustachioed human.
  • Helike spat lightning at Siddiqui, who did not look like he enjoyed it.
• Timmy had a bunch of thugs between him and the front door, and was blocked from going into the living room by the thug in brown who had replaced Lorcan.  He stabbed this inconvenient person with the shortsword, then started a flurry of blows.  The first blow dropped the thug to the ground, so Timmy jumped out the living room window to deliver the second blow to Siddiqui.
  • Unfortunately Timmy wasn't expecting Helike to be there.  He avoided landing on the drake but fell prone, so his blow missed Siddiqui; who to be fair, wasn't expecting a halfling to fly out the window and try to punch him, either.

The thug with the crossbow swapped to his mace, and moved to attack Kairos.  He wasn't any better with his mace than the others, and missed the bald Holder dwarf, then hit on the backswing.

• The thug who'd fallen from the ball bearings did the same to Peb.
• The soup man also attacked Peb, with the same result.
• The thug in red, able to see again, attacked Lorcan, but was unable to land a blow.

Dominic moved to the doorway of the living room, where the thug in brown was unconscious and bleeding.  He dropped the moonbeam, which winked out, to cast entangle on the ground outside the living room window.  Timmy and Helike avoided the entanglement, but Siddiqui was caught in it.  Lastly, Dominic also cast healing word on himself.

• Lorcan cast infestation on the soup man, but it didn't have any effect.

• Peb shoved the thug who'd attacked Kairos out of the way.
  • The soup man tried to clobber Peb but missed.
  • Peb kept moving into the doorway, and the other thug who'd been attacking them hit the raging Rock sagani with his mace, which was not enough to even bruise.
• Siddiqui tried to get out of the tangly vines, but failed.
• Minji, observing how Siddiqui was stuck with Helike and Timmy right there, cast toll the dead on the soup man, who on top of being covered in soup and burned by moonbeam and attacked in combat, now had necrosis as well.
• Kairos sank an arrow into the stuck Siddiqui.
  • Helike zapped him with lightning again.
• Timmy stood up, then did that same move with his quarterstaff again, twirling it off his back, hitting Siddiqui, then twirling it back.  He was carefully trying to just knock the guy out.
  • Timmy started another flurry of blows, but the first punch knocked him out.
  • Only then did Timmy put his cloak back on.

The soup man said, "Fuck this shit.  I'm out."  The thug with the crossbow agreed, "I'm out.  Run away!"  The soup man and the thug who'd attacked Peb went out the kitchen window, running up the alley.

• The thug in red followed them, and Lorcan stabbed him in the leg with his daggar.  But then he was away.
• The thug with the crossbow found his way blocked.  He put his hands up.  "Alright, I surrender.  Promise you won't hurt me, and I'll drop my weapons."

Meanwhile Dominic stepped out into the alley.  Drawing out some water from the soup cauldron, which he still held, he sent an ice knife at the soup man.  The knife barely scratched him, but then it exploded in shards of ice, damaging all three fleeing thugs with cold.

The soup man collapsed in a heap in the alleyway as the other two kept fleeing.

Dominic strolled over to the collapsed thug in the alleyway, took his pulse, then stabilized him so he wouldn't die.  Lorcan looked out the back door to check what was happening.  Seeing the tableau, he called out, "Maybe this one should come back with us to the tavern, and be apprenticed to the cook!"  Dominic just shook his head, but that gave him a thought.  He wandered down the street.

Timmy, meanwhile, asked if anyone could help him carry Siddiqui.  Nobody immediately reacted to his plaintive requests, and the halfling started to wonder in despair if he would be stuck carrying the human to wherever the Freelancers were supposed to take him.  Finally, he decided just to haul Siddiqui back into the house and prop the unconscious human in a corner.

As Timmy started to haul Siddiqui inside, Peb called out the window, "Me and Miss Mary Jane can help you with that in just a sec, you just hang tight now!"  However, the problem was that the thug with the crossbow had surrendered to them, and they were unsure of their next steps, and said so, rather slowly: "Aw gee, well, that's real nice of ya, thank you kindly for that.  Ah reckon we'll be right intent on taking you up on that offer, but, uh, well, y'see Ah'm kinda new here, so Ah just wanna get the go-ahead from the rest of the team and all that, cause Ah sure don't want to by lying to you, uh, ma'am or sir or honored. If y'all could just hang tight for a moment now..."

Lorcan cast about the kitchen for a broom and dustpan, and upon finding them, swept up all the ball bearings and put them back into the box, glancing curiously at Peb talking to the armed thug.  By the time the ball bearings were out of the way, Timmy had propped Siddiqui in the corner, and Lorcan and Timmy went upstairs to discover several bedrooms and an office.  Kairos also came upstairs.

Peb did not appreciate the others having gone upstairs, and hollered after them, "uh, hey, Freelancer friends? sorry to bother y'all, but could Ah ask one of you to come help out one of our kind opponents here so Ah can be going and pulling the cart around? Imma just figuring that might be a bit nicer for transporting unconscious folks and all that."

Minji said, "I'm right here, and I'm happy to handle him," and the relieved Peb left to go get the cart, which was parked behind the tavern.  Minji took their weapons and tied their hands, and had them sit on the couch.  Then she studied the captive, wondering how to make others surrender more quickly, should other similar situations arise.  The tied up thug shifted uncomfortably under the nekomata's disconcerting gaze.

Dominic returned, and started stabilizing all the other thugs the Freelancers had beaten down.  When she saw him doing so, Minji helped.  Then the two of them prowled around the downstairs, but didn't find anything of interest.  Minji headed down to the basement.

Lorcan, Kairos, and Timmy were disappointed with the upstairs.  They found 33gp in the bedrooms, with some extra sets of clothes; in the office they found 125gp, and some papers, which mentioned another location closer to the docks (which they'd heard about), and a bard (which they'd heard about).  They discussed taking the papers, but Timmy pointed out reasonably, that since they provided no new information, and they'd gotten Siddiqui, there was no point, so the three Freelancers came back downstairs.

"Where'd you go?" Lorcan asked Dominic.  "Bought him a nice cookbook and a strong admonition to choose a different career," Dominic replied.  Lorcan shook his head, and went back upstairs to the office.

In the basement, Minji found barred cells off a central area, with people in it!  2 human men, a human woman, a half-orc, a female dwarf, and a slightly confused firbolg who'd clearly had a concussion.  They looked bruised and unwashed, although reasonably fed.  The keys were on a hook nearby.  She called the others excitedly.

Lorcan came down from the office, went back out to the alley, and tucked a piece of paper in the soup man's new cookbook, before he returned to the others.  The Freelancers freed the prisoners, who scattered towards the docks, although not before asking directions and what day it was.

After that, it was just a question of loading up the captives in Peb's cart.  It was a tight squeeze, but Siddiqui, the hanyou woman, the menacing lady, and the thug in brown were all laid out in the back, with the tied-up captive sitting with his feet dangling.  Peb did their best to prop the front door in place before they left.  The Freelancers escorted Peb and the captives all the way back through Cliffshadow along Gryphon Avenue, through the main tunnel and out to Wymar's office.

Wymar was pleased to take charge of Siddiqui, and slightly more neutral about the others.  From his face, it was clear these all would also get exiled from Duquesne.  He paid the Freelancers 150gp each, admonishing them to give Arnari the Freelancers' Cut, and then they were off, back to the tavern.

Lorcan thought he knew better than Dominic.  So, he used paper and ink from the office to cast illusory script, to replace Dominic's admonition to the soup man with an instruction that if he wished a more profitable and rewarding career in cooking, to show up at Freelancers Tavern on Sparrowhawk Street and talk to Eileen, bringing this cookbook.  To the soup man, Eileen, Lorcan, Arnari, and Tomtom, that's how the note read.  But because of the spell, the note looked the same as Dominic's original written admonition to everyone else.

Once back at Freelancers Tavern, Lorcan told Arnari he did this, and explained to her this guy appeared to be dumb as a rock, and probably would happily tell eveyone more about their press gang activities.  He was a poor fighter and would be happy to have safe and secure employment that didn't involve altercations on a regular basis.