Game Thread (ASU) Into The Nest - Page 9

Nasrith · #**121** 08-13-2010, 09:34 AM

The thug gulped again as he prepared to give the name of his boss out to the group, though whether it was brought on by the thought of giving away the boss's name to an obviously dangerous party or by the fire welling in Kr'lkth's chest, it was impossible to tell. Having gathered his wits, he blurted out," Zaka Frye! Boss is named Zaka Frye."

Outside, Nero didn't notice any changes. Short scuffles within buildings of the Shell had become common and therefor didn't draw much attention from its inhabitants.

More interesting than anything outside was the trouble that the lock was causing Valadin despite his many tools. No matter what angle he poked at it from, he was unable to defeat the devious lock.

Marasmus · #**122** 08-13-2010, 02:10 PM

"This guy must really be something if he can command respect with a name like that." As quietly as he can, Jesper lifts his sword, blade down, over the back of the bandit. He takes a wide stance over the man. "You've been very helpful for a thief. I suppose it's time to set you free." He brings the blade down. Hard.

Frodiddly · #**123** 08-13-2010, 06:05 PM

Irritated by the difficulty of the lock, as well as the culmination of his many apparent failures today, Valadin began trying every tool he had on the lock. Something had to work. Might as well give these a shot.

Nasrith · #**124** 08-15-2010, 01:11 PM

Jesper's blade comes down deathly hard, straight into the defenseless and horrified man's heart. He doesn't even have time to cry out as what little life he has left leaves him.

Valadin's extra effort and patience seems to be paying off. He hears one click and another as the lock seems to give way. Then he comes up against something hard and his pick snaps. The door remains locked no matter how many picks the scout uses on it.

Mnemnosyne · #**125** 08-15-2010, 05:43 PM

Eyeing Jesper for a moment as he killed the man, Valinare just gave a slight shrug and moved over to watch Valadin work on the lock. The level of lock found on such a door was curiously good...especially considering where they were. "This is...odd. Odd enough that I want to say we may as well use a little time to check it out. A lock that good seems pretty strange for this kind of a slum." She commented, to head off any arguments that this was a waste of time, as she then reached up and knocked gently on the wall, trying to get a sense of exactly how thick and strong the wood here was; it seemed like breaking through the door or the wall itself would probably be easier than unlocking the lock. Only as strong as the weakest link, after all. She checked the door as well, on the off-chance that its hinges swung outward, then searched the wall to see if she could find any cracks or holes a couple inches in diameter.

sslrranma · #**126** 08-15-2010, 07:42 PM

"Valadin was it?" said the Kr'lkth as the pick snaps. "Want me to just try and burn the door down? Or could we just smash it in? I do not think we should worry about property damage with corpses in the room"

Frodiddly · #**127** 08-15-2010, 07:49 PM

Valadin cursed as his continued efforts failed. He packed up his tools and stepped away from the door, frustrated at the continuous failures of the day. Hopefully, the next few days would bring improvements.

"As you wish, Kr'lkth. There isn't anything else I can do with the damn thing anyhow." He sulked away, counting out silver pieces to pass out among the rest. The bloody mess of the execution that Jesper performed made him even more upset, but he did not voice his opinions. He just slapped a few silvers into his hand and moved on, collecting the rest of his arrows once he finished.

Mnemnosyne · #**128** 08-15-2010, 07:53 PM

Valinare looked up momentarily from studying the wall and door as Kr'lkth suggested burning it down. "Don't burn it down, it'll probably wind up starting a fire and spread all over the neighborhood, most likely. And considering the quarantine, nobody would come help combat such a blaze if one did start. We could simply smash it down if no other options seem available, but this door looks well protected enough to possibly be trapped."

Nasrith · #**129** 08-15-2010, 08:02 PM

After a bit of staring at the door and theorizing about the origins of the lock, Valinare figures that, while rare in the Shell, neither the lock or the door would be impossible to come by. It is only so hard to find good wood and expert locksmiths can be found in places like this especially easily. She finds no holes or breaks in the wall; this building seems to be well maintained, at least on the inside.

Mnemnosyne · #**130** 08-15-2010, 09:01 PM

After a bit more study, Valinare sighed slightly. "Well, I'm not seeing any holes in the wall or any alternate options for getting in, so it seems as though breaking down the door is our best bet. I expect there's something valuable enough to be worth the trouble inside. Anyone want to try?"

Marasmus · #**131** 08-16-2010, 12:26 AM

"Not interested," Jesper says as he begins searching the building for a rag or something to clean his blade off with. He continues speaking while not actually looking at the party. "Believe me. Living with my family you learn that 'value' has different meanings to everybody. You might get through this door and find the bones of someone's daughter or a secret recipe for making that sludge in the middle of the shell taste like sludge from someplace better. Suppose we get in there and find an orb of pure gold, I'm sure we're all gonna share it, right? Pfft. Wouldn't surprise me if everyone just turned on each other." He stops completely and turns his head to face the party. "And whatever's back there probably belongs to this Zaka guy. Right now I'm on a little quest, the goal is laid out in front of me, got money waiting at the end. Do the job, get paid, go home. I'm happy with that. Maybe Zaka will come after us for getting his boys, maybe not. If we steal something he took the time to seal away with a pretty high quality lock, there's no maybe about it. This thing will follow us." He goes back to his search. "By this time tomorrow I'll be eating cake and won't remember any of your names, and I'm satisfied with that. Don't make a decision that's going to haunt us for years to come." At last finding a rag, the boy begins polishing his weapon.

Mnemnosyne · #**132** 08-16-2010, 09:14 PM

Val listened to Jesper, then rolled her eyes a bit. "I'm not particularly concerned about the vast reach and influence of some two-bit gang leader that has to live in the city's worst run-down, walled-off slum area, so he doesn't really scare me enough to think it's going to 'haunt us' for years to come. Anyway, I do have a better idea to see whether it's worth our time." She walked over to the door, reaching down with her hand as that tiny crystalline spider crawled out from her sleeve, its crystal legs clicking against the gauntlet she wore. "Go ahead, Lia, check it out. Carefully." She spoke quietly to the little spider-crystal, and it glowed softly before clicking its legs against her gauntlet, crawling off and slipping under the door, cautiously searching as it moved to ensure it didn't set off any traps, and beginning to search the entire room inside for anything of interest. "Give her a minute or two to search the room and we'll see whether we want to be bothered or not." She leans against the wall next to the door, listening to the crystal's descriptions of precisely what lay inside.

Marasmus · #**133** 08-16-2010, 10:23 PM

The carefree leap-before-you-look rhetoric does little to change the boy's mind. Admittedly, coming into this trip he expected to be the most gung ho of the group but he had underestimated the powerful reach of greed as he was sure Valinare was doing at this very moment. Very well. If this comes back on me some day I'll find you and kill you myself. Then you'll see exactly how the cycle of vengeance works, woman. He grins at the woman as she begins playing with her toy. "If you're so determined. Know that I won't raise my blade for whatever's back there though. If the hopeless, greedy swarms of this god-forsaken place come after us and demand whatever you take here be returned I'll make no effort to keep it out of their hands." He hefts his sword back onto his back and then goes back to searching the house. Not for anything in particular this time, just exploring the humble way people in the shell must live.

Jiggy · #**134** 08-17-2010, 07:18 PM

“While it’d be nice to take a little something extra for our efforts here, I would enjoy if we could hurry.” Nero spoke up from his position by the front door. “We don’t know when this Zaka person will return and I would prefer not to be here when he does.”

His curiosity piqued again as he saw Valinare’s little crytal object appear once more before she slid it under the mystery door. “I’ll have to remember to ask you about that thing after we return to the halfling’s store,” he spoke to Valinare, his eyes watching the bottom of the door for a second.

Nasrith · #**135** 08-17-2010, 07:46 PM

The crystalline spider squirms slightly but ultimately manages to slip under the powerfully built and well secured door. Inside is a relatively unassuming room. There are some chairs, a bit of food, and nothing particularly strange. That is, nothing particularly strange except for a trap door that sits firmly under the legs of one chair. Like the door, there are inch wide cracks where the trap door opens and closes. While there is no way any of the party would be able to get through, the crystal can do so easily.

Under the trap door, a ladder extends downwards where it reaches the floor of a cavern. The cavern is, while empty, very large. It extends westward indefinitely, far past the sight of the crystal.