"Even if that isn't related, we should probably look into that... Well, unless all the victims are assholes."  Alas, crazed vigilantes outside of your immediate party tend to be less than discerning with their targets.

  He looks over to Elric, and comments "Even if we weren't all heavily armed, I don't think any of us are naturally downtrodden enough to look like a target... Though not it for playing pretend victim, if we don't come up with any better ideas."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:32, Fri 15 Nov 2019.

Eren hates being a victim.  But he's not going to say this out loud.  Instead he's going to whisper to Kitau, "Eren will hate it if you volunteer and get killed."

Kitau skews her lips.  Looks at the others.  Imagines herself a villain and thinks on who looks like the target least likely to cause trouble.

"I'll do it."

Eren frowns and hides himself in her backpack to pout.

Khuridoth nods to Kitau. "You may appear to be easier prey than the rest of us, but I'm actually thinking we should all look the part. It's amazing what rollin' in the dirt, not wearing any visible armor or weaponry, and scraggling what hairs you have will do for your image as a victim. Especially if the one who has been doing the kidnappings has a partner or two. I'm sure people stealers are smart enough to realize an armed child is more potentially dangerous than most unarmed adults. So. We should all wear disguises that make us look like the people of this district."

Whatever the group agrees upon, the trap works pretty quickly. While Kitau is playing as bait, a man approaches her from behind. Joe is able to spot another man, presumably backup, hiding in the shadows.

Khuridoth waits for the man to make an actual move, or else it could be wasted and/or scare away the real kidnapper. Sure enough, though, the one sneaking up on Kitau goes to grab her from behind! Kitau can feel a cloth being taken to her mouth and nose!

Khuridoth charges in! The guy in the shadows seems ready to spring on Khuridoth! (feel free to describe how you guys take this guy and his backup down)

Out of the shadows springs a massive form. Even in the dim light anyone with a pair good eyes could easily tell the being was weilding a massive fish in two hands, like it qwas some sort of great club.

"Sanctuary!" The man cries and wildly seings the tuna, sweeping it in a left to right arc. It smacks an unsuspecting baddie in the back of the head with a thunderous, albeit wet, *schwack*. Fish parts go flying. And the stranger flees with nary a glance back.

Elric and Rush wear disguises to make Elric look like a cloaked outcast that conceals his face, while Rush is made to look like a filth covered canine where they 'hid' nearby with Khuridoth and spring into action when his dwarven friend rushes in to help Kitau with Rush charging in to directly assist Khuridoth while Elric hangs back slightly with his 'Repeating Shot Mixed-Use Gun' ready to fire at anyone trying to impede the group's efforts to apprehend the individual who tried to capture Kitau. Thus when the 'guy in shadows' tries to backup Kitau's assailant, Elric fires his the rifle barrel at the second individual aiming for a leg to hopefully impair the would be backup's ability to escape...“Surrender and you'll avoid further pain.. if you resist, you will regret it as you are outnumbered.”

  Ah, so that's it.  Sanctuary is this campaign's Mysterious Stranger perk... Okay, more like a heavily modded Mysterious Stranger perk.

  Joe fully expects Elric's shot to be fully accurate.  His own arrow aimed at the second jerk's second leg is more out of spite.  Which is why he times it to land after Elric says 'avoid', but before he says 'further pain', should Joe also not miss.

OOC: "Surrender and you'll avoid-*THUNK*further pain". It's cool, I'm unaligned. The more responsible younger brother of Chaotic Neutral.

Kitau had a plan.  Hobble along with hand hidden inside shirt like Napoleon to give the impression of being injured.  Easy target.  But held in the hidden hand is a set of brass knuckles.  Non-lethal when used against kneecaps or groins, the most likely targets for her to reach.

Eren had a plan too.  Death from above!  Even if he were spotted in his perch, most tend to confuse him with a dragonfly and pay him no mind.  But Kitau reminded him that the kidnappers need to be taken alive, so he'd have to use the blunt spines of his swords.  Eren hates having to use non-lethal damage.

But then surprise fish-wielding giant happens!  They're both so shocked by the unexpected help that they just stare in slack-jawed wonder.  The unlikely seafood weapon turned out to be a very effective non-lethal combat option.  What are the words?  What do you even say?  "Appreciate the backup, mysterious titanic fish-swordsman?"

"Um... thanks?" is all Kitau can finally get out.

She jumps at the sudden noise of Elric's rifle - a sound she's never heard before even for as much combat experience as she's had.  First an aquatic melee weapon, now a one-of-a-kind magical sonic weapon?  She half wonders if she actually died with her former team and this is what Limbo is like.

"Eren hates sudden loud noises."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:51, Sun 24 Nov 2019.

Khuridoth raises an eyebrow at Sanctuary and waves as the man runs off. "I have this strange feeling like the gods have given us a gift. A very strange and unusual gift..."

The man are thusly apprehended and soon, questioned. They are very quick to spill information because of how afraid of the heroes they are. It is clear they are cowards and would sell out anyone to avoid inconvenience. But the group is now aware of where Jarred the Jailer is. He has been staying at the nearby Cargo Hub, where goods get delivered to and from Hearth Hold. Apparently, he gives enough of a cut to the people who work there that they let him sleep there in addition to not asking questions about his business.

Khuridoth says, "Catching him will be tricky. A place like that will have lots of people and places he can hide among and disappear the moment he suspects we're there to catch him. Ideas?"

Elric has no clue what to make of Sanctuary and decides to focus on the task at hand instead of trying to ponder why someone who might be insane does anything.

Elric states, “It is likely that Jarred the Jailer uses the Cargo Hub to transport people so when we do go there we also have to be ready to free and if necessary guard people Jarred has abducted. Not to mention Jarred might try to use them or others at the hub as hostages so we will need to act swiftly to prevent him from trying anything like that...But I do not know how to get past the guards without causing a destructive distraction which wouldn't exactly be legal. So I am open to a better suggestion for how to distract people that would hamper us in getting to Jarred without tipping Jarred off that we are after him.”

Elric would prefer to not deal with setting off a keg of gunpowder or something of the sort since it would make for a rather explosive distraction...which might harm anyone the group was looking to save.

  "Note to self, Eren hates the screams of pain from bandits and slavers." probably not quite what they meant, Joe.  Even if those are also sudden loud noises.

  "While it would be extra effort, it would also be Hilarious if we found out ahead of time where he escapes through, and then just let him run face first into an open crate.  Then have the workers on his payroll wheel it over to the slaves as part of their job ignoring muffled screams from shipping containers."

Joe is correct.  Eren does hate the screams of evil titans.  He prefers them to be silenced for good.

Kitau is feeling relieved to hear her allies tactical points.  Lighting the place on fire wasn't brought up as a good idea, for example.  Sooo much better than teaming up with murder hobos.

She thumbs at her fairy companion.  "He's tiny, sneaky, and can fly.  He can get past the guards, scope out the layout, find Jarred and any hostages, then report back to us."

The gnome is pretty darn sneaky in her own right.  But she would rather not have to stab herself to activate her invisibility when there's a less painful option available.

Khuridoth nods to Kitau and then looks at Erin. "Alright then. Let's get to the hub and see what Erin can find out."

Although it would make for a cool scene in a movie or tv show, Erin's scouting isn't RP'd because it would exclude the other players. So instead, the narrator reveals what he finds:

The warehouse looks like so:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/81/a...8648f0d8b5c0b5cf.jpg

Most of it is boxes, barrels, and such like. But Erin does find the obvious human prisoners at the topmost level of the tallest building. Of the captives, there are currently eight men, eight women, and six children (four girls and two boys). While the children range in age from about five years old to ten years old, the adults are not all that old either, ranging from teenage to mid-twenties.

There are about four guards on the top level with the prisoners, four patrolling guards at the floor level of the warehouse, and two guards at the front door.

Elric taps his chin as he goes over what has been learned by Erin, “So we have to rescue 22 hostages and get them past 10 guards as once we rescue them stealth will be impossible. Naturally, the four guarding them will be dealt with before we can release them...that at worst leaves the remaining six to sneak them past...but if we go through the front doors those two guards would cause enough racket to alert the patrol which would give the guards by the hostages time to kill the hostages rather than risk them escaping... So we need to find a way to sneak past those two at the front door or bypass that entrance for another and then deal with the patrol without the guards at the top being alerted to them, or possibly bypassing the patrol to ambush the guards at top and then fight our way out. Hmm... Any suggestions? I don't see a way for us to pass ourselves off as a group with business in that building to be escorted in and then left relatively unattended while we do our business.”

Elric pets Rush's head while he ponders the situation since while he's good at making stuff, he's an Artificer, not a Rogue that would slip in and take out the guards like some super spy and then rescue the hostages and somehow end up making out with the prettiest lady among the hostages like in some sort of cheesy romance spy story...

OOC: Elric is no James Bond or similar type character...and he knows it.

  "If we were dealing with some bandit camp, then 'Execute a guard in front of them as an example, if they threaten the captives.' could work.  But we're in the middle of a civilization, so going full vigilante justice posturing would just put the captives at risk from people who are clearly certain they will get away with it even if caught."  Or quite possibly right for believing that.

  "The convoluted option would be buying all or most of the slaves for bargain bulk rates, getting them out, and then turning around to kick their asses and get our money back.  But really, Elric's idea of getting into a position where it's easier for them to run away like cowards than kill the captives out of spite when fighting us might be best.  But first..."

  He looks to Erin, "Did you see anyone who looks like the guy we're after in particular in there?  While it would be easier to clear the place out without an infamous slaver defending his business, it also means he'll have no reason to come back."

Oops! I forgot to mention! Yes, Jarred was in there, but he was in one of the ground floor buildings, discussing business with the person who seems to run the hub.

Eren is sure to relay this.

Kitau thinks on it.  If it were her alone, she'd probably prioritize killing Jarred.  Wait patiently for him to go to bed, sneak in, and quietly behead him in his sleep.  But plans like that wind up risking the victims' families being torn apart forever in the meantime.  And these heroes she's teamed up with probably aren't the kind to accept that kinda risk even if she were to argue that Jared's escape would mean more people suffer in the long run.  She looks over to Eren, expecting that he's of the same mind to prioritize killing Jared.

"If Jared tries to get away, I'll follow him," Eren offers.

Kitau slowly nods.

Khuridoth strokes his beard in thought and says, "If we go with Joe's idea, then after defeating our opponents, we can loot our money back. And with Eren assuring us he'll keep tabs on Jarred... I think this could work. The question now is who should be the one to deal with them and buy the slaves.. and do any of us know the street slang for such things so we don't just barge in there saying we're looking to buy slaves? While I'm proud to say I don't know the lingo, it unfortunately doesn't help us there..."

Elric listens to what the others say and when asked about the lingo, Elric shakes his head and says, “Unfortunately I don't know about such slang either. Although honestly, I would prefer to avoid convoluted solutions as odds are something would go wrong and thus I think a simpler plan would be better, but in this situation, I do not know what choice we have in the matter. It's not like we can just march up to the front door and ask to see Jared since we are guarding a message from a prospective client and be let through so we can negotiate with him on behalf of our employer. After all large sums of money tend to be guarded...plus guards would be necessary to transport the 'cargo'.... hmm actually I do not know if that is convoluted or not. Is it? After all, a reclusive client might send someone else to do the dirty work for them to avoid being incriminated if something went wrong.” As Elric rambles on a bit as he ponders and thinks out how Joe's idea could be implemented...

  Good thing we're not dealing with dice rolls or this would be Doomed By Statistics.  Instead we're dealing with natural capacity for rambling convincingly.

  "I mean, I prefer simple plans myself. You're usually stuck with that when your options are 'what should I stab them with'.  But trying to save a bunch of helpless people in the middle of danger tends to invite stupidity you pass off as heroism after the fact." Somewhere, a draconian rogue leaps off a tall structure thanking obscure fall damage rules.

  "Twenty two people sounds like a lot, until you think about it like a slaver and decide cramming them all in a single enclosed wagon is cheaper than their comfort.  So that and an extra wagon is the easy part, and will even make it easier to fight around them.  The hard part is deciding on an absurd but believable reason to be shopping for people bulk with no care for quality.  Like, 'Oh our boss has his heart set on this old kobold cave but there are just too many goddamned traps left for our schedule.  And it's cheaper to throw slaves at it than to hire and replace people to disarm them properly.'"

  He considers the group, and says "Gods help us that I'm probably gonna be the one doing the talking.  But at least we're all probably very good at looking bored about the suffering of others... Or just Angry At All times."  Don't mind the Gnome, she ALWAYS looks like she wants to start beating people to death with her tiny hands.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:30, Sun 12 Jan 2020.

Kitau and Eren both shake their heads to the question of whether they know street slang.  They both know enough monster race lingo to be able to guess where's best to set the next trap, but that won't help here.  They quietly listen to the smarter ones hammer out the details of the plan.

Kitau has lots of feelings: https://tinyurl.com/td3pnb6

Khuridoth says, "Thanks for volunteering, Joe." then looks around at the team generically and says, "In a perfect world, we could completely close this. Figuring out who the corrupt officials are, exposing them, and all that rot. And when we capture Jarred and set the slaves free, the corrupt officials will act like they never knew Jarred and will be the ones congratulating us while the worst that happens to them is they lose the side bribe-money they have been getting. But as much as I wanna put them away, I came here for Jarred. Heck... a coward like him might squeal about which officials are corrupt anyway and we'll be that much closer to stopping the corruption. Just thinkin' out loud..."

He nods. "Alright. So Joe will initiate. I'm here to 'make sure the price is fair'. Eren won't even be seen with us because he'll be keeping watch over Jarred. Elric will be our 'enforcer' because he looks intimidating with that robe and mask. Kitau is our 'talent scout' who found out about Jarred and his operation in this city, but doesn't like to talk so she can't be questioned about how she found Jarred. This work for everyone?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:26, Sun 19 Jan 2020.

Elric nods to Khuridoth and adds, “I can do that... not to mention many are intimidated by my favored weapon...” as he activates his ArmCannon to transform his hand into his Repeating Shot Mixed-Use Gun as he continues, “Plus Rush can also help in the intimidation department.”

Rush grins revealing his sharp metal teeth as he growls out slowly, “Intimidate.” as the canine Steel Defender looks ready to pounce on something.

  Qualified by default is a proud(?) tradition, so of course Joe's running with it.  "While it gets a point across, they may take it the wrong way if you show off your particular choice of weapons Elric.  Anyways, we're agreed with 'grab closed wagon first' and 'Kobold caves, totally' then?  I guess we might want to make up a name of who we are supposedly working for while we're at it."

Eren hates being intimidated.  But the metal dog is certainly succeeding in that department.  So he discreetly flies off to keep an eye on Jarred.

Kitau nods.  "Kalarel."

She follows along with the group to get a covered wagon.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:46, Mon 27 Jan 2020.

For what it's worth, Joe, the zany puppet-wielding Mittens has lost count of the times she is the sane one / voice of reason in any given day of adventuring.

Khuridoth says, "I'm torn, Elric. On one hand, your weapon is so alien, most would see it and let their imaginations run wild as to what it does which can be scarier than knowing how deadly something is. On the other hand, Joe may be right. So we'll keep with Rush will growl if our 'client' steps out of line. When we meet Jarred, keep your weapon handy but hidden under your cloak."

He looks down at Rush and grins a grin much like a dwarf who just hacked an orcs to pieces. "Now that's a good dog."

Khuridoth follows with the group to fetch the covered wagon. That is easily enough obtained with gold and no need for plans there.

Meanwhile, Eren can see Jarred heading up to check on the slaves. The man addresses them and gives them a reminder of 'their place' and invites them to 'please step out of line' because he's bored and hasn't tortured a slave in a while. He genuinely tries to get any of them to be defiant, but one of the guards reminds him of HIS place. "Listen, Jarred... they are subdued. These people are money. Don't needlessly mess with the boss's money or your name will become mud quickly and then you'll be on the outs with the slaving business."

Jarred frowns, looking annoyed that his fun was taken away, but says "Fine. Spoil my fun..." before going back down and finding an animal to torture. He manages to catch a squirrel that he begins dissecting alive.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:14, Wed 29 Jan 2020.