Barrel O'Goats

Summary
Nearly a day away from Arpeon, the party became more concerned about their plan of attack and how to protect the girls they found earlier.

The party considered hiding the girls in the orphanage, and then hiding in the barrels themselves, or have Lippa help shelter them. Once the party agreed that Baldrick would drive to Blisterbark's with the rest of the party hidden, Carter got to work with his disguises.

Verathis was disguised as Tom Cruise, Firali was disguised as Miley Cyrus, and Baldrick was hastily (and poorly) disguised as Christopher Walken. As night fell, the party approached the northern gate of Arpeon and were stopped by the guards. When asked about the contents of the barrels, Baldrick blurted out "Barrel of Goats" while the rest of the party groaned. The situation was salvaged as the rest of the party convinced the guards to ignore Baldrick and that they were delivering ale. The guards shrugged and let them in.

The party quickly made their way to Lippa's and Baldrick approached in his disguise, Lippa immediately recognized him and asked what he was doing in town since his party was run out. In hushed tones, the party pleaded for Lippa's help and she eventually agreed to shelter the girls in the storage shed. Before leaving, Carter discreetly asked her to send a message to the Library, saying that Burt Reynolds was seen gallavanting at Norim's, sheltered by the owner.

The party then discussed purchasing explosives, and considered Blackpowder but ultimately did not search for it, knowing it would be hard to procure and that they had to deal with Norim quickly and get out. Verathis cast invisibility on Carter once again, and the three climbed into the barrels, while Baldrick took the reigns.

Upon reaching Norim's the guards told Baldrick to come to the kitchen entrance, and led him to the side. After unloading the barrels, the guards told Baldrick to wait until tomorrow to get his ring back. Upon Baldrick's insistence to talk to Norim personally, the guard was persuaded to let him in and escorted him to the top floor.

After waiting a while, Norim emerged from a large room and told Baldrick to wait until tomorrow but Baldrick began to lie about bandits potentially decieving Norim. Norim told the guard to escort Baldrick to the office and that he would come back to discuss this in private. As he turned around Baldrick saw a few richly-dressed Dragonborn enjoying various alcohols in the room Norim returned to.

Once Baldrick reached the stairs he remarked loudly about how he was going to the office, alerting the rest of the party. As rest of the party hid in the barrels, Carter emerged from the store room and took a look at his surroundings, he saw a kitchen with a couple busy cooks running about and yelling at one another over the searing pans and clanging of pots. One boy began to approach the store room and Carter attacked cutting him deeply with his dagger. Killing him instantly. The party began to panic, and looked around finding cook uniforms. Quickly donning them as they heard the cooks continue to yell for the boy.

As they argued, a cook started saying that he was coming to check up on him. Once the cook opened the door, he saw the party wearing cook's clothes. He was about to yell but Verathis immediately tried to intimidate him into silence. Seeing that it didn't work, they immediately attacked him as he ran towards the exit. Carter immediately bolted towards the other cooks and attempted to kill him so they wouldn't raise the alarm. Unfortunately, he slipped on a banana peel and his invisible form slammed into the counter alerting the cooks. As the cook reached the exit, he was immediately yanked back and disposed of while the other chefs began yelling. Carter then quickly disposed of them and silenced their screams, hoping no guards outside heard them.

The party then argued about what to do and Carter said he wanted to leave and find Norim. Firali was against this plan as he said they needed to be careful. As Carter attempted to make a dash for it, Firali grabbed his leg and held him in place, arguing about what each wanted to do.

Meanwhile, Baldrick was waiting in the office and was met by Norim. When asked about the betrayal, he successfully convinced Norim that they planned to dispose of him since they wanted more. Norim silently nodded and began to speak but heard a booming sound from outside the office. He went to check outside and saw 3 mercenaries standing over his beaten guards, yelling for his blood. He immediately ran and called for his guards while Baldrick used the distraction to attack the guard in the office, slamming him against the wall and knocking him out as he ran outside.

The remaining party also heard the commotion and Carter took the chance to run out. Both Baldrick and Carter saw the mercenaries kicking tables about and yelling at everyone to get out. The mercenaries then split up, the tallest one (with a bandaged neck wound, courtesy of Carter) yelled that he would get Norim and that the other 2 should search upstairs for Burt. As the mercenaries began to run, crossbow bolts flew out and the remaining party all ran to the basement.

Baldrick and Carter were the first to reach the lower floor and were met with multiple guards, and a mercenary engaged in combat with many of them. Baldrick then joined in and launched his javelins, flying into a rage while Carter ran door to door, trying to determine what was inside each room. Verathis, J.A.D., and Firali ran behind them, taking some crossbow bolts in the back as they ran down. Once they reached the bottom floor they saw guards rushing at them from a room while Baldrick and the mercenary fought side by side. Verathis then went into stag form and charged some guards while Firali quickly dispatched the guards at his side. Carter then ran to the end of the hallway, hoping to kill some guards that were fighting Baldrick.

The mercenary, not knowing whether the stag was friend or foe, attacked Verathis as well as the guards in front of him. Firali suffering the same confusion, attacked the mercenary. Baldrick tackled some guards and held them down for the mercenary. As the party continued on the attack a bloodbath ensued. Verathis and Carter eventually reached the last room in the hallway and kept trying to slam into it while Firali prepared for the approach of more voices down the hallway. Two more mercenaries appeared and Firali immediately attacked them, killing one and wounding another. As the other 2 mercenaries found themselves under attack they launched their weapons,  gravely injuring Firali and felling J.A.D. The mercenary next to Baldrick turned around and was about to attack to protect his friend but was felled, while Firali killed the mercenary that hurt J.A.D. Baldrick took more injuries and was felled himself, but eventually regained consciousness, returning to the fight.

Carter and Baldrick then dispatched the remaining guards and tried to burn the door down, once they damaged it enough they knocked it down and waited for the smoke to clear. Verathis then rushed to Firali and attempted to heal J.A.D., bringing him back to consciousness as he was being cradled by Firali. They then heard more shouting and marching coming from the staircase, preparing themselves for more.

Once the smoke cleared, Carter and Baldrick saw a huddle of women in a corner. They asked what they were doing and were told that they sorted through the contraband and packaged the drugs. They also mentioned that Norim drank some sort of liquid and disappeared through the back room. As Carter and Baldrick ran, they opened the door seeing a small room/hallway with various instruments and vials. They ran to the end while Baldrick yelled at his party to come this way, unfortunately he didn't know that they were surrounded by guards.

Verathis, Firali, and J.A.D. were in a tight spot, they were surrounded by guards and were told to throw down their weapons. Firali and J.A.D. did not obey and took out a few while Verathis summoned a Fireball and attacked the remaining guards. Firali was knocked unconscious by crossbow bolts and Verathis was near death fighting off the remaining guards, eventually he won and stabilized Firali, deciding to run to where they heard Baldrick.

One by one, the party reached the end of the small hallway and climbed a ladder, emerging in Norim's office, they began to ransack the place where Baldrick found his ring while Carter and Verathis found statements of accounts and 1000 gold. Firali found a letter in strange elvish-looking script and decided to pocket it. Baldrick quickly wrote a note telling Norim to find him in the Mistfields.

The party then discussed their escape, hearing guards outside. They decided to set fire to the office and make an explosion using glass bottles Carter picked up and ball bearings to make a make-shift bomb. The party then lobbed it outside and ran, obscured by smoke. As some of them looked back, they saw Sicarian standing with Lippa and guards arresting some of Norim's staff. Lippa had a flash of recognition but did not see the party as she was covering her eyes and mouth from the smoke.

The party escaped through the kitchen bay and then ran to the South East gate, hearing fire bells behind them fading. They eventually regrouped and ran out to the outside of Arpeon, hoping to put some distance in between them and the city. Hoping the best for the orphans, fearing the worst for J.A.D. and realizing they have made a powerful enemy

Kills
Dozens of guards, cooks, cook's apprentice.

Loot

 * 1000 Gold
 * Crimson Hand demands
 * Mysterious Elf-like Letter
 * Baldrick's Noble Ring