"Oh, that's too bad, I guess I'll have to bring this 1,000-galifar check to someone on the next floor. Have a nice day!" Ashe lies.

Deception: 11

Pepper shakes her head and mouths a thousand?! at Ashe, but waits for a reaction (if any) from the door’s owner.

(Anybody proficient in Deception who can Aid the bard for Advantage on that roll? You need a 12 to succeed...!!!)

The party stands in the hallway at a loss. Nobody answered the first door, and the rude response at this one comes as no surprise in a big city. Do they give up and head down to the next level, try again to get the lady to answer the door, or break in to either of the apartments on this level?

Pepper wants to hit something, but suggests we try the next floor, instead. “What are the chances the first doors we knock on are the right ones?”

"That would be a bit too easy, wouldn't it?" With a shrug, Cyril begins heading towards the next floor, keeping an eye around them but moving casually.

Quote from Mingofaust >>

Pepper wants to hit something, but suggests we try the next floor, instead. “What are the chances the first doors we knock on are the right ones?”

 "Good point." Pernach nods in agreement. "Perhaps we should split up slightly; two of us on each side of the hall, and the rest spread out a bit in case of trouble."

Quote from Mingofaust >>

Pepper shakes her head and mouths a thousand?! at Ashe, but waits for a reaction (if any) from the door’s owner.

Ashe shrugs and whispers, "I used all my good ones already! ... Fine, fine, let's move on. Good thinking, Pernach, gives us more room to operate."

The party takes the stairwell down to the next level and in to a 15' long hallway running east-west. There is a door to the west and a door in the middle of the hall to the south (in the same position as the doorway above). You deduce that there are two apartments on each floor, but you can't determine what their individual layouts are...The stairway continues downward to more floors of apartments.

Those knocking on the west door encounter a family of commoners, friendly enough. (Somebody in group A roll a persuasion check =)

The south door goes unanswered.

DM roll: 7

Ashe simply talks to the commoners, pretending to be a new neighbor, asking good-naturedly if they've heard any gossip or rumors about this building and its residents.

Persuasion: 14

The woman who answers the door is pleasant but has her hands full with the twin toddlers squirming in her arms. She only knows a couple other people living in the building - other mothers with small children. She is hesitant to tell you where they live for safety reasons...she doesn't know if you're criminals or perverts or slavers, and a mom can't be too careful these days.

(Gonna just speed through this to save time. Could be fun in an in-person game to role-play all of this until somebody succeeds on a Persuasion check, but it's too klunky in this forum!)

After an hour and many discussions with residents or knocking on empty apartments on about 10 floors, the party finally pieces together enough info to determine that a half-ogre lives on the top floor. The half-ogre never bothered anyone in the building, but she has loud guests from time to time, including many monstrous immigrants from Droaam, coming and going at all hours. One person said they saw the half-ogre leave about an hour and a half ago.

(The top floor is the first one we visited, right, with the convenient map. Duh.)

Once we have learned all of this, and the group is somewhere sort of private or off to the side where they can discuss, Pepper says, "The question now is, do we break in while they're gone, though there may be guests, do we wait until Garra comes back and take her, or do we stake it out and learn as much as we can before moving in? Thoughts?"

"Doesn't seem like a great place to sit and gather intelligence, unfortunately. We may need to just see about breaking in as quietly as we can and improvising from there." Cyril shrugs, not overly enthusiastic about the idea but not seeing much alternative.

"Since no one answered, there is likely no one in the apartment. May as well break in and see what we find. Perhaps we can surprise her on her return.

Although, we may need to be careful to break in stealthily. A broken door might make her suspicious."

“Caelyn?” Pepper is in favor of breaking in unnoticed, casing the place, and lying in wait. 

Thieves' tools check?

.

Pepper nudges Caelyn, hard. Sometimes a person just needs to be poked.

"I suppose Pernach could always smash down the door," Ashe suggests, "if picking it isn't going to be an option."

From inside the apartment, you hear a voice that sounds like Sgt Vilroy calling weakly, "Help me..."