Having the man grappled sure makes this easier, Laine muses to himself as he throws another firebolt.

To Hit: 23
Damage: 4

Leaving the guys to do the dirty work this time, Nisha turns to look at the dwarven woman.

"Are you okay?" The half-elf asks as she tries to evaluate how wounded the dwarf is. Not because she is that much concerned about her wellbeing, but mostly to check if the target is likely to attempt to run away while the group is dealing with the invisible attacker. Of course, Nisha is not going to just let that happen, but it is always a good idea to try the diplomatic approach first, before resolving to threats and violence.

"What does this... freak want from you?" She continues, casting a quick look in the direction they just came from. "Do you know him?"

Smiling approvingly at the Tortle lumbering in to grapple the unseen enemy, the pale winged tiefling unleashes another radiant beam of divine force against him.

Eldritch Blast: 14 Force: 12 Necrotic: 1

The dwarven women looks at Nisha as if she may be some other nefarious brigand. She tries to run away but fails as the acid has taken a toll on her. She makes up her mind and chooses the lesser of 2 possible evils "I do not know whatever of whoever that is. The invention must not fall into the wrong hands." The tone of her voice speaks of desperation and pain. 

With one leg wrapped around a limb of the invisible man and an arm pulling across his chest, Gavyn pulls a handaxe from its holster on his hip with his free hand and strikes at the man's belly. "Ugh," he says as the man squirms. "Surrender is still an option."

Handaxe Attack: 22 Damage: 6

The invisibility falls away revealing the strange man with gray skin and mottled white hair. He appears closest to a human, but something was changed. 

As he is bleeding from numerous wounds and fire burns, he does his best to raise his hands in the air. His blood is tinged green "I....Surrender. Do what you will with me." 

End of Combat

As the man says the word surrender Kaelen just keeps his weapons at the ready if the man tries something with which ever friend works to apprehend him "Anyone got any rope or good at searching people?" he asks, clearly assuming the intent is to take the man as a prisoner.

Nisha gives the other woman a quizzical look at her miserable attempt of running away. The rogue can sense some of the discomfort that the dwarf clearly feels because of herself, but doesn't really try to put her at ease, instead just keeping an eye on her for the time being. 

Finally, Nisha hears things getting quieter, and Kaelen's voice brings her back to her feet.

"Here," the half elf tosses some rope from her backpack to the minotaur, giving the poor dwarven woman a very meaningful look at the same time. "Careful with the acid, our new friend here can attest to... how potent it is."

"Now was that so hard?" he asks the strange looking man as he surrenders. "What were you hoping to do with the invention anyway?"

As Gavyn buries his axe into the enemy's chest, revealing him and making him surrender, the pale winged teifling steps closer, joining the others by their fallen captive. "Yes, and who are you working for..." He adds to Mr. Laine's start of the interrogation as the Minotaur uses Nisha's rope to tie the captive up. "...we are not really interested in underlings so cooperate with us now and you will likely live through the night." He says in a calm but quite threatening tone.

Intimidation/Deception: 20 Another roll if help action is provided: 6

""We plan to use her invention to undermine the Dwendalian Empire. This totalitarian rulership should go up in flames. Do you enjoy living under such oppression? I work for Judicator Augustine." He looks dejected and then says "I will most likely perish before the night is done." 

"I'm not a man of politics myself but overthrowing one tyrant will only pave the way for the next one." Nathaniel says dryly. "And your Judicator who does she work for, the enemy who seeks to detabilize and invade us?" He continues.

Insight: 12

Laine's 'whatever' demeanor seems to harden at the captives words. "Our empire is already on the edge of uncertainty, we don't need trash like you undermining it further. The war has made people desperate, but that in no way gives you a free pass for treason."

Insight: 11
Intelligence check for what a Judicator is: 20

"I do not know who she works for only that I answer to her." says the tied-up man. He lets out a laugh "Just knowing this has put a mark on all of your heads." 

Judicator enforces the state religion and destroys those who would dare worship another deity beyond those authorized. They are as militant as the Dwendalian military with their own enforcers. 

"Like we didn't have them marked already? What is a Juducator have to gain from this?"

"I don't know, and you can it take up with Augustine and find out. I am guessing there is some history between her, and King Dwendel" says the tied-up man. 

Gavyn snorts a laugh at the accusation that the man's employer will be any better than their current regime.

"People like, uh, Augustine are why the library has a vault of forbidden texts on the forbidden religions.  People like Dwendel are why a librarian is recruited, you see, to investigate trouble before the tyrant king executes half of the city in rage. People like you and me, though, we are just going to get caught in the middle of their power squabbles."

The tortle gets a little pensive, sad even, saying quietly "We will find evidence for the king, you see, to kill his enemies or even kill them for him. Or we will, uh, die trying to protect the people from his wrath and an impending uprising. History has told this story before. We know it ends with one tyrant or another."

The tortle starts to get a little heated, his low voice building in intensity. "No, we fight for the people who walk the streets of this city. Not for the king. Not for Augustine. What would you have us do? There is no choice as I see it. I don't care about the squabble of tyrants but I will be damned if we all who live here have to suffer more than we already do for it."

The pale winged tiefling finds himself very much agreeing with Gavyn's view. There was nothing yet to suggest overthrowing what was arguably a tyrant would make things better for the people and there was also nothing to suggest the Judicator had the support of the people. If there ever were an uprising among the people he would likely stand with it but he would be damned if he helped to simply replace one tyrant with another, quite possibly a worse one, one that evidently didn't care about innocent lives to reach their goals.

"We should perhaps take our captive and make sure the design he was after is safe." He suggests to the others as the prisoner is safely tied up, quickly checking him for any interesting items. "I hope you have realized by now that we came here to save you and your deisigns, please cooperate with us so that we can leave before more of the Judicator's servants arrive." He then turns and says to the dwarven woman.

Investigation if needed: 3
Persuasion if needed: 11

Nisha, without taking her eyes off the dwarven woman, waits for her turn. The half-elf is starting to think that she has found herself in the middle of a horrible political game, and suddenly, her freedom looks further away than ever. Tyrants, judicators, all sounds like trouble, and not the type of it that she enjoys. 

"What's happened to you?" She asks the invisible man. "What's with the invisibility and the acid?"