You all agree that trails of slime going from the warehouse to the guards' feet doesn't sound natural. Some of you suspect you've heard of other cases like this... you just can't remember the details. You believe that once the situation is dealt with, it will probably jog your memories. (Too many weird magic creatures to keep track of all of them.)

So far...
Reverie has suggested consulting the Iron Gate about this area. (Maybe they already have a stake-out of this warehouse, and have more information?)
Iskander suggests confronting these so-called guards. (People, or maybe creatures, pretending to be actual soldiers are probably preying or stealing from the locals.)

"Let's just go back and be seeing what be going on, a bit more forcefully." Brin agrees. "Me be thinking it be better to ask for forgiveness than be wasting time asking for permission..."

Reverie sighs quietly as she looks at Brin and then Iskander. Iskander's idea is also great and yet she doesn't want her friends to be in danger; however, Brin is correct as well since it would take more time to ask for the information. "Then I shall follow what Iskander suggested just now. If we go seek for more information from the Iron Gate, then we might lose the golden time to fix this matter."

Isk nods at Brin and begins moving back towards the guards.

(albeit without a plan of what to say, lol)

Brin strides along, his short legs stomping into the snow as he moves along.

Ana nodded and followed along, half dreading the monster surely behind those slimy threads and half anticipating ridding the town of it.

 Trimyrai: (to the party) "Thats a good point, we don't want a clue or a lead to get away. How are we going to approach this?"

Isk is going to look for any slimey thread leading up from the warehouse to where the guards are as he is walking towards them.

As they move Brin casts aid on himself, Trimyrai, and Reverie. (Cast at 3rd level so everyone gains 10 to max hp.) He then casts mirror image on himself.

Quote from Guiltysparc >>

Isk is going to look for any slimey thread leading up from the warehouse to where the guards are as he is walking towards them.

She noticed the slime trail because she went right up to the hole in the door where it was coming out of the warehouse. And she had to climb up to the roof to check on that guard. These trails are hard enough to see under normal circumstances. Ana points out the snow covering the ground, which hides any trails.

With Brin's preparation, your party of 8 is marching back towards the warehouse.

(OOC: I'll wait a little longer, so you can decide on any plans or other preparations.)

"We could try the direct route, just walk right into the warehouse..." Isk muses.

"That works for me." Brin agrees, his sturdy dwarf legs continuing to stomp through the snow as he moves towards the warehouse.

The party marches back to the warehouse. There is no reaction from the two guards (near fire barrel, on roof) until your group is about a spear's throw away. At that point, the guard on the roof climbs down and stands next to the other guard by the fire barrel. A few seconds later, the sergeant and a 3rd guard emerge from the warehouse.

The sergeant sounds bored as he starts his spiel. "By orders of the city rulers, you must turn around and return to your homes..." He then squints, recognizing your group. "You were just here. Are you stupid? Leave now. I don't want to deal with the paperwork for arresting you."

The guard next to the sergeant speaks to him. "If these people persist in defying our orders, we should deal with them properly. Take them one or two at a time, to get their information. Bind the extras, to be punished later."

Isk projects the authority he used to use in his soldiering days and says, "There will be no binding or punishing, we are here on official business.  We helped in the fight against the (ooc crap, i don't remember what it was that attacked this town before we went into the fae place...) [that monsters].  This weather is unnatural and your actions are suspicious.  We will be looking into this warehouse."

Intimidation if needed: 12

23

Edit: the first roll initally showed up as "dice rolls aren't available" so I added another roll line, then both of them fired

"We'll all be coming in at once." Brin puts in. "Right now." He nods to the others. "As ye aint even real guards, and ye are acting strange, we be here to find out why that be."

Along the way Ana debated how to handle things. The creature she'd glimpsed, though only in part, made her sure it was unnatural. Maybe even extraplanar. She really didn't want to go all out, she wasn't ready to reveal her heritage, but would they be able to take a monster like that down without it? Perhaps trying the stealthy approach would have been better. 

Since the "sergeant" spoke to them, she replied. "I have seen the tethers, I have smelled the brimstone. Your disguise is not sufficient anymore. Surrender, release your prisoner, and leave this place forever."

The sergeant looks around at your party, frustrated at your defiance. But with Ana's words, a look of angry smugness crosses his face. "Tethers? Brimstone? What kind of nonsense is that?" He lifts his left arm and left leg, stands, then lifts his right arm and right leg. Then hops up and down several times. (No tethers!) He then waves his forearm under your noses for a good whiff. He smells awful, like he bathed in the runoff from the tanners, but no brimstone/sulfer.

The guard closest to the sergeant (who most of the party recognized from a few days before) responds to Iskander's statement. "Yes, they slew the demons that were involved in the case investigated by Clew-Sea. They are troublemakers. We should process them."

The sergeant looks irritated at the suggestion, then looks back to your group. "You want to make trouble with the city guards? You want to be taken inside our guard warehouse? Fine! Step right this way." He opens up the warehouse door, and sarcastically gestures like a doorman for the party to enter. The other 3 guards are sort-of surrounding your group.

Brin strides straight inside.

((Insight to see if all this actually is Earl's orders. 13 ))

Ana is completely untroubled by his words. "You aren't tethered? Then you're doing all this of your own volition. Good to know... And what of these others? Are they also untethered? Well, no matter. Yes, by all means, let us all go to the warehouse. There you can explain to us why an unnatural monster is there, with slimy tentacles and a brimstone smell, and while we're at it why a prisoner is being held in chains... Somehow I don't think that's part of the Earl's orders."

Reverie narrows her eyes as she looks at the guards, not as angry as she was since her sword has been cleansed, but their actions make her uncomfortable for a moment. "If this is the order from the Earl and you are acting according to his words, do you have a proof of his words? If all of you have investigated of this matter, it should've been informed to everyone in this city. And yet, your actions and attitudes are awfully suspicious. Would you please show us the proof of the Earl's order?"

Persuasion - 18 (edit: NOPE D:)