Gash sees nothing especially noteworthy except for a pair of pristine slippers sitting on the edge of one of the beds in the first room he opens. He checks the second room, finding nothing, and then returns down the hall, ending at the first room again. Neventi neither answers any calls or is any of the rooms opened.

Keyrie enters the room she opened, checks one interior library, a larger dining room, and then an equally large sitting room, finding nobody.

Stones runs down the east hallway, opening the door to the room across from the room that Keyre entered.

(Dog is now positioned in the doorway of the room, right next to Tock at the end of his turn this round. Everyone may take their round 5 turn.)

Dog will run, if he sees the door hasn't been opened, to look into the room immediately east of the front door, and then if there's no sign of Nev, he'll use the rest of his hasted movement to look in the small room on the far east of the house. Assuming he doesn't see anything, he barely pauses and moves along. He'll blurt out to his friends, "makesureIdidn'tmissanythinggottarunfastnow!" Believe he has 30x2=60 movement, so with 60 ft of movement, 60 feet of his normal action, and then another 60 ft of his extra hasted action, he's got 180 feet per round to use, which can get him to basically around the NE corner into that north hallway, assumedly toward the outside. Every ten steps he's calling out for Nev, and then listening for any sounds at all.

He's starting to worry that Nev's not here and they really messed things up. If he doesn't see anything through the door at the end of the hall next round, he'll probably turn back...

Dog races down the hall and head of Stones, opening one room, which is empty, and then further down the hall and around the corner to open the last available room, shouting "Nev!" 18 times in 6 seconds. The last room is also empty, finding an assortment of magical components and a wand sitting on a mage's work table.

(everyone but Dog may go. All of these rooms have been opened and found empty, save for some mundane items and treasure.)

Tock will take the role of double-checking that Dog didn't miss anything. So he will first enter and scan the rooms with Truesight that Dog just came from (last round, directly north of Tock). Anything that looks magical or just suspicious he will pick up and stash away, to be investigated later.

DM shield:

Tock finds 3760 gold in stacks on a desk in the room ahead. Slipping into the adjacent room, he stops to see an altar to Asmodeus with a bag spilling out gems on it.

Having found no sign of Neventi, the group does not know what to do next. They meet back at the entrance to the house. (Round 6) and begin discussing their next move.

Dog asks his friends, at a blistering verbal pace, "what do we do? Gash do you want to Send to Nev again to see if she can tell us where she is? This could be a disaster. Whose house is this? They're rich, and devil-worshippers but not sure we should loot them. Came here to find Nev, and maybe the room with the slippers is hers but she's not here. We need to hear from the angels. I'm worried about Genny and we should get back if there's nothing for us here."

As he talks, he bends down and looks through the pockets of the devils to see if they have anything that would provide clues.

"Let's stick close together in case we need to port out of here. Gash, where can we safely go, close to the temple to get back to Genny?"

"There is a lot of gold and jewels here... no one has showed up for the alarm... maybe we wait for that Minotaur to come back and we capture him and make him bring us to Nev...AND take his gold and jewels."

After Dog speaks, "I'm worried that sending Nev a message may tip them off at this point, she is not herself and if we need to fight I need that magic for it. Dog, I'm just unsure... I feel like we can't let that Minotaur alert anyone about what we've done just now. They may move Nev again."

Tock uses a couple of crossbow bolts to get the bag of gems off the altar and pushes the rest of the gems into it as well before securing it on his own person.

The group hears a bellowing, harsh laugh outside the door. Jalienni, the minotaur mage stands, slightly out of breath at the gate onto the property. "You thought I had her?" he says. "We could not even remove you lot from the bargain. They would never let us keep the child's mother."

The minotaur casually strolls towards them, stopping about 15 feet from the door. "I'll tell you what. You may have one more chance to play nicely with us. Put on the amulets and I'll take you to Neventi right now."

He throws the amulets onto the ground in a tangled pile at the doorstep.

Tock looks to the right (west of the door) and an unmistakable sound can be heard, "Mama" (as Gentoa would say it while somewhat distressed).

He then takes a few steps towards that sound so that he would be out of view of the minotaur, turns towards the others and says the same thing again. Simultaneously he draws two daggers from his belt with grim determination and crouches against the wall right next to the door. (it we are still in combat then Ready Action attack anything hostile that comes into range)

DM shield:

Jalienni arches an eyebrow, then scoffs. "You bring the child with you as you raid a home occupied by devils? I don't know whether you are stupid or admirable in your loyalty to the girl."

Jalienni makes no move and just looks back at the amulets in a heap on the ground.

"I will agree to the bargain and put on the amulet IF we can get the bargain confirmed by a representative of the banner of heaven. You wouldn't take our word for anything, so why should we take yours? You alone presenting the amulets cannot be how both sides left the agreement. We'll proceed when we see the bargain with our own eyes." Dog says, pretending to look off to where he heard the "mama" and stepping just outside to look around near Tock.

Jalienni drops his shoulders and calls to the heavens (ironically). "These protectors are gods-damned irritating!"

He levels his gaze at the adventurers. "It really isn't in my best interest to give you anything.  Can't you see?  We have done all we can to keep your unpredictability away from the talks."

The Minotaur looks at the two slain devils on the ground and heaves a weary sigh. He contemplates in silence for a long 5 or 6 seconds as he paces around in the walkway leading from the gate to the door. He never steps closer, even putting some distance between himself and the protectors.

"I'm not putting on of those on. If you're not going to cooperate then prepare to fight. We took out your friends and I have no problem watching your body burn at my hands. You and your people kidnapped two good people undeserving of this. And as a direct result of this," Gash pulls the FeyTok toy out. "A great warrior and friend's life has been claimed by your Taur's Labrynth. So, you either work with us or I will end you. Look around, we have the numbers so you better figure out if your life is worth whatever you're getting out of this."

Gash is seething and snarling from his speech intermittently during it he would revert to goblin curses and bring himself back to common tongue.

"Do all of the amulets sap wits? And who controls them? You? You understand that the deal seems to be one-sided for Hell. The child gets raised by the warlock Bael proposed, and we get cursed or controlled or killed by amulets you give us and all we hear from are fiendish representatives who abducted the mother and child and only returned the child after killing one of the protectors in a maze they constructed while still keeping the mother held in custody."

"Yes," Jalienni says absently in response to Gash as he examines the tree to his right. "That was kind of the point."

He barely seems to process Dog's complaint. "We are working within the rules set forth by the accord talks and the pre-talk agreement."

At last, he seems to come to a conclusion and nods to the adventurers. "Have it your way then."

And Jalienni flees into he streets of Masa.

Bulwark looks between the group and the fleeing Minotaur, raising his hammer questioningly.