The lumbering half-ogre's brow furrows as he stares down at this bizarre collection of "lil' people."

"Yer a strange bunch, arncha'?" he asks confusedly. "I mean... Th' choices're 'easy way' n "hard way,' right? Don't really know which one yer choosin' here! Most times folks wanders down Gorth's alley 'n either hand over tha val-yu-bles er try ta fight and den I takes said val-yu-bles. Never seen one my size, tho."

Looking directly at Thokk he says, "Yer friends talk too much. Yer pretty strong. We fight er what?"

Is Gus waiting around with us, or is he continuing along?

You glance around and don't immediately see the cat anywhere.

"Aw, shit," Syl whispers to himself as he notices the missing feline. He backs away from the group as casually as he can and looks around for the cat, mostly in the direction they were traveling before the interruption.

"Why waste time with the fighting part?" Halis sighs.  "You've both convince each other you are strong.  Now you want something shiny, and you will let us pass?  Here, this is something shiny."  

Taking a gold coin out of his pouch, Halis tosses it towards the half-ogre.  "Enough for a drink at the pub of your choice, and you can even get to enjoy it with all your teeth in place.  Blood so does taint the pure taste of a finely aged wine.  Let us call this a draw and be on our separate ways."

He's right, you know, Halis sends to the hulking half-orc who demanded the money with his mind link, figuring that this one is not the brightest.  Maybe he'll think he's talking to himself.  Listen to your conscience, take that coin, and let this group pass.  You have better ways to spend your time and your gold.

Persuasion this time: 10

Looks around the ally. "You really live 'ere? Dare no outreach? Maybe you come wit us? Later go find municipal services building for shelter and job training program. Raise up brother."

Hayle couldn’t hold it in any more and laughed as Thokk actually attempted to pick up the half-ogre. As she did so she realised that they were still being threatened by a half-ogre and quickly shut up. 

Delanra saunters up to the side of Halis, seeing the merits in his simple bargain. A gold piece to flumox the half-ogre and be done with this nonsense, especially when the coin came from someone else's purse, was a suitable consclusion to this little adventure. If they wrapped things up soon then maybe her gown wouldn't rquire too much to wash out the grime and smell that it had begun to acquire. "Perhaps, good Gorth, you can see that 'hard way' and 'easy way' have both been travelled here. As my companion so appropriately demonstrated, you have had a contest of strength and also earned yourself some wealth which was not previously within your possession. You see that Gus lead us to you for such a simple exchange, and now you have made friends with Thokk, which is a wealth few know the true bounty of." She starts to look around, then adds "Now, which is the fastest was back to the mian streets, our little guide, Gus, seems to have absented itself."

Releases the other half-ogre, and looks for the cat. "Where da kitty go?"

Gorth thinks for a solid minute. You can tell it physically pains him.

"Really are strange, huh? Well Gus musta been in a hurry er he wouldn't'a brought you lot down 'ere. Tell ya what..." he says decisively, crossing his arms and lifting his nose to peer down at you imperiously. "Anyone what gives me gold can pass. Anyone left can fight. That way I win no matter what!"

Chipped and discolored teeth slide into view as the half-ogre's cracked lips pull back into what you can only surmise to be a smile.

"That would seem very fair, we're just following Gus though Gorth... Maybe, if he was in such a rush to lead us somewhere, he forgot that you let him through on different terms to other folk. We must catch him up now, and you wouldn't want us to upset Gus would you? How about you take the one piece that Halis offered you, and when we come back through this way with Gus, we'll pay you for both journeys?" Delanra adopts a more submissive tone, in response to Gorth's almost comedic attempts to act imperious, and tries to convince the half-ogre that upsetting the cat would be quite poor manners, with no intention of ever following the cat back past this unwashed, flea-ridden fool's abode. 

Persuasion or Deception: 15

Halis dreamily begins looking for the cat, having paid for himself, if not the party already.

"Gus?  Where are you?"  he calls out, looking around for the cat.

"Oh, you kitty-friend?" To the half-ogre, as he wanders past him, looking for the cat. Survival to track:  16

Gorth snarls and holds a hand out to stop any further progress.

"Cats don't have pockets for gold, dumdums. Gus is no friend. He's nuthin' but trouble. Now, gold or fight. I'm tired of lookin' at yer ugly faces so pay up and get outta my alley or fight and I'll take what I want after."

Gus is nowhere to be seen.

Having just walked past our 'toll-taker', Thokk's brows furrow together, "You not nice." He grabs the base of his greataxe, tugging it free of it's holder as he pivots round in place, swinging the weight around him in an 360 degree arc. The arc is aimed to clip the ax on his target's shoulder, a disarm action: 8.

He gets a strength roll to contest: 22 
The roll above assumes the typical 17 STR for a half-ogre (Adjust as needed).
If you allow this to count as surprise, here's the second roll for Disadvantage: 7

Damn. I had odds on him too. 

As Thokk swings his axe, Hayle groans. "Not again."

Hoping to disrupt the process happening in front of her and prepares to unleash the tentacles coiled in her soul (Tentacles of the Deeps). If the half-ogre swings attacks the group, Hayle is ready to respond, hoping to at least slow Gorth down to allow them to get past.

Hearing the sounds of a scuffle behind him, Halis turns around and raises an eyebrow.  He lets out an audible sigh and puts his hand on his blade.  "If you are reneging on your deal to let me pass, I would like my money back," he says patiently.

Syl leans up against the nearest building, watching things unfold. A half-smirk forms - he's confident this half-ogre doesn't stand much of a chance against them, and fighting always livens things up a bit. He draws his rapier and watches Gorth to see if this is going to turn bloody.

As if in slow motion, you watch as Thokk once again makes the one decision you had been hoping he'd avoid. One that will affect you all in the short-term at the very least. Classic Thokk.

Your friend swings his axe around and, with a resounding CLANG, it impacts Gorth's weapon and knocks it to the ground. As the shock (more "consternation and dismay," really) quickly wears off, you realize your adversary has not let go of his axe but his expression has changed. It's also in this instant that you notice just how much larger Gorth is while standing next to Thokk.

"I was hopin' you'd pick the hard way. 'S more fun fer me!" Gorth snarls as he starts to shift his weight.

Since you all were probably expecting things to go downhill and for Thokk to be the stimulus, we'll jump straight into initiative rather than letting Gorth get a hit off first.

With only one enemy, we'll let anyone who rolls higher than him go first. Actions will take place in the order of posting unless there's a really good reason to change things for the narrative. Once everyone from the first group goes Gorth will take his turn and then it'll be fair game for everyone to go (or go again). Make sense? If not, ping me on Discord and we'll work out the details.

Initiative (Bold May Act): Delanra & Thokk, Gorth, everyone else