RedOnTheBed

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

The object, a dull silverish cylinder that might be of metal, or of some stranger material, falls to the ground, and Tarinn lets out a little sigh. She stands. "He has a lockbox in the chamber, behind a tapestry. There might be something valuable to the right buyer in among his papers, but I can't say for certain. I can't say for certain if the shrine or lockbox is trapped, but the room isn't."

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

Tarinn pauses for a moment. "It is a device to cause pain to the person holding it. He says it occupies me to hold it when he has no other use for me. And it does. I think it amuses him, and no doubt his lord the Black Pillar"

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

The woman smiles to herself, but not to Gordak, as if at some joke only she can understand. "No. Do you want me to walk? I can do that. If you let me drop this, I can help you get out of here richer than you came." She looks up for the first time since Gordak entered - possibly for the first time in weeks, seeming to put together the situation. "There are no traps in the house. He uses me to open the door and trusts the resin to deter idle thieves."

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

The woman does not look away from her hands and whatever thing she holds in them, made of dull black metal. "I am." She says, gently, with a hint of pain. "Have you come to take me, in turn? If you tell me to, I will go willingly. I will happily betray my master in whatever way you want me to. I have no care for him in particular." Her tone is strange, at once resigned and eager, as if lost and content with hopelessness. She does not look away from the thing in her hands.

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

There is no sign of snare or any mechanical contrivance about the door or lock, but when Gordak goes to unbolt the door, his fingers blister as a sticky substance adheres to his hands, causing a steady burning sensation. Inside the door, it is an ordinary apartment chamber, with an unlit hanging metal brazier sitting in the corner, a shelf with preserved meat and a handful of scrolls in leather tubes, and a number of low-sitting cots. There is a window out to the street, and a door to the second room in the apartment.
Sitting on the floor, in a flaxen shift with various blisters on her hands and feet, is an uncommonly beautiful woman with short dark hair and golden-brown skin. Her face bears some scars with no commonly-recognised pattern to them. Her hands are clasped around some object, apparently precious to her. She does not acknowledge Gordak's presence.

OOC

The chemical burns cause a -1 debuff to checks that require fine manipulation of things, and a -1 debuff to Stab or Shoot checks made in combat while Gordak's health is above one-half its maximum value, until he has a full night of rest.

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

@rush99999

What does Gordak's pieced armour look like?

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

To reach the apartment door, Gordak must enter a small alcove in the front part of the building and climb the stairs to the second floor. Here, the door has a simple hole to access the bolt. Many Gathis-dwellers put a simple tamper-proof seal on the door, and secure their belongings in a locked or hidden strong-box inside the house, but no such knot or seal is present here.

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

The man already seems to slip back. "Her name is Tarinn. Mine is Ruris. You may need to be direct with her to bring her away from that place."
The street is not full, but people walk about, wearing thin clothing that hangs loosely about their body. Some among the lower classes had stripped back some way, baring their chests in the hot and humid evening, men and women alike, although the middle classes and those with somewhere to be continued to cover themselves up, at least in the streets. The courtyard is like many in Gathis, with its circular arch and three single doors, servicing six apartments, and perhaps some meagre lodgings for others. The windows of four of the apartments are open, but those of the kidnapper's are shuttered with what look to be thick boards.

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

The man shakes his head. "That, I do not know. I do not even know how much in league they are, only that they must be, to live so easily with him. You might well be able to go in and come out without a fuss."
Just then, a man makes his way out from the courtyard. He has a clean-shaven head, and wears dark brown hose under a pale blue tunic. At his side he carries a dagger. He goes out and soon is met with another man, of similar appearance from this distance, and they go together, north. "That is he. He will return, late in the night, drunk. If you wish to go about this rescue unaccosted, now is the time.

Worlds Without Number: Adventures in the Gyre

The man nods. "Follow me," he says, and leads Gordak to the West, saying nothing until they had come to another part of the slums. "This man, the kidnapper, is a coward. His brother is an innkeeper of some ill repute, but they have not much to do with one another. He lives on the edge of the slums, having used some of his small inheritance to buy the illusion of respectability. I do not know if he is home. He has friends enough that were any of the Blighted, or their allies in the city to attempt a rescue or more, it would be very difficult for them. In this way, you who seek only to profit from us are a blessing from God." He does not speak another word.
Before long, he points out, among the long shadows of the low sun, a courtyard on the other side of the road from the shadowed alley in which they stood. "His apartment is on the upper floor of the house to the left. The occupants around him are no doubt in league with his corruption, and may not leave as he certainly will. What is your plan, if I may ask?"