OUTSIDE DWARVES & BABES
And so finally it came to pass that the doors to Dwarves & Babes did close, the Tortles back inside without a seconds glance towards the party.
A silence of sorts descended and but for Ulthok and Cor the party was quiet and seemingly at a loss of what to do next.

Ulthok clearly with his older brother in danger wanted almost to change right in, but yet knew that to be impossible. With dread in his heart he watched as the double doors did close, hearing them locked within his mind. Never one to sit still he began moving from party member to party member looking for their thoughts but only did the knight Cleric Cor speak.

With the words between Halfling and Dwarf in the act of being said and the rest of the party, but three, listening in no one did notice that both Alasdair and Althena had moved closer to the Bordello hand in hand, lost in concentration. Magma for the moment was also not in sight and had not been for a few minutes at least, having last been standing close to the Bordello’s doors.

Alasdair drawing upon his Psionic powers with the aid of Althena’s strength could not understand that which he was sensing, something there, but not, strong magic for sure but of a kind he had never sensed before. Without a word to the rest both he and his love, lost in concentration, moved closer yet still.....

For the moment the party clearly unsure of what to do next, few of them saying anything and two moving closer and one now missing awaited someone to do something.

For this moment anyway all but Cor and Ulthok were silent no true direction to start finding answers had they....

(OOC: Ok like normal next post next wednesday and I would like to see everyone post this time.
A Good job goes out to Keeper and Dragonmist for giving me something to add to my post and an idea of what to write as I was at first at a loss.
So please everyone please post this next week.)

Ulthok listens as Cor responds to what he had told him about how he feels. Ulthok had laid out all his feelings on their present situation and now respectfully listens to the War Clerics response.He holds any new comments he may have until Cor has finished. he simply follows the Cleric around and watches as he tries to pinpoint the evil he had detected that lead him here. When Cor had finished telling the halfling how he felt about what the halfling had said to him, Ulthok responds
Yeh may be right about myself being somewhat out of line, I should consult with Alasdair before doing something that could involve the whole party, but on the subject of my eldest brother I am of the feeling that there is no mistake in my identification of the halfling that Rayne and myself saw trying to flee from the clutches of that damnable strange halfling and his tortle guards, it is Delthak Rydenham nickname Divot.
As he follows Cor around and watches him try to discern from wench this evil did come and to wench it had gone Ulthok tries to pick his next words carefully, for he doesn't want to offend any of his friends, but he wants them all to understand that he has no intentions of leaving this spot or this brothel until he has obtained the release of his brother either through peaceful means or through whatever other means he must take even at the risk of his own life.He also wants each of them to know that he understands that if they decide that they must move on and can't stay and help he understands that also. For this fight may have nothing to do with their ultimate goal and they have pledged themselves to that goal. So he picks his words carefully.
Since I am certain of the identity of the halfling being held here I must let you and the others in our party know, that just as you and Conall came hurrying down here to the brothel, not because it at the time had anything to do with our mission, but only because you detected an evil presence and felt that it was your duty to rid this city and the world of this presense. Now let me say that as a halfling there is a duty that we feel just as strong about, and even though this may seem a bit more on the selfish side than ridding the world of evil, but we find it very hard to just walk away if we find a halfling to be in some kind of trouble, and if this halfling is found to be a relation then it is virtually imposable to not help. So I hope you will understand why I feel I must stay and try to help Divot.

After speaking his mind with Cor, Ulthok thinks it is time to go and speak with Alasdair about what he is feeling and what their leader is going to do next. It is at this point that he turns around to find Alasdair that there are two things he finds first the Tortles had closed the bordello down and locked it up the front doors where closed. They had spent so much time doing nothing that they lost the chance to do anything possibly. As he looked around to find their leader he found Alasdair and the lady Althena hands joined slowly moving towards the front of the bordello seemingly lost in thought. Neither one looking at the other but both seemingly focused on the bordello. He knows from previous talks with Alasdair that both he and the lady have the special powers known as psionics some type of mental energy they use to do some of the same things other magic wielders do. He does not understand these powers at all but maybe they are finding their antagonist the source of the evil that Cor, and Conall have not been able to find. Deciding not to interrupt them right now he will keep a watch on them as he tries to get the rest of the party to move in closer together and closer to where the two psionics are working their powers, so if they do pinpoint something the group will be ready to act, not like it has been so far. he doesn't know why they have been acting the way they have but the party has been almost acting like they are under some kind of spell. No one being able it seems to make any decisions, and the rest of them standing around as if in a daze doing nothing. Everything about this encounter has been weird.

He makes up his mind to just call to each member rather than go to them so he can stay close to their leader and his lady.It is as he calls to each party member that he finds another distressing thing, “Halia, Rayne, Cynil please could you three move over here lets tighten up our group.” Then turning to call to the three males Cor, Conall, and Magma he finds that one of them is no longer present. Last time he had seen Magma the dwarf was standing right out front near the front doors now he was nowhere to be seen. “ Conall, Cor did either one of you see where Magma went I don't see him anywhere.”As he gets the group to gather closer together where they can keep a better eye on what is going on around them, he makes a quick scan of the open areas around him to see if he can spot Magma anywhere.If he sees nothing he will once again speak with Cor. “ Cor my friend it seems that Alasdair and Althena are trying to use their power to help pinpoint our current antagonist, I think we need to try to locate where Magma done got himself off to. Maybe he has just wandered around the side of the bordello or maybe something more insidious is happening here, but we need to find out and quickly in case Magma is in some kind of trouble. Maybe we where gathered here then confused while they pick us off one at a time. Should we interrupt Alasdair? With that final question Ulthok waits to make his next move.

"Ulthok, I do not know what has happened but when I was backing out of there that halfling was the souce of strong evil. I do believe when we first got in there it tried to charm us. However those spells usually fail against we elves.

Remember how he said, 'Now you can tell me all,' as if he truly expect us to tell him exactly what he wanted to know?"

Rayne moves over towards Cor and Conall and gets their attention before querying them, "What happened in there?"

Cynil joins the group, still wondering what was happening, and looking to the more experienced of the group to advise her as to what was what.

Cynil look to Conall and the others. "Evil can not be abided, and not within the confines of this town. I feel something is wrong and concur those who have spoken of the Evil and its relationship to the...uh...bordello.

Cor tired of the searching that led to only confusion. Great evil gave way to lesser evil, companions wandered away without word of their intent and Alasdair and Althena were nearly in a form of trance. A strange halfling claimed brotherhood with a memeber of the party but the circumstances of his discovery were circumspect at best and extremely suspicious. What exactly was happening here was not clear but there was no doubt the bordello harbored evil in some form. If the Tortles were good, evil, neither or both the elder cleric could not acertain. As such he counted them neither friend nor foe for the moment. The time for searching and contemplating was at an end.

From within his pack, Cor pulled two flasks of oil and a strip of cloth. Severing the cloth with a knife he stuck a long piece into each flask and replaced the stopper. Moments later he struck a flame and lit a torch. Armed with torch in his right hand and flasks in his left, Cor moved to the door of the bordello. As he kicked open the door he spoke in a voice loud, clear and commanding; there was no doubt that he spoke now not as Cor the party memeber but as Cor, Knight Cleric of Odin.

"In the name of Odin I condem this den of iniquity. By the very acts committed here, this dwelling declares itself as an affront to all that is Good and Righteous. Leave now if you value your life for I am about to release the wrathful cleansing fires of Odin and remove this blight once and for all from the face of Trilogy." Cor lit the fuses and began a count. "Five, four, three..."

AT THE REAR OF DWARVES & BABES
Magma had seen the closing doors and as everyone seemed to have ignored him had decided to do a slow walk around the Bordello.

His inspection of the building at first turned up nothing, no windows, no back door, nothing but endless wood and thatch siding. Then as he was turning to rejoin the others his practiced skill of construction made him look again he caught sight of a flaw in the buildings structure.

Moving closer he found it to be a very poor repair job of a hole into the buildings inside.Wasting no time and not taking the chance of an opportunity missed, he carefully managed to ease his bulk through the hole to find himself in a passage between walls. Slowly and as quietly as he could he made his way between the walls till a hole was found. With a little bit of work he was able to widen the hole for a better look inside the main area of the Bordello.

No, no, this cannot be, how is this possible the dwarf thought to himself shocked into a state of stunned disbelieve. But that state lasted only a moment as he knew the rest of the party had to know what he had found. Moving quickly he started back for the hole in which had entered
As he did so Magma began to feel real fear.

MAIN AREA FRONT OF DWARVES & BABES.
Ulthok was at a loss in some way as to what to do next as to each member he called and once again asked for their thoughts. With Magma no where in sight and not sure of what they faced he calmly awaited a time to act....

Cor, Cleric Knight of Odin hearing the words of Ulthok had finally had enough of no one doing or saying anything of worth and so marched forward to the Bordello’s main doors.
Two flasks of lamp oil to hand and a lite torch he did not call or wait to see if the rest followed, his booted foot into the door did go.

In the next moment Cor found himself flat on his back, the impact of his booted foot finding inches of steel beneath a wooden front unmoving.

Lucky was the Dwarf that the flasks in his hand fell away from and not towards the flaming torch. For the moment the Knight Cleric on his back and the rest as yet unsure of what to do next....

(OOC: Next post next Wednesday)

Rayne sakes her head perplexed by what was going on and also disturbed by Cor's pronouncement. She walks up to his and holds out her hand to help him up. "A moment please before something is begun that could cause dammage to innocents. Fire is not the answer but Understanding is. We must find out what happened," Rayne interjects

"Ulthok I did not sense that your brother was in immediate danger. I do not know why Cor and Connall sensed no evil. But I can assure you all that as I backed out of there I did sense great evil and their was a change in the being that appeared as the halfling. The are authorites here we can take this problem too. There was a evil presence in there but wherther there is now of not I do not know. ANd we must clear that up befor ewe continue in a way that would set us at odds if the evil that ws there is now gone. This could but us at odds with the law, and delay our mission, your original mission." she continues

"I thinks we all need to reason this out better and come to some decision that the authorities here could help us with to achieve our goals. Rayne observes.

We are too disorganized right now to continue on haphazardously. a worng decision might threaten not ony the problem here but our mission which is more important, She restates her postion.

"Again I counsel patience," Rayne concluds "and we must seek understanding and knowledge."

Cor clutched his sore foot and cursed in several languages at once. "I should have expected such a trick, bah how could I have been so stupid." Cor regained his feet and took a moment to stamp out the fire on the fuses so as not to waste the flasks of oil. He carefully placed the containers back in his pack as he listened to talk of patience and understanding from behind him. "So far patience has gotten us nothing except a fractured party. As for understanding, I doubt that any of you or those inside wish to engage in an exchange of information with the hopes of coming to a mutaully acceptable solution." Cor turned and walked away from the building. "It seems that the great evil that origionally drew me here has vanished and Odin saw fit to allow my attempt to consecrate this den of iniquity to fail. As of now I have no further interest in this place. I will alert the local authorities and leave it in their hands to deal with it. If any of you have other designs upon this bordello it oncerns me not. Now we need to find our missing companion." Cor turned and began to walk around the building in search of the missing party memeber.

Rayne understand Cor's frustration with the whole thing. Cor I agree with you that something has changed here, however just dumping it in the lap of the locals is not my way either. I serve the King directly. I do have a duty to inform the local authority and also help them if I can. So I could use your backing in this. IF it was Odin's guidance in this matter then accept that he stopped what you were doing at that moment, but not further actions that may be needed. Let us stand together until we decide what is the best way to move on this."

A flash of a thought impinges on her quick mind, Rayne seizes it, examine the implications and thought it over in a blink of an eye before sharing what she thinks is a valid consideration they must take into account.

"This whole situations seems to be a set up. Surely not only you, Cor and I sensed that evil. IF only we did then it is a trap for us. If not why are other good clerics and paladins not swarming about. I see no other clerics or paladins out and about," she observes.

"Rayne, you ask why there are no other good clerics or paladins about. You must not have traveled much with Clerics or Paldins of the stature of Connal and I to ask such. Those of great power are rare and do not wander in groups. The times when there have been gatherings of our kind a few and the fate of the entire realm was determined by the outcome of our efforts. No, the lack of others is not bothersome. In fact it is comforting in a strange way. As for the will of Odin, I will not stand to be lectured on this topic by a non-believer." Cor took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "For more years than you can rememeber I have served Odin. In return he has bestowed upon me the rank of Knight Cleric. A title never before seen upon the face of Trilogy. You tread on dangerous grounds in this matter. I beleive you meant no harm and so shall let this indiscretion pass. You are right that the locals are likely ill suited to handle this problem, however my duty is to my order and there is nothing here that requires me to act. Once we have found our missing companion I will inform the local magistrate. If he beseaches me for aid I will be happy to assist. Should he not seek such it will not be forced upon him. This whole thing has reeked of a set-up from the first. The thing I do not understand is why no trap has been sprung. The more we push towards confrontation, the more the very bordello seems to resist such an act. I will search for Magma and remain in the area for a time. If you assertain the nature of this riddle I will assist in any way I am able. But, if I find our missing friend and you are still as lost as we all are now I will go to the magistrate straight away."

Cor turned again and resumed his search for Magma.

"Your words are as wise as your years are long, Old Greybeard." Rayne says with a quick smile and a twinkle in her eye at the very un-greybearded Cor. "You have been an adult for longer than I have, though, one day over a tankard of you favorite drink, I will match my years against yours." Rayne nods gracefully to the Dwarven Knight Cleric of Odin. "May you always find guidance and the favor of your Diety. Pray for that guidance now that we may find out what is best to do. I will think about it too and call on Corellon though I am not a cleric I do worships him."

Rayne does pray to Corellon as she thinks about this situation and their current mission. She tries various ideas out. sorting and rejecting as she goes, Once her grandmother had told her that the simpleiest solution to a problem is usually the right one. Evil had been working against them only this time it was not a little evil but a big one. "Whose toes were they stepping on? Who or what ws at the back of this all? Why confront them here in this place when their true objective lay beyond here? Could this be a delaying tactic or worse." Rayne thinks to herself A building without visible windows and pnly one door was a trap. that much she knew Someone had wanted them to attack the bordello and once inside the situation would favor the other side too much.

Another thought rang true to her.

"Ulthok, your berother is bait this place is a trap that this evil is hoping we get hooked by."

With Magma still missing and Alasdair and Althena acting like they where in some kind of trance, Cor reaches the limit of his patience and suddenly deceides he is going to burn the bordello.However when he tries to kick in the front door he finds it is false and the real door is made of steel.All he gets for his effort is a sore foot and to have to pick himself up off his back.
At this point he and Brianna have a discussion and Cor deceides that once he finds Magma if nothing has changed he is going to go to the leaders of the city and dump this problem in their lap, but Ulthok is pretty sure they won't do anything or even believe them.He continues to listen to their talk when Brianna deceides to seek guidence from her god, and after a minuit declares, Ulthok, your berother is bait this place is a trap that this evil is hoping we get hooked by."Well he thinks to himself that is what I have been trying to tell everybody right from the start.
Also tiring of standing around doing nothing he watches as Cor takes off in one direction to look for Magma Ulthok deceides he will go around the building in the other direction.thinking that it might be a good idea to stay in pairs he stops by Halia and convinces her to come along with him so togeather they start off around the side of the bordello opposite of Cor looking for Magma or anything that might seem out of place.

A flaw in the building structure created an opening for magma to slip inside. Everyone was concentrating on the events in the front, so he’d make his own backdorr.

Assuming he’d fit….

But once inside, Magma was astounded but what he saw. Or the lack of what he saw truly.

Nothing...No Club, No Bordello, no People, nothing....

The interior of the building was that of an old and decrepit warehouse. Rats everywhere, Cobwebs hanging from corners and ceiling old rotted furniture and trash everywhere. The floor covered in a layer of dust inches thick and clearly undisturbed for years. Alsothe interior of this old building was nowhere as big as that described by Ulthok and Rayne.

What in the name of Odin is going on here?
Magma’s first thought was illusion, but this seemed to complex, too involved to be simply an illusion of sorts. Besides, what boon would that create? There was something far more sinister involved here.

Magma did a quick search for anything of note (secret doors, trap door, etc etc) and then moved back to the way he came in, almost expecting to find it gone without a trace. But it was still there, and with much effort and a vast amount of swearing, Magma was able to get through the opening again. Axe held at the ready, he made his way quickly back to the front of the building. He was almost there when he met up with his dwarven brother in arms, Cor.

Magma draws himself near to the dwarven preist and tell him all that he has seen and suspects. “Cor! There is something evil going on here. I can feel it in my bones.”

Halia accepts Ulthok's to pair with him and travel the opposite way around the bordello. She instructs her hound to follow and to be looking for any thing hidden or anything of the sort. He nods and trails close after looking around carefully. She trails Ulthok her sword still in hand alert and ready for almost anything. She can't seem to wrap her mind around this situation that has presented it's self. Why had the owner and his bodyguards retreated into the bordello and left them confused outside? What had happened to the evil presence formally felt? So many questions and a very uneasy feeling left turning in her stomach. She follows and waits to see what happens next........

Cynil waits close to Alasdair and Althena who are acting like they where in some kind of trance. She watches thenm and also around them. she hold her staff ready. It is about all she can do as others circle the bordello and still others bebate what they have experienced.

The Druidess goes over her spells looking for just the right one to use in this situation.