Zilean's Revenge (Part 3)

...Rolf didn't want to be suspicious. He really, really didn't. Still, it was better safe than sorry.

"Hold still for a second, please? I just want to make sure that cultist didn't curse you or anything." Rolf started to do a little magic detection on the girl. "Now, I know that you've been very brave through all this, but my friends and I have to keep moving on through the city, and you need to get someplace safe. Do you know how to get to the temple from here?"

Arcana:

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Zarhon, is slavery legal in Fezaris?

Rolf can't precisely tell whether there is something magical about her or not. She gestures another "no".

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Outright slavery or humanoid/intelligent sentient creature trafficking/selling/buying is strictly illegal, doubly so for child slavery. Though there is an occasional clash of races/cultures which approve/utilize slavery, these practices aren't allowed within city walls.

The closest thing that would come to slavery would be some of the "less liked" races being forced into jobs (out of lack of other options, poverty, poor education) of servitude, where they are often mistreated or have basic worker rights denied, or do incredibly dangerous jobs - such are always of "adult" (or closest to adult, depending on race) age, however, and retain full humanoid rights which, if denied to them, can lead to a visit to a cell.

The kobold runners are such an example - most work as such because most people are biased or unwilling to hire them (due to their shady nature often being more than just a stereotype), or due to lack of skills, out of zealous loyalty to an individual (family loyalty, passed through generations), or simply to have food/shelter supplied to them. Depending on the employer, they may be mistreated/berated/punished/insulted, have no actual payment (apart from free food/shelter), or even be sent on dangerous tasks, but they can ultimately always just walk away or quit (of course, their employers might find ways to "encourage" them to stay, or they might not have many other options of work available).

Alternately, for slave-oriented cultures (I imagine Skitter's "noble" family would count as such), the kobold runners might actually *be* slaves, but due to the city's laws, their owners are forced to adhere to some basic humanoid laws, or cannot use them as slaves within city limits, at least, not publicly.

"I don't know about leaving this poor defenseless girl alone, Rolf, no matter how strong a throwing arm she has. Perhaps she would be safest if we took her along to the mayor's. I'm sure he can look after her."

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Perception on little girls reaction to the idea?:
Perception Check: 26(17+9).
How'd Rolf's arcane check turn out? It could be a trap. A magical gender bender princess, even.

Rolf sighed. He wasn't able to tell anything about her from an arcane perspective, but upon closer examination there was still much to tell. He had followed Jeraylia's gaze to the manacle-shaped bruise on her leg. Something had to be done.

"Alright, we'll bring her along with us." Rolf knelt down so that he was looking at the girl face to face. But there's something that I have to ask you first."

"I...know that you've probably escaped from some bad people. And I know you'd be very afraid of going back there. But if there are other little boys or girls like you who are trapped by these bad people, we need to know where they are so we can free the other children and stop those bad people from hurting anyone else. We're not asking you to go back in there, you can just show us where it is, or even just tell us what the building looks like and how to get there. We'll probably figure out where it is, help secure the mayor, and then leave you with him and his guards while we go rescue them. Now if you're too scared to go near there, or don't trust us enough to talk to us, we'll just head straight for the mayor's anyway. But you know we can deal with baddies, and something tells me," Rolf pointed at the brick that had hit the cultist's head, "that you want baddies to get what's coming to them. So, would you please help us?"

Persuasion:

...Might need an assist here. As for the Arcana check, it was mainly in case of "girl is actually a cultist spy, rescue was staged so that we would trust her" sort of deal.

...And as always, Zarhon, if you didn't think of it, you can't use it.

Are dc's usually sectioned off by fives? I can only give you a three to get you to 19 . Someone else want to help as well XD?
Persuasion assist: 16 (2 [clooose]+14 persuasion)

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"Think of the children!"

"Do you think we could maybe focus on one crisis at a time here?" Horizon was, at best, irritable over how badly he had fared during the fight- and he certainly wasn't back to full strength yet. "We don't have the luxury of adopting every noble cause that turns up in the midst of chaos. And we definitely don't have the luxury of babysitting right now. We have a job to do. Disrupting a disreputable business venture could probably wait until after we've killed the lich." He looked at the pitiable form of the little girl. Childhood trauma and tragedy. She'd probably be fine.

"I vote for keeping the girl with us. If only to annoy Knifey here and keep her out of the hands of the zealots." Skitter says.

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I don't think the vampire kobolds kept slaves. More like peasants. Which is more or less the same thing most of the time but, not technically.

Also, c'mon guys. You know we have to keep the kid. Children are obviously Zilean's weakness.

"Ultimately it is her choice, still Horizon is right that we must make haste."

Recap me, are we saving the mayor, or just meeting them?
Meanwhile

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Jeraylia holds the girls hand protectively.

You're all supposed to meet the mayor, so far.

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Rolf's words darken the girls mood. She points in a direction, roughly between the temple and where the festival explosion occurred, with a bit of fear and reluctance. Though it is clear she wants to do so from her gesturing, she doesn't say anything.

"Listen, I know you want to keep her safe, and that's fine. But the safest place is back at the temple. She comes with us, and we'll be dragging her straight into the heart of danger. We have no way of knowing that the mayor is alive, let alone safe by any means, or that he'll be able to protect her or anyone else if we leave them with him." Horizon's voice has lost some of it's hardness, and untrained ears might confuse it for downright sympathy.

Just a reminder - You are closer to the Mayor than you are than the temple right now, and you know that Tiffany & Giles were already sent to the mayor.

"Tiffany and Giles are already at the mayor's, and we're already fairly close. If we find out where the children are being kept now, it'll save us some time." Rolf looked down at the girl. "Thank you for being willing to help. Now here's what we'll do. We'll start heading in that direction, and the moment you see the building, let us know. Again, we're not knocking on the front door; the moment you see it, we're good. Then we'll turn right back around, head to the mayor and you'll be safe and not have to go near it ever again. I promise, no harm will come to you." He then picked the girl up and placed her on his shoulders. "If you guys want to head straight to the mayor's, that's your prerogative. Once we see the building, we'll head straight there. Of course, a little company wouldn't hurt, for moral support if nothing else." Rolf then started walking in the direction the girl had pointed in.

Skitter walked along besides Rolf, cleaning his sword as he went.

Alright, those of you taking the girl where she pointed, roll streetwise to navigate, then perception.

Streetwise...3(1d20) + 10 = 13
Perception...11(1d20) + 7 + 3(Sharp Eyes) = 21

Streetwise: 8 + 15 = 23
Perception: 11 + 18 = 29

streetwise:27 (18+9)
perception:12(3+9)

"First we were in too much of a hurry to simply go around the barricade," Horizon spoke to himself as he continued along to find the mayor. "NOW we've got time to go find a sweatshop." His mood soured even more.

Jeraylia manages to follow the girls directions, and uses her own knowledge of the city, to avoid getting lost. As they move through a few blocks and reach the end of an alley, the group gazes upon a clearing amongst the buildings - a town square, containing a relatively large decorative park and botanical garden, fenced off with simple railings/fencing from the rest of the city. The innards of it are pretty much obscured by the trees and flora within it.

As the party watches, a lot of various odd noises and movements can be heard and seen from within - swaying of branches and grass, odd animal-like noises, obscured humanoid figures, and what Skitter recognizes as sounds of undead creatures. They can also hear the sound of a number of marching feet approaching from within the park, towards one of its gates, which is within sight of the alley they are in.

The girl is becoming very unnerved and frightened - she's resisting any further attempts to be lead further.

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I assume Jeraylia, Rolf and Skitter went with the girl?

Make a perception check, Zthulan/Horizon, if you're going towards the mayor.

Rolf tried to comfort the girl. "Shhhhh, it's alright, we're leaving now. You were very brave to show us where it was." He turned to the others. "This might be one of the cultist's bases. Now we'll be able to better find this in the future and possibly have some guards for back-up. Let's head for the mayor's now." He then turned around and tried to figure out the quickest way to get to the mayor's from where they were.

Streetwise: 15(1d20) + 10 = 25.
Perception (in case of any surprises on the way): 19(1d20) + 7 + 3 (Sharp Eyes) = 29.