"... awh... yeah I'm uh... Krenko's cousin... uh... Grenko," Dale stuttered to the guard passably.
All the while, in the dingy back alley of Foundry Street Delorix, Schulden and Noog prepare for their morning assault.
The guard turned to open the door to Krenko's office and not a moment after the creak of the aging wood ceased, a shot rang through the Goblin Gang Member's head turning it into a fine red mist.
Schulden had pulled the trigger on his brand-new Blunderbuss borrowed from Falish to get the job done... And it did.
6d6 damage obliterated the Goblin and the recoil blew the mechanical man backwards five feet and on his back.
Dale in his perceived cleverness immediately ran in, to bar the office door on the other side with his body so as to prevent any reinforcements.
Another shot blasted out as he ran past the office desk.
Krenko had his own blunderbuss primed and ready on his lap the whole time.
The shot narrowly whizzing past Dale's precious head.
Realizing this... The brave and confused halfling ran back out the broken door.
In all Noog's wisdom, the warehouse layout was scoped out the day prior.
There were two large sealed bay doors on either corner of the warehouse, not written into Falish's original blueprints.
These must have been added after Krenko's gang repurposed the warehouse.
Right down the middle of the warehouse was a short rail system running through the entire facility, presumably used to onload and offload good and supplies prior to the decommissioning of the building.
Whatever the goblins are now onloading and offloading, they must have needed a way to lift heavy cargo. The party soon found out how...
Delorix moved up from next to Schulden and slung chaos bolts through the crumbling wall toward the goblin reinforcements now squeezing through the office entrance.
For each one she felled, it seemed another two appeared.
Before taking cover, they saw their mark - Krenko - slip out past the door, closing it behind.
No good. He was in fact on his way to escape. The party gave chase.
Schulden peeled himself from the alley floor only to feel rumbling. The ground itself seemed to be shaking, rhythmically.
The source was behind the warehouse wall.
From the bullet holes and crumbling walls in the office, Noog and Delorix peeked through. From the other side they caught a glance of a loading rig emerging from one of the northern bay doors.
Atop it was a goblin piloting the suit from the cockpit, exposed and thinly shielded. But the mechanism itself was large and intimidating.
The spellcasters immediately diverted all their magic toward the mechanism before splitting up to elude its attacks.
Eventually wearing it down and disabling it through sheer force of attack, the party was surprisingly unscathed, but almost completely out of breath.
"Where's Krenko!?" one of them shouted.
The second bay door opened.
"Shit," another muttered under heavy breath.
Dale and Schulden immediately ran to the opening doors and attacked the two guards on either side.
They felled one and injured the other. As soon as it was wide enough, Krenko in his armored suit began his attack. He drove both fists into the ground at Schulden's feet, moderately injuring him and completely killing the last of his own two bodyguards.
Outside, Delorix and Noog spotted what seemed like another set of reinforcements. But as the goblins ran past the alley, the spellcasters did not attack, sensing a different allegiance.
The Shattergang goblins stormed the facility 12 strong and immediately engaged what was left of Krenko's forces.
Noog witnessed the events from atop a flimsy catwalk, slumped over the rails.
After making quick work of the home team, the invading gangsters threw makeshift bombs at the towering Krenko.
Dale and Schulden were caught in the blast, incapacitating them instantly.
Seeing this window, Noog sprung to action.
He jumped down from the catwalk and ran right up to the loading rig cockpit where Krenko was, and successfully hypnotized the goblin gang leader ending the encounter...
Shortly after, the party struck a deal with the Shattergang, and were allowed to leave the warehouse with the contents of Krenko's vault and Krenko himself.
After mending their wounds, the team dragged Krenko to the defunct Selesnyan granary at the edge of Precinct Four to meet with Nassius Ven to make good on their deal.
Nassius happily takes Krenko and dispels the Azorious spell previously binding the party to the terms of their contract with the Vedalken mage.
Where is Krenko to be taken?
Who is Nassius Ven?
How did the Shattergang know when to attack?
What is the magic mantle Noog now possesses?
When will Delorix finally get her research grant?
Is the team reading the newspaper?
Are they literate?!
Stay tuned for the next episode...
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