After several small skirmishes in the lower boroughs with shavs, bringers, agents etc... There's been a concerted effort to find whatever crack the enemy is using to travel around the city. It's late afternoon on a decent enough spring day and one such entrance into the tunnels has been discovered. The old door was barred at some point, but there's evidence it has been tampered with. In fact, it might even be something that could be opened up the rest of the way.

"Nothing like a beautiful day to make you want to trek through stinking muck and darkness," Acacia remarks, voice low and hushed, but the subsequent grin which tugs at her lips thereafter unexplainably cheerful. Her shoulders relaxed only slightly upon that brief inspection she scored at the entrance upon her approach, strafing to the side to angle a lean against a dilapidated wall and to simultaneously untuck her flask. Her chin upticks just a smidgen, dark eyes assessive to those who might approach nearby.

Magpie is draped in a heavy brown cloak that doesn't look particularly well-made, or clean, but it does help the man blend into the crowd when it comes to being unassuming. He's traveling with some purpose and comes up to that old door with a certain level of familiarity and purpose, reaching to snag a length of metal that's tucked just inside as if stored there. He gets to work carefully levering the door open a bit wider against the piled up debris and snowmelt.

Sparte packed a trusty lantern he had blessed at the shrine, part of his standard kit when bringers might be about. Even if they don't always help as much as he'd like. For all the stench he isn't terribly bothered, possibly because of the horrible glop he smeared under his nose to help combat it. Some sort of ointment from an apothecary that smells like an entire field of mint puked. He, of course, offered to share.

Thena isn't on crack duty, just regular patrolling. She doesn't like wearing armor, but the thing about being a guard is that there's usually someone above you who will make you wear your armor. She moves easily enough, but the expression on her pert features is one of grumpiness. Magpie may try to disappear into the background but alas, Thena knows him anywhere. "What's this then?" she says into the man's ear, though she's clanky enough to he probably knew she was coming.

Asher knows the Lowers pretty well; as a kid, he spent time at the dockyards - going swimming, stealing freshly caught fish. And of course as many children do, explored places they weren't supposed to. When he heard about the tunnels being discovered, and the idea that Bringers might be using them to travel around the city, he decided he should take a look. Maybe he knows the area down there better than he thinks? But only if he can remember all those years ago... And getting there isn't a chore, either. To the entrance, that is. He lives just a few streets away. Spotting Magpie, he gives a small wave, but the others? He doesn't know them. He does look like the kind of person who might be helpful in this situation, though, dusty leather armor and all. His hood is pulled up so his face is partially obscured, so he might go unnoticed by many of the random people in the crowd.

The door will reluctantly give way to Magpie... or will it? The thing seems to resist swinging open. Not because of something in front of it however. But because of something on the /other/ side. In the tunnel. Curious.

Acacia gingerly straightens up from her lean at the sight of Sparte's ointment. After a short, skeptical look at it, followed by a testing sniff at the air, she reaches out to accept it -- while simultaneously freeing his hands a bit. "Thanks." From her peripheral, her gaze catches repeatedly upon Magpie's progress, or what she might be able to see of it past Thena's form. "Stuck?" She clucks her tongue quietly, gaze travelling thoughtfully over Asher, before she recommends towards Sparte with only a hint of humor, "Barrel into it? All that steel is perfect for such."

Magpie ignores the clanking of armor, but Thena's voice in his ear is enough for him to turn. "What's what? The door? The crowbar?" He asks with a crack of a grin for the guard. He doesn't seem too concerned about her standing there and goes back to working the metal bar into the crack of the door. "Ugh, this damned thing is frozen again or something. Oh, hey Acacia... some kind of party going on here or something?" Because he really wasn't with them. Any of them. All the same, the man looks back and the door and gives it a hard yank, trying to force it with his manly sailor-strength.

Magpie checked strength against difficulty 25, resulting in 11, 14 lower than the difficulty.

"I'm right thinking that breaking it ain't going to do us any good keeping it secure later." Sparte puts a hand on Magpie's shoulder. "Let's look around first, please."

"What are you up to?" Thena says sweetly with measured patience, since Magpie is going to try to dance around the subject as usual. She backs away from the door a couple of steps, uninclined to add her strength to the attempt to budge it. When Sparte moves past her towards her cousin, the newer guard winces a little at the powerful waft of minty freshness.

Acacia checked perception + investigation against difficulty 25, resulting in 51, 26 higher than the difficulty.

Asher checked perception + investigation against difficulty 25, resulting in 20, 5 lower than the difficulty.

Thena checked strength against difficulty 25, resulting in 19, 6 lower than the difficulty.

Acacia checked dexterity + streetwise against difficulty 25, resulting in 50, 25 higher than the difficulty.

"I imagine we're all here for the same song and dance. So let's get that out of the way and play on the same Borough-clearing side rather than anything else," Acacia offers, an affable smile spared towards Sparte, Thena and Asher with that temporary flash of teeth. She skeptically dabs a tiny bit of the ointment on her finger to lightly pad beneath her nose and then shifts forward to try to glob a far larger bit upon Magpie's cheek. "Lemme see it, Birdie-love? You did good prying work, but now you just look suspicious. Birds of a feather." The tiny container itself is attempted to be handed off to Asher, rather than returned to Sparte. There's a small grunt when she crouches near the opening, gloved fingers prying at the entrance before her hand disappears into a small hole beyond. There's a bit of scratching inside, before something quietly clicks and the door swings open a bit more. "After you," she murmurs, dusting off her arm and stepping back to provide others first entry.

Magpie sighs in exasperation when the door doesn't budge, swearing softly. Then he turns to regard the guard, "Oh, you know, trying to get the door open. I have a driving need to find a romantic getaway for an evening and this place looks likely. What about you, Thee'? Patrolling?" The sailor asks with a grin, though he turns to look at Acacia in confusion. "Oh.. sure! Yeah, we're all here for the same thing. Right. Of course." When the minty glob is swiped on his cheek he reaches up to wipe it away, snickering. As the Culler moves in and trips a latch, he tilts his head to one side. "Huh."

Asher, though handed the container, doesn't use it. He instead hands it straight to Sparte, with a small smile. Back to Acacia, Asher nods. "It's also just a good idea to check inside. Hidden things, and such." A light shrug. "Let's get in there." Moving up near Magpie, Asher laughs a bit, hands at his own waist. "How did you miss that latch?" A grin, and a gentle pat on Magpie's back, before looking back to the rest. "So who's first?"

The door swings open and the tunnel appears before them. It's dark, damp and not a place any reputable person would want to hang out. It's certainly not a great place to have a romantic first date unless you plan on not having a second one. The latch Acacia manages to pop appears to be recently installed. In fact, the area at large seems to have been recently disturbed...

Magpie checked perception + investigation against difficulty 25, resulting in 12, 13 lower than the difficulty.

Asher checked perception + investigation against difficulty 25, resulting in 14, 11 lower than the difficulty.

Acacia checked perception + investigation against difficulty 25, resulting in 45, 20 higher than the difficulty.

Thena checked perception + investigation against difficulty 25, resulting in 16, 9 lower than the difficulty.

Sparte checked perception + investigation against difficulty 25, resulting in 8, 17 lower than the difficulty.

"You do get around, Mags. Yes. Patrolling. The walking around bit. Loudly," Thena tells Magpie wryly as the red-haired woman is neatly handling the door problem for them all. Then she's all toothy at Acacia and her words to Magpie, not even trying to hide a wide grin at the treatment of her cousin. "Smooth." The guard moves closer to the door, but she's not barging in there yet.

Sparte tucks the container away without looking the least bit perturbed at it being turned down. "Common enemy does wonders." He waves the lantern around a bit as he looks over the area, commenting casually. "I hear these routes were used for more than plumbing even before the siege, so mind your toes and whatnot. Never know what a territorial person will do to keep snoops away."

"Acacia Culler," Acacia lightly introduces towards Thena and Asher both once she's able to tear her gaze away from the darkness of the tunnel beyond. That ointment smearing digit is subtly being wiped off against the leather of her thigh, breath drawn when no one immediately rushes in. "Too smart for your own good. I thought everyone wanted to be a hero," she dramatically laments, her thumb briefly tracing the installation of the latch when her lips seal shut. Her dark eyes drift down to the ground, utilizing some of the filtered light from the afternoon entrance to try to focus upon the muck on the ground. "Sparte has the lantern and can probably take a hit or twenty. Let's let him go first. We'll trickle in side by side after that." Her gaze checks towards Asher as she issues, "Shut the gate behind us? Looks like there's some large boots and--" As her focus swings further down the tunnel at Sparte's illumination, she narrows her eyes and murmurs, "... Is that a... foot in that alcove? Let's get closer."

Magpie gives Asher a sidelong glance, smirking, "Never used to be a latch." He mutters under his breath, but will move inside and peer around, sighing softly. "Someone's been in here." He grumbles, but doesn't elaborate beyond that, instead he'll just move into the tunnel, glancing back to see if the others are planning to explore things. "Whoa man, douse that light some..." He murmurs to Sparte as he gets blinded by the lantern, though the roguish fellow is grinning at the guard's words. "More than plumbing? I doubt that." He replies, then turns to follow after Acacia, "A foot? Is it attached to anything?" A valid question and he will try to answer by approaching and getting a look.

Sparte gives a nod of agreement to going first. What, did you expect anything else from him? He steps through the doorway while offering the lantern up for someone else to carry behind him. "Wouldn't mind my hands free for the sword, Miss Culler, if'n I'm being honest." A glance given to Magpie. "If'n the lantern starts to flicker, there is a powerful bringer nearby. Keeping it turned down just means we've got less of a warning, and maybe no way to see them coming. So, beggin' yer pardon, we keep it full bloom."

Asher smiles to Acacia, introducing himself in response. In his own way. "I'm just a dirty rat." A wink, there, and he tries to peer into the doorway. "A foot?" He can't see anything, really. Then, he murmurs something akin to assent of what Acacia is saying. "Yeah. Door. Behind us." Clearly, he's far more intent on looking around at things than entering until the end, however. He's totally okay with being in the back. "Lantern at full sounds a good idea, if it does that. Got any other ones handy? Might spread them about town, give the Iron Guard some of 'em..."

"Thena," Thena asides to Acacia, adding the awkward, "Grayhope," a trifle more quietly as the redhead starts laying out the Plan. She'll fall in behind Sparte and take the lantern from him, leaving it, as directed, on full blast. She tosses Asher an odd look for his comment, then follows the others further into the tunnel, lantern raised to cast light on the surroundings, foot included.

As the group approaches the alcove, the foot Acacia notices is indeed not just a foot. There's also a leg attached and most of a body. But it's badly mangled and has clearly been on the receiving end of a rather brutal beating. The face might be recognizable if someone knew them from before, but otherwise this man does not look good. At least not anymore. This area is very clearly trampled as just about anyone can see. And with the lantern on full blast, there are clear markings on the wall. As if someone has been down here, leaving direction notes.

"... Lanterns that match new shiny bells tied to the laces of their boots?" Acacia wonders towards Asher, her tone light-hearted even though his answer to her introduction has her studying his features even more so than the ominous boot Magpie went to investigate. Thena, however, receives an immediate grin at the delivery of her name, even if she turns her head aside to creep forward once more. A subtle, fluid motion has her drawing her dagger from the horizontal sheathe on her belt, trying to keep a side-by-side position with Asher rather than allowing him to be behind her. Once she's able to gain view of the man, or what's left of him, she grimaces and then stares further down the tunnel. "Well," she ushers, before ripping her gaze to investigate the markings on the wall, "Someone made a terrible mistake. ... Let's continue."

Sparte looks over the markings on the wall a few moments before turning away to look off into the darkness. The body is given even less of an investigation. Hands free, he draws the rubicund greatsword and gives it a little twist to make sure he has a solid grip, facing the darkness ahead like a good pointman. If we're being completely honest, he is having a little trouble with just the weight of his own weapon. That is, uh, promising. "And I think someone already said it, but I'm Sparte Fatchforth. Let's have a jolly time getting to know one another while avenging this poor bastard."

Acacia wields a sharp rubicund dagger with a leather-bound hilt.

Magpie ignores the others around him as he gets a look at the mangled fellow laid out on the ground. "Fuck..." The sailor mutters, grimacing. "That's Rocky." He moves in closer to kneel down beside the guy, nudging at him a couple of times. "Pretty sure he's dead. Damn it all. Someone fucked him up." He glances around again, taking in all the signs of trampling and marks on the wall. While the others move further down the tunnel, Magpie turns back to poor, dead Rocky, searching his body.

Rolf, 5 Grimhall House Guards arrive, following Harald.

Rolf, 5 Grimhall House Guards leave, following Harald.

Sparte has rolled a critical success!
Sparte checked dexterity + streetwise against difficulty 25, resulting in 47, 22 higher than the difficulty.

Acacia checked dexterity + streetwise against difficulty 25, resulting in 45, 20 higher than the difficulty.

Thena checked dexterity + streetwise against difficulty 25, resulting in 39, 14 higher than the difficulty.

Asher checked dexterity + streetwise against difficulty 15, resulting in 34, 19 higher than the difficulty.

"...Huh. I think I know the man's face. Or... Knew." Asher frowns a bit, and pulls his hood down. "Yeah, Rocky, that was his name. Poor bastard." A small moment of silence before pulling up a hand to scritch at his ear, the golden rat-shaped earrings jangling a bit. His hair, longer than his shoulders, is pulled up into a bun that is held together by steel hairpins.

Magpie has rolled a critical success!
Magpie checked dexterity + streetwise against difficulty 25, resulting in 107, 82 higher than the difficulty.

Without much fanfare, but with more than she'd prefer, Thena is suddenly clutching a little dagger in her right hand. Casting the light on poor Rocky she crinkles up her nose at the mangled body, but merely nods at Acacia's words and moves to focus the lantern's light on the marks on the wall. With a sort of exasperated tone she says over her shoulder, "C'mon, Mags."

A general sense of unease passes over the entire party. There's something foreboding about this stretch of passage coming up. Anyone that's ever worked in the streets is probably going to start looking around them pretty hard. Has the floor been tampered with? The walls? Low and behold, the lantern will illuminate at least a tripwire right in front of them. What surprise it had in store for them, they can manage to safely avoid.

"You know something's off when you get that feeling-- but you're travelling with the Guard, so you know it can't be that." Acacia's hushed jest retains that cheeky factor, but her expression dims considerably when she seeks to examine the walls and floor before noting that wire. She carefully steps over it, grimacing all the while, "... I hope Bringers fall on that. But we should probably note it in case we ever decide to flee blindly down a tunnel."

Sparte gingerly steps over the tripwire, with a wave of a hand and a downward point towards it as he goes over. "Any of you got chalk or such, need ta mark the wall 'ere so we can spot that easy on the way out. Didn't think to bring any and using my sword would make a bit of a racket."

Asher checked dexterity + streetwise against difficulty 25, resulting in 41, 16 higher than the difficulty.

Magpie continues sifting through Rocky's person, deftly pocketing a couple of items when no one is looking. There's also the clink of coin that Asher at the back might hear. When Thena urges him to join them, the man straightens, but quickly reaches down and throws poor Rocky's cloak over his face before he moves to jog and catch up to the others. "Oh, hey there tripwire!" He steps over it easily and ducks past Sparte, peering ahead, "Who the hell put all this shit up in this tunnel?" He asks aloud, annoyance in his tone. The man takes a slogging step forward through some muck and everyone hears a loud *SNAP*, a *SHWICK*, and Magpie gives a yell of "Whoa!!" and leaps forward, grabbing for a rapidly unwinding rope and stopping it just as an iron grate jury-rigged full of sharp knives and spikes was about to swing down on him and give him many new piercings. The sailor hauls at the rope and ties it off with a tight knot to an iron ring on the wall.

Sparte stares at the display from Magpie for a few moments, then gives a big thumbs up. "Good reflexes!" He steps over the tripwire while it is still being resecured, traipsing further ahead with evidence of how much sense he really has.

Thena snorts softly when she overhears Acacia's sally, definitely amusement, and she steps exaggeratedly over the wire, making sure she clears in in her clunky footwear. "No chalk, but-" the guard reaches up to pull one of the metal pins from her hair, presumably to jam it in the ground or something. But the clamor of Magpie's new friend stays her hand and she grimaces once it's clear that the man has caught the thing before it dices him. "Well...if they didn't already know we were here..."

Asher, at the back, manages to not trip the trap. He sees it, but not before Magpie trips it... And so he goes 'whew' at how close that was. "Well done." But aside from letting the trap re-set and them having to mark it, he decides it more prudent to look for - and disable - whatever mechanism keeps it in place. And of course he'll use his hairpins to do it. Very useful utensils, they are. Stab something? Hairpins. Lockpick? Hairpins. No fork? Hairpins. Stopping a trap's mechanisms permanently? Hairpins. It might take a bit of time, of course. "Don't worry about this one... Traps like this are kinda... Standard? At least the tripwire part..."

Once past Magpie's iron grate of death, there's an intersection of tunnels. There are more markings along the wall, that to some might mean something. Those that stand around to puzzle it out might piece them together but more importantly there's the sound of approaching footsteps and the glare of torchlight. And it's not Sparte's torchlight. Good news: torch isn't indicating bringers. Bad news: It sounds like quite a few footsteps.

Acacia checked perception + investigation against difficulty 30, resulting in 57, 27 higher than the difficulty.

"... Aye. /That/, however, isn't half bad though." Acacia loosed a low whistle at Magpie's performance, though she huffed out an amused noise at Thena's words. But it was that grate that caught her attention, admiring more than anything else. "There were a number of traps in the Boroughs, since before the Siege. Hard to say if it's the good guys or the bad guys, really," she comments, her lips flattening a bit into a horizontal, before she begins shifting forward more. A tuck of her cloak struggles to keep the chill away, but it sways forward when she had abruptly stopped with that fractional tick of her head. Initiating that rarely found silence, she assesses each of the entrances with a quick turn of her head and then seeks to dodge to the side. Lowering herself into a bit more of a balanced crouch in the cover of the tunnel wall, despite their own light emitted from the lantern, she upticks her chin deliberately towards the right side.

Asher checked dexterity + stealth against difficulty 30, resulting in 23, 7 lower than the difficulty.

Magpie checked dexterity + stealth against difficulty 30, resulting in 29, 1 lower than the difficulty.

Thena checked dexterity + stealth against difficulty 30, resulting in 12, 18 lower than the difficulty.

Acacia checked dexterity + stealth against difficulty 30, resulting in 38, 8 higher than the difficulty.

Sparte doesn't hide, instead leaning his sword on his shoulder and facing the aproaching footsteps and the light. He stands steady and patient, waiting for the new arrivals to reveal themselves.

Magpie just exhales a sigh of relief, "That was close..." He murmurs, eying that knife-bedecked grate and tapping a dented up flask at his side. "Good job, Lucky Blue." He mumbles, then follows the others to the intersection. When he spies the light, he quickly ducks to the opposite side of the tunnel as Acacia. He presses himself to the wall as he draws out his dagger -- well, not his dagger, this one is Mae's? He's lost track, to be honest. It's a dagger. He's wielding it and shutting up.

Magpie wields Elysia's blue vault steel boot dagger.

Thena winkles her own handy-dandy hairpin of not-lockpicking back into her hair somehow...actually it's probably just going to rattle around in her helmet now until she takes it off. "Shit," she whispers when the sound of footsteps draws nearer and her ingrained instinct is to hide. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do in still-unfamiliar armor and between that struggle and the struggle to bring down the lantern light...well, it's not ideal. She clutches her dagger and waits.

A group of men (six of them) come around the corner, some look like shavs others like any other commoner you might find in Arx. One of them is turning around a crudely drawn map in his hands, looking perplexed and frustrated. "I don't know where the fuck... who are /you?/" He blinks dumbly at Sparte standing right there. Just... there. In his path. Like a tree that has suddenly sprouted from the ground. There's a stunned moment of silence before they notice practically everyone else minus Acacia. Weapons are drawn. "This is an unlucky day for you." And rush. Two for Sparte, one for Magpie, two for Thena and one for Asher.

Acacia checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 54, 24 higher than the difficulty.

Magpie checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 38, 8 higher than the difficulty.

Sparte checked dexterity + huge wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 52, 22 higher than the difficulty.

Thena checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 40, 10 higher than the difficulty.

Asher checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 35, resulting in 33, 2 lower than the difficulty.

1 Saik Guard, Bodyguard arrive, following Karadoc.

1 Saik Guard, Bodyguard leave, following Karadoc.

1 Saik Guard, Bodyguard arrive, following Karadoc.

1 Saik Guard, Bodyguard leave, following Karadoc.

Sparte holds up his shiny iron guard badge for a moment so it'll shine in the light. "Iron- Oh? Well, not bringers, so gonna try takin' you alive." He hefts up the sword off his shoulder, scraping it against the wall as he charges right into the oncoming foes. "No promises though!"

Magpie thought he was hidden, but as one of the thugs rushes at him, it's pretty clear he thought wrong. The sailor slashes out swiftly with the dagger, growling in warning, "You really want to mess with the Grayhopes and the Cullers? Here?" It's a threat that could hold some weight with anyone that's actually familiar with how things work in the Lower Boroughs. Then again, siege-times. All bets might be off.

Oh! They're just scoundrels, like Asher is. He should probably know these people- Wait. Why the weapons? Nonono, that's not good. He's supposed to be fighting Bringers, not people. When the first man rushes him, there's a quick flick of his wrists, and he's got his hairpins up, ready. It's not a very threatening look, all told, but when he throws it, the sharp needle sails through the air, straight for the man's face - but barely grazes him instead of hitting him, as was the plan. Asher's still got one left, though... "Unlucky? You don't know who you're dealing with, friend."

Although Acacia's nose occasionally scrunches up as she waits, she's managed to keep her posture still as the echo of the boots draw closer. Her brows tug down at the sight of the shavs, but she darts forward regardless at that tell-tale ring of their blades. That sizeable sword being swung by Sparte is enough to insist on her keeping her distance between the two he fends off. But she darts forward to back the duo that went after Thena, that short-lived glint of rubicund disappearing when she shamelessly seeks to puncture one of them, low and dirty, in two upwards thrusts jabbed in quick succession towards a kidney. She voices neither warning or threat, just that muffled grunt at the first bit of resistance from their leathers.

Thena pushes off of the wall she's been trying to curl up against, leaving the lantern behind and watching as Sparte flashes his badge, oh /that's/ what that's for. She doesn't worry about imitating him though; instead she goes in low and hits one of her attackers with a pauldroned shoulder. When he staggers back, she plunges her blade firmly into his brisket. Aside from the sound of her armor, Thena makes no noise.

Sparte's prescence and his huge sword really just throw these guys off. The one comes at him with a sword, swings and misses only to be knocked aside by a blow and go crashing into the wall, stunned. The next is a bit more fiesty and stays on his feet, parrying his blows while trying to sneak in and thrust his smaller sword through the weak parts of his armor. Magpie's bad guy grunts at him, not so impressed with his words and even less impressed when he CUTS HIM. "You son of..." Then he lunges forward. Asher's attack does pause the man who blinks furiously when the hairpin goes /so/ close to his eye, but misses instead. Now he charges him, infuriated. Meanwhile, Acacia and Thena manage to swiftly down their attackers. Freeing them up to help the rest of their companions fend off their enemies. The map the man was holding earlier has fallen to the ground, sticking to the floor.

Acacia checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 62, 32 higher than the difficulty.

Thena checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 32, 2 higher than the difficulty.

Calaudrin GM Roll checked dexterity(3) + dodge(3) against difficulty 30, resulting in 36, 6 higher than the difficulty.

Calaudrin GM Roll checked dexterity(3) + medium wpn(3) against difficulty 30, resulting in 29, 1 lower than the difficulty.

Calaudrin GM Roll checked dexterity(3) + medium wpn(3) against difficulty 30, resulting in 43, 13 higher than the difficulty.

Calaudrin GM Roll checked dexterity(3) + medium wpn(3) against difficulty 30, resulting in 28, 2 lower than the difficulty.

Magpie checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 34, 4 higher than the difficulty.

Asher has rolled a critical success!
Asher checked dexterity + small wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 103, 73 higher than the difficulty.

Sparte checked dexterity + dodge against difficulty 29, resulting in 79, 50 higher than the difficulty.

Sparte checked dexterity + huge wpn against difficulty 30, resulting in 30, 0 higher than the difficulty.

Magpie just sighs when his threat falls on deaf ears with the thug. "We're going to have to fix the reputation problem..." He growls, then tries to jump back as his foe swings the sword down at him. His ratty brown cloak ruffles around, concealing whether the sailor actually got hit or not by the slash, but there's a sharp gasp of pain from the Grayhope. "Shiiiiit. You're outnumbered, you moron! Just run away!" He thrusts forward with the dagger, trying to drive it into Moron's gut.

A spray of filth speckles across Acacia's lower legs when the first of the bodies drop and she enlists no effort to catch his falling weight. Her dark eyes check upon Thena when Grayhope drops that second almost simultaneously, a stiff nod granted as her only current signal of appreciation for her bladework. Pivoting then, it's for that temporarily wall-stunned guard that she'd pivoted to angle thereafter for. A swift kick is angled towards the back of one of his knees, focused to try to lower him down a bit more for her blade to try to puncture through the carotid and try to clear through the other side.

Okay, so the first hairpin didn't catch, but that's okay. He was throwing it. Nobody's perfect, and these things aren't meant for throwing. Or stabbing, really. They just happen to be super sharp. So when Asher catches that sword on his shoulder, it might cut deep. Thankfully, the leather armor he wears has a function, and that is to keep Asher alive. It'll hurt like the dickens, and he'll need some sewing up, but not that much. Thankfully, he knows an opening when he sees one. While the attacker is proud of his achievement - hitting a dodging, weaving man - Asher strikes. This time, the hairpin goes up, through the man's flesh, underneath the jaw. And it doesn't stop until it pierces skull, and brain. Another quick motion and the pin is pulled out, and the resulting body, kicked off of him. "Damn! That cut's gonna hurt for weeks. But I tried to tell him..."

Thena aims a heartfelt "Thank you," at Acacia for bringing down one of her assailants before wheeling silently to throw herself at the man attacking Magpie. While her cousin stabs at the man's front, Thena tries to get around behind the attacker and jab her blood-covered little dagger into his neck.

Sparte is trying not to kill the other guy. "Look here-" He smacks the blade away with his gauntlet. "You're going to put your own eye out before you-" He shifts his helmet to the side, looking aggitated and pommel shots the guy. Then he pommel shots the guy again. Police brutality!

Moron has no intention of leaving Magpie alone, because he has some kind of a thing for him. Rather than back off despite their dwindling numbers, he becomes pissed off and tries to tackle the other man. Which A) puts a knife through his gut and B) probably sends him sprawling all over Magpie. This is further exacerbated by Thena applying pressure from the other side with her own attack. Asher's goon is dead, dead, dead. And Sparte has managed to whack his opponent on unconscious. Five dead (six if we count Rocky) and one survivor, plus that crudely drawn map off to the side, beginning to soak up blood.

Acacia swivels about in position, chest steady in that beginnings of breathlessness when she scans those, both standing and fallen. Her dark eyes dart deliberately towards the map, but she isn't the first to pick it up, instead taking the time to slowly wipe both sides of her blade on the edge of her pants. "That worked well," she eventually voices, scanning behind her briefly and then brandishing a partial smile as she carefully treads across one of the bodies to the side. "Everyone alright?"

Magpie's blue eyes go wide when Moron tackles him, forcing that knife all the deeper into his gut. The weight of the unexpected rush has the sailor pushed back off balance and he slips, falling down into the muck while Moron falls on top of him. The thug is leaking blood from a stomach wound and a neck wound all over the smuggler. "Ugggh. No, I'm not alright. I'm laying in shit and I have a new gash in my chest..." The man grumbles, trying to push off the dying goon.

Sparte eyes the downed shavs a moment before stooping to pick up the torch. A second light source, more important than anything else to him at the moment. The map? Well, he maybe didn't notice it. "If any of them were the dangerous shav sorts, there'll be a bringer nearby. The shavs under their control need the bringers nearby to fight, far as I can tell."

Thena helps haul the corpse/almost-corpse off of Magpie. "You talk too much," she notes ascerbicly to her fellow Grayhope, dropping the poor dude in a sort of sprawling heap that she's sort of a part of until she can untangle her lanky form and get to her feet. She lets out a long breath and scratches at the back of her neck as best she can. "I'm fine." She does reach to grab the map by one corner before it gets more red on it and then she just holds it like that, gingerly.

The map over the floor is a lesser priority for Asher. Currently, he's wiping brain off his hairpin on the dead man whom he'd kicked off of him, and then he's hobbling over to get his other hairpin. Covered in filth, it's now going to also be wiped off, and them simply held in his hand. "Mostly alright. Dumb bastard got my shoulder, but that's what the leathers are for..." He shrugs a bit, a quirk of his, but winces because GODDAMN THAT HURTS. "Just uh. Will be without my left for a bit." Over to Magpie he moves, to do his best in trying to help the man up. Or at least get the new corpse off of him. To Sparte, he adds, "Check the lantern. It flickering?"

If no one goes for the map, Acacia eventually does.

Magpie takes Asher's offered hand, getting back to his feet once Thena has the body shoved aside. "Thanks." He says to both, then clenches his teeth down on the hilt of the knife so he can shrug off that filth-covered brown cloak, leaving it in the muck. He checks his pockets then while sheathing the dagger. There's a dark stain spreading across his fine white shirt where it's slashed from that sword, but the man is on his feet.

Thena shuffles over to whoever's got the best light source going on, murmuring, "Lantern wasn't flickering before, when the men came down the tunnel...couldn't hurt to check again though," and then squints at the map, bringing it closer for a better look in the flickering torchlight. Her lips thin as realization sinks in and she holds the map, bloodied along the edges, away from her should anyone else wish to take a gander. "They were trying to get to the Archive of Vellichor."

Asher nods to Magpie after he helps him up. "Not a problem." He looks about to say something else, but Thena's words stop him dead. "The Archive?" He wonders what they could be looking for... "Well, one's alive. Be able to get something out of him. Maybe see if they're the only ones. Maybe find out why." He grimaces a bit, looking further down, from where the men came from. "...But let's get the hell out of here before more show. Don't feel like losing much use in both arms."

"... The Archive of Vellichor?" Acacia's gaze had travelled to Magpie when he was hoisted up to his feet, but she didn't move there himself. "What would they find there?" Her tongue drags along her lower lip, before she draws in a very slow breath. She rolls her shoulders back, before reluctantly questioning, "The Nihil Obstat collections? Those still exist, aye?" She straightens though, brushing off at her pants, needlessly and adjusting the grip upon her dagger. Her focus traverses back to Sparte after Thena's words, arms loosely splaying wide, "Where to, fearless leader, love?"

Sparte continues to sweep the area with his (new) torch, walking back and forth a few times before responding to the question from Asher. "Thinking about it, none of these fought like the dead eyed ones do." He taps one gauntleted finger against the hilt of his blade while thinking. Acacia has put him in charge, and he isn't really in a spot to argue. So instead he gives orders. "We've wounded, time to make our exit and warn others. Everyone with a hand or two free, grab a corpse to drag back with us to be disposed of. Leaving them here is easy, but the bringers... We should take them. Guard Grayhope, please notify the Lord Commander of what took place here as soon as we're out. I'm going to deliver the survivor to the inquisition." Sheathing his blade, he grabs the scav scrub by the collar and heave... Heave... Heave! No. "You're a heavy one, guess I'm dragging you."

Magpie presses his hand to his chest, grimacing a bit but watching the others as they sort out what to do next. When Sparte seems to settle on leaving, the smuggler just starts slogging back towards the exit. "Get some more guards to help you." He's not dragging any of the corpses out. That's someone else's problem, apparently. His plan is to leave.

"It's a terrible map but...I think that's what it says." With no one taking it, she rolls it up neatly and tucks it away. Thena's eyebrows arch a little when Acacia refers to Sparte as their fearless leader, but then again someone has to haul the still-alive unfortunate out. Then color her surprised, the man completely rises to the challenge. "Yes, sir," she replies smartly, and all obedience goes to grab the man who attacked Magpie and lug the body out.

"... I'll give you fifty silver, if you notify the Lord Commander with a large chocolate pastry," Acacia quietly murmurs aside towards Thena when she eventually steps past. She doesn't volunteer to give aid towards the dragged shav, but her lips thin in that horizontal regardless. As her dark eyes flick towards Magpie, she scans over the corpses and looks back towards him again with a faint quirk of her lips and a gentle, burden-less trudge back down the tunnel. "It's like you're missing out on opportunities, Birdie," she issues, tone marginally humored once more. She reaches over to try to pat him, reassuringly, over his chest-wrapped hand. "Nice throw," she tacks on towards Asher.

Asher chuckles a bit, heading out behind Magpie. "Nice throw, she says. Nice /miss/, you mean." The first attack of his was a miss! "But that jab was... I don't know. Wasn't thinking about it." He shudders, not taking any pleasure in the fact that he killed someone. "Gonna get out of here. Cleaned up. Get some salve on this. Sorry I'm not carrying the bodies out but if you're that worried about them coming back, cut their heads off. I'm no use to anyone right now."

When Acacia catches up to him, Magpie glances over at her. "Opportunities? I got what I came for..." He says quietly around clenched teeth. As the Culler pats his hand, it sends pain shooting through his chest as it aggrivates the wound. "Fffffff... *Why* are you doing that?" The man whimpers quietly, reflexively shoving her away. "So vicious..." He murmurs in an injured tone, though it's mocking and not true ire. "Help me back to the Murder." He grumbles to the woman.

"Uhmmm...yes?" Thena isn't in on the joke, but 50 silvers for a pastry isn't a deal she's going to refuse. Hey, she can only carry the one dead man, guys. The guard makes no effort to hide a magnificent roll of her eyes when everyone but Sparte wanders out unburdened. "I will send some guards back to finish this up," she promises the other Iron Guard and then trundles out of the tunnel with her prize, leaving a schmear of someone else's blood behind her.

"It was an accident! But, no way. It'll lower your street reputation if I help you, and then what use will you be?" Acacia's grin was wielded in full, even when she stumbled across the muck-filled center with the squelch thick beneath her boots at the shove. Her laughter quietly echoed, even when her expression began that steady dimming in the next couple of beats. "... I'll catch up with you tomorrow," she assures him aside, more seriously, "It's a bit late, love." She nods her head lightly towards Asher's words though, drawing her left arm up to sniff at it testingly. "... Smells like shit and mint," she eventually decides, slipping a bit of silver into Thena's pocket -- but in clear view, given her position. "Thanks. It's like-- a good deed, really." As she heads closer towards that exit, she commends towards Sparte, "Good lanterning and cutting. I'd be appreciative if you find out anything else about the map, you let us know though. Very. -- Gods bless you all."