Karok followed her at a distance, swinging out from the building by a few paces and trailed Roxie around to keep her in sight.

Leah knocks on the door. "Hello! Anyone home?"

"I don't think anyone is home, Leah. Let's follow Karok and Roxie, just in case there is trouble. Keep your pole ready."

Jhaelin moves to follow Karok.

Provided there is no answer to her call, Leah will do just that, and follow the others. There are mixed emotions on the mention of her pole, but they are complementary, complimentary mixed ones, so she has it prepared as suggested.

Roxie walks cautiously around the side of the building and down a narrow alleyway between the Roots N Remedies shop and a long unidentified building. Nothing appears out of the ordinary. The windows are intact and the sills where many different types of herbs are growing in window boxes are still there. Roxie smiles as she catches sight of the dwarf cautiously keeping a distance from her, but within sight none the less.

The back of the building is nondescript. There is a closed door in the middle of the back wall. The area reeks of spoiled and rotting food. Off to the side of the steps of the door is a dark compost pile of refuge. Two omnivorous mammals with a pointed muzzle, long tail, and greyish-black fur with black bands around the tail and across the face are currently sniffing through it. They are known as the arahkun. The arahkun disappear into the shadows as Roxie approaches. While the door is pulled closed, it is also obviously broken. A shard of the wood lies on the step.

As cute as those creatures were, Roxie knew they would be vicious if approached so left them enough space to retreat comfortably. She had noted Karok trailing her, a little bemused smile creeping up and some warmth of friendship spreading throughout.

Spying the bit of wood on the doorstep, she let out a soft whistle and waved Karok closer. It was just a hunch but she had a feeling the other two were close behind so she waited until they were all there. "This back door is shut but it's obviously broken and someone didn't clean up as there's a chunk sitting there screaming foul play."

She looked at Jhaelin, her blue eyes filled with anxiety. "I doubt anyone is in there but I'm going in to see any other signs." She didn't say it but she hoped she wouldn't find a body. "Karok, join me will you?" she asked gently.

"Right here," the dwarf stepped up. "Are we goin' in fast or slow?"

"Slow at first but any sign of trouble, I'll step aside and let you barrel through them," Roxie said with a lopsided grin. Stepping up to the door, she listened first and checked around for any traps.

The minutes pass slowly as Roxie searches the doorway for a hidden trap. A dog atop the perch barks and howls and another somewhere within town answers the call with barks of its own. Finally, Roxie gives up the search having not found any evidence the door could be trapped. Gently pushing it forward, she cringes as a vertical plank buckles inward on the left side making an audible cracking noise. The iron band at the top of the door is broken on the inside and the bottom one twisted. Someone used force to break open the door.

Broken, the door still slides open easily on its hinges with the outer most plank leaning precariously sideways. Darkness beyond, but what little light there is reveals a kitchen. A low, wood fired oven sits off to the left along the wall and is cold. A small table and two chairs sits in the middle of the room. Immediately to the right is shelving beneath some stairs with sacks and jars of foodstuff and dried herbs. A wooden cupboard sits along the stairs to the right with a barrel next to it. A small barrel of water sits on the cupboard along with a large wooden bowl filled with water and yellow flower petals. A sweet smell permeates the air. The barrel next to the cupboard holds a straw broom and a mop with some rags folded over the rim.

Ahead, across the room, is an open doorway that leads into the shop. Just to the right of the doorway are wooden stairs that lead up to a loft where Laurel sleeps.

From somewhere beyond the doorway into the shop comes the sound of something rolling. Then a crash and tinkling as something breaks. A hiss and screech is followed with a cat darting through the doorway and bounding up the stairs.

Karok moved forward, took care to hop over the broken boardage near the door and slipped across the kitchen.
Sword and shield in hand, he paused, letting his vision accustom itself to the lesser light of the interior.

Assuming nothing presented itself from the shoppe section, he advanced to take a look around the business area from which the noises had come.

Roxie looked at the bowl with water and flowers, smelled the sweetness and wondered if it was just to cover the herbs or something else. Her morbid musings were disturbed and her dagger seemed to fly into her hand when she heard the noise and then relaxed only marginally when she heard the cat. There had already been too much noise so she didn't bother trying to move too quietly.

Tapping Karok as he entered the shop area, she whispered "Someone's in here ... besides the cat." Making her way toward the front door, she waited until she was near it to call out. "Laurel? Are you in here?" She kept her dagger ready and knees bent to be ready to move as needed.

Karok slid over to get the wall to his back, and scanned the shop space with dark-invasive eyes. His sword and shield were ready.

"It seems empty enough," Leah opines, as she dips a finger in the sweet smelling water and considers the scent. "If anyone was here, they would have answered us by now," she states, reasonably.

Karok goes through the doorway into the shop with Roxie's whispered warning fresh in his ears, then puts his back against the wall to the left of the doorway. He scans the room with darkvision that can penetrate the deepest of shadows and spots a big man trying to conceal his massive frame behind some crates to his left in the corner of the room just beyond a workbench.

Roxie moves across the room, avoiding a central alchemy workstation toward the front door. She calls out.

Recognition of being seen spurs the big intruder to action. He stands and grabs the edge of the heavy wooden workbench and shoves with all his weight and strength behind it at Karok.

"Gartlieb! You bumblin idiot!" comes a cry.

Another, smaller man... a young man really, leaps from the same corner from behind some crates. The glint of a dagger flashes in the dim light as he moves at Roxie in a crouching run.

Leah and Jhaelin, still in the kitchen area, can hear the commotion in the front of the shop.

---

Begin combat round 2032.06 (rnd1)...

Karok... make a DEX check with your rolls. If you succeed in gaining initiative the check will not come into play and you avoid the bench. If you fail to gain the initiative, you will be hit with the workbench and suffer no damage but may be knocked down as determined by the DEX check.

Alternatively, if you choose to push back instead of moving out of the way (if gaining initiative) you may do so. Roll a STR check, if this is your action. A contest of strengths would then ensue.

Magic in play...
None known

Hearing the commotion, Leah decides to investigate. Pperhaps it is another kettle gone bad. But the shop is a bit cramped for a pole, and being in town, one can get arrested for fighting with swords. So, she will grab the straw broom and use it to drive out any unwelcome guests there might be in this establishment. It might be a mess, but that does not mean any old riff-raff can act as they please.

Karok saw the man's move for the work bench, and moved to get around it, applying some leverage strength, in case he didn't make it. Gartllieb was going to be answering some questions.

Roxie saw the man running for her, the glint of light off the blade and whirled to the side while muttering unladylike things trying to make a slice along his side. Seeing her attempt now bearing fruit, or more specifically any juice, she hurled more insults at him.

Jhaelin leaps back down the stairs at the sounds coming from the front room. He didn't have his shield with him, having left it at Jak-a-napes. He jerks the dwarven war hammer from its thong and rushes into the room, swinging at the first unknown he sees.

Gartlieb pushes the workbench forward and it scrapes across the floor, but not far. Karok turns and pushes back. It is some effort to stop the momentum of the bench and reverse it, but it happens. The big man's foot slips beneath him and the bench slams into his chest sending him reeling over a stack of crates and onto the floor with a crash. The man scrambles to get up.

Roxie feints to the left in the darkness, drawing the man in that direction. The combat maneuver works and she slashes out with the dagger. The blade's edge skips along the supple leather tunic the man wears doing no damage at all. He counter attacks, wrenching Roxie's other arm around and throwing her into the central work table. She slams into the bench with the middle of her back and grunts as the man lunges with the dagger. She twists just in time, narrowly escaping certain death. The blade penetrates her armor just beneath her right breast and skims along a rib as she twists away (-5). Had she not moved, it would have struck her heart.

As the big man thrashes on the floor, grabbing the bench to get back up, Leah comes from the other room with a broom stick in hand. With a vicious slash downward, the stick pops the man on the arm, but the effort is not enough to cause serious damage.

"Owwwww... that hurt!" the man yells, yanking his arm away from the bench. He grabs at a wooden stool as he flails to get up.

"You will PAY for THAT!"

---

Begin combat round 2032.12 (rnd2)...

Roxie determines the skinny man is skilled with his dagger... maybe more so than she.

The big man loses a round defensively getting to his feet.

From what Karok had seen the smaller man with the dagger seemed more dangerous... but Roxie did have Jhaelin to help her and, without him, Leah would be on her own.

He decided he would try to finish off the big man, but make him a prisoner rather than a corpse.

Pain shot through her shoulder and then her back as Roxie was slammed on the bench, the realization she was outmatched the only thing saving her as she wrenched to the side but felt the searing sensation along her ribs. "Ho there," she hissed. "I can think of much better things to do on a bench than that," she said as she flung the dagger at the man and wished dearly she could inflict a little pain back.

Jhaelin flanks the skinny man, trying to keep him between himself and Roxie. Maybe then, one of them could get him from behind. At the opportune moment, Jhaelin swings his war hammer at the young man. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but the man does have a dagger and means business. The old adage, kill or be killed, comes to mind.

A momentary look of worry creases Leah's face as the man speaks. Is he the shop owner and charging her for the broom? The group treasure has not even been split yet! But a realization that this is not a general store, and their customer service leaves much to be desired assauges any concerns she has.

So, instead, she replies, "I'm testing the merchandise first," and attempts to smack him about the head with the broom.

The big man, Gartlieb, pulls the wooden stool to him then raises it just in time to deflect another swat of a broom stick from Leah. He twists to his side, avoiding Karok's attempt at hitting the man with the hilt of his sword. Gartlieb pushes the dwarf back with the stool and finally gets to his feet. He throws the stool to the side and lunges at Karok with balled fists.

Meanwhile...

Across the room, Roxie braces against the worktable and kicks the skinny man away from her. And into Jhaelin, ruining his swing with war hammer. With the impact from the man the hammer flies from his grip, landing several feet away. The skinny man pushes off Jhaelin, knocking the cleric onto the floor on his backside. Roxie takes the opportunity to throw a dagger taken from her belt. It flies across the short distance and pierces the man's supple, light leather jerkin below his right collar bone. He yanks the dagger out with a pain filled grunt and lunges at Roxie with two daggers now in his hands. The two rogues clash and Roxie deflects strike after strike, steel clanking again and again, but the man presses her relentlessly. He feints, drawing Roxie in, then grabs her defending arm and twists. Roxie spins reluctantly and with pain by the force of the twist. The skinny man grins as his blade comes down into her back, finally finding purchase into flesh (-4). He releases her arm and pushes her away from him, ready to dance again.

---

Begin combat round 2032.18 (rnd3)...

Jhaelin must spend a round getting up.

The sound of the blade sinking into her back was just as sickening as the pain it caused but Roxie wasn't going to give up until she couldn't move anymore. "What did I ever do to you?" she snarled and lunged after the man, intent to inflict pain back. In the back of her mind, she was hoping she could at least keep him distracted from Jhaelin who's god might give him a lucky blow to the man's head ... and then heal her dumb ass again.

With the large man having turned his attention from Leah to Karrock, Leah sees her opening! His head is totally exposed and he is ripe to be knocked unconscious with a well-placed broomstick crashing against his skull.

She rears back and swings the broom with all her might... and forgets a broom is not nearly as long as her 10' pole. The swing is a complete miss, she loses her balance as she spins almost like a top and likely stumbles over Jhaelin on her way to a horrific fumble.