Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Reaction: You manage to force the door open, breaking the lock, though any guards on patrol will probably take notice, you seem to have cleared them out of this particular section for the time being, hopefully by the time you escape it won't matter, and they'll one more that the children were responsible. Inside this store room seems much better kept. While it seems light on weapons, after seeing the granary above, it seems likely that that's where they were keeping their arms. Here seems to be where they were storing food and the like, but there may be else here to find upon a close inspection...))

((Reaction: You manage to uncover a strange box from amidst the rest, and, upon opening it, find it full of what appear to oddly shaped stone figures. They appear to all be carved with various symbols, and strangely, when examined more closely, you might almost say that they looked like keys. To what? There's no way of knowing. They might prove useful, however...

Besides that you also find several items at were set apart from the rest, and from the locket among them containing a picture of a happy family, the father of whom is wearing a sound head band, you assume that these possessions belong to the children...

You also find a fair amount of stashed away funds.

Add items to inventory

Ryo: 120

Valuables
1x Box of Stone figures?
1x Students Possessions))

You may now choose to go through the other door, which is unlocked from this side, or pass through the door that you forced open to get in.

> Out through the Other Door

>Back Track

(( You sweep down the hall way and find yourself at a cross roads, a nearby staircase leading up to what you might assume was the door that broke in earlier. As you pass on from the direction you were coming from, to your right to see a long hall along to a staircase leading further down, and to the left, the path you take as you follow the map's directions to the cells, you eventually after another right turn, end up in a room with two opposing doors. On the other side of the doir where you know the cells to be, you hear voices, and likewise so for the other, which from the look on the map could be an office of some kind. You remain undetected as far as you can tell.))

< door to the cells


< door to the right

[Diplomacy check][Flat roll]

((Reaction: As soon as you enter the room, you feel a rather unrelenting gaze upon you. There is a slightly odd feel in the air here, though at the moment you cannot think exactly what it could. There are to guards station at either side of the cell, beyond which you can see the captured children from the village hidden in the Sound, all of whom, at this moment, are looking rather content with what appear to be large amounts of candy that was recently shoved through the bars. Looking at the students, you'd guess that they have been refusing food for quite some time, on the fear that it was drugged, but have finally caved in with this new offering of candy... or perhaps it was also more the person who was giving it...

Aside from the two guards there is one other outside, looking in at the children. The woman seems to be rather stern and serious, and was indeed the one who was looking at you as soon as you entered...but there is something terribly odd about this woman. While she seems to be, merely at the glance, the no nonsense type, she's riding...you hesitate to admit to this, but, a unicycle.))







The woman turned to look at the "newcomer", the unicycle she was riding turning about to face him. "You...you were one of those supposed to be one patrol in the lower hallway were you not...?" The woman looked in at the children in the cell. "Has one of you managed to escape?" she asked in a suddenly motherly voice, her stern expression melting away as she interacted with the students.

"No Mina-Oneesan." one of the boy's nearest the bars volunteered, looking to be the youngest.

Another, near the back, twitched slightly, preforming a face palm before begrudgingly taking a starved bite of the candy bar in his hand.

The woman smiled at him. "Thank you sweetie." before falling harsh and stern once more...even if it was offset by the unicycle... "Your information seems to be antiquated, though you village incompetents would not surprise me if you lost one when you do not even seem capable of properly taking care of them." she turned a glare at the guards. "If I catch wind they are not eating again, I will come down here and kill both you myself, Chero chero." ...the ending of this sentence seemed unnecessary. Perhaps some sort've...habit when she get's angry...? "Hn...return to your post. If you've managed to lose one of them, they may return for the others. I will have Hanza search for them once the meeting is concluded....tsht...fools." the woman rolled out passed the newcomer on her unicycle, her expression still the very picture of serious.


The guards on either side of the cell taking deep breaths. "I...I thought she was going to kill us..." one muttered.

"And, seriously...? One of them's missing? These are the same one's that have been here since I was put on duty this morning, I think I would know if one just up and vanished on us, where did you even get that?" he then seemed a little worried, looking into the cell and counting each candy eating child in turn.

"S-say..." he looked back to the newcomer "You were on duty yesterday though right...? They didn't escape on night watch did they? I TOLD Yaki that he needed to stop sleeping on the job! There's the same number now as when you had them right...?"

((Reaction:

The children within the cell are all indeed from the list compiled of the missing students over the passed few weeks. And there seem to be four in all.

The one leaning against the back of the cell, looking rather annoyed, is a young man who appears to almost near the age of graduating the academy, his disposition in this rough situation rather stern, despite the fact that at least two of the others seem content and happy after the woman's visit...


Another girl, as soon as the woman on the unicycle left the room, immediately stopped putting on the act of an innocent child, and immediately, you deduce she's been doing so for some time by the marks on the bars, began struggling to pry open the bars and or strangle the guard nearest to her side of the cell. "AHA! Innocent Student can once more attempt escape now that the elite ninja has departed! Foolish traitor knaves!! Your souls will rot in the bowls of Hell!!! As...soon....as....Innocent student...manages...to open....stupid....cell!!!" You notice merely from the way that she's speaking, and from a bit of know keen insight, that this "student" is more than likely the human form of a Mazakou. It's possible that she was bait to draw out the kidnappers, thus allowing Hisoka to capture one of their agents...it's likely she's the reason that the village found this place...



Another boy with swept back spiky hair and goggles, the youngest who seems to be happily munching away at the candy, looks rather taken in by the rebels after meeting the nice lady on the unicycle, but you get the impression he'd probably side with anyone who gave him candy... he doesn't look very bright...



The last one is... oh holy s**t.




The last one is none other than the heir to the Second Otobe House... Aeaka Otobe. If for any reason the Otokage himself were to bite it, she would become the most prominent figure in line for the position of Clan head. Barring doing something to have her disowned by the clan, or Orikami having children, this girl will inherit ownership of the Otobe Clan...and if indeed they remain in power in Oto, the position of the next Otokage. She is sitting rather regally, taking slow proper bites of the candy, though her face is rosy with concealed delight. You take a moment to recall that because of their greatly enhanced sense of touch, taste, and hearing, chocolate is a grave weakness of the Otobe.

It's guessed that the pleasure they receive from eating it is roughly 100 times more than that of a normal person. Being a young lady of the Otobe noble houses, you doubt she has been allowed to indulge in such a "base appetite", and from the blissful look on her face, however much she seems to be trying to look proper while doing so, you aren't sure whether or not she even knows you are there. She seems to be off in her own little world...))


"H-huh? Wait...you mean like...one of them Soma freaks!?" the guards looked into the cell. "Ah crap...ah crap..." he glared at the girl that was back to almost gnawing at the bars. "Tcht...I thought something was off about this one...it's like they brain washed her or something... ah hell..." he looked around to the twins, even if he didn't know it at the time. "Ah hell...those circus freaks might just kill the kid if they send that one freak out after them...which one is Hanza...?"

The other guard shurgged. "Dunno...but if it's that one with the freaky coat and the glasses..."

"Ah crap...the knife thrower right? Didn't he leave with the scary one is armor?"

"I don't know...but a bunch of them came here for that meeting down in that room of theirs...he might be back..."

"Ah s**t..." the guard swore, looking to the twins. "What the hell do we do?!".

((Reaction: The Two of the students, the Mazakou, and the boy at the back, seemed to understand your intention. The Mazakou in particular, after just a moment, seems to fall almost euphoric, going back to it's attitude after only a moment. The boy at the back of the cell stands up from his seated position, trying to look casual even as, Masumi is able to notice, he seems to be sliding a hidden kunai from up his sleeve, just barely out sight...



Your slick moves allow you to swipe the keys to the cell, and unlock it, without the guards taking notice, via misdirection and finesse. ))