Inside was a shadowy chamber crowded with a crazed menagerie of items. Broken barrels topped with rotted wood served as a table in the center of the floor while boxes and crates lined the walls and stacks of junk filled every other available space. Strings of silverware, cloth, chains, ropes and lanterns hung from the cracked and sagging rafters. A doorway on the left was covered by a stained and moth-eaten curtain. On the right was an open doorway leading into another shadowy chamber. A pair of street toughs were rifling through the junk, apparently taking inventory and calling out any important finds to someone in the next room who would shout back in acknowledgement. Mina quietly closed the door and headed back down the alley.
Mina conferred with the group and they chose to get the drop on the street toughs instead of trying to sneak past the sentries. Regnor burst through the door and charged the tough on the left, smashing him into a pile of rusty and broken weapons in the corner. Jym engaged the surprised tough on the right, while Mina attempted to vault over table to gain combat advantage on him. The weakened piece of make-shift furniture cracked under her weight and dumped her on the ground amid a pile of useless trinkets. A call of alarm went up and the voice from the other chamber queried angrily "What's going on in there you oafs? If you damage the goods I'll take it out of your hides!"
Aletha was left to deal with a pair of guards that came around the corner of the alley. They spotted her and alerted the sentries lounging above before attacking. She proceeded to lead them on a running fight, using her warlock curse, eyebite, witchfire, and misty-step powers to good use. Aletha took a few cuts from the guards' short sword and longspear before one was cursed, blinded, blasted and burned to death.
One of sentries came down from the perch and joined the fight running into the flea market area to support the street-toughs. The street-toughs recovered from their surprise enough to grab shields and maces and brought the fight back to the party. Jym was struck prone by a heavy blow, Regnor took a glancing blow while Mina moved into position for a backstab. A slovenly thief called Arthuro the Fence joined the fight from the side-chamber. Mina made for a convenient target so he slashed her with his magical dagger. Jym got back to his feet and finished off his opponent and called encouragement to his allies, granting Mina a much needed surge.
Regnor used his dragonborn breath to belch forth a spray of acid, spattering one of the toughs and Arthuro the Fence, and then followed up with a reaping strike of his great-axe, killing the tough. The sentry joining the fight made an ineffective slash at the fighter. Arthuro the Fence moved in to slash at Jym while Mina moved to cut off his escape. Arthuro noticed that the odds were against him and decided to run. Using his tumbling ability he rolled past Jym, through the alley door and tried to escape.
The sentry in the flea market was quickly dispatched by Jym, Regnor, and Mina who then ran out into the alley to catch the fleeing thief. Aletha used her daily power to destroy the guard chasing her before misty-stepping back up the alley to rejoin the rest of the party. Arthuro turned and ran around the corner. The last pair of sentries stationed up above the alley tossed weighted nets down towards Arthuro's pursuers. Regnor dodged the nets and continued after the fence who was currently trying to reach a door at the far end of the alley. Nearby a vile looking and filth-covered fountain leaked rust-colored fluid onto the alley floor.
Jym moved under the sentry post and waited for them to peek out over. They grabbed longspears and poked at him from above. Jym grabbed one of the spears and hauled the attached sentry off of the platform and brought him crashing down onto the wet cobblestones. Mina took advantage of his helplessness and sliced his throat. The remaining sentry backed into a dark corner of the post. Aletha hurried past the melee and attempted to catch up with Regnor and the fence. Regnor made a passing swipe at Arthuro before he flung the door open and rushed up a rickety set of stairs. Regnor charged up after and caught him at the top in a large room crowded with greasy and flea-ridden cots, and lit by melting candles crammed into every nook and cranny. None of the cots were occupied at the moment, but there wasn't more time to investigate. Regnor struck Arthuro with a vicious blow bringing him to the brink of death but before the fence could retaliate he was struck by an eldritch blast from Aletha at the base of the stairs. The blast was enough to kill the fence, and Aletha used her fey-pact boon to misty-step to the top of the stairs with Regnor.
Jym and Mina harried the last sentry with crossbow bolts and intimidated him into coming down from his perch. Jym questioned and threatened him in to revealing what little he knew about the inhabitants of the complex before stripping him and chasing him off down Rat Catchers' Row away from the Beggar-King's lair. Regnor looted Arthuro's corpse before heading back to the alley with Aletha. The party took a moment to examine the creepy looking fountain, and when some of the filth was scraped away it was revealed to be a kind of shrine to Orcus, an evil demon-prince of the underworld and lord of the undead, decorated with precious gems. The fact that the stones had not already been stolen by beggars was sign enough that it was ill advised to tamper with it.
Back inside the flea market area Mina peeked behind the grimy curtain and was assaulted by the stench of rotting garbage. A sink-hole in the dirt floor occupied the small room and was filled with trash and cast-offs. Before Mina closed the curtain and retreated from the stench she thought she spied the glint of gold amid the trash, and also got the distinct impression that something else moved down there...
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