Round One (continued)
Thoradin's otherworldly voice draws Ahrmisa's attention and the gillman freezes in place even has he clutches the Pathfinders' artifact. Tanrov, eager to help save the day, steps free of the sticky webbing as he circles behind his opponents. Shoalo, quickly reverses her spear, jabbing it at the youth as moves close.
The thrust is too late and Tanrov moves by unscathed as he winds up with his maul. Having been compelled to halt, the male gillman's head makes an all too easy target as the barbarian crushes it. The familiar sound of a shattering skull preludes Ahrmisa's fall to the floor. The relic he was holding a moment ago comes to rest near his unmoving body.
Having felt the sting of Shoalo's spear, Hekirin spins that direction and slashes blindly with his wakazashi.
Without his vision, the ninja's otherwise lethal swing sails harmlessly through the open air.
Round Two
With her spear still aimed backwards, Shoalo spins to face Tanrov, jabbing the spear behind her at Hekirin.
Still blinded, the ninja walks into this second attack against him, impaling himself on the gillman's spear. Smirking, the gillman crouches down and reclaims the relic.
Round Two (continued)
As Shoalo's hand wraps around the relic, Tanrov bellows at her. She looks up just in time to see his maul connect with her face. As she turns her head in futility, the weapon glances off her skull, smearing her face and wrecking the bones in her shoulder. Her lifeless form collapses next to her companion's. The artifact remains clutched in her hand.
Andrazi finds himself entangled by thick gooey strands of the silken web. No sooner does he manage to wrench an arm free, than he finds his foot wrapped tight. Try as he might, he is unable to pull himself free.
The bartender reaches behind the bar. As her hand comes back into view, you notice her gripping a slender glass rod. She calls out to the raging barbarian as she points the object at him, "Nelparsh." A silver shard of energy flies from the tip of the wand, weaving wildly through the air before striking Tanrov in the chest.
The faint warmth of Torag's divine power washes over each of you as Thoradin glows dimly beneath the mass of webbing draped over him. Tanrov immediately bends down and frees the artifact from the gillman's dead grasp. With an enthusiastic underhand toss, he passes it off to Thoradin.
Hekirin continues to fight blindly against the entangling web, swinging his wakasashi blindly in a desperate attempt to keep any possible foes at bay.
The relic sails just outside Thoradin's reach as the sticky strands restrain his arms. The item lands at his feet, threatening to roll away, but gets snagged on the web instead.
Round Three
Finally able to slip free of the web, Andrazi begins to cross the floor in the direction of the bar. The gillman calls out in an arcane tongue, "Tertash." This is followed by a loud ringing noise. The glass of the aquarium fractures an instant before the entire thing explodes into a cloud of shrapnel. Water and sea creatures alike spill out harmlessly across the bar floor or fall into the bay below. The bartender then pulls a dagger from under the bar.
As Tanrov moves to help Thoradin free, the dwarf alternates between prayers to his deity and curses for the gillmen. Andrazi skirts the perimeter of the web, moving to intercept the bartender. As Hekirin and Nestor continue to struggle, the last gillman vaults the bar. She scowls at the Varisian as her feet touch the floor and immediately push off the wooden planks. With an graceful leap, she dives over the railing that once guarded the fish tank.
As Andrazi reaches the tank, he peers down into the sea water below. Ripples are the only trace of the gillman. With some effort, Tanrov manages to free his companions from the entangling web and Hekirin finds his sight quickly returned.
Nestor shakes his head slowly as he pulls that last clinging strands from his scalp. Bending down, he begins to rifle through one of the bodies, "I can't say for certain. Perhaps this will help explain things though." The appraiser unfolds a piece of parchment pulled from the gillman's pocket. He studies it a moment, nodding sagely as he eyes move from left to right across the page. When he's done, Nestor stands and hands it to Andrazi, "It appears our three would be relic dealers are actually agents for the Aspis Consortium. Seems they thought they might pull a fast one on us by trading our legitimate artifact for their fake. Unfortunately, our efforts have been wasted, although I suspect Venture-Captain Dreng will be happy to know we were able to retain possession of the Pathfinder's property."