Aerel reacts to Giggles' attempt to snatch the girl, and fires off a spell in his face. He lets go, giggling quietly to himself at the flashing stars and tweeting birds.
Giggles spends first round of combat off playing with the fairies.
Combat order will be:
Emma
Nicholas
Giggles
Aerel
Shaeda
Children
Hookshanks
Marvel
Hearing Alana's voice Marvel's eyes well up with tears - shouthing Alana! I... before being silence by the Gnome's horrificy threat. Eyes darting from bow to the pit of acid, Marvel is in the process of laying down his bow as Aerel's spell goes off, and he suddenly Esmeranda's words fill Marvel's ears "which means fate is on your side.". No. No. We are fated to defeat you!
When it gets to me:
Wasting no time, and wanting to get to the fight as rapidly as possibly, Shaeda leaps from the landing to the floor...
Success, to not get hurt I believe!
She will then attempt to demoralize the gnome saying, "The Savored Sting has sent me, and these others to bring retribution to you and yours for the sins of your past!"
Quietly slipping past Nicolas and Sheada. That is right divide your attention. Putting a more dramatic swing to her hips and her arms as she moves so the lose fabric of her clothing moves in a more dramatic and eye catching way.
I want to try to fascinate the half orc. The DC is a will save of 13.[/ooc]
Giggles is only paying half attention, his vision blurred and his head swimming from the spell, so he scarcely notices the woman and her provocative performance.
Seeing them distracted, Nicholas rushes around and down the steps, taking them in bounds, until he slids to a stops in a crouch in front of the gnome. "Guess my words went right over your head, shorty," Nicholas taunts, his blade held at the ready to skewer the gnome alive. "Time to die."
Giggles, bamboozled by Aerel's spell, stares blearily at Nicholas, trying to figure out what the shouty man is trying to say.
Marvel seeing his new friends rush forward, Aerel's spell and the children's reaction to Saheda's and Nicholas's words feels a surge of hope rush through his body. There is justice in the world - sometimes you just have to be that justice yourself, it seems.
Calmly and almost with kindness in his voice, Marvel loudly says: "Alana, children, step back." and while quickly letting his arrows fly straight at the half orc, Marvel continues "These men opted for violence"
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Aerel quietly continues his chant, altering his motions to invoke the deepest chill of winter, and directs a chill ray into the melee, hoping to hit the half-orc.
However, his new ally's recent arrival in the vicinity makes him reluctant to aim too directly at the half-orc, and it instead leaves a trail of frost along the wall beyond Lamm's goons. Expressionless, Aerel leaps over the bannister, but slips on something that he'd really rather not have thought about, and falls to the floor.
Marvel's first arrow finds its target, striking the dazed Giggles strongly in the chest.
Aerel's second attempt at a spell in less successful than the first, missing Giggles, and his attempt to join the fray isn't much better.
Shaeda, on the other hand, leaps down with the gracefulness of an angry cat, and unleashes a threat that affects Hookshanks as if an avatar of Vengeance Herself was standing before him.
Seeing Giggles shot and Hookshanks hesitate causes something to snap within the previously frightened children; suddenly the boogeymen who have haunted their nightmares seem vulnerable for the first time. As one, they attempt to grab Hookshanks.
The kids dogpile on Hookshanks, who fights back, slashing at them with his kukri.
for
Hookshanks slashes one of the kids, following it up with an attack on Nicholas
for
He misses however, too distracted by Shaeda's threat and the children attacking him.
Groaning when Giggles is does not seem to pay any attention. Damn I was sure that would work! Quick steps bring her down the stairs and up to the tiny beast that the children seem to want to take down.
Hookshanks tries to duck under Emma's lunge, but is distracted by the children still fighting against him, and gets run through the arm.
Ducking his head under the wild slash, Nicholas gets ready for the return blow, when he suddenly feels guided to aim lower than he had planned. Striking out, the gnome ducks, but his blow was no longer going that high.
Nicholas' sudden burst of insight serves him well, as Hookshanks ducks under where the blow would have gone, but instead winds up directly in its path, getting a nasty gash across his head..
Giggles comes to his senses, bellows in rage from the pain caused by the shaft in his chest, and takes a swing at Nicholas with his flail.
However, head still swimming and irrational from his injuries, he can't line up the blow and misses.
Judging Hookshanks to be the more dangerous of the two, Marvel five foot steps closer and then notches two arrows once again and lets lose, while shouting: Children, stay back, we've got this!
Aerel rises, glancing at his foes, and moves swiftly once more. He lays a gentle hand on Shaedra's shoulder, flowing past her and towards the half-orc. His eyes are focused, and as he begin striding faster, his blade flicks out before him, slashing at Giggles with graceful, precise strikes.
Marvel's first shot strikes Hookshanks and he falls bleeding to the floor.
Giggles sidesteps Aerel's scimitar with surprising grace. Seeing his partner fall warrants barely an annoyed glance from the half-orc.
"He owed me five sails."
Shaeda steps up and readies to protect her allies. Whichever of her allies Giggles attacks, Shaeda will attempt to Aid Another to provide an AC bonus...
Success
So, whoever gets attacked will have a +4 to their AC against Giggles.
"Destroy this one, and Calistria will defend you my friends."
Going after Hookshanks was one thing, he was no bigger than them, but the kids know better than to mess with Giggles, and one of their number is already bleeding, so the kids back away and leave this one to the adults
Stepping over the fallen gnome They are supposed to be pleasant. and moving to the other side of Giggles. Catching her foot on Hookshanks arm and her swing goes very wide.
Darting forward, Nicholas jabs at the brunt's side, keeping away from his flailing arms.
If Giggles keeps attacking Marvel takes another five foot step closer and goes for another two attacks -
Giggles is jabbed by Nicholas and he retaliates.
Giggles again fails to connect with his target. This time it's his last mistake, as his chest suddenly sprouts two arrow shafts, and he stares at them in shock.
"...Hurr?"
The pain finally reaches his brain and he passes out, falling backwards like a log and hitting the ground with a thud.
The gathered children erupt in applause, cheering their saviors, and taking the opportunity to kick the crumpled gnome and half-orc as comeuppance for a multitude of abuses.
The one exception is Alana, who cares about only one thing, and runs into the arms of her father, the monster-slayer.
They each get one attempt to staunch their bleeding:
Gnome fail
Orc fail
"Alas, it was not to be. At least She kept you safe Nicholas!"
"Send the children out I say, and we move on. Do they know where Lamm is?"
Search these two mooks.
Aerel relaxes slightly, his lips curving upwards at the children. "Chains of fear do not last forever." He says simply. "In time, they end. You are safe now, young ones.” He gently lays a hand on the shoulder of the one closest to him. ”Tell me, do you know where the boss of these,” he indicates the two fallen thugs with utmost disgust, ”is?”
After a moment, he looks to Shaeda. ”Permit me to aid you - I can help determine if they have aught that has a hint of magic about it.” He offers with a serene smile, before joining her in her search.
Though he ends up not being of much use in the actual search, once Shaeda has found anything of use, Aerel chants softly, his arms describing a dance of revelation, and his eyes seem to glow briefly as he stares at them.
Nicholas notices the child who was injured and pulls the brave boy aside. Ripping off a sleeve of the gnome's shirt, he quickly bandages it, not wanting to leave it to fester, but not wanting to waste too much time lest Gaedren escape.
Shooting Sheada a glare and crouching down, "It would be far to dangerous to send them off alone into the city at night!"
Seeing the half-orc drop unconscious, it's only reflexes which result in Marvel putting his bow back behind his back rather than just dropping it, as he runs towards Alana, lifts her up and just hugs her tight as tears flow freely from his eyes. She is alive. Alana is alive and she is free. Holding her, just holding her, Marvel manages to whisper "I love you... I've searched so long. I'm sorry. Sorry I didn't find you sooner, I'm... sorry we argued, I..."
And Marvel is quite unable to do much other than that at the moment as tears of joy and his bad conscience from being unable to save her sooner overwhelm him.
She is so thin Marvel thinks as he hugs her I can feel her bones, Abadar, what have they done to you, my little Alana?
Turning to the oldest looking kid, Nicholas says, "Go to the supply and grab some rope. Make sure to tie these guys up well and then tie up old Yargin, and stay out of sight. We'll be back once we find Gaedren. Then we'll go to somewhere safe."
To the others, Nicholas continues, "I agree with Emma. They'll be safe here until we find Gaedren. We'll deal with where to take them afterward. If you're worried, maybe Manyshot here can stay. I'm sure he'd wouldn't want to leave his daughter here so soon, anyway."
"If we don't finish this, these kids will be back in Lamm's hands soon enough. Best Marvel comes with us, and brings that deadly bow of his."
Shaeda examines the two overseers and finds the following on them.
Hookshanks:
Small-sized studded leather armor
Masterwork kukri
Disguise kit
72 gp
Giggles:
3 vials of turquoise colored liquid
Masterwork Flail
Chainmail
Composite Longbow (+3 Str)
20 arrows
7 gp
The children (mostly human, though there are also two dwarves and a halfling) answer Aerel's questions as best they can, but don't know much. Lamm rarely leaves his quarters, and has little interaction with his slave-labor force. The one exception is if a child misbehaves too much or can no longer work due to hunger or injury, in which case they may be taken to see him...and they don't return. Giggles and Hookshanks refered to this as "sending Gobblegut a new friend", and use this being, whatever his nature, as a boogeyman to keep the kids in line.
Aerel discovers that the three vials in Giggles' possession are magic potions, radiating conjuration.
He is unable to be certain of their exact properties, however.
The children are pretty tough and resourceful, having lived on the streets, and quickly start tearing up the dirty bedsheets to restrain their former captors.
Aerel frowns slightly, rubbing his forehead as he examines the vials. "These are potions of some sort. Conjuration radiates off of them, but I am uncertain about the exact nature of their effects."
He flicks an ear at the children's stories, recalling what Sparrow had said earlier about Lamm's fondness for large pets, and smiles gently at them. "I see. Thank you all... hm. Should we be aware of any other thugs?" He considers for a moment, then adds. "Do any of you have homes to return to?"
If nothing else, the elf muses, I would imagine that the dwarves at Janderhoff would very much like to have children of their race back... He looks to his companions. "We ought to go back to the other one and see that he is not in a place where he can become a threat if he awakens."
After a moment, he looks around the room. "Perhaps we ought to search for Lamm's... residence?" Seeing nothing particularly interesting, he gestures at the door they did not enter through.
As the others begin searching, speaking to the children and such Marvel eventually lets go of his daughter, goes down on his knees and looks Alana directly into her eyes: "Alana, I still have to beat the big bad man. Lamm. The people who helped me rescue them - he has hurt them, hurt people they love. I must help them beat him, and make sure he never can hurt you again. Never ever."
Standing up again, Marvel holds her hand and walks over to the rest of the party, for the first time with something like a look of peace over his face. Looking directly to Aerel, Marvel says:
"Master Thelon, without your spell... you saved my daughter's life. For that I'll forever be in your debt. If you ever need something, just ask."
Looking to the rest of the party, still speaking to a point just above everyone's right shoulder, Marvel continues "Thank you all. Nicholas, Emma, Shaeda, thank you for your help." Momentarily shuddering as his eyes make contact with the arrows sticking out of the unconscious men, Marvel looks up again with a dark look caught somewhere between a smile and a scowling grimace "Now, can I get those arrows? The bow looks a bit too big for my use, but I can put the arrows to good use."
Also - do the children tell us of any other guards and where Lamm's room is?