Abandoning her cover, Alannah dashes out into the open, her reckless action driven by the need to once again have Akiros in her sights, her hand drawing one of her most painful arrows and sending it streaking towards the fleeing man's back.
Anya gave Akiros the best parting shot she could summon up after getting her wind knocked out of her so severely.
It wasn't even close to hitting home, hardly even knicking his clothes, let alone draw blood. She blamed it on the shock. The coldness of her wound worried her - she did not feel the red hot flash of pain she had become used to during her youth (being prone to accidents had some unforseen advantages), but the cut felt, while present, almost liquid and without feeling. Had the bandit managed to hurt something major?
Still, she resolved to hold the line as long as she could. Elsbeth, Alannah and Alandra all needed someone to keep distance, and Lev could use anything but a swarm of other combatants while fighting the stag lord. "Not so easy, no. Take another shot" She whispered
Things moved faster now, the initial shock of what had happened wearing off and combat ramping up as adrenalin kicked in. Anya slashed at the fleeing man, but her wound and sudden blood loss prevented her from truly getting behind the attack. Alandra however, used her goddess power to once again inflict pain onto the man. Her symbol touched his arm as he rushed past, rupturing the bloodvessels within and causing a massive bruise to spread across the shoulder and bicep as he began to bleed internally. This wound made him scream in anger and pain.
Anya moved to draw a line of sight on the man who had betrayed her and Mikhail. She drew a bead and loosed in one fluid movement, sending teh piercing shaft into his back. He staggered and coughed blood this time, the arrows and magic truly starting to tell, yet he still staggered onwards.
The wiry man with the many knives who had been sleeping when they first arrived was the first to respond to Akiros' shout. He did not however rush into combat as they may have expected. Instead he dashed back into the comex and in behind the mechanism that controlled the caged beast. With a swift kick, he released a latch that held a ratcheted cog in place, and the heavy cage door began to wind its way up.
Lev swelled to over twice his size, the process being amazingly unpleasent, but not unbearable. He towered over the horses near him, and looked down upon the now terrified faces of the two bandits nearby. The two horses near him whinnied in panick at the sudden violence and magics as they errupted around them, but they still pressed into him as he moved.
Alandra moves behind Anya and touches her with her holy symbol.
Suddenly towering over the horses and bandits alike, Lev doesn't waste any time with fancy footwork or worrying the others around him or any appearance of heroism. He simply lifts his greatsword over his head and brings it down on the large man with all his strength.
Pharasma's power over life and death roiled through Anya, and the entirety of the damage she had taken from Akiros' blade was healed in seconds. Her breathing became more regular and though she could still feel the residual pain of the blow, she was moving easily again.
Lev shouted in both exultation and pain as Elsbeth's spell took ful hold and stretched him to a new size. He raised his heavy blade over his head, and brought it crashing down with terrible finality onto the Staglords head. He felt a sting in his side as he did so, for the bandit nearest him had taken advantage of his distraction to slice him with his newly drawn shortsword. Lev ignored the scratch though and was deeply satisfied to watch as the blow from his weapon smashed into the Staglords neck and shoulder, cleaving downwards and exiting on the far side in a spray of blood, lungs and bone. The mans body slid in two separate directions as he crumpled to the ground, a gruesome display since he was still magically held in postion by the chill power of Alandra's spell.
Anya now faced the man who had been tuning his guitar earlier. He slashed at her with his short sword, but the sight of the Stag lords demise clearly unmanned him and he missed comletely.
Fom above and behind, the soudn of a bowstring being released twanged throughout the courtyard, followed by the whistle thump as an arrow plunged into one of the horses flanks near Lev. The animal screamed in pain, rearing back and kicking out but not striking anyone.
The bandit that Lev had shot fled, dropping any pretense of bravery as he did so, and desprately looking for the easiest way to climb the stockade walls.
The sounds of confused shouts could be heard from above as well.
Elsbeth bursts into a smile of satisfaction on seeing the Staglord's body torn to pieces, literally.
Her cheeks and lips hurt terribly in doing so , and she thinks that her face will display a prominent bruise for days.
Not being the time for such concerns,Elsbeth releases the power of the rod she drew in the meantime.
Reinvigorated by Pharasma's grace, Anya renewed her assaults with the vigor she had felt when they struck out on this venture. The touch of fate she had experienced had maybe opened her eyes to the larger picture somewhat, allowed her to actually realize how close they were to fulfilling their charter - and reaping its rewards.
While her magical blade only dug a hole into the musician's shoulderguard, her longer, more favored dueling sword fared better. She executed an upward chop from an almost implausible angle, and caught his offhand arm on that upswing, shearing meat from bone.
The long, nasty cut was probably enough to make most think twice about continuing a fight - without clerical aid, or a very gifted surgeon, the man was sure to retain some disability. "He's dead. Don't make us kill you where you stand, too."
Elsbeth releases twin blasts from her wand at the bandit that had stabbed Lev. The missiles spiralled and twisted through the air, curving around horses and support posts to strike the man in the chest. The bolts of force sizzled as they struck him, searing into his flesh and eliciting a scream of fear and pain from the man as the damage took its toll.
Anya struck out with her twin swords, striking with her main dueling weapon and scoring a severe gash along her opponents arm. He dropped his weapon, backing away from the girl and clutching the wounded arm to his chest, eyes looking desperately for a way to escape his certain doom.
Alannah stood waiting, hoping for another shot at her nemesis after he had disapeared from view at the far end of the building.
With a clank and roar, the cage in the main building finished opening and the creature they had caged in there burst into the room. It was a bastardised cross between a bear and an owl, standing ten feet tall if wasn't forced to stoop slightly in the building while reared on its rear legs. Big eyes blinked in the reatively bright light it now faced after the enclosure it had been in. The creature looked around in feral anger for whatever target it could find, its big eyes falling on the terrified form of the man that Anya had just wounded. Charging forward, it grabbed the man in a fearsome embrace and evicerated him before the young fighters eyes. She was coverd in blood and gore from the man as he was torn practically in half less than three feet from her.
The man who had relesed the bear cringed backwards from the door as it ran out, completely staying out of teh creatures way as long as he could. There was no sign of Akiros, he had ducked in behind a wall at the end of the rooms earlier, and still hadn't emerged.
Lev turns to glower down at the bandit that had dared to attack him. "I don't have time to bother with you," he says, his voice tight. "I suggest you run while you still can. And don't stop running because if I find you in the days ahead, I will tear your limbs off before killing you."
He then moves forward toward the opening where he'd heard the ferocious growling and seen blood splatter Anya.
Catching a glimpse of the monstrous creature just beyond Anya, Lev tries to strike at it from his awkward angle, reaching over his sister to do so.
"What is that?"
Alandra says a prayer to Pharasma to frighten the monster and steps back behind Anya .
Alannh halts for a second, torn. She needed to stop Akiros, to Make him suffer, to find answers....but looking at the horrific monstrosity tear the bandit apart she knew she would never be able to live with herself if she ran off only to return to find one of her friends dead.
Cursing to herself she loosed an arrow at the creature, moving to a better position
Lev's huge size and the damage that ELsbeth had already done was more than enough to cower the bandit near the big hunter. Ignoring the man, Lev stepped through the horses, avoiding kicking kegs and snorting beasts to try and strike the huge animal threatening his sister. He struck out with his weapon, deftly plunging it through the gap between walls and driving the blade deep into its feathery hide. The animal let out a hooting scream of pain, but remained on its feet and fighting.
Alandra stepped back and chanted another spell, relesing the clinging despair that death often held for those in its throws. She couldn't tell if the beast was affected or not, but she hoped it would slow the creature down.
Alannah, seeing the thing loom over her and Anya, also stepped back. She drew and relesed her bow, almost guaranteed of success with such a big target. Thearrow sank into its side, eliciting more pained screams from the beast.
They all became aware of a loud yelling getting closer and closer. At that moment, the huge simpleton that Lev had seen playing upstairs came into sight from around the corner. He carried the massive lump of nail studded wood in two hands, and seemed to be just enjoying himself screaming loudly. When he saw the combatants, he whooped in joy and prepared to charge in to the fray.
A second archer appeared on the floor above them as well. It was the fat man that Alannah had spoken with earlier. He took in the scene and fired at the biggest threatenng target he could see. From the tower overlooking the battle, the other archer did the same. Two arrows streaked outwards and struck Lev solidly, sinking deep into his newly enlarged form and hurting him badly.
Lev grits his teeth at the pain as the two arrows strike him hard. "Someone do something about those archers," he gasps.
Anya tried to slip into the beast's range, and put on a brave showing at it. The creature was tactically almost a stroke of genius - it pinned them in the relative open, while the archers had the luxury of picking and choosing their targets.
Yet the massively enlarged Lev probably was the better match for the beast than her - she needed to keep his back clean. "Big brother, can you handle the beast?" she asked, preparing to disengage.
Seeing the situation escalating tears of frustration stream down Alannah's face at the idea of Akiros escaping, yet she understands that she needed to stand with the only friends she now knew.
She reached into her quiver, selecting a unique arrow with a broad blunt head, taking careful aim at the giggling lunatic charging forward, she lined up her shot striking him on the ankle of his weightbearing foot, the arrow spinning to entangle both legs.
Elsbeth focused her wand on the owlbear looming over her friends. As much as she wished she had the power to fell the thing, her wand released two bolts of less than stellar perfomance. They sizzled into its hide, but still it stood roaring and hooting in pained anger.
Anya took a gamble, dropping back safely out of reach of the thing before dashing back towards the ladder leading up to the watch tower. It was a crude affair, and if someone didn't take of the other archer, she would be exposed to covering bow fire while she climbed.
As Anya dropped back, the bear pushed forwards, lashing out at the enlarged man that had threatened its territory acn casued it such pain. It lashed out with claw and beak, slashing past the defenses of the big hunter and tearing into his body with terrible ferociousness.
Lev
Behind all of this chaos, the lithe man who had freed the bear squeezed out from his cover and ducked back into the rooms at the rear of the building. The group all heard a shouted exchange as he did so, revealing that Akiros had not yet left, and the two were shouting at each other.
Already weakened by the arrows the archers had shot, Lev was in no condition for the bear's claws as they tore into him. With his blood flying in a spray through the air, Lev falls to the ground.
I'll go ahead and activate that pendant you mentioned to stabilize.
"Stop shooting and run away!"
Alandra holds out her holy symbol at the archer above her.
Then she pulls out her wand, getting ready to go to Lev's aid if she can get there safely.
Alannah's sharp eyes took in the scene, archers above them, the Laughing Man preparing to charge, Lev falling to the ground. The towering beast that had ripped into him still stood over him. She had to stop it before it ripped him apart.
She fired one of her flaming arrows at it the arrow erupting into flame before striking.
Lev's newly enlarged form was slammed forcably into the ground, the big owl bear all but tearing his throat out with its beak as it did so. Arterial blood sprayed from the wound, and Lev's hand desperately cutched at it, trying to stymie the blood flow but to no avail.
Alandra looked up, calmly following through with her plan even as her friend fell. She screamed a command anc channeled the fear of the grave into the man standing on the platform above her. His face paled vsisibly at some unseen horror, and he dropped his bow as he fled as fast as possible from the young cleric. She drew a wand then, ready to move up and try and heal her friend, but her feet refused to move as the great owl bear loomed over her. It stared down at her, before swallowing teh great chunk of bloodied flesh it had torn from her firend.
A feathered shaft appeared suddenly in its chest, plunged so deeply that only the feathered fletching could be seen. The creature blinked its great round eyes slowly, then toppled over on top of the prostrate form of Lev, dead before it hit the ground. Alandra turned to see Alannah renocking another arrow with calm efficiency, even as tears of frustration seemingly fell from her eyes.
A bellowing yell of absolute joy suddenly boomed around the battle, and the big simpleton charged into Anya. The young Aldori swordswoman had been reaching for the rungs of the ladder when he did so, and was not prepared to defend herself properly. The huge club struck her such force that everyone heard the crack of a rib, and the breath was knocked cleanly from her. . The big man laughed like a child, dancing around on his feet in glee and kissing his club. "Me hit girls good! you all b#$#$es you is. That what Dovan say!" He continues to prattle, even as he raises the weapon for another strike.
The archer in the tower above all of the combat draws and fires one last time, before turning and heading to the far end of the tower. He looked as if he was going to risk a jump across to the pallisade and maybe climb his way to safety on the other side of the fortress wall. His shot was woeful, flying over the heads of the women below and skipping along the ground inneffectively.
From deeper in the building, Akiros suddenly shouted "Come on you whore! If you want me, come and get me godsdammit. I'm ready for you now, and this time you'll stay dead!"
Elsbeth moves as fast as she can staying behind the wooden boards, reaches Anya's back and gives her a protective field.
She hopes to have enough protection from Anya and the plank so to cast undisturbed.
Anya stumbled back a step and a half, narrowly avoiding to knock the ladder down with her. She grabbed her swords as she went, and circled the oaf, finally bringing both blades forward in two quick slashes.
The cut was more shallow than she intended, and not close to the bone-breaking force she had just endured, but Anya nevertheless spit back a defiant "Girl hit you back!" While her vision tunneled in to the man-child, and she was putting away the pain for later, she decided that this one had to die, for all his eventual claims "He did what he was told, no more"
Elsbeth finally broke cover, seeing as how the majority of ranged threats were gone. She moved up and threw a quick protective ward over Anya, hopefully keeping her in the fight just that little bit longer.
For her part, Anya stepped back slightly and scored a light wound on the big simpleton. The man screamed like a child "You cut me!! You frekken @#$%! You'll die hard now, you and your stupid friends!"
From the far end of teh building, another man's voice called out "That's it Auchs, you kill them all buddy, just like I told you!". For all his talk though, neither of the men who had taken shelter down there came out from the cover. They continued to argue, in a volume just a little too low for the group to hear over the din of the battle.
Drawing her last flaming arrow Alannah targets the giggling simpleton, releasing the shot with practiced efficiency, all the while shouting to Akiros.
"I'm going to put an arrow right in your heart and look into your eyes while you die you bastard!"
Alandra holds he holy symbol up high.
Allanah's flaming arrow strikes the hulking brute that had struck Anya, but the weapon barely phased the man since he'd worked himself into that much of a frenzy. The big club was being swung in great arcs, promising death if they connected.
Alandra raised her symbol, channeling her own will and focusing it upon her friends. Pharasma turned that focus into aa wave of healing that reknit flesh to flesh and filled the blood that had drained from savage gashes. Lev began to stir as the savage injury to his throat was mostly healed. He was still an abosulute and bloody mess, but he would live if he didn't take any more damage.
It was at this point that the two men who taken refuge deeper in the building emerged. With no where to escape to, they had argued their options and finally risked it all with a dash to fight their way free. Unfortunately, neither of them had the speed to fully close the distance, but they still had some cover from the group.
Though annoyed at the big brute's peristence, the channeled energy Alandra had blessed her with did not only reduce the pain to a much more manageable level - it also reminded her that they were in fact outnumbering the brutes now, that Lev would be ok, that the most dangerous opponent lay in dust already.
Ducking past another of the clumsy-yet-immensely-powerfull swings of the simpleton, Anya maanged to sneak another stab with her short blade. Again, a painful hit to the ribcage... enough to make most enemies reconsider the fight. But unfortunately, not fatal in and by itself.
Elsbeth dashed away from the dangerously crazy man and his club, resting her wand against Lev and summoning another protective ward around him as he began to recover from the blow that had felled him. She was behind him and hopefully safe, though the two new opponents that were rushing forwards looked dangerous.
Anya cursed the man before her and slashed at him again. Her weapons wove effectively against his defenses, and she scored another savage cut against this man. He was bleeding profusely now, but it wasn't slowing down his swings at all. Again he screamed, his voice gng hgh pitched as he whined in pain. "Dovan, she keeps cutting me! Come and help me knock her down then you can cut her as you like doing! DOVAN!"
He punctuated this last with a massive blow that blasted through Anya's defenses yet again, scoring a massive blow on her side.
As Akiros emerged Alannah's focus narrowed to exclude all else as wild a shriek of incoherent rage she sent another thistle arrow hurtling towards him.
+1pt bleed
confirm
Lev's eyes open and he takes in a painful breath, wondering how he'd ended up on his back. His side burns something fierce, though, and the world above is spinning lazily. He could hear some chaotic sounds that reminded him vaguely of battle but it seems very far away; he isn't sure that he'd be able to stand even if he wants to.
Alandra keeps her holy symbol up, channeling the energies of Pharasma.
Alannahs scream of rage helped her to focus on the man who had ruined her life. Her barbed arrow flew forwards and punched through his armour, causing a bleeding wound in his arm. Akiros ignored the wound, flying into a rage of his own as he charged forward and closed with the woman who had come back to haunt him
Alandra held forth her godess' symbol and again chanelled healing into those around her. Her friends were bathed in power while her enemies where left to wonder at the closing wounds of the ones they were attacking.
While Akiros was not fast enough to close the gap and get in a strike, Dovan had no such limitations. He stepped past the prone form of the enlarged Lev, and drove the point of his rapier into Alandra's body, piercing her but not overly deeply
"Let me get past and out these gates girl, and you can have the damned fort" he hissed at Alandra, standing ready to flee but guarding himself at the same time. Akiros turned a wild eyed gaze at his "friend" and screamed "You traitorous bastard!", but now he was fully comitted to the combat, there was nothing he could do.
Edit - Map Link
Anya felt a red rage descend upon her, as the pain mounted, and even Alandra's continued blessings could not shake the primal "frenzy" as easily as her trained mind should allow. She needed a moment, to free her mind, free herself, and stop going where she was ill-equipt to win - into a simple grudge-match with the simpleton on who could bear more punishment, or dish it out more quickly instead of who could calculate the next move better, and strike where it counted, when it counted. But with a focussing breath, and a silent invocation of Razmir, she managed to shake the animal nature off a little bit.
She circled half a step, turned her injured side away from the simpleton, and towards the newst opponent. Breathed, shakingly, and tried to once again create a saner fighting environment. Start from the ready position. Strike, strike offhanded, circle, restore distance.
Once again, she drew blood, this time more tellingly, close to the neck artery. As she restored her distance, she huffed "Stand down, and you get a fair trial", but like Akiros, there was very little she could do, locked in mortal combat as she was. The turncoat would likely get away, and as galling as it was... she was to practical to make much of an issue out of this blessing - they were well-matched right there and then.
Letting Dovan run? That doesn't look like a bad idea to Elsbeth, they have already their hands full of enemies at the moment.And Akiros is surely the most dangerous now.
She steps backward a bit to better see her target and aims the rod
With the healing energies of Pharasma's blessing surging through him, Lev opens his eyes again and carefully climbs to his feet, his weapon before him defensively.
He glowers at the man standing before him and says one word. "Run."
With the healing energies of Pharasma's blessing surging through him, Lev opens his eyes again and carefully climbs to his feet, his weapon before him defensively.
He glowers at the man standing before him and says one word. "Run."
1d20 - 2
Anya's blade scores a very telling blow on the big man, and he screams in pain, dropping his club and clutching at the wound as he hopped around in pain. "DOVAN! She cut me real bad Dovan, why ren't you helping me?"
The big simpleton was crying as he asked this last question, the blood from the carious wounds he had recieved oozing from between his hands.
Lev had stood by this time, towering over the combatants and glaring down at the man called Dovan. He tried to sound threatening, but the loss of blood and his generally battered appearence really did nothing to purturb the man, who sneered and turned his back on him.
Elsbeth stepped back, well and truly out of the fight, and released another pair of missiles from her wand. Both magical orbs struck Akiros squarely in the chest, blasting through his armour and injuring him. He still looked very solidly in the fight though, and he was growing ever more enraged.
Alannah studies her hated enemy as he charges towards her, sharp eyes seeking his weaknesses as she steps back towards the gates using the space to fire another shot into Akiros
Perception
Attack (standard arrow)