Duskade, still in shadow, again strikes at the gunmen (G1)
Attack-Ranged:
Damage:
"Did ya think I was gonna lay down and die? Did ya?" Khol shouted at the raider after ducking under the battleaxe rather nimbly despite his size. His blood singing with adrenaline for his first real fight, he brings the tip of the greatsword in and stabs for the gut of his foe.
Rawgr notices the Raiders unwillingness to quit. He sighs, "so, it comes to this."
When he reaches the back of the third gunner he strikes swiftly
*SWISH* Rawgr stands there his eyes wide. His hand trembling. He was scared.
The second gunner collapsed after the greatsword blow, the hideous gash in his torso bubbling lightly as he desperately tried to breathe.
The other two gunners managed to stay upright, despite the flurry of blows, although they were no covered in an impressive array of light wounds and heavy bruising.
Marta followed the first gunner again, ramming a foot out at him in a brutal straight kick that would hopefully take him off his feet.
The kick connected below the raider's chin, the sickening crack of his teeth comming together and shattering echoing across the field. The man collapsed like a sack into a heap, unconscious.
The third Gunner, in a last ditch attempt, rapidly reloads and fires off another shot as he backpeddled again.
Panicked, the shot went wide once again.
Khol growls in a feral manner and rushes the last gunman with his borrowed greatsword.
But the nimble target evades him this time.
Not wishing to hit any of her own people, Duskade lowers her crossbow and extends her hand towards the final gunman. In a low voice she murmurs an arcane phrase and a bolt of utter darkness flies from her outstretched hand to strike her enemy unerringly.
Magic Missile Damage:
Rawgr gets into position flanking the 3rd gunner. "All right Rawgr, steel yourself, deep breath now." He takes in a deep breath, stares into his target's back, and strikes.
A solid hit that bites deep into his opponents flesh.
Between the magic and the blow from Rawgr the Raider collapses in a heap on the ground, defeated.
3 x Battered Pistols
3 x Armoured Coats
2 x Battle Axes
1 x Warhammer
63 gp
Marta glanced over at the unconscious Raider beaten into his current state. "Once you've made sure he's unarmed, I'd like you to try and get some information on what's going on." She sighed, and rubbed her eyes. "Not exactly what I'd like, but we need to know what's happening and how safe it is, and I'll have to trust you are adult enough to handle this. Which is why while you do this, I'll be scouting ahead to make sure this was the only party of gun happy idiots between us and the school. Any questions?"
Once the last raider crumples to the ground, Khol digs the point of the greatsword into the earth and leans against it, shaking slightly. As he struggles to get his breathing under control, he sees something drip past his eye. Reaching up to touch his face, the tips of his fingers come away bloody. Not his blood, but that of the man he cut down. Feeling his gorge rising, Khol stiffly stands up straight and walks over to the nearest bush and quietly empties his stomach.
Spitting a few times, he wipes his mouth on his sleeve and rejoins the others without a word. This was the first time he had taken a life like that. He may look like a monster but he was only sixteen.
"No ma'am," Khol said, under control again.
Duskade creeps from the shadows and moves towards the unconscious raider.
She keeps her crossbow aimed at the fellow while someone ties him up.
"I am unharmed, and the other two raiders are dead, I believe."
"We all came out okay, Ignus. But we need some answers, and fast!" Muziel disarms the unconscious figure.
Still spitting to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth, Khol approaches the unconscious raider and shakes him.
"Wake up!" he says, applying a palm to the side of the raider's face.
"No ma'am. I understand." Rawgr says, seemingly uninterested in the goings on around him. Then he spots Ignus and his voice raises every so slightly, as though he is holding back a terrible rage.
"Ignus," he hisses, "What was that? Running around punching everybody? It looked like you had never trained a day in your life, and I know that's not true. You even had your bow at the ready. Get a hold of yourself. I'm not about to lose a friend to blind stupidity." Once his short tirade is done Rawgr looks apologeticly at his friend, but is to proud to admit any wrong doing."I am fine though, thanks for asking." He states softly. Rawgr then turns around and sets to what he views as his responsibility. The team looks capable of asking a man a few questions. Rawgr has other things on his mind.
He looks to the man at his feet with a saddened look. He kneels down to the dead body and whispers, "I am truly sorry that it had to come to this. May you find peace." He then straightens up the body and lays it's hands across it's chest. He then goes and retreives the second body.
Rawgr picks up the body without to much struggle and brings it to the other. He sets it down and does his best to make it look more presentable. He lays it's hands across it's chest as well and closes both of their eyes. He gets down and whispers again, "I am truly sorry that it had to come to this. May you find peace."
The raider comes to slowly, his bruised face wincing at the return of consciousness. Looking around muzzily, his eyes finally snap into focus when he spots the bodies of his compatriots. Glancing up at Khol, he mutters in a slurred voice, "I dun suhppose we cun talk aboot dis?"
"Oh we're going to talk," Khol says, smiling at him, "And by 'we' I mean you."
Khol reaches down and grabs the raider by the front of his tunic and hauls him up, the mutant's bulky build making it about as hard as hefting an overloaded satchel.
"Why did you attack us? What's the size of your fleet? Spill the beans," Khol growled extending his claws for effect, "Or I spill your guts."
"Hey, you gotch me, rite?" The raider stared at the claws in fear and terror. "I''ll tell yu'h wot I can, yuh? Well, we attacked 'cos we was told to. We have lots of ships. And, uh, they really dunt tell us grunts much."
"So let me get this straight, your boss or commander or whoever comes to you and says 'Hey, Mike, we're gonna bomb the loveless gods out of this orphanage, right? Gonna make us a ton of gold. I just need you and your buddies to go shoot a bunch of kids,' and you said 'Sure boss, that plan makes perfect sense!'" Khol paused and looked to the corpse he had split wide open with the greatsword.
"You're a damn joke. I'm too angry to even mock you anymore," the mutant growled. He pressed the tips of his claws against the man's stomach, not hard enough to pierce skin but enough that a sudden jolt might have unfortunate consequences.
"Hey, I got no clue wat the fightin' at the school is about!" the thug protested. "We were just told not to let any of you lots back to the town, and with six of you it seemed easier to fill you with lead. Blackwell wanted patrols ambushed so they couldn't attack the gates from both sides."
Muziel watches the man closely for any sign of deception. . "Who's Blackwell and what does he want with us?" she asks in a whispered voice.
"With you? Nuthin'." The man shrugged, "Suttlebbutt is that there's something here he really needs, that this has been the end plan while he was building up te army, but...
"Who. Is. Blackwell?" Khol said increasing the pressure of his claws on the man's stomach enough to draw twin beads of blood.
"Yayayayayayaya!" The man flinched away from the claws, looking panicked. "He's my boss! He's a merc! He owns the city of Sky about a 200 leagues south of here! Everyone knows who Blackwell is! He killed the Aasimar idiot, Fallen, about 20 years ago?" You've all heard at least mentions of Sky, and Fallen was a warlord attempting to unite enough people to launch an attack on the Fog itself.
"Look," he said, "Claws stay out, I tell you about where the ambush guys are between 'ere and the school, yeah? You ARE goin' back to the school, yeah?"
"Good boy," Khol said, retracting his claws and setting the man back on his feet. He made of a show of brushing of some dirt from the man's shoulder and straightening is out his tunic for him.
"I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if you run or give our position away," Khol said in a worryingly calm and even tone. He turned to the others, "Is the teacher back yet?" Apart from a few outbursts Khol had never really gone this far before. A small part of himself was worried but another part enjoyed the look of fear on the raider's face.
"Marta isn't back yet. But we should keep going." She shudders a little at Khol's intimidating presence.
"I think that is enough Khol. We have got the information that we wanted; he knows nothing else of importance. He was, after all, just a lowly pawn."
Bluff:
Duskade exits her self-generated shadow to suddenly 'appear' next to the thug.
Rawgr finishes up what he was doing. He had been listening to what was going on, but was a little preoccupied so it took him a few moments to catch up with the group.
"As far as I know Miss Marta 'as yet to return. I agree with Muziel, we should keep goin'."
He stares at the orphanage in the distance, a look or worry crossing his face.
"Sure, we can go. I can lead you through easy." The raider smiled what he seemed to consider a winning smile, although what it won was likely to be banned in many countries. "Maybe we'll catch up with 'ole teach while we go, yeah?"
"She did say she was scouting ahead," Khol said thoughtfully.
"We take it slow. Rawgr, Duskade, it might be a good idea for you two to stay off the road and hidden. Even with our new friend's help," Khol put a hand on the raider's shoulder, "It would be a bad idea to reveal our numbers. Muziel, you should stay behind Iggy and I."
"I shall do so...what would you have me do if I come across more of these thugs?"
"Stay out of sight unless they notice you or look like they know where the rest of us are. Our goal should be to get back to the school and rally with the others."
"Ok then", and Duskade vanishes into the gloom.
Stealth:
Duskade moves forward towards the school, keeping her eyes open for any more intruders.
Perception:
Rawgr looks over at the Merc and then at Khol warily. With an eyebrow raised he says "So, we're keepin' the disloyal child-murderer with us then huh?" He shrugs. "A' least bind him up or somethin'." With that he runs off to the scouting position, watching out for enemy reinforcements.
"One wrong move and Khol will make you pay, Mr. Raider." Muziel isn't too happy with having this guy along, but agrees to follow along with the plan.
"Ignus, you got some rope?" Khol asked, "Give me a hand binding him."
With the aid of the raider you manage to make it to the orphanage's south gate. However, another problem arises. A small ship is parked in your way, literally jammed against the gate. It obviously serves as a way to secure an enemies gate's against the people inside, turning potential exits into enemy strong points.
However, they don't seem to be watching this way much, as the city is on the opposite side of the compound and they're mostly concentrating on the fighting in the school grounds. It should be possible to sneak on...or away.
I guess Duskade can take 20 as well then.
Stealth:
A patch of gloom slowly spreads across the gunwale and onto the deck.
Muziel creeps aboard this ship. Maybe they could get it airborne?
Khol stays back with the prisoner for a moment, not willing to trust the man this much. Picking a nice thicket, Khol trusses the man up like a solstice hog, gags him with more rope, and the applies a fist to the man's face until unconsciousness takes the unfortunate soul.
Dusting off his hands, Khol leaves the raider incapacitated and hurries to catch up with the others.
The airship has large loading doors on either side of the hull. It would make sense that the set on the opposite side are now flush with the school gates. The set facing you are sealed, but a small door designed for a single person is set within the larger door, and opens with a single twist. Inside is a staging area - a variety of lockers line the dark wooden walls of the vessels, with equipment for an assault displayed in the two that are open.
Two doors are set in the walls, one pointing towards the stem of the ship and another to the stern. You can hear yelling from above but can't make out the the words.
Rawgr takes his chance to climb aboard the airship as carefully and quietly as possible
After noticing the lockers, he quietly moves to the door and tries to listen through the left one.