As Tomlin races towards the front Ian smashes out the window and half the shutters in the back window. A second strike removes the remaining wooden slatted shutters and clears the jagged edges of the glass at the bottom of the window.
Beyond can be seen a dining room. A single table with a couple of goblets on it near the window. Along the north wall are several shelves with dishes, pots, and pans. A single closed door at the east end of the north wall the only visible exit.
In the main room the man continues to be held by Serelina's spell.
"Tarvus, it might be a good idea to have your automaton pin this person to the ground or bind him in some other fashion. He called for help and and we only expect it to arrive soon. My spell could fail at any moment." Serelina's glare continues to focus on the poor soul and the cold, hideous laughter again burst forth.
"very well. Edric, hold him!" Tavrus commands, pulling out his crossbow and loading it.
Edric closes on the paralyzed man, silently reaching out to grab hold of him, though Serelina's spell holds for the time being preventing him from moving.
On the south side Ian clambers through the window. Now that he is inside he can see a fireplace occupies the southeast corner of the room.
"So, Serelina, are we killing this guy or what?"
"Eventually, perhaps... but for now he has information we need. I believe he has knowledge of the traitors as his words had some falseness to them." The witch again laughs hideously and continues her glaring at the prisoner. "He apparently called out to an ally, I believe it may have been the store-owner's hame, so be on watch for anyone coming to his aid. It may also be smart to have your automaton move the fool to the center of the room, away from the doors and windows."
Tavrus will have Edric move the man away from the windows and doors and pin him down.
Still paralyzed, Edric is easily able to drag the man towards the center of the room.
[spoiler=Ian and Tavrus]
Somewhere you here the soft squeak of door hinges.
[/ooc]
Tavrus attempts to pinpoint the direction of the noise and head that way.
Serelina continues her glare and maniacal laughter and says, "Once your automaton pins him, I imagine I can keep him safe enough here if you wish to see what is taking the others so long..."
Pushing open the door Ian finds a narrow hallway leading west to several more doors. On the east end is another door which is open, leading into a room. Two leopards prowl the area. Both immediately turn at the sound of Ian opening door.
Edric pushes the man to the floor while Tavrus heads to the south door to investigate the noise.
Ian shortens his grip on the Bardiche (as an immediate action) and attacks the adjacent leopard, yelling as he swings.
Tavrus will let forth a crackling wave of negative energy, excluding Ian and the man being subdued by Edric.
negative energy, DC 19 will negates, 30ft radius from Tavrus.
Moving to see if she can aid in the combat in the other room while keeping an eye on the captive, Serelina cautiously circles around towards the southern door, still laughing hideously.
Tomlin will continue moving until he enters the room with the bulk of the party. From there if he hears combat he will move to assist, flanking to sneak attack if possible.
Ok I'll open it.
Tavrus opens the door to find the leopard sitting in the doorway while Tomlin enters the room from the front door.
Ian slashes the leopard from the corner doorway and it lets out a yowl of pain. It in turn moves into the hallway and strikes back at the source of its pain. It latches its teeth into one leg, twisting and tearing causing Ian some discomfort, though the teeth slide away from the metal greaves preventing the beast from keeping a hold of him.
The second leopard immediately turns on Tavrus and manages to catch him with one of its claws.
A third leopard appears in the room next to the first, also attempting to get at Ian.
Serelina's prisoner continues to be held fast by the spell and Edric has the man fully pinned to the floor.
Tavrus will let forth a crackling wave of negative energy, excluding Ian Valdyr and Tomlin. Should hit all 3 cheetahs and unfortunately the guy being subdued (i can only exclude 3).
negative energy, DC 19 will negates, 30ft radius from Tavrus.
The dark waves of energy emanating from Tavrus seep into open mouths of the leopards and the captive, siphoning life from them.
Ian hacks downward at the leopard, trying to butcher it, some blood spattered on his face and a bit running down his steel boot.
Serelina continues to cackle, but also turns to see the cheetah through the door and her mouth and throat appear to form a strenuous scream at the beast.
Tomlin wheeled in the room and rapidly took in the scene. He wasn't surprised to see combat, but quickly noted that Tavrus' fight with a large feline blocked the path further into the room. Although Edric held the one enemy in the room fast, the halfling knew that Tavrus' warrior might be needed elsewhere in the fight. Therefore, he wheeled back to the north and holding his curved blades close to the top of the pommel attempted to bludgeon the pinned man unconscious.
Attack #1:
Damage if Attack #1 hits
Attack #2:
Damage if Attack #2 hits
Valdr attempts to finish off the beast on Tavrus, but finds his attack hampered by the presence of the door frame.
Tomlin's brutal but efficient bludgeoning off the paralyzed man leaves his eyes glazing over and freeing Edric to take other actions.
The leopard near Ian moves into the hallway, and a fourth leopard appears to take its place in the room.
Sinking both tooth and claws into Ian the cat gets a good grip on him, dragging and pulling at one arm.
The second cat also tries to get at him but is unable to reach him effectively.
The last cat continues biting and clawing at Tavrus.
Tavrus finds himself in the same predicament as Ian.
Tavrus channels his pain into a frightening blast of negative energy into the cheetah on his arm.
Inflict Serious Wounds, DC 16 will for half dmg
vs DC 10 + spell level (3) + grappler's CMB (?)
"Edric, get over here and kill this thing!"
Ian will try to shake the cat lose.
With Tomlin dispatching her victim, Serelina moves closer to the action. She then concentrates to extend her unluck upon the leopard facing Tarvus.
The shopkeeper now unconscious and Edric and Serelina free to move on to engage the large feline further into the room, Tomlin assessed the situation for the best next action. However, no good options evidenced themselves. Instead, the halfling kept his eye on the fight with the feline for an opportunity to dart into the next room.
In that case I move back and use deaths kiss on myself. Edric charges the cheetah.
Edric's scimitar.
Ian breaks free of the beasts jaws while in the main room Tavrus steps to the side allowing Edric a clear line to charge in and attack.
Edric charges, but the cat twists to the side of his thrusting scimitar.
Valdr takes another swing at the leopard, finishing it off.
As Tomlin moves into the hallway he can see a man in the back room. He is missing one arm, but his free arm is hastily grabbing several papers from off a desk and stuffing them into a pouch at his waist.
Serelina steps beyond the corpse of the leopard into the room . Upon seeing the unarmed man she shouts, "He is trying to escape!" then attempts to twist fate against the one-armed man to increase the chances of his apprehension.
Whether he has grabbed all the important papers or has decided to forget about them the one armed man turns his focus towards Tomlin. He makes no gestures or motion of any kind, but a few seconds later two more leopards appear in the hallway, one to either side of Tomlin.
These immediately attack the hafling.
The man chortles, "The mages lackeys come to play? You can all burn for what has been done to me." He then moves south out of view.
The other leopards continue to harass Ian.
Edric chops at the leopard.
Ian yells in pain as he's bitten again.
"Damn these beasts! He's getting away!"
He continues to fight doggedly despite his injuries.
Shock and aggravation wrestled with pain for first place in Tomlin's mind as the halfling worked to take in the change the last few seconds brought. Confusion was there too. How did he summon more of these things with no focus, and while shoving all those papers in a bag?? He knew little of the ways of magic, but a mage once mentioned that summoning spells typically are slow and require extended concentration. Realizing such thoughts wouldn't help right now, he pushed aside the sharp pain of his wounds to assess. With no one to offer a good flanking attack he would struggle in a straight up fight against the leopards. Recalling the outside of the building, he remembered no exits. A secret door might be present to the outside, and the man might attempt to crawl through the window. Either of those he might be able to cut off. Ruefully, he did also consider the fact that the room might contain a trapdoor or stairs to some other exit. Nothing to be done about that.
His mind quickly made up Tomlin bolted toward the window that Ian apparently had knocked out, attempting to dodge past the leopards' snapping jaws.
Acrobatics Check