Ian catches the leopard in the doorway in the neck, dropping it to the ground partly beheaded.
With the opening granted by Ian, Tomlin uses the north wall as a springboard, leaping over the leopard blocking his path, then rebounding to the south and through the door where Ian stands keeping the leopards in the hallway.
Edric moves into the hall stabbing at the leopard closest, but is unable to inflict any wounds.
Valdr moves to the doorway to assist Edric in attacking the leopard.
But is unable to score a hit.
Serelina also moves forward, placing a misfortune on the creature.
As before the leopards try to close in on Ian, another appearing behind the previous.
Ian is prepared for them though and holds his ground.
The last one snarls at Edric, clawing and biting at his armor and dealing some very minor damage.
In the back room a flare of light strikes the open door and north wall and small shadows begin to dance about. It is only a moment before the smell of flame and smoke reaches your nostrils.
Ian yells as he slashes the leopard across the jaw with the heavy bardiche, then thrusts the point up into its belly, lifting it up, frustration and pain grating his already gravelly voice.
"Fire! He lit the place!" Ian shouts, battling the leopards fiercely as they claw and snap at his armor. Blood was smeared on the iron, giving it a crimson hue.
Now out of the window, Tomlin dashes along the edge of the building while staying hidden. He calls upon his inner reserves for an extra burst of speed.
Continuing again with the unearthly laughter, Serelina glares at another of the leopards bringing ill fortune upon it.
Edric slashes at the leopard nearest to him.
Tavrus will move into the south room (one up and one left from that table) and do a channel energy hitting all the leopards, excluding Serelina, Ian, and Valdr.
With two swift attacks Ian drops the next leopard in line while negative energy emanating from Tavrus seeps into the remaining creatures.
Edric also pierces the closest leopard, and it snarls at him.
Moving around the side of the building Tomlin does not see anyone in the alleyway. He continues north to get around the next corner, but again finds the side of the building undisturbed.
The leopards continue to press Edric and Ian in turn.
The leopard latches on to Edric's leg, pulling at him.
The first slashes one claw against Ian's legs, finding an opening in the knee joints of his armor where its sharp claws draw blood.
The fire in the other room gets brighter. It might still be stopped if reached soon.
Ian yells in pain as he falls to one knee, then through sheer grit forces himself to stand again, jaw clenched. He was bleeding freely now, seeping through the shredded leather and chain joint of his greave.
Edric will slash at the leopard on him, and Tavrus will cast Cause Fear on the leopard on Ian (DC 14 will negates).
Tomlin cursed softly to himself as he realized his hunch regarding the man's escape route had been wrong. If the man did not escape outside, he either had a trap door in the room he occupied to some sort of escape tunnel...or had magic the halfling could not comprehend. I need to get into that room! Skidding to a stop, Tomlin moved back a few feet to the south. The shuttered window was adjacent to him, and offered the only viable way in at this point. He therefore put all his energy into disabling the shutter in order to climb through the window.
Disable Device
Serelina concentrates on the second leopard on Ian and continues her maniacle laughter.
As Tavrus pushes past the leopard grappling with Edric and through the western door he finds a sparsely furnished room. A single table sits in the middle of the room with several chairs around it. This is the room seen through the scrying when those present were conversing with one another.
Edric pulled off balance by the leopard is unable to land a blow on the creature. Valdr attempts to assist the priests companion but fails to score a hit.
Ian's first strike slices a wound in the back of the creature, but it twists out of the way of back swing.
Outside Tomlin works at the shutters, but again is unable to get them open through subtle manipulation.
The first leopard continues clawing and biting at Edric, holding him fast in its jaws, all four legs raking at the plate armor. The sound of claws on metal is jarring to the ears.
The remaining two continue assaulting Ian. Two near hits are avoided as the farther leopard reaching around the corner interferes with the one directly in front of Ian.
The crackle of flames from the eastern room grows louder.
Hearing the faint crackle of flames behind the shutters makes Tomlin inwardly more frantic. He tries to call on his training to calm himself and again attempt to disable to shutters.
Disable Device
EDIT: Add a 5' step to the south with that full-round disable device action
Serelina curses the final leopard, cackling loudly.
Tomlin manages to get a thin piece of wire inside the window to catch the latch and open it and the shutters. As he pulls the window open the one armed man stands in the southwest corner of the room. He stands next to an open trap door in the floor of the room. He looks up as the window opens giving Tomlin a scowl, "You will not take me scum."
A bed has been pushed towards the middle of the room, the blankets and sheets in flames.
Tavrus takes a shot at any remaining cheetahs
Ian moves into the hall (5' step), then attacks the leopard blocking the door.
Ian slashes the leopard as it flees from Tavrus into the far room. It is still alive but is injured in a bad way. With the creature out of the doorway he moves into the hall to assault the next one, inflicting grave wounds upon it.
Edric tugs and pulls trying to escape the jaws of the third but is unable to break free.
Tavrus fires a crossbow bolt at the creature, but can't get a clear shot.
Valdr attacks again, the creature tries to dodge but is unable to do so effectively while maintaining its hold on Edric.
In return the leopard maintains its bite on Edric, jaws working, while its claws rake across his armor.
The other leopard assaults Ian.
With Tomlin at the window peering in the bald man leaps into the trap door and disappears from sight.
Eyes fixed on the bald man, Tomlin vaults through the window into the room. He's fleeing through a trap door! I'm going after him! Tomlin shouts his intention towards the hallway where his allies fight on against the leopards. Sprinting towards the open trap door while drawing one sword to pair with his poisoned dagger in the other hand, Tomlin again channels his inner fortitude to increase his speed.
Hearing Tomlin's shout, Serelina curses under her breath. Suddenly she jumps into the air and flies over the fray, skating dangerously close to the combatants but trusting her magics to keep her safe from any stray attacks. Streaking into the room, she directs her flight down through the trapdoor into the area below.
Seeing Tomlin run after Hezek, Ian cleaves downward on the leopard with all his strength.
Ian strikes down the leopard blocking his path and moves into the room.
Valdr takes another swing with his axe, sensing the urgency now for the chase with Tomlin's call he enhances his blade, the green runes etched into the metal increasing in intensity.
The blow fells the leopard. Valdr immediately moves into the hallway to give chase.
Serelina, flying above the heads of all is able to move with ease down the passage and into the trap door to a narrow passage below, following right behind Tomlin as he drops into the hole. The passage runs south and it quickly becomes dark, though there is a faint whisper flicker of light from a bend to the west. Racing around the corner Tomlin can see the bald man Hezek fleeing, a small glowing item held in one hand giving off not more light than a candle, with his enhanced speed he catches up to him.
The faint smell of sewage reaches their nostrils.
The leopard still alive in the burning room falls over from exhaustion, the flames and smoke overcoming it.
Hezek swears in some unknown language and steps back from Tomlin, concentrating intently. Almost immediately a creature appears between Tomlin and Hezek, a dretch like those fought at the abandoned tower. In the darkness behind Serelina the sound of something moving can also be heard.
"Zablokujte průchod, můj způsob úniku." screams Hezek.
Speaking in abysal Hezek commadns, "Block the passage, cover my escape."
The dretch immediately turns on Tomlin, clawing and biting at him. Tomlin evades the claws but his bitten by the demon.
Serelina feels claws digging into her lower legs.
At the same time a putrid green cloud fills the hallway.
Tavrus and Edric move towards the tunnel, walking around the fire so as to not get burned.
Unable to see through the noxious fog, Serelina attempts to snap off a spell based on what she saw before the fog fell.
Ian runs straight through the fire towards the trap door.
As Serelina cast's her spell she feels another claw raking at her skin.
She maintains her spell though and the air grows freezing and cold. What little light was seeping through the green vapors turns to complete blackness, and the ground grows slick with ice.
Ian climbs down the ladder, then turns around to face pitch blackness. Hearing the scuffle, he keeps a hand on the wall and moves slowly forward towards the sounds. When his foot touches slick ice, he stops, cursing under his breath and trying to judge how far away the fight is.
Edric goes down the hole, followed by Tavrus.
Tavrus can hear Ian's breath is a bit ragged, but he was still going, even after sustaining wounds that would have killed most.
Hearing Tavrus and Edric drop down, Ian says over his shoulder.
"Ground is slick just ahead of me."
Tavrus will put a cure serious wounds into Ian
Fortitude Save
Ian nods his thanks, even though it's pitch black.
"De ja vu."
Valdr follows down the hole right behind Tavrus.
[ooc]Fire damage to Tavrus d6 = 2, Edric d6 = 3, Valdr d6 = 3
Tomlin begins to gag from the foul vapors.
Unable to see, the dretch's lash out blindly at Tomlin and Serelina. Both feels claws and teeth tearing at skin and clothing.
Ian drops his Bardiche and attempts to light a torch from his pack.
Trapped with these creatures, I was counting on Tomlin to get us out once I evened the odds. The nausea is the key threat.
Just as she is thinking this, the nausea takes over and she loses her ability to do more than crawl along the ice - but there is no where for her to crawl...
Tomlin gagged as the too-familiar stench hit his nostrils. Like before, he was ill-prepared for its arrival and was quickly overwhelmed. Trying to think past the retching sensation, he knew he needed to get passed his foes if possible. He bolted into action, attempting to spin past both the summoned beast and the bald man to halt his retreat.
Acrobatics Check
EDIT: @GM: Did the Dretch in front of Tomlin go twice before Tomlin acted? I see one set of attacks, resulting in a bit attack that hit, right after the creature was summoned. Then Tomlin was attacked again by the dretch (who hit better swinging blindly) your last post. Maybe the second set of attacks shouldn't have occurred yet?