Thaven takes a step back and sends 2 arrows into the nearest opponent!
Raijinn raises his sword defensively and looks to the men in front of him. "Gentlemen, you have abandoned your brethren and I would have an explanation."
Akiki rolls her eyes from behind Raijinn at his attempts to talk to them. She listens for Goff with her head tilted, and then yells (hopefully loud enough to be heard by their companions) ""
Front Guards - 23
Raijinn - 21
Thaven - 12
Nostrum - 9
Goffred - 3
The balded man lifts his hammer, sneers at Raijinn, and says "What's your business is that you're going to be in a lot of pain quite soon." before charging forward. His compatriot takes aim with his crossbow and fires at Raijinn. The hammer swipe comes up a bit short from the overeager guard, but Raijinn is taken in the thigh by a bolt.
hit!
to Raijinn.
miss!
Baldrago makes a weak smile and laugh before stepping forward again to take a swipe at Nostrum, while his compatriot draws his sword and angrily tries to skewer Cat. The sword aimed for Cat thuds into the wooden floor as Cat jumps nimbly to the side, while Baldrago's sword merely brushes Nostrum's armor.
miss!
miss!
One of Thaven's arrows streaks past the bigger guard in front, but the other hits him in the belly, although a little bit off-kilter.
The guard is just recovering from being hit with an arrow when he's hit right in the chest with a bone-shattering greataxe blow, killing him instantly.
Cat's claw successfully swipes at the guard's hand while he tries to remove his sword, and the magic missile hits him again, and you swear you hear something crack.
- Swift action to use 1 point from Arcane Pool to give +1 Weapon Attack for 1 minute (~10 Rounds)
- Cast Shocking Grasp as part of the Melee Attack per Spellstrike.
- If the opponent is wearing metal armour or using a metal weapon (hammer), I get +3 to attack to deliver the spell. (Included in the roll)
Fury fills Raijinn's eyes as the bolt rips through his leg. An arc of lightning spirals around the black blade, seeming to originate from his hands. The sword cackles with electricity as Raijinn slashes through the bald man.
Thaven nods again and fires twice more!
Akiki swings her bow off of her shoulder, shooting at the shooter since he's the one that damaged Raijinn.
Then she skitters back a couple steps to give herself more range.
"This did not have to happen," says Fredo, tucking the wand back into his robes. Nostrum and Thaven are more than a match for the lone ex-guard, and should draw his attention away from Cat to boot. For her part, she hisses at him, and arches her back, but stays where she is. "You could simply have let us in. Then again," he says, "if you were capable of making smart decisions you would not have followed Vancaskerkin or left the Guard. I don't suppose you'd mind sharing why you did that, hmm?"
Front Guards - 23
Raijinn - 21
Akiki - 13
Thaven - 12
Nostrum - 9
Goffred - 3
The other guard seems to notice that he's attacking a cat while a huge man with a greataxe downs his compatriot, and with a yelp moves to attack Nostrum. He trips a bit over his fallen compatriot, however, and his sword swipe goes low. Before Nostrum can respond, and right as Goffred is opening his mouth, the man is struck in the chest with two arrows from Thaven's bow. He staggers back and falls to the ground, blood seeping out of his mouth.
The balded guard snarls at Raijinn's unsettling countenance and attempts another heavy swing with his hammer. This one connects with Raijinn's other leg, delivering a bone-snapping strike. Raijinn, furious at the building wounds, swings his black scimitar, the blade crackling with energy and magnetically connecting with the man's chainmail as the blade rips through the man's armor and flesh and he crackles and jerks with the electricity coursing through him. The man falls, unconscious. The other guard panicks at this display and attempts to flee back into the butchery, but is taken in the hip by Akiki's arrow before he makes it around the corner into the building.
Akiki snorts and shoots at the running guy again.
Raijinn puts his hand on the wall to keep from falling over. He looks over at Akiki who is standing there completely unharmed. "I should have learned to shoot a bow." He grimaces and forces himself to his feet. "Let's see what they were protecting, shall we?"
Thaven shrugs at Fredo's words. "Let's move in. Nostrum you take point. I'll take second. Fredo, you tail. Keep your eyes open for anyone else hiding in there." Thaven nocks an arrow and moves after Nostrum.
"So much for that," says Fredo, as the ex-guard falls before he can say a word. He follows the others into the room. Cat bounds over and wraps herself around his ankles, purring loudly. Fredo bends down to stroke her. "Are you alright?" He can feel that she is, just like she can feel his concern, but it does them both good to hear it spoken aloud.
"We should try to find Akiki and Raijin," he says. "They've been gone much too long."
Akiki mutters a curse at the escaping guard and says, "Its certainly safer," Dryly to Raijinn before marching in the general direction of the front door, as far as she knows. "I'm sure he's gone to alert the whole place, but at this point we might as well just find the others and shoot 'em up."
Raijinn and Akiki move in to where the guards came out of, slowly and quietly, to avoid another potential ambush. Raijinn is struggling so much to walk that he's not keeping as much an eye on things as he should be.
The trio at the front entrance move quietly into the butchery. An apt name for the place that it's become.
Moving past the entranceway into the lone connecting door, the trio opens in to find a hallway. The hallway has two doors, one to the left and one at the end of the hallway, and also houses a stairwell that runs up to the next floor, starting at the opposite end of the 30-foot hallway. Right as the trio enters, Nostrum sees the door fly open and a figure dash through it and begin climbing the stairs. The man is dressed similarly to the guards they've just slain, and carries a crossbow.
Raijinn and Akiki move back into the antechamber, following the guard. Crossing the antechamber into the now-ajar doors into the butchery, they see him on the opposite side of the killing floor, dashing into a door in the wall to their left.
"Get him!" Akiki yells and pelts after the running guard, hoping the others can hear her and catch her drift. "He wasn't following safety protocols!" By which she means he shot Raijinn.
"Well, we can't have that, can we?" says Fredo, amused that both groups had come up with some sort of lie to justify their presence. Out comes the wand again. He can't see the guard just yet, but he'll be able to as soon as the others clear some space. In the meantime, he'll have to settle for admonishments. "Your comrades died rather than tell us why they left the Guard, man! Will you make the same mistake?"
Raijinn half-limps after Akiki, trying to chase down the guard, while still keeping alert of an ambush. He curses under his breath.
The man stops on the beginning of the stairwell, looking between the top of the stairwell and Goffred. He cranes his neck and sees the bodies behind the trio that came in the front door. "Dead? They're...both dead? I..."
Akiki and Raijinn catch up behind the man just as he falls to his knees, begging for forgiveness and mercy and surrender.
Raijinn smiled menacingly at the man, hoping to frighten him. "You shot me in the leg," he said. "I'm more than a little tempted to remove one of yours."
He put his hand on his sword, but as he saw the man collapse, begging and pleading, he softened. He thought for a few seconds and instead put out a hand to help the man up. "You have had a terrible lapse in judgment. You have betrayed the guard, forsaken your vows, and left your comrades alone in an angry city. Your actions have not been honourable."
"However," Raijinn continued. "Such a thing could be forgiven. We want to know where Vancaskerkin is, and what he's up to. If you tell us that much, we'll take you back to the guard when we apprehend the leader, and no harm will befall you."
He looks at the others. If anyone wants an explanation, Raijinn will shrug and say, "None of us would be here if we had done everything right. Mistakes should not cost us everything in life."
"He- he's upstairs!", the guard blubbers. "He's too paranoid to leave most of the time. Please, can I just go? I promise I won't be any trouble to anybody."
"No, I do not think so," says Fredo, still brandishing the wand. "We were given strict orders: retrieve the deserters, that is, you and your comrades, or, if you resist us with deadly force, use deadly force in return." Baldrago had shoved him and drawn his sword first, right? Fredo presses on. "Logic dictates that, should we fail in those orders, we would be subject to the same punishment, and you can't offer us anything that would be worth that risk.
"Don't worry about your good works here," says Fredo, a little more kindly. "I'll make sure the people who need it still get meat. It'll just be gotten honestly." Fredo still isn't absolutely sure they haven't been getting it honestly, but Baldrago's offer was suggestive and this man's reaction to the idea should tell him one way or the other.
Akiki comes skulking up to the rest of the group. She has nothing to say on the subject of letting the guy go or not; it really makes no difference to her because she's here for Vancaskerkin.
Thaven frowns at the exchange. There always seemed to be talk when there should be action. "Listen. Dead or alive, you're going back to the Guard. So either put out hands and we bind you, or I send two more arrows into you. Your choice."
Thaven raises his bow and takes aim.
The blubbering guard is just standing up, dropping his crossbow, and walking towards Thaven with his arms outstretched when sudden footfalls hammer down the stairs. An attractive face of Chelaxian ancestry, with a chiseled jaw, precedes a slender body still wearing the chain and livery of a Korvosan Guardsman. The man is carrying a bow, and thoroughly surprised to see everyone there, so far into the butchery, and the one guard supposedly being submissive.
His eyes narrow and his hand shoots to the quiver on his back quickly, though.
Back Guards - 24
Raijinn - 21
Akiki - 13
Thaven - 12
Nostrum - 9
Goffred - 3
|
As soon as Nostrum saw Raijinn, he knew that he was seriously wounded. Although he was able to walk, the limp seemed to suggest something very serious was underneath it. Even though they'd only known each other a small while, Nostrum considered him a friend, and began to worry for his well being.
Seeing the new threat, Nostrum knows that a bolt could be fatal to Raijinn if we isn't able to dodge it. A warmth wells up inside the Bard and he runs to protect his companion.
Nostrum moves to Raijinn to try and heal.
If Raijinn is still on positive hitpoints when he gets there, he casts Cure Light Wounds for points of damage.
If Raijinn takes some damage and goes into negatives, Nostrum uses his Rebuke Dead domain ability to heal points of damage.
"You're Verik?" says Fredo incredulously. From what the blubbering ex-guard had said, the man who was coming down the stairs could be nobody else. And yet his features, which Fredo had supposed would be strange to him, were familiar. "But we've met! Six years ago. You chose to let me go free." This was being very generous. Fredo recognized Vancaskerkin as the sergeant who had interrogated him in connection with his brother's plot and death, and had only let Fredo go when his evidence proved to weak to hold him. Still, if Fredo could put a positive spin on those events, the magic might take better. "Don't you remember?" he says, lacing his words with power and following them into Vancaskerkin's brain. "Did you know I finally caught up with Lamm? Why don't you tell me what you've been up to here?"
Raijinn has no idea what Nostrum did, but he begins to feel better, and puts a hand on Nostrum's shoulder, smiling as he does so. He does not move to attack Verik, waiting to see what Fredo is doing first.
Akiki springs to her feet to pulls her bow back. She doesn't shoot right away this time, taking Goff's lead when she has no personal investment in stabbing folk.
Thaven holds his arrows, waiting to see if Fredo's words bring Verik to his senses or if his arrows are needed...
Back Guards - 24
Raijinn - 21
Akiki - 13
Thaven - 12
Nostrum - 9
Goffred - 3
The man, apparently Verik, doesn't think to talk before he unleashes an arrow at Thaven, the man most obviously threatening them. The arrow pierces Thaven's chest, but causes no harm, halting in the man's armor. The other guard attempts to bolt, disheartened by the loss of his comrades. He bolts past Raijinn and Akiki into the butchery room .
Raijinn's wounds close and the crossbow bolt falls out of his leg as Nostrum's god-given healing energies work their stuff.
At Fredo's words, however, Verik drops his bow in wide-eyed recognition. His eyes glow pink for just a moment before the light fades. "Giulianoff! I can't believe it's you. How've you been, you old dog?"
"I've got to say," says Fredo, mounting the stairs and shaking Vancaskerkin's hand, "it's been a rough couple of years. But things are looking up for me. I told you about Lamm. Turns out he really was involved in Aleko's death. But I'm really impressed with what you've pulled off here!" he says, beckoning Nostrum with his eyes. "Not many would stick their necks out rather than keeping their heads down. It's a shame you had to leave the Guard to do it though," he says, his voice falling a little. "I'm sure if you went back and explained things they'd let you keep feeding people."
Thaven slightly lowers his bow, but looking down at the bolt currently stuck in his armor, he glowers at Verik, clearly ready to fire and happy to do so...
Verik seems to gladly accept your hand, shaking it firmly. "I'm glad to hear you're well. Ran into Lamm, huh? Turned out okay, I assume."
At your mention of the butchery, he smiles a bit before shrinking inward. "Yes, it's...very good work here. Yes. People appreciate it. I'm not sure the guard would let me stay here, anyway. What I'm doing here isn't exactly legal...I'm afraid they'd likely clap me in irons." He grins a wan grin before concluding, "I don't even own this building. It's in escrow."
"You're in luck," says Fredo, giving Vancaskerkin a conspiratorial smile. "It just so happens I've been doing this kind of work for three years. If you rejoined the Guard, you could appeal to the Arbiters on behalf of the Guard to take ownership of the building. They should issue the injunction; it's just a matter of transferring title from one government institution to another. I'll walk you through it, no charge.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't do that yourself," he says, pushing the magic a little harder. "Did you not want to deal with the red tape? Maybe think the state of the city would let you get away with taking matters into your own hands?"
Verik smiles at Goffred's explanation of the law. "I see you've been hard at work since your Acadamae run went afoul...I think that honestly, that sounds like a good idea."
He turns a little white at your further asking, although emboldened by your friendly demeanor. "I....Well, it may not have been entirely my idea. Would you want to come upstairs? I've got something to tell you."
If you acquiesce, he'll lead you up the stairs into the upper apartments, but make no attempt to address any other member of the group.
"I would be happy to," says Fredo, taking a step up towards the second floor. "And of course," he says, noticing Vancaskerkin's apparent reluctance to open up in front of the others, "if I'm going to be representing you, anything you tell me is strictly confidential." He keeps his face friendly and expectant, but underneath it all his heart is pounding with excitment. First it turns out Lamm had a mysterious backer, and now Vancaskerkin is hinting he might have one too. Both men were connected to Aleko's death, Lamm the murderer and Vancaskerkin the detective...
Behind everyone else, Cat stretches up and claws at the wall.
Raijinn looks incredibly uncomfortable at watching Fredo walk up the stairs with Verik alone, but he trusts him, and waits readily in case he's needed.
As soon as Fredo is upstairs, Thaven lets out a groan and kicks a wall. "At any sound of trouble, we're up there, immediately."
Akiki snorts and shrugs, finding a place near the bottom of the stairs to sit. She agrees with Cat - if she could claw the wall, she just might. She keeps her ears perked up for trouble.