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Serious and focused, Dasiji replies to the fierce halfling. "No, with any luck, you are." Again he shows off his fast hands by putting his polearm away, drawing his trident, throwing it at the deadly enemy, and drawing his long lucerne hammer again in a matter of seconds.
-> damage
By the blessing of her dark god, the cleric of Norborger's breath turns solid and steady. While she lays unconscious, no doubt dreaming of some foul plots of murder, she is in no danger of dying unless one of the Pathfinders (or her crazed allies) finishes her off.
The halfling, frothing with rage, flings himself towards Dasiji. He deftly dodges Dasiji's hammer slamming into the ground, cracking the cobblestones beneath him. Ledford swings his axe has hard as he can in a wide arc, missing Dasiji by a fraction of an inch. Had he waited a bit longer and not been so impatient with his swing, he likely would've split Dasiji's legs and torso from each other.
Halli delights as she conjures up a small dart of acid and points towards Quintus. It rockets towards him, splashing onto a wall far behind him. It leaves a small bubbling hole in the stone as it eats away at the building. She laughs maniacally, then shouts at herself. "No, no, no! Idiotic! No!"
Prone from Quintus's whip, Larkin looks between the two men who stand over him. For the first time, he has a look other than disinterest on his face. His eyes dart from one to the other. He tries to hop up as safely as possible, but drops again when Kehl moves forward with his daggers. He drops his weapons and shows them his hands. "Okay, I give up. You've got me."
With a scream of frustration and anger, the halfling leaps into the air and brings his greataxe to bear upon Dasiji. The blow is viciously strong and deadly, enough to take his head off his shoulders. Dasiji scrambles back just far enough to avoid the deadly stroke of the axe. Had Ledford put just a little less force in, he would have been able to bury the greataxe in his neck. He growls with frustration and umbrage that he avoided the attack.
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With the plain-looking man on the ground and the halfling occupied, Quintus shouts to his friends, "Keep an eye on the shifty fellow on the ground!" before turning to the female caster. He moves within reach and adopts a quirky fighting stance that one might call foppish, but his aim is true as he lunges with his rapier, wounding the caster.
He taunts her with a smirk, "Ha! Best follow your friend's example and yield, lest you feel my blade again!"
Halli shrieks in false indignation as Quintus jabs at her with his rapier. "No, no! NO!" With her final shriek, she takes a step back and blasts him with another spray of vivid colors. When it fades, Quintus lays on the ground. She claps at the success of her magic and squeals with delight. Quintus is unconscious, wholly and completely overwhelmed by the brilliant pattern of colors.
With no one guarding him, the plain-looking surrendered man gets up and runs. Showing some good sense, he leaves his weapons behind. Should they catch him, they would have to spare him or risk running afoul of the law in Absalom.
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Dasiji shuffles back again, emboldened by his previous success, both angry and scared at yet another close call. "Just die already, you psycho!" The trained ex-guard brings his polearm down in a deadly arc, an immense amount of power focused on the hammer's point, which comes down on the furious halfling's head like a boulder dropped by a roc -- and so Ledford drops like a stone too.
Focused as he had been on immediate survival, Dasiji does a double-take at the sight of Quintus on the ground and Larkin scampering around the corner. The reserved Mwangi looks at Kehl and Halli -- the only other two people left standing there -- and then looks back at Kehl, who is a few yards closer to her. "I'll be right behind you."
The halfling bruiser bleeds heavily from the crushing blow of Dasiji's hammer. His blood pumps out quickly from the wound, spilling into the cracks of the cobblestone street. He twitches slightly as his body tries to regain control, but it seems that the wound will likely be fatal without immediate attention.
The blonde's eyes get as big as saucers at Kehl's threat. "Oh, that won't do, that won't do at all!" Despite her words, she looks a bit rattled by the injuries to her allies and Kehl's knives. With a wild shriek, she points at Kehl. Blue crackling arcane energy arcs out and strikes him squarely in the chest, driving him backwards.
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MA: Move within 10' of Halli.
FA: Draw dagger.
SA: Throw dagger at Halli:
-> damage
With two of his comrades already down, Dasiji scowls as the crazy lady's spell seriously injures Kehl. "Now that's quite enough of that!" He steps in-between the two and plants his polearm butt-end on the ground, holding it with one hand. In a blur, the skilled ranger draws and throws his dagger... barely missing the balmy blonde. Growling in frustration, he puts his throwing hand back on his lucerne hammer and holds it menacingly, the spearpoint aimed at Halli's throat.
Dasiji tries to take advantage of the fool's distraction, but her insanity makes her unpredictable, and he stabs at empty air.
The halfling berserker continues to spit up blood, badly injured with his chest collapsed under the force of Dasiji's hammer. He gasps repeatedly, trying to regain his breath - a death rattle.
The sorceress looks crazed and exhausted, her maniacal laughing taking a desperate tilt. She launches another bubbling spray of acid at Kehl after dancing out of his reach, but he ducks it with a roll. He gets back in his feet, daggers ready to finish her -in if Dasiji's hammer doesn't do it ffirst
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Dasiji barely spares a glance for the homicidal halfling taking his last breaths on the corridor's floor. Ledford made his choice to use lethal force, and Halli made hers to not back off. The ex-guard didn't *want* to kill anyone... but if someone had to die, better it be the other guy.
Since the disturbed spellcaster just would not quit, Dasiji sees little choice. With nothing left but his polearm and his sling (and the latter too slow to get out and load), Dasiji steps up next to Kehl and swings his long lucerne hammer in a diagonal slash: not the most efficient strike, but perhaps one harder to avoid.
Sure enough, Dasiji manages to strike a glancing blow -- and finds himself wishing that it were actually possible to literally knock sense into people, since she could surely use some.
Kehl plunges both daggers into the crazed woman's back. She collapses with a yipping cry of glee and terror. She twitches once, twice, then remains still as death. Her final exhalation is one of whimpering giggles. The mad woman dies much faster than the crazed halfling, who chokes to death on his own blood moments later.
A few moments later, some city guards arrive with the citizens scared off by the initial melee between the Pathfinders and their would-be ambushers. The four are healed up and sent back to the Lodge with the thanks of the guardsmen, who explain that these four were a gang of thugs who had robbed and killed a number of citizens. They had apparently been following them for some time during the day, looking for new marks. Choosing a group of Pathfinders, however new and inexperienced, had been their undoing.
They return to the Lodge and are ushered to Venture-Captain Valsin's office after they receive magical healing from a Society cleric. He receives their update with some interest, especially the unexpected robbery attempt. "You did well. All of you. I intended for you to learn a bit more about the city and the politics that the Society is meshed up in, but it proved to be a good learning experience. Not every mission goes to plan. In fact, I'd say that most missions go off the rails, but you lot performed admirably. You've proven your skills and your responsibility, so I'm ready to give you a new assignment outside the city when it comes up. I've got at least one Venture-Captain, Amara Li of the Lantern Lodge, who is going to need some new agents for a mission soon."
After he congratulates them, he lets them out of the office. The last thing that the new Pathfinders see is Valsin heading to his map and taking the pin out of the Crown of the World. With a smile and a shake of his head, he returns it to his desk and closes the door.