A radiant Hound Archon, its armour gleaming as though freshly polished, appears close to Bruendor -- and launches three brutal attacks on Orvignato without delay!
While the Hound Archon attacks, Arca continues to chant, his voice dopplering oddly as he calls out for even more assistance!
With the sudden appearance of the archon, Quevven leaves his defensive stance, lashing out again at Orvignato with his blade.
Startyh snarls, and lets loose his rage. Too many of his friends are getting hurt badly, and he has been less than effective. They bleed while he blunders, and that shames him!
Kel sags under the onslaught as her wounds multiply. Backed into the corner she carefully weaves her healing magic and hopes for her companion's success.
confirms
Anklebiter finished his conjuration and a new ally joined the fight. The dog-headed archon didn't hesitate, but simply swung its sword at the strongest foe in sight. The blade cut deeply into Orvignato and sent the drow reeling right into Bruendor's daggers. The former dwarf cut deeply into Orvigato's inner thigh and neck, spurting blood everywhere. In dire straits, the drow looked behind him, desperate for escape, but the waving blubbery tentacles there kept him from escape that way. As he dithered, Lefrik threw caution to the wind. Letting free his wilder side, his muscles visibly swelled and he vented his rage in a well-times attack. His dagger drove into Orvignato's throat, putting an end to the Venom Kiss' owner once and for all.
Calla dove past Lefrik, calling "Move it, blondie!" as she went, trying to get at the thugs. Her strike went wide, though, and both of them started yelling about Orvignato's death even as they ineffectually tried to deal with their suddenly more effective foes.
Kelendra managed to close the worst of her wounds, barely a moment before the drider attacked again, connecting with a devastating mace blow, followed by a bite to her face.
Remember, none of you have weapons except for daggers.
Kelendra heals herself for 16 healing
Kelendra takes two crits for a total of 21 damage
In bold may act
R2: drider, orvignato, thugs, bruendor, kelendra, calla, lefrik, anklebiter (archon)
Here's the map
Work with me on this, the map they have drawn is too small for all the stuff they describe in this room.
combat hp status:
anklebiter -26
bruendor -29
calla -0
kelendra -22 (poisoned)
lefrik -7
Anklebiter completes his incantation, and the air behind the drider darkens, swirls and brightens. A large cat, its golden coat speckled with black, tenses its hind legs -- and leaps, snarling!
While the cheetah attacks the drider, the Hound Archon clearly decides it wisest to make sure none of Orvignato's henchmen escape to bring more trouble; it turns its attention to the Drow closest to the door.
And through it all, Anklebiter keeps chanting. The Abjurer focuses his attention on the Drider, focusing his mental prowess to overcome its resistance to magic while he chants.... but alas, when he launches a series of magic missiles, they fizzle and fade!
As Orvignato falls, Quevven wastes no time in shoving the dead drow to the floor, he glances at his friends. "Kill these two quick, I've got the drider." He grins as he advances upon the fleshwarped creature. "Now then, why don't you try fighting someone who can really dish it out?" He launches into another whirlwind of attacks, his blade slashing at the eight-legged elf.
Anklebiter shouts out loud: "In the name of glorious House Vegaran, yield now or perish!"
"Do as as they say, or I shall yank out your hearts and sacrifice them to the beings most offensive to you... just so I can imagine your souls crying ...." Startyh holds up a bloody dagger.
Kel falls back against the wall and prays for healing again as the strength rushes from her.
The hound archon tears into one of the thugs, who looks like he is about to give up anyways, even as teh newest summoned creature ineffectually attacks the drider. The two thugs threw their hands into the air in surrender, the blades slipping to the floor. "We surrender. We're not dying for an employer who can't pay," said one.
The drider, however, was enraged and it continued to press the attack. Even as Bruendor dove in and cut off one of its legs, it managed to crack Kelendra on the side of the head with its mace and bite into the delicate flesh of her shoulder once more. Her healing only covered the physical injuries, but the poison coursing through her wracked her slender frame.
Remember, none of you have weapons except for daggers.
The thugs have surrendered.
Kelendra heals herself for 14 healing
Kelendra takes a hit and a bite for a total of 7 damage and must save against poison or take another [dice]1d2[/dice Str damage.
In bold may act
R2: drider, orvignato, thugs, bruendor, kelendra, calla, lefrik, anklebiter (archon)
Here's the map
Work with me on this, the map they have drawn is too small for all the stuff they describe in this room.
combat hp status:
anklebiter -26
bruendor -29
calla -0
kelendra -15(poisoned, -3 STR)
lefrik -7
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"HEY!", Quevven shouted at the drider, his blade painting the walls with the drider's foul blood. "I! AM! OVER! HERE! KILLING! YOU!!!", he shouted, punctuating each word with a stab from his dagger. "Don't worry about her, worry about the guy who's going to murder you!"
The Hound Archon pushes roughly past one of the thugs who have surrendered to get at the Drider, its blade leading the way.
Anklebiter curses as he sees his conjured aide's blade skip off the drider's carapace, and squeezes his eyes to venomous slits as he tries to calculate the thing's resistance .... the strengths of it .... the weaknesses of it .... the flux and weave .... the gaps....!
"Sagittae magicae, omne errore vacuae, volete!"
The Wizard's voice rings with triumph as five orbs of cool, blue light spin themselves out of thin air in front of him -- and then go rocketing off to impact with the Drider's flesh! Thud. Thud. Thud-thud-thud!
Undeterred, the cheetah continues to savage the fleshwarped abomination!
Staryth moves through stepping on the dead man if need be to get to the Drider
Too weak to battle, Kel continues to heal her wounds and hopes her companions can slay the drider before the poison takes her life.
AC 25, touch 19, flat-footed 21
Fort +10*, Ref +8*, Will +12* (+2 vs. enchantments); CMD 22; SR 19
Divine retribution (DC 17) 1/6; Judgments 1/3; Bane 4/8; Discern lies 0/8
Arrows: 0/40; cold iron arrows 0/29; bolts 0/20; elf-bane arrows 0/3
Spells: 0/5 (first-level); 1/5 (second level); 0/3 (third level);
Dancing lights [], darkness [], faerie fire []
Consumables: Gravity Bow ring 0/3
Effects: Destruction judgment (+2 damage); Justice judgment (+2 to hit), BoF (+2 to hit, +2 AC, Reflex saves), haste (+1 to hit, +1 AC)
Calla gestures toward the drider, bringing her Lady's vengeance to bear, even as she keeps her dagger pointed toward the two disarmed drow.
The drider collapsed in a mass of twitching legs and shiny carapace, leaving you alone in Orvignato's office with two very compliant hired thugs, arms upraised. one of them called out "They killed the Boss!" and the room below seemed to come to a crashing halt. For a moment, there was near-quiet as the words percolated through the throng below, then singly and in pairs, the people below began to panic. The roar of sound from below grew and then reached new heights as the panicked mob strove to exit through the single door. From your position, you couldn't see the throng, but the screams and shouts from below, coupled with the slight tremor of the building, made it easy enough to suspect what was going on.
"Well, that saves time having to carve them all up or whip the more tractable ones into submission," Anklebiter/Arca says, callously.
With a careless gesture, the Wizard banishes the black tentacles when they came, then points an imperious figure at one of the thugs.
"You. I want the bookkeeping. All of it."
A thought seems to occur to him, and he adds, thoughtfully: "The prostitutes you had chained up.... Are they really chained, or was that just pretense and have they done a runner along with the clientele? This place might be able to continue.... under the patronage of glorious House Vegaran, that is."
The Abjurer issues an ugly laugh.
"Flesh brings cash, after all, regardless whether it's warm or cold. Speaking of, we may want to dip into the petty cash so we can have the bodies ported home. After we've finished the looting, that is."
Anklebiter winks at Bruendor, Calla, Kelendra and Lefrik.
"I do believe this calls for a drink! Seems we've got a whole inn to do with as we please...."
"Indeed," Calla agrees, coldly, letting the men appear more jubilant.
She looks around, trying to find what may be of value, as she searches for both poison and magic.
"No idea. We're bodyguards, not accountants. Try the desk." The drow thugs sneered at Anklebiter, even as they held their hands aloft.
"As for the prostitutes, check them yourself. It's not our business, unless you're paying in cash."
Calla began scanning the room, looking for valuables, poison, traps, and anything else of interest. She looked pointedly at Anklebiter, who nodded and dismissed his black tentacle spell. The rubbery tendrils had done a number on the desk and everything else in that corner of the room. The desk and chair were in fragments, and many of the papers were wet with ink, alcohol, or blood. The safe was tumbled on its side, though looking no worse for wear.
The strongest traces of magic came from items on Orvignato's person. Unsurprisingly, those came from his armor and weapons. The flail, buckler, and armor were all magical, as was his hat, amulet and ring. There was also another necklace holding a single gem, a rectangular cut that appeared to be made purely of fire.
In addition to the magical items, there were some regular gemstones, some coins, and a half-dozen small daggers coated with poison. The thugs' weapons were also coated with poison.
The papers on and in the desk were nearly ruined from the pulverizing tentacles and spilled liquids. Anything else of interest in this room was likely held in that safe.
"Alright, then," Anklebiter says. "I see you lads aren't interested in pursuing further employment in this establishment. Would you prefer to push off right now, fast as you can run, or...."
The Wizard says something in a lilting, sing-song language which causes the cheetah and the hound archon to growl and raise their hackles as they slowly stalk towards the two thugs.
Once the thugs are gone, one way or another, Anklebiter looks at the others.
"If those sods really are shackled to their work, so to speak, I'd like to cut 'em loose. There are limits."
As soon as they were given leave, the thugs ran, leaving their weapons on the floor. From the open stairwell, the sounds of panic increase as the acrid smell of woodsmoke mingles with and then begins to overpower the other smells of the Kiss.
"Oh, hells. Someone's set the building on fire! Brue, crack that safe! Lef, if Kelendra doesn't have the strength to walk, carry her! Calla, you gather up the loot, I'll .... I'll see what I can do."
Anklebiter is going to do the stupid hero thing and rush off to free the prostitutes....
Calla growls as Anklebiter tries to tell her what to do. However, seeing as the plan is sound, she'll begin stripping the items of value from Orvignato's body.
"Do you need help, Star girl?" she growls.
"On it," Quevven says, pulling out his tools. "Strange that he doesn't have a key on him. How else does he open this?"
Bruendor looked over the safe and was astounded that there didn't appear to be any keyhole. That meant magic, most likely. He took a moment to try and figure it out, then decided to just force it. He wedged a thin sliver of metal into one seam and gently ran it along the outline of the safe's door to try and bypass the magical protection. It was a tricky business, but eventually he felt a slight pop as the magical lock was bypassed.
In the safe were more papers and several bound ledgers. There was also a small box that turned out to be filled with more coins and gems, including a large emerald about the size of a walnut, a signet ring from one of the Houses, and a rack containing 15 vials of some substance.
Staryth joins to help Arca unless someone else calls for him
Kel burns with the poison as her strength diminishes. Unable to support her own weight, she calls on Desna to heal her weakness as the others struggle with the safe.
Her strength returned, Kel offers to heal the wounds of her companions as they prepare their escape.
Quevven smirks to himself as he pops the lock, and quickly empties the contents of the safe into his satchel. Need to go over those ledgers before we give them to the First Daughter. This is what she's really after. Something incriminating in here?
Anklebiter, on his self-imposed mission of mercy, is met with disappointment. There were no chained slaves anywhere in residence, though evidence of empty manacles showed plenty of prior occupants. Upon closer inspection, none of the manacles even had locks.
-----------------------
The fire downstairs was apparently raging out of control, as the smoke grew thicker in the air around you. The building itself may have been constructed of stone, but the interior was paneled with wood, or something just as flammable, silks, and other quite flammable things. The screams from downstairs were almost completely drowned out now by the crackle of flames devouring the Kiss' interior.
"We can go! We've got to go!" Anklebiter yells as he rejoins the others. "Find a window or something so we can avoid the crush!"
"I've got what we came for!", Quevven says, closing the safe back up. "Our things are still downstairs - we've got to retrieve them before we go!" He races to the entrance to retrieve his weaponry, hoping beyond hope that the guards didn't scarper with Bloodbane.
Calla follows Quevven.
"Let us ride a bridge to our gear and then escape", Kel suggests, "It will be the clearest path."
Kelendra's moonlight bridge stretched from the upper balcony to the weapons box by the front door. There are many bodies piled around the door, looking as if they have been trampled to death. The fire in the lower floor is raging beyond normal control, and the heat and smoke are severe.
Calla coughs as she descends.
"What a lovely smell we've discovered. Once again, a plan goes totally according to nothing..." she grouses.
"I've a few protections." Kel offers as she prays and grants fire resistance to her companions.
"Bless you, Kel," Anklebiter says with apparent sincerity.
Quevven feels the effects of the flames and smoke - it took him longer than he'd like to admit to crack the safe, so he spent longer upstairs - and follows his friends towards the relative safety of the drow city.
He helps Quevven out when it appears he's having trouble.
Coughing and heaving, Bruendor nearly fell from the moonlight bridge, and it was only Lefrik's quick reactions that kept him on the structure. At the bottom, the rack holding your weapons was turned over, its contents spilled on the ground. At first, you were afraid that in the panic, someone might have grabbed your things, accidentally or not. But they were all there.
Collecting her weapons, Calla looks around at the others.
"We probably shouldn't head directly back, in case someone is watching," she says. "Perhaps we can look through the ledgers as well, though that could carry some risks."
"Agreed," Anklebiter says. "We should go somewhere public, try to lose ourselves in the crowd before we circle back."
"Crowds can hide people following us as well, we need to also include a lonely place to weed out any agents tracking us. I can create a few minor images to help, but they may be useless against their keen senses."
"I'll keep an eye out, but admit to a developing paranoia..." Wrly.
"I can also -- still -- turn at least some of us invisible," Calla says, looking around for any signs of observation as she casts detect magic .
Anklebiter walks closer to Calla and whispers: "Make Magpie invisible. I'll have her fly overhead, check for people following us while we make a wide loop back to the Vonnarc."