"The cowards escape!" Svarog had a split second to make a decision. If he followed the way their prey had gone, he would face them on all too uneven footing, and they had the high ground. If he ran back the way they'd come, they might lose their prey entirely.
Maybe it was his dwarfish training, but he chose the shorter path.
Charging in after them, he held his sword high, prepared to cut down whatever it was and ask questions later.
Assuming he hears Svarog, Haftor moves to the collapsed area by the shortest route: through the door to his NW. He has every intention of following after their quarry, presuming the path doesn't look too treacherous.
"That's right! Flee, you puling whelps that smell of milk!" Svarog taunted, hoping to keep their prey from running away too soon. He began to climb after them, teeth gritted at the all-too-likely possibility of an attack as he reached the top of the collapsed floor.
The call went out and Trianne brought her light fully to bear as she bolted after Svarog and Jarrek. She was fleet of foot, but as she came into the room and saw the direction of the pursuit, she drew up.
“Sefes!” she cursed in an ancient tongue. She hated when she didn’t have the correct spells at the ready. She looked back the way she had come, but quickly dismissed that direction. She wasn’t familiar enough with the layout of this ruin to chance pursuit that way.
So she darted after the others to get a better look upward and prepare to try and climb after their targets.
Jarrek, a moment slower than Svarog, pursues their quarry upward as well. [b]"Run, rabbit, but we'll catch you soon enough!"[/ooc]
Svarog and Jarrek head for the wall and try to climb up. Overhead, they see a half-orc in leather armor and a green-skinned humanoid that they recognize as a flood troll. Both of them leap from the wall across the gap in the floor; the troll vanishes from sight (you can all hear the thud as it lands), but the half-orc can't quite manage the trick. He lands on the edge of the opening and the floor gives way under him; he plummets to the ground but manages to keep his footing.
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Ghaer-acted
Kira
Trianne
Jarrek
Haftor
Svarog
The half-orc shouts in Giant as the flood troll flees. Then he takes a quick step forward and hammers at Haftor with a morningstar .
Haftor grunts in pain as he's struck by the spiked weapon, but he stands his ground. "Not much for conversation, this one." He allows himself a grim smile, glad that the half-orc has left no doubt that he is an enemy, and up to no good. He may never understand what's going on in this investigation, but at least he got to fight an orc-blood.
Jarrek laughs as the half-orc falls. He pulls the big falchion off his back as he moves to flank the man with Haftor. "Take him, everyone! He doesn't have a chance of taking us all on!" Jarrek bared his teeth at the other half-orc. "You're going down! Your big friend ran and you knew you couldn't take us on alone or you wouldn't have tried to run, too! Drop your sword and maybe we'll only take you prisoner!"
Satisfied that they had one culprit, Svarog wasn't too worried about finding out what he was a culprit of... at least, not yet. He dropped down beside Jarrek, drew his sword, and cut at the half-orc stranger.
"Yield," he warned their foe as longsword and morningstar clashed, white teeth flashing in a snarl in his tanned face.
Trianne screeched to a halt as the chase became a melee with crunching, colorful swiftness. She winced as Haftor was pummeled and knew she did not wish any part of such savagery. Perhaps she could buy them some time.
“Nu-fwa!” she said. Her arms swung in unison and pointed at the offending half-orc. A shimmering sphere, tiny in origin, raced from her fingers along the torch and expanded as it zipped for the creature’s head. The bubble detonated with a vacuous pop when it reached its gruesome target.
Trianne then backed slowly from the room, guarding her exit until she slipped into the hallway.
Round 1 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Ghaer-acted
Kira
Trianne-acted
Jarrek-acted
Haftor-acted
Svarog-acted
Dropped into the midst of a tangle of attackers, the half-orc manages to dodge every physical attack. Trianne's magic bites on him, though, leaving him unable to take an action.
Haftor doesn't give his enemy any opportunity to surrender. The half-orc had attacked him and started the fight, and Haftor intended to finish it.
EDIT: That's right.
Haftor hits the half-orc handily, wounding him severely.
Svarog was no bard, with a way with words, but he hadn't yet given up hope of interrogating the half-orc - and capturing or killing the troll. "Yield," he insisted, pressing the attack.
From the relative safety of the hallway, Trianne cocked an eyebrow at Svarog’s offer to yield. These were not yielding blows being thrown, nor were the orc-blooded known for their combative prudence.
She reached a hand around the corner and spiraled the fingers, incanting, “Zhak!”
The air lit with a crackle of energy as it arced toward the half-orc seeking purchase.
Jarrek drew his sword and bared his teeth at the other half-orc. He roared another threat. "You're alone and outnumbered! Your muscle is gone and you're surrounded! Drop your sword or die here, today!"
He seems to be shaken by Jarrek's threat, but does not yet appear willing to surrender.
Trianne's spell misses, as does Svarog's furious attack.
Round 3 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Kira-holding
Trianne
Jarrek
Haftor
Svarog
The half-orc survives the daze spell with a few bruises and a shaking, but he's still in the fight.
Or he would be, if he decided to stick around. Instead, he ducks out from between Svarog and Haftor, moving so as to deny Haftor a chance to attack him as he slides by. He bolts out the door.
“Oh no you don’t,” Trianne mused as her frown jilted to a wry smirk when the half-orc bolted. She couldn’t help it. This was a game she knew well. One of her first joyous memories was that of racing madly, and her childhood had been rife with chases and races. Her body was in motion almost before she realized it, and she was darting away with a gazelle’s purchase.
Her mind mapped and extrapolated as she careened on a parallel path to the fleeing villain, catching sight and sound of him across the meditation room. Her brain knew it wasn’t the soundest tactical choice, but her brain wasn’t in total control when her legs were pounding.
She slid to a stop in the hallway adjoining the staircase they descended and held her torch high. Immediately she began weaving an incantation with which to intercept their foe.
"O-ho! You can run, but you'll just die tired." Haftor grunts out one of his favorite grim dwarven sayings as he trundled after his quarry. He slid a throwing axe from his belt as he moved, hoping to get the chance to use it. He was getting impaient to end this thing.
Svarog raced after the half-orc, outpacing Haftor, though not Trianne. To chase the fleeing was an instinct, like a wolf's, and his grin was as unpleasant. "Box him in," he called to Jarrek.
Kira waits for her moment, the hallways cleared enough for her to get into a dead run with Trianne. Turning away to go down a different corridor as she splits from Trianne, Kira aims her crossbow towards the orc's legs and fires when it comes through her vision.
Round 3 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Kira-acted/holding
Trianne-acted
Jarrek
Haftor-acted
Svarog-acted
Kira, Trianne, and Svarog all rush to cut off the fleeing half-orc, while Haftor chases after him. The dwarf's thrown axe sails over the fugitive's head, though.
Jarrek follows Haftor, rushing after the fleeing half-orc as he mutters under his breath. "We flushed him out! Be ready!"
From ahead of the half-orc came the sounds of several sets of stomping boots.
The half-orc doesn't seem to be fazed by the sound.
Round 4 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Kira-
Trianne
Jarrek
Haftor
Svarog
The half-orc draws a small sack from his belt and hurls it at Jarrek, who easily ducks the clumsy throw. The sack hits the wall instead, sticking and burning brightly. He curses and takes a quick step back around the corner.
Trianne entertained the notion of bolting up the stairs to see if she could catch sight of the other. She dismissed it as quickly though, realizing she carried the only real light source for the moment. They would have to settle for apprehending one of the two culprits, at least for now.
So she waited. She was more concerned that he would slip away than she was about doing him direct harm. Creeping a little closer to the stairs, she kept the words of power readied on her tongue in case the party flushed him toward her.
Jarrek rushes around the corner and almost runs into the half-orc as he waits for his pursuers. Jarrek chants out the words to a spell, his tongue almost tripping over itself as he holds himself ready to avoid a counterattack.
Round 4 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Kira-
Trianne-holding
Jarrek-acted
Haftor
Svarog
The half-orc swings at Jarrek as he approaches, but misses. This apparently discomfits him to the point that he collapses, laughing.
Kira nods to Svarog as she turns and rushes down the hallways. Moving to join Trianne in the main hallway leading to the door with her crossbow at the ready.
Haftor moves forward a short distance, offering a swift but fervent prayer to Torag.
Svarog raced down the nearest hallway only to find their foe inexplicably guffawing on the floor at the end of it.
"You won't find the inside of a cell so funny," he growled, snatching away the half-orc's weapons.
"Kira, Trianne - beware of the other one coming back!"
The tide had shifted, Trianne could hear it in their voices. She reacted with experienced movements and repositioned herself toward the bottom of the stairs. She nodded to Kira that she would hold this position.
Eyes dancing from the stairs to the halls, Trianne held her light aloft so as much reached the others as possible.
Round 5 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Kira-
Trianne-
Jarrek-
Haftor
Svarog
The half-orc regains control of himself.
Instead of trying to attack around the corner, Haftor takes a step closer to Jarrek and touches his weapon, murmuring a blessing to Torag. (Assumes Jarrek allows it.)
“Go on,” Trianne nodded her head down the hall toward the enemy, giving Kira and Svarog clearance to go. “I’ll hold here.”
Round 5 (ongoing):
Initiative order
Daktani-acted
Kira-
Trianne-holding
Jarrek-
Haftor-acted
Svarog
Haftor makes it more likely that Jarrek will be able to drop the half-orc in the event of an attack, and Trianne prepares for the worst.
Jarrek nods gratefully to Haftor and slices down at the laughing half-orc with his eye-watering falchion.