"Kill 'em!" one of the workers shouts.
"There goes diplomacy," Ventus says grimly, "Right! You there! Ugly! You're mine." Ventus pushes past Kaplan and levels his sword at one of the cultists before rushing in.
"Kill us?? Fer askin' uhbout yer boss??" exclaims Pirknok as he draws his sword and charges another of the men.
Jessamy dashes forward and cuts at the nearest of the three men. "I knew this wouldn't work," she mutters.
Eli's expression is grim and pained as the fighting starts. He draws and drinks a vial from his bandolier, which results in his skin darkening a shade and his eyes becoming more bestial in appearance.
Ventus and Jessamy wound the front-most cultist badly and Pirknok does the same in a thunderous charge but neither opponent falls.
The unengaged cultist draws a dagger and tries to handspring behind Jess.
The two wounded cultists draw similar weapons with a murderous gleam in their eyes.
Tears again spring to Jessamy's eyes as the blades hit her.
Stepping out from between the two, she draws her other blades and swings again. [b]"Let's see how you like it.[/ooc]
Despite her own injuries, Jessamy catches the sneaky cultist with her blade and then swiftly cuts down the previously wounded one.
Pirknok growls and swings at the one trying to stab him. "That's it... no more mister nice dwarf!"
Ventus' sword sings as it whistles past his first target, but seeing Jessamy take the brunt of too many attacks he spins and backhands the other worker with his shield in a teeth-rattling blow. Continuing the motion somewhat clumsy manner his sword manages to dip under his original target's defenses.
"Get away from her," he growls at the men. "Beaks!" the ranger calls out and there is a dull thrum as the designs on his armor ripple and shift becoming three dimensional as the hippogriff climbs out of his armor and shakes off the last vestiges of sleep.
Seeing the cultists engaged by the party, Kaplan steps forward and swings his blade at the nearest cultist.
;
;
Eli steps into the room, drawing a vial from his bandolier and looks for a clear shot at any of the cultists. He bowls the bomb at one he sees.
Pirknok cuts his opponent to ribbons and Ventus pummels his until Eli’s explosive blows the a hole in his torso.
The room is suddenly empty and quiet minus the sounds of the river outside and the mill’s machinery.
Pirknok moves to check his fallen opponent, disarming him as he does so.
Kaplan relaxes as the threats are dealt with.
In addition to their work garb, each of the cultists has an ornate dagger, three vials of unknown yellow substance, and those familiar pins on them.
Pirknok finds some rope and secures the one he knocked out. "We kin questchun this wun later if we want."
"Shh," Ventus hisses at the others, "Got movement below."
Pirknok points at the front door and whispers, "There wuz sum stairs outside. Shud we check it out?"
Eli nods. "We made a lot of noise. Not everyone here might be murderous goons, though." he says, getting another bomb ready. "Jessamy, you got pretty badly hit there. Let's take care of that before we go anywhere."
"Yes (ouch), please (ouch). Thanks (ouch)."
She sighs in relief as the wand's healing power washed over her.
"What's in those vials," she asks.
Eli examines the vials and if they are poison, identifies them to her.
"Well, if they're using them, why don't we?" she asks. "Um, I just rub it on my swords?"
"You good to go kid?" Ventus asks, starting for the doors and the outside access to the basement. Beaks follows behind.
"Yeah," Jessamy says, with a nod.
Sheathing one of her swords, she follows the ranger, checking to make sure the way is safe when they reach the outside doors.
Exiting the building, the party heads downstairs.
This is a place of mist and noise. Four immense waterwheels churn steadily in the northern part of this large room, while to the south, whirring belts of leather, gears, pulleys, and thick ropes spin and churn, using the eternal motion of the river below to power pistons that rumble along the southern wall.
Pirknok looks around for the source of the noise Ventus heard.
Pirknok catches sight of men dressed like the workers above hiding behind the water-wheels.
"C'mon out now," calls Pirknok. "We don't want ta hurt ya, we're just wantin' ta talk ta yer boss."
He frowns. "Unless yer part uv thuh group uv people who wear that mark... anyway, ya better come on out now."
Besides the clamor of machinery, there's a long silence after Pirknok speaks.
Finally a harsh voice shouts out.
"That's too bad 'cause we wanna hurt you!"
With a shake of his head, Kaplan mutters a few words and a sword of flame appears in his hand.
Jessamy again darts forward as she draws her swords, injuries from last time having made her no more cautious, and stabs with her blade.
She grins as the magic weapon pierces the man's chest like a knife cutting through butter.
Ventus walks out toward the men hiding in the gears and hefts his shield, thumping his hilt on the surface.
"C'mon, if you've got the minerals that is."
Eli moves up behind Adventus and lobs the bomb he is holding at the fellow behind the corner. "Bad choices are endemic at this location."
Jessamy efficiently cuts down one of the cultists while Eli's bomb slams into another and wounds a third.
The cultists rally to deal with the invaders, three moving out to engage Ventus and Eli while two flank Jessamy.
Though they hold daggers like the ones seen upstairs, these cultists reach out with hands covered in writhing magical energy.
Pirknok charges in and slices at the ones attacking Jessamy. "DIIIIIE!!!!"
Kaplan approaches a cultist, flaming sword in hand. "May Sarenrae's flames cleanse you."
;
"Ha! Have to try hard than that to hit me!" Jessamy taunts as she ducks the man's hand and stabs at him with her blades.
Pirknok delivers a mighty blow followed up by Jessamy who finishes the cultist off with her offhand blade.
Kaplan's sword of flame sears a bloody gash in his opponent earning a cry of pain.
"Bloody wizards!" Ventus shouted as he felt the malignant magics wash over him. He returned the favor with violence.
Ventus's shield slams into the cultist on his rear with a solid impact but his opponent manages to get his feet under him before being flung into the dangerous machinery.
Eli steps back, primes another alchemical bomb, and hurls it at one of the cultists near the waterwheels.
The carefully shaped explosion drops the targeted cultist and burns the other while only singeing the fringe of Kaplan's beard.
The cultist squaring off with Jess quickly tries a spell.
But cannot complete it with the dangerous woman harrying him.
The other two flank Ventus once again. Their hands are wreathed in more of that deadly destructive energy.
Rocked by the painful flensing magics, Ventus staggers.
Pirknok hurries around the machinery to slice another of the bad people in half.
Sure enough, Pirknok slices a bad person in half.
"I got 'im," Jessamy yells to Pirknok. "Go help Ventus!"
Despite her bluster, she can't connect with her blades, her attacks thrown off by the distracted glance over her shoulder at the dwarf.