Trying to get the pressure off of Adventus, Eli grasps his spear in both hands and stabs it at the Cultist menacing him.
Kaplan swings again with the flaming sword.
;
The insane cultist grins as Ventus succumbs to his wounds and turns his bleeding touch on Pirknok! Jess's opponent tries the same.
Pirknok roars in anger and defiance as his brother crumples to the ground, and swings his sword in vicious Shoanti retribution.
Pirknok cleanly slices the offending cultist into three separate pieces.
Kaplan rushes to the downed Ventus and administers some healing.
Kaplan's healing spell mends Ventus's wounds and stops the constant bleeding.
Jessamy slashes again at her opponent, hoping to take him down quickly before he can touch her with whatever horrible spell he's using.
The party makes short work of the remaining cultists leaving the bottom level of the mill a bloody mess but safe, for now.
Pirknok glares at the dead cultists for a moment before shaking his head to clear it and kneeling to clean his sword. Without looking up from his blade, he addresses Kaplan. "You kept him uhlive."
"That's what I am called to do. Sarenrae guides me to heal those who do good and to purify in flames those who do evil," Kaplan says quietly. "I believe you are here to do good, so I shall do my best to keep you safe. Alive, at least."
The younger dwarf stands from his task and nods at Kaplan. "Nakim makikurak."
Looking around, he frowns. "There wuz sum stairs inside... ah gess we shud go in an' see if thuh boss iz here. Iz everywun okay?"
"How is he?" Eli asks, stepping up to Adventus.
"Still spry, I see." he comments as the Ranger rises and gets right back to business. "Someone make sure he's not still wounded then."
"If there is a boss on the premises, he's likely aware of us with all the noise we're making." he comments.
"I'm fine," Jessamy says with a smile as she walks back. Her eyes widen at the sight of all of Ventus' blood.
"They got you!" she exclaims, surprise in her voice. "You're OK, though?" She seems dubious.
"There must be more here; we haven't learned anything yet. Let's keep looking around."
"Ouch," Ventus said checking himself over. It was a bad sign that he was getting used to falling unconscious and then charging into battle the moment he came to. He pulled the wand out of his breastplate and was about to hand it to Kaplan for some healing but stopped.
"Jess? Can you try to do some recon? We're running low on charges with this thing and I don't want to waste them."
"Sure," the young woman nods eagerly.
Ha! Wait'll they see what I can do. They'll tell everyone how heroic I am. I bet someone will write a story about this.
She sneaks ahead -- though still distracted by thought of glory -- once everyone's ready, eyes peeled for any sign of danger.
Jessamy makes it up the stairs without encountering anymore cultists.
At the top, the stairs end at a door. It does not appear to be trapped.
Jessamy listens for a few moments at the top, trying to hear if anyone or anything is moving inside, before retreating back to her companions to report her findings.
"This'll help, Adventus." Eli says, handing him an infusion.
Jessamy hears nothing behind the closed door.
"Thanks," Ventus said, leaning against the a wall and drinking the liquid. "You alright, Eli?"
With a glance at Pirknok, Kaplan applies another light touch of healing to the ranger.
"Not much, but it'll keep you on your feet."
"Should be clear," Jessamy tells her companions, once they're ready.
Giving them a shrug, she opens the door.
Pirknok holds his sword tightly, trying to get a glimpse into the room as soon as Jess opens the door.
The walls of this room bear macabre decorations - human faces stretched flat over wooden frames by strips of leather or black twine. Each face grimaces in a slightly different expression of pain, looking down on a cramped room that contains a desk, a high-backed rocking chair, and a low-slung cot heaped with scratchy-looking blankets.
A stately looking elven man bearing a short sword glances at the party with cold hatred. Four more cultists stand at his side. Eli recognizes his robes as the trappings of one of Magnimar's Justices.
"I don't know who you are or what you hoped to accomplish by coming here", he whispers. "But this is where you die."
"Yer wrong uhbout that." Pirknok skirts the room, coming up behind one of the cultists and slashing.
Pulling her swords as she darts into the fight, Jessamy slashes at the nearest cultist, hoping to put him down before he can hurt her.
"Get 'em before they get away!" she yells.
Eli walks forward, readying a bomb. "Justice." he says, nodding to him. "I think your colleagues are going to have some questions for you, once we bring you in." he says, tossing the bomb into the middle of the Cultists.
Pirknok swiftly beheads the nearest cultist.
Eli recognizes the elf as Justice Ironbriar.
"Bah! They are colleagues as much as sheep are among wolves!" he laughs.
One of the cultists evades the blast entirely but the other is badly burned. Jess moves in and plunges her blades into the man's chest finishing him.
Even as his men are cut down, Justice Ironbriar appears unphased.
"I will send your souls to the Grey Master myself."
He closes on Pirknok and takes a careful swipe with his sword.
"Hey! Ironbriar! I brought some fun things too!" Ventus called out, moving up and thumping his breastplate twice with the hilt of his sword. The sleeping hippogriff engraved upon the surface opened its eyes and began to shift, pushing and deforming the surface of the metal until an immense soft yellow claw broke free and grasped the edges of the metal pulling the rest of the animal free. It looked down at the remaining cultists and let out an ear piercing shriek.
The cultists, suddenly finding themselves facing down an angry bird-horse, quickly come up with a new plan.
One swipes at Beaks with a hand wreathed in that now familiar corrupting energy. The other cautiously breaks away and moves to aid his leader.
Pirknok roars in pain and angry defiance as the blade sinks into him, then dodges to the side in counterattack.
Kaplan, seeing little he could do at the moment, rushes to Pirknok's side, hoping the barbarian wouldn't need too much help.
Eli frowns and readies another bomb, adding a little extra ingredient. "Justice Ironbriar, is it. I guessed it was you." he says. "Covering your tracks didn't knock us off the scent." He lobs the bomb at the man. "A little taste of what you were hoping Ada would leave to you in Foxglove Manor."
Jessamy flinches at the explosion and then grins as she sees her enemy caught between her and the vicious man-eating dwarf!
Stepping up, she pulls her second blade and slashes them at the justice in a scissoring motion.
Ironbriar easily evades Pirknok’s clumsy attacks but Jessamy’s blades clatter off some kind of magical protection.
He starts to laugh again only to be interrupted by Eli’s bomb crashing into his chest. With a snarl he whips his sword around for another attack at Pirknok.
Pirknok reels from the powerful blows, growling angrily as blood streams from his wounds.
"Beaks, kill," Ventus says pointing at the cultist still standing in front of her. He turns he attentions on Ironbriar.
"You cut up my brother, a clean death is too good for you."
Ventus's attacks meet the same level success as his companions but Beaks opens a pair of nasty wounds on the cultist foolish enough to stand in front of her.
The cultists charge their hands with more deadly energy and attack!