The young man makes a face and shakes his head in frustration before saying or doing anything else.
Looking back at Firrin, Terry takes his bowstring hand, with the fingers flat and pointing at his neck, and waves it back and forth quickly, making a couple of quick motions with the bow away from the direction of the guards.
Dropping his voice to the low end of his range, Terry replies in Abyssal, even as he starts moving away. "Nobody who's going to challenge today."
Firinn quirks an eyebrow at Terry, completely bemused, before nocking his bow and sending a arrow whizzing away to the left. With a mental push he sends Rionnag back to the others, hoping that they'll move up quickly.
"Then come out and let us discuss your roll in taking over this city" A voice responds in Abyssal
Terry smiles at Firinn and keeps motioning him away as he himself slides backwards, keeping his bow ready and pointing in the direction he thinks the men might approach from . . ..
"They think I'm an invader, here to take control. Told them I'm not going to challenge, yet. If we can get out of sight . . ..
"Fall back then?" Firinn responds, worming backwards away from the speakers.
"You won't come join us in our glorious take over of this city? We heard of some Dwarves holding out close to the docks." The voice says again
Khaz stood back, twirling his mace as he waited. With his plate armor he didn’t want to risk alerting any enemies by stomping around. An issue he’d need to get fixed when resources allowed it. He hoped that the scouts would return soon. Otherwise they’d need to go in to rescue them from whatever fate befell them.
Jocasta stays close to a wall as she waits near Khaz. A slow frown comes over her, showing that she's becoming worried about the scouts. She starts looking up to various second-story buildings in the area, wondering if they're being watched or if a sniper is taking up a position.
Firinn makes his way back to the group
"There's more than one person up ahead, speaking Abyssal." Firinn says quietly. "Terry had a word with them but we haven't seen them."
"Any idea what they're talking about?" whispers Jocasta back to Firinn.
"I told them I wasn't going to challenge them for now, and they asked me to come forward and discuss my take over of the territory. No idea which side they actually support from the exchange. I heard at least 2 distinct voices, only 1 of which seemed to know Abyssal. Claimed there are dwarves holding out near the docks."
”What?!” Khaz hissed. These might well be his clan! ”Right. That does it. Let’s go kill these fookers. Right. Now.”
Blade already in hand, Jocasta hurriedly follows Khaz.
Assuming nobody stops him Khaz went straight to the door and attempted to kick it open. Any cultists inside would see a fully armored and very angry dwarven Paladin standing before them, with a similarly well armored battlemage behind him. Not exactly what they likely wanted to see
Firinn follows the angry dwarf at a safe distance, bow nocked and ready to fire.
<Crash> went the foot into the door.
Khaz moves up to what may have once been just a small little house or a storage shed. Putting Boot to door, the force of the blow swings the door inwards. A smell of rot and decay rushes out towards Khaz, inside can be seen a symbol on the floor and what might be items used for Summoning.
A dead body lays on the floor, bowels spilling out, the circle on the floor drawn in blood. A long hafted weapon stabs out at Khaz The room is about 15' square, the door will allow 1 person through at at time.
Images of his family in need flashing through his mind, the heavily armored dwarf surged forward. He sought to work together with Jocasta to flank whomever she targeted.
”Curs! The crusade lives, which is more than we can say about ye!”
Terry stands next to Firinn, his bow readied as well. Should he spot a target:
Jocasta leaps into action, dueling sword flashing as she moves to engage the enemies within the room. She dives in heedless toward the polearm-wielder who stabbed at Khaz.
WHISSSHHH
Terry is much more aler than Firinn, likely not helped by the fact that he can't help glancing around to check that Rionnag is ok.
As Jocasta enters the room she swing her blade in at the closest cultist, the cultist turns to the side avoiding the blow and returning in favour. Terry sees an opening and places a arrow in a opening between armor and shoulder. , Khaz rushes in drawing an attack from a second cultist off to the side, before smashing his weapon into the man.
A third cultist steps up, invoking what sounds like a spell and stabbing at Khaz.
Magic flows out of the Gliave into Khaz casuing the wound to bleed freely.
Firinn's arrow just goes wide of the new cultist he can kinda see
The cultists swung into Khaz, wounding him severely. Most men would have fallen under such an assault. Even foot soldiers would have died twice over. But Khaz remained standing. Even worse for the cultists, his wounds began closing before their eyes.
Khaz’s mace glowed. An inner light shone through as he brought it down on the cultists facing Jocasta. Even though his wounds slowed him, he was a dwarf on a mission. More relevant, the power of the divine coursed through him.
Lorena makes her way into the house behind everyone else. Eager to try out her newly improved weapon, she thrusts it at the first cultist she sees.
Khaz drops another of the Cultists, Lorena moves in and with a surprise lunge stabs the cultist around the corner.
The remaining standing cultist invokes similar words of power and stabs at Khaz.
Jocasta says a clipped magic word but is cut off as she skids her sword along the haft of her foe's polearm. Her sword strikes and lances with electrical power!
Khaz grunted in pain as the blade cut into him. Unable to effectively strike back, he at least closed his wounds.
Trying his best to find a shot past his companions, Terry let another shaft fly towards the remaining opponent.
He failed to account for the target being jostled about so much by his companions, though . . ..
Lorena tries again, striking slightly harder but a bit more wildly this time, though she also prepares to break off and keep Khaz on his feet should he need the help.
Unfortunately, with his companions crowding in, Firinn can find no better line of fire than Terry...
Jocasta Strikes the Cultist sending ripples of electricty through the woman as he armor acts as a conduit. Khaz not wanting to feel the same way pulles his blow back just enough to avoid the charged culist. Lorena with her longer weapon has no issue striking and dropping the cultist to the floor unconscious.
You are able to recover 2 arrows.
The room stinks like death, a gutted corpse lays on the floor, 3 cultists all outcold but still breathing.
Khaz took a deep breath as he clutched his wounded side. ”Fookin’ hell that was hard. Bah. And now we have these fools. Reminds me of the words of Torag. He says...”
Against my people’s enemies, I will show no mercy. I will not allow their surrender, except when strategy warrants. I will defeat them, yet even in the direst struggle, I will act in a way that brings honor to Torag
”These are certainly the enemies of my people. I’ve got kin who need aid, and I’m loathe to abandon them for these damned souls. But does strategy warrant? They might well have information we could use if we take them to the heart.”
"Not now." Firinn offers his opinion. "If we trek back every time we find a cultist we'll never get anything done. The mission is the tower. Tie these ones up and leave them. If crusaders find them our job is done anyway"
”More likely that cultists find them, the way things are going.” Khaz held his mace meaningfully. He was not just a paladin, he was a paladin of the dwarven pantheon. And being good didn’t always mean being nice. This was a war against evil. He knew what his duty was...and these were demon worshipping murderers. They would hang anyways. Yes, his duty was clear.
"We can secure them and comeback for them after the tower. If you pull their hands behind them, hold the hands and wrists together palms OUT and lash them together that way, then you extend the rope over a high point, like a ceiling beam, you can secure that rope so they have no stretch to work their way out. They'll stay put for a couple of days that way, unless killed or rescued."
The men and woman have scale mail, glaives and spiked gauntlets, you find 100 gp between them and 3 potions.
They are all potions of CLW
Khaz shook his head. ”If we bring them in they will be executed. If we leave them here and civilians find them, they will pretend to be crusaders or other civilians and will be freed. Free to infiltrate and rise up again. Leaving them tied up only gives the chance for them to harm more civilians. It would feel *good* as if though we were doing the right thing. But anyone they kill, like him.” Khaz pointed to the sacrifice on the ground, the man murdered by these cultists ”Will be because of us. I declare them traitors, demon worshipers, and murderers. For these crimes, as a paladin or the crusade and under the edicts of lord Torag, I sentence them to death.”
Khaz raised his mace to complete the sentence. Only stopping if someone stops him and convinces him on a reason to leave them alive.
Firinn shrugs, he's seen (and experienced) exactly what sort of evils cults can propagate - less of them is a good thing as far as he's concerned.
He moves to collect the various weapons and armour, his opinion given.