The magical attack strikes the man squarely in the chest. He grows pale sweat begins to bead on his brow.
"Oh, dear." Idana says, softly. She takes no action. The group seems ridiculously over qualified to deal with these poor fools.
"If any of these idiots actually hit one of you, let me know and I'll heal you."
Elyana heard her sister Idana speak and said, "Oh, you should heal the one that a@!!@$@ stabbed. That just wasn't right."
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Despite being outmatched, the soldiers do not falter as they press their counter attack. Olyena's opponent and Kieran's opponent go after the ones that attacked them with little success. Two of the soldiers that were further away skirt around Sigurd's impressive reach to go after Daerdryn, who'd proven she was possibly the most dangerous of the lot. Their strikes miss, one of them just barely. Meanwhile, the remaining two flank Sigurd and land blows of their own. The brother and sister join the fray, Aayeh going after one of Sigurd's attackers while Thol goes to Daerdryn's aid.
Idana sighs, again, as her sister calls out her laziness.
"I just assumed he was dead. I suppose I should check."
Sigurd watches the lieutenant fall over onto the ground, twitching as the electricity flowed through his form. There was only a moment of respite as the other soldiers rallied forward, striking and attacking. Two of them reach around him, using their combined efforts to strike against him. The blade caught against his flesh, drawing a red line but doing little to deter his wounds.
"Like the stings of bees, you all are! Pathetic!" He roared, his eyes focusing in on one of the men that were going after Daerdryn. The mighty blade lifts into the air as he cries out in rage.
The blade comes down with the strength of an avalanche, hoping to split the man in two.
Sigurd makes good on his intentions, splitting the man from the crown of his head to his groin and splattering himself, Daerdryn, Thol, and the soldier Thol is engaged with in blood and gore.
Idana, however, can't find a way through the melee to the man who lies bleeding out on the floor.
As the room erupts into chaos, Olyenna torns her head for a fraction of a second at her sisters' voices, which proves her undoing as she turns back to her opponent, taking a half step that causes her to slip in the pool of blood that wasn't there a moment ago. Both of her attacks are far from being any kind of threat.
Given that he missed, Kieran tries nothing flashy. Instead he opts for a quick succession of two strikes with his quarterstaff. First the lower end goes for the man's right side, looking to shatter a rib or two, and then immediately follows the upper end, going for the left side of his head and face. One connects, the other does not.
"Hmphh." The soft sound is accompanied by a look of mild disappointment. The cold and the imprisonment have certainly played their part.
Olyena's attacks miss by a wide margin, though she does manage to keep her footing. Keiran manages to break a couple of his opponent's ribs, though the soldier does manage to just barely lurch out of the way of the follow up.
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Elyana was pleased, her target had fallen prey to her spell and she decided that it was time to go on the offensive. With her whip in hand she flicked it at her opponent's feet, attempting to trip him with it. Unfortunately her excitement over getting free and getting to use her new whip, combined with the aches and pains of having been shackled like she had been, left her not at her best. While her whip flicked out it fell limply on the ground at the man's feet. She looked at him sheepishly and said, "Hi?"
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Aayeh continues to try pressing the attack, but her blade fails to hit the mark.
The soldier that Elyana tries to trip snarls before swinging at, and missing, Olyena. The one facing Kieran manages to leave a bleeding gash that could have been worse on the man before passing out from the pain.
The three remaining soldiers all turn on Sigurd, seeing him as the biggest threat and while the one that Aayeh is attacking is too off balance, the others manage to land significant blows.
Thol, however, proves his skill as he sorely wounds one of the soldiers with a swift combination of his blades.
More cuts, more wounds, the slices through the chainmail beat against Sigurd and his impressive. One catches across his face before another stabs through the meat of his leg, pulling a cry of pain from the raging man. He stumbles for a bit, the greatsword lowering as his vision blurs for a moment. It almost appears as though the mighty warrior will crash downwards to the ground, though his voice rumbles out from underneath.
"Is that it? Is that all your weak limbs can muster for me?" Underneath that bloodied cheek are stormy, fierce blue eyes that seem more beast than man at the moment. "Be glad. Your mothers will not have a chance to see how disgraceful their sons were in their last moments!"
The greatsword swings quickly and suddenly as the barbarian continues to fight on despite his injuries, aiming for one of the men flanking them and whichever one was closest towards the frailer escapees.
The greatsword splits the man in half, spilling gore and innards upon the floor. The man's death only seems to embolden the barbarian.
Agravated at the soldiers resilience and contemptuous ignorance of her presence, Elyana readied her harm to crack it at him again. Yet again the end of the whip fell at his feet, though it might have brushed his foot this time, and she stomped with a curse as she looked at her weapon and said, "Mr. Whip, you are supposed to trip that soldier, [i[not[/i] tickle his tootsies. Get it right next time."
The soldier that Elyana continues to try tripping looks at her in confusion before edging a little further away.
Sigurd, however, cleaves another man in twain and roars his triumph as he falls to the floor.
Olyenna presses her attack, grinning at her sister's conversatiuon with the apparently uncooperative whip. Her gladeus finds a gap in the man's defenses as he snarls at her sister, while her mace beats against his shield.
Inured to the chaos of the battlefield, she notes the situation of her companions. "Idana, Daerdryn looks ready to topple over!" she shouts, noting the strong willed woman was too stubborn to ask for healing while checking on everyone else.
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Daerdryn steps back, to get a little breathing room, before calling another lightning bolt to hand. This one she aims at one of Sigurd's attackers.
"Of course she does." Idana says, "Everyone needs healing. Just like back home. Everyone made fun of the ice queen until they needed someone to appease the spirits of winter and then they were all smiles and politeness."
The witch of winter steps forward, placing her hand on Daedryn's neck. The electrical woman feels a rush of cold, as if she had just leaped naked into a fresh pile of snow, but the healing comes.
Moving to help Olyenna with the soldier she is fighting, Kieran takes a step in an attempt to better position himself and flank the man before striking at him with two staff blows one after the other, or at least trying to.
Aayeh swings at one of the last soldiers, and misses, before moving to flank him with Keiran.
The two soldiers, seeing that they are doomed, continue to fight on.
The one surrounded by Kieran, Olyena, and Aayeh manages to get a jab past Kieran's defenses and leaves him with a bloody gash.
The one surrounded by Daerdryn, Sigurd, and Thol makes a last effort at the lightning wielder before collapsing as he pushes himself just a bit too far.
Thol then scoots past Sigurd to get at the last soldier.
With a thrust that takes him in the back, the elf ends the fight.
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As the strife died down Daerdryn made a beeline for the injured youth. She did her best to stop the flow of blood, but that would be far from enough.
"Can you do that again?" she asked Idana, "That magic that you used on me and use it on him?"
After that was seen to, she made the rounds of the other soldiers. They didn't deserve her mercy, but maybe they could learn to have a little more backbone or decency in time.
The last man fell and Sigurd would look about frantically, looking for that next attacker, before he would finally begin to calm down. A deep breath left him and he'd reach down, taking a rag from one of the dead men before sitting down and cleaning his blade of their blood.
He watched as Daerdryn moved to take care of the dying men, nodding towards her. "You're too kind to the dogs. They deserve their fate." He looked over at Olyenna, grinning through the blood that coated his face.
"You ain't bad with those blades. If we don't die, we'll need to spar." He looked at his own wound, grumbling for a moment before he shook his head. "Need to find heavier armor..."
"Then try not to bleed out before we get the chance." Olyenna quips back, flashing a grin as she cleans off her blade.
He'd laugh at the notion of bleeding out, taking the rag and wiping the blood that he could off of his form. The truth was that he was coated with it, bloodied and dirty. He'd hiss lightly whenever he reached one of the sword wounds, his hands compressing upon it for a moment to slow the blood-flow down.
"I should be fine. I will just need to exercise more caution next time. They were far more skilled than I gave them credit for." The injuries were gratuitous and unnecessary yet Daerdryn and Kieran wanted to save the cowardly soldier and Sigurd was deciding whether he pitied the poor boy or wanted him to just shut up.
"Search the bodies. Perhaps we'll be fortunate and some died with those healing salves upon their body. I could use a drink from one, the strike through my leg burns."
"Good point." Olyenna responds beginning to check the bodies. She frowns slightly at the effort that Daerdryn was making to save the fools who'd tried to kill them a few moments ago, glancing over at Idana. She hoped the woman didn't expect her sister to heal them as well. She wouldn't like the answer.
"I can if he's alive. Once he's dead he passes over into Elyana's realm."
Idana clears her throat and raises her voice.
"Anyone else who is injured, come stand close to me."
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With the deaths of the soldiers, and her sister doing what she could for the one who'd been stabbed in the gut, Elyana followed as the rest were dealt with. She looked up at something in the air swooping around and nodded as she said, "Yes, you can play with them Draco, just don't go too far. You remember what happened last time don't you." What ever response she got seemed to satisfy here and she smiled happily as she headed to the one who had been stabbed by his superior and knelt down, her legs straddling his upper chest, as Idana healed him. It wouldn't due for him to get up and have to be put down after her sister's kindness after all. She pulled off whatever helmet he might have had on to get a look at him, sh was curious about who this was and why he got stabbed like that. Of course she was kind of hoping he was cute too, that would be nice.
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"Kind, perhaps... Stopping them from dying is all they will get from me however. Maybe they'll choose to do something better with their lives. It wasn't too long ago that we were referred to as dogs. I'd like to think we're the better people."
Her work done, she felt the healing pass over her. As for Elyana... She wasn't sure what the woman was doing. She had a feeling that would be a theme over the course of their journey.
"Kindness to friends is easy," Kieran offers, putting a reassuring hand on Daerdryn's shoulder. "Kindness to enemies on the other hand considerably less so."
Taking a deep breath he smiles, his wounds all but gone. "Thank you by the way. I rather like my blood inside of me rather than out." He adds a wink just for good measure.
Sigurd breathed a bit deeper, feeling the wounds begin to close and the worst of his cuts growing more shallow by the second. His eyes flickered to Idana, no longer the stormy grey they once were but bright and mirthful.
"Thank you, daughter of Winter. May the next battle have more of their blood spilled than ours." He made no comment at Daerdryn and Kieran's comments, but there was a slight look of distaste on his face. It was good to be idealistic, certainly, but that wasn't the truth of the battlefield. They were all dogs, just some of them had the bigger bite and bark.
He moved to the downed soldier who had received the druid's kindness, watching as the strange and slightly addled girl straddled across his chest and stared down at him. What a lucky boy, to still be alive and then wake up to a pretty sight.
Once there, he'd scavenge from the soldiers any waterskins he could find to begin washing the excess blood off of. Looking to Daerdryn, he'd toss one or two of them her way. "You're covered in it. You'll want to clean up." She had been on the other side of the man he chopped down the middle and was just as bloodied as he was in the end.
Thol and Aayeh are quiet as the clean their blades then go look to see what lay beyond the door on the other side of the chamber the fight had taken place in.
Daerdryn manages to keep the soldiers that still lived from bleeding out, and possibly allows them to survive.
Shortly after Elyana straddles him, the young soldier that had been stabbed comes to with a groan. His bleary eyes slowly clear as he focuses on the most innocent of the three sisters.
"Y-you saved me? Why," he asks in a hoarse voice. Now that she's close, Elyana can see that he is cute, and no more than seventeen, if that.
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Smiling at the young man in delight she trailed one finger in a circle on his chest and said, "You're cute, I like cute men." She paused in thought a moment before she continued speaking, "Of course I like cute women too." Her expression became sad then as she said, "I had my sister save you because I didn't think your boss killing you like that was right." She shifted from sad to curious quickly and asked, "Why did he do that?"
Olyenna watches in amusement, yet ready to bring her mace crashing down on the lad's head should he make the slightest threatening move towards Elyana.
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"This is Frey Sorgenson all over again. It took a week to convince her husband to leave Elyana alone after that one." Idana sighs as she helps search the bodies, looking for equipment which will help the group survive once they escape the underground tunnels.
Sigurd listens to the women idly as he goes through one of the ruined bodies beside him. The poor man's face twisted in agony, frozen in death forever. There was a chuckle from the Nord, as he pulls off a bottle tinted red and smells vaguely of burnt cinnamon.
"I was lucky, didn't break the bottle." Looking to the others, he would nod. "I'm taking this one, we should divvy the rest while the elves are scouting ahead.
He would pop the cork and take a deep drink of it, letting the taste slip down his throat while his wounds closed that much more.
There was only the ache in his muscles now from the battle, giving a grin to Sigurd's face as he took the man's waterskin as well. Never could have enough of those when you weren't sure how far you had to travel.
Olyenna chuckles as she collects three of the extra waterskins. She usually carried any extra gear for the three of them since she was better equipped to carry the extra weight. Looking over at the boy, not that they were that much older than he was, he already was looking up at Elyana all doe eyed.
"I think you're right." she sighs.
Kieran looks at his new quarterstaff with a puzzled look. He had expected to fare better in the fight. Perhaps the weapon was at fault? Off balance maybe? He takes a few moments to perform a few rudimentary moves by himself.
"No," he mutters softly to himself. "It is fine, well made. Better than my last one." He sighs, a sign of disappointment. 'It is not the weapon that is off balance, but I,' he ponders. 'I can fault my imprisonment and the cold for now, but I can do so only for so long.'
Another sigh and then a smile before he joins the others as they look through their foes' equipment for anything that may be of use to them.
On the soldiers you find (For each):
- 1 backpack
- 1 belt pouch
- 1 bedroll
- 1 flint and steel
- 1 mess kit
- 1 pot
- 50 ft. of rope
- 1 bar of soap
- 10 torches
- 5 days of rations
- 1 full waterskin
- 1 potion of Cure Light Wounds
- 1 gladius
- 1 heavy wooden shield
- 1 suit of studded leather armor
On the Lieutenant you find:
- 1 backpack
- 1 belt pouch
- 1 bedroll
- 1 flint and steel
- 1 mess kit
- 1 pot
- 50 ft. of rope
- 1 bar of soap
- 10 torches
- 5 days of rations
- 1 full waterskin
- 1 potion of Cure Light Wounds
- 1 longsword
- 1 heavy wooden shield
- 1 masterwork chain shirt
You also find 200 gp on all of the bodies.
The young man shakes his head and seems to be more coherent now that he's had a chance to get over the shock of coming back.
"He called me a coward, and I guess it's true. I never wanted to fight. I only wanted to be a vintner as my father and his before. When the empire demands that you serve them, however, you can't say no," he explains quietly. Suddenly, his face reddens and with a much softer voice, he adds, "um, miss? Not that you are not lovely, but can you let me up? I hardly believe this to be the appropriate place."
Thol and Aayeh return from their look ahead and wait a moment before telling the others what they have found.
Putting her mace back on the hook on her belt, Olyenna bends down to retrieve a fallen Imperial's gladeus, smiling to herself as she runs through a brief elegant combat form with a sword in each hand. With a grin she buckles a second sword belt opposite the first, both blades balancing on her hips.
"Now that feels right."
Gathering some of the gear from the bodies, Olyenna makes sure she has extra waterskins and kits for her sisters as well, accustomed to shouldering any extra gear. as she gets to the worthless commanding officer, she notes that his armor is unharmed, despite being a bit bloody. "This'll do me a hell of a lot better than it will you." she says quietly to the man's corpse. Her sister made her think about the dead a bit differently.
Elyana listened as the young man began to speak and nodded with a smile, "That's a nice dream. As for this being the appropriate place, well, I just wanted to make sure you didn't do something to get yourself killed by making sure you hand to get me off before you could cause problems!" Her tone had been bright and innocent despite her unintentional innuendo, and since he seemed unlikely to fight them, or hurt himself, Elyana carefully rose and then offered him a hand up, "I'm Elyana, who are you?"
"I am Daedaelus, son of Albus," The young lad answers as he takes the proffered hand. His face pales as he sees the carnage about him, but his voice is steady when he continues speaking.
"I don't think I can go home anymore. Would you let join you? I don't feel like dying here," he asks Elyana.
"We did save his life," Kieran adds his own voice to the young man's. "If nothing else, it would be poor form if we did so only to leave him here amidst the chaos and fighting."
"Not that the harsh lands outside this place will necessarily be more forgiving," he also says, this time to the soldier. "You will have to pull your weight, so to speak. At least as much as you can."