”AHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh….” The pitiful shriek of the sprite echoes in a high pitch outside the lighthouse as she plunges to her death, her wings shattered and burning from the impact of Emerson’s musket round. She plunges past the sea wall and disappears from view, the end of one of Ethelyn’s favored fey.
”NO! MELLORA!” shouts out Sorkana in dismay at her fey friend, watching helplessly as she plummets to her death. She looks down at Emerson from her vantage point, then directly below her to where Gemma stands, clutching her potion and swearing revenge…until Anneca’s aerial assistant buffets her back from the edge, a very real threat to her now.
The tiny scarlet dragon lets out an eager hiss and swoops over to attack the source of the handmaiden’s displeasure, even though it appears that same foe is completely incapacitated by Mellora’s colorful magic.Down and completely helpless, the barbed tail lashes out and stings Johnathan in the arm just barely past the leather rim of his lamellar armor. There is little change in Johnathan, other than his breathing is more regular and relaxed than a moment before.
”Now see here, constables,” replies Captain Allister with a stern tone that brooks no argument and is used to being obeyed on his own ship. He hands his spyglass to the Second Mate and walks over to review the three constables who so eagerly are looking to get into the fight directly. ”I have no direct jurisdiction over the three of you, but this is my ship and this fight with the Eminent is under military jurisdiction under the naval rules of engagement. Technically, you are civilian non-combatants under the rules of naval warfare…or at worst spies if you choose to engage them and were captured.” He points to their satchels and adds, ”If you have a letter to Admiral Jellicoe I have no claim to see it of course, but the R.H.C. Directorate magically transporting three of you onto my ship means I need to ensure you stay alive at all costs.”
Regarding them a moment longer to see if they are going to give him sass on his own ship, Captain Allister then turns to First Mate Jackabee. ”Lieutenant, see to the lady constable’s request for arrows as well as…well whatever ammunition we have available for these other two constables so desiring a scrap, and give them all a place on the aft castle deck if they want to give the boys some covering fire when they board – I won’t turn down the help of the R.H.C. when offered, but they need to stay put with Sergeant Blithe and his marksmen platoon, back aft, understood?”
”Yessir!” answers Jackabee with a smart salute to his captain. He grins and directs a hand out the back stairs to the main deck. ”Well then, constables. Captn’s orders as they say! Shall we stroll on to the aft castle deck then and I’ll get you three squared away with Marine Sergeant Blithe. This way…”
”HUZZAH!!!” A thunderous cheer goes up from the men all across the decks and riggings of the Gryphon when the foredeck chase gunners finally damage the main rudder of the Eminent, locking the rudder in place so that they can do nothing but stay locked in their starboard turn. The three constables had just been introduced to Sergeant Blithe on the open-air but well-fortified aft castle deck, giving them a fine view of the chase behind the aft mast as exchanges of cannon fire, sniper fire and the occasional magical fiery spell struck each ship upon occasion, though with relatively minor damage inflicted. Lieutenant Jackabee, First Mate of the Gryphon had just personally fetched up some arrows, crossbow bolts and even some metal sling bullets for the constables in a nearby ammo store, when the shouts went up that the Eminent was locked in its turn.
”THAT DID IT! Good boys! Righty-o then, constables, that’s my cue,” says Jackabee eagerly, clasping his hands together for emphasis. He can tell the three of them don’t exactly understand the meaning of the rudder strike, so he takes a moment to explain it to them. ”See we have the gage and could’ve taken an even harder turn to starboard to try and cut their angle off, but any fool would’ve just taken a turn to port in response, breakin’ off from our pursuit or even able to sport their full broadside to us with a waggle-turn and a full volley – either way we would’ve lost the advantage you see. Now they can’t change course, and so we’ve got ‘em. Captain Allister is going to close with ‘em and ram ‘em up on near their starboard bow with the Gryphon’s enchanted prow, and then we’ll board with our superior numbers from the foredecks and amidships. I gotta lead one of the boarding parties, but you three stay here and help Blithe and his men pick off any snipers up in their riggings – they’ll be looking for officers like me comin’ across, so I sure would appreciate you keeping their arrows off my head now!”
As Lieutenant Jackabee heads off back towards the main deck of the ship, Marine Sergeant Blithe salutes each of them and offers them places at the well-fortified and crenelated deck, pointing out probable places where enemy rebel snipers will be hiding in the riggings and mast-stands of the masts. "Call out your sightings if you please, constables, and my marksmen will do the same. Oh, and when I call for you to 'hit the deck' please do so - when we get close to boarding there will be a final broadside volley by both ships, so it wouldn't do for any grapeshot or five-pounders to be taking your heads off..."
A horrendous crashing sound signifies the Gryphon's prow making contact with the Eminent in the forward section of its right-hand side - the starboard bow section - right above the waterline. The tearing and crashing of wood and metal is a terrible sound unlike anything Jesselle, Tobias and Fethryth have ever heard, the jarring of both ships to a screeching halt would have surely sent them all to the deck hard had they already not been down on their hands and knees from Sergeant Blithe's order. Moments earlier as they closed the last one-hundred feet of distance, both ships let loose a terrible broadside volley at point-blank range with their respective guns, tearing through decks and men with brutal ferocity. To the constables it seems as if the Eminent took the worse of the volley, starting to list to starboard even as the ramming action collides both ships together. It is only as the trio get back to their feet that the roar of men reaches a deafening crescendo as numerous planks, roped grapples and boarding hooks are unleashed by Risuri sailors on both sides, locking the ships into a deadly embrace. The action is occurring both forward and amidships on the Gryphon's port side, their ship a full deck taller than the Eminent with most boarding planks sloping down to reach the enemy vessel. Men surge across and bloody battle is joined...
The boarding fight upon the Eminent hangs on a knife's edge. Though the Gryphon should have had a two or even three-to-one advantage in numbers, it appears the Eminent was packing a greater crew of rebel soldiers than normal complement. That, and the rebels have several surviving lesser rebel druids and junior war mages of their own, summoning swarms of birds and other animal creatures to fight against the invaders. As a result, all the Gryphon's sailor reserves have been thrown in. The fight is evenly matched, though the constables have done their part to clear the upper masts and crow's nests of enemy sniper-archers who look to kill the officers and break morale. Jackabee has taken the bow of the Eminent and now leads the main assault on the enemy's main deck, with a second fight swirling on the lower gun deck that can be seen through rent holes in the side of the Eminent.
Just a couple of minutes ago Captain Allister ordered Sergeant Blithe and his men forward to the main deck port-side railing for direct-fire support, with the constables forced to stay in their protected positions aft on the castle deck. Grudgingly, they do as they are told, continuing to snipe at any lone enemies they see. Suddenly, a tremendous explosion rocks the Eminent on their main deck, sending men and material flying on both sides. A powder storeroom on the second deck has just detonated, opening up a vast hole in the top main deck, smoke and debris filling the air topside and wafting between both ships. It is then that the constables see from their vantage point the Eminent's command deck in the raised aft section of the ship clear of rebels: they have sent all their men forward to counterattack the main deck, getting caught up in the explosion even as they did so. As a result the command deck of the Eminent is clear of enemies, the captain's wheel unoccupied, the fortified deck ripe for the taking. Certainly it won't remain that way for long.
Apparently Captain Allister sees it too from his forward position. He shouts desperately for some young sailor lads to throw boarding planks across the wider gulf of water between the aft sections of the two ships, which the three boys promptly do with just about a foot of clearance on the dozen-foot planks' length. Yet there are no marines to make the crossing aft...not even veteran sailors of fighting age to do it. All other able fighting hands are either in the fight or too far forward to take the crossing. Except for Tobias, Fethryth and Jesselle.
Captain Allister stares at them through the smoky haze from his forward command deck to the aft castle deck, looking at them and then at the boarding planks just laid down aft. His look is one of desperation, torn between his duty to keep the "civilian" constables from harm and the rare opportunity to deny the enemy its final rallying point aft. He looks at them with urgency, but he cannot command them to go across. The choice is theirs...
Seeing that there is need Jesselle looks to her companions, "Shall we?" She than starts across the wooden plank. The two ships locked together move down with the waves and the woman still does not ahve her sea legs. while she does not slip and fall into the ocean, she crosses a little more carefully.
=======================================
Tobias smiles at Jesselle's initiative and nods in agreement. "Let's show them they don't have to baby sit us." His cape flaps in the wind behind him as he moves across the boards. He's not a sure footed as he would like, having never been on a ship during combat, let alone crossing between two over the rolling ocean beneath. He makes it over, and stretches a hand out to assist either of his fellow constables as they attempt to join him on the other side.
Gemma throws a smile back to Emerson, thrilled that the sprite is dead. "One down...only a few more to go, right? I'll head to the gear room with Anneca. You going to make your way up to Constable Jackson? Looked like he might have gotten hit pretty good up there."
Gemma makes her way into the lighthouse, passing Ifris in the process. "Don't worry about barring the door. I think we've got bigger problems to deal with right now and it'll take a while for them to muster more forces on us. We should be able to bar the door quick enough if they do. Willem can see if they're coming up on us again and give us fair warning."
And with that she makes her way quickly across the bottom floor of the lighthouse towards the gear room, sabre drawn. She knows she'll have to drop the crossbow soon, especially in close quarters.
Fethryth watches her fellow constables cross to the other ship. She presses her hand to her chest and calls on her inner magic. "Spirits guide my feet; let me flow over the ground as swift as the wind, as sure as the oak, with nothing hampering my steps." A soft glow fountains from her hand and flows down to her feet. It flares up bright then disappears.
As soon as the light fades Fethryth jumps onto the board and hustles across. Although the plank is slippery she dances across easily, her movements sure and precise. "Alright, let's see what we've got."
The three constables manage to cross safely and relatively quickly, landing on the aft command deck of the Eminent completely unopposed. The fighting down on the main deck is still furious...and for the most part obscured by the billowing smoke of the power store explosion as well as musket and pistol fire from various Risuri marines.
However, no sooner do they look around to get their bearings when three Risuri rebel marines can be heard calling for a retreat back to the aft command deck for a renewed defensive stand. Clad in studded leather and bearing either gaff or axe in their hands, the rebels suddenly stop short as they look up the stairs and see the grey uniforms of R.H.C. operatives in their rearguard! The sight of the constables at such an odd time and place gives them pause...long enough for the trio to react first.
Willem carefully sneaks up the lighthouse stairs hoping to let loose his devastating double barreled musket upon Sorkana until he bumps into something that makes noise but he can not see, then thinks to himself, ::"Why are all of these perps always freakin' invisible?!:: His first thought, is to let loose with both barrels on the surprised foe but since he can not see it, there is a good chance he can miss and the foe gets a free hit on him when he fires his musket (AoO with a range weapon). In addition, it will bring Sorkana and whatever else is up there down on him. Willem decides to withdraw to J-11 to join the others for force multiplier and maybe the group can quickly find something to make the invisible easier to see.
Ifris will go after Willem can safely join the group on the first level.
”Company’s here” Fethryth moves to the top of the stairs and takes up a defensive posture. ”Ready to test that new sword of yours Utegg?”
================================
"Almost Feth, but not just yet." He smiles with anticipation, but Tobias stays where he is, waiting to see what the rebel soldiers will choose to do with their new found information. Should they attempt to engage combat, he has a few tricks up his sleeve planned.
=======================================================
Jesselle quickly considers her actions. She could attempt an illusion to give the perception that there are more Constables. She decides against it wanting to save her seplls for now, it has been a long day already and it was not over yet.
The woman moves to the top of the stairs beside Fethryth drawing her rapier as she does. She prepares for the sailor's assault.
Willem knows he is potentially trouble upstairs, with an invisible enemy in front of him and a wounded but dangerous Sorkana able to use her magics unopposed, now that Johnathan is down for the count by fey magics and pseudodragon stings. He puts his musket up in a defensive posture and starts backing down the stairs, hoping he can block any assault by the invisible foe in front of him...
...but the enemy is too skilled for such things, the invisibility giving him perfect precision. He stabs Willem in his side even as his form materializes into the small, leering form of Ilton the assassin; last seen on the Coaltongue in the livery of a cook's outfit, the halfling now wears a fine set of black armor which looks like it is fashioned from lacquered and laminated leaves and strips of cloth, supple yet as sturdy as tough leather. Dripping blood is a sheensteel curved blade that is roughly equivalent to a shortsword, though smaller-sized for his hand. He gives a turn as he withdraws it, and Willem knows his wound will continue to seep out his lifeblood if he does nothing about it.
"YOU!" Despite being buffeted by Anneca's aerial assistant, Sorkana stands at the broken glass ledge of the top story of the lighthouse, glaring in murderous anger at Emerson. Her eladrin eyes glow pure azure for a moment and she suddenly shifts away from where she stands, her form becoming a blur for an instant as she reappears some fifteen feet above the stairwell leading up to the lighthouse platform - her shifting the same thing he witnessed her do on the Coaltongue days ago which got her out of the aft cabin so successfully. For a moment Emerson hopes she has made a tactical error and will plummet to the ground, but she floats effortless down by magic.
"You will burn for that act, lapdog!" With that she extends her hand and speaks the words to enact a ray of pure fire and heat that pierces Emerson's shoulder and side before he can twist away from it. Fiery motes of light swirl around his face like buzzing fireflies, further distracting his vision in the night air as he tries to focus on Sorkana, now landed nimbly on the stairs between he and the lighthouse door.
"Sorkana! Psst! Hey vanish me before you go...SOR!" Ilton tries to get Sorkana's attention after stabbing Willem and watching him retreat down the lighthouse stairs, but she is gone before he can get her to help him, leaving he and the tiny dragon Sliv up to their own devices. "Oh B@!!$!" Some other choice words can be heard up on the topmost level, and then the halfling moves...but to precisely where the constables cannot possibly know or see...
It's a surreal battle cry to the constables as the three rebel marines draw weapons and attack them to try and clear their aft lines of retreat. The first marine trots forward while drawing a dagger, getting to the bottom of the stairs to wing it at the still-injured Jesselle at the top of the steps. Yet his throw is clumsy and bounces off the top steps themselves, clattering uselessly to the side of the stairwell. The other two marines surge forward to attack both Jesselle and Fethryth with nasty gaffs that are bloodied in their hands from the prior boarding action. Tobias casts his knack upon the one against Jesselle and it seems to confuse him for just a moment, making his overhand swing against Jesselle strike low and only graze her armor as it plunges into the wooden planks of the aft deck with a solid thunk.
As for the third rebel marine, his attack upon the prepared Fethryth is almost laughable, the gaff hook coming nowhere near her body as she steps aside from it like a child being assaulted by a dandelion.
’For Risur’ my ass. Fethryth grumbles to herself as she neatly sidesteps the attack. In retaliation she aims a punch at his midsection and follows it up with a jab to the face.
She gets him with her first blow but the second punch goes wide.
Anneca surveys the blockhouse for signs of weakness. The room is secure. The one door leading outside is barricaded and barred. The sea gate mechanical panel is solidly jammed, taking minutes to effect a repair. Emerson's elemental is now lodged under the stone floor right next to the panel, a nasty surprise for any who would attempt to reach the panel.
Yet she hears commotion outside the sound what sounds like an angry Sorkana at Constable Hill. She knows three constables hold the bottom floor of the lighthouse, but that at least one foe holds the upper floors now. It is time to act.
Anneca firmly marches up the stairs to the first floor of the lighthouse tower, standing over and next to Gemma as she attempts to guard the doorway. Willem is wounded and badly bleeding with his double-barreled musket still in hand, but she can do nothing about that. What she can do is to further deal with the stairs to the blockhouse. To that end she quickly unravels another of the scrolls she obtained off the rebel wizard and conjures forth its arcane power, placing a greasy sheen across the bulk of the stairs as well as the floor around it, ensuring any fool who tried to run past would earn a quick trip to the bottom.
With that she looks to the other constables with an eyebrow raised, an open question as to who is going to either aid Hill outside or deal with the threat up the stairs and above their heads.
Unrelenting in its orders to attack Sorkana, the aerial assistant merely flies down to make a diving buffeting attack against the eladrin sorceress, even as it moves by her and Emerson Hill to circle up near the far corner gaslamp by the edge of the seawall on the harbor side. The buffeting attack misses her, but the elemental seems unconcerned as Sorkana has nothing to injure it in turn, hovering by the gaslamp as it readies for its next assault.
The flames burn through Emerson’s armor and almost overwhelm him. He knows he’s in trouble if he stays outside alone so he does the only sensible thing. He calls for his elemental to close with Sorkana, buying him some time to heal himself and to put an enemy in her face to prevent her from casting. Evoking his power, he grabs his left shoulder and channels healing energy into it, trying to close the wound. Stepping to the left he feels his elemental moving beneath his feet only to rise up in front of Sorkana with an upward strike. Unfortunately her arcane armor saves her from the stout assistant.
The tiny scarlet dragon screeches for its mistress in the topmost floor of the lighthouse, finding itself alone up there with an incapacitated foe. Looking to aid Sorkana the dragon launches itself out the broken glass moments before the blinding light reaches it, and soars in the night air down to where Emerson Hill stands by the barricaded blockhouse door. Hissing and lashing out with its barbed tail, the stinger thumps against Emerson's armor, almost piercing it but blocked by the metal squares sewn into his leather.
Gemma makes it to the gear room door, only to have Anneca come back out. As she takes a quick look around, she realizes Emerson is no where to be seen and she can hear Sorkana's voice outside. The voice is not above her, where she would expect it to be in the top of the lighthouse, but outside near ground level, near Emerson's last position. "S&&+! I thought he was right behind me!"
She looks to Anneca with some concern. "This has suddenly turned into a bit of a mess." She has only a moment to decide...up the stairs to who knows what or back to Emerson, who will most assuredly be in imminent danger if left alone to face Sorkana.
Gemma drops her crossbow and takes off, drawing her loaded pistol with her free hand and passing Willem along the way. She gives him a quizzical look, not understanding why exactly he's bleeding so much and not understanding there's an unknown foe on the stairway, but she continues her run towards Emerson.
As she rounds the corner of the lighthouse door, she sees the sorceress, Sorkana Dell, with another little dragon flying near the clearly wounded Emerson. Gemma comes up on her fast, sabre at the ready to make it's first cut. She knows the cold iron will do nothing special to the woman but it'll make her bleed nonetheless, and that's what counts.
With a wicked smile, Gemma can't help but taunt her. "Crying shame about your fey friend. Terrible business going down like that so quickly. Too bad the kill wasn't mine, but you'll just have to do."
Jesselle's brow raised at the sailor's battlecry as the trio of rebels launched themselves up the stairway. The flying dagger and gaff strikes seemed to miss their makes with hasty attacks. Jesselle attacked with her rapier but the man seemed ready for the attack and it was deflected wide.
Jesselle then took a step back and with a poilite wave to Tobias, "Care for a chance?"
================================
"I never say no to an invitation." Tobias smirks, still laughing internally at the marine he cast his previous spell on, then takes a up position in the spot Jesselle had just left, and swings his newly requisitioned falchion. taking out the marine even as he stares down his partner.
=======================================================
"WATCH YOUR BACKS GEMMA AND IFRIS, ILTON THE ASSASSIN WAS OR IS INVISIBLE AT AROUND THE TOP OF THE STAIRS! I am going to help Gemma after I staunch this bleeding or I will not be able to stay upright for long."
Willem then hobbles over next to Anneca and rips whatever looks to be the cleanest to stop the bleeding with pressure, and makeshift bandage.
IFRIS
Ifris looks upstairs and replies, "He is, is he?" She starts counting and delays her action.
Sorkana is trapped on the stairwell by Gemma to her back and the earth elemental to her front. Still wounded from Johnathan's polehammer strike, a typical arcane caster would find being outnumbered and flanked to be most unsettling. The plausible option would be to somehow try and escape the stairs, buying time to drink her potion or even escape to allies...
...yet the eladrin have never considered themselves to be prone to weakness from lesser creatures that should properly grovel beneath their feet.
Sorkana turns her head partially at Gemma's words, but does not turn to face her directly. Nor does she speak to her human lesser attacker directly as she addresses the pseudodragon, though she does use the Risuri Primordial classical tongue in speaking.
"Sliv, lay this thrall low so that I may cut out her tongue with my knife later and present it to the Queen. Do it now please."
With that she sidesteps off of the stairs and floats to the ground as light as a feather, even as she invokes her fiery incantation to send a wave of fire out at both Emerson and his elemental servant. The earth elemental is utterly consumed by the blast, falling into a heap of molten slag where it stands at the base of the stairs. Emerson is much more adept at moving away from the blast, though part of it still singes him and nearly catches his sleeve on fire.
"So, conjurer, seek you to pit your magic against mine? What else can you conjure now that your pet of Urim is gone!" Sorkana sneers at Emerson and taps her breast with her free hand as an open challenge to his magical prowess.
From somewhere up on the second story of the lighthouse a smokestick lands and bounces down the stairs, erupting in a cloud of grey smoke that obscures both the stairwell and the nearby floor of the lighthouse next to it. Yet there is neither sign nor sound of Ilton the Assassin...
The third rebel marine in front of Fethryth is gashed mightily by Tobias and his Beran warblade, clutching his neck and falling away back down the stairs to roll to a stop at the main deck below. The two other marines shout obscenities at their “greycloak” enemies and renew the assault to take the command deck.
”Two can play at that game whelps! C’MON LARS! TO MY LEFT!” utters the marine in front of Tobias, who shifts to his right and grips his gaff with both hands as he reverses his stroke and aims to hook Fethryth right under the chin with the nasty weapon - yet she arches back and slaps the gaff away with her hands, making the attack look almost silly by the constable.
”YAAAAAAAAA!!!” The first rebel marine who threw the errant dagger moments ago now draws a wicked-looking handaxe from his leather belt, charging up the stairs to where Tobias stands with his falchion. He seems to send an overhand axe blow right against Tobias and his armor, but at the last possible moment shows some martial skill and changes his angle of attack against Tobias and his warblade, slicing across the man's leg with the axe.
================================
"After you." Tobias gestures to Jesselle after he unsuccesful swings his sword at the man who just attacked him, his balance thrown off by the blow to his leg. He retreats a step to allow his colleague room to attack.
=======================================================
SA: Turn on Pummeling Style
Full Round Action: Flurry of Blows against Risuri Rebel Marine #1 (E3)
Fethryth uses the momentum of the charging Marine against him; he smashes his face into her blow. The force causes his head to snap back and the Marine has to catch himself so he doesn't fall down the stairs. In a stroke of irony that causes Fethryth's next punch to only hit air.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Emerson is amazed that the eladrin sorcerer can evade both Gemma and his elemental. But he is furious that he is subjected to another flaming blast from the witch. ”How about this!?”
He draws both his hand guns in the blink of an eye and fires. He doesn’t necessarily aim, but uses the tops of the barrels as if he’s pointing both index fingers at his targets. Both bullets are true to his aim and simultaneous screams can be heard above the twin rapports of his pistols.
The dragon is still flapping its wings although it is bleeding from a large rent in its scaly hide. Sorkana however is not as lucky. The bullet from Emerson’s pepperbox stuck her in the right clavicle area, shattering the bone and causing proliferous bleeding. She lies on the ground amongst the dead Risuri rebels, her lifeblood mingling with theirs.
"Of course, thank you." Jesselle nods her head to Tobias and steps forward and slices down with her weapon on the wounded rebel but with a sudden roll of the the ship with the waves her blade goes wide as she looses her balance.
The rebel marine who has been smashed in the face by Fethryth finds himself fortunate indeed that he is not at the bottom of the stairs bleeding out like his fellow marine. Though he swings his handaxe at Jesselle now he takes on a desperate, defensive posture to try and block any other assaults coming his way, trying to hold his ground while the other marine attacks.
The other rebel almost appears disgusted with his lack of success against Fethryth with his gaff hook, dropping it to the side of the stairs as he draws forth a smaller handaxe that he evidently favors more. The lighter weapon whisks through the air towards Fethryth, striking her across both legs with enough force to puncture past her magical force armor, causing blood to drip freely upon the deck.
”SERGEANT! WE’VE GOT GREYCLOAKS UP OUR BACKSIDES HERE!”
A new rebel marine of the Eminent shouts to his superior behind him, then trots up next to where one of the marines has fallen, snarling and peering up the stairs at the constables even as he nocks an arrow to fire from a great-sized longbow – clearly a sniper of the sort that the constables were focused on downing earlier. The marine sniper has trouble with firing past the marines on the stairs, but is a trained and well-practiced opponent, picking the right time to let loose so as to not spear one of his mates in the back. However, the arrow has a bad angle to it with the stairwell being what it is, and the shot sails past both marine and constable to sail over the aft deck and into the water beyond.
================================
"Reinforcements. Great."
Taking advantage of his opponents bolstered defense, Tobias freely begins casting, channeling his mental focus. As he points his left hand down the stairs a wave of intense and impossible colors crashes over the enemy marines threatening to overwhelm their sense.
=======================================================
Initiative Bottom of order, Round 9.0
HP 20/24; AC 22/13/19; F+4/R+5/W+6
Conditions: Armor and Sword Manifested
FA: Speak
MA: Move to K-14
SA: Throw Pellet Grenade at H-I/15-16 hoping to his Ilton the Assassin.
Ifris walks moves half-way between the lighthouse door and the smoke filled stairs to make sure what she is about to do does not comes back on to Willem or Anneca. Hoping to blast Ilton out of hiding or at least injure the little pr***, she throws a pellet grenade to the top of the stairs between the first floor and second floor trying not to be blasted by her own grenade but cover both the 1st level stairs and part of the second level, "I do hope this gets the little pr*** or at least makes him deaf. And next time, we need to acquisition gear that will help us see the hidden!"
She then gets on her toes to dodge a grenade that may come back on her.
With the halfling assassin stalking them through the smoke, Anneca prepares fora fight for her life. She knows that he could appear at any time, knives in her back. She reaches into her bandolier, yanking out a potion to steady her nerves and invigorate her body. She swills it in half a moment, feeling a euphoric surge of strength. She knows that her aim is steadier and her body is hardier than ever. She hears gunshots coming from outside, but not the top or middle levels of the lighthouse.
The air elemental swoops towards the pseudodragon, now that the eladrin sorceress has plummeted to the ground. Attacking the pseudodragon is the closest way for it to fulfill Anneca's orders. The agile little creature leaps out of the way before the elemental can slam into it with a gust of powerful wind.
The pain from her legs makes Fethryth gasp, but she refuses to stop attacking. She gets in a good blow to his kidneys.
Jesselle struck out once again with her rapier but is unable to connect.
Ifris Lanvaldan’s pellet grenade goes right about where she wants it to land up on the stairs, but even so the explosion nearly sends her reeling to the partially barricaded doorway. More smoke adds to the cloud that obscures where the deadly halfling assassin hides – and there is a slight ”eeack!” sound that suggests he did not escape unscathed. With all the smoke, however, it is still impossible to tell exactly where the little nasty killer is.
Screeching out a shrill caterwauling sound at the fall of his lady, Sliv does not do what she had asked and instead renews his fury upon the man who caused her (and him) so much pain. Despite the attack of the aerial assistant the tiny dragon does not retreat, but instead drifts over Emerson’s head in an attempt to bite his ear and sting him in the face. Emerson takes the tail barb right near the neck, though he smacks back the dragon before he can bite his ear off. Moments later however, Emerson collapses upon the stone floor in front of the barricaded blockhouse door, succumbing to the tiny dragon’s fey magic.
,
Tobias casts his dizzying illusionary blast of colors to devastating effect, blinding and knocking unconscious both the wounded rebel marine in front of Fethryth, as well as the marine longbowman at the bottom of the stairs. Oddly the other wounded rebel marine in front of Jesselle and Tobias shakes his head and clears his eyes quickly, not being affected as the other two men were.
Despite the fact that the marine was able to resist the constable’s spell, it’s clear he’s had about enough of facing the notorious “greycloaks” of the King. "Aw to the Bleaking with this now!" He jabs once with his axe but then retreats back down the ramp towards a motley collection of men on the men deck that seem to be fighting a rearward withdrawal from fore to aft.
Before he can retreat back to his fellows, however, he is axed right in the back by a burly sergeant all spattered with blood and gore from fighting along the deck. ”COWARD!” he shouts out as he twists the axe in the rebel marine’s back and sends him sprawling to the deck, bleeding out.
”YEEEEAAAAARRRRRR!” Shouting and raising his shield and bloody battleaxe high, he seems to be the catalyst that is holding the morale of another dozen men behind him together. ”ON TO THE AFT DECK BOYS! LET’S CLEAR IT OF THESE KING’S P#$$ERS AND MAKE OUR STAND THERE!”
With a blood-soaked beard, chain shirt and a wooden shield bearing the insignia of the former Duchess of Shale, the burly rebel marine sergeant walks forward from the twitching body of the rebel marine he just downed, clanging his axe and shield together as he walks forward and up to the place where the marine stood a moment before. ”C’MON YOU P#$$ANTS! LET’S BLEED!” He lofts an overhand strike at Jesselle as she tries to defend it with her rapier, but at the last moment he shifts the axe so that it carries down the length of her blade and appears to gash her badly across her sword-arm and just below one side of her chest. "YEEEAAAAAAHHH!" exclaims the sergeant with a bloodthirsty sneer at her as he returns his axe around to clang it once more upon his shield and ready for another strike, seemingly unaware that he did not injure the constable as badly as he thought he did.
================================
Even as his illusory colors fade from view Tobias' mental focus is shifted toward Jesselle and he watches as the battleaxe threatens to harm the young women. Reflexively he uses the force of his will to deflect much of the energy from the blow. He simultaneously manifests a shadow illusion of the Sergeant swinging it's axe down on the unconscious sniper at the bottom of the stairs.
Perhaps most surprising of all is that even in his stricken state the sniper's mind resists the incoming damage and it dissipates into nothingness along with the shadow illusuon. Tobias briefly looks down at the man, impressed.
================================
Protecting Jesselle so quickly after casting a spell leaves Tobias a little mentally disrupted so he chooses to switch back to physical attacks instead, unfortunately his swing comes at an awkward angle and he hardly even brushes against the rebel.
He does however collect his thoughts soon enough to begin imposing his will on the bloody foe, muddying the mans thoughts even as the battle rages.
=======================================================
PRE-IFRIS INITIATIVE
As Ifris regains her composure, she smirks with some satisfaction that her estimation was correct of where the assassin would be and drew first blood on the assassin. She thinks to herself if her estimation will pay off again but she will have to wait and see. Surely the assassin is going to want pay back for the pain Ifris caused him. She readies herself for whatever comes next.
Alarm bells go off in Fethryth’s head; this man is far more dangerous than the marines they’ve already faced. But there are two things in the constable’s favor. One, the unconscious men are clogging up the stairs, right in the path of any fighters coming to help their Sergeant. And two...this man is very confident. Too confident. Confident people make mistakes.
Shields are well and good, but if you're not paying attention they won't keep you from getting punched in the nose. "You want to bleed? Let me help you with that!" Fethryth growls. Ideally he'll focus on her now instead of Jesselle...although she did enjoy taunting the braggart.
Gemma sees Sorkana, the stone elemental and Emerson fall, all within quick moments of one another. She only has time for a quick smile regarding the sorceress before taking aim at the pseudodragon, hoping to end it's miserable life.
Her shot barely grazes the scaled creature, so she has all hope that the air elemental will somehow finish it off before it can take another swipe at Emerson. She doesn't truly know if her fellow constable is dead or something else but she knows she needs to get nearer to defend him from the creature, just in case.
Jesselle has been rather ineffective with her rapier against the rebels save to draw attacks. Then the attack that should have left a rather nasty wound but some 'magic' seemed to intervene. She nodded to Tobias for whatever he used to protect her.
Jesselle calls upon her arcane power to empower her rapier and than strikes out and low as the rebel is distracted by Fethryth's attack. But it is quickly easily blocked.
Unfortunately the rebel marine sergeant regards Jesselle’s last rapier attack much in the same way that she does, slapping it away with the blade of his axe almost contemptuously. ”Pathetic,” he sneers at her, and then shouts behind him to the growing group of rebel marines and sailors down on the main deck. ”MUST I DO EVERYTHIN’ EH! THESE GREYCLOAKS ARE NUTHIN TO FEAR I TELL YA!”
With that he brings an overhand stroke of his axe initially in the direction of Jesselle, but turns the angle at the last moment and sends the stroke wide to his right, gashing Fethryth in her exposed right shoulder with a nasty spray of blood. ”YAAAAAAAAAAA! HELP YERSELF WENCH!” Once again he clangs the axe upon his shield and yells back at the men on the deck as if to spur them on. ”C’MON LADS! CLEAR THESE RAGS AND KEEP UP THE FIGHT!”
Though they cannot fully see all the men down on the deck that are fighting to the rear of the ship, it is clear that if they don’t down this rebel sergeant very soon, they will find themselves rushed by whomever is left. The fighting spirit of the rebels on the Eminent seems to hang in the balance with what the three constables do next…
Willem bandage seems to have stopped the bleeding and begins to walk towards to the door with a smirk on his face, Ifris notices his movement towards the door and Willem uses military signals to talk to her;
1. Nice Hit
2. Bleeding stopped
3. Going outside
4. To assist
Ifris responds ok, hurry up, we may need help in hand signals!
Willem steps outside closing the door behind him and sees the little dragon lizard attacking his friend laying on the ground not moving, "EMERSON!" Willem then moves as close as he can get to take the best shot possible without hitting his friends.
Jesselle continues to let the energies surge through her blade but decides not to attack and takes a step back From the safety behind Fethryth. She sheathes her rapier and than places a hand upon her companions back and casts a spell, speaking in an arcane language. Tendrils of blue-silver reach out over the elf and the brutal wound that the Sergeant just struck seems to close and disappear entirely. The only evidence of the wound the tear in the fabric and blood around the edges.
================================
Taking a step backwards Tobias starts casting once again. He implants a powerful suggestion of exhaustion that washes over every wakeful mind on the stairs.
=======================================================
For a brief, painful moment Fethryth is sure she’s going to die. The axe nearly severs her arm, and for a couple of heartbeats all she can do is look at it in shock. ’What a crappy way to go out’
That’s when the magic pours into her, sizzling through her veins like fire as it knits her back together. Out of the corner of her eye she can see Jesselle’s hand on her, and she makes a mental note to buy the woman a drink. The spell ends with her feeling better than she did before the Sergeant hit her.
It seems appropriate to swing at the man with the arm he injured
Despite taking the punishing blow from Fethryth that deftly avoids his shield once again, the sergeant is not stupid - he sees Tobias standing there, casting something that he knows he must prevent. "No witchery ya..." The sergeant crouches and steps forward to give a vicious jab with the spike-end of his battleaxe at Tobias' middle, hoping to disrupt him. Yet the combination of the constable's armor and deflection of his great Beran warblade in one hand prevents the spike from injuring him. "C'MON BOYS! I'M ON THE AFT DECK! JOIN ME!!!"
The cat-sized scarlet dragon shrieks a pitiful cry one last time as its wings and body are pierced by the steel shot of both pistol and musket. It lands with a soft bounce upon the pavestones next to Emerson’s unconscious form.
From somewhere in the cloud, Ilton tosses a second smokestick upon the ground right in front of Anneca, the volume of which now threatens to fill up the entire bottom story of the lighthouse tower. Anneca thinks she sees the masked little head of Ilton peek out to the side of the cloud he was in a moment before tossing the next one, but now there’s no telling where the little wretch is hiding. Ifris can no longer see Anneca inside the lighthouse and vice-versa, but to Anneca’s well-ordered mind she knows exactly where the assassin is trying to get to…and she stands in the way of it.