Kevroth speaks quietly, taking a knee and bringing his musket to his shoulder, "I will take the leftmost bugbear."
Nodding to Rhiallas suggestion and preparing his crossbow, Bhalur waits for Rhialla to shoot before aiming himself and shooting towards one of the bugbears
Surprise Round
Magnes looks at the area and seems to shrug before looking to one pillar in particular. "Think I'll see if I can't plug up that stairway. Go ahead and start the party early if they seem to catch on."
With that the Dhouvarr reaches into a pouch and retrieves a foul looking potion swigging the entire thing. The mans arms errupting into even more hair and the dwarf rapidly shrugging off his boots as the spell takes effect. Feet and hands covered in fur with elongated knuckles and fingers tailor made to seek out cracks the Dhouvarr grins and begins climbing the pillar going slowly so as not to alert his foes.
"Now less see if this won't work. Mah, I want a banana fer some reason."
[ooc surprise round is dependant on Magnes sneaking into position. If he fails he loses out I think[/ooc]
Hawk waits for his new allies to fire before shooting a bolt of arcane force into the nearest bugbear.
Magnes slowly and silently clambers up one of the pillars using his new simian appendages to grasp crevases and niches in the wall that a normal climber would never have the hand strength to use. Small plumes of dust appearing in a few spots as he shakes ancient grit loose before making it to his destination, the back of the formation of warriors.
The Dhouvarr' grins as he silently draws his longspear and quaffs a potion before thrusting his spear into the nearest Hob
She begins weaving the myst to turn her skin to bark.
Initiative Order: Magnes (20), Hawkren (20), Igvanus (19) Kevroth (18), Rhialla (12), Bhalur (12), Arukara (12), Ornthalas (11), Opponents (10).
Damage dealt:
Bugbear 1: Dead
Bugbear 2: Dead
Bherug 1: 7 damage
Bherug 2: 7 damage
Bherug 3: Dead
Bherug 4: Dead
+ 1 uninjured Bugbear, 2 uninjured Bherug tribesmen
Round 1
Everyone may act.
"Mah! I remember this being significantly harder, these ones are dropping like flies! The Dwarf laughs as he whirls the weapon held in his strangely elastic simian hands before lunging for another foe.
"Leave the two burned ones to me!" Rhialla calls as she steps forward rapidly firing another two arrows, one for each of the wounded by fire Bherugs.
Well behind the front line, Hawk sends another bolt of arcane force into the remaining bugbear.
Realizing there is Hearteater to deal with, Arukara decides to keep her magical energy for him. She takes out her sling and loads a bullet, taking aim at the nearest standing foe.
Kevroth takes aim again, but when he fires there is only a large cloud of smoke to accompany the report of the musket.
Working swiftly and cursing under his breath, Kevroth clears the weapon, and readies it to fire again.
Dropping his crossbow and drawing both his sword and shield, Bhalur moves forward after everyone has shot, to block possible charging enemies
Initiative Order: Magnes (20), Hawkren (20), Igvanus (19) Kevroth (18), Rhialla (12), Bhalur (12), Arukara (12), Ornthalas (11), Opponents (10).
Damage dealt:
Bugbear 1: Dead
Bugbear 2: Dead
Bherug 1: Dead
Bherug 2: Dead
Bherug 3: Dead
Bherug 4: Dead
Bherug 5: 4 damage
Bugbear 3: 3 damage
+ 1 1 uninjured Bherug tribesmen
Round 2
Everyone may act. (the opponents' actions will be posted afer Magnes AoOs)
As the remaining Bherug tribesmen and bugbear move to attack, the giant hairy dhouvarr makes three quick strikes against them with his spear, hitting the bugbear and dealing 11 damage.
All three foes close in on him.
The bugbear swings his greataxe.
Magnes is not fast enough and he feels a sting as the greataxe draws his blood.
As the Bherug tribesmen attack, Magnes parries both attacks with his spear.
Rhialla continues to step forward and fire her bow at the Bhrug warriors.
st
Round 2
Kevroth aims and fires both barrels at the second of the tribesmen as they rush Magnes, the two reports blending into a single massive roar.
Reloading one barrel with practiced ease, he wills the other barrel to be loaded from his bandolier.
Round 2
Magnes grits his teeth in annoyance and pain as the axe wound begins to seep blood on his clothes. "Fine. Ya get meh special attentions." The dhouvarr growls as he backs up by a step and and thrusts with his magically warped limbs.
Round 2
Moving closer to Bherug, Bhalur tightens his grip on his sword as he slashes towards its neck, trying to cut its artery
Seeing an opportunity as the remaining warriors rush forward, Hawk slips past his allies and tumbles past a blood-blind fighter to skewer the man's kidney on his slender rapier.
Not honorable... but effective.
She will unhook her scimitar, and move to any of the remaining foes to dispose of them.
The adventurers quickly and effectively dispose of the remaining enemies in the hall. They haven't exactly been quiet though. Alskar Hearteater has most likely been alerted to their presence, so time is even more of the essence than before.
Hawk wipes his rapier clean but keeps it in hand. He points down the wide stairs to the right then begins creeping silently down them along the right-hand wall.
"Anyone below surely heard the battle here, let's move quickly." Rhialla moves to descend the stairs.
She looks in the direction of the stairs and moves to it.
Magnes hiccups once and nods wiping the blood off his spear on the bugbears corpse. "Lets get movin' then. Don't suppose one of you could help me out with a bit of healing?." The dwarf asks as he bleeds
Rhialla waves Magnes to her and lends a comforting smile, "It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit."
Moving closer a bit and poking at the dead bodies, Bhalur closes his eyes as he momentarily gives prayer for the fallen before turning to others "Some people like to think that mind comes over the body. True in some sense I believe as everything we see or interract is done with our soul and ideas. Our body just tries to fulfill its desire" smiling a bit at the last words
"Should we hurry for now? It seems like this fight did cause some noise and hopefully we will be able to reach your friend soon, Rhialla"
As you make your way down the stairs you reach a hallway, and at the end of the hallway there is a large hall with stairs leading down to a large circular chamber. At the center of the circular chamber there is a pedestal and on the opposite side of the chamber a large stone door. Statues of elven warriors stand guard in a circle along the walls of the chamber.
Six Bherug tribe shamans are standing in a circle around the pedestal, chanting, while a large man covered in tattoos, thick locks of dark hair and a dark beard with blue warpaint on his face is holding Illysari, the priestess of Larafae with long orange-red hair, with a knife to her throat.
There is a shining green stone on the pedestal. Its glow intensifies as the shamans chant.
In front of them, there stands a man in black fullplate armor, black cloak and black horned full helm holding an evil-looking longsword to the throat of a Waeldfolk krimir who must be Wimbley. On each side of him there is a bugbear in spiked armor. One with a scimitar and shield and the other with a morningstar and shield.
"STOP!" the black knight calls out in a deep bellowing voice. "One more step and I kill the krimir."
Rhialla almost weeps at the sight of Illysari as she stops at the Black Knight's call. "Alright, alright! Just hold on, there is no need to kill anyone, release them and I promise everyone we can all walk away from this unharmed. There's been enough bloodshed already, there is a better way, we just have to work together to find it. What is it you want?"
"I must act quickly, the ritual may be completed soon, at great cost to my mission, my friends, and the innocent but I can not simply throw Wimbley's life away. Lady Larafae, if you are watching, guide me to the answer."
Kevroth, at the back of the group, thmbs the hammers of his musket back as the black-armored man and Rhialla exchange words.
Magnes gives the black armored man a dark grin, resting back with his hands on his spear. "Yes, listenin' to her'd be wise."
Not that'd she'd be able to follow through on that promise. Theres an army out for blood right above them.
Magnes squints and gives the surroundings a glance. This seems a bit familiar.
Seeing the situation around, and desperation of Rhialla Bhalur winces as he looks at the ongoing events. Tail sweeping behind him in irregular manners as his muscles keeps twitching in the manner of ready to take action and his eyes worriedly looking at others
"This is... most horrible now. There is no much time and I have a gut-wrenching feeling here that something truly devicious will be released if we do not act fast. May the blessing of Dragon Matron helps us all" Bhalur mutters to himself in a low voice, just a faint voice for others to hear it as he concentrates his focus on the krimir
Hawk watches the ritual, ignoring the talk. He assesses the situation. They're stalling for time we can't afford. If even half of the legend is true... Ang Varshon can't be allowed to go free. Parley benefits them and both sides know only one can emerge from this battle. He regrets the logical choice. Force the fight.
He growls, "Disrupt the ritual; down the priests." Then he hurls an arcane bolt of energy into the nearest shaman.
STAND: Arcane Bolt (Range: 30' ; crit: 20/2x)
She begins weaving the mist with her hands to bring about a flaming sphere to be position on a shaman.
Kevroth is surprised by the sudden start of the violence that he knew was coming, but only for a heartbeat. Kevroth brings the barrels of his musket to bear on the man from his vision and aims carefully, squeezing the trigger.
Round 1
Seeing as the tension was increasing and people taking action, Bhalur took a charge towards the black armored man, to prevent him from killing the krimir as he let out a roar to impose a challenge
Almost simultaneously, Hawkren hurls an arcane bolt at one of the shamans, and Kevroth fires his musket.
Hawkren's arcane bolt deals 5 damage to one of the shamans.
As Kevroth's bullet hits his armor, the man in black armor loosens his grip on Wimbley enough to let the krimir escape. (16 damage)
Bhalur charges the black armored man and attacks him with his sword dealing 10 damage.
The Flux is more dense than Arukara had assumed, and she quickly draws enough Flux to cast her spell. ()
"So you wanna play rough?" the black armored man bellows. "Fine!"
He attacks Bhalur.
As the two bugbears move toward the rest of the party to attack them, Bhalur gets an AoO.
Round 1
Magnes swears and gives a dark glare to the human spellcaster before rapidly drinking a brew, catching it in his mouth with teeth crunching through the bottles seal before he spits the entire thing to the side.
"We'll be havin' words later."
The Dhouvar looks at another bottle and the blue painted shaman holding the priestess before wincing. "Sorry in advance!"
Taking advantage of the thick flux, Hawk hurls an array of spells. A mystic snowball streaks towards the shaman already damaged by Hawk's arcane blast. He follows that with a ball of webbing aimed at another shaman. He looks for any sign that the ritual has been disrupted.
Slashing fast at his right side towards one of the bugbears, as Bhalur sees opportunity to harm them before the need to focus again on the man in black armor
Round 1
"No!" Rhialla cries out as chaos bears down on the situation. Instinctively Rhialla darts toward Illysari and the tattooed Bherug man, her wings springing out behind her and beating the air to spur her forward. A split moment before reaching them, Rhialla's short sword sings from its sheathe and slashes at the man's arm in hopes of disarming him.
The bugbears move forward and Magnes's warped limbs lash out with his spear lunging like a crane.
The strange style of movement the magically assisted strike requires makes Magnes miss. The dwarf muttering under his breath as the bugbears advance unimpeded.