Sabyl is still outside; she looks alarmed at Sonya's appearance in the doorway, fresh blood on her armor, but nods and without a further word takes off at a fast sprint through the streets...
With one of the goblins stabilized, the group quickly moves room to room through the factory, hunting for more goblins, or for any sign of Ameiko. Some areas of the Glassworks have been left intact-- the circular display room, for instance, where dozens of glass curios, master examples of glass shaping art, sit prettily arranged on shelves, and where large stained glass windows normally let in sunlight to play on them (albeit with shutters drawn just now). Other rooms-- such as a kitchen-- have been thoroughly ransacked, with cabinet doors torn off hinges, probably a testament to the voracious goblin appetite. There's a modest living quarters that seems to have probably housed workers-- likely the dead Minkaians, and various storerooms, washrooms and other mundane facilities.
In the matter of a few tense minutes, you are fairly certain no goblins remain on this level of the Glassworks-- nor have you seen any sign of Ameiko.
During those few minutes, a few guardsmen have returned with Sabyl-- panting and out of breath, unlike Sabyl herself. "We shall guard the exits," Sabyl calls with her hands folded into her blue sleeves, when she sees one of you passing a door. "Do whatever it is you must do."
A small cluster of curious townsfolk have gathered past the guardsmen and Sabyl, and no doubt dozens of new rumors are already flying.
However, within the Glassworks, all is quiet other than the roar of the furnace... and the stairs that beckon downward, into the basement of the factory...
Rokan is absolutely stunned that the room full of glass somehow survived the little chaos-makers' attention, but he moves on without much comment. As they move down into the glassworks' lower level, the Shoanti stalks forward, careful to make sure he and his team have ample light to uncover any possible ambushes.
At the first fork in the hallway, he pauses to listen for activity.
Sonya moves forward, axe drawn, and motions for Rokan to go northwards.
(They just hadn't gotten to it before they got distracted by things that screamed when you broke them, Rokan.)
Rokan pauses at the fork in the hallway, listening for sound, but it seems quiet other than the muffled roar of the furnace overhead... until Sonya passes him and stumbles over a brick-- actually, a few bricks-- just before a gaping uneven doorway. What the hell are bricks doing there? Well, at the moment, there's other things to worry about-- like the clanging noise Sonya makes as she catches herself from falling. Woops.
There's almost instantly a hubbub of high-pitched voices, and doors swinging open...
A man stares out into the hall from a door just a few feet from Sonya: tall and lanky, with features that indicate Minkai in his ancestry, but also elf. "...the hell?" he says with a blink, looking blearily at Sonya, and then his fuzzy eyes narrow in anger.
Sonya stands as the door opens, eyes locking with the man for a moment. Her eyes narrow as his do, staring him down as she calls for guidance from Abadar. Before he can react with more than eye narrowing, Sonya jumps forward, swinging the hilt of her axe at his chin.
She shouts - "Where's Ameiko!"
Sonya feels that the man in front of her is no good person at all. She tries to uppercut him with the butt of her axe, but attacking around the door proves difficult-- and bleary-eyed as he may be, he seems fast, and dodges the strike. His face twists at Ameiko's name, lips pulling back from his teeth.
Some part of Rokan's mind registers the fact that this man is some kind of Tien parody of himself, but he's too busy trying to make sure the man has no easy retreat. So Rokan rushes through the hallway, past the man's doorway, and slides to a stop on the far side, pointing his bow back down the hallway.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be. Drop weapons and get on the ground."
Two goblins spill out the door to the north of Rokan, wide-eyed and moving towards him with dog slicers clutched in their fists.
A narrow miss...!
The man's lip curls further at Rokan's words.
"Oh. The 'longshanks' from the other day. The heroes," he says with a bit of a slur. "Defenders of Sandpoint. Do you even know the... filth that you defend?"
He shrugs and takes a short step out into the hall. This close, Sonya can smell a haze of alcohol on his breath. "No matter. I'm not here to convert anyone. A shame to break a face so pretty, but..."
With a lightning speed that belies his drunken appearance, the man lashes out with the palm of his fist at Sonya's nose.
There's a loud, sickening crunch of cartilage shattering in Sonya's nose; her ears ring as her brain fills with white pain.
The man turns a sickly grin on Rokan, holding up his now-bloodied hand. "Tell me please-- even if I wished to, how should I 'drop' my weapon?"
Seraka feels the beginning of battle in her bones, and she loses control, unable to move as she hears the words and the smack of fist on face moments before they happen.
She comes to her senses, grumbling curses, and marches towards the southern hallway. She cranes her neck forward and calls towards the sound of the voices.
"Glad you've heard of us! No idea who you are, but you definitely sound like an a%+%!*$."
Rokan bites off a Shoanti curse as he suddenly finds himself completely isolated. ”SONYA’S DOWN!” he yells as he draws a bead on his Tien doppelgänger, ignoring the goblins to put as many arrows down towards the man as possible.
The goblin takes a swipe at Rokan when looses his arrows, but fails to connect. One of Rokan's arrows seems like it's perfectly on target-- but in the second before hitting, the man's hand snaps up with snake-like speed and slaps the arrow aside.
He gives Rokan a lopsided grin. "You should practice more. In your next life."
The goblin with the magenta scarf hacks again at Rokan, while his buddy tries to push in behind him.
This time the goblin's strike hits, although it's merely a flesh wound.
The Tien man watches this with a sardonic, if slightly-drunken, smirk on his face, before glancing back to Sonya. "You're a Valdemar, aren't you? You might be worth something to your family. Go to sleep, pretty girl." He backhands the stunned paladin across the temple, or tries to.
Somehow, his drunkenness causes his hand to catch the shoulder piece of her armor instead, and the blow winds up having no force behind it. Desna smiles on Sonya even if Abadar is being a little more stern. With a disgruntled noise for his own failed strike, the man scoops up Sonya's axe with a flip of his foot under the handle, catching the grip in one hand. Moving with a deliberate grace, he sidesteps closer to Rokan.
"Come on. Keep shooting arrows at me. I dare you, Shoanti."
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E struggles with the paladin's weight. Swapping tactics he puts his against her and prays. The begins to glow and dim as it transfers healing magics upon her.
The prayer becomes louder, and the glow of the mug pulses brighter.
"Stop him." he says as he pulls out his rapier and holds it out if she wants to take it.
Seraka listens for a response to her verbal jab, shrugging and muttering under her breath when he doesn't play along. "Guess I'll just have to call you A#!@@+~, then." She continues marching towards the battle, albeit with a bit more urgency in her steps. She turns the corner to see this lithe elven man with Sonya's axe in-hand, and she raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, you just screwed up, A@*@~@%. You talk to a girl like that, and I'm just gonna have to say somethin' back."
She pats her bardiche.
"And I don't think you're gonna like what you hear."
She glances skyward and throws up her hand, waving for someone's attention.
"Hey Gorum! You know the drill."
For her request, she receives a brief glow as an answer.
Rokan scowls when the man slaps away his arrow, and he drops into a defensive crouch, trying to make the most of the tight fighting quarters. "You talk a lot."
The blow to her shoulder, and E's healing were enough to drive off the buzz filling her head. It takes a moment for her to regain her senses, glancing around to see her axe in the drunken man's hand, and Rokan cornered - quite literally.
"I will."
She grabs the rapier, and rushes him, grabbing his shoulder to turn him around before driving the sword at him.
"You know who I am, so it's only fair - it's Tsuto, isn't it? Lonjiku's son? Only person I can imagine who would have a reason to come here and do this."
Sonya hoped he was vain, that he would focus on her instead of Rokan, so she kept talking.
"I spent years in Magnimar training to protect Sandpoint, and you're hanging out with a bunch of goblins.
Let's see whose plan was better."
With the borrowed rapier, Sonya strikes a brutal blow, stabbing deep into the Tien man's flank. He wheezes, not having expected the strike, and turns narrowed eyes on her, while shouting a sharp command in the Goblin tongue at his minions.
"Ah, you've heard of me, have you? I'm surprised. I thought Lonjiku would have done all he could to scrub the memory of my existence from this s%!! town."
Adopting a defensive stance with the axe-holding arm lowered guardedly over the puncture in his ribs, Tsuto snaps out with two kicks-- one at Rokan, and one at Sonya.
Despite Rokan's defensive hunkering, the foot catches him deftly in the groin, and his senses are briefly awash with pain. Sonya is able to dodge his second attack at least.
The goblins, meanwhile, seem to have been waiting at their leader's command. The magenta-scarfed one takes a swing at Rokan, hoping to find him suffering the effects of Tsuto's strike.
The other goblin takes off running north, unseen by any save Rokan.
Sonya jabs again when Tsuto takes a moment to kick at Rokan. It had been years since Sonya had had to fight with a slimmer sword, and the half-elven man easily deflects her thrust with an arm - before she draws on the training with heavier blades and steps in and forcibly redirects her rapier around his guard.
"Perhaps he should have."
Sonya strikes again, and HARD-- maybe her luck so far has just been not using the right weapon. Battering past the half-elf's guard she scores another deep hit. Tsuto still stands, but he stares blankly down at his belly where blood is rapidly staining his shirt now.
Rokan had spent years taking punches from opponents bigger than this one. He grits his teeth and focuses through the dizziness. Once his vision is clear, he’s had more than enough time to try to get the man’s combat rhythm down, and he strikes back … driving his elbow towards the man’s head as he’s distracted by Sonya’s onslaught.
Seraka steps into the gap left by E. She fills herself with rage and purpose, deciding it is her destiny to cleave this man in two.
Her eyes flaring, Seraka roars as she brings down her bardiche in an overhead chop aimed at the villain.
Seraka's blow is powerful, but lacks the needling accuracy Sonya's managed for the last two strikes. Rokan similarly has no luck getting past his 'counterpart's' defensive stance.
Tsuto seems to be waking up to the very real threat to his life: He snaps a command in the Goblin tongue at his minion, which E can understand as an order to Distract the bald one! Tsuto holds his own blows a moment while the goblin slices at Rokan's side.
E, you also hear the sound of goblin feet scuffing the hall behind you... by the sound of the noise, the other one is just around the corner of the hall, trying to sneak up on you!
Tsuto turns his fists and kicks on Rokan, grimly attacking without commentary now as his blood continues to soak his shirtfront.
Unfortunately for Rokan, the Tien man has no trouble getting past his own defenses. A kick to his leg and he feels something snap-- his balance sags-- and the elbow across his jaw sends him reeling into unconsciousness.
With the threat at his back dealt with, Tsuto turns back to Sonya and Seraka, his eyes narrowed. He spits blood onto the cellar floor, Sonya's axe still hanging in his free hand, unused. Wordlessly, he lifts his free hand in a beckoning gesture.
Seraka once again calls upon her powers to show her visions of her ancestors fighting in close quarters, yearning to strike the man's flesh finally and drop him.
She swings over Sonya's head, no longer constrained by cover, but finds her swing wild and overzealous, instead clanging against the wall.
Sonya shifts as Seraka swings from behind her, thrusting the borrowed blade into where she believes Tsuto will dodge to.
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"I can't help him." E informs the party, having spent his limited healing powers today.
Then, hearing the goblin trying to sneak, the samsaran tries to turn the table on it. He shuffles up against the wall, readying his mug for when it comes around the corner.
Seraka swings like a dragon, but the bardiche is ill-suited to the tight corners of the corridor, and Tsuto has no trouble dodging. But Sonya's strike is more accurate-- yet a third time she draws blood, and Tsuto gasps bloodily, his face pale and sweating. "B##$#," he wheezes, clutching at his newest injury with his free hand.
Rokan bleeds silently...
Tsuto yells in the goblin tongue at his nearby minion, which E can understand. "Wait til I move back, then hold them! I'm executing a master plan!" The goblin chatters back, "Okay boss!"
(E is pretttty sure that Tsuto's 'master plan' is to let his goblin die in his stead while he gets the hell away.)
Tsuto turns on his heel and sprints away from Sonya, her axe still clutched in his hand, heading north and quickly moving out of sight.
The goblin blindly obeys his master, coming in to swipe at Sonya, stepping over Rokan's motionless body in the process.
She just manages to dodge the blow. E, meanwhile, lays an ambush of his own... when the goblin rounds the corner, it is bug-eyed to find E there and waiting! Sadly, even with the element of surprise, E can't quite connect with his mug. With an indignant squeak, the goblin counter-hacks at him.
But E is able to dodge...
Sonya watches Tsuto run off and curses, but the guards were just outside to deal with him, and there were more pressing matters. She quickly diverts her attention to the goblin between her and the quickly bleeding out Rokan.
She stabs at the goblin as she cranes to her neck to get a glimpse of her Shoanti ally.
As her stab misses the tiny target, she turns and flees - or at least that's what she hopes it looks like, as she runs into the side room trying to draw it off.
Her main target gone, Seraka roars in rage. With her way blocked, she chops at the poor goblin left in front of her.
Rokan's breathing eases-- he shows no signs of waking up just yet, but perhaps the blood oozing from his body isn't coming quite as fast?
Sonya does indeed draw a strike from the little monster she's facing off with:
...but it doesn't connect. The goblin stamps its foot and shrieks, "Yeah, you better run! Also, boss isn't RUNNING! Boss is going to MASTER PLAN you!"
Sonya finds herself in what looks to be an office, a desk cluttered with papers, a near-empty bottle of Sake, and a journal that seems to be open to a drawing.
Meanwhile, E brains a goblin, but not quite hard enough to drop him, and Seraka continues to wrestle with the difficulties of using a polearm weapon in a corridor. Stupid goblins!
The goblins respond in kind... E's goblin squares off with him, while the one fighting Seraka and Sonya steps in close to Seraka and stabs at her.
But neither of the little jerks manage to connect!
There is no immediate sign of Tsuto.
Seraka steps back, using the movement to bring her bardiche up in an upward arc.
A goblin goes flying, dead before it even hits the far wall!
Sonya dashes back out of the office after her plan fails, dodging a flying goblin as she rushes down the hall. "Help Rokan up!" she barks to Seraka.
At the mouth of the hallway, she shouts, "TSUTO!"
Sonya races forward to the corridor mouth, looking left and right but seeing no sign of the Tien half-elf.
The goblin E has struck a second time is wobbling on its feet and seems too dazed by the mug to take a swing as he vaults nimbly past-- only to come practically face to face with Tsuto, who is heavily bleeding and sweating as he tries to hug corridor wall out of Sonya's line of sight and sneak out.
"Gods damn you people," he wheezes, wild-eyed.
Faced with E blocking his path, he takes a step forward and executes a kick aimed at E's kneecap, that turns into a knee into his gut on the upwards strike.
The blow is glancing, but hard enough that E feels his brain reeling from the pain.
The goblin behind E looks at the spectre of the enormous, furious Seraka bearing down from one side, and the slender blue man on the other, and wobbles in E's direction.
...he manages to strike... and then promptly collapses, the effort of that blow apparently too much.
Seraka hears the sounds of battle around the corner and spins around, charging down towards them.
"THERE YOU ARE."
With her foe wedged between two of her allies, Seraka takes her time and winds up a massive overhead chop. Her bardiche screeches as it scrapes against the ceiling. The second the blade's arc leaves the friction of the ceiling, it rockets downwards.
Sonya IS able to charge through the hallway, and tears forward with the implacable anger of Abadar behind her-- slow to rouse, perhaps, but no less divinely fueled. Her borrowed rapier buries itself yet again in Tsuto's gut, deeply; the half-elf looks down at it slowly, and staggers back a step. Somehow, he stands despite all the punishment he's taken so far...
...but then Seraka's bardiche finally has room for the sort of swing she's used to. The half-orc brings it up... and down... in a blow that drops Tsuto to the ground in an argument-ending way, the big blade buried in his spine. Sonya's axe clatters to the flagstones.
Tsuto's eyes lose the light of life in them before he even hits the ground.
There's a silence in the cellar, save for Rokan's shallow breathing and the wheezing, unconscious goblins. Tsuto himself is far past such concerns. Seraka has to wrench her bardiche out of the man's spine.
Tsuto's body has a few belongings on it-- a potion at his belt, a set of very well-made lockpicks, and a bone flute delicately carved and etched with Minkaian script.
Seraka's rage subsides as she sees her foe fall lifeless. She steps forward and places a foot on his back. She leans forward to speak to the corpse, one hand on the bardiche in his back, and another on her hip.
"And that's why you don't ignore the raging orc with a big cleaver on a stick. A~%%+@&."
She wrenches out the bardiche and conjures water on it a few times to wash off the blood. After a few flicks to get rid of the excess liquid, she returns the bardiche to her back and kneels down next to the corpse.
"Let's see what toys you got on you."
She immediately goes to the vial. She unstoppers it and takes a sniff, then sticks in her pinky and dabs it on her tongue.
"We should give this to Rocky. Should help get him conscious again."
By the time Tsuto hits the ground, Sonya has already turned around and is running back to Rokan. She drops to her knees to help Rokan and sighs a sigh of relief when she's found he's at least not bleeding anymore.
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The samsaran watches as the half-orc's bardiche slices through the person in front of him. He watches as the person becomes a corpse and falls to the ground.
So much... blood. This was a person, and not some tiny green monster or forest beast. Surely, it was done in defense and probably deserved, but still.. a person now dead.
Hesitating, fighting back a gut-wrenching belch, he steps past Seraka, grabbing the potion and walking it to Sonya.
"Once he's on his feet, we still need to find Ameiko."
He places a hand against a wall, fighting back the need to vomit.
Sonya trickles the potion into Rokan's mouth and waits for its magic to take effect.
She lays his head down, and steps up to E to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's going to be okay. Just watch over Rokan, keep him safe. I'll look for Ameiko."
The potion seems to ease Rokan's suffering ... a little. He remains quite unconscious.