Phaedra bursts into a rousing song of battle as she moves up to threaten the dwarf.
I sigh deeply as negotiations seem to have failed, so I move towards the Dwarf and bring my sword down on top of him.
But the Dwarf brings his shield up quickly and deflects the blow.
The Grease spell drops under the two longsword-wielding humans.
Both of the two of them tumble to the ground and then attempt to stand up and move out of the area. While successful, they spend their entire turn just edging out of the slippery territory.
The dwarf takes a swing at the elf in front of him. Apparently, absurdly lucky, he knocks the elf unconscious with one swing of his hammer.
The two archers open fire, one at Phaedra, the other at Baolus. The one firing at Baolus grazes him at the same time that Baolus's own arrow strikes the archer in the chest, damaging him severely. The archer firing on Phaedra is much less lucky and his shot flies wide.
Phaedra:
Baolus:
"Volt, the swordsman!"
Aeliana shouted all the words the panther needed to hear. The cat rushed to one of the men stuck in grease and got ready to sink in his fangs.
Aeliana aimed her longbow at one of the archers just as Voltaire bounded from her side.
I don't think you fellows heard me properly, let me try speaking with you one on one.
Esken attempts to hex the dwarf with misfortune.
I feel the sharp and intense pain as the Dwarf manages to knock my feet from underneath me and smash his hammer down onto my chest. I gasp for air, trying to focus beyond the pain and then black out.
I open my eyes and find myself standing in an alley back in Westcrown, I walk down the alley as if back on patrol. I rattle a few doors to make sure that they are locked when I see a shining white figure walking towards me ... I run. For some unexplainable reason I feel as though I am being filled with warmth and peace, yet at the same time a pure dread of this being catching up to me. For now I put all of my energy into running and I seem to be making some distance between us.
Edit:
The combined fire from Baolus and Aeliana is able to fell one of the archers who falls to the ground with a thump.
I see a door and dive through it into the dark room on the other side, to find myself blinking in the light and back in front of the bandits.
"What was that?!" I suddenly remember that we are in a scuffle and try to take the Dwarf down.
The strange memory of what has just happen has still shaken me up a bit and my attack is slow and almost sluggish. I start to breath heavily in pain winces with each breath.
Phaedra swings her glaive at the dwarf.
Round 2
Initiative 17
I'm about ready to set this swordsman up if someone wants to knock him down.
Esken glares at the swordsman who is now regaining his step, instilling in him doubts of his armor and proficiency to use it properly.
Aeliana winces at Rona's shouting. She had already set loose an arrow upon the opponent without even thinking to use the blunt ones, but it was too late to go back. It is kill or be killed now, and none of her companions will die on her watch.
She makes haste to aim her next arrow at the other archer.
Voltaire makes his next attempt at biting the swordsman, however, this time he slightly moves with the rhythm of a song.
Baolus heard Rona's words but decided that they needed not many mouths to speak... one enemy alive should be enough, and he would not try not to harm them if they were doing so much effort to kill them.
Ihon mutters a few arcane words and throws his arm forward. What looks to be a small ball of water flies forward towards one of the archers.
Phaedra's attack just barely glances off of the dwarf's shield and he is able to rebuff Rona's attack as well. The swordsman engaged with the large cat seems quite quick as well, once again dodging out of the way of the blow.
The rather dodgy swordsman seems to take the full brunt of the witch's hex and seems a bit less able to move as he attempts to strike back at the cat in front of him.
Meanwhile Ihon and Aeliana strike out at the remaining archer, leaving her wounded but still standing as Baolus's arrow goes wide. The archer fires back at Aeliana in response.
The swordsman not engaged with Voltaire moves up to assist the dwarf, taking a swing at Phaedra.
The dwarf is still focused on his elven foe, swinging at him with his warhammer.
Phaedra continues her song, trying to ignore the swordsman swinging at her while she focuses her concentration on the deadly dwarf.
The dwarf, though still standing, looks extremely injured after Phaedra's blow connects.
Ihon reaches out and touches Aeliana's shoulder, and says I believe this is the point where we say 'surrender and die', or something like that.
As my sword is deflected by the Dwarf's shield, I find myself spinning around on the stop. When I finally stop I look at the Dwarf again, just in time to see his hammer smash into the side of my face ... I blink and realise that it missed me by a hair's width, "That was lucky!" I quickly counter attack myself hoping to knock him unconscious.
Continuing her battle song, Phaedra tries to finish off the dwarf in front of her.
Esken stares down the fighter beside the dwarf.
We could make examples all day, but how would you like to be a survivor?
Seeing his shot flying wide and the major fight reduced to swinging weapons, Baolus drew his greataxe and charged forward... not like a raging brute, but with precision and calm of a man doing his job.
The dwarf is knocked unconscious by Rona's swing. At nearly the same moment, Phaedra steps forward and finishes off the swordsman beside her.
The remaining archer fires at Aeliana while the swordsman swings at the large cat.
At that point Baolus crashes into the archer, killing her, as his greataxe cleaves her in two.
I rub my side with my hand where the Dwarf's hammer connected and start to walk to the next bandit. I have a slight limp and still seem to be breathing a little heavily. Once I get to the enemy I swing me blade with both hands, hoping that the skirmish will be over soon.
But with a simple twist the bandit is able to dodge the blow as if I was moving at a snails pace.
Aeliana is greatly wounded by an enemy arrow. With fierce determination she fires once more at the archer in hopes to end the bloodshed for the night.
Enraged by Aeliana's injury, Voltaire goes in for the kill.
Aeliana could use some help, Ihon says as his newfound friend falls from her wounds. That's enough of this! He waves his hand toward the archer.
Voltaire is able to strike the remaining swordsman, severely damaging him, though he remains standing.
Aeliana could use some help, Ihon says as his newfound friend falls from her wounds. That's enough of this! He kneels down and touches Aeliana's shoulder.
Phaedra continues her battle song as she swings her glaive at the lone swordsman still standing.
The swordsman is able to dodge out of the way of the massive swing from your skald, still wounded but poised to attack.
Voltaire continues to lash at the swordsman.
Aeliana accepts the aid from Ihon and fires an arrow to back up Voltaire.
The swordsman is wounded by Voltaire's claw, but still standing.
The longswordsman swings at the cat that is attempting to maul him.
With his greataxe still bloody from the last opponent, Baolus moves towards the next one, seeking a position of advantage.
Baolus is able to cut down the remaining swordsman with a rather substantial blow.
If you search the bodies, you find 4 suits of studded leather, 2 longswords, 2 longbows, 2 daggers, 12gp, and 3sp. The unconscious dwarf has a suit of studded leather, a warhammer, a heavy steel shield, and 4gp.
Edit: You can also each take 200 XP.
Round 4.
Somebody needs to hit this guy!
At the sight of a fallen comrade, Esken glares even more angrily at the remaining foe.
Evil Eye for -AC
Phaedra's battle song fades as she begins a song of healing while moving beside her fallen comrade.
Ihon nods at Phaedra, Thank you, he says as he kneels down beside Aeliana. Hello? The man asks curiously, looking down upon the fallen archer. Are you alright? The small reptilian creature peaks out from Ihon's hood down at Aeliana and chirps several times, bobbing its head in worry.
Seeing that Aeliana is already being healed, Baolus moved towards the dwarf. He searched him for any hidden weapon, then turned his back up, with his hands on his back and locked him with his manacles.
Then he cleaned the blades from his axe in the dwarf's clothes and sat on his back, waiting for him to wake up... he then drew his whetstone and started to work on his weapon.
"So... it is getting dark and we still need to reach the post. This fellow could take hours to wake up. I think it is better to put him atop the mule and move forward... leave the others behind and, if it is the case, we come back tomorrow to take care of the bodies... what do you think?"
Baolus, you don't find anything hidden on the dwarf. Barring any healing, it seems likely that the dwarf will be out for a while.
I sigh in relief as the last bandit falls to the floor and I too fall down to end up sitting in the road. "At least we can question one of them now." I look up at Phaedra and she starts her incantation and watch the wounds on our fallen comrade suddenly start to knit themselves together, "I don't suppose you have another of those going spare do you? Once we are safe, obviously."
I stand up and re-sheath my blade, then help Baolus put the unconscious Dwarf onto the mule before continuing on our journey.
You are all able to make the rest of the way to the trading post without incident. The post itself is actually quite small, consisting of a handful of trading stalls, all of which are vacant at this time of night, a small tavern which has fire light coming from the inside indicating that it is open, and a substantial tent farm where it is clear that travelers have made their camps for the night.