Hustling back down through the levels of the tower you eventually reach the ground floor. Before you the central pool stands stained with blood and the bodies of the towers guards still lay where they fell.
Cyrus stares out at the open courtyard, tightening his grip on his falchion. "We all ready to go? I'll volunteer to lead the charge. If any of you have any protection magics left, Now would be a good time for them. Droguk, even if you're not the size you once were, I doubt it's affected your ability to take a hit, so I'd like you to follow me out. Spellcasters come last." he says, not averting his eyes from the courtyard before them.
Droguk looks to the ranger, "Then let's move, Landwarden."
"My last protection magick hangs one the scarred little one." Natasza says.
Tough meanwhile is looking around nervously, ready for anything that threatens his mistress.
Cyrus nods to Droguk, then with sword in hand, quickly moves out into the courtyard, aiming to get to the center of the area and immediately look around to find his target, assuming the target doesn't do something to make his location immediately obvious.
Droguk and Cyrus rush forward eager to end the battle with Nadya close on their heels. When they round the corner they find the bearded man standing on the plinth that supports the large dragon statue, scroll in hand. He sneers derisively when he sees them and places a hand on the statue as the scroll falls to dust.
A series of cracks flow over the statue from the where his hand rests upon it as the great ice sculpture moves for the first time in it's existence. It's front legs hit the ground with a thud.
"Kill them!" the man says in heavily accented common.
The ice dragons serpentine neck twists towards you and it's jaws open wide in a soundless roar.
Finding the diminutive Droguk next to it it attacks
The first claw hits like a hammer directly into the barbarians chest. Fortunately the more nimble barbarian is able to duck the second swipe.
Nadya nocks an arrow and let's fly at the man
The arrow flies straight for him but bounces off the statues icy hide before it finds it's target.
Natasha moves up just in time to see the oversized ice sculptor come to life. She pops out a wand from her sleeve and readies herself.
Kobad advances and upon seeing the large ice dragon sends a ray of fire streaking at it.
The ray hits, heating ice to steam on contact and doing more damage than expected.
The bearded man takes to the air once again rising twenty feet up. On the ground the statue strikes again at Droguk.
This time he manages to avoid the first blow only to be struck by the second. Thankfully his magically thickened skin prevents any damage.
Nadya keeps her focus on the now flying witch and looses another arrow.
The arrow hits and draws blood and a grunt of pain.
As he reels from the sword like claw that just tore into him, he looks up at the giant ice dragon with fury in his eyes as it now courses through his veins. Bringing the small greataxe around, he swings it at the creature with what might he has in hopes to return the favor.
Natasza once again starts blowing wind into her hands, and mumbling to herself as she curses.
"Not enough power..." she says while continueing to mumble.
"DROGUK!!! Move to your left, now!!" Natasza screams, emboldened perhaps by the smaller size of the barbarian in front of Tough.
Since he already has his scimitars drawn, Cyrus moves forward to help Droguk take down the ice dragon, though he is certain to keep some distance between them just in case this construct has some kind of magical breath as a real dragon would, at the same time yelling to the man behind it,""Just wait, bastard! You're next!"
Tough hoots as Cyrus steps out of the way, and he rushes forward to crush the "dragon" before it can fly away.
Hoot hoot!
Natasha moves to the doors to get a better view of everything. Then glares at the man once again "You shall fall this day and go down in history as the traitor you are."
Sleeping Hex DC 20 (-2 saves if the evil eye hex is still active) Sleeping for 4 rounds.
Cyrus, Droguk and Tough all advance on the statue and attack with Cyrus drawing the creatures ire as he approaches.
The blow hits mightily but doesn't stop the ranger who returns the strike in kind. Meanwhile Droguk and Tough have less luck as they're unable to chip the creatures icey flesh.
Natasha calls out to the bearded man who locks eyes with her and immediately falls victim to her powers. His body slowly begins drifting towards the ground.
[ooc}I'm going to give Kobad a bit of time in as he has been popping in. If he doesn't get the chance to I'll post for him later tonight.[/ooc]
Kobad continues to advance to close the range between himself and the dragon. A sphere of flame forms in his hand and he hurls it at the creature.
The ball of fire hits and flows outward causing massive damage to the ice beast. It stands but its features are now worn and indistinct.
Regardless of it's condition it continues to strike out at Droguk.
The first hit catches the barbarian in the side of the head and nearly snaps his neck. Disoriented he doesn't even see the second that sets his ribs rattling.
The bearded man floats to the ground where his body gently goes prone.
Kobad takes stock of the situation with both hands in front of him, a line of flame arcs between them. the very air around him shimmers with heat.
he toys with the flame for a second or two then with a flick of the wrist the fiery arc flies to the bearded man and strikes him square in the chest, then bounces off of him to the ice dragon.
even after the arc flies off, the shimmering heat shield still surrounds Kobad.
As Droguk's blood flies everywhere and pours freely, he looks to the creature with utter hatred as he spits out of wad of blood and uses what strength he has left to swing in what is probably his last at the beast.
Natasha starts chanting and moves her hands as if she were taking off gloves as a pale blue semi-transparent hand appears and moves toward Droguk, floating eeirly near his unconcious body.
--
Tough continues to thrash, trying to take down the filthy ice beast as fast as possible.
As Natasza stops her humming, an eagle appears next to the witch.
"HEY!" Cyrus shouts, trying to draw the beast's attention away from Droguk as he strikes once more with his heavy blade.
"Pick on the guy who's hurtin' ya!!" he shouts again, hoping the taunt will convince the beast to use what life is left in it to turn its teeth and claws on him.
The flames burn the prone man remorselessly but are less effective against the grand ice sculpture. Droguk continues to press the attack but can't quite get the angle to land a damaging blow.
Tough has more luck though. His gore attack glances off but he gets ahold of the creatures leg and gives a mighty heave. The statue, already misshapened by the earlier attacks, topples and shatters on the ground.
Past the triumphant mammoth an eagle appears, screeching a bettle cry and descends on the prone man. It claws and bites at his face leaving a mangled mess as the man ineffectively tries to defend himself.
Cyrus moves quickly to the man laying prone on the ground, raising his falchion high in both hands and preparing to stab him through the chest...when he hesitates, looking back to Nadya. "You wanna do the honors?" he asks, a tilt of his head letting her know he will let her have the blow, should she desire it.
Natasza pours one of Droguk's potions into his mouth. She looks for the biggest one she can find.
Her bird continues its attacks, oblivious to the honourable things Cyrus is offering Nadya.
Tough trashes the ice sculpture until he is satisfied. Nobody dares stop him.
When Nadya hesitates and the man moves to take advantage of the opportunity Cyrus brings down his blade and finishes him.
Quiet again descends on the courtyard as the battle ends. The heavy breathing of the survivors sends small clouds of steam floating on the cold breeze.
Cyrus draws a slow, deep breath, then releases it just as slowly, watching his breath condense in the air in front of him. It occurs to him that now is the first real chance they've had to relax for even a moment since the entire assault began. How long had it taken, he wondered? It seemed like ages but, in reality, it probably hadn't taken more than...what? Thirty minutes? An hour? All he knew was that his muscles were going to be killing him before long...the constant rush of fighting would catch up to him, probably sooner than later.
He kneels, holding the hilt of his falchion in both hands. "For any we slew here today that only worked for these people in fear of their own lives or the lives of their families, Desna's mercy be upon them. For any we slew that were party to the evil we have witnessed, may Desna see to it that they never know the peace of a journey's end." he prays. He stays in that position for a few more seconds before using a nearby collection of snow to clean the blood from his blade, then turns to the others.
"We'll have to go back up the tower, too...give those last few rooms a more thorough search." he adds, returning his falchion to its sheath. He then moves back to Nadya, lifting a hand to rest it on her shoulder, gazing down at her with concern. "Hey? You alright?"
Natasha makes another motion and the ghostly hands touch Droguk giving him a chill but his wounds start to heal. The hands dissipate and reappear hoving near Natasha.
She then walks over to the man and checks his body for anything useful or important.
Seeing the dragon crumble, Droguk stumbles a bit in an attempt to keep his balance as his anger diminishes. As it does, he stares blankly at the others a moment before falling to the ground in a small heap.
Nadya seems distant, slowly lowering her bow. "We should see this done and be gone." she says as she turns back to the tower.
Upon the fallen man you find :
A spell component pouch
Droguk lays on the ground, the healing having saved his life but done nothing for his exhaustion. As he sits lost in thought the rest of the party note his form expand until he is once again the towering Kellid you know him as.
Cyrus nods, a slight frown on his features. He had feared the crash following the rush of vengeance...really, pseudo-vengeance, as the target of Nadya's wrath was not even present...would be particularly harsh. As he moves to follow Nadya into the tower, he pauses, waiting for Droguk to feel up to rising.
As he watches, after another minute or two the warrior slowly expands, returning to his previous towering form. "There you go, friend. You are yourself again. Told ya there was nothin' to worry about." he says with a smile, offering Droguk a hand up.
After he helps him to his feet, he turns his attention to the items they found on the man's body.
Cyrus seems at a complete loss for determining the properties of any of the items they located on the corpse and he silently wonders if identifying potions by their taste is something he should stick to.
He looks up at the tower silently, still breathing slowly in and out, as he waits for the others to join as they return to the unexplored rooms.