Aloysia sidles up next to one of the men and aims for a soft spot in his side.
Aloysia's dagger slips through unibrows' armor and cleanly into his side. He sputters and coughs blood but stays standing and pulls his longsword from his belt.
He manages to slice Aloysia slightly on the draw, but nothing that will slow her down. Unibrows' companion takes aim at Jolon over the counter and lets an arrow fly, not caring about anyone or anything behind his target.
The arrow embeds itself in a hunk of meat sitting out on display, splattering blood in a small arc on the window.
Cecil had almost thought that it wasn't going to come to violence, and his mind had started working on the introduction for his next book. He had barely mentally composed two paragraphs when steel was drawn and blood began to flow.
"Alright I guess we're doing this!" he stammers, snapping back to reality.
He quickly chants a quick arcane spell and gestures, sending two bolts of scintillating light towards the thugs behind the counter.
Gamon, unable to get close enough to the thugs to use his axe, pulls a shortbow from his back and fires at the thug not fighting Aloysia.
Gamon's arrow speeds out before Cecil gets his spell off, but it hits the counter in between him and his target. Cecil's magical bolts knock the legs out of the two men, dropping them to their backs. The man fighting Aloysia falls unconscious and starts bleeding all over the floor while the other just has the wind knocked out of him.
Jolon closes his eyes and then opens them again with a bright blue glow, and both Aloysia can hear foreign-sounding whispering in her head, while a similar glow comes to her eyes.
"Wound, but do not kill! The Guard will want to speak to them."
The sounds of pounding feet can be heard coming from the street.
Aloysia steps forward unceremoniously over the now bleeding out guard and attacks the other standing there .
The man tries to block with his bow, but Aloysia's blade snakes in and cuts him across his ribs as he lies on his back. The pounding feet reveal themselves to be two more men with bows out. One nearly runs into Cecil before turning it into an attempt to push him further into the building.
Cecil is prepared for the rush and stops him cold, preventing the man's companion from entering the building at all.
The man at Aloysia's feet stands up and pulls out his longsword, leaving his bow on the floor.
Seeing Cecil nearly pushed back by the en at the door, Gamon moves in to take his place, dropping his bow for a battered greataxe and swinging at the man in the doorway.
Gamon begins hearing the same whispers Aloysia does.
Gamon steps into Cecil's attacker allowing the elf to avoid physical confrontation. His axe swings hard, but the lack of space in the doorway stops it from reaching its intended target.
In hopes of putting the man back down she sees an opening with the man trying to stand and takes it
And as he gets to his feet she tries to find a soft spot just like the last man.
Cecil moves to get a good view of the combatants, and casts mage armor on himself.
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Aloysia cuts the man across his arm as he gets up, but her follow-up strike fails because his armor placed slightly differently than her first target due to his pot-belly.
This man is clearly upset with her treating him like he treats meat and tries to cut her with his longsword. The man outside does the same to Gamon as his companion tries to figure out how best to help fight.
It seems these men trained more with bows than blades as they both fail to hit their targets. The third decides to pull out his sword and break the glass to the store to get inside and fight.
He smashes out one of the panes successfully giving him a good view of Jolon and Cecil.
Gamon swings again at the man in the door, taking his time and trying to connect, and landing a staggering blow.
Gamon's axe avoids the doorjamb and cuts deep into his foe's chest. He makes a ruin of the man's sternum and heart. No one is quite sure what would remain in there, but it is clear the man will not see tomorrow without the most powerful resurrection magic.
Jolon attempts to climb over the counter but his armor makes it all but impossible.
Cecil chants a few quick words and points at th man in the now broken window, firing a ray of blue light at him.
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Cecil's ray leaves a line of frost on the man with his teeth chattering.
Looking to end this now before more people get in the fray she lashes out again
Aloysia lands another cruel blow on her opponent who seems to lose the will to fight.
Aloysia stops him from slipping past her and takes the opportunity to slice him again.
The man outside the building slips through the window and onto the counter without cutting himself on the shards of glass. He swings his blade at Jolon while he has the opportunity.
The cut is not deep and has no power behind it but stings nonetheless.
"You're not going anywhere!" she hollers.
Gamon steps closer to the man attacking Jolon, ripping his axe from his first foe's chest and striking at the new opponent with equal force.
Crit?
Crit part 2.
"By the Lady, was there no other way?!" Jolon exclaims mournfully as he feels the lives fading from the battle.
Aloysia slides her dagger between the man's ribs one last time dropping him to the ground alongside her previous, still bleeding victim. Gamon's axe seems to have a thirst for blood as it continues its path of destruction, removing the man's arm and chopping through half of his legs cutting multiple arteries and bleeding him out in seconds.
The door next to Aloysia bursts open and beyond you see the man described to you as Verik Vancaskerkin. Handsome and tall, he still wears the livery of the Korvosan guard and carries a spear in his hands. "Get out of my shop!" he shouts. "I'm done with the guard, they do more harm than good." He is extremely hostile right now and anything may set him off.
"STOP!" Jolon roars to the others. Hoping that will still the fighting at least for a moment, he turns to Verik Vancaskerkin and lowers his sword, placing it on the floor.
"I am truly sorry for what has happened here, Verik. All we wanted to do was speak to you."
Gamon bows his head and tries to pretend as if he hasn't just slaughtered two of Verik's guards.
"What did they do, Vancaskerkin?" Cecil asks, obviously confused by this point. "We've only heard one side of the story. It would clear everything up to hear yours too."
Aloysia steps back to allow the others to converse, but keep her dagger ready just in case.
"Surely you've seen them! The guard is full of ennui! The Hellknights and Sable Company have abandoned ship and more of the guard has deserted in the past day and a half than in ten years!" Verik looks disheveled and has a very slight slur in his words. It's clear he hasn't cleaned himself up since he left and may have taken to a bottle.
Jolon frowns sadly.
"Then why are you here, Verik? If you want to help, the Guard needs you the most. The Field Marshall is struggling to protect the city, and she can't do it alone. She's worried about you!"
"And think about it. If your complaint is that the guards are abandoning the guard, why would abandoning the guard be the right reaponse to that?" Cecil asks. "You could help out much more than just providing questionable meat to the people."
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Verik shakes his head, "No, enough talking! I've made my choice and now I'm living with it, just like my older brother did with his choices." He prepares himself to attack in earnest this time.
Aloysia steps to the other side of the door to allow for another of the melee combatants to take her former place, and readies an attack for when Verik comes through the doorway.
Cecil sighs and looks at the rest of the group. "Anyone have rope or manacles?" he asks as Vancaskerkin prepares to fight. "I'll knock him down."
Jolon growls a bit at Verik's stubbornness, but nods at Cecil's question.
"I have a good length of rope. Just make sure we don't accidentally kill him!"
Verik just grins, "I always did prefer the bow anyways!" He stows his spear and takes a step backwards while pulling out his bow and launching an arrow straight at Jolon.
Gamon, now unafraid of Verik's spear, moves quickly through the door, axe at the ready.
Jolon grunts in pain as the arrow strikes him, but doesn't flinch as he glares at Verik. He slowly lifts a hand and grabs the arrow, yanking it out with a sharp pull, once again not flinching, and snapping it between his fingers.
The iridescent blue fire returns to his eyes and the whispering rises again as he touches the bleeding wound and it begins to close.
"Your arrows mean nothing to me, tshamek," he says sternly, an unearthly echo in his voice.
Verik scowls and looks ready to back up as Gamon gets in his face and Jolon is less than worried about the arrow in him.
Cecil moves around the counter, wary he could catch an arrow in the kne-gut at any moment. He twists his hands and chants a word, sending force flying at his foe. He wouldn't have to worry about getting shot if the man was lying on the floor.
Aloysia takes what little of a running start that she can and tries to leap over the stair railing to try to get behind Verik...
And tries to slip past the man without provoking his wrath.
Aloysia manages to jump up to the stairs and grab the railing. She hauls herself up and stands blocking Verik's way up.
Cecil peeks in the doorway and fires off two missiles which drop Verik on his back.
Verik does not like the way things are looking and climbs to his feet, leaving his bow on the ground. He draws his spear and takes another step backwards trying to prevent Aloysia from circling around behind him.
Gamon takes his opportunity to smack Verik with the haft of his axe as he stands, then steps back into close-quarters with another swing to prevent Verik having the space to use his spear.