Stunned at the power behind the kick, Halvor blinks away the stars in front of him. He holds his shield forward, lining up a powerful swing, then letting loose.
Upstairs...
Krissina heads back to the corridor and tries the doors. Two open into storerooms (one of housekeeping supplies, one of glassmaking supplies), neither of which seem to have been disturbed by the goblins. One room is locked. It looks like someone had unsuccessfully tried to chop through the door, and another broken dogslicer lies discarded on the floor nearby. The door at the end of the corridor opens into the Glassworks retail shop. The store is a wreck: shards of broken glass lie everywhere: the display cases and glass objects for sale have all been shattered. An empty cash box lies on the floor behind the counter. Returning to the corridor, Krissina walks through double doors back into the studio, where she finds Lynnda and a now-conscious Kyrian. From this angle, she can clearly see that the goblins had killed and mutilated six other people, all young men.
Kyrian sits on a workbench, rubbing the side of his face. He feels the strange tingle of the alchemical salve knitting his wounds back together.
Lynnda is standing next to the "sculpture" of Lonkiku Kaijitsu, staring at it in morbid fascination, a look of horror on her bruised face. She holds Tsuto's composite shortbow, which appears to be of fine construction. She tenses and spins toward the door as Krissina enters the room, but relaxes when she recognizes her friend.
At Krissina's entry, Lynnda says, "Oh, thank the gods, it's you! I can't stop looking at this. Anyway, one of the goblins had some healing salve, and I used that to patch up Kyrian. I also found Tsuto's bow. Did you find Ameiko?"
* * *
Downstairs...
Tsuto's Status: hp 26/31; 8 nonlethal
Confined by the space, Tsuto is unable to avoid Halvor's sword, and is slashed across one arm. The tiny stormcloud over his head rumbles, and the half-elf dodges a tiny lightning bolt that strikes the cabinet behind him instead. He then springs to the side, drops to the floor, and somersaults past Cerin's and Halvor's blades, into the hallway. Leaping to his feet, he spins and faces you in a defensive pose, both fists raised. His smug grin returns and he responds to Cerin's question, "Wrong question. Why are you insisting on fighting someone who is clearly superior in every way?"
* * *
Back upstairs...
...overruling
Lynnda walks back toward the loading room door, handing the shortbow to Kyrian.
"Do you think you could use this? I'm not much of an archer."
Kyrian examines the weapon, and sees that it a particularly finely-constructed recurved shortbow with a heavy pull. It feels very good in his hands.
The sorceress suddenly spins, looking toward the loading room. "Did you hear that? It sounded like a firecracker!"
Round 15
Everyone please declare your actions.
Huffing and puffing from the constant exertion, Halvor turns and follows the half-elf out the door, pulling up and executing another vicious slash.
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Cerin guffaws. "Superior? You have to hide behind goblin vermin and run away at every opportunity, and you think you're superior?!" the gnome gives him an evil grin as Halvor slashes him again and uses his scimitar to direct the stormcloud to follow Tsuto out the door.
He finds himself distracted by worries about his teammate. I shouldn't have left Kyrian lying there helpless! I know Krissina and Lynnda can watch over him, but what happens if they get attacked? While they are fighting, one of those little monsters could sneak up and... He grits his teeth. No, nothing will happen. I won't let it.
Not again!
"This place is a slaughterhouse, but Ameiko's not up here. Are you two feeling up to seeing if we can help down there? See if we can find something to hit?."
Upstairs...
Kyrian jumps to his feet and says, "Let's do this." He nocks an arrow in his new bow and heads for the stairs, quickly moving down them. Lynnda nods grimly and follows, cocking her crossbow. Krissina double-times it across the gruesome studio, running to catch up.
In the basement, the trio hear the sound of fighting echoing from the corridor to the left. Stepping over the broken bricks on the floor, the make it to just around the corner. That's when they hear Cerin's accusation.
* * *
Downstairs...
Halvor rushes past Cerin, who steps aside, thrusting with his blade. Tsuto fails to anticipate the strike, and Halvor slashes him across the abdomen. The look of fear crosses Tsuto's eyes again.
Cerin's tiny thunderstorm again crackles with lightning, but the bolt strikes the wall to Tsuto's right.
...hit; crit threat
...no
...success
Tsuto tries an uppercut followed by a fast jab; the former connects with Halvor's jaw, but the latter glances off the warrior's armor.
Halvor's head reels from the blow, and he feels light-headed and clumsy, almost like he'd had far too much to drink. It's an effort of concentration to remain conscious.
Tsuto chuckles, and answers Cerin, "Of course I'm superior! I've already laid low two of you meddlers! That I prefer the company of goblins to the people of this rat$#!t town should tell you something! What they did to me and to her is unforgivable. This place deserves a good burning-- and it's coming, believe me!"
His smile turns to a look of shock as he glances over his shoulder behind him.
"Who's there?!"
Round 16
Your turn.
Taking a step forward, Kyrian sees the man who almost killed him down the hall and takes aim. "Hey! Goblin freak lover! I got something for, so take it!" he screams out as he lets the arrow fly.
Concentrating for a moment, Krissina creates an illusion of a group of people sneaking (badly) down the other branch in the corridor, before moving to defend Kyrian.
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Cerin breaks out in a large grin when he sees Kyrian. "Ah, that would be the people supposedly 'laid low'. You can't even do that right it seems!"
He moves the storm towards the half-elf, starting to feel the strain of keeping it under control. Thunder rings out once more, then the cloud slowly dissipates.
...hit
...success
Tsuto's status: hp 12/31; 8 nonlethal
...hit
Tsuto's face becomes fearful as the sounds of many booted feet stomp down the stairs, caused by Krissina's auditory illusion. The half-elf seems legitimately shocked as Kyrian, Krissina, and Lynnda round the corner, as the sound of more soldiers in the hallway echoes through the corridor. Kyrian stumbles on a loose brick just as he lets his arrow fly, and the shot goes wild. Lynnda also casts a spell at the half-elf, but he shakes off its effects.
Punch-drunk, Halvor's vision clears for a moment. Drawing his reserves of concentration and combining it with his hatred for the murderous half-elf, Halvor pours what remains of his might into a powerful swing. He slashes Tsuto across the midsection before the martial artist has a chance to react.
Staggering from the exertion, Halvor is unable to defend himself as Tsuto smashes his fist into the warrior's face, and Halvor crumples to the ground, his sword clanging on the stone floor.
Looking left and right, Tsuto says, "That's my cue to exit. Word to the wise: leave this place while you still can!"
The half-elf steps to the door closest to Krissina, and opens the door.
Easily dodging the swing of her morningstar, Tsuto slips through the door and slams it shut behind him.
You all notice a distinct trail of blood on the floor from where Tusto had moved.
Round 17
Your turn.
Halvor drops unceremoniously from yet another well-placed blow, landing in a heap.
"I'm starting to wonder if we should cut our loses here with this guy, he's taking us down like we're nothing here..." Kyrian says with a sound of regret behind his voice after seeing Halvor drop to the ground.
Her blood running hot and angry, Krissina dashes after Tsuto, scarcely thinking what exactly she'll do if she catches him.
Krissina tries the door, and is surprised to find it locked.
Lynnda runs past Kyrian and Krissina, and tosses a packet made out of sewwn-together leaves to Cerin. It contains a greasy ointment that smells of wintergreen. "It's healing salve! I found it on the goblins upstairs."
Most cards have an obstacle; to pass through the obstacle and onto the next card is a standard action that requires you to choose a means of bypassing and then succeeding on the roll. Overcoming an obstacle usually requires a skill check; you always have a choice of two or more skills to use. If you fail to overcome the obstacle, you remain on the card and must attempt to bypass the obstacle on the next round. If a card does not have an obstacle, you can use either a move action or a standard action to move to the next card.
You can try to move through two cards as a full-round action; you must succeed on obstacle checks from both cards. Failure on either prevents you from advancing at all; failure on both means you're stuck on the current card and must take a full round action to get moving again.
You can take actions other than moving through cards or overcoming obstacles, such as casting a spell, using an item, or making a ranged attack. This generally counts as your standard action.
On the chart, I've indicated some visual barriers; these will break both line of sight and line of effect if you and Tsuto are on different sides of the line.
If your movement rate is higher than 30, you may take a +2 circumstance bonus on all checks to overcome obstacles. This increases by +2 for every additional 10 ft. Likewise, if your movement is less than 30, you take a -2 circumstance penalty on such checks.
Tsuto advances one card per round automatically. If you're on the same card, you can engage him in melee combat.
If your token is lined at the top of a card, you will need to spend a move action to move through the card. If it's at the bottom of the card, you have already moved through. Remember, it's a standard action to move from one card to the next by overcoming the obstacle.
"Alright then, I guess we'll take after him. Here, give me a second..." Kyrian says as he pulls his tools and begins to work on the lock.
Fiddling with his lockpicks, Kyrian almost had it, but finds that the lock is a bit trickier than he initially thought.
Cerin smears the salve over Halvor's wounds. The alchemical remedy seems to work immediately; the bleeding is stanched, and the alchemical reaction seems to accelerate the natural healing process.
As Cerin crouches beside Ameiko, she appears to have been roughed up pretty bad, and her clothes are torn a bit. After cutting her bonds, she stirs slightly as Cerin works the last bits of the salve into her wounds, and she groggily comes around.
Kyrian swears at himself while he fiddles with the lock as Krissina and Lynnda look on, both fidgeting with their weapons. He suddenly laughs out loud, "Gotcha!", as the lock clicks and the door swings open.
Chase: Round 1
Beyond is a dark, damp, and empty room, cut out of bedrock. A tunnel heads out of the northern wall, and the trio rush into the entrance, following the only way that Tsuto could have gone.
The tunnel is five feet wide and about eight feet tall, reinforced every 20 feet or so with timber supports. Lynnda moves quickly through the passage, but stumbles over something and loses her balance, falling flat on her face. As she picks herself up, she says, "I think that was a tripwire, but I can't see it!"
In the back storeroom...
Ameiko stirs, groans, and opens her eyes. She is both surprised and pleased to see Cerin at her side. "Cerin! Thank the Starsong! It's my brother Tsuto-- he's gone crazy! He's talking about leading armies of goblins to burn down Sandpoint! We have to stop him!" She starts to get to her feet, but seems a little unsteady.
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Cerin gently puts his hand out to keep Ameiko from rising.
"Easy! You took quite a blow there, you should rest. We know about Tsuto and we have dispatched quite a few of his goblin allies. The others are chasing him down, I think they can catch him and hopefully get some answers. Stay right here, I just need to check on Halvor for a moment."
He debates with himself about telling her about her father, but feels that she is still in too fragile a state right now. She might feel the need to rush upstairs to see him, and reopen her wounds.
Halvor seems to be healing well, but is still in bad shape. He binds the worst of his wounds, sets his broken nose and tries to revive him. He is pretty sure none of them would be able to carry him!
"Take it slow, big guy! Let me help you into the room over here, you have to rest a while and let the salve do its work or else you will start bleeding again."
Halvor's eyes open and he blinks groggily.
Ignoring Cerin's advice to stay put, Ameiko gets to her feet as Cerin tends Halvor. "Hey! I just remembered! Tsuto took a bunch of my stuff and put it in a little office, through that door!" She points at the door she meant. "I had two potions of healing in my satchel. We should give one to Halvor"
Halvor remains laying there, the pain in his head a poignant reminder of the recent encounter. He hears the talk of healing potions and sighs, hoping it won't be long before he gets one.
"Actually, come to think of it, there probably won't be a need for either potion for now."
Ameiko closes her eyes for a moment, and sings a beautiful short song in Minkai, gesturing rhythmically with one hand. Glowing motes of light appear around her hand, pulsing with the rhythm of her song, and she then touches her own face. The motes pass into her flesh, the the bruising magically subsides.
"Well, that's a bit better. Let's see what I can do for Halvor."
Krissina dashes through as soon as the doors open, fire and anger surging through her veins.
In the tunnels...
Kyrian nimbly avoids the wire that tripped the two women, and sprints down the open tunnel. He can make out a figure ahead also moving down the tunnel, but it rounds a bend and is out of sight. The air in this section of the tunnel smells especially foul.
Chase: Round 2
In the Glassworks basement...
Cerin opens the unlocked door of a small and dusty office. There is an unmade cot along one wall, and some rumpled clothes litter the floor. On the desk is a sheathed rapier, two sheathed daggers, and a leather satchel. The two drawers of the desk are closed.
Ameiko kneels beside Halvor, singing the same beautiful song in Minkai. She touches her hand to Halvor's face as the motes of light pulse to the rhythm of her song.
Halvor feels his strength return, and no longer feels punch-drunk as he gets to his feet.
Halvor looks up at the lovely Minkai woman as she sings, not blinking as she touches his face. He could get used to this...wait! Where was the half-elf!? He jumps to his feet, feeling refreshed. "Where is he?
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Cerin grabs the weapons and satchel and runs back into the corridor.
"Thank you very much, Miss Ameiko! Your possessions, I believe?" he says with relief as he hands her the items. "Halvor, you are looking much better! What do you say we try to catch up with the others?" he asks with an arched eyebrow, indicating the door to the tunnel.
Halvor nods to Cerin, starting to churn his legs in an effort to catch up. Not paying attention, he attempts to catch himself as the trip wire presents itself. Still a bit disoriented, he collapses in a heap, cursing.
Struggling to regain her footing Krissina tries to break into an all out run to make up the distance.
Lynnda picks herself up off the floor and tries to follow her companions, but finds a second tripwire in the passage the hard way, falling flat on her face again.
Her cat sits in front of her, staring at her in an almost-mocking manner, its eyes glowing amber in the flickering torchlight.
"Easy for you to say!" snorts the sorceress.
Krissina steadies herself after her almost-fall, and quicky steps over the wires, following Kyrian into the tunnel.
As Lynnda starts to pick herself up a second time, she hears Cerin and Halvor rush into the room. "Watch out for..."
Cerin sees the tripwires and nimbly avoids them, but Halvor finds one the hard way.
"...the tripwires!"
Ahead of the rest of the group, Kyrian runs through an open passage, but notices after inhaling several lungfulls that the air in this passage is bad. Choking loudly, he comes to an open pit and starts to jump over, but a fit of coughing causes him to abort the jump. He staggers backward into clearer air, as a coughing spasm doubles him over. That's where Krissina finds him.
Chase: Round 3
Unable to see Tsuto ahead, Krissina plunges forwards, holding her breath as she rushes through the bad air, and flames appearing to lick at her heels as she leaps the pit.
Halvor gets back up with a growl, shaking his head a bit before making another attempt to bull his way through. Again he goes down in a heap, his fist curls up and beats the ground in frustration.
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Cerin strains to catch sight of their quarry as he races through the tunnel. Anger gives his feet wings as he is determined that Tsuto is not going to get away after his vicious attacks on his friends and the town!
As he catches up with Kyrian, he sees him coughing and catches a faint whiff of an unpleasant odor, so he holds his breath until he makes it through the narrow gas-filled passage. His short legs pumping away he charges forward, leaping over the pit just behind Krissina.
"Do you see him?" he gasps to her.
"Urf! Ugh. Really?!!"
Halvor gingerly picks his way past the tripwires as Lynnda picks herself off the floor again. However, she backs into the other wire and falls backward into Halvor, who also loses balance.
Up ahead, Kyrian coughs and sputters for a long moment. Once he's able to breathe again, he resumes the chase.
Krissina coughs a bit as she first notices the bad air, but holds her breath as she dashes through the miasma. Cerin immediately notices the odd note in the air and likewise holds his breath as he runs through. Farther down the tunnel, they find themselves at an intersection. They both pause momentarity, unsure which way the evil half-elf had fled. Studying the dusty ground Cerin announces, "This way!" and the two choose a tunnel and run down it.
Chase: Round 4
Running deper into the tunnel, Cerin and Krissina see that a deep pit yawns before them.
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Continuing to charge headlong, Cerin's keen ears pick up the muted screeches of a sleeping colony of bats. He looks up and smiles.
A small group of fruit bats, no problem! With a high-pitched whistle to signal the colony that he is just another of their brethren, he continues after the half-elf. Hopefully his signal will keep them docile enough that his friends will be able to pass without trouble as well, as long as they don't antagonize them.
Seeing his prey just ahead, he grips his scimitar tighter and bares his teeth in anticipation of the conclusion of his hunt!
Halvor normally wouldn't mind a cute brunette literally falling into his lap, but now was not the time! He gingerly picks up Lynnda and sets her aside, then tries to blast through the trip wires once again.