Maena steps forward and snarls, "You're already rotting on the inside...", touching the guide and focussing the power of Hell itself through him, darkening his soul and shattering his defenses.
Round 1
Maena, still delighting in the pleasurable burn of Hellfire within her smiles at the guard, drawing even more of the power into herself and then releasing it in a wave... Burn, you hypocrite...
Esmond dies screaming as waves of evil energy wash over him. The other guard curses and fumbles for his war horn. A third guard comes stumbling into the cell block, long sword drawn.
The fighting surprises and pleases Ariana, who had spent too long chained up and afraid she would be destined for a mass grave for her foolishness. But there seemed to be hope, suddenly, and she was more than willing to press that hope. Her eyes went to the nearest living guard, reaching for his horn to signal for backup, and the magic was at her fingertips on pure instinct before she had even started to consider it. She moved closer toward the bars, chanting her spell as magic thrummed through her for the first time in days, and oh had it been too long. She focused on the horn with her magic, causing it to become slipperly in his grasp, hoping to send it jumping out of his hold and to the floor where it would be useless.
"Ah, an opportunity demanding boldness." Molasbar smiles slyly as he bounds up from seat and races out of the cell, right past the guard fumbling with the horn, and confronts the guard drawing his sword.
He tosses a pinch of colored sand in the air. As the sand starts falling, he whispers an arcane syllable that seizes the sand, arrests it fall and sends its colors exploding at the guard.
Color Spray, DC 15 will save to negate.
The guard rushing forward collapses, knocked unconscious by the dazzling colors of Molasbar's spell. The signal horn slips from the second guard's hands and clatters to the floor.
Alicia rushes past the downed guard, concentrating on the one that can still raise the alarm. Seeing that he has no weapon out, she moves right up next to him, brandishing her dagger. "Hello, good sir. I think it's time to pay you back for the pretty little F you gave me." She smiles without humor, ready to stab the man should he try to run.
Maena searches the guard killed by her spray of evil, looking for a weapon with which to join the fray. I think this is the first time that I wished I took more after my fiendish heritage -- claws would be extremely useful.
Maena finds a longsword and a leather club on Esmond's body.
As a wave of evil washes over him and the guard falls, a thin, wicked smile crosses Professor Moriarti's lips. Won't it be nice to work with some proper villains.
Quickly assessing the situation, he concludes that Alicia and the wizard will easily dispatch the guard by the door and takes his dagger to the guard fumbling with the horn.
Molasbar will start to pick up the stunned guard's sword. In a level voice, he asks back toward the others "Is there any reason we need one alive to faciliate our escape?"
I also altered the scale of the map. Apparently, the squares were 10x10.
Initiative -
Block 1: Lukasz, Maena, Moriarti
Block 2: Guards
Block 3: Alicia
Round 2
Predetermined Actions -
Active Effects -
Guard 3 - Unconscious, Blind, Stunned/5 rounds
Map (Round 2) -
Current Damage -
Notes -
Moriarti and Alicia have daggers.
Molasbar has a spell component bag and a longsword.
Faced with two of the Forsaken in his face, the remaining guard makes a run for it. He retreats through the guard room while making as much noise as possible. "HELP! HELP! THE PRISONERS ARE FREE! SOUND THE ALARM!"
Ariana cursed as the guard she'd relieved of his horn merely ran off to alert them with his own voice. Despite feeling weak, both from hunger and from the sickening feeling she'd been steadily contending with in the days since her infection, she moves forward, snarling with fury and looking around. She'd reacted too hastily, should have slipped him up instead of robbing him of his horn. Her hands are drawn out, prepared to shift into claws, intent on tearing the guard to shreds with her bare hands if she can get a hold of him. "Hurl him down the stairs!" she spat.
I'm not sure if Molasbar gets an AoO against the fleeing guard (I believe withdraw only protects him in the first square). If so...
To hit , damage
Molasbar will raise the sword somewhat awkwardly over the guard made helpless by his spell, then bring it down hard.
Full round action, coup de grace. Auto hit and crit. Damage
If he survives the damage, it is a DC 10 + damage to avoid death.
Molasbar's clumsy blow is still enough to kill the unconscious guard, who dies choking on his own blood.
Alicia follows the guard along with Damien, eyes narrowing as the nervous guard tries to escape to warn his fellows. She hustles, trying to bring her dagger to bear on the man.
Maena raises her new weapon and says, "I was hoping he'd be too sick to run that fast.", then joins the chase, I may be able to have Belial strike him if I can see him.
Damn! I didn't anticipate the third guard. A miscalculation on my part... Moriarti thinks as he takes a moment to examine the area, planning their next move and looking for the best means of egress.
Although Damien's attempt to confuse the guard failed, Alicia managed to catch up to the fleeing man and stab him in the back with her dagger. The man yelps in pain, stumbling down the stairs for the door to the Great Hall, but the warrior stabs him again, this time slaying him. The guard collapses and rolls down the rest of the stairs, a pool of blood slowly pooling out from underneath.
Her blood was really flowing, now! Decisions, and fast! Take the guard's armor and waste time donning it? Try to disguise as a guard!? So many decisions...she usually had someone making those decisions for her. No matter.
She starts to strip the armor off the guard she just slew, confiscating the longsword and shield, if available. "I'll take the lead, but where should we go?"
"Is there anywhere to go other than down?" Ariana asks, posture shifting to something more relaxed and deliberate, hands resting at her sides and remaining hands rather than shifting into something else. "I wasn't paying much attention to the layout on my way in, but perhaps we should move slowly, picking off guards as we find them until we can reach the courtyard and intuit from there what direction 'out of here' is."
Alicia quickly outfits herself with a chain shirt, shield, and longsword. If no one else claims them, she also takes a longbow and 20 arrows. She will let one of the smarter characters carry the keys.
Ariana picks up one of the clubs, knowing her magic won't last her all night, and that beyond that her claws will only last a little longer. Something heavy she can hit people with once all that runs out seems wise.
Maena says, "Agreed. Armour and shields for those who can use them. While I'm not good with a blade, the club works for me... though I hate this place enough that I might ask someone to cut off the leather banding with one of the new blades."
Molasbar will likewise claim a club. He'll offer the longsword he liberated to anyone who'd like it. Beyond the club, he doesn't claim anything. If the padding can indeed be cut away, he'll borrow a bladed weapon long enough to do so.
The most note-worthy thing on the second floor of the keep is a stone reinforced cell at the end of the cell-block, complete with a solid iron door. Although the tiny window doesn't allow vision into the cell's corners, the shallow breathing of something large can be heard from within.
The guardroom is lit by a single torch sconce and has little furnishing but for a small table and a trio of chairs. A bottle of something sits on the table with glasses. An almost comically large fireplace sits in the south wall. A door leads to west.
Ariana peers toward the door, wondering what danger could be lurking behind it so great that it would require such reinforcements. Moving up toward it while the others examine and armor up, she slips toward the door, moving her mouth close to the small window so that she could be heard clearly. "Hello?" she calls into it. "Are you awake in there, whoever you are?" She would have been surprised to discover otherwise, given the noise their fighting made.
Alicia smirks at the man. "Right behind me. Got it." She chuckles, going back up the stairs to find out what was keeping the others, spying the sorceress looking and speaking to the heavily barricaded door. In a hurried whisper she hisses, "Do whatever you're doing over there! It's time to move out!" She then descends, keeping guard on the door in the stairwell.
Movement can be heard from within, as well as the clink of heavy chains. A deep voice comes out of the darkness, somewhere to the right of the door. "I am, little 'un. What happened? I heard shouting."
"We've been blessed with a rare chance to seize our rightful freedom, and are breaking out of Branderscar. While our friend has not afforded you the same chance, perhaps if you were willing to help us, I could free you? Are you fit to carry a weapon?" As she speaks, she looks to the stripped and looted guard bodies for a keyring she could use to unlock the door. "My name is Ariana Ddraig, and if you promise to fight for my allies and I, at least until we have crossed the bridge back to land, then I will grant you freedom. What is your name, and will you swear this oath to me?"
"Bah, f&%# your oath! If he has any sense in his head, he wants to get out of here just as much as we do. Anyone working to save their own skin will work well enough. Now let's MOVE!" Alicia scowls, glancing nervously back at the door.
Voice dropping down to a furious whisper, she turns toward Alicia, speaking lowly so that the prisoner can't hear her. "And if you had any sense in yours you would notice that he is isolated in a reinforced cell rather than put in with us. Whatever he is, he is likely dangerous well beyond any of us and if you would rather wager 'sense' on somebody that you can't see, then you will deserve when he turns on you immediately upon getting free. If the minute-long price of ensuring a modicum of loyalty inconveniences you, then move on without me and I will join you. It's not like we have a fortified position at the top of a tower of anything!"
"Oh yes, like the word of someone in this place means anything. Surely he wouldn't lie to get out of there." The blonde woman barks harsh laughter, rolling her eyes. She calls out loudly enough for the prisoner to surely hear. "You gonna help us get out of here or not, big boy? We've got to get moving!"
"My name is Grumblejack and I will swear your oath, woman. I can't remove these chains though. Please release me." His voice sounds hopeful, but also sluggish, as if he were waking up from deep sleep.
Ariana's fists ball up as Alicia laughs and mocks her, taking in a deep breath and turning back toward the cell door so that she doesn't give the woman the benefit of seeing her expression. At least, until her face lights up a little at the name "Grumblejack". A peculiar one, likely not human in the slightest. She quickly dashes toward the dropped key to retrieve it, coming back to the cell with a confident, composed stride, so that the first thing the prisoner sees is someone together and fierce. She undoes the stone door, pulling it open with likely a heavy grunt due to its weight, before stepping in and undoing the chains that hold the creature one by one, hand already shaping around a spell in the event of betrayal.
"Even the dullest mind imprisoned in this walls could see how precarious our fledgling escape is, and understand the need for common cause. I am satisfied that this Grumblejack would not hamper us, and indeed may aid us. Indeed, anyone confined or chained here, unless a decoy or with their mind entirely lost to madness, would be an ally to us."
Despite his accepting words, Molasbar still takes a moment to cast Mage Armor on himself, feeling more confident with the arcane protection about him.
Alicia nods curtly to the elven diviner, taking up a position just outside the door up the stairs, ready to press on once this Grumblejack revealed himself and they could figure out what to do with him.