Double shot at the fallen guard then, both at him if he's at the top of the ladder, at least once if he's at the foot of it, but still apparently alive:
Hel misses the guard ascending, her head turning to watch Demlin retrieve a torch from the wall; at the clangs of the blade-swings from Sir Gallen and Wesh, she jumps a little, turning back, then lashing out with her foot to kick the guard's legs out from under him even as he gets off the ladder. "Wesh," she says mildly, "I think this is your best chance to toss down the torch, if you think that's spread far enough to get everyone in the room down there. Demlin, if you'll hand it to him ... ??"
She is not, however, cruel for the sake of cruelty, and deliberately puts her arrows into the guard unless it's patently no longer necessary, having a personal preference to not burn people alive who needn't be.
Gallen brings his blade down sheering cleanly through part of the ladder after missing the man advancing. "Blackerly will make it up here, you watch. A rat like him will need some killing."
Wesh takes every chance he can get to cut down the guards. His blade bites deep into the guard's shoulder, causing him to lose his grip and fall down the ladder.
Gallen prepares to strike at the next guard to come up the ladder.
Grumblejack continues pouring the oil.
Cole takes a moment to study the guard before letting loose an arrow. Unfortunately, his muscle spasms as he looses the arrow, and it misses wide.
Hel misses the guard ascending, her head turning to watch Demlin retrieve a torch from the wall; at the clangs of the blade-swings from Sir Gallen and Wesh, she jumps a little, turning back just in time to see the guard fall down the ladder. "Wesh," she says mildly, "I think this is your best chance to toss down the torch, if you think that's spread far enough to get everyone in the room down there. Demlin, if you'll hand it to him ... ??"
She is not, however, cruel for the sake of cruelty, and deliberately puts her arrows into the guard unless it's patently no longer necessary, having a personal preference to not burn people alive who needn't be. Her first arrow finishes off the guard who fell down the ladder, her second goes into an already wounded guard.
Blackerly doesn't say anything, and he remains out of line of sight.
Guard 1 - Dead
Guard 2 - Dead
Guard 3 - 7/22
Guard 4 - Dead
Wesh nods to Hel and retrieves a torch. He lingers near the hatch and waits for Grumblejack to finish emptying the barrel before throwing the torch below.
"Nothing to say to them, Tomas?" Hel calls down, curious. "I mean, they are about to die for you, you should give them some sort of 'good job, see you in Mithra's halls'. Not, you know, that you're likely to go there, being the sinner you are, but some of them might. I do say 'might'," she adds with some abstraction, "because it's clear -- to me, anyhow -- that your god cares more for how much you people praise him and less about what his priests claim his philosophies are."
Hel pauses for a few moments, then adds, "You people do understand you're going to be burned alive, right? And that there's nobody coming to save you?"
She eyes the second-level floor critically, considering whether or not it's likely to catch on fire as well. It's stone, so they should be fine, but it never hurts to be certain.
Demlin keeps her hold on the torch as Wesh prepares to attack any guard that comes through the ladder.
The guards at the base of the ladder retreat, three of their number dead, and then you hear the sound of grunting, and a thump, as though a table has been overturned or something.
"Nothing to say to them, Tomas?" Hel calls down, curious. "I mean, they are about to die for you, you should give them some sort of 'good job, see you in Mitra's halls'. Not, you know, that you're likely to go there, being the sinner you are, but some of them might. I do say 'might'," she adds with some abstraction, "because it's clear -- to me, anyhow -- that your god cares more for how much you people praise him and less about what his priests claim his philosophies are."
Hel pauses for a few moments, then adds, "You people do understand you're going to be burned alive, right? And that there's nobody coming to save you?"
She eyes the second-level floor critically, considering whether or not it's likely to catch on fire as well. It's stone, so they should be fine, but it never hurts to be certain. She's fairly confident they won't catch on fire - although the wooden ladder going down might.
A guard shouts back, "You can lie all you want, criminal! We'll be fine and then we'll show you what happens to uppity scum like you!"
Cole nods in agreement keeping his bow at the ready while Grumblejack finish pouring the oil.
Hel looks up at the others, then nods, setting aside her bow and going down to the floor, to poke her head through upside-down to check on the progress of the spread of the oil and to get an idea of exactly what else -- and who else -- is down there. "I don't lie," she tells the victims-to-be in that same abstracted/thoughtful tone, speaking (and appearing) to help distract them from how far the oil is flooding; she remains ready to jerk back and out of sight if they start producing bows and firing arrows. "I have better things to do with my mind than keep track of falsehoods. I may let people lie to themselves, but as Mithrans, you should be very familiar with that. I tried to be a good Mithran, I really did, but between the burning of myself, my parents, and our library for simply having knowledge your fool of a king forbade for no good reason but he needed someone to blame, and then daily beatings and the nightly rape after my escape from the flames proved I could be 'saved', well, your 'goodly and true man and wife' really rather turned me off the worship of your split-apart god.
"Oh well. Say your prayers," she adds as the last of the third cask pours down the hole, "because -- and I'm speaking from experience here -- this is really going to hurt."
Grumblejack finishes pouring the last of the oil, and then Wesh takes the torch from Demlin and throws it down, igniting the shallow pool of oil that fills the room below.
Wesh slams the trap door closed after the flames ignite, and puts the chair back on it to make sure it stays closed.
The sound of the fire burning and the screams of those below can be heard through the trap door as they burn. After a little over half a minute, the screams stop.
You can hear the sound of someone coughing.
"Can anyone else here someone coughing?" Gallen looks at the others.
With his mind a bit satisfied with the torment the men most certainly just suffered Cole is paying little attention.
"Huh? What? Coughing? I mean they all would have been coughing and screaming."
As the flames burn below, Wesh thinks back to that wonderful moment when he tossed the torch down below. The torch ensured bastard Blackerly's fate.
Blackerly is dead. What ecstasy, what joy, what... is that coughing Wesh hears? His revelry is cut short by the sound.
He nods to Sir Gallen, "I hear it. Let's keep the hatch shut for a while longer. The flames may not have killed them all, but the lack of air certainly will."
Also checking to see if the ladders up out of here can be moved to let us get down into the 'gambling den'.
Once the torch is dropped down, the trapdoor closed, and the chair put on top to make sure whomever is down there can't even try to escape, Hel -- with as bleak an expression on her face as any those here have seen -- walks away, bow in one hand as she checks one of the ladders up to the roof, to see if it can be moved, and thus used to get down into the room where Blackerly is.
Returning, she cocks her head at Sir Gallen's question, listening. "Yes," she replies shortly. "If Wesh's luck is holding out, it'll be Blackerly, and he'll have a chance to put his blade to work as well. Do we want to make sure the ladder is burnt out, leave him to stew and take care of the guards at the front gate, or do we want to let a ladder down so Wesh can take his cut?"
You hear the sound of someone laughing from below, in both triumph and incredulity.
Hel finds that the other ladders can, in fact, be moved if needed. This was obviously a defensive precaution to keep enemies who took one level of the gatehouse from continuing to climb.
"Alright, now that I hear. He laughs at death, or that he survived. Maybe he assumed we wouldn't stat to finish the job. How do you guys want to plat this? I suggest arrows, but we may not have good shots. We probably need to hop down there."
Can we tell whether the sound is coming from right below the door, or off to one side, and if it's the latter (and we can tell), can we tell about how far away?
Also, when I was head-down and looking, was there anything else in the basement that the person (presumably Blackerly) could use to climb up and try to escape through the hatch, anything that wouldn't currently be on fire? The table, the chairs, crates, boxes, whatever ... ??
"I know that laugh," Hel says bleakly, going once more over to the ladder up to the roof. "That's the same laugh I made when I survived the Mithran's little roast." She waves her left (blackened) hand to indicate what she's talking about, then proceeds to unship the ladder and bring it over.
Going up to Grumblejack, she holds it out to him and says, "This is how heavy the ladder is if there's nobody on it. Go on, take it." She lets him get a feel for how heavy the thing is, then takes the ladder back and sets it aside. "Now we lift up the ladder that's there, and if our laughing someone is holding onto it, Grumblejack will tell us if the ladder he's lifting out of the room down there is heavier than the ladder I just showed him. And if it is, we lift our little songbird right on out, and cut him down when he gets to us.
"Grumblejack," Hel adds, "There's going to be some smoke -- maybe a lot of smoke -- coming up out of the hatchway when we open it. I'll help you get a hold of the ladder; just pull it on up and let us know if it's heavy and you have a passenger. And if you do, when it's out, step away from the smoke, so we can get a clear shot at him."
She glances at the others, particularly Wesh and Sir Gallen. "I suggest taking a step or two back, and closing only if -- or when -- Grumblejack says he's got one on the hook. If he stays down there, great -- we close and bar the hatch, put the chair on it, and take care of the front gate and come back for him after the room has cleared. If he comes up, we finish him off, see if there are any gleanings worth the name downstairs, do a last scan of anything we might care to take care of here in the keep, and eliminate the guards at the front gate on our way out."
"Thoughts? Suggestions? Revisions?" Her usual post-plan request for input.
Wesh grits his teeth. It had been too much to hope Blackerly would go easily. The fighter will just have to personally see to the man's demise.
After Hel gives her plan, Wesh says, "It's worth a try, but if it's as smoky as you think it'll be, Blackerly may not be able to even see the ladder. And, if he eventually does, he'll probably also be able to see Grumblejack at the top.
"If it doesn't work, though, I'll be going down there to finish him off. He needs to die before I leave here. The guards at the front gate can wait."
"Whoever it is, they are doubtlessly alone now. Let us move to see the truth of it and strike down any guard who yet lives."
For a moment Hel hesitates; letting the rest of the contents of the room burn down and so add to presumably-Blackerly's death-by-smoke-inhalation would be more efficient -- or rather, less personally dangerous. But making sure of the person down below would definitely help in protecting their backs ... "All right, Wesh," she says mildly. "That sounds workable. Let's make it happen."
Cold nods.
"Yes let's finish this and be done with this place."
Opening the trapdoor releases a plume of black, acrid smoke - along with both the sound of laughter and coughing. The laughter cuts off as a voice shouts, "Fools! You thought you could burn me! You are nothing! You will either be slain in your misguided escape attempt, or you will die after the executioner arrives! I will see to it! Come! Try and finish me off! You'll see I'm no easy meat!"
The voice belongs to Blackerly - not only does he yet live, but it appears the smoke has had no effect on him, as the coughing below continues.
The wooden ladder might support someone's weight, but too many and it will collapse.
"It seems Blackerly does not know how to burn... Hel, would you like to provide him with some kindling." Gallen nods at Hel's quiver as he prepares to head down with the others.
Wesh is eager to see Blackerly dead, but after examining the wooden ladder, he cautions his allies, "The wooden ladder should be able to support someone's weight, but if too many of us try to climb down at once, it will collapse. Probably best to go one at a time to be safe."
"It's not far, we could simply jump down and overwhelm him."
I presume we can't see him, due to smoke &c.
Hel rolls her eyes, undoing the simple latches that keep the ladder from sliding around and falling down the hole, then gestures Grumblejack to lift it. "Care for a ride up, roundbelly?" she calls to Blackerly as she gets out of the ogre's way and retrieves her bow.
Grumblejack easily pulls the ladder up, and no one is holding onto it. Blackerly's laughter continues, as he shouts, "Cowards! You're too afraid to face me in combat! How pathetic!"
Hel gestures to the new ladder. "Now put down that one. Wesh, climb on; I'm sure Grumblejack can bear your weight."
Wesh nods to Hel and climbs onto the ladder.
To Grumblejack, he says, "Once I'm down and off the ladder, pull it up immediately so that the next person can get down. I have no doubt that Blackerly will move to attack as soon as he knows we're there. I'll hold off on attacking as long as I can, but we may have to engage before everyone has been lowered down."
Looking at his companions, Wesh says, "I suggest that those of you who can attack at range be the last ones down the ladder. Hopefully if a fight breaks out before everyone's down, we can keep Blackerly in your line-of-sight."
"I'm following you down right away," states Hel, "so get out of the way when you get down there. Demlin," she adds, looking over at the rogue, "you saw how I opened that up? It gets down there, lock the ladder down so the rest can follow; I'm going to take Cole's advice and jump down right away so Blackerly has two people to give him trouble right away."
Wesh grabs the ladder, and Grumblejack lowers him down into the room below. Releasing the ladder, Wesh turns to face Blackerly, finding him standing about 40 feet away behind an overturned table. The fire did its job - his clothing is blackened and burned, and if given the chance to heal, the left side of his face will likely be scarred from the fire. Nevertheless, he stands, longsword in hand, a manic glint in his eye as he sees you. Leveling his sword at you he says, "Come. Meet your death, scum."
Behind the table you can hear someone coughing - at least one of the guards still lives, as well, although he doesn't sound like he's in any shape to fight.
[spoiler=Tracking]
Guard 5 - 0/22, staggered, sickened
Blackerly - 26/39
Wesh draws his greatsword as he moves forward. With the table between the fighter and his goal, Wesh elects to stop after moving 30 ft and readies his blade to strike Blackerly should the man be foolish enough to get in range.
Gallen climbs down the ladder and then moves up beside Wesh as he draws his blade.
Wesh grabs the ladder, and Grumblejack lowers him down into the room below. Releasing the ladder, Wesh turns to face Blackerly, finding him standing about 40 feet away behind an overturned table. The fire did its job - his clothing is blackened and burned, and if given the chance to heal, the left side of his face will likely be scarred from the fire. Nevertheless, he stands, longsword in hand, a manic glint in his eye as he sees you. Leveling his sword at you he says, "Come. Meet your death, scum."
Behind the table you can hear someone coughing - at least one of the guards still lives, as well, although he doesn't sound like he's in any shape to fight.
Wesh draws his greatsword as he moves forward. With the table between the fighter and his goal, Wesh elects to stop after moving 30 ft and readies his blade to strike Blackerly should the man be foolish enough to get in range.
Gallen climbs down the ladder. Unfortunately, due to the wobbliness of the unlatched ladder and its charred state, he slips and falls down the ladder, landing on his back.
Cole chooses to instead hop down the whole. He lands on his feet, but rolls his ankle a bit as he lands, setting him off-balance, and he must steady himself.
Blackerly points his sword at Wesh and says, "I'll see what you're made of, warrior, after I gut you like the swine you are."
The sergeant circles the table and faces Wesh, deflecting the other's readied strike and retaliating with one of his own, a biting one-handed gash across Wesh's thigh.
Grumblejack looks at the ladder and says, "Grumblejack not think that ladder hold him. What you want Grumblejack do?"
Guard 5 - 0/22, staggered, sickened
Blackerly - 26/39
Wesh - 3/15
Hel gestures to the new ladder. "Now put down that one. Wesh, climb on; I'm sure Grumblejack can bear your weight."
So the only issue Gallen should have is that it isn't anchored at the top, not that it's charred. Unless the one up to the roof is charred as well, in which case that's information we didn't have previously.
If the ladder therefore is still charred, Hel will pull the charred ladder back out, get the good ladder, put it down, and -- if she still has any action left -- clamp it in place. If she can clamp it, she will then tell Grumblejack to go down; if not, she will tell him to wait for a moment.
If the ladder therefore is not charred, Hel will take whatever action is necessary to anchor the ladder, since Demlin is OOCly out of it (hasn't posted anywhere for a month) and I guess isn't being botted, since she didn't anchor it immediately. (Sorry; in setups like this, where there's a clear sequence of events that's been planned, I kind of hate initiative for that first round. In any case.)
Since the ladder is anchored at that point, and if she has a move action available, she will climb down, telling Grumblejack to follow her.
If she does not have a move action available, she will tell Grumblejack to climb down now.
I have no real way of posing any of this, as I lack information regarding the ladder and the length of actions necessary for anchoring it in place.
Gallen gets up and moves towards Blackerly drawing his sword.