Balam successfully sneaks up behind the guard and quickly grapples him to prevent him from using his horn. The guard cries in alarm as he's grabbed, but based on the thickness of the walls you suspect it doesn't carry far. Wraith is unable to reach him in order to try and gag him due to his companion being in the way.
Tatienne's eyes widen, as the guard still stands after what the relic hunter was sure was a death blow. Yanking the dagger free, Taty slams it down once again, though in her haste to finish the man Taty shanks it off the guards armor.
FireSkorn remains hidden in the interview room, avoiding notice of the guards darts out after Balam grabs the guard and rushes forward to take the signal horn right out of the guard's hand, thus depriving him of his means to alert the garrison.
The guard Tatienne stabbed looks at her, pure menace in his eyes. He drops his club and draws out his longsword. He viciously slashes at her, causing a grievous wound to her left thight, but she doesn't fall to his strike and remains ready to battle.
Guard 1 - 8/22
Guard 2 - Grappled
Tatienne - 3/10
Jezabel lashes out at the guard, aiming her fist at his bloody throat.
damage plus
Jezabel lets out a mad laugh and licks his blood from her fingers.
Blood spilled excites Wraith, his own natural abilities require that he sacrifice a soul and this man in front of him is near the right conditions. With a smirk an idea comes to mind.
Rushing forward he decides to do something that would bring any man to their knees, but at the same time get him close to the guard Balam is grappled with.
With quick steps he rushes the guy, in the final steps winds his leg back. With swift and deadly purpose brings his foot racing up between the guys legs.
and the subdual of course.
With a final Ouch and involuntary cringe Wraith half steps back from the guard, looking on with glee to see the man's reaction.
Jezabel lashes out at the guard, aiming her fist at his bloody throat. She connects solidly, causing him to gasp even more and further aggravating the bleeding wound. She then lets out a mad laugh and licks his blood from her fingers.
Wraith speaks his arcane words of magic before advancing on the guard and touching him, wracking him with chills. The chills cause him to collapse to the ground, bleeding.
Guard 2, without his signal horn, struggles against Balam's grip but is unable to escape.
Guard 1 - -1/22
Guard 2 - Grappled
Tatienne - 3/10
"Good! Pin him down so we can tie him!'
Geborah pulls the rope from the veil, and moves to Balam's side.
Stepping over the dying guard, Tatienne pulls on the grappled guard's legs, trying to wrestle him to the ground. She's covered with blood - the dying man's for sure, but also her own - and her hands slide off of the kicking guard's legs. Frustrated and hurt, the relic hunter hisses, "Give up or die. Your choice!"
Balam tried to tighten his grip on the soldier, pinning his arms and legs together.
The little rodent tries to grab the struggling guard's legs
Seeing the dying guard, Wraith smirks in Excitement. Wraith then takes a second to listen to hear if anything is coming up the stairs before he rushes to the remaining guard and gags him.
Jezabel drags the dying guard into her own space, sits on his chest and puts her mouth over his gaping throat wound, drinking the blood right out of his neck.
"Mmmm..." she moans.
"Good! Pin him down so we can tie him!"
Geborah pulls the rope from the veil, and moves to Balam's side.
Balam tried to tighten his grip on the soldier, pinning his arms and legs together. FireSkorn and Tatienne both try to help, but Tatienne's hands, slick with blood, slide off. FireSkorn has more luck, with the little Ratfolk helping to pin the guard's legs, allowing Balam to succeed.
Seeing the dying guard, Wraith smirks in Excitement. Wraith then takes a second to listen to hear if anything is coming up the stairs before he rushes to the remaining guard to attempt to gag him. Unfortunately, Tatienne is in his way, and he cannot do so.
Jezabel drags the dying guard out of the doorway, sits on his chest and puts her mouth over his gaping throat wound, drinking the blood right out of his neck.
"Mmmm..." she moans.
The guard, thoroughly freaked out by Jezabel and trapped by Balam, desperately tries to escape his grasp.
Not bothering with Guard 1's stabilize, since he's bleeding 4 hp a round.
Huh. Color me surprised.
He's just barely able to wriggle his way free clearing himself from Balam and FireSkorn's grasps before leaping to his feet.
Guard 1 - -5/22, 3 nonlethal
Guard 2 - 22/22
Tatienne = 3/10
Seeing the guard get freed, Wraith uses the door for cover, and takes a swing at the guard with his newly acquired club.
and dealing
"Slippery oaf, isn't he?" Geborah chuckles. She rakes her nails at the guard's face to distract him.
Balam smirks and grabs the guard again. "Stay put, or I'll let her play with you."
[ooc]dang where was that roll last time!?
Jezabel comes up from the dying guard's neck, blood soaking her face and neck and dripping from her mouth.
"Shhh, shh, shhh..." she coos at the struggling guard. "It's time to rest now, love."
Jezabel wipes a drop of sweat off the guard beneath her, and mutters a few words of gibberish in a sing-song voice. Then she reaches out a bloody hand an touches the struggling guard.
Cursing, Tatienne grabs again at the guard's legs, and once again the guard slips free. "Let's just kill him!"
Once again the little rat tries to entangle the guard with his own body
Geborah assists Balam with allowing the warrior to once again gain a hold of the guard. Tatienne tries to assist in pinning him, but her hands again slide free from the guard. "Let's just kill him!"
FireSkorn also assists Balam with setting up the pin, as Wraith takes the club he purloined from the downed guard and smacks the standing one with it, a resounding wallop.
Jezabel comes up from the dying guard's neck, blood soaking her face and neck and dripping from her mouth.
"Shhh, shh, shhh..." she coos at the struggling guard. "It's time to rest now, love."
Jezabel wipes a drop of sweat off the guard beneath her, and mutters a few words of gibberish in a sing-song voice. Then she reaches out a bloody hand and touches the struggling guard. The guard feels fatigue and tiredness enter his body, but he still struggles, knowing, perhaps, that if he gives up, death awaits.
Guard 1 continues dying, since he can't stabilize.
The guard again breaks free from Balam's grasp, this time drawing out his longsword - he clearly sees that he is in a bad spot.
Guard 1 - -9/22 (dead at -12)
Guard 2 - 19/22, 4 nonlethal, fatigued
Wraith seeing the guard free, takes another swing at him.
and
and
"Put it down or I'll drain your friend dry..." Jezabel tells the guard. "Poor things barely hanging on..."
Deciding she'd rather not wait to find out just how much the guard cares about his fellow, Jezabel stands and lashes out at the guard with a bloody fist.
plus
Balam grimaces and shoves his dagger into the guard's back with a powerful thrust."I told you you'd be the last to die.
"Kill him if he won't surrender," says Geborah. "We have a spare." She ducks out of the now armed guard's reach behind Balam and makes an occult sign at the dying guard.
Jezebel licks some blood off her fingers for emphasis.
Lashing out with her dagger, Taty does her best to end the guard's life. Still, despite having the advantage in numbers and tactics, the relic hunter can do the man no harm.
Geborah delays while she waits to see if her compatriots can take down the guard.
Balam grimaces and shoves his dagger into the guard's back with a powerful thrust. "I told you you'd be the last to die." The dagger penetrates the guard's armor, causing the guard to grunt in pain. Lashing out with her dagger, Taty does her best to end the guard's life. Still, despite having the advantage in numbers and tactics, the relic hunter can do the man no harm, him able to defend himself from her strike.
Wraith seeing the guard free, takes another swing at him. The club impacts, knocking some of the guard's breath out of his body. "Put it down or I'll drain your friend dry..." Jezabel tells the guard. "Poor thing's barely hanging on..."[/b]
Deciding she'd rather not wait to find out just how much the guard cares about his fellow, Jezabel stands and lashes out at the guard with a bloody fist.
The guard collapses, with the fatigue and pain he has taken finally wearing him down.
Guard 1 - -13/22 (dead at -12)
Guard 2 - 6/22, 7 nonlethal, fatigued, 2 bleed
Tatienne - 3/10
Geborah looks at the spreading red pool under the collapsed guard. "So much for taking one alive. Anyone know how to stop bleeding? How about you, Wraith? Any chance you were digging up bodies for medical research instead of, um, more personal reasons?"
She lifts the Archstar over her head.
”I have no skill with healing.” he bends down and starts binding the guard’s wounds. ”But I’ve seen it down enough times to bind a few wounds.”. When he’s done, he stands and strips one of the guards. ”Does anyone have the magic to clean this thing? If I can look like a guard, we may be able to trick them into complacency.”
[ooc]
Jezabel smiles, "I can heal as well as I kill," Jezabel points out as Balam tends the guards wounds. "I prefer my dinner fresh," she adds.
She shakes her head at Balam's query over cleaning magic. "Not I, not I..."
While the others mess with the stabilized guard, Jezabel sits atop the dead guard and takes a big bite out of his cheeks, chewing the warm spurting hunk of flesh with relish.
Balam is able to use the guard's tabard to stanch the bleeding, thanks to the divine guidance of Asmodeus, delivered by Geborah. However, attempting to use it as a disguise will require allowing the guard to begin bleeding out again.
Looking about the guardroom, you see there is a stairwell leading down, as well as the door to the interview room. The fireplace is quite large, though currently unlit, and it looks like the chimney connects to a lower fireplace as well as going up. Hanging on a peg near the door to the cell block is a key ring with several keys.
Looking further at the two guards, you notice that neither has a helmet, and you aren't sure if there are enough guards here for you to be "lost in the crowd" or if they would all know each other on sight. You haven't seen that many different guards, as of yet. All of their equipment is stamped with the symbol of Talingarde.
2 x longswords
2 x chain shirts
2 x leather-wrapped clubs (deals half non-lethal damage, round lethal damage down/non-lethal up)
2 x heavy steel shields
2 x longbows
2 x quivers of 20 arrows
2 x small keys, each unique
1 x signal horn (currently held by FireSkorn)
2 x Branderscar prison tabards (one being used to stanch bleeding)
He looks the items over then shrugs
"Too big big"
Tatienne grunts as she begins to undress one of the guards, hand momentarily covering her wound. "I'm happy to swing a sword... but I'll need some of that healing too."
"We can't wait for him to wake naturally - we don't have the time. So we'll have to heal him too. Unless someone can cure just his bumps and bruises?"
Geborah pats Balam on the back. "Well done. Dressing you as a guard is a fine idea; mayhap we can rinse the clothes off. In the other uniform, Tatienne could probably pass for a man in bad light. Jezabel probably not so well, because of her hips and, well, other reasons." She watches with interest as the crouching woman strips flesh from the dead guard's face, then shrugs.
"Let us get this one into the interrogation room and shut the window and door before we wake him. I want to try to make him draw a map, with exits and guard posts and where Blackerly and the wizard captain who runs the place sleep. I want him to tell us what those keys unlock"--she tucks the keyring into a pocket--"what passwords the patrols use, what's in that stone cell, and where they keep prisoners' possessions. While the rest of us put him to the question, at least one of us should listen by the stairs for the approach of more guards. I'd like Balam with me in the interregation room, and anyone else who can terrify him without betraying that he is a dead man no matter what he says."
"He might be less likely to lie if he thinks we are asking his friend the same questions, so why don't we drag Jezabel's breakfast to our old cell and let him believe he's alive?"
"Jezabel, could you heal Tatienne's leg without taking a mouthful for yourself? "
Jezabel eyes Tatienne's wound and smiles.
"Come here, pretty thing, lovely little thing," Jezabel sings softly as she gestures Tatienne closer. "Rubies, rubies, glistening jewels, lick it up, lick it up..."
Jezabel thrusts her arms out to the sides, hands open. She mutters under her breath and her body tenses. A green energy seems to manifest in the air around Jezabel, and flow into her open hands. Her eyes glow bright green along with her hands. Jezabel begins to sing gibberish softly. The green energy in her hands changes colour, to a warm yellow glow. Jezabel reaches out to touch Tatienne's leg and a sudden wave of calming, comforting warmth flows from her hands into Tatienne's leg. A dangerous feeling when it's a cannibal tending your wounds...
Jezabel seems to swoon for a moment, then a wide smile spreads across her face. She runs a finger along Tatienne's much-smaller wound, covering her finger in blood. Then she lets go of Tatienne and licks her blood off of her finger.
"Just as taste," she assures Tatienne.
---
Jezabel takes another bite out of the guard's face, then gets up off of him as she chews. She strips him naked and drags his body off into the prison cell, taking the keys from Geborah with her as she goes.
---
Eventually Jezabel wanders over to the interrogation room, keys in hand. "You still want me to heal him?" she asks as she returns the keys.
Racing back into the cell Wraith grabs some of their rags, "Here use these and pass me the other tabard." Once done he starts casting Prestidigitation several times, cleaning out blood and trying to leave the normal stains and dirt in place.
"That's the best i can do." Taking a look at the gear, he picks up the now familiar club.
"I'll take this and if there's a spare dagger I'll take that as well." Once armed he looks a little more comfortable.
"Now all that's left if to decide if we want to spend resources bringing that pound of flesh around to question him, or allow me to draw off his soul for some power to help us get out."
With wicked grin towards the unconscious guard he hopes you'll allow the second choice.
"Also we have what can only be the maximum security ward in that locked room back there, do we want to check it out?"
Tatienne tenses and balls her fists as Jezebel runs her finger over the wound. Still, the relic hunter knows better than to look a gift cannibal in the mouth. "Thanks," she says, through gritted teeth.
The armor fits poorly, the guard being much bulkier than Taty, but it'll have to do. At least, with Wraith's magic, it is clean. Taty gives the necromancer a nod of thanks, and hefts the dead guard's sword, checking its balance and weight. If the armor was passable, the longsword, however, was perfect. Grinning, Taty thrusts and parries the air.
"Good thinking, Geborah. Let's wake this poor bastard. Then check the room? We can ask the guard what's in it."
Geborah's found a beaten tin cup among the guards' belongings. She sniffs it, then lifts it like an offering, whispering an incantation.
The cup overflows with clear,cold water. She drinks it thirstily, then refills it and offers it around to the others as they bring the guard into the interrogation room and tie him spread-eagled to the table.
When their prisoner is secured, Geborah fills the cup one more time--"If this doesn't work, I suppose Jezabel will have to heal him"--then dashes it into the unfortunate man's face.
"Who's watching the stair?"
"I can watch the stairs. I'm the best suited to our first line of defense, anyways." Balam hefts the shield and sword, gauging their weight.
---
Jezabel saunters up to the unconscious guard, hops up onto the table and sits on his chest, straddling him like a lover.
"Time to waaaaake uuuuuuup," she sings softly.
She mutters some gibberish under her breath, causing her hands to glow with warm, comforting yellow light. She places her hands on his chest and laughs as his wounds heal.
"Hello, love," Jezabel coos at the guard, her face still wet around the mouth with his friends blood. "Mmmmm, you smell delicious. I could just... GOBBLE... YOU... UP."
She smiles at him, and laughs.
"My new friends have some questions for you. You want to answer them, don't you? If you're polite, I won't devour you alive."
Jezabel then licks the guy's chest.
---
Geborah sits in a chair at the head of the table, her chin resting on her hands just a few inches from the bound guard's face.
"Have you been a guard here long? I bet you have. I bet you've had nightmares just like this." She pauses. "I don't think you're going to wake up, this time."
"Now listen closely, because I am only going to explain the rules to you once. If you don't answer our questions, or you lie, we're going to hurt you. But if you answer all our questions fully and honestly, you'll live. In fact, I swear by my master Asmodeus that if you tell us everything we want to know, we'll lock you up in a cell, alive, with our thanks, when we leave."
"So let's begin. What's at the bottom of the stairs in your guard room?"
Geborah interrogates the guard at length, scratching a map into the table as he describes the prison. She orders him to describe the exits, guard stations and patrol routes, and the sleeping quarters of Blackerly and their wizard captain ("Whose name is...?") She asks what passwords and other security signs they use, what is in the secure stone cell, and where they store prisoners' possessions.
The first time the guard pauses in his recital, Geborah casually drags her nails across the wooden table, gouging furrows in the wood as she moves them right next to his head. If he's brave or mad enough to hold out, she hooks them into the delicate skin of his temples and starts to apply painful pressure.
Her eyes stare fixedly at his the whole time, searching for any hint of deception.
Yes
Geborah finds that the window does not shut, nor can she remove it from the wall. It appears that the window is stuck there, pending someone using magic to remove it.
It would likely take a spell capable of dispelling or suppressing enchantments to remove.
The guard groans as he wakes up, only to find Jezabel standing over him, bloody face smiling. He screams in terror, and vainly struggles against his bindings.
Turning to face Geborah, he looks at her with fear in his eyes. This may not be his worst nightmare, but it has to be pretty darn close. His face goes pale when she mentions Asmodeus, and he swallows, but he certainly does not seem resistant.
"The stairs down lead to a door - it's unlocked. On the other side is the main hallway of the keep - there are three guards posted there. We have 3 guards on the roof of the gate house and another three at a guard post at the end of the causeway. Those three also have a guard dog with them. The other guard dogs are in a kennel near the guard house. There are three guards patrolling the wall, who have a clear view of the grounds. Blackerly's quarters are the first door on the left in the hall, but he isn't there - he's at his card game, which is in the gate house. Some of the other guards may have left their posts to join him - I can't say for sure. The Warden's name is Mathias Richter - he sleeps in the main tower along the wall, on the second floor. The only password is the one that has to be given to the guards at the guard post at the end of the causeway. It's currently 'Matharyn'.
"That secure cell? A vicious ogre a Knight of the Alerion caught - he was hiding out in the moors, engaging in banditry. None of you were brought in with any belongings - the Knight brought us the ogre's armor and weapons, which Blackerly locked in the armory. There's some other assorted weapons in there, taken from prisoners over the years.
"The only exit is the causeway, and the guard post at the end of it. You'd be mad to try jumping into the ocean from the walls - there's jagged rocks down there, and the current looks pretty strong. To get there, you have to go out the front doors of the keep and then get through the gate house. Please don't let the crazy one eat me."
By the end of his recitation, he's near blubbering. Cannibals are quite useful for intimidation, it seems.
He's lying about the password.