"I am so fortunate to have so many capable friends." Grace laughs before she begins singing.
Be a man
We must be swift as the coursing river
Be a man
With all the force of a great typhoon
Be a man
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
Grace grins, knowing Elisai will likely end up singing along with her while she fights. They did this particular opera together not long before leaving Sandpoint.
Ragnhildr's blade manages to find purchase where Krysta's natural attacks did not. Her strike rips open a moderately sized gash across the left forearm of the ogrekin before her. On the other side of the barn Elisai surgically removes the head of the ogrekin before Sunday, cleanly taking off his head in a precise strike across his neck. Shalelu moves further into the barn and adjusts her target to the ogrekin on the southern stairs and sinks an arrow into his chest.
The three ogrekin all collapse on the mageknight, flanking her and attacking from three sides. The first ogrekin thrusts a shortspear towards her and draws her attention. She dodges the attack, but that opens her open the a rear attack. Moving in behind her quickly, the ogrekin pushes his spear through her midsection. As it bursts out the other side with a bloody point, the third ogrekin lands its spear in her upper chest (16+9=25 damage).
"Three on one? How rude." Sunday murmurs as he steps up to and lashes out at the Ogrekin that speared the Mageknight alongside his transient guests.
Delendir moves inside the barn while preparing an arrow he shots at the ogrekin fighting with Daud. Of if that one is dead, he steps a bit further for a clean shot at the upper one fighting with the Ulfen.
"Shalelu! Wait for us!" shouts the ranger at the elven woman.
Ragnhildr pulls the spears free of where they'd stabbed at her, she'd been bloodied, but not as badly hurt as she could have been. With the ferocity of a howling winter storm, she turns on one of the ogrekin with a snarl and aims to take his head from his shoulders.
One, two, three fall the ogrekin. Sunday, Delendir and Ragnhildr dispatch the last of the three horrid creatures. Ragnhildr's strike was doubly as gruesome as the blow inflicted upon her. No sooner than the last ogrekin hits the ground, Shalelu is already moving to the eastern door in the barn. Inspecting the doors she finds them boarded over and not easily opened. She pulls on one of the boards in a halfhearted attempt in dislodging it, but when it fails to move she spins back to the group flustered. She growls, "These aren't going to open, we should try to see if the catwalk is a viable option."
"Or we could just chop them open." Sunday suggests. "Don't forget about the spider as well... granted it didn't seem to come out when the fighting started so I guess it wasn't a pet. Might be able to ignore it or give it what's left of the ogres to keep it busy."
"Before we open up doorways to more insane horrors, should our beautiful witch and I do something about those of you who are bleeding?" Grace drawls.
The mention of the spider seems to harden the expression on Shalelu's face. "Chopping will take too long. We can't just sit here and attempt to gain a loud, noisy entrance while the spider could be eating those helpless men over there. Surely they heard what just happened here and are right this minute preparing in some fashion."
Turning away from the door she begins to hustle towards the northern catwalk. "I'm going in up there."
"Her blood is rather pungent, helps mask the ogres'." Sunday muses aloud.
Once Shalelu makes her moves Sunday just starts after her.
"Let me have a look" says Delendir crossing with Shalelu on his way to the doors. Placing his bow over one shoulder, he retrieves some of his special locks and sees if he can place a wire through the crevices to remove the other side locking log, or otherwise force the door out of the hinges making some strength with the right tools.
Delendir is partially successful in his endeavor. It looks like the door should probably give way, but it doesn't. Shalelu stops on the steps to the catwalk when she sees the progress Delendir is making, curious if the ranger will be able to pass through. With the hinges of the door removed, it should simply fall down. Instead they seem to be stuck in place and unmoving by some unseen force. There is little bit of play in the doors as they give an inch or so when pushed, but the doors do not open.
"Yes please, and if what I think is holding doors up is what's keeping them up, I'd rather not risk going in from the ground," Ragnhildr says as she clutches at her bleeding side.
"I can only heal a person once in any given day. My healing magic is limited that way, and I have already healed Ragnhildr this day." Yavenee says to Grace.
"Very well." Grace touches Ragnhildr and sings a few soft notes.
"Thank you," Ragnhildr says with a smile, "don't suppose you can do anything about the blood can you?"
Once the blood is or isn't taken care of, Ragnhildr heads up the stairs and tests the door before listening at it.
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Sunday keeps an eye out as he marches beside Shalelu.
Observing the half-unmounted door flying over the ground Delendir shocks his head "For Erastil's sake, what damned thing is going on?!"
The ranger understands when Ragnhildr explains "The spider..." and nods "Ok, let's try the other way around"
He follows Shalelu and Sunday swiftly but trying to pay attention at what lays ahead.
Shalelu sees Delendir following and instructs him to try the door on the opposite side of her. "According to what Krysta described, it sounds like the catwalk goes around the entire upper floor. It would be better if we split our forces between the door doors so we are not crammed together."
When Delendir opens his door, she opens her door at the same time. The majority of this large, stuffy chamber is covered in filthy webs forming a funnel that dips down into the ground. A catwalk runs around the rim of the room near the ceiling, twenty feet above the ground. In northeast and southeast corners, the catwalk expands into a ten-foot-square platform that's fenced in by wooden beams, forming cages. The walls within each cage are hung with iron manacles. Most of the manacles-while bloodyare empty, but three in the southeast corner imprison emaciated men.
The configuration of creatures in this room has altered somewhat since Krysta last spied a glance. Two of the ogrekin are now up on the catwalks, standing in front of the of the cages with one below on the ground floor guarding the door. The huge spider hangs from a web in the middle of the room, preparing for an assault on whoever appears.
Shalelu and Delendir both managed to open their doors quietly enough that neither the spider nor ogrekin noticed. Standing in the open doorway, Shalelu draws her bow and wastes no time firing at spider. Once the arrow has been loosed she tells Sunday, "Go get that ogrekin at the end of the catwalk, I'm working on big thing!"
Despite the free shot, her aim is shaken when she takes note of the captives in the prison cell. She fires and the arrow misses the spider by an inch as it slams loudly into the wall behind it, alerting the enemy to your presence.
Delendir finds out the ogrekin in front of him can charge over him on whatever moment and he does profits the advantage to quickly place an arrow on his ugly and smelly belly.
The ogrekin howls loudly when the arrow pierces his smelly belly. Blood sprays out behind him where the arrow protrudes, but he still manages to stay on his feet. He turns his attention to Delendir with full intention to charge at the ranger.
Grace sings four notes which resonate and crystalize as dancing balls of colored light which float above Shalelu.
Elisai moves up behind Delendir, trying to get closer to the combat.
The huge spider sits in its web, ten feet off the ground in the middle of the room. Once the doors opens it reacts, thrashing out towards Delendir and biting into his body. Once it tears into his flesh it begins to inject a greenish liquid into his body.
Both of the ogrekins charge forward with their short spears in an attempt to skewer Delendir and Shalelu, but both miss their targets.
Knowing that she needed to get into that room unobserved Krysta quickly burrowed down and began making her way underneath the floor into the next room. She knew that she couldn't affect the fighting yet, but when she got the chance they weren't going to like her very much.
Currently both doors from the catwalk are blocked by ogrekin.
Ragnhildr moves up behind Sunday and lobs a mist trailing missile at the ogre in front of Shalelu.
Yavenee glares at the Ogrekin in the doorway, chanting her magic as she reaches out to take control of his body, freezing him in place for Elisai's retaliation.
Delendir yells in pain as the spider brings down its attacks on him, but resists the poison.
Ignoring the ogrekin just in front, the ranger starts shooting at the spider arrow after arrow.
Once finished, the ranger retreats letting Elisai take the lead against the ogrekin.
Krysta burrows into the ground and makes her way towards the open battlefield below the spider.
Ragnhildr's mist hits its mark, affecting the ogrekin directly before Shalelu. Grunting loudly from the icy blast, it readies its weapon and prepares to stab the ranger before her momentarily. Shalelu looks between the ogrekin and Sunday who is adjacent to her, not seeing any place to move towards.
The ogrekin before Delendir seemingly was prepared for fancy magicks attacks of the mind and is completely impervious to the assault from the Yavenee.
Delendir's attack provokes an attack of opportunity from the ogrekin before him, but he is able to dodge the spear as it flashes past his right side. The ranger makes the simpleton pay for his miss when he buries both arrows in the chest of the creature before him. Staggering backwards, the ogrekin falls off the catwalk and lands on the dirt below with a loud thump.
"Shit." Sunday grumbles as he hops back past Ragnhildr to give some Shalelu room to move. Bracing himself he readies to rush back once Shalelu is out of the way.
Grace stays well away from the fight and begins to sing.
Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion
Elisai makes use of the added room to push forward and swing at the nearest Ogre-Kin/spider
Shalelu realizes her position is less than ideal and withdraws to the top of the stairs, letting Sunday and Ragnhildr have a better position to engage the ogrekin before her. Once she moves past Sunday, he surges forward and places himself between her and the attacker.
The ogrekin closes the distance and attacks Sunday twice. First a jab from a shortspear buries itself in Sunday's midsection. A second later the monstrosity lunges forward and sinks its teeth into Sunday's shoulder, tearing away a large patch of flesh that begins to bleed badly.
The last remaining ogrekin watches the battle, preparing to attack if a target closes on the catwalk.
The spider watches Krysta emerge from below and prepares to attack the new intruder.
Elisai lands a brutal blow on the spider, slicing off one of it's huge legs completely. Blood burst forth from the large wound, spraying the catwalk and ground blow with gore. The spider squirms from the attack, clacking loudly in protest. Re-positioning itself so that it ignores Krysta, it sizes up Elisai. The spider thrashes forward and bites her shoulder, ripping away a large chunk of flesh in the process. Once the contact has been made she injects poison into the spirit dancer as well.
Snarling as he gets stabbed Sunday's face turns to one of annoyance and disgust once the ogrekin bites him. "Eww," he groans as he starts hacking.
Her ambush spot in place Krysta popped up from the ground and beat her wings as she started to fly then took a deep breath. Once again she started to resonate and up from her throat and between her jaws came a great roar of sound that slammed into the spider and ogre near the cage.
Delendir steps to the front and shots more arrows at the spider "Erastil give me good aim not to hit Elisai's head"
Raseri sends another ball of frost and ice at the ogrekin attacking Sunday.