"Then let's beat 'em up and call it a wash."
Richard parries a stab with his buckler and dodges a second attack clean.
"Agreed Kharax. Take them down and let the gods sort it out."
Noticing the sphere roll to stop near him, Richard jumps away from the man at the portcullis, scoops up the sphere, and chucks it back.
Grievously wounded, Alpha casts a spell and swings his shield at one of the men, but misses!
Lewdon swings and strikes one of the men, taking him down!
Kharax moves up and heals some of Alpha's many wounds!
Richard thinks fast, grabs the sphere and tosses it back toward the men!
The sphere on the ground pops and begins issuing out a cloud of gas!
The axe-handed man and the men on orange seem unaffected by the gas, but the one in red begins clutching his throat and retching!
The man with an axehand charges Kharax, slashing at the half-orc!
The yellow clothed man steps down and stabs at Kharax with a dagger!
The man in orange draws a dagger and stabs at Alpha, then steps out of the cloud, while the man in red runs out of the cloud, gasping.
The remaining man takes a stab at Lewdon, then steps north!
Stepping back, Richard draws his stungun and shoots the yellow shirt in the back.
Alpha steps out of the cloud and tries to slam his shield into Orange.
Richard draws the stun gun and fires it, hitting the man and dodging his dagger attack!
Lewdon swings his weapon in a wide are, striking both men adjacent to him!
Alpha reaches out, striking the axe handed man as he passes, delivering a shock as well! He then swings his shield at the man in orange, but misses.
Y-14 NL
G-15
O-12
Kharax steps back and right to avoid a nasty flank and calls forth some electricity to slam into the adjacent foe.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Kharax steps to the northeast and casts a spell on the defensive. Reaching out, he touches the axe-handed man, sending a powerful jolt of electricity through the man! The man's body goes rigid and his hair begins to smoke as his eyes rolls back into his head and he begins convulsing as he falls to the ground. The area begins to smell of burnt flesh as the man goes still.
Two of the men moves south, flanking and asttacking Lewdon!
The northern man attacks Richard, while the last man continues to choke on the gas bomb fumes!
Alpha steps over to help the distressed Lewdon.
Richard dodges another attack, steps back, and whips out a dagger to throw at the man he's fighting.
Kharax moves up to Lewdon and tries to heal some of his injuries.
Alpha steps up and smashes his shield into one of the men, knocking him to the dirt and into unconsciousness!
Richard ducks under an attack, the stabs with his dagger, but misses!
Lewdon swings wildly at the men near him, but misses as his wounds begin to effect his strikes!
Kharax moves up and provides some healing to the newest party member.
While the man to the east continues to gag, the last two men maneuver to flank Lewdon and each jab their daggers into his sides.
"Lewdon, you ok?"
Richard draws his rapier, steps behind the yellow cloaked thug, and attacks.
Alpha steps to the side and slams his shield again.
Glad that Lewdon's somewhat artificial body seems to be resisting otherwise lethal wounds, Kharax pulls out a wand and tries to keep Lewdon in the fight!
Richard steps up and stabs one of the thugs!
Alpha swings his shield, but it whistles harmlessly through the air.
Kharax gives Lewdon a small amount of healing!
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Lewdon once again takes a step back while taking a two-handed swing at his adversaries.
"Donna worry to much bout me I been hit by bees harder. Dees pukes gonna get crowned sooner or later and I'll be standin."
Grunting at the wounds hes taken he adds "Dats right you two keep swingin at me couse ifin you look away for just one second I gonna bash ya freekin heads inta pulp with little Kingmaker here."
Lew swings his weapon in wide arc, hitting the man in green and taking him down, while missing the man in yellow!
As the man falls, and his puking companion flees into the rubble, the remaining man throws down his dagger, and holds up his hands. "You win govs. I give up..." He says quietly.
"For what purpose did you engage in hostilities? It is not logical!"
Richard keeps his weapons out and his eyes peeled for more trouble.
"Who are you? And are there more of your group in here? Cooperate and we will treat you fairly."
The man removes his helment revealing a grisly grin surrounded by tangles of raw scar tissue from where they’ve cut away their lips and cheeks to expose their teeth. "We are apart of the Smilers. We got here a little before you and captured the Sarenites stationed here. There are no more of us here." He says.
"The Smilers are based out of Scrapwall." Richard reminds his companions. "Last I heard they played second fiddle to the Lords of Rust. We might learn something useful from him, but let's tie him up for now and go look for the Sarenites first."
"Affirmative."
Searching the bodies you find the leader has two gas grenades, two doses of soothe, mwk hide armor, mwk handaxes (2).
The other men each carried one dose of soothe, mwk leather armor, mwk buckler, dagger, gunslinger’s pistol with 10 bullets.
Tying up the man, the party searches through the fort and find four survivors in the western building. They are each tightly bound and look very much beaten and wounded. As you open the door, they blink rapidly from the bright light, then each begins quietly beggin the party for help.
"Help us please!"
"Hurry before the return!"
"Sarenrae save us!"
"You don't have those scars, can you help us!?"
"Blimey, what did those bastards do to you?", Kharax healing each of the Sarenites .
He'll then go to Lewdon and Alpha and use the wand to patch them up as necessary.
"Don't worry, we took care of them. They won't be coming back." Richard helps those that he can, escorting them from the building and pointing out the defeated Smilers.
Kharax heals the Sarenites. One of them says. "They came in earlier today, attacked and subdued us, then tied us up and put us in here. They are part of a gang called the Smilers, one of several gangs based in nearby Scrapwall."
They then introduce themselves as knights of Sarenrae, Captain Andalen Kraklos, Rezouln, Tanea, and Sindre.
The Captain says. "A new gang has recently risen to power in Scrapwall. They’re called the Lords of Rust, and all the other Scrapwall gangs have been scrambling to earn respect and favor with them for months now. Recently, one of the Lords of Rust was killed while out on a mission beyond Scrapwall, and the remaining Lords have become increasingly angry and eager to lash out. Marrow sent Hatchet-Hand and the Smilers out to claim Aldronard’s Grave as their own, so that they could secure it as a gift for the Lords of Rust."
"Events in Scrapwall have been felt all the way in Torch." Richard says to the Sarenites. "You might want to spread the word to others in your order to steer clear of this place for a while."
Considering their mission, and a favor asked of them, he asks about something else. "We are looking for someone named Dinvaya. I believe she resides in Scrapwall. Have you heard the name?"
The captain shakes his head. "The name....I'm not sure that I recognize it. It seems familiar, but I can't say for sure."
"Think we'll be safe to rest here for the night? And how 'bout you folk? Think you can manage to hold out here now that you've been breached once?"
The captain nods. "As soon as word gets back to Scrap wall that the Smiles were bested, nobody will be trying to raid the fort for a good long while. This place is safer than Scrapwall, that's for sure."
"Then we should recharge here before we move on."
Richard considers the Sarenites' assessment of the fort and nods with Alpha's suggestion to get some rest. "We had hoped to rest the night here, so if you don't mind, we would like to do so. And maybe come back here on occasion if things get hot in Scrapwall."
Before resting, Richard helps clean the place up and bury the dead. As everyone beds down he gets out his mandolin and sings the Heroes of Torch.
The captured Smiler he suggests keeping restrained until morning.
"Perhaps we can use our victory here to our advantage in Scrapwall. They seem to respect strength."
The party decides to rest at the Fort for the evening, before entering Scrapwall. The evening starts out quiet, but at the darkest hour, Alpha, who is on watch hears a tortured, sobbing cry, calling out for someone called Justinia. As he looks up, he sees a ghostly form exiting the chapel.
Alpha will do the logical thing and start waking his compatriots. "There is an apparition about." He says not too loudly.
Waking, Richard blinks at Alpha. "A what?" He whispers, then moves to peer outside.
"I had heard this place was haunted." Looking to the Sarenites, he asks, "Is this normal?"
"Think we outta look into it; can't leave this place to them Sarenites haunted and all."
Kharax will wait briefly for his companions before heading out to check on the wailing.
"That is logical."
"Before we get too close, let me tell you what I have heard about it." Richard recounts the story as he heard it...
"Aldronard was a devout paladin of Sarenrae in Andoran before traveling north to Mendev to aid in the Second Crusade. He wound up serving the war for several years, and when the crusade came to an end, Aldronard was eager to return home to marry his beloved, a woman named Justinia. But while stopping over at this fort on his journey south, he received a letter from Justinia's father, Eredian, informing him that his love had died during an attack on the farm by raiders. Eredian clearly blamed Aldronard-both because Justinia had been pining away for him and refused to leave her family home to start a new life, and because Aldronard hadn't been at the farm to protect her."
"Unfair as the blame was, it cut Aldronard to the soul. Robbed of the only glimmer of hope he had left in what had become an unrelenting dark time during the crusades, the paladin lost faith and leapt to his death from the tallest tower of the chapel."
Alpha blinks his optics a few times. While he knew that these things were important to organics, he found the whole thing highly illogical. "That makes so sense, but how do we banish the spirit?"