Aster has no idea how to try and defuse the situation since she has no idea what the situation is. "His 'chaos, sir? Can you explain what you mean by that?" she leans over to give Vandomir a tentative sniff and then looks just confused.
"This man." The Hellknight begins as he approaches Vandomir. His voice is deep and reverberates off his iron-clad helmet. "Is a priest of chaos. He must be destroyed. You may aid me, or flee, but if you choose to stand with him, I will have to cut you down." He draws his longsword, which glows red.
The Dottari on the bridge have taken notice.
"Random accusations against citizens on the streets of the city are the height of chaotic behavior. Methinks thou should do a little introspection, and ensure that it is not you that is the one needing some reeducation."
"My accusations are not random, priest." Barks the Hellknight. He points to Aster. "I see you are also of chaos, but not nearly as powerful. Perhaps you are his acolyte?"
He steps into a guarded stance and says "Prepare yourself, priest. The Order of the Rack is upon you!"
Just as the Hellknight is about to attack, the Dottari run up to the scene. The leader, a Chelish man wearing breastplate and a bucket helm calls "Sir Knight, what crimes have these citizens committed?"
The Hellknight replies "Chaos! The archer is a sworn enemy of the Order. He and his allies must be put down. As part of our alliance with the Dottari, you are obligated to aid me!"
The Dottari look hesitant.
"This man has lost his mind! Witchcraft!" Aster screams and points to the Rack Man. Hysteria needs to be directed at times. "We have tp restraint him! Get him back to his order for help!"
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Vandomir looks at Aster, "Indeed milady."
He turns to the Hellknight, "now, I may carry a bow, and that bow may scare you, but I am a stonemason. My tools are the plumb, square, and level." Vandomir pulls out and displays the tools as he references them. "Is being an honest craftsman now illegal here? And this fine lady is not my apprentice, but a merchant with whom I have conducted business."
He will deftly handle the tools to demonstrate his authenticity.
The Dottari leader seems hesitant on both fronts, and does not jump in to help either party.
"Do not believe their lies!" The Hellknight says. "If you dogs will not help me..." He points his sword downwards to the ground and chants. The stone tiles beneath him glow red, and suddenly by his side rises two Hellhounds. In the Infernal tongue, the Hellknight says "Harry from a distance." The Hellhounds bark, with sparks flying from their mouths.
Bazzle looks at the Dottari, "Um wacko Rack Knight starts yelling at civilians and summons fire breathing wolves in the STREET. He is right there is an obvious agent of chaos here." With both hands gesturing with wild incredulity toward the knight and ludicrous scene he has caused.
He looks immediately to the closest most 'vulnerable' citizen when he notes a woman not quite as elderly as he would like. He screams with panic and dread in his voice. "Get these people to safety they are in the line of fire."
The Dottari leader seems to snap into action. "The Gnome's right. Soldiers! Evacuate the civilians and set up a perimeter. No one gets in or out. Olex, make haste to Fort Imbrex and call for reinforcements." The soldiers all reply "Sir! Yes sir!"
Bazzle facepalms."He is the chaos."
Rexandi can't risk casting a spell, as that will blatantly be noticed, but she can—and does—throw a misfortune hex on the Hellknight.
Rexandi subtly hexes the hellknight, but his iron-clad will easily overpowers it.
The Dottari fan out and get all the civilians off the bridge. Though they watch the battle, they do not interfere. It seems they've made their decision, and are highly unlikely to be swayed now.
Aster calls out a quick prayer "May Abadar, protector of cities and their piece, protect us from the insanity of the sick and twisted." since Abadar is not prohibited and she is relatively unfettered in regards to gods. Plus as a merchant she does appreciate the turn of coin as well as the next.
"You lie, woman. Abadar is a god of Law, and you are Chaos."
"AM I the one sending flaming dogs through our streets, threatening innocent law-abiding citizens!!" Aster huffs, for no reason other than to huff, since she feels he might be right. Law vs right is never a question to her.
”While I wish you no ill Hellknight, however those beasts of yours are a threat to the citizens. Let’s see if we can keep you from getting hurt first though.”
Vandomir takes a 5’ step to his SE, casts hold person (DC 14 Will Save) on the hellknight, draws his bow, and adds +1 to his AC as a swift action.
In Infernal, Vandomir adds, ”sit doggy sit!”
Hellknights are some of the most disciplined soldiers, and this holds true against Vandomir's spell. The Hellknight replies "I commend you on your deception, priest, but I will do as I must to see you eradicated from this world, even if it requires the forces of Hell. I will accept your surrender by preserving the lives of your allies, corrupt they may be." The Hellknight's sword then shines blindingly red, and a vortex of air swirls around him. Looking through the narrow slits of his infernal helmet, the Hellknight declares
The Hellknight takes a step forward, blatantly in the center of all his foes, and with his longsword, slices deftly into Vandomir. Vandomir feels not just the cold steel cutting through his flesh, but something else, the very essence of Order being imposed upon his heart. His second attack fails to connect, but the damage has already been done.
The hell hounds move to the outside, and bathe each enemy in a breath of fire. Bazzle completely avoids the fire, but Rexandi is caught off-guard and needs to rely on her abyssal heritage to protect her.
Having made every effort to calm the situation, his conscience is clean, but with hostilities well and truly commenced, Vandomir reluctantly unloads on the Hellknight with his bow...
x3
x3
x3
As a swift action, he will heal himself...
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Vandomir's first and third shots are deflected by the Hellknight's infernal full plate, but his second shot punches through a weak point. He grunts from the pain, but remains undeterred.
"You force us to fight just to defend our selves and the innocents around us." Aster says bleakly as she steps around him to allow Bazzle to do what he needs to do.
Bazzle with his worried so far incredulous face is still selling the panic and confusion he hoped would get them out of here. As he turns he frees his magic dagger and attempts to drive it home into the knight.
Bazzle's daggers fail to find purchase in the Knight's solid armour, but Aster's morningstar connects to inflict some minor internal bruising.
Rexandi turns away from the hellhounds and throws her hex of misfortune at one of them.
Rexandi is pleased to see that the Hell hound succumbs to her hex.
The Hellknight stops answering, and focuses on his attacks. He bellows out an Infernal warcry, which seems to heal a few of his wounds. Then, Vandomir is caught off-guard when the knight attacks not him, but his bow. The knight's blade hacks into the bow's haft, though it's just a minor nick. From there, the Knight steps forwards, stabbing Vandomir straight through the armpit.
The Hellhounds start biting those on the outside of the cluster. The first one bites Vandomir, chewing on his leg and heating it up with its infernal breath. The other one goes after Rexandi, but her hex takes effect and causes it to misjudge her distance.
The Dottari continue to watch the fight, now that all civilians are clear. They aren't cheering for either side, instead simply gawking at the warrior's skills that far outdo their own.
-9=6
Vandomir takes some heavy damage, but is unbowed by his enemy. He unloads on the Hellknight!
x3
x3
x3
As a swift action, he will heal himself...
Two arrows from Vandomir and a bonk from Aster bring the Hellknight to bleed heavily.
Rexandi scampers away from the hellhound as best she can, as she has no desire to get bit.
"Somebody help Van. You can't get blood from stones. Stonemasons well . . ." As he nimbly tries to get into a good footing he draws his second dagger he grits his teeth seeing that the knight has moved. He hops to the side and dives into a roll to get into a flanking spot opposite Vandomir.
As he dives he brings up a dagger aimed a the knights swipe that attempted to get him in motion. The blades connect and Bazzle finishes his roll leaping up to bring his dagger down in a meaty spot where the plate gives way to its under protection. He dangles a moment from the deeply impaled dagger letting his weight doing the work before he drops to his feet. His eyes go wide as he realized good for flanking is also next to the demon dog.
Rexandi withdraws as Bazzle goes in for his devastating attack. After stabbing the Hellknight in the back, he staggers for a moment, before falling to the ground. However, just before he falls unconscious, he whips his sword around to clock Bazzle.
Bazzle sees the attack coming, and leaps over the blade. The Hellknight grunts in disappointment, before darkness clouds his vision and he falls unconscious. At that moment, the Hell Hounds raise their heads and howl, before phasing out of the material world.
Vandomir will crouch and attempt to stabilize the fallen Hellknight, while he calls to the dottari, ”misguided though he may be, this Hellknight requires healing.”
He’ll then heal himself…
Bazzle looks at Vandomir and whispers, "If he is conscious he will be trying to kill us."
Rexandi withdraws as Bazzle goes in for his devastating attack. After stabbing the Hellknight in the back, he staggers for a moment, before falling to the ground. However, just before he falls unconscious, he whips his sword around to clock Bazzle.
[dice=Longsword]1d20+13-2
Bazzle sees the attack coming, and leaps over the blade. The Hellknight grunts in disappointment, before darkness clouds his vision and he falls unconscious. At that moment, the Hell Hounds raise their heads and howl, before phasing out of the material world.
The Dottari approach the group, and the leader says "Men, see to the Knight's health and do what you can. You four. I consider this to have been a duel of honour. You're free to go, but beware. The Order of the Rack will not take this lightly."
The Hellknight is bleeding out, and the Dottari are ill-equipped to help him.
"We'll take our leave, good sirs. Before his insanity starts catching." Aster tries to get her companions away from the hellknight before things get started on the violence side again.
"I've got this."
Drawing her shoulder bag down, Rexandi kneels and removes a clean bandage, then applies it to the Hellknight's bloody wound.
"This won't take long, we'll be on our way shortly. Didn't expect the first time I used this to be for a Hellknight, but the calling of a healer sometimes comes from unexpected quarters, I suppose."
The officers watch as Rexandi removes pieces of the Hellknight's plate armour to apply proper bandages. They whisper to one another.
"Caring to save the life of their attacker."
"At their own expense."
"And a Tiefling no less."
"I've never seen anything like it. No one in Egorian would do something like this."
During treatment, Rexandi also notices that the Hellknight's skin has blood vessels that have ruptured due to electrical shocks. They will probably heal on their own.
Rexandi swiftly cleans the blood away from the wound, spreads some alchemical goo around it and places another bandage over that, sticking it to the goo, to hold everything in place.
"He'll need more intensive care, but he won't die," she says as she closes up the satchel and stands back up. "C'mon, let's go. Thanks for the quick save, Bazzle."
"I am just thankful that there are those who saw people more important than rhetoric and zeal." He nods to the Dottari, "You kept folk safe." He stopped there but he hoped the lesson would drive deep.
Aster gives a short bow and hurries after them.