Michel isn't quite certain what to do, so he waits a moment to see how things play out. (Delay)
As Armon convinces the friendly crowd to flee (along with Juniper's urging), three of the guards are freed up and begin to move into the crowd, but they don't seem interested in knocking out those that are fleeing.
Michel looks shocked and somewhat confused at the chaos and his hand goes immiedietly to the pommel of his blade but he does not draw it yet, he frantically looks around for his sister to make sure she isn't in danger.
You see your sister moving along with the crowd, away from the Opera House at Armon and Juniper's urging.
Tobias frowns at the lack of dottari intervention. He frowns at the lack of his Lictor's presence - Octavio would put a stop to this if he were here. Apparently, if things wanted to get done around here, Tobias would have to do them himself.
And then he sees a girl charge the Citizens' Group. Hm. Maybe not. Good enough, he supposes.
His sword flashes in the sunlight as his little legs scamper towards the thug he had examined. "Hey, dullard!" he shouts, fury in his eyes and his bastard sword cleaving towards the man's chest. "Pick on somebody smaller than you!"
Juniper turns her gaze on the charging halfling."At least he'll be a distraction while some of the others get away." She raises her voice as she moves near Tobais careful to stay out of both of their ranges as she beings speaking to the man attacking civilians. "You're wasting you time attacking these people go back to your post and wait them out they will disperse soon unless you continue to provoke them."
Tobias hits and wounds his target, his weapon catching a stud in the other man's leather armor... and causing the blade to only dig deep into the man's flesh, rather than rend him completely.
To add insult to injury, Juniper taunts the poor man... who doesn't even have a post to be at.
At the sight of blood, all of the men in red and black studded leathers narrow their eyes. Meanwhile, the baying of a hound can be heard from inside.
Misha brandishes the broken blade at the guards in front of her, smiling at them. "Last chance to run," she says as she begins to focus on it. As she does, the air around her begins to pick up the sharp smell that accompanies so many thunderstorms. Tendrils of electricity arc along her hands and arms, down her body, finally seeking the ground. They intensify as her concentration does, and at the last moment they seem to all converge on the hilt. When it's finished, where there was no blade there's instead a crackling, writing shaft of lightning extending to the length one would expect a longsword to be. Not bothering to try to see if they were surprised, she swings for the nearest one, the blade seeming to arc towards him as it reaches the Thug.
Misha brings her blade down on the thug, even as it's swiftly dissipating. Her strike reaches his arm, but begins to fizzle out, through force of will she holds the blade together and grazes him. His hand involuntarily clenches on his weapon and he grits his teeth.
"You're the one should surrender." says red as he moves in. Orange closes in on Tobias, while Yellow moves into position near Misha and takes a swing. Green moves in and takes a swing at Tobias, Blue goes for Tobias as well, and Purple goes for Misha.
While most of the strikes seem like good ones, the shifting of the crowds makes it very difficult to land a telling blow. One blow lands on Misha but it's particularly pathetic... and one blow seems like it's going to catch Toby off guard, but then the man looks towards Juniper, and it foils his attack at the last moment (6 damage prevented, for those curious. :))
With the Dottari closing in fast, Armon turns tail to flee. He had not come to the protest to start any trouble, and now that a large part of the crowd was out of danger, it was about time for him to take his leave. With the crowd in the area having gone thin however, he sees that there are other folks engaging the Chelish Citizens in battle.
What are they doing? he wonders, his mouth tugging into a grimace. The wise thing to do would be to run back to the manor and lie low for a while, but seeing as these people were beating down otherwise innocent citizens... Instead of continuing toward the road by the lake, Armon goes around the fountain and back into the crowd.
As Armon turns to flee, the Dottari don't pay him any mind.
Two of the Dottari wade into the crowd, continuing to put people down. (R, O)
Another Dottari moves forward to pin Misha in a little more, dangerously, and strikes at her, while she's distracted with the other foes. The majority are simply happy to close in on them. Blue, though, drops his Heavy Mace as he sees the crowd thinning, unstraps his shield, and pulls out his longbow.
The Dottari that pincers Misha brings the Mace down heavily on her while she isn't ready to defend herself, grazing her.
Tobias swings at the thug he had struck the previous time, his sword humming with the wind passing over it. "Hey, little girl!" he shouts. "What do we do?"
He's directing his words at Misha, but considering that she's much larger than he is and also he doesn't know her name, it's understandable that she might not notice.
Tobias knocks out the man between himself and Misha. (-4 hp)
Michel sees his sister and heads along the same path she's taking.
Victor sighs as he watches the protest dissolve into armed conflict. "Hell bound thugs. Of course they have to cause problems. And attacking these innocent people... unacceptable. This needs to be dealt with quickly, before more people are hurt."
A shrill whistle echoes over the crowd. "Brutus, hurt!" The man points at the nearest thug and his hound howls before barreling toward the man with bared teeth. The black hound dog growls and leaps at the man with bared teeth, leaping at his arm and sinking his teeth into the man's flesh.
The man quickly follows behind his hound, drawing a long bladed polearm from his back as he moves. He swipes at the same target over his hounds head in a practiced motion that shows the two are practiced in fighting together.
Now that the man is closer, his appearance becomes a bit more clear. He's very tall, over six feet at least, with dark hair cut so short he's nearly shaved bald and sharp features that show a pure Chelaxian heritage. His clothing is remarkably similar to the dottari, however, his armor shows none of their sigils and the black and red is replaced with a grey with just hints of bronze. "I hope you don't mind another sword arm," he says to the nearest group of warriors. "But I can't stand by and watch this."
The dog's jaws clamp down on the rabblerouser's leg, just before Victor's Bardiche comes hammering down from overhead. The blade rips deep into the man who rapidly begins to bleed out from his massive wound. It seems unlikely he'll survive without magical aid... or the quick hands of a healer.
Scath scratches in the dirt.
G O
H O M E
W I L L
F I N D
L A T E R
G O O D
H U M A N
Sanita reads the message, looks at all the blood splattering the sidewalks, and nods a little pale before she runs off.
Scath then watches the guards, and the balcony, seeing what they do, and if Thrune seems pleased at the fighting or upset. He looks to see if there's a way he could sneak up and slash Thrune's throat in the chaos, but figures there isn't.
Scath is able to make out a rather clear path for someone with Scath's capabilities... but it would also leave him exposed along the wall in broad daylight. Further, the inquisitor has disappeared back into the room he'd come from, leaving the question of what else was through that third floor window.
Tobias' eye moves back as he hears a cry of pain to his left - he sees a dog, then Victor comes into view. Ugh. That stupid bald man. Why couldn't he just grow some hair? Maybe he'd given it all to his dog or something. Or maybe when he's covered in hair and he blames it on his dog, it's actually just his own hair falling out all the time.
And ugh - the smell.
He doesn't mention it, though. Instead he shifts forward through the tunnel of thugs - both dead and alive - to get to the other side of the fighting woman again. Then he lashes out at one of the thugs.
Juniper is shocked at seeing someone already outside the area she was working to evacuate charge inside and clearly making no effort not to kill someone. She swiftly moves away from the killer dog and man then tries to get the rabblerouser to save himself.
"You're wasting your time here people are already fleeing, those that fight are only edged on by your attacks."
Green gives Juniper a sidelong glance as she tells him to run, looks at the body beside him and seems ready to do so. The baying seems to be coming closer from within the building.
Misha pulls back quickly, knowing she can't stand toe to toe with so many guards at once, but as she does she grins at them. Instead of continuing to flee away from them she stops after going back 5' or so crouching down as she turns back towards them and comes to a stop. Winds seem to erupt out of nowhere, flowing through the mass of people towards Misha, and as the gust arrives she leaps up into the air, easily clearing the tallest of the guards by 10' or so. As she flies through the air, she calls out "Look out below!" before landing in the middle of the crowd almost forty feet away. Turning around yet again, she rushes towards the guard she'd landed behind, grinning at him as she closes. "Surprise!" she says, obviously enjoying herself greatly.
As Misha moves away from the guards, moving fluidly, the Dottari goes for a swing, but comes up short, and then the young woman is gone. Moments later, she's trapping the man in green... or trying to.
At the display of speed and cunning, the group that seems to have instigated much of the danger start to follow after... but don't manage to keep up at all. With a shrug, two move towards Armon and Juniper, two (Green, whose morale has been quashed withdraws, and purple who has been wounded heavily) flees to behind the guards. The former two lash out against the two standing outside of the crowd, attempting to disperse them as they did the rest of the crowd. Their strikes are thrown wide by their attempts not to actually injure the pair.
-8 hp
-6 hp
Armon scowls at his assailant and hastily steps away from him. With his left arm he sweeps his gray cloak over his shoulder, allowing him to take his morningstar off his belt. He was loathe to use it, but he would have little choice if these thugs insisted on attacking.
"How dare you! Do you not know who I am?" he says, laying it on thick with the poshness. Without changing his inflection, he works some magic into his next words. "Drop your weapon at once!"
The man immediately drops his weapon, though he looks quite confused as to why he did.
Two of the Dottari continue to move through the crowd, thumping average citizens on occasion and on occasion simply having their aim thrown off by said crowd.
One of the Dottari moves in and lands a nasty blow on Tobias, while Green sweeps in towards Armon but doesn't attack, instead speaking to him "Sir, we need you to leave. This area is no longer safe." she doesn't notice your embroidery in the chaos. Meanwhile the Archer is just watching and waiting for something, bow drawn and arrow nocked.
Michel flees the scene chasing after his sister.
Victor takes a moment to recognize the halfling standing next to Brutus. "Of course it would be him. Ungrateful little gnome." Still, he's not about to let anyone get beaten down by the dottori while he has the chance. "He is going to owe me for this." His polearm lashes out and the blade hooks around the dottori's mace and attempts to drag it from the man's hands.
While Victor does manage to disarm the Dottari woman (yellow), his hound doesn't manage to bring them to the ground. He has a feeling Brutus was close though. Especially given that the guard had to pull her leg back and a portion of the leathers ripped in the process.
Tobias doesn't even turn to look at who has struck him before wheeling about and swinging angrily at the one who did it - he's filled with righteous power, but also something... else. A mania of sorts that empowers his blows.
He strikes the same target again, but not before appraising them for any weaknesses or any points that he could easily strike.
Unfortunately, both of his blows go way wide, and knowing that he could be in trouble very soon if he stays where he is, he backs up a few paces.
Juniper steps back when the man advances towards her."You're friends are dying, leave now with them in haul and you might be able to save them. Stay here and fight and they are doomed by your inaction."
Tobias does indeed miss with both attacks, and Juniper manages to talk the Asmodean out of continuing to pursue her.
As everyone is still in the heat of battle, the doors finally fling open and Nox emerges once more with a chain in hand that's as thick as the haft of a polearm... wrapped a few times around her arm for good measure. On the other end of the chain is a dog with red-brown fur and long white claws, its eyes glow internally and a hint of fire dances along its teeth.
Nox looks around, surprised at first, that the crowd before her is so clear, she turns towards the crowd to the southwest and points at them, and speaks clearly in Infernal. "Напад."
As she does this, the hound bays once more and crashes towards the crowd, which rapidly breaks apart and begins to flee. What Juniper and Armon had attempted to do, the Hellhound had finished.
Free for the moment, Misha watches as the woman comes out and frees the dog. "Whatever that dog is, it's not something good," she thinks as it charges forward. She turns to the others who are fighting the guards and speaks "We should get out of here, I have a bad feeling about this! The majority of the crowd is safe already!"
Misha waits to see whether the others decide to move, not wanting to risk leaving anyone behind. They all had the courage to stand up to the Chelish thugs in defense of the people, so it was the least she could do.
Chelish Citizen's Group
Red breaks and runs east away, while yellow goes back in to grab blue and drag him away, the two pass within arm's length of Armon. Green and purple flee the scene leaving orange to remain where he is. Orange continues to bleed out, while blue leaves a small rivulet of blood in his wake as he's dragged away.
What in the Nine Hells is that?
"Leaving sounds like a splendid idea," Armon remarks to the Dottari as he watches the menacing beast clear out the rest of the crowd. Without having to maim anyone, thankfully. The nobleman flips his cloak back over himself (hopefully concealing the embroidery) and nods to the Dottari in thanks, before moving down the nearby road, toward the others.
"Your friend has a good point," he points out to the small group amiably, glancing at Misha, "Do you have a place to wait out this... travesty?"
Dottari's Turn
The Red Dottari and Orange Dottari move forward through the crowd and off the main street... but mostly away from the hound. Yellow withdraws from Brutus and the group. Green stays where he is beside Armon and watches the dog move towards the crowd... he reaches for his bow, then sighs, and his hand drops. Blue, who still has his bow out just keeps waiting.
"Oh that can't be good," Victor mutters as he watches the massive hound leap into the crowd. He doesn't need special knowledge to know that a dog with glowing eyes and fire in its jaws isn't natural. "I would suggest a fighting retreat," he says aloud. "If that thing starts rampaging through the crowd... we need to keep it off them."
As much as Victor's shiny bald head annoys him, the man had a point - and was the only real one with a point. "Yes, a fighting retreat sounds good.", he says. "I'll follow your lead, manhunter."
Scath, seeing the hound, and that the interesting bit seems to be over, slinks off through the bushes and around the lake, following the path the kid took. Stupid two leg. Devil beasts never be safe to be around, no matter how many chains.
"Keep near the edge of the crowd and be ready to keep that thing off of the people. Just don't get trampled under foot. Or underheel either." He taps his thigh with one hand. "Brutus, heel." He and his hound shift forward and he braces his bardiche before calling out over the crowd. "Over here beast! You'll not harm these citizens while I stand!"
Juniper sees the hell hound begin to attack and deals with it her own way. "Cute but mine's bigger." She removes her link from the halfing to enter the hell hounds mind before summoning her own, much larger, pet with a sharp whistle.
Scath and Sanita easily make it away, moving through areas not yet occupied by crowd. Victor readies to defend his allies, and then Juniper adds her own magic to the mix, conjuring a much larger fiery hound. People seem to be moving faster, now that there's not one, but two hounds. And one isn't even chained.
But this doesn't seem to affect the chained one at all... if nothing, it seems to bolster it. Nox's face twists as she spits out another word in infernal. "Kûl."
Misha falls back to alongside the noble who had been aiding them, or at least she assumed he was a noble based on his dress. She holds her blade and buckler at the ready, in case anyone closes with her. "I think we can find someplace safe, lets head this way everyone!" she calls to the others.
Tobias shifts back at Victor's command, his sword at the ready for anyone who might try to intercept him or the others. He stands in front of the lightning-girl and... of course. Of course he would be here.
If the appearance of the Hellhound and Nox hadn't been enough, the gigantic one only doubles down on the crowd going crazy as they flee. The guards on the west side that had been knocked unconscious by the crowd are trampled as the area before the opera house is mostly emptied.
Nox moves forward, keeping the chain wrapped around her arm, and giving the Hound in her grip no more than twenty feet... and in doing so, positions herself with her own hound in between. She knows a few things about Hellhounds... and one of them is that she doesn't want to be anywhere near it. Instead, she points towards the stragglers that aren't running, and calls out "Напад." once more.
The Hound starts to chase the crowd, but Nox gives it a yank and repeats her command, and with a low growl moves just into range to breathe a gout of flame across Victor's form, but an ill-timed yank from Nox and a quick movement from the ex-Hellknight leaves the majority of the flame missing his person. Nox's eyes narrow, and her free hand moves towards one of her throwing axes.
The Chellish citizens continue to flee the scene.
"Let's be on our way, then," Armon remarks, starting on his way. The larger hellhound was oddly quiet, but that did not stop him from wanting nothing to do with it. He barks out a command at the chained beast, hoping to buy them some time to escape, and to keep Nox's hands full.
"Флее!"