Delroy keeps his guard high and forward, calling out to Quinn "You should kill him for that insult!"
• Rally to Quinn to remove Reeling.
Will & Leadership: vs 3 if Quinn trusts Delroy, vs 6 if not.
• No penalty for Near range (4 paces) Other standard range penalties apply: d8 to Short range (12 paces), d12 for Medium Range (36 paces) 2d12 for Long range (100 Paces, limit to Rally)
Will d8, Leadership d6
Quinn is no longer Reeling.
Quinn looks at Delroy, "what was the word the stupid kid used? I think it was 'Duh!' Personally I think it fits." She sets one blade down, readies some fire, then pops up and fires it right at the one that hit her.
Ceallach snarls viciously as he dodges the bolt, and sets his sights on the rodent that dared to assault a Phelan so. Dashing forward with feral grace, he swings a wide arcing set of claws at the unfortunate adversary's head.
Having seen what had happened to their comrades, the three shooters, all in a nice line, were not particularly keen to be eviscerated themselves. When the wolf hurled himself into the fray however...
...his unlucky target didn't have much choice. He was however more prepared than his dying comrade, and managed to avoid the worst of things. Still, a bit of blood was never fun when it was your own.
Quinn's target squeaked out an incoherent curse/cry of fear as he attempted to dive to one side...
...and managed to scarper back up the stairs a few steps and totally NOT get burned to a crisp!
"I'll get you yet!" she yells out at the lucky archer, not that she plans on firing after him next go round but it's better if everyone thinks she is.
Something was coming, it sounded large, and heavy. So, either it was some kind of otherworldly demon that liked to pick up adventurers and eat them in one gulp, or it was someone large, probably in metal armor. Either way, it sounded dangerous, so Javira moved up closer to where the noise was coming from, doing her best to find something that might obscure their view for a moment so she could get a good hit in.
The breeze around Natalia dies down for a second, then picks up again as she recites her arcane words again. Her wand glows when she finishes.
From the fore of the room comes again the sound of thundering, plated steps, and in an instant that passes more like a minute, a brown bear in coat-of-plates leaps down the stairs like she was stepping down to the street. The crossbowmen take one look at her and scatter before she pulls a giant axe from her back, snarling and roaring loud enough to shake some dust loose from the ceiling.
One-Eye seems to suddenly realize where he is and with wide eyes orders "Sheena," presumably the bear, to wreck the intruders and follow "Route A" to find him after she's done.
Sheena Guards.
Heroes' turn!
Quinn refreshes and readies a shard of metal, waiting for an opportune time to strike .
Delroy might be experiencing a level of the fight or flight reflex describable as 'trouser destroying'. That Bear may well be the most frightening thing that he's ever seen.
Or maybe it's the axe.
"Expelliarmus!"
The Hunter's training took over, sharpening instinct. Refining reflex so he does not run. Instead he shouts an incantation whilst thrusting the butt of his staff toward the Bear, forsaking defense.
Secrets of Thaumaturgy allows a Free Refresh of my Apprentice spells.
First Action: Ready Misfortune
Second Action: Cast on Sheena.
Mind (d8) and Supernatural (d10, d6) versus 3 resisted by Body and Observation versus 3
Claiming new Favoured use of Supernatural: With Thaumaturgy
Disarms
Natalia stares at the bear, her eyes narrowing.
'It has to be something lagre, doesn't it,' she thinks, 'It never is something small... its a conspiracy of the Universe against me...'
"You are unnecessarily large," Natalia icily comments, as she sights down her wand. "Unnecessary!"
Again the turbulent blast of air leaps from her wand.
Ceallach eyes the bear, and moves in to begin a fight.
[ooc]The book doesn't say she'll lose her Guard status from Reeling, so I'm still going to roll her die for it...but if the group decides it doesn't make sense I'll ignore it.
And in a totally ridiculous two hit combo, the bear has been instantly taken out of the fight. It appears that when it comes to elementalists, anger produces rather spectacular results.
If anyone was still left in the room, they'd be running right about now. To wit, One-Eye made a break for it, didn't he?! Toward the back of the room where a hidden stone passage, roughly opened, awaits with yawning blackness inside!
Quinn dives through after him, still holding the metal shard in one hand and her martial sword in the other.
"Get back here you...snitcky...baka...thing!"
Ceallach's proud wolfish features are suddenly beset by surprise, swiftly followed by anger. "You stole my fun! Raaggh!" Ceallach smashes a few things in rage, but swiftly notices the door that Quinn is moving through.
"She better leave something of that wolf for me..." Ceallach sprints after his prey.
"Oi! Wait, ye great lummox!" Completely losing his schooling, the Raccoon picks up his Robes to sprint after Caellach and Quinn.
4 Paces + Dash is 5 total. Delroy's Light is preceeding him down the tunnel.
"IF you should happen to best the Madonna...which I doubt strongly...I will kill you. If I fail, one of these others will take the task upon himself. Or you could throw yourself to your knees and beg her forgiveness." Guillaume looks soberly at Rosza Juette. "There's no time for this, Rosza Juette, really there isn't."
Guillaume glances aside to Claudio as Andre moves to cover the wolf Rosza Juette is fighting. "If the other one doesn't drop his blade, shoot him down."
Rosza bares her teeth, still eyeing the wolf who struck her. She shifts her sword-arm, feeling everything still working in her grip despite the rivulet of blood beginning to soak her slashed sleeve. "You're being sensible again, Guillaume." she growls, but though she pronounces the word with the greatest disdain, she doesn't immediately lunge at her opponent.
Meanwhile, Stepan and Beaurigard, having reached said other swords-wolf, pause just out of blade-sweep, their own weapons raised and ready, as they wait to see what he will do.
Guillaume:
Will & Negotiation: + vs. Opponent's what...Will? It says something about 'Will + Inquiry' but then later states that the opponent can include Inquiry IF you include a Deceit die. And Guillaume isn't lying.
then will begin reloading as his second action.
Claudio.
Focus, will counter if attacked, will interrupt to shoot if Wolf #2 attacks Stepan or Beauriguard.
Andre.
Focus, will counter if attacked, will interrupt to shoot if Wolf #1 attacks Rosza Juette.
Stepan:
Focus, will interrupt to attack if Wolf #2 attacks himself or Beaurigard (then will Counter on the Wolf's attack).
Beaurigard.
Focus, will interrupt to attack if Wolf #2 attacks himself or Stepan (then will Counter on the Wolf's attack)
I think that all works? Focus is a little confusing.
Javira was impressed with them felling the bear that quickly. It looked like the crossbowmen were well in hand, but the one fleeing who'd seemed to use some mystical words for his opener. He might be the leader, or a lieutenant. Either way, she joined the others in the chase.
OOC:
Actions, Moving after the retreating foe, and guarding.
I swear I'll update later today, really! No fooling!
...but doesn't back down. "Hah, I've heard better threats from my grand-dam." He spins and makes to cut the Madonna down!
His compatriot, emboldened by the display of bravado, does the same with his own problems!
@Everyone else: Leaving the dying and wounded behind, you boldly dash into what appear to be the private chambers of One-Eye. At least, it's a safe assumption given that they're much fancier than anything else you've seen here, and are put together much like the inn and upscale residences of Harrowgate above. Colorful tapestry and dark wood furniture adorn hallways and chambers made from native stone, laid out in precise formations at regular intervals. Someone keeps an orderly place.
You're able to follow the sound of crashing and banging fairly easily, though your chase is slow as the debris piles up around you. It simply seems to fall into place behind him without any effort. Still eerily silent otherwise, the buff (yet tasteful) wolf rushes toward some clear destination, though one unknown to you.
and (odd that aim doesn't carry over from one turn to the next if one doesn't move or attack, ah well!)
(Spark die!)
(Focus Interrupt)...And Claudio similarly fires at the wolf attacking Stepan and Beaurigard.
and
(Spark die!)
(More Focus Interrupts)
Similarly, Stepan and Beaurigard having bided their moment, lunge almost side by side towards the attacking wolf (#2).
and
and
and
...And Rosza once again twists to the side, the forked tines of her trident main gauche seeking the wolf's longsword to deflect it. "You know, we tell these stories at parties, about uppity commoners who think they can place themselves on par with an estate simply because they've stolen a blade longer than a kitchen knife. They never end well for the commoner."
(Base 2d8, +d8 Parry weapon, +d8 Guarding)
[/spoiler]
And am I right in thinking that due to focus everything EXCEPT Rosza's parry is an interrupt, preceding the wolf's attack rolls? The wolves can parry or CA, THEN make the attacks they were going to...Which the weasels can then parry or CA?
Except of course for Rosza, who spent the first part of the turn reeling and couldn't Focus.
Also, damnit, why do Paizo's boards only spoiler or OOC the FIRST paragraph when I put the spoiler and ooc tags in the correct places, at the beginning and end of the whole SET of paragraphs?!
JINXED IT I DID!
OK. I'll resolve that when I'm not drunk also.
The cocky wolf attacking Rosza Juette laid his ears back at the distinct sound of a hammer and trigger mechanism activating, nearly skidding as he attempted to shove his momentum out of the projectile's path...
...and fails!
Andre's luck holds just as fast as Guillaume's, and the overly confident lupine has met an extra grisly end!
Meanwhile Stephan and Beaurigard's opponent suddenly begins to reconsider his career decisions as he starts some fancy sword-work. Nearly wetting himself (and clearly relieved when Claudio's gun doesn't fire), he recovers and attempts to defend himself from two attackers at once.
And our wolf isn't so skilled as he thinks he is! He manages to slide his blade around poor Beaurigard, barely, but doing so leaves him open to Stephan's thrust!
Luckily for him his armor holds, and he limply steps back a pace or two to open some breathing room, and to avoid being impaled twice. Eyes wide with fear, he stumbles over the corpse of his ally, recently blown open by a pistol, and screams ever more shrilly, dropping his sword entirely and scrabbling away on the floor, his own blood mingling with the rest.
As the vixen tackled the fleeing wolf to the ground, armor clanking and crashing like a whole manor's worth of pots and pans falling down, Delroy's silencing spell finally seemed to give way and the halls were filled with the shrieking of a mind paralyzed by fear, if not madness itself.
Amongst the incoherency, one phrase comes up clearly and repeatedly: "It's in my head!" Perhaps Delroy's initial hypothesis was correct? The shrieking continues to reverberate off the walls, and the space feels...smaller, more claustrophobic than before.
OOC: Rolling speed die.
speed
Delroy huffed his way up to One Eye, "Tie him, Restrain him!" he called on the way up, "He's under an enchantment, I may be able to talk him through it and get some answers."Picking up his pace as best as he can, he can be heard to mutter "Barely a Journeyman… Can I even try to help him?"
"Plug his ears and cover his eyes, His Masters may be watching." Delroy ammends his current statement; He then turned away from One Eye to hide his own face, having nothing on him to blind the Wolf. "It would be safe to assume they know who we are and what we look like by now." Delroy takes in a deep breath, looking troubled.
He cries out and convulses as though gripped by a seizure, words coming out a-jumble and incoherent. After a few fitful moments he suddenly lays ramrod straight again, eyes half-lidded and his voice strangely calm, if still raw from all the screaming.
"Something like that...yes...." utters a voice that can only be described as inky and slick, devoid of aural signifiers as to its speaker's identity. With a rattling, whooshing sound something cloudy and dark leaves One-Eye's dead eye-socket and dissipates like vapor in the cool underground air, revealing a perfectly round, oily-looking orb the size of an eyeball. Every few seconds it quivers and a tiny "wave" rolls across it.
Before it can be touched or even looked at too long, it bolts further down the hall, hanging a hard right at the junction while barreling along at a speed so fast you're certain there was a BOOMing noise that could be heard above in the city.
One-Eye seems to be his normal self now, which mostly includes being confused, frightened, and resigned to the fact that he's being captured by unfamiliar faces. "Ooooohhhhh, what am I in for this time?"
The second is a nearly eardrum-piercing screeching BOOM from deeper in the complex, through the double-doors the two crossbowmen were guarding. Claudio's ears perk up and a shiver visibly runs its course through him as you watch. He offers to help the boys clean up here and postpone the Watch while you and Guillaume run off to investigate!
Quinn will folllow the orb as long as she can see/hear it, even if she can't catch it, she's hoping to get a general direction at least particularly if she can see what way it heads after leaving the cave (if it leaves the cave), if it seem to be heading to the exit she will continue even if she loses sight, to see if she can glimpse it outside.
"Facinating," Natalia comments, as she moves up to One-Eye. "Your words indicate that this has happened to you before. What do you recall of these occurances?"
She grabs One-Eye's head as she speaks, and turns it about (as if it were just an object and not someone's head) peering at it from the angles that she can get (as it is still attached to One-Eye).
"Someone must have heard that." Delroy stuck a finger in his ear, then he turns to One Eye and Natalia, silently cursing Quinn's departure, hoping she'll return safely and without pursuit… "You are charged with Conspiring with and the aiding of Necromancers and the unlawful use of a Controlled Magic: The Cognoscenti Art. With theft and Murder. Answer her questions."
"The hell? Guv, I don't trust me none o' dem magickers. What the blazin' stone are you goin' on about? Neck-roh-manky? Coggin' noggins? I'm a bloody thieves' gang master, and a damn good one at that, but I ain't in sorts with any o' that funny sparkly business! I been in the brig quite a number o' toimes, but ain't nevah, on me mothah, consorted wit' the blaggards what do...what you're talkin' abowt!"
Ceallach is all rage as he enters the room, but it swiftly devolves into confusion and a bit of animal fear as the speeding ball causes its boom. "What was that?! Strange things magic makers use, I hates the lot of them." He steps closer to One-Eye, his outrage at losing yet more prey putting his normal snarl back on his snout.
"So, little wolf, what DID you do then? I don't know this magic stuff too well, but I trust our 'coon friend here to do his homework, and no matter what you say, I know you did some magic. I felt those nasty paws trying to pick into my head, and I don't like it. So tell me what you did, or I'll be plucking the other eye right out of your head."