"Mercenary?" Sumaru savors the word in her mouth, and decides she doesn't like its flavor. "I do not work for coin, and from your tone, neither do you. What cause do you work for, reader of scrolls?"
And without waiting for an answer, Sumaru charges and jabs her trident down at the redhead's belly. Which should be hard to miss, given its size.
Sweat covers Gado's brow as he wills another elemental from the plane of earth to join the material plane, and a red-hued, crystalline creature bursts forth from the sand underneath the slain insectoid monster.
"Нобуд муждарасон сурх - амон монед!"
Both of the earthy creatures streak down the beach, appearing as though they are floating in the sand, and leaving nary a wake behind them, despite their burst of speed.
Gado, with his odd mix of fascination and adrenaline, pushes his innate fear to the back of his mind, moving forward with the charge of his summoned creatures. He reaches for his second pearl of power in his pocket and wills the words of the magic missile spell back to his mind as he moves. Only after he does this does he realize he is now standing in the slime and muck of the dead insect creature. He quickly fights back the gag reflex that almost forces him to return his breakfast to the beach, and instead focuses on the two remaining foes.
"Thats it lady! Just keep yammering! Look, I've got a pretty red gem to match your hair, I bet this rock will look great on you."
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After casting a minor healing spell, and being outdone by the powerful magic of Elon, Wrigley watches as Ciarán is taken by a fit of laughter. The halfling continues to pick at the lute, using his music to inspire the others, even if the complexity and genius of the notes are lost upon the others due to resound clash of battle. His feet trudge across the beach, bringing himself closer to the Red Lady, and wanting nothing more than to use the same laughing spell against her. Unfortunately, Wrigley's small stride keeps him from being able to get close enough to her, and spends all his effort on running down the beach.
Sumaru flies forwards with her trident. It strikes true, gouging the Red Lady's belly.
Having seen Ciarán's missed attempt, Sumaru shifts her aims two feet to the left at the last minute, and is gratified by the Red Lady's help of surprise.
Gado's elementals streak forwards, and the canny caster comes up with some cunning threats of his own. He is unsure if the Red Lady hears it over Ciarán's exaggerated laughter however.
Wrigley gets in close to the elementals for his next cunning move, playing his lute in heroic fashion all the way.
Barley chases after the rest of the group, excited to run about and be helpful. He sees some well-proportioned woman dance at weird quiet man and weird quiet man starts laughing on the ground, so he goes to investigate.
The yak nudges the fallen bodyguard with his head. "Mooo..."
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Gratum moves ahead further trying to get a better sight on Bohdan, then sees the captains body better, and lying beside it in fits of laugther, Ciaran. Keeping his eye on Bohdan still he heads closer to the allies in combat with the Red Lady.
"Ciaran! Now's not the time to start getting jokes."
"Well, you look better..." Elon says before deciding to join in the fray farther along the beach.
He comes up astride Gratum as sees the "Bodyguard" laughing on the sand. "These humans are weird, eh dwarf brother?" he comments. As the man rolls around, Elon notices copious amounts of blood staining the austerity of the beach.
Hmm, might have to heal him before he dies from all that moving around and laughing... He grips his scythe in both hands, but doesn't expect to have to use it any time soon.
Round 3, Init 15
Bazsil gooses as Wrigley, then Elon, heal him. He recognizes the effect and offers a smug smile and thanks.
Sad that he is not the one to fell Radovan, but still angry at the impromptu haircut, Bazsil steps forward to repay Radavon for his shaving with a gallaghering.
"You are unworthy, you slavering mongrel."
damage. (PA,bard)
Elon, Barley and Gratum advance while Bazsil executes - hammer-style - his former barber.
"You will pay for that!" cries the Red Lady, incensed at the wanton slaughter of her subordinate.
Aeslin wonders at what is going on, and hurries forward into the fight. She knows she must get close enough for her gazes to work. She then moves closer to see if she can effect the archer, just in case. Seeing how the group is surrounding the red lady, she cannot see how the caster could survive for long. She declines to move forward any more, though, since she really doesn't have the stomach for hand-to-hand combat.
"حشي، ووقف ما تقومون به، والوقوف دون حراك!"
Bohdan looks strangely at Aeslin as she chants words in a language he cannot comprehend. His face suddenly becomes stuck in that pose, that of the ignoramus, and no matter how hard he tries (his eyes betray the effort) he cannot seem to move his face... or any other part of his body.
The Red Lady chuckles in kind as Ciarán falls over laughing. "You're about to find out exactly why I trust to scrolls I have not scribed myself!" The Red Lady holds up the parchment she drew earlier and reads from it.
As the Red Lady completes reading from her scroll, a pink light shoots out from her eyes. Those it strikes tremble at the majesty of the woman standing before them. She will surely be their destruction.
One of the elementals, Sumaru and Wrigley all turn tail and flee as fast as their modes of transportation will carry them. "The reason I trust them, is because you really should fear those who have!"
Teh other elemental, Elon and Gratum are rattled by the experience, but press on. (ooc]You are now shaken)[/ooc]
The archer tries valiantly to break free from the magical bonds that hold him in place.
Aeslin's magic proves too much, however, and he can do little more than look on as his mistress sends her enemies flying in terror before her.
Without rising from the ground, Ciaran lunges through the mud at the Red Lady, grabbing her by the ankle.
"I do not find that sort of thing amusing," he growls.
He wrestles a dagger from his haversack, and raises it in an ice-pick grip to strike at her thigh.
"Open your mouth again and I'll open an artery."
Gratum feels like the beach just burbled under his feet in a wave from the Red Lady. And isn't sure of his feet as he takes aim at Bohdan for another shot.
"You thieves will pay for your arrogance."
Somehow, throughout the laughter, Ciarán managed to keep a bead on where the woman was in relation to her image and grabs ahold of the Red Lady. She looks quite put out as he gropes at her lower regions.
Bodhan takes another crossbow quarrel with unusual stoicism. The man doesn't even flinch, frozen as he is.
Round 4, Init 15
"Don't go anywhere. I like you where you are," Bazsil moves quickly after spraying Radovan's brains all over the beach.
Bazsil moves past friend and near foes.
He whirls his long hammer menacingly.
"Well, Sebastian, I guess that fellow's not a problem now. However, that lady over there is. And it looks like our friends are a bit scared of her for some reason. Well, I think we should help them out, don't you?"
She steps forward, and then gives the red woman a dirty look. "You should not be doing that."
She then begins to laugh, possibly nervously, but suspiciously, cackling even.
Bazsil advances, leaving a little trail of blood and grey matter before spinning the remainder of it off. For a minute, he thinks it might have hit the Red Lady...
... but it doesn't seemed to have stained her robes at all.
The Red Lady returns the evil Look Aeslin gives her, but does not seem otherwise disturbed by Aeslin's gaze - or her behavior afterwards.
Hey, where is everyone going?
Gado's heart skips a beat as half the group, including one of his elementals, starts running away from the crazed red-haired lady, as though maybe he missed some important detail and no one has told him what it is, or why they would be running away.
Elementals can get frightened? Better add that to my notes... Even Gado doesn't know everything...
"Дар он Brutus меравед ? Даст дар мубориза бар !"
The crystaline elemental shrugs off the frightening look, and timidly listens to Gado's command, even though it wasn't specifically directed at it. Sliding forward in the sand, it finds a spot between the fleeing Sumaru and the prone Ciaran, and swings its mighty fists.
for
Meanwhile, Gado lets loose the magical bolts he just recalled, aiming for the crazy redhead.
"Voluptuous Redhead uses feminine charms to control and strike fear into those around her... You worship Callistra?" Gado shouts above the noise of the battle. "Wouldn't be surprised if she works for Lanvi..." He mumbles, watching the bolts strike the wild woman.
Elon feels a bit shaken by the spell but doesn't really get what all the fuss is about. He proceeds to berate everyone for acting inappropriately in battle. "Stop running! It's just a paralyzed guy and this woman! Get back here!"
With a quick step over to Barley and Ciaran , Elon sees Barley about to ram into the woman and smacks him on the flank. "Get into proper position, Barley! I taught you better!"
He reaches down with one hand to ease the suffering of the man laughing. "As for you, laughing isn't appropriate now either!" As he tries to help the "bodyguard" up, he infuses some life into the man.
Barley feels the slap on the rump and leaps over in surprise, but realizes his best friend is trying to help him. "Mooo..." he says in appreciation.
He lowers his head and charges towards the Red Lady.
"Somebody finish off the archer! Don't let him recover!"
Hey, where is everyone going? Elementals can get frightened? Better add that to my notes... Even Gado doesn't know everything...
Ciarán grapples with some unseen foe, while two feet to his left the Red Lady reacts to his moves and to Gado's missiles striking her in her chest. The elemental flanking her has a very hard time hitting even her image. Guided by this apparent incongruity, Barley has a go at goring the actual Red Lady, unseen with her legs apparently in Ciarán's arms.
Unfortunately, the poor creature still trusts too much to its eyes and misses.
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"This will never serve you well," the halfling said, swinging the lute in hand against the corner of a nearby table, shattering it beyond repair. "You are a coward. I have three sons, and three ships at my disposal. Yet, you will not rise up to defend your home nor move to avenge your family. Writing a song about it doesn't solve anything."
"You are no longer any son of mine."
"Begone with you..."
Wrigley's eyes widen as a memory he long hoped suppressed resurfaces in his mind, and he turns in a panic and runs. His lute falls to the wet sand where he once stood.
The bounce goes out of the heroes' steps as Wrigley drops his instrument and pounds at the sand with his fleeing feet. Sumaru shows him how it's really done, however, and after dropping her weapon she sprints well past even Gado's far back position in her desperation to get away.
"Uh, let me free, fool or I will bring down the power of... hell... upon thee!" the Red Lady was clearly prepared for tomb robbing and raising the dead, but it begins to become clear that she was underprepared for combat on such a scale. She she furrows her brow as though wracking her brain for what to do next, and elects to attempt to wriggle free.
She cannot quite manage it however, and instead pulls out some kind of vial from her pouch.
Barley scores an incredible hit. The Red Lady looks utterly shocked as the yak not only manages to hit her while she is displaced, but hits her hard. Blood pours from the dual horn gouges in her stomach and she falls down, framed by a pool of red.
Far too late to help his mistress, Bohdan finally breaks free of Aeslin's control upon him and he looks around uncertainly for an escape route.
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"Quick after him!" Gratum says, pulling out his new manacles "I knew getting a new set would come in handy... Stop! Thief!"
Gratum runs up to the point that Bhodan had been becoming a pin cushion, but of course the man was faster and moved into the trees to try to hide. "You may be the only one left to stand trial! Get back here!"
They come to a stand off with a single tree between them, and it comes down the a game of wits. "You're not Sicilian, are you?" Gratum asks.
"No..." responds Bhodan, "What's that even mean?"
"I don't know, it just popped into my head."
Just then Gratum jumps to his right, for the tackle, but tumbles into the sands as Bhodan jukes and spins around to run the other way.
Bazsil hits the archer when he tries to flee, and again and again until the man is a bloody mush in the sand, much like Radovan. He does offer the man one chance to surrender, but had little patience for anything other than complete capitulation.
"You see, Little Man?" Bazsil asks Gado. "There is nothing to worry about."
When that is done, Bazsil will see about looting the bodies.
Ciaran extracts the Red Lady from Barley's head and binds her wounds so that she can be interrogated later. He ties her securely and gags her for good measure.
Once Bazsil has reduced the other two to bloody mush, and the panicked adventurers have returned, Ciaran hoists the woman onto his shoulder. Ciaran isn't entirely pleased with murdering the archer when he was fleeing, but his displeasure shows as a tightening of his lips rather than saying anything directly.
"Should we head back to Krinst? I'm sure he and the priests would like to ask this woman some questions."
"No thank you for the healing, Ciaran?" Elon tsks at the man.
Ciaran frowns at Elon, and pats himself down. He raises his eyebrows.
"I'm sorry, yes. I was distracted and didn't notice at the time. Thank you."
He even risks a half-smile, before a sudden coughing fit doubles him over, nearly making him drop the Red Lady into the mud. With a snarl, he spits blood onto the ground.
Bazsil loots the unconscious woman and the two puddles.
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Sumaru smiled grimly when her trident tasted blood, but kept up her concentration so that she didn't lose track of where her opponent was. The fight wasn't over, but she felt everything was now well in hand. Then the redhead finished her scroll.
"The reason I trust them, is because you really should fear those who have!"
As the woman spoke, her voice pitched higher, and all harshness left it so that only a gentle trembling note remained. All the ambient noise hushed, and behind her the sky grew brighter -- a flat blue with an occasional white, fluffy, motionless cloud.
As Sumaru stared, the sky rippled, then split, and three men and a gnome emerged, all with neatly-trimmed facial hair, red and white striped tunics, and straw hats. They smiled broadly, and began marching around the beach, while singing in perfect four-part harmony.
I love Opparan days, and Kintargo nights
And Magnimaran mornings spent touring the sites.
But nothing can compare to the delectable heights
Of another Avistani...evening.
After dinner we'll stroll sweetly through the streets of the town
Till it's time for you to hustle with your bustle down.
After such a lovely moment who could possibly frown?
On another Avistani...evening!
They stood behind the redhead, hats in hand, vibrating around her like a straw halo, their other hands held out to Sumaru in joyous welcome.
So Sumaru dropped her trident and sword and ran as fast as she could in the other direction.
Hey, where is everyone going? Elementals can get frightened? Better add that to my notes... Even Gado doesn't know everything...
"You see, Little Man?" Bazsil asks Gado. "There is nothing to worry about."
When that is done, Bazsil will see about looting the bodies.
Gado winces at the brutality of the coup de grace, and feels the bile rising in his throat. He was an academic after all. Despite his affiliation with Mistress Lanvi and her gang of thugs, violence and death was not something the sheltered lorekeeper had seen very much of.
I have heard soldiers talk about this kind of thing, how you eventually become numb to it...
His face pale from his involuntary revulsion to the scene now that the adrenaline has worn off, he turns quickly away from the group in case his gag reflex acts up again. He tries to get his mind off of it by focusing on another task to which he is much better suited.
"Collect whatever was dropped. Grab as much of the mundane gear as you can carry. Here, here, and there. I guess it is about what I can carry... Better yet. Take this message to Lord Krinst. Ah, you can't do that either. Just stand there then. Carry my stuff."
Gado raises a few eyebrows as he is seen speaking to... no one... or something invisible. It is odd and slightly unnerving in either regard.
"My unseen servant. Kind of useless in this situation anyways."
The skinny man does his best to help gather things up, making sure to collect the scrolls first to be cataloged properly, then pulls out his journal to begin cataloging.
This sparks an idea. "Ah-ha! Here, hold this." Gado says, extending the journal into thin air, then letting it go. Remarkably, it floats there, and the man begins to jot down notes as the unseen servant dutifully holds the journal.
I wonder if there is a way I can get a magical, traveling writing desk? Surely I will have one when we set up base camp, but bringing one with me when we explore would be so nice...
Tunnel-Maker - some form of insect. Not yet identified. Deceased.
Group leader - red-headed lady, yet to be identified. In custody
2 Goons with her, both incapacitated, permanently.
Motivations yet unclear, purpose appeared to be to get information from Barbarosa's dead body.
Loot acquired from bandits:
Amulet of Protection
Ring of Protec...
Gado begins to make a list of everything acquired, noting who is taking what for personal use, and what will be sold and split amongst the group.
Bazsil helps carry the loot back, using his new 'sack to carry as much as necessary and using the Lady's sack as well. When he completes that, he takes a few moments to stare up and down the beach, wondering if it might be the last quiet beach he visits for a while.
"Are we in a rush to get back? Might we enjoy some time on the beach? Maybe a swim to get the stink of death from our clothes?" Bazsil considers going for a swim very seriously.
"Let us save all of the magical things that they have left us. I might want to use some of the scrolls to teach Sebastian some new spells, but we'll have to see what he can learn."
"CHee chee kree chee!!!" screeches the weasel, obviously displeased with the idea.
"Now calm down, dear. Yes, we all know you hate the taste of scroll-soup, but it helps us out! It really does. There are three or four very useful spells we can learn."
Gratum looks to the loot displayed, but finds it hard to decide. He eyes the potions of fly with a little suspicion and novelty, and the craftsmanship of the metal works as adequate.
"If there're any scrolls to escape the soup, I wouldn't mind holding onto some for safe keeping." He finally says after considering what's laid out.
"Oooh!" Elon says as someone hands him a shiny amulet to look over. "This is shiny."
He show the amulet to Barley. "Check this out, Barley!"
"Mooo..." echoes the yak who is wholly uninterested in the gear and finds some seaweed to munch on.
A chill breeze blows from across the ocean. Elon looks to the west and notes a darkened horizon. That can only mean one thing: storms. They are still some hours off, but Gratum thinks that the integrity of the tunnel will not hold under rainfall. The specialists could carry the corpses of the Red Lady and Captain Barbarosa through the streets of Magnimar, but perhaps the tunnel would be a little more... subtle.
Bazsil, after waiting for a few minutes, reaches over and takes the ring and amulet. He carefully places the amulet around his neck so that it doesn't get caught in his oiled curls. He ring he dons without ceremony, assuming it was his by some sort of birthright.
"Do we care about keeping this Red Witch alive? Does someone wish to speak with her? If we do not, I shall finish her off much like I did the others..."
Bazsil slowly gets ready to coup de jerk her...an easily interruptable action.
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"Wouldn't the right thing to do..." the halfling voices as if the answer should be obvious, while returning from his long, frightful trek across the beach. "Be to save everyone that we can, including the Red Lady, and take them to the citadel?"
"That would be my vote," he says, perhaps realizing at that moment that he is far less worldly than the others, and perhaps a great deal more naive.
I'm just optimistic, he prefers to think to himself.
"I agree Wrigley, I should think that the Abadarian priests may have some questions about how this woman was able to so easily break into their vault. We should bring her back in. In fact, we should drag all the bodies back in. Who knows, maybe they have ways of asking the dead ones questions too."
Gado wonders the last part out loud, pointedly to the red lady.
"And I suppose we should bring our dearly departed captain's body back as well. It has become a rather hot commodity. Once we are inside the citidal, we can get all the questions answered we need."
"I'll volunteer to drag one of them in... maybe you can help Wrigley. Between the two of us, we shouldn't fall to far behind, right?"
"Hey Grim, maybe if we get these lugs back to the citadel quickly, we will still have time for that swim, before those storm clouds roll in."
Elon looks over the scrolls found on the body of the Red Lady. "I mean, we could just ask them ourselves..."
He holds up several vellum inscribed with runes for Speak with Dead and wave them at Gado. "But, the storm takes precedence first."
He grabs the body of Barbarosa and heaves it over Barley. The yak moos at the added weight, but doesn't seem to mind.
"Back to Magnimar!" Elon says as he heads due east with confidence.
"Sounds like a good idea, Wrigley. I mean, daddy always said not to kill a future customer. Never pays off to kill off a potential customer, he said."