Eben fells one of the fleeing warriors, lodging an arrow in his back.
Grabbing a solid hold of his bigger opponent, Tanith feels a dizzying rush. He tightens his grip and shifts his weight, ready to change positions, only to have the brute become dead weight in his arms as Farrukh stabs him in the back and clobbers him with his shield. The big Kordite stares in disbelief causing him to completely miss the lizardman’s dying words.
Kord, grant me the patience strength to deal with this honorless scumbag.
Carina glares at the wounded lizardfolk leader. "Nid." She shakes her head, looking at the rest of the team.
She approaches him, stopping in front of the wounded lizardfolk while still remaining within arm's reach of Tanith. "Fos lost nust drehlaan wah hin kiir wah qaariv daar?"
"Hi fen koraav."
Carina sighs. "Ful kos nii."
She turns to the rest of the team. "Apparently, their children have been brought to harm by the men stationed here. I don't know what's happened, but now I need to."
She starts walking towards the keep, more concerned about her mother than anything else.
Eben pauses, an arrow loosely dangling from his bowstring. "Should we chase them? Or call this a win?"
While he doesn't go running after them into a likely ambush, Eben does fire a few parting shots until the lizardfolk are safely in the swamps.
Round 5:
Round 6:
Eben drops both his targets with two well-placed shots.
Tanith is disappointed that his mighty opponent has surrendered before any sort of contest can begin, but Carina's comment makes him tighten his grip.
He shoots Farrukh a glance that says - Get lost.
Tanith successfully pins the defeated enemy.
Doing his best to ignore the honorless Ketite, Tanith binds the prisoner.
The lizardfolk spits, landing a glob of saliva right in Tanith's eye. "All servants of your god cowards. Bo rigir wah hin wiizaan boden ahrk vos zey dir voth zin, weakling!"
Being spat at doesn't bother Tanith (both spitting and biting were fairly common in his brawls back in the Dog). Being called a coward and weakling does bother him, even if he can't understand the rest of the lizardman's words.
"What's he saying Red?"
Farrukh looks at Tanith in confusion.
"What?"
Leaving Farrukh with the prisoner, Tanith follows after Carina.
Farrukh pokes the bound lizardman lightly with his sword.
"So why did you attack us anyway? We ain't done nothing to you."
Cuetzpalli walks up to the group around the defeated leader. "Why are you talking to him? Cut off his head," Cuetzpalli suggests. "Didn't the witch say he was part of the problem?"
When Tanith catches up with Carina, she pauses and looks at him.
"I think that's Kushak we just defeated. His chief follows a black dragon known as Ilthane--she's the one who talked him into trying to kill the men of Blackwall Keep. The witch said that if we go after them, we should seek out someone named Hishka--apparently, she's the only one capable of helping us out here." She says, looking between the battlefield and the keep.
Kushak glares at Farrukh and says nothing.
Once the lizardfolk are gone, the door to the Keep opens and several soldiers run out. "We have injured!" one of them shouts. "Are any of you healers?"
Carina raises her hand. "I'm a doctor, sir. I can help." She digs out her healer's kit from her haversack.
"I think we should take him alive. If he was in charge of the attack, he can let us know if they're likely to return with reinforcements. Hell, maybe we can use him as a hostage or bargaining chip."
Tanith nods in understanding – sort of. A dragon?!
”We’ll worry about finding this Hishka after we make sure these soliders are okay and your mother’s safe.”
The big man follows on Carina’s heels as she volunteers her talents.
”Make room!” he bellows. ”She needs space to work.”
"Wouldn't the caster be able to tell us that?" Astraden turns to her Olman friend. "Cuetzpalli, you've got a gigantic axe. Take his head with that and it'll be quick."
"He doesn't seem like he'll be very cooperative anyway. I don't really have the stomach for torture myself."
Farrukh slides the blade of his scimitar gently between the lizardfolk's ribs.
The lizardman shudders, eyes going dull as he bleeds out. He doesn't make a sound.
The human soldiers watch this approvingly, then quickly lead Carina in. Six soldiers have been laid low—two from the recent battle, the rest from early in the morning when the attack began. Twenty-two soldiers are already dead. Only twelve able-bodied men of the original thirty remain in the Keep.
Carina is able to quickly patch up the six downed soldiers. As she does so, the soldiers seem to single out Astraden as the leader—perhaps because she's seemingly able to order the Olman with the big dinosaur around.
"Our commander is dead. We can't thank you enough for saving us from those monsters—I didn't think we'd make it past their suppertime. Please, though, you have to help us further." As they lead Astraden and the others in, it can be seen that the door has been wrecked and hastily repaired. "We barely repelled them the first time they made it in. Marzena—our battlemage—she helped force them out, but they managed to grab her before she could make it back inside. She and three others were captured and taken back to their lair. They'll eat them for sure—or do something worse."
As Carina looks up from her work, she doesn't see her mother anywhere...
"Who else was captured?" She asks, trying not to panic.
pleasenotMompleasenotMompleasenotMom
"Three others of our number," the soldier says, frowning. "Why? Do you know someone here?"
Carina takes a breath, calming down before taking off her haversack. "I thought there was another healer that came by here." She points to the symbol of Fharlanghn on the haversack. "She has brown hair, green eyes, wears chainmail and carries a symbol like this." Her hands are beginning to tremble. "She's a priestess of Fharlanghn. Have you seen someone like that lately?"
The soldier's brow furrows. "That sounds like Ms. Viera—Marzena's contact. She doesn't come by much—mostly sticks to the swamps. We could've used a healer like her on hand this morning."
Another soldier speaks up. "We haven't seen her in a few days. Been wondering where she got to. Have you tried asking the frogeaters?"
"So she hasn't been here? Where in the swamps?" Tanith asks on Carina's behalf.
"How should we know? Look, I'm sure she's fine. We have an actual problem here." The soldier's tone is starting to get icy.
Carina's heart practically does a little happy dance at the news, but promptly stops when she learns of where Alessia's been this whole time.
"Yeah... she's my mother." She shifts from foot to foot. "And before you ask, I'm adopted."
"I don't think there's any lizardfolk left here to question. We'll go into the swamp and track them down. We'll see if we can mount a rescue." She turns to the rest of the team. "Right?"
Tanith growls and grabs the soldier by the collar lifting him off the ground.
"Listen up. Ms. Viera is this girl's mother. If she's in trouble it's her problem and if it's her problem, it's my problem. Can you guess who's problem it is if it's my problem?"
"Where does Ms. Viera usually travel out here?"
The moment Tanith starts making threats, the soldiers stiffen. Several of them draw swords as the one he grabbed starts quivering.
"Get the f~+! out!" one of them shouts. "You think you can push us around like the tavern barkeep? Go to hell! We told you all we know!"
These men expected to die today, and are all on very short fuses.
Carina's face pales. "Tanith, put him down! Now!"
She stands up, her hands trembling. "Look, we're all on edge here. The last thing anyone needs is more blood being spilled. I don't want anyone else being hurt over this, and I know you don't either. Now that I know Mom's in that swamp somewhere, as well as your men, we can mount a rescue mission to get them all back. Please..."
Tanith frowns and drops his victim not-so-gently.
”Just remember who saved your asses today and show a little more respect.”
Astraden replaces her wand and leaf and follows the others. "Noble warriors, we respect your tribulations."
Cuetzpalli observes the testosterone and fear fueled scene with an aura of detached calm. He allows the soldier's obvious fear of Spiny to form a small ring (a few meters across) of open space to form around him. Sitting on a crate or barrel, the Olman listens to his companions talk while he cleans the lizard blood from his axe and clothes. When blades are drawn, he stands halfway up, until Carina defuses the situation. "Is it true that you did something to antagonize the lizard folk into attacking? Or is it purely the influence of their leadership?" Cuetzpalli asks the leader of the soldiers.
Though they show nothing but contempt (and a fair helping of fear) for the mighty Kordian, Carina's words seem to calm them down.
"We just follow orders," another soldier says, scowling. "But we haven't attacked them. Most of the time, we just try to ignore each other."
"Never seen them this aggressive," an older soldier mumbles. "Not since before the Keeps were built. I mean, they never liked us much, but they never had the balls to try something like this."
Tanith rolls his eyes and gestures toward the keep’s gates.
”Let’s get going Red, these guys don’t know anything. We’re going to have to go out there if we want to get to the bottom of this thing and find your mom.”
Carina bites her lip, but seeing that the situation has been calmed down, she nods and stands up.
"I should thank you for your hospitality, sirs. We'll be back with your men, Marzena, and some answers as to what's provoked them into attacking." She packs up her things and makes for the keep's entrance, clearly shaken by how close everything came to turning bloody.
As they're clear of the keep, Tanith scowls again.
"Sorry Red. I didn't like the way they were talking about you mom - like her life being in danger didn't mean anything. I guess I let my anger get the better of me."
The big man stretches a bit and adjusts the iron band wrapped around his bicep.
"Anyway, I don't think anything the lizardmen were saying is true. They looked pretty hurt when Cuetzpalli mentioned the eggs."