Farrukh hisses in pain and gets ready to slash at the man again, when he runs off.
"Get back here you murdering bastard!" he yells and charges at the doors, slamming his shoulder into them in the hopes of knocking them open.
The strong wooden doors burst open. It appears they weren't actually locked yet. Farrukh nearly crashes into the wall on the other side.
Farrukh sees Theldrick right before him. Even in the darkness, his anger is unmistakeable. "Lock them, Iowel, and may Hextor feed your soul to an otyugh!"
Robin hurries over and grabs a potion from Cuetzpalli's belt.
"Oh, shit!" Iowel presses the gem again, and the doors slam shut again. She presses another button, clearly guessing...
The doors...unlock. To be more precise, they click pointlessly as the redundant button has no effect.
Theldrick stares at the doors disbelievingly. Then he turns to Farrukh. "You see what I have to work with?"
He swings his flail down, aiming right for Farrukh's head.
"WHY IS IT SO F+%*ING DARK?!"
Again, he pulls back. Seeing his plight, the last cultist runs to assist.
It doesn't assist much.
The other tiefling shoots at Astraden.
Then he moves west.
Robin pours the potion down Cuetzpalli's throat.
Astraden nods to Iowel and opens the door. She points her wand at Theldrick's holy symbol one last time, flinging the wand away afterwards, and steps inside the doors.
"So hard to find good minions these days, isn't it?"
"I normally hate to kill a man with a sense of humor, but I liked Carina. Say hello to Hextor for me."
Tanith hustles towards the shroud of darkness and levels his weapon at the surviving cultist.
Distracted, Theldrick doesn't realize Astraden has arrived until his holy symbol bursts. His eyes widen. "How dare you? You mange-covered polecat!"
Astraden begins giggling, her voice taking on a timbre of mania. "Theldrick? Is that better enough for you?"
Cuetzpalli chokes and coughs a bit, before struggling wearily to his feet and grabbing his terbutje. He looks worriedly to the still bloody form of Spiny nearby. "Is he...?" Cuet asks Robin.
As Farrukh tries to move by, the cultist lunges with his spear. With an agonizing crack, the spearpoint goes through Farrukh's knee.
Theldrick looks at Farrukh, then at Tanith, barely visible in the darkness. He raises an eyebrow. "You wish for my death, brawler. I have no doubt you can achieve it. I am injured, more heavily armored, and your grief gives you strength. But if vengeance is what you seek..."
He looks over at the last cultist. "Aramiah. Draw your dagger, walk over, and slit the gangrel's throat."
Aramiah obeys, dropping his spear and grabbing Farrukh by the hair. He presses his dagger to the Kethite's throat.
Astraden manages to stab the cultist in the stomach, but her little rapier isn't enough to bring him down.
Theldrick bolts. His armor clanks loudly as he runs down the hall, through the chamber, and through the open doors into the Cathedral.
Meanwhile, Iowel starts to lock the doors, when she hears Cuetzpalli waking up. She hesitates, then runs over and past the curtain and out of sight.
The last tiefling still fighting aims a shot at Cuetzpalli, glaring. "Not while one Hextorian still draws breath in this Cathedral will you know respite!"
"Damn" Tanith growls as the Keldrick taunts and runs away.
The big man removes on hand from his weapon and slams a fist into the wounded cultist's kidney.
With the danger passed, the hulking Kordite retrieves the potion Carina had mentioned increases footspeed.
"He's not getting away", he adds with menace.
Tanith puts his fist straight through the man's stomach. The man spits up some blood as he falls to the ground. The knife clatters to the floor, useless.
Astraden feeds Farrukh the potion.
Farrukh coughs and gasps, then and crawls to his feet.
"Did he get away? I hope he didn't get away." he says as he gets to his feet.
Astraden gives Farrukh the potion and steps forward. "He's getting away, yeah."
Cuetzpalli charges the tiefling on the ledge, swing his terbutje in a overhead two handed blow.
The tiefling tries to duck, but Cuetzpalli's aim is perfect. He buries the terbutje in the guard's head, dropping him instantly.
Robin walks over and grabs one of the potions marked as healing from the dead man's belt.
Theldrick continues retreating.
Tanith quaffs the potion and bolts after Keldrick.
Farrukh too races of after him, being a step behind Tanith.
"It's over you bastard. Drop your weapon and I'll let you die like a man. More than you deserve after what you did to Carina."
Theldrick glances back, snarling. "You know, I'll bet it hurt. The arrow. Did you hear her scream? I did. Perhaps you didn't—you weren't there when she fell, after all. But she was in pain."
He turns, raising his flail high. "I'd say I'm sending you to join her, but I'm sure she's in Hades right now, and you'll be going somewhere bright and cheery. You and me, Kordian. Let's see what you've got."
Astraden runs after the others.
Fail
Pass
Robin goes back and starts trickling the potion down Spiny's throat.
Theldrick spits as Farrukh is the first to close the distance. "So that's how it will be. So be it. I am the slayer of the clutch of Brazzemal, and I have not lost a fight yet!"
He sheds his buckler and swings the flail with wild abandon. Farrukh, having just finished his sprint, is unable to dodge, and his armor does not save him.
"I'm not sure what that means, but you certainly hit hard so I'll take your word for it." Farrukh wheezes.
He slashes at Theldrick, a bit more cautiously now, trying to lay a blow on the man.
Using his supernatural speed, Tanith darts forward, dropping his weapon again along the way. As he comes up alongside Farrukh, the hulking Kordite lowers his stance and tackles the priest. "Stay out of this Farrukh. This bastard is mine!"
Farrukh slips in under Theldrick's guard, slicing a narrow gash between his armor plates.
At first, it seems like nothing. Theldrick rolls his eyes. "Is that all you..."
He staggers. By the time Tanith arrives, the high priest of Hextor has fallen.
Tanith glares at Farrukh but deals with his vengeance first.
With a roar, he lifts the fallen priest high over head. "This is for you Red!"
In one swift motion, Tanith drops to a crouch and slams Theldrick's form across his outstretched knee.
"I'd call retreating 'losing a fight' anyways." Astraden catches up and taps Tanith on the shoulder. "Could we have some potions now?"
Tanith breaks Theldrick's spine.
Cuetzpalli is able to catch the last tiefling trying to break into what must have been Theldrick's quarters. She doesn't see Cuetzpalli approaching until it's too late.
Cuetzpalli immediately rushes back to Spiny to make sure he's alive after the combat is finished. He waits there for the others to come back.
Robin finishes administering the potion.
Tanith rolls Theldrick's broken body off his knee and nods at Astraden. After fishing around in his pack, he offers what remained of their medical supplies (5 potions of CLW).
While Astraden tends to Farrukh, Tanith returns to the larger chamber and to Carina's side.
"I'm sorry Red. I let you down", the big man mutters while cradling her body.
"One for each of us! Great."
Astraden drinks one potion and takes two more up to Robin and Cuetzpalli. She pauses, watching Tanith.
"Maybe we should head back up and see what to do for her."
"Thanks, Tanith." Farrukh sits down unsteadily, uncorks the potion, and drinks it.
"I was hoping that would help a lot more than it did." he groans.
"Anybody else see that? Something red just flashed on that black water over there."
After he catches his breath, he turns to Astraden, a bit more solemn.
"I don't know much about magic but, um...is it at all possible to bring the dead back to life? Or is that just the stuff of stories?"
"We didn't have a priest with us the last time, so I was hoping, maybe, you'd be able to do something?" he sighs.
"I don't know. Nevermind. Forget I said anything."