Brynjar goes flying through the window as a human battering ram. He manages to avoid getting cut by the glass, making it all look easy. Just as he lands on his feet, Droviz bursts through the door. They see five armed men, and hear movement from the room to the south where the sick bandits were. The three in the front strike out at the intruders with their short swords. Brynjar ducks just in time to avoid an overhand strike just as Droviz's shoulder is pierced by another bandit's sword.
The others see the cook react to the sounds of combat by drawing a short sword with her right hand, and holding the cleaver in the left. She watches the kitchen door but does not go to join the melee.
No one emerges from the house.
Hearing the sounds of battle Ragnar decided to act. He didn't really understand what the plan was, but he assumed it was to attack the building from both sides. He ran, following the perimeter, looking for an entrance.
Elen follows just behind Ragnar.
Seeing the woman in the kitchen readying her weapon and waiting by the door from his vantage point at the window, Helios rushes around the building (double move) and spies the doorway in the back further south of their position. He calls out in elven..."Ragnar, Elen, head to the other side of the building (H6), there's an entrance there. I'll distract here from this door here then move in to support you..." As he passes by Krystae, he translates his plan.
That said, he fires an arrow at the kitchen door, aiming to convince the enemy inside that someone is about to come through there..."Hey, everyone, I found a door back here, c'mon!" Helios uses a deeper,gravely voice in an attempt to fool the enemy inside.
So the way we are going to do this is with block initiative. Because they are unaware of your presence you automatically win initiative. You can start your action from any edge of the map. The first square on the map counts as your first 5 feet of movement. Make sure to make any relevant stealth checks, etc. I will have the NPCs react accordingly after you have all had your first action. This will be treated as the first round, not a surprise round so you have a full round to work with.
Droviz roars his fury and lashes out at the first **** to come within range with both his blades!
Wordlessly, Brynjar stomps the boot of the bandit facing him, slams the pommel of his weapon to his head and slides the edge of his raised weapon down the man's chest at a diagonal angle, finishing his attack by entering a more defensive stance; keeping his sword at his front ready to parry any swipes that come his way.
Droviz lashes out with his longsword and slashes the side of the bandit in front of him. The bandit wavers a bit but remains on his feet and strikes back with his shortsword, but his wound weakens his strike and Droviz easily dodges the blow.
The adjacent bandit also strikes out at Droviz, slashing his thigh.
Brynjar slides his sword through the bandit's chest in front of him, piercing his lung. He pulls his sword back out to regain a defensive posture and the body falls to the ground. The one behind steps forward and swings, but Brynjar easily parries the blow.
Havelock dashes around the building, readying a bomb in his hand. Droviz and Brynjar see the door to H14 open, and two very sick bandits step out cautiously, with swords shaking in their hands. They can see two more about to enter the room.
Parrying the blow with a bit more force than was needed, Brynjar capitalized on the imbalance it caused his opponent, stepped forward, bashed him with his shoulder, followed this push with a rising vertical slash that returned him to his previous guard stance. The warrior continued with the silence he had greeted the bandits with after the strike, his eyes carefully watching his opponents and his face only bearing a disgruntled expression but nothing beyond that.
Elen runs forward and opens the door, so that her friends can enter to attack.
Havelock waits long enough for the door to open, then he crouches forward a little and rushes inside.
As soon as his claws hit floorboard he slides forward a little, drawing forth one of his clay vials and lets his gaze wander around, looking for a target.
Seeing Droviz outnumbered, he instead draws his new blade and moves forward to take some of the attention away.
Droviz curses the man who cut him soundly - though in an odd, sibilant language - and lashes out again with both blades, trying to bull through the pain
Brynjar cuts down the warrior in front of him. Droviz sticks his longsword through a bandit's neck and follows through with his butterfly sword, striking the other bandit nearby across the shoulder.
Helios follows Krystae into the house, seeing if there is an available target. Since the main hall is so crowded with friend and foe alike, he trains his bow on the doorway to H8, conscious of the potential foe they saw through the window earlier. He readies a shot and should an armed assailant emerge from that area, then...
Readied Action
➢
➢
Ragnar rushes in with the others, his spear leveled and ready.
Whoa! That came from behind, but wait, I recognize the feathers on the fletching, so it is no doubt Ms Stormcrow.
Still, that WAS close enough to have taken off an ear...
Luckily, I lack such superfluous EXTERNAL organs.
Krystae's arrow narrowly misses Havelock before striking a chair. Helios keeps an eye on the kitchen door, but the cook seems reluctant to join the fray and stays inside the kitchen.
One bandit steps up closer to Droviz and swings wildly. He looks dizzy from loss of blood.
The others swing at the Tengu that has jumped into the fray. One of them manages to land a blow.
Another sick bandit moves towards Droviz. Havelock takes a swing at him as he goes past and nearly loses his grip on his sword. The sickly bandit swings weakly at Droviz, who easily steps aside avoiding the strike.
You hear footsteps and the creaking of hinges upstairs.
"If you want to keep the sick ones alive, help get them off of me!" Droviz shouts to the others before he swings his blades again. "You bastards! Put down your steel and you won't be hurt worse!"
The slight sound of armor in motion could be heard as Brynjar moved towards the two bandits that faced Droviz. The warrior's weapon was held so that its tip was facing his target, leaving an inkling in his opponents mind that he was attempting to stab him but the feeling of the wind parting as the blade of the great sword rushed towards him in a back swing motion changed any notion in the outlaw's head that told him to react to a stab.
Seeing that the door isn't opening, Helios shifts his attention to the battle in the gathering room. When the Professor takes a devastating blow, the half-elf raises his bow and looses at the bandit attacking him.
...shooting into melee
He here's Droviz call for surrender and adds a bit of dynamic theatrics to the commnd.
...it's worth a shot...
Elen moves into the room and focuses eldritch power on one of the bandits.
Ragnar crashed forward past Krystae and thrust his spear over Vigdiri Havelock's head toward the bandit in front of him.
Seeing the vicious attacks by the more battle hardened members of the party cut down the oppositions like a farmer going through a field of wheat with a scythe, Havelock holds back his attacks, fairly confident that the remaining bandits will see sense and surrender.
|
Krystae slips around behind Ragnar and squeezes between the table and fireplace, feeling the comforting warmth on her backside as she passes the fire. She takes position on the other side of the melee, keeping the table between her and the bandits. She quickly takes aim at the nearest bandit still fighting and lets her arrow fly!
The bandit in front of him easily parries both of Droviz's blows, but Brynjar is able to take advantage of his distraction and with a powerful blow takes off the sword arm of the bandit, who quickly collapses from loss of blood. Helios's arrow sprouts from the belly of the bandit fighting Havelock, who wavers but manages to stay on his feet- at least until Ragnar's spear goes through his heart. Krystae's arrow goes through the throat of one of the sick bandits and pins his corpse to the wall as the one next to Droviz falls fast asleep. The last two bandits standing were already looking very weak from their illness; seeing their friends fall and believing Helios's threat, they drop their swords and crumple to the floor, cowering in fear.
You see dust being disturbed on the stairs, something invisible must be coming down!
Helios steps a bit closer to them, at least within 10 feet as he shoulders his bow and pulls the scorpion whip from the loop at his belt. He spares a glance with Ragnar and in a guttural tone speaks in elvish. "Huṁ tamanē ēka śaktiśāḷī śāmana chē kē tēmanē kahē chē, anē tē'ō śaraṇē na hōya tō tamē vr̥kṣō tēmanā ātmā'ō bandhāyēlī rahē chē. Tēmanē bahāra bihāmaṇuṁ anē kadāca amēl māhitī mēḷavavānō."
Helios lashes out at the thin air with his weapon, the whip-crack loud in the confined space. "Answer the lady's question and be honest...or I'll have some sport with you beforeIi give you to the shaman."
Elen goes over to the door to the kitchen and knocks on it, yelling, "Drop your weapons and come out with hands in plain sight! Your compatriots have all surrendered!"
"Es varu darīt." Ragnar rumbled, staring the men down.
"Es varu darīt." He said. It wasn't clear whether he was talking about acting frightening, or actually binding their souls to trees…
The trappings of the room around him rattled as though being shaken by some unseen force.
"Yeah, yeah, souls, trees, all of that," Droviz says, with a brief glance at the prisoners. He gives Elen an apologetic look -- seen only through the eyeholes in his mask, of course. "Could I bother you for a spot of healing? One of these nicked me a bit."
"She asked you a question" Said Brynjar as he fixed the two surviving bandits with a glare, his sword still out and smeared with the blood of the men that lay motionless on the floor.
"Let us make sure we are safe, first of all."
The surviving bandits cower in fear. "Rohkar is here. And I th-th-think the cook is here somewhere..."
At that moment you hear window glass breaking from inside the kitchen. Helios is able to catch a glimpse of half orc cook running towards the trees.
You hear footsteps moving towards the fallen bandits, but you don't see anything.
The cat on Elen's shoulder suddenly rears up, arching its back, twitching its nose and hissing at a volume of apparently empty air near the fallen bandits.
Droviz glances from the cat to the empty air - and lunges, blades whistling through the air in a criss-crossing pattern.
"Where is it, where is it?!" he shouts.
"I don't know--I think she smells something!"
...w00t!
Helios waves for Droviz and the others and points towards the ailing bandits. "You see, he leaves a trail a kitten can follow..."
Ah ha, I guess what's good for the goose... Helios considers the recent magics he'd picked, ml namely the ability to disappear from view.
"Rohkar you say?" Helios flicks the scorpion whip into the air once more, a casual air about him.
"That would explain the feeling I'm getting..." He holds his hand out as though he were touching something. "...A presence approaching the ailing miscreants there... I'm experienced in the arts of illusion...Rohkar. Why not come out plainly so one of my friends here doesn't stab you accidentally?"
"I can smell you...I can smell your soul... so weak, so delicious..." Helios takes on the persona of a vile creation, mimicking a dramatic turn from a Varisian actor he once saw in Cassomir. Then he begins flicking the whip about himself and gesturing angrily with his right hand. "Drop your subterfuge now, or face my wrath! "
Ethereal apparitions begin coalescing about the half-elf. And upon his visage the horrid aspect of a white, gaunt and ghostly figure supplants the handsome features of Helios Sunsteaker. "My paaaaatience is thiiiiiin. Come out noooo" His voice is like the hiss of the Tazylwyrm calling out of nightmares.
HAUNTED FEY ASPECT
School illusion (glamer); Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components S
Range Personal
Target You
Duration 1 round/level (D)
You surround yourself with disturbing illusions, making you look and sound like a bizarre, insane fey creature. You gain DR 1/cold iron against a single opponent until the end of the spell, or until you take damage.
Good keep him busy Helios Brynjar sheathed his sword, grabbed the long table by the edges he stood next to and did his best to lift it.
The armored warrior moved close to the area the bard had directed them to and made a massive horizontal swing, purposefully keeping the table close to ground so their invisible foe wouldn't try ducking under it.
No idea what is going on...
Havelock stays where he is, keeping an eye on the sick bandits.
Ragnar's brows raise as he watches Keeper Helios. he seems surprised and wowed, utterly enthralled by the frightening spirits that suddenly surrounded his new friend.
He's... like me. How did I never see it before? Perhaps he learned how to better control his curse. Truly the wisdom of the Keepers is amazing.
I still think we could have sped things up with a little fire...
Looking around, the area around Havelock eyes crinkles a little in amusement.
And I am not sure we would really have incurred more causalities with my plan...there is PLENTY of blood here.
Brynjar struggles a bit when he tries to swing the table, and it slips from his grasp and falls on its side.
You hear someone chanting words of power.
You recognize the words of magic for the Animate Dead spell.
Five of the bandit bodies rise from the ground. Whoever cast the spell is still invisible.
Brynjar was still silent as the undead surrounded them, his hand moved to his sheathed sword and revealed its scratched and nicked blade to all that were around. His eyes appeared impassive as if he was simply staring at nothing of interest, but then an wild intensity burned within his blue irises This work of sorcery, whoever spoke those words...he works for THEM...he won't live to see tomorrow...he won't live... The warrior released a savage roar as he stared about himself like some frenzied beast, one hand kept a solid grip on his weapon, while the other shook as the fingers retracted and extended. The monster that was his anger had finally discarded the many chains that kept it mildly under the control of the red haired warrior...but no more it has finally gained the freedom it sought and wanted to sink its claw and fangs in the blood of their enemies.
A moment passed and the wild animal that was now Brynjar was no longer in the spot he was standing in. The sound of his violent footsteps could be heard near the window and the clinking of armor rang as his hand slammed against the head of the enemy that was between him and Krystae. Swiftly his hand slammed the unaware opponent to the near by wall, and before it could even recover Brynjar' blade whistled through the the air, aching to cut through flesh and bone.