Tsarok partakes of one of the ales, deciding he could appreciate the more hearty and light taste of the weaker liquid (it certainly wasn't the god-knows-what that Master Distiller Burl had served him earlier!) although deigns not to drink further on Wyvurn's suggestion.
The lizardman seems to be rather silent and stoic on the whole, although it's clear he's paying close attention to everything that's said, even though most of it is going way over his head. He's still a little mind-boggled at present.
So many races in the one place... the tribes of men are so strange! He eyes up Wyvurn sidelong. And this one... is this not half an elf, half a goblin?! How is that even possible?
"I appreciate the advice," he offers finally.
Cricket slams his tankard on the bar and wipes his mouth.
As Old Mother Tree teaches us, "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
Cricket belches.
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The others suspect that Cricket is maybe not quoting that adage 100% correctly -- but since he's a druid and they're not, probably no one sees fit to contradict him. Burl, for example, just shakes his head bemusedly and goes back to polishing glassware.
Caspian, your perusal of maps has indicated the following:
You're variously reporting library research, drinking, and milling about when Caspian asks, "is it getting dark in here?" You quickly realize that what's obscuring your vision is smoke. When you hear the sound of alembics exploding in the back room, it becomes clear that the distillery is on fire.
Burl is quick to react, grabbing a couple of bottles and throwing them in a sack before racing out the front door!
"Not again!" yells Caspian as he places his valuables under his arm and runs for the door.....
Having assumed the gathering smoke was part of a campfire or some such in another part of the Distillery, Tsarok is quite alarmed at the realisation that their dwellings are on fire. "Again?!" he repeats, staring in shock at Caspian. "This is a regular occurrence...?!"
The lizardman briefly reconsiders his decision to join up with these strange "civilised" folk...
... and decides instead to try and rush towards where he heard the explosions coming from and gauge the size of the fire. If he acted quickly, he may be able to stop the place from burning down...
Tsarok -- the smoke is thicker there, making it hard to see even for one whose eyes are used to pierce the mists of the moors. You assume from their coughing that the humans and dwarves are more susceptable to being sickened by smoke inhalation than you are, and you use this resistance to have a chance to look around despite the acrid fumes. The exploding sounds are glass vessels, containing more of Burl's horrid liquor, which are popping due to the heat -- showering broken glass everywhere, but fortunately your tough, scaled hide protects you from serious laceration.
Cricket, Jaegr, Kelgan, Wyvurn -- you guys still out there somewhere?
Cricket looks for flames, looking to cast create water. If he sees none, he runs outside, yelling and screaming
FFFFFIIIIIIIRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
and gets Wolvie.
Jaegr helps burl by randomly grabbing a couple more bottles and follows him out the door. "Burl what is going on? Is anyone back there that could be trapped?"
Kelgan shoulders his own satchel and barrels out the door after Burl.
He squares himself outside the building and looks around to see where the fire is burning.
As you come out the front door, you can see that the smoke is billowing out the back window, and from the roof of the building now, in a great sooty plume.
Standing in front of the building, grinning as they point heavy crossbows at the door, are three skeevy-looking guys in black cloaks and black floppy hats.
Cricket: You can immediately see that create water won't do enough fast enough, and go out the front with the others. Wolvie drops a dead squirrel from his mouth that he'd been playing with and comes running up to greet you.
"Skeevy flops!" warns Caspian as he makes it to the doorway....
Initiative
+2 in urban terrain
"Now what did you do Caspian!"
Wyvurn rolls his shoulders and cracks his knuckles before following the lead of his companions.
"Too long...much too long.."
"Wha...?"
Burl quickly steps to the side to get out of the way, but is still left in awe at Caspian's lightning-quick reaction.
"Damn my eyes!" Kelgan shouts as he sees the waiting thugs.
He tries to see the emblem, if any, emblazoned on the cloaks - expecting to see a golden cage.
Kelgan -- either your eyes aren't as sharp as you think they are, or the thugs are getting smarter. There's no emblem to be seen.
Caspian -- your super-quick movement out the door, coupled with your height (they're staring over your head!) means that you totally get the drop on these guys. You go first. By a lot.
After that, Wyvurn can react a split-second before the baddies, with the Dwarven Duo being slow on the uptake but ready to close out the inning.
Hopefully Cricket will throw his check soon as well!
Caspian pulls a flask of alchemists fire from his belt and tosses it at the flops....
"No drinks for you! Back of the line!"
"Suck this!"
Alchemists fire
Ranged touch attack On a hit deals
a miss deals 1 of splash damage
Though he can hear the commotion coming from near the entrance, Tsarok feels that he should at least try and stop this fire from engulfing everything in the place. For whatever reason, these vials of awful-tasting fire-water were important to Master Distiller Burl; and if nobody else could control the magic of the sky, then it was up to him to take the initiative.
Before braving the smoky enclosure any deeper into the smog, Tsarok ducks his head down low, cups his mouth and nose with his hands and inhales deeply - and then holds his breath. Just like swimming...
Tsarok, holding his breath against the thicker, choking smoke, assesses the situation.
Squinting against the fumes and burning ash, you make out an area of flames between you and the window, which you think a burst of rain would douse . The mass of broken glass on the floor looks particularly dangerous there, but you think your scaly feet will probably be OK unless you step on a particularly nasty shard.
Out front, Caspian's aim fails to match his enthusiasm, and the vial of fire explodes prematurely. Two of the goons end up needing to brush embers from their cloaks, but that seems to be the extent of the injury.
Cricket casts create water.
Cricket, from his vantage point outside, can see that the roof in back is aflame, and liable to collapse! Despite his red-eyed, hungover, half-drunk state, he manages to drop a create water on that spot, delaying the cave-in and allowing Tsarok to reach the window without being buried in rubble. Old Mother Tree protects vagabonds and drunks, they always say -- and apparently lizardfolk, too!
Cricket says a prayer of thanks.
Yay Old Mother Tree!
Tsarok's spell takes effect at this point; in addition to extinguishing the fire in front of the window, the force of the gush sweeps the broken glass out of the way. Tsarok is therefore able to reach the window safely and close it, cutting off most of the air to the rest of the fire. The few flammable wood shingles left on the roof will burn, but the building itself remains intact, and the larger tuns of spirits might also be OK.
Wyvurn will leap towards the bad guys, landing just out of melee range and putting a shuriken in each.
Sleight of Hand: Wyvurn is whipping out shuriken no problem to keep up with 3 attacks.
1st attack: Hit, 5 damage (6 total to that guy so far)
2nd attack: Miss (1 total damage to that guy so far)
3rd attack: Hit, 6 damage (6 total to that guy so far)
The black-cloaks smile grimly and fire their crossbows: the middle one at Wyvurn, and the other two at the two armored and competent-looking dwarves.
Attack vs. Wyvurn:
Attack vs. Jaegr:
Attack vs. Kelgan:
Dropping their crossbows, they jerk out short spears and wait. Something about their stances makes you wary.
Unfortunately, they're going to have to do a lot better at their target practice if they expect to injure you!
Jaegr attempts to figure out what their weird stance is all about
Jaegr (and anyone else hitting DC 14 or better):
Caspian feeling fairly safe blows air into the bladder of his bagpipes and starts to play.....
Begining an inspiration
After heroically saving the gallamesh from a fiery fate, Cricket turns around and sees the thugs.
What the...?!?
Cricket scans the area looking for suitable subjects for an entangle spell. If there isn't enough flora available, he casts flaming sphere.
Tsarok nods in thanks to the goblin on the other side of the wall before booking it out of the room for fresh air. He joins the others with the fops, longspear in hand and ready for action...
Planned actions noted, but Jaegr and Kelgan still need to take their turns before Caspian, Cricket, and Tsarok start the next round.
Jaegr moves up cautiously to within 5' of the thugs and readies an attack if they approach him, trying to turn the tables on them.
"Careful of their spears" He grins at the thugs, feeling the rush of battle wash over him, a feeling he has missed these past few months.
"It's a classic Cavalry Lure. Charge in and they'll stick you."
Kelgan draws the battered bulwark of his back and advances forward, glaive falling into hand. He stops behind Jaegr and prepares to defend him.
...and with that, Caspian begins inspiring courage for the fighters. Cricket, frowning at the flagstones and mud of the courtyard, waves his hands and invokes a tumbleweed of fire, which rolls into one of the black-cloaks.
The lizardfolk emerges from the distillery at this point, holding a longspear.
The guy hit with the rolling ball of fire cowers back, wounded. All three of the black-cloaks then march forward one step in unison towards Jaegr, triggering his held attack, which in turn triggers their held attacks:
Kelgan can also attack with his glaive, due to reach.
These guys are going to have to do a whole lot better than that to get through Jaegr's unusual ceramic plate armor! Jaegr and Kelgan, don't forget the bonus to attacks and damage from Caspian's inspiration.
Jaegr enters his stone stance as the thugs move in. Once within his reach, Jaegr swings at the hooligans
Jaegr's swing catches the middle guy and cleaves through his ring mail; the guy reels back, gasping but not hurt enough yet to be inconvenienced.
Caspain continues to play the pipes and ad-libs a new song....
"Hey diddle diddle,
Burl's working the distiddle,
Cricket jumped over the moon.
The little lizard laughed,
To see such sport,
As Jagger hittin the middle
And the flop felt it in his poon."
Did someone say 'poon'? Cricket asks while cackling with glee at the awesome damage done by his flaming sphere.
Kelgan has an AoO to make.
Wyvurn senses the intent of the arsonists. When Jaegr steps up, he tumbles around to get into a flanking position, drawing his crystal sword while he does so.
"Evidently they choose to stand here and bleed, Jaegr."
The hobgoblin's acrobatics attempt would probably normally get him poked with a spear, but thankfully the goons, having just used held attacks to strike at Jaegr, are unable to seize the opportunity. Sadly, Wyvurn's attacks are even weaker than his tumbling. Maybe smoke inhalation is keeping him from peak performance?