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Uriel crushes one of the skeletons with his axe, leaving two remaining.
Overhead, the ambushee laughs, preparing to escape along the rooftops.
Initiative is now:
--Uriel 25
--Percivel 19 is up! followed by...
--Hania 13
Bushwhacker Red 10
--Rhiannon 9 [invisible]
--Raikdar
--Lantana 4
The Terrifying, Horrifying Undead
Percivel cries out as Lantana is swarmed. He steps up, swinging his polearm as he does!
Hania delays to take better stock of the situation.
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Percivel rushes forward-- but the skeleton proves too nimble, ducking to the side to avoid a fatal blow.
Hania pauses as the skeleton in front of them swings wild to try to catch Rhiannon.
Above, on the rooftop, the bushwhacker runs.
Within seconds, he's leapt a barrier and an alley, and disappears, rounding a corner.
Initiative is now:
--Uriel 25
--Percivel 19
--Hania 13 [delayed]
Bushwhacker Red 10
--Rhiannon 9 [invisible] is up! followed by...
--Raikdar
--Lantana 4
The Terrifying, Horrifying Undead
Rhiannon slips by the skeleton when she sees an opening, keeping her back to the wall so she doesn't run into him, in an attempt to get some clearance for her bow. She puts another ten feet between them and readies her bow, hoping for a better shot than the last battle.
"Acidum orbem impetum."Raikdar lets fly with another acidic glob. Then he steps forward, and follows through with a vicious upswing, the tip of his longsword scribing a near complete circle in the air.
Being that Rhiannon doesn't seem to be in front of her anymore Hania fires off a bolt at the nearest skeleton.
"Lantana chop!"
Lantana attacks the undead conveniently close to her.
for damage
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As the skeleton waves its weapon, it turns to Raikdar. Staring at him imperiously, it takes a long step forward and then explodes into bone dust and shards as Rhiannon appears behind it-- the arrow piercing its skull shimmering into being a second later. Black onyx crumbles from its pierced skull.
Hania and Lantana attack the final skeleton, throwing caution to the wind, but it seems to yet survive. Hissing a last challenge, it throws itself at Percivel.
Its claws swish by and the cutlass is ducked. Retreating for an instant, it seems to realize it's cornered and backs towards the wall, swinging defensively.
Initiative is now:
--Uriel 25 is up! followed by...
--Percivel 19
--Hania 13
--Rhiannon 9
--Raikdar
--Lantana 4
The Terrifying, Horrifying Undead
With little else to worry about Uriel turned to the last remaining skeleton, a look of grim necessity on his face. Without much further ado he got himself within reach and swung his axe.
Hania moves closer to the skeleton and reloads her crossbow as she moves.
Rhiannon moves to get a better shot, then fires a blunt arrow at the skeleton.
The tiefling barbarian raises her weapon and smites the evil creature one more time
for damage
Raikdar moves to gain a clear view of the Skeleton, then launches another acidic sphere at the skeleton.
"Acidum orbem impetum."
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As Lantana strikes the creature, it rattles loudly-- but without half of its body. Taking a lunging step forward, Raikdar and Rhiannon put it down with a volley of spell and arrow, leaving the creature in shambles on the stone of Korvosa.
As combat ends, it is like the weather grows in accordance. Blood drips down onto the street, and the city is silent save for the whoosh of wind and rain.
You have each other now-- and perhaps goals to attend to.
What do you do?
"Shall we continue to our destination?" Hania says with a twinkle in her eye.
"Oh, and hello everyone! Nice to see you again."
Lantan collapses against the side of the building and begins panting in a rather unladylike manner.
"Hello to you as well!" she gasps. "just give me a minute to recover..."
Rhiannon nodded to her reunited colleagues. "A moment, certainly. But not too long a moment; we're chasing a thief who has something of the missing cleric's. By any chance, have your own lines of investigation crossed back around to the address 551 S. Garamond Street?"
Raikdar takes in the scene. The shattered, scattered bones of the undead. The three lifeless forms of the bushwhackers. The rain is rapidly diluting the blood pools where they lie.
Raikdar pokes at one of the skulls with the toe of his boot. "Not something you see everyday, here in Korvosa." Then he looks at the fallen bushwhackers. "Any ideas why they attacked?" He asks Uriel.
"It's ringing a bell, but then again, everything is ringing a bell right now. So that probably means nothing."
Percivel takes the moment to brush himself off and then bends to examine the dead. He tsks as he does so, shaking his head. "What a senseless waste of potential. It saddens my heart to see lives end like this."
"Can anyone spare some healing? I'm a bit hurt here..." Lanny asks hopefully.
"It's a shame, but we were left no choice." Uriel states while he cleans the blade of his axe with a rag.
When Lantana asks for healing he slings the axe over his back and walks over, "I'm not sure how much I can do, but this will take the dge off at least." With that he places a hand on her brow and shortly after divine energy flows from his hand. Once he is done he removes his hand and kisses the holy symbol he held in the other hand.
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The dead thieves and their re-dead skeletal allies are carrying few items.
The skeletons' five cutlasses are in pristine condition. Examining them reveals they look like they may have been purchased recently, as the blades aren't dulled at all.
They each have a small vial of dim blue liquid that shimmers despite the low light of the alleyway. For anyone magically inclined or inclined to be injured, it's easy to recognize the potions of cure light wounds.
Their armor, while blooded and ruined, could be patched together with a few hours time. The master craftsmanship of the studded leather is apparent-- each one seemed to be able to afford very nice armor.
Among the three of them, they have twelve daggers. Two sickles, a short sword, and two katars-- Garundi punching daggers. Two sets of thieves tools, and one masterwork set. Digging in the leader's pocket, a bag of gold can be found containing, of all things, fifteen platinum pieces. In the same pocket, a piece of paper, wet crimson, is a scribbled list-- difficult to read due to the blood stain, yet it is easy to see that it describes Uriel and Percivel, from their height to their dress. Underneath, this address is written.
Raikdar spits. "More mercenaries. Killing for money. I can find no sympathy for men of this type."
Raikdar looks up and around at the rooftops. Too bad the rest got away, but we could hardly leave these skeletons to roam." The magus smiles the tiniest of smiles. "Even here in the shingles."
She leered at Uriel and Percivel "Have you two enemies you'd like to share? Or should we assume this vendetta is a more recent one?" Dropping the act, she sighed, easing up a little. "We'd best move swiftly, see if we can catch that thief, and then compare notes. I think we're in far deeper than we expected."
Rhiannon moved over to Raikdar, chating under her breath, then touched his shoulder.
Lantana chugs a potion of cure light wounds.
"Ahh. Thank you, Rhiannon. You truly have a healing touch."
Aside from some dried blood on his shirt, and a new scar. There is nothing left of the wound left by Old Rat-Eyes.
Hania falls into step next to Rhiannon and the others as they go to the address to catch a thief.
Lanny follows Hania, Rhiannon et al.
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Setting out into the rest of Korvosa, the group quickly finds itself neck-deep in the Shingles. Flooded ankle deep in parts from the rain, the urban decay is visible in all parts of this place.
Tracking the Worthless Guttersnipe is simple; follow the trail of bloodied handprints that winds itself through the streets.
And eventually, it leads to an alleyway, garbage lining the gutters. Stairs lead up to the rooftops above, and boards cross the gap to a building whose third story wall has been punched out by neglect to reveal a cramped hallway lined with doors.
A large painted set of numbers on the wall read "551", and a bent street sign underneath shows "Garamond St." This might just be the place.
A shuffle of sound echoes from the rooftop above; voices filter down. "He bled all over the cards," a feminine voice says, and a man sighs in disgust. Chairs shuffle on top of Shingles shingles. The voices continue, but too quiet to hear from this far away now.
Lantana pauses to listen for a bit. She motions for the others to stay where they are and keep still.
Raikdar moves off with the rest. He contemplates the idea of comparing notes as they move through the streets, but the journey is too short to make such a conversation practical. They certainly do need to compare notes, but the reeling in of Worthless Guttersnipe, must take precedence for now.
Arriving at 551 Garamond St, Raikdar nods at Lantana, and remains silent. The Magus does anticipate the need for rapid action, so he draws his sword.
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After a few moments, a person navigates the boards above the group's head. Coughing loudly, they have a short conversation with one of the members of the group.
"Sounds like he's not dead, then," says the petite woman's voice again.
"Not every day you get shot with an arrow," a masculine voice replies.
"Not every day you get on Brassblood's bad side. Y'think he'll let the cleric even use her holy symbol on him?" This one sounds young.
"No way. He dropped the ball, and besides, Brassblood likes scars. Says they build character." The man harrumphs. "I fold."
"Already?"
"Shove it, Tinni."
"Whatever. Give me two." She pauses. "Huh. Didn't think about it. The ship comes in tonight, doesn't it? Means its payday already."
The man coughs. "Don't get too excited. It's not payday yet."
The woman sighs. "Mood-ruiner. Ready to show, kid?"
The boy gulps. "Sure."
"I've got two keys and a shield," she proudly exclaims.
"Oh-- oh. I only have four sticks. Those are bad, right? Was I supposed to only have four cards?"
The man's guffawing laughter echoes into the alley from above, mixed in with the woman's exasperated confusion.
Lantana points above, raises and lowers her hand three times, with first one, then two then three fingers raised. She then makes a chopping motion towards the top of the stairs.
She mouths "On three" without making a sound.
Percivel sighs and nods at Lantana, knowing the woman's skill in the realm of battle is unsurpassed. Still he wished a simple song would have averted this bloodshed...
Raikdar nods, sword in hand, he is ready. He feels the same jitters he always gets before a fight. He regrets not having the color spray spell available. Partly because it could maybe save some lives, but mostly because of it's power as a force multiplier. Oh well, these stooges may just get a taste of the frozen North. Hope no one minds a little necromancy.
Rhiannon drew her rapier, figuring the space too cramped to make her bow a good idea, and she sucked in a breath. She hadn't gotten much mileage out of her musical talents, but now that the group was reunited and large enough to be worth it, they could finally be of some use.
Uriel drew his axe and nodded. He could probably take down the boards themselves, but that would only lead to everything crashing on them.
Lanata pumps her fist three times, then charges up the stairs through whatever door may be there.
She screams her battle cry :
:(
Rhiannon starts to sing.
Raikdar moves along beside Lantanna, his black cape flaring out behind.
Hania moves into the stairwell while reloading her crossbow. She follows right behind Raikdar.