Hazreem hurries up the stairs, looking very much the worse for wear. On hearing Mah'ysa's question, he simply raises his hand.
Mah'ysa gathers everyone around for more healing.
Channel positive: points of healing.
"Two left now. Shall I save them for later?"
Daumari grunts in agreement with Pae, despite still feeling pain from multiple wounds received throughout the say. We know what we can expect once we ascend to the next floor; your healing powers may be of a greater benefit then.
As the group reforms on the 2nd floor, it is a relief that the only sounds are those of feet shuffling along the floor and those of three confused merchants and an unarmed gnoll bartender standing near the north end of the stage on the floor below, all looking around in bewilderment. Raising his hand, Hazreem responds to Mah'ysa inquiry for healing. Coming together, Mah'ysa raising her symbol of Sarenrae and prays for healing. A wave of positive energy surrounds everyone, healing those that need it for 5 points.
"Saranrae's Light, what IS that?" Mah'ysa points into the room your group is standing next to, but no one else seems to be interested at this moment. Paellat is busy talking to Bahir about how he wants that creature dead now, same as him, while Daumari grunts in agreement. Haleen seems shaken up a bit and is referring with Efreat to make sure he is okay.
Hazreem glances to see what the fuss is about, and sees a bunch of alchemical equipment. He looks it over briefly, casting a minor cantrip , and assuming nothing is unusual about it, turns his attention back to the group.
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Bahir nods in understanding not self-satisfaction, "Your a bigger man then most just to say that. We shall share in the satisfaction of ridding this place of her foul presence. I'd suggest that I continue to get our foes attention while you go for...the kill." After considering for a moment, "Kardswann may be an even greater threat, should we concentrate on removing him first or the demoness? Then again, he may sit around and watch as we battle her and the gnoll. Let's hope he does but not count on it." He seems to have no interest in the glassware.
As Bahir and Paellat continue their conversation, Hazreem steps into the room that Mah'ysa indicated. Looking over the maze of glass beakers, you notice that they are filled with seven different colored liquids. Extending from each reservoir of liquid is a rubber tube. Each tube ends in a syringe-like needle. Concentrating on the device for any magical properties, you notice a faint aura emanating for it. Though you are not sure whether it is coming from the device itself or the liquid within. Continued concentration doesn't reveal any specific type of magic.
The rest of the room simply contains a couple of empty tables and a free standing torch. There is a door to your right as you face the back wall of the room.
Outside, others seem to be getting impatient wishing to take the battle to Kardswann and his demoness.
"I think we need to look at this later. We have to keep moving now, I am sure we are expected."
As the group stands around indecisive, Haleen pipes up and says, "The only way up there is to go through that door I showed you. Efreat, do you still have that key I gave you?"
The hot midday sun continues to shine in brightly through the opening in the ceiling of the market. The group of merchants below move out of the light and into the shadows as they all return to the bar following the bartender, muttering among themselves.
Efreat pulls out the key and says, "Might as well finish this." Efreat unlocks the door and waves his companions on, "Perhaps I should not charge in? I will come second and ready by color spell to hit them."
Hazreem follows up behind the others, scimitar drawn and shield prepped, thinking privately about the wisdom of following women blindly.
Mah'ysa moves up with the rest of the party, a song ready to her lips waiting to countersong the vile Harpy...
Moving back towards the door Haleen indicated, Efreat tries the key the lock. Click! It seems to have worked. Stepping back, Bahir moves to the door, scimitar in hand while Efreat prepares a spell. Hazreem and Mah'ysa ready themselves behind Efreat, a countersong ready to depart Mah'ysa lips.
Throwing the door open, Bahir is immediately greeted with 6 arrows flying at him. Most of them strike the door frame or the back of the door, but two manage to hit their target. A quick scan of the room reveals a small area that may have been some kind of guard room. Storage cubicles line the left wall while a relatively large round table dominates the center of the room. On the far right, a set of stairs heads up and around a bend. Standing around the room and between you and those stairs are five gnolls and a goblin, each having just released an arrow from their shortbows. One of gnolls in the far back corner you recognize as he has been burned and most of his fur is gone.
After taking the blunt of the surprise attack, Bahir ensures that he is out of the way of Efreat who steps into the doorway as yells, "Flear'zish", hands outstretched towards the length of the room. A splash of vivid colors erupts from his hands, covering three of the gnolls and the goblin. When the technicolor cone dissipates, all four are lying motionless on the ground.
Hazreem will ready a Lightning Arc against one of the gnolls not in melee. Attack Ranged Touch , damage
Initiative:
init
Bahir charges into the room following Efreat's spray of color, slashing at the closest gnoll who easily dodges out of the way. Efreat jumps back in, scans the room, and sees the hairless gnoll still standing in the back of the room. In a moment of irony, Efreat sends a ray of freezing liquid at the creature he previously burned, but in his haste misses his target.
The gnoll next to Bahir drops his shortbow, grabs the battle axe hooked to his waist, and swing aggressively at Bahir but also misses completely. The hairless gnoll fires off another shot with his shortbow at Efreat and scores a direct hit in a moment of sweet revenge.
Hazreem steps into the doorway, sees the gnoll in the back, and launches an arc of lightning, striking the creature. The hairless gnoll drops to the ground, shaking violently from the sudden electrocution before laying still.
Initiative Order (following gnolls):
- Hazreem
- Paellat
- Haleen
- Mah'ysa
- Daumari
- Bahir
- Efreat
Hazreem draws his scimitar and moves to engage the gnoll attacking Bahir.
Whincing from the pain, "Why you slimey son of a....Kreash'vos!"
Paellat moves in past Hazreem. Seeing the only standing gnoll being handled by Bahir and pinned in the corner where he can't tumble past to give flanking, he moves to start finishing off these downed ones. Haleen charges in, rapier drawn. She moves up next to Bahir and attacks the gnoll , striking the beast for 9 points of damage. Though the creature still stands, she glances over at Bahir, smiles and says, "Its all about finesse."
Mah'ysa looks into the crowded room and decides to wait a bit out here. Daumari, seeing all this through the doorway from where he was standing, takes careful aim to shoot through the crowded room. Twang! Missed! Bahir takes another swing at this gnoll that is refusing to go down, but he just can't get his balance and swings wildly. Efreat, a little ticked off that the gnoll just hit him, takes a step towards it and sends a ray of frost to ensure it stays down.
Feeling trapped and seeing a stronger threat coming from the woman who just came into the room, the last remaining gnoll swings his battle axe at Haleen but she is just too quick for him.
Hazreem draws his scimitar, moves around the side, finds a position where he can attack the gnoll without drawing an AO. Swing his weapon, he easily takes down the unsuspecting gnoll.
Seeing all the gnolls down, the party makes quick work of finishing off those that were just unconscious. You find yourself in alone in this room. There are stairs to the West heading up.
"Further up and further in..." Sings Mah'ysa softly; casting Resistance on herself.
"Yeah, I figure Kardswaan will have a lot of other wonderful displays to show us." Hazreem mutters darkly on hearing the exchange.
At Mah'ysa urging, Bahir steps up to the front of the group and begins ascending the stairs. The stairs turns left in three segments and open up into another room above. But as the room comes into view, the first thing you see is a table knocked over on its side. The heads of four more gnolls are visible just above the table, along with the top half of their shortbows. In a manner of attack becoming familiar to Bahir, four arrows come flying at you at the time you recognize the threat. One one them must have gotten too excited and pulled back before releasing his arrow, striking the back of the table at point blank range. The other three arrows fly towards Bahir, but since he hasn't not fully shown himself and half of him is concealed by the stairs, two of the arrows ricochet off the floor and fly over Bahir's head. The fourth didn't even make it into the stairwell opening. The gnolls start frantically loading a new arrow on their bows.
Movement to the left of the gnolls catches your eye. Kardswann! He is standing in an opening to another room watching the gnolls attack you.
Mah'ysa sings of the rising of Saranrae
Performance (Sing):
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Bahir stands tall and walks into the chamber toward Kardswann. His deep sonorous voice filling the chamber he directs his speech at the Voice of the Carrion King, "I speak with the voice of Vardishal! You have betrayed the path and spit your Templar legacy. You cavort with filth and demons. How has one with the Templars of the Five Winds fallen so far?" Finishing, Bahir slowly lowers the scimitar that was pointed accusingly at Kardswann.
Hazreem looks at Bahir with newfound respect, Well, if we are to avoid any more bloodshed, then he is our best hope.
Bahir walks up the rest of the stairs with confidence, head held high, while the gnolls fumble around getting additional arrows nocked. Standing in the center of the room near the front of the stairs, he looks boldly at Kardswann, raises his scimitar accusingly, and states clearly in a booming voice, "I speak with the voice of Vardishal! You have betrayed the path and spit your Templar legacy. You cavort with filth and demons. How has one with the Templars of the Five Winds fallen so far?" As Bahir lowers his scimitar, you notice that Kardswann's eyes follow the sword as it is lowered. He looks as if he has seen a ghost. Suddenly his entire body begins shaking. The large gnoll standing behind him comes around to the side, looks at Kardswann, and says, "Boss? Are you alright?"
Efreat charges up the stairs behind Bahir and, while Bahir is giving his speech, yells "Flear'zish" causing a spray of technicolor to fly forth from his hands covering three of the four gnolls standing behind the table. When the effect clears, none of the gnolls are visible. Kardswann seems to completely ignore this blast of color between him and Bahir. He continues shaking and staring the Bahir's blade.
Hazreem follows up the stairs and gets to the top where he looks around and accesses the situation. He looks at Bahir with apparent respect for his approach. Paellat also heads up and dodges off to the right where he proceeds to load his crossbow, muttering something to himself and then saying out loud, "Oh very impressive..." without his usual sarcasm. Haleen follows behind Efreat and, after watching him knock out three of the gnolls, moves to engage the fourth. Swinging her rapier across the table , she is unable to hit the gnoll as he quickly ducks behind his cover.
Mah'ysa keeps to the back of the stairs and, hearing commotion above, begins singing her inspiration song about the rising of Sarenrae. Daumari makes it up the stairs to where he is standing right behind Hazreem and looking for a target.
The remaining gnoll in the line behind the table steps back away from Haleen, who is swinging her rapier at him, and fires an arrow at her over the top of the table. Haleen ducks, but even without the help of the table the arrow would of went a little high over her head.
Kardswann continues shaking and looks as if he is struggling to control his actions. He furrows his brow and speaks with broken sentences through clenched teeth. "You... must... destroy... Xulthos. Below the... below the ruined church. Cannot hold on. Bind me or cut me... within an inch of death... His will is so much stronger than mine... Do it! Do it now!" The head gnoll and Undrella, who is walking up behind, seem a little confused by Kardswann's action as he continues to struggle with himself.
DM
Hazreem knows time is running out. He moves quickly, first grabbing the rope proffered by Bahir, then he moves towards Kardswaan. "Daumari, keep them off of me!"
As a sudden look of realization flashes across Bahir's face, he yells out "Quickly! Take my rope and bind him!" As he leaps over the fallen table, he pulls out his rope and tosses it back in the direction of Hazreem. Heading right past Kardswann, he charges at Undrella, scimitar swinging. As he passes the 7-foot tall man, a flindbar flies in front of him, wrapping around his scimitar . The weapon is suddenly and expectantly pulled from Bahir's hand as he looks over to see the head gnoll pulling back on his flindbar, grin on its face. The sword lands with a loud clank at the base of the gnoll's feet and Bahir finds himself standing before the filthy harpy with nothing but an empty hand. Behind Undrella, you notice a long and wide passageway that curves around to the right. The quality of the construction here seems much nicer than the rest of the battle market with elaborate mosaics on the floors and walls. But you can't focus on that right now.
Efreat yells "Kreash'vos!, aiming a ray of frost at the last standing gnoll behind the table, but the ray strikes the table next to Haleen as the gnoll ducks.
Hazreem, grabbing the rope that Bahir tossed back, yells "Daumari, keep them off of me!" as he rushes in to tie up Kardswann. The task proves to be quite easy as Kardswann turned to follow Bahir running past maintaining his focus on the sword now laying on the ground. With his back now facing Hazreem, he is able to bind his hands behind his back. It even seems as if Kardswann himself is trying to help through his convulsions.
Paellat fires off his crossbow at the gnoll hiding behind the table but is unable to strike the beast either. Haleen charges around the table and takes on the creature, stabbing it with her rapier. Climbing the stairs, Mah'ysa draws her sling glove and fires at the gnoll battling Haleen but can't get it over the table.
Daumari comes around bottom of the table to assist Hazreem. Being unable to get into melee due to Kardswann and Hazreem filling the doorway, he stands back with his bow and tries to shoot along the edge at the head gnoll. He really likes killing gnolls and would of hit him, but the shot strikes the door frame instead. Better to hit the door frame than to hit his friend.
Seeing a tasty and unarmed Paladin, Undrella strikes with a pair of attacks with her morningstar. But she appears to be chuckling to herself and can't focus on what she is trying to do. The other gnoll beside Bahir kicks the fallen scimitar down the passageway past Undrella about 20 feet. He then attempts to attack the swordless Paladin with his flindbar , but the action of kicking the sword must have thrown him off a bit. Kardswann stands watching this, shaking and trashing as if in a severe seizure, hands bound behind his back.
[free] Mah'ysa maintains the Inspire Courage +1...
Bardic Performance-
Mah'ysa takes a five foot step to get a better angle, points at Undrella.
"The radiance of Saranrae touches the sinner as well as the blessed..."
Ray of fire attack (ranged touch): for a possible points fire damage.
Hazreem is grateful Kardswaan's struggles are not against himself, instead fighting against the demonic possession. He finishes tying up Kardswaan, with the rest of the rope provided by Bahir, and then draws his scimitar, holding it at the ready. "I will watch him, whilst you take care of the others!"
Noting his failure to hit the gnoll through the door frame, Daumari quickly readies another arrow and lets fly once more.
Bringing his shield up defensively, Bahir backs away from Undrella and keeps an eye on the head gnoll while looking for the weapon Kardswann was using. Leaning against the wall by the archway, you find his giant great axe. Picking it up, you realize just how heavy this thing is. It will definitely take two hands to swing this thing and that'll mean dropping your shield. It's a good thing you know how to use this thing proficiently.
Efreat steps up to get a clearer shot over that table and fires off another frost ray , striking the gnoll for 3 points of damage.
Hazreem continues binding Kardswann further, who doesn't struggle against his efforts, tying his arms down against his body. The gnoll standing next to him takes this opportunity to take an easy swipe at the Druid with his flindbar while he handles the rope, striking Hazreem hard in the side with the weapon's spikes. As he completes his knot, he steps back and draws his scimitar yelling, "I will watch him, whilst you take care of the others!"
Paellat steps around the table to confront the heavily injured gnoll with the business end of his rapier, but waits until Haleen moves into position to give him a flanking partner. As Haleen steps over, Paellat strikes and completely skewers the distracted gnoll . Haleen also strikes, driving her rapier in from the other side. As you withdrawal your rapiers, the gnoll drops in a bloody mess on the floor.
Mah'ysa continues her inspirational song while moving to a better position to see the feathered harpy through the doorway. "The radiance of Saranrae touches the sinner as well as the blessed..." she recites as a ray of fire shoots forth from her hands, flying right past Daumari, Hazreem, Kardswann, and Bahir, missing them all, and scores a direct hit on Undrella standing in the back. She cries out, but is still standing.
Daumari, not discouraged by his previous miss, nocks another arrow and fires again against the gnoll. But this shot isn't any better and embeds in the door frame next to his first.
Seeing a lonely target in front of them, Undrella and the remaining gnoll both attack Bahir again. Undrella makes a pair of attacks with her morningstar. Both attacks find their target. The gnoll swings his flindbar back around at Bahir striking him as well. The Paladin is really taking a beating between these two.
Again...
[free] Mah'ysa maintains the Inspire Courage +1...
Bardic Performance-
Mah'ysa takes a five foot step to get a better angle, points at Undrella.
"The radiance of Saranrae touches the sinner as well as the blessed..."
Ray of fire attack (ranged touch): for a possible points of fire damage.