failure!
Pick takes in the arrangement of the halls as quickly as he can. No one down here with them in the hall. Hiding behind doors like sneaky little goblins do... he glances to Kyra, tilts his head towards the first door along the left-heading hallway, and tiptoes for it to listen.
Xogar attempts to move silently as the group moves.
Rhanloi touches Khalbar on the shoulder and points to the door opposite the one Pick is listening too. He then gets Pick's attention, looks at Pick and then Khalbar and then uses his fingers to count down from five to zero, hoping they understand and open their doors at the same time.
Rhanloi will follow Khalbar into his room, light crossbow raised and ready.
Kyra nods to Pick, figuring that he has the door covered, she moves in the other direction, heading quietly down the first hallway, to peer down where it angles to another hallway.
After Pick has checked the first door, he'll rendezvous with Kyra. "Doors. Four. Tell others."
Because he's not opening the door without nice big brawny people to provide a shield.
Through the coarse wooden door, Pick hears (ever so subtly) a soft snoring.
Looping around back, Kyra finds Pick with his ear to a door and three other doors.
Above, Xogar begins to slowly tiptoe down the stairs.
Once the two scouts come to get them, A'letta will move down with the others and attempt to do this as quietly as possible.
Rhanloi feels a twisting in his gut as A'letta trips down the stairs. He freezes for a moment and looks at her with a bewildered "What are you doing!?!" expression on his face. He then looks toward Pick and Kyra to see if he should be worried now.
Pick is still listening at the door as A'letta clumsily trips her way down the stairs, and hears both her grunts of discomfort and a sudden snort from the inside, as well as the crashing of something wooden to the ground.
Pick turns to look at Spear-Woman with a remarkably clear expression of Are you f-in' serious? for someone who has a hard time expressing himself.
He raises his pick, and tries to press himself flat to the wall in order to not be seen by whatever person or creature is likely about to burst out the doorway. He figures that his pose is all the warning the others should need that something inside the room is stirring. (Ah, the assumptions one makes when one is from a society that prizes silence!)
"Oh spirits below, I'm sorry!", A'letta mutters as she gets up. The sounds from inside have her attention and her eyes are fixated on the door. Whoever comes through is going to get speared.
Kyra looks through the hallways, arriving back at Pick with some other doors. She's about to go up and listen through one, when A'letta begins falling down the stairs. Standing in the middle of the hallway between doors and passages, Kyra drops into a combat stance, fully expecting the forces of hell to rush out from the doors around her. She narrows her eyes at the embarrassed A'letta. "So much for surprise."
There is some shuffling behind the door, then it slams open, crashing into the wall on the opposite side from Pick. Behind the door, one foot upraised, is a half-elf of Tian (and Elven, obviously) ancestry. A scowl is on his face, and as his gaze sweeps around the half-dozen people arrayed before him, he shouts, "What have you done with my goblins?"
Pick - 19
Tsuto - 18
A'letta - 17
Kyra - 16
Xogar - 12
Rhanloi - 6
Khalbar - 6
"Take him alive if you can! Rhanloi yells, checking his spell components and thinking what spells he had left to help in the situation...
Your goblins? Hnnhh.
Pick brings up his pickey-pick only to frown at Rhanloi's shout. Alive? Why? Hnhh. Information. Capture, make talk. Alright. Not his favored style of combat, but sometimes necessary....
Kyra wonders if she could pretend not to have heard Rhanloi's comment, but even if they bought that, no way they could buy her beating the man to death when the others pulled their strikes. She rolled her eyes as her fists fly forward.
Khalbar grunts at Rhanloi's command and turns to smack the elf with flat of his axe, rather than the blade which has been so effective.
Pick, springing a surprise attack on the already-startled-to-see-six-armed-strangers half-elf, swings his pick. Although surprised, the man has quick reflexes and dodges out of the way. Then he retaliates, curling a hand into a fist and striking Pick right under his armpit. Normally a jarring blow, this sends stabs of pain deep into his torso. Pick, however, true to his dwarven heritage, shakes it off right in time for the half-elf's other fist to slam into his face.
Initiative:
A'letta - 17
Kyra - 16
Xogar - 12
Khalbar - 6
Rhanloi - 6
Pick - 19
Tsuto - 18
A'letta hums, beckoning good spirits to come to her aid. She then touches Pick, causing a soft blue mist to wash over him.
Rhanloi pulls out a piece of wool and mumbles an arcane incantation, casting Daze on Tsuto. (DC15 Will save negates)
A'letta rushes up beside Pick, touching him on the back and easing some of his pain. His bruises heal before they're even there.
Kyra runs at the half-elf, disgusted that she can't employ more lethal tactics, and swings a couple of fists at him. She catches the half-elf in the chest with one fist, after which he manages to dodge out of the way of the second. Even though she's holding herself back, she delivers a solid blow.
Xogar just stands still, but anyone looking at his face can see his pupils expanding, making his entire eye black, just for a moment.
Khalbar moves up beside Kyra and Pick in their assault on the half-elf, swinging the flat of his axe, but the battlefield is too crowded, and with a clang, the axe hits the side of the door.
Tsuto's mouth hangs open and his eyes grow lazy, although he does not drop from his fighting stance. Looking back reveals a satisfied and grinning Rhanloi, holding a swiftly unraveling piece of wool.
Initiative:
Pick - 19
Tsuto - 18
A'letta - 17
Kyra - 16
Xogar - 12
Khalbar - 6
Rhanloi - 6
Xogar moves in and attacks the half-elf with his scimitar.
Kyra takes two more swings at the man.
Xogar's scimitar whistles through the air where the half-elf was just a moment before he swung. It was almost as if the man could tell where Xogar would strike.
Pick gasps in pain at the bruising assault, having not expected such savagery. He wobbles on his feet and nearly falls, but Spear-Woman is behind him in the next second, and heals some of his injuries. He blinks rapidly.
He swings quickly with his pick to strike before the man can recover from the spell Ran-loy has cast upon him. TO hell with taking the man alive, he would be happy just to hit.
"To the hells with this..." Rhanoi mutters as he grabs his quarterstaff and throws it at the dazed man.
Pick, recovering from the beating he's just taken, swings his namesake weapon yet again, but as the last second, he gets a really acute arm cramp (likely a side-effect of the blow he suffered) and his pick's point veers violently to the side, striking the door.
The half-elf, affected by Rhanloi's enchantment magic, can do nothing but stand still, the only thing protecting him his natural reflexes and supernaturally quick reaction time.
Initiative:
A'letta - 17
Kyra - 16
Xogar - 12
Khalbar - 6
Rhanloi - 6
Pick - 19
Tsuto - 18
Xogar swings again.
"Hold still foul creature!"
Khalbar tries to swing again at the dazed half-elf without further damaging the structure, still using the flat instead of the edge.
Clang!
A'letta reaches forward, touching Pick on the shoulder. "Spirits, grant this one a measure of your grace!"
Although he is dazed and practically drooling, the half-elf still manages to block both of the strikes Kyra sends his way, not even looking at her.
Xogar's swing is sidestepped by the dazed man, and the scimitar clangs into the stone floor.
This time, Khalbar hits the half-elf heavily in the midsection with the flat of his axe, catching him off guard and sending him momentarily into the wall before he springs back.
Cursing, Rhanloi hefts his quarterstaff and sends it flying at the half-elf, but the man anticipates it and pushes it subtly to the side with the flat of his hand, avoiding it again as it rushes back into Rhanloi's hand.
Initiative:
Pick - 19
Tsuto - 18
A'letta - 17
Kyra - 16
Xogar - 12
Khalbar - 6
Rhanloi - 6
Another swing with his pick, aiming to savagely take his legs out from under him. Let the others try for 'bruising'- after his own injuries, Pick wants blood.
The half-elven man hops over Pick's pick as the point passes low. Turning to Khalbar, the large Shoanti man that's just delivered him a massive blow, he puts two fingers together in one hand and jabs them, hard, into Khalbar's neck. Khalbar feels his body stiffening up as he loses control of his muscles. He's helpless, then, to watch as the half-elf delivers a powerful punch to his midsection. Then, he takes a step backward into the doorway in such a way that he cannot be engaged in melee by more than one person at a time.
Reeling from the blow, Khalbar falls to the ground, blood seeping from his mouth and eyes blank.
Initiative:
A'letta - 17
Kyra - 16
Xogar - 12
Khalbar - 6
Rhanloi - 6
Pick - 19
Tsuto - 18
That blow takes Khalbar to -4 and drops him to the ground unconscious and unstable and he continues to bleed from the mighty unarmed blow.
Rhanloi watches in horror as his new friend is hit and falls over, twitching. Rushing to his side, the mage does his best to help stabilize the large human.
Rhanloi fears Tsuto is a far superior fighter than his colleagues, and he has moved to a defensible position. Drastic times call for drastic measures. He calls upon the power of his arcane-bonded ring and casts color spray towards Tsuto, trying to avoid his party if possible.
Linky to Merciful Smite for the GM.
Xogar moves in again to take down Tsuto.
"You will desist!" he says as he swings.
A'letta drags dread spirits from the deep of the lands and sends them to haunt Tsuto.
Seeing that the big one is incoming to hit the monk, Pick pulls back. His head is still ringing from the blows the man landed. He is tempted to run, but who knows what other foes lurk in these tunnels, and he is hurt.
And besides... Spear-woman had healed him.
The strange light of her god is still present in his body, sealing the worst of the pain away. Magical healing is not unknown to Pick, but among the People it was reserved for the most dangerous of moments, and the most worthy of subjects-- the elders, the commanders. Not for lowly scouts. If you were clumsy enough to get yourself stabbed or shot-- well. Learn. Do better. Pain is a teacher.
That she had so freely given of precious magic-- for him-- it boggles the mind. She staunched his blood. It is possible, he thinks, that Spear-woman saved his life.
Life-debt. A very strong bond.
So no, he does not run.
He sees the big man on the ground, though, and moves to him, dropping to a knee. He has no magical healing. But he has the basics that he learned in staunching his own injuries, at least.
Kyra launches two more punches at Tsuto, but she is distracted by having Khalbar fall, wounded, and misses terribly with both attacks.
A subtle bass note rings out, echoing in the stone hallways of the basement. A'letta stares intently at the half-elven martial artist, and he can't help but to glance back at her. Her eyes fill, as if it were mist billowing upward, with blackness, just as his do. He begins to tremble with fear.
Xogar and Kyra jockey for a moment for a position to strike the half-elf from, and eventually Xogar wins out. The half-orc is blazing with divine power as he brings his scimitar in a wide arc towards the half-elf's head. The half-elf raises an embracered arm to stop the blow, but too late, and the blow crashes into his skull. Blunted as it is, the force brings him to his knees.
Khalbar moans lightly, unconscious on the ground, as both Rhanloi and Pick rush to bandage him up. Unfortunately, they lack any real expertise, and their attempts are fumbling at best.
Shaking with fear and rage, injured and alone, the half-elf springs to his feet and leaps right over Xogar's head, doing a short roll to pass by Rhanloi and A'letta, coming up on the other side of the group. He runs, putting a hand on the next door over and heaving it open.
Initiative:
A'letta - 17
Kyra - 16
Xogar - 12
Khalbar - 6
Rhanloi - 6
Pick - 19
Tsuto - 18
A'letta watches the man slip by her and immediately chases after him. She thrusts her spear at him, hoping to gut him from behind.
The half-elf has an anticipatory look of hope and escape, but he turns to meet A'letta's silent and black gaze one more time..and is met right in the side by her spear.
Gasping, he collapses from his wounds.
A'letta quickly turns around and strides towards Khalbar. She falls onto her knees, traces a finger over her cheeks where tears are rolling down and invokes desperate power to heal the man. Oh spirits, don't let this man die! He has so much purpose, so much left to do in life!