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Idris reads Akiros' swing and sidesteps, rocking him back on his heels with a punch to the face before following it up with a cut to his shoulder. Her blade pierces his armor and bites deeply, and Akiros squints. "Huh."
Seraphina finishes off an unconscious bandit with a disturbingly predatory display of her claws, but Akiros doesn't seem to care too much.
The other unconscious bandit jerks and twitches, but remains senseless as Kivan's magic missiles blast into him.
The door bangs open again, and the Stag Lord makes his entrance.
The Stag Lord cuts an imposing figure. He's clad in outdoorsman garb and leathers such as a ranger might wear, but his chest is completely bare and unclothed, revealing a brutally strong physique. Bright red scars ripple over his tightly muscled torso, alternating with pale, twisted scars.
You can't see his face; atop his head is a terrifying helm seemingly crafted from the skull of a magnificent elk stag, with long and fearsome fangs. Matted, curly locks of black hair spill forth from gaps in the jawbone and from the base of the helmet, and blood-shot eyes lurk in the elk's empty sockets.
The Stag Lord staggers against the doorway for a moment, peering at the fight in front of him with bleary eyes.
"Shake it off, Boss!" implores the bandit runner. "Everyone's f%*#ing dead out here!"
Pretty steps up to Akiros and strikes again, with renewed effort!
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"Xo xo dinosaur!"
Kivan ignores the fact that the Stag Lord had a run in with something acidic instead he blasts Akiros with his wand, and yells at the Stag Lord.
"This might seem an odd question, but do you happen to have any wizards or sorcerers working for you?"
Jegred steps through the crowd to get closer to Akiros, but he stops when he sees the scarred leader of the bandits, and mutters a complex incantation rather than continue into battle with Akiros.
Sicarius savages the barbarian standing in front of him, hissing as looks for openings in the man's guard.
"Wrong order, Kivan! First we defeat him, then we interrogate him!"
With flashing blade, Idris strikes again, her duelist reflexes working as she sidesteps, feints and thrusts forward to send Akiros reeling with a strike across his chest.
Seraphina notices Bara looking for something to kill and points out the last unconscious man to the half-orc before casting Vanish on herself and moving around the fray to put herself in position to attack the Stag Lord.
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Idris realizes the meaning behind Akiros' inaction as he beats his blade against hers in an attempt to disarm her! His strength is too great, and Idris' sword clatters to the ground at her feet.
"heh. Go ahead, pick it up."
Akiros' attention is refocused to the rest of the group as Pretty's dagger nicks him and Kivan's magic missiles leave scorched craters on his armor.
"Welden? I killed a bunch of 'em. Every time you'd send 'em, I'd kill 'em. So yeah, probably. heh."
Bara moves forward and slams her falchion down in an overhead chop on the unconscious bandit, ending any threat he might pose with a messy spray.
The Stag Lord staggers against the wall, using it to support himself. He looks down in surprise as his bow twists and warps to uselessness. Disgusted, he throws it to the ground and rasps out in a dark and scarred voice.
"Seemsh everything's failing me today! No matter - I'll do you in allll the same."
With a dusky rasp, the Stag Lord draws a richly filigreed longsword, the blade acid-etched in chevron patterns.
"Come on Joanne, prove yourself useful," mutters Idris as she draws her spare and continues to strike at Akiros.
Jegred steps up to Akiros and says "You should try that on Sicarius" before swinging at the grizzled veteran, creating a veritable storm of swords, claws, and fangs as Jegred and Sicarius attack in tandem.
=19 together
Turning from the downed man, Idris charges the stag lord with a harsh battlecry screaming from her throat.
She returns to her watchful stance, trying to read the actions of this drunkard in his bleary eyes.
Pretty moves up to the guard and strikes with one of her daggers, almost getting a vital spot!
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Seraphina times her casting of the spell to be covered by Idris' charge to cover the sound of the conjuration incantation. Still hidden from view by her vanish spell, she moved in behind her friends, whispering to Pretty as she passed her shoulder. "Going left, don't stab me."
Her Corrosive Touch spell sizzling in her claws, she moved into position, prepared to strike the Stag Lord with her next move.
Kivan simply walks over to Akiros and if he seems like he can be save Kivan will attempt to stop his bleeding.
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Jegred and Sicarius do quite a number on Akiros. Jegred's blow tears off the bandit's shield, and Sicarius jumps on him, knocking him down and slashing open the man's throat. Akiros gasps his life out, looking at Maja. Bubbling through the blood are faint words: "Tell 'em...I'm sorry... it had to be this way..." Kivan finds that there's nothing he can do for the man.
The Stag Lord parries Idris's blow with his sword, but his aim was off and her blade slides down his to score a cut down his arm. "Well, you rid me of these uselessh fools. I allllmost owe you a debt for the shervice. Bara! Yeh did good t'bring them here. Finish the job and earn the other half of yer pay! Markard, get over here and help out!"
Bara is frozen. The last remaining bandit, bleeding from Pretty's stab and with Maja's arrow protruding from his thigh, takes a defensive pose and steps sideways to pin Idris between himself and the Stag Lord. The Stag Lord strikes back at Idris! The bandit adds his threat to his master's assault, seeking to quickly eliminate the dangerous duelist.
The Stag Lord's first blow is ferocious, but his second is off target and Idris manages a counterpunch.
Pretty was about to go right to surround the Drunken Lord, but Idris was having a tough time with the bandit behind her. The rogue side-stepped and delivered the precise thrusts at the bandit!
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"Money is not everything, Bara!"
"KILL THIS F*#~ER! GIVE HIM EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT, DAMMIT!"
The pain Idris feels cuts through her battle rage and puts a cold sliver of fear in her heart. S~+~, I didn't get hit once... then this f!+@er nearly cuts me in half!
She steps back, reaches into her pouch for a curing potion, drinking down the potion of cure moderate wounds.
She returns to a defensive stance, ready to read the Stag Lord's actions again.
Kivan seems saddened by the fact that Akiros is dead, and when he stands up he let's loose once again with the wand at the Stag Lord.
"Idris you forget that the rotting man from the river wants the Stag Lord alive. We should knock him out, and then toss him into the river."
"You're too smart to fall for that, Bara! He'll surely kill you too, and besides, if we defeat him we get all his wealth!"
Sera bit her lip in sympathetic pain as she watched the nimble Idris take such a terrible wound. Standing so close to the Stag Lord, unseen, she felt like a ghost. She remembered thinking her brother's description of the Stag Lord must have been trumped up in his imagination. But now, standing close enough to smell the reek of liquor in his sweat, she saw the nightmarish figure was quite real and hardly embellished at all.
But he was still flesh and blood, and she would rend and burn through meat and bone until she held his black heart in her claws if she must. She flexed her talons, imbuing them with arcane energy and flashed into visibility as she slashed at his unarmored torso.
"If you betray us Bara, Sicarius will be gorging himself on half-orc tonight".
Seeing the mighty blow hit Idris, Jegred rallies to the defense of his new comrades, clicks at the bandit, and then lowers his head and charges the bandit.
Charge: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 7 + 2 = 11 Damage: 2d6 + 9 ⇒ (4, 4) + 9 = 17
Following his master's orders, Sicarius squeezes past his allies trusting his barding to fend off the bandit's blows before chomping down into him.
Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23 Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
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Pretty shows up out of nowhere and obliterates the lone remaining bandit. The poor soul was focused on helping his master, and never saw what hit him. So that's what the pancreas looks like, interesting.
With the bandit down, Jegred pushes past the recovering Idris and slashes at the Stag Lord. The druid's swing is badly aimed and his movement leaves him open to an attack from the bandit lord!
The Stag Lord gloats as he drives his blade home. "That'sh what I think of yer kind, druid... aaaaaalll of yeh!"
Jegred's pain is not in vain, though, as the distraction provides Seraphina with the distraction she needs to score the Stag Lord's exposed back with her acid-dripping claws. The man's skin sizzles and pops as blood mingles with the caustic fluid.
The Stag Lord whirls and blasts Seraphina with his foul breath as he hisses out "Well now ya done it - ya got me aaaaaalllll worked up!" Flicking Jegred's blood off his sword, he lashes out twice at the one who caused him such pain.
Bara snarls at Jegred. "If you ever threaten me again, boy, I'll feed your manhood to that lizard while you watch!" Despite her angry words, she moves to engage the Stag Lord, trying to distract him from killing Seraphina.
Kivan's magic missiles dance past Sicarius to slam home in the Stag Lord's chest, leaving angry red welts that add to the bandit lord's many wounds! Despite the brief nature of your scrum against your foe, several people have been badly injured in a brief handful of moments. The night sky above looks on, uncaring.
Outraged since her flanking spot has been taken away, again, Pretty drops her daggers and draws her bow, while standing behind Sicarius to avoid having a tougher shot than this already is.
Seraphina takes one heavy blow from the Stag Lord, gritting her teeth against the pain of the slash. But her magically hardened skin deflected the second hit. She blinked in wonder at her good fortune and decided to press her luck. She stepped 5 feet to the north and prepared to cast defensively, so as not to give the brute an opening on her.
She gave Bara a daring wink that said, 'I wasn't worried.' And then spoke the incantation, her clawed hand darting out toward the man to sear his flesh again. Once she'd done what damage she could do, she danced north-east another 5 feet to get safely back from his blade.
Grunting in pain Jegred brings his greatsword down, attempting to tear the man's torso in two with his blade.
Sicarius lunges at the Stag Lord again, letting the man feel what 400 pounds of reptilian fury feels like.
Idris runs in between the Stag lord and Sera, blocking him from following her, and slashes with her sword. She focuses on accuracy, now, instead of force, trying to get past his defenses.
Kivan will hold his wand up but he won't fire until he is sure that the Stag Lord will still be standing.
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"Whatever could be said about the Stag Lord, none could accuse him of being a weakling. Though he was a bandit, a cruel master, and utterly devoid of the virtues of man save endurance, his claim on the area and attempt to hold the Stolen Lands were forged from his skill at arms."
"Seraphina's blow should have killed the Stag Lord. Huge chunks of flesh sloughed off the man's body as acid assaulted it, exposing gleaming white bone and raw, wet innards. Yet, the man kept fighting. Even as Sicarius punished him with a strike that spilled innards across the floor, the Stag Lord was drawing back his sword to strike again at his tormentors. It was only when Kivan took aim with his wand of sorcerous missiles and blasted the Stag Lord once more that the blade slipped from his nerveless fingers and the would-be tyrant pitched face down on the floor, joining his men in the red haze of death. Where once he fancied himself lord and master, the Stag Lord found the only land to which he was entitled was the Boneyard of Pharasma."
"The band of explorers had decisively ended the threat of banditry to these wild lands, fulfilling half of the charter they had been assembled to enforce. The sole remaining task before them was completing the survey and mapping of the Stolen Lands."
Kivan smiles at the human's death, and he even manages one for the fate awaiting Xen when Kivan finally catches up with him. Kivan will then walk up to Bara.
"I thank you for standing with us this day Miss Bara. You had no need to fight with us instead you could have just sat back in prison and hoped that we die. I will not forget that you helped today, and I will repay you with a favor sometime in the future."
"YES! DIE, F$+!ER!" Idris jumps up and down like a girl who's been given a new pony, grabbing Seraphina and Pretty in a big hug, giving Bara a friendly thump on the shoulder, and running to Maja, grabbing her hands, and spinning around in a circle for a minute or two. She then goes to Kivan and bows, saying, "Well done! Those spells of yours are as deadly as my sword!"
Finally she approaches the newest members of their group, and asks, "Jegred, would Sicarus mind if I scratched his back or rubbed his scales or something? He... um... deserves to be made to feel good after helping us win."
Jegred quickly looks over his shoulder at Sicarius, who has lumbered over to the owlbear and is tearing off huge chunks of flesh off the once terrifying monster and smiles. "Sicarius is a pretty happy little critter right now, but when he's done eating, he'll be as passive as a little lamb."
Addressing Bara, "I sincerely doubted that you would revert back to the Stag Lord. I only meant to shock you into remembering why you left him in the first place."
Addressing the rest of the group, "I am honored to have fought beside all of you in this great battle. If you all do not mind, I think that we can make these lands a much better place working together rather than seperately. Regardless, let us tend to the wounded and make our final rounds on this place."
Pretty felt a little awkward when receiving the hug from Idris, but she let her do it, and even returned the affection with two taps on the girl's back. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about." She approaches the man, and their uncomplete task came beaming into her mind. "Maja! We need him alive!"
Whether he survives or not, she is really calm to have survived this complex battle, but everything went in their favor. They planned it well enough, and it was a pity the Tortured Owlbear did not live to enjoy a little bit of freedom. She looked and saw Sicarius eating the remains of the creature who was just a pawn in their games. Her hearth couldn't help but to feel sorry for the magical beast, and anger with the dinosaur. It was a beast, of course, but still it troubled her.
Pretty recovered her daggers from the floor, and climbed up the stairs up to the sentry tower, to guarantee no one has escaped. "I'll be right back. And nicely done, everyone. You too, Bara. You will get a reward, of course."