Cinnamon laughs to herself, and then begins to clap softly. "Nicely played Bonsie," she says at last. "Nicely played. I do hope that once we all make it back to Korvosa that you will allow me to buy you a drink. You've got the money, and you've got an exit strategy, and the one here who might hate you enough to try and kill you anyway loves Amber enough that he's unlikely to try. I can certainly see that you've earned your reputation.
Cinnamon pauses, and laughs again. "But there's just one problem. You put too much stock in your employer. Viktor made the traveling arrangements, yes, but the Seneschal was so worried about his daughter that he sent another squad in just a few hours behind the first without telling him. We're the strike team, and they're the cleanup crew coming in just a few minutes behind us."
Cinnamon locks her gaze with the enormous half-orc.
"So go ahead and walk away, if you think you can take all ten of them by yourself. Or you can surrender to us now, and live. And like I said, I'll even buy you a drink."
"Our task is to save the girl - Bones is doing us a favor, even if he laces it with threats. I say we step aside, and do him a favor in return - provided he can get past our back-up squad."
Eudonius looks at his companions interrogatively.
No, only we are doing h-him favors and I d-dont s-subscribe to charity. There are no f-free l-lunchs in this world.
Cinnamon laughs to herself, and then begins to clap softly. "Nicely played Bonsie," she says at last. "Nicely played. I do hope that once we all make it back to Korvosa that you will allow me to buy you a drink. You've got the money, and you've got an exit strategy, and the one here who might hate you enough to try and kill you anyway loves Amber enough that he's unlikely to try. I can certainly see that you've earned your reputation.
Cinnamon pauses, and laughs again. "But there's just one problem. You put too much stock in your employer. Viktor made the traveling arrangements, yes, but the Seneschal was so worried about his daughter that he sent another squad in just a few hours behind the first without telling him. We're the strike team, and they're the cleanup crew coming in just a few minutes behind us."
Cinnamon locks her gaze with the enormous half-orc.
"So go ahead and walk away, if you think you can take all ten of them by yourself. Or you can surrender to us now, and live. And like I said, I'll even buy you a drink."
The half-orc's eyes widen for a little bit before his mind starts processing the facts in his head. He then breathes a small sigh of relief and smiles, "Almost got me there, honey. I admit you're good but there's a little thing called time that you can't get around. See, the ambush on Amber took place about 8 hours ago and Korvosa is 2-3 days away, so it's physically impossible for the Seneschal to have sent two teams to save his daughter and for them to arrive so quickly. No, more likely, is that whelp Royal Guard there, who I was told ran from the ambush with 2 Tengu in pursuit, found you fine folk on the road and persuaded you to come save the girl. So, yeah, I'll take my chances on the back-up squad."
A look of amused exasperation crosses Cinnamon's face.
"I'm afraid you misunderstand, sugar. We weren't sent out in response to the attack. The Seneschal had already sent us out to meet Viktor's company to provide extra security. He didn't say it, but I believe he had doubts about Viktor's reliability."
Cinnamon gestures at Luc.
"We were lucky to meet up with Guardsman Theriot after he escaped from the ambush, or it would have taken us a little longer to find this place, but we'd have been here within the hour regardless."
Then she gives an elaborate shrug and a smiling wink.
"I really don't care if you surrender or not, cause I have full faith in the clean-up team. But if you do make it past them, I hope to see you at the Rusty Wayfinder next Starday night."
Cinnamon blows him a kiss and starts walking slowly north towards the door.
Bones lets Cin pass, watching her carefully for any signs of treachery. "Look, you, I like you. You've got my head all mixed up whether or not there is some force of 10 men outside waiting for me. But I would kick myself later if I surrendered to you without going outside to see if your story is true and not some trickery. So I'm going to pass and when I meet the commander of the your back-up team and see his 10 men, I will surrender to him. No need to do it prematurely, eh? But please, go on ahead and save the lady. She is too pretty a thing to end up as an undead. Luck!"
Jun will let Bone pass, but he is on edge the whole time and makes sure he is facing him the whole time as they pass each other.
"The one will be trouble again, but we need to focus on one crisis at a time. Let's go save Amber!"
Unwillingly Eudonius steps aside letting Bones pass. He keeps an eye on the half orc for any treachery as he goes.
Gyllan pauses briefly as he hears Cinnamon talking so sweetly to the huge half-orc, thinking Wait a minute, a bit ago she said ‘Anything for you, sugar’ to me! Now she’s calling this monster ‘Sugar’? Though he has picked a strange time to be distracted by it, Gyllan realizes that he finds the odd-looking sorceress quite intriguing, even charming. Shaking his head a bit to clear it, he tells himself Now is not the time to think about this, it’s even crazier than Eudo correcting me on his name! He at least waited until we didn’t have an enemy standing in front of us.
Looking up at Bones, he says ”Go ahead, we won’t block your way.” As Bones passes, he turns to his friends, lifting the greatsword in front of him and says, ”Everybody ready?”
Bones passes by and there is no treachery from either side. As he starts walking out, he says, "You better not have hurt my horse, cuz if I'm walking home, there'll be hell to pay!" With that he turns to leave.
As you approach the door from which Bones initially came out, you see a small 10x10' room leading to another door, from where you can hear 2 people arguing, one male, one female, their voices a little muted by the door. "Hurry up, I doubt that half-orc will fight on our behalf now that he's got his gold. Stop with the stupid sacrifice, ritual bullsh*t and just slit her throat!" A female commanding voice yells, "This must be done right, to appease Zon-Kuthon! Do not question one of the Blessed!"
Eudonius drinks his formulae and approuches the room trying not to draw attention.
The female voice says, "I heard something outside, they might be here! Hold them off, Vik, while I finish the ceremony!"
Jun whispers, "I think we have been found out"
Cinnamon nods to Jun and whispers back. "I think you're right -- let's not wait any longer. But if someone else could please open the door...
Cinnamon slurs something guttural then seems to pick something out of the air with her left hand, leaving it glimmering with faint moisture.
Jun nods and gets in position then opens it for her
Gyllan stands by Cinnamon to one side of the door and says very quietly, "I'll go first, and take on the man. Everyone else focus on taking out the woman and making sure Amber is safe."
With that, Gyllan gives one last look at his companions to ensure they are all ready and, once Jun opens the door, Gyllan charges through it.
As his body swell with new muscle Eudonius draws and drinks another of his concoctions.
Nnngggggghhhhhh....
Gyllan opens the door and to his surprise, sees an undead walking corpse of a hobgoblin stand before him, moaning! Behind him, you see a black-haired man in armor with his shield and sword out and behind him, you see a black-haired woman dressed in robes trying to kill a blonde woman laying on an altar, her arms and legs bound! The woman yells out, "Help me!" Luc screams out, "Amber, we're coming! Time to die Viktor for your betrayal!" The older guardsman just snickers!
Initiative Order:
Tessa
Cin
Luc
Gyllan
Eudo
Zombie
Viktor
Jun
Round 1: Tessa
The priestess of Zon-Kuthon stops trying to kill Amber with her dagger and casts a spell, calling forth unholy aid for herself, Viktor, and the zombie! Jun recognizes the spell as Bless or the evil equivalent.
"C'mon hobs," Cinnamon says to the zombie at the door, "You're just getting in everyone's way. Won't you please move aside?"
After the zombie's implicit refusal, Cinnamon shrugs. "Have it your way," she says, stepping up and attacking with both claws.
Gyllan is disgusted by the creature who greets him as Jun pulls the door open. Over his shoulder, he says, "Eudo, I'm sure this guy would get your name wrong. Let's get him out of the way!"
He swings his newly-acquired greatsword at hobgoblin horror.
Both of Cin's claws miss, due to cover from the wall. Gyllan's greatsword causes great damage on the zombie, as pieces of skin fall off, but it still stands. Luc moves to V40 and tries to distract the zombie, yelling at him and raising his long sword in a threatening manner.
Round 1: Zombie attack
The zombie moans and raises his fist and lurches forward clumsily toward Gyllan, but distracted and wounded, the blow misses by a mile!
Round 1: Viktor
He moves to X41 and readies his shield and sword, waiting for an opponent.
Jun Channels to damage the zombie, the steps up behind Cinnamon
"Let's see how well it withstands this!"
Will DC 13 for half
A wave of positive energy overwhelms the zombie, as it melts away from the radiant light generated by Jun!
Round 2: Tessa
The priestess screams, as she sees her undead servant fall, "Another blessed one...how is that possible? It's my turn to shine! Aaargh! I will kill you all in the name of Zon-Kuthon!" She stops trying to stab Amber and looks at Gyllan and with great force, yells at him, "Fall!"
Gyllan is jubilant that the zombie has fallen, even if his blow was not the decisive one. He looks at Viktor eagerly, ready to take the fight to the traitor. Before he can move, however, the evil priestess speaks a powerful word, a word somehow aimed at Gyllan. Gyllan does not appear to resist at all, he merely crumples to the ground in a heap, scarcely able to lift his head enough to observe the battle around him.
The red haze veil his vision as his new form craves for action. Inebriated by his superhuman elixir Eudonius steps forward and attack the traitor guardsman. But not before throwing a joke back at Gyllan.
Bah, humans... Always falling for a pretty face. while jumping over the fallen warrior.
Eudo moves up and gets sliced by Viktor's long sword. "You disgust me, half-orc!" He in turn lands a solid blow on the human royal guard, but his blow is turned away by the soldier's shield before it can finish him off! Viktor screams in pain at Eudo's mighty blow and curses him and his family!
Luc moves in to W41 and swings at Viktor, screaming "Traitor, die!" The chain-mail clad warrior easily deflects the blow with his shield. "Whelp, I should have finished you myself, instead of letting the Tengu try and kill you. You and your friends die today!"
Jun steps behind Eudo and casts cure light wounds sweat pouring down his face as he seems to struggle with the latest spell. As the healing energies pour into Eudo, Jun face whitens and he looks faint.
cure light wounds
"Blessed? You?" Cinnamon sneered. "Mr. Kuthon sure has strange taste. Or a decided lack of followers to scrape the bottom of the barrel with the likes of you."
She steps back away from the crowded door and waves her left hand, hoping to distract Viktor.
Round 3: Tessa
The priestess smiles and looks at Viktor, "You'd better not miss, brother dear!" She looks at Eudo and beckons him with her hand, "Approach".
Chuckling a little, Gyllan hauls himself to his feet, a little puzzled as to why he was lying down in the midst of this fight. As he stands, he says to Eudonius' back, "Oh, 'falling for a pretty face! Now I get it."
He then steps up to join his companions in the fight.
Tessa screams, "I can't believe you didn't kill him!"
After finding his feet, Gyllan manages to take a quick step into the space Eudonius has just left. He swings his greatsword at Viktor, but is new enough to the use of the weapon that he fails to strike his target.
Luc attacks Viktor again, but his anger makes his swing clumsy and he misses by a mile!
Round 3: Viktor
Viktor grimaces as he notices his open wound and ignores Luc's weak attacks and focuses on Gyllan, dealing him a vicious blow that leaves the ranger staggered!
Jun will attempt to aid another against Victor
Fail
"Time to even the odds," Cinnamon declares. "Amber, I know you want your revenge on Tessa. Well now's your chance!"
The sorceress makes complicated motions with her hands, and then the unmistakeable sound of ropes snapping and slithering comes from the altar.