Regeris quickly rushes in, impressed at the teamwork and coordinated attack from the group. He nocks an arrow, waiting to fire at the first available target he sees.
Regeris lets fly at one of Emi's adversaries but misses high.
Nebbin wallops the butcher with the flat of his blade. His adversary is stunned for a moment but still on his feet.
Tassira seeks a more protected position behind the fighters and shoots another ray of frost into the combat.
The enemy guards pair off against Nebbin and Emileva. Nebbin's opponent slips a thrust past the big man's guard and draws a painful cut across his ribs.
Emi twists and parries away her own opponent's best opportunity.
The middle set of doors bursts open and two more guards come rushing into the room. The first rushes past the vats but struggles to find a way to immediately contribute to the fight. The second turns to his right, sees Kayleigh and rushes in to attack. His thrust wounds the cleric in the arm.
Attack on Nebbin - 19, confirm 17. Craptastic damage rolls (1,2)
Attack on Kayleigh - 20! confirm 3. damage roll 1
smoking hot attack rolls coupled with terrible damage rolls
Regeris mutters a prayer to Milani, and his bow is outlined with a white light. He looses another arrow.
So much for plans. thinks Emi as the situation unfolds exactly as she didn't want it to.
The extra rogue guardsmen arriving adds urgency to Emileva's efforts.
Must end this quickly before we're overwhelmed.
She gets an opportunity to exploit. The man she's fighting swings his sword slightly wide, making it easier for her catch his blade with the hilt of her own and bind it. She moves her foot in closer and slides her falchion down, pushing his blade aside as she drives the point of her own at his chest.
HP 21/25
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (-2 to all when raging), DR 1/-
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 18
Rage: 1/11; Harrow points: 3/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6) 0/1
Effects: shield of faith (+2 AC), 2 mins.
"YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" Nebbin hollers as he sees Kayleigh in trouble.
Ignoring the foes right in front of him, he rushes to help, his sword swinging in a massive overhead chop as his face turns red in sudden anger.
Emileva's blade slices through the stunned guard's leather armor and penetrates his chest. He cries out in pain and falls to the ground clutching the wound.
Seeing his target collapse, Regeris adjusts his aim just slightly to the left, fixing Nebbin's foe. His blessed arrow goes straight home, punching through armor and transfixing the guard's shoulder. He's desperately wounded but still standing.
As Nebbin wheels on his heel, the wounded guard makes a half-hearted attempt to strike him, but misses. Nebbin closes the distance with Kayleigh and her adversary in three quick bounds and hacks deep into this new foe. The guard's blood sprays against the butchery wall. He makes a dying attempt to grasp the big unexpected blade, but loses consciousness before he hits the ground.
When the blood started spraying everywhere, Tassira froze. Her face pales considerably and her outstretched hand, still dripping with frost, starts to shake.
...oh, dear Nethys--this is--I don't think I want to do this anymore...
She turns to the last man standing and focuses her eyes on him. "Sir, your allies are dead or crippled and you yourself are fighting a battle you cannot win. Give yourself up and spare yourself a journey to Pharasma's realm!"
Kayleigh somehow manages to avoid getting sprayed with blood as Nebbin chivalrously (and violently) comes to her defense. At first she looks up at the young man with a mixture of suspicion and fear, but then that look fades and she blinks and says "Thank you."
Although her gaze gravitates toward the door the reinforcements came through, her eyes quickly refocus on the two guards still standing. "Let's help Emi finish off these goons first and then track down Vancaskerkin...assuming he's not one of these thugs."
Tassira's words don't really seem to phase the man in front of her. His return stare is grim and his eyes positively dead, like some part of his humanity must be entirely broken. The guard with the arrow in his shoulder looks more inclined to surrender but does not offer his sword. Instead he painfully raises his weapon to ward off any more damage to his person and moves to help his ally.
The grim-faced killer sneaks his weapon under Emi's guard and traces a line of fire across her exposed thigh.
A new adversary steps into the room from the same doorway that the new guards used. He's dressed in the dark field-greens of a guard captain and brandishes a spear. He steps directly into the fray, thrusting his weapon at our enraged protector of all things female. The spear thrust is well-timed, punching through both magical and mundane protections on Nebbin's flank and momentarily driving away his breath.
An image of Verik Vancaskerkin has been added to the contacts page.
Emi hisses in pain, but keeps her concentration. Judging that the man with the arrow in his shoulder will be slow bring his sword up to that height, she doubles down on his wounded area. She flicks her falchion toward his shoulder right before stepping between the other guard and the unprotected Tassira.
HP 15/25
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (-2 to all when raging), DR 1/-
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 18
Rage: 2/11; Harrow points: 3/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6) 0/1
Effects: shield of faith (+2 AC), 2 mins.
Not getting a chance for the horror of the butchery in the butcher's shop to sink in as the pain rushes through his body at the spear thrust, Nebbin continues to battle, but again he falls into old habits and uses the blade more as a club than as the weapon was intended.
The wounded guard is able to parry Emi's blow, though he nearly loses his weapon in the process.
Regeris takes a step to open up the angle of attack on Emi's other attacker (guard 5) and feathers him with a shaft from his longbow.
Verik steps away from Nebbin's clumsy and furious attack. Sparks and chips fly off the wall as Nebbin's great blade screeches across the stone.
Kayleigh's first instinct is to help Emileva deal with the two guards attacking her, but when she sees Nebbin in single combat against Verik Vancaskerkin she changes her mind and rushes to help the fellow who'd rushed to her defense mere moments earlier.
for
Tears running down her cheeks, Tassira bites her lip and flashes another blast of frost at the group's enemies. The defending guard is hit in the face with the blast and he falls back against the boiling vat, slumping down in unconsciousness until he's leaning partly in the fire that warms the huge thing. The smell in the room is not improving.
Kayleigh doubles back to help Nebbin with his part of the scrum, but is not able to land her blow. Verik slides away from the attack and lashes out again with his spear. Again he connects, driving the tip of the weapon through Nebbin's armor and painfully deep into his shoulder.
Emi's remaining adversary misses her again. When he sees his last nearby ally fall those dead eyes grow a little bit wider, like desperation is starting to sink in.
Emi notices her adversary falter, and moves quickly to take advantage of the momentary opening.
Regeris swears as Vancaskerkin joins the fight. Realizing that Nebbin is going down fast from the attacks, he rushes northwards, casting a spell and touching Nebbin.
"Milani grant your fire and hope to this man, bind his wounds so he may battle oppression."
His hand on Nebbin's shoulder, Regeris stares into Verik's eyes.
"You are a petty tyrant. A manipulator, a thug, and a man who chose to do evil, rather than good when this city was in pain. Watch your men fall, and then you shall as well lest you surrender and repent for your crimes."
Seeing Regeris heal some of Nebbin's wounds, Kayleigh eschews going that route herself...for the moment. Instead, she lets her anger take control, steps up [12,8], and swings her morningstar again, this time at a shoulder.
for
HP 12/25
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (-2 to all when raging), DR 1/-
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 18
Rage: 3/11; Harrow points: 3/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6) 0/1
Effects: shield of faith (+2 AC), 2 mins.
Tears fill Nebbin's eyes as he realizes he's likely about to die, pain from his wounds threatening to overcome him. His vision tunnels, everything but the death-dealer in front of him -- far more experienced than he, obviously -- going black.
But the healing wave gives him new life, and he swings again with his sword, savagely and furiously hacking away with little skill but with enough muscle to make up for it, his blade simply powering through his foe's standard parry.
Emileva drives her blade home, running her foe through and laying him low. He slides off her blade with a shudder and collapses to the floor.
Powered by Milani's divine energy, Nebbin's furious stroke catches the nimble fighter off balance. Chain links and blood fly as he makes contact, driving his foe into the wall. Kayleigh's able to take advantage of the fighter's pain by catching him on the spikes of her weapon, adding to his misery. Verik makes a lame attempt at a head fake, then bolts over the fallen Baldrago headed for the back door.
Nebbin swings wildly at the retreating man, panic driving him beyond thought for a moment.
Seeing Nebbin is all right, Regeris quickly pads after Verik firing an arrow at the fleeing captain.
"Stand and face us! You don't get off this easily!"
Tassira sees an opportunity to incapacitate Verik without killing him, and runs out the door after him.
She points a trembling finger at the fleeing man and shouts "Imbre Coloris!" A fan of eye-searing colours explodes from the tip of her finger to engulf him!
Some of Kayleigh's anger dissipates and the old, kind-hearted softy she was until recently makes a brief reappearance. Moving to the center of the room , she channels positive energy, both to stabilize their fallen foes and to heal Nebbin and Emileva a bit more if they opt to pursue Vancaskerkin.
HP 13/25
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (-2 to all when raging), DR 1/-
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 18
Rage: 3/11; Harrow points: 3/3; Auspicious Mark (1d6) 0/1
Effects: shield of faith (+2 AC), 2 mins.; fatigued 1 min.
Looking around and realizing they're safe now, Nebbin's muscle relax and a wave of exhaustion washes over him. Gasping as he tries to catch his breath, he hefts his sword uncertainly, hoping no one else comes to try to kill them.
Though Emileva tries to pursue the fleeing man she quickly realizes she's going to be outpaced. Just as she comes to this thought, a shaft from Regeris's bow takes Verik directly between the shoulder blades. The fighter stumbles, then pitches headlong into the mud of the yard, coming to a rest at the foot of the gate.
Kayleigh's prayers stop most of the men around her from dying, but doesn't restore any to consciousness. Two of the guards are beyond hope. One (the one that Nebbin walloped with the flat of his blade) wouldn't have died from his wounds anyway, but he's definitely gonna wake up with a headache.
One of you grabs the burning man by the boots and drags him out of the fire. He's dead anyways, but at least he's no longer fugging up the joint.
An uncomfortable silence falls over the butchery now that the fight is over, pierced occasionally by the call from the cow out in the yard. The vat of boiling water bubbles along happily.
The set of doors now standing open leads to a short hallway. There's a door at the end of the hall and another in the right wall, near the far end. There's also a set of steps leading up to the second floor of the building.
"Nice shot Regeris!"
Emi halts beside Verik and checks to see if he can be saved. Either way she grabs him under the arms and drags him back into the building where there is some light.
"Kayleigh, I can't do anything for him. You need to take a look" she calls to the cleric.
Once Kayleigh has taken over, Emi rolls the dead man out of the fire, and waits while taking a look at her own cut. It's longish but not particularly deep. The flash of healing light from Kayleigh had stopped any serious bleeding and firmed up the wound enough to prevent the two sides from moving independently of each other.
A binding over it and I'll be good as new.
"Thank you," says Regeris as he lowers his bow. "Well fought everyone."
He stalks over to Verik, quickly searching him before he hauls the rogue captain into the butcher shop with the others. Once done with that, he checks on his companions.
"Is everyone all right? The toll combat takes can be more than physical."
As he listens to responses, Regeris searches the room and its now-fallen occupants thoroughly.
Tassira gasps for air and leans against the wall. "...oh gods..."
Her face is pale and her hands are shaking like leaves. "...I've never... never seen so much blood..."
Nebbin looks almost as pale as Tassira, his huge frame still heaving as he gasps for breath, the blood-stained sword's point now dragging on the dirty ground.
He looks down at his bloody form -- as much of it others' people he's spilled as his own -- and then looks up and around, tears in his eyes.
"I think my shirt's ruined..." he says plaintively.
Tassira forces herself off the wall and approaches Nebbin. "...here..."
She barely whispers an incantation and waves her hand over his bloodied shirt. The bloodstains on his shirt start to fade.
Emi offers her waterskin to Tassira and Nebbin.
"Drink some water and find a place to rest for a few minutes."
She then goes to check if Baldrago, hammer man, is among the survivors. If he is she ensures he doesn't remain so.
Verik carries a spear and wears a chain shirt, both of which are masterwork quality. He also has a pouch with 28 gold pieces and a small vial on his belt with a cure light wounds potion in it that he never got around to using.
Your examination of the room doesn't yield alot. Peering through the grating next to the vats you can see reflected light indicating a water-filled passage below. The hook track on the ceiling goes through the rightmost doors. A notch is cut into the top of the doors to allow them to shut around the track.
Emi's tender mercies bring an end to Baldrago the guard.
Kayleigh sees Nebbin struggling to regain his composure after the short but bloody fight and steps up to him at touches him gently on the arm.
"By Milani's grace, be rested and refreshed." After a moment's consideration, she casts the same blessing on Tassira.
Next, she moves to Vancaskerkin and binds his wounds to stabilize the guard captain
The cleric makes a point of it to look the other way while Emileva finishes Baldrago, lest softy Kayleigh make another inopportune appearance; after what the bastard did to Amistan, Kayleigh finds the execution fair enough in the eyes of justice. She tells the others to gather round and bind Verik and the other prisoner or at least guard them.
When all is ready (I'm assuming a couple of rounds, maybe), she again channels positive energy.
Tassira briefly flinches away from Kayleigh's touch before calming down.
...I didn't know you were capable of such anger, Kayleigh...
Once a few minutes have passed for everyone to gather themselves and secure prisoners, Emileva approaches the doors the rails lead through.
Her thinking is the next room must be another processing space like the one they are in now. It's probably, but not certainly, unoccupied since the noise of combat drew no response from it. It will need to be checked though, and it is a good way to get people moving again, better than trying to give orders.
She opens the doors to take a look.
Calm as always Regeris looks with interest into the passage beyond the grate, but realizing there will be a prisoner to interrogate, he holds off and instead heads back to the group. He stops by Tassira, speaking in his soft, gravelly voice.
"It is a cruel thing to say that it will get easier. But it will. We have saved more lives than we have ended today. Take your solace in that."
Pulling rope from his pack, he binds Verik with practiced ease. He looks up at Kayleigh and the others.
"We'll see how cooperative he is. Remember he's been repeatedly stabbed and shot. If you want to hurt him, you already have. What we want know is to know why he has done this and if he is acting on his own or if there is a greater malevolence at work. That said, his injuries to you have been personal and I won't interfere unless I feel there's a lead to follow."
Kayleigh looks a bit flustered when Emileva moves off to explore the rest of the building. "Go with her," she tells the others. "I'll guard the prisoners."
After a slight pause, she adds, "Yell if you encounter anyone else and need help or healing."
Beyond the doors Emi finds another room with a floor covered in blood-soaked straw. The air in this room is stale and reeks of slaughter - moreso than the killing floor. There are no windows, and no light save that which spills through the door she's just opened. A half-butchered carcass of some unidentified something lies on a low table against the far wall. The table is flanked by a barrel, presumably filled with salt for the curing of cuts. A single skinny side of beef hangs from a hook in the center of the room. Several flies take flight as she peeks her head in the room and buzz around for a moment before landing again on the easy meals.
As Emi approaches the table to give the room a once-over, she realizes the carcass lying there has a distinctly human-looking leg and foot.
Once tied up, Kayleigh's second blessing revives Verik and two of his four remaining guards. They sit there, bundled against one another, in obvious pain from their partially healed wounds. None of them offers any immediate comment as they come-to.
Emi feels a chill run up her spine. What have they been doing in here? If just murder, why butcher the body? They can't be...
Emileva backs away from the table toward the door. Once it can be done without raising her voice too much, she calls back to the others.
"There's something in here you need to see. Be ready, it's not good. Not good at all."
"Thanks," Nebbin says, shyly smiling at Kayleigh as he takes one last gasping breath before returning to normal breathing.
The big man looks back and forth was Kayleigh tells them to move along, not wanting to leave her alone with three people, even if they are bound. He hesitates, looking torn.
Tassira warily walks over to where Emileva called to them. "...um..."
Kayleigh gives Nebbin a strange, thoughtful, appraising look before smiling wryly and saying, "Very well--you watch the prisoners for a moment while I take a quick peek at what Emi's found."
Following Tassira into the next room, the priestess gasps, "Holy Roses!" when she sees the hacked up human body. It feels like Softy Kayleigh's been given a hard punch to the gut: she just used her Milani-granted powers to stabilize three men who not only had abandoned their sworn duty but had also killed someone, and.... Were they cutting the man up as prime cuts to distribute to the desperate citizens of Korvosa??!!
No good deed goes unpunished, a voice hisses in the depths of her soul.
Returning to where the prisoners sit, a very pale Kayleigh whispers to Regeris, "You need to see what's in the next room before we make our next move with these...butchers."