Neziana drives her blade through the attacking dogs neck, pinning it to the floor. This time its squeal is very abruptly cut off.
HP 15/15
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (-2 to all when raging)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 17
Rage: 5/9
Harrow points: 3/3
Effects: Rage
Unsure exactly what the sea monster is, but knowing he doesn't really want it to eat him -- Oh gods, please don't eat me! -- Nebbin swims for the fishery, pushing the girl up ahead of him.
Emileva continues to track the gnome's quick, dodgy movements. Her teeth gritting in frustration, she cleaves at him when the timing seems right.
"Just stop it and die already you little bastard!"
Emileva's stroke catches the gnome's shoulder and though he spins adroitly with the blow, the weapon comes away wet with his blood. He looks around for an advantage to turn his way.
The man with the wand looks down on his ally angrily. What are you waiting for?! Give chase and catch one of them! He then disappears back through the door he came through and appears a moment later at the door in the upper fish processing room (9,5), behind Tassira. He throws this door open but shelters behind the frame rather than running through it. He's picked up a crossbow, possibly giving up on the wand.
Tassira grimaces at the kid with the sword and summons up another arcane incantation.
Sorry, but I don't want to get stabbed...
"Imbre Coloris!" She says as she points a finger at the boy, unleashing a spray of colour upon the hapless child...
She then starts running downstairs and out the door.
"We really shouldn't have split up..."
The boy is knocked out by the flash.
Kayleigh moves into flanking position opposite Emileva and tries to drop the gnome.
for
Kayleigh rakes the gnome from behind. In desperation to escape he dives at Kayleigh's feet and almost shakes the ladies off, but meets Emileva's blade just as he regains his feet. He spins to the ground, clutching at his wounded side, then stops moving.
---
Under the fishery, Nebbin pulls for the pier closer to shore. Though the river gets shallow fast as you near the bank, its still not shallow enough to stand as he get to the base of the structure. He heaves the girl's limp body onto the dock, but knows as he turns that he doesn't have time to get out of the water himself. He spins to face the oncoming attack, heart pounding.
But the attack doesn't come. The big fish's momentum throws a wave as it alters course at the last minute and races under the dock and out the other side of the under-fishery. There's a big flash in the water around the stern of the boat as it tears out into deeper water.
Turning back to the pier , Nebbin sees that the space between this under pier and the fishery above is about 5' - not enough for him to stand fully. Where he's heaved the girl onto the dock, she lies right at the foot of a door that leads into some base level of the fishery.
Neziana is up.
Neziana moves up Kayleigh then stops, wincing in pain as her torn legs refuse to carry her any further. "Nebbin dowe in after the girl that fell in the water. Tassira is still in there, fighting two of them alone. Help her. They cut down a boy too." She says in a pained voice, looking to Emileva.
She then turns a hopeful look towards Kayleigh. "You mentioned healing earlier. I could use some now. I can barely keep myself together."
Now that the gnome is down, Emileva barely pauses to listen to what Neziana says. She hadn't expected to be delayed in circling back around inside for so long, and she immediately runs up the stairs and back into the room where Tassira is fighting.
"What's the situation in here Tassira?" she calls as she comes up beside the arcanist.
"Manageable, but that is likely to change." Tassira calls back. "The wand wielder took cover near the south room."
Amazed that the fish didn't eat him, Nebbin climbs up on the dock next to the girl, the adrenaline suddenly leaving his body in a rush as he pants furiously.
He does his best to check the girl to make sure she's alive still.
Please don't have drowned, please don't have drowned, please don't have drowned. What do I do if she drowned?!
HP 15/15
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (-2 to all when raging)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 17
Rage: 5/9
Harrow points: 3/3
Effects: Fatigued (-2 Str and Dex), 1 minute
As Emileva comes up on Tassira's flank there's no more action coming from the rail above. Two boys cry in opposite corners, the dog and another boy are dead or dying. One assailant lies unconscious on the floor. The only sounds are splashing and coughing from below, coming up to you through the hole in the floor.
---
Nebbin hauls up next to the girl, the floating pier listing precariously as he gains his balance. The girl is coughing and retching up river, apparently quite alive. Evidently throwing her up onto the dock was enough to start her fighting for air again.
Looking around he sees this under-pier, leading apparently from this little door he stands before to... nowhere. To the side of the ship. There's a little rowboat down here that's tied fast to a piling on the other end of the dock.
Although she doesn't want to lose time, it might still be possible to save the boy's life. Emileva goes to him to see if there is anything she can do.
As she examines him she asks Tassira "Where is the big guy, Nebbin? I haven't seen him since we first came through the door here."
I don't want to die. One more blow and that might be all for me. Still, the boy that was cut down deserves to live too, and he is in a more critical condition than me. I can wait a tiny bit. "If he's not fighting, perhaps we can still save the boy that was cut down. Hurry!" Neziana says and pulls on Keyleigh's sleeve, wanting to move back inside. There isn't much power behind her pull. She isn't the strongest to begin with and her wounds have weakened her further.
Inside she quickly surveys the situation and sees that the short-sword wielding young man has fallen. "Nice Tassira, how did you take him out? Will he rise again?"
She stops by the dog, having unfinished business with the savage mutt. [i]I don't want you savaging anyone like that ever again. She stabs the prone beast with her rapier.
"Um..." Tassira shakes her head at Emileva. "...I don't know where Nebbin is. He dove into the water, and I haven't seen him since."
"Nice Tassira, how did you take him out? Will he rise again?"
"Oh?" Tassira calms down a bit, feeling more than a little proud of herself. "It was a simple application of a colour spray spell that brought him down. He won't stay down for too long, but it should be enough time to disarm and restrain him."
"There's still one other person here, though..."
She winces as she sees Neziana stab the dog's prone corpse. ...can't really blame her. Still, it's terrible that the dog was that vicious.
Kayleigh heals Neziana's torn leg with a prayer to her goddess.
Emileva is able to help Kayleigh stabilize the sword victim through non-magical means, but it will take magical healing to bring this boy back from death's door, and in his present state he cannot even be moved.
---
Kayleigh, after casting a cure light wounds spell on Neziana, takes a few moments to stabilize Lamm's gnome ally. She throws up a little in her mouth as she lifts the little creep up off the floor and, cradling him like a child, carries the small criminal inside the fishery.
"You mean down through this hole into the water?"
Emileva peers over the edge into the water below. "Why in the hells did he do THAT?"
She tries to look about through the hole and softly calls "Nebbin?" a couple of times.
Emi then looks back over her shoulder and holds up the rope in her hand. "Anyone have rope? There's two of them that need to be tied. I'd rather not cut this one in two."
She turns back around to the others.
"We need to move quickly. We still have one of Lamm's men at least and Lamm unaccounted for, and we must assume they are organizing to resist or counterattack. These two need to be restrained, if you've decided they're to live." She adds looking at Kayleigh.
"We also need to get the children here together and to someplace safe until this is over."
Kayleigh gives Emileva a bit of a strange look at her comment about letting the prisoners live. We're not authorized to carry out executions! she thinks in as close to a huff as she gets (which isn't all that close). Looking around for Lambs that fit Kevlin's general description, she begins asking for the boy, saying that his mother asked her to find him.
"No rope?" she asks the others. "No manacles? Hmm...I'll just make sure all the prisoners are stable for now. There must be some rope around here somewhere. Oh dear--and some of the children are wounded as well!"
Giving a reassuring smile to any nearby Lamb, she asks, "You kiddos know this place--Is there any rope about we could use to tie up these bad men...and gnomes?"
(a) Little boy who was getting beaten at the start of this fight - did not participate.(6,12)
(b)Girl who fell into the water. (with Nebbin)
(c)Boy with broomstick - has negative hit points and a belly wound.(10,13)
(d)Boy who pointed out the gnome.(7,4)
(e)Girl who helped point out the gnome and stopped when Emileva called out.(7,3)
(f)Boy who kept on running and is now gone.
(g)Boy who picked up a sword and fought against you - now unconscious at your feet - filled his fellow Lamb (c). (10,12).
(h)Boy who ran to the corner and hid the whole time. (13,9)
Looking around the room you find plenty of old rope and netting to bind the gnome to the short-sword wielder.
When Kayleigh mentions Kevlin, the other kids point to the boy on the ground with the sword wound. Emileva's efforts have prevented him from dying immediately, but he will die without magical intervention and cannot be moved in his current state.
All the crates and boxes in the room are covered with dust except the places where people sit on them. But lying on one of them next to the half-orc's corpse is a composite bow and a quiver of arrows. And sitting on the ground near his bleeding head is a sack.
There's no more noise or attack coming from the balcony or the door upstairs for the immediate moment.
"....I'm going to see about getting Nebbin back up here with us while you take deal with the casualties and kids."
Lying down to get a better look, Emi checks in the direction she thinks Nebbin's reply come from. "Hey Nebbin, I'm going to throw the end of a rope to you. See if you can catch it. I'll tie this end to something and we'll pull you up."
"OK, thanks!" Nebbin calls back. "I'll try to grab it. I don't want to fall in, because that shark is still down here, I think. We have a boat, but ... we gonna need a bigger boat."
Nebbin will carefully try to make his way toward the rope, and lift the girl up, in hopes they can reach her and pull her up. If not, he'll look stymied.
"I guess we could tie the rope around her?"
Leaning any way too far on this precarious peer is an Acrobatics check. Nebbin peers into the murky green water for any sign of the monster, but if the fish is lurking, its doing so out of sight.
Once the girl has finished coughing up half her insides she's anxious for the rope and the chance to escape this gloomy spot. She swings out over the water, hands clutching Emileva's knots. Her hands grasp the lip of the hole, but as Emileva grabs her wrists and pulls her up there's more commotion from below.
As Nebbin crouches there watching the girl struggle, a port opens up on the side of the ship. The door is cunningly crafted to look like part of the ships side, but actually admits one into the dark hold of the ship. The man opening the door clutches a crossbow and looks an awful lot like the chap with the wand. He's so concerned with his balance as he steps onto the floating underpier that he doesn't even see Nebbin at first. When he does look up, he barks in alarm.
The man loads and fires his crossbow at Nebbin as he looks around for his forgotten board. The bolt whizzes just past the warrior's nose and takes a barnacle off a nearby piling.
HP 15/15
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (-2 to all when raging)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +0 (+2 Will when raging)
CMD 17
Rage: 5/9
Harrow points: 3/3
Effects: Fatigued (-2 Str and Dex), 7? more rounds
Nebbin lets out a little cry of fear as the bolt skips past him.
"There's someone down here!" he cries out, rushing around the dock in hopes he can shove the man into the water, though the footing is treacherous.
Nebbin surges toward his adversary, striking with a two-handed shove that sends man and crossbow five feet out over water in opposite directions. Both come down with a splash. Nebbin slips on the wet, rotting boards and falls to his hands and knees, scraped but relatively dry.
The man's blonde mop comes up briefly. He makes a strangled scream about swimming, or possibly not swimming, and then he goes under again.
Out by the bow of the ship, the little rowboat moves ominously, as if bumped from below.
Once the villains have been securely bound, Kayleigh gathers everyone around the captives and channels positive energy.
Tassira hears the ruckus going on under the fishery and pokes her head down to take a look.
"Nebbin? Do you need some help getting back up here?"
"Ow," Nebbin says, examining his scraped hands. His eyes tear up a little as he sees the large splinter in the meat of his left palm.
"Um, I think I'm OK," he says. "But I think the shark ate the guy who shot at me, maybe? Or he might have drowned?"
Nebbin looks around to see if there's any evidence of the man.
"I guess I can come up now," he says after a moment, before matching his actions to his words.
As Nebbin sits there watching, there's a sudden explosion of blood foamed water right in front of him and the briefest glimpse of a large fish's tail as the giant predator drives its catch to the bottom. In two blinks the lazy current has swept the rich red curl downstream.
Nebbin is able to pull himself back into the fishery by the hole, but his feet do dip into the water for just a moment, sending a fresh jolt of unreasoning fear back up his spine.
As he pulls his soggy self back into the room, Kayleigh gathers the wounded together for her prayer. Though the criticality of their conditions are reduced by the blessing, both the gnome and Kevlin remain unconscious after the prayer. The latter's clothes are soaked in his own blood from chest to knee.
The color sprayed captive comes to slowly. He struggles at first against his bonds, then gives up and simply cries, What's wrong with my eyes? I can't see right!
Seeing Nebbin come up through the hole in the floor, young Carawyn hops up off the floor and comes over to help make sure he's okay.
I can't believe you came to save me! she cries. You're such a hero, Nebbin! Did you know there was a jigsaw shark down there??!
As Nebbin looks around sheepishly he catches a jealous eye from one of the other Lambs.
"Just give it a minute, young one. Your vision will clear up soon enough." Tassira tries to reassure the boy.
"Of course I came to save you, Carawyn. But I don't think I'm a hero. These people did most of it. I just ... wanted to make sure everyone was OK," the big man replies sheepishly.
"Is that what that was down there? I think it might have killed one of them," he finishes, a note of sadness in his voice. "I think he was in the boat and tried to escape that way..."
No one who goes down the gut-hole ever comes back, whether they're headed for the shark or for a talk with Old Gaedran.
The girl who Nebbin rescued from the river nods.
I seen the door when he fished me out of the river! I opened my eyes, and I was laying right at the foot of Gaedran's door! And then this guy saves me again by pushin me back up the gut-hole and crawlin out his-self.
And he killed Giggles! Just whacked him on the head and broke his neck for him! another of the Lambs interjects. This is the boy that the half-orc 'Giggles' was beating so badly when you first entered. He looks much better thanks to the blessings of Milani, his face is less swollen and he's no longer crying.
The accidental swimmer sidles closer to Kayleigh as she examines Kevlin. He'll be okay, right? she sobs. He was a brave boy to fight Avram like that. He just got here. He didn't know what they'd do...
Emileva waits while everyone settles in to recovery and healing after the fight. Occasionally she eyes the door to the left at the top of the stairs.
It's no good having that to our backs if Lamm is in the ship. Better to take care of that while we're figuring out what comes next.
Emi walks over to Tassira. "Want to come with me to check what's behind that door? I don't like not knowing while we stand around here."
Tassira gives the battered boy a forlorn look before nodding at Emileva. "Best to clear the area out first before continuing."
Ravnos squirms in her backpack and starts meowing again, prompting the mageling to let her out. The tabby starts walking over to Kevlin and gently rubbing her head against him while purring.
"I'm sorry!" Nebbin exclaims. "I didn't mean to hit him so hard!"
Then realization dawns on him and the big man pales.
"That was Lamm's door? Was he in there? We're lucky he didn't come out and kill us!"
Kayleigh, kneeling by Kevlin's side, smiles warmly at the soaked girl and then looks up at Nebbin and gives the big man a nod for having saved the lass. "Yes, he'll be good as new once I've healed him up some more."
Speaking more to her new allies than the girl, the healer continues. "But I'm running a bit low on healing, and I should probably save it for now in case...in case anyone feels there's more business to be done here that can't wait a day. The streets may get more dangerous as well, and we're a long way from safety. Just something to consider."
"Oh! I'll help make sure everyone gets home safe!" Nebbin exclaims.
Looking around, he picks up his worn board again, hefting it over one shoulder as if it weighed little more than a small twig.
Emileva has started for the stairs, but when she hears the turn in conversation she stops in her tracks and turns around.
"Wait, we can't just leave here and come back. There's no way Lamm is going to sit around and wait for us. If he doesn't flee completely he will seal this place tight, and with double the muscle or more than we found here today. No way we can leave."
One of the boys points up at the railing. "Yargin was the man who tried to wand and crossbow you from up there, he always told us if we go in Gaedran's door we'd never come back out, or else we'd come back in pieces. Him and Giggles and Hookshanks tease us all the time about what happens if they send us down the guthole to Gaedran's door."
The drowned girl nods. "It was a weird little door. I was so afraid you'd come down to fish me from the water so you could push me through it and send me to Gaedran. Who are you guys?"
Another weighs in on the exchange about staying or going. "What will you do with us? The street lambs will start coming home in a couple of hours with their catches. There's alot more lambs than us. Most of them are beggin or pickin pockets right now."
Carawyn adds "Jerik's coming to get the slurry barrels and hopefully bring cakes for our dinner soon. We can't finish the shipment now. Gaedran's gonna be so mad he'll come up here and feed all of them to the shark."
The youngest of the Lambs starts crying again. "Does that mean we don't get to eat again? Do you guys have anything to eat?"
Several of the Lambs look up at the mention of food.
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Carawyn's would-be boyfriend approaches Emileva. "I heard Giggles bragging how if shanks ever snuck up and hamstrung him with his knife - like shanks was always braggin he would do - that Giggles would just down one of his healin elixirs and then kick the shit out of him. And I seen him fingering a vial of something one day outside, holdin it up to the sun an lookin through it while we worked."
Tassira pauses, and kneels down, reaching into her backpack. She sighs in disappointment.
She then starts going over the dead half-orc's personal effects. "Does anyone have anything we can offer them?"
"Oh, I do," Nebbin exclaims.
He swings his own pack off his back and pulls out a handful of rations.
"It's not much, but some of my friends said I should hold on to them if I needed them."
"These other Lamms, are they going to try to hurt us too, or should we let them know they can go home..." he asks the other children in the warehouse.
Kayleigh doesn't answer the Lamb who asks who the group is. She shakes her head sadly when they ask for food, having given away her last fruit to the vagrant outside. When Nebbin digs into his pack and starts distributing food to the hungry children, she smiles at the big (and big-hearted) man.
Standing up and strolling through the room, Kayleigh points out that there's plenty of fish to eat...if someone knows how to cook it. "I can cast a spell that will ensure that it's safe to eat," she adds, crinkling up her nose a bit at the stench of some of the past-prime product.
She looks around sadly at the Lambs, deep in thought, before turning to Emileva.
"Do you have a plan to go after Lamm that won't endanger these children? Because, honestly, getting young Kevlin here back to his mother means a whole lot more to me than Zellara's crusade against Lamm or my own thoughts of vengeance against the man."
Pausing, the cleric frowns and admits, "But I'd never have found and rescued him without the help of all of you, so...I'm hesitant to just up and abandon you. And I'll even admit that you're probably right about the old creep fleeing or bringing in even more hired muscle. What does everyone else say?"
"I say we deal with Lamm first, then worry about getting the kids somewhere safe." Tassira bends over to pick up Ravnos.
"I wonder if Zellara will mind a bunch of children using her house as a place to stay in the meantime..."