Dukkan comes around with his sword, and gives the man advancing on his left side a tremendous slashing blow. "Istekat' krov'yu dlya menya, roshka."
Surprised but glad that only one of the CCG has made a move for the pavillion, Leora continues towards Jessi to see if her friend will need healing or help. She'd been prepared to cast her obscuring mist spell to hide what they were doing, but if she'd done it, it would have probably made the job of locating Jessi and getting her out without getting attacked by the dogs much more difficult.
Seeing what bad shape Jessi is in after being captured and thrown in the dog house, Leora heals her. "Nina, I'm right here next to you," she whispers to Davina.
While Dom puts a second Queensman in a painful haze at death's door, Leora casts a spell on Jessibel. The bard's eyes open but seem unfocused.
The slavering mastiff near Leora smells her and hears her spellcasting, but its simple brain can't grasp the concept of an invisible creature; instead of biting at the empty air where some of its senses tell it there's an intruder, its brain sticks with the tried-and-true visual sense, and it barks ferociously at nearby Davina.
Dukkan glares at the man he wounded. "Is your cruelty worth dying for?"
Falina began to move into the gazebo, careful to keep her allies between her and the nearby mastiff as she did. When she reached it she called out quietly to Jesibel, "Over here, quickly."
When Jesi came out and over to her Falina focused and drew on the destructive nature of her abyssal heritage. She channeled it out to her hand and gestured at the chain holdign the young woman in her doghouse. The metal began to vibrate as the power poured into the metal, vibrating it, and trying to shatter the steel.
Aggravated at the young owman's unwillingess to come to her Falina instead vented her frustration on the other mastiff. She chanted, gestured, and sent another ray of blackish energy to strike at the secon dog.
When Jessibel remains inside the doghouse, Falina blasts the second mastiff. The western hound finally realizes there may be something to bite where Leora stands invisible, but its snout bounces off her calf--a near miss. Davina's not so lucky: The second mastiff sinks its teeth into her leg and shakes savagely, but Davina keeps her balance and resists falling prone before the beast.
T'chazzar's foe grins and tries to finish his cloaked foe. His mace again strikes true , dropping the drow, and the surprisingly not-inept Queensman shifts a bit, hoping to flank Dom in the near future.
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She hisses in pain as the mastiff sinks his teeth into her. She keeps her composure, and finishes unlocking Jess' manacles. Then she scrambles away, and pulls out her rapier.
With T'chazzar having fallen, three Queensmen try to surround and take down the masked orc-thing that is Domitius; the fourth loyalist that Dom nearly killed seems to take the masked man's words to heart and tries to stagger away, leaving himself open to a parting attack from Dom as he reels south.
One Queensman flanks Dom opposite the mace master who so easily downed the drow while the other merely steps up and takes a swing. Neither one comes close to hitting their foe.
The last Queensman wades through the lily pad pond and nears the open side of the doghousing area. He looks at Davina and shouts, "If you drop your weapon and surrender, I'll call off the dogs!"
Jessibel, freed from her fetters by Davina, looses a scream--part pain, part terror--as she leans forward a few inches within the cruel doghouse, pulling free from the sharp nails impaling her while not shifting within range of the slavering jaws of the mastiffs nearby. The girl seems to have regained her senses and a bit of her courage, however: The shaky but magically-charged lyrics of an old Iomedaean battle chant emerge from the doghouse, inspiring the Silver Ravens in their desperate battle.
You don't quite buy what the Queensman's trying to sell. That he'd take folks into custody if they surrender seems a safe enough bet, but...you thinks he's a bit wary of the dogs himself.
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Dukkan swings at the fleeing man, not feeling particularly merciful.
He then does his best to avenge T'chazzar, bringing his blade low, and sweeping up. After his attack, he makes a spin move to take himself out of range. Sharkey's gold spent on teaching me rondelero may have been well spent, he thinks to himself.
"Your luck runs out, roshka scum."
Domitius/Dukkan fights like an orc possessed: He hacks down the escaping Queensman, knocking his senseless body into the pond, and then cuts down the fellow who'd dropped T'chazzar.
"I'm gonna make some fog here, might confuse the dogs. Then I'm off to heal T'chazzar. Can you two get Jacki out of here?" Leora asks Falina and Davina.
Leora casts obscuring mist from her scroll, blanketing the platform in fog. Then she takes off towards where she heard T'chazzar, to try and get him back on his feet.
"OK, we dropped our weapons! Why don't you come up here and check!" Leora taunts the Queensman in the lily pond, since he can't see what's going on.
Falina saw that Jessi freed and heard the young woman cry out in pain as she pulled herself free of the nails and began to sing. The tiefling woman saw red as she heard the Queen's Man call for their surrender.
She figured he was serious about taking them into custody but she also didn't care. She wouldn't surrender to agents of Thrune or their supporters. Instead she said a few words and then looked at the dog nearest her. She had no compunctions about ending the vicious mutt and let her spell loose with a flourish sending a missile of force slamming into the dog as the mist billowed up, "Good luck catching us arsewipe!" It was an antiquated term but it worked for her as she waited for Jessi to be brought out to where she could help get her to safety.
"Sure I'll drop my weapon. Come on in." She tosses a piece of meat in the direction of the dog next to Jacki. It lands behind him. "We've got you Jacki."
As the three rebel women mock his order to surrender, the Queensman in the lily pond utters an expletive and wonders aloud, "Why don't Thrune, Regegious, or Tanessen equip us with a damned crossbow or something?"
To the west, the Queensman Dom/Dukkan just cut down rolls off of T'chazzar, revealing the drow's location to Leora, who steps out of the roiling mist she just conjured.
The western mastiff goes for the piece of meat Davina tossed its way; the eastern one, bereft of juicy treats, strains hard against its leash trying to get at Falina who blasts it with a painful magic missile. The leash holds.
The three remaining Queensmen refuse to give up. The one in the pond splashes toward the female voice that called him a bad name; the other two team up on the masked orc avenger, the latest arrival spitting to the side as he swings for Dom's head. Neither comes close to scoring a hit.
Jessibel tries to take advantage of the magical fog to tumble acrobatically past the two mastiffs toward Falina's voice. Fortunately, once she's out of the doghouse, there's nothing blocking her path through the fog to Falina . The agile girl almost tumbles right into the sorceress but manages to stop just short.
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"RAUGH!"
For lack of a better word for it, Dukkan barks at his attackers, snarling with defiance. He directs his attack at the Queensman closest to Leora, and again make a quick disengaging move.
"You had your chances..."
Grabbing hold of Jessi, "Come on Jaclynne, let's get out of here." Falina reached out and grabbed for Jessi's hand to try and lead the woman away from the place.
Leora wonders why she bothered to wear her heavy armor when she was going to be invisible for the whole fight anyway. She moves as quickly as she can, and just manages to reach T'chazzar.
"Lex to the rescue!" she says, hoping to alert Dukkan that she's nearby now, and possibly confuse the two CCG around her.
She's thrilled that only one of the CCG seems to be trying to stop Jessi's escape.
"Spasibo, my dear," Dukkan says to the disembodied voice. Turning to the man he just struck , in a thick Orcish accent, he says, "This really isn't looking good for you. Why not save yourself while you can? All I want is a quiet word with your friend here," he nods to the other man . "No need to die messily just because you were in the way, nyet?"
Davina carefully moves toward Dom and T'chazzar staying in the mist.
Dom again cuts deep into a Queensman, not quite enough to kill but plenty savage enough to get his message across: the wounded man flees south.
"You've not seen the last of me, masked coward!" Spitty snarls at Dukkan before turning tail and withdrawing to the south. When the Queensman in the pond sees his fellows fleeing, he peeks around the edge of the small building to see who he'd need to beat if he opts to play hero. He stares at the beautiful but deadly-looking woman helping the battered prisoner flee and decides to be a gentleman and let them escape. Speaking of escapes...he starts splashing through the water, heading in the same general direction as his chicken-hearted brethren.
You could take an AoO on Spitty as he passes, IF you're currently armed and don't mind losing your invisibility.
You recognize all the names mentioned by the Queensman as belonging to Chelish/Kintargan noble houses. The Tanessens are a major house known for their fine quality arms and armor; you believe you heard Jessibel and Sabrina mention (about 100 times) that their semi-scandalous armor was Tanessen-made.
The Regegious family is a lesser house these days, but Kintargo's very first lord-mayor was a Regegious. Tombus Regegious, current head of the house, is rumored to lead the Queensmen.
And you know about House Thrune....
Jessibel manages a weak smile as you take her hand to lead her to safety...a strangely familiar smile. "Ah...a silver lining in this dark cloud of a nightmare I've been living," she says. Strange...Silverbelle used to use the old "silver lining' metaphor quite often....
Leora remains invisible for the moment and casts cure light wounds on T'chazzar. Seeing how badly he's hurt, she casts it a second time.
Another possibility would be to chase down the fellow you dropped to exactly 0 hp...
Yes yes, Dukkan will find that friend for a chat.
Leora's first healing spell's enough to bring T'chazzar back around; the second should ensure he'll be strong enough to survive an attack from any stray alley cats you might cross paths with. Jessibel, similarly weakened from multiple wounds, retreats a short ways with Falina before stopping momentarily to cast a healing song on herself.
"Where to now?" she asks the tiefling. "We could hide out at the OHS headquarters! Wait--no, that's where they took me from, isn't it? It'd probably be the first place they'll look for us. How about...the Tooth and Nail?"
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"Ow. Runaway mace," says T'chazzar as he sits up and collects his sword and shield from the ground.
"C'mon, let's get out of here. Jessi, you're absolutely right, the Opera House is now compromised, and I wouldn't be surprised if they threaten mass arrests of the company now that you've been rescued from their prison and their Queensmen attacked. We need to tell your friends to lie low for a few days as well. Anywhere off the beaten path is fine - Tooth and Nail, the coffee shop, even inside of Clenchjaw's if that new owner hasn't moved in yet."
"Tooth and Nail sounds good to me, it's not too far away," says Leora's disembodied voice. "I can go warn the OHS students to lay low since nobody saw me during the fighting, then meet you at the Tooth and Nail in a bit."
"Last chance to mess with the CCG's stuff before we leave," Leora mentions, recalling Dukkan and T'chazzar's earlier conversations about fire and the Queensmen.
As Leora tends to T’chazzar, Dukkan nods dismissively at the two fallen CCG goons. "Save them if you can," he says, "That they may bear witness." He then takes off after the wounded man that fled.
Leora makes a face at Dukkan's idea of saving the CCG goons, but then an idea strikes her. "Fine. They can bear witness to Dukkan's fury and Cayden Cailean's mercy."
She cleans their wounds using some of the beer from her flask and bandages them as best she can while praying to the Drunken Hero to ask if these two deserve to live. Leora figures that the Queensmen returning to their guard post smelling like beer is just another added bonus for the Silver Ravens.
Continuing to hold onto Jessi's hand Falina said, "It doesn't matter where we go, someone to tell me how to get there."
"Follow me." she waves at Falina. "Jess this way. Do you need more healing up?"
Even slowed down by his armor, it's not long before Dukkan has caught up to the man and forced him to the ground.
"You can't leave yet. You have important job to do." Noting the mix of panic and disbelief in the man’s face, Dukkan nods. "I swear I will leave you alive and with all your parts, but we have to talk first. And you have important message to carry to your Queensman friends. Okay?" As the man seems to calm some, Dukkan continues. "First, a simple question. Who do the Queensmen answer to?"
The Queensman seems surprised by the question. After a moment, he regains what’s left of his composure. "W-well, ultimately to Lord-Mayor Thrune, but our leader is Tombus Regegious, the loyalist and nobleman."
Dukkan pauses as if in thought. "That is an interesting response, but nyet, I did not ask for your leader. I asked who you answer to." Dukkan takes off his mask, his eyes fixed on the man in the manner of a serpent looking at a rat. "And you answer to me."
Leaning in closer to the man, Dukkan growls, "I don't know what orders this Regegious gave you, but if the Queensmen insist on engaging in cruelties to the people of Kintargo, I will find you. And I will make you pay. Your spitting friend, I will be sure to make sure he gets this message personally, but that is for another day."
He backs off the man, adopting almost a cheerful tone. "That is all. Is a simple message, should be easy to carry, yes?" The man nods, and Dukkan’s voice takes a slight edge to it. "I hope so, because you will not be able to use both hands."
Dukkan quickly reaches out, grabs the man's right hand, and breaks two of his fingers. "That was for beating the playwright. Think very carefully about your choices from now on; next time, I will not be so kind." Dukkan gets up, and returns to his friends.
While Leora stabilizes the fallen Queensmen and Dom hustles after the fleeing loyalists to 'have a word' with at least one of them, Falina leads Jessibel over to Davina. At first the young noblewoman doesn't seem to recognize the aasimar, but eventually her eyes focus more, moving from the unfamiliar blonde hair to Davina's face. "I've been better," Jessi admits. "Thank you all for coming after me. Where's Dom? And Leora?"
Dom's side mission gives Jessibel time to cast another healing spell on herself and clean away the heavy bloodstains on her clothing with prestidigitation. She even takes the time to cast mending to fix the holes and tears in her clothing caused by the doghouse nails.
Leora finds Jenni and Kathie watching the proceedings from afar near the north end of the park and gives them the message to beware more CCG visitors in the near future. The invisible cleric rejoins the main concentration of Silver Ravens just as Dom jogs up. Off in the distance, mainly to the south, whistles begin to sound: It appears that the dottari have been informed of the escape and are closing in!
Jessibel and Leora lead the party west into Old Kintargo, to a nondescript building with a pole near its door into which have been pounded four rusty nails and a handful of wolves' teeth. The whistles seem more distant now.
Inside, the tavern's a bit more homey but dim, most of its light filtering in through yellowing windows in the south and northwest walls augmented by feeble lanterns burning on a few of the thirteen tables scattered throughout the place. A short middle-aged human woman with a short boyish haircut greets your party as you enter, saying that since you've come too late for lunch and too early for post-work/pre-curfew drinking, you've pretty much got the run of the place to yourselves. Indeed, only two ragged men sit at the bar drinking and chatting with the straw-haired barkeep. The woman recognizes Jessi and Leora by sight (though not by name), saying, "I remember you two! Came here with those handsome Vashnarstill lads a few weeks back! Good to see you again! Just in for a bite and some drinks or will you be staying for the evening?"
Leora remembers the woman's name is Setrona Sabinus, and that she owns the tavern. From what you recall of that night a few weeks back, she's not a Thrune loyalist.
T'chazzar, meanwhile is holding his head; his eyes seem to have trouble focusing. "Stupid concussion," he grumbles.
"Where is Dom?" he asks. "Damn it. We can't stay here. The rest of the Queensmen will be descending in force. Which way did he go?"
"Am here." Dukkan approaches the rest of the group. "Apologies, I had to have a little talk with a man about being a good Kintargan." He holds up his hands, noting their darker-than-usual complexion. "Miss Jessibel, I hate to ask anything of you right now, but could you help me get some of this gunk off my arms and face?"
"Of course. Presto-Cleano! It's what I do!"
"Remind me to tell the girls at the OHS what a great job they did on your mask! I thought it looked formidable on its own, but matched with the falcata and all those muscles...yeah: It works!"
T'chazzar does not ask for Jessi to clean off his make-up. "Let's go, then. We should make sure to cross water, in case they bring hounds to try to follow our scent. Dom, is there a water way we can cross? Even a simple canal will do, as long as we get our boots wet."
"Glad to see you are feeling better Jess."
As she sees the greeting of the bartender she raises an eyebrow. So this is where they went on their night out.
"Staying the night is a good idea." Davina suggests to the group. "What do you all think. We need to rest and stay low."
With having finally reached safety, fr the moment, Falina released her grip on Jessi and took a seat. Whether the young woman realized who she was or not yet was unknown and she decided to keep it that way for now. When Leora asked her question Jessi agreed and said, "Yes, I agree we should rest up for now. I don't think going out into the streets again right now is a good idea. Better to lay low and rest."
"Spasi-"
Domitius stops a moment, composes himself, and resumes in Taldane. "Thanks, Jess. I hate bothering you with that right now, but this stuff is a pain to get off."
A bit frazzled, Dom throws up his hands. "If dogs pursue us, let them come."
"No sense giving the Queensmen extra help," says T'chazzar. "Just make sure to throw your scent if possible by going through a few puddles or runoff rivulets."
A dottari patrol enters the tavern about an hour later, but after a quick glance at the patrons and a word with the proprietress, they leave.
Turns out they were looking for some mad orc that caused trouble near Aria Park earlier in the day; none of those to be found in the establishment, thankfully. The place livens and fills up more as the day draws to its end, and at last call, most of the other patrons head out to be home before the curfew starts.
Setrona's assistant begins to set up cots in one corner of the common room for those who are staying overnight while the short woman keeps serving food and drink to those who want it. At one point, the woman brings a replacement pitcher to your group's table and mentions the incident in Aria Park. "Damned shame what happened to those poor Queensmen, huh?" Setrona says, a gleeful shine in her eyes. "Such kind, fair, and understanding citizens. Makes me proud to be a fellow Kintargan." This time, the short woman rolls her eyes.
"If you folks need anything else, just ask."
"Yes it's a real shame. Poor things. I"m sure they are just misunderstood men who aren't at all drunk on the little power they've been given." Nina tries to keep a straight face.
"Before you go. Have you heard any interesting rumors lately? A busy place like this must hear all the latest."
Dom does a middling job of hiding a self-satisfied grin behind his mug at Setrona's comment.