Taking swing at the cultist that just jumped onto the table, following his swing Brandark attempts to put him down.
[dice=Fort]1d20+2 Feeling the sting of the bolt Elektra still keeps her concentration, finishing the spell with a certain elegance
[dice=Conc]1d20+13
The two small earth elementals appear close to the thieves and charge them.
.
Then Elektra starts again to summon another monster after a 5.foot so that she is out of line of sight of the leader.
Round Four and start of Round Five
The first Cultist is killed when the fifth one falls upon him.
The second and seventh Cultist give Garrath a poke. But the affect was not nearly as severe without sneak attacks.
The third and eighth Cultist miss Brandark as though a divine hand thwarted their thrust.
Brandark slashes his axe into the third Cultist as it tries to get to the Dwarf over an exquisitely apholster plush couch.
The sixth one just sits cross-legged in the pit.
The Tien-looking woman fires a hand crossbow bolt at Elektra. It strikes. The poison on the bolt courses through the Elven Mages's veins.
The strike, however, was not enough to shake Elektra's concentration. Two Earth Elementals appear and charge two of the Cultist. The first one's attack just missed the nimble Cultist. The second one did manage to slam into the second Cultist.
Elektra begins to weave another spell.
Brandark continues to attack the third Cultist. His next hastened blow causes the Cultist to bend over in pain. As the Cultist bends over, Brandark's axe removes the Cultist's head from its body. The head, trailing blood, flies across the room. Elektra is not amused by the mess.
But wait, Brandark is not finished. As the headless corpse of the third Cultist slowly falls to the ground, the quick Dwarf strikes a blow against the eighth Cultist.
Garrath's hastened first attack was just enough to drop the second Cultist. His hastened second main attack just missed the fourth Cultist, but his standard second attack draws first blood on the Cultist.
Stone brings on Divine healing to Brandark.
Round Five
As Kelvin turns invisible, the hurt eighth Cultists attempts to poke him with its rapier.
H'reft i Slavgeth! Aghovim Lamashtu hash'tk," the woman's speaks in a foul and gutteral tongue.
The fourth Cultists continues to attack Garrath.
As Garrath is occupied with the fourth Cultist, the eighth Cultist sees an opportunity. He takes a five-foot step and sneaks an attack on the big barbarian.
Siezing on eights manuvre, the seventh Cultist also attacks the flanked Barbarian.
The Tien-looking woman drinks a potion and disappears.
Invisible Kelvin turns visible again as he sneak attacks the man he is flanking with Garrath.
With a final wave of her hand Elektra summons another elemental.
Touching herself to give her some insight in the future and to help her battle the poison Elektra directs her elementals.
This one runs toward the closest thief and slams into him.
The other two elementals move into flanking position and pummel the Lamashtunians.
With a bloody grin I told you it was our turn, you sorry sons of orcs
He swiftly reslings his shield and grips his axe.
Round Five continues
The Cultists are prompted to continue the fight. They focus again on the big Shoanti. Shoanti are known as the fiercest warriors. They recognize Garrath as the biggest threat. They manage to stick him, but not enough to drop the big warrior.
Elektra summons in another Earth Elemental. It charges one of the Cultist, but the lumbering entity misses its target.
Another Earth Elemental slams into the seventh Cultist dealing the first blow against that enemy.
The other Earth Elemental was too slow to land a blow against its more agile foe.
Brandark lands a blow against the eighth Cultist. Then with a flanking advantage a second hasted blow, killing the devotee of Evil. Its body falls into a wrecked bloody mess.
Seeing the brutal strikes Brandark delivered, the Cultist opposite the eighth drops his rapier and raises its hands. The other Cultist, not in the pit, does the same. The one in the pit just sits there. The woman is out of sight.
Garrath lets out a loud laugh, looking at one of the cultists, "It is good to finally be allowed to play, no?" He then proceeds to lay into the men with his Greatsword.
Round Five complete and Round Six start.
Garrath hits the fourth Cultists. It becomes staggered and as it begins to fall, Kelvin's stikes a fatal blow .
The seventh Cultists manages to dodge Garrath's attacks.
Stone channels healing making sure to leave the second, fifth and seventh Cultists unaffected by the healing.
The seventh Cultists begs to be spared.
The woman remains out of sight.
Aye, but they deserve one chance to show that they have learned from their errors.
Brandark moves over towards the standing cultists.
Drop your weapons, or he will hit you.
Waving his bloodied axe roughly towards Garrath.
he then looks around.
did anyone see where the boss of these people went?
Elektra will note in the low-light of the darkness outside, a crowd of curious on-lookers at the front gates.
Garrath grins, spitting out a gobbet of blood, he squeezes the handle of his greatsword with both hands till it creaks, making the muscles on his forearms bulge. "I really hope you resist. I was just starting to enjoy all this." The words coming out in a growl.
"We need a few volunteers for the city guards, also, I want to know more about the tiefling!"
"We need a few volunteers for the city guards, also, I want to know more about the tien!"
As the party is securing the remaining Cultist, a woman wearing a blue coat, chain shirt with crossbow raised, peers inside the neglected Estate, "What is going on here?" The woman has short red hair and an abundance of freckles upon her face. Behind her are three men in blue uniforms. Their coats are not nearly as fine as that of the woman's.
Garrath relaxes a bit now that the authorities are here, and steps away from the cultists. He fumbles at his belt pouch for a potion bottle and drinks it. "These will make good scars to show our victory, but I will need time to heal before I can fight more."
As he said, these are cultists of Lamashtu, and they were squatting here.
Brandark fishes the mentioned letter of introduction out, and passes it to the guardswoman.
While she is reading it, he cleans his axe off, and scabbards it.
"Mylady, we are visitors to your great city, and are unknown to your customs. We apologize. But we were allowed to stay here by the owners, and when we entered we found a foul cult. And they attacked us. We had to defend ourselves! Not that we have any problem to attack cultist of one of the foulest gods. I mean before her apotheosis the mother of beasts was a demon lord. Or something else useless and foul!"
In short precise words Elektra tries to explain the situation.
The guard captain looks at the party, "No one is going anywhere until we sort this out." The captain looks at the letter of introduction, "It looks in order, but I am not one to say."
At about that time, the party hears, "Let me through. Out of my way," The voice is big and bombastic. A rotund man in a multicolored silk gown with matching nightcap and slippers comes forward. He looks at the guard captain, "Is it safe?"
"Yes, sir. I believe it is. This party had this document," the guard captain hands the document over to the rotund man.
The rotund man quickly reads the document. He snorts, "Throw them all in the Hells. We'll condemn this property to the city tomorrow. I was just about to get to sleep." The rotund man appears annoyed.
A more familiar voice is heard, "Your excellency Lord Mayor," a young woman pushes her way to just inside the villa. "Do you know who they are? They are the Heroes of Sandpoint."
The Lord Mayor pauses, then looks the party over, "That is different then." The rotund man immediately calms down. He looks at the party and asks, "What has happened here?"
As the party begins to explain everything yet again, a stately Elf in a heavy colorful robe with cloak enters. The Lord Mayor looks at the Elf an exclaims, "Ironbriar!" The two chat quietly amongst each other.
Then the Elf says out loud, "Lord Mayor, these heroes have discovered the cult comitting all the murders. It is time to thank them and celebrate."
The Lord Mayor thinks about it and smiles. Relief comes over his face. He once again looks at the letter of introduction, then looks back at the party, "It looks like we owe you our thanks. Ameiko makes the best curried Salmon." The Lord Mayor thinks on reflection, then addresses the party, "You can stay, but only if you agree to restore this villa to its former glory. Also, while you are in Magnimar, you report only to me. Understood?"
Devora Heidmarch is good at tracking and following people. Her ability to turn invisible helps this. After the party left her, she did not return home as presumed. She continued to follow the party at a good distance.
When the party entered the villa and a fight ensued, Devora alerted a nearby City Guardsmen. That Guardsmen went to the Captain of the Guard. The Captain was near the Lord Mayor's estate not far from the Kaijitsu Villa. He brought a couple more Guardsmen to the scene. The Captain made quick work of the locked gate and entered.
The curious and often bored citizens of Magnimar began to crowd around the activity. This brought the Lord Mayor and some other nearby dignitaries to the scene.
You and the guard will soon learn that the Cultists captured were more or less not devotees of Lamashtu, but smitten by Choco. You will indeed find that the woman is a Tiefling, cleverly disguised as a Tien Woman. She is an exotic beauty that recruited and then trained some of Magnimar's local thieves and thugs. These miscreants became enamored with Choco. Ameiko's father had become equally smitten by this imposter. So much so, he gave Choco the run of the Estate. But gardening and house cleaning were of no interest to Choco. She sent her little band to break in to the homes of the wealthy to take their prized art pieces.
Later the party and the guards will soon discover a room full of art objects in the villa. These pieces will be collected by the Guardsmen.
The party will see that animals, mostly goats and boars, were slaughtered in the vast kitchen. No human remains were found.
Brandark slowly reaches for his axe when the mayor states that we should be thrown in cells, but relaxes when he changes his edict.
Aye, we can be cleaning this place up, as the least we can do for lady Ameiko
With all the commotion, it was only later that it was discovered that Kelvin was gone. No one even noticed that he left.
"Farewell my friend. My the sun shine on all dark places that you walk!"
"These cages are from a place in Magnimar, Pug’s Contraptions. I guess with that note, we should be heading there after we finish here."
The Captain of the Guard approaches the party, "To the victor goes the spoils." All valuables are stripped from the Cultist.
The Captain sends off one of her guardsmen. A little later he comes back with a cart. They work to remove the bodies and gather the art objects. The Lord Mayor, dignitaries, and the crowd begins to disperse.
The Captain again approaches the party, "I am Acacia Uriana, Watch Captain stationed at the Arvensoar. Frequent murders have terrorized the city. The leader of this Cult is still at large. You have seen her. What does she look like?"
Well met but I am afraid that I did not get a clear look at her.
"Let me show you!"
And with a quick incantation Elektra casts silent image... in the likeness of the leader.
"Thank you. That will be helpful. Tomorrow, I would like to gather some of the guardsmen. Could you show them this image? If so, I will call on you tomorrow," The Captain was impressed with Elektra's ability.