"You bastards! You will pay for that, all of you!" Regis shouts as the still twitching body of Black Fin's victim hits the boardwalk.
With terrible precision and force, he grabs his greatclub with both hands, and slams it into Alarien's solar plexus, in a strike meant to hurt without harming. The blow completely drives the air out of the elven fighter, and she feels her resolve melt away as she struggles to stay conscious.
The last remaining thug looks pale at the close proximity to the deadly dinosaur, but his aim is solid none the less, as he sends a bolt straight into Black Fin's exposed flank.
Realizing the shot is not enough to drop the dinosaur, the man drops his crossbow and draws his cudgel.
Round 2
With injuries on both sides, the dockside brawl is far from concluded.
Initiative
Harroan - 21
Alarien - 19+
Nub - 19
Thug #1 - 18
Thug #4 - 17
Thug #3 - 15+
Vasrik/Black Fin - 15
Bellamin - 11
Cordell - 10
Regis - 9
Thug #2 - 8
Active effects
Cordell - Shield of Faith - expires round 3
Alarien - Shaken until round 5
Gasping for breath, Alarien stumbles back a step She brings her guard back up as she wills herself to remain conscious.
Seeing the punk at J9 still in the fight, Nub quickly reloads and fires his crossbow again.
Crossbow attack:
Damage:
Harroan scrambles forward, gathering a flame in his hands. The pain of the crossbow bolt is almost a faint memory thanks to Vasrik's healing magic. At the last minute, he performs the rapid mental calculations to modify the spell and turn it from flame to ice - as he doesn't want to light the dock aflame. He launches out a peal of icy wind - though not even close to his maximum potential - that frosts both the leader and one of the thugs. His tattoos begin to glow just a bit with the orange glow of the flames mixed with the blue of the ice.
Gritting her teeth, Alarien growls out, "That...hurt." Aware that she's teetering on the brink of consciousness, she lunges forward again, delivering a powerful backhanded slash that cuts deeply into the thug leader's shoulder. I'll not go down without a fight....
Occupied with fighting Alarien, Regis catches the full brunt of Harroan's blast, while the thug is able to sidestep the worst of the frosty flames. Regis grunts in pain as Alarien takes advantage of his distraction and cuts him deep.
Nub's bolt goes wide, but so does the one the thug on the pier returns at him.
The thug closest to Alarien drops his crossbow and rushes in to aid his leader, drawing his club along the way. His wild swing is easy for the nible elf to evade, even in her injured state.
Regis grunts in pain as Alarien takes advantage of his distraction and cuts him deep.
Admiring the handiwork of the allied beast as Bellamin's intended target flops to the ground, the dwarf turns quickly to assist Alarien.
Moving adjacent Alarien, the cleric steadies the elf while casting Calming Touch.
The shaken condition is also removed.
Hoping to give Alarien a moment to collect herself and temporarily redirect Regis' wrath, Bellamin locks eyes with the thug leader, I've met many like you, cowards at heart. Come this way, pointing at this chest.
The man with the wild helm races forward, adding his momentum to the force of his talon-spear as it flies from his hand.
-----
Meanwhile, the crocodile-like thing continues to try to run down everyone Vasrik seemingly points at.
-----
. . . the cleric steadies the elf while casting Calming Touch. . .
Cordell finally reaches the fray, charging Regis head on in an attempt to draw his attention away from Alarien.
for damage.
Hit - potential crit
Fail
- confirmed
nonlethal - applies. Black Fin takes 17 non-lethal dmg and 3 lethal dmg. Current hp 6, unconscious, prone.
Vasrik's throw impales the already injured thug, dropping him to the ground. Black Fin tries to close his jaws around Regis' waist, but his teeth fail to penetrate the well made chain shirt.
Bellamin moves next to Alarien, healing her. He inadvertently blocks Cordell's charge, but the half-elf manages to move past him at jab at him, but with no more success than Black Fin.
With enemies on all sides, Regis spins and delivers a brutal blow to Black Fin. The momentum of the spin drives the blackwood club into the dinosaur's skull with a sickening thump, and the beast collapses.
Satisfied that he has one less enemy to deal with, Regis falls back to stand side by side with the thug standing by the dockside, where he can't easily be flanked again.
"Finish off the elf wench, then we'll pound the rest into submission one by one!" he orders he remaining men.
Round 3
Initiative
Harroan - 21
Alarien - 19+
Nub - 19
Thug #1 - 18
Thug #4 - 17
Thug #3 - 15+
Vasrik/Black Fin - 15
Bellamin - 11
Cordell - 10
Regis - 9
Thug #2 - 8
Active effects
Cordell - Shield of Faith - expires round 3
Harroan steps forward while reciting his early lessons in his mind. Evocation - the act of harnessing the basic, primal forces of magic - had always come easily to him. So easily, in fact, that shifting a synaptic connection just slightly could drastically change a spell and make fire turn to ice - or lightning. His hands spurt a cone of electrical energy at the nearest two enforcers, forcing the energy from one form of raw power to another. It covers them, taking the path of least resistance through their bodies, through their ungrounded feet, and into the dock itself. He doesn't say a word as he simply cycles through the remaining spells that he has the mental capacity to cast before resting.
Seeing the chaos of the fighting crowd in front of him, Nub will continue to trade crossbow fire with the outlier thug, hoping to keep him occupied or out of the fight for good.
Crossbow attack: potential crit!
Damage:
Roll to confirm crit: Woohoo! Take that, punk!
Extra Damage:
"Oh, no! You'll not escape my blade quite that easily!" Alarien calls, though she hesitates a few heartbeats before following after her opponent.
This time, Regis is ready for Harroan's barrage of arcane energy, and manages to avoid some of the damage. His companion is not so fortunate. He collapses with a shriek, cooked from the inside by the electricity.
A heartbeat later, Nub puts a bolt through the eye of the last thug, leaving the badly injured Regis alone to face the Water Wraith's able defenders.
Although briefly hesitating, as if in indecision, Bellamin reaches out again to Alarien.
Feeling the throbbing in her ribs significantly decrease, Alarien chases after Regis, feinting and jabbing until she thinks she sees an opening. Taking it, her blade slips in under his guard.
-----
After first shooting Cordell a quick look, hoping the bear-like barrister will intuitively understand, Vasrik is on the move. He only hopes that in the frenzy of the melee, Regis will miss it.
Then, silently stalking like a serpent he quietly slides in behind Regis, waiting for the exact right moment to announce his presence to creat a distraction. Vasrik wants nothing more than to race to Black Fin's aid, but first this battle must end.
-----
Cordell, who was looking in entirely the wrong direction, misses Vasrik's look, but gets his message. He snakes around Alarien, seeking out the positioning advantage.
for .
With a masterful feint, Alarien slips her blade past Regis' defenses, only to feel it scrape against his chain shirt.
But the confusion of enemies all around him is enough to distract the big brute long enough for Cordell to find an opening. The aklys slams into Regis' skull, sending him sprawling in a raqpidly expanding pool of his own blood.
With the last of the masked priest's henchmen defeated, the dock goes eerily quiet. The few dock workers present fled at the first sign of trouble, and besides the crew of the Water Wraith, there is not a living soul to be seen.
"Well done!! Now, get those crates on the deck and we'll double-time out of here before more of those goons show up."
"Aye, we'll not want to stick around much longer," Alarien says, taking a moment to wipe the blood off her blade onto Regis' clothing before resheathing it. She moves to help load the final crates.
Vasrik immediately moves to make sure Black Fin is OK. Once he sees he is unconscious but breathing and stable he then attempts to tend to Regis.
-----
("fails")
("fails")
("fails")
("also fails")
("success")
"I am sorry, at least you are free from these priests you fear so much."
"You have a chance for another life my friend, may you learn to govern yourself more wisely than I have."
He then recovers his short-spear from the body of one of the thugs. He will also roll the thugs into the water. But if the Captain or his comrades are getting overly agitated, he'll skip that part.
"Unless there's some spare healing available, I may need some help loading Black Fin on to the boat," Vasrik says looking around for assistance.
Looking around impressively at the group, Bellamin then moves toward the dinosaur.
This is probably easier than trying to lift the beast.
Bellamin kneels down beside the animal and whispers, speaking softly.
With the fight over and adrenaline still coursing through his body, Nub stands up from his crouched position and shakingly advances towards his adversary to collect his bolts and quickly check the body for anything useful. As he nears the central carnage his senses become overloaded with all that has happened in the last minute. He collapses to his knees and promptly loses his meager breakfast over the side of the dock.
Cordell's glances uneasily up and down the street to see if the fight drew any attention, or to see if anybody else was watching. His first thought is, bizarrely, I hope none of my clients saw that. He shakes the thought away as quickly as it came. There are no clients anymore. These are my clients.
He looks at his new companions with an appreciative eye and hurries over to Black Fin to tend to the poor(?) dinosaur. I'm a little rusty at this. I hope it works right.
Regaining consciousness with the infusion of magical energies, Black Fin affectionately rubs his crocodilian head against Axeager and Drummond.
-----
With the fight over and adrenaline still coursing through his body, Nub stands up from his crouched position and shakingly advances towards his adversary to collect his bolts and quickly check the body for anything useful. As he nears the central carnage his senses become overloaded with all that has happened in the last minute. He collapses to his knees and promptly loses his meager breakfast over the side of the dock.
-
-----
"Our thanks!" says the Sauromancer to the healers.
Seeing Black Fin suddenly up and looking alert, Vasrik decides the best thing to do is to try to put the dinosaur to work to distract him from the blood.
"Tolo-Tolo!" he says pointing to the crates and guesturing towards the ship's plank.
Cordell gives Black Fin a wary pat on the head, taking care to avoid the spikes. After Black Fin doesn't bite him and embraces the sensation of being petted, Cordell relaxes a bit and turns to finish up with the thugs. This turns out to be an error in his thinking, as Black Fin will decide when Black Fin is done being petted, and now is not that time.
Fortunately for Cordell, it's not too long before the Sauromancer calls Black Fin away. This allows Cordell to seize Regis's greatclub and one crossbow (with bolts) as an afterthought before following the dinosaur over to the crates and loading them onto the boat as quickly as he can manage.
Cordell claims the masterwork darkwood greatclub and a light crossbow.
The three crates are swiftly loaded without further disturbance, and the Water Wraith is ready for departure.
Cordell claims the masterwork darkwood greatclub and a light crossbow.
The three crates are swiftly loaded without further disturbance, and the Water Wraith is ready for departure.
With the fight over and adrenaline still coursing through his body, Nub stands up from his crouched position and shakingly advances towards his adversary to collect his bolts and quickly check the body for anything useful. As he nears the central carnage his senses become overloaded with all that has happened in the last minute. He collapses to his knees and promptly loses his meager breakfast over the side of the dock.-
I think Nub is searching at least one thug. Time permitting, Vasrik is also searching the bodies, Regis included--at least until the Captain starts hollering or someone else such as the watch approaches. I believe Cordell is keeping an eye out.
By the way, is did Regis die, or was Vasrik's Heal check to stabilize within time?
Nevermind that last question, I missed the upates in the discussion thread...
Angry with himself at showing such weakness around his older and more experienced comrades, Nub gathers his resolve and approaches the dead crossbowman. Nub looks at the ruined face and truly realizes for the first time that he has taken a path considerably more dangerous than drudging away in the kitchens of some self-important guild. This body could easily have been him. May even be him in the very near future. He whispers a quick prayer to the spirit of the mother he never knew for any continued protection she may offer and bends down to retrieve the thug's crossbow and quarrels. He can't bring himself to remove the one protruding from the corpse. He quickly checks the man's belt and tunic for anything of value, and then gently rolls the body into the water.
- Crossbow + 10-12 bolts
- Club
- Padded armor (takes a few minutes to remove)
- Potion of cure light wounds
- 10 gp
- Mwk darkwood club (taken by Cordell)
- Mwk chain shirt (takes a few minutes to remove)
- Cestus
- Pilum (5)
- Dagger
- Potion of cure light wounds (2)
- 13 gp
Alarien returns from helping to load the crates. Looking the bodies over, she makes a note of the various usable items. She takes a few minutes to remove Regis' chainmail shirt, wrinkling her nose in distaste as she touches the man's corpse to do so. She also takes the two potion vials from Regis' corpse and the gold from his pouch before rolling his body closer to the waters with her foot.
The elven swordmaster repeats the process with the two thugs Nub hasn't reached, removing the gold from their belt pouches and the potion vials from their belts.
Regis' chain shirt clasped in her arms, she then rejoins the rest of the party. "There might be a few more useful items on them, but I've grabbed the potions and this shirt of mail. Anyone object to me keeping two of the potions and the mail? It's a lightweight shirt, which would be beneficial for me, and I expect I'll be the one most in need of healing potions--at least a couple of us are spellcasters of some sort."
She glances at Nub, then adds, "Perhaps the cook with a few arcane tricks could use a potion, and Cordell and Vasrik the last two potions?"
Nub will take the spare crossbow and bolts to store on the boat. He will pocket the 10gp and potion and wordlessly help load any remaining cargo, proceeding on to the boat at the direction of the captain.
Cordell's first priority is to get the crates loaded, working with Alarien and Black Fin. He bids a hurried goodbye to Harroan. Thank you for your assistance, and good luck. All the time, he keeps a concerned eye out for backup that the priests might have sent for Regis and his boys.
Then he spies the wholesale looting of the thugs. He stares, dumbstruck for a moment. Going through their pockets hadn't even occurred to him, much less divesting them of their clothing. I guess it should have. It's what hired muscle does, right? After another moment's hesitation, he joins Alarien and Nub in divesting them of their valuables, if only to speed the Water Wraith's escape. I suppose they won't need them. He thinks as he watches Nub roll his thug into the sea.
Might, uhm, some of these fellows still be alive? Cordell asks anxiously, before they're all rolled into certain death. We should get a move on. The Captain's waiting.
-----
Vasrik nods in agreement to Cordell's suggestion that they had best hurry.
As the group swiftly gathers the various items off the dead and dying thugs, captain Drumbarrel and Toran secure the crates and loosen the moorings. As soon as everyone are on board, they push off, and soon the Water Wraith is headed out of Xer towards the open river. Only Harroan elects to stay behind, presumably more than a little concerned by his close brush with death from the crossbow wound.
"Good job everyone. And feel no pity for those mongrels. Each one in that group chose to do the masked priests dirty work, earning their coin by brutalizing the honest and hard working. I say we left Xer with a few less dock rats, is all. Now, let's hope we have smooth sailing all the way to Tymon!" captain Drumbarrel says as Xer shrinks in the distance.