Devon grunts in pain from the guard's blow, but lashes out at the fleeing Dwarf before stepping into the other guard.
HP- 8/13
Dantes will also double move after the fleeing dwarf, a string of colorful dwarven obscenities left in his wake.
Marius draws the longsword and frowns down at it, before moving up to flank the human guard. 'This thing is too damn long...'
"Don't move and ya wont get hurt... Much..." Marius grins and laughs softly.
Lyrysa also runs to the top of the stairs, hoping to stall the dwarf with a spell.
Grumblejack, annoyed to see his quarry fleeing, attempts to hit him one last time.
Seeing the dwarf has fled Grumblejack turns his attention to the other guard. "Stupid tiny man." he mumbles as he tries to strike.
As Ezekiel sprints by the other guard takes a swipe, but in doing so fails to keep his own defenses up, taking a nasty slash from Devon before being felled by Grumblejack's mighty fist.
[ooc]AoO: For
The dwarf slows at Lyrysa's spell but seems to shake it off, continuing down the long flight of stairs but drawing attacks from those near him.
AoO on the dwarven guard:
To hit
Damage
Possible crit
Damage
Round 3.
If that doesn't finish him, Dantes will attack again.
To hit
Damage
Otherwise, he'll drag the fallen dwarf back to the others.
Dantes is able to knock the dwarf down and drag him back to the rest of the group.
The dwarf having repelled Lyrysa's spell, she considers her options for a moment. In this moment, Dantes strike fells the dwarf, blood splattering across Lyrysa. She is taken aback by the gruesome display, but quickly recovers, her mind focused by her lessons.
Glancing over at the other guard, surrounded by her allies of convenience, she glances down the stairs. "I hope he didn't alert anyone else," she mutters under her breath as she listens for any sounds below before taking a step back and readying the bow she had recovered.
Sleven stands amidst the chaos seeing the efficiency of his allies. His keen eyes scanning the room for any other available weapons or tools, and listening for any indication of disturbance.
Perception
Ezekiel lets out a calm sigh before he speaks. "That should take care of things for now. Let's get these guys out of the way, shall we?"
He begins dragging the guards out of easy sight of the door and stairs, and starts checking them over.
Marius stretches slowly, looking around. "So what now?"
After waiting a moment it seems the guard has alerted no one. Good thing the room below is simply a stairwell with no one in it and a closed door. There is only a small table and two chairs lit by a roaring fire in this room.
2 Longswords
2 Daggers
2 Heavy Steel Shields
2 Longbows
20 Arrows
2 Keys
"Ah, well worth the effort." Devon says as he helps himself to a chain shirt and longbow. "There. Now we are a little more formidable."
HP 8/13
Claiming another quiver of arrows and a longsword, Ezekiel looks at everyone else. "Better get what you need. We might run into trouble later."
Marius nods softly, retrieving his dagger and adding a second, just for good measure. "Lets hope formidable enough to get out of here alive!"
Dantes will return the keyring to Slevin and offer a set to Lyrysa, keeping the last for himself. He’ll gladly claim the chain shirt from the fallen dwarf. He’ll carry the last longbow (though currently without arrows; the quiver from that fallen guard going to Ezekiel. That leaves unclaimed by PCs: 1 longsword, 1 dagger and 3 heavy steel shields. Dantes will carry them if not claimed by others.
Again, correct me if I am wrong.
Slevin: Chain shirt, keyring.
Marius: Chain shirt, longsword, club, keyring.
Dantes: Heavy steel shield, longsword, club, longbow, chain shirt.
Ezekiel: longbow, 40 arrows longsword.
Lyrysa: longbow, 20 arrows, keyring.
Devon: Chain shirt, longbow, 20 arrows.
Unclaimed: longsword, dagger, 3 heavy steel shields.
Note: This is only listing what we got from the guards, not what came from our benefactor on the magical handkerchief.
Slevin picks up the second dagger adding it to the one already in his possession.
"Ok, next step is the big distraction that allows us to leave, either a good place to start a fire, like guard quarters or somwhere they'd store oil. We could also hit the Warden's tower, but likely to have to fight the way out of there."
"Sounds like a plan. The fire I mean. We could do the Wardens Tower I suppose. Could be gold and stuff!"
The door at the botoom of the stairs leads to the grandiose but mostly bare entrance hall. Two guards stand watch here, but perhaps 'standing watch' is too nice a term, as they both seem to be quite drunk and sharing stories as they sit calmly on the stone ground. You remember from being dragged through here that the double doors at the other side of the hall lead out into the courtyard. There are also two doors in the left wall and one in the right.
"I think..." Marius frowns for a second then smiles. "Yes. Dantes you are with me. Everyone else... Wait here. Back me up if things go south!"
To Dantes he whispers, "Head down. Follow my lead and let me do most of the talking!"
Marius strolls in to the room and towards the guards, keeping his head down and his hand resting over his sword hilt in a self important manner.
"What in the name of the Gods is this? You men are blind drunk! You are damn lucky we are here. If the Warden had caught you... Well let us not speak of that! Go to the Guard Room and sober the hell up or you'll regret it. Now. We will take our shifts early, but you owe us!"
"Very clever plan, Marius." Ezekiel smiles softly and turns to the rest of the group. "I think we need to get the ogre out of immediate sight. Grumblejack, can you go back into the cell block for a moment? Slevin, Devon, do you think you can ready yourselves beside the stair? I think our new guests will be needing some sharp 'assistance' getting up. I'll be waiting in the corner to peg them."
Ezekiel moves to the corner across the room from the stair, and readies himself to shoot some guards.
Lyrysa looks at the remains of her last arrow. "Archery is not exactly my forte despite my heritage, but my limited selection of spells my best be served in case of an emergency."
"Not to mention I have no idea when I'll be able to replenish them. Damn them for taking my spellbook." She thinks to herself as she takes her own position in the hallway, bow at the ready.
The guards look shocked at Marius and Dantes for a moment... then burst out laughing. "Oh boy... you recruits..." One starts, before dissolving into giggles once more. "Look sonny, you may have been at more strict duties than us, but let me straighten it out. The old Warden would have snapped our necks for looking sideways at alchohol on duty, but Warden Richter? That damn wizard just sits in his tower and pets his owl." The other pulls his laughter long enough to slur out, "Pets his owl? PETS HIS OWL!!" He howls with more laughter and a very... suggestive motion. They both laugh for a long time, before calming a bit. "Look rookie, you want to take up your post early then be my guest." He steps away a bit before turning back. "Oh... here," He passes you a signal horn. "Just in case... Also, if you get bored, Blackerly has a card game in the gatehouse. Some say he's rigged it but I won a few coins the other day, might want to check it out." The two head through the door on the right, still laughing and slapping each other on the back.
Laughing softly to himself, Marius walks to the door, taking out his longsword and using it to wedge the door closed, as best he can. "By the Gods..." Sighing he gestures over his shoulder at the others, signalling them to move on his position.
"That was too easy. I am worried now. Oh well... May as well move while we can huh?" He smiles, looking at Dantes.
Slevin smiles at what he overhears.
Want to make a trip up tho the warden's tower and get yourself a spellbook? he whispers to Lyrysa. "With half the guards drunk or playing cards shouldn't be too hard."
"Sounds like you know how to treat a girl to a good time." Lyrysa smiles coyly.
The slightly dim-witted Dantes goes along with the ruse that Marius pulls off with such elegance. He nods eagerly at his suggestion they move on, afraid to speak for fear of jinxing their luck so far.
"Obviously they won't have anyone coming by here for a few hours. Let's head up and kill the bastard who runs this place, show him what he deserves."
Slevin grins, "Besides,I'm sure there's something in a wizard's tower worth the trouble. Let's show them they chose the wrong people this time."
Slevin makes to lead the group to the warden's tower.
Marius laughs softly and practically skips towards the door. "Killing a Wizard sounds like fun. Team building and all that!" He grinned around the group, before pushing the doors open.
"Plus I wan't gold and I bet there is loads up there. I can hear it from here!"
The group emerges into the early night prison courtyard, seeing across from them a large and intimidating fountain, the centerpiece of which is a statue of the Mitran pantheon’s patron saint of law and order -- St. Dothan the Just. In his outstretched hand is a sword that points to the Prison Hall. At the base of his statue is an inscription: “Thus is justice done.” Beyond this, on the wall near the gatehouse, is a small building with bars, likely a kennel for dogs. Behind the Prison Hall rises the Warden's Tower, though Tower seems a bit lacking in a name as it's only 3 large stories.
"I can't fault the choice. I can only hope they've stored my firearm there. I'd feel a lot better with that around." Ezekiel keeps an eye out for anything suspicious as they make their way across the courtyard.
Lyrysa can't help but smile in anticipation. She hadn't known what happened to her or her stepfather's spellbooks. With any luck, this 'wizard' might just happen to have them. "I can't wait," she thinks to herself, slowly following the others. The bow she keeps an arrow notched in, just in case it's needed, unwilling to expend one of her precious spells unless it becomes necessary.
Devon moves stealthily with the others. He also has an arrow nocked and ready as he scans the courtyard for threats.
"Yes, it would be nice to leave a message for the insufferable fools that run this place." Devon whispers as they move towards the tower.
Marius slips out in to the yard, keeping his eyes open, moving between the shadows, keeping as silent as possible.
'I hope they have my blade too. I could use it instead of this damn pig sticker!' Frowning, Marius twirls the dagger across the back of his hand, as he moves.
"We should get in, kill the Wizard and take the stuff then get back here. Looks like there is a kennel there. Could set it alight on our way out. Stop them tracking us!"
"Good call."Slevin whispers, gliding across the courtyard, slipping from one shadow to the next. "Hounds are usually an annoyance."
Stealth
Perception
As you glide silently across the courtyard and around the castle, you see that the walls are lightly manned at the moment, and the guards are unlikely to tell any detail about the figures below, though an ogre sized figure might be an issue. Around the side of the prison hall you pass a small bush set aside from the rest of the small garden here.
Ahead of the group rises the Warden's Tower, and at the opening of the door you see beyond a large and ostentatious sort of chamber, containing many banners and flags. Along the walls are paintings with plaques before them, telling the story of tales and nobles not one of you recalls. It seems to be dedicated to the history of the castle. The centerpiece of this is a huge tapestry depicting people working at converting the castle, with the motto His Judgement Cometh, and That Swiftly painted along the bottom.
A set of stairs rises to the next level of the tower.
As he wanders by the plant, Ezekiel chuckles lightly. "Belladonna, my beauty, glad to see you. Come here my dear." Ezekiel swiftly grabs a few of the best specimens to work with, making a pouch out of whatever rag bits he can rip from his vestment without destroying it.
There is enough of the plant for three doses of the poison, and making it will be about as easy as brewing tea.
[dice=Appraise]1d20+9
Lyrysa looks longingly at the tapestry. "If only there was time."
"As much as I admire tapestry art, we really don't have time. Let's get inside. I don't want to stay out here much more than we have to," Ezekiel says as he puts the belladonna away. This should make for something useful. Now I just need a teapot.
"Belladona, eh?" Devon says with a wry smile as he watches Ezekiel harvest some.
"Not much use for combat, but who knows when it might be useful elsewhere. A wise choice to take advantage of."