Joanna shakes her head.
"Iomedae, protect your stupid priestess," she mutters before dropping into the sludge.
Joanna, full of hope, jumps into the cesspool to try and rescue the motionless Natalya…but, slipping on some detritus as she jumps, falls headfirst striking her head upon impact…the force of the blow sends her into a black oblivion…
Meanwhile, Natalya continues to float face down….still utterly motionless.
Seeing Zee heading down the ladder, Teldon lays down on the rafters and does his best to push the floating women over to the base of the ladder with the blunt end of his spear.
Ziomarra heads down the ladder quickly.
With a splash, she lands in the foul sewage. She hikes up her skirt so as not to let it impede her movement in the water.
"Teldon! Brianna! Nalathi! I could use some help down here!"
Wading through the stinking sludge, Zee makes her way to the unconscious Joanna, lifting her head out of the filthy liquid and pulling her to the bottom of the ladder. She props her friend in a corner so that she can breathe, then turns to head back to rescue Natalya.
She watches Joanna jump into the muck-- then land with a painful thud and drop unconscious. Uh-oh. Looks like they need my help after all. She looks around for a spare plank she can use. Then again, she adds, chuckling to herself, why wouldn't they?
Wading in the sewage up to her waist, Ziomarra pulls Joanna to safety then, leaving the filth covered priestess safely propped up, moves out to collect Natalya... who is drifting back towards her with Teldon prodding and pushing from his precarious position on the ceiling beams.
As Ziomarra and Teldon watch, Natalya's body convulses and she starts to sink...
Zee wades over to Natalya, pulling her head out of the water, and drags her over to the other corner. She props her up in a similar manner, and attempts some first aid.
Pointing at the boarded up window on the north wall of the room, Zee calls out, "Hey! Could one of you force open that window? It will be easier getting them out that way than to try to carry them over the rafters!"
Why did the cards not tell me to prepare stabilize this morning?!
Glad for an excuse not to have to jump into the muck, she runs to the window. "I'll do it!" With a running start, she tries to shoulder her small frame through the boards.
Glad for an excuse not to have to help Zee down in the muck, she sizes up the placement of the window from where she is. Hopping from beam to beam above the pool, she sees a few places she might hold onto when she reaches the window. I got this. As she reaches the last beam she deliberately falls through one of the gaps, hoping to catch the beam with her outstretched hands instead and swing herself at the boarded-up window.
"Even with both of us, I don't think we'll be able to lift Jo and her armor high enough to get her through the window," Teldon states as he begins to move, "I have a rope... I'll head outside and toss one end through the window, then Briana and I can drag her up. Just keep their heads above water and I'll be as quick as I can."
Having pulled Natalya to a safe position, Ziomarra attempts unsuccessfully to provide first aid to the fading Tower Girl…and then, after a few seconds of anxious attention, Natalya coughs up a considerable volume of contaminated water…and, although she remains unconscious, starts breathing again.
While Ziomarra focusses on Natalya, Nalathi manages to acrobatically swing from the rafters and smash the shutters on the boarded up window. Fresh air and sunlight pour into the room…the glare from the sun is positively blinding for the few seconds that it takes your eyes to adjust…but when they do, the true horror and filth of the room becomes apparent. Crouching in the window frame, several feet above the level of the cesspool, Nalathi starts to feel the cleansing rain on her skin…
"Great job, Nalathi! Could you and Teldon exit through the window? I'll bring them over, and you two can lift them out. And then we can all get the hell out of here!"
Man, I'm good at this. She smiles with satisfaction as her plan works beautifully. Clinging to the window to avoid accidentally falling backward into the dirty water, she hears Zee ask her to leave the building. She nods and jumps through to the street outside, wondering where Teldon had run off to. She doesn't even mind the rain-- it's still better than the conditions she'd just left.
Once outside, she hears the sound of Briana's voice talking to someone. Her curiosity overpowering the more pressing concern, she rounds the corner of the building to see who her ally might be talking to, the shard around her neck glinting in the sunlight.
"Nalathi? Teldon? Guys?!!"
Zee wades back to Joanna and attempts to revive her.
"Guys...?"
Moving back out towards the exit of the building, Briana quickly crosses the metal plank that acts as a bridge in the second room and is then slowed by having to slide across the wooden plank in the first room…as she moves farther from the fight, the sounds of combat diminish… Curiously, the door to the hut seems to be closed…
That's odd...I didn't think we shut the door. Maybe the wind pushed it closed?
Briana curiously approaches the door, jiggling the handle to see if it happened to lock itself...
The door opens easily as she reaches for the door handle...the relatively fresh air of outside filling her lungs after too long walking just above raw sewage... Blinking in the daylight, she become aware of people watching her...Two women, both with hair tied back in scarves and wearing loose fitting clothes, stand with crossbows loaded...in front of them, on their knees, Gregor and Piotr...
...and behind the two women, a blonde wearing polished chainmail, as you stumble from the hut, she addresses you, "No further thankyou...weapon down and hand it over". The voice is cold and as hard as steel....
Who...the Tower Girls, maybe?
"Ooookay, but let's not be too hasty. The first request, I can do," she says slowly, allowing her crossbow to drop to the ground. "But I'm afraid that your second has me a little confused. Hand over what, exactly?"
Maybe if I can stall them long enough!
Nodding as the crossbow drops into the mud, "Clever girl...that was the right decision... now...", the woman rolls her neck, massaging out stiffness...and then, wiping the rain from her brow, "Really? You just happened to come across this hut in the most derelict part of the Shadow... And you just happened to send Piotr and Gregor here packing... And then wandered in there for a look? I don't think so girl... If you've got what is ours you need to give it to me..."
The words hang in the air as the woman measures Briana up...
Briana shrugs at the woman, doing her best to keep a calm and casual demeanor. "Well okay, I'll admit to searching for Natalya and my searching led me here. I tried to make these two understand that," she says, pointing toward the two captive men, "But unfortunately they needed a stronger form of persuasion. Really though, you should probably let them go, after the day they've had." She attempts to give the woman an innocent look. "I'm afraid I'm not sure what you're looking for. I'm only here out of concern for Natalya's safety."
Come on guys, hurry up...
"Any friend of Natalya's is no friend of the Tower Girls", the woman sneers, "Kneel!!! And put your hands in the air where I can see them!!!"
The woman pulls her short sword....steel rings against leather as she withdraws it from it's sheath...and striding to the door, she asks, "How many of you are there?"
"Okay, okay, we should all try and keep calm about this," Briana offers, doing as the woman asks. "So you're the Tower Girls? I'd heard that Natalya operated with you, but didn't realize that there was a falling out! You're here looking for something so I'm assuming that she stole it from you," she says, nodding knowingly. "Oh and there's um...one, two, three..." she begins slowly counting with her fingers, keeping both hands visible.
Above the rumble of thunder overhead, the sound of splintering wood comes from somewhere beyond the building... The woman, somehow, seems oblivious...
"Good....keep those little hands up in the air...where we can see them", the woman carries on walking past and then, from behind her, Briana hears the door of the hut slam shut again...moments later, the woman sashays back to her position alongside her 'colleagues'. "Now... Try again, how many of you are there? And...is Natalya in there?"
...it is clear from the woman's demeanour, her voice and her stance, she feels totally in control of the situation...
"Oh...about six or seven. As far as whether Natalya is in there or not, I'm not sure - they sent me to keep an eye on the outside," Briana says cheerfully. "Maybe she is or maybe she heard the ruckus we made when we were negotiating with Gregor and Piotr there and slipped out another way. I wouldn't know, since you stopped me before I could get a good look out here."
She pauses and her expression shifts to one of curiosity. "What's so special about this thing you're after, anyway?"
...inside the hut, Teldon reaches the door...and, listening, realises that Briana is not alone...
"First of all, no-one steals from the Tower Girls...Natalya's going to learn that the hard way... Secondly? Well, secondly is a mind your own business missy..."
As Briana stretches the truth about how many are in the hut, Gregor and Piotr bravely nod in agreement..."Six or seven went in you say?... from the racket in there, I don't think everyone is going to come out...oh, and there's no way to slip out of that hut other than through this door...your friends will have to come this way...and then...", the implied threat hangs in the air.
"You seem very sure of yourself," Briana murmurs quietly at the ringleader's implied threat. "Confidence is good, but overconfidence..." she pauses for a moment. "Let's just say that I wouldn't underestimate my companions if I were you. You and your girls still have time to walk away, you know."
There is a sharp cracking noise from the other side of the hut, it sounds like the noise of splintering wood…initially, the woman doesn’t appear to have noticed until one of the other girls points it out, "Well go and check it out then dolt!!! Stay in sight…”
As the women discuss the cause of the splintering wood, Briana tenses. Are they trying to break through the wall? Feeling certain that things are about to come to a head one way or the other, she readies herself to act.
Leaving only one girl guarding Piotr and Gregor, the more slight of the girls moves around the building to investigate...and sees Nalathi rushing towards her...
The door to the hut swings open again, and stepping onto solid ground, announces "The tower girls will have to wait their turn, Natalya has learned as much as she can handle in one day..."
Teldon walks out and finds a crossbow pointed at him...a lady in polished armour demands he lowers his weapon...and hands back what is rightfully hers...
...and then, an excitable voice from around the corner..."Terisha!!! She's got it...this one round 'ere has got it"...a woman in loose fitting clothing points a crossbow directly at the rapidly advancing Nalathi...
She stops in her tracks as she sees a crossbow being pointed at her, not at all keen to get any closer to its wielder. This girl, however, doesn't look nearly dangerous enough to make Nalathi hold her tongue. "Of course I've got it," she says aloud, assuming the girl means the shard bouncing at Nalathi's breast, though not really caring what she's actually talking about. "Who are you?"
Slightly unnerved by the sudden disappearance of her friends, Zee contemplates how to get the two unconscious women out of this terrible place.
I could drag Joanna below the window, and use my manacles... put one cuff on one of her wrists, and hold the other one, climb out, then pull her out by one arm. It might dislocate her shoulder, but at least she'd be out of the sewage. Then I could go back for Natalya...
She begins doing just that.
Teldon crouches slightly to maximize the cover the armored blonde woman is providing him from the remaining crossbow-woman. "Let's think about this logically..." he says to the apparent leader, "your friend over there isn't going to be able to point that crossbow at me for long before Piotr and Gregor realize nobody is actually threatening them- they may be unarmed but the two of them can still overpower her, and you can't take the two of us together , let alone our friends inside. Your friend who went around the side has a one on one fight, but even in the unlikely event that she wins, she won't do it fast enough to help you... Do the math- you've already lost the battle, no need to lose the war."
"Hmm, you're right...let's even the odds...Zaffi?", the leader turns to the woman standing guard and nods...
...and the butt of the crossbow comes down hard on the back of Piotr's head
With a voice as cold as the rain falling upon you, the woman in the polished armour asks Teldon, "You were saying?"
In dismay, Gregor looks at Piotr sprawled in the mud...and starts to get to his feet...
Meanwhile, around the side of the hut, the other Tower Girl screams at Nalathi, "Give that back to us!!!"
The Tower Girls look to guidance from their leader before acting
The cold rain pours harder and harder over you all...staring at each other, poised to make the first move...
Quickly assessing the new circumstances, Teldon charges forward past the unprepared leader and attempts to even the odds by taking out the girl with the crossbow...
Still not one hundred percent sure what the girl is talking about, though she can guess, Nalathi shakes her head. "Not a chance. I took it, I'm keeping it." She darts back around the corner and heads toward the busted-out window she'd just come through. She starts to climb through, then thinks better of it and stays outside. "Zee!" she whispers anxiously. "We've got company!"
”Both of them!!!”, even as Teldon stabs at the Tower Girl, her leader commands her to ignore the threat and to knock Gregor down as well…
…with a look of disgust at the orders being given, the Tower Girl knocks Gregor out as well…he crumples as the heavy wooden crossbow crashes down on his head…
The other Tower Girl, now out of sight from Teldon and Briana, starts to run after Nalathi…
”You should have surrendered”, the leader, taking advantage of Teldon attacking the Tower Girl, moves in to stab at his exposed back… but misses.
"Well, it seems perhaps I miscalculated..." Teldon confesses before shouting, "HELP!!!"
Zee struggles to climb out the window and drag the unconscious Joanna behind her.
As she pulls Joanna out behind her, she is surprised at Nalathi's sudden appearance and announcement of a new batch of enemies.
Laying Joanna on her side in the rain, she mutters, "Minunat. Exact ce ne trebuie acum."
Briana's crossbow bolt strikes the leader hard in the thigh...the beginning of a crimson bloom starting to grow around the point where the chainmail was pierced...
Hoping desperately to swing the odds in their favor, Teldon tries to stab the crossbow-woman again...
Then adjusts his position to gain some cover from the armored woman again. "Briana, focus on the one with the crossbow, when she drops we'll only have one to deal with..."
Joanna groans quietly as Zee jostles her.
Nalathi waits for the girl to round the corner to point her out to Zee. "That's one of them. I think they're Tower Girls."
As Joanna is dragged out of the filth and into the cleansing rain, she immediately starts to improve...the fresh air filling her lungs, a panacea to the pestilence that she had been immersed within.
Through the relatively fresh air and clean rain does some good, Joanna remains unconscious.
Sheathing her sword, the woman in the polished armour shouts at the Tower Girl who knocked out Piotr and Gregor, "Take that one alive...I'll deal with the girl", and unfolding a vicious looking black whip, she scowls at Briana...
"Gladly", the Tower Girl smiles at Teldon before stepping in and attempting to bludgeon him with the butt of her crossbow...
Meanwhile, at the other end of the hut, the other Tower Girl shouts back in alarm, "There's loads of them!!! I don't see Natalya though...", and then, sheltered by the corner of the hut, fires a bolt at Nalathi
Now that Zee is aware of the nature of their "company," she hops over Joanna as she retreats in the opposite direction. "You take care of this one," she says to her companion. "I'm needed elsewhere." She rounds the corner and ducks into the shadows.
Knowing that the girl who had attacked her had been shouting to someone, Nalathi intends to find out who. It doesn't take her long to see more (what she assumes are) Tower Girls with Teldon, who is desperately trying to fight back but appears alone and outnumbered. Keeping to the shadows, she moves closer.