"I am rushing past that dwarf no matter what. If someone wants to wait, I'll take his best shot. I am sick of being stuck in these stairs."
Did Ah SAY YE COULD LEAVE? Gallak bellows after the fleeing cleric. Gathering his strength, he hurtles down the passage faster than he's any right to, crashing into the fighter with gleeful, battle-drunk vigor. With one devastating underhand, he's under the shield. He snaps a leg out, catching the duergar off balance, and twists his axe as it catches with a sickening crunch deep in his foe's upper leg. Blood pools on the axe, and frost settles around Gallak, as though the heat of combat woke some primal demon of the cold inside him.
Ye'll find my blade harder than that ta' escape, ye dark-iced curr!
Gallak waits for Magnum to rush past the fighter and runs around the fighter to take up the center position in the junction of the hallways. He brings his greataxe down on the remaining duergar deftly slipping through his formidable defenses and narrowly missing a vital spot with his greataxe. The dwarf is severely wounded from the massive blow.
Magnum rushes by and up the north hallway taking . He barely notice the deep cut of the waraxe in his side as he pursues his barbarian quarry.
He tosses the artifact hammer down the hall after the fleeing barbarian missing badly. The hammer returns gracefully to his hand.
"I'll hunt you down, you don't kill my apprentice."
Nearly flying up the last few sets of steps, Kib sees the fallen Kragg and flies into a fury. Wanting nothing more than to see those responsible blasted apart, he quickly draws out one of his wands and aims it down the hallway at the precise point to catch both the fighter and the fleeing cleric in the spell's radius.
With one spoken command word a brilliant pea of flame shoots out the tip of the wand, only seconds later to bloom in a massive explosion of flame and force, hopefully crisping at least these two of their foes.
Fireball damage Ref DC18:
Gallak pats at his beard. Oy! Watch where yer cookin'!
"Gah! Dammit Kib, not all of us can see in the dark after a flash like that!"
Joan's head is down as she tries to blink away the spots in her vision. Her nose rankles as the smell of burnt hair, thankfully not hers, wafts down the tunnel.
Kib's fireball catches and ignites the cleric near the center of a huge fireblast. He is charred beyond recognition, but his half plate armor still looks serviceable. At the edge, the duergar fighter avoids the worst of the blast, but the burns he suffers leads him badly injured.
The answering shouts from the far passage get louder, but no reinforcements are in darkvision range.
Nar swings at the fighter then moves 5' into the hallway, but his swing has nothing behind it as he is still reeling from his brush with death.
Waraxe
Damage
Gallak allows Nar to move past him and falls back, slowly butting the haft of his axe on the floor in time to his dwarven humming.
Gallak sees an armored figure with a tower shield dance into his darkvision range and retreat back down the east passage.
The horribly hacked and singed fighter retreats 40' down the passageway to the east. The barbarian runs out of sight to the north. The other fighter continues his retreat out of sight to the south.
Magnum rushes in front of Gallak to look down the east passage, but the faint light from the intersection does not extend to the retreating fighter, so he readies an attack.
Ddwarves (acted)
Magnum(acted)
Gallak <---
Kib <---
Nar <---
Joan <---
Khazad (20 feet from the top of steps)
Hon (moving to 20 feet from top of steps)
Joan grabs her sword from where she dropped it and sheahes it as she rushes it as she rushes to the others.
"I think we need to grab Kragg and..." "and... Is he alive?"
Nar sends a fire bolt down the hall after the fighter, not wanting to let him get away
Touch Attack
Fire Damage
Just before Nar fires his firebolt Kib dashes 10' down the East corridor and launches a small orb of acid at the fighter, striking the dark dwarf on the back of his head, just below his helmet and above his shoulder plates.
Ranged Touch:
Acid Damage:
Struck by fire and acid, the retreating dwarf slumps to the ground past the charred body of the evil priest.
Snapping off a piece of his hemp rope in his teeth, Gallak shoves it hastily into a flask of oil.
Any of you have one of them sun-sticks?
"I still have this sunrod." Magnum still carries the burning sunrod in his left hand.
A dwarf-sized figure holding a shield rushes up to the fallen fighter, but before he can act, Magnum throws the artifact hammer down the hall at him.
Once again the hammer sails past the dwarf and returns unerringly to Magnums hand. The dwarf administers first aid to the downed dwarf fighter recently struck by Nar and Kib. He is wearing a breastplate and has a waraxe and a heavy crossbow slung on his back.
He speaks in common, "First aid, first aid."
Still furious over Kragg's death, but with some spark of goodness in him calling for mercy, Kib uses the wand of Web still in his other hand and aims it to catch just on the fallen drugar and the healer and fill the entire hallway behind them.
Well put it where it'll do some good, you long shanked dolt!
The web settles over the east passageway. Pursuit from that direction will be significantly slowed.
The crisped cleric is about 20 feet in front of the breastplate wearing dwarf healing the fighter in the web.
One each escaped down the north and south passage. The west leads back the way you came.
"Well, what is the plan? I can see bugging out before they swarm us and taking Kragg's body with us. I can't carry it, but maybe Khazad or Nar can."
As the adrenaline of the combat wears off, confusion and uncertainty abound as questions are asked, and people are unsure of what to do.
"Well, while I'm waiting for orders, I'm a pounding the dwarf in the web."
For the third time in a row, the artifact hammer misses its intended target, but returns unerringly to Magnum's hand.
"We know who the best weapon in the room is, don't we."
|
Hon feels the palpaple tension and sadness upon exiting the stairwell. Despite his eyes lighting up with the return of Joan, amazingly he keeps his big trap shut. He steps over the druegar bodies, to observe Kragg. Looks at the Druegar then Kragg. Druegar, Kragg. "Leave these Druegar here. I'm going to leave a writ of safe passage and bribery upon their person. Sow a little dissent. Anyone you want to take the heat of converting these Druegar to our side?" Hon pulls out two sheafs of paper, pen and ink. In common and in dwarven, he starts to draft "To the bearer of this message, Roarforge, is honored safe passage and payment of one bar of gold for services rendered on behalf of Council of White. Signed Beexle Gumfop” Hon drafts another one for Deisledep. Rolls each tightly and stuffs one into Roarforge's boot and Deisdelp's tightly packed at bottom of pocket. ”Simple and fast. Right lets go.”
Aye, mine, now shut it, Gallak growls at the axe.
He walks towards the downed duergar.
We'll take yer buddy here outta this hole in the ground. Ah'm sure he'll like it better up there where it's not quite so dank, eh? Dinnae worry, Ah'll be sure tah get the lad four square meals a day and do mah best to keep him from 'urtin himself.
Brandishing his axe one-handed at the first aid duergar, Gallak makes sure the fighter is stable and hefts the limp figure onto his back.
Khazad is mortified when he reaches the room and sees the fallen Kragg.
The weapon which has the slowest wielder! Kragg, this was not the way I meant to overtake you on kill count... By Magrim, why on earth would you stubborn dwarves not fall back?!
With a heavy grunt he lifts Kragg's lifeless body onto his shoulders, his face red from the exertion and frustration and... tears?
Is Gallak going to enter the web and move past the entangled dwarf in the web?
Hon begins writing his notes, will take about three rounds to write and plant two notes, one on each dwarf.
According to the map, the dwarf in breastplate advanced one square past the fallen dwarf to protect him and give him cover. I assumed Kib wanted the dwarf in breastplate entangled and the web to extend back into the corridor.
Corridor looks like this (x = blank space) from left to right.
Gallak - Magnum - Nar - x - x - Charredcleric - x - x - DDwarf in breatplate - Fallen Ddwarf
Grabbing Gallak's arm before he can make it any further down the hallway, and perhaps misunderstanding the bard's intent, Kib says "Leave him, it's not worth it for now, we should all get out of here, and take care of Kragg."
If the rest of the party moves to depart, Kib quickly moves with them, but first he stops and casts a light cantrip on one of the bodies in the intersection, so that it will remain lit behind them as the group makes it's retreat.
If the group does decide to take down the cleric though, Kib will also gladly help them do so.
Gallak nonetheless steps forwards a few steps, flipping the charred cleric over for inspection.
Hmph. Well-done, eh?
He lumps the duergar over his shoulder, knowing that even the dead body may give information, and makes sure to retrieve the cleric's holy symbol.
With a huge yell, the duergar picks up his fallen companion and rushes down the web
You hear curses as another dwarf is caught in the web farther down.
The charred cleric is ruined except for his half plate, which is in good shape. A stoppered bottle, cracked and melted and a tattered piece of paper are also found. The wooden holy symbol did not survive the blast either.
Kib's web seems to have delayed pursuit for now.